Reflection On Plc Experience

For my professional learning community (PLC) experience, I decided to visit a meeting outside of my school district and reached out to a friend who works in my local school district. I am friends with two of the former members of the history department at this school. Through them, I have heard of the collaboration that they participated in when they were still on site. This one small branch of a history department has produced a nationally bestselling author, one of the strongest district instructional technology directors in the county, and a member of the leadership team of a local educational technology (edtech) organization. I asked one of my friends to help arrange an observation of this strong PLC and I was not disappointed.

I

observed a PLC meeting of this high school history department on the morning on September 9, 2015. The meeting was held in the classroom of one of the teachers during its regularly scheduled time, before school on a late-start day. There were two teachers present; one member of their team was recently given an out-of-the-classroom assignment and the special education teacher was absent . Both men teach Advanced Placement (AP) United States (US) History and Global Studies and have worked with the PLC for five to six years. I arrived intending to observe their meeting, but our introductions quickly turned into an in-depth conversation about their practices. I’ve summarized the conversation in question and answer format as follows:

In general, how does your PLC work?
Every Monday, we check in to plan monthly units and discuss what is and is not working in our lessons. Outside of this time, we spend a day or two each summer aligning our instruction, we align 80-90% of our lessons. We divide up the curriculum and each of us creates lessons and resources to share.

What assessments do you use?
We create tests broken down by standard. After we give the tests, we review as necessary and the students can redo the exams. Our tests combine written essays and multiple choice questions. We focus on in-depth learning instead of simply covering topics. We use Socrative as a formative assessment tool; the students are not graded on these quizzes. In AP US History, we have refined our assessments so that almost all students who earn an A in our class also earn a five on the AP exam. In Global Studies, portfolios are used more than traditional tests.

Are there other differences between the two classes?
Global Studies focuses on skills that the students will need to draw upon in future courses as they continue to transition into high school. During the first semester, we focus on teaching skills which the students are asked to apply during the second semester. We support mastery by allowing redos.

It is a frustrating reality that the upper 40% of our student body is enrolled in AP and Honors courses. It feels like students are being tracked, especially since this divide is often determined by students’ required math courses. When possible, we help students move up to AP.

The AP US students seem to complete work quickly and the Global Studies students tend to submit work that is just good enough.

How do you use data in your PLC meetings?
In AP US, we examine the essay and multiple choice questions on tests. We also review standardized test scores from the AP US History Exam and use rubrics for projects. After each test, we record changes we should make to next year’s unit and the test itself (when possible). We also discuss ways to address common student misconceptions in the next unit. We intentionally ask ourselves, “Did they miss this because of us?”

We also share our data with the students. We try to do so in a timely manner to prevent setting them up for failure. We want to help them to develop an honest awareness of what they do well and what they need to improve. One of our goals for this year is to set aside time after tests to have students write reflection on their learning.

What are the benefits of your PLC work?
We are both still working hard, but we are less stressed. Dividing the workload of creating lessons gives us more time to provide students with meaningful feedback by decreasing more tedious tasks, such as creating screencasts and typing directions. The screencasts have been a huge help, because they allow us to spend more one-on-one time with the students during class and spend less time repeating ourselves. Also, working together provides more perspective. Even if we do not have a problem next year, we may encounter it next year but we will be prepared because we learn by listening to the experiences of others.

What changes to your instruction are you implementing this year as a result of your PLC work?
We are focusing on badging in Global Studies and took away homework in both classes. Instead, we are having conversations with students about their learning and how reading outside of class supports learning. We are also beginning to explore working with teachers in the English and science departments to develop cross-curricular units. Since our students have now each been assigned a Chromebooks to use all day and take home, this type of collaboration is becoming a easier.

Seven Stages of Teacher Collaboration
As a result of hard work over more than five years of collaboration, the PLC I observed demonstrates mastery of all of the Seven Stages of Teacher Collaboration )). The men function more as co-teachers than just collaborators. THey spend at least an entire day working together before school starts to map their units. THey reflect on what worked and what did not work during the previous school year, paying close attention to their students’ scores on the AP US History Exam. Then, they worth together to schedule units, while discussing potential improvements. Before each unit, they meet to plan lessons, build or refine assessments, and create a pacing plan. This planning focuses on ___‘s Stage Three of Teacher Collaboration; these teachers excel at answering the question, “How do we lighten the load for each other?” Instead of simply sharing resources, they divide the lessons and each take responsibility to create and share lessons.

As they teach, they informally communicate on a daily basis to share what is and is not working, especially if one teaches a lesson ahead of the other. They use formative assessments to address learners’ needs in each classroom and use the same summative assessments. After assessments are given, they meet to discuss the results and create plans to address students’ needs during the upcoming unit. This cycle of constant reflection and improvement continues into the next school year. This PLC regularly performs at the Seventh State of Teacher Collaboration because they regularly reflect on instruction.

The performance of this PLC is the result of years of successful collaboration. The teachers have taken ownership of their learning and their efforts extend beyond hourly weekly PLC meetings. As a result, many of their AP US History students regularly pass the exam and many of their Global Studies students are prepared for their next year of high school.

Teacher Inquiry and Knowledge Building Cycle
During my conversation with this PLC, I did not directly ask about professional learning, but our conversation revealed their development of professional knowledge and skills. The teachers’ practices reflect current methods valued by many teachers in the edtech community. They participate in this community through the personal learning networks and conference attendance. It seems that their most significant change has been in the area of pedagogy Since the AP exam determines their course learning goals and assessments types, they instead focus on their instruction.

Since the educators stated that they analyze classroom and standardized assessment data to inform their instruction, it is evident that they answer the first of Timperley Teacher Inquiry and Knowledge Building Cycle, “What knowledge and skills do our students need?” ().

As they spoke they repeatedly expressed a shared value of providing students with meaningful feedback. I infer that this was collectively identified at some point as they answered, “What knowledge and skills do we as professionals need to meet the needs of our students? (Timperley, ). To address this need, they were able to “refine professional skills” by learning how to utilize screenrecording tools as a method of delivering content. They reported that instead of lecturing, they record screencasts for the students to independently view during class, which frees them to engage in individual conversations with students. The screencasts also allow students, especially those with learning disabilities, to focus on the content and rewatch it as needed. As as result of this, they are able to “Engage students in new learning experiences” in a classroom that follows an in-class flipped learning environment. This work has led them to refelt as they answer the question, “What has been the impact of our changed actions on outcomes we alue for students?” (Timperley, 00). The teachers said that the screencasts have lead to an increase in students’ taking ownership of their

learning.

Currently, they are working to extend this sense of ownership by giving students ungraded nightly reading assignments that are not graded in place of nightly graded homework assignments. They hope that this practice will be reinforced through conversations and students’ post-assessment reflections. As a result of the efforts of this PLC, their students are learning academic content and skills that will continue beyond their history classes.