This project came at the perfect time. We are adding two Chromebook carts to our Upper School campus and teachers will need to be trained to use them with their classes. Training and assisting teachers is a large part of my current job (which I love). Paired with the podcasts on Chromebooks, I think this professional development plan will be very beneficial to teachers. We are changing our school schedule in the fall and will have late start Thursday. Students will not be required to be on campus until around 9:00 am and teachers will have about an hour for professional development, professional learning communities, or any other meetings they may need. This will be a great time to implement this plan. I love planning and implementing trainings. I look forward to sharing this plan with my teachers.
Chromebook Basics Professional Development Plan
WCA has purchased two Chromebook carts for the Upper School campus. Training is needed to prepare teachers to develop lessons that will allow them to utilize the Chromebooks effectively in the classroom.
Who is your audience? The audience for this Professional Development series will be the Upper School teachers at WCA
Are they there voluntarily or required attendance? All upper school teachers will be required to attend the initial session. There will also be sessions planned for particular subject areas. The teachers from each subject area will be required to attend the appropriate session.
How long is your presentation? The initial session will be 2 hours. Subject specific sessions will be 30 minutes. The final session will be 1 hour.
Will you have sufficient time to cover your material? Sufficient time is available for instruction. The first session will take place during the professional development days planned before school starts. The subject specific sessions will take place during teacher collaboration time which is built into the schedule on Thursdays.
What equipment will you need? Each teacher will work on a Chromebook. The trainer will require a Chromebook and projector.
Will you have internet connectivity? Internet connectivity will be available throughout the school building.
What is your existing and future relationship with the participants? The trainer (myself) works as the Educational Technologist at WCA. The trainer will be available throughout the school year to work one-on-one with the teachers.
What is the expected outcome of the PD? (how will teachers be expected to use the newly-acquired knowledge) Teachers will be expected to develop at least one lesson using the Chromebooks. The Educational Technologist will be available to assist when the lesson is executed.
How will your differentiate your instruction with the participants (some of the teachers will have very low skills and some will have higher ones than you have) Early adopter teachers with higher technology skills will be paired with teachers who have low skills. A resource webpage will also be set up to allow teachers to review the lessons as needed.
Will there be an opportunity for follow-up? The Educational Technologist will check in with teachers throughout the year to provide additional instruction and support.
What support will need to be in place and who will provide that support? Support will be required by teachers as they implement the lessons they design. The Educational Technologist along with the early adopter teachers will provide support during the late start Thursday teacher planning time and also by going into the classroom to assist with implementation of the lessons.
What role does site administration play in this training? The site administrator will provide hardware support. He will also create a Chrome App Store specific to WCA.
How will you know if the training has been successful? The educational technologist will visit teachers one-on-one and assist the teachers as they implement the lesson they plan. If 80% of teachers implement one or more lessons using the Chromebooks during the 2016-2017 school year, the training will be considered successful. As early adopters share with the PLC groups, teacher confidence should increase and more teachers will begin integrating the Chromebooks into their lessons.
Outline of the Chromebook Professional Development Plan
Initial Professional Development Session - Chromebook Basics