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=Choral Response= = = = = = = = = =Ideas, Ideas, Ideas=

Welcome to the ESU 6 Wiki page about professional development. Please feel free to share all ideas about how we can best provide relevant services. I'll be updating this site as we get more ideas. I also posted a discussion thread but ignore that for now, just post comments to this page by clicking the edit button in the top right corner. We just need to float as many ideas as possible - post anything that comes to mind - we'll sort it out later.

I want to use this as a digital whiteboard - put down ideas and thoughts as they come to you. Don't worry about putting down long descriptors - just add ideas as they come to you through your experiences. Hopefully we will each be able to provide multiple posts that add to our collective thinking.

Let's go!

Lynne's suggestions:
Develop webinars by hosting live sessions that are recorded via tools like Elluminate or Adobe Connect to allow more teachers to "attend" at their convenience. Work with local colleges and universities to offer courses for credit. Technology leadership is already developed and I teach it through UNL. Not sure how to make it benefit the service unit. ​


 * 11/24/09 Ideas from online source****s**


 * [|Top 10 Ways Social Media Will Impact Employee Development and Training in 2010]**
 * [|Maine Principals]**
 * [|Using a variety of (non-tech) instructional strategies – edtech VISION]**
 * [|"You're fired. I only want people who already know how to do their jobs." - Dangerously Irrelevant]**

Toby 11-10:
How about school improvement sessions with teams that provide them training and a chance to work on their stuff. Maybe SIP Study Halls?

Jen 11.11.09:
I like the idea of SIP days...I see it a bit like Angel camp with informational sessions as options during time for teams to work.

I have some ideas specifically for secondary language arts teachers (novel studies, group discussions about Carnegie Report called Time to Act, grammar for teachers, etc.), but would likely require some kind of tool to connect folks via technology. I liked Elluminate and Adobe Connect as options. SKYPE is nice for small groups. I have the same concern about how to make these benefit the ESU financially.

[|tammywlms]
A few ideas: 1. Spotlight teachers/participants that have attended our 'courses' on our website. Similiar to NCSA's webpage which rotates pictures. 2. Have EIS participants present at PDAC, Principal's, etc. in order to 'market' the series. 3. Same with cohort teachers. Those who have been active w/other teachers can share what they have learned or expanded by participating in this type of gathering. 4. 9-3 workshops. Maybe we could 'role play' during certain workshops. (i.e. classroom management) If teachers can see what they have learned in action, they may be more likely to use/apply it.

April 11.12.09
1. Get instructional coaching network going but want to target more than coaches. Some principal's have expressed interest and some teacher leaders. I'll get with Tammy to look for dates and start putting that together. 2. In regards to Tammy's idea on spotlighting participants on our website - how about testimonials on our website? We can get those from our evals. People really seem to read those in my advertising booklet. 3. I can also think of many "hot topics" in elem. ed right now that I could present on. I'll work on that list. Perhaps this is the way to expand my "fan" basis for future contract days. Until business really starts picking up for me - perhaps a few more presentations at ESU - my day was paid for during my fluency workshop. :) 4. Also like Toby's idea of facilitating some sort of "work days". So rather than presenting new ideas all the time, we can promise that they'll have time to tackle some work that day. Teachers are always begging for more time to "get stuff done".

Lenny November 12
I think that we could provide Doane credit for course during the year. I think that something with a face to face meeting to start, contact through Angel or Wiki, and then face to face sharing at the end. Face to face might work as an evening. Courses could be brain based learning, vocabulary, instructional strategies, homework, grading or some of the training that we have done.

I think we should put together a training series for teachers that wish to supervise student teachers. Schools like Waverly continually get requests for student teachers and there is no real selection method. The selection process starts with just an e-mail asking if anyone wants a student teacher. Due to the importance of the supervising teacher, it seems to me that it is imperative that some training on how to work with the student teachers. In addition, we could design something for those that want to mentor teachers.
 * Toby January 8**

I spent some time on Moodle and think that this might be something to consider. How do we reach people that don't have Angel - which may include many of our elementary teachers? I also don't want to necessarily create a course in two different forms - Angel and Moodle. At our last leadership meeting it was suggested that we test out new courses and communication via open source - while open source has its issues; should we maximize this and see where it goes?


 * Jen 1.8.10**

I had a request for a writing series similar to the Nebraska Writing Project--could be good! I talked with Amy Hottovy (Centennial) who has been very involved at this. She is excited about helping get it going as soon as this fall. We see something where participants come in for a few days up front (summer), maybe a few days throughout the school year, and often via an electronic means (i.e. wikispaces, Skype, etc.). = =