EdTech Loop Ep. 89: Making PD Not Stink

We've heeded the wise writing of "Ditch your Textbook's" Matt Miller, and hope to help you make your next PD not stink. We've all been there. You're partially through a session or keynote and are trying to decide if it's worth your time to sit through the rest. This episode will share some tips to make you a better presenter and help keep your colleagues engaged so they won't decide they have better things to do than listen to you.

 

Useful Links:

http://ditchthattextbook.com/2019/09/25/27-tips-to-deliver-powerful-professional-development/

Jennifer Gonzalez covered this topic in the Cult of Pedagogy podcast as well…

Gamestorming: https://gamestorming.com/

METS at miGoogle 

 

The Un-redacted Transcript 

Danelle Brostrom  0:00  

That's not what is says on your business card

 

Larry Burden  0:11  

It is not an inspiring car.

 

Danelle Brostrom  0:13  

It gets great gas mileage,

 

Larry Burden  0:15  

striving for mediocrity.

 

Larry Burden  0:18  

Drives like a peach, hon.

 

Larry Burden  0:23  

It's episode 90 of the EdTechLoop podcast, My name is Larry Burden, and she's decided to ditch my suggested pod topic, it's Danelle Brostrom. You can't find true wisdom from a textbook, but you can find it in this week's moment of Zen. 

 

Moment of Zen  0:39  

When you see a good person, Think of becoming like her or him. When you see someone not so good. Reflect on your own weak points. 

 

Larry Burden  0:49  

In an effort to develop a more professional palette, we've consulted the experts on how to better prepare, This, this week's meat of the show, making PD better professional development better. We've all been there. We have been into that session, and that keynote. Depends on your level of politeness. Do you sit through the whole session? Or do you get up and... 

 

Danelle Brostrom  1:12  

I sit through the session. 

 

Larry Burden  1:14  

I respect, see now I can go in and I'll have like a camera or something trying to get some shots are record it. And I have to go to the next session because I you know, I have to try to get a swath of information out of this, so.

 

Danelle Brostrom  1:28  

Yeah, but sometimes you can't choose. Sometimes you're stuck in that bad PD because that's the PD you have to take. And then you're stuck.

 

Larry Burden  1:35  

There is that yeah, 

 

Danelle Brostrom  1:36  

yeah,

 

Larry Burden  1:36  

The initial pod topic that I was going to talk about,

 

Danelle Brostrom  1:39  

that I ditched,

 

Larry Burden  1:41  

Which I thought was going to be a winner, because we're going to talk about your favorite subject, Liz Kolb. She had a keynote this year at WiredTC. And I was actually going to talk about her keynote and the fact that she did not...she wasted no time. She basically came up there. And it was it was a different, a different vibe than most keynotes that I've been to because she was basically like, I'm a professional, you're a professional, you're here to get some information from me, I am giving you that information. Let's do this. Let's act like professionals. And I was looking through some of the resources that you had brought up. And I'm like, Yeah, like that.

 

Danelle Brostrom  2:22  

Yeah, yeah, she was amazing. And, you know, the reason I ditched your topic, Larry, Matt Miller had a great post the other day on Twitter. And he's the writer of, "Ditch that Textbook." And he talked a lot about PD, and how sometimes it can be awful. And we've all sat through it. So he gave a ton of ideas on ways to make PD better, and then throw it out to the group. And it just kind of got me thinking that we do need to talk about this since the beginning of the year, and we're all a little rusty. So it's a good time to bring this back. And I'm guilty of this too, you know, you I've gone in and I've had so much information to present and very little time to do it. So I went wide instead of deep with a few topics. And I just, I bored them to death as I read from the slideshow, because I, I got nervous. And I knew I had a lot to cover. And, oh, ick, I hate that I falter to that if I'm not careful. So I think it's something to be aware of and really, really think about. And when you know better you do better. So Let's, let's go through some of these things. 

 

Larry Burden  3:26  

Make it useful. 

 

Danelle Brostrom  3:26  

Let's make it useful. 

 

Larry Burden  3:27  

So there's 21 I don't know if we're gonna make it through all 21. 

 

Danelle Brostrom  3:29  

No, I didn't want, I want to talk about the big ones.

 

Larry Burden  3:33  

Okay, the first you have one specific one, because I want your explanation on this. So

 

Danelle Brostrom  3:38  

The first one, I think he talked about this in a couple different ways. But I really think you need to think about your audience. And like you mentioned, Liz really did that she talked to her audience like they were professionals. But I think you need to find out where your audience is at, try to figure out what they're thinking, read your audience. Don't just read from your slideshow, look at them and kind of see how they're taking in the information. And I think just really trying to connect with them. So, you can ask them questions while you're there. You can try to ask them questions beforehand and a survey. But I think just finding out where your audience is coming from, and then trying to connect with them is like the number one thing you need to remember with doing PD, always. 

 

Larry Burden  4:21  

I have a feeling a lot of these are going to also apply to being a classroom teacher. It's kind of the same thing. It is kind of funny that oftentimes, especially in our field, the people that we're getting professional development, who are running these sessions are teachers, and then they get into this environment, and all those pedagogical...

 

Danelle Brostrom  4:41  

Good word 

 

Larry Burden  4:42  

Skills kind of seem to go, sometimes, tend to go out the window. So anyway, I just wanted to...

 

Danelle Brostrom  4:47  

No, I'm so glad you brought that up. Because yes, 100%. We are amazing educators and we deliver content to students in a way that is creative and interesting. And we make it fun. And we do all, we do it hands on, and then we get into PD mode and we go back to that lecture base. And I don't know why we forget all those things. You know, adults do learn differently. And there are some things that we can talk about at a later date. But for the most part, the adults deserve that same respect, and they should also... 

 

Larry Burden  5:25  

Taller children, with a shorter attention span.

 

Danelle Brostrom  5:28  

True, especially teachers. But they deserve that same respect. They deserve PD that is creative, and inspiring, and interesting, and hands on, and I think Jennifer Gonzales covered this in a Cult of Pedagogy podcast, a while ago. But, she said the same thing. Like, treated just like teaching. Make a hands-on, differentiate, use guided practice. Like all those things that you know how to do with children, do them with adults in PD to. And yes, we should 100% be doing that.

 

Larry Burden  6:00  

Got you off track, sorry.

 

Danelle Brostrom  6:01  

No, that was that was on track, always. 

 

Larry Burden  6:04  

One time, one time I kept us on track.

 

Danelle Brostrom  6:08  

And I think, I think and Matt Miller mentions this too, when he talks about giving them hands on practice, and giving them time to talk about what they're learning, and including a variety of examples. Like, again, all those are teacher tips that we shouldn't be doing. If, if you just deliver your content, and they never get a chance to talk about it. I think if you look at the research from Joyce and Showers, this resource on, research on coaching, but it's still says if you're just giving them theory all the time, it, only like five or 10% of the people are going to retain it and actually use it. So, you obviously want more than that, if you're taking the time to do a PD wasting everyone's, not wasting everyone's time, I did not mean that. But...

 

Larry Burden  6:49  

Maximizing their time.

 

Danelle Brostrom  6:49  

Maximizing their time, you have to make sure that you're doing more. You need to give them a chance to talk. You to give them a chance to try the tool with you there, walking around. Or just giving them a bunch of examples about how this, this can apply to these different situations. How can this apply to you as a third grade teacher? How Can this apply to you as an 11th grade teacher? Like how does this, how does this work? Like let's actually dive in and look at it instead of just, here's what I need to teach you.

 

Larry Burden  7:18  

Earlier, I had mentioned that, you know, Liz Kolb had kind of gone directly into the topic and into the research very quickly. It doesn't mean you have to ditch the narrative. It's okay to tell a story and include the learning in, in a story. That's going to be more compelling, it's going to be, oftentimes that the person that session, or listening to that keynote, is going to have five more that day. There's a lot of information coming in, you're going to have to have some kind of a hook for it to be retained.

 

Danelle Brostrom  7:53  

For sure. And I want to see us make PD more fun. Like, I sometimes I dread seeing those PD blocks on my calendar, those things that I have to go to because I think that it's going to be two hours or so that I'm going to be missing away from my family. How can, how can we make PD more fun? How could we, as presenters, could we, you know, change it up with a game or give them a short funny video. Like, when they're having fun, and research will tell us this one learning is enjoyable, better learning takes place. So, that goes for adults and for kids. So, never design a training you and want to set through yourself. You know, let's let's make it, Let's make it fun.

 

Larry Burden  8:42  

While then going back to what you had said, I think, your first point, have some empathy as well. Recognize that it has to be fun for you or something that you see as fun, but take yourself out of it for a second and recognize that other people might have different interests or different points of view, and at least have that level of empathy. 

 

Danelle Brostrom  9:01  

For sure. 

 

Larry Burden  9:01  

What else

 

Danelle Brostrom  9:03  

I really liked one of the topics or one of the tips that Matt Miller mentioned was to be your own unique self. And I think that this is something I really don't do. And I think it was something that I'd like to start. It just, he just talks about if you have a skill or talent, how can you use that to enhance your professional development? If You can sing or play an instrument? Could you create a song? If you can draw, or at least are willing to try, could you sketchnote your session as it's being presented? If you have a knack for making videos, make some of your own videos to include. I think that those are great ideas, because it just helps people connect with you. Especially if you're willing to be a little silly, or a little, a little different. I think that will help them remember what you're doing as well.

 

Larry Burden  9:47  

As long as you’re topical.

 

Danelle Brostrom  9:48  

Oh, of course.

 

Larry Burden  9:49  

As long as your on topic that, I think 

 

Danelle Brostrom  9:51  

100% Yes, 

 

Larry Burden  9:52  

I'm going to guess you're gonna get to this. No to Edutainment. If you're up there just trying to grandstand and look at my video that I made. 

 

Danelle Brostrom  10:04  

Right, right. Right. Right. Right, 

 

Larry Burden  10:05  

It might be compelling. But if it's, if it has nothing to do with your topic, or maybe kind of does. They're spending time with you, make sure that time is well used.

 

Danelle Brostrom  10:16  

Yes. 100%. Yes. And then the other one that I really thought was important. Just to keep the conversation going. They're, typically when you deliver a PD is something that you want them to do in their classrooms. So, how are you going to keep that conversation going, They're going to struggle, they're going to have, need, they're going to need you. They're going to need that group of learners that they learned with. So how do you keep that conversation going after? Do have them connect with you on Twitter? Do you have a Google Classroom setup so that way they can come on and ask questions later. It's just a nice way for people to have that recurring conversation and actually move the needle.

 

Larry Burden  10:52  

I don't know what this one was. I'm gonna throw it out there. 

 

Danelle Brostrom  10:54  

Yeah. 

 

Larry Burden  10:55  

Speed dating activity. I have not witnessed this. I don't know what it actually it was. It was in his list. Yes. Did you read it? And have you done it? In a professional development setting. Want to clarify.

 

Danelle Brostrom  11:09  

Going back, Larry, I did. I have done that before? I don't love that one. Honestly, unless I'm comfortable with the people around me. I don't always like...

 

Larry Burden  11:21  

Because you're such an introvert. I recognized

 

Danelle Brostrom  11:23  

sometimes I am. Sometimes, I don't know.

 

Larry Burden  11:26  

Every, everybody that knows you right now is like...right.

 

Danelle Brostrom  11:29  

You asked me. Sometimes I don't like it. Because sometimes I'm talking to people that I don't know about topics that I don't feel comfortable talking to people about. But I guess it gets people talking, which is what you want. You want people to be talking, you want them to have conversations, which it does. So Yes,

 

Larry Burden  11:46  

It would push me out of my comfort zone as well. But sometimes you do have to do, if you're going, if you're going to go to a professional development seminar or professional development situation, you should be willing to be pushed out of your comfort zone. 

 

Danelle Brostrom  11:57  

Yes, yes, yes. But there's also some ideas that I think that connect to this PD topic. Things that I personally want to try. Gamestorming is a new thing that's kind of been making the rounds within the ed tech leaders. And it's a way of looking at, it says it's a set of co-creation tools used by innovators around the world, is what it says on their website. But it's really just, it's games, games, for opening, games for fresh thinking and ideas, games for team building, game for vision and strategy building. And I think that a lot of these ideas that they use on the gamestorming site, could be very easily adapted to PD. So I'm, I know I'm ordering the playbook. So that way, I can have some more ideas on how to use these resources. But that's definitely something that I'm going to be doing some personal research on, because I think that could help enhance PD. And again, include that conversation, we got people talking. And then another thing I want to mention on the METS Group, the Michigan Educational Technology Specialist, they are doing a session at MyGoogle this year. And it's a workshop session. It's on November 4 in the morning. And it's, now it's made for ed tech coaches. It's a session on ed tech coaching. But man, if anybody, If anybody locally, I say locally, statewide, knows how to deliver a good PD. It's that METS Group, that's kind of their specialty. Every PD I've ever gone to, and anything I've done with that group, they've been amazing at making PD not stink. So I think if you want to go, even if you're not an ed-tech specialist, if you are in this coaching role, or you are in an administrative role, and you deliver a PD, go to this with with, with that lens. They're going to talk about gamestorming. And they're going to go through some different ideas on how to deliver PD better. But, also kind of watch them and how they deliver PD because I think that you can learn a lot sitting in something that is really, really good.

 

Larry Burden  13:48  

Not only take notes on the content, take notes on the presenter.

 

Danelle Brostrom  13:50  

Because they're going to be amazing. Yeah, I'm sure of it. They deliver amazing PD. And that's kind of their thing. So go and learn what they do. 

 

Larry Burden  13:57  

Anything else?

 

Danelle Brostrom  13:58  

I have nothing else on that. 

 

Larry Burden  14:00  

All right, Tech Tool of the Week. 

 

Techtool of the Week  14:04  

Kind of related, Remote for Slides. This is a game changer. It is a Chrome extension. So you add it on to your device. And then there's a website that you go to, and you go to that website on your phone, and then you can control your Google Slideshow through your phone. So all of a sudden bye bye clicker. I cannot tell you how many times I have lost, when I've been presenting out and...

 

Larry Burden  14:35  

What's it called? 

 

Danelle Brostrom  14:35  

without the dongle. I have lost that I've left it plugged into machines. And then I've had to go say to Mr. Hicks, I need a new clicker. And It's really embarrassing. But, all I do is I just pull it up on my phone, and then I can run through my Google slideshow from anywhere. And It's amazing. And it's kind of a game changer for those who deliver a lot of PD. 

 

Larry Burden  14:56  

If you're presenter that's... 

 

Danelle Brostrom  14:58  

Yeah,

 

Larry Burden  14:59  

Invariably your batteries are out. You forgot the dongles. Somebody else brings a clicker in, it doesn't quite work. It doesn't sync, it has to down, it has to download the app, it has ya know, firmware issues. It's always something that goes wrong with the clicker. So to actually have it on your phone and just bink, bink, bink. That's awesome.

 

Danelle Brostrom  15:17  

Crazy easy. Crazy fast to setup. I think, from when I found it to when I was rolling through walking around the office telling everyone I know hey, check this out, guys. Maybe like four minutes. It's amazing.

 

Larry Burden  15:30  

Tutorials and updates. We did a BiblioTech pod just a few days ago with Melissa Baumann on middle school libraries. That was really really interesting.

 

Danelle Brostrom  15:39  

The better Baumann, I like that. I listen.

 

Larry Burden  15:42  

Sorry, Andy. TechNollergist is actually up next week, first TechNollergist of the year. Very excited about that. I had a really interesting experience before I came down here and this is as far away from edu-tech as you could possibly get, I think. And it was a Stone Soup gathering. And I don't know if you're familiar with the Stone Soup parable, I'm sure everybody is, you've read the books. It's been around obviously for ever. But, an entire school, classroom, by classroom was going in and adding things to the big soup pot and you know, they put a stone in. Every, every class got to put one stone in. And it's a great way to A, incorporate the idea of sharing and caring into your school community. But also a great way to include the entire community, not just the school, but your local farmers. The school that we were at at had their own community gardens, so they actually used a lot of their own herbs and spices and things that they had grown. But we also had, they also had some local vendors come in and help with ingredients. It was fabulous. And they've done it for two years now. And it was neat to see the older students commenting on what it means. Any comments on Stone Soup? Your'e all, I wanted to be there.

 

Danelle Brostrom  16:58  

I did want to be there.

 

Larry Burden  16:59  

It smelled great by-the-way.

 

Danelle Brostrom  17:00  

It's a good reminder that it takes a team to make something awesome.

 

Larry Burden  17:02  

Yeah, yeah. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter @TCAPSLoop

 

Danelle Brostrom  17:05  

@brostromda

 

Larry Burden  17:06  

Subscribe to the podcast on Podbean, iTunes, Stitcher, Tune-in, Downcast, Overcast, the Google Play Store and Spotify. Leave a review, we love the feedback. I can do that all with one breath. 

 

Danelle Brostrom  17:16  

You forgot to thank them. 

 

Larry Burden  17:18  

Oh, thank you for listening and inspiring.

 

Danelle Brostrom  17:20  

I wasn't ready Larry, 

 

Larry Burden  17:21  

Thank you for listening and inspiring. How many times can I say it? Thank you for listening and, inspiring.

 

Danelle Brostrom  17:31  

You always say something else, Larry.

 

Larry Burden  17:34  

I don't know what to do with the rest of my day.