For our capstone project for this course we have been given the opportunity to plan real-life PD for our colleagues! We came up with our "big idea" as a group (helping our colleagues become more comfortable with using technology with students and pushing out of their comfort zone) and split up the responsibilities into subcommittees that everyone in the class could sign up for.
While I'm still excited about this idea, there have been some struggles along the way. Although everyone in the class works in the same district and we're in the same cohort, not having ample time to meet face-to-face has been hard. We used time during our last class to get into our groups and get started with the planning, but then we found that when we came back together as a large group that we weren't all on the same page after all. While our big idea is the same, the way we want to get there is not. I'm part of the group whose responsibility is to plan out the professional development activities. The work of the other groups really depends on us getting our piece finished, but we don't feel like we have a clear picture of what we'd like to do so it isn't done yet. Technology can be used for collaborating and completing group projects, but it's also easy to push something aside to do later when you don't need to discuss it with someone face-to-face.
In order to get this plan put into action, I think that we need to set a strict timeline for when each group's responsibilities should be completed by. It may also help for each group to have a leader who can be the point of contact between groups and help to rally the group members together to stay on track.
Although we still have a lot to do in order to complete this PD, I can honestly say that this experience has already made me appreciate all of the work that goes into organizing and planning for Institute Days, Staff Development Days, and even simply staff meetings. There is a lot of work that needs to be done behind the scenes to make PD successful, and I'm glad that I've had the experience of seeing both sides of that now!
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I agree with what you said 100%. I like digitally collaborating, but for this project, that is very challenging. Trying to hear and honor the ideas of such a large group is hard to do with little face to face communication.
ReplyDeleteI too have gained a new appreciation for the intensity and rigor that goes in to planning GOOD PD! I know we have all sat through PD that we wished was better. In order to do it well and do it right, there is a lot of hard work involved!
ReplyDeleteIt IS a lot of work to plan good, productive PD. I think that this experience has helped me appreciate the positive PD that is planned for us more.
ReplyDeleteI have gained a lot of perspective from this class about planning PD and observing other teachers and understanding what an evaluation looks like! I like your idea of a strict timeline with dates and responsibilities organized!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Jessica, there is a ton of work that goes into planning PD that I didn't realize before starting this capstone project. It is nice to be on the other side to gain a different perspective. Also, I agree with you that meeting face to face could provide a chance for us to get a lot done in a short amount of time.
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