By VIOLET MERRITT – News Writer
The Instructional Technology Cohort Gallery took place in the Clarke Central High School media center on Aug. 26 to inform teachers about instructional opportunities that they can implement in their classrooms.
The four cohorts, the focus of Tuesday’s meeting, are Google Drive, creating an interactive classroom website, Google Forms and Spreadsheets and managing blended learning in a one-to-one classroom.
“This event is to get teachers to sign up for what they’re calling a cohort. So whichever cohort the teacher signs up for, there will be a mini-professional development group to learn on a particular topic,” Clarke County School District Director of Instructional Technology Djmal Balbed said.
If a teacher decides to sign up for one of the four cohorts, they will attend three sessions that will be held throughout September and November which will be concluded by a showcase event in December.
“This was kind of like a preview of what’s going to be offered so that they could pick which one they wanted to join,” Instructional Technology Specialist Carrie Siegmund said.
The cohorts are meant to educate teachers about elements that will be vital for teaching once students receive personal learning devices.
“Instead of us saying ‘use this, use this, use this, use this’, (teachers) are going to become very competent in that one tool,” Siegmund said.
