Professional Development Plan

Technology Leadership in Schools ISLT 7366

Scott Vonder Bruegge

October 16, 2014

Fall Semester 2014

Staff Development for the Implementation of Chromebooks in the 9th
grade English Reader Writer Workshop program.
Overview:
Having already taken the plunge into the Google Apps for Education
ecosystem as well as implementing a 1:1 BYOD iPad initiative requiring
every student to have an iPad in hand, it is time to move beyond the
general nature of these two programs and work to fine tune our
integration of technology. To that end, it seemed prudent to provide a
class set of Chromebooks to every teacher teaching 9th grade English
because of the ease with which they connect to to the collaborative
tools offered by Google and to overcome a minor shortcoming of the
iPad in its lack of a full-size keyboard. Teacher familiarity with Google
Apps for Education will mean that this professional development plan
will be able, in essence, to hit the ground running.
The cost of this professional development will be zero. The time is
already built into the schedule and the facilitators and trainers are
already on staff and expected to provide training as requested and
needed. However, teachers will be encouraged to take the exams
necessary to become a recognized Google Educator. The request for
funding of these exams can be made through the Westminster
Christian Academy Center for Teaching and Learning and are not a
required part of this professional development program.
The aim of this professional development program will be to not only
prepare English teachers to efficiently use Chromebooks to access the
Google Apps tools available to them and our students for the
implementation of Reader Writer Workshop. It will also be a goal to use
that as a catalyst for all our 9th grade teachers and eventually all of our
teachers to access and harness the power of Google Apps on student
iPads or any other device with an Internet connection.
Logistics:

Meeting Time
o Our 9th grade teachers already have two established
meeting times built into the school calendar. Roughly twice
a month all 9th grade teachers meet together and there is
also weekly PLC time when teachers meet.
o General training will take place during one of the monthly
grade level meeting times. Every 9th grade teacher will
receive training in the use of Google Apps even though

Professional Development Plan

Technology Leadership in Schools ISLT 7366

Scott Vonder Bruegge

October 16, 2014

Fall Semester 2014

they will not be using Chromebooks. This will allow,

however, time for all teachers at this grade level to make
consistent their use of these tools so as to aid in making
use among students also consistent.
o Once a month there will also be one PLC meeting set aside
for the 9th grade English teachers for the express purpose
of learning the best ways to harness the functionality of the
Chromebooks.
o In total, 9th grade English teachers will get specific training
in the use of Chromebooks twice a month.
Training Facilitation
o Our Director of Instructional Innovation will be present at
all professional development meetings. However, he will
only lead the PLC meeting times. At these meetings new
functionality will be introduced as well as means of best
practice. The three 9th grade English teachers will then
serve in the role of facilitators as Google Lead Trainers
during the larger group grade level meetings where they
will conduct the instruction. The Director of Instructional
Innovation will attend these meetings in a support role.

Content:

The primary source for training materials will be the Google for
Education training provided by Google at
www.google.com/edu/training/tools
The training will focus on four of the training modules that are
most appropriate for the 9th grade English curriculum
o Google Classroom
o Docs and Drive
o Chrome
o Search
As this tool will be implemented into classrooms beginning in the
2015-2016 school year, training must begin this year beginning
in January. By training initially in the four modules at a more
basic, or 100 level, teachers will be able to get a solid
fundamental footing in the use of Classroom, Docs and Drive,
Chrome, and Search prior to summer break. At this point they
can be ready to roll out a robust use of the Chromebooks in
August and have enough skill in these areas to ensure they are a
productive piece of the Reader Writer Workshop. English
teachers as well as any other freshman level teachers will be
able to implement the Google Apps tools in their classrooms but

Professional Development Plan

Technology Leadership in Schools ISLT 7366

Scott Vonder Bruegge

October 16, 2014

Fall Semester 2014

the added advantage of the keyboards will make them the tool of
choice for the English teachers. Even though the Chromebooks
are the tool provided by the grant, it is the ease with which they
take advantage of the Google Apps tools that make them the tool
of choice. Therefore, it is the Google Apps ecosystem where the
real benefits to students can be found. When teachers return to
school in August they will have access to the Director of
Instructional Innovation as well as members of their PLCs to aid
in a smooth rollout with students. After that, the professional
development will follow the same twice a month format with a
more in depth, or 200 level look at each tool.
Schedule:

January - Google Classroom I

o What is Classroom?
o Benefits of Classroom.
o Setting up Classroom.
February - Docs and Drive I
o What are Docs and Drive?
o Docs for creation.
o Drive for Storage.
March Chrome I
o What is Chrome?
o Features of Chrome
April Search I
o What is Search?
o Features of Search.
o Benefits of Search in the classroom.
September - Google Classroom II
o What is Classroom?
o Creating and Collecting Assignments.
o Improving class communications.
October - Docs and Drive II
o Docs for collaboration.
o Docs for feedback.
November - Chrome II
o Application of the Chrome browser in the classroom.
o Advanced Chrome.
December Search II
o Helping students become better searchers.
o Finding different results.

Professional Development Plan

Technology Leadership in Schools ISLT 7366

Scott Vonder Bruegge

October 16, 2014

Fall Semester 2014

o Efficient search.
o Safe search.
Evaluation:

Recognized Google Educator

o Anyone completing the Google Educator exams and
achieving this recognition will be considered to have
sufficiently completed the training program.
o The Google Educator certificate will need to be presented
to the Director of Innovative Instruction as proof of
completion.
In-house Evaluation
o Planned observations by the Director of Innovative
Instruction during the first semester of 2015 will be the
initial piece of the evaluation process.
o 9th grade English teachers will demonstrate the use of the
Google Apps for Education suite in their classrooms with
their students but also demonstrate the usefulness of the
Chromebooks by showing increased engagement with the
Reader Writer workshop through their implementation.
o 9th grade non-English teachers will simply demonstrate the
use of the Google Apps for Education suite in their
classrooms.
o Follow up conversations will take place to debrief the
content of the observation report written by the Director of
Innovative Instruction.
Survey
o All teachers finishing the one-year training program will be
surveyed anonymously as to the success and usefulness of
the Google training program and the effective
implementation of the Chromebooks.