3.++How+do+PLCs+compare+to+traditional+professional+development?

﻿ Professional Learning Communities vs. Traditional Professional Development


**//"An ongoing institute for people engaged in restructuring [education] would provide a major resource base for those who are striving to articulate reform initiatives. Professional learning communities are designed to be forums for teachers to voice their concerns, discuss their ideas, and work to improve student performance and learning in the classroom.” (Comparing Professional Development, 2010). //**

The above quotation illustrates one of the main points of Professional Learning Communities (PLC's)… That they are open forums and places where people attempt to improve and reform how teachers and schools educate students. This is not a new idea. People throughout the history of education have always looked for ways to improve student learning. The primary difference of PLC's is that they are a collaborative community of teachers who interact with each other and bounce ideas and results off of each other in an attempt to see what will help students learn the most. This helps teachers see how to adapt their instruction to the many unique and challenging situations that teachers face today.

[|The Academic Leadership Online Journal]states that a Professional Learning Community must have four essential attributes and they are: supportive and collaborative conditions, commitment to continuous improvement, results orientation, and a shared mission, vision and goals. When taking a step back, these are not new ideas or thoughts. Teachers have been attempting to use these philosophies for decades to improve student learning. The difference now is the formal infrastructure through which these guidelines are being implemented into PLC's (Comparing Professional Development, 2010). . Traditionally, professional development in schools has been characterized by a conference or a speaker coming into schools and lecturing teachers on how to better educate their students. However, the contradiction in this process is that they are telling teachers to not teach how the Professional development sessions are taught. Essentially, do what I say, not what I do. PLC's have gone away from the conference speaker program and done away with professional development lecturers for teachers and implemented a more group, constructivist dynamic type of continuous learning. Teachers need to learn themselves how to better teach their students and the best way for teachers to learn new methods and ideas is through collaborative group work with peer teachers. This type of collaboration enables teachers to discuss ideas and philosophies that either improve student learning or do not.

When looking at the four attributes that the Academic Leadership Journal layed out for PLC's, one can see how they are trying to break away from the traditional lecture method and instead are attempting to introduce a more constructivist, group discussion atmosphere in order to improve teacher and student learning. PLC's attempt to provide an open, supportive and collaborative environment where teachers feel confident expressing their ideas, concerns, and methodologies. While discussing what methods worked and which did not teachers are getting feedback and ideas from their peers in a respectable manner. This differs greatly from traditional Professional Development where it is primarily a convergent discussion with one lecturer telling teachers how to do their job. The problem with this method is that there is no give and take discussion.

According to the Academic Online Journal (2010) a professional learning community also differs from traditional professional development initiatives in its intentional response to data. The focus of a PLC is not on intention, but on data. Essentially, teachers use empirical evidence and experience to describe if certain methods worked or not, and they describe how and why they did not work and what could be done to improve student learning in the future. The feedback of fellow teachers on how to improve results of student learning is an essential aspect to the PLC's attempt at improving student and teacher learning.

One of the main ideas of PLC's is teachers are essentially students too and if we as a society want to better educate our students, then teachers need to be constantly learning new ways and adapting their teaching style to best fit the learning styles of the student. It is the recognition that teachers can best improve their methods not be listening to a lecture and taking notes, but by engaging in a collaborative discussion with other teachers and professionals in order to improve their teaching styles through an inquiry process with the desired goal of improving student learning. By listening to other teachers discuss their successes and failures, teachers are more able to see what works with students and how those students respond to certain activities, technologies and assignments. This enables teachers to better adapt their own curriculum. PLC's are an integral part of the modern school. Teachers need to feel the sense of comfort from being in a collaborative discussion with their peers. PLC’s eliminate teacher isolation and make sure that the best ideas and methods are shared and spread. Teachers want their students to learn and PLC's provide a way to make that happen.