About Project Zero Online Courses
As K-12 students went online for learning in 2020, so did their teachers. Since 2020, the Houston Learning Network has been proud to continue our commitment to Houston-area teachers who pursued online professional development opportunities, even during those extraordinarily difficult years for teaching and learning.
Today, Project Zero's online courses are divided into mini courses (previously called micropracticums) that last about 4 weeks and in-depth courses which last longer. The HLN typically supports teams of teachers from Houston elementary schools who participate in small groups and bring what they learn back to their campuses.
With the support of the Houston Learning Network, more than 50 Houston-area educators have participated in several professional development opportunities at Project Zero at the Harvard Graduate School of Education since 2020. These research-based programs are a high-impact way to have a more affordable engagement with the transformative teaching practices pioneered at Project Zero. They are grounded in day-to-day teaching and leadership practice — you can apply what you learn, as you learn. Educators may apply solo or in small teams, and they work with peers facing similar challenges and take away real-world solutions, inspiration, and the support of an engaged community. Each course promotes active, team-based learning that supports collaboration and sharing in schools and districts.
Ongoing collaboration in Houston
The teams of teachers who participate in these online courses continue to collaborate as the school year goes on. Their school leaders commit to supporting teachers' collaboration during the school day so that teachers can share their ongoing work integrating Project Zero practices into their classrooms.
Currently, three elementary schools are participating in this ongoing work: Oak Forest Elementary and Travis Elementary in Houston ISD and Malala Elementary in Fort Bend ISD. In the future, we hope to increase our reach and bring other elementary schools into our community. We hope we can continue to expand this opportunity for professional development to more local elementary schools.
If your school is interested in joining us, please reach out to us at admin@houstonlearningnetwork.org.
