Ask for students’ input before leading staff development
As I mentioned, I like to meet with students first before giving a presentation to their teachers. I’ll hold an advance (perhaps via Skype a few weeks in advance of my visit) session with about 20 students, along with their principal or superintendent and maybe the technology director. I’ll tell the students that I’m going to show their teachers how to use technology to make learning more fun and effective, and I need their input.
I’ll ask them, “Do you know how to find information with Google?” And all of the kids will say, “Yes.” Then I’ll give them some challenges, and very few of them are able to complete those challenges. Or, I might say to them, “What do you think about students recording video tutorials to help other kids learn?” Some might say, “That’s the job of the teacher, isn’t it?” But others will say, “Well, I often ask a friend for help. I think I might like listening to other students explain a concept.”
Having this information helps me later, when I work with their teachers. I can tell them, “You know, your students really need you, because they all think they know how to do a Google search—but it turns out there’s a lot they don’t know about finding information online.” Then, I’ll show the teachers some search strategies they can share with their students. Or, I can tell them that many students say they’d like to watch videos of their peers explaining concepts, which could cut down on some of the work the teachers do themselves.
If I had made these suggestions without talking to the students in advance, I wouldn’t have as much credibility. But because I heard from the students first, the information I’m sharing is supported by evidence and carries more weight. Gathering insight from students about how they want to learn, and what skills they lack, can help shape ed-tech professional development and make it more meaningful for teachers.
Have students lead workshops
At one school I recently visited, third graders were leading workshops for their teachers on topics such as how to use Minecraft, or how to tag web pages using Diigo. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing: A third grader leading a workshop on Diigo? I didn’t think a third grader could do something that sophisticated. But I was wrong.
I asked the principal, “Isn’t it kind of insulting for the teachers to have a third grader show them how to organize their research online?” And the principal said, “Not at all—if a third grader understands how to do that, then there are no excuses for our teachers not to.”
In this example, the principal made sure all the student-led workshops were recorded to create a staff development library that teachers could access any time if they had a question. That also let parents see what was going on in their child’s school—and how their child was contributing to the learning. I thought that was fantastic.
When I’ve involved students in staff development, I’ve seen some principals who were stunned by their students’ insights. They had never thought to ask their students, “What is it you need to help you learn? What kind of learning environment can we build for you?”
Before a workshop I recently gave at the British International School of Houston, I asked students how they wanted to learn—and what kinds of technologies they use to learn outside school. One middle school student told me he used Wolfram Alpha to answer what he called his “burning questions,” such as whether there is water on Saturn. When I worked with teachers later that day, and I introduced Wolfram Alpha (which can seem overwhelming) I shared the story of their own student who uses it all the time to answer his “burning questions”. A story like this can make a new tool much more intriguing and accessible and maybe even necessary.
“It was quite a revelation for me to sit and listen to that,” said the school’s principal, Andrew Derry. “We often just tell people what to do, and that’s not the most convincing way of effecting change. But when you can say to teachers, ‘Here’s what your students say. Here’s how they want to learn,’ then it can be much more motivating for our colleagues.’”
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