AIMS BRAINSTORM: "Awaken Possibilityfor Collaboration with and among your Colleagues Think: activities, conditions, venues

These are all the ideas generated by the table brainstorms during the AIMS Tech Retreat discussion on April 26, 2009. They are a response to the first minute and 39 seconds of Ben Zander's closing talk at Davos, 2008.


teachers teaching teachers technology
ID a teacher that has mastered something or likes an application etc......
understanding what is going on in the classroom
Food! chocolate
one on one or small groups
Kudos
Devote time to quality meaningful things
develop 5 minute videos with tips and techniques put on shared folder
put all info in one place and make sure teachers know where it is
ask a colleague before me

slap 'em,
wine & cheese social,
show examples of a finished product,
tell them their job depends on it,
pairing with someone with like interests or is doing something similar,
incentives - $$$,
show them the value of what they are already doing so it is easier for them to envision success with trying something new,
sharing the workload,
allowing time for learning new things,
giving them others to help them out besides just IT,
giving them time to collaborate on their own, but make them accountable,

--Good food is key. Creative is good too.
--Community of trust. If the teachers don't trust that you're looking out for their curriculum, then it isn't going to work.
--Off-campus is fantastic. No one knocking on the door. All the teachers have tablets.
--Having a professional development day. Use the in-service day if you can get it. There's always a great debate on how to spend that time.
--Faculty show-and-tell.
--Gotta be about the curriculum. Just happen to be using tech.
--No dog and pony shows. Has to mean something.
--How stop people from being afraid? Small steps. Trust. Keep coming back to trust. That means the stuff has to work. All the time. Every day.
--Have to have faith that the moment for a given technology will come.
--Flexible scheduling. One-on-one consulting with teachers.
--Have to develop not just your technology skill set, but also your street cred as a teacher. Need to know your teachers, find out who's good at what. Identify colleagues with teachable skills.
--Happy hour! Tech with beer and chips and salsa.
--Speed geeking. A 45-minute period, you rotate around to different stations. Think speed-dating.

- Finding time for exploring topics
- Finding topics that get everyone interested
- Convince them that you can provide a service that they cannot do by themselves necessarily
- Find ways to make them feel comfortable
- Find time during a normal work day
- Getting colleagues to articulate a problem or frustration that they are having
- Giving time for observation
- Medium for the collaboration (offering a wide range to met the needs of a diverse community)
- Giving models for what a potential successful lesson might be
- Creating an environment where failure is ok
- Make sure that tech is not something separate from what is being taught
- Keeping people informed about new possibilities
- Thinking about things from the kids perspective/ remember to put the kids first
- Help get teachers over the proprietary-ness of their classrooms
- Help create an atmosphere where suggestions that you offer are just that-- and not a judgment over the way that they are or have been teaching

1. Incentive to show up - food, prizes
2. TIME - free time, no schedule conflict, not adding onto already packed schedule
3. Location - can we share a discussion like this with teachers in a variety of locations
4. Requirement for Professional Development - often acts as an incentive, particularly in an independent school
5. Activites - need to develop from the ideas and interest of the faculty - address their needs and questions.
6. Accessibilty and collaboration with Tech as faculty begin to plan new units
7. SUPPORT - availability of resources and people, follow through, revisit what we are doing!!!
8. Revalidate - we begin with great intentions, but without follow up or recognition people are
9. SIZE - one on one interaction rather than large groups, allows for personal touch
- appeal to faculty/ADULT learning styles
- differentiated approach to faculty
10. Emotional connection and Identify Value to teacher and how this NEW style will translate to my students.

Offer to work with them and help them through it.
Capitalize on their personal talents.
Build significant time for professional development
Sharing with others

Offer a variety of times for PD to occur

Show how something will benefit the students

Having students (when possible and appropriate) show things opens doors.

Showing examples of successful collaboration and share details of how it can happen.

Allowing for time to reflect on what you have done.

Don't "impose" collaboration but work together on a new project

Find opportunities for people to learn outside of their classroom or regular learning environment. To see the world in a different way

Get student feedback about a collaborative project

Leadership creates a culture for collaboration and learning among adults.

Validate that some projects are "good" they way they are. Not everything needs to be updated or changed or "technologized". People want to feel good about things they think are working well.

- brainstorm with colleagues - what we can try this summer
- team building games
- rewards/prizes/door prizes - like iPod, restaurant gift certificate
- chances to do hands on & play; come out with a product
- sometimes a really narrow focus
- friendly competition without necessarily wrong answers (dealing with fear of failure)
- prize to the person with most calls to help desk
- emphasize that you've learned a lot from making mistakes
- "don't be afraid to Google it"
- letting teachers know that you can help them meet their goals as well as meeting some of your own by collaborating
- once you've tried something, how can you learn from what wasn't the right answer and making it the right answer
- removing the fear of change
- empathize with the time factor that teachers experience
- administrative support for new ideas, provide time for teachers
- teach people to use help functions on their own
- willingness to figure it out together
- let the other person drive

The wiki game sounds like a good idea between school
The word cloud with interesting things about us and using that as a springboard to get to know each other
Get people to take ownership - having teachers lead the teaching to help roll out a new idea.
Peer-to-peer - tech mentors among the faculty that others can visit
Swivel Session with tablets - afternoon "party" atmosphere with teachers demonstrating what they've done so far.
In service day - open house style where you can move among classrooms and see what teachers are doing.
Door prize at the Swivel Session (novelty!) added a good sense of fun.
More ideas for "serious play".
Think tanks - after school teachers share what they are doing - reimburse teachers for their extra time.
Summer classes in technology that teachers take together - learn from colleagues in all divisions
Departmental project for summer work which brings departments/grade levels together to work on curriculum-based tech projects
Share success stories from other teachers
How to work with the teacher who is not willing to try something new?
How to grab someone on a personal level? Skype for those with grandkids - get them hooked for personal reasons, then help them extend their thinking to their students.

competition amongst groups
twitter on a topic
model activities
point to activities that work
using technology to communicate
yammer
empathy to colleagues
how do we keep "us" safe in IT
How do we develop trust?
How is it OK to fail?

- Faculty Fun Day/Team Building: forget about curriculum for just a little bit and HAVE FUN! Use a faculty meeting to do a fun activity (scavenger hunt, art projects, movie night, staff-led classes of interest, host a meal at a person's house, etc.)! Great for renergizing staff...

- Just saying THANK YOU! You may not realize the big impact that a small thing may have...it helps to recognize the great things happening around the school that may not be seen otherwise.

Give them a free lunch, or other free food/coffee/etc.
Something to get you moving
Being outdoors -- with warning.
Hands on
New
Choice
Letting them be involved (within reason) in deciding menu of offerings.
Choice with option to revisit
They post/present notes
User generated content
Organized chaos - letting people just talk.
Mixing up groups (not just divisional, departmental, etc)
Topics of personal value to them.
New people leading the groups (not just technology)
Shares by other teachers
Getting them off campus.
Creating time space - release from school for activity.
Provide opportunity without distractions.
Active!
Opportunities for follow-up.
Pay them (for extra time - summer, etc).
Sharing sessions.
Small groups! (allows recognition, exploration of commonalities; discourages disengagement)
Acknowledgment is important, so is support.
Movement!

food works, chocolate
incentives, material incentives, extra time, relieving them of duties, NOT AFTER SCHOOL
monetary incentivies
raffles (flip videos, iPods) as incentives to come and participate in professional development
invite other people to come; fresh voices
be able to choose topics from a list of topics
having peers share something makes people think they can do it too
quick shares at each faculty meetings--one or two minutes
tech tips at meetings
faculty technology newsletter--publicize who's doing what in the school
does competition work? sometimes this is not a good thing; can have a negative effect
example: voice thread workshop (modern day equivalent of telling stories around campfire) made it more appealing
use language people understand (avoid "tech talk")
send out an example to promote workshops
find a better word than "workshops" call it "serious play to promote your brain"
have a "take away" have time to complete a project
follow-up help
bring a project and make it better; something to take back to the classroom
provide an opportunity for teachers to use what they have learned right away
put resources on the network
have teachers come to the training with an idea so they come prepared to actively participate
summer workshops (June or August)
will they work over the summer? perhaps do it both in June AND August

Ideas for possibilities..

Go to Vegas - Consumer Electronics Show
Slow down
Get out of the environment
Quiet time to reflect and plan
Fresh perspective/knowledge from an outsider
Switch occupation for a day - ie. tech person switch with teacher for a day
Identify one on one opportunities - ie meet with indiv teachers to help them through a year of technology integration
Tech free day - awaken creativity