PD Plan

Whitney Hodge
PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION:
I communicate with professional peers locally during the following:
I communicate with my other professionals at my school daily. The main way of communication
is through email. With me being the team leader of the 8th grade, I am constantly emailing the
other 8th grade teacher for announcements, reminders, important information for the day,
things we need to improve on, changes I am noticing with student behavior, and progress
monitoring. We meet every Friday and I am in charge of making and providing an agenda for
everyone. Normally one assistant principal attends our meeting as well. Other ways I
communicate with professionals in my school is through EPDs (which are normally at least twice
a week), committee meetings, staff meetings, and during PLCs (planning time with the other 8th
grade math teacher). Below is an example of a recent email that I sent to the other member of
my team:




























I shared the following evaluation/portfolio tools with peers to help enhance student learning:
One evaluation tool I use often are clickers. Unfortunately we only have two sets of clickers for
the whole school so signing up to get them in advance and planning for them is very important. I
have used clickers for quizzes, test, and even jeopardy games (which we do at least every other

week). Clickers are fun, easy to use, and gives the teacher quick results so that instruction can
be adjusted immediately. Another evaluation tool is MAP testing. This is something all students
take three times throughout the year. This is a computerized test. Most teachers just take their
students down to the computer lab to take the test but do nothing with the scores. I have
shared with my team how I use the results to guide my instruction during intervention. Students
are split into groups based on the data and are working on specific topics to fit their needs.

I shared the following multi-media tools with peers to help enhance student learning:
During many of our team meetings, I will share a assessment results through Prezi. After each
district assessment, I make a Prezi presentation with the data broken down, graphs for easy
viewing, standards met, and other information that is helpful for analyzing the data. Once I
share this with the team, we then share the same file with our students the following Monday.
This is a way to communicate results with teachers and students. Another type of multi-media
that I have shared with my peers during a team meeting is the use of Animoto. I use Animoto
often for introductions to a topic. It is easy to use, quick, and appealing to the students. I try to
encourage some of my peers to do the same. Below is a introduction video created using
Animoto :
http://animoto.com/play/4hEBG6N31uZ3nBMwl91KgQ?utm_source=weebly.com&utm_mediu
m=player&utm_campaign=player

I shared the following school management tools with peers to help enhance student learning:
The main resource I use for classroom management is called Teachers Assistant. This is a free
app I have download on my iPad. The school does not provide the teachers with iPads but I
have brought my own in to make management a little easier. On the app I can take student
attendance, keep track of student behaviors, set reminders, and even record their
achievements. In this same app, I can record grade and keep parent contacts for easy access.
The app does so much and is a very useful tool in the classroom. I shared this tool with my peers
at the beginning of the school year and there are currently two other teachers who have found
this helpful and also use this in the classroom. I have also encouraged my peers to use their
Weebly sites more for both students and parents. On my webpage, I have different games and
activities for my students to access as well as announcements and reminders for parents. Below
is a link to my Weebly page for my students and parents.
http://mshodgesmath.weebly.com/

I communicate with professional peers in other countries by :

With the help of my partner (Christina) and her professional peer (Raki), I was able to find
someone to connect with. Raki, a teacher in Morocco was able to help me connect with one of
her colleagues who also teaches in Morocco. I found Rakis contact information from
http://www.globalteacherconnect.com/ which gives professionals from around the world an
opportunity to connect with others.
I was also able to connect with a couple of professionals from Skype. After sharing different
lessons on how I integrated technology in the classroom, other professionals commented with
either questions or comments which gave us a chance to share ideas back and forth.

I shared the following evaluation/portfolio tools with a professional peer from another
country to help enhance student learning:
Communication with Elizabeth (a teacher in Morocco) shows where I explained the different
evaluation tools I use in my classroom. The main tool for evaluation for me are clickers. She
mentioned that she already uses Edmodo in her classroom. I had never heard of Edmodo before
until taking some of these technology courses. She is not the first teacher that I have
communicated with that uses Edmodo has an evaluation tool in their middle/high school
classrooms. It seems quick and easy and as always, something different than pencil and paper
for the students to use. I plan to give Edmodo a try next year. This communication is shown
below:

I shared the following multi-media tools with a professional peer from another country to
help enhance student learning:
Using Skype, I created a couple of lessons to show other professionals how to integrate
technology into their classrooms. One lesson create was Animoto. I not only went through the
steps of how to create such a lesson but I also attached the video trailer so other could view it.
Below is communication with a teacher in Canada who had never used Animoto in the
classroom before. Getting his feedback after my lesson was posted gave me an exciting feeling
because I not only made a difference in my classroom, but in his classroom and classrooms to
come. This communication is shown below:

I shared the following school management tools with a professional peer from another
country to help enhance student learning:
One technology website I always enjoy sharing with others is Weebly and its uses. I initially
created my Weebly site because others in our school were creating one more so as introduction
for parents and for them to get to know the teachers better. This turned into me creating a
different learning experience for my students. I wanted to make sure I shared this with Elizabeth
(teacher in Morocoo) so she could someday use the same tool in her classroom. Email
communication is listed below:

Below are the following ideas that I was able to get from professional peers in other countries:

COMMUNICATION WITH PARENTS:

I communicate with parents about technology that I use in class by:
I use Remind 101 very often to update both students and parents. Sometimes this is used to give
homework hints and suggestions. I send reminders and announcements to parents using this as
well. Its quick, easy, and can be accessed with cell phones. I also like this because students can
not respond to me and dont have my number to call or text me back. Reminders are sent as
text messages and go directly to the phone once it is registered. I also use my Weebly site to
give announcements and updates (especially the closer it gets to the promotion ceremony). A
newsletter is sent out to students and parents every month but includes news from every grade
level, every sports, each club/activity, the counselors, and the principal.

PD/In-service:

The following details my PD plan:

Last year, I presented a PD to the staff on Quizlet. Since we have had a lot of new teachers in
the building and on my team, I shared this again this year with my team. It was very beneficial
and the EPD actually turned into a discussion where not only did they ask questions, but we
shared ideas and explored the web on how to make this more applicable in our classrooms.
After I shared the Prezi presentation below, I also shared two examples of quizlet that I have
already used in my classroom so they could see an example.

I incorporated the following concepts in my PD:

- The importance for teaching social, ethical, and legal issues and responsible use of
technology at the school/classroom level.
- To make sure my teammates understood the legal and ethical issues of technology, we
revisited the Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) provided by the district that we have to agree
to every year:
http://www.jefferson.kyschools.us/schools/Elementary/Layne/images/otherart/jcpsStu
dentaup.pdf
-

Information about summarizing copyright laws related to use of images, music, video,
and other digital resources in varying formats.
At the end of the presentation, I showed the staff how to access
pictures/images off of Google Images the right way. I sent me through the
appropriate steps to acquire an appropriate pictures of them to use on their
flash cards for quizlet (search tools usage rights labeled for reuse)
Adult learning theory:
When teaching anyone, it is very important to know your audience. Ive never
considered how adults learn before although I have gotten up in front of my
peers many times to either present to them or teach a new concept/technology
for use in the classroom. Adult learning theory is very important to know and
understand when teaching my peers because it lets me know what to do and
not to do. For an example, one of the principles is that adults learners like to be
respected. This is something that affected the way I presented because I didnt
want to talk down to my peers or belittle them. Another principle is that adults
are practical. I know Ive been in a position as an adult learner where the
information being shared with me seemed irrelevant so it lost my interest. I
made sure that I was intentional and applied the program to each grade level
and each subject so my peers could see its use.

Link to Prezi: http://prezi.com/kw2vvx_pm-

xg/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

Example of Quizlet:

Professional Development (Beyond the School Level):

I have demonstrated participation in education technology beyond the school level by sharing my ideas
through Skype for Educators. Below are the two lessons I shared with other Skype Educators in hope
for them to learn something new. I added my two most used technology resources: Animoto and
Quizlet. I use these most often in my classroom and it has been a huge benefit to me. After posting my
two lessons, I explored other lessons created on this site to learn new and innovative ways to use
technology in the classroom and was able to gain some insight. Below are screenshots of the two
lessons shared: