The Development Of A Teacher

Safe environments are built and there’s a respect for diversity. Another highly important factor in effective schools is a highly effective leader. Leadership is a key characteristic in a PLC also. The principal acts as an instructional leader building relationships with the staff and developing high moral. These characteristics are all evident in a PLC. “When schools truly begin to align their practices with a commitment to learning for all, the educators within them begin to function as a Professional Learning Community” (DuFour, DuFour & Eaker, 2008, p. 21). The PLC is more of an re-culturing instead of a school reform. It is an ongoing process through which a staff works collaboratively to share learning goals. In order to reach the goals set forth in laws such as NCLB, a school must change it’s culture to maintain an ongoing collaborative process to enhance everyone’s effectiveness to improve student behavior ( Nygard, 2010).

The PLC is the most powerful on-going professional development in which teachers can be involved (DuFour et al., 2005). It is the only professional development that provides daily collegial and administrative follow-up and support. PLCs impact student achievement by allowing teachers time to assess their teaching pedagogy, content knowledge, and delivery of instruction. The professional learning community is designed around the following criteria:

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

Unfortunately, thorough research on the impact of professional development on student achievement is limited because it is challenging, complex and expensive to study. Nonetheless, Hoaglund, Birkenfeld, and Box, (2015), conducted a study that illustrated that learning communities are viable tools for providing professional development to both pre-service teachers and current teachers. Their study showed how a group of pre-service teachers and their supervisors participated in a professional experience learning community for two terms prior to the pre-service teacher’s junior year at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. Questionnaires and interviews were used to evaluate the effectiveness of the program. The results of the study indicated that all participants valued the experience and consequently were able to gain and identify some benefits of a professional learning community (PLC). Participants specifically reported a greater appreciation of collaboration with more experienced educators as a practical way of solving issues and implementing processes and procedures for increasing student achievement. The activities incorporated within the

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

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

In order to implement an effective Professional Learning Community (PLC) for the development of a Google-Based School, the team must create an environment conducive to their needs and how they best work in a group setting. In order for the Professional Learning Community to be effective in the implementation of a school-wide initiative, the members of the community must have confidence that they are the main group leading to change in the school (Wood, 2007). Creating a functional team involves key factors involving the team characteristic, recognizing positive and negative forces relating to these characteristics, and overcoming the negative forces in a systematic manner (Mealiea, & Baltazar, 2005). Moreover, importance for creating an effective Professional learning community focuses on open sharing, developing skills, identifying and utilizing resources, and forming frames of reference (Spanneut, 2010). Each of these characteristics falls into the overall systematic creation of the learning community that works to increase student learning by creating and achieving specific goals and through setting ground rules, goal setting and analysis, and delegation of tasks in order to prepare to implement the Google-Based School initiative.

Professional learning communities (PLCs) are communities of educators who work and meet together to collaborate. Their goal is to make sure students are learning the content everyone is teaching. A “highly effective” learning community involves educators who are willing to work with others. Educators who do not make excuses for why students are not learning, and they view growth as positive thing. In effective PLCs, staff members meet on a regular basis, these meetings can be formal and informal. One big takeaway is to ensure teachers are not working in isolation. Members of the PLC work with one another to analyze student work and data, and use that information to better serve those that are not meeting the objectives.

With the shift in professional learning from collecting PLUs to one focused on improving teaching and learning, it is important that teacher leaders play a role in implementing professional learning communities and helping to make sure accountability in professional learning. I am excited about the opportunity to share these changes and new expectations with fellow teachers. A fellow teacher and I have been trained on the upcoming changes and will be redelivering it to other teachers at our school in the near

Some teachers are naturally hesitant to try new things, but I present the program as a trial run, the teachers know that if we implement something that’s not working we will examine steps to fix it together.” My principal does a great job with this, she listens to the teacher’s ideas or suggestions and will find solutions to any problem. Next, I asked, “What are some benefits and challenges of PLCs?” Ms. Alexander paused and thought for a moment, “the benefits are that teachers work together with a purpose, they talk about student learning, and the teachers share the same vision. The challenge is maintaining consistency across the board and motivating every teacher to stay committed.” I have witnessed the challenge with maintaining consistency on a few occasions at my school. For instance, teachers were randomly grouped together for a teambuilding activity, in which teachers had to share with their group members common challenges they face every school year. The group members then developed a short list of tips or strategies that the teacher could use to remedy whatever challenges they were facing. As

First, the leadership that exists in these learning environments is critical to the success, or failure, of a district trying to implement a learning community. In a traditional school the leadership is typically in the form of a building principal, who make the general decisions within the school. However, in a PLC, that responsibility is shared throughout the school. Multiple levels of leadership are present and continually developed. In fact, one of the signs of an ideal PLC is a school district that runs smoothly in the absence of their principal or

Embedded professional learning through weekly PLCs (Professional Learning Communities – by grade level), as well as coaching

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

What will I do to recognize and acknowledge lack of adherence to classroom rules and procedures?

The school leader is essential to creating and supporting a PLC . The school leader is exactly what the titles implies…one who leads. The school leader must lead their school to creating an effective PLC. The school leader should allocate resources-time, money, and people to support a PLC. The school leader is determined, organized, resourceful, and strategic . It is often times difficult to get teachers and other school personnel to start any initiative. Thus an effective administrator must be determined and work relentlessly when trying to establish a PLC. The astute school leader would have researched PLCs and be prepared to present this information in a way that motivates staff to participate Furthermore, the school leader must know his/her staff. This means that they are aware of the potential problems in the school building in addition to who are the key members of the staff and who will partner with the school leader. The school leader will analyze data to show areas within the school that need improvement. He/she will then utilize this information to identify the purpose, vision, and mission of the PLC. The mission and vision of the PLC will be clearly established and reflected in the mission and vision of the school. Next the school leader will allocate incentives and resources that support the PLC. The school leader will also make sure that the people