| TOPICS IN MIDDLE SCHOOL EDUCATION: Online Professional Development and Personal Learning Networks | | | Online professional development (PD) for teachers has gained significant momentum over the past five years. Between 2007 and 2012, there was a 148% increase is the number of teachers and school site administrators reporting participation in online PD.* The two biggest factors driving this growth are, no surprise, money and time. Savvy teachers are searching for professional learning that is self-directed, differentiated, job-embedded, and social. Online PD comes in many formats, but it is worth exploring the many short "courses," self-paced lessons, and video forms of informal PD that are available online. If online professional development is more self-directed and differentiated than face-to-face PD, the PLN, or Personal Learning Network takes self-directed learning to a whole new level. In a PLN, learners create informal connections that contribute to their professional development and knowledge. What is really new about PLNs is how they're being redefined and expanded by digital connections. Online collaborative tools and social media have allowed us to broaden our PLNs far beyond those people we can only meet face-to-face, making professional learning truly job-embedded and social. Have you formally defined your PLN? Are you interested in building or expanding one? You can make PBS LearningMedia™ and WGBH Education part of your PLN! Here are some other great resources for getting started: Nuts and Bolts: Building a Personal Learning Network The basics of PLN building, with emphasis on active participation. 21st Century PLNs for School Leaders PLN building ideas from Edutopia. How to Cultivate a Personal Learning Network Tips from Howard Rheingold. The Educator's PLN A ning site dedicated to the support of educator PLNs, created by Thomas Whitby. * Learning in the 21st Century: A 5 Year Retrospective on Growth in Online Learning, Project Tomorrow and Blackboard K-12, Speak Up 2011-2007 National Data, |
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 | | FEATURED LESSONS: Online PD to help you implement the Inspiring Middle School Literacy Collection
| | | Haven't had time to take one of our middle school literacy webinars? Did you know that besides the great cross-curricular literacy lessons for students, the collection contains informal online PD for you? Get a quick orientation to lessons, background research, and hints for implementing them: | Research Principles for Supporting Middle School Literacy  | This self-paced lesson designed for teacher professional development introduces research principles for middle school literacy and shows them in action in the Inspiring Middle School Literacy collection. | | Using Inspiring Middle School Literacy in Afterschool Programs  |
This self-paced lesson designed for professionals in afterschool programs shows how to use the Inspiring Middle School Literacy collection to support language instruction and engagement in learning.
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This self-paced lesson designed for teacher professional development introduces teaching strategies for integrating the Inspiring Middle School Literacy collection into your curriculum.
| | About Inspiring Middle School Literacy  |
This professional development video shows how teachers work with students using the self-paced lessons from the Inspiring Middle School Literacy collection to improve content knowledge and literacy skills.
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| | Professional Development from TeacherLine! | | | | Looking for more formal Professional Development? Get the PD you need, and win in-person PD for your entire school with this special promotion from PBS TeacherLine: Make a New Year's resolution for 2014 to get ahead of the game by taking a PBS TeacherLine course. Get the PD credits you need and learn new skills! PBS TeacherLine offers an assortment of online PD courses trusted by thousands of PreK-12 educators. Classes range from 15 to 45-hour facilitated courses to 3-hour self-paced courses that provide you with cutting-edge teaching skills and techniques. Enroll in one of our winter courses by January 22nd and you will automatically be entered to win FREE in-person PD training for your entire school from PBS. Sign up today! http://pbsteacherline.org
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| | Teacher Buzz: What Your Colleagues Have to Say | | | | In response to our query in the last newsletter, some of you emailed us about strategies for teaching reading in the content areas, and the Inspiring Middle School Literacy collection. Here are a few highlights:
From Donna Gentry, Wood Middle School Program for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students, Maryland, this quick tip:
I use this "before reading" strategy... I spend a few moments discussing the text features:
History: illustrations, maps, charts, headings (to get a sense of time, place, and major points)
Science: diagrams, headings (to get the sense of part/whole, cause-effect, main ideas, and compare/contrast).
Great strategy for content texts! Tracey Nangle, North Smithfield Middle School, Rhode Island, wrote this about the Inspiring Middle School Literacy collection:
I am using this with both social studies and ELA students and they find the content very high interest and the combination of videos and reading is just right to keep them engaged. The questions are good quality and the final assignments are aligned with the common core and do not have to be used. I am getting great feedback from the kids! The fact that the lessons are self-paced helps me differentiate which is so helpful!
Thanks Tracey!
Deanna Spring, Kentucky, had many helpful comments about annotating paper texts, and also said:
"...students should be outlining, mapping, and learning to write formal brief summaries of sections of content text, as well as making connections to prior knowledge and critically reacting by stating opinions about what they have read."
We agree, and want to point out that the writing prompts in the Middle School Literacy Collection provide ample opportunity for writing, planning for writing, summarizing, reacting, and connecting.
Keep the comments coming--we love to hear from educators! |
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| | | | GIVE US YOUR FEEDBACK FOR A CHANCE TO WIN AN IPAD! | | | As we continue to plan new educational resource development and teacher engagement activities, we'd like your feedback on our Inspiring Middle School Literacy collection. Survey ends March 15, 2014.
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| Question: Have you identified a Personal Learning Network? | | | Tell us about your PLN! Who does it include? How do you use it? How do you want to expand it in 2014? Email us your thoughts. |
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| Teaching Resources from MASTERPIECE! | | | The MASTERPIECE collection on PBS LearningMedia has NEW resources. Are you teaching Wuthering Heights? Show your students video clips from the MASTERPIECE production. These video resources, supported by background essays and teacher tips, offer innovative ways to access, understand, and analyze complex literary texts. |
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| | Have you participated in one of our middle school literacy webinars? Our most recent webinar "Reading & Content: Literacy Resources for Grades 5-8," was presented in partnership with edWeb.net and Amazing Resources. Watch and listen as Cynthia Warner from Kentucky Educational Television provides tips for using these online, cross-curricular, media-rich literacy lessons. Check out Where Are We? for more edWeb webinars, which provide CE certificates!
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| Coming Up | | | | Find the Middle School Literacy Initiative at these webinars and conferences.
EdWeb WebinarsJan. 14, 5pm ET "Teach Math and Literacy Seamlessly" Feb. 25, 5pm ET "Flipped Lit" Register here. With Kari Arfstrom, Executive Director, Flipped Learning Network. Orlando, FL January 28-31
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The Middle School Literacy Initiative is funded by the Walmart Foundation. |
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