Task 6: Professional Development
Reflection
Our composition teachers want to pilot digital portfolios in their classes this fall, and I've been working with them over the last few weeks to find an appropriate platform that's versatile, easy to use, and low maintenance. We settled on Weebly and decided that all comp teachers should have basic, working-level proficiency within the platform before we introduced it to students. I delivered an hour-long session that acquainted teachers with a few Web 2.0 tools students could use to "remix" essays, Weebly best practices, and basic Weebly functions. I started the session with the short presentation below, then reviewed the Bundlr list of remix resources. I spend the majority of the session, however, in Weebly, walking through the basic editing tools and navigational setup. It was a great session, and I'm sure we'll be revisiting these concepts frequently in the weeks to come.
Lesson Plan
Presentation Materials
Remix Resources
Task 7: Professional Development Session Video Recording Evidence
Reflection
Note: Video has been shared privately via YouTube.
My professional development session for the composition teachers lasted a little over an hour, so I had quite a bit of editing to do to get my video down to 25 minutes for Task 7. I decided to focus mainly on my instruction within the Weebly platform, but I also included most of the introductory materials in which we discussed the idea of "remixing' the portfolio assignment, how students might approach the remix process, and Weebly best practices. These introductory materials give Weebly relevance as our chosen digital portfolio platform and provide context for the remainder of the training session.
It's always interesting to watch or listen to a recording of my teaching; I've recorded a few lessons throughout my career in education, and although I do not particularly enjoy being on camera, watching a recorded lesson undoubtedly provides an invaluable opportunity for reflection and improvement. It's a practice I plan to continue as I pursue future growth in my field.
My professional development session for the composition teachers lasted a little over an hour, so I had quite a bit of editing to do to get my video down to 25 minutes for Task 7. I decided to focus mainly on my instruction within the Weebly platform, but I also included most of the introductory materials in which we discussed the idea of "remixing' the portfolio assignment, how students might approach the remix process, and Weebly best practices. These introductory materials give Weebly relevance as our chosen digital portfolio platform and provide context for the remainder of the training session.
It's always interesting to watch or listen to a recording of my teaching; I've recorded a few lessons throughout my career in education, and although I do not particularly enjoy being on camera, watching a recorded lesson undoubtedly provides an invaluable opportunity for reflection and improvement. It's a practice I plan to continue as I pursue future growth in my field.
Task 8: Professional Development Online Module
Reflection
I created my online module to mirror closely the live training session. In order to show as much detail as possible, I used a screencast so that I would be able to explain the remix approach to the portfolio assignment as well as capture small details of the Weebly editing platform. Since viewers won't be able to ask questions, I tried to be thorough but efficient in my instruction. The live training session itself was well over an hour long, so I knew my screencast would also be pretty lengthy. To cut down on time, I completed repetitive actions "off camera" and paused the recorder during downtime (such as when pages took more than a few seconds to load). I also wanted to break the instruction up into manageable chunks, so I added transition slides that indicated the beginning of a new segment. These transition slides are good stopping places for viewers in case they'd like to pick up the rest of the session at a later time or want to go back and review material before moving on.