West Woods Elementary School

Google Sites Teacher Training

Professional Development Plan
By Kathy Strickland, MET candidate, Boise State University

One of the goals in Colorados Jefferson County Public Schools (Jeffco) 2013-2015
Technology Plan is that, By the beginning of 2014-2015 school year, 100% of our
licensed teachers will have an online presence using Schoology, Google Sites or
other technology tools that are used to provide multiple opportunities to improve
the communication, collaboration and problem solving skills of their students.
The infrastructure for achieving this goal has been in place since the 2012-2013
school year, when the district finished migrating all SchoolCenter web sites to
Google Sites, thereby eliminating web hosting and maintenance costs.
The following is a proposal for a yearlong professional development plan that would
achieve the goal of getting every teacher at West Woods Elementary School to
create and maintain a website for their classes by the end of the 2015-2016 school
year.
LEARNERS
A total of 29 educators will be trained in establishing and maintaining Google Sites
for their classes/students. This means an individual site for each teacher versus a
joint site for each grade level, which was the previous model. Each teachers
individual site will be housed on the appropriate grade-level or subject-area page
under the From Our Classrooms tab on the schools Google Site:
https://sites.google.com/a/jeffcoschools.us/westwoods-es/home
The breakdown of educator participants by grade level/subject area is currently as
follows:

Kindergarten:
First Grade:
Second Grade:
Third Grade:
Fourth Grade:
Fifth Grade:
Sixth Grade:
Art:
PE:
Vocal Music:

3
5
3
5
3
4
3
1
1
1

LOCATION
For the sake of convenience, the training will be held on site at West Woods
Elementary. During the active learning stage of the training, teachers will work in
small groups diversified according to grade level/subject area in the schools
computer lab, which houses 30 computers. Other components of the session will be
held in the school gymnasium, which will be set up with tables and chairs, an
interactive white board and projector, and refreshments.

DURATION
There will be a total of seven sessions from May 2015 to May 2016. The May 1,
2015, half-day session will be the second teachers have had during the 2014-2015
school year, the first of which occurred just before the start of the school year as
one of three trainings during a half-day of professional development. This was
previously the only Google Sites training teachers received for the entire year.
In the weeks following the May 1 training until the end of school, each teacher will
meet individually with the trainer to go over the specific goals they identified during
the training, address any concerns, come up with an action plan for the summer,
and ensure that they are off to a good start.
Teachers will convene for a half-day PD session in early August 2015, before the
start of the 2015-2016 school year. At this training, they will share the Google Sites
they developed or updated over the summer, give one another feedback, help one
another with challenges, and brainstorm ways to improve their websites for the
upcoming school year. If adopted by the school administration, one of these ways
may be learning how to use Google Classroom and linking to those gated classroom
sites from the public-facing sites they have established as part of the schools
website: https://sites.google.com/a/jeffcoschools.us/westwoods-es/home
Throughout the year, one-hour Google Sites PD sessions will be held on the
following early release days: September 25, October 21, December 2, February 24,
and April 20. Each session will build on the previous training and further develop
participants skills in Google Sites. Sessions will begin with a review of what was
learned in the previous session and with teachers sharing the improvements they
have made to their sites since the previous training. Teachers will learn how to do
something new with their sites at each sessionand an expectation will be set to
make an update or improvement before the next session.

TRAINERS

A Google Certified Teacher will be brought in for the May 1, 2015, session, and the
schools teacher-librarian, Shelly Bader, will assist. All other sessions will be led by
Bader. The site tech, who is dedicated to West Woods for 10 hours per week, will
also be on hand to offer technical assistance during all trainings. Jen Jonson
educational technology specialist, consultant, and Google Certified Teacheris an
expert resource at the district level who may assist with trainings.

SMART GOALS
In the course of this yearlong professional development, every teacher at West
Woods Elementary School will:

Use Google Sites to create their own teacher website, to be housed on the
appropriate grade-level page of the schools website. (Site must be posted no
later than Oct. 16, 2015.)
Post at least one new assignment, news blurb/announcement, relevant
image/video, calendar item, or classroom-specific form per month (November
through May) to their teacher website.

Provide feedback on the teacher sites of their colleagues and receive

feedback on their own. (This will be done at each of the five PD sessions held
on early-release days throughout the school year, as well as on an ongoing
basis through a Professional Learning Community, PLC, composed of
participants.)

Collaborate with fellow teachers of their grade level or subject area to ensure
consistency in standards, expectations, schedules, communication, etc.
across classes as dictated by school or district administration. (Teachers will
discuss changes to their individual sites and conduct action research in
regularly scheduled planning meetings with grade-level or subject-area
peers.)

Create professional development goals for themselves for the 2016-2017

related to improving their Google Sites and overall online communication with
parents and students. (Personal PD goals must be submitted by May 11,
2015, following a one-on-one meeting with the trainer the week after the May
1 session.)

OBSTACLES/CONCERNS
The biggest obstacle is likely to be teachers resistance to yet another initiative
demanding their limited time. The trainer will address this concern upfront by
demonstrating all the time-saving features of having a working Google Site.

Some teachers may attempt to decline participation, but the training will be
mandatory. Any teacher who does not attend will be required to spend equal time
completing the professional development during a make-up session scheduled after
school. Failure to comply with the make-up session will result in disciplinary action
by the school administration.
Another challenge is the varying skill levels of teachers. During the training,
teachers with higher skills and experience will be grouped with those who have
lower skills or a slower learning curve. There will also be break-out sessions by
grade level so teachers in the earlier grades, who are traditionally less confident
about technology integration, will be able to build foundational skills, while those in
the upper elementary grades will have time to hone their more developed skills.
Tech support will be available to all participants from both the schools teacherlibrarian and the schools site tech. Teachers are also encouraged to join a Google
Education community for technical support and creative collaboration:
https://www.google.com/edu/resources/communities/.