Overview: Strengthening Professional Learning Blog Series

Watching that bulldog try and try again to get his bone through the door, I’m reminded of the saying “Old ways won’t open new doors.” Teachers today have so much to learn. Our curriculum and standards are ever-changing, and technology has shifted much of how students take in and process information. We are working to meet the needs of diverse learners and be more inclusive in how we approach our students and their families. Expectations and stakes are high when we think of the children sitting in front of us. They may have only one year to be in our class and so we have to make their year meaningful and memorable.

One thing is for certain: teachers cannot stop learning and growing. We cannot rely on the way it’s always been done or stay stuck in the methods we learned years ago in teacher preparation classes. We need to embrace opportunities to strengthen our professional learning.

This week, our blog series aims to do just that! We will share different ways to approach professional learning, from how to get the most out of conferences to ways to read a professional book with intentionality. Each co-author has taken a different path towards learning and growth and will share with you our best strategies and tips. We hope you will join in the conversation and share your ideas as well. Sharing your ideas will put you in the running to win a copy of Stacey Shubitz’s and Lynne Dorfman’s new book, Welcome to Writing Workshop: Engaging Today’s Students with a Model That Works.  (Perfect read for a summer book study!)

Tomorrow, April 29th, I will share ideas on digitally organizing your favorite teaching websites, videos, images and more.

On Tuesday, April 30th, Beth will provide reasons and tips for recording your teaching on video.

Wednesday, May 1st, Stacey’s post will be the perfect primer for getting the most out of educational conferences and workshops.

On Thursday, May 2nd, Betsy will walk you through reading a professional book with intentionality and purpose.

Friday, May 3, Lanny will continue the idea of professional reading by sharing how to facilitate a book club with other educators.

On Saturday, May 4th, Melanie will provide advice for the best ways to support new teachers.

Sunday, May 5th, Kelsey will complete our series by describing how a school can support each other through sharing practices.

On Monday, May 6th, Melanie will review our series with an ICYMI post, providing links to all the previous posts in the series. Be sure to mark your calendars for our Twitter chat which will take place that evening at 8:30 EDT, using #TWTBlog.

We’re inviting educators who are participating in our May 2019 Twitter Chat to bring a friend or a colleague. If you’d like to have someone join you who has never engaged in a Twitter Chat before, then we want to help you and your friend/colleague to hit the ground running in time for our May 6th Twitter Chat. Click here to download a PDF tutorial on how to engage in a Twitter Chat using TweetDeck.

There is no shame in having more to learn. There is ALWAYS more to learn! We look forward to sharing our ideas for strengthening professional learning this week.  By exchanging ideas and practices with you throughout the week, we can know better and do better.

Giveaway Information:

• • This giveaway is for a copy of Welcome to Writing Workshop: Engaging Today’s Students with a Model That Works. Thanks to Stenhouse Publishers for donating a copy for one reader. (You must have a U.S. mailing address to win a print copy of this book.)
  • For a chance to win this copy of Welcome to Writing Workshop, please leave a comment about this or any blog post in this blog series by Sunday, May 5th at 6:00 p.m. EDT. Melanie Meehan will use a random number generator to pick the winner’s commenter number. His/her name will be announced in the ICYMI blog post for this series on Monday, May 6th.
  • Please leave a valid e-mail address when you post your comment so Melanie can contact you to obtain your mailing address if you win.   From there, our contact at Stenhouse will ship the book to you. (NOTE: Your e-mail address will not be published online if you leave it in the e-mail field only.)
  • If you are the winner of the book, Betsy will email you with the subject line of TWO WRITING TEACHERS – WELCOME TO WRITING WORKSHOP within five days of receipt. A new winner will be chosen if a response isn’t received within five days of the giveaway announcement.