A Classroom with No Kids?!

It was finally the first day back to school for students.  After being a classroom teacher for 13 years, I must admit it was strange to not run out to greet my new crew with all of the excitement that the first day brings.  I watched other teachers welcoming their kids to their new grade and soon the doors were closed and all of the fun first day activities were taking place.  But, in room 202, I sat in an eerie silence.  I definitely had mixed feelings about my new role, and missed seeing the excited new faces looking back at me.  But, I was still looking forward to working with our awesome teachers and began working on my next project: a PD survey.  

Screenshot of PersonalizedPD Survey

I was thinking about the varying levels of technology use among our staff, and thought it would be helpful to take a survey to find out the comfort level of each teacher with regards to computer programs and other topics within professional development.  I created this PersonalizedPD Survey to help gauge knowledge and interest levels within each category.  My thinking was that I could use the data to possibly showcase some different programs/resources each week based on each grade level's need.  I also could learn about specific areas of interest for teachers as well as find out what they already feel successful doing and can possibly share with others.  I planned to use this on my first day of Personalized PD with each grade level, which was to begin in just a few weeks (finally!).  

Resources by Category: Screenshot

I was also spending a considerable amount of my time on Twitter, looking for ideas for teachers and for Personalized PD guidance.  I realized that there was SO much to discover as far as great ideas for classroom teachers, new technologies to try out, and incredible resources that were FREE!  I thought, how would I ever remember to share these specific things when the time was right? At first I figured retweeting would suffice, because then I could go back and find it in my profile.  But, this was not an organized method, and after some time, there would be way too much to sort through.  I ended up creating this document, Resources by Category, where each topic would lead to a different Padlet with all of the related resources that I came across.  This would be a living document that teachers could use and also add to as they found relevant information.  Now, when I found something great on Twitter, I would immediately save the link and add it to the appropriate Padlet for easy reference.  This would be a huge project to undertake, but I felt it was well worth the effort to have a place where information could be easily found.  I added this to our Google Classroom and planned to share with teachers at our first Personalized PD session.

Sample of Padlet: Digital Citizenship Resources

The countdown was on!  In just a few short weeks, I would have my own "First Day" with the teachers coming into room 202!