This course, Professional Learning and Technology Innovation, has benefitted me as a “Teacher-Leader/ITEC Coach” in so many ways! I always felt like I was a “people-person”, but from reading Knight’s book, I have gained a lot more insight. I would like to think that I had a “Partnership Approach” before I even knew it had a name. Knight helped me put my “people-person” instincts into logical, intellectual research findings. The best example I can think of to describe this is Knight’s focus on Partnership Communication. Knight (2007) explained that coaches must know their teachers’ learning preferences, and a great tool to determine this is the MBTI self-reporting instrument. This added a real science to my “people” skills. I knew that certain people respond better to certain approaches (this applies to students, also), but I was excited to find an actual science that had it all figured out. This took some of the “trial-and-error” out of reaching my colleagues, which has made me grow as a coach.
Quite honestly, I saw this course as a relief because I just got tasked with leading technology professional development for our faculty. This course has given me guidance to meet the needs of our teachers. I felt as though I was doing a lot of “educated” guesswork before, but now I have a lot more confidence in my coaching abilities. As far as on-going development, I will (hopefully) have this same task of leading technology professional development next school year. I fully intend to keep the Partnership Approach and will most definitely refer back to Jim Knight! I’m already following him on Twitter =) Knight, J. (2007). Instructional Coaching: A Partnership Approach to Improving Instruction. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press
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So far, this course, Internet Tools in the Classroom, has been one of my favorites! I feel as though I have gained so much from exploring a myriad of digital tools that I may not have explored without this course. I have learned to effectively research and evaluate tools to use with my fellow teachers and students. For example, I would have never used a Wiki Space to house all of my project components; I would have just had a mess of paperwork scattered throughout my classroom. Another tool that I may not have gotten effective use out of is Jing, or any other screencast tool. I have used screencasts for my teachers as tools for professional learning, but I had not used them for my students. Using screencasts with my students has been a great way to head towards self-paced and personalized learning.
In my opinion, the best outcome of this course has been my expansion of my Personal Learning Network (PLN). Dr. Frazier gave us a list of people to follow on Twitter, and that has made a world of difference for my PLN. I know it may sound silly, but I had no idea how powerful Twitter could be! Using Twitter as part of my PLN has catapulted me into an on-going Professional Development for which I can genuinely be excited. I have recently been inspired to start my own blog site, for which this class provides lots of inspiration. Overall, this course has refreshed my enthusiasm for technology integration into our classrooms! |
AuthorSarah Miller Archives
July 2017
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