In-House Professional Development

Peer Collaboration: Teachers Training Teachers

This past school year a colleague and I planned a professional development session for our fellow Teaching Associates on the subjects of gamification and resources for differentiated instruction. Teaching Associates are often charged with supporting small group instruction, ranging from supporting struggling learners to providing enrichment activities for learners ready to move forward in a subject area.  So in this way, the session's content fulfilled some of the areas Vicki Davis, Contributor to Edutopia's Professional Development Blog, identifies as needed for highly effective PD, specifically: Use What You are Teaching, Develop Something You'll Use Right Away, and Empower Peer Collaboration.

Use What You Are Teaching

Gamification was explained at the outset of the PD, through this concise video:

Interactive game board
created with Mimio
Studio software

Student-drawn
avatar used for game
badges

...and modeled using a customized game board created in MimioStudio (an existing technology), which was manipulated by attendees, as they moved through the training stations. Gamelike elements were used throughout the session including custom avatars and opportunities for participants in teams to level-up.

Develop Something You'll Use Right Away

Rating Sheet downloadable here

Resources were selected for the session, based on the belief that they would be highly useful in the TAs' daily work with students. Further, an evaluation sheet was presented, adapted from graphite.org and designed  for faculty to research and select their own apps for use in the classroom.

Empower Peer Collaboration

Google Apps for Education, a suite of tools for the classroom, fosters peer collaboration for both students and teachers through interactive functionality. Google Docs is an ideal way to recap a PD session, complete with notes, resources and links, and photos, all of which can be shared and edited with those in attendance, or with the larger community. Here is the Goole Doc created for the featured TA training session, shared and available for collaboration. Feedback, another vital part of effective PD, can be shared through Google Docs, as well.

References

Davis, V. (2015, April 15). 8 Top Tips for Highly Effective PD. Edutopia. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/top-tips-highly-effective-pd-vicki-davis