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Over the course of the last couple of weeks, I have been introduced to a whole new world of professional development that honestly, I didn't realize existed. My interactions with TeachOntario has opened a world of support, resources and professional learning for me. In my professional life, I have been trying to create a classroom that is inquiry-based, where curious and creative students are engaged, working collaboratively to solve problems and the diverse needs of students are being met.  At times, it has felt overwhelming and isolating in my context of work, creating feelings of doubt and defeat. Becoming a member of a professional learning community, like TeachOntario, I feel reenergized and a renewed sense of excitement for the type of classroom I am trying to create.
It is through the collaboration of fellow educators, that I feel confident to continue to improve my teaching and learning practices. Through this assignment, I have experienced the benefits of collaborative inquiry as a method of online professional development. It is through the sharing, discussion, dialogue, support and resources available on TeachOntario that I have grown as a professional and as a student.
Although there has been limited interactions on my discussion posts, likely due to the summer months, there has been a wealth of knowledge, resources and blogs that I have been able to access in order to improve my teaching practices. I believe that my involvement in this community needs time to grow in order to fully experience the benefits that come along with collaboration between fellow educators. I anticipate that as the school year begins shortly, there will be more traffic on this site. I also expect that this professional learning community will be a place where I can frequently visit throughout the school year, to collaborate with other educators as I work through the journey that is teaching in the 21st century.

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August 11, 2019

Over the last two weeks of interacting with TeachOntario, I have noticed that there is very little discussion, posting and sharing happening on the website. There could be a number of reasons for this, but most likely, due to the time of year (summer), it is rather quiet in terms of professional dialogue as most educators are enjoying a summer break. I do not expect to have much dialogue around my discusion posts for these reasons. I will continue to interact with this professional community in hopes to connect with fellow educators in Ontario.

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August 10, 2019

I am becoming more comfortable and familiar with TeachOntario and feeling more confident about my own knowledge and expertise. A significant focus in terms of my professional development over the last two years has been incorporating collaborative inquiry in the classroom. I am working towards creating a learner-centred curriculum design where students’ needs and experiences lead the learning in the classroom. I act as a facilitator in the classroom, providing the resources students need to collaborate effectively with one another, solving problems that stem from their own curiosity in the world around them. As a member of TeachOntario, I wanted to find a place where I can share my experiences and expertise with others, providing leadership for those who are struggling to change their teaching practices to align with contemporary philosophies of education. I came across a blog post that I connected with, ‘Inspiring Inquiry’ by Maria Tersigni Wishart. After reading through her post and connecting to her blog, I realized that a journal-style blog post of the school year might be the most impactful way to show others how inquiry works in the classroom. I have decided that for September, I will intentionally blog about my ‘inquiry in the classroom’ journey, starting with the topics of focus at the beginning of the year (growth mindset, collaboration skills, digital citizenship, questioning skills) and moving through the year to share with others on TeachOntario, what inquiry looks like in action.

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August 10, 2019

I have spent some time thinking about what type of discussion I wanted to contribute to this professional community, one that would be relevant to my professional life. I decided to share with others the struggle of aligning assessment with current teaching practices while attempting to satisfy the Ontario report card.

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August 7, 2019

Today, I decided it was time to post an introduction and contribute to this site as a member and a fellow educator. I have been on the site almost daily, getting lost in the discussions and resources available, getting excited and planning ahead for the upcoming school year. Over the last week, I felt intimidated by what I saw and read on the site. I felt unsure as to whether I had anything worthwhile to post or blog about. I watched a video from the TeachOntario’s community manager, Albert, and he encouraged me to simply ‘introduce myself.’ So I did. I chose to post an introduction to myself in ‘The Lounge’ because it seemed to be a place where members could post about anything, including summer stories and pictures.
I quickly received a reply from Albert, encouraging me to post in other places, including pictures of my adventures throughout the summer. I also connected with another Queens student who was also new to getting involved in TeachOntario.

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August 6, 2019

Today, I explored some of the many resources available on the TeachOntario website where I hope to experience growth in my professional life as well as in my knowledge as a student. I read through some discussions about collaborative inquiry, Indigneous education and differentiated learning. All these topics caught my interest because of what I have been reading and learning about in the PME 801 course. There was one in particular that stood out to me because of the focus on ‘making authentic connections to student learning.’ The two teachers in the video highlighted the importance of student ‘voice and choice’ in order to enhance student engagement.

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Post #2: Interactions with the Professional Community

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Post #2: Interactions with the Professional Community

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July 30, 2019

Today I choose the online PLC that I wanted to join, TVO TeachOntario. I spent some time making this decision by thinking about my goals for joining a PLC online. After gaining access, I spent the majority of my time exploring the website, understanding how it works, what type of content and conversations are happening and the opportunities for me to contribute as well.

August 4, 2019

I logged into my account on TeachOntario this morning to explore the PLC a little further and discover what is has to offer. At first, I was unsure of what I wanted to accomplish, what my focus and direction should be. I decided to look through blog posts using a hashtag search. I looked through differentiated learning, technology and elementary education. I noticed that much of the content was posted over a year ago or more. However, through my searching, I can across a teacher librarian who I had heard a lot about from my principal but never met. So I decided to ‘follow her’ and check out her edublog. I spent some additional time looking through other members profiles and decided that today, I would find some inspirational members of interest to follow. I am now ‘following’ a handful of people that I hope to be able to learn from and interact with.

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Core Ideas Related to Collaborative Inquiry

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Core Ideas Related to Collaborative Inquiry

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The TeachOntario professional learning community is rooted in the core ideas of collaborative inquiry. " CI engages educators in collaboratively investigating focused aspects of their professional practice by exploring student responses to instruction, leading to new understandings and changes in classroom teaching. (DeLuca 2015 p. 640). TeachOntario is the vehicle by which educators can discuss, explore and share their ideas and expertise on specific aspects of teaching practices. There are countless topics open for discussion as well as the option to start a new discussion on a topic on my choice. On the website, there is an option for creating projects. This is a space where teachers can collaborate with each other, those who have similar concerns or challenges in their teaching practices. TeachOntario offers many different ways for educators to share with each other, allowing others to learn from them, comment and offer suggestions on teaching practices. It is a place where dialogue is easily accessible and a strong focus in this PLC, thus supporting collaborative inquiry. "Collegial dialogue involves teachers taking a conversational shift from purely sharing information to actively inquiring, critiquing and engaging in each other’s learning and work (Nelson 2009, Nelson et al. 2010)." (DeLuca 2015 p. 649).  The TeachOntario professional learning community is a space where the individual members can 'direct the inquiry focus, the resultant learning is likely to be more useful." (DeLuca 2017 p.72). The possible topics for discussion are many as are the opportunities for professional learning. I can navigate through this website, identifying areas of concern or interest in my own specific professional context. Finally, this online PLC, "provides perspective, diversity and space for teachers to consider questions about student learning that can provide new insight unavailable in inquiry processes that are done individually. (Collaborative Teacher Inquiry  p. 3). TeachOntario is rooted in the core ideas of collaborative inquiry and will be a place of great resource, dialogue, learning and reflection.

References:

Collaborative Teacher Inquiry: New Directions in Professional Practice. Secretariat. #6

DeLuca, C., Bolden, B., & Chan, J. (2017). Systemic professional learning through collaborative Inquiry: Examining teachers’ perspectives. Teaching and Teacher Education, 67, 67-78. Valkenburg, R., & Dorst, K. (1998). The Reflective Practice of Design Teams. Design Studies 19(2), 263-274.

Deluca, C., Shulha, J., Luhanga, U., Shulha, L. M., Christou, T. M., & Klinger, D. A. (2015). Collaborative inquiry as a professional learning structure for educators: A scoping review. Professional Development in Education, 41(4), 640-670.

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Currently I am teaching in Ontario in an elementary school where there has been a lot of interest in and encouragement to implement teaching strategies that cater to the 21st century learner. I want to find a PLC where I can explore what this looks like in the classroom, real life classrooms that are implementing collaborative inquiry and problem-based learning. I also want a place where I can share and contribute what I have learned in theory as well as through practise in my own classroom.  I want to find a place where I can continually go back to as the school year progresses, share my experiences and draw from the expertise and experience of others. As lack of time is an ongoing issue in terms of collaborating, sharing and communicating with my fellow teachers at school, the online format of TeachOntario allows me to share, learn and collaborate on my own time. I spent some time looking through several websites that are considered PLCs and I found many of which were individual people. I searched online to locate other PLCs for elementary educators that were more of a community-balanced website with many contributors. Ultimately, I decided to join the PLC called TVO TeachOntario for the following reasons:

* It is a space for Ontario teachers and I am currently a teacher in Ontario. I anticipate that I may be able to connect with others who are dealing with the same issues in terms of Ontario curriculum and guidelines.
*I felt a connection to this PLC because I belong to this group, according to their criteria of physical location.
*The community and website seem secure because of the sign up process and the fact that it is not possible to view any content until you are a member.
*After creating an account and signing in, I was encouraged by the large variety of options to participate in this PLC (see picture below).
*After spending some time exploring the website, there was a sense that the members were real teachers sharing real teaching and learning posts.
*I also appreciate the various ways to communicate with others on their posts, comments and collaborative groups.
*There is a space for members to share their blogs, which gives me the ability to share my blog with others.
*Some of the PLCs that are run by an individual person seems to be more one-sided rather than collaborative. This PLC seems to have contributions from many and interactions between members.

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TVO TeachOntario is an online community of Ontario educators by Ontario educators. It is a place to explore professional learning and resources, share knowledge and expertise and create projects for teaching and learning.
Interesting fact: I was curious about the TVO part of the website. I have always known TVO to be a children's programming station on television. I did a little more research and discovered the TVO is actually much more! It seems to be the umbrella under which a number of other outlets sit. For example, the following outlets are all part of the digital technology of TVO:
- TVO mPower: online games to support math and STEM skills
- TVO Mathify: online tutoring
- TVO ILC: online high school
- TVO Current Affairs: journalism, news

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This is a community provided by TVO for Ontario educators to Explore, Create, and Share educational information