Journal entry week six

PLC

Personal Reflection

In what ways have your views on professional learning communities (PLC) changed throughout this course? In what ways has your comfort level in working with other changed since week one of the course? Have your areas of strength and need changed at all over the last six weeks? How so? Use one of the following options when responding to this journal:

A professional learning community is defined as a community in which "the teachers in a school and its administrators continuously seek and share learning and then act on what they learn. The goal of their actions is to enhance their effectiveness as professionals so that students benefit. This arrangement has also been termed communities of continuous inquiry and improvement" (PLC, 1997, SEDL: 1). To create such a PLC, a school must specifically set aside time so faculty members and instructors can get to know one another and establish bonds of trust.

At first, I feared that PLCs would be treated as something relatively formulaic. I thought they would resemble boring staff meetings where people talked a great deal but little relevant real work was accomplished. However, I was ultimately grateful for the space for reflection given to me through a PLC. It made me feel less alone when discussing my aspirations for my career and my concerns about the future. Learning communities can provide a valuable 'sounding board' and enable the participants to pool resources and experiences.

One of the difficulties of being an adult learner is that the learning process can feel very isolated. Teachers have only their own experiences to fall back upon. As a student teacher, once the initiation process ends, the teacher must present a model of competence for students, regardless of whether he or she feels like an authority. Even seasoned professionals may feel isolated, given that they cannot engage in dialogue with other instructors. The fostering of a PLC creates a common sense of unity, in which participants can communicate what works and what doesn't work. Teachers see their subject matter anew through the eyes of other teachers. PLCs also draw upon the input of other individuals with a stake in the learning process, including "state department personnel, intermediate service agency staff, district and campus administrators, teacher leaders, key parents and local school community members" (PLC, 1997, SEDL: 1). These relevant stakeholders can provide an alternative perspective while better understanding teachers' perspectives. PLCs enable teachers to talk about their experiences with members of the community and better enable the community to understand what life looks like from the perspective of the classroom.