Monday, January 12, 2009

Study Group Activity: Exploring HRD Podcasts and the Induction e-Letter

Purpose: Help teachers access and explore the Podcast and the Induction-e-Letter Blog on the HRD website.

Preparation: Meeting should be in a computer lab or ask participants to bring their laptops to a wireless location.

Access: Demonstrate how to enter the HRD website.
1. Start at www.browardschools.com
2. Click Departments on left side of webpage
3. Click HRD-Professional Development
4. On the HRD Homepage - Click the Teachers bottom in the row near the top of the page
You are now on the HRD teacher homepage and can enter the Blogs.

Demonstrate Navigating Blogs: There are three ways to navigate a blog. The first method is chronological, assess articles or podcasts as they were entered in the blog; second method is enter a search word or phrase, same process when using search engines on the internet; and third is using the label cloud, assess articles using pre-selected search words.

Activity: Ask the participants to use all three methods to search each blog. Each time they use a search method they will view the podcast or read the article and leave a comment. Once everyone has viewed three podcasts, read three articles, and left their comments; they will recommend one of the podcasts or articles to the group and explain why they recommended it.

Debrief: How can blogs like these enhance a teachers practice?
Approximate time of activity: 45 minutes to 1 hour
Source: Joann Finnagin, South Broward High

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