During my Teachers as Leaders class, I conducted a survey about the technology needs of the staff. We had recently purchased new Chromebooks, and many of the Kindergarten through Second Grade teachers had not used them before. I wanted to know what kind of support that teachers would need with using the Chromebooks for instruction, especially how much support they would need in using them for literacy instruction. I used a Google Survey to conduct a needs assessment. My findings were that teachers were confident in using the new technology, but felt the need for some support to use it for literacy instruction.
In addition to the findings, I created a Strategic Plan in order to get teachers the support that they needed to effectively use the technology:
2/6/17
I will send out the article “Infusing Technology into the Balanced Literacy Classroom” (Shettel & Bower, 2013). Teachers will be instructed to read the article before coming to the technology professional development on 2/13/17 (a workday). In addition to reading the article, they will be assigned a technology tool to explore from the article. During the professional development (2/13/17), they will share findings about their tools briefly.
2/13/17
During the teacher workday (2/13/17), teachers will be asked to share the tool that they explored from the article (briefly, 2-5 minutes for each). Our schools Technology Liaison will then lead a session on planning instruction for literacy while incorporating technology tools. At the end of the session, teachers will be asked to use at least one of the new tools or technology ideas they learned about to give literacy instruction before the March staff meeting (3/6/17). A GoogleDoc will be sent for teachers to indicate a day and time that they will be using the tool in their classroom so that teachers can do a learning walk during their planning at least once over the next few weeks.
3/6/17
During the staff meeting (3/6/17), teachers will get into groups of four (mixed grade-levels) and discuss what they did in their classrooms and what they saw on their learning walks. After this session, teachers will be encouraged to continue the use of these new tools in their classroom. Another survey will be sent to determine whether teachers felt that the Professional Development was helpful and areas where they still think they need help in.
In addition to the findings, I created a Strategic Plan in order to get teachers the support that they needed to effectively use the technology:
2/6/17
I will send out the article “Infusing Technology into the Balanced Literacy Classroom” (Shettel & Bower, 2013). Teachers will be instructed to read the article before coming to the technology professional development on 2/13/17 (a workday). In addition to reading the article, they will be assigned a technology tool to explore from the article. During the professional development (2/13/17), they will share findings about their tools briefly.
2/13/17
During the teacher workday (2/13/17), teachers will be asked to share the tool that they explored from the article (briefly, 2-5 minutes for each). Our schools Technology Liaison will then lead a session on planning instruction for literacy while incorporating technology tools. At the end of the session, teachers will be asked to use at least one of the new tools or technology ideas they learned about to give literacy instruction before the March staff meeting (3/6/17). A GoogleDoc will be sent for teachers to indicate a day and time that they will be using the tool in their classroom so that teachers can do a learning walk during their planning at least once over the next few weeks.
3/6/17
During the staff meeting (3/6/17), teachers will get into groups of four (mixed grade-levels) and discuss what they did in their classrooms and what they saw on their learning walks. After this session, teachers will be encouraged to continue the use of these new tools in their classroom. Another survey will be sent to determine whether teachers felt that the Professional Development was helpful and areas where they still think they need help in.
Results:
Trying to implement a strategic plan was somewhat difficult due to meetings and other scheduling throughout the building. I sent out the article as planned, but was unable to meet with the staff for the Professional Development during the workday. Many staff members had meetings off campus. Since there were no other workdays on the calendar until March (and many teachers would be off campus that day at pre-planned meetings as well). I asked that teachers try to use one of the tools in their reading instruction, and offered help to any teachers that needed it. I would like to try to implement this again at the beginning of the school year with my principal so that we could find the best days to try to give professional development.
Trying to implement a strategic plan was somewhat difficult due to meetings and other scheduling throughout the building. I sent out the article as planned, but was unable to meet with the staff for the Professional Development during the workday. Many staff members had meetings off campus. Since there were no other workdays on the calendar until March (and many teachers would be off campus that day at pre-planned meetings as well). I asked that teachers try to use one of the tools in their reading instruction, and offered help to any teachers that needed it. I would like to try to implement this again at the beginning of the school year with my principal so that we could find the best days to try to give professional development.