Differentiated Professional Development by Melissa Smith #micon

By Wesley Fryer On October 1, 2010 · · Add Comment

These are my notes from Melissa Smith’s presentation, “Differentiated Professional Development” at the 1 Oct 2010 Martin Institute Fall Conference. MY THOUGHTS AND COMMENTS ARE IN ALL CAPS. Melissa is @edutechsmith on Twitter. Her Posterous-based blog is “Infusing Technology into the Curriculum.” (SHE’S USING IT AS A TEAM BLOG!) Melissa also maintains the blog, “Diary of a Technology Teacher”

Session resources are available on http://martininstitute.wikispaces.com/Differentiated+Professional+Development

Differentiated Professional Development

View more presentations from Melissa Smith.

Ning is just like a cyber-conference: going on all the time
– social place like Facebook
– can write on others’ walls
– have groups to join based on similar interests
– I have a friend who LOVES using the Classroom 2.0 Ning

Do a search on Ning networks

Now giving a web tour of Classroom 2.0
– many schools, instead of creating their own Ning, will create their own GROUP on Classroom 2.0 since there are already so many

THIS GIVES ME A GREAT IDEA. WE SHOULD HAVE EACH OF OUR FACILITATORS FOR CELEBRATE OKLAHOMA VOICES CREATE AND SHEPHERD THEIR OWN GROUP ON OUR NING! THIS IS A GREAT SUGGESTION FOR HELPING CREATE A DYNAMIC AND VIBRANT LEARNING COMMUNITY, WHERE DIFFERENT MEMBERS BECOME LEADERS / STAKEOLDERS.

I love to use Classroom 2.0 Live shows
– from 11 pm to noon every Saturday, there is a live Elluminate session on Classroom 2.0 Live!
– recorded archives of each show is also available! (so if you miss out on the live show, you can catch it afterwards)

Making the Curriculum Pop! is another great Ning

The Educator’s PLN is also a great online community, focuses on improving lessons, finding support / help

Blogs
– blogs are just digital magazines to me
– hardest part is choosing which blog, there are so many to read
– if you don’t like it, don’t read it anymore… there are a multitude out there!

Take it to the next level!
– read and interact
– model digital dialog for our students

Think of an RSS feed like filling out a magazine subscription
– just like a subscription, you don’t have to subscribe forever
– I use iGoogle as my homepage
– Now I use Twitter, however, and I rarely went back to iGoogle
– Now I have a PDS netvibes page: www.netvibes.com/pds_pdblogs#Blogs_to_Read
– great to set this up for your teachers, so they can go directly to the digital “magazine rack” you’ve created

Podcasts
– listen to lectures, keynotes, conferences, how-tos, website recommendations, blog entries, conversations
– I have a 25 minute commute each day, so when I want to get professional development on my

The Tech Chick’s podcast is GREAT
– Wes had an interview with the lady at NORAD who worked on NORAD Tracks Santa

Podcast recommendations
– November Learning
– EdTechTalk
– David Warlick
– Mathtrain.TV podcast
– K-12 Online Conference
– Tech Chicks Podcast

Twitter
– I think of Twitter as “eavesdropping with permission”
ways to make it work:
1- build up a network
2- follow a hashtag (#) conversation
3- participate!

It takes a while to work Twitter to get it to work for you
– it took me 6 months before I had my “a-ha” moment

Start following a lot of people to start your PLN
– think of it like learning your multiplication tables!

you have to participate in Twitter, not just re-tweet!

I like TweetDeck (Phillip likes TweetGrid)

Very important for you to list SOME information about yourself in your Twitter profile
– that is the information people use when they decide whether or not to follow you

Cybrary Man’s Educational Web Sites includes great Educational Hash Tags