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Professional Learning Incubator

A place where ideas and innovations nd growth, development, and instructional alignment.
A multifaceted approach to adult learning... Immersion in Digital Culture The social web is currently a part of the lives of all children... and most adults. This approach will purposefully immerse adults learners in modern, online 2-way tools explicitly shifted toward learning. Sharing Instructional Practices Shining light on bright spots across our organization. Providing opportunities to troubleshoot. Making PLT Work Transparent Grade-level teams across the district. Content level teams. Cross functional teams. Multidisciplinary approaches. Support for Encore programs. Empowering collaboration & accountability Thursday to Thursday. Extending Professional Learning ...that incubates and reinforces best practices Curriculum Collaboration Helping our curriculum come to life and nd alignment with both solid instructional practice and common, targeted assessment districtwide. Curriculum becomes a living, breathing entity. Opportunities to Coach With teachers reecting throughout a common network, our many support teams gain another venue for justin-time coaching.

Capturing the rich work of and with our paid consultants. Extending these relationships forward.

A Culture of Collaboration
Providing opportunities to soften the walls of our classrooms as we continue to grow into the 21st Century The North Kansas City School District is vast with respect to both geographical area and total number of faculty. In order to turn challenges into assets, some form of collaborative sandbox for instructional alignment & innovation is needed. The Ning platform is rich with opportunity for the sort of local customization we need to assist staff in building relationships with colleagues and coming together around instructional issues and challenges. These actions directly impact professional growth, and ultimately, student performance and empowerment.

the most effective use of the time we have. The question becomes... how do we give teachers more feedback from peers, Administrators, Instructional Coordinators, Teaching & Learning Coaches, SALTs, etc.? How do we do this in a way that honors the time of all of the professionals involved, and yet do so in a way that credits the ways in which we increasingly interact in a digital world? We feel that an online incubator for professional learning will allow us to better connect research to planning and planning to practice. Ultimately, this culture of collaboration will help to spread the best of our work beyond the walls of our individual classrooms and in a way that allows us to interact when and where we work best.

Face to face sharing is the best form of synchronous collaboration. Yet, asynchronous learning can easily evolve beyond the physical constraints of time and place.
simple fact remains that our days will never number in excess of 24 hours. In light of this, we must seek to maximize our time in planning, highlighting and sharing our bright spots and next practices. Leaders at all levels know we can never afford to schedule enough face to face time for professional learning. The logistics arent there, and funds are limited. Given this fact, we are led toward making

Getting There
Startup for this is simple. The roadmap to implementation is easily articulated. Soon we can be share practices, troubleshoot for alignment, coach one another, document the powerful work of our PLTs, and continue the engagement with our consultants. Together we can all become more effective in meeting the needs of our children for today and into the future.

Removing Barriers
Teaching today is an increasingly sophisticated endeavor. More and more is expected from our staff as we seek to provide the best for our children. The ceiling we increasingly push against is time. The

NKCS Professional Learning Incubator