Project+Planning+Page


 * Team Bedford Project Planning -

To Do list: DONE April 29 Create template -** Felice Add sample postings on wiki** - everyone DONE: Felice, Stephanie, Alison **DONE April 27** Add table of contents to each page of the wiki
 * DONE April 28 and then Felice erased April 29 ** Add instruction page (screenshots) - tagging, links, discussion page - Mike
 * ONGOING Update PLP wiki pages
 * DONE April 29 Storyboard**


 * Presentation Planning:**
 * DONE **Mike: colored pictures of buildings
 * DONE **Ian: Whiteboard

Everyone will make a sample page **DONE** Stephanie: add art work, video camera, Handout **DONE** Felice: Template, business card -- wiki address, names/addresses, BCS //I have a draft of the business card done and I will bring it on Monday evening. I also have added to the pdshare wiki. I added a discussion to one of the database postings...just to illustrate that this feautre exists. Do you think we should add some text encouraging post-ers to add discussion as desired? I will try to work on Monday during the day on the project board. Any requests for things that you want to be sure get posted there? I also think that by now all of you are aware that I gave a presentation on Friday, May1 to the Directors, Supt. and Asst Supt. They were SO impressed that we have been asked to give a Board presentation on Monday May 18. We can basically share about the same thing we will share in Chicago. SO this just means more f2f for Team Bedford!// **DONE** Mike: Instructions **DONE** Ian: Finish storyboard **DONE** Alison: Script, (deleted handout because Felice is having the business cards made), Working on putting "resources" area on each page Future: Multiple templates for different resources
 * Job Assignments:**

1. __**The problem or question. What is the problem (or opportunity) you wish to address with your project?**__

We know that our district has many teachers who are experts in their own classrooms, yet there has been little time for teachers to collaborate and tap into their neighbors as a resource. Our district also frequently sends teacher representatives to a multitude of professional development opportunities outside the district. Though teachers are expected to complete paperwork documenting what they have attended, there is not an expectation that teachers will share what they have learned during the workshops with their colleagues. The district has implemented PLCs in the past, though time has not been provided in the schedule for PLCs to meeting. At the same time, due to significant financial constraints we can expect that PLC time will continue not to be built into the schedule and that opportunities for teachers to attend professional development opportunities outside the district may be cut back.

Our project aims to bring together an online PLC that revolves around best-practice sharing in a cost-effective way. Over the course of the year, we also aim to build awareness of 21st century skills such as collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking.

We have discussed rolling this out gradually over the course of the year, starting with introducing the online platform (TBD) as a means for teachers to share their reactions to professional development sessions they attend, then introducing the online platform as a way to collaborate about classroom practice on a more ongoing basis. Then, as collaboration within the district builds, we can introduce the idea of building a broader personal learning network of co-learners both within and beyond the district.

2. **Objectives and Assessment**


 * __Objectives__ **


 * **Develop an understanding among faculty of the following 21st century skills: 1) Creativity and Innovation, 2) Critical Thinking and Problem Solving, and 3) Communication and Collaboration.**
 * Faculty will be able to identify examples of instructional practices that enhance the 21st century skills listed above.
 * Discuss the concept of 21st century skills (explain, evaluate, make connections with classroom practice).
 * See the indicators listed under the second subheading.


 * **Build communication and collaboration among faculty around best practices.**
 * Faculty will provide an overview of professional meetings attended on the district wiki using the provided template: http://bedfordpdshare.wikispaces.com. The information will include:
 * Summarize basic information: topic, presenter, who sponsored
 * Evaluate relevance to classroom applications
 * Note the connection to the 21st century skills of 1) Creativity and Innovation, 2) Critical Thinking and Problem Solving, and 3) Communication and Collaboration.
 * Tags: Indicate relevant tags to aid searching
 * Faculty will participate in conversations online that include the following as evidence of collaboration:
 * posting questions
 * posting responses' to others' questions
 * evaluating strategies
 * contributing ideas
 * sharing links
 * posting lesson plans and other resources


 * **Implement new strategies with emphasis on making connections to the following 21st century skills: 1) Creativity and Innovation, 2) Critical Thinking and Problem Solving, and 3) Communication and Collaboration.**
 * Faculty will describe implementation of new strategies on our wiki or through a link posted on our wiki.
 * Faculty will complete an online survey at the end of the school year.


 * **Encourage teachers to pursue self-directed professional learning opportunities.**
 * Faculty will be introduced to personal learning tools such as RSS, twitter, and relevant ning sites.
 * (At the end of the year) Faculty will level of experimentation with the above resources.

3. **Networked Design** Then think about how you will design your project so participants can share, connect, collaborate, or move to some type of collective action. //Ideas? Let's talk about this on Wednesday. Who are participants this is referring to - us and our collective action or to the participants in our project next year and their collective action? Both?//

Here is a link to the research I did on the features available on Ning. Let's talk more on Monday about all the platforms we have researched. [|NING overview by Felice]

__**4. Set the Context**__

Current Process: Upon their return from professional development outside the district teachers are asked to complete a Professional Meeting Form: The form currently is used rather sporadically in the district and really does not seem to serve the purpose of sharing best practices with others and the ultimate infusion of what is learned in the classrooms within the district.

Elsewhere: Waiver days, late start/early release, staff meetings, PLC meeting time, online, virtual

5. Proposal How will you plan to solve the problem or answer the question? Describe what you will do to address the problem/opportunity described earlier. Are you doing anything differently than others have attempted? Why or why not? Why do you propose that your approach will succeed better than prior attempts or will work better with your students or faculty?

//(From Question 1)// //We have discussed rolling this out gradually over the course of the year, starting with introducing the online platform (TBD) as a means for teachers to share their reactions to professional development sessions they attend, then introducing the online platform as a way to collaborate about classroom practice on a more ongoing basis. Then, as collaboration within the district builds, we can introduce the idea of building a broader personal learning network of co-learners both within and beyond the district.//

<span style="background-color: rgb(244, 253, 104);"> **//Notes from Monday//**
 * //Short term - faculty will share [what kinds of resources] online for others to access and use - feedback, go back and comment//
 * //1) one person posts what they learned and//
 * //2) others question back, comment, and share how they have used the ideas in their classrooms - looking at frequency and quantity and quality//
 * //Surveys - how has this changed teaching in the classroom - quantitative and qualitative//
 * //Rubric - self-evaluation and feedback plus us evaluating//
 * //simultaneously create database for pd plus get feedback on whether this could be valuable for others//
 * //searchable database - tagging - moodle//
 * //rate ideas?//
 * //target heskett and HS//


 * <span style="background-color: rgb(244, 253, 104);"> //Platform options - researching pros/cons for Monday//**
 * wikis - Alison, Stephanie
 * ning - Felice
 * moodle - Mike
 * edu2.0 - Ian
 * other options? - Abby

Our Categories

Home Page - Instructions + Suggested common tags that match up with the 3Cs
 * Elementary
 * Leave Blank
 * Secondary
 * Math
 * Science
 * Social Studies
 * English Language Arts
 * HPE
 * Business
 * Guidance
 * World Languages
 * Music
 * Art
 * Career Tech
 * Special Education
 * Look at a paper copy

__**6. Evaluation**__ How will you determine the success and effectiveness of your solution and the impact of your project? Do you plan to determine pre and post results? How will you know that the behavior of your students/faculty has changed/improved? Note: You may not be able to obtain your results by the end of your year. However, you should have a plan in place to evaluate your project and report on the results. The idea is to develop a solid plan to share with others. If you implement this year or next is entirely up to you. When possible make this an action research project.

Evaluation Methods:
 * IID Day
 * Use Turning Point
 * The Wiki
 * Surveys
 * Use the indicators in section #2
 * Pre-assessment for baseline data at the beginning of the year
 * Mid-year surveys for feedback/formative assessment
 * Post-assessment at the end of the year
 * Contributions to the wiki
 * Use the indicators in section #2 for evidence of collaboration

__**7. Timeline**__ How will your project progress? Indicate the dates of project initiation and completion for each step of your design, implementation, and evaluation.
 * 1) Pre-assess at end of 08-09 school year
 * 2) Instructional Improvement Day presentation- August 25, 2009
 * 3) Ongoing: Contribute to PD wiki
 * 4) Ongoing: Monthly staff meetings (brief presentations)
 * 5) Election Day PD: follow up with secondary teachers (target audience) - November 3, 2009
 * 6) Feb/March/April: staff meetings to introduce social networking tools to staff
 * 7) End of year survey/post-assessment

8. Documentation How will you document your progress along the way? Will you share in your team group room in NING? Will you create a collaborative blog? A wiki? A Google Doc? Choose one and then everyone will use the document to make the process transparent.

We decided to document our thinking and our progress on the team wiki and on the ning. We haven't discussed yet how or where we'll document our progress during implementation next year.