Development Effective Professional Learning
Alternative PROFESSIONAL LEARNING
The
Why
The
What
Professional development can no longer just be about exposing teachers to a concept or providing basic knowledge about a teaching methodology. Instead, professional development in an era of accountability requires a change in a teacher’s practice that leads to increases in student learning. Teaching and learning are both acquiring knowledge. Facing some challenges may have the inquires and they should accept the challenge. I believe that teachers can develop or establish the environment or immerse the student in that environment, motivate and inspire the learner to take ownership of their learning. I believe that every learner has a different ability, and the teacher should praise the effort and not the ability. The teacher analyzes and assesses to choose the appropriate technologies that can not only fit the needs of the learner but to enhance the learning environment. We still need to increase the effectiveness of professional learning, and educators are one of the key elements for this development. The standard of increasing the effectiveness of PL is the largest point with the greatest potential. The new reform of professional and effective teaching is to reform and create a significant learning environment that represents a retreat from the traditional way to a fact-based style that enforces critical thinking and problem-solving.
From there, districts always focus on the student learning method, not on the teacher learning methods. Most of PL is ineffective because of using a traditional way of changing teacher practice and poor way to convey theoretical concepts and evidence-based- research.
Allison Gulla Hussein (2013) outlines 5 principles that will guide school leaders in designing effective professional learning opportunities for teachers. These practical approaches can make a difference in a PL educational development.
Call to Action
The
How
Back Stage (How)
As I was preparing to create my “Call to Action” presentation, I considered different presentation requirements to meet all the expectations that it needed. After reading and watching all the resources and also going through all the past courses that helped me to shift my thinking from fixed to a growth mindset. As I look at my innovation plan. Learning Philosophy, Learning Manifesto and Literature Review and review my " why." I can see the need for making change meaningful and tangible, using the six sources of influence to make a measurable change. All kinds of motivation and ability of personal, social, and structural keys to a long-lasting change in an organization, it is imperative to provide stakeholders with a way to connect the Why, Who, and what! As Dr. Kotter mentioned in his argument.
"The heart of change" means that the first step in any change effort is to create a sense of urgency in making a long-lasting change when it is over the heart and mind. Nowadays, we live in a digital world to change a life, and this is going to affect the learning method. It is now a digital approach, In any place or even any time. Learning is easy to access and complete in any situation.
Learning has no limit, on the other hand Changing the learning culture is an excellent opportunity for learners to learn efficiently and in different approachable ways. But learning always starts with the learner, whatever the learning method is improved.
If I want to achieve effective professional development, I should have the time, support, engagement, modeling and relevance. I should master the knowledge, curriculum analysis and high creativity of thinking.
After going through all of these resources I was able to produce a Call-to-Action video. The motivation and goal at the same time were to convey a significant message that will impact all of us now and in the future. Composing my” Why” “How” and “What "gave me another opportunity to share my thoughts and what I have experienced. This way, I write my story as a script, then I record my video as a” call to action” . I tried to use Camtasia but then I decided to use “ iMovie'' which I found easier to use. It also has an amazing function that easy to manage . It offers default and background music, voice-over sound, animation sound, intro videos, filters, transitions, and other basic features for audio-visual projects. After collecting the pictures and images that match my presentation I put them in order that related to my script. I then found out that I needed to audit some sentences and words. After thinking, I gave it a try and I asked my son: "if I want to audit the video, what do you think I should do?' He told me: "Mom , there is a Cap Cut'' ! It is a great App for auditing, and yes! I like it! YOU KNOW, technology tools have become a ubiquitous element of the new generation’s life! So I arranged and organized the visuals based on the storyboard. It took longer than I expected, but I felt that I learned a lot. I tried several attempts to match my voice over the images. I edited the script three times. I also decided to add some text slides to highlight key points. I can’t believe how amazing this learning method is. I have control and ownership of my work, and this work will be saved in my e-portfolio. I also have this flexibility to explore and design, format, layouts, music and combination until I was happy with the outcome. Several times I practiced with the volume of the recording, I tried to have short sentences match with the picture with not too slow or much speed. I tried to have one idea in every slide and gather all the information that I needed to present. I also tried to engage the Idea considering the audience how they like to engage with this idea. I saved it on YouTube to be uploaded to my e-Portfolio.
In addition to a "call to action" video, I also designed an infographic to summarize the 5 Principles of an Effective Professional Development by( Gulamhussein, 2013). I used Canva, an online tool for creating infographics, presentation slides, posters. I downloaded this application to choose a template and customize the content, graphics, and overall layout. After summarizing the 5 Principles. I worked on designing a simple layout to highlight each principle. I cited my references and saved the templates as an images, was a successful idea but I found out that I need to resize the pictures for more clarity, then I downloaded a Canva Pro, it has more function to resize and choose images, to be able to download it to Google Doc and to my e-portfolio.
I enjoyed this video, and that made me feel more comfortable about recording more videos.
Professional Learning plan Outline
I started My Plan, and designed my course when I first wrote my innovation plan. I saw the potential and the needs for using blended learning with learning a second language. I got inspired by my people who hardly learn their language while they are abroad. I thought about how blended learning will help fill the gap of learning and make it entertaining and engaging. I have seen too many teachers need to get trained using the blended learning.
When I first developed my professional plan I first find my why, I then referred to Gulamhussein 5 keys principles of effective professional learning(2013)
1-Duration
2-Support
3-Engagement
4- Modeling
5-Retrieval (specific content)
Along with these principles I have used Fink’s three column table that helps to align the assessment, outcome and activity to have effective professional learning. Change is a call to action and this change needs collaboration and clear goal for planning new resources and increasing the effectiveness of Professional Learning that is leverage point with the greatest potential for strengthening and refining the day-to-day performance of educators. Professional learning leads to effective teaching practices, supportive leadership, and improved student results. The purpose of professional learning is for educators to develop the knowledge, skills, practices, and dispositions they need to help students perform at higher levels. Also, using the standard to shape more effective professional learning will require study, thought, discussion and planning; this quality and effectiveness change can’t be left to chance by itself!
Educators will use the standard for professional learning to develop the knowledge about effective professional learning. Use the standard to request improvements in the professional learning in which they participate, apply the standards to the planning, design, facilitation and evaluation of professional learning they lead.
Below is the outline that will help guide me as I complete my professional learning plan on my online blended learning course, Professional learning Plan Outline that represents the Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG)!
5 principles of PL, illustrating details about each principle.
TOPIC: Implementing Blended Learning in a second Language following the CSLE +COVA Models.
Audience : Teachers who are interested in teaching a second language. Teachers who know the content but still struggle about teaching approach and technology resources in addition to those who don't have the ability to engage the learner with the content. Teachers who need to have effective professional learning by considering the 5 keys principles for effective professional learning to ensure the continuous support and guidance for the PL learners which they are:
Duration : 8 hours every Course, and every course is two months. So it is Bi-weekly collaborative team meeting where I discuss with the teacher if they need more hours so they can finish all of their plans and share some new ideas. This time is dedicated for brainstorming, problem solving, reflection and planning. This meeting will be recorded!
Support :Teachers should have a coach to support when she needs any help or support. Teachers are like students, they have different abilities to understand different new concepts. Sometimes coaches will help by observing the classroom to help the teacher with any modification in the teaching method they should use the provided communication resources such as zoom, LMS.
Engagement: Feedback from the teachers in every meeting discusses the new decisions and new teaching approach. We can do that as google doc for 3 weeks and make a meeting once a month to discuss and brainstorming any new ideas that will help the learner to get engaged. Teachers will be asked to share their ideas and also to collaborate and show their successful work.
Modeling: This Course is set to be an online blended learning course. Teachers are the learner who learns the blended learning methods and the different learning approaches. Also, they will notice the student development and reflection to the new methods. Teachers will be working on their online module at their pace with a suggestion on the resources they use and the completion of the professional learning hours. Also, they should speak about every teacher’s blended learning experience and development.
Specific Content: Blended learning can be used in any forign language course, on the other hand teachers in any language can share the teaching approach and the activities or resources that will enhance the learning. Implementing blended Learning in the second language course will illustrate the why, how and what with COVA to create a significant learning environment.
Collaboration: I will consider once a month observation time; so one of the teachers can attend another teacher class and write feedback. Also at the professional learning coaching teachers should share some questions, feedback and suggestion to help develop the pedagogy
Leadership: The professional learning course will be led by instructional coaching in my organization. I will be the online blended learning coach leader. And some teachers will model the blended learning on their online course.
Instructional Design: While designing the course, I create the three column table of outcome based to align the outcome, activities and assessment also with the BHAG that focus on the learner and the innovation plan, learning philosophy and creating a significant learning environment that helps the learner to have choice, ownership and voice through an authentic learning environment. All of these together will need a growth mindset to always change and add new resources in addition to the professional development that will change the learning and teaching to effective pedagogical methods.
Resources: Teachers will need a laptop, I pod, or Chromebook or PC. Teachers access the online course on Google Classroom as (LMS).Teachers need to access in their curriculum lesson with the instructional coach to digitize some content and help with the blended learning, they will follow Durate’s rule for the effective presentation and will follow Gulamhussein for using the five Keys of effective professional development with professional learning slides added to (LMS ) for easy access.
Professional Learning Outline
Connecting and Communicating your Idea
My professional learning program is designed to demonstrate how teachers in teaching a second language can use blended learning in the online google classroom or any other platform for a beginner level. The program itself is blended learning course using Google classroom as a LMS (Learning Management system). As I designed this program and course, I want to Keep a good balance between adequate duration and time for collaboration but also respect the teacher's time and busy schedule. My teacher-team will complete reading the discussion posts, and activities through the LMS at their own pace with suggested deadline. This online course will be companied by face-to-face collaboration session where we will review the modules that they are working on and spend time collaboration and working on the activity for the module. During the course, participants will have had the chance to implement the activity and resources with flexibility and quality into their classroom and We will meet every month to share experiences and evaluate progressing.
Blended learning will be a great choice for learner who interested to learn a second language for different reason, School, family, business, or just as a hoppy! Blended learning will facilitate the time, place, native speaker opportunity to meet.
Hopefully, this program and this course will be helpful for teachers who love to create a change and for learners who have a growth mindset!
My BHAG
Learners will be able to apply their learning (foreign language learning) to the technology tools such as: create a podcast conversation, a zoom culture presentation, engaging professional video content or creating a digital video clip about the foreign culture.
Three Column Table
5 Principles of Effective Professional Learning
Professional Learning Time Plan
Collaboration and modeling my implementing blended learning course
Blended Learning Professional Development Learning Slide Deck
References
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Photos Credit
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Modeling word block stock
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