So this post started with me trying to answer a question
posed by Dan Meyer on leading professional development:
What is the point of opening a session on teaching and technology by
asking the teachers to be students and do some math?
It has now turned into me rambling as I reflect on my
experiences leading professional development sessions.
Before joining the Desmos fellowship I had only led 1 or 2
professional development sessions for teachers so my approach has evolved quite
a bit over the last few months. All of
my limited experience has been leading sessions focused on Desmos.
My number one goal used to be to give teachers something
that was ready to use right away in their classrooms. I know there were plenty of PD sessions I
would attend in the past where I liked the ideas presented but would go back to
my school and not have the time to implement what I took away. I realize that goal is not realistic mainly due
to two things: time (I have yet to lead
an all day session. The sessions I have
led range from 20 minutes to 90 minutes.) and the wide variety of
experience/backgrounds of the teachers in any given session. I now focus on having teachers leave with a
new tool or new ideas but I understand that they most likely will not have a
finished product ready to go.
My sessions then moved towards selling a tool to use in the
classroom: Desmos. I get overwhelmed
trying to plan Desmos sessions because there are so many wonderful
activities. There are so many wonderful
features. There are so many subtle
features that have huge impacts on teaching and learning. I just want to show them everything! There is no way to show everything during one
session.
It took a 20 minute session I led last week to teachers of
all subjects to finally realize the most important goal of a session is to give
teachers good instruction. This is
probably what the Desmos team has been telling me all along but I finally had
my “Aha!” moment. I was nervous about
presenting to teachers of all subjects on a Friday after we had students for a
half day. The professional development
on our half days is notorious for being a waste of time. I knew I would have a tough crowd. To my surprise, every session went well. Teachers were engaged and having
conversations. My favorite moments were
when we discussed feedback (When should you give it? What should it look like? Etc…). It was a lot of fun to listen to teachers
share their perspectives across the curriculums, and all of it stemmed from a
Desmos activity.
The tool sells itself.
I don’t need to point out every little feature for them to be
convinced. They experienced an engaging
lesson with great questions and wonderful opportunities to have class
discussions. I think this is why many of
the Desmos fellows tend to start sessions by putting teachers in the role of
students. Teachers need to experience
good instruction and see it modeled. It
doesn’t even need to necessarily be math instruction. If they do, they will buy in and find the
time to learn more about the tool you used.
As I start to plan my next session in March, the Desmos Guide to Building Great (Digital) Math Activities is where I will start and come back to throughout my
presentation. Those principles are
ultimately what makes Desmos worth using.
