PD Model and Letter
Dear Faculty,
This year we will implement a new educational management program called CCTech, or CCT. CCT is a powerful program that will combine everything we do into one program. We will run our classes through CCT. We will send grades using CCT. We can even send our daily attendance in CCT. Administrators will use CCT for walkthroughs and evaluations, as well as disciplinary referrals. Parents will use CCT to check grades, view upcoming assignments and communicate with teachers. CCT is a very powerful program that will help our long term goal of providing all stakeholders with one place to go for all their needs. However, CCT may take some getting used to.
Our plan, this year, is to learn CCT to the best of our ability, so we can start exclusively using it beginning next year. We will start with a training, “Intro to CCTech” during teacher work-week. The training will be Tuesday morning so teachers can take the rest of the week to meet as PLC’s and work in classrooms. From there, we will offer shorter, 30-minute training opportunities for CCT. Each training will be worth 10 recertification points.
By January of this school year, we are asking teachers to start using the technology once a week with students, so both get used to using the technology for next year. During the course of the year, we will ask teachers who are comfortable with the technology to lead some of the trainings. By doing this, we can have someone who knows the content and can add some pedagogy to our content-specific training sessions that will be offered later this year. Teachers who lead trainings in CCT will be given a stipend for the training and the time spent planning the training. At this time we would also start to shift our focus to trainings that were specific to the subject/content area of each teacher. Department heads will work with their staff to develop questions and concerns that relate to their subject. For example, math teachers would look at specific math tools CCT offers, such as using CCT’s step-by-step quiz function to breakdown multi-step word problems.
We will also promote the new technology by using Twitter to show stakeholders ways we can use technology to improve our school. Please let us know when you start using CCT with your students so the administrative team can come and check it out.
You will notice that our model and goal focuses on incorporating content and pedagogy and making the rollout teacher-driven (see graphic). To get teachers and other stakeholders to buy into the technology, it also incorporates the purpose and positive piece. The purpose piece is designed to make sure, when implementing or offering a training on the technology, that we show how the training will be a benefit in the long run. The positive piece is designed to reward teachers for attending trainings, using the technology, and becoming ambassadors of the technology.
Technology moves fast and we expect it will take some time to transition to a new way of working and learning. However, it is our hope that by setting up a model that focuses on the benefits of this new technology, we will streamline processes for all users. Please reach out to me if you have any questions. Your ideas are also welcome. As always, I appreciate your partnership and support.
Regards,
Brian P. Conlon