Professional Learning Community

PLC'S have become of upmost importance in many school districts across the United States. One of the missions behind PLC's is the main focus and goal of student learning. Teachers and other individuals that work in education gather and discuss essentials of student learning such as: what will the student learn, how will they learn, and what can be done to intervene in case a student demonstrates difficulties in learning. This type of collaboration ensures student successful learning, campus improvement, the removal of barriers to success, and the focus on positive student learning results.

Currently, in my school we are participating in this initiative of Professional Learning Communities. It is fairly new to us, yet I along with my colleagues have willingly accepted and embraced this program. We are in the beginning phases of collaborating in this program and so far it has been of great help. Within our first meeting we have collaborated and discussed many different ideas on how we can ensure our students are learning and also what type of interventions we can offer those students that have difficulty learning. All in all, I personally am very excited and anxious to see how much these collaborations will help our students, the school, and our school district.

I completely agree with you Maria regarding the fact that discussion boards do open a door to critical thinking. When we discuss and share on topics of relevancy we not only learn from each other, but we open new avenues to partake in engaging and learning of new topics and technologies. In addition, being introduced to a certain topic or technology program and taking the self initiative in exploring and becoming familiar in itself displays critical thinking aspects.

Project Share is a professional online learning community in which educators collaborate, share resources, and where they are permitted to participate in online learning and training opportunities. In addition, this forum allows an educator to include a resume, an e-portfolio, and a location to showcase their accomplishments. Aside of the forum including teacher collaboration there are also resources seen on this page which include some web 2.0 tools along with other educational resources. Moreover, I have not used project share even though it was a recommendation and not mandatory in the school district that I work in. I have browsed through it and I have found that it contains many helpful components for the school teacher, however; the component that stands out the most is the teacher to teacher collaboration. As educators we must try to fine convenient means to stay informed about the latest educational trends, laws, online tools, etc; therefore, a professional, online, and school district approved collaboration forum is a must today.