"Edcamp Style" PD- Personalizing teacher learning on a required PD day!

Last year our school had the opportunity to host Chattanooga's EdcampGigcity. Several of the elementary teachers at our school attended and many plan on attending again. After the experience it allowed the lower school curriculum coordinator and myself (lower school technology coordinator) to rethink some of our professional development days. On one day in August before the students came, and again in January of this year we set up Edcamp style PD days.

I am thankful for a curriculum coordinator that I work well with. She is someone that sees the value technology can add to the classroom and looks for ways to enhance learning in many different ways. While our PD days weren't like the traditional Edcamp style (we actually came up with the choices instead of the teachers making the choices), the teachers found the days to be useful.

So how did we decide what the session offerings should be and what did this look like?

• We both spend a lot of time with teachers and learn what their needs are. Many of our sessions were based on things teachers had asked us questions about.
• We have exemplary teachers using tools or creating environments that work. We asked those teachers to lead a session to showcase how they do things in their classroom. Two things happen when you do this:
• Teachers feel affirmed as educators by asking them to lead a session.
• Other teachers feel more comfortable asking questions and learning more from a peer because of the strong relationship bonds that already exist. Hearing "this is a good practice/tool" from a teacher already implementing is more effective than hearing it from myself or the curriculum coordinator that aren't using it practically.
• As the technology coordinator, I used it as a time to introduce new tools and practical ways to use them that would be beneficial for all grade levels in an elementary setting.

We then shared a version of this document below (see red) a day beforehand and asked teachers to think about which sessions would be the most useful for them. We even suggested that someone from each grade level attend different sessions so they could share the information with each other later but this was not a requirement.

                                         A Room               B Room                  C Room

9:00-9:30	RenWeb 1- Steve	Q & A on Integrated Units- Elaine	4 Cs of Tech Integration- Julie
9:35-10:05	Small Math Groups- Carie	Brain Pop- Myra	See Saw- Leigh Ann
10:10-10:40	Problem Based Learning in Math- Craig	Reading groups- Beth Ann	Book Talks- Sara
10:45-11:15	NWEA Resources- Allison	Small Math Groups- Carie	Formative Assessment with Technology-  Julie
11:20-12:00	Reading Groups- Beth  Ann	Positive Behavior Supports- Shonda	Mystery Skype- Julie

Session 1 Descriptions

RenWeb 1- Intro to the cloud-based version of our grade book system.

Q & A on Integrated Units-

We have spent the first half of this year mapping your Social Studies and Science units. During this session, you may ask questions or discuss ideas about the work which has been completed so far and the next steps in the integration process. There will also be five integrated unit notebooks for you to examine. These completed units offer examples of enduring understandings, essential questions, approaches on how to plan a unit map, Biblical themes, performance tasks, and culminating activities.

4 Cs of Tech- We will discuss four different ways to integrate technology into your classroom- CONSUMPTION (i.e.- reading and watching opportunities), CONNECTION (collaboration opportunities), CURATION (research and finding good information), and CREATION (presentation opportunities). I will give you examples of apps and websites to be used in the classroom that represent each of the 4 C’s..

Session 2 Descriptions

Small Math groups-

This session will discuss the benefits of teaching small group math.  We will discuss tips on how to manage your rotations and utilize your math time in the most efficient way.

Brain Pop-

This session will be an overview of the features found on BrainPOP. We’ll take a quick look at units and topics covered, as well as support materials: videos, quizzes, games, activity pages, graphic organizers, and the informational text feature.

SeeSaw- learn how Leigh Ann is using Seesaw learning journal app in her classroom. It's great to keep track of student work in one place, for students to reflect on work, and for you to easily look through. You can even share it with the parents. So easy first graders can use it but it is also even being used in eighth grade!

Session 3 Descriptions

Problem Based Learning in Math-  Quickly review what “Problem-Based Learning” is and the purpose of it.  Teachers will build capacity in strategically planning and implementing daily problem solving opportunities for all students, as we look at a 6-step process for planning for the “Problem-Based Learning” portion of a lesson.

Reading Groups-

You (really) can do it all!  Really!   We all know we feel crunched to make everything happen during a Guided Reading group.  We will discuss time management and the necessary skills that will allow even the shortest amount of time to be beneficial with individualized learning.

Book Talks -

This session will introduce or reintroduce you to the concept of Book Talks, especially as it pertains to a Reader’s Workshop model.

Session 4 Descriptions

Positive Behavior Supports for the Classroom

In this session we will discuss the principles of applied behavior analysis (ABA).  Do you know the difference between negative reinforcement and punishment?  These two concepts are often confused and are important to understand when determining the function of a behavior. We will discuss Functional Behavior Assessment and how it can be used as a powerful tool in the classroom. We will also discuss how to use these methods of training to encourage our students as they seek to serve Christ and His Kingdom.

Small Math Groups-

This session will discuss the benefits of teaching small group math.  We will discuss tips on how to manage your rotations and utilize your math time in the most efficient way.

Formative Assessments with Technology- Wouldn’t it be nice to know if your students got a concept you just taught? We will learn about a variety of different formative assessment tools that can give you immediate feedback from your students. This could mean less grading for you and a faster turn around on knowing what your students have actually learned! Win/win.

Session 5 Descriptions

Reading Groups-

You (really) can do it all!  Really!   We all know we feel crunched to make everything happen during a Guided Reading group.  We will discuss time management and the necessary skills that will allow even the shortest amount of time to be beneficial with individualized learning.

NWEA Resources-  Please bring your laptop and explore the NWEA website for all the resources available to help guide your instruction for your students.

Mystery Skype- Looking for ways to teach geography and connect with the world at large? Mystery skype! We will discuss how to lead your students to ask good questions, how to connect the lesson to other things you are learning in the classroom, and how to lead your students to have a global mindset in their world! We will even get the opportunity to try it out.

As you can see there were a variety of different voices sharing that day. This way even teachers that could share had the opportunity to also attend sessions as well. We asked our math interventionist, reading interventionist, IT director, exceptional education director all to be a part of this day.

I have definitely seen positive results from this. I have had one teacher in particular that followed up with me after sitting through all of my sessions and let me know how successful the use of Seesaw and Kahoot has been in his classroom. While this might be 100% personalized learning, it did give our teachers some voice and choice opportunities in what they felt might be most useful for them.

How I Set up Periscope for Professional Development Talks

Recently I did a Periscope session during EdCamp Global about "Classroom Management in a Technology Rich Environment." I've never been so nervous to do a PD event in my life! I was stepping outside my comfort zone to try this but could see it being beneficial to learn. Since it's a live event- trial by fire! But it worked.

I had two main things that concerned me about trying this:

• Creepers. The night before some of my PLN had used Google Hangouts to do some sessions for EdCamp Global and some really weird people showed up, it had to be a closed session in the middle of it. I worried that might happen for me- I guess because I presented at 9am most of the creepers were still sleeping!
• My default settings for any Periscope I do normally is set for ONLY USERS I FOLLOW CAN CHAT- I knew that I would have to open that to the whole world in order to let everyone take part from EdCamp Global SO I TURNED THIS OPTION OFF. Previous uses that way had provided some very inappropriate comments- fortunately this time, there were none! 
  

So here are the key things that made my session successful:

• My set up. I opened Periscope on my iPad, tested my angles and distance before I started. The stability of the tripod helped tremendously when using my hands to share visuals during the session. One thing I would think a bit more about next time is the lighting in the room (get away from the window) and raising the computer when sharing something on the screen (it was in the area that comments showed up in).
• Plan your start and stop. I didn't have anyone to hit "start broadcasting" for me so I started with the computer screen facing the iPad so everyone could see the name of the session. This is important because when it is posted to the Periscope website or the link is placed on Twitter when you go live that will be the screenshot that everyone sees (it's the hook so to speak)- so you want to make sure something that brings in watchers is in the screen to begin with. Also, I obviously had to get up at the end and stop the broadcast, once again I turned my computer screen for the sake of a better video.
• Let Twitter tell the world you are broadcasting. Click the Twitter bird before you start- that way your Twitter PLN knows when you are Periscoping because Periscope automatically posts a tweet using your account when you hit "Start Broadcast." I would also suggest here to spend some time thinking about the title for your broadcast- make it helpful enough for your viewers to know what the broadcast is about but catchy enough to hook them in to watch.
• Communicating with viewers. This is the hardest part- I wanted to be able to see what was being said but the iPad was turned away from me. As soon as I hit broadcast and sat at my computer, I opened the Periscope link of my live event using a different Twitter account on my phone (make sure you turn down your sound as well). I loved being able to interact with the viewers because I met their needs as I talked and could adjust the session on the fly as needed. It was sometimes hard to follow all the comments (I had over 100 viewers for the event but almost 40 more viewers watched it later in the 24 hour public period on Periscope) but I feel like I did a fairly good job of multitasking between the plan and the questioning. 

• Save to your camera roll. An oops moment for me! At the end of the broadcast you should
  
  plan on saving PD sessions to your camera role for future watching because they only remain available to the public for 24 hours. It's a simple click of a square but I totally didn't do it. Lesson learned for next time. I've also been told there is an option called #Katch- I'm still not sure exactly how it works but definitely worth looking into (@KatchHQ) because it saves all your streams on its website.
• Upload your saved video so others can access it. This is me telling myself here since I didn't do it during my session! But here is what I would have done! Our school gmail accounts have associated access to youtube. I often use the app " YouTube Capture" because it quickly uploads large size videos to Youtube without a lot of fuss. It even lets you edit the video if you would like. I'm a fan of the ease of this.

In April I wrote this blog post about Periscope sharing some of my concerns of seeing students use it. That hasn't really happened at our school yet, but I am sure it will. I also have concerns about the true usefulness of it in the classroom setting (privacy issues being my biggest concern) BUT I see great usage in making "events" live. So here I will share with you ways you could help with the privacy issues:

• Making a closed event broadcast. I would do two things, I would let people know what was going to happen and ask them to follow me so that I can follow them back (this could become a pain but I think it is a smart move to keep inappropriate comments out)- I would then set my broadcast where only people I follow could comment on the video. The other options is to make a "PRIVATE BROADCAST" where only people you select could view the event (a little time consuming if there is a potential for lots of viewers). 

I hope this helps you as you as you consider navigating Periscoping PD in the future!