Professional Learning Communities at Work®

In this two-day symposium, authors Jacqueline Heller and Paula Maeker will lead K-6 educators through a process using their T.E.A.M.S framework that makes high levels of learning for all literacy scholars not only possible, but probable and practical.

It has been said that isolation is the enemy of improvement, and yet singleton teachers are too often left alone. Singleton teachers are the only ones at a school who teach a specific course or subject—like a music or art teacher or the only physics teacher—and these teachers often ask how they can effectively participate on a collaborative team at a PLC school (e.g., teachers who teach the same course or subject). Additionally, leaders frequently ask what they should be doing to guide and support these outstanding educators.

It has been said that isolation is the enemy of improvement, and yet singleton teachers are too often left alone. Singleton teachers are the only ones at a school who teach a specific course or subject—like a music or art teacher or the only physics teacher—and these teachers often ask how they can effectively participate on a collaborative team at a PLC school (e.g., teachers who teach the same course or subject). Additionally, leaders frequently ask what they should be doing to guide and support these outstanding educators.

It has been said that isolation is the enemy of improvement, and yet singleton teachers are too often left alone. Singleton teachers are the only ones at a school who teach a specific course or subject—like a music or art teacher or the only physics teacher—and these teachers often ask how they can effectively participate on a collaborative team at a PLC school (e.g., teachers who teach the same course or subject). Additionally, leaders frequently ask what they should be doing to guide and support these outstanding educators.

Maria Nielsen helps teams see the big picture of a PLC and put it all together in a recurring cycle of collective inquiry. The 15-day challenge is a practical way to bring the PLC process to life.

It has been said that isolation is the enemy of improvement, and yet singleton teachers are too often left alone. Singleton teachers are the only ones at a school who teach a specific course or subject—like a music or art teacher or the only physics teacher—and these teachers often ask how they can effectively participate on a collaborative team at a PLC school (e.g., teachers who teach the same course or subject). Additionally, leaders frequently ask what they should be doing to guide and support these outstanding educators.

The impact of Covid-19 will have a long-lasting effect on every facet of our society. Very few institutions were more disrupted than schools. The pandemic affected staffing, funding, morale, and the continuity of student learning. Participants explore the history of the field of education and examine why the tenants of the PLC at Work process were important before the global pandemic and why they are even more important after the pandemic. This is not the time to back away from the PLC at Work process; this is the time to reinforce its foundation.