Personalizing Professional Development to Meet Each Teacher’s Unique Goals and Needs

Blended and personalized instruction is starting to have a demonstrably positive impact on student learning. Why then, are these effective strategies relegated to just students and the classroom? We believe that there is no better way to offer professional development on blended learning than through a blended and personalized PD model.  Effective professional development starts with determining the unique needs of each educator then personalizing support through a competency based approach. To this end, at the start of each engagement, we use The Alvo Blended Competencies© and classroom observations to capture collective school and individual teacher PD needs.

Here is a printable 1 page summary of our PD services.

The Alvo Blended Competencies©

Alvo has developed a survey that assesses teachers’ level of skill and comfort with instructional competencies necessary to facilitate highly differentiated blended and personalized classrooms. The survey results in a report that is then used to determine the breadth of each educator’s readiness to take on Blended Learning.  The report can also be used to customize and monitor each participant’s professional development supports.  A snapshot of Alvo’s Blended Instruction Competency Report© can be found below.  These reports cover all four of The Alvo Blended Competencies© Data, Instruction, Student Engagement and Innovation.

With strengths and areas in need of further exploration identified, teachers can work through from a series of modular content/workshops. How teachers engage with this content varies depending on the type of engagement. Alvo works closely with schools and districts to create a tailored scope and sequence with site based professional development opportunities supported by asynchronous web-based resources.  Schools and district can also choose to participate in one or a series of stand alone workshops, both virtual and in person, that are aligned to Alvo’s competencies. In all cases, teachers are offered professional development that aligns with predetermined, and on-going, areas of need and interest.

Here is a printable one page summary of our Professional Development Services.

Alvo’s Diverse Professional Development Options

Online Courses: Self paced. Personalized. Practical.

Online Courses from Alvo Practitioners’ Circle: A virtual roundtable of classroom and school based practitioners who are eager to explore new instructional methods.  

Choose from our flagship course Design and Plan for School and District Blended Innovation, ideal for district and school leadership teams ready to lead bold innovations, and our newest course, designed specifically for innovative classroom teachers, called Implementing Personalized Learning with Blended Methods in the Classroom.

Michael B. Horn said, “This course [Design and Plan for School and District Blended Innovation} from the Alvo Institute is stunning in its depth of translating theory to action and stimulating great conversations among educators to produce breakthrough learning.”

Our online courses are a great way to learn about using blended personalize without becoming overwhelmed. In addition, all participants receive a personalized professional development plan, based on Alvo’s Blended Learning Competencies that launches them into the next learning opportunity. The full course descriptions are on our website: https://thealvoinstitute.com/services/professional-development/online .

Coaching and Support for Principal and “Lead” Teachers

We have learned that changing teachers’ practice, the way blended often demands, requires some amount of 1:1 coaching.  Alvo can coach teachers directly, or we can coach site leaders who will provide coaching support for teachers.  A member of the Alvo team will establish a relationship with the educator(s) being coached.  Together, the Alvo team member and the participating educator will review and discuss classroom observation videos/notes, and discuss the practical ways to support teachers transiting to blended.

Half and Full Day Workshops

These workshops are run like highly differentiated blended classrooms: there is some direct instruction with more small group learning and exploration. Common topics include “Exploring What Blended Learning Is and Is Not” and “How Blended Learning Can Support ELLs”.  

Extended Professional Learning Community (EPLC) ©

We create Extended Professional Learning Communities with a customized scope and sequence of topics the faculty needs to cover in order to develop their content knowledge of the blended methods. Capacity building happens in face-to-face meetings and is extended and personalized in an online format. The main goal of the EPLC is to offer participants small chunks of information every week, or every other week, with ample time to process, discuss and even try things in their classrooms. It can be a “flipped” classroom for teachers: a teacher reads an article and engages in an online forum with colleagues before having a live discussion at a brown bag lunch.  In addition, the online platform allows participants to extend discussions that happen in person and share digital resources. Samples of previous EPLCs are available upon request.

Pricing

Printable One-Page Summary: Alvo’s Personalized Professional Development Services 

For a one page print-out of our services please click here: Summary of Alvo Supports June 2015

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.