This PLC Thing…

I have to say, this PLC thing  (Professional Learning Community)has really been working.  I went to Arizona in February to a PLC Summit, thought it was just a free trip to Phoenix. But it wasn’t, it was so much more. Very productive seminars, and I learned so much! 

 Fast forward to May, and I have to admit, I enjoy using what I’ve learned from  it. Now, as a school, we’re not quite there yet, but we are a lot farther than where we were when we started.  More people have ” got on the bus”, and it has really helped our students improve. Personally, I love what it has done for my team, we are collaborating and making decisions that are good for our kids.

 For example, we looked at our student scores on a common  math assessment, and decided to have Math workshops that focused on the skills they were weak in.  Each teacher chose the focus skill he or she was strong in, and taught based on the level of the group we saw. Can you say “differentiated instruction”?  Of course, I was the “tech” component of our workshop. 🙂  We each created an “Exit ticket”  that the students completed at the end of class, and we reviewed the results of the ticket at our next PLC meeting. 

The students LOVED it! They traveled with their friends outside their class, they got away from us for about an hour, they spent time with another teacher, and the skills were either reinforced, or enriched.  The results were amazing, and the students learned a lot, which was our objective.

When the new school year begins, our district is having all the participants in the summit meet once a month to share ideas. We already had one meeting last month, and one of  the teachers shared things that were so simple,  yet so helpful. I now get a chance to take that back, and share it with my colleagues.  I am part of a number of communities, Twitter, Edmodo, Technology Integration in Education, and so many more,  so I understand the importance of collaboration.

You don’t hear too much grumbling about “PLC” anymore, it’s just something that we do now, and I’m loving it! Please Let’s Collaborate!

“How to Create a Professional Learning Community”

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What is a PLC? (Professional Learning Communities)

I knew this time would come. It’s presentation time, the punishment for attending the 2011 PLC Summit in Phoenix, Arizona. 🙂 Well, it was worth it. I have continued to use what I have learned and it’s paying off. Step by step, little by little.  Sooooo, this week we have to do an overview of what PLC is. We took a lot of our information from Solution Tree’s HUGE book they gave us at the summit. We COLLABORATED and came up with this Powerpoint. I also created an animated video using GoAnimate using  ideas we got from Dr.Anthony Muhammad. Check it out! And if you like, let me know what you think!

What is a PLC? – told in Powerpoint

(Check out the characters listed in Dr.Muhammad’s “The Quandary” in my animated video, “The PLC Bus”   http://goanimate4schools.com//api/animation/player
Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate4Schools. It’s free and fun!