PMS Faculty Works to Level Up their Technology Skills

Professional development for teachers is nothing new. Every year teachers spend countless hours after school and during the summer strengthening their skills to keep up with the demands of the profession. This year, Floyd County Schools implemented a new professional development practice for its faculty. Instead of just sitting through a workshop here and there and attending faculty meetings with special presenters, FCS gamified their professional development offerings through a process called, “Level UP!” Originating from Richland Two in Columbia, SC, Floyd County School’s concept of Level Up offers teachers an opportunity to become better at what they do. Teachers submit evidence of advancing their knowledge of integrating technology while using that same technology to enhance student learning, according to the FCS Level UP website. Because FCS is a Google Apps for Education system, this year’s professional development focuses on teachers becoming Google Certified and using technology to enhance classroom instruction. Teachers submit evidence, accumulate points, and earn badges showing they are the experts in their field. Level 1 enables faculty to become Google certified. Level 2 creates opportunities in the classroom for this knowledge to be used with students. And Level 3 encourages teachers to become trainers of other faculty. Many of Pepperell Middle School’s faculty are highly competitive and desire to show what they know when it comes to professional development. The gamified process makes it very easy to see how you are measuring up to others in your field. It’s fair to say this has become a friendly competition between several schools in the district. At the time of this publication, Pepperell Middle School was in first place among all other FCS schools.