Field Experience Journal

Course: Practicum and Seminar EDIT 695 Date(s) of Activity: 11th December, 2018

Location: Abu Dhabi, NYIT campus Your Role in the Activity: Professional
Development Conductor
DESCRIPTION OF FIELD EXPERIENCE ACTIVITY:

This field experience activity was about professional development sessions for teachers to improve
their practices in teaching and I worked collaboratively with one of my colleagues. The content of our
PD was about giving educators an idea of how to use STEAM through integrating some tools in
different subjects. As a starting stage, we had to choose from different tools and we agreed on the Go!
Temp probe since it looked very beneficial for teachers. According to the needs analysis that was done
to identify what educators wanted to learn, we identified the learning outcomes for the PD. The PD did
not mean a specific grade level teacher but included all grade levels even college level.

I worked cooperatively with my colleague to develop the PD content and its resources and my
participation in this PD was very important as I created different resources. Our intention was not only
focusing on developing students’ learning, but we also focused on educators through creating resources
for their future uses. Therefore, I worked hard on the training agenda and the related steps, so teachers
can follow it easily to implement the tool with their students or to give the PD to other educators. I also
created user guide for both teachers and students to easily find the steps for using the tool. in addition,
I focused on creating the experiment in a way that is easy for teachers to follow. My personal aim for
this PD is to give educators the chance to apply the tool with me.

Working on this PD with my colleague gave me a lot of confidence to apply new ways in my teaching.
Yes, I was the conductor of the PD, but I think I developed myself as a lifelong learner which is very
crucial for us as educators. Even for us the tool was new, and we had to familiarize ourselves with it
and to apply a successful PD session, we put ourselves in the same situation to create the suitable
content for the audience. Thus, I started the session by introducing the tool and the related software.
And then, I went through the experiment to show how the participants can integrate it into subjects they
teach. What is more important to conduct an effective PD is to meet the outcomes at the end in a clear
and organized way.

Learning outcomes:

1. Participants will be introduced to Go! Temp Probe and the Logger Lite software.
 2. Participants will practice the use of Go! Temp probe and the Logger Lite software through
presenting the model lesson plan.
3. Participants will be able to identify the importance of using the STEAM approach in teaching.

INSTRUCTIONAL APPLICATION:

To apply this PD, we had to meet in person, via Zoom and contact through email most of the time. The
meetings were focused on agreeing on the topic, resources and the content of the PD, discussing
information from our reading and changing some stages in the plan to meet the participants’ needs. In
fact, the preparation for this PD took more than 50 hours as we wanted to created clear and detailed
resources for participants. We planned to present the PD in one session for about 1 and half hours but
this can be changed depending on the level of participants’ understanding and meeting the learning
outcomes. The PD was created in a way that gives teachers an idea of how is easy to apply the STEAM
approach into their teaching using simple tools. As mentioned earlier, my intention was to let teachers
apply the tool and come up with more questions regarding subjects they teach. Through this PD,
participants will be exposed to effective practices which develop their current practices to meet the
needs for diverse learners and the needs for the 21 st century skills.

IMPACT OF INSTRUCTION ON STUDENTS/PARTICIPANTS LEARNING:

Implementing this PD had a positive impact on participants and myself as well. To start with the impact
on myself (organizer and developer), more awareness of how to conduct a successful PD for teachers
and learners has been added to my knowledge. In addition, working on this PD helped me to develop
as an ISTE coach who will help other educators use instructional tools for the sake of improving
students’ learning. Each stage of preparing for the PD developed my skills as the work was detailed
and intensive. I am now aware that any PD should be direct and serving participants’ needs. While
working on the PD, a lot of knowledge exchange happened between me and my colleague as we shared
what we read about the topic which developed my skills and added new skills as well. This experience
opened my mind to search for more topics and ask my colleagues at work for future PDs.

Another positive impact was on participants as the PD was meant to help them implement the STEAM
approach. As participants contributed in the experiment as an example of integrating tools in the
Science subject, they will be able to apply tools depending on lesson objectives and the different
subjects. Moreover, the resources created for this PD will help participants to conduct the PD with their
colleagues and they can follow the procedure to create their own PDs.
RELATIONSHIP OF FIELD ACTIVITY TO STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT:

Going through the experience of the field activity developed me professionally and encouraged me to
think of applying more PDs in the future. I would like to develop the PD and present it to another group
of teachers to compare results for more improvements. The STEAM approach was new to me and after
conducting the PD, I became more confident to apply it with my adult learners. Having the chance to
work with one of my colleagues helped me to work collaboratively with others and to develop ourselves
as lifelong learners.

APPLICATION OF KNOWLEDGE/SKILLS FROM THE COURSE:

In fact, the purpose of this field experience was to give us a chance to practice being instructional
coaches and I think this goal has been met successfully. I gained many skills and knowledge through
this experience and they are really linked to the ISTE standards for coaches. For example, content
knowledge and professional growth standard was met through engaging in continuous learning to
deepen professional knowledge. Applying the knowledge and skills from this course are clear through
looking at resources created for this PD as they were prepared with a high standard of professionalism.

CANDIDATE SIGNATURE COLLABORATOR SIGNATURE (IF

APPLICABLE)
Name: Rasha Alzaabi Name:

Date: December 16th, 2018 Date: