Differentiating PD - Skill Checklists

In a previous blog post, I shared three areas where I want to improve when designing and leading PD sessions. One of those goals was the following:

Try new strategies to differentiate and support individualized progression

I want to share one new way I am trying to address this goal in an upcoming PD session for a group of first-year teachers. One of the things I was asked to do in this session was to help teachers learn and practice Google for Workspace skills that they will need in order to effectively plan for the first few weeks of school. As I began to plan for this PD, I reflected on the following challenges:

These are brand-new teachers and I don't know what level of Google Workspace skills they already have
I want to make sure the learning is meaningful, regardless of their current skill level
I do not have enough time to show them everything they might need to know, so I want to leave them with a resource they can revisit when they need it

I decided to create leveled "skills checklists" that include Google Workspace skills that support each of our three themes: access, efficiency, and collaboration. This is an example of the checklist I created for "access" skills. For each level, I included four specific skills along with a how-to video and a link to directions in the Google Support Center.

My plan is to provide time during our session when they can work on some of these skills while I am there to answer questions or provide additional support. They can choose which skills to learn/practice based on their individual needs.

This is the first time I have tried a strategy like this during a PD, so I will definitely get some feedback from this group on what worked and what could be improved.

How do you differentiate PD for adult learners?

Comments

Create an Instagram Story!

One day on Twitter, I came across a tweet from Ryan O'Donnell ( @creativeedtech ) in which he shared a Facebook template that could be used for students to demonstrate their learning. I clicked on the link to his website , and I was AMAZED at all the cool templates he had created for teachers to use for free! I decided to try using an Instagram template during a unit on the planets in our solar system. I wanted students to demonstrate what they learned about the different planets, but I wanted them to do it in a creative way. Here are the directions I gave to my students: Here are some student examples: Student Example #1 Student Example #2 Student Example #3 Student Example #4 I really enjoyed this activity, and I love how students familiar with hashtags were able to create and use them in clever ways! If I was to go back and do this again, I would spend some time working with students less familiar with social media and hashtags and give them some...

First Week of School

We just wrapped up our first week of school! I really enjoyed meeting and getting to know our new 5th grade students! Here are some of the activities we did to start building our classroom culture and learn more about each other: "All About Me" Google Drawing Students learned how to use some of the basic features of Google Drawings by creating a Drawing about themselves. The basic requirements were that they include their name, a picture of themselves, and text/images that describe their personalities or interests. I created an example to give them an idea of what it could look like. I used this activity last year, and I really enjoyed what my students created. However, I decided this year to give them more time to just play with and explore the tools in Google Drawing. I feel like this really paid off because students were able to discover how to use some of the tools and share with each other instead of just relying on me to show them how to use it. ...

Don't Use Coaches as "Fixers"

"It is tempting to ask coaches to work only with teachers who seem to be having difficulties with instruction or classroom management. We discourage this "fixer" approach to coaching for several reasons. First, if coaches are perceived as working only with those who struggle, other teachers may not reach out to coaches for support. Second, the coaching relationship becomes less about providing support for all teachers and more about remediation, in which only "struggling" teachers are assigned to the coach." - Jacy Ippolito and Rita M. Bean Based on the conversations I've had with coaches, this seems to be a common challenge. Coaches often struggle to get teachers to volunteer for coaching cycles because teachers don't want to be viewed as someone who needs coaching - like it's a negative thing. However, the truth is that ALL educators can benefit from good coaching. I think this is why it is important to try to c reate a diverse coaching ros...

Roxi Thompson

Search This Blog