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Blitz, C. L. (2013). Can Online Learning Communities Achieve the Goals of Traditional Professional Learning Communities? What the Literature Says. REL 2013-003. Regional Educational Laboratory Mid-Atlantic.

Kennedy, C. (2020). The Culture of Yes. https://cultureofyes.ca/contact-me/ via @chrkennedy

Watson, C. (2014). Effective professional learning communities? the possibilities for teachers as agents of change in schools. British Educational Research Journal, 40(1), 18-29.

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Connecting to a Professional Learning Community

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Connecting to a Professional Learning Community

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I have had the privilege of belonging to a number of Professional Learning Communities in my time as an educator. Some experiences have left me feeling inspired and enlightened, some have left me feeling empty, and yet others have been more of a voyeuristic journey.

While working at a small, rural school in Alberta, our staff would meet for monthly staff meetings. The meetings were always kept short and other less pertinent information was shared through e-mail. Our principal wanted there to be as much time as possible for teachers to collaborate for the purpose of improving student achievement. We would break up into two groups composed of primary teachers and high school teachers. We would share experiences, both positive and negative, and bring to the table suggestions for new apps to try, books to read, writing samples and any information we had gleaned from in-services or suggestions for upcoming in-services to attend. These groups were led by an experienced, enthusiastic principal, who strived for student achievement above all else. I left these meetings inspired, with new ideas, confirmation of methods I had been using, and a variety of resources to try and review before the next meeting. I felt this PLC met all the attributes of what Watson deemed as characteristics of "effective" professional learning communities:

We all had shared goals

We had a collective responsibility for pupils' learning

It allowed for reflective professional inquiry

It was a collaboration focused on leaning

Group and individual professional learning was promoted

(Watson, 2012)

When I worked for a larger school board, teachers were expected to collaborate to form professional learning communities and meet in person four times a year and maintain contact on-line during the year. The goal of these learning communities was open-ended. Teachers could choose to join a group by grade, by subject, by specialization such as inclusive learning or technology integration, etc. I was very excited to be using our professional development time to work on a project with other professionals in my division. It was very quickly evident, however, that these groups were created with the purpose of fulfilling a mandate at the board level. Teachers had to sign in with monitors in each room, and one person was responsible to filling out a rigid form for each session. We had to list what was discussed, assign each member a task, and we had to come up with one sentence that described our session together. We did not know one another very well and we felt like the sessions were too rigid. Our project involved improving results in math. This goal was not specific enough, but moreover, our group was not cohesive. There was an atmosphere of suspicion since the board assigned monitors for each room who took attendance, wanted a strangely worded form to be submitted and waited in the room with us without participating or checking in with us. The form we had to fill out was unclear, and did not suit the discussions we were having. There was a lack of trust, since we did not know one another and not everyone felt like their ideas were considered. On paper, this idea was great, but the execution was lacking. This according to Blitz, has to do with school culture. In my first example, the school was small enough and the educators had established trust, and the focus was on student achievement. In this larger board, it felt like the focus was on the task. According to Talbert, 2010 “Many teacher groups formed through mandates simply comply with the letter of the law rather than assess student performance and collaborate to improve teaching and learning-thus failing to improve student achievement. (Blitz, 2013).

My most active PLC is ESL Teachers in Ukraine. I am very active in this functional group. The site provides short, practical information to help with immediate questions and suggestions. I have been sharing ideas and resources and many of our group members are collaborating to come up with creative solutions to deal with on-line learning. Most of us in the group are used to in person classes, so on-line learning has unique challenges in additional language learning. For example, a simple tip I received is to use headphones instead of relying on the computer output. I was also told that recording the class and sending it to my students can be valuable to allow them to revisit the lesson if they so choose. While these tips are simple, they fulfill a need of collaboration and they help our group members to feel they are not alone and sharing tips and resources can up the level of student engagement and subsequently student achievement.

When thinking about a group I wanted to be a part of, I decided that I was lacking in the inspirational/educational group that I had been a part of in the past. I chose the Power of Yes. This site did not disappoint. The first article I read really spoke to me and challenged me to think about who owns the learning, and in this case who decides what type of learning is best for each student? Is it possible to create an education system that is tailored to each student? Can students who learn best in person, attend school and those who learn best on-line stay at home? Some schools have experimented with hybrid learning, but is there a possibility going forward to permanently change the way we teach and learn? Here is a link to the blog post you may be interested in reading:

https://cultureofyes.ca/2020/06/03/school-on-a-dial/

Another article I came across sums up what is lacking in my teaching today. I miss the chit chat. I miss asking my students about their lives, about how they are feeling and creating a warm environment. I feel since taking my classes on line, I may be providing more stream-lined classes, but the banter and pre and post class time chats are missing. This short blog post pointed out what has been missing in my teaching and now I am going to find a way to incorporate some down time to re-instate the chit chit. I have to remember that I don’t alway have to be “on.” Any conversation is potential learning and allows for the warmth I have been missing to hopefully return.

https://cultureofyes.ca/author/cultureofyes/

The Culture of Yes works best as an online resource. The on-line community allows me the flexibility to contribute or simply read the posts and reflect on what others are doing.  This blog was created by Chris Kennedy who is the Superintendent of Schools with the West Vancouver School District. I see myself as using the blog for inspiration and to make be think deeper about my practice. When reading the posts I am reminded of the way I feel when leaving a Teachers Convention session. If I choose wisely, I usually leave inspired, wondering how I can incorporate new learning into my practice and anxious to get back to the classroom. I have not posted or commented to the group, but I plan to going forward. Being stuck in my practical bubble, has made me yearn for something more stimulating and a blog that will make me think.

I have discovered that different type of PLCs are useful to fill different needs for each educator. Having the ability to collaborate with people who deem student achievement to be the highest priority but look at situations in a way that you haven't thought about, challenge our way of thinking and allow growth to happen. "Learning is not something that is done to organizations, nor is it something an organization does; rather, learning and organizing are seen as mutually constitutive and unstable, yet pragmatic, constructs that might enable a dynamic appreciation of organizational life. (Cleg, et al., 2005).

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Foundations and Principles in the    Context of Practice  

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Foundations and Principles in the    Context of Practice  