Planning the alternative PL

As educators, we must be dedicated to delivering the highest quality education. It's often assumed that such statements refer to our students, but to provide top-tier education, educators themselves must receive equally high-quality professional learning. This involves keeping abreast of the latest technologies and pedagogical strategies.

My blended learning approach is student-focused, engaging, and adaptable, providing numerous paths for students to achieve their utmost potential. I intend to apply these strategies to faculty and staff during professional learning sessions. The aim is to foster continuous professional growth, supported by pertinent resources and technology, to cultivate significant learning environments that enhance our colleagues' education.

I will employ backward design to focus on the end goals, as outlined by Wiggins and McTighe (2005). It's crucial that our professional learning sessions cover specific content and engage participants actively, ensuring the greatest chance of success. To shift the traditional 'sit-and-get' professional development meetings to a dynamic learning environment, careful planning is essential. My innovation plan's objective is to integrate blended learning into mainstream classrooms, and the same should apply to our professional learning sessions. For the plan to succeed, it's imperative to instruct teachers on how to meaningfully and effectively implement this curriculum in their classrooms. Continuing with a passive model of professional development will prevent teachers from engaging with and embracing this new teaching approach. 

Creating a professional development program that exemplifies the teaching methods for the classroom can demonstrate the excitement and engagement of being a student in a blended learning environment. I will incorporate the five key principles outlined by Gulamhussein (2013) to ensure this. An outline follows, which will steer my district toward a new professional learning curriculum that is in harmony with the blended learning curriculum I aim to establish in the mainstream classroom, transforming us into genuine catalysts for change in the way teachers participate in professional development, or rather, professional learning.

 

 

Alternative PL outline with the 5 key principles:

Audience & Their Needs:

The audience is the entire fourth grade team of teachers at my intermediate school.  Their needs include learning what a blended learning environment is and what it looks like. How to implement a blended rotation style environment in their classrooms, along with modeling how a lesson would go inside the classroom for more clarification. 

Duration: Professional learning should be ongoing & significant:

The implementation will be carried out over a year with the entire fourth-grade team, comprising five pairs of teachers, making a total of ten educators.

Ongoing Support & modeling during the implementation phase: 

We are integrating blended learning and technology into the fourth-grade curriculum, complemented by professional development meetings to familiarize teachers with new methods and routines. In the initial meeting, we will explore the concept of blended learning and assess the teachers' prior knowledge on the subject. The room will be arranged to reflect a blended learning rotation model, and I will demonstrate how the class should operate, treating the teachers as students. By the conclusion of our first meeting, we will collaborate to create a schedule for the entire school year. I will ensure that each teacher receives in-class support to facilitate their first lesson with the students, and I will observe the teachers conducting a lesson independently the next day. Additionally, there will be virtual biweekly Q&A sessions for ongoing support, as well as monthly face-to-face meetings featuring further demonstrations and discussions on blended learning strategies tailored to the specific content being taught.

Active Participation/Engagement:

Training teachers to use technology is crucial. Without proper training, we risk the success of both teachers and students. This training will be tailored for 4th grade teachers, organized by subject matter with assigned topics. They will experience teaching in a controlled setting, with me providing feedback and answering questions. This approach guarantees active participation and comprehension of new practices. Moreover, it offers the authentic, hands-on learning necessary to understand a blended learning environment fully.

A designated technology liaison will be assigned for the entire implementation to ensure that teachers are adequately trained and experienced with the technology. Without proper introduction and training in this area, they are being set up for failure.

Fostering Collaboration: 

Feedback and feedforward will be provided for all activities during professional learning sessions, as well as in-class modeling and observations. Group modeling exercises will be a feature of these professional learning sessions. A Google Drive folder will be established for blended learning resources, organized by subject. Teachers will have the opportunity to share videos of their lessons, lesson plans, ideas, and experiences of what was successful and what was not. This will facilitate additional collaboration time and provide a platform for teachers to support each other with ideas and suggestions.

Who will lead:  

In the initial phases and the first professional learning meeting, I will lead the integration of blended learning curriculums in the classroom. I will be the primary contact for professional learning meetings throughout the program's future (one year). Once the new professional learning plan is in place, our team members—teachers from the fourth grade—will form the leadership team. My goal is to expand this initiative to other grade levels at my school with the new leadership team taking charge.

Types of Resources Needed: 

• Smartboards

• Laptops

• Tablets

•  WIFI

• Innovation Plan

• Google Classroom

• Influencer Strategy

• Google Drive 

• Outline

• 3 column chart

Instructional Design of your PL: 

In the initial design of my professional learning course, I will employ a 3-column table in conjunction with my Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG). My BHAG is: by the end of a year's worth of professional learning sessions grounded in the Five Principles of Effective Professional Development, teachers will have the capability to organize and conduct their own professional learning sessions, which will model blended learning environments for various grade levels.

The 3-column chart will be beneficial as it allows me to conceptualize the overarching vision of professional learning within my blended learning innovation plan, and it will be instrumental as we advance our professional learning to encompass additional grade levels.

 

Schedule:

This timeline is provisional and will require adjustments depending on the completion of my 4th grade blended learning curriculum and the comfort level with its implementation. My goal is to dedicate a full school year to professional learning and classroom implementation before expanding professional learning to other grade levels at my school.

• December 2024–4th grade blended learning curriculum development completed by me and the curriculum coordinator. It will include introductions to what blended learning is and have videos/media of what it looks like in a classroom. 
• January 2025–Professional Learning curriculum for piloting and implementation of blended learning program completed. This will be set up by administration, principal, and myself. This will map out key personnel that will need to be present along with dates of the PL meetings, and who will be in attendance. Google drive folder will be created with PowerPoints and videos that will be shown in PL meetings and documents will continue to be added along the way. This folder will be shared with the district and be a place that others can add to, as well as go back and review. 
• July 2025–Begin in-person initial training sessions during summer PD with my districts 4th grade teachers, along with administration & the IT department. This could possibly be the first exposure to a blended learning environment, which is why we are starting it in the summer. 

• Representatives from each department, selected based on their subject expertise, will collaborate and lead the initial professional learning session on implementing & modeling a blended learning rotational model inside the classroom. Each subject will have one or two designated mentors who will serve as the main presenters and guide their peers during the first few weeks of implementation. They will continue to be there for long-term support throughout the year. The remaining personnel will act as facilitators, moving around to assist with discussions and provide support during the PL meeting. 

• Once the introductory course is completed, educators will move into smaller groups prepared by each individual representative to ensure they receive more specified resources as well as discussions that pertain to their subject matter. At the end of the small group session, attendees will be asked to fill out a questionnaire that was uploaded to the Google Drive folder using Google Forms.

• August 2025-Bi-weekly meetings will start and be used for question-and-answer sessions, discussing ideas teachers, administrators, and representatives may have. We will review the Google Drive folder and discuss what was added. We will get feedback from teachers, and mentors on how things are going and what improvements/changes have been made. We will discuss why we think certain things did not work and have brainstorm sessions on how we can improve/change things up to make it successful next time. Discussions will be held on what/if any more clarification is needed, and we will make sure that everyone knows they are not alone, and they have full support with anything they may need. 

• Monthly meetings will commence with additional modeling of blended learning in PL sessions as well as in the classrooms. These sessions will include TEKS the teachers will be expected to cover in upcoming lessons for ideas. This will be helpful for new teachers or teachers that have switched subjects to ensure they are creating a significant learning environment and embracing the blended learning model in their classroom. Key Personnel will work with their campus administrators to ensure that departmental PLCs have the necessary support. 

• September 2025- December 2026– Continue biweekly and monthly meetings between team members and other teachers to provide support throughout the year. Review Google Drive folder of videos and ideas from other teachers, and more collaboration and modeling. 

  • Each subject department will take turns to present each month at the PL meetings to demonstrate any resources or implementation practices working for them in the classroom using the blended learning rotation model.

• January 2027– This will be a reflective meeting where educators can sign up to give a professional learning course on what they have learned, how their students have benefited from the blended learning rotational model in the classroom and included data, how they got past hurdles, etc. 
  

  • Support will be given for the upcoming year, and we will use this time to see if we have any teachers that would want to become the new PL members for other grade levels.