Mike Arsenault is a self-proclaimed “techie” who shares his passion and enthusiasm for professional development with educators in his district and beyond. He has worked for the Yarmouth School District for 17 years, seven of those years as Director of Educational Technology. He was honored with the Best Example of Professional Development during the recent Tech & Learning Regional Leadership Summit in Massachusetts.
Share best practices and strategies for tech-savvy professional development.
The best PD is based on collaboration
Much of the focus of the Arsenault team is collaboration. The work he does is possible thanks to the support he receives from the technology integrators he works with. “Their role is really to support teachers with integrating technology into their classrooms,” she says. “So it’s like a coach who supports them and does professional development.”
The Arsenault district serves more than 1,700 students, all of whom are part of Maine’s one-to-one device initiative, making the work of technology integrators that much more important. He says his team is trying to find ways to incorporate technology to model the kinds of things they want to see in classrooms.
empower teachers
One key to the success Arsenault has had with PD is the way his district empowers teachers. Teachers plan their faculty meetings and lead professional development efforts. However, Arsenault’s team plays a crucial role. “Technology integrators are part of construction leadership teams. So as these faculty meetings are planned, the integrators are involved in that,” she says.
Incentives are provided for teachers to use technology in instruction. Each summer, teachers take courses that will help them through the next school year. “The summer courses they take are not just to innovate and implement something new in the fall,” she says. “They also get credit for tenure and promotion and get salary increases.”
Work with industry partners
The Arsenault district is fortunate to have relationships with companies like Canva, Kami, HP Aruba, Apogee, and many other organizations that offer software and platforms for educators.
Training provided by solution providers is not limited to educators, as technology integrators themselves receive training from a variety of industry professionals. “I’ve been connecting our group of integrators with several of our vendor partners this year for some train-the-trainer sessions,” says Arsenault. These sessions and others like them help Arsenault’s team identify better ways to use technology in the classroom.
Arsenault also hosts “lunch and learn” events during which his team spends half a day, or full days, working with companies on edtech.
share what you know
Arsenault does not limit the benefits of his work to his district. He is open and shares with his colleagues throughout the state of Maine. This is not only the right thing to do, but it can also benefit the Arsenault district.
For example, when it seemed that budget constraints would make it impossible to land a coveted keynote speaker for a conference, Arsenault got creative. He asked his superintendent if he could open the event to other districts. One took him up on his offer and it was mutually beneficial for teachers to share what they were doing in their classrooms with their colleagues, which broadened the PD on offer.
“Sharing is what we do,” says Arsenault, adding that there is no competition when it comes to educating children. “Everything is for the betterment of the students.”
