Virtual Professional Learning Cohorts
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Participants in Learning for Justice Virtual Professional Learning Cohorts (PLCs) engage in six months of learning with educators across the United States who are committed to creating inclusive, liberatory and just educational experiences for young people. Virtual Cohorts provide educators, free of charge, the chance to deeply engage with LFJ materials, collaborate with small groups of other educators from across the country and gain insights and feedback on implementation.

After six months of learning in community, including seven synchronous sessions via Zoom, educators will present their implementation plans at a virtual Showcase.

The 2023-2024 Virtual PLCs will focus on the following LFJ resources:

“I have grown tremendously more competent and confident as a teacher of hard history. I learned a lot from the outside readings we did and from the facilitators, but I got the most out of my peers sharing their valuable perspectives and pedagogical expertise.”

If you are interested in promoting inclusion and justice in education,

  1. Review the appropriate syllabus and resources to ensure that you are able to fulfill participation requirements.
  2. The application will be live between July 31st, 2023 and September 17th, 2023. Please note that you will be able to save your application as you work on it, so you do not need to complete it in one sitting.

Selected educators will be notified of their admittance by September 22, 2023. 

The cohorts cultivated brilliant conversations between people from all different backgrounds. It allowed us a chance to be vulnerable which is something that in education I have not felt that I have always been able to comfortably do.

Eligibility Requirements: 

  1. To be considered for a Virtual PLC, applicants must be an educator who will implement the relevant LFJ resources with PK-5 or 6-12 students (for example, through a classroom, higher education, non-profit or museum setting, etc.) or who directly teaches or manages other adult educators who will implement the resources with students.
  2. Educators across the United States are encouraged to apply, but there will be preference given to those teaching in Southern Poverty Law Center states: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi. 

 

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does it cost to participate in a Virtual PLC?

Learning for Justice Virtual Learning Cohorts are offered free of charge. Instead, we ask that you invest your time in actively engaging in, and contributing to, this learning experience. 

What does the application look like?

The application can be completed using Submittable. It includes a performance task that allows educators to show how they approach materials that are relevant to their selected Cohorts. We recommend that you set aside enough time to thoughtfully complete the application. Submittable will allow you to save your work and return at a later time, so it does not need to all be completed in one sitting.

What happens if an educator cannot make a synchronous learning session?

To protect the privacy of our cohort members, synchronous sessions will not be recorded. However, slide decks from each session will be made available to cohort members the day following a synchronous session. Members will be able to attend office hours if needed, as well. You can find information about office hours in the syllabus. Additionally, we will be using Google Classroom as our learning management system, which will be updated weekly for educators to reference. Please notify your Trainer Fellow as soon as you know that you will not be able to attend a session.

What is the absentee policy for the Virtual PLCs?

Before applying, we ask all educators to take note of the dates and times the cohorts meet and cross-check their schedules. We know that contexts and needs can change, but in the interest of collective learning, all selected educators are expected to participate in all 7 synchronous sessions and the final showcase. Therefore, if an educator does not attend 2 or more synchronous sessions, they will not be able to continue in the cohorts. This means they forfeit their ability to participate in the showcase and will not obtain a certificate of completion.

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New Virtual Workshops Are Available Now!

Registrations are now open for our 90-minute virtual open enrollment workshops. Explore the schedule, and register today—space is limited!

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