Professional Development

This summer break has started off with lots of professional development.  Our school district along with a nearby school district hosted the first ever SC Midlands Summit.  It was a great two days of learning.  I attended sessions about learning Chromebook ninja skills, how to use Picasa in the classroom, using photographs for visual storytelling and the programming language Scratch.

Starting next week, I am going to begin three PBS Teacherline courses.  I highly recommend PBS Teacherline courses for professional development.  It's not free, but definitely worth the investment.  So far, I have completed three online classes and always learn information & skills that I apply to my practice.  I've never taken three online courses at one time, so I may be MIA for a bit as I try to juggle online work & family life.

Along with reading blogs, Twitter and Facebook, I like to watch webinars to help me with my practice.  I usually sign up for email reminders and catch an archived webinar when I have a moment.  For example, this summer I want to learn about Common Core & flipped classrooms because those will be hot topics in my school this coming fall.  I'm going to watch a few webinars to help me get started.

Here's a list of sources for free online webinars:
EdWeb
The Future of Education
ASCD 
BrainPop
eSchool News
TL Virtual Cafe
NCompass Live
Booklist
Library Journal
                                                     School Library Journal

Where do you go for professional development?