!Planning


 * Faculty/Staff In-Service/Professional Development **
 * Presented by Mary Beth Lemoine **
 * Library Media Specialist / Instructional Technology **


 * Step ** ** Description **
 * **Assess Yourself and the Audience** || The in-service provider, Mary Beth Lemoine, is currently a graduate student of Library Media/Instructional Technology, a certified professor/teacher of French at the high school and college levels, and has served as a technical specialist for many years in the business arena.

This presentation has as its audience high school and middle teachers of the Cobb County School District. Teachers of exceptional and special needs students are encouraged to access the materials as are Administrators. There are no prerequisites to this in-service since it is a tool that encompasses all disciplines and can be restructured to meet an individual’s needs.

An initial needs assessment of the audience’s knowledge of the use of the thesaurus as well as the potential use in the classroom. A Google Doc Form will be sent out electronically to interested parties to be used for assessment purposes upon completion of the self-directed in-service. ||
 * **Analyze the Learner** || The learners of this in-service module include K-12 teachers, administrators and other patrons interested in the potential of visual learning using an online thesaurus.

As detailed here above, an assessment of the familiarity of visual thesauri and other visual node applications will be distributed to interested participants upon confirmation of interest. A section will be designated to the prior knowledge of visual thesauri (in particular, Thinkmap’s ©Visual Thesaurus) as well as learning styles and expectations of the attendees. The in-service will pay particular attention to the responses and focus the learning materials on such responses. || 3. Establish settings for the Visual Thesaurus to accommodate their students 4. Understand and use pop-up menus efficiently 5. Select a text and use the VocabGrabber to analyze it 6. When an interactive whiteboard is available, use it in combination with VT. 7. Understand the administration of the Visual Thesaurus. ||
 * **Select Instructional Objectives** || Learners will learn:
 * How to log in to Thinkmap’s ©Visual Thesaurus
 * Understand each of the Guided Practices
 * Use Visual Thesauri in the Classroom ||
 * **Provide Incentives** || Incentives include:
 * Challenging students in the classroom
 * Using effective and challenging tools aligned with standards (GPS, ALA/AASL, NET)
 * WOW factors; Having fun with Students
 * Promotion of Visual Thesauri Maps on the LMC Blog/Website
 * A competition with voter results within two weeks time. ||
 * **Plan Materials and Activities in Relation to Audience and Objectives** || Learners will be able to:
 * 1) Log into Thinkmap Visual Thesaurus
 * 2) Type in a word and create a word map
 * **Use Guided Practice** || ** Pre-Assessment Survey
 * Visual Thesaurus – The Basics
 * Visual Thesaurus - The Settings
 * Visual Thesaurus – Pop-up Menus
 * Visual Thesaurus – VocabGrabber
 * Visual Thesaurus – Interactive Whiteboard
 * Visual Thesaurus – Instructions for Administrators
 * Post-Assessment Survey ||
 * **Evaluate the In-Service/ Professional Development Materials** || A survey of understanding and fulfillment of needs will be made available electronically. This evaluation will focus on the original survey which queried the learners’ prior knowledge, needs and expectations. Results of this survey will be made available to all interested parties as well as to other prospective users of Thinkmap’s ©Visual Thesaurus, or any other visual node application. ||
 * **Continue to be Available to Faculty and Staff after they have completed the In-Service/Professional Development Materials** || The in-service module and all accompanying materials will be added to the school library media center webpage, blog and wiki for review upon need.

The library media specialist will be available for individual consultation, both in person, by email and via online classroom upon request.

A post in-service survey will made available for partipants to evaluate their use of the tool and any additions and improvements that should be made to the in-service after usage. ||