RV stands for "Realizing the Vision". It is an annual district professional development opportunity that all staff is mandated to attend on the Monday and Tuesday prior to Thanksgiving break (Wednesday is usually a compensation day for conferences). Students have, subsequently, the entire Thanksgiving week off which pleases both parents and students as many of them travel anyway. This is the 3rd year for our RV conference.
The first year, we worked on differentiation in the classroom. The entire faculty of the district selected breakout sessions that appealled to them throughout the course of the day. Each session lasted about an hour with a 35 minute lunch scheduled at the same time for faculty to be social and dialogue about their sessions. Feedback from the first session was positive but faculty did complain that their specific content was not addressed (such as industrial arts, music, PE, and so on). They also told us that they needed time to work in their department together to put the pieces together to facilitate how differentiation might be utilized. There was excitement at first, but, unfortunately, it waned to almost no one using differentiation in the classroom
Year two had a technology focus. Again, there were breakout sessions for faculty to choose. Sessions included photoshop, skype, online productivity tools, differentiation using technology, wikis, podcasts, blogs, etc. Staff became fired up, and some use those tools today. Last year, we tried to keep the technology development on the forefront with in-building, voluntary technology classes after school in order to keep the momentum. At first many faculty attended, but slowly the numbers dipped to a steadfast few at the end. Some use wikis and blogs for educational purposes, but not the vast majority. We scheduled in time at the end of the conference (approximately 1.5 hours) for staff to work together on how to use technology effectively in the classroom. There was so much saturation at that point, staff wasn't as productive as we hoped. Again, staff commented they needed more time to work with material learned.
Year three has an assessment focus with an emphasis on formative assessment. Staff will attend two full days of content specific inservice with elementary and secondary separated to unpack the standards, work with power standards, and develop common formative assessments or engaging assessments for the electives (art, music, PE, industrial arts, foreign language, health, etc.). This year the RV conference is built around time for staff to full implement what they have learned. It is not only deemed professional development time but is fully advertised as a "work session" with a whole day for implement the knowledge gained.
Having had, and done, professional development in a variety of ways from specific conferences to faculty meetings, I truly believe that development like this along with professional learning communities is the only way to keep professional knowledge current. This is a huge problem with faculty development. Faculty will often opt not to leave their classroom to go to conferences as it presents too many barriers such as lesson planning, subs, discipline, etc.
All three years, we have had nationally known experts in the field present opening remarks. All three have had good reviews by faculty. And all three have been put together by district personnel with excellent coordination from everybody including food service providing lunch and building principals building momentum as well as the coordination and use of district technology coordinated from 11 elementaries, 3 middle schools and 3 high schools. Speakers are delivered to their hotels, picked up for the conference, wined and dined afterward and paid the going fee. This year we contacted Lead and Learn (Doug Reeves & group) to help us coordinate and facilitate the inservice. I have been to similar conferences that were not handled or coordinated as well.
I must admit, even from the planners there was hesitation. Assessment can be an emotional topic for some staff. Staff truly believes they deliver the content to the best of their ability. When students don't achieve on the assessment, faculty wants to put the blame on the students and not on themselves. To do anything other than that, admits the teacher is to blame for faulty delivery or some other inadequacy. That knowledge can be difficult to digest and recover from. The developers of RV3 were worried about the impact. We certainly want the development to continue but don't want faculty to be intimidated or negative about the impact. Although the developers consider it a growing experience, we know some might consider it a personal slam.
Assessment can be a tricky topic. It is part of the three-legged stool of curriculum, instruction, and assessment. The stool can't stand on two legs, all three must be in alignment for students to be successful. Each part is important, but not without the others. Do we have our stool level? Balanced? I'll have to let you know in November.
The first year, we worked on differentiation in the classroom. The entire faculty of the district selected breakout sessions that appealled to them throughout the course of the day. Each session lasted about an hour with a 35 minute lunch scheduled at the same time for faculty to be social and dialogue about their sessions. Feedback from the first session was positive but faculty did complain that their specific content was not addressed (such as industrial arts, music, PE, and so on). They also told us that they needed time to work in their department together to put the pieces together to facilitate how differentiation might be utilized. There was excitement at first, but, unfortunately, it waned to almost no one using differentiation in the classroom
Year two had a technology focus. Again, there were breakout sessions for faculty to choose. Sessions included photoshop, skype, online productivity tools, differentiation using technology, wikis, podcasts, blogs, etc. Staff became fired up, and some use those tools today. Last year, we tried to keep the technology development on the forefront with in-building, voluntary technology classes after school in order to keep the momentum. At first many faculty attended, but slowly the numbers dipped to a steadfast few at the end. Some use wikis and blogs for educational purposes, but not the vast majority. We scheduled in time at the end of the conference (approximately 1.5 hours) for staff to work together on how to use technology effectively in the classroom. There was so much saturation at that point, staff wasn't as productive as we hoped. Again, staff commented they needed more time to work with material learned.
Year three has an assessment focus with an emphasis on formative assessment. Staff will attend two full days of content specific inservice with elementary and secondary separated to unpack the standards, work with power standards, and develop common formative assessments or engaging assessments for the electives (art, music, PE, industrial arts, foreign language, health, etc.). This year the RV conference is built around time for staff to full implement what they have learned. It is not only deemed professional development time but is fully advertised as a "work session" with a whole day for implement the knowledge gained.
Having had, and done, professional development in a variety of ways from specific conferences to faculty meetings, I truly believe that development like this along with professional learning communities is the only way to keep professional knowledge current. This is a huge problem with faculty development. Faculty will often opt not to leave their classroom to go to conferences as it presents too many barriers such as lesson planning, subs, discipline, etc.
All three years, we have had nationally known experts in the field present opening remarks. All three have had good reviews by faculty. And all three have been put together by district personnel with excellent coordination from everybody including food service providing lunch and building principals building momentum as well as the coordination and use of district technology coordinated from 11 elementaries, 3 middle schools and 3 high schools. Speakers are delivered to their hotels, picked up for the conference, wined and dined afterward and paid the going fee. This year we contacted Lead and Learn (Doug Reeves & group) to help us coordinate and facilitate the inservice. I have been to similar conferences that were not handled or coordinated as well.
I must admit, even from the planners there was hesitation. Assessment can be an emotional topic for some staff. Staff truly believes they deliver the content to the best of their ability. When students don't achieve on the assessment, faculty wants to put the blame on the students and not on themselves. To do anything other than that, admits the teacher is to blame for faulty delivery or some other inadequacy. That knowledge can be difficult to digest and recover from. The developers of RV3 were worried about the impact. We certainly want the development to continue but don't want faculty to be intimidated or negative about the impact. Although the developers consider it a growing experience, we know some might consider it a personal slam.
Assessment can be a tricky topic. It is part of the three-legged stool of curriculum, instruction, and assessment. The stool can't stand on two legs, all three must be in alignment for students to be successful. Each part is important, but not without the others. Do we have our stool level? Balanced? I'll have to let you know in November.
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