Blogger and Trackstar PD debriefing

So we had the Blogger and Trackstar PD on Thursday and I think it went well. I presented to a group of 15 teachers and divided them into jigsaw groups to research applications of Blogger in the classroom. I think the blogging platform was well-received and I heard some people enthusiastically share ideas about Blogger and some said they would use it for a final portfolio. As a bonus, Mr. Previte even showed us his Ning.

I started the Trackstar PD but a whole bunch of teachers had to leave before we got to sign up or use it. =( I guess it's difficult to gather the whole staff on a weekday afternoon right before the Regents start. I hope our attendance at the next PD on higher order questions and (umm...I have to look at the PD google doc again...) goes better.

So that was it for the Blogger PD; I only wish my boss had seen it ; )

Blogger PD Big Day!

Today is the big day of the Blogger workshop for teachers! I'm really excited to introduce a great tool for extending class discussion beyond the walls of the classroom. Finally, we've got a way to see what all the students were thinking at the end of the lesson. I'm just putting the finishing touches on this PD by assigning the teachers to jigsaw groups and making copies.

Then I have to check my Trackstar PD to see if I need to make any changes on that. That one is going to be intense...wooh.

In a few minutes, I have to translate the MS 202 biology exam into Chinese...what? Let's hope these students are good at biology and I won't have to explain what mass and density are in Chinese. I made and printed out a list of biology term in Chinese and English just in case.

Blogger PD Exit Slip

Consider the blogger ideas you viewed in your expert groups and the resources you heard about in your family groups. How would you use Blogger in your class?

Blogger PD

So I'm working on another Professional Development workshop to present to the teachers on Thursday. This time, our workshop is going to be on differentiating lessons with Trackstar and online discussions/writing portfolios using Blogger.

I'm excited and almost done with the Trackstar presentation but I'm still working on the Blogger presentation. I know how to use Blogger because I usually use Wordpress but I haven't really compiled the list of ways that teachers can use Blogger yet. I guess I could start with the link that Mr. Birgeles gave me to the Blogger site he used last year with 901. Hmm...