This paper examines how a reading leader can guide elementary school teachers through an inquiry-oriented professional learning community (PLC) to strengthen students' motivation to read. Drawing on the five sub-questions posed by Yendol-Hoppey and Dana (2010), the paper evaluates the comfort level, cultural readiness, time constraints, resource requirements, and data collection strategies relevant to implementing a formal PLC in a Midwestern elementary school. The school has already used informal PLCs through social media and enjoys administrative support for expanded initiatives. The paper identifies key challenges—including time demands, technology readiness, and the need for ongoing administrator backing—while proposing practical solutions to help reading teachers effectively motivate young learners.
The paper demonstrates applied literature review: rather than simply summarizing sources, it uses each citation to answer a specific contextual question about a real school setting. This technique — matching scholarly evidence to a defined local problem — is characteristic of practitioner-oriented graduate writing in education leadership.
The paper opens with a brief introduction establishing the importance of reading and the paper's purpose. It then works through five thematic sections organized around diagnostic questions: comfort level, cultural readiness, time, resources, and data collection. Each section integrates at least two scholarly citations before connecting findings to the school in question. A concise conclusion synthesizes key takeaways without introducing new material. The table in the resources section effectively organizes practical implementation details.
Today, reading ability is widely recognized as a critical part of the skill set needed to succeed academically and professionally, and helping young people become better readers therefore represents a valuable and important enterprise. To this end, this paper reviews the relevant literature — including the five sub-questions posed by Yendol-Hoppey and Dana (2010, pp. 100–102) — to determine how a reading leader can guide teachers of reading in an inquiry-oriented professional learning community (PLC) that will serve to strengthen the motivation to read among elementary school students in a Midwestern school district. A summary of the research and important findings concerning the application of PLCs for these purposes is presented in the conclusion.
The term professional learning community (or PLC) typically refers to a variety of educational groups that collaborate informally or formally on a periodic basis in order to achieve educational goals, such as motivating young people to read more (Teague & Anfara, 2012). To date, although no formal PLCs have been established at the elementary school in question, there have been efforts to create informal PLCs using social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter. These efforts are consistent with research confirming that PLCs can be comprised of multidisciplinary group members and can be used across a wide range of educational settings and subject areas beyond reading (Teague & Anfara, 2013). In this regard, Teague and Anfara (2013) advise that "growing numbers of schools have implemented professional learning communities as a method for bringing about sustainable change. Schools use professional learning communities to increase the capacity to transform and improve" (p. 58).
While no formal PLCs have been implemented or proposed, the existing use of informal PLCs suggests that there is an adequate comfort level at the school to apply these methods to help reading teachers motivate their students. To achieve the full range of benefits that formal PLCs can provide, however, some reading teachers may require supplemental professional development. As Khalid and Joyes (2013) point out, "It is important that teachers be prepared professionally so as to be able to effectively do their jobs. This can be achieved through the process of professional development, which is centrally important in maintaining and enhancing the quality of teaching and learning in schools" (p. 103).
The extent to which a formal PLC relies on an online platform for collaboration will determine the extent to which PLC members must possess adequate information technology skills (George, 2009). Despite this need, there remains a lack of information concerning the actual readiness of teachers at this elementary school to actively participate in a PLC designed to motivate young people to read more; steps will need to be taken to determine these levels through educator surveys and interviews (Khalid & Joyes, 2013).
Fortunately, reading scores at the elementary school in question are in line with or exceed state and national averages, which suggests that teachers are already using effective strategies to encourage students' motivation to read. These academic achievements will clearly facilitate the implementation and administration of a PLC targeted at helping reading teachers motivate their students even further, particularly during non-school periods of time. In addition, the school's administration fully supports the implementation of an inquiry-based PLC, provided it is accomplished in a cost-effective fashion that does not require substantial funding from an already stretched school district budget. Even highly formalized inquiry-oriented PLCs can be created and administered cost-effectively. As Thessin and Starr (2011) emphasize, "In the face of increased accountability and districts' desires to improve educator effectiveness, many school systems are implementing professional learning communities to support teachers in collectively using assessment data and student work to identify instructional strategies to meet students' learning needs" (p. 49).
Notwithstanding these positive factors, there are challenges involved in PLC initiatives that must be addressed from the outset to avoid wasted time or misdirected efforts. By definition, the findings that emerge from action research are intended to be used to effect meaningful change in an organization (Neuman, 2011), so the school must be prepared to act on the findings an inquiry-oriented PLC develops with respect to improving reading motivation. Some educators may also be reluctant to actively participate in a PLC because of the additional time required, as well as the accountability it places on individual teachers to participate and produce positive results. As Yendol-Hoppey and Dana (2010) point out, "In many ways, PLCs place the onus of the responsibility for professional learning on those closest to the students — teachers and administrators. With this responsibility also comes accountability" (p. 123).
As noted above, the elementary school has already used informal PLCs for other purposes, including developing physical fitness programs and sporting activities to address childhood obesity and improve standardized test scores. The school's administration has expressed support for comparable initiatives, setting the stage to implement a formal PLC to help reading teachers motivate their students. Teachers participating in inquiry-oriented PLCs must be prepared to collect and analyze data on an ongoing basis, rather than treating data collection as a static, culminating activity (Yendol-Hoppey & Dana, 2010). There is also an overarching need to "develop collegial relationships, encourage reflective practice, and rethink leadership in restructuring schools" within the PLC format (Yendol-Hoppey & Dana, 2010, p. 8). As Yendol-Hoppey and Dana (2010) further emphasize, "Although the first two Cs of sharing (celebration and community) work together during sharing sessions to help teachers feel good about their learning, collegial conversations are critical to making a PLC's sharing sessions a successful learning experience for all" (p. 143).
It will also be vitally important to encourage participating reading teachers to develop timely and informed answers to the questions posed by Applegate and Applegate (2010):
1. Would the inclination to respond thoughtfully to narrative text be related to the overall motivation, the value ascribed to reading, and the reading self-efficacy of elementary school children?
2. Would motivation thus assessed be systematically related to gender and the inclination to respond thoughtfully to text?
3. Would the value ascribed to reading decrease in relation to grade level and the inclination to respond thoughtfully to text? (p. 227).
Leading teachers of reading who are participating in an inquiry-oriented PLC to ask similar or additional questions about students' motivation to read — based on the diverse learning needs of students in the elementary school — will require an individualized approach to analyzing reading levels and needs. This approach must identify strengths that can be built upon and weaknesses that require supplementary assistance. This level of participation requires significant investments of individual teacher time and effort, and some educators may be reluctant to make this commitment given their already demanding schedules (Thessin & Starr, 2011). Furthermore, the actual or even perceived withdrawal of top administrator support for PLC initiatives can doom them from the outset (Thessin & Starr, 2011).
The research showed that professional learning communities are being increasingly used in the nation's schools to facilitate improvements in learning and to promote school environments conducive to the learning process. Because reading ability is the foundation of academic success, PLCs can play a major role in motivating young people to improve their reading abilities, provided that the challenges and obstacles to success are taken into account and steps are taken to mitigate them to the maximum extent possible. One of the overarching obstacles to PLC success is a lack of support from school administrators, which was consistently identified as an integral part of any successful educational PLC initiative.
Applegate, A. J. & Applegate, M. D. (2010). A study of thoughtful literacy and the motivation to read. The Reading Teacher, 64(4), 226–234.
George, M. (2009, December). Online-learning communities: The next generation of professional development. Multimedia & Internet@Schools, 14(6), 14–19.
Khalid, F. & Joyes, G. (2013, November). Teachers' involvement in communities of practice: An implication with regard to the current approach of teachers' professional development in Malaysia. Asian Social Science, 9(16), 102–105.
Neuman, W. L. (2011). Social research methods: Qualitative and quantitative approaches (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Robin, J. (2014). A handbook for professional learning: Research, resources and strategies for implementation. New York: Office of Curriculum, Instruction and Professional Development.
Teague, G. M. & Anfara, V. A. (2012, November). Professional learning communities create sustainable change through collaboration. Middle School Journal, 44(2), 58–63.
Thessin, R. A. & Starr, J. P. (2011, March). Supporting the growth of effective professional learning communities districtwide: Teachers do not magically know how to work with colleagues; districts must support and lead that work if PLCs are to live up to their potential. Phi Delta Kappan, 92(6), 48–51.
Yendol-Hoppey, D. & Dana, N. F. (2010). Powerful professional development. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
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