Organizing Professional Learning

Math circles are communities that focus on doing mathematical problem-solving questions. Through math circles, teachers become more willing to experiment with open-ended math tasks within their classrooms. They allow teachers to understand how important it is to allow students to “struggle” in math, which will aid teachers in helping their students develop their problem-solving skills. Math circles are done in person and are interactive. It builds a collaborative environment for math teachers within the community to meet and work on doing challenging math questions. Sometimes, it can be difficult to receive support from the school because time is not on our side. So being a part of math circles, provides a support network for teachers to discuss pedagogical issues with others that may be in the same boat as they are. Math circles can be challenging at times, but is highly rewarding!  To read more on Math circles, download:https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1056673.pdf. 

ISTE Professional Learning Networks is a network that connects educators from around the world to share and learn ways to incorporate the use of technology in the classroom to solve complex problems. ISTE provides a variety of professional development recourses for teachers, such as blogs, podcasts, courses, and they even have a Summer Learning Academy for teachers to attend if they are interested. ISTE also has a Twitter account that shares up to date information and shares other educators' work that can be helpful to others. This is a great way to engage in professional development. On their website, you can find a list of Twitter chats that one can look-up and become a part of a community. The Twitter chats are scheduled for a specific time and day and those who are interested in that topic area, can follow the hashtag and be a part of the meaningful conversations that are being shared from educators around the world. Some of the chats are very broad and discuss many things, suc

Professional Development Days need to be constructed with care in order to be effective. How many PD Days felt that it was just a waste of time? Unfortunately, some of them are because they aren’t being created or adjusted to fit in the 21st century learning. So, the next time you are organizing a math PD, ask yourself these questions:  1. What are the teacher’s strengths in mathematics content? Weaknesses? 2. What are the teacher’s pedagogical strengths? Weaknesses? 3. What are the barriers that the teachers are facing when implementing new practices in their classrooms?  4. Is there time at the end for teachers to reflect and provide feedback? Create workshops that have clear goals and are focused on different content each time. Here is an example of workshops that have been created for PD sessions.  Let’s Look at the figure below. It shows you a snippet of what kind of activities are done in during a workshop. “Do the math” and “Explore the task” provides opportunities for t