Professional development: my professional learning community

Lolo School is dedicated to the Professional Learning Community model. While not strictly a professional development opportunity, I can say that my participation in this went a long way in furthering my own professional development.

Our PLC's format was an hour-long meeting once a week, wherein we rotated roles of discussion leader, note taker, and time keeper. Each meeting began with a preview of what our plans for the following week were, including noting any assessments, to try to avoid having three or more major examinations on the same day. It also allowed us to keep abreast of all the work of our colleagues, sharing pedagogical techniques from different subject areas that may have had transferability to our own classrooms.

Most helpful to me were comments from the special education teacher, who was able to teach all of us about some of the learning peculiarities of the students we shared with her. Mid-semester we enrolled a new student with asperger syndrome, and the special educator was able to give a sort of informal workshop on how to make accommodations for this student. Some of these accommodations made such simple, common sense that we ended up implementing them in all our classes, such as being meticulous about informing students ahead of time exactly what we would be doing and when during a week and putting it in writing on the board.

On another occasion we had two guest speakers come in and talk about executive functioning disorders, which gave us all new insight on how some adolescent brains do and do not work with regard to organization. As with the more informal workshops, some of the suggestions revealed new ways to go about organizing our classrooms to make learning easier for all students, not only those with diagnosed executive functioning disorders.

But most of all, the part about our PLC that I valued most was the homeroom-by-homeroom check in on students who were struggling, be it academically or personally. We were able to track students over time, arrange parent meetings if necessary, and in two cases, get students outside professional help for worrisome behavior.

Part of what I liked about this is that it reflected the traditional middle school model, which is one where, unlike high school, the teachers ventured outside of our discrete subject areas to make sure we were meeting the needs of all students. Whatever the grade level, I hope to work in a district that is committed to the professional learning community model.