Professional Learning Communities

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, educators face an unprecedented challenge: how to close the learning gaps created by months of school closures and uneven access to virtual learning opportunities? In this breakout, Mike Mattos will discuss specific steps that schools can take to create a highly effective, multitiered system of supports to target learning gaps using the PLC at Work® process.

In this one-hour webinar, participants will engage in discussion and reflect on the important components (who, what, when, and why) of establishing a leadership team and establishing direction for the 2021-2022 school year.

Closing student achievement gaps requires specific actions focused on acceleration and leveling up strategies to achieve grade-level proficiency or beyond. Acceleration is the pathway; we cannot continue to go backward if our goal is to move forward. Discover how to erase inequities in student learning while building hope and confidence in both teachers and students. This is equity in action.

Explore how teacher teams can ensure equitable literacy learning so that every student masters essential reading standards. Jacqueline Heller and Paula Maeker, authors of Literacy in a PLC at Work®: Guiding Teams to Get Going and Get Better in K–6 Reading, will help literacy educators navigate the teaching, learning, assessment, and feedback cycle of reading through the lens of Professional Learning Communities (PLC) at Work.

Join us for this webinar to engage in a unique professional learning experience that can work for schools, departments or teams. Choose Your Own Master Class is designed with standalone chapters to offer busy educators the opportunity to join together for a book club, yet begin with the chapter that speaks to their most urgent needs. This webinar will highlight the chapter on civil conversations, including its thought leaders from across disciplines. It will feature reflective exercises and classroom strategies to help you start off the year cultivating a supportive classroom environment. Together we’ll explore ideas to nurture inclusivity and belonging throughout the school year.

As educators and leaders across the nation grapple with the challenge of changing policies, practices, and procedures to ensure high levels of learning for all students, the inability to effectively change the mindsets of colleagues, faculty, and staff is proving to be the biggest hurdle of all. Hence, in order for systems to change, outlooks will also need to change.

Utilizing their research-affirmed educator wellness framework, and their most recent book, Educator Wellness, Plan book, and Journal (2023), Boogren, Kanold, and Kullar help educators of all levels and backgrounds learn how to bring their very best selves to their students through the use of routines, invitations, and strategies that have a major impact on living a high energy, well-balanced daily decision-making life using practical tools for success. Come to this webinar ready to have fun, laugh, learn how to live your best life, and be inspired!

In this session, we will explore how teams develop effective mathematics instruction using 6 elements of lesson design. The process of designing engaging, targeted, and high quality instruction allows teams to dig deeply into both best practices in mathematics and grow in content knowledge. Participants will leave with a set of tools and discussion protocols to enhance their instructional planning and teaching of mathematics.

This impactful webinar, led by education coach Jorge Valenzuela, empowers participants with diverse high-yielding strategies to guide students in discovering and pursuing their passions and interests for academic and life success. In addition to exploring methods for increasing student engagement and developing life skills throughout the curriculum, the webinar goes further by uplifting tools to improve empathy towards others, enhance decision-making abilities, and effectively regulate difficult emotions. Moreover, the session will address valuable techniques for teachers to bolster their own life skills. Join us to unlock a comprehensive toolkit for fostering holistic growth in students and educators alike.

ChatGPT—one of the most valuable technology tools for teachers and learners—became widely available in the fall of 2022. Since then, artificial intelligence (AI) tools like ChatGPT have taken education by storm. Teachers are using these tools to create new content, differentiate their instruction, identify strategies for teaching and reteaching concepts to their students, and work more efficiently and effectively. Just as important, students are using these tools to improve their understanding of complex ideas, identify new paths of learning in their areas of personal interest, and receive targeted feedback on their work. Because AI tools are changing how we work and learn, classroom teachers must reflect on their potential and understand their limitations.