Professional Learning Strategy
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Blended Learning can be a crucial component of closing educational gaps in our students. If you missed class or did not quite get it when you were in class, going online to complete classroom work can help. Students can go back to any lesson and review it again, relearn it, or even gain more profound knowledge. Blended learning does more than help students close gaps in their learning. It boosts their confidence as well. This is a big reason I have developed the blended learning professional development course. This professional learning (PL) course was created so my fellow k- 6th-grade teachers can learn how to use blended learning models in their classrooms and provide their students with ample resources online to be successful. Throughout the session, they will know precisely what blended learning in the school is and what it looks like. I will provide them with all the resources and tools they will need to succeed. I am confident this will happen as the word “gets out.”
Teachers need professional learning opportunities to teach teachers the skills or strategies to teach students better. One of the principles of professional development states that teachers should not be passive participants in the learning process (Gulamhussein, 2013). For my innovation plan Building a Culture of Blending Learning in Classrooms, I came up with an initial outline of the professional learning needed to implement my innovation plan. My goal is that teachers build a blended learning culture that will assist our students in their learning process. The Rotation/Individual blended learning PL focuses on the five fundamental principles of technology's effective professional development.
5 Key Principles of Effective Professional Learning
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Duration: PL should be continuous; teachers need continuing education by creating peer groups so teachers can collaborate and regular meetings to engage teachers and keep them moving forward.
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Support: Teachers need help from the campus administrators and assistant principals, encouraging them and district personnel, IT department, providing support with technology tools.
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Engage: Teachers should use various approaches for their learners to stay engaged, so we should do the same in PL and keep the teachers actively learning (i.e., role-playing, modeling, reading aloud, or visiting classrooms)
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Modeling: Having an expert show or model the material is very beneficial. This is when other experienced active blended learning teachers can demonstrate the lesson, or the IT can model how the technology is used. These experts could also be co-teachers with the teacher during instruction. Providing teachers with videos is an excellent resource for teachers to refer to for support.
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Content and Grade Level Specific: The PL is geared toward K-6th grade teachers only, so it focuses on a specific audience, and everything discussed is relevant to their classrooms, making it more engaging.
Go and show/Alt PL presentation.
We as professionals in the field of education need to be more conscious of the “why” instead of the “what” and “how” in our endeavors, whether we are in the classroom or when we are acting as agents of innovation and trying to get others on board with our ideas.
More often than not, the focus is always directed at how students learn. Little attention has been directed at how teachers learn. One of the principles of professional development states that teachers should not be passive participants in the learning process (Gulamhussein, 2013). Looking at the advice on presentations from Sinek and Duarte helped me put together my call to action video. I produced a video from google slides on my call to action for blended learning professional development.
PD Outline/blueprint
Below is an initial planning outline of the professional learning plan I am developing to coincide with my innovation plan.
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The planning and development of the blended learning PL took much time, but I ensured that it serves a purpose and will be beneficial for my K-6th teachers at Harmony Elementary. I would love for the school to jump on blended learning, and through my PL, I hope that the excitement will spread and more and more teachers will take hold. This past year I've used blended learning in my class, and I've had much success in doing so. So, my focus has turned toward my peers to get them up and running in the blended learning culture.
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Below I've developed this outline with the help of several of my past assignments.
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My 4DX Process for Implementing Blended Learning in mind as I focused on my Wildly Important Goal (WIG).
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My 3 Column Table was where I developed learning goals, learning activities, and assessments while trying to accomplish my Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG).
Audience and their needs
These classes and training will be for K-6 teachers. It will help them understand and continue using the rotation/individual blended learning that started in the kindergarten classrooms. They will need time, support, engagement, modeling, and specific training for their needs. They are new to this idea, so it will take time for the teachers to learn about blended learning before implementing them in their classes. They will need ongoing support from the blended learning experts and me. They can also support one another during their team meetings. They will need some hands-on engagement to try out the blended learning and could practice by making themselves at a site. They will need the blended learning experts and me to model for them. I will share my ePortfolio with them and the different types of documents and assignments on the site. We will offer specific training for each of their personal needs. Each classroom will need specific training because the teachers are at different levels of technology usage and the students in their students.
How will you foster collaboration?
The K-6 teachers can pair up with their peers that have experience using blended learning in their classroom. They can meet and discuss the process, challenges, barriers, and success of the innovation plan. They will also have access to a 24/7 training portal to post discussions and get feedback between their peers, blended learning experts, and me. In addition, they can make an appointment with us during their conference, during their class time while working with the students, or with me after school. The teachers can work together during their conference time to collaborate on issues they are having and share their successes.
How will you foster self-directed learning?
Learners in this PL will have lots of authentic learning that foster self-directed learning. Teachers will create video lessons that they will use in their classrooms with their students and their partner teachers' classes and students. They will also participate in a 100% online Canvas course that they will use to learn Canvas and the digital tools available for use within their flipped classroom. Throughout this Canvas course, teachers will be able to reflect and collaborate to discuss the available tools and how they can use them in their studies, therefore, providing a plethora of ideas and suggestions. The teachers will collaborate on what lessons they want to use blended learning, and then they are responsible for flipping that lesson by choosing how they want it delivered and what digital tools they want to use. These lessons will be shared among the team for all to use, and once the tasks are complete, the teachers will come together again to reflect on how they went to see what needs to be changed or added for the next one. This allows teachers to reflect and grow individually from lesson to lesson continually.
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Who will lead what components?
A small team of experienced blended learning teachers and I will lead the lessons/training provided for the teachers. The blended learning experts are willing to help foster the new skills in the K-6 grade teachers. They will be available during the day as well as after school. I will be available after school to assist teachers with questions and work one-on-one with them to help address any of their barriers and questions about using blended learning with their students.
BHAG & 3 Column Table or UbD Template
Schedule/timeline
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PL sessions slide deck(s)
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Resources
Teachers will need are a classroom computer or laptop, access to the 24/7 training sessions, examples of teachers using blended learning videos, and schedule time for Harmony conference rooms.
Some examples of the resources:
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E-mail and Teaser Video (This is just a teaser to get teachers excited about the upcoming PL with a short video on blended learning)
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E-mail, Call to Action Video, and Short Survey (This is a follow-up and a reminder of the upcoming PL proving the Call to Action, and a survey to see where teachers are and how they feel about it)
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Presentation, blended learning for the classroom, and Canvas PL Course (This is the first session with the teachers going over in depth the PL and the resources needed: Blended learning for specific subject matters and the Canvas PL Course they need to complete)
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Summary
Blended learning in the classroom is a great way to teach educational materials and it can easily help students close the academic gaps in their learning and boost their confidence in their educational journey. A blended learning classroom also allows teachers to build those relationships with their students as they have more time to converse with them and work out problems with them in several ways in class or online. This PL is the key to getting our teachers on board and seeing firsthand what it can do for them and for their students. My school’s K-6th grade teachers are the primary focus of the PL, however, it will be open for any teacher that wants to participate even though the grade level and content discussed is for k-6th grade teachers could learn the initial concept and then move into their own professional learning communities. The end goal would be for over 50% of the staff on my campus to conduct some form of blended learning in their classrooms. Therefore, during this PL, teachers will learn how to use blended learning in their classrooms as well as the benefits it will bring to them and to their students. I am very passionate about blended learning as I have been able to teach using this method for over a year and have seen tremendous results; therefore, I strongly believe that this is a great method to reach ALL students.
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References
Gulamhussein, A. (2013). Teaching the teachers effective professional development in an era of high stakes accountability. Center for Public Education. Retrieved from http://www.centerforpubliceducation.org/ system/files/2013-176_ProfessionalDevelopment.pdf
Timeline
Below is a detailed timeline of the 2022-2023 Professional Learning for Building a Blended Learning culture in the classroom at Harmony elementary:
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April 2022
- All teachers will be provided an introduction to blended learning and watch a video on the importance of technology with the usage of blended learning in the classroom. In addition, to my Call to Action video. There is also a discussion and Q&A and a survey that will be available to teachers regarding their level of technology skills.
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October 2022
- All teachers watched a more in-depth video on blended learning. Each teacher is issued a tablet or can use their classroom computer, the same tablet their students will be using in their classrooms.
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November 2022
- All teachers are provided with various apps and online resources to use and refer to while creating blended learning lesson plans. Modeling tech in the classroom is also demonstrated.
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December 2022
- All teachers are issued a set of classroom tablets for students to use for a soft rollout of the technology in the classroom. Teachers will be provided with technology agreements for their students to sign. Teachers are also informed that PLs going forward after returning from holiday break will be content-specific until May 2023. Modeling tech in the classroom is also demonstrated.
January 2023
- All subject teachers and CTE teachers PL meeting is held training classroom to demonstrate further modeling. Collaboration is also fostered by teachers working together to create technology lesson plans.
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February 2023
- Continue modeling during in-person training sessions and online course access at this time; discussion and feedback are required based on how the students react to using the tablets in class for our curriculum.
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March 2023
- Continue modeling during in-person training sessions and online course access at this time; discussion and feedback are required based on how the students react to using the tablets in class for our curriculum.
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April 2023
- Continue modeling during in-person training sessions and online course access; at this time, discussion and feedback are required based on how the teachers react to using the tablets in class for their curriculum.
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May 2023
- All teachers meet to take part in an end-of-year technology survey. Each department will briefly demonstrate how they plan to use technology in their subject matters for the upcoming 2023-2024 school year. Teachers will also turn in their set of classroom tablets. Discussion and feedback will also be welcomed and encouraged at the end of the year PL