CLC: Collaborative Learning Communities

Rebecca Barnes, Randalle Woods, Winfield Harris,

Rosalind Barba, Sebrina Smellie, and Rosemary Cuevas
Grand Canyon University
EAD 523 Developing Professional Capacity
Dr. Jacquita Vickers
May 3, 2023
Icebreaker- “Elevator Speech”
The objective is to introduce your partner to
the group, by follow these steps:
1. First, find a partner to introduce.
2. Then, prepare a 30-second "Elevator
Speech" which should include their name,
work experience, their role at the school,
something they're excited about, their hobbies
or interests, pet peeves, and something unique
about them.
3. Finally, deliver your elevator speech to the
group to introduce your chosen partner.
 Definition of PLCs
• A professional learning community
(PLC) is a continuous improvement
process that enables educators to
collaborate in a culture that promotes
recurring cycles of collective inquiry and
action research (Miller, 2020). The aim is
to achieve better outcomes for the
students they serve.
 The Value of PLC’s for Teachers and
Students

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUUVahqkIj4
• You have index cards in front of you
which can be used to jot down notes,
questions or anything that you learned
from the video.
 Mission Statement

• Fostering a harmonious relationship

among PLC teams is critical for
cultivating genuine dialogues and open
inquiry. This approach is the key to
achieving academic excellence for all
students.
 Overall Goal of PLC’s

• Allow educators opportunities to improve

teaching and learning
• PLCs build stronger relationships
between team members
• PLCs help teachers stay on top of new
research and emerging technology tools
for the classroom
• PLCs help teachers reflect on ideas
 Measurable Outcomes

• Dependable Baseline Data

o Goal: Student Achievement

• Measurable Learning Objectives

o Time Frame what the student will learn
 Measurable Outcomes Continued
● Frequent Formative Evaluation
o Assessments, observations, feedback
● Targeted Instructional
o Interventions, regrouping
“The powerful collaboration that
characterizes professional learning
communities is a systematic process in which
teachers work together to analyze and
improve their classroom practice. Teachers
work in teams, engaging in an ongoing cycle
of questions that promote deep team learning.
This process, in turn, leads to higher levels of
student achievement DuFour, R. (2004).”
 Overall Structure of a PLC
• The school is the PLC
• Each collaborative team is the
professional learning community
• Collaborative teams made up of:
• Same grade level
• Same content
• “Islands” meet with the same “island”
from other schools
Member Roles for PLC’s

• Facilitator
• Recorder
• Timekeeper
• Reporter
 Member Expectations for PLC’s

• Start and end on time

• Actively listen, do not interrupt
• Everyone participates
• Decisions made based on consensus
• Always do what is best for students

Induction/Returning
Teachers orientation -
Collaboration expectation
(August)
Timeline
Initial Meeting of PLC-
Curriculum and PLC Meetings during the
instructional delivery school year - Small groups,
(September) differentiation, enrichment

Last PLC - Assess, Celebrate

Success, Plan (May-June)
 Evaluation of PLC Outcomes
(Evaluations will be personalized based on the content being presented)
1. Teachers will complete a survey at the end of the PLC, one question being how educators will
apply the new technique to their daily schedule or routine.
2. Outcomes will be evaluated by analyzing the Depths of Knowledge while taking all factors into
considerations:
a. There will be data before applying the strategy, and then after applying the strategy
finally reviewing the data if there is a positive increase on the data the strategy was
effective
3. The educational leader and administration will be creating schedules to observe educators
conducting the new strategy
4. The educational leader and administrator will evaluate if the educators need extra aid in
mastering, applying, or modifying the technique
5. In following professional development innovative ideas and strategies will be presented to
modify the strategy (new strategies learned from professional developments from the district
office or from observing other educators personalize the strategy to fit their classroom needs)
 Evaluation

1) Educators will have the options of taking the

survey:
a) Electronically
b) Written form
2) Surveys will be the first form of evaluation
3) Surveys will empower educators and hold
them accountable
 References
DuFour, R. (2004). What is “professional learning community”? Educational Leadership, 61(8), 6.
Heath, L. R. (2017). 4 ways to build effective plcs. RSS. Retrieved from
https://www.activelylearn.com/post/build-effective-plcs

Miller, A. (2020, January 4). Creating effective professional l learning communities. Edutopia. Retrieved
from https://www.edutopia.org/article/creating-effective-professional-learning-communities/
Service, J (2017 May, 13) 4 Benefits of an Active Professional Learning Community, Retrieved from
https://www.iste.org/explore/professional-development/4-benefits-action-professional-learning-commu
nity#:~:text=PLCs%20allow%20educators%20opportunities%20to,learning%20and%20drive%20stude
nt%20achievement
.
Witherington. (2012). Leading Professional Learning Communities Toward Efficacy. Administrative
Issues Journal. Retrieved from:
https://dc.swosu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1204&context=aij#:~:text=The%20school%20admini
strator%20must%20ultimately,must%20change%20to%20become%20efficacious