Establishing A Continuous Professional         learning culture

Professional Learning Topics Evaluated Prior to Being Shared.

The professional learning topic will be evaluated for relevance and worthiness by using
Thomas Guskey, (2002). Does it Make a Difference?...criteria. Here it states five levels of
evaluating principles that make PD valuable. The first aspect is to start with the end in mind,
identify the student outcome. Level 5, Did the student learn the specific target? Next, Level 4,
did the learned material make a difference in the PD or student outcome. Was the PD
informative and would teachers use it? In Level 3, does the PD support the mission of the
school? Was the PD supported with resources and how did it affect the climate of the school?
Level 2, was the target skill mastered and how did the participants learn the skills? Finally,
Level 1, analyzing the participants impression of the PD. Was the PD useful and will they use
the knowledge?

Shared Professional Learning

Professional learning can be shared in many ways and reasons according to Nicole
Breslow, (2027). She implies that time, travels, expenses, and scheduling are main factors
behind online platforms. Thus, I chose to use Microsoft team google chat among my
colleagues. With this we can evaluate and collaborate ideas to improve the PD, or to
incorporate these ideas into the classroom. This platform allows us to use real time
conferences and interact with writing tools and graphics. However, using classroom 2.0 will be
integrated and posted for other ideas from the teaching community around the world.

Shared Information Applied

This PD will be introduced and applied when teachers have introduced and used the
platform of Padlet and google classroom. It should be used shortly after centers have been
forming. This lesson is identifying adjectives, grade 3-5, but it can be modified for other
standards and tasks. It introduces the standard with a question for background knowledge, then
has students engaged in an online activity, with questions to answer. Next, the lesson has
students use the platform tools to insert an image that they will then use to describe the object,
which is the lesson of using adjectives. From here the students will engage with each other to
write several sentences using descriptive words that describe the images they inserted onto the
platform. Lastly, the students will leave one image for others to describe on the platform. This
will be implemented as an ongoing learning tool that kids should become familiar with in their
center groups with and without teacher lead groups.

Teachers Provide Reflective Feedback

When teachers implement this PD, they will be able to give instant feedback on
Microsoft google chat. This platform allows teachers to comment, revise and use it to
communicate with others who are interested in the PD. Also, teachers will be able to use
Padlet and google classroom for students. With these platforms teachers can view their work
in real- time, give feedback and grade their work without being up and personnel. These tools
are useful because today things happen right away, therefore, the expectation of learning is
aimed in these directions. So, teachers can give feedback in the same manner.

Appropriate Timeline

The appropriate timeline for shared information would be 1-2 days because this gives
you time to reflect on the lesson, review from the video, if use, or notes taken and being in a
school setting gets busy and thus, time is lost if you wait. So, in my opinion if you wait more
than 2 days, then you might have forgotten important aspects of the PD and what you might
insightfully like to share. Also, two days are sufficient because other insightful perceptions
could help others manage and overcome mishaps that were not discussed in previous settings.
Thus, I suggest that after the introduction to the PD it would be appropriate to implement it
within 2 days. For the same reason of forgetting the important aspects, it would be best to have
it fresh on the mind and correspond with others when the topic is vital.

Rationale

My plan is to demonstrate how to use technology in a PD for collaboration, peer
evaluations, and reflective feedback while sharing research practices to implement the
information. Hence, the best practice for this PD is to start with what I want students to know/
learn from this PD, the goal in mind. This method is suggested by Guskey (2002) but also from
Briggs (2018) who suggest offering different platforms including technology, to incorporate and
teach the materials, engage teachers in the learning process while building a working relationship
that includes trust, time management, financial and leadership support, and collaborations. Thus,
it is important to consider these things because when you want engagement, all parties need to
include their thoughts of the concept, which helps to internalize the information, then collaborate
on the subject because rethinking and hearing other people’s ideas and thought process helps one
to understand and/or form new ideas that can make the PD relevant and manageable to use. So, collaborating will generate feedback that may need additional information to understand and
apply. However, with this conversation Thoma (2017) reported that when implementing a PD
use five common aspects to help solidify and ensure certain concepts are used. Some of these
characteristics are to reflect on the training, one’s own usage and offer feedback to others. Thus,
one of the fastest ways to and most important concept is to use technology. Technology will
ensure that all participants can view the PD because it can/will be taped and posted in Microsoft
team google chat. Here, collaboration and reflection are used and seen because as people watch,
collaborate on other and their own practice they can have real- time conversations, offer
comments and graphics to change things that are needed to make the objective obtainable or
manageable. Also, real time will be applied because with technology everything happens with
the click of a button, so this allows immediate feedback while the knowledge is fresh and
meaningful.

I believe that this PD will be useful to my colleagues because it is keeping the student’s
goal in mind, engaging for the teachers, I am using researched base information to guide
effective collaboration, evaluating techniques and peer feedback. This PD also used technology
on multiple levels for teachers and students can work together to make learning fun and engaging
to monitor and assess what is learned.


References

Briggs, L. L. (2018, Sept.) 7 Ways to maximize professional learning: Take advantage of
technology to help teachers advance. District Administration 54 (9), p 84.
Guskey, T. R. (2002). Does it make a difference? Evaluating professional
development. Educational leadership, 59(6), 45-51.
Linnenbrink- Garcia, Lisa (01/2011). “Affect and engagement during small group instructions”.
Contemporary educational psychology (0361-476X), 36 (1), 13.
Thoma, J., Hutchison, A., Johnson, D., Johnson, K., & Stromer, E. (2017) Planning for
technology integration in a professional learning community. Reading Teacher, 71 (2),
167-175. https://doi-org.lopes.idm.oclc.org/10.1002/trtr.1604
Trust, Torrey (06/2012). “Professional Learning Networks Designed for Teacher Learning”.
Journal of digital learning in teacher education (2153-2974), 28 (4), 133.
Wilson, T., Nabors, D., Berg, H., Simpson, C., & Timme, K. (2012). Small-group reading
instruction: Lessons from the field. Dimensions of Early Childhood, 40(3), 30-39.