As you can see in the graphic above, Professional Learning Communities are teams of teachers that work together to drive the Mulit-Tiered Systems of Support model. This lesson will focus on who makes up a Professional Learning Community in a School and how they work. During the next 6 lessons, you will learn to work in a Professional Learning Community in order to address the needs of your case study students. After you have completed the readings for the lesson, you will meet with the members of your PLC and develop course goals for a course you could teach in the future.
PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES
Professional Learning Communities are the building blocks of schools that offer Multi-Tiered Systems of Support for all learners. The Professional Learning Community works as a team to establish goals, evaluate results, and implement supports or enrichment activities for students. Professional Learning Communities are a integral part of most Utah Secondary Schools. Although they may have different names across the country, the process involved in PLCs is being implemented in middle, junior high, and high schools in most states. This article will give you a brief overview of the elements of a Professional Learning Community.
Understand the six essential characteristics of a PLC.
INTRODUCING PLC AT GATEWAY HIGH SCHOOL
This video will show you how implementing a PLC model improved results at Gateway High School. You will see how a PLC works to improve student performance. The teacher focuses on learning for all his students and works toward achieving success for all learners.
What to look for:
What was the professional development like at Gateway High School before they implemented PLCs?
What was Gateway High School’s motto?
How are Professional Learning Communities organized at Gateway High School?
What were the areas of focus for the Professional Learning Communities at Gateway High School?
What was the experience like for the teacher who implemented a new strategy that was planned in his PLC?
How did the teacher work with his PLC to support students who needed additional help?
PLC GUIDEBOOK MARION COUNTY SCHOOLS
This is a Professional Learning Community Plan for one specific school district. Reading through it will help you understand the big picture of how a school implements a Professional Learning Community model.
What PLC standards should teachers be able to reach and how will their skills be measured?
What are team norms that PLC teams should consider?
What are the four questions PLC teams should answer in their meetings?
What are the elements of SMART goals?
BLOOM'S TAXONOMY
Bloom's taxonomy is a way of looking at the skills we require students to use to demonstrate their knowledge. Skills are organized in a hierarchy that moves from concrete to abstract and basic to complex. Bloom's taxonomy is helpful when writing goals because it provides specific language that can help teachers to work with students on both basic levels and more complicated skills.
What are some of the describing verbs used at each level of Bloom's Taxonomy?
Why use Bloom's Taxonomy?
PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES
Before you begin your assignments, watch this video about how teachers at Riverview Junior High worked as a PLC to plan unit goals. This video will prepare you to work with your group members on your assignment for today’s lesson.
ASSIGNMENTS
Complete the closed book, closed not quiz for the readings.
