In researching information on viable PLCs, I came across the following written by Franchesca Warren In 4 Ways to Make Your PLC Meetings More Productive:
“I began to think about the actual purpose of PLCs. Were they created to wreak havoc on teacher’s schedules or do they really have a purpose? After doing a bit of research, I came across the book Learning by Doing PLC’s which told me that PLCs are meant to:
- focus on teaching to a focus on learning
- provide Infrequent summative assessments to frequent common formative assessments
- help determine the appropriate response when students don’t learn or already know it to a systematic response that ensures support for every student no matter who the teacher may be
- clarify what students must learn to collaborative teams building shared knowledge and understanding about essential learning
- an external focus on issues outside the school to an internal focus.
If the overall goal(s) of Professional Learning Communities are supposed to be focused on teachers learning from one another, how did they become meetings where teachers are engrossed in doing anything beneficial to classroom instruction? When did these meetings become a time to roll our eyes and resent the time we spend in them?
The answer is simple, PLC’s became ineffective when administrators used it for ‘filler’ for any and everything they wanted to accomplish in the school. Combined with making teachers painfully endure these meetings on a weekly schedule, has made a ‘recipe for disaster’.”
Therin, how Can PLCs Be More Productive?
Warren shared the following strategies for making PLC meetings more meaningful and engaging for participants:
- Let your grade/content level teams set the agendas for the meeting. Nothing is worse than sitting in a PLC meeting with an agenda that has nothing to do with your work in the classroom. This is a ‘sure fire’ way to make teachers ‘zone out’ well before the first item on the agenda is addressed. Instead, enlist your content /grade level leaders to develop an agenda for the meeting. Encourage them to look at issues that are occurring in their team(s) and then set up an agenda that will not only address the issue but offer proactive solutions at the school level. Every PLC meeting should be teacher lead, not administrative lead.
- Differentiate the delivery of instruction in the meetings. It makes no sense to make a veteran teacher sit in a PLC about the use of graphic organizers or for a teacher who has excellent classroom management to sit in a PLC about classroom management. In addition, I’ve been forced to sit in PLCs where a PowerPoint was played and teachers were expected to sit for 60 minutes and ‘get’ information. Instead, assess the specific needs of your school staff by using a survey. Based upon the results, adjust your meeting content. Another good strategy to increase teacher ‘buy in’ will be to identify the faculty that may be ‘experts’ in various areas and ask them to present at PLCs. This will help break up the monotony of meetings.
- Set a specific time slot and days for the meetings to occur. There’s no reason that any PLC meeting has to last an entire planning period. Set a designated time frame for your meetings and stick to it–no matter what. Agree to group ‘norms’ so that people can arrive on time and be ‘present’ in the meeting so that the work can be completed. Teachers are already ‘bogged down’ by district mandates, classroom needs, and other professional development.
- Plan activities that matter. No teacher wants to sit in a meeting and look at graphic organizers for 45 minutes. Instead take the time to develop activities that allow teachers to reflect and engage in the work they do in the classroom. Ask teachers to bring in student work or sample assignments and lead discussions on common trends in student work.
The point is this – use this time to actually strengthen the culture of the school- not just to have another meeting.
We can see why meaningful teacher exchange and reflection, in effective PLCs, can benefit teachers and students, as well as bring about important professional sharing and growth.”
In Edutopia’s Teacher Development: Teachers and Community Members Practice TLC with PLCs, Ellen Ullman describes “a culture of collaboration and constant improvement with professional learning communities.” She references the following:
Nancy Krakowka, a sixth-grade language arts and social studies teacher stated: “I was protective of my curriculum. But some of my colleagues have better ideas than I do. When you put all these minds together, the end product comes out much better.”
As a teacher, a professional instructional coach, PLC planner/leader, and PD educator, the above insights had a profound effect upon me. I had already always believed that PLCs were meant to be helpful to teachers with shared knowledge and practices relevant to them. Not scripted meetings where they sat and listened but learned little to nothing. But that was not the case I had experienced first-hand, as a classroom teacher.
In thinking over what these educators had to say, I was determined, when I had the opportunity, to embrace ways to enhance PLCs that teachers would love, and in which they were active participants with teacher-oriented shared ideas and healthy discussions.
I was given that opportunity while working as an instructional coach and mentor in several grant-funded educational research programs. In these settings, where open communication of ideas and learning by doing were the format, the PLCs were a huge success. Held once a month, they served to provide teachers with new ideas, support, and validation.
In one setting the teachers shared ideas for STEM science around an agreed upon, pre-planned theme. They not only shared their ideas, but each teacher also demonstrated the experiment or lesson to the group, plus providing lesson handouts. The group was happy to share because they all profited. They loved the opportunity to come together, discuss ideas, and be hands-on. I provided resource packets to match their chosen themes & often had them do an experiment I taught. It was always lively and fun.
The end result was group cohesion, support, and classroom results which were significant. Not only the teachers profited. Their students blossomed.
In another setting, I worked with 40 teachers who had had no PLCs, only monthly meetings where they were talked to & not actively involved. I set out to design and provide a PLC program where they could share ideas and learn from each other. I had seen what they were doing in their own classrooms, but it was time for them to share their expertise with each other. Different teachers took turns presenting at each monthly meeting, and shared handouts of their ideas with the group. Where there had been a lack of trust and any shared ideas, camaraderie grew and ideas flowed freely. The PLCs were looked forward to each month, and the program itself flourished. It evolved into a teacher-trainer model, which was reviewed and chosen as most sustainable in the country. Teachers loved it!
Having been able to initiate these PLC formats, and see them develop into living, breathing successful models which made a difference for the teachers I coached, was immeasurable to me and to the many teachers I was privileged to work with.
These hands-on, idea-sharing, models proved that if teachers are given the support and opportunity to plan, share, and learn-by-doing through their own initiative and meaningful interaction, PLCs will come alive and prosper.
PLCs ‘can’ work!