Since beginning my administrative position, I am responsible for more professional development days and have been attempting to provide more choice and opportunity in professional development versus the traditional sit-and-get. Realistically, it’s not always easy. Time is always an issue and a lot of information needs to be disseminated in a short period of time. I know I could flip some of it, but I also know that some people need me next to them to learn technology (which is the way they learn and totally fine) and I also know that while we would love everyone to be a professional and watch the video we ask them to, not everyone will, and usually, it’s the people who need to do it the most that don’t. I could send some information in an email, but I find that if the email is longer than about three sentences, people might not read it. So, realistically, I’m moving toward more personalization for professional development, and so it’s a common topic between myself and my PLN that also plan PD. In one of those discussions with my friend Lisa Lamont (who is amazing and you should definitely follow) she had mentioned she was thinking about a poster session PD similar to what you’d see at a conference with her teachers, and I thought it was a great idea. From there, I pitched it to one of our high school teachers who helped me think through the logistics (I wanted a teacher’s point of view in case I was missing something), and it was a go!
I took the poster session idea and built on it. My goal was to give teachers a glimpse into what other teachers are doing with their students when we don’t have the subs or time that are necessary to actually spend time in classrooms for shared professional practice experiences. I hoped that they would be able to take lessons or strategies from the presentations to use in their own classroom. It’s important to note here that even though I’m the Tech Director, I was not requiring anyone to show anything to do with technology. It was about good teaching strategies and activities. Did some people feature technology? Yes, but only because it supported what/how they were teaching. As a group, we discussed the importance of picking out tidbits they could use even if it seemed initially that the topic wouldn’t fit their content area. They were given this sheet of directions at a half-day in-service in January:
Purpose
To give you a chance to showcase awesome things you’re doing in your classroom with students and learn what others are doing as well.
Vision
We will be using our morning in-service on February 9th to view a lesson, teaching strategy, or teaching tool that everyone will be showcasing. You will be working with a partner, so while your partner explains the activity that you’re showing, you will be walking around, and curating ideas for your own students. You will then switch so there is always someone at your station.
Directions
Choose a partner. That partner should have completed the same or similar activity/concept in the classroom that you can both speak about it from experience.
Choose the idea you’d like to talk about.
Choose the way you’d like to showcase it.
Your choice, examples below
Multimedia: Presentation, using green screen, presenting by modeling examples (digital version of hands-on)
Posters, printouts, tri-folds, models
Jason H can print out posters if needed
Chrissy has tri-folds
Fill out this form (they had a Google Form linked) to tell me what you need set up that day.
Begin working!
Teachers had roughly an hour and forty-five minutes to find a partner and begin planning. Their partner needed to have tried a similar strategy in their classroom so both of them could discuss how it worked. It didn’t need to be exactly the same, but similar enough that other teachers would be able to get their questions answered by either presenter. Teachers had to have a partner because we scheduled the day so one partner would walk the presentations while the other presented, and then they would switch. That way everyone was able to both present and see other presentations. While a few groups did take on three people, I discouraged this. For every two groups that had three people, we were down one presentation, which made for less information being shared.
The partners could choose how they would like to present. They could do an actual poster, do a digital presentation of some kind, or demo an idea like the use of a green screen. They could really present the information in any way that they thought was the best fit. This was my attempt at modeling voice and choice since I believe we should be modeling in professional development the kind of learning we would like to see in the classroom.
Because the actual Demo Day was in February, teachers had a few weeks to perfect their presentations. They were not required to be done that day in January. In looking back, this was a good idea. Because they had more time to work, they were able to think through and create quality presentations rather than just throwing something together. It also gave us time to prepare any apps or devices that they needed.
The day of presenting was structured as follows:
9:30am-9:50am Teacher Set-up 9:50am-10:00am Review of how the morning would look 10:00am-11:00am First presenter round 11:00am-noon Second presenter round Noon-12:20 Discussion and reflection on the morning
When we came back together, I asked for overall feedback for the day. For the most part, I received positive comments. Teachers legitimately loved both sharing and seeing what others were doing, and many pulled me aside and mentioned specifics on how they might use some of the information from the day. Here were some takeaways from the feedback:
Some teachers would have liked to run their presentations differently. For example, have a fixed time when their presentation would start (more structured) or run their topic as a round-table discussion.
There were a few teachers commended for innovative, fantastic learning opportunities for their students, but even from these awesome activities, we were able to find ways that teachers could collaborate to bring it one step further.
Some would have liked a “heads-up” to the activity prior to the January day so they could have spent more time looking for a partner and finding common activities.
A few said that an hour was too long to view the presentations, but we have a small staff, so I think the larger staff that you have the more time you might need.
I was so excited when some people began to compliment others on their topics and presentations. It was a great way to create some community between our middle and high schools who are in the same building but don’t typically work together. Overall, it was a great experience for both me and the teachers who participated. I was able to see them get excited over what their students had learned and accomplished, and give them a chance to showcase the amazing things I know that they’re doing every day. If I’ve missed information or you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.
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