Learning Networks
Learning is social
I am a member of several professional learning communities, but I’m currently consuming rather than contributing. I read something every day related to professional development. I think it’s just in our nature as teachers and life-long leaners that we want to keep up with new developments in our profession.
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The new learning community I joined is ISTE. I was not a member of any technology-based PLNs previously and everyone in class kept talking about ISTE. I really like their website for all the information and the fact that you can join different PLNs based your specific interests.
https://www.iste.org/learn/about-iste-plns
I also joined Edutopia. I've been reading their articles for several years anyway, so I decided to join. You really can't beat their website for ease of use and huge inventory of articles on every topic under teaching. If I need to learn about something quickly, I always turn to edutopia.
I’m a member of ASCD and I like reading their newsletter because they cover a lot of information under multiple topics. We’ll sometimes use one of their newsletters or blog posts as a topic in PLC meetings because their useful for reflection. Their Educational Leadership magazine is great when you have more time to read and you want to dive into a topic.
I rejoined the National Council for the Social Studies since I moved back to teaching history.
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I absolutely adore Humanities Texas for their teacher institutes! They provide a wealth of curriculum resources when you attend their professional learning programs.
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I joined Teaching Tolerance when I first began teaching. Their resources are centered around social justice and they offer free classroom resources in addition to professional development for teachers. Reading their articles helps me maintain a culturally responsive classroom.
Deeper Learning - stay up-to-date on instructional practices that foster deeper learning.
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21st Century Schools - learn about 21st century classroom/school design
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CAST - resources for Universal Design for Learning Framework
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I also read several blogs for insights and different opinions on learning and teaching.
https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/
https://www.smartclassroommanagement.com/
I am more involved in my PLNs at the local level. At the school and district level, I’m collaborating and contributing to my PLNs regularly. Hopefully, through the DLL program, I will muster up enough courage to contribute at a broader level.