5th Grade MacBook Basics {Tech PD Recap}

Our meeting with fifth grade kicked off our new professional development offerings for the 2013-2014 school year.  All of the fifth grade teachers had requested help in learning more about their new MacBook Pros.  As stated in a previous post, we are focusing on providing teacher-directed professional development.  A couple of our Tech & Media Team members have been working with coaches to provide effective, teacher-driven professional development.  We have been working to provide professional development that integrates with the adopted learning design model as well as integrating Kagan structures to increase teacher engagement and participation.

In surveying the teachers, they identified many areas that they would like to learn more about in regards to their MacBook Pros.  All information was recorded in a presentation (found below - if you are unable to view the presentation below, please click here) and was used as a reference during the meeting.  Also included in the presentation is a link to our meeting agenda.
 

As this was our first professional development meeting since starting our new approach this year, we couldn't be happier with how well it was received.  The teachers were very open and receptive to our new approach and their feedback (provided via the post-PD form) was encouraging.  They liked the teacher-driven approach and everyone was able to take something away from our meeting.  We had some good conversation and laughs as we went through our meeting activator.    The one thing that I felt as a facilitator that went really well was our Kagan activity (Pairs Compare).  The teachers were able to interact with one another, hear directly from their team members what each other already know about their MacBook, and share with one another.  Each teacher was able to create a list of all of the things they knew, as well as what other members on their team knew (as documented in the presentation above).  After their lists were compiled, as a group we went through and addressed the rest of their questions that were not already discussed through our activity.  I was happy to see the team interact with one another, teach each other, and openly ask questions so that they can more effectively utilize their devices.  I am excited to work with the fifth grade more and see how they translate their knowledge and use of their devices into instruction and student learning.

To view a spreadsheet with cumulative data about the professional development that our fifth grade teachers have participated in, please click here (includes school improvement correlation).