eLearning / Events / Updates · February 18, 2020

March Madness PD: Fill Out Your Bracket Now!

Okay, so it’s not quite a bracket but you have to admit the title is catchy.

This spring our PD website is overflowing with options for Elkhart teachers! The Ambassadors have been working on several options to carry on the energy from the secondary institute on February 6th and to prepare for our next eLearning Day on April 1st, which will be the first eLearning day for the elementaries. (Seriously, it’s on April 1st, this is not an early joke.)

We’re going to try a few new methods for offering PD that makes it easier on you to attend and get some new ideas. You can register for any session on the PD website or through the Elkhart EdTech Facebook page.

Monday Afternoons

A core component of the PLC model of growth is “collaborative inquiry.” As your teams ask the PLC questions, it should be driving you toward finding solutions to help your students. To help answer questions, we’re going to begin offering real-time online PD on Mondays. These will be short, 15-30 minutes, with immediately applicable ideas you can put into practice in response to your PLC work.

Because these sessions are online, you can join from anywhere! In fact, why not join as a PLC? You can all listen to the ideas and then take the rest of the time to discuss implications and how to put the lesson into practice.

If you register for one of these workshops, you’ll receive an email with a link to join the session. These are real time and not recorded, so mark your calendar so you don’t miss out! We have too many options to list here, so go to the PD website and search for PD on Air.

These sessions are offered at 2:15 for Secondary level PLCs and at 3:05 for Elementary PLCs

Elementary e-Learning Make & Take

This April’s eLearning date is the first one for elementary now that we’re completely one-to-one across the district (woo hoo!). To prepare, the elementary Ambassador team has set aside eight paid after school opportunities for help in preparing your eLEarning activities. Don’t miss out on this great chance for some one-on-one and small group work time. Go to the PD site and search for Elementary Make & Take at the top to see all of the options.

Secondary Tech Ambassador Potlucks!

Last summer, the elementary Ambassadors ran what we’re calling a “Potluck” workshop where attendees rotate through four or five mini-lessons on a simple trick or tool you can use right away. The secondary team did this for colleagues in early February and both were overwhelming successes.

We’re offering one Potluck per month from now until the end of the semester (the first is on March 17th). These are paid and in-person at the PLC in the admin building and are definitely worth coming to.

I didn’t know if I wanted to give a full hour to a session, but I can definitely give 15 minutes. Now that I have an idea of what it is, I want to do a full hour.

– More than one Potluck attendee

If you’re looking for a collection of short ideas, definitely try to make it to at least one Potluck before the end of the semester. All dates are open for registration on the PD website.