Staff Professional Development & Student Learning Model

With many school closures due to COVID-19, e-learning is on the rise and has affected many students, teachers, and school leaders.  For most of us, virtual teaching has not been our full-time occupation which brings the concern of how can we effectively educate our teachers and staff so they can help students achieve success? 

Impactful learning can be expanded beyond the walls of your school with the right resources and leadership. 🏆

Let’s talk first about how you can prepare your teachers to be superstars in your online learning management systems. 

EXTENDING YOUR REACH 

In order to give your teachers opportunities to demonstrate leadership capabilities and provide yourself with bandwidth for support, it’s important to extend your reach when it comes to training your teachers and parents in the various sites for online student learning. 

Here is how my school is doing this: 

TEACHERS: 

We reached out to teachers who are experienced/skilled in Google Classroom, Promethean Boards, etc., to see if they would be interested in leading online technology courses (they would become a teacher for the teachers). 

The experienced/skilled teachers who volunteered created courses for other teachers to complete so they can also become skilled in the e-learning tools! Each course takes about a half-day (or 3 hours) to complete. 

I then built a Google Site and stored all the courses in one place to streamline learning and simplify the course sign-up process. 

PARENTS: 

The volunteering teachers will also present during Lunch-and-Learn sessions for parents who are seeking information on how to use the systems. These meetings will take place virtually and will be recorded.

What’s in it for the volunteering teachers? 

This is a big ask of your teachers, which is why it’s important to share what are the benefits for them if they choose to volunteer. These can include: 

• Establishing themselves as a leader and trustworthy contact for support
• Demonstrating and showcasing their leadership presence 
• Building their professional relevance
• Helping the school reach its goals

HELPFUL RESOURCES TO GET STARTED

STUDENT LEARNING

Everyone loves free downloads and since we are chatting about online learning, I thought I’d share my school’s pathway to remote learning. Click the link below and DOWNLOAD to your computer to edit (no need to request access). 

MY ASYNCHRONOUS INSTRUCTIONAL PLAN

We will provide asynchronous instruction for students in PK-12. Students participating in virtual instruction (asynchronous) will be required to engage in learning activities on their own time during the school day, interacting daily with the teacher(s) via computer or other electronic devices, or over the phone. Teachers will post an assignment/activity each day and give guided support under this model of instruction.

FOUND THIS INFORMATION HELPFUL?

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