Running

Head: A PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR EDUCATORS

Paving the Road to Success: A Personalized Professional Development Plan for Educators Haley Carroll Pepperdine University June 2013 Thesis Advisor: Margaret Riel, Ph.D.

Running Head: A PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR EDUCATORS

Introduction to the Problem

We live in a world filled with technology. Our students are using technology on a daily basis; they are what we can refer to as "digital natives. It is crucial therefore that teachers learn to use this technology as a supplement to teaching. The problem lies in the fact that most teachers are not as well versed on these new technologies as our students. Before it can be used to help improve the learning of our students, teachers need to understand how to effectively use this technology. The majority of teachers use technology for administrative tasks, communication and planning, but there is a lack of technology being used in the classroom to support the education of students. With so many resources available today, teachers need two kinds of help. They need to understand how to effectively use a technology application, then they need the support to take risks in trying new ways to implement the technology in the classroom. To support teachers in this approach to discovering and learning new technology, it is helpful if they are able to work closely with someone who has been using the technology. Initial whole group instruction can be followed by small group and/or 1-1 follow up support available to the teachers to assist them as they embark on this new challenge. Professional development for teachers is often offered in isolated instances, restricting teachers time to process, plan, and debrief with one another. As a result, what is learned in professional development sessions is often forgotten about and rarely put into action. For professional development to be successful, teachers must be given the opportunity to learn about relevant, interesting tools, and be given proper time to plan with other teachers in the same grade level or subject matter. Additionally, adequate opportunities to try new methods and tools in the classroom and time to debrief afterwards to discuss which elements were successful and which elements still need further development are also needed. I have been experimenting with offering different approaches to professional development so the teachers K-8 can learn about technology tools for their classroom and effectively put them into action in their classrooms. The purpose of this Action Research is to create a personalized professional development plan for the teachers at Sycamore Canyon School to assist in the integration of technology in the classroom. If we continue to use the same outdated strategies from ten or more years ago, without taking advantage of the technologies available today, we will lose the interest of our students, which may ultimately lead to a decline in academic achievement. In order to be most successful, we must relate what is happening in the real world to our classrooms.

My Work Context
Sycamore Canyon is the only K-8 school in the Conejo Valley Unified School district and is located in a very new, secluded and affluent area of Newbury Park. While it is the newest school in the district, it also holds a certain amount of prestige as it has the highest API score in the district. The surrounding neighborhood contains only one apartment building,

Running Head: A PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR EDUCATORS

which is a point of contention for residents who feel that it invites lower income families into "their" community. Sycamore currently has around 1,400 students enrolled in grades K-8, with close to 1,000 of those students in the elementary school and the remaining students in the middle school. Sycamore has recently taken on the challenge of becoming the districts leader in the utilization of technology in the classroom and intends for its use of technology in the classroom to far surpass the other schools in the district. The Sycamore Canyon population is fairly diverse. There are heavy Caucasian, Indian, and Asian populations, with a smaller number of African Americans and Hispanics. The majority of students are well behaved and have at least some level of support from their parents at home with regards to academics. As the school is in such an affluent area, many of the students have their own iPads, or at least a family iPad, as well as iPhones, Androids or some other type of smart phone or iPod touch. They all have computers and Internet in their homes and the majority have their own email address. As weve discussed, these students are all digital natives. They love technology and more specifically they love using technology in the classroom. The drawback to being part of such a small school is that most of the kids live in the same community and have attended the same school since kindergarten. Finally, there are a very small number of resource students at the middle school level and only a handful or 2 ELL students. Overall, the parent community at Sycamore is generous and supportive as evidenced by the classroom donations that were received this year and last year. However, there also exists a sense of entitlement from both parents and students. The school and community belong to them and the teachers are simply visitors. In addition, parenting has shifted from blaming the child to blaming the educators and the schools themselves for the wrong doings of the students. There is very little accountability for actions and behaviors as teachers are often blamed for giving students their grade, rather than students accepting responsibility for the grade that was earned. The staff at Sycamore Canyon is relatively young. They are energetic and passionate about their work. You will often find these teachers in their classrooms well past contract time and even on the weekends planning their lessons to deliver the best instruction to their students. They are eager to learn and take pride in what they do. My membership in the community of practice I am working within can most accurately be described as that of a leader. I have formed a committee of teachers who will meet once a month to discuss technology needs in our school and be available to the staff as support. They will also develop and carry out professional development classes of their own. Finally, the committee will reflect with teachers after a few weeks to see how the integration of technology is going and what adjustments may need to be made to the program.

Literature Review
Professional Development: Creating Effective Means of Education for Teachers

Running Head: A PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR EDUCATORS

Introduction Technology can be defined as tools or methods that enable humans to perform tasks faster. While digital technology has been around for many years, it seems that teachers rely on it now more than ever, especially in the education world. At Sycamore Canyon School, a small K-8 public school in Newbury Park, California, one can find technology everywhere- from elementary to middle school classrooms, to the principals office and even outside of the school building. The main problem is that while this technology is readily available in these places, it is not currently being used to its full potential. The students who attend Sycamore Canyon School are digital natives, meaning that they were born into a world where technology is abundant and frequently used. Technology is a mere extension of mind and body to these students. (Prensky, 2001). In order to further the success of students and keep their interest, teachers must be given proper training to use all the tools and methods they are inundated with on a daily basis. The purpose of this Action Research is to find out how to facilitate effective technology integration at Sycamore Canyon School through a personalized professional development plan to enhance student learning. To find answers to this question, it is important to examine different approaches of effective professional development and the role of communities of practice in supporting professional development. For the purpose of this paper, technology will be defined as computers, including desktop and laptop computers, iPads, interactive whiteboard and devices such as clickers and online resources. Professional Development Defined C.M. Grant (1996) defines professional development as more than just traditional trainings where teachers learn new skills, but covers formal and informal ways to help teachers learn these new skills and better their own teaching practice. This means giving teachers the support they need to learn the new material, put it into practice, and offer support and follow up along the way to ensure students and teachers receive the maximum benefit as they further their understanding of new technologies used to advance inquiry- based learning (Wells, 2007). Professional development provides teachers with support that allows them to take risks using new tools and technology without fear of failure. Gabriel Diaz Maggioli (2004) defines professional development as a process that teachers continually work towards throughout their entire career to enhance student learning. The educational world views professional development in a number of ways. This includes formal teacher induction, the credits or degrees teachers earn as part of recertification or to receive salary boost, the national-board-certification process, and participation in subject matter or informal networks [to better ones practice]. (Sawchuk, 2010, cited in Edweek2011) Over the years, two different experts have defined two distinct types of professional development. The first method of professional development is the Traditional method. In the Traditional method, experts offer professional development in a setting outside of the educators normal location with tools that are unfamiliar or unavailable to the educator at his/her place of work. In addition, participants are often assembled together in a large group, regardless of grade level, subject, demographics, or learning needs, leaving the professional development program vague and generalized. In the Traditional method,

Running Head: A PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR EDUCATORS

professional development workshops are usually offered in one-shot training with limited time, or over a day or two. In the Traditional Method, at the end of the professional development workshop, there is little to no follow-up or continued support (Wells 2007). Wells (2007) contrasts the Traditional Method of professional development with a second approach called the Durable Method. This type of professional development is long lasting, has well defined goals, and enhances student achievement. Wells suggests that for professional development to be effective, those who are committed to improving their practice by means of professional development need to be aware of the long-term goal of reform. . It must also appeal to different groups. Effective professional development in the Durable Method consists of ten key design factors: Evaluation driven Contextual Learner centered Extend over time Engaging Inquiry based Theory/research based Collaborative Supportive Sustainable The effectiveness of the professional development correlates directly with the extent to which these factors are present. (Wells 2007) According to Chung et. al (2009), research indicates that professional development is most effective when it is offered over a period of time and as part of an entire school reform. Professional development is least effective when offered in isolation. When those offering professional development do so as part of an entire school reform, teachers are more willing to spend the amount of time necessary to make permanent changes. Teachers require additional support and follow-up to effectively learn the new material before being able to test it out. Once they test it, reflection with colleagues is an important part of processing and determines whether the experience was successful or what needs to happen to ensure success for the future. Effective Professional Development Effective professional development, which can be defined as that which results in improvements in teachers knowledge and instructional practice, as well as improved student learning outcomes, (Chung et. al, 2009) is fundamental to teacher success and student learning. Too often, districts have spent thousands of dollars for professional development that is not effective or implemented. According to The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) effective professional development is: 1. Directly focused on helping to achieve student learning goals and supporting student learning needs 2. A collaborative endeavor- teachers and administrators work together in planning an implementation

Running Head: A PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR EDUCATORS

3. School-based and job embedded 4. A long-term commitment 5. Differentiated 6. Tied to the district goals (Zimmerman and May, 2003) For professional development to be effective, it must be constant and in-depth while engaging the learner in meaningful, interactive collaboration. Once school districts provide teachers with advanced teacher learning, teachers can directly apply what they learned into the classroom, which will in turn, improve student achievement and success. Hands- on learning provides teachers with the most productive way to receive content and increase competency in that subject area. (Chung et. al, 2009) Providing teachers with hands-on learning experiences allows teachers to transform their teaching and not simply layer new strategies on top of the old. (Chung et. al, 2009) Communities of Practice While the term communities of practice is relatively new, the idea and routine is long standing. A community of practice is formed when a group of people who share a passion for a common interest come together to learn how to do a job, hobby, or task better through their interactions. (Wenger, 2006) According to Wenger, three main features define a community of practice: mutual engagement in the community, joint enterprise in the domain, and shared repertoire in the practice. (Wenger, 1998) Throughout the shared meeting in the community, members establish routines resulting in meaningful, interactive relationships. As teachers come together with a mutual interest, they are able to brainstorm, discuss, support, and share information. Deep relationships are built with one another as they work together and share knowledge. (Wenger, 1998) ; Wenger, 2006) In the joint enterprise in the domain, members start to define themselves and find common interests. Members form connections with one another creating a lasting bond due to the shared practice and interests. (Wenger 1998; Wenger, 2006,) In the last element, the shared repertoire of the practice, the group is able to create shared resources, including experiences, tools, [and] ways of addressing recurring problems (Wenger, 1998 Wenger, 2006). Professional Development and Communities of Practice Communities of practice are greatly beneficial in the teaching community as they relate to professional development. Teachers share a common interest for teaching in general and more specifically their particular subject matter. Communities of practice allow teachers to deepen their knowledge and expertise in [an] area by interacting on an ongoing basis. (Wenger, Mcdermott, and Snyder 2002By working in a community of practice, teachers are able to share successes and failures, examine best practices and most importantly support one another in the carrying out of new ideas. By working together, teachers are able to come to an understanding of three key elements: the quality of work they expect, the common struggles between their students, and what instructional strategies students do or do not understand (Chung et al, 2009). It is in these moments that teachers can rely on one another to brainstorm and work through issues to find a possible solution.

Running Head: A PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR EDUCATORS

As noted by Chung et al., when teachers come together as a staff and are able to plan specific ways to use and integrate the new material learned they become, engaged in a powerful form of staff development that allows them to grapple with real issues related to the new content and instructional practices (Killion, 1999). The community of practice allows teachers to process information together and constantly rely on one another for support. When teachers have a support system, such as their peers from their school site, this trusting environment allows for evaluation and examination, which in turn allows teachers to take risks, solve problems, and attend to dilemmas in their practice.(Wei, Darling-Hammon, Andree, Richardson and Orphanos, 2009). When teachers feel comfortable enough to take the kinds of risks necessary to improve their own teaching practice, student achievement improves. Once teachers become concerned with changing their instructional practices, students start to benefit (Saxe, Gearheart, & Nasir, 2001). In order for professional development to affect student learning, a few key factors must be present: 1. A community of professionals comes together who study together, and put into practice what they are learning, and share the results. 2. The content of staff development develops around curricular and instructional strategies selected because they have a high probability of affecting student learning- and, as important, student abilities to learn. 3. The magnitude of change generated is sufficient that the students gain in knowledge and skill is palpable. What is taught, how it is taught, and the social climate of the school have to change to the degree that the increase in student ability to learn is manifest. 4. The processes of staff development enable educators to develop the skill to implement what they are learning. (Joyce & Showers 2002) Conclusion Technology can be an effective tool to improve student achievement. However, in order for student achievement to improve, instructional practices must first improve. Teachers, schools, and school districts cannot expect this to happen without providing teachers with effective support. Professional development can be costly and is not always carried out in the most effective way, which is why communities of practice will help us achieve this goal. Teachers need a group where they can share ideas and feel supported, leading to risk taking and comfort when trying new methods, ultimately improving teachers practice. In turn, this will lead to advanced student achievement

Research Design
I will be using action research to explore how to facilitate effective technology integration at Sycamore Canyon School through a personalized professional development plan to enhance student learning. Action research is a cyclical approach to research. It enables the

Running Head: A PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR EDUCATORS

researcher to identify an area to change, act on the change, collect data, and reflect. The reflection of each cycle allows the researcher to accumulate knowledge and make a plan for how to proceed in the next cycle. This differs from traditional research in that the practitioner is the main focus, as opposed to a third party being studied and reported on. Action research involves you, your collaborative partners, and the larger world around you.

Figure1 by Riel, M. 2010, from Center for Collaborative Action Research My main research question is, How do I provide a personalized professional development plan to help teachers integrate technology into their classrooms?

Cycle Reports
Cycle 1
OVERALL RESEARCH QUESTION: How will the implementation of an individualized professional development plan affect the level of technology integration in the classroom? ACTION TAKEN: To gain knowledge of how the current staff at my schools uses technology as well as find out the needs and interests of the staff, I conducted a needs assessment. Initially I sent an email to the teaching staff with the attached link to the Google form explaining the purpose of the needs assessment. After one week I had about ten teachers complete the survey. In attempts to get more teachers to complete my survey, a week later I resent out the same email, this time with the incentive that I would put the name of everyone who completed the survey into a drawing for a Starbucks gift card. In that week, I had twenty more teachers complete the survey. Once the survey was completed, I looked at a few specific areas: how teachers currently use technology in their classroom, what areas of technology teachers are interested in learning about to enhance their teaching practices, what days most teachers are interested in

Running Head: A PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR EDUCATORS

attending professional development opportunities, and how teachers are most interested in learning about new technology. CYCLE 1 QUESTION: How will understanding the technology competencies of the current employees of the school help me develop a professional development technology program that better serves their needs? PREDICTED OUTCOME: The action of this first cycle was to gain an understanding of what technology teachers wanted to learn about and the ideal way to teach this information to them. Based on the prior knowledge of my staff I figured my staff would be most interested to learn about using the iPad in the classroom and would want staff development offered on Tuesdays, our early dismissal days. EVIDENCE COLLECTED The evidence used to evaluate the action taken in this cycle was a needs assessment survey sent out in the form of a Google doc to all teachers at my school. Some of the questions were open-ended while others asked the teachers to select an answer from a list of possibilities. Initially I sent this email out to the seventy teachers at my school on Monday, October 8th. After the first week, I had only 10 teachers respond. I resent the survey out the following week offering a Starbucks gift card drawing to anyone who completed the survey. After two weeks, I had thirty-four teachers, nearly half the staff, complete the survey. ANALYSIS Of the teachers who completed the survey, the majority stated that they use technology for administrative tasks and planning, and their students mostly use technology in the computer lab and for programs already set up by the district such as Success Maker and research. Teachers also reported that they use technology for instruction assistance, using such tools as Powerpoint, YouTube, and document cameras.

Figure 1.2- Current use of Technology at Sycamore Canyon School

Running Head: A PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR EDUCATORS

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Slightly over half of the teachers (51%) reported that they used technology in their classrooms everyday, and just over a quarter (26%) used technology in their classrooms 2- 3 times a week. Of the remaining teachers, 11% use technology once a week, and 9% said their students only use the computer lab for technology once a week. Only 20 out of the 34 teachers who took the survey have a classroom iPad, which means only about 20 out of the 70 teachers at the school have a classroom iPad. Forty-three percent of the teachers who completed the survey are willing to take one hour a week to spend on developing a technology program in their classroom where as another 43% said they were willing to spend 2-3 hours a week, while 14% said they would spend as much time as it takes. The number one area of interest for professional development was iPads followed by web- based projects, Edmodo, and Prezi/Google docs.
Areas of Interest 20 15 10 5 0

Ipads Web Edmodo Google Prezi imovie Powerpoi Glogster Popplet

Number Interested

Sixty-three percent of the teachers said they would prefer to learn professional development as a grade level, 3% said as a whole elementary school, 9% said as a K-8 school, and 26% had no preference.

Figure 1.2: Technology areas of interest

Figure 1.3: Preferred method of Learning New Technologies

Tuesday was the preferred day for professional develop selected by 43% of the staff . Wednesday, Monday and Thursday were ranked in that order with 23%,17%, and 14% selecting these days, respectively. Only 3% selected Friday.

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The final questioned posed was whether teachers would be interested in creating a small group to help me offer individualized PD to help support and follow up with the other teachers. More than half of the teachers (54%) responded that they would be interested in this form of involvement. Just over a third (37%) did not want to be help in this way and the rest did not respond to this question. REFLECTION: Upon reflection I am happy with the results I gained from the needs assessment because they were consistent with my predicted outcome. I am however, disappointed with how few teachers completed the assessment. It was interesting to me that once I offered a Starbucks gift card the number of teachers who completed the survey almost tripled. I do not know if this is due to the incentive of Starbucks card or simply the continued reminder; perhaps it is a combination of the two. I am going to try to make the majority of the professional development classes offered on Tuesdays, since this was the day that most teachers selected. I will also offer the most popular sessions first. I wonder how helpful this data will be moving forward. Half of the staff did not respond to the survey and it is hard to know exactly how to read this, as they may or may not be interested in professional development with technology or may have simply chosen not to respond to the survey. Looking back, it may have been more beneficial if this survey had come from administration as I think people may have taken it more seriously. The staff at my school saw the professional development classes as something I needed to do for my masters, not something being implemented to ultimately benefit them. I think if the needs assessment had come from the administration, they may have viewed it as possible change being created due to our new principal and therefore been more willing to comply and please the new principal. I have often reflected throughout the entire action research process and thought that the possible lack of attendance and excitement may be due to the fact that teachers saw this as my masters program and not something they were a part of. The needs assessment gave me to the tools to move forward for my next cycles. The first thing I am going to do is create a Technology Committee to review this data and decide on a plan of action moving forward. I contacted all 19 teachers who expressed interest in forming a committee and after further investigation I have 10 who are truly interested.

Figure 1.4 Preferred day of the week for PD

Running Head: A PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR EDUCATORS

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Cycle 2
ACTION TAKEN: The action of this second cycle was to create a committee that would help me support the teachers in their implementation of technology in the classroom. The committee would meet once a month to discuss technology needs they see campus wide, ways to support the staff after professional development classes were offered, and to give the committee members a first glance at the upcoming professional development sessions. This would allow committee members to further support the staff on the day of the professional development training and after as they would be better prepared. RESEARCH QUESTION: How will the creation of a technology committee affect the level of implementation of technology in the classroom? PREDICTED OUTCOME: Due to the overwhelming response on the needs assessment, I expected to have a group of 10-15 teachers who would be interested in giving their own professional development classes and who would be eager to support their colleagues with technology implementation. EVIDENCE USED TO EVALUATE THE ACTION: The evidence used to evaluate the action taken in this cycle was a sign in sheet to indicate the level of participation, the agenda of topics for the meeting to indicate the content of the meetings, and the notes taken during the meeting to help determine the quality of the interactions. EVALUATION: Frequency and level of participation: The technology committee has met four times. The initial meeting was November 26th, 2012, followed by two meetings in December (5th and 18th) and the fourth meeting was held on February 11th, 2013. The meetings were held after school and snacks were provided at the first meeting. Initially I started off with 19 people who indicated on the needs assessment that they wanted to be a part of this technology committee. Once I sent out a follow up email it turned out that only 12 people were really interested. At the first technology meeting, held on November 26th there were eight people who attended. At our second meeting, held on December 5, there were only five out of the twelve who attended. At our third meeting on December 18th, six people attended, and at our most recent meeting on February 11th, only three attended. At our initial meeting I explained to the attendees the purpose of the committee. I wanted our group to be a community that would help support other teachers in the integration of technology at Sycamore Canyon. It was my hope that they would want to give professional development classes to the staff to generate more sharing of knowledge among the staff. As our first meeting went along, it became fairly clear that the members of the group did not feel comfortable giving their own professional development, but that they would support me and serve as backups to assist during professional development classes.

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A big topic at the first two committee meetings was the lack of technology and the lack of a school wide document that could be sent home to parents allowing their child to use technology and agreeing to the use of bring your own device (BYOD). It was a concern that each time a teacher wanted to use new technology in the classroom a new permission slip would need to be sent home, a process which can be extremely tedious. Another big issue that was brought up was the possibility of having school wide email accounts for the students. After checking into this with the district, I found out that next year each student will have his/her own secured email account through the district. At the third meeting I pre-trained the committee members on Story Kit, an iPad app, which would serve as my first professional development class for the rest of the staff. The technology committee members were learning about this app ahead of time so that they would be there on the day of the professional development session to assist teachers and ultimately follow up later to assist with the actual implementation in the classroom. At the most recent meeting we met to discuss the evaluation of the Story Kit professional development which was recently offered to the whole staff, analyze the feedback from the teachers who attended the Story Kit professional development session, brainstorm ways to help teachers implement Story Kit in the classroom, and brainstorm ways to get more teachers involved, as attendance for the professional development session was low. REFLECTION: This cycle was more challenging than the first cycle. Getting people to respond to emails and attend meetings proved to be very challenging. In trying to understand why the attendance keeps declining, Ive identified several possibilities. The most likely reason is that people are over committed. The majority of the people on this committee are also a part of leadership, school site council, ASB, UACT, or another committee that requires monthly meetings. While the meetings are not necessarily on the same day as my meetings (there was some overlap, however) the members of the committee are teachers who are dedicated to education and dont have enough time for all commitments. Because my committee is completely voluntary, when other commitments conflict they are more likely to have to drop their participation. The second reason people are not attending these meetings is simply because they forget. Despite my constant reminders, I have had several committee members come up to me the day after the meeting and apologize they didnt come, they simply forgot. It seems that my method of communication is not as effective as I thought. Therefore, I may need to personally seek out each committee member and touch base with him or her the day before the meeting to verify that they are coming. I could also leave a physical note in the mailbox the day before to meeting as a reminder. I made an assumption that teachers checked their emails daily, and after realization, I now realize this may not be the case. Another possibility would be to include a reminder of my meeting in the morning announcements. This is something that is heard in every classroom every morning. Lastly, a final possible reason for lack of attendance and effort is because the staff does not see the value in the committee. The teachers at Sycamore Canyon are extremely hard

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working and already put in a huge number of hours outside of their normal contractual hours. It is possible that because this committee is not coming from administration, or backed by the administration, that the teachers dont take technology integration as a serious goal. The teachers need to be made aware of the commitment of the school to this goal of technology integration. If administration told them they were going to be required to use technology in their classes next year, this school wide goal might inspire more dedicated and regular participation. If the administration publically recognized and thanked them for this participation, perhaps they would be more interested and feel that their work was validated. I need some way for this committee to be more officially sanctioned. It is also interesting to point out that at my first meeting I provided snacks for the staff, but did not do so at the following 3 meetings. I do not know if this had any effect on attendance or not. The reason I stopped providing snacks is simply because of cost. One of the committee members suggested that we should set up a snack list and have one member a month bring snacks for the session. I asked if she would take responsibility for this, but unfortunately we were never able to implement this practice. The most recent email I sent out reminding staff of the upcoming meeting asked if anyone wanted to bring snacks, but I received no responses. Although this committee was not as successful as I wanted it to be, I do feel that it provided a strong basis for positive change next year. I recently met with my principal to discuss developing this committee further next year and he agreed with me that it would be positive in creating change at Sycamore. I also gave an end of the year survey to teachers asking their opinions on having a technology committee next year and 15 of the 17 people who responded said yes. It is possible that if the committee is seemingly formed by the principal, and not someone pursuing their masters, members might take it more seriously and those joining would have a true vested interest in technology.

Cycle 3
ACTION TAKEN: Teachers were invited to participate in an after school professional development session on two particular technology tools; Popplet and Weebly for Education. The session was offered on a Tuesday afternoon, an early release day for students, which would allow teachers time during the regular school day to attend this session. In my needs assessment, Tuesdays were indicated as the number one preferred day for professional development classes. RESEARCH QUESTION: If I use an RSVP method for professional development classes offered to teachers, how will this affect the attendance of the class? PREDICTED OUTCOME: I did not expect many teachers to attend my professional development session due to poor attendance numbers at similar workshops that had previously been held. I expected teachers to be excited about Popplet and see this as a tool that they could easily integrate into their classroom. My intention with Weebly for Education was to present the idea and see if teachers would be interested in learning more

Running Head: A PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR EDUCATORS about this particular tool as a possible teacher website, or project based learning project idea for their students. I predicted that teachers would want more information about Weebly for Education. My overall concern was that teachers would see the lack of resources and time as a major hindrance in integrating these tools.

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EVIDENCE USED TO EVALUATE THE ACTION: A week before the session I sent out an email with a link to a Google Form asking teachers to RSVP for the session. The day before the training, I resent the same Google form link to encourage teachers to RSVP. On the day of the session, I had a sign in sheet with everyone who RSVPd. After the session, I had teachers complete a survey via Google Forms, which can be found at the following link:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Q8dAglTicsrvwQueJ6jWFVSH1zYwMv3U4B3QQXHheGE/viewform

EVALUATION: The evaluation of this cycle was based on attendance and a Google Form Survey. There were twenty-four teachers who RSVPd to attend, and of those twenty-four, twenty-one attended. The first survey question asked responders their overall feelings on Popplet, and, 78% stated that they loved Popplet and 22% said they thought, it was ok. Twenty-eight percent of the teachers thought it would be very easy to use in their classroom, where as 61% said it would be fairly easy, and 11% thought it would be difficult. When asked what would the most difficult part of implementing the program in the classroom, 41% of responded with lack of time while 34% said lack of resources would make it most difficult. 10% said lack of ideas, 3% said lack of support, and 10% said other, without further specification The survey asked whether teachers would like more development class with Popplet and 44% of responders responded that they would, while 56% said they would not. When asked their thoughts about Weebly for Education, 50% of responders said they loved it, 44% said they thought it was ok and 6% said they did not like it. 44% of teachers said they would use Weebly for Education in their classrooms, 6% said they would not use it in their classrooms, and 50% said they might use it. Of the attendees, 53% said they would most likely use Weebly for Education as a classroom or teacher website, 10% said they would use it for student E-portfolios, 30% said they would use it for student projects and 7% said other, which they did not specify. Seventy-eight percent of teachers said they would like more PD classes on Weebly, and 22% said they would not. REFLECTION: Going into this professional development session, I felt more confident and more excited about the outcome than previous sessions. This was the first time I had sent out an RSVP form and I feel like this gave the teachers an added sense of accountability. Once they signed up they felt committed, whereas before, when there was no sign up sheet, they could decide that day whether they were going or not, and the majority would not attend. This was also the first time I made the survey at the end of the session anonymous. Teachers could put their name if they wanted, but it was not required. I feel like this made it much safer for the teachers to be honest and give their true feedback.

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I was not surprised with the reaction of my coworkers. These two tools excited them, just as I expected them to. The teachers at my school are genuinely interested in integrating technology into their classrooms, however, just as I predicted, the two biggest factors that prevent them from doing so, are lack of time and lack of resources. While this session was positive on the whole, I realized that the most difficult part of helping teachers integrate technology into their classrooms will be the follow up on my part. The easy part was for me to teach them the new tool. My job now is to help support each of the teachers that attended the workshop. I plan to do this by following up with them to see if they have used the tool or if there is anything else I can do to help them moving forward.

Final Reflection
Cycle 2 was a pivotal moment in my action research. After creating a technology committee and was genuinely excited for the potential of this committee. I believed these members were as passionate about technology integration and would have good ideas for how to help create change at my school. However, it became clear that the majority of people in my technology committee were either too busy to fully commit, or had only joined to help me out, as a friend, with my action research project. One of the most valuable things I learned was how to lead a professional development session. This experience was entirely new to me and while the presentation itself was organized, the communication with teachers was not as organized. As I continued giving sessions I learned that sending out RSVP forms, having sign in sheets at the sessions, and offering a post meeting survey were all equally helpful. In the future, I would like to further explore the concept of professional development in small groups, as the majority of the staff indicated that this was how they preferred to conduct the sessions. Unfortunately, due to time constraints this was not a possibility and the sessions had to be conducted in the most efficient manner possible, leaving whole group learning as our only option. Throughout the course of my action research project, I have taken on a larger leadership role at the school. I am the youngest staff member and as such find difficulty in believing I have any new information to present to the rest of the staff. Technology integration has always been a passion of mine, and I felt that this was an area in which I could really help educate my staff. Because my school is a K-8, and because I am relatively new, I did not know everyone on the staff well. By offering these professional development classes, and being in constant communication with the staff, I feel like my personal relationships with some of the other teachers also improved. People would often stop me in the halls to discuss what they had done with technology in their classroom. I have grown an immense amount in many different ways, with a fair amount of said growth coming from trial and error. This is the first time I have really stepped into a leadership position at my school. I think the biggest way for me to really make a change at my school with regards to technology integration is to work more closely with the administration. I felt in my action research project that I was hesitant to approach my

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principal because I believed he would be busy with other duties, and would not have had the time to assist. However, I believe a lot more change could have been implemented had I been in closer contact with him and elicited his involvement in the process. The entirety of this experience has made me want to improve upon certain practices to make them more beneficial not only next year but in the years following. It would be beneficial to send out another needs assessment to the staff, but make it less broad open-ended. I would like to work with my principal and a select few members to come up with pointed questions that we really want to solve. I think previously, the needs assessment was too vague and general and the answers I received spanned a very wide range, making it more difficult to get a sense of what the overall need was. One hindrance of the study was a lack of time. By the time I finally had a true understanding of what I was doing and the path I wanted to take, the school year was just about over. I still plan to continue my action research next year, outside of this formal setting. In order to receive feedback and assist in my personal reflection, I sent out an end of the year assessment to get an understanding of how to best proceed next year. I sent this form out to the entire staff much like I did my initial needs assessment, and received 18 responses. While no external rewards were offered for responses, I believe that further follow up may have led to even more responses. Of those who responded, 17 teachers had attended at least one or more of my professional development sessions. A total of 16 teachers said the classes offered were beneficial, one person said they somewhat beneficial, and one person did not respond because he/she did not attend any sessions. All 18 teachers said they would like me to continue offering professional development next year surrounding technology integration and15 out of the 18 said that they thought there should be a technology committee formed next year to help discuss technology integration needs, while three said they did not think there was a need for technology committee. In summation, the data I collected is extremely positive to me. Not only did the teachers enjoy my professional development classes and find them beneficial, but it is also encouraging to know that they want me to continue doing them next year. I would really like to continue my leadership role on campus with technology integration and help teachers improve their teaching practice. I want to help facilitate integration of tools that will encourage better student learning and not merely share information about technology tools. This year was pivotal in introducing new products and getting teachers thinking about technology in new ways and I feel that Im at the brink of a breakthrough with my staff. Most immediately I plan to establish an effective technology committee next year. I also plan to offer more professional development classes, attend 3-4 technology conferences next year, and keep the Sycamore Canyon School website up to date as a resource for teachers. With the support of administration, the continual offering of professional development classes, and my own continued education, I believe that our school can do some great things with regards to technology integration.

References
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Running Head: A PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR EDUCATORS based theory of professional education. In L. Darling-Hammond & G. Sykes (Eds.), Teaching as the learning profession: Handbook of policy and practice (pp. 3-32). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers. Bilodeau, E. (2003). Using Communities of Practice to Enhance Student Learning: Examples and Issues. Bryk, A., Camburn, E., & Louis, K. (1999). Professional community in Chicago elementary schools: Facilitating factors and organizational consequences. Educational Administration Quarterly, 35(5), 751-781.

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Chung, R.W, Darling-Hammond, L, Andree, A, Richardson, N, Orphanos, S. (2009) Professional Learning in the Learning Profession. A Status Report on Teacher Development in the U.S. and Abroad. Technical Report. Edweek (2004. Updated 2011). Retrieved from www.edweek.org/ew/issues/professiondevelopment/ Grant, C.M. (1996). Professional development in a technological age: New definitions, old challenges, new resources. In A. Feldman (Ed.) Technology infusion and school change: Perspective and practices. Camridge, MA: TERC Research Monograph. Joyce, B., & Showers B. Student Achievement Through Staff Development. Killion, J. (1999). What works in the middle: Results-based staff development. Oxford, OH: National Staff Development Council. Killion, J. (2002a). What works in the high school: Results-based staff development. Oxford, OH: National Staff Development Council. Killion, J. (2002b). What works in the elementary school: Results-based staff development. Oxford, OH: National Staff Development Council. Lieberman, A., & Wood, D. (2002). From network learning to classroom teaching. Journal of Educational Change, 3, 315-337. Little, J. W. (1993). Teachers professional development in a climate of educational reform. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 15(2), 129. Maggioli, G.D. (2006). Teacher Centered Professional Development. May, J.J, & Zimmerman, J.A. (2003). Providing Effective Professional Development: Whats Holding Us Back? American Secondary Education 31(2). Sawchuck, S., Professional Development for Teachers at Crossroads, Education Week, Nov. 10, 2010a.

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Saxe, G., Gearhart, M., & Nasir, N. S. (2001). Enhancing students understanding of Mathematics: A study of three contrasting approaches to professional support. Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, 4, 55-79. Wells, J.G. (2007). Key Design Factors in Durable Instructional Technology Professional Development. Journal of Teacher Education. Wenger, E., R. McDermott, and W.M. Snyder. Cultivating Communities of Practice; A Guide to Managing Knowledge. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 2002. Wenger, E. (2006). Communities of Practice a Brief Introduction. Retrieved from www.ewenger.com/theory/