Informal Professional Development

The other night I participated in my first Webinar, put on by the MLTI program, on Blogs, Wiki's and other Social Media, by Barbara Greenstone and Sherry Connally. Once I realized that as a participant I was muted and therefore there was no possibility for everyone else to hear the dog barking or my kids asking for a drink of water (7:15 is not a good time for mothers of young children!) I sat back and enjoyed myself. The experience actually made me realize that I have something in common with the digital students found in our classrooms today. As I listened to the presenters, chatted in the chat room provided, typed notes on my laptop, texted a colleague, worked on finishing up the laundry and occasionally answered my children, I thought to myself, I can't just do one thing at a time, yet many teachers expect students to arrive at school, shutting down and attending to one thing...yeah right!

The actual webinar itself was informative and the best part was that it was free. That's right, free... so why are more educators not taking advantage of this resource? One of the biggest complaints of educators is that there is a lack of professional development provided when it comes to how to use technology in the classroom and with the increasingly dismal budget for education, it is not likely to improve (many districts are looking at eliminating professional development to save money). In addition to MLTI, there are a number of other resources for Webinars, including Classroom 2.0, offering a variety of topics.

Let's face it, how many of you have sat through an inservice day and thought to yourself "What a waste of time!" wishing that the professional development provided was something which you could actually apply in the classroom? Well, webinars offer you the opportunity to meet your needs. Explore what's available and sign up for the topics which meet your interests and needs as a classroom teacher!