Bridge, Model, Amplify: Leveraging Targeted Professional Learning to Support Scale
9:45am - 11:00am - Session I
Austin ISD explicitly supports the expansion of personalized learning practices through our Professional Pathways for Teachers (PPfT) initiative. In particular, our Transformative Technology pathway offers teachers targeted coaching centered on classroom problems of practices and aligned to personalized practices. The work bridges district vision; models blended practices in professional learning; and amplifies the work of participating teachers through intentional storytelling. Come learn about how this pathway has built capacity for change at a variety of our diverse Austin ISD campuses. Through discussion, collaboration, and interactive simulations, participants will explore our process and resources, interact with our content, and learn from our successes as well as our challenges.
Sarah Dille is a Technology Design Coach in Austin ISD and shepherd for new Technology Design Coaches during a comprehensive on-boarding process to the Technology Design Team. Sarah is a master of thoughtful feedback, drawing on over a decade of experience as a high school English teacher. She led and influenced the district by navigating the way through standards-based grading and connecting students to authentic work outside the classroom using technology. Sarah is a key designer of the Leadership Pathway for Transformative Technology, a two-year professional development experience for teachers PK-12, and loves helping teachers set and reach their own goals to create a more engaging student experience.
Amber Rinehart lives in Austin, TX where she is a Lead Technology Design Coach on the Technology Design Time. Amber was inspired when she attended BPLC in April of 2018 to leverage Highlander’s Priority Practices toward the implementation of personalized learning models in the Austin Independent School District. She wishes she’d had those when she taught in a 1:1 project based learning 11th grade Humanities classroom nearly a decade ago. Amber is a strategic thinker who challenges educators and leaders to shift paradigms they didn’t even know they had. Amber enjoys live music, hiking, and vacationing with her 7-year old daughter.
Laura Browder is a Lead Technology Design Coach on the Technology Design Team in Austin ISD. She has been a key developer for adapting a coaching model for the team and how the priority practices can be leveraged to support teacher goal-setting. She has organized and facilitated several large-scale professional learning conferences including multiple years of the Blended Learning Summit and Austin ISD’s first multi-departmental personalized learning conference, AISDedu. Laura is a key designer of the Leadership Pathway for Transformative Technology, a two-year professional development experience for teachers PK-12, and loves partnering with diverse educators across diverse campuses.