Back to School!

Staff Website

August was here, and soon teachers would be returning to school, but I still had a lot of work I wanted to complete.  I was thinking about how to help our staff have an easier way to find information, and decided to make a staff website. Over the years, we have accumulated a TON of files in our staff folder in Google Drive, so I thought an organized website might be helpful.   I included links to frequently used websites, schedules, policies and procedures.  I wanted to keep it simple and clean so it would be user friendly for our staff, so I made it with the new Google Sites.

Google Classroom for Staff

After that was completed, I began to think about Personalized PD and how I would be sharing information with staff, and how they could share with each other.  The website didn't seem like the right fit for this.  Our district offers Personalized PD courses online through Google Classroom.  I thought that would be a great way for our staff to connect and share resources pertaining to staff development. I created our "class" and added a link in the "About" section for the new Staff Site.  I also created a document called "Where to find it" so that teachers would know what they will find on the Staff Site vs. Google Classroom for staff.  I was thinking that this "Classroom" would be where we can post Staff Meeting agendas, Personalized PD info, and share innovative ideas that teachers were trying with their students.

It was almost time for everyone to return from a much needed summer break.  Our staff was planning to meet as we normally do, but this time our meeting would run differently.  My principal, @smetigerwallace wanted to take the idea of "Personalized PD" to our first back to school staff meeting. Rather than going over schedules, policies and procedures in the typical fashion (i.e. Slides presentation, handouts, etc.) she had an innovative idea: Let's have each team demonstrate a new tech tool AND use it to share information that was to be covered in the staff meeting.  We had both been reading The Innovator's Mindset:Empower Learning, Unleash Talent, and Lead a Culture of Creativity by George Couros and he often discussed how leaders need to take risks: “If leaders want people to try new things, they have to openly show that they are willing to do the same.” She created a Google Doc that had each team assigned a different tech tool: Kahoot, Plickers, Adobe Spark, iMovie, Flipgrid, and Canva.  Each group was to use the assigned tool to present to the rest of the staff about various topics like Parent Communication, Awards and Recognition, Schedules, etc. Most of the staff hadn't used these tech tools, so it was an opportunity to learn something new while they created their part of the presentation.  

"Choose Your Own EDventure" Trail Mix!

Once that was completed, we talked about having just a quick intro to our new Personalized PD focus during our "Tiger Time" as a new change this year.  In the past, we had spent PD time each week learning the same topic across grade levels.  This new Personalized PD format would be a change for everyone, and at the back to school meeting we would just share about it briefly before things were back in full swing.  One final touch...my principal wanted to do something with our "Choose Your Own EDventure" theme, and made these cute trail mix packs with our logo for each staff member.  We were ready for the EDventure to begin!

Question of the summer...What is Personalized PD?

At the end of the school year this past May, my principal approached me with a great opportunity.  After teaching 2nd grade for 3 years, and 4th grade for 10 years, we discussed the possibility of leaving my classroom to work with teachers the following year on "personalized PD."  At the time, I was a bit worried to leave the comfort of my classroom (which I was co-teaching at the time) and felt awful to "break up" with my partner teacher.  We always had joked that we would never leave each other, but this opportunity was unlike any other and I was intrigued by the nature of this new form of professional development.  This would be a chance to really push myself as a teacher and share my own experiences beyond my four walls.  After speaking with my co-teacher, I decided this was something I should take on, and just like that, we split (but she got to keep the kids!) Ha! 

I started Googling "personalized PD" and tried to learn as much as I could.  I came across this article on EdSurge, which was a good start to get an understanding about why moving to a more personalized format would be beneficial for teachers.  I found some more articles and then came across this book, Personalized PD: Flipping Your Professional Development by Jason Bretzmann, Kenny Bosch, and other contributors, which I immediately ordered. Once that book was in my hands I had a much better idea of how to approach this new structure of professional development.  I took massive notes, highlighted, and then made a decision to do something major...I joined Twitter.

"I'll never go on Twitter. I already use Facebook and Instagram and do not need another thing to waste my time on." That was my thinking prior to June 2017.  Wow.  I had NO idea what I had been missing out on by not being connected to so many educators with great ideas and information to share.  I was definitely a "lurker" for awhile, but quickly learned how things work and tweeted my first post.  I took a picture of the book cover, which was the inspiration for joining Twitter, and to my surprise, the author of the book actually commented on my post.  It all clicked...you can really connect with people on here, and most are truly willing to help and learn from each other.  I was hooked and searched for all things #personalizedPD to continue my research.  

I started to think about how to approach our staff with this new PD process.  I wanted to come up with a catchy name for it (I have a marketing degree, and cannot turn it off!), and one day as I was dropping my daughter off at her preschool, I came up with the perfect name: "Choose Your Own EDventure!"  I immediately texted this to my best friend/colleague and ran it by her.  Then I had to share with my principals.  They thought it was great as well, and I felt happy to have one thing in place so far.  Creative name for Personalized PD ✅  

I then thought that we would need a hashtag to track the work teachers are doing at our site.  I looked at #CYOE since "Choose Your Own EDventure" would be lengthy, but that was already taken.  So, #CYOEd would have to suffice.  I also wanted to create a logo (there's that marketing in me!) so went on Canva at the recommendation of my friend and created our logo (right).  

After spending a great deal of time on the research and branding, I wanted to map out HOW I would roll this out for teachers.  I created a PearDeck presentation to introduce this new format for PD, and offered up some ideas that teachers may want to research. 

Finally, it was August and I went in to chat with my principal about the presentation I had been working on.  So far, what I had put together was looking good, but she shared an article with me about finding your passion  by A.J. Juliani and wondered if we could incorporate this into our plans.  I thought this was a great idea, and made a digital format of his ideas to help our teachers find their passion.  I finished up the presentation with this addition.  

I was back working at school, and was fortunate enough to have an actual classroom to have our PD sessions in this coming year.  In the past, there weren't any available rooms, so we always met in the conference room.  This was a great opportunity to make it a "cool place to work." I wanted to have some sort of flexible seating for "grown-ups" and was thinking of a Starbucks/Google offices style.  My principal mentioned that we could see if any furniture was available in our district.  She was able to snag these cool stools and tables!  I thought it was so fun for teachers and was excited to see what everyone would think when they returned to work. I also figured that snacks, coffee, and a fridge full of La Croix was in order to keep the room environment a happy and fun place to be.  

In just a week, the teachers would be returning for our Back to School Staff Meeting, and would begin to hear about the new changes coming their way!