Professional Learning Communities

A Professional Learning Community or PLC is a shared vision or running schools in which everyone makes a contribution, where teachers work,learn  and reflect together together with the focused purpose of improving student learning.

According to Richard Dufour, there are three KEY elements of an authentic PLC.

1. Ensuring That Students Learn
2. A Culture of Collaboration
3. A Focus on Results

This professional development program will push science and language teachers across all 8 participating schools to focus on student LEARNING. Through our 6 day workshops, we will work together to develop a basic theoretical understanding of how children learn and why it is important to focus on LEARNING rather than teaching. The  assumption is that if we understand how children learn, then we can be more intentional about how we teach. These workshops will also provide practical strategies, so that teachers feel equipped to teach for understanding. 

As teachers go back to their schools across India, they will be held accountable for putting their new learnings into practice (by their leaders). While this blog may not become a true collaborative space, it can still be used as a platform to share snapshots of their journey with other participants who are on the same path. Sharing success stories can motivate, sharing our vulnerabilities can create empathy, sharing reflections can promote learning and a public platform like this one can turn into a useful tool for asking questions, posting assessments, lesson plans and other resources, and becoming an active member of a growing PLC.

I will end by quoting Dufour directly:
"Even the grandest design eventually translates into hard work....When educators do the hard work necessary, their collective ability to help all students learn will rise. If they fail to demonstrate the discipline to initiate and sustain this work, then their school is unlikely to become more effective, even if those within it claim to be a professional learning community. The rise or fall of the professional learning community concept depends not on the merits of the concept itself, but on the most important element in the improvement of any school—the commitment and persistence of the educators within it."