New Prezi: Understanding PD and VIT.

Some of the posts on our blog that have been popular are the "what is PD" series from back in 2012. These are ones we use time and time again as people ask these sorts of questions.

One of the most common problems for new teachers that we run across is going up against the question "What is PD?".  It gets close to re-registration and they panic because they "don't have their 20 hours".  Often this is because they haven't had access to workshops and seminars but when we sit down with them and begin to go through it they are doing all sorts of things that they don't realise is PD.

So, the series of posts was born and is used fairly frequently.

Over time we have also been adding blog posts to extend on the concepts and it's gotten to a point where I feel like I am giving out 43 links to every new member....  What we've done is begin to roll many of these posts into a much more "compact" format.

This will eventually be hosted over on our PD Information Blog and is able to be shared via email or through Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites.

View the presentation on Prezi.com.

It's still a work in progress but does the job as it stands.  Please use full-screen to view - this will not degrade image quality or increase the size of the download!

Relevance:  

• Victorian registered teachers.

Content:

• The Australian Professional Standards for Teachers - what they are and how/why to be familiar with them.
• The Victorian Institute of Teaching - What VIT does in the Victorian Education System.
• Why do we need to "do PD"?  - A look at why VIT requires is to submit PD and what "Standards Referenced" means.
• A "Step by Step" guide - A "Step by Step" using a YouTube video, showing how to document it for PD submission to VIT in absence of a Certificate or other physical evidence. 
• Summary:  What is PD? - a quick look at the wide array of things that can be used as PD and why.

Standards: 

• 6.2 (Graduate) Understand the relevant and appropriate sources of professional learning for teachers.
• 7.2 (graduate) Understand the relevant and appropriate sources of professional learning for teachers.
• 7.2 (proficient) Understand the implications of and comply with relevant legislative, administrative, organisational and professional requirements, policies and processes.

Note from our resident IT Monkey/Nerd:  This presentation is hosted online and when we edit it the changes happen in real time!  If you view it and there's a few "funky things" happening we're possibly in the process of adding to it or adjusting it....  Also please be aware that it IS a work in progress and some things may not be entirely accurate, things have changed a little since we did the original posts and any necessary corrections will come with time.

Regards,

Mel.

Your Brain Belongs In Your "Bag of Tricks"!

I've made videos over time that have all been about individual things.  Many of you may have seen them before but today I'd like to tie them up under a common ideal.

And there's a couple others, all coming under the broad spectrum of being resourceful in the classroom.

The first video is just ideas.  The When the Wind Changed is using a book to generate an art/craft lesson with minimal trips to the photocopier.  The Emotion Dolls is just using plain paper.  They're activities built more by assembling ideas in a logical order rather than assembling resources.

So we're all familiar with the concept of PE games and how we don't need lesson plans for them.  We are aware of the rules and how we can modify them to make them interesting.  Playing tag for example, you can just get tagged and be out.  You can also change the rules so that people can re-enter the game by crawling between each other's legs incorporating decision making; if I free them, will it slow me down so much that they get me "out"?  Then there's rules like Toilet tag designed just to appeal to the student's humour.  When you get tagged, you drop to one knee and put one arm out in front of you.  For someone to "free" you they sit on your knee and push your arm down to "flush your way to freedom".

Because we are aware of the game and it's variants we just keep it in our mental "CRT toolkit" or "Box of Tricks" without the need for any physical resources.  It's just knowledge and the same goes for making kites in craft and many other things.  Our brain - the knowledge within it - belongs in our Bag of Tricks as much as any game or printable resource.

The above exercises have physical resources of course but they are common in most classrooms.  It is taking the same basic concept as the PE games and populating our mental toolkit with classroom activities too.  While they certainly reduce your reliance on printables and/or ICT the main point is that you should be considering your brain as part of your toolkit.

Having these sorts of ideas ready to go are a good way to provide a flexible approach to your classroom.

Being resourceful is just one of those things in my "CRT toolkit" that helps me drift in and out of schools in a seamless fashion.  The concept is simply not to use up resources that the classroom teachers have earmarked for special purposes.  The added benefit is that I also do it in a way that surprises many.  No lesson plan, no resources left, still a full day of engaging learning with minimal resources.  Yes, I use worksheets and ICT when they are the right tool for the job but I also bring a bit of an inventive perspective into their classrooms.

The "When the Wind Changed" flip book was a joint effort.  Another teacher and I had groups of students that didn't go on camp.  It came out of one of those concepts from my bag of tricks.  "Be resourceful and engaging" using a book to base the activity on and provide engagement and motivation for the students.  I've used it since as a CRT like I was writing "MEL WOZ 'ERE 2013" on the wall with a nice thick permanent marker.  When I leave the classroom there's a persisting resource created that keeps me in that room on a long term basis.  It's triggering reflection in the students and teachers about my day in the room and it gets me asked back into classrooms.

The Paper Dolls was also an "on the fly" creation.  I needed to explore emotions and how they effected students and knew the "people" from the supermarket were in my toolkit.  Since then I've also had my husband show me how to cut paper dolls (to my embarrassment, as he threw back his head and laughed like a musketeer that a 40 year old "bloke" had to show his wife something traditionally "a little girly").  Get the folding and scissors in there too so I don't have to pay for the people myself and get some fine motor skills in there from the cutting and so on.

Another concept from my mental Bag of Tricks;  Always kill 2 birds with one stone of you can.

It's these sorts of concepts that have led to things like the "One Book Lessons" I share in my PD presentation and sell online.  A lesson that you get intensely familiar with and can differentiate at a moment's notice for a variety of class levels.  They provide a couple of hours of solid, engaging learning and all you need to take with you is a book to base it on.  Everything else is in your head or in the room already.

Not to say there's not a place for ICT, for printables and pre-prepared games and activities that are reliant on stuff you carry around with you.  Far from it.  Considering your brain as part of your CRT toolkit though is something you will not come to regret over time.  We all do it subconsciously of course but considering it in a conscious way can certainly bring about some terrific results.

Regards,

Mel.

Dawn Colcott Rego and PD videos - new format.

Please note:  This presentation is only suitable for Teachers registered in Victoria, Australia.

In line with our new online PD format, we will be changing the way in which the Dawn Colcott Rego and PD videos are being presented.As these videos are now getting a bit old, certain parts have lost relevance.  To this end we have provided a list of the main points in each video.  This will allow viewers to skip sections that are not relevant to their situation and scan the appropriate video for the section they are looking for.

We have now put them into a web-based presentation so they will match planned offerings of the future.  This allows us to include the full hour of video as we currently do but at the same time use a much smaller space than the existing page.

View this on Prezi.com

The prezi has been designed to be viewable on Desktop computers, Laptops and most Tablet PCs.   If you are having issues with the size of the text please use the full screen mode.

For those wishing to view the videos on their smartphones we recommend using the YouTube Playlist instead.  These will also be updated with the topics of each video in the descriptions on YouTube as we proceed with this upgrade.

Download the Prezi app for iPad.

For Android Tablet users:  Unfortunately, due to a change in format, the unofficial Prezi Player for Android is no longer working.  The community member behind this app is not working on an update as an official version is in the test phase now so hopefully is not too awful far away.  It has been removed from the Google Play store.  We will keep you advised when this is available!

Regards,

Mel.

New community PD project launched!

With the CRT Resource Challenge now closed it's time to look at a new Community adventure in the creation of PD documents for our fellow CRTs.  Many of you will remember our last community PD project, The CRT handbook and again the approach is twofold.  Firstly it is to create affordable and accessible PD for all CRTs across Victoria.  The second agenda is to again produce a testimonial to the professionalism and capability of Victorian CRTs in order to bring the focus of our various governing bodies on CRT issues and the value in doing so. 

View the Prezi on it's home page.

Some of the video many of you will have seen before.  As we are building a prototype we have used previously produced video from the Wodonga CRT Support Network YouTube channel as well as the "40 Weeks, 40 Classrooms!" videos.  This allows us to minimise the effort involved in creating the first working model.

As it is also the first we decided to start at the beginning:  The grass-roots information you should be aware of when stepping into the role of CRT.

It's currently at 3 out of 5 sections in a working (but incomplete) form. This includes 32 minutes of core video and 17 minutes of optional video in 13 content-based frames.

It is currently broken down into 5 segments:

• The job description - the core daily stuff you need to know (working).
• Your Bag of Tricks - populating your bag of tricks (placeholder only).
• Building relationships with students quickly (working).
• Being resourceful in the classroom (working).
• Being prepared for daily work (placeholder only).

The Place Holder frames contain some basic information about what we intend to include so you can see what direction we are heading.

Feel free to let us know what you think!

Regards,

Mel.

June Meeting details

Hello Everyone,

Our June meeting is creeping up on us quickly.  It is scheduled for Thursday 19th June from 4.00pm until 6.30pm in the Wodonga South Primary School Library.
For full details and meeting topic please visit the link below:
http://wodongacrtsupportnetwork.blogspot.com.au/p/hi-everyone-next-wodonga-crt-support.html
Regards, 

Mel

Chasing professional connections.

It can't be ignored that some of us struggle in our position as CRTs and it's for a variety of reasons. The one I'd like to have a say about today is lacking a source of appropriate advice.

As the coordinator of two VIT CRT Networks I notice a trend. Every 6 months or so a new batch of Teachers emerges from university and many of them end up as a CRT either through necessity or by choice. At these times I make it a point to carry extra contact cards for the Network and keep my eye out for CRTs I haven't encountered before. We have a few members who also do the same thing. This results in a new batch of CRTs entering the network every 6 months. Not in the way you'd expect though.

Most (but by no means all) CRTs who are joining are often those who got the card in the previous two rounds of university graduates, not the ones receiving the cards in this round. So, why is this happening?

Well, they're discovering that it's harder to integrate into the teaching community as a part-time worker than they thought it would be. Being a graduate they often have to work in a large number of schools in order to "get themselves out there" and to receive enough work around the more experienced CRTs they compete against. This means that they often aren't in any one place long enough to build up sufficient professional relationships they need in order to have a solid base from which to get the answers they need and the hints and tips that make your life so much easier.

It can be a very hectic time and sometimes it just doesn't go so well. Is this you? While I always recommend personal contacts where meaningful discussions can take place in-person as the best option, while we hold collegial meetings every month it's always good to explore other avenues too.  Here's a pair of Facebook groups for you to slip into, ask some questions and get some answers.

Relief Teaching Ideas;
https://www.facebook.com/groups/reliefteachingideas/

This group is centered around CRT resources but has many helpful members offering advice on a large range of topics. It is very new but due to it's being an added aspect to the "Relief Teaching Ideas" blog it's already got over 1200 members.

The AEU CRT Association;
https://www.facebook.com/groups/169648546549849/

The AEU CRT Association was set up by the Australian Education Union to provide a forum for Victorian teachers engaged in CRT work to discuss relevant issues and to provide a place where there are opportunities to share materials, discuss experiences, and work together to promote the integral role of CRTs in schools.

It is also relatively new but is growing. It's a bit unique in that you don't have to be a union member to join this group and, although no-one from the AEU watches it 24/7, there is a level of industrial advice from union representatives available to non-union members.

Do you belong to any groups that are useful for CRTs? Either on Facebook or out in the wider online community? Let us all know about them!

Regards,

Mel.