Professional Development

This weeks assignment was a little scary for me because there is no way that I will ever be able to stand in front of my colleagues and teach them. One on one I am fine, but the thought of standing in front of several of them scares me. With this in mind I chose to do a short powepoint presentation introducing wikis and then have them create a wiki themselves. This makes it possible for me to work with them one on one if they have a problem and alleviates my anxiety issues.
Another reason that I chose to have them spend most of the day creating a wiki page is because what I least enjoyed about the professional development days that I have participated in was leaving with nothing. I think that it is important for teachers to leave with a completed, or at least well on the way to completed, product that they can begin using. I know that if I cannot start using a new tool right away, I tend to forget what I was taught and then do not have the time to try to relearn it on my own. Professional development days should be useful and productive, and participants should leave with something that benefits them immediately.