Improving Instructional Strategies And Student Growth Will Foster A Stronger Plc

Teacher Collaboration measures the degree to which teachers engage in constructive dialogue that furthers the educational vision of the school.

This PLC has begun to make assertions as to where student’s needs are, however their assertions would be more valid had they presented concrete data to prove their assertions. Should this PLC had used data to support their assumptions through a common formative assessment, and then analyze that data, they would become much more effective than they already

Teaching is moving from an individual to a collective activity. The level of agreement and alignment across classrooms around powerful practices are increasing. The school is aligning its organizational resources around support for instructional improvement.

Roberts, S. & Pruitt, E. (2003). Schools as Professional Learning Communities: Collaborative Activities and Strategies for Professional Development. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

I approach collaboration as a team player, and I believe students need more than one person to guide them to their full educational potential. Also, active and prepared participation of weekly PLC meetings with the teachers of my special education students to plan collaborative curriculum have increased results in math and reading substantially. Participating in co-teaching furthers my repertoire of knowledge to assist my students. I have learned a vast amount from sharing and consulting with colleagues regarding students, observing mentoring teachers, and planning activities to ensure growth in students.

Teachers sometimes attend these, but do not apply those skills. PLCs involve talking with a team of teachers and analyzing data or student work to come up with action plans to move the students forward academically or behaviorally. PLCs involve more communication between teachers, and action steps that can be apply right away in the classroom. In my opinion, it is very effective when both professional development and PLCs are used at the same time. For example, a teacher attends a professional development, and through a PLC, they share what they learned and how it can help the other teachers in the team. The team would then apply that skill or strategy and report back to the team so see what results came from each one of them trying those skills. The team would modify the strategy based on

During our second Bear Creek visit, I observed the English Language Arts Professional Learning Community also known as ELA. When I first heard about the PLC, I was surprised because it is a brilliant concept. I never knew this existed. The English Language Arts PLC ran smoothly because the teacher that was presenting knew the standard she was going to focus on and how she was going to present the content to the students. All of the ELA teachers also had a schedule about how the meeting was going to flow so that no one was confused. They also used technology to present the standards and the content so that all of the teachers could see and make suggestions and ask questions. One teacher was questioned about why she chose a particular book

Napavine’s goal is to engage and inspire critical thinking skills in every student through instruction that is individually relevant, motivating, aligned and diverse. Our action plan is for both the elementary and junior/senior high schools to utilize the Marzano Instructional Framework as a guide to student learning and professional growth. We have established that building administrators and teachers will utilize the Marzano Frameworks to guide professional growth discussions, goal setting meetings, and to identify future professional development opportunities. We have also established a Teacher/Principal Evaluation Program (TPEP) committee who will plan and guide professional development that includes a teacher leader to provide evaluation and framework training. Our School Improvement Plan (SIP) identifies Marzano instructional practices on a yearly basis as a school-wide focus for implementation and/or improvements. We also hold student growth meetings each fall between school administrators and teachers to revolve around students at risk of falling behind their peers and student sub-groups who may be collectively behind the total student population (closing the achievement gap). We plan to make time for instructional rounds during the school year to facilitate professional growth among teachers.

This time is used for various types of professional development. We meet every Friday from 8:05 until about 9:20, unless we have a planning week for conferences or other special projects. The district also does four whole day professional development sessions throughout the school year. These sessions usually happen on a Friday, so the children do not miss out on a full day of school. All district staff a required to be in a professional learning community (PLC). In our PLCs we work on a topic or areas of our teaching or classroom that we feel is a weak area. The group members work to plan ways to improve the lacking

Dr. Fremstad has been instrumental in the implementation of Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) at West Fargo High School. She understands the power of teacher collaboration and has led the charge to train and monitor the program with fidelity. Jennifer has inspired educators to share student evidence of learning and extend intervention or enrichment learning opportunities based on the data. In addition, she advocates on the importance of frequent classroom visitations with her leadership team and establishes annual visitation goals to support teachers and

Collaboration between teachers is a key component to professional development that will lead to higher student achievement. There is a need for schools to set up time for teachers to be able to collaborate together. This allows for teachers to help each other, matchup content, teach each other new and best practices, troubleshoot student issues just to name a few of the areas that collaboration time can help foster within a school. The key is to build time for teachers to be able to collaborate during the school day or week. This collaboration time needs to be between grade levels, departments, and cross curricular when needed. For many schools this is an afterthought to the school schedule or a fleeting thought after the master schedule is completed. A principal needs to keep an open mind to any strategy that will enable the teachers to be able to collaborate for the good of the students and the school.

Traditionally, teacher development typically occurs through trial and error in the isolated confinements of each teacher’s classroom with some periodic whole-group professional development (Goddard & Goddard, 2007). Within the past few decades, many schools and districts, including ours, have considered and experimented with Professional Learning Communities (PLC) as an alternative framework in guiding a more efficient development program for their teachers. PLCs are focused on enhancing student learning through developing teacher practices. The concept of PLC relies on using structured collaborative sessions amongst teachers within the school to build internal capacity. Through PLCs, teachers critically reflect on current

The study conducted by Peppers, (2015) examined perceptions of teachers both before and after implementing PLCs. This study was qualitative in design, and collected data through ethnographic processes and narratives. The population for this study consisted of eight high school teachers all of whom were teaching prior to implementing PLCs. The results of this study showed that implementing PLCs was successful in terms of creating positive changes in teachers’ perceptions. Data also indicated that teachers’ perceptions in terms of professional development improved. Results of this study also showed that teachers’ perceptions about how they prefer to work changed, with a shift towards working in communities rather than in isolation. The findings of this study also showed support for PLCs while emphasizing the role of administration in sustainability of PLCs.

Planning for the PLC professional development was relatively simple. We have the task of identifying

“Through collaboration, ideas can be shared, new and better strategies can be developed, problems can be solved, students’ progresses can be better monitored, and their outcomes are evaluated effectively.”¬ (Lee, 1996).