Comments on: Teacher Training and Support

By: M. McMillan

M. McMillan — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 21:46:24 +0000

The approach we have undertaken in my division is to form school teams of a teacher and teacher librarian who come together for 7 half day workshops for each of two years. Workshops are followed up with classroom support where I assist teachers or plan with teachers for the integration of technology. It is hoped that these two individuals from each school can help support others and I also am available for that support as well. Because pedagogy is so important, our program, called LearningPlus, focuses on effective teaching with themes of differentiated learning, information literacy, brain compatible learning and technology enhanced learning woven together to try and help educators respond to the needs of all learners. Technology is one of the tools, then and not the focus. If anyone is interested, the website is at http://web.rbe.sk.ca/learningplus
The challenge behind all of this is financial. Ongoing PD of this sort can be very effective if hardware and support people are in place. We are fortunate that all teachers now have laptops and all schools have at least on mobile cart. But the ongoing PD and the support are significant $

By: Ashley

Ashley — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 15:50:12 +0000

I love it! Imagine if teachers chose areas of interest, were given continual support, and formed authentic learning communities (I love the online communities because they allow people to collaborate worldwide). If we could give teachers more prep time, they could enter their colleagues’ classrooms and offer their expertise and support in a variety of areas. Thanks for your comment. It took my thinking one step further!

By: teachingchris

teachingchris — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 18:15:08 +0000

I totally see where you’re coming from, Ashley! So often we present ideas to teachers in one-off sessions — very little modeling takes place, and teachers are given no time for guided practice, and there’s no reflection/follow-up. I think ALL PD, not just technology-related PD, should be implemented with support like you describe above. This would create a real learning community in a school. Then, if we let teachers self-identify areas for PD, imagine the possibilities!