A push for sustainable teacher learning.

A push for sustainable teacher learning. TODAY'S YOUNG STUDENTS ARE getting a little help from somenational technology leaders--in particular, a push for more ongoing andrelevant professional development for their present and future teachers. The State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA SETDA State Educational Technology Directors Association )--themain association for state technology directors and staff members, whichprovides professional development and leadership for the effective useof education technology--released its fourth of five reports in Novemberas part of its Class of 2020: Action Plan for Education project. The report, Empowering Teachers: A Professional and CollaborativeApproach, lays out five key recommendations: making sustainableprofessional development available to all teachers, providing newteachers with integrated pedagogy, ensuring administrators have accessto training and support, and conducting research investigating theefficacy of comprehensive professional development models. Mary Ann Wolf Ann Wolf is the name of: Anne Wolf (b. 1967) a Belgian pianist Ann Wolfe (b. 1971) a female boxer Anne Wolfe (b. 1953) a United States politician , SETDA's executive director, says professionaldevelopment approaches must shift from "one-time, stand-aloneworkshops" to ongoing learning for teachers and administrators. "Our action plan highlights the strengths of some districtprograms and encourages all states and districts to incorporate provenexamples into existing professional models to maximize potential forstudent achievement," says Christine Fox, SETDA's director ofprofessional development and research. Examples of ongoing professionaldevelopment could include the use of online portals, online learningcommunities and coaches. Fox says that a district might conductin-person training, followed by an online discussion via a blog blog,short for web log, an online, regularly updated journal or newsletter that is readily accessible to the general public by virtue of being posted on a website. or wiki A Web site that can be quickly edited by its visitors with simple formatting rules. Developed by Ward Cunningham in the mid-1990s to provide collaborative discussions, there are several "wiki" tools on the market for creating such sites, including www.editme.com, www.seedwiki.com, www. and then conduct a videoconference vid��e��o��con��fer��ence?n.A teleconference using video technology, such as closed-circuit television.vid for teachers to followup. "Thistype of multilevel mul��ti��lev��el?adj.Having several levels: a multilevel parking garage.Adj. 1. multilevel - of a building having more than one level approach can make a real impact on instruction,"Fox says. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Further, portals and online learning communities are offeredanytime anywhere, which eliminates the issue of teacher leave time andsubstitute costs And blogs and wikis See wiki. can be set up very inexpensively soteachers can work collaboratively without greatly impinging on schoolbudgets, Fox says. Many districts have content area resource teachers, who can model,coach and train others as a cost-effective cost-effective,n the minimal expenditure of dollars, time, and other elements necessary to achieve the health care result deemed necessary and appropriate. way to allocate To reserve a resource such as memory or disk. See memory allocation. resources,she says. The report includes more than 20 examples from states and districtsusing innovative educator development programs, including coaching andeducation portals. It points out key components of effectiveprofessional development, including sustainability, leadership to guidecontinuous instructional improvement, knowledge or deep understanding ofa subject, collaboration within the learning communities, evaluation orusing data to improve instruction and teacher effectiveness, and ongoingprofessional development programs. For more information on this report and other SETDA reports in theseries, go to www.setda.org/web/guest/2020.