Key questions that unleash powerful PLCs

Key points:

What is the next generation of the Professional Learning Community (PLC) that will increase the power of collaboration to inspire a more effective teaching? During our decades of education in education, we have studied PLC and written On how they have worked in the past and how they can work better in the future.

Because the PLCs are prior to national and state standards, the teams used to spend a lot of time ask and answer the question: “What do we want students to learn?” This led to a lack of clarity and continuity among the teachers: Doug had a world history teacher who was obsessed with China, so he and his class learned everything about China, while students in other world history classes learned something completely different.

With today's clear academic standards, PLCs no longer need to spend a precious time deciding what to teach. Instead, they can focus on other questions, starting with “Where are we going on students' learning trips?”

Collective effervescence building

The final objective of the next generation PLC (or what we call “PLC+”) is to achieve a state of “collective effervescence”, a sizzling and joy that gives a rhythm to the work that teachers do together. Collective effervescence inspires everyone to come to prepared meetings and creates emotion and commitment that goes beyond the meeting time, so that a teacher notices an effective practice in the classroom and will tell a colleague: “I saw this and I thought about you!” But this does not happen by accident. It requires intentional structure and leadership.

In our work with schools throughout the country, we have identified several key elements that create this transformative environment:

1. Structured protocols that guide different types of professional conversations
2. The presence of one or more activators: teachers or coaches who have been trained to guide and support discussions
3. Recursive practices that allow teams to visit and refine their approaches

Changing the deficit to force based on force

With adequate people and practices, the next challenge is to avoid the tendency to “admire the problem.” Instead, we advocate an approach based on force based on three essential questions:

• What can students do now?
• What can they do with educational support?
• What can they do eventually?

To illustrate this change, consider introducing argumentative writing to sixth grade students. A deficit approach could begin with the idea that “these children know nothing about argumentative writing because they have not been taught.” On the contrary, a strength -based approach asks: “What argumentative skills do students already have and how can we build on them?”

Make truly productive PLC time

Having time spent for PLCs is common in schools today, but logistics management is not the same as promoting genuine collaboration. It is easy to assume that, because educators have strong social skills, they will naturally work well as a team. However, our research shows that successful collaboration requires more structured support. We recommend starting with these key elements:

• Clear protocols for different types of professional discussions
• Designated roles within each meeting
• Specific success criteria for collaborative work
• Regular reflection on the dynamics of the team and progress
• Documentation systems that capture learning and the next steps

A particularly effective practice that we have implemented is to learn walks, where teachers are observed the classrooms of others. These begin with structured protocols for respectful and productive observation, but the equipment can modify the process as they feel more comfortable, making it authentic for context. For example, a school with which we worked created a digital feedback form that aligned with its instructional approach, which allows observers to provide specific and processable comments while maintaining an environment of support and growth oriented.

CREATION OF CLARITY OF THE MASTER

The next -generation successful PLCs not only create collective effervescence; They lead to Master's clarity. If PLC+ is the process or how, the clarity of the teacher is the content or what. This connection guarantees that collaboration efforts are directly translated to improve instruction in the classroom and the results of the students when the teams develop and refine:

• Clear learning intentions that students can understand and internalize
• Success criteria that make learning visible and attainable
• Formative evaluation strategies that report instruction
• Interventions directed based on the needs of students
• Shared language around learning goals and expectations

These elements, when developing through the collaborative PLC work, create a more coherent and effective learning environment in the classrooms.

Building and maintaining a productive PLC requires more than simply putting teachers in a room and waiting for the best. As we often say, hope is not a plan. Teachers need structured processes and the right questions to inspire actions that lead to meaningful learning for them and their students. When the PLCs have established processes to guide them to keep them asking the right questions, teachers, administrators and the greatest importance of all students benefits.