My Professional
Development
Benjamin Marsh
Liberty University EDUC630
Why Join a Professional Organization
• As a new teacher, I will be looking for others around me for advice. This
includes other teachers in my department and other faculty members in the
school.
• Although this will be a great benefit for me, more perspectives from other
teachers/educators will help to develop educational ideas that I can
implement in my classroom to help students learn.
• Professional organizations offer the opportunity to connect with teachers
and educators all over the world to spread ideas and offer advice to
inexperienced teachers like myself.
• A professional organization can also provide great advice and resources to
help students with disabilities and learning challenges.
ISTE (International Society for Technology in
Education)
• ISTE is a nonprofit organization dedicated for teachers and the
inclusion and implementation of technology in schools.
• The website consists of: Professional learning networks, blogs, books,
podcasts, teacher education, membership information, standards and
many more resources.
• There is also a yearly conference discussing a variety of topics,
subjects with multiple speakers and can be catered to specific grade
levels if interested.
ISTE connect: STEM network
• One of the many tabs on the ISTE website is the ability to sort for
professional networks based off grade level, subject and many other
filters.
• The STEM network is a community dedicated to helping teachers and
students learn to use technology in effective ways. There are almost
3,000 members of this group with several leaders of this network.
There is a discussion tab where members can communicate with each
other to discuss ideas, share advice and discuss STEM and technology.
There is also a library tab where people can share resources that any
member can access.
Books
• The ISTE website has many great resources available to both
members and nonmembers including books. The books tab allows
people to search for books on hundreds of topics and can be filtered
based off grade levels and content.
• Some of the books available for science teachers include Building A K-
12 Stem Lab, Flip Your Classroom, and Learning Supercharged.
• Each of these books offer tips and tools for teachers to utilize
technology in their classroom. They also offer tips for teachers on
how to incorporate students in the learning process.
Students with disabilities
• The ISTE website has a search option and anyone can search for
anything in the field of education and technology including resources
for disabilities.
• There is a talk available on the website, Technology for Individuals
with Disabilities Around the Globe.
• There is an article, 10 Best Tools for Students with Disabilities in
Inclusive Classrooms.
• Many more articles, talks, resources are available and be refined by
search based on a specific need of an individual.
5 reasons why it’s more important
than ever to teach creativity
• This is article written by Nicole Krueger and the five reasons listed are:
Creativity motivates kids to learn, Creativity lights up the brain,
Creativity spurs emotional development, Creativity can ignite those
hard-to-reach students, and Creativity is an essential job skill of the
future.
• This article is a great tool for myself because I am a creative person. In
biology, projects are a big component and I want to encourage
students to be as creative as possible. Technology allows for students
to find inspiration, share ideas with each and communicate as they
work on their projects.
ISTE20 Live: Jaime Donally
• She started her career in education as a math teacher and is now
involved in instructional technology and is the founder of the
company ARVinEDU.
• Her talk will be on immersing technology in the classroom and its
practical uses.
• Her talk will include the use of apps and AR/VR/MR tools available to
teachers.
• This talk is interesting to me because the use of applications could
help engage my students and help them relate to the material. I am
also curious on how AR/VR/MR can be used in schools.
ISTE20 Live: Claudio Zavala Jr.
• He is a digital designer with the goal of helping people who are
passionate about creativity and new ideas in the classroom. He also
has social media management experience as well as multimedia
experience.
• His talk consists of the ability to create videos with Adobe Rush,
creative storytelling with Adobe Spark, and YouTube for teachers.
• I am interested in this talk because students relate to videos and if I
can create videos for students to help them learn and study then I
will. I really like the idea of a YouTube channel for my students to be
able to review the material and potentially help students everywhere.
References
• Home | ISTE. (2020). International Society for Technology in Education.
https://www.iste.org/
• Krueger, N. (2020, September 2). 5 reasons why its more important than
ever to teach creativity | ISTE. ISTE. https://iste.org/explore/classroom/5-
reasons-why-its-more-important-ever-teach-creativity
• STEM Network - ISTE Connect. (n.d.). Higher Logic, LLC.
https://connect.iste.org/communities/community-home?
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