Blog #9

Hands-On Learning with a Hands-Off Approach for Professional Development

Ahlfeld, K. (2010). Hands-On Learning with a Hands-Off Approach for Professional Development. School Library Monthly, 26(6), 16-18. Retrieved from Education Full Text database on July 16, 2010.

This research was conducted by Kelly Ahlfeld. She is a school librarian at the Mettawee Community School located in West Pawlet, Vermont. Researcher argues if the same strategies used to help students learn 21st century skills can also help teachers when they are adult learners. The article addresses some questions about how professional development was provided and what the role of school librarians is.

It was always a challenge to help teachers use technology to transform their teaching. One of the solutions used is peer training; the other solution is to offer teachers a self-directed, exploration approach to professional development related to technology.

The new approach was to have teachers explore and develop new ideas for their classrooms, then choose a technology tool to achieve them. The next step is to be trained on the technology tool needed and to share what they discovered, including success and failure. The school librarian collected those ideas and presented them.

This approach created some positive projects such as a wellness blog created by the school nurse where staff members could support each other's health goals; primary teachers explored an online book program, introduced it to students, got their feedback, and made a decision about whether to purchase a license.

Teachers created video libraries of math mini-lessons taught by students; they used video to teach and model reading fluency and make educational movies of class field trips.

Also, there were some down side to this approach because some teachers explored some ideas then find out that it will not work for their students, for examples, fifth grade teachers used their time to explore an online blackboard tool and found that it wasn't suited to their needs, the music teacher found that learning to use music composition software was very time consuming.

Teachers were encouraged to try, fail and share, rather than produce a final product to be evaluated. This approach helped in reshaping the school culture in regards to technology.

The article concluded that there were two reasons for success for this approach, one is professional development was teacher-driven and supported by administration similar to the classroom of the 21st century where student center learning is supported with the guidance of the teacher. The second reason is that the principal worked with the school librarian to provide technology purchases.

The idea of this approach is wonderful. Teachers got to choose what they need to learn for the benefit of their students. This approach should save time and money. No one should purchase programs then try to figure out how to make it work for students or impose it on teachers.