Saturday, April 23, 2016

2015-16 #5) Thing 20: Final Reflection

I enjoyed my Cool Tools PD this year just as much this year as I did last year!  Although I think I actually liked it more because of the bonus thing, Make Connections, but I will not repeat what I wrote in that post!  I am very glad that I was able to participate again for a number of reasons, the main one being that it is obviously very convenient to be able to learn on your own tie rather than having to attend scheduled meetings.  As I am sure is the case in all school districts, we are expected to do more and more, so it can be hard to find the time to learn on your own and grow professionally when all of your time seems to go to just keeping up with what needs to be done!  The change made to Cools Tools this year where most of the lessons were posted pretty early on was very helpful in being able to complete it on my own schedule; great idea!
The second, and probably more important reason was that it gave me the chance to learn more about how to use a different blogging tool.  Last year I used Wordpress, but this year I used blogger because I wanted to learn about the Google tool.  Our district has embraced Google and we are not a GAFE school district.  This means that every person in the district has their own Google account and so our department (Instructional Technology) has been heavily involved in promoting the use of all things Google and helping teachers use all the tools to enhance not only their learning but that of the students!  Therefore it was extremely useful for me to learn about Blogger and now I am confident that I can share this tool with the teachers I work with.  Along those same lines, another thing I learned about, from reading the blogs of others, was quad blogging.  What a great idea - I have absolutely shared this with others and I hope to share with more in the future.  This is a great way to get classrooms involved with blogging.
I also used my Cools Tools time to learn more about coding and creating websites.  I have SO much more to learn, but I also know that I have come a long way in what I know now from what I knew at the beginning of this school year!  I honestly was not sure that I would like it, but I have found that I really do.  I had a conversation with a former colleague recently - I was a high school math teacher before taking this position - and I have started to realize that I do not want to go back.  I truly miss having "my own" students and classroom, but I have found that I enjoy this position more.  I guess I felt that in teaching, I wasn't really learning myself.  Sure I would take PD, and the ways you would teach were constantly changing, but once you know the subject, whether it is algebra, geometry or whatever, it doesn't really change.  However, in this position, with all of the different aspects of it, I have found myself learning almost everyday and enjoying it immensely!  I feel like I am using my brain again!
Again, same as last year, I have nothing but positive things to say about this PD opportunity and I only hope it can continue.  I wish that our district could find a way to expand this and offer the opportunity to more teachers!  Now that I am thinking about it, I wonder if our union might pay for teachers to participate!  I have to remember to talk with our district administrator to see what the possibility of that is early on next school year.
Thank you again for another great year!

4 comments:

  1. So glad you enjoyed the workshop again this year. Thank you for all your contributions. Selfishly, I learn so much from what everyone writes. :) I believe RCSD is working on a plan to expand this program to more teachers next year. So we'll see you next year!

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  2. p.s. working on a way to encourage more connections and discussion between participants. That will be my learning project for the summer! :)

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  3. That is great to hear that RCSD is looking to expand it!! As for the connections/discussions, I think what you did with it this year was a great start! Thanks again!

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