Professional Learning Plan

 

Introduction

 

Our students are forever changing and learning in a world filled with technology at their fingertips. If you told me last year at this time I would be teaching a blended learning swimming class, with half my students in school and the other half online, I would have never believed you. However, here we are, the year 2020 has actually taught us more than we ever thought possible. This year has been an exciting and nerve-racking time in my career. Thankfully, I started this program at Lamar in time and I am getting to see all of my hard work come together. These challenging times have allowed me to implement my innovation plan early and also provided my fellow coworkers an opportunity to do the same with their curriculum through professional learning. However, if we go back to a normal classroom with all of our students back in school, I fear many teachers will go back to their usual way of teaching. 

 

If we learned anything this year it is that we never know what may happen tomorrow. We need to prepare our students for an unpredictable future by helping them learn how to independently and collaboratively solve problems by utilizing a diverse variety of resources available to them. This means we have to change the way we teach and approach our lessons. Learners need to be the makers and designers of what they are learning not passive receivers. I believe the best way to accomplish this is through blended learning. This approach to education permits students to have greater choice, ownership, and voice in the learning process. They will have opportunities to work at their own pace and complete work on their own time, while teachers can work more closely with students who may need extra help and/or guidance.  

 

Call to Action

 

In my 7 years of teaching, I have had the opportunity to participate in a variety of professional learning experiences. I have listened to several outside presenters, watched numerous videos, been taught by my peers, visited other schools, went to state conventions, and even had the opportunity to teach some sessions myself. Surprisingly, the sessions I learned the most from were the ones that got me involved and followed up with resources and support long after the presentation ended. Our administration at Owen J. Roberts has continuously varied their approach in an attempt to find the most effective way to execute Professional Development in order to encourage growth and change. However, despite their willingness to try new methods, they seem to have fallen just short of their overall goal. For that reason, I have created the following presentation on what I believe we need to do as a district to promote change within our building. 

 

The following presentation is meant to be viewed specifically by the Health and Physical Education Department at the Middle School but also the administration as well. I hope that it will inspire change within my department but also within my building as a whole. I tried to make it general so that it could eventually be presented within all of the departments in the building. I plan on meeting with both my building administrators and the Health and Physical Education department supervisor prior to sharing this with my department, so I am able to incorporate their feedback and hopefully gather their support for this movement. 

 

I believe many people in my building, myself included, currently view professional learning in a negative way. I hope that by making these changes to the current system, we will be able to improve our practices, increase student engagement, and make professional learning a more positive and effective experience. By providing continual support and specific content related to each department, I hope to promote a positive change within my building.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Professional Learning Blueprint

 

Professional learning is an opportunity to enable teachers to enhance their own teaching skills and understanding of the learning process. However, if you have ever been in a professional learning environment they are mostly viewed negatively by teachers and staff because they are not provided with proper support, specific instruction, and time to master the skills. My goal is to change this view and process through my professional learning plan for blended learning at Owen J. Roberts. 

 

Beginning in August 2021, I want to move the Health and Physical Education (HPE) Department at my building towards a blended learning curriculum. With the help of our department head and tech department, I will plan blended learning scenarios for the HPE department to participate in during our September department meeting. This will hopefully engage the teachers and help them recognize some benefits to using this form of teaching strategy. Every meeting after, we will discuss any upcoming changes in the curriculum for at least the first 15 minutes and address any concerns or generate ideas to improve our lessons. The department head will also help organize other meetings and times where we can complete blended learning training and gain more experience using this in our curriculum by the Spring Semester. In the summer we will attend a blended learning professional development session as a department in the Owen J. Roberts gym to provide us with outside resources to refer to as we plan for the next school year. I hope that by providing a variety of models from department heads, outside resources, and peers, teachers will be able to feel more comfortable with making these changes to their curriculum over the next year and that professional learning groups and monthly department meetings will work to assist teachers throughout this process. 

 

Other Important Notes on Audience 

 

Many teachers are in the process of trying to stay afloat with virtual learning this year and are not looking to make big changes to their curriculum. It’s important to show how easy it is to use once the work is put into creating the lessons. Many teachers have school-aged children at home that they have to take care of so working over the summer to create these kinds of lessons may be difficult. Offer example lessons and templates to make the transition more appealing and easier to use.

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Fostering Collaboration

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Due to the needs of the individuals within my department, I want to make efficient use of the time while all teachers are already at school. 

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Monthly Department Meetings: I hope to use this time to collaborate with the department since this is the only time we are all together. It is during these monthly meetings that I would like the Department head/Instruction coach to model a sample blended learning style lesson, for all teachers to discuss their thoughts on the shift to blended based learning and to allow the department a chance to brainstorm their own ideas.

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Bi-Weekly Grade Level Meetings: Teachers will meet for 20 minutes bi-weekly with their grade-level teams so that all grade levels are consistent with blended learning requirements and expectations. These meetings will be held before school from 6:50- 7:10 am. They will have a chance to brainstorm ideas, discuss recourses, lesson plans, expectations, and any other important information that may arise. 

• Develop BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal),  SLO (Significant Learning Objectives), 3 Column Table or UbD (Depending on the department's preference)

• Department Heads can provide modeling during meetings for the whole department of how to implement blended learning.

 

Flex Sessions: Every year our district allows us to schedule at least six hours of flex after school. As long as the agenda is provided and pre-approved by the administration these meetings can be organized by teachers and relate to content that they would like to focus on. 

 

Fostering Self-Directed Learning 

 

The main reason I created this PL plan was to give teachers a chance to have some ownership and choice when it came to their professional development. HPE teachers will meet for 25-30 minutes on a bi-weekly basis to discuss lesson plans, new ideas, and other important information. 

 

Professional Learning Instructors 

 

Our department heads and instructional coaches will be the leaders of the Professional Learning sessions. 

 

5 Key Principles of Effective Professional Learning

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Timeline- (Link) 

Phase 1: Spring 2020-Summer 2020 - Approval and Pilot Blended Learning

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• Meet with building principals, department supervisors, technology supervisor, and superintendent to discuss the changes to professional learning structure. 

• Share and discuss:

  • Promotional video

  • Blended Learning Literature Review

  • Risk-Taking Video

• Receive approval for new professional development style and FLEX time for the Health and Physical Education Department. 

• Meet with current technology department and department chair as well as the middle school Health and Physical Education Department to discuss professional learning changes, strategies, and begin training (Key Principles 2). 

  • Review the Innovation Plan Promotional Video and Timeline. 

  • Introduce a blended learning model through videos and discussions. 

    • Share personal student growth and successes. 

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Phase 2: Fall 2020-Spring 2021 - Planning and Preparation

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• Meet with the department head and technology department once a month during PL time (9 times total throughout the 2020-2021 school year) and discuss implementing blended learning into the Health and Physical Education classrooms (Key Principals 1,3,4) 

  • Discuss and evaluate blended learning goals and successes and struggles observed throughout the year. 

• Beginning in August:

  • Health and Physical Education Teachers will participate in the completion of blended learning activities that could be used in the classroom (ex: Google classrooms, Canvas, Quizizz, kahoot, etc.). (Key Principals 3,4,5) 

  • From this point on, during the monthly HPE department meetings, the first 15 minutes will be dedicated to the discussion and planning for the incorporation of blended learning into our classrooms. UbD Template will be used to guide these sessions. (Key Principals 1,2,5) 

• The tech department and department chair will conduct two blended learning professional development sessions to serve as model examples as well as familiarize staff with some of the resources available on the students’ Chromebooks. (Key Principals 1,4,5) 

• Schedule three 2-hour flex planning sessions by grade level within the department to evaluate the current curriculum and incorporate blended learning. (Key Principals 1,2,3,5) 

• May 2021: students will be given an anonymous survey to answer questions regarding what they liked and disliked about blended learning. Also, what they would like to see in the future with technology in the classroom. (Google Form)

  • Use the feedback from collaboration and survey to make changes for the following year. 

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Summer 2021

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• Attend a blended learning professional development session as a department or experience an on-sight training session with a blended learning consultant (cost dependant). (Key Principals 1,3,4,5) 

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Phase 3: Fall 2021-Spring 2022- Partial Implementation

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• All Health and Physical Education Teachers will begin to utilize blended learning into their classrooms three out of the six-day middle school cycle. (Key Principals 1) 

• During monthly department meeting times, the first 15 minutes will be dedicated to discussing the use of blended learning in our classrooms. (Key Principals 1,2,3,4,5) 

• Establish a committee to work together to provide feedback and ongoing support to teachers. (Consist of instructional coaches, teachers who already implemented blended learning into their classrooms, and technology coordinator.)

  • Establish a WIG (Wildly Important Goal)

  • Develop training modules to provide ongoing training time for teachers to work at their own pace using a component of blended learning. (At least 50 hours) (Google Classroom). 

• The Department head and Tech department will participate in co-teaching activities upon the teacher’s request or when they have availability in their schedules. (Key Principals 1,2,4)

• Teachers will meet for 20 minutes bi-weekly with their grade-level teams so that all grade levels are consistent with the blended learning requirements/ expectations. (Key Principals 1,2,4,5)

• The November professional learning session will be dedicated to reflection on the first marking period’s inclusion of blended learning in the classroom. 

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Phase 4: 2022-2023 School year- Full implementation

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• Revamp the beginning of the year Professional Learning (PL) (August 2022). 

  • Instructional Coaches will lead rotations during the beginning of the year PL to provide initial information. (Google Slides)

  • Teachers that already use blended learning will work in computer labs to create relevant content for those teachers providing hands-on activities to create videos. (Handout) 

    • Teachers will provide short videos showing other teachers effective modeling of blended learning in the classroom. 

• Teachers will utilize blended learning in all four marking periods.

• Teachers will meet for 20 minutes bi-weekly with their grade-level teams so that all grade levels are consistent with blended learning requirements and expectations. (Key Principals 1,2,4,5)

  • Develop BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) and SLO (Significant Learning Objectives)

  • Instructional coaches can provide modeling during meetings for the whole department of how to implement blended learning.

• The Technology Department will provide tech support and training.

  • The tech Coordinator will meet with department heads to discuss any foreseeable tech issues before the school year starts. 

  • The tech coordinator and instructional coaches will create time slots for when they are available to help or assist struggling teachers who need support throughout the school year. 

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Resources and Media

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Our school is lucky enough this year to have 1-1 Chromebooks for all of our students. This will allow us to use a blended learning approach when teaching our curriculum. We will use Google Classroom for our distribution of resources not only to teachers by to the students as well. I think it is also important to have the teachers use Chromebooks like the students do so that they know and understand what their students are doing while away from the teacher. This will help the teacher answer any questions the students may have when they are using their Chromebooks. 

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Summary

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Although there will be some push-back on implementing blended learning into the HPE Curriculum I hope that all members of the department will feel encouraged and comfortable with stepping outside of their comfort zones to try something new in their teaching practices. The goal is to make learning more relevant and meaningful to our students. During this process, I aim to provide teachers with enough support and time to make the necessary changes to their instruction. Department meetings and planned incorporation of instructional coaches/ department heads should provide easily accessible resources for all teachers. My goal is to provide my coworkers with relevant and exciting professional learning sessions that they will look forward to attending and enough time to understand the information they are given and make those changes to their curriculums. 

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References

 

Fink, L.D. (2003) A Self-Directed Guide to Designing Courses for Significant Learning. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

 

French, V. W. (1997). Teachers must be learners, too: Professional development and national teaching standards.  Nassp Bulletin, 81(585), 38-44.

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Goodwin, B. (2015). Research Says/Does Teacher Collaboration Promote Teacher Growth? Educational Leadership, 73(4), 82–83. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/dec15/vol73/num04/Does-Teacher-Collaboration-Promote-Teacher-Growth%C2%A2.aspx

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Grenny, J., Patterson, K., Maxfield, D., McMillan, R., & Switzler, A. (2013). Influencer: The new science of leading change: 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Education

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Gulamhussein, A. (2013). Teaching the teachers effective professional development in an era of high stakes accountability. Center for public education. Retrieved from https://www.academia.edu/28440314/Teaching_Effective_Professional_Development_in_an_Era_of_High_Stakes_Accountability_READ_THE_REPORT_Center_for_Public_Education

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McChesney, C., Covey, S., & Huling, J. (2012). The 4 disciplines of execution: Achieving your wildly important goals. New York, NY: Free Press.

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The future of jobs: Employment, skills, and workforce strategy for the fourth industrial revolution. (2016, January). Retrieved from World Economic Forum website: http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Future_of_Jobs.pdf