What makes them tick? Do you want to develop professionally?
One of the parts of my job that I really enjoy is working with other members of staff to increase their ICT knowledge and to help their professional development. Today I worked with two members of staff with a contrasting experience for me in terms of their response. One of these people bowled me over with her exuberant (and Tigger-like) attitude towards ICT and how it could improve access to her subject for students. (You know who you are if you are reading this!)
We talked a little about Moodle and we spoke about my Moodle learning curve. We look at where I started (just dumping resources) and how I got to where I am now with interactive and more interesting looking courses. Her immediate response was how she could use it in the classroom for her A-Level History group. It fills me with excitement when I see other teachers are so enthusiastic about the same things that I am. During the course of the conversation we also spoke about the TeachMeet concept and I shared some of the exciting things I had seen at TeachMeet Midlands.I had been reflecting over the weekend about the TeachMeet and what makes people want to give up their Friday night to do more work! I do it because I want to improve the experience in the classroom for my students. When it is combined with some of the outstanding tweets from some of the people I follow on Twitter, I have found some of the tools shared are outstanding and get students going (my Year 10s loved Prezi!)We are entering a time where students expect higher quality ICT in the classrooms and get frustrated when someone is getting them to do MORE POWERPOINTS. There are a lot of great new tools out there and they can make a difference in the classroom. Now I might not be able to get people out to a TeachMeet but would a TeachMeet work within a school context where people are sharing great stuff outside of their own faculty?So here's the plan ...
- Get a staff development day dedicated to ICT (already pencilled in for November)
- Create a staff delicious page where regular tools and tips are shared
- Share the excellent presentations such as 32 interesting uses of Wordle etc created by Tom Barrett
- Look at TeachMeet Stantonbury Campus - will that work? ... or at least TeachMeet Milton Keynes.