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!