I have been a part of the PLC book study group and I must say that I am enjoying it immensely. It is so interesting to read about what a PLC is supposed to be doing and compare it to what we are doing. I'm already trying as a PLC leader to implement some of the suggestions (like sharing positives at the beginnings of meetings and having a day to sort unit activities into keep, create, or toss categoreis) into my meetings. I am happy to see that the book is focusing on tangible suggestions rather than just talking philiosophically. I am hoping that next year I can start to shape the PLC into more of a action research based meeting rather than a curriculum writing meeting. But as we talk about constantly in our book studies, that means time to write curriculum outside of PLC. This is an interesting topic to struggle with and I am happy that we are getting the opportunity to think through the process of creating the PLC rather than simply being told what to do.
Is anyone else in a book study group? How is it going? What are you learning? What concepts do you struggle with?
I'm doing the grading book study (repair kit for grading) and its been very interesting so far. I've already implemented changes to my grading policy since we've been reading the book. The book gives lots of examples that other schools and teachers use.
ReplyDeleteThe thing I'm struggling with is how do I apply standards based grading to my class? I want students to simply show me what they know. But I feel constrained by the report card. One letter does not indicate the ability and knowledge of my students.
I am also in the PLC book study and am finding the book very enlightening. It is very interesting to read about things that we are doing well in our PLC's and things that still need alot of work.
ReplyDeleteAs I have been reading through it, it really excites me to think about how groups will be run next year and all of the possibilities a PLC can have. I am hoping that we can implement some of the really great things that this book has to offer.
It makes me wonder if people would have different attitudes towards our PLC meeting time if we did.
Thanks for the post about the PLC book. I too am reading the PLC book and it has been enlightening to look at a how-to of how PLCs are supposed to work. I guess I think of it as a process in each institution--and we are in more of a beginning phase of the process of making these meetings work like a PLC. I think the next step is to have more clear guidelines of what we PLC groups are to focus on--and I think that will come after the building changes. We are all such a great staff--and the 7th grade English PLC is full of creative minds--I'm sure we will work to make this a more vital PLC.
ReplyDeleteI think the key is that we can't do everything--if our most immediate need is taking care of the curriculum--that's going to block out anything else that we are going to need to accomplish--it's like looking at the teaching version of Maslow's needs--we first need to have something clear to teach before we can go deeper into teaching methods and analysis. The ideal would be doing some action research--and that would also be really motivating and exciting!
Thanks again for the post--I think we need to keep asking these questions about PLCs in order to make them better!