Professional Development Plan

    
 As educators, there are two factors we MUST keep current with.

1.)    Trends to the effect of our student’s music, dress, language, interests and ‘culture’.

2.)    Instructional technology.

     The first factor allows us to better ‘understand’ the world in which our students live in, and spare us the embarrassment of not being ‘in the know’ or ‘too old’ to ‘get it’.  Keeping up with this trend requires little more that turning on MTV, monitoring (or let’s just admit it eavesdropping) idle classroom chatter and trolling facebook.  The second factor allows us to better education this generation of quite puzzling at times, youth.  Unfortunately, staying current educational technological trends proves a bit more difficult than keeping up with Justin Bieber’s newest single or love interest.  Therefore, educators must continue to actively seek out new trends, strategies and means of integrating technology within the classroom.

Fortunately there are a plethora of electronic (imagine that!) resources out there to support the continued professional development of instructional technological practices.  Websites such as http://www.pbs.org/teachers/librarymedia/tech-integration/ provide instructors with the latest trends and current best practices on a wide range of relevant subjects and issues through a collection of publications and journal articles accessible through the links supplied by the site.  This site is extremely user friendly and well organized, making navigation for a particular topic or just arbitrary browsing easy and efficient.  I also plan to make use of the website http://www.edtechteacher.org/, which offers educators the opportunity to ‘attend’ free live webinars such as ‘Empowering Students with Networked Learning’ and ‘Nurturing the 21^st Century Classroom with Technology: Resources, Models, Exemplars…’.   Another site definitely worth mentioning is http://www.lynnreedy.com/administrative.htm, which provides links to amazing and free online resources for educators.  Of particular interest to me personally is the link to the ‘Technology and Learning’ magazine, which offers extensive access to various articles, blogs, webinars, contests, ect. 

There is also a variety of other resources, such as local workshops and conferences, which enable educators to expand their knowledge of the integration of technology within the classroom.  I believe ‘hands on’ professional development opportunities such as these allow educators to express and share their ideas, experiences and even hesitations about current technological trends in an environment conducive to the advancement of such skills and strategies.  Though online resources do prove priceless, it’s also important for educators to get together ‘face to face’ to further explore the new and current trends within instructional technology.      

            The continual trend toward the advancement and improvement of educational and instructional technology is here to stay (and quite necessary).  To keep current with the ever-changing world of instructional technology, I will be frequently consulting websites such as those listed above, participating in webinars, and attending local workshops.  Therefore, as a rule of thumb, educators may consider paying tribute to the old saying, ‘Lead, follow, or get the hell out of the way!’  To those who choose to move aside, I wish the best of luck… it’s not going to be easy.