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The power of professional learning communities

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The power of professional learning communities

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The Power of Professional Learning Communities - Best Teaching Practices

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Fostering and effective professional learning community at your school

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Fostering and effective professional learning community at your school

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While teachers and school leaders have shown great resilience over the last two years, schools that have a strong professional learning community (PLC) presence have seen amazing results despite the pandemic, with learners, families, and teachers enjoying the learning process and working together effectively.

A professional learning community, according to Louise Stoll, a professor at University College London's Institute of Education, is "an inclusive and mutually supportive group of people with a collaborative, reflective and growth-oriented approach towards investigating and learning more about their practice in order to improve pupils' learning."

Here's how to ensure that PLCs are an integral part of the school.

Main Features of a Successful PLC

Shared values and vision: Teachers and school leaders share the main values concerning raising children and developing their learning skills. They also have a common mindset and attitude when it comes to big issues like children's rights, the environment, and the role of the individual in the community.

For example, teachers and school leaders reach a consensus about the teaching and learning approach that the school should pursue. This doesn't mean there won't be different positions and points of view, but once they've chosen an approach, the whole community works together.

Collective responsibility: Successful professional learning communities understand that teachers and school leaders share the same responsibility regarding the learners' progress and achievements. For instance, the PLC might notice that learners of all ages need to spend more time with nature. To make learning more meaningful for students, teachers and school leaders might agree to develop the curriculum in a new teaching context-for example, the beach or a forest. The teachers' commitment to adapt the curriculum to the new teaching context determines the success of this new approach.

At the same time, school leaders can provide the necessary guidance and support to teachers and find a way to make it possible for students to learn outdoors regularly every week, possibly inviting teacher assistants to help, increasing the child-adult ratio.

Reflective professional inquiry: PLCs need time to reflect on the learners' development in all areas-academic, emotional, social, physical-and also to foster areas of inquiry that will provide relevant information. For example, PLCs might notice that learners are showing signs of being tired after daily online lessons. So, they might develop an inquiry project about how to protect learners from burnout, looking into different techniques and strategies for making learning more effective without relying so much on online synchronous lessons.

This research could generate inspiring hours of active exchange among PLC members, with deep reflection and analysis of data that hopefully would result in new lesson plans and a more active and motivated group of learners.

Collaboration: PLCs offer a support net that allows teachers to take risks and explore different paths for developing their teaching and learning skills and using innovative approaches and techniques to make learning more effective. Peer observation sessions are a good example of collaboration. One teacher invites another to observe their lesson. They both meet beforehand to discuss what to focus on, the concerns of the person being observed, and the type of feedback they're looking for.

After the observation session, both teachers meet, and the observer provides constructive feedback. For the peer observation session to be successful, both teachers need to trust and respect each other professionally and feel confident enough to express their opinions, feelings, and thoughts with each other. In this way, PLCs can promote both group and individual learning and growth.

How School Leaders Can Promote Acceptance of the PLC

Start slowly: Take baby steps. Two or three times during the year-for example, at the beginning of the school year, before the winter break, and near the end of the year-guide the PLC to reflect on each member's strengths and become aware of what they need to improve. If possible, choose one or two items, not more, to work on in the following months. Then, create an action plan.

Increasingly integrate formal and informal collaboration: Invite teachers who are still reluctant to become an active member of the PLC. Teachers are all facing different personal situations and might need some time to decide to participate in a PLC. So, accept different levels of commitment and participation. Allow people to collaborate in their own way.

Persevere: PLCs take time to grow, and they have their ups and downs, as all social and professional groups do.

Take advantage of technology: School leaders have a great tool that can facilitate interaction and participation. During the pandemic, teachers developed the skill of managing online meetings and might prefer having remote meetings to staying at school after hours. Every now and then, allow the PLC to work remotely.

Finally, learn to let go: Once the PLC is fully integrated into teachers' work, school leaders can ask different teachers to lead at times. Promote that, allow other leaders to emerge, and foster the autonomy of the PLC.

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Fostering an Effective Professional Learning Community at Your School

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While teachers and school leaders have shown great resilience over the last two years, schools that have a strong professional learning community (PLC) presence have seen amazing results despite the pandemic, with learners, families, and teachers enjoying the learning process and working together effectively.

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Reimagining the role of technology and higher education 📄 🖥️ 

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Reimagining the role of technology and higher education 📄 🖥️ 

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💻 Reimagining the role of technology and education

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💻 Reimagining the role of technology and education

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The ISTE Standards for Leaders- Standard 5, emphasize the importance of being a "Connected Learner." Leaders under this standard commit to continuous professional learning by:

Staying current with educational research and emerging trends regarding effective uses of technology.

Participating in local and global learning networks to collaborate with peers, share insights, and gain new perspectives.

Using the power of professional learning networks to multiply their own learning and contribute to the profession.

In essence, ISTE-L Standard 5 is about educational leaders being learners themselves, actively seeking out and engaging in opportunities to grow professionally, especially in ways that leverage technology. This ongoing learning process enables them to lead by example and fosters a culture of continuous improvement and innovation within their organizations.

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Collaboration and collective inquiry in a PLC

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Collaboration and collective inquiry in a PLC

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The leader of a professional learning community describes how she ensures that team members work together effectively.

ZUMA Press Inc / Alamy Stock Photo

Like many aspiring teachers, I thrived in my college education classes yet struggled to find my footing as a new teacher within a team. When I was appointed to lead my own team, my first priority was to cultivate an environment that made everyone feel that their contributions mattered.

As a leader, I began to understand that there are two essential characteristics of an effective professional learning community (PLC) that are difficult to master and not explicitly taught to aspiring teachers: fostering a culture of collaboration and managing the process of collective inquiry. Focusing on these two aspects of my PLC became paramount for me to run a truly effective team.

A Culture of Collaboration and Support

Authentic collaboration is essential for accomplishing common goals within a teaching team, and the first step is getting to know your team members as people.

The first meeting of the year should be a low-stakes, get-to-know-you event. The only objectives at this meeting are to get to know your team members and establish team norms for your PLC meetings. An off-campus location can make the meeting feel less formal and more comfortable. I have teammates fill out a personality test and bring it to the meeting-it's an easy conversation starter, and understanding each person's strengths, weaknesses, and work style helps set a tone of collaboration.

After the initial meeting, it's essential to continue to have low-stakes, nonwork time together as a team, whether it's lunch or an after-school outing. I tend to schedule these gatherings at the end of each grading cycle so that they have a celebratory feel. Spending nonwork time together builds upon the first meeting and fosters bonds that strengthen the team.

Once your team members feel comfortable with you and the procedures of the PLC, it's time to start giving them tasks that contribute to the effectiveness of the PLC meetings. I begin this process after the first grading cycle. Establishing shared accountability and support within a team prevents ambitious teachers from developing feelings of insignificance and animosity that can tear a team apart. It's a good idea to plan out the second unit with them, or demonstrate how to use data analysis to drive units and lessons. Give all team members ownership by enabling them to create lessons they're interested in.

The goal is not to push people into a task they aren't ready for but to offer opportunities to contribute and grow. When they take on a new task, it is the leader's duty to support them outside of the PLC as much as possible so they feel successful when delivering their creation to the team. That will help everyone-especially new teachers-keep growing.

Effective Collective Inquiry

The goal of collective inquiry within a PLC is to build shared knowledge by utilizing new methods of teaching and examining best practices. This allows both new and experienced teachers to contribute to the decision-making process and employ their own teaching style.

Once a collaborative culture has been established, teachers will feel more comfortable sharing ideas and practices with the team. The key is to actually utilize those ideas. Something I really struggled with as a teacher who was new to a team was that when I shared ideas, they were never used-and I was never told why, which added to my feelings of frustration and insignificance.

To realize the goals of collective inquiry, it's imperative to acknowledge and use team member ideas as much as possible. New teachers coming out of college have a fresh outlook on how to present ideas and teach skills, and they are huge assets to the team and can help build a bank of resources that add to the students' experience of lessons. Veteran teachers are more experienced with the content skills and best practices, such as questioning strategies or actively monitoring student work. They add management strategies to the activities presented by new teachers.

Playing on the strengths of both new and veteran teachers within a PLC builds the knowledge bank of the team and enables each teacher to have ownership in the lessons and curriculum.

Ultimately, getting to know my teammates as people, building their confidence and knowledge, and intentionally utilizing ideas from each member of the team has allowed me to create an effective PLC-my dream team. My new-to-the-profession teachers have created an exemplary lesson bank that is categorized by content skill, as well as seating charts that organize students by their mastery of specific skills. My more experienced teachers are pulling proven, effective strategies from other curricula and altering them to fit our students and subject.

Creating an effective PLC team is challenging, especially since teachers are generally not explicitly taught how to do it. Focusing on creating an authentic culture of collaboration and intentionally fostering collective inquiry within PLC are vital parts of creating your dream team.

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Collaboration and Collective Inquiry in a PLC

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The leader of a professional learning community describes how she ensures that team members work together effectively. ZUMA Press Inc / Alamy Stock Photo Like many aspiring teachers, I thrived in my college education classes yet struggled to find my footing as a new teacher within a team.

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Leveraging social media to build a digital PLN

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Leveraging social media to build a digital PLN

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Tips for building a professional learning community online, whether you seek personal relationships or just want to follow other teachers.

Professional networks are essential to growing and maintaining one's passion in any line of work. As teachers, we have traditionally found professional learning networks (PLNs) in our buildings, but in the digital age there are no boundaries: PLNs can exist on any social media platform, which creates endless possibilities for sharing, mentorship, and growth as teachers.

It's now entirely possible to have a PLN that spreads out across this country and even around the world-people whose voices you've never heard and whose faces you've never seen. Although these digital relationships may not be personally close, they can be immensely powerful in terms of influencing pedagogy. And the fact that there isn't always a personal relationship creates a nice amount of autonomy for both parties in these relationships-when you aren't face to face on a regular basis, it's easier to take the ideas you want from your network and make them your own, or to leave the network when you're ready.

Building a Digital PLN

How can teachers create digital PLNs that are meaningful and powerful? Choosing a digital medium and connecting with other professionals can be overwhelming. It's important to remember that, unlike with personal mentoring relationships, a PLN really doesn't require a personal connection. You follow someone on Twitter who provides you with links to resources, inspiration, and advice through their tweets-they may not even realize how they're helping you. And you can follow multiple role models for different purposes (e.g., one for subject-specific resources, another for general classroom management).

The first thing to consider when dipping your toe into a digital PLN is what you want out of it. Is a personal, reciprocal relationship important to you? Or are you happy quietly following a person or group online without much interaction? Are you seeking others to vent with and to share best practices and resources, or inspiration from innovative, cutting-edge teachers? You'll also need to consider how you enjoy interacting online-do you lean toward visual, auditory, or textual learning and communication? This process may take some trial and error, but you'll know once you've got the right fit.

There are a variety of social platforms you can use to create a PLN: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Teachers Pay Teachers, Pinterest.

Once you've determined your purpose and the platform that's right for you, start seeking people to connect with and follow. I strongly suggest creating a professional account if you already have social media accounts. This will help you identify as a teacher seeking a PLN. Your username should reflect your purpose. For example, my teacher accounts use the name Teacherevolution, and my bio on these accounts clearly states my professional interests: English and literacy, secondary education, 21s-century learning, and inquiry-based learning. Many social media programs allow you to select interests or topics of interest to you, which will help you connect with other teachers.

Growing the PLN

The beautiful thing about social media programs is that once you start following or friending certain types of users (e.g., math teachers), the program will suggest other users with similar profiles. Moreover, when you begin following and interacting with certain types of users, you'll also see comments and posts from other, similar users-and thus your personal PLN will begin to bloom.

This is the point where you need to make a decision about how invested you want to be in your digital PLN and what role you'll play online. Are you strictly seeking resources and inspiration? Or do you also want to share your own ideas, practices, and resources with others? Many teachers on digital platforms start out as recipients of ideas and resources. As they begin to interact online and become comfortable doing so, they also begin sharing their own experience and resources, and before they know it, they've become an inspiration to others.

The more time you spend commenting and interacting on your social network, the stronger your digital relationships will become. This is when mentorship can get more personal and actual relationships can develop. Many teachers like the anonymity of digital PLNs and this isn't for them, while others seek out small digital networks with a specific purpose like sharing resources and ideas about a particular grade level or subject.

Digital PLNs can seem complex at first, and they are multidimensional and dynamic. Social media platforms allow these relationships to grow on a variety of levels and for a wide variety of purposes. Regardless of an individual teacher's personal preferences, the possibilities for professional growth are enormous.

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Leveraging Social Media to Build a Digital PLN

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Tips for building a professional learning community online, whether you seek personal relationships or just want to follow other teachers. Professional networks are essential to growing and maintaining one's passion in any line of work.

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✏️ Leaders ISTE-L (Standard 5) Training 

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✏️ Leaders ISTE-L (Standard 5) Training 

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Agenda:

1. Introduction (5 minutes)

Brief welcome and overview of ISTE-L Standard 5: Connected Learner.

2. Understanding ISTE-L Standard 5 (10 minutes)

Presentation on the core components of being a Connected Learner.

Discussion of staying current with research, engaging in learning networks, and contributing to professional knowledge.

3. Technology as a Leverage for Learning (10 minutes)

Demonstration of various platforms and tools for professional growth (e.g., Twitter for educators, LinkedIn Learning, EdWeb, etc.).

Sharing best practices for engaging in online communities and learning networks.

4. Action Plan and Q&A (5 minutes)

Developing a personal action plan to become a Connected Learner.

Addressing questions and sharing additional resources.

Materials Required:

Device

Access to the chosen virtual meeting platform

Handout with resources and tools links (to be distributed digitally)

Post-Session Action Items:

Participants will be encouraged to join at least one new professional learning network and share their experiences in the next meeting.

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The Immersive Room - The Future Classroom is Here

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Curriculum night

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In case your scholar missed the lesson this week.