Summary of Focus Group discussion
W is William Campillo, Staff represents all of the teachers present.
W - what type of professional development do we need in this school?
Staff – support, instruction? What type of professional development are you talking about?
W – all of it, all of the possible professional development that can be offered for teachers
Staff – Making lesson plans and unit planning
Staff – implementing SEL (social emotional learning)
Staff – I think we have to break PD down by cluster, make it grade specific instead of an overall presentation
W – (followed up) , for K-2 what would you need specifically?
Staff - Vocab phonemic awareness, all of LA, math more hands on concrete activitries, towards common core at grade level
W – Should grade clusters or grade levels choose what they need?
Staff – yes
Staff – I was at a school where PD had breakout sessions where teachers could choose where they wanted to go
Staff - I feel that at the upper grade level we should have more support or training w/ SEL, they (students) have serious issues
Staff – Empowering the teacher or including them in those things would help but we need to be trained to help.
Staff – As far as professional development, I would like to see some of the teachers lend their expertise. this could help differentiate. I would also like to have PD to see how to plan a spiraling curriculum, a third would be project based curriculum, lessons or activities that integrate science, social sciences, or math.
Staff – Another thought came into mind. We should decide what areas we want to learn about.
W – Has anyone ever participated in an online learning community or a professional learning community? A newer version is an online learning commmunity through google groups, etc.
Staff – I would say I do through facebook. We post and share then follow up on our own with readings
W - (begin slide presentations, talk through slides)
Link to website
(at time of presentation website would not show on projector when reaching the slide to link to the website)
Every page is described - research, unit planning, unit storage and review, curriculum maps, online communication
Staff – Don’t you think we never really get a model of a good unit plan that we can follow?
W – I agree I think that’s a good point and by putting all the units up we can look at good examples that are right here in the school. Putting it up there and asking for input is another way that we can do this.
W- What do you think of a project like this? Does it meet a need? How will teachers respond?
Staff – I think yes. They will use the web site. It is free of the forced responses we had when we were reading in the ILT (instructional leadership team) last year. We had to read something then felt like we were forced to respond to it by a certain time in a google group. Wit this we can ask and respond based on needs or questions.
Staff – I think we have to be careful how we word things but yes. I think there is a need – I was speaking to my grade level team and we found that we never had time to meet and do this, have conversations or ask questions about what we are doing in our classrooms.
Staff – the tech knowledge may be an obstacle but once they (teachers) see the benefits, they will buy in.
Staff – It’s something that takes time We change direction too often and don’t give time for things to grow
W - Will this impact student learning?
Staff – I think so. Another issue might be the extra added work. Like if its another thing we have to do.. Especially if the administration sees it as effective then it becomes mandated where it will no longer be voluntary. Then we will see it as a chore
Staff – Start small. Start it as a safe thing that can be grown. This reminds me of pinterest, but having it online might keep some people out. You might want to have some face to face for those who prefer to communicate in person.
W - what type of professional development do we need in this school?
Staff – support, instruction? What type of professional development are you talking about?
W – all of it, all of the possible professional development that can be offered for teachers
Staff – Making lesson plans and unit planning
Staff – implementing SEL (social emotional learning)
Staff – I think we have to break PD down by cluster, make it grade specific instead of an overall presentation
W – (followed up) , for K-2 what would you need specifically?
Staff - Vocab phonemic awareness, all of LA, math more hands on concrete activitries, towards common core at grade level
W – Should grade clusters or grade levels choose what they need?
Staff – yes
Staff – I was at a school where PD had breakout sessions where teachers could choose where they wanted to go
Staff - I feel that at the upper grade level we should have more support or training w/ SEL, they (students) have serious issues
Staff – Empowering the teacher or including them in those things would help but we need to be trained to help.
Staff – As far as professional development, I would like to see some of the teachers lend their expertise. this could help differentiate. I would also like to have PD to see how to plan a spiraling curriculum, a third would be project based curriculum, lessons or activities that integrate science, social sciences, or math.
Staff – Another thought came into mind. We should decide what areas we want to learn about.
W – Has anyone ever participated in an online learning community or a professional learning community? A newer version is an online learning commmunity through google groups, etc.
Staff – I would say I do through facebook. We post and share then follow up on our own with readings
W - (begin slide presentations, talk through slides)
Link to website
(at time of presentation website would not show on projector when reaching the slide to link to the website)
Every page is described - research, unit planning, unit storage and review, curriculum maps, online communication
Staff – Don’t you think we never really get a model of a good unit plan that we can follow?
W – I agree I think that’s a good point and by putting all the units up we can look at good examples that are right here in the school. Putting it up there and asking for input is another way that we can do this.
W- What do you think of a project like this? Does it meet a need? How will teachers respond?
Staff – I think yes. They will use the web site. It is free of the forced responses we had when we were reading in the ILT (instructional leadership team) last year. We had to read something then felt like we were forced to respond to it by a certain time in a google group. Wit this we can ask and respond based on needs or questions.
Staff – I think we have to be careful how we word things but yes. I think there is a need – I was speaking to my grade level team and we found that we never had time to meet and do this, have conversations or ask questions about what we are doing in our classrooms.
Staff – the tech knowledge may be an obstacle but once they (teachers) see the benefits, they will buy in.
Staff – It’s something that takes time We change direction too often and don’t give time for things to grow
W - Will this impact student learning?
Staff – I think so. Another issue might be the extra added work. Like if its another thing we have to do.. Especially if the administration sees it as effective then it becomes mandated where it will no longer be voluntary. Then we will see it as a chore
Staff – Start small. Start it as a safe thing that can be grown. This reminds me of pinterest, but having it online might keep some people out. You might want to have some face to face for those who prefer to communicate in person.
