Professional Development Presentation

Stephanie Schick
Liberty University
EDUC 630
Dr. Marlo Jackson, Online Faculty
 Why join a Professional Organization?
 ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) Organization
 Builds Knowledge
 Creates Connections
 Promotes Efficiency
 Why join a Professional Organization?
 Builds Knowledge:
 Learn and stay connected and up to date with the latest and greatest technological trends
 Expand teaching skills by providing students with lessons aligned to the content and technology
standards by reviewing others’ resources and suggestions
 Attend and participate in Professional Development opportunities by educators for educators
that focus on important topics related to the 21st century world (ex. digital citizenship)
 Creates Connections:
 Work alongside other educators who are interested in reaching the same goals, learning more
about certain topics, and expanding knowledge on specialized concepts
 Cultivate leadership and research skills by continuing knowledge acquisition and leading and
providing other educators with suggestions for further technological and classroom system
implementations
 Expand the teaching community by connecting with others from around the world and
collaborating on special projects
 Promotes Efficiency:
 Obtain access to thousands of materials already tested out and approved by other educators
 Attend special conferences to connect and share resources with other educators
 Maintain a strong school staff community by encouraging others to further expand their content
knowledge and collaborate for a more effective team (ISTE, 2020).
 Resources for Teachers
 ISTE:
 Subscribe to the Journal of Digital Learning in Teacher Education
 Article: Read 3 ways to make remote learning more engaging by Jorge
Valenzuela
 Listen to the Your Edtech Questions Podcast
 Resource #1
1. Subscribe to the Journal of Digital Learning in Teacher Education
2. ISTE produces 4 digital issues per year for the Journal of Digital Learning in
Teacher Education (JDLTE). This journal is made available in conjunction with the
ISTE Professional Learning Network for Teacher Educators. It provides educators
access to the expanding area of research regarding digital technology usage in
education. Teachers can expect to learn about and grow their knowledge on
technological trends, and effective, creative, and innovative uses of technology in
the classroom setting (ISTE, 2020).
3. This resource can help me better serve the students in my virtual 2nd grade
classroom by providing more means and access to specialized (and effective)
technology content. As an online teacher it is important that I stay up to date with
the latest and greatest technological digital tools. I can learn new and additional
ways to utilize technology to better serve the students in my classroom as we all
navigate the ever-changing digital world.
4. My subscription to the Journal of Digital Learning in Teacher Education will be
beneficial for all students in my classroom, as all of my students learn remotely. I
am constantly looking for new and exciting ways to incorporate additional
technological digital tools into the curriculum. I especially am looking for other
ways to support the below grade level, at grade level, and students with special
needs learners. The use of educational applications and games with adaptive
technologies seem to work well with these student populations. I would love to
incorporate more of these resources into the curriculum.
 Resource #2
1. Article: Read 3 ways to make remote learning more engaging by Jorge Valenzuela
2. This article provides three significant ways for teachers to create and maintain an
engaging learning environment for their students online. The three important
suggestions are to: create breakout rooms (within the online class session) for
students to collaborate with their peers, use interactive and appealing slides in
the online classroom platform, and provide opportunities for students to socialize
with their peers (Valenzuela, 2020).
3. This resource can help me better serve the students in my virtual 2nd grade
classroom by inspiring me to continue to provide exceptional teaching despite
being 100% online. I already utilize the incorporation of breakout rooms in my
classroom to allow for more peer collaboration and socialization. Additionally, I try
to put gifs into my lesson slides to allow for more engaging and interactive
content. One area I would like to improve on is the socialization between students
outside of the class session. I can set up breakout rooms and allow students to
chat with others for a specified time between class sessions.
4. The article mentioned can be beneficial for any educators teaching their students
remotely. Any and all students can benefit from interacting with their peers for
the completion of assignments and/or feedback on independent work, as well as
interacting socially outside of classroom time. Furthermore, the use of interactive
and dynamic slides can be extremely beneficial for students with special needs.
Students who are nonverbal can benefit from using interactive moveable pieces
and polling and whiteboard tools to participate in class and collaborate with
others in classroom discussions.
 Resource #3
1. Listen to the Your Edtech Questions Podcast
2. ISTE’s Podcast called Your Edtech Questions produces new episodes every other
Wednesday. Each episode features, “Zac Chase, PK-12 language arts coordinator at St.
Vrain Valley Schools in Colorado, and Amal Giknis, an English teacher at Philadelphia's
Science Leadership Academy” (ISTE, 2020). Chase and Giknis work together (with the
help of an ISTE expert) to answer educators’ technological questions and provide solid,
accurate, and useable answers and advise (ISTE, 2020).
3. This resource can help me better serve the students in my virtual 2nd grade classroom
by providing myself with practical answers to specific technological questions. I can
also learn about other digital tools and resources available as well as obtain knowledge
of the ongoing educational technology research and up to date classroom practices.
Each podcast episode provides answers to real questions from real teachers in the
current education field. I will gain an in-depth understanding of the question at hand
as well as gain authentic classroom solutions (ISTE, 2020).
4. The podcast mentioned will be beneficial for all students in my classroom, as well as
for any teachers in the education field. As an online teacher I am continuously looking
for answers to technological questions regarding new applications, websites, and
learning platforms. It is great to know that there is a support network of other
educators (and experts) who are available and willing to help answer those questions
and provide guidance. I am always in need of finding additional ways to support my
below grade level, at grade level, and students with specials needs learners. By
listening to and participating in this podcast I can acquire more digital tools that can
be utilized in my classroom, as well as receive support with the current technologies I
am using.
 ISTE EdTech Conference 2019
 Coding Across the Curriculum Presentation
 ISTE EdTech Conference 2019
 Inviting Special Guests to Your Classroom Through Video Conferencing
Presentation
 ISTE EdTech Conference 2019
 ISTE 2019 Philadelphia Review:
 Coding Across the Curriculum presented by Michael Davidson (Google Certified
Innovator and Trainer based in New Zealand) (ISTE, 2020).
 This presentation focused on an exploration of a series of resources that can help
teachers provide integrated curriculum content featuring lessons and units on
coding. The objective was to have educators practice coding so that they would
feel confident enough to start to implement some coding practice into their
classrooms. Another objective and purpose focused on making educators aware of
the free resources available regarding coding and how coding can be beneficial for
teachers’ use in the classroom as well as giving their students additional ways to
gain more knowledge and skills necessary for the 21st century world (ISTE, 2020).
 This session would have been great to attend. As an online teacher I know the
importance of technology usage, digital citizenship skill education, and computer
coding knowledge. There are many jobs that are fully functioning online and
require all work to be completed virtually. One of the career paths that is now
becoming increasingly popular is computing programming and coding. I would love
to teach my students (and myself) the basics of coding so that if they chose to
continue in such a career path, they have the background knowledge and
information needed to make such decisions.
 ISTE EdTech Conference 2019
 ISTE 2019 Philadelphia Review:
 Inviting Special Guests to Your Classroom Through Video Conferencing presented
by Mali Bickley (Taking IT Global), Ralph Krauss (Pinecrest Academy of Nevada –
Academica), and Janet Zanetis (Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration)
(ISTE, 2020).
 This presentation focused on modeling how to identify sources that provide
accurate and current up to date information as well as how to reach out to
assistants and other people who help communicate with well-known guests for
scheduling video conferencing sessions (ISTE, 2020).
 This session would have been great to attend as our school already has the
capabilities to host virtual video conferencing sessions as we use these platforms
to hold our virtual class sessions. Being an online teacher in a virtual school, our
students do not receive all the opportunities for specials classes, assemblies with
guest speakers, and outings as their peer brick and mortar students do. It would
be great to connect with special speakers, (even other teachers at our school) to
provide additional learning opportunities for students. I would love to look into
connecting with other educators at my school, within our district, and others in
the community to provide a variety of additional connections to students.
References