Week 10:  Teaching Teachers (and Others)

I admit it: I'm terrified of teaching teachers!  Talk about a judgy crowd, especially if they don't want to be there and if they don't think you know anything about their subject. But it does seem unavoidable so what is the best way to go about it? I found the tips on this website helpful, especially the parts about asking teachers what they want to learn and about personalizing the learning process.  And I've come up with my own loose plan: first, show teachers what the technology can do for them, then a quick how to with some examples, then let them try it for themselves.  Ask them what they would like to be able to use it for and help them get there.  Connect with them after the training to if they have questions or if they have a chance to try it out in the classroom.  Ask for feedback. Offer to work cooperatively. Just like students, teachers are more likely to want to learn if you can show them the purpose and take an interest in their achieving results.

Of course, teaching doesn't just have to happen during professional development days--we can have tutorials available to watch at teachers' convenience.  I hadn't done a screencast before though I have seen a lot of them; I have to say I was amazed at how easy it was to do. I tried Screen-cast-o-matic first but it wouldn't let me create an account so I quickly moved on to Screencastify which was terrific. Some of my classmates mentioned Loom as another option so I will take a look at that some time.  I suppose the more screencasts you do the better you get at it but it took me probably 40 takes till I was sort of satisfied.  I tried it with a script but that sounded too forced, I tried winging it but kept messing up.  In the end I used a rough outline of where I wanted to go with some main points that I didn't want to forget.  When we actually do roll out our library website I would like to send the teachers a link to a screencast (probably not the one I just did!) although I'm sure many wouldn't watch and then will later say that they didn't know we had a website. But I also like the idea of putting up screencasts on the website in our "How Do I" section showing how to use the catalog, the databases or borrow and ebook or audiobook from the public library. The possibilities are endless!