Independent Study Option

Staff members have the ability to propose a full-year independent study that is directly aligned to his/her Professional Development Plan. If the staff member is planning on undertaking an independent study, singularly, or with a group, he/she must submit an Independent Study Proposal Form (see below) and register for the Full-Year Independent Study Option in MLP. The Independent Study Option is the most autonomous and personalized form of professional learning. It allows you to focus on a narrow goal and affords you the opportunity to dedicate the District Professional Learning session time to working towards this goal. Independent Studies are conducted in the staff member's home building and can be a combination of various learning opportunities such as webinars, podcasts, job-embedded professional learning, and facilitator-led sessions. Don't be hesitant to propose ideas that may seem "outside of the box". It is about your learning needs and not a predetermined list of learning activities.

Some examples of Full-Year Independent Studies could be:

• Earning a Micro-Credential or Google Certification

• Participating in a book study/implementation study on Responsive Classroom with colleagues

• Designing Personalized Learning Activities that align to your curricular area

• Researching topics such as Digital Citizenship, Global Citizenship, and Social/Emotional Learning, etc. that can be integrated into everyday classroom practices.

***If you are completing a Webinar, Podcast or Online Certification as part of a full-year long Independent Study, you DO NOT need to also complete the Webinar/Podcast or Online Certification Form.