Last week I shared ways to showcase teacher effectiveness via digital portfolios using a wiki and eduClipper. This week I bring you another great tool to showcase teacher effectiveness courtesy of elementary school teacher Rodney Schneider. The tool is called Padlet. Padlet is a free tool that gives you a blank wall on which to share files, videos, photos, videos, and more. You can choose the visibility and share with the world, a small group of people or just one or two others.
Rodney created one Padlet for each domain in the Charlotte Danielson framework. (You can download the full evaluation instrument here). Then he created a master Padlet onto which he embedded each of the Padlets allowing one spot to collect all the artifacts and evidence of his effectiveness as a teacher.
This is what it looks like.
From the main page, you can click on any of the Domains to bring you to another Padlet that allows you to get a look at the original files, photos, videos, or other work that makes up the artifacts or evidence collected.
Here is what that looks like.
Here are some other nice features when using Padlet to showcase effectiveness.
- Professional contributions
You can allow peers and administrators to contribute to the board sharing feedback and ideas. This interactive dialog also serves as evidence of professional growth. - Student contributions
You can have students upload work directly to a board which can itself serve as an artifact. For example, you could have students create "About Me and My Heritage" videos, upload them to a Padlet, and that Padlet can serve as an artifact aligned to component 1b: Demonstrating knowledge of students. There can be a post on the Padlet aligning it to the indicator: "Teacher designed opportunities for families to share their heritage." - Expert contributions
Invite some experts in the field to look at your board a post a comment about it. This is a great way to show that you are making global connections to inform your work. This aligns to domain 4: Professional responsibility.
Thank you to Rodney Schneider for sharing this innovative resource he is using to showcase his work. What do you think? Is this a tool you might use to showcase your work? Why or why not?
Lisa Nielsen writes for and speaks to audiences across the globe about learning innovatively and is frequently covered by local and national media for her views on “Passion (not data) Driven Learning,” "Thinking Outside the Ban" to harness the power of technology for learning, and using the power of social media to provide a voice to educators and students. Ms. Nielsen has worked for more than a decade in various capacities to support learning in real and innovative ways that will prepare students for success. In addition to her award-winning blog, The Innovative Educator, Ms. Nielsen’s writing is featured in places such as Huffington Post, Tech & Learning, ISTE Connects, ASCD Wholechild, MindShift, Leading & Learning, The Unplugged Mom, and is the author the book Teaching Generation Text.
Disclaimer: The information shared here is strictly that of the author and does not reflect the opinions or endorsement of her employer.
