Week 6- Chapter 5

Chapter 5- Well while I was reading chapter 5, Professional Development, I was thinking what a great idea this is. It'd be really nice to be able to create a group of teachers, in my school, that all worked on professional development together. The ability to share new ideas, websites, and comments are the best part of the web 2.0 experience.

If I were to design a group I think what I'd do was get a group of members, suggest a site, book, or tool, then have everyone investigate it on their own time. Then through that first interaction, hopefully a whole new world of sites, tools, and books would surface. Basically the possibilities are endless. Another great aspect of the idea would be for teachers to post what they're doing in their classrooms or problems their having. The great thing about this is that it's not a faculty meeting and people can post and respond when they have time, not a designated time twice a month for an hour. I really like the idea of using Diigo accounts to link to others and create a vast resource for learning new information.

Personally, I think the key aspect to getting this up and running is to get a core group of people who are invested in doing it. Once it's moving along well, word or mouth will usually get more people involved. I know that the book recommended getting together once a month, which would be helpful so that everyone could be on the same page, since we all never seem to have a common span of free time. My final thought would be that I'd want administration on board so that I could get PD credit hours! I'm thinking that WetPaint would be a good place to house this group.