Jackie,

I can't say how much our state (Texas) supports PB learning, but my
employer, Community Action, Inc. of Hays, Caldwell and Blanco Counties, has
always been one of the few supporters of quality professional development in
our area. Over the last decade, PBL has been a large component of that PD. 

Currently, I am part of an ESL PD cadre lead by Heide Wrigley and the
Central Texas GREAT Center. One of the tasks we are to complete this
semester is to make a brief video of ourselves teaching a specific skill in
the classroom. 

I work just south of Austin at the Kyle Learning Center. Community Action,
Inc. supports adult ed in 10 counties surrounding Austin. Although Heide
ranks at the top of my list in providing excellent PD, few teachers in Texas
participate. The reasons are numerous, but I'd have to say the lack of
professional advancement opportunities and financial support are at the
heart of it. 

Lee Williams
ELL II Teacher
Kyle Learning Center
Kyle, Texas



Hi David,
I appreciate your sharing this fabulous idea with us - sounds exciting!
 
To the list: I would like to know the extent of teacher interest in such
an endeavor.  What do others on this list think about this idea? Does
your state or program already support project-based learning in
professional development? And if not, any particular reasons why not?
I'm imagining our Tennessee teachers connecting with one another through
classroom video. I think they would very much appreciate and enjoy such
an opportunity though I'd like to hear from them what they think.

David, please keep us posted as to what you learn about the extent of
interest and support behind such an endeavor, and any efforts to develop
such a video library.

Thanks so much, Jackie Taylor

-----Original Message-----
From: professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of David
Rosen
Sent: Friday, December 22, 2006 3:12 PM
To: The Technology and Literacy Discussion List; The Adult Literacy
Professional Development Discussion List
Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 720] A teacher-made
professionaldevelopment video library

Colleagues,

Suppose we had a free video library of  500 digital videos ( from 3  
minutes to 15 minutes each) of adult education classrooms.  Suppose  
these were made and edited by adult education teachers and their  
colleagues (and students) using local digital video and editing  
equipment.  Suppose some of these videos -- those that were  
successful illustrations of EFF content standards or state content  
standards or curriculum frameworks, for example -- were each awarded  
prizes of $500 by state professional development centers.  Suppose  
these videos were online free, for example on Google, but also  
indexed in a searchable database so that teachers, administrators and  
professional developers could find good video examples -- in practice  
-- of a concept, standard, or teaching method they wanted to see.  
Concepts such as "integrating technology in the classroom,"  
"formative assessment," "standards-based numeracy,"  "project-based  
learning,"  "effective teaching in the ESOL multilevel classroom" and  
many others ,might be illustrated through actual video examples from  
practice.

How do we get started with this?

1. Teachers need to follow Barry Burkett's example and make videos of  
their teaching and upload them to Google for others to see.  At  
first, the quality may not be ideal, but quality can be achieved in  
time with better editing software, better mic-ing of sound, more  
cameras, more time to edit. Teachers can get good at making videos.   
They can then teach their students these skills, too. (Or maybe some  
students already have the video skills and can share them with the  
teacher!)

2. State literacy resource centers need to provide teachers with  
incentives to do this "project based" professional development.  The  
incentive could be in the form of $500 mini-grants to rent or  
purchase equipment or software, or to pay for a teacher's time to  
make and edit the videos.  The incentive could also be in the form of  
($500) prizes for videos that were selected as exemplary, to be used  
in state professional development or curriculum standards work.

3. We need a database. Once we have it, we need reviewers who will  
look at and tag the videos so they can be found in the database using  
commonly used adult education terms.

I would be interested in your thoughts about this idea. I would be  
even more interested to know if you, or teachers you know, are  
excited enough about this to get started, to make a video of  
classroom teaching and learning.  If so, visit http:// 
wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Google_videos for more information on  
how to get started and e-mail me about your interest in this idea.

David J. Rosen
djrosen at comcast.net



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nt