Teachers take on unique professional development program

Laguna Beach Unified School District officials are rethinking teacher training and hoping to solve real-world problems at the same time.

Chief Technology Officer Mike Morrison briefed board trustees last week on a program dubbed “Rocket Ready,” in which teachers, on their own volition, will use technology to solve issues either they or their students identify.

The name entails concepts of preparing students for future careers and Google’s moonshot thinking, which Morrison described as the thinking it took to launch a spacecraft on the moon, incorporating politics, science and other disciplines.

Join the conversation on Facebook >>

District officials said it’s a new way of looking at professional development. Eight months ago, Assistant Supt. of Instructional Services Darlene Messinger tasked Morrison with developing a transformed teacher training model.

“Could professional development create world change?” Morrison said rhetorically in explaining the idea behind the program. “[Currently] a teacher could attend a class on using Google docs, but whether the information gets implemented [into a lesson] is up to the teacher.”

Thirty-seven teachers, ranging from elementary to high school instructors, signed up for the program, which begins Sept. 1 with a meeting to brainstorm ideas with representatives from the Animal Planet and the nonprofit Crystal Cove Alliance, which aims to protect and preserve beach and marine life, and the historic district at Crystal Cove State Park.

Morrison hopes this meeting will help spark ideas among teachers, whom he said will progress through multiple levels based on level of students’ engagement and mastery of certain skills.

The estimated budget for the program is $94,000, which Morrison said replaces many of the typical training classes.

Each teacher will be guided by a district colleague experienced in incorporating technology into lesson plans who will occasionally observe the teacher to provide feedback and guidance.

Online collaboration, including certain Google applications that allow multiple users to simultaneously look at and edit documents, and research will be key tenets of the program, Morrison said.

“I love this,” trustee Dee Perry said during last week’s board meeting. “I think it’s so creative and exciting.”

Students could identify a problem on their own or in groups. Or, the entire class may decide to solve one main problem.

Morrison gave his students a similar type of activity when he taught third-grade at Condit Elementary School in Claremont. The lesson, called “Take Me to Your Litter,” had students pick up all the trash they could find on campus, noting items they found more frequently than others.

The most common item lying on the ground? Plastic wrappers that held straws on juice boxes.

The next part of the assignment was redesigning the boxes to keep fewer wrappers from finding their way onto the ground. The lesson combined mathematics, a computer design program and writing. Students wrote persuasive essays to juice companies requesting a change to the box design.

Company officials did not select the design, but they responded in writing saying they would look into the matter, Morrison said.

Next May, teachers will present videos of their class projects to the school board. Once school starts in the fall, they are encouraged to write blog posts about their progress.

Morrison hopes other districts will partner with Laguna Beach Unified to expand the program going forward.

--

Bryce Alderton, bryce.alderton@latimes.com

Twitter: @AldertonBryce