LMS Solutions, a collaborative project among the 9 ESDs of Washington State, hosted the first meeting of the Regional Educator Network on February 10. This innovative professional learning community is designed to bring together educators across all roles–and all areas of Washington state–to learn and grow their practice.
The theme for this month was Relationships and Career Development. Teachers, paraeducators, administrators, counselors, teacher librarians, technology staff, and more gathered via Zoom for compact but action-packed sessions on topics ranging from community building to computational thinking. Educators also enjoyed a short, inspirational keynote from 2021 Washington State Teacher of the Year Brooke Brown.
After the live session, the learning has continued in our Regional Educator Network Hub. The Hub is an online resource where Network members can extend their thinking, share their ideas, and learn new concepts on their own time and at their own pace.
Participants report that they’ve been inspired and energized to continue their efforts to teach every student, whatever learning mode their school is currently using. Some of the encouraging feedback from our educators:
“I appreciate hearing ideas from other educators and discovering what has worked for them. I am hoping to find new and exciting ways to better engage my distance learners while still keeping my in-person learners moving forward as well.”
“I am so excited about there being a network of educators across the state. I want a chance to collaborate with other teachers who are working with the same challenges (and share some successes)…This program lets us move out of our little classroom/school building boxes, through the use of tech, and talk about practices, data, and student learning. We are ignited by our shared interests and engaged in communities solving collective problems of practice. It is a powerful model, one that I hope to be a part of for many years.”
“Thank you for building community across the state! We all have so much to learn from each other.”
Have you joined our Regional Educator Network yet? It’s not too late! You can earn up to 25 clock hours (including up to 15 STEM clock hours) while learning with your peers around Washington state. Click here for more information.