The Teacher Next Door
I am always in search of ways to assist our staff in accessing professional development in the area of ed tech. As I’ve grown in this position, and our teaching environment has changed drastically, this has taken multiple forms:
- in-person PD sessions for staff groups
- one-on-one or small group in-person PD sessions
- social media posts
- PD on the Potty
- monthly newsletters
- Tech Tidbit PD presented virtually over the noon-hour
- book studies
As we progress through what is arguably a year for the record books, I continue to look for ways to strengthen our staff capacity. Last Wednesday during our monthly #mbedchat discussion on Twitter I was reminded by Tanis Cheasley from Birtle Collegiate in PWSD of the following point:
This is such an important aspect for me to remember. I know that many of our schools have dedicated PLC time built into their schedules but there are usually dedicated tasks that accompany this time. Given our current situation it is hard, if not impossible, to find coverage to go and observe a colleague. However, as our WOW Wednesday series points out, there are so many MVSD staff doing amazing things in the area of ed tech (plus so many more that I haven’t had the privilege of working with yet). As a result, I have decided to set up a Bookings calendar for the remaining 3 months of the year and offer myself as floating coverage to any teaching staff who would like to visit one of their colleagues and observe how they are using ed tech in their practice. During this time I can deliver a lesson prepared by the teacher (if that is their preference) or I can implement my own tech-themed lesson.
It is my hope that this will allow our staff further flexibility to access PD and strengthen their ed tech capacity.