This blog post from Miguel Guhlin has him being tagged with a professional development meme for the Summer of 2008. It looked interesting so I am going to do it, too.
Here is the meme that Clif Mims sent to Miguel:
Summer can be a great time for professional development. It is an opportunity to learn more about a topic, read a particular work or the works of a particular author, beef up an existing unit of instruction, advance one’s technical skills, work on that advanced degree or certification, pick up a new hobby, and finish many of the other items on our ever-growing To Do Lists. Let’s make Summer 2008 a time when we actually get to accomplish a few of those things and enjoy the thrill of marking them off our lists.
My PD Goals for Summer 2008
- Participate in the summer book group sponsored by CASTLE and Dr. Scott McLeod where we are reading, Influencer. Assessment: Reading the whole book and being a faithful participant in the online discussion in whatever format it takes. Posting to my blog about the experience.
- Complete the online course for Online Course Development sponsored by ETLO and eLearning Alabama. Assessment: Having a completed 6-week course on Reading and Web 2.0 and creating a Moodle Course Shell for it.
- Blogging on my personal and professional blogs at least once a week, but try to comment on other blogs I read daily at least 3 times a week. Assessment: On August 31, 2008, I should have at least 13 weekly posts on Fresh Fowlers and Magistra’s Musings. On August 31, I should have over 60 comments in my coComment account.
I tag these folks:
Katie Kinney, Jeremie Kinney, Sandra Hornig, Elizabeth Whitehead, Lisa Clayton
I pondered this question as I attended two conferences in January. First at FETC in Orlando, I attended a session on using technology to use the Response to Intervention (RTI) model successfully. I realized from the get-go it was a vendor-sponsored session so it was going to be about a computer application to handle this aspect of classroom learning. I needed to know the basics of the RTI model so this was a good session for picking up that necessary knowledge. However, I was amazed at how the presenters, who were educators but now worked for a software/textbook company, truly believed that a computer program could solve problems of struggling students in reading and math. This resource was supposed to be used after the teacher had taught the information first and then it was determined that some students hadn’t mastered it. Then those students were put on a computer to take a diagnostic test to place them on the right computer path for learning the skills they needed. This was supposed to take the place of face-to-face time with the teacher for 30 minutes a day each week.
I had several issues with this model. First, I think that our struggling students need more adult interaction than any other students. I think those are the very students who don’t get much attention at home and need the care and concern from their teacher at school. Second, I have been in labs and classrooms where students take the same lessons over and over and never get beyond the level at which they started because there is not good monitoring of the computer software. Finally, I believe the RTI model intended the Tier 2 interventions to be in a small group setting with a teacher or paraeducator where students have the opportunity to interact with their peers and a mentor to improve their skills.
At the National Title I Conference in Nashville, I attended even more session about RTI. I learned more about the model and figured out that the human interaction is part of what makes this model successful for many struggling students. Some students need small group time and another format for learning and more time to get the skills we teach. RTI provides this for students in using small group format for Tier 2 interventions where students get to interact with the content in a meaningful way with an adult and their peers. Then when students still need assistance the one-on-one tutor or computer program may be the most appropriate learning environment.
I guess what I learned most about RTI was that it is essentially a good teaching model and technology is not necessary for effective implementation. I can see how from a teacher’s point of view the computer program doing the lessons, progress monitoring, and benchmark testing would save time, but I still question how effective the RTI model is if delivered solely through technology without the human touch.
The Longleaf Writing Project is getting ready to do its spring professional book study groups. I have not been as active in the Writing Project since it changed from the Capstone Writing Project to its current incarnation, but I hope to get more involved in 2008. I used to be the Technology Liaison for the Writing Project in Tuscaloosa when blogging was still very new. Now I have two blogs and think I can show others how to set them up and use them for personal and professional use. Maybe we can get an online group together with some face to face meetings, too.
I would like to suggest studying any of these books:
1. Classroom Blogging 2nd Edition by David Warlick
2. Podcasting for Teachers by Kathleen King and Mark Gura
3. Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works by Marzano et al
4. Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms by Will Richardson
As you can see, all of these have technology issues but are also related to writing especially in the online environment.
I am also interested in these titles:
Creating Literacy-Rich Schools for Adolescents (2006) by Gay Ivey and Douglas Fisher
Teaching Writing in the Content Areas (2005) by Vicki Urquhart and Monette McIver
Teaching with the Brain in Mind, 2nd Edition (2005) by Eric Jensen
Hopefully, there will be some other folks in the Writing Project who are interested in undertaking an online and F2F (face to face) hybrid book study in 2008.
