Leveraging TeachersFirst to Support
Teacher Growth and Development
(On-Demand Recording) Thursday, November 9, 2023 ⬥ 3:15 – 4:15 PM
Presented by Karen Streeter and Ruth Okoye
Session Description:
Discover how to empower your teachers to become self-directed learners by harnessing the free resources available through TeachersFirst. Learn how to tailor your approach based on differentiated teacher profiles to maximize the impact of your coaching efforts and ultimately lighten your coaching load. Join us for this interactive session designed for coaches facing the challenge of limited time and resources.
By the end of this session, participants will be able to
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- Identify the features and benefits of TeachersFirst as a free edtech resource
- Explore the website reviews, original content, and professional learning opportunities offered by TeachersFirst
- Analyze different teacher profiles and select appropriate strategies to introduce TeachersFirst to them
- Plan and implement follow-up coaching activities using TeachersFirst
Download a PDF copy of the slides here.
Resource Materials:
In this Resource Materials section, you will find reference materials, tutorials, and how-to information that will help you review or extend your knowledge from the presentation.
Resources Mentioned During the Session
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- Slide 5
- TeachersFirst Home Page
- Professional Learning Tab on TeachersFirst (you can access our Professional Learning Opportunities, OK2Ask hands-on webinars, Twitter Chats, and more)
- Slide 7
- Help I Lost My Media Specialist Articles
- Building Schoolwide Literacy
- Adapt-a-Strategy
- The TeachersFirst Weekly Update – we email a newsletter on the first Sunday of each month and then follow it up each Sunday with a focused set of featured sites around a common topic, such as STEM, American Indian & Alaska Native Heritage Month, and Virtual Field Trips
- Slide 8
- TeachersFirst Classroom Resources – TeachersFirst’s Classroom Resources area includes anything you would use with students in the classroom. You can find thousands of educator-reviewed web resources, searchable by subject/grade or keyword (access resources for upcoming events/dates on the Classroom Planning Calendar, and don’t forget to read the reviews of each resource created by experienced teachers to help you understand).
- Edge Resources – These are reviews of tech tools that can be used for student projects. Search by keyword or category.
- Special Topic Topics Collections – Curated lists of 25-30 top-rated resources on over 250 topics.
- Slide 9
- MySci Life is a free, walled garden educational social media platform for middle-level science. In MySciLife, students bring learning to life by personifying science concepts using social media technology they know and like, all while practicing digital citizenship skills and connecting with their peers.
- Reading Treks – TeachersFirst Reading Treks are a way of creating a virtual field trip of resources about a piece of literature or text using the My Maps feature of Google Maps. Provide additional context for students as they read.
- Across the World Once a Week
- Globetracker’s Mission
- Slide 10 – Professional Learning Opportunities
- OK2Ask live hands-on, virtual workshops
- Twitter Chats are held twice a month on the latest tech tools and education topics. Visit our Twitter Chat page to access the upcoming schedule and archives.
- Book Studies – Our book studies are held twice a year in the winter and summer and focus on technology implementation strategies. Guided by the ISTE Standards, our goal is to help participants forge a better understanding of how to use technology to improve student learning.
- TeachersFirst Blog – The TeachersFirst Blog provides bite-sized, in-your-own-time professional learning through informative edtech articles.
- Professional Learning Units are self-paced PD. A certificate is available for some, like Classroom Management, Rubrics to the Rescue, and Instructional Playlists.
- Slide 15 – Frameworks that drive your decisions on HOW to work with a teacher:
- Slide 16 – Coaching Styles (Useful Resource, Encouraging Sage, Collegial Mentor, Expert)
- Slide 21 – Introduction of Personality Types using the DOPE Profile.
- Personalities explained broadly: https://www.dopepersonality.com/whats-your-dope-personality.html
- Bird Personality Test – All You Need To Know: https://thepleasantpersonality.com/bird-personality-test/
- DOPE Bird 4 Personality Types Test Questions (Online Version)
- Slide 22 – The Dove
- Slide 23 – The Owl
- Slide 24 – The Peacock
- Slide 25 – The Eagle
- Slide 28 – Scenario 1/Support Student Voice & Choice – Response
- Blog Post Sample: Choice Boards for the Classroom
- OK2Ask On-Demand Webinar Recording Archive: Engage & Inspire: Choice Boards for Differentiation Part 1 and Part 2
- Video Tutorial
- Slide 30 – Scenario 2/Exploring Emerging Technologies – Response
- Live OK2Ask Webinar — check the OK2Ask home page for access to the current catalog (our Fall series closes on 11/21/23, and our Winter series opens on 1/16/24 — catalog coming soon)
- Blog Post Sample: Enhancing Education with AI: American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month Lessons
- Co-Plan/Teach
- Slide 33 – Scenario 3/Professional Learning Needs – Response
- Professional Learning Units (PLUs) Example: Instructional Playlists
- Book Study — see our upcoming Book Study for Winter 2024 (Personalized Reading: Digital Strategies and Tools to Support All Learners by Michelle Haiken)
- Follow-Up
- Slide 35 – Scenario 4/Content Area Support – Response
- Reading Treks Example: Ada’s Violin: The Story of the Recycled Orchestra of Paraguay
- Help I Lost My Media Specialist Articles Sample: There is No Planet B – Climate Change and its Impact on the Earth
- Co-Teach
- Slide 37 – Scenario 5/Content Area Support – Response
- Search the TeachersFirst database for content resources and explain the benefit of the teacher review and classroom implementation ideas.
- Special Topics Collections – Examples of collections that are teacher professional learning focused versus student classroom instructional resources:
- Slide 38 – Anatomy of a TeachersFirst Review
- Slide 39 – Planning for Differentiated Coaching
- Slide 5
Books to Reference
TeachersFirst Quick Tutorial Videos
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- A Navigational Overview of the TeachersFirst Site
- Searching the TeachersFirst Database for Content Resources
- Anatomy of a TeachersFirst Review
- Searching the Edge Resources and Understanding The Review Components
- How Do I Find the Professional Learning Units (PLUs) and How Are They Structured?