Weekly PD Newsletter

In my role as an Instructional Technology Specialist, I try to provide professional development and helpful hints in a variety of ways. One way I reach my staff is a weekly Tech Treats newsletter. This method can take a while.  At first, very few people read it, partly because it was buried in a principal's weekly memo. But it is catching on - especially as teachers learned they could bookmark it like a website and refer back to it as needed. It isn't at 100% - I don't think it ever will be - but it is enough that I will keep doing it.



Want to make one for your staff?  Here are my tips:
  • It's a Google Slide, because 
    • It's easy to format 
    • I add the newest slide at the beginning 
    • It's easy for teachers to search to find previous pages
    • It can be bookmarked 
  • Put "need to know" stuff in there, especially action items with deadlines
  • Include information for a variety of technology comfort levels
  • Include new fun things - for Thanksgiving and Christmas, I include fun online games and activities for students 
  • I email it out each week
    • List all my headers, so a quick glance at email will tell them what is in it

Below I listed some of my go-to resources.  But honestly, a lot of what goes into my Tech Treats are articles and ideas shared with me by the other middle school ITSes in my district.


My go-to resources
If you create a weekly newsletter, what is your format and your go-to resources?



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