Alvo’s Unique Professional Development Philosophy: Customized, Gradual and Competency Driven

Alvo is the first professional development provider to outline the specific skills that educators and school leaders, experienced or new, will need as they incorporate personalized instruction into their practice and school designs.

We want teachers to experience customized, self-paced, milestone, and goal-oriented development opportunities just like the personalized learning experience their students have in a blended model. Why should kids have ALL the fun?

Our professional development is customized for each participant based on data and self-reported needs and growth goals. Participants decide when they engage in activities that help deepen and extend their practice and skills. They move at their own pace and choose the modality: whether to view a recorded lecture, read a research report, attend a live webinar or work one-on-one with a coach.

Customized Professional Development Support: Alvo’s Gradual Release PD™

In traditional professional development models, the full faculty files into a large room or auditorium at a specific time (usually the end of the day when a teacher is least likely to be eager for blended training). The PD presenter’s topic may or may not be relevant to each teacher’s practice, but attendance at the PD is a contract requirement. So, the teachers sit until the bell rings.

PD too often looks like the kind of seat time that our students endure.

At Alvo, we have re-imagined what PD can be. Alvo’s founder was a teacher and sat, unhappily, in those “all faculty” PD sessions and vowed never to replicate that experience for other teachers.

At Alvo, we meet educators where they are in their practice and help them become aware of and reflective about their current practice. In what ways are they ready for blended learning? Which areas of their instruction need more attention and support?

Our Gradual Release PD™ addresses a wide range of educator readiness by using two researcher-designed competencies-based assessments: Alvo’s Personalized Instructional Competencies™ and Alvo’s Personalized Leadership Competencies™. Each assessment establishes clear and measurable foundational and pre-requisite skills, then progresses to instructional or leadership skills required for teaching in a blended environment.

A dynamic blended classroom has many moving parts. Many teachers find blended learning training and implementing a BL design to be daunting.

Alvo’s Gradual Release Classroom Matrix, organizes the complexity of a multi-faceted blended classroom into discrete, measurable, and manageable characteristics. Faculty and leadership work towards common classroom design goals, but at a pace and degree of difficulty in-line with the teacher’s skills, professional development goals, and accountability. Each teacher is afforded the time and support they need to transform their practice for the long haul.

Sample of Professional Development Topics

Our team of experienced Blended Learning educators can facilitate a single day session, a series of workshops or an interactive webinar. We can also help design a customized combination of in-person and online sessions to meet your unique needs. Popular PD topics include:  

• Blended 101 “What Does BL Look Like?”
• Developing The Innovator’s Mindset
• Personalized PD Planning for Educators
• Technology Infrastructure for a BL Setting
• Selecting The Appropriate End User Devices
• Selecting On-Line Learning Providers (OLPs)
• Classroom Procedures
• Lesson Planning in a BL Environment
• Teacher Led Small Group Instruction
• Releasing Instructional Authority to Students in Small Group Instruction
• Using Exit Tickets and Other Data to Inform BL Class Instruction
• Moving Towards Personalization
• Integrating PLB into a BL Setting
• Competency Based Grading and Assessment
• Teaching Students to be Innovators in Your Classroom
• How BL Supports Social and Emotional Learning

Contact Us Today

Every school/district has their own unique goals and PD needs.  Send us your contact info using the form below.  A member of The Alvo team will respond within 24 hours to discuss PD options that will support your time, budget and development needs.