Face-to-Face Staff Development

Summary Report
Rachael McGaha
Impact Overview
The participants for the Face-to-Face Staff Development workshop were
teachers of Intellectual Disabled Programs pre-K 12th grade with new interactive
smart boards. The participants are teachers from various grade levels through out
the Henry County School System. There were a total of 9 participants including the
Site Supervisor Randy Martins. There will be another workshop on January 12,
2015 with another group of 11 participants. This staff development workshop is
mandatory for teachers who received new boards this school year.
The participants have already received a mandatory workshop on the use of
basic ActivInspire tools. This workshop was a workshop to incorporate
Understanding by Design processes along with the use of smartboards/ActivInspire.
Many teachers of students with intellectual disabilities are receiving smart
boards/ActivInspire and using them as glorified projectors. If the smart boards are
used appropriately they can be a vital tool to facilitate and inspire student learning
and creativity, and to explore real-world issues and solve authentic problems using
digital tools and resources.
The presentation was done using an Interactive Smart Board. A presentation
was created using a web 2.0 tool called Emaze. The presentation included an
embedded introduction video, web 2.0 tools, and instructional videos. The
participants received a free jump dive to save their activities on so that they could
share their newly created activities with the class on the interactive board.

Assessment
The participants received a hard copy of the self-assessment Interactive
Whiteboard Proficiency Rubric, found in the Emaze Presentation, to complete before
they began the activities. This rubric aloud participants to assess where they felt
they were in terms of interactive board use: Novice, Intermediate, or Proficient.
The participants turned the rubrics in to me and the following data reveals that the
majority of the group, 8 of the 9 participants, assesses that they fall in the Novice
range of board use. The Novice Proficiency indicates the following:

Teachers use of the Interactive Board is similar to how they used a

traditional whiteboard or chalkboard.

Teachers use of the Interactive Board is similar to how they used a

classroom projector, such as to display a Power Point presentation.

Teachers use of the Interactive Board is as an electronic

transparency.

Students passively view activities when the teacher uses the

Interactive Board.

This same rubric will be sent via email to each participant two months later
to allow the teachers to self- assess again to see if they are moving toward
Interactive Whiteboard Proficiency.
Before the participants began creating their interactive activities, they
received a hard copy of an Interactive Lesson Self-Assessment Checklist to guide
them in their creation of interactive lessons, to assess their completed lessons, and
to use to assess their peers lessons. This checklist allowed them to see components

that they have missed in creation of an effective interactive lesson. The checklist
was also embedded into the presentation for the participants to use at a later date
while creating future lessons.
The participants saved their interactive lessons onto their jump drive from
their laptops. Then, each participant presented their lessons to their peers. Peers
and myself gave feedback to each participant on how their lessons could be
improved or enhanced. The participants enjoyed seeing all the activities that their
peers created.
Evaluation
A link to an evaluation survey, along with a link to the Emaze presentation,
was sent to each participant. Eight out of nine participants completed the survey
and the following data was collected.

According to the data collected from this survey objectives need to be made
clearer and the presentation needs to be more organized. However, overall the
content was useful to the participant and they were satisfied with the staff
development.
Evaluation and Reflection
For obvious reasons, it is always difficult to teach your peers for multiple
reasons. Overall, I felt that the staff development went well. However, I definitely

feel that some changes need to be made before I hold the staff development with the
next group of participants in January.
First of all, I hope that I can secure a time that teachers do not feel so
overwhelmed. The date of the staff development had to be changed due to my Site
Supervisor having to have surgery before the original date. The staff development
was held after school from 4:00 to 7:30 on a professional learning day. Teachers
were frustrated as they walked into the staff development, because they had already
been in several meetings all day long. A few teachers were bitter about having to
attend since this was not a voluntary staff development, but mandatory.
As the staff development went on, I felt that most teachers began to get
excited and more involved. They were taking notes and writing down resources.
They were happy to hear that I was going to send them the link to the presentation
so that they could have all the resources for future use.
I feel that I need to make the objectives more clear and connect them to a
direct purpose for the participants. In other words, explain what this means for
them as teachers every day. I realize that teachers more and more have limited time
and I want them to understand the importance of the staff development for their
planning, their evaluations, and most of all for their students.
I felt that the presentation was organized, but at times off task! Teachers are
famous for being off task when they become the learners. I had to continue to
redirect my peers and get back on task. In the end, they were only able to create one
to two activities, instead of three, so I may need to decrease the presentation
somehow without losing valuable instruction.

Lastly, I was amazed at what my peers found most interesting. They loved
the portion of the presentation that presented various web 2.0 tools. I wished that I
could have spent more time on these tools, but time would not permit. They also
enjoyed being able to create some interactive activities to use right away in class
with their students.
Overall, I enjoyed this experience and look forward to doing it again in
January. I will make some adjustments based on this reflection and hopefully it will
become more beneficial for my next group of participants.