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Professional learning communities have been implemented in many schools and districts throughout the country. In my school system, we have had professional learning communities implemented throughout the schools, but I don't feel like they were used in a very productive way.  Pirtle and Tobia indicate that there are six insights that schools and districts can implement to achieve effective professional learning communities. In short, administrators need to provide a structure and purpose, address instructional challenges, provide support, foster trust, monitor work and provide feedback, and support teachers' efficacy and professionalism (2014). The focus of the PLCs should ultimately be directly related to student outcomes. As a faculty, we were divided into professional learning communities, but they were not all focused on student outcomes. For example, one of the PLCs was focused on the spring art night and the methods teachers would use to go about having students produce a...

Building Understanding in Mathematics is a free professional learning community for educators who teach mathematics. It helps them share and learn methods of helping students understand the concepts associated with mathematics. It does this by providing a means by which educators can gain support and advice from other math educators everywhere. In this community, members are provided a way to share resources and participate in discussions as collaborating with other educators. One way the community does this is by hosting monthly webinars and online discussions. Topics related to teaching mathematics which are addressed in this community include suggested frameworks or timelines for teaching content, formative and summative assessments, engaging lessons that include different levels of depth of knowledge questions, using manipulatives in learning, applying content standards, mathematical practices, family involvement, use of technology in teaching, and differentiation. These topics, pl...

Tech Tools for the Classroom is a free professional learning community that offers ideas for educators to engage students by integrating technology into their classroom. It allows educators to communicate with live chats and online discussions in order to collaborate and share experiences with other educators from all over the country. They also offer free monthly webinars along with CE certificates for attending and viewing the webinars. If one cannot participate in the live webinar, they are recorded so you can view it anytime. Online discussions allow educators to continuously share ideas with one another. There is also a resource library with materials related to the webinar content. There is also a Community Toolbox that connects members to a Tech Tools Blog, Discussion Forums, Resource Library, Webinar Archives, and Weblinks. The blog gives more information on topics discussed as well as on the webinars. Related articles and other resources are also included in the blog posts. Th...