Professional Learning Community Analysis

The professional learning community will develop the steps of transforming our schools. It will use these eight steps as professional development protocols in reducing the dropout rate and increasing college and career readiness.

If I were principal, my plan to improve school community relations would begin with a whole school concerted to effort to learn about the new cultural groups in the community and provide opportunities for school community members to come together to build relationships with the new families. Secondly, I would make sure to introduce myself to the new community members and use my people skills to build relationships with new businesses and community

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.

Albernetta Hamilton is the local principal at our intermediate school (grades fourth through sixth). She has served the

Rhonda Haus started her career in the secondary school system where she has seen and been a part of many changes. She gave a unique perspective into Regina Public Schools and highlight the systems specific goals along with their successes and failures. Underlining it all was her message to put the students and to provide the best education for all kids. These goals were measurable and attainable. Kaylan Gazda spoke about the elementary school system and her experience in a variety of grades and schools. Her time in an experimental classroom and in another country provided many challenges. However, those challenges and obstacles made her a better teacher for her current job in a split classroom. Jordan McFarlan was able to provide insight in process of building a new program in a high school from the ground up. He was able to list challenges he faced and ways to respond to those challenges. Jesamy Unger presented what is was it is like to be a student taking education and the lessons she learned throughout her journey. She gave us useful advice for our field experiences and the tip that not everything you need to know about being a teacher will be taught in school. Every member of the panel highlighted you need to make relationships and networks with students, colleagues and even

I agree, we often mistake PLCs for when teachers meet with other teachers. In my opinion, in order to have a successful PLC, you need to see student growth as well as have action steps to move the students forward. This is very different than when teachers meet with other teachers to discuss issues, but do not come out with action steps.

A. School Improvement Initiatives: We discussed two school improvement initiatives: 1. Professional Learning Communities’ (PLC) continue to dominate the intervention and improvement discussion. This year the San Juan School District (SJSD) schools went from district based PLC’s

I would be honored to be a part of the 1794 Living Learning Community because surrounding myself with people who have similar goals as I do will positively influence my first year of college. Establishing myself in a program that is as passionate about volunteering and making the world a better place as I am will help me build friendships with other students on campus. Being in an environment with others who are dedicated to make a positive difference in the world is the best experience I could have for my first year of college. The 1794 Living Learning Community will engage me with other like-minded students who share a passion for serving others as well as self growth. Having a community to be actively involved in will greatly better my freshman year at The University of Tennessee.

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

The Pre-Professional Learning Community allowed me to feel welcome and comfortable in my move into college. I am very interested in becoming a Learning Community Coordinator for many reasons, but I think the most prevalent is because I want others to have the same experience that I had. The Learning Communities are exactly that, a community or family that come together to learn about their futures together. I want to be able to help new incoming students feel that sense of belonging and pride for their

In our school, fostering nurturing professional learning communities is imperative to shaping our school’s culture.

Though the idea of working collaboratively is not a new one, the concept of professional learning communities (PLCs) has recently become very popular in education. During the summer of 2012, the Pasco County School District introduced the concept of PLCs into its schools in an effort to improve student learning in this era of increased educational scrutiny and accountability. Department heads suddenly found themselves relabeled PLC facilitators and called to attend two days of summer training meant to prepare them to lead PLCs once the school year began. The other PLC participants, the

1). Consequently, teachers need training and support through professional learning communities (PLC) as they “…have proven to be a cornerstone of effective teaching and, in underperforming schools, a catalyst for improvement” (Farbman, Goldberg, & Miller, 2014, p. 10). As a result, my plan proposes following Claudet’s model of a change agent (2011) by inspiring stakeholders to become collaborative partners in remedying academic gaps. It begins with the faculty analyzing student data scores to prioritize topics, designing a timeframe to meet goals, and identifying the stakeholders involved in the decision-making process. Once this is determined, several teachers would attend summer or fall training sessions to develop strategies to address the learning needs of low-achieving students because “…collective leadership has positive effects on student achievement” (Barth, 2001, p. 12). The trained teachers would provide monthly PLC activities to cultivate developmental and cultural instructional strategies, analyze student progress, share successes, and problem-solve concerns. Measurement of the effectiveness of the training occurs through staff participation, observations, and classroom formative and summative assessments, as recorded through the software programs provided to the teachers at the beginning of the

This school has the potential makings of wonderful learning institution. Hypothetically, if I were to create an effective learning community, it must entail a few critical characteristics. First, I would insist that the faculty, staff and myself share in the vision of the school. I want everyone to feel comfortable in identifying and resolving problems that manifest during the education process. Our vision will be in support of a rigorous student learning platform, and the teachers will be expected to guide their work and decision-making in support of this program. In return, I

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