PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES
Professional Learning Communities ( PLCs )
“ PLCs ? Here we go again !” As a veteran educator or even a young educator , I am confident you have heard so many buzz words you might even find yourself tuning them out , chuckling to yourself , or shooting a colleague a knowing look . I understand . I have been there . It ’ s education . We are under so much pressure to solve problems left and right . Do it quickly ! Do it right ! But not that way ! And while what I am going to write about here might feel like another one of those educational fads , I will tell you that if you implement it for your community in the way that best serves your faculty and staff , then it doesn ’ t have to be a fad . It can be that cup-filling program , one that might even help increase morale and collegiality among your faculty and staff . After a few crazy pandemic years , couldn ’ t we all use some community-building time ?
What is a professional learning community ? It is not a new concept . In my PLC research , I found articles dating back to the early 2000s ( DuFour , 2004 ; Stoll & Louis , 2007 ). Generically speaking , though , professional learning communities , or PLCs , are small collectives of educators working together toward common goals . Yes , that feels like a vague definition , but , in my opinion , that is also the point . Mielke ( 2015 ) expressly states that a PLC is not a PLC if the work is dictated to the participants by administrators . “ To put it in classroom terms , too many administrators treat PLCs more as homework than project-based learning . If you want us to simply do your bidding , call it a committee , not a PLC ” ( Mielke , 2015 ).
“ ... can we carve out time ( in our packed , busy schedules ) for those meaningful conversations and learning opportunities to take place among colleagues ?
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At the end of the 2014-2015 school year , the administrative team at my school pitched to faculty the concept of professional learning communities . The concept was to coincide with an overall schedule change . The plan was simple : everyone ( faculty and non-teaching staff ) was required to self-enroll in one of the PLCs being offered each school year . Faculty and staff members could either create a PLC , co-sponsor one , or join one that was already being run by others . A blank Google Sheets sign-up was shared at the end of May , and everyone was expected to enroll by the start of the following school year . PLCs would meet once a month during open meeting times ( pre-scheduled for the year ) on the days when our students had late start mornings .
Our mini-communities , our meeting times , and our spaces were in place . So now what do we do ? The beauty of it is , whatever we want . What does our school community need ? What are our school ’ s goals ? Department goals ?
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CSEE Connections Summer 2022 Page 19