EDUC 628-Spring-08

Professional Development

in Literacy and Technology Integration

 Professional Development in Literacy

• California Early Literacy Learning (CELL) professional development programs are designed to help elementary teachers strengthen their teaching of reading and writing.
• CIERA School Change Framework Project directed by Barbara Taylor, Debra Peterson and P. David Pearson has resources available for teachers interested in increasing reading achievement, particularly in high-poverty areas. You can also visit CIERA’s homepage for links to many, many informative articles, reports and presentations made at conferences around the United States.
• Haskins Early Reading Success Project is an early reading success partnership initiative with Haskins Laboratory in New Haven, CT, Connecticut State Department of Education and the University of Rhode Island.
• Preparation in Reading Instructional Methods of Efficacy with Students At Risk for Learning Disabilities and At-Risk English Language Learners – Rimes 2000 Federal Grant from Arizona is designed to develop, field test, and disseminate a model of professional development whose purpose is to increase the knowledge and skills of early elementary and special education, preservice and inservice teachers in teaching early reading to children at risk for reading/learning disabilities and English Language Learners. Some nice annotated bibliographies for literacy and computer software can be found here.
• We Teach: Teacher Education and Professional Development in Reading from University of California supports reading and literature projects in K-12 schools.
• Literacy Professional Development for a Fee
  • Rigby Campus.com Online Learning Courses.

Professional Development in Literacy and Technology Integration

• Ask Us About Technology Planning from Literacy.org
• Eduscapes, Annette Lamb’s site for Lifelong Learners provides an amazing wealth of information about enhancing learning with technology
• International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), “the leading organization for technology professionals” provides information about standards for teachers and for students using technology.
• Kathy Schrock’s Homepage links to her Guide for Educators which is a categorized list of sites useful for enhancing curriculum and professional growth
• oz-TeacherNet is a “starting point for Australian teachers who want to use the Internet for professional development and curriculum purposes”
• Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL) on “Technology in the Classroom: Using Technology to Improve Student Achievement”
• San Diego Schools Prodevelopment Page Triton and Patterns Projects includes professional development resources as well as an assortment of project examples created by teachers, administrators and support staff for use in the literacy curriculum.
• Staffdevelop.org: How Teachers Learn New Technologies is Jamie McKenzie’s companion website to his From Now On website. The site includes articles and resources links that focus on adult learning and technology. You can also link from here to McKenzie’s other newer websites Questioning.org and From Now On educational technology journal.
• Teacher Tap Professional Development Resources from Annette Lamb’s Educapes helps educators address common technology integration questions by providing practical, online resources and activities. Lots of well designed short resource units lend themselves to being used for staff development inservice sessions.
• Technology Tips for Teachers from Framingham Massachusetts provides links to an assortment of helpful resources.
• Macmillan/McGraw Hill CyberSmart Curriculum provides a free K-8 curriculum for keeping kids safe on the Internet.

Training Documents, Learning Modules and Handouts for Profesional Development

• Apple Learning Interchange Resources includes curriculum materials, technology how-tos, information for parents and families and more.
• Five Rules for Writing a Great Webquest by Bernie Dodge organized around the acronym FOCUS.
• Guide to the World Wide Web from Ithaca College Library in New York includes four great web tours to use during training.
• ICONnect Online Courses from American Library Association titled “Learn to Use the Internet as a Curriculum Resource” provides access to past courses and registration to sign up for current online course
• Educators Konnect has some simple directions for useful electronic tasks like making a webpage with Microsoft Word.
• Internet Sites that Work with Students compiled by David Brear is a bit huge and a bit overwhelming but helpful list of web resources organized by subject.
• ISTE Research Professional Development resources.
• Learning with Technology from Maggie Wilson, a technology trainer in Kentucky includes great training materials for topics like copyright policies, training templates, citing resources handout and more.
• Online Practice Modules for many important software applications teachers can use in their classroom. Part of the Internet4Classrooms website.
• Online Teaching Tools and Projects outlines integration ideas with email, internet chats, the world wide web, instructional management systems and computer-aided assessment.
• Planning a Telecollaborative Project outlines tips and strategies from educators with experience in telecollaboration.
• Preparing Teachers for the Digital Age from Education Week, 1999
• Rhode Island Teachers and Technology links to lots of information and learning examples provided as a result of a efforts beginning in 1997 to provide laptop computers, training and continued technical support to 2,400 public school teachers – 25% of all teachers in the state of Rhode Island.
• Savvy Cyber Teacher for Elementary School and Middle School Teachers includes ten weeks of free module training for using the Internet in your classroom.
• Staff Development from Beaverton School District in Oregon (click on Staff Development to access district online technology training guides)
• TIES (Connecting Education and Technology) in includes a wide range of Internet resources to visit during professional development sessions. A TIES companion website is InforMN’s Innovations for Minnesota Schools.
• Take A Professional Development Field Trip at this Utah sponsored website during one of your training sessions.
• Teachers Discovering Computers, created by Phyllis Oakes at the Teacher Education Institute, is a well developed and organized series of 10 learning modules.
• Teaching with the Internet: Lessons from the Classroom is a companion website by authors Donald Leu, Deborah Leu, and Julie Coiro.
• Tech Teachers, Inc: Connecting Curriculum and Technology through Professional Development K-12 has lots of resources including digital filing cabinet of integrated lesson ideas and engaged learning units.
• Ten Stages for Working the Web for Education by Tom March outlines “identifiable milestones to help educators effectively use the Web to engage students in advanced thinking”.

Websites Devoted to Staff Development Issues & Resources

• Annenberg Learning Channel is a free satellite channel that “airs an extraordinary range of teacher professional development and instructional programs funded by Annenberg/CPB”.
• ASCD’s free Online Resources and inexpensive PD Online Courses are useful resources on many topics for professional development, including Phonics/Whole Language, Differentiating Instruction, and Software/Website Evaluation.
• Bell South listing of Professional Development Resources
• Concept to Classroom from Disney’s Learning Partnership has created many excellent online workshops and interactive discussion boards teachers can use for free or for credit. Topics range from interdisplinary learning to multiple intelligences to sessions on constructivist applications or assessment and evaluation.
• Education Week’s Hot Topic in Professional Development links to many archived articles related to this topic.
• Education World’s Professional Development Center includes links to online courses, staff development ideas, curriculum standards and research, and much more.
• Knowledge Loom’s Professional Development (2001 Award Winner) helps you learn more about “characteristics for successful professional development, stories about the practices in schools and districts, related policy, and research”. See their spotlight index for literacy and technology focus areas.
• National Staff Development Council aims to “address the issues confronted by all participants in the reform process”. The online library and publications sections are very helpful as is the newly published consumer’s guide to What Works for Middle School Staff Development.
• NCREL’s John Edward Porter Professional Development Center is an incredible new resource to help U.S. schools and school districts plan, implement, and sustain professional development. The links will help to guide you through the entire process toward positive change and progress.
• NSF Collaboratives for Teacher Preparation for preservice teachers
• Preservice Sites for those involved with mentoring preservice teachers
• Staff Development from Jamie McKenzie’s From Now On website and from Staff Development Website

Online Resources to Inspire Discussion within Faculty Study Groups

• Education World’s 12 Practical Tips to Improve Literacy or Checkpoints in Reading may spark a new focus to your discussions.
• EduPlace’s Issues in Literacy Development summarizes the best available research and professional expertise to help teachers provide high-quality literacy instruction for students from kindergarten through Grade 8. The information has been organized around topics that are important to literacy development. Authors: John Pikulski and J. David Cooper.
• Great Teaching Ideas Showcase and archive from Missouri’s SuccessLink program features performance-based lessons aligned to the “Show-Me Standards”.
• Kids Can Learn: Reading Problems and Tips for Teachers created by the National Center to Improve the Tools of Educators
• Learning to Read Resources for Language Arts and Reading Research includes lots of research on individual components of “Balanced Literacy”, examples of Interactive Lessons, links to related professional organizations and book publishers.
• Faculty Study Group Models that promote literacy development
  • Learn more about the research and developmental studies behind the Book Club methodology from Teacher Forum Planet Book Club
  • MiddleWeb’s Reading Workshop Project Index is another model for joining together to “explore the Reading Workshop and other ideas about supporting middle grades and young adolescent readers”
  • Professional Development for Educators in a New Era is great article about online learning with many links
• Professional Development: It’s About Time is a March, 2002 article from techLEARNING that describes three different schools and their attempts to budget and plan for school-based technology training.
• SEDL’s Reading Coherence Initiative is designed to assist educators in examining, understanding, and implementing coherent approaches to teaching early literacy in grades K-2 and preventing early reading failure.
• Strategic Literacy Initiative for Teaching and Learning “Academic Literacy” in an Urban High School Reading entitled Reading Happens in Your Mind, Not Your Mouth
• Online Virtual Field Trips for Teachers and Their Students

See also the many resources available from The Literacy Web pages for Research in Literacy and Literacy and Technology Integration This page last updated May, 2007.