Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Meeting the Teacher Evaluation Standards

I recently attended an Edmodo webinar that spotlighted Brunswick County Schools and their district wide initiative to launch Edmodo. The initiative started with an email campaign to teachers and usage spread immediately. As they began training teachers, they focused on using Edmodo for the teacher evaluation instrument and as a communication tool for PLCs. They wanted their teachers to have true conversation about student learning and decided Edmodo would be the right tool to use. The initiative started a year ago (October 2010) and now all their teachers use Edmodo to communicate and share resources to support their PLC.

In addition, Edmodo provides teachers a way to document how they are meeting the standards on the teacher evaluation instrument. Using Edmodo teachers can model ethical behavior and appropriate use of social media. Teachers are demonstrating leadership by facilitating PLC discussions in their Edmodo groups. Working in Edmodo with their students, teachers can target students individually to leave feedback or provide support resources all in a safe online environment. Teachers who join the professional communities in Edmodo can develop their professional learning network (PLN) and reach out to teachers worldwide, making it easy to connect with other professionals globally.

I personally have been using Edmodo for the past few months to connect with other teachers and it's been a valuable tool for sharing and learning best practices. I see and hear about teachers using Edmodo for their PLC meetings and how its been a successful collaborative tool. Edmodo was recognized and honored by the American Association of School Librarians as Best Website for Teaching and Learning. Learn more about Edmodo and how it can transform you classroom by checking out their blog.

Image from http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=1708

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