 | Warning! This is a long post...but it has all sorts of great content! :) When designing the 12 Days of EdTech Cheer each year, my purpose is to provide teachers with a flexible professional learning opportunity. This opportunity is not meant just for GLPS teachers, but for any teacher who wish to participate in online professional development. It is also meant to be a continuation of Rebel U, Godfrey-Lee Public Schools' annual kick-off for technology professional development for the year. |
The theme for the 2013 12 Days of EdTech Cheer was professional development. The goal this year was to provide participants with one topic a day where they can spend 15 minutes a day exploring. By participating in each of the 12 days for 15 minutes each day, this accumulated a total of 3 hours of professional development! By spending a few minutes each day to further develop their teaching craft, hopefully the 12 Days of EdTech Cheer will give teachers the opportunity to develop a system that works for them to participate in professional learning on a regular basis. This provides teachers will a great opportunity to transform their knowledge base, instruction, and student learning.
To view the 2013 12 Days of EdTech Cheer, please click the button below.
To view the 2013 12 Days of EdTech Cheer, please click the button below.
| While browsing Pinterest one day, I came across this quote from Oscar Wilde. Experience is the hardest kind of teacher. It gives you the test first, and the lesson afterward. When reading this quote, it made me think of the 12 Days of EdTech Cheer. So much of the 12 days required teachers to share their insight, implementation ideas, and to think and create outside of their comfort zone. Often times we attend professional development sessions where we learn many great things, but unless we have time to implement them, they can sometimes get swept under the rug. By participating in the 12 Days of EdTech Cheer, teachers were able to have hands-on experience, implementation time and ideas, as well as reflection opportunities. This online professional learning experience allowed many teachers to experiment with new ideas and resources before using them with students. |
Obstacles
As part of the survey conducted on Day 1, participants identified the areas below as obstacles that prohibited them from implementing what they have learned from professional development opportunities. This provided great insight for me (as someone who helps plan and develop professional learning opportunities) and provided honest teacher feedback.
For more detailed information about identified obstacles, please click the button below.
For more detailed information about identified obstacles, please click the button below.
Twitter Conversation
Even if you didn't actively participate in the 2013 12 Days of EdTech Cheer, there is a chance that you may have checked out some of the resources or even just followed along on Twitter. If you followed along on Twitter (or even missed out on the Twitter conversation!), feel free to check out the tweets below about this years' online professional learning opportunity!
GLPS Teacher Challenge
| I understand that teachers are busy at any given time, but it seems that the holiday time seems to add additional stress and extra duties. These tasks are important to student learning and school function, but I also wanted to share the importance of carving out some time for professional learning. So, to encourage GLPS teachers to participate, I added some incentives to the 2013 12 Days of EdTech Cheer - mystery prizes and a pizza party. |  |
Mystery Prizes
The following days were "mystery prize" days.
Day 1 Description The 12 Days of EdTech Cheer kicked off with a mystery prize. Each GLPS teacher that participated in Day 1 by December 2 received an Apple coffee mug filled with some Apple stickers, a screen dust cloth, and an assortment of candy. | Day 1 Prize |
Day 4 Description Day 4 brought us to the second mystery gift, which was a little gift of Oreos in a little elf shoe. | Day 4 Prize |
Day 12 Description Day 12 brought us to the last mystery gift, which was a little holiday drink sleeve for a toasty holiday drink. | Day 12 Prize |
Pizza Party
| A pizza party was awarded to the 5th Grade team. Each member of the team successfully completed each day of the 12 Days of EdTech Cheer (within the time frame) and shared their resources, insights, and reflections on the 12 Days of EdTech Cheer website. Congrats 5th Grade team! |  |
If you are unable to see the presentation below or would like to print your slide if you participated, please click here.
Follow Up
At the end of the 12 Days of EdTech Cheer, I invited all teachers (whether they participated or not), to complete a feedback evaluation.
Some of the advice from those who participated to encourage others to participate next year:
Some of the advice from those who participated to encourage others to participate next year:
- The "lessons" were short, a great time to collaborate together, helped those who did not feel comfortable with tech a quick way to try and to practice
- It's easy, it's fun, it's worth your 15 minutes a day!
- It's easy. :) Just give it a go.
- I would encourage you to do this with a partner or with your grade level team. The fifth grade team had fun completing this together.
Some of the other interested data I captured through this follow up survey can be viewed in the charts below. If you are unable to view the charts or would like to view more detailed information, please click the button below.
Congrats to all those who participated in the 2013 12 Days of EdTech Cheer!
