by TeachThought Staff

What’s a professional learning network?

According to Marc-André Lalande, “a Personal Learning Network is a way of describing the group of people that you connect with to learn their ideas, their questions, their reflections, and their references.”

Of course, your PLN is not limited to online interactions, but their always-on availability makes them powerful. Further, the diversity of voices available in a truly global professional learning network makes it possible–and at times necessary–to consider divergent perspectives and thus, over time, become empathetic, connected, and prone to personal and professional growth.

As for this graphic? You can thank Sylvia Duckworth, who always does a great job sharing simple sketch notes to help teachers. (She also took our 12 Rules of Great Teaching and created a predictably wonderful graphic to supplement the text, among others.) We’ve taken the graphic and provided starting points for each ‘reason’ a

by Terry Heick

Simple premise, as titled: what sorts of ‘things’ make teaching unsustainable, and what sort of advice can help teachers reflect on these ideas to mitigate any damage and make the profession more enjoyable, and thus sustainable.

10. Grow a healthy and useful professional learning network.

Human connections sustain humans. See 10 Reasons Every Teacher Needs A Professional Learning Network.

9. The school year is a marathon, not a sprint.

And this should have significant implications for instructional design–spiraling, for example. Some ideas students can ‘get’ right away, while others will take all year. Continuously spiral those sufficiently complex ideas so students have a chance to master them.

8. You don’t need a million tools and strategies to teach well.

You don’t need a million tools and strategies to teach well, so use a handful that are flexible and powerful.

The 40/40/40 rule is a wonderful on-the-fly

What Is A Literature Circle?

by Terry Heick

Literature Circles are a way for students to assume a specific role in the study of something (usually a text).

Though almost always associated with the content area of ‘Literature’ or ‘Language Arts’ in North America, the concept of studying a topic in groups by assigning functional roles for each group member can be applied in the study of almost anything (something I will cover in an upcoming post on how to teach with Literature Circles).

For now, let’s review the key components of this versatile teaching, learning, and literacy strategy.

See also Reading Response Questions That Work With Almost Any Text

The Characteristics Of Literature Circles