LIBE477B

POST #3

MODULE 5

Supporting Teachers' ICT Curriculum and Pedagogy:
On-going and Professional Development

Full plates:

Given that everyone has full plates and not overly interested in adding too much more, I try to approach any professional development information in as simple of a format as possible. Generally, I listen to what a teacher is looking for and try to find an app, extension, blog post or link to share with them and will then meet with them individually and share the information directly. If there are several teachers looking for the same information, I will share with a few teachers at once. A few times this past year, in my first position as a TL, I did attach to the staff memo library updates which often included a link of a suggestion for an extension to use or a useful site I found.

However, moving forward, I plan to make a blog available for teachers to access the resources I find and share. I will post my blog to our library learning commons' webpage. I plan to highlight some of the informative texts, videos, blogs and much more I have been introduced to through my own journey to become a teacher librarian. TedTalks often have talks by authors from our assigned texts, including several talks by "Why School" author Will Richardson. I plan to share useful TedTalks in my future blog.

I will include on my blog, links to my Symbaloo page, to which I am continually adding links. Not only is this a great resource for me to share specific resources with teachers, they can use it as an organizational tool in their own classes and teach the basics of their platform to their students to use for organizing and sharing information. The example below is a Symbaloo Webmix I have recently created around ADST - Inquiry and Project. I will soon be adding another Webmix filled with resources and information to help teachers with Information technology Professional Development.

On a daily basis, I use Google Team Drives and Google Calendars to share, organize and introduce ideas to others. This collaborative tool is an excellent way for teachers to share resources and practice the skills within the main platform they are teaching to students.

My district is in the process of forming and Teacher Librarians' association and I am part of the executive of this LSA. While we have not yet had a great number of meetings, we do plan on doing so as we move forward. The collaboration and sharing from these sessions will be invaluable and we will be able to pass along our gained knowledge to teachers within our own schools. Until regular meetings start to take place, we rely upon posting various ideas on our Team Drive. One link I will share here is the Monro's Book List that I created based upon the books Kirsten Larmon presented at our recent TL Pro-D day.

The Pro-D referred to above will likely be the model for our TL meetings in the next school year. Each librarian will be asked to share one resource (preferably Tech based) and we will have a tech based demo of some description, for example on teaching robotics. 

I have in the past used Dropbox and the Microsoft Office Suite to share information; however, I am trying not to have too many places where I store resources. I am trying to streamline and concentrate on using Google Drive.

Cups o' coffee:

While I would like to have a few minutes at staff meetings to present technologies and support teachers, there never seems to be quite enough time. (Almost) every Friday during this school year, I have baked treats and made coffee for all staff during morning recess. New books are resources are always out on display. Starting in September, I will also offer a "lunch and learn" series to all teachers. Our LLC just acquired 13 new Chromebooks, so this would be a great time for teachers to have both some structured and unstructured "play time" with coffee and treats, of course. 

Support from outside:

The resource centre in my district has undergone some changes, so it will be interesting to see what sorts of resources are available once it has fully re-opened. I feel very fortunate in that there has been fantastic support from the technology curriculum coordinator. He has always been available and eager to help present new resources to teachers.

What about input from teachers?

In the August 2017 article Beyond Access: Helping Teachers Integrate Technology into Classrooms Wisely by Ying Xu he describes the breakdown in technology integration. He outlines Three Practical Approaches Toward Teacher Change:

• Emphasizing teacher professional development
• Improving collaborative environments among teachers
• Enhancing technical support

The entire article can be accessed by clicking here. It is interesting to note the importance of consulting with teachers prior to acquiring new technology is a concern for all teachers.

The TECH EDVOCATE website is a fantastic resource to find answers to many questions about technology. I plan to include links to a few of the articles found on this site in my blog. 

  Helping teachers use technology and technology experts teach

Finally...

Twitter. This is an excellent way of sharing ideas and resources quickly and effectively. I will embed my Twitter feed into my blog post, all of which will be shared on the LLC page of the school website. 

References

1. Connor C. Beyond Access: Helping Teachers Integrate Technology into Classrooms Wisely. Isilearnnet. 2018. Available at: http://isilearn.net/helping-teachers-integrate-technology-into-classrooms/. Accessed June 9, 2018.

2. TedTalks. The Surprising Truth About Learning In Schools | Will Richardson | Tedxwestvancouvered.; 2018. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxyKNMrhEvY. Accessed June 9, 2018.

3. Xu Y. Beyond Access: Helping Teachers Integrate Technology into Classrooms Wisely. Isilearnnet. 2018. Available at: http://isilearn.net/helping-teachers-integrate-technology-into-classrooms/. Accessed June 10, 2018.

4. Lynch M. Helping Teachers Use Technology and Technology Experts Teach - The Tech Edvocate. The Tech Edvocate. 2018. Available at: http://www.thetechedvocate.org/helping-teachers-use-technology-technology-experts-teach/. Accessed June 9, 2018.

5. 2018. Available at: https://mefotografie.deviantart.com/art/books-coffee-and-a-cookie-214550426. Accessed June 10, 2018.