Overview of Professional Learning Community for Region 5 of the Archdiocese of St. Louis

1. Region 5 Connects
Let’s make this
work for you!

2. What a PLC is and is not
• PLC Teams DO meet regularly
• They DO discuss a common question, an
actual learning situation, artifact, issue, or
professional reading
• Such discussions ARE facilitated (protocols) so
that the group stays on topic in a timely
manner, and that everyone has an
opportunity to be heard
• Participants DO reflect and make an action
plan.

3. What a PLC is and is not
• Participants DO work between meetings to
implement goals and track progress
• The work IS relative to STUDENT centered
outcomes – increased student achievement
and motivation – Solution Focused
• Evidence IS collected to gauge progress
• The group DOES form a network of learning
and support for one another

4. A PLC is NOT
• A workshop or presenter – Just tell me what
to do
• A book discussion group- Just give me a book
to read
• Sharing new ideas – Use the Internet for that
• Just talk, talk, talk, talk, talk
• A complaint session about how hard teaching
is or how difficult students or parents are
(That’s called Happy Hour or Therapy)

5. Time to Celebrate!!!
• What changes did you notice in your teaching
practices as a result of your PLC work?
• What changes did you notice in the
performance of your students that you
attribute to your PLC work?
• Did you get any feedback from your students
about the changes that you made?
• How do you plan to continue your growth?

6. Did you . . . .
• Visit each other’s classrooms?
• Each bring something to share?
• Share “How do you do . . . ?”
• Share “What do you do for (Field Day)?”
• Do On-line or virtual meets in addition to the
scheduled meetings?

7. Celebrate Growth
• What are your thoughts about this type of
professional growth model?
• What did you like?
• What was not helpful?
• What would you suggest to make the
experience more effective?

8. Survey Outcomes
• Years Experience:
– 22% 3 years
– 57% 2 years
– 21% 1 year
• Meetings Attended This Year
– 42% More than 4
– 25% 4 Meetings
– 23% 3 Meetings
– 11% 2 Meetings

9. Survey Outcomes: Changes in YOUR
Classroom Practice (emergent themes)
• New/motivating ideas/resources/lessons (22)
• None/Nothing (19)
• New ways to assess/assessment ideas (7)
• Increased use of technology (6)
• How to better implement Core Standards (3)
• Increased focus on student outcomes/response
rather than what I’m teaching (2)
• More Open Ended Questions (1)

10. Changes in STUDENT Outcomes
(emergent themes)
• None (22)
• Better attent/focus/partic/engagement (16)
• Better performance (12) (clearer goals, more
transparent to student, meeting needs)
• Happier/enthusiastic s’s (pride in work, see
relevance) (7)
• Increase in Higher level/Critical Thinking (4)
• Increased self-eval/accountability/ownership (3)
• Fewer classrm management issues (2)
• More communication = more positive outcomes

11. Suggestions for Improvement
• More shared
experiences/focus on “how”
rather than problem solving
or goal seeking, observe (9)
• My experience was
great/No changes (8)
• Too much extra work/no
readings/just share ideas (6)
• More tchrs of same subj. (4)
• We choose our own group
• Book study is better
• In-house better (4)
• Need all to contribute
positively and be
accountable (4)
• More guidance/direction (2)
• Didn’t follow protocol
– Changed/irrelevant topic
– Off topic
– No communication
• More frequentmtgs /Less
frequent mtgs
• More articles/less
paperwork

12. Celebrations
• Meeting/sharing
experience with
colleagues/comradery
(12)
• Contributing during
meetings/hosting
meetings (11)
• Meeting/collab. w/Great
people/colleagues (11)
• New strategies/info(4)
• Improvement as a tchr (3)
• Accomplishing my
goals/lrng/new res (3)
• Better know my s’s
progress (2)
• Better attitudes in grp,
motivated each other (2)
• Given time to improve as
a teacher
• Dia deLos Muertos

13. Future
Summer Contact Desired?
• 31% Yes
• 33% No
• 36% Maybe
Participate in Region PLC
2014-2015
• 40% Yes
• 21% No
• 39% Maybe

14. Info for Principals
• Appreciate the opportunity/being included/the
time/the efforts /Enjoyed it(13)
• Haven’t been helpful/waste of time (4)
• Time – too busy, needs to be on school-time (4)
• Good model but don’t meet often enough to
make it work (2)
• Modeling of (specific named) facilitators (2)
• Should be mandatory
• PLN vs PLC – This is perceived as forced

15. PLN Versus PLC
• Professional Learning Networks
• Asynchronous communication – Communicate
on your schedule rather than someone else’s)
• Pros and Cons
• Tool Demo:
– Twitter
– Edmodo

16. Dr. Debbie Fucoloro
• PLN’s
• Twitter

17. Share/Get Ideas & Resources

20. Book Studies

21. New Ideas for Current Topics

22. Tech Support that Matches Resources

23. Teaching in Same Setting

24. Asynchronous Learning – on my time

25. To be a game changer, we must join in