Virtual Teacher Professional Development

Proximity Learning constantly innovates to further the quality of education provided by our synchronous certified teachers. School districts partner with us so their students have access to the qualified teachers they deserve. We work hard behind the scenes to ensure that our teachers have access to great professional development, our schools receive the instruction they expect, and ultimately our students see academic success. 

This year, the Proximity Learning support team updated the professional development opportunities for teachers to give a variety of options that are hyper-relevant to their work. Improvements include: our first institute-wide in-service Day, a new self-paced PD series, and revised faculty meetings. 

Virtual In-Service Days

Proximity Learning teachers participate in 3 in-service days per year. Instead of logging in to teach their regularly scheduled classes, online teachers spend the whole day devoted to their professional development. Sessions include:

1. Planning for Success: This session will focus on planning purposeful, meaningful lessons. Participants will reflect on desired outcomes, explore examples of effective and ineffective plans, and collaborate to strengthen planning strategies. The session will conclude with time to apply their learning to an upcoming lesson plan.
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2. Active Classrooms: This session will focus on fostering active and engaging classrooms. Teachers will explore strategies for student engagement and high-quality questioning, reflecting on ways to integrate these practices into their teaching. They will then enhance the lesson plans developed in the previous session with these strategies.
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3. SMART Goal Setting: This session will focus on refining and applying SMART goals to drive professional growth. Teachers will review their progress from the first semester, reflect on what makes a strong SMART goal, and collaborate to set a new goal related to lesson planning, engagement, or questioning strategies.
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4. Instructional Goal Setting: This session will mark the beginning of a year-long initiative where teachers will set SMART goals in critical areas such as questioning strategies, differentiation, or student engagement. Following goal-setting, they will develop actionable plans to achieve these goals. 
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5. Cultural Competency: In this session, educators will delve into the importance of cultural competency in fostering an inclusive classroom environment. By reflecting on their understanding of students and examining personal biases, participants will learn practical strategies to enhance cultural awareness. Each teacher will identify a specific action to improve their cultural competency, ensuring they can better support the diverse needs of their students.
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6. Supporting Struggling Learners: This session focuses on using real-time data from teachers' grade books to identify students who require additional support and to recognize patterns of academic difficulty. Participants will learn to plan and implement targeted interventions that provide personalized assistance, aiming to boost student success and engagement.

The goal of these sessions is to equip all of our teachers with the tools and strategies needed to address the diverse needs of their students effectively. By focusing on planning, active teaching practices, and goal setting we aim to create an environment where every learner has the opportunity to thrive.

PLI Effectiveness Collective 

For ongoing professional development throughout the year, teachers can join a self-paced series called PLI Effectiveness Collective. Teachers enroll in a cohort and learn together with a new topic each month. September and October featured a course on relationship building in a virtual classroom. The interactive course included discussions to interact with peers. Teachers ultimately submitted plans for how they would incorporate the techniques they learned into their classrooms. 

Faculty Meetings 

In our regularly scheduled faculty meetings, teachers listen to general updates before jumping into content-specific breakout rooms to learn together. For example, math teachers have the opportunity to share new software they’re incorporating into lessons. English teachers can discuss AI usage. Bilingual teachers can trade techniques to build relationships with students. Every content area can have specific discussions around topics that affect them most and incorporate updates into their classrooms. 

What are teachers saying?

“The Cultural Competency Course by PLI made me more responsive to the needs of my culturally diverse students. I am now more sensitive to the unique opportunities their cultural backgrounds and experiences provide in creating an engaging, positive, and relevant learning environment.” - Lisa T.

“The in-service day allowed me to grow more professionally and personally. The human being is the most valuable thing, and we need to create healthy environments for our cultural and social surroundings. Thank you.” - Carolina P.

“Participating in the PLI Effectiveness Collective was transformative, offering practical strategies and fresh perspectives that I could immediately apply in my classroom. It deepened my understanding of effective teaching practices, helping me better engage with my students and meet their diverse needs.” - Grace K.

Learn more about how we support our certified virtual teachers here.