The Human Element

This past weekend I had the opportunity to spend time with our team away from "the office." I was reminded of the importance of getting to know those that you are building a sense of trust with on more than just a professional level. Having conversations about holiday plans and chatting about our children, finding out what sports, clubs and activities they are involved in gave me a sense of how human everyone is. I am not the only one driving around crazy from hockey games to ski club while trying to prepare for the holidays. It painted a picture in my mind of everyone else rushing around frantically trying to balance life. Some, definitely more than me.

So, after seeing my colleagues in a relaxed setting, thanks to our superintendent, I believe my trust levels have risen as I know without a doubt we all have families, we all do our best to manage our time, and we all shared just a bit of our human-selves with one another.

Assemble the Team

I am working with administrators in our district to get the project framework together for the EETT grant http://nys-eett.wikispaces.com/. We are going to identify students to be part of the student advisory team. At this point, I feel like the most important piece will be to talk to students and get their input about what our project will look like. I know that once we start working with students and listen to them about what learning means to them, our thinking will shift. I have a team of innovative administrators and teachers helping to move forward in the way we think and learn.

Consumption of Information

After spending a year and a half avoiding getting connected to build my personal learning network, I knew it was time. Though many of my colleagues seem to think I know what I am doing with the "Educational Networking" process, the truth is I feel like a stumbling fool at times. The feeling of success as I create my gmail account, successfully log onto twitter, or add a gadget to this blog seems to fade in and out as I simply forget my passwords.



I spend countless hours at home, at night in my chair playing with the tools finding more and more useful ways to connect myself to others. My mind continues to shift to the professional development world as I tag onto and follow those that I know can offer me knowledge. I guess the idea of people following me someday, connecting to my thoughts and possibly learning from me makes me want to grow so that I can offer others what I am gaining on a daily basis.

I came across an interesting question on http://www.classroom20.com/group/elearning that asked about collecting evidence the the 2.0 tools are helping our students increase achievement. It intrigued me because I know that as we grow and move towards connectivism and learning with the tools, we will be asked to show evidence of student growth. In my mind, growth in a teacher=growth in students, but there is always that accountability piece. My mind continues to spin.

First Attempt to Infuse Technology into PD

The first attempt to infuse technology into professional development was to work with an amazing group of teachers that have volunteered to be turnkey trainers in our district for DI. This group came together in July 08' for a full week working with Carolyn Chapman. They are scheduled to work with her for DI management part II in the summer of 09'. The NING seemed like a perfect place to build an online learning community to support the teachers throughout the year by keeping them connected to one another.

The course was offered in October and it was a three hour session where the teachers were taught how to use the NING and about the opportunities for sharing and learning from one another. The idea was well received and they all seemed to have the basics of the tool. However...after that course ended so did any activity between the teachers. I was alone in my own professional learning community-

In the Beginning

I decided that if I was going to share my experience of implementing technology into the professional development plan in my district, I should start from the beginning. It began when I was a Teacher Center director and was asked to participate in the Powerful Learning Practices cohort http://plpnetwork.com/ over a year ago. I was incredibly reluctant, I even tried to get out of it. Thank goodness that did not happen. My first time with Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach and Wil Richardson left my head in a whirlwind, spinning with Web 2.0 tools and the potential applications and implications on professional development. I crawled my way through the process of getting to know how and what to use. Okay- I admit, I was nudged sometimes pushed by some great colleagues who already saw the light. From using words like blogging and twitter, I thought they were referring to something we should not be talking about at work. Boy- was I wrong!

Over the past year I have since changed jobs and I am now the Director of Staff Development at the West Seneca Central School District in Western New York. Coming into a district that spans 25 miles, I noticed right away that there was a disconnect district wide. I knew that working with 7 elementary buildings, 2 middle schools and 2 high schools was going to be a challenge to put together a program that was ongoing and not referred to as "staff development days."

I work with the closely with the Teacher Center to help create options for teachers, but most are after school. It would seem to me that a teachers growth and development would happen during the day when they are with their "clients" the students. The coaching method keeps crossing my mind, but I know that we are still developing the trust in each other to help guide us down the path toward teacher and student learning. Ultimately, I know that our program needs to be a mesh of collaborations. Working together live and creating networks through the use of technology seems to be a balance to me.

My desire to learn the tech. tools to help me grow has been fired up by all that I am learning every single day. I am just getting started- I still don't have all the pieces in place to build my PLN. But I am working on it so that I can provide support to others as our district moves forward to shift to the mindset of 21st Century Learning.

Enhancing Education Through Technology

I have been working with a group outside of Western New York sharing ways to integrate technology into education. It has been about a year and a half working with Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach to get administrators, teachers and students to learn how to use web 2.0 tools. This is my first blog. I feel very tired but excited- I am spending more time online than ever before in my life. Realizing how much is out there.

I will continue to blog my progress in my district as I work with our administrators and teachers in my district to offer more opportunities to collaborate online.