How can we extend the professional learning and collaboration being done by our PLC to effectively include all members of the staff, while incorporating the use of technology?

Ben Franklin School is in its second year of working toward a successful PLC. Teachers have time to collaborate as grade-level teams on a weekly basis. Collaboration has been beneficial to our classroom teachers and students, but has not solved all of our problems. We currently lack time for specialists and non-certified staff to communicate with teachers. We also lack time for cross-grade level articulation.

As a team we came to the consensus that although we have improved in our communication between grade-level teams, better staff communication as a whole is necessary. We decided to survey the staff to see if using a social networking tool would be an appropriate solution to our problem.

Which social networking tools/sites have you used? Which of these do you use regularly?

On a scale from 1-5 (5 being very comfortable) how comfortable are you with investigating and learning new technologies independently? How likely would you be to use a social networking tool as a means of extending/improving the Franklin School PLC process?

Our goal was to improve professional learning and collaboration among the entire staff, and to incorporate technology. After looking at the data from our survey, we decided the staff was ready to move forward using a social network-Ning. We created Franklin PLC and started with a kickoff presentation at a staff meeting where all staff members were introduced to the Ning and invited to join.

Grade Level Communication Helps our teams communicate better and increases transparency within the school. We can start discussions in the Discussion Forum so we can save f2f time in our team meetings. We place our SIP Day Action Plan on it and other documents so that anyone can have access to them.

Professional Book Club The Issue Too many books, too little time Book clubs for credit too large for meaningful conversation Finding time to meet Help from the Ning Convenience of Ning Several conversation strands going at once Members from all grade levels

Professional Learning Through Coursework Action Plan Reflection Journals Weekly Chapters Power Points Videos Discussions prior to and after meetings

Its Social Adding the social aspect to the Ning attracts more participation by entire staff. This builds trust, which in turn improves communication. Photographs of staff and families are an additional way to keep staff informed on what is going on in each others lives. A culinary group has formed to discuss cooking, recipes, and best bargains. Future groups will include The Joy of Reading for recommendations of books from staff to read over the summer. Also, the Go to Place where notification of informal gatherings for all staff to attend will happen throughout the summer.

The Ning has a professional feel to it. The "discussion" component is a definite step up from . It allows our staff to "talk" and share our thoughts and ideas at any time of the day or night with a variety of groups of people creating a stronger PLC in our building. Kindergarten Teacher It is good for non-classroom teachers to get some ideas as to what is being done in the classroom. Reading Support Staff Ning was a great way to organize a professional book club. Its so much easier to commit to a group knowing that there isnt a fixed time that you have to be available for the meetings. 4 th Grade Teacher I like the pictures of family members. It makes our staff more familiar and breaks down some of the walls. 4 th Grade Teacher

We are starting Ning Days to keep the staff motivated. We will chose a day and time each week, and check who posted, commented, or added to the Ning. That person will win a prize. We will do more differentiated professional development before this school year is over to assist those who still have questions. Over the summer, we will add discussions and groups that will keep staff connected to each other using Franklin PLC. We will give staff a follow-up survey at the end of the school year to see if feelings have changed about our PLC and if the use of a social network has been beneficial to our school.