This last blog posting for TIE575 connects to the first - which was about the last awful professional development that I attended. I believe I broke every PD rule there is. Most specifically, I was not fully prepared, I did not have a strong activity for participants to practice with, and I did not have a need or interest analysis to determine if the technology presented would have value to teachers.
So let's pick this apart... Two of my classmates (Nicole and Shane) did a presentation in which they used the web 2.0 application "Wordle" (try it at world.net). I was so impressed I thought I would try it with the staff at Spencer. Well, I got the opportunity when, a couple of days later,our principal informed my colleague Tracey Howse, and I that we had 30 minutes during a PD day to present to teachers. (Disclaimer: I am only referring to my portion of the PD session, Ms. Howse did a fabulous job, as always!!!) Unfortunately, I did not adequately prepare. I did practice a little but when teachers asked me how to put the image in other applications I could not answer. And as I think back, I did not follow up with that teacher - I need to put that on my "to do" list. Also, our art teacher had used the application before and had valuable information to add to my presentation, much of which I was not aware of. I should have opened the presentation by asking if anyone was familiar with the application or even contacted my colleagues through e-mail to see about working with one of them to present or to at least pick their brain while I was preparing. Had I prepared more, by meeting with Nicole or "google-ing" it, the presentation would have been much better and I could have developed a good activity for practice. For practice I just asked teachers to come up with 10 - 15 words related to Finally, without a needs analysis or interest inventory that indicated who may be interested I had several people who were not listening or paying attention, as a matter of fact one teacher actually said, "Oh, I wasn't listening." when I asked him a question. ANYWAY... the uninterested people were a little distracting to those few who wanted to learn about the application. In the future, I would put out an e-mail or in some way contact teachers to ask for those who would be interested in the PD I am facilitating, especially when it comes to web 2.0 applications. I think a smaller group would be better and allow all participants, including myself to experiment and learn.
nancy
12 years ago
Stella, don't be so hard on yourself. I understand when you think you have a presentation "on point" (slang) and once you are in front of your audience it just falls apart. Teachers are notorious for coming up with questions that you, as the facilitator did not think of and it kinda make you look like, duh because you can't answer! LOL One way to look at it is that the presentation was only 30 minutes as oppose to 90 minutes. A lesson learned: always do extra, extra research on your presentation so that you can handle those questions that come form the back corners of someones brain.
ReplyDeleteSo funny, I can hear you saying this. I think when our presentations "bomb" they keep us humble and help us refocus and improve. While teachers can be terrible students, they are also so refreshingly honest. You can't help but take their questions, comments, or non-paying-attention in and reflect on how you can make it better in the future. I say hooray to life-long learning and the pain of improving our practice! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing,
-Lindsay
You know Stella, I have to admit that when we started with the needs assessment I looked at it as just another thing to do. But I, along with you, have definitely found it's purpose. I know that when I sit in a professional development and I have no idea why I'm there I am sure that my body language expresses that quite well. My principal always tells her leadership team to only invites those teachers to the PD or our meetings if they're supposed to be there and I think a needs assessment is perfect for making sure that happens.
ReplyDeleteI had a similar experience as yours when I gave a PD on the ELMO. I ended up embarrassed and promised myself I would never do that again. So, this year when I was going to give a PD on the SMARTboard and I knew nothing about the SMARTboard I went to work 2 weeks before and made sure I had all my t's crossed and i's dotted. It happens to the best of us! Thanks for your post