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Using this Site for Professional Development

Workshop Scenario #3: Participants: Instructional leaders

In brief: The goal of this session is different from the first two. This workshop aims at bringing together instructional leaders and/or curriculum decision makers to help them share their visions and come to consensus about the role of technology in their district or mathematics classes. You introduce the site to the small group, then allow them to explore the site and share their observations and questions with each other. The group could be curriculum and technology support staff, central office staff including the math director and the technology director, or a group of mathematics teachers. This approach will work best with a group of 3 to 9 people who are used to interacting with each other in informal ways in the normal course of their work. Suggested length: 2-3 hours.

Outline of the Workshop:

1. Lay out specific goals for the session.
   These goals should be linked as closely as possible to current district and/or school priorities.
   Example: In what ways can we use technology as part of the district’s current focus on strengthening the middle school mathematics program?
2. Generate questions.
   Ask participants to generate a set of questions and record each of them at the top of a large piece of chart paper. Examples of likely questions:
   • Why should we consider using technology within a mathematics classroom?
   • What can we do with technology that we can’t do without it?
   • Is it worth the effort and trouble?
   • What does technology use in the mathematics classroom look like?
   • Can technology help us reach students who we are aren’t reaching now? How?
3. Give participants time to explore the site.
   Explain that we will be using a website to try to answer these questions. Give a brief overview of the site, using the homepage to show the three main sections (SREB Content Indicators, Standards-based Classroom Examples, What the Experts Say). [make each of these links] Ask participants to work by themselves at computers; people using laptops around a conference table would be ideal. Ask them to explore the sections of the website—initially, setting up a jigsaw design is helpful (for each of the 3 sections, one or more people should become the “experts”). After 20 minutes, ask the participants to stop their work and let the “experts” on each section share what they have learned from the site. Refer back to the initial questions—what questions have we answered? what question do we have new information on? what new questions do we have?
4. Revisit areas of the site to clarify questions.
   Go through two or three cycles of examining the site and referring back to the questions. Note areas of disagreement and encourage participants to continue to find evidence on the website to clarify the issue.
5. Summarize what has been learned.
   To conclude the session, summarize what has been learned. Use the initial questions and the notes that have been recorded on each question.
6. Plan to follow up this workshop.
   A follow-up session might focus on this question: What range of actions do we need to take to strengthen our middle school mathematics program? What role for technology is appropriate to support teaching and learning?

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