Apart of my leadership portfolio experience included providing lesson plan feedback to select teachers. Because the teachers at our school use Google Drive to submit their plans I thought using the comments feature of Google Docs to make notes, give comments, and provide feedback would be a great way to an open and transparent dialogue about the lesson plans. I have noticed that a common complaint from teachers is that they submit lesson plans and never receive any feedback from building level administration. The comments feature in Google Drive provided me with a great way to give feedback on teacher lesson plans. Using this feature created a two-way dialogue between the teacher and myself about their upcoming lesson. I took it a step further with the teachers I worked with to and created a shared folder for the lesson plan so that I could share resource’s that may have been helpful to them when planning their lessons. As an instructional leader, I can see the value in reviewing the lesson plans as a really good way to get to know the instructional needs of the staff. The fact that the comment feature in Google Drive allows the teachers to immediately respond to teachers with feedback is extremely useful. I think by having our teachers submit their lesson plans electronically, we are modeling digital workflow for our faculty.
One tool that I am less familiar with is edWeb.net. It is a free professional social and learning network that provides an intuitive Web 2.0 platform. The platform includes webinars, blogs, discussions, file sharing, shared calendars, wikis, live chat, messaging, polling, and shared links. I think this tool would be an excellent way for school administrators to share best practices, information on what’s working, and possibly even support each other across schools, districts, states, the country, and even around the world. I plan to explore this site more to see how beneficial it may be to our school and what the possible cost factors involved might be.
In conclusion, having technology is not enough. Using technology to meet the many needs of our teachers and students makes it valuable. As Thornburg (2000) writes, "How you use technology in education is more important than if you use it at all." References:
Thornburg, D. (2000). Technology in K−12 education: Envisioning a new future. The Forum on Technology in Education. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education. Available: http://www.air.org/forum/wpapers.htm
Keisha,
ReplyDeleteI agree to that modeling the use of technology is important. Many teachers at my school have the same complaint about lesson plans. They turn them in and no one ever makes comments or views them. If teachers are expected to turn in lesson plans each week then I feel like there should be feedback or guidance. I really like the google comments idea! What any easy way to provide instant feedback and even create conversation. Teachers would really appreciate this type of support. It would also provide a reason for why lesson plans are required to be submitted. Thanks for sharing!
I interviewed my principal when preparing to write my Leadership Assessment paper. One of the things my principal pointed out as an area for improvement for our schools is technology training for teachers. She stated there is a "digital divide" between the older generation verses the younger. Teachers are reluctant to include technology in their lesson plans because they did not need to do that years ago. They are more comfortable maintaining the "status quo" when it comes to curriculum and their lesson plans.
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