HIT: Inservice Training for Teachers

[Patricia Fontes <fontes@MEOL.MASS.EDU>]

December 7, 1996

Dear Fellow LM-Netters,
You all have come through again!  Many thanks to those who responded to
my request for suggestions on conducting inservice training with
teachers.  Although I didn't post the original request as a target, I had
several requests to post a Hit.  I decided to post these in 2 messages to
keep file sizes reasonable.  Here is Part 1.

From herbert@georgian.eduMon Dec  2 17:54:24 1996
Date: Mon, 02 Dec 96 11:15:59 EST
From: MS_HERBERT <herbert@georgian.edu>
To: Patricia Fontes <fontes@meol.mass.edu>
Subject: Re: GEN:Inservice Suggestions

Pat,

Congratulations!

I have a few suggestions that come from both staff training and our BI
classes.

1)  Have refreshments available, but keep them away from the computers!!!

2)  Have a terminal for everyone; if this isn't possible, don't have more
than
2 people sharing a terminal.  They learn more (and it isn't nearly as boring)
if they are actually doing the work.  You will have to do it beforehand
so you
can tell them what to enter, and to give them some interesting results
(especially on the online catalog!)

3)  Limit your class size.  This way each person will get (or at least share)
their terminal and will get more personal assistance if needed.

4)  Offer sessions on different days and at different times.  Reach as many
people as you can by making sessions available when they are.

With our BI classes, we have found that the students remember more about the
OPAC and CD-ROM indexes if it is presented immediately before the big
research
paper is assigned.  BI is written into our freshman English comp classes,
with
one double period and one single period per week (one period = 50 minutes).
The professor generally books them for BI for the double period.  We spend
about one hour or so doing the BI, and then we herd the class down to
reference
to begin their research.  The professor, reference librarian on duty and the
librarian who did the BI are all available for assistance.   The gist of all
this is....it might work the same way with your teachers.  Give them their
in-service right before they assign the paper to their classes.  And
encourage
the teachers to bring their classes in for BI too!  (By the way, we
insist that
the professors be present when their classes are here for BI...they can also
mention something that we may have forgotten, and the students pay attention
better.  We have a few mavericks who think this is unnecessary, but most
of the
professors abide by our rule.)
From MarySci@aol.comMon Dec  2 17:54:01 1996
Date: Mon, 2 Dec 1996 11:11:41 -0500



From: MarySci@aol.com
To: fontes@meol.mass.edu
Subject: Re: GEN:Inservice Suggestions

Make sure there's refreshments. Works every time.
Good luck!

Barbara

Barbara Herbert   <herbert@georgian.edu>
Georgian Court College
Lakewood, NJ  08701-2697


From kfish@internetx.netMon Dec  2 17:53:36 1996
Date: Mon, 02 Dec 1996 09:41:44 -0500
From: Kelly Fish <kfish@internetx.net>
To: Patricia Fontes <fontes@MEOL.MASS.EDU>
Subject: Re: GEN:Inservice Suggestions

Make games and make sure they DO things, hands-on...

From hslib@moran.comMon Dec  2 17:53:07 1996
Date: Wed, 06 Jan 1904 19:06:31 -0400
From: Sweet Home High School <hslib@moran.com>
To: Patricia Fontes <fontes@MEOL.MASS.EDU>
Subject: Re: GEN:Inservice Suggestions

My suggestion is to go for small group training.  You'd be surprised
how many people still haven't touched a computer - and the just don't
want to look dumb in front of a group.  So, if you can do small groups
people like that.

Also, do a run through of the technology, and then make sure your
"students" get their hands on it. When they see how easy it is to use,
they get excitied.  Provide some time in the future for follow up.  My
experience has been that the first session gets the thought process
going and teachers start coming up with ideas on how they'll use the
technology  after that, so they need to get back on then to search and
plan.

I do summer sessions while I'm here for summer school, and they're
very successful because the teachers can commit a block of
uninterrupted time to the task.

Have fun!

Carolyn Gierke
Sweet Home HS

From jsteger@pen.k12.va.usMon Dec  2 17:52:42 1996
Date: Mon, 2 Dec 96 7:06:58 EST
From: Julia Files Steger <jsteger@pen.k12.va.us>
To: fontes@MEOL.MASS.EDU
Subject: Re: GEN:Inservice Suggestions

Pat,
I have to do an inservice on the library automation and on the
use of Netscape (2 different inservices, actually).  I plan to
begin in January and take no more than 4 people at a time.
I just plan to show them how the OPAC works and how to do
searches by URL and subject, follow a link, and print from
Netscape.
I have Tootsie Roll Pops, each w/ a little label that says "I'm
a sucker for technology!"  They fill out the label and after
everyone has completed these inservices I will have a drawing
for door prizes.
This isn't much but maybe it will help.
Julia
--
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Julia Steger         ** A Lap Is A Terrible Thing To Waste---
Clifton Forge VA          Adopt a Pet From Your Local
jsteger@pen.k12.va.us        Animal Shelter **

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

From sturz@mcs.netMon Dec  2 22:20:24 1996
Date: Sun, 1 Dec 1996 16:47:57 -0600
From: sturz <sturz@mcs.net>
To: Patricia Fontes <fontes@MEOL.MASS.EDU>
Subject: Re: GEN:Inservice Suggestions

I'm part of the internet training team in my district and I've also taught
classes at 3 community colleges.  My experience has been that
classes/training must be engaging for adults to participate.  Part of that
is relevance to their needs and part of that is having fun. The last
training session I conducted with my whole staff was after school at a
faculty meeting that they were required to attend. I made sure that they
sat with their teams so that they could apply what they learned
immediately, because their biggest request over and over has been that
inservice times be relevant to their classroom needs. This worked great and
they even clapped at the end. At other sessions we've had food, some jokes,
some fun. FOOD is always good.  In the past I've offered training on a
sign-up basis and this has never worked because they always have something
else pressing to do. Make sure everyone is scheduled and required to
attend, then make it apply to what they are doing in the classroom.
Good luck:)
Carol Sturz, Batavia Middle School, IL



From MARTINV@ten-nash.ten.k12.tn.usMon Dec  2 22:19:56 1996
Date: Sun, 01 Dec 1996 16:38:13 -0600 (CST)
From: "Va. Martin, Ketron Middle School" <MARTINV@ten-nash.ten.k12.tn.us>
To: fontes@meol.mass.edu
Subject: Inservice

I have taught a few inservices for our system using software that is
available here.  I have found that teachers in general appreciate them
since
they have little time for exploring software on their own.

What I usually do is put all operating instructions on a handout done
with
good sized print and a lot of white space dividing the "how to" areas.
This makes the handout easier to read while using the terminal.

I give as little introduction to the software as I feel the
students/teachers can get by on and turn them loose to work with the
programs.

For each program, I have a worksheet designed to run the teacher-student
through the main features of that program.  For example:  with the
encyclopedia, I ask them to find an article and picture of a person, an
animal, a state or nation, a map of a state or nation, a sound or movie
clip, etc.  This gets them started and they branch out to areas that are
of
interest to them.

With word processing software, I create a worksheet to lead them through
the various ways to maniputate text.  I begin by having them type a
sentence that is full of errors.  Using the printed instructions and
working at their own pace, they proceed to use various correcting and
editing techniques with that one sentence.  As a final exercise they are
asked to create a study guide, form letter for parent, simple worksheet
or
other document they might use in their work.

Having the instruction programmed onto worksheets lets each one work at
his
own pace and frees me to handle questions as they arise.

From iluvlib@ns.netMon Dec  2 22:15:34 1996
Date: Mon, 2 Dec 1996 20:10:25 -0700
From: Susan Mackey <iluvlib@ns.net>
To: Patricia Fontes <fontes@MEOL.MASS.EDU>
Subject: Re: GEN:Inservice Suggestions

Hi, pat,  I tried talking to staff and then letting them play with the
programs.  All but one left the room with excuses--well, if you're
finished...etc.  When it came time to introduce students, I wised up.  I
wrote a script for them that they had to follow.  As they followed the
directions they were actually going into the resources.  They had to answer
questions on a recording sheet.  I wish I had done something like that with
my staff.  I bet it would be fun to do a Big Six lesson with them using the
resources, too.  Best of luck! Susan MackeyFrom
jrodrig@gilligan.esu7.k12.ne.usMon Dec  2 17:57:29 1996


Watch for Part 2 coming soon!

Pat Fontes, LIbrary Media Specialist
Sarah W. Gibbons M.S.  Westborough, MA
fontes@meol.mass.edu