Life Skills as a Professional Learning Community
Suppose you were asked to be a part of a group whose primary task was TO LEARN FROM EACH OTHER such that you not only became better teachers, but were able to show demonstrable increases in student performance in the classes you teach? Suppose for once, your task wasn’t to attend a meeting that drones on and on with no end or gain in sight, but instead you left with new ideas and tools in hand and the task of returning to the group later to share the actual results of the ideas/tools? Suppose for just a minute that for once you were a part of a group that asked the questions, “are the students learning, how do we know, and what are we going to do about it if they are not?” I know; such a group would be nothing less than radical.
The reason I’m raising such a scenario is that MPS is, and has for some time, been promoting the idea of teachers forming “Professional Learning Communities” (henceforth known as a PLC) as a primary Staff Development and student achievement strategy. PLC’s are teacher-teams and are, at their best, “embedded” within the structures, schedule, and calendar of the school. As an example, a team may meet during the 2nd half of a Late Start day to pursue its goals/objectives. Another, even better example of “embeddedness” would be a team that has a common prep time that allows the team to meet on a regular basis.
How does this apply to Life Skills in Minneapolis? Quite naturally, we have the most in common as it relates to our students, our curriculum, and the desired outcomes for students. We have spent several years working on common course descriptions, and begun discussions this year on sharing “resources” with each other. So where are we? We know what we want the students to learn. Do we know IF they are learning? If so, how? What are teachers using to measure progress? What would we do if such tools for measuring progress showed the students are not making progress?
Will we rise to the level of becoming a Professional Learning Community with other Life Skill teachers at our own school or on a district level? There are no clear answers as of yet. The answers depend on the kinds of commitments we get from administrators as well as our own personal commitments to such a process. In the meantime, I hope you’ll give some thought as to whether or not you’d make the commitment to explore this more thoroughly in the fall.
Click on this link if you want to read more about Professional Learning Communities.
