My district has the hardest time getting our secondary schools to agree on PD. All the schools are in such different places that it is hard to come up with a plan and do "something" together.
On Monday we had a district wide PD day. The plans for this day changed a few times and finally, on the Thursday before, the district settled on teachers working together at their sites. So, this meant I needed to be in 7 rooms at once and overseeing 7 different groups. Here comes technology to the rescue!
First, you have to start the day on the correct foot. I had bagels and coffee for everyone to enjoy while they visited from 7:30-8:30am. This was great. I saw so many teachers in the staff lounge I never see there. Then, the day began.
I emailed staff on Friday what my expectations for the day were. I set up a schedule for the day. On the schedule, I included a link to the backchannel run on todaysmeet.com. I asked departments to post their goals for the day, evidence of their work, and resources other may find useful. Then, I would comment back on the backchannel when I was in other rooms, always encouraging groups. As I moved around the school, the departments were doing some great work around reading and incorporating reading in all the content areas. PE was even working on a video lecture series about health and nutrition for their students to watch in a blended environment.
After lunch, I delivered milk and cookies to all staff members. A little sugar in the afternoon is always helpful. I also wanted to make sure people were still on track. A whole day of PD without a devoted leader can get off track quick. Everyone was right on schedule and were working towards their goals they set..
In my email on Friday, I also included a link to a google doc. I asked departments to post their completed products for the day on this document. Then I asked them to comment of their colleagues work. I really wanted them to see what other departments were doing, so they can integrate with each other.
The departments did post of the google doc, but no commenting happened. Upon reflecting on this, I decided to have another go at it. So, I send out a thank you email to my staff for the amazing day. I also included the link to the doc and reminded them to take some time this week to comment. I need to remember that it takes time for teachers to feel comfortable commenting on others work in public. However, if we want the students to do it, we need to do it as well. I started the process by making a few comments of the doc, so no one would have to be first.
As I start planning PD for 2014-15, I will remember my #pearlofwisdom from this day. Backchannels work! Google docs work! Growing culture takes time, but can be done.
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