Professional Learning Networks Part 1

In May of 2022, I finished my first year of teaching. I teach at Mary Persons High School
which is nestled in the small city of Forsyth, located in Monroe County, Georgia. Monroe
County’s population is approximately 28,712 with a growth rate of 0.27% in the past
year according to the most recent United States census data. Monroe County houses
three elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school. Monroe County
Schools use a continuous improvement approach to planning for improvement through
the use of aligned and connected plans for each school and the district. This planning
model is based on the Plan, Do, Check, Act approach to planning for continuous
improvement. The continuous improvement plan for each school serves as both the
short and long-range planning framework for that site. The continuous improvement
plan acts as an umbrella for all improvement efforts for the school. Each continuous
improvement plan is aligned around the four strategic objectives of the school system:
Attaining High Student Achievement & Success, Developing Organizational
Effectiveness, Ensuring Student/Stakeholder Engagement and Loyalty, and Ensuring
High-Quality Professional Learning.

Monroe County Schools ranks 9th in Georgia school systems, and in particular, Mary
Persons High School ranks #17 in the state of Georgia. All five schools in Monroe
County also received a 5 Star rating (the highest rating) on School Climate, which is a
measure of student discipline, stakeholder surveys, and staff and student attendance.
Monroe County Schools also recognizes the importance of having a quality board of
education, engaged parents, and a supportive community in the continued success of
students and teachers in our school system.

One of the four strategic objectives of the Monroe County school system is “Ensuring
High-Quality Professional Learning”. Within Monroe County’s professional learning plan,
it states: “Asynchronous professional learning needs to continue to be a resource for all
staff members”. It also states that: “Monroe County Schools will build an environment of
support for effective teaching that incorporates both individual and collaborative delivery
models for instruction. Monroe County Schools will empower teachers with technology
resources, infrastructure, and professional development to foster innovation and inspire
teacher effectiveness, and provide a foundation for data-driven instruction, learning, and
assessment”. Systemwide, the school system provides blended and online professional
learning opportunities for teachers, paraprofessionals, and administrators. This is done
through staff surveys and school leadership observations. Mary Persons highschool in
particular continues to provide professional learning on Illuminate and other
system-adopted technology applications as well as professional development for the
implementation and sustaining of the Longitudinal Data System and all of its inclusive
applications provided by the GADOE. Furthermore, they provide professional
development for the implementation of National Educational Technology Standards
(NETS-S) for Students as well. Mary Persons supports a series of webinars for
personalized, on-demand professional learning for staff members as they continue
online and hybrid professional learning. As a result, they monitor that learning for
evaluation and future use of online platforms for professional learning.

Another aspect of Monroe County’s professional learning plan states: “Enhance

pedagogical “know-how” and increase all staff effectiveness and efficiency by providing
professional learning specific to supporting technology integration and improved
operations throughout the district”. Each school within the district provides professional
learning to support technology initiatives. Technology is a big part of the school system
and because of this, the county continues to train teachers on various technology
applications, and provide online forums for continued learning. The professional
learning needs are identified through a wide range of resources: professional learning
surveys, professional growth plans, professional learning community logs, online
professional learning tool usage reports, feedback from teachers, teacher/ leadership
feedback, and survey results.

Monroe County School System Technology Team as a whole and as individuals create
an annual professional learning plan which is based on the four strategic goals of
Monroe County Schools and the specific initiatives of that school year in addition to a
continual focus on information technology professional development focused on:

● Instructional Technology and Integration

● Accurate data reporting
● Hardware maintenance and upkeep
● Software maintenance and upkeep
● Security Incident response and mitigation
● Information technology best practices
● New and emerging technologies

Professional development is conducted via regular internal team meetings, sharing of

technology resources via social media and email, web-based instruction, and
face-to-face and digital professional learning conferences.

The current recommended professional learning networks at Mary Persons are through
faculty meetings. The professional learning topics presented at the faculty meetings are:

● Google Suite and Code of Ethics

● Classroom Management and Differentiated Instruction (DI)
● Mental Health and Social Emotional Learning (SEL)
 ● GRID Teaching
● Reports in Illuminate
● Project-Based Learning
● Resources for Quick Assessments
● CTAE Programs
● Data

Furthermore, teachers individually can request one on one training as well. Mary
Persons also partners with Middle Georgia RESA to provide professional development
in areas of high need that are needed by faculty and staff. Other professional learnings
happen through weekly content collaboration (PLC professional learning communities
within algebra), peer focus walks for best practices, safety, and co-teach models,
monthly targeted professional learning (whole group), semester curriculum revisions,
new teacher professional learning opportunities, and mentor/mentee collaboration. With
the diversity of professional learning opportunities offered, Mary Persons offer both
individual and collaborative opportunities.

As an educator, it is important to continue my education and train to be a better version

of myself and as a professional each and every day. To better myself, I know that I have
to push myself even when it is hard. Ways I can become a better and stronger educator
is to participate in local and national professional learning networks during the course. I
am thankful my school and the county that I work for provide professional development
to all faculty and staff. I have gained so much knowledge within the past year and as the
education system continues to change, I am learning to become flexible and soak in the
change whether it be through the integration of new technology or learning how to adapt
my lesson plans to meet the needs of my students. My overall goal is to make math
enjoyable for all. I am certified to teach middle school and high school mathematics
however I love teaching 9th-grade Pre-Algebra and Algebra One. Mary Persons has a
special place in my heart because I am a product of Monroe County Schools and I take
pride in that. At Mary Persons, we are on a block schedule. With that being said, this
was a big concern to the math department because the students coming in from middle
school suffered from a COVID year. As a result, students had huge gaps in their ability
to do basic math problems. When the students come into 9th grade, they are required to
take the Georgia Milestones which concerned us because the students did not have a
good foundation in basic algebra skills. As a team, we came up with a solution and
asked the Monroe County Board of Education to approve a year-long math class: the
first semester would be classified as Pre-Algebra and the second semester would be
classified as Algebra One. Thankfully they approved it and we also gained another
9th-grade math teacher through the CARES Act so that in return, we could have smaller
class sizes. At Mary Persons, we are a one-to-one school and have the ability to try new
technology tools thanks to a supportive community. There are two campuses at Mary
Persons: the main campus and the freshman campus. At the freshman campus, we
have six math teachers, three of which are SPED certified. I strictly only teach at the
freshman campus and only teach 9th grade Pre-Algebra and Algebra One. Since I am
not SPED certified, I have a co-teacher in my classroom with me named Mrs. Brown for
three blocks. Blocks are an hour and 30 mins and some days are two hours depending
on the day.

As someone who loves math, I have seen firsthand that the love for mathematics has
been on the decline and I want to change that starting in my own classroom. This is
where I want to set some goals for myself.

1) Increase knowledge and implement professional practices learned by

participating in professional development at monthly faculty meetings.
2) Follow and join an online professional learning network on Facebook called
“Math Teachers Professional Learning Network”.
 3) Follow and join National Council of Teachers of Mathematics on Tik-Tok and
Facebook and use what I learn to present some areas of professional
development to my colleagues at one of our weekly collab sessions.

I will use what I learn at the faculty meetings, and the other professional learning
networks to instill those practices in my classroom to make teaching and learning more
effective and successful.