This year 5 teachers from my school, from all 3 divisions, and I have been working in a professional development program called Powerful Learning Practice. This year-long program has each teacher explore new web tools by having them find one tool that enables them to "learn more and share knowledge with others about something they are passionate about" so that they can "own the technology" BEFORE they take it to their classroom. All of the teachers who participated have reported the program has been "transformational." Students in these teachers' classes are using technology in new and exciting ways to enrich their learning. They are engaged in project-based learning that is thinning the walls of the classroom and inspiring them to be creative. Utilizing tools such as blogger, voicethread, ning, and igoogle, students in their classes are blogging, making connections with students and adults from other parts of the world, meeting experts outside of the classroom, etc.
Best of all, I fully expect this transformational change to be sustainable as these teachers and I are in the process of creating a new professional development model, based on our experience at PLP, that we will implement this summer. This program is off to a great start. Further, we fully intend to continue to meet as a group on an on-going basis to continue our learning community after this program is over.
