The school I mentor is only in its second year of being open; being new provides the school and faculty with both benefits and draw backs. Part of the benefits would be that they still receive new school funds and have a little more flexibility in attaining newer resources than other schools. A downfall would be that since they are new, programs have not quite established but are developing. The media specialists and paraprofessional at the school I mentor in both work to create more knowledge and awareness of the media center. They have conducted a few larger group inservice sessions. I know that the paraprofessional working in the media center has worked hard to collaborate with teachers. This collaboration has provided her with an opportunity to work with and teach teachers on newer technologies, or rather how to integrate technologies into lessons; some examples would be with podcasts, vodcasts, and powerpoints.
Jurkowski speaks of the difficulties seen in creating and conducting these sessions, which are mirrored in the school. Teachers already have a lot on their plate, and getting them to attend an inservice session proves to be difficult. One media specialist I have mentored with told me that if you wish to do anything after school with teachers, you must feed them. I thought this was funny, but then also thought that she was very smart. She would just get cheap sodas and provide popcorn, but this was at least an incentive for coming. Something to snack on after a long day of work, while listening to something informative, not too bad.
When I am a media specialist myself, I look forward to teaching teachers how to integrate these technologies which will enhance their lessons. Starting out new, I would begin small. I would not want teachers to think that the new media specialist is coming in thinking that they do not know anything and is now offering all of these sessions. I would first like to get a feel for the school and the teachers, what they already know and what they would like to learn about. From here I would begin doing one on one collaboration to "show my worth". Once I've had success with several teachers and they have had success with what I've showed/taught them, I would try to begin larger group sessions. Hopefully, there could be something maybe once a month or every other month; during lunch time would be great.
I’ve never heard of the parapro of a media center collaborating so way to go! Whatever it takes to get teachers and students into the media center! Group training sessions is a great avenue to take because this will generate discussion and questions which can get teachers hooked. I will totally second your mentors advice about feeding you audience, food is also a great way to get students and parents to come to PTSO and evening type events! Food also seems to relax the environment a bit and no one is distracted by hunger. Although getting teachers into training sessions is difficult so long as the session is helpful and fun teachers will walk about happy they came. I can’t count how many times I’ve heard a teacher gripe about going to a training only to come back and share all the great ideas they heard.
ReplyDeleteIt is so neat that you are already teaching and collaborating with the teachers in your school. I would love to have an "addition" to our media specialist to help out with new ways of incorporating technology in lessons. I agree 100% on your food comment. I am a chairperson of several in-school and county groups. I always bring snacks to relax and smooth the curse word of "meeting". I like your plan of starting small and getting to know the faculty before introducing training. This is key to finding out the needs of a school and being productive. I also like the idea of quick trainings over lunch. I would welcome a booster shot of technology every month. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately at our school, it seems like we already have so many meetings after school that I'm afraid if I offer one more thing, the teachers will not have a good attitude about it. Food does tend to smooth things over...
ReplyDeleteI think what I need to do is find out what needs the teachers have and also what would be their desired method of receiving training. If they would prefer that I come in during their planning times, I can make that happen. Or I can create online learning modules for them, but I think they do best with one-on-one guidance.
Our biggest problem right now is that there doesn't seem to be an organized approach to training requests and delivery. I need to talk to my principal about this and see where she would like to go with it. The next challenge will be promoting these trainings to the teachers. I'm convinced that they often do not read emails I send out. (VERY FRUSTRATING!!) But I can create flyers or "tickets" for tech training and mention the food....that will elicit some response!! :) Also, approaching the grade level team leaders to promote training in their team will probably be more effective.
Thanks for your encouraging post!! You've inspired me to move forward with this! :)
Collaborating with teachers has been really fun. I like showing teachers how they can incorporate things in the classroom and then see it be put to use. I love getting to see students share what they have created. In my experience so far these one on one sessions teaching technology has always been beneficial and more effective than large in-services.
ReplyDeleteI 100% agree with the food thing as well. It seems that everyone gets a little more motivated to learn with food, even the students. I too am at a newer school where we are dealing with the same benefits and downfalls when it comes to opening a new school. One way that I would gear my instruction as a media specialist would be through the use of surveys. Teachers fill out a quick survey describing themselves and how they feel about the use of technology in the classroom and where they think they need to improve. I would then take that information and plan in-services accordingly. I would also make several small group in-services available to help teachers with specific needs or who needed more intense training on a piece of technology.
ReplyDeleteSusan, isn't it great how relevant this topic is (and this class in general) and what great ideas we've gotten from each other that we can use. Kind of like training through blogging!
ReplyDeleteIt is exciting to know that this post has you ready to explore technology training possibilities for your staff.