Staff Development Reflection

The staff development I presented this morning was based on a SMART notebook I created for my classroom to use for a novel study.  Today I presented the start of the book Dear Mr. Henshaw.  I think my presentation was geared toward elementary teachers.

One thing that I think went really well was that I included labels with important information and details on the side of my original slides.  I also gave a lot of information on how I use this lesson in my classroom.

I think that I should have tried to "look a little deeper" into how the lesson I use can be adjusted to fit the needs of middle and high school teachers.

Staff Development Ideas

.  As I was reading the two articles I noticed a lot of common threads.  One of the most important was to make all staff development learner centered.  It is very important to make sure that whatever you are teaching is relevant to who you are teaching.  Numerous studies were completed based on the idea that when you are teaching a new idea or concept to make sure you are only teaching it to those people that really need it or can relate to it.  If you are teaching a group of high school math teacher’s ways to reduce fractions they are not going to pay you any attention so your staff development will be for nothing.

Another key idea was to make sure the learners can directly apply what they have learned to what they are teaching.  I will be of no help to teach a fifth grade teacher the best way to sound out words.  That is not something they are going to be teaching their classroom

Technology in the Classroom

Currently my classroom has some of the features that were mentioned in the article.  One side of my room has my White Board.  Across from that is my Smart Board.  In between the two boards is my desk with my reading table across from it.  There is no set front of my classroom.  My desk are usually group into pods.  There are a few times where they are in rows, no more them 5 in a row, that face each other.  Currently I have 2 desk top computers and 2 laptops that are up and running all day every day.  I also have a very extensive library in my room for my students to utilize. 

The classroom that is described in the article is set up close to the way mine is, but has many more computers and other technological devices.  I would envision there being iPads as well as iPods that the students would use in a daily basis.  When entering this classroom I would expect to see the children working collaboratively with each other to solve problems using higher order thinking skills.  I would also see them creating different digital presentations and products as a result of the teaching that has been going on.  I see the teacher being more of a facilitator there to help and lead and not standing at the front of the room teaching straight from a book.  One thing that would be a major change from what I currently have in my classroom would be each student having access to their own computer.

Next year and over the next few years I would like to see many different changes taking place in my classroom.  I would like to see an increase in computers in my room for student uses as well as other technological devices like iPads and iPods.  I would also like to see me let go of the control that I have a hard time letting go of in my classroom now.  I would like to start using more project based learning then I do now with my student's and have them create their own way of grading their projects as well as their peers.  I see myself incorporating more student collaboration within my lessons also.