Online Professional Development

While we continue in distance learning, teachers must continue to work towards bettering themselves as educators. My school is doing distance learning packets which means my days at home are pretty free, unlike my husband who teaches at the high school and must do online lessons and video classes.

On May 8th our schools will be finished for the semester, but teachers are contracted until May 22nd. During this time I am required to (and will happily) continue professional development. We have been tasked with a few things from our district and campus.

1. District-Wide book study - the book is yet to be determined, but the district is providing the book which is really nice.
2. Online courses through Vanderbilt college. I have chosen some modules on RTI, Helping Students Become Independent Learners, CSR: A Reading Comprehension Strategy, and Progress Monitoring: Reading. 
3. PL Focus activity - I have chosen to become a Google Certified Educator. I have finished the training for level one and will take the test within the week. After that I will move on to level two.
4. Online professional videos and articles provided by our principal. 
5. Curate a Google Drive of resources to be used throughout the year for specific standards (all teachers will collaborate on this).

Along with all of that, as I have mentioned, I am doing some professional and leisurely reading of my own. I will also have to make sure I continue to contact students until May 8th. 

I would definitely much rather be in the classroom working with my students face to face, but I am enjoying all the time to work on professional development. It is forcing me to do things that I hadn't taken the time to do before: become Google Certified and work on my blog more. 

One thing that I love as an educator is learning more about my craft. It doesn't feel like work or overwhelming because I love what I do and I love finding new and better ways to do it. Plus, I have an incredibly supportive district that surprised the educators with signs in our front yards that say "Superhero of Guymon Public Schools". That is pretty awesome. When you have that kind of support, it makes you want to do more.