Professional Learning
The goal of the Technology Committee is to build the technology capacity of staff to increase the way technology is used to impact student achievement in powerful ways. The committee recognizes that improvements in student learning are related to improvements in educator practice and that strengthened practice is supported by research and standards-based professional learning.
Each year the Technology Committee will provide professional learning on technology integration best practices. The committee will develop a list of priorities and organize, develop, and deliver professional learning opportunities for staff in large group, small group, and job-embedded methods.
Staff skills will be self-assessed using a rubric to determine which staff need specific training on basics and which are comfortable with basics but need more help integrating technology tools in powerful ways. Multiple levels of trainings will be designed to fill gaps and personalized learning for all staff members. Trainings will not teach technology in isolation. Instead, they will be linked directly to instructional best practices. Our district believes in the 50/50 model of professional learning; providing fifty percent for instructional time and fifty percent of time for implementation. This embedded time to practice and plan is essential in the implementation of professional development.
2019-2022 Instructional Technology Integration
- Increase and improve use of Google Apps for Education in the classroom and for professional meetings
- Increase and improve the use of LMS usage in K-12
- Determine effective and innovative strategies of use of devices in the classroom
- Determine successful ways to collect, analyze and use data to drive instructional decisions
Instructional Technology Learning Series “20 Days of Technology”
The Mentor Schools Technology Committee will provide a professional learning series called “20 Days of Technology.” This series will provide multi-tiered level of professional development on the following topics ensuring educators become even more effective in their schools in advancing the practice of integrating technology, ultimately helping improve student learning.
20 Days of Technology provides leveled instruction on topics that develop foundational instructional technology integration skills as well as increasing those skills to be able to make technology used in more impactful ways. The series focuses on current instructional technology tools and strategies used in the classrooms and concentrate on increasing the effectiveness of those technology tools.
The series includes a selection of full-day sessions (using the 50/50 model) over the course of four academic years. Staff members select a topic and level based on a rubric. District instructional coaches support implementation by providing job-embedded professional development.
INDEPENDENT STUDY
NEW for the 20-21 school year is an option for teachers to conduct an independent study. Even though we offer a variety of choices for staff members from which folks may choose and these choices are further broken down by the user’s skill level, we are aware that some staff members have the desire to explore and implement a new piece of technology that has not been an offering in which a significant number of staff members may be interested. It is for this reason, as well for the desire to personalize your professional learning as much as possible, that the Technology Committee is offering the ability for teachers to learn about and implement a technology tool unique to their needs rather than/in lieu of attending an in-service session during the 20 Days of Tech.
OHIO BLENDED COLLABORATIVE (OBC)
Being a member of the Ohio Blended Collaborative (OBC) will help teachers teach in a blended environment by improving internal teacher capacity for blended learning, identifying a common method and practice to design digital content, and pinpointing a process to evaluate content. The collaborative partnered with ConnectingEd to facilitate common professional development and monitor educator progress on course development. Currently, Schoology resources for core courses in grades 4-12 have been created. All of these courses go through three phases: Creation, Revision and Fostering. Many of the courses in 4-12 are still in the revision or fostering stage. All teachers in the Mentor Schools have access to these courses through the Mentor Teachers Group in Schoology (Schoology / Group / Mentor Teachers / OBC Courses) or through the OBC website.
