Learning Communities: Beyond the PLC

A silver lining of the pandemic has been the necessity to collaborate virtually with others.  Without my squad available to sit around and bounce ideas off of, perhaps during happy hour :),  I turned to Facebook Groups for inspiration.  As our district was going with Seesaw as the online learning platform, I chose to join both the Tech Integration group and the Pioneer group.  I thought there would be a lot of overlap, but it turns out they take completely different approaches to using the Seesaw platform and the issues that arise.  I also joined Bitmoji Craze for Educators because, well, who doesn’t love bitmojis?  I love looking at all of the creative ideas teachers come up with!  I also belong to the Common Sense Educators Group.  We use Common Sense Media for most of our digital citizenship curriculum and I like to stay updated with new content.   
Confession:  I am strictly a consumer of information in these learning communities.  Maybe because, as I’ve alluded to before, I just don’t think I have anything new or particularly valuable to contribute.  As I work on strengthening my growth mindset, I will need to rethink this assumption.  So, allow me to rephrase: I am not comfortable contributing to these learning communities...YET!  Why then am I super confident in sharing ideas with in-person learning communities?  Whether it’s campus PLCs, department meetings, or even conferences, I have no problem discussing ideas and working through them.  
https://www.facebook.com/groups/CommonSenseEducators - This group is by invite only to people who have completed the Common Sense Educator certification.  The discussions revolve around online safety, digital citizenship, and educating families about the digital world their children are living in. 
https://www.facebook.com/groups/SeesawTechIntegrationists - Seesaw is a learning platform that has allowed our virtual learners to have the same experience as our face-to-face learners this year.  While other Seesaw learning communities focus on sharing lessons and ideas, this group addresses updates to the platform, troubleshooting tips, and other ‘behind the scenes’ issues. 
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2568655663438916 - Bitmojis have been huge this year in making virtual learning more fun and engaging for students.  The members of this group help each other by sharing creative ways to use Bitmojis,  ready-made lessons and choice boards, and moral support for the weary. Unlike the other 2 groups, this one is made up of predominantly classroom teachers, so the perspective is different and eye-opening.