Tell me, and I forget; teach me, and I remember; involve me and I learn.
Blended Learning
Building Voices
At each turn of history, man had been inspired by stories that spoke to their hearts. Chief among these must be the life stories, which allow an individual to connect with real life and provide a glimpse of our own lives reflected in other people's coming-of-age stories, defeats, or triumphs. The life stories permit the individual to feel it is possible to be in a different place than where one presently is, and this transformation can be actively engendered by oneself rather than imposed without it in personal or professional life.
One of those moments of change has been my journey, harnessed through Professional Learning meetings in my school; I have come to learn through frustrations, challenges, and discoveries how to bring about better meetings to drive educators' professional growth. My call to action evolves from this context: Change the Game: Connect, Collaborate, Grow.
Implementing " Change the Game: Connect, Collaborate, and Grow" can be a game-changer in taking PLCs from a routine experience to a little more meaningful and powerful for educators. It's about slowly moving from a meeting-based culture toward meeting spaces where authentic interaction, professional learning, and increasing capacity are the focus of continuous growth. It intends to build a community where every educator is empowered and allowed to share their ideas, enabling them to enhance others, hence creating an environment to elevate teaching practices for improved student outcomes. The process has overcome some weaknesses that have characterized traditional forms of professional development: a system of one-off events that inspire or motivate little actual change in the classroom.
Integrating these 5 Principles of Professional Learning, Modeling, Time, Support, and engagement into a professional development plan for our Kindergarten Teacher's PLC will significantly improve the associated benefits. In this way, the level of learning will be more profound. Shallow exploration of concepts cuts off reflection, practice, and internalization of new approaches by educators. This leads to a fuller understanding and practical application in the classroom. In addition, planning to pilot the initiative in the first year with our kindergarten teachers is a strategic way of implementing the initiative. This will offer a promising avenue that we can use to obtain some helpful feedback and effectiveness assessment and make necessary adjustments before scaling up into other grade levels.
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Who will lead what components?
PLC Lead Facilitator Professional Learning Meetings: The lead facilitator conducts the PLC meetings, which occur every week. They ensure that the sessions' objectives are met and the discussions are guided.
Collaboration Leader: The leader will be fronted by an experienced collaborative-work teacher. His main tasks will include planning and organizing activities that enhance effective teacher interaction, holding brainstorming sessions in control, and running joint projects.
Leadership of Technology Support: An experienced leader in digital tools and educational resources will provide technology support.
Professional Growth Mentor: An experienced mentor will provide individualized coaching and feedback to teachers who need additional support. He/she will also follow up on ongoing support to assist the teachers.
Evaluation and reflection leader: This leader is supposed to manage the development of an evaluation tool that would possibly estimate the outcome of PLC meetings on teachers' professional learning.
Audience/Needs.
My audience comprises a group of kindergarten teachers divided into two segments: teachers with years of experience and familiarity with pedagogical practices and teachers in the early stages of their careers. More experienced teachers need to learn new, relevant methodologies and techniques to improve their current practice, avoiding the feeling of stagnation. Some might require more training in using the latest technological tools and their integration in the classroom. The new teachers may also be more familiar with technologies; however, they may very well require support on how to use technologies effectively in the school. They will need guidance around classroom management, lesson planning, and effective pedagogical strategies. In both these groups, the experienced teachers will have to find a place to share experiences and learn from their colleagues without feeling that their prior knowledge was being slighted and find an atmosphere to express their ideas without fear of judgment over their lack of experience.
Fostering Collaboration.
Several strategies may be utilized to effectively create an atmosphere where it is comfortable for the teachers to work with and share ideas with colleagues. We use the first 10-15 minutes of the meeting to go around and share what's currently working and not working in the classroom. The objective is to inspire others by sharing your successful strategy and opening the conversation to solve the challenges together. We will have quick presentations. Teachers take 5-minute turns sharing a strategy, activity, or resource that has worked well in their classroomThe objective is to inspire others by sharing your successful strategy and opening the conversation to solve the challenges together. We will have quick presentations. Teachers take 5-minute turns sharing a strategy, activity, or resource that has worked well in their classroom. The objective is to introduce new ideas with multiple approaches to teachers briefly. We will establish small groups and devise at least three concrete, practical solutions to a teacher's challenge. The aim here is to facilitate collaborative problem-solving and generate valuable ideas. Also, each educator brings in one resource, book, or tool that worked for them in their teaching and shared it with the group. The objective is to build a shared library of valuable resources. Other activities that we will take into account would be those mentioned below.
Shared Feedback Circle: Teachers bring a lesson plan or example of student work and share it with the group. Each team member offers constructive feedback following a structure: first, something positive, and then, a suggestion for improvement. Objective: Promote continuous improvement in a supportive environment the intention is to provide practical, constructive feedback regarding teaching practice in real time.
Specific Feedback Workshop: Teachers learn specific constructive feedback techniques, such as the “feedback sandwich” (positive comment, area for improvement, positive comment). They then practice giving feedback using these approaches. The objective is to teach teachers how to give and receive feedback effectively.
Celebrate Team Accomplishments: At the end of the PLC meeting, we will have a small, short ceremony where we give the teachers certificates or symbolic awards for their accomplishments, such as introducing new strategies that worked or improving some field in the classrooms.
Sample of some possible rewards:
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Innovator of the Month" for trying a new technique.
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Inspirational Teacher of the Month" for helping a colleague with his/her challenge.
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Creative of the Month" for an outstanding activity carried out with students.
Team Accomplishment Video. A small video, photos, and videos that compile the most important moments of the team. It's good to add teacher quotations regarding achievements or critical moments of the school year, showing them at a special meeting or the end of the month. The objective is to celebrate more vividly and emotionally reached milestones and achievements.
Victory Cup: We will generate a "victory mug" passed on among teachers. Whoever the teacher receives it will keep it on his desk every week or month for some particular achievement to be decided by him, and he will pass it on to whomever he chooses next month. Goal: To ensure rotation in recognition and continuous celebration of accomplishments throughout the year.
Professional Learning will be organized using BHAG Big Hairy Audacious Goal and a 3-Column Table instructional design model. Professional Learning will be designed using BHAG- Big Hairy Audacious and the 3-Column Table instructional design model. It provides a dynamic and organized format where the BHAG sets ambitious but achievable goals, while the 3-column Table gives a practical means of organizing content, activity, and assessment. It combines these two approaches so that information flow becomes coherent, objectives are clear, and learning outcomes align with learning outcomes, thus developing professionalism holistically and effectively.
Resources
To successfully undertake the alternative professional learning plan "Change the Game: Connect, Collaborate, Grow," we will need materials and human resources. First, we will require a well-thought-out schedule that efficiently employs meeting times within the existing PLC sessions. We shall iron out a time that will enable all teachers to be present without adding to the workload of teachers. We would use platforms such as Google Calendar or Trello for meeting organization and providing discussion topics and technologies or strategies actively involving teachers during meetings, for example, real-time survey applications: Mentimeter and Kahoot. During the coaching sections, workshops, or particular pieces of training, training materials will be used to enable facilitators to support teachers in their growth.
Furthermore, we will implement checklists, guides, and manuals so that teachers can easily follow the procedure and have access to digital platforms for continued support. Learning materials: Articles, studies, videos, research, and manuals referring to the betterment approach in PLC meetings and professional teachers' growth. We would look for support from school leaders and management so this plan has sound backing and adequate monitoring.
Professional Learning Outside.
We made a clear outline regarding structure, logically supporting the organization of the topics and ideas. In such a way, one can pay attention to the main objectives, avoid deviation, and consider everything about the project. This is done in Google Sheets, a platform that allows it to be adapted during the process, thus embedding new ideas or changes without losing the overview. Please refer to the Professional Learning Outline for PL for more information regarding the leadership for each component, target audience, assigned tasks, and schedule, among others.
References
Duarte, N. (2013, March 21). How to tell a story. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JrRQ1oQWQk.
Duarte, N. (19 February 2013). How to Create Better Visual Presentations. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=so9EJoQJc-0.
Gulamhussein, A. (2013). Teaching the teachers: Effective Professional Development in an Era of High Stakes Accountability. http://conference.ohioschoolboards.org/2017/wp-content/uploads/sites/17/2016/07/1pm111317A114Job-embedPD.pdf
Horn, M. B., & Staker, H. (2015). Blended: using disruptive innovation to improve schools.
Magana, S. (2017). Disruptive Classroom Technologies (1st ed.). SAGE Publications. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323442436_Disruptive_Classroom_Technologies.
Sinek, S. (2009, September 29). How great leaders inspire action. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4ZoJKF_VuA
* Note: My literature review provides more information about the research conducted to support my Innovation Plan.
