"They expect our classrooms to be full of technology and engaging and exciting, but sometimes it's all I can do to stay awake during staff development."
"The principals want me to use (insert latest fad technology here), but they don't know how to use it."
"We keep talking about engaging classrooms, but when was the last time she planned a lesson? What about a lesson on a really boring topic? Does she have any idea how long the prep for something like that takes?"
This year, as I've worked on the staff development plan for my school, I've tried to keep this in mind. I've tried to incorporate strategies that are cutting edge. Innovative. Fun. And the teachers are right - it's not easy.
It's also not a Power Point with cool pictures that I can read from in an exciting voice while the faculty and staff pretend to listen.
Relevant Sidebar.
Two things I've learned about myself in the past few weeks:
1) I hate Power Point. It's become a technological crutch. I know this because I've used it. As a teacher, I filled in the "technology use" blank on my lesson plans with "power point presentation" many, many times. Honestly, I probably just copied and pasted it to every day for the week because I was certain there would be some Power Point notes in there somewhere.
The first thing I do when someone opens a Power Point is look at the bottom right corner to see how many slides it has. Then I calculate the amount of time it will take based on my Speech Communications professor's theory that each slide of a Power Point should take three minutes to lecture over. Imagine what I think next when I see a presentation with 76 slides. Ugh.
Power Point isn't inherently evil. It definitely has practical uses, and in the hands of a good presenter it can be a great tool. But this year during staff development I'm determined to pretend it doesn't exist. To stretch. To do more. Just like we ask teachers to do.
2) This one I've actually known for a while. I can't stand when we make rules specifically for people who don't follow rules or have lengthy conversations with large groups about things that apply to specific people. Here's a fictional scenario to make my point:
Administrator #1: Our handbook clearly says that teachers cannot wear flip flops. Did you see Mr. Jones today? He had on the shoes he wore to the beach this weekend, complete with sand stuck to the bottom. What are we going to do?
Administrator #2: Well, if they can't handle no flip flops maybe we need to be more clear. I think we should just say "no open toed shoes" from here on out so this doesn't happen again. Then people will definitely not wear flip flops because they are open toed shoes.
A) This is Mr. Jones's problem, not everyone's problem, so making everyone a little more miserable is just mean.
B) Mr. Jones doesn't follow the rules. Making new, stricter ones isn't going to make him start following the rules.
So back to staff development.
The worst part of most August staff development is going over random stuff that people need to know, like what time morning duty starts and where I drop off my kids in the cafeteria. I bet that in my eight years in education I've spent roughly 30 hours of my life listening to someone tell me these things. The first year at a new place was really the only year I needed to hear all of it, and that year I was so overwhelmed that I probably wasn't focused enough to remember any of it. My question is always, "Where can I find that later when I need it?"
I want to let you in on a little secret here. The people who really need to hear the rules/policies/procedures the most probably aren't listening. Mr. Jones is thinking about how rad it was when he caught a gnarly wave this past weekend. He's not thinking about how he should really be on time to morning duty. The people who are really paying attention are probably on time every day, but now maybe they'll be extra early because it must be a problem because we keep talking about it so much.
With all of this in mind I began designing our "nuts and bolts" part of staff development. (I need a name that has more flair for this part, but so far I can't think of anything. If you have an idea, let me know.) I attempted to take some of the theories and strategies we've talked about during our administrator time this summer and incorporate them into something that teachers will A) not hate, and B) say "Hey! That was cool! Can you teach me how to do that?"
I started with the concept of a flipped classroom.
Teachers will get about 30 minutes to work through a Prezi with all of the stuff that just really needs to be said (they'll have their employee handbooks, too, as a reference). They can do this alone in their classrooms or together with their teams. The direct instruction part will take place before they ever come to "class."
Then, when we meet together as a whole group, we'll have a Quiz using the school's clicker system. (I'm certain that's not the official name of this system, but it's what I've always called it.) It turns out we have 70 clickers that may have been put in the testing closet by an Assistant Principal last summer when they came in only to be discovered in late May when said administrator was cleaning said closet (me? why, of course not ;)). So no one has used them.
We'll do a whole group, quick quiz thing, and faculty and staff will respond with clickers. If everyone (or most everyone) gets the question right, we won't even discuss the content. There will be no need, and I hope teachers will feel their time is respected because we're not beating dead horses. If it looks like there is confusion about something particular, we'll stop and discuss it.
To tie in all of the awesome learning, we'll wrap up by watching this video on how a flipped classroom works. I found it through a mentormob playlist.
Now, I am quite certain that this could tank. It could be a technological disaster. The internet could be down. Teachers could struggle navigating the Prezi. They could just think it's dumb.
But we're doing it. Because if I'm going to ask them to be risk-takers and innovators, I have to lead the charge. Wish me luck!
PS - Here's the link to my Prezi. If you have feedback, feel free to share. I love constructive criticism as long as it's not mean (particularly before I try this with 75 staff members). FYI - I know the audio is too low on the tutorial videos I made, but I can't fix them at school because I don't have a program that will do it or permission to download a free program that will do it. Yes, I do see the irony in that.
A few tips - Click "more" before you start playing the Prezi and you can make it go full screen. Press the arrows on your keyboard or mouse click the arrow on screen to advance to the next slide.
