Teacher Groups Improve Schools for Students

PLC—to most of us it would be just another acronym. But if you’re a teacher in the , those three letters account for among the most important parts of the week.

PLC stands for professional learning community. It happens when groups of teachers gather together to collaborate on ways to make the school a better place.

The became a PLC lab school under a grant from the New Jersey Department of Education in August 2009. Since then, the school has made the most of the PLC format, gathering groups of teachers to work on every subject in the school.

“The first year, PLC groups were put together with teachers from different subject areas,” said middle school principal Jeanne Howe. “During the second year, the teachers asked if they could be with other teachers in the same subject area, because they felt they could get more productive work done.”

Now the PLCs are set up in that way, so that teachers in like disciplines can get together and work on ways to improve the classroom. Several of the teachers in the groups filmed a video that was submitted to the New Jersey Department of Education.

This year, the science PLC is working on a concept called the “flipped classroom.” Rather than teach a concept and then give homework on it, teachers will assign a video presentation or chapter as a homework assignment on a new topic, then discuss it in class the next day.

“This allows teachers to find out exactly how much students already know about the topic,” Howe said. “Then they can better decide how much time to spend on the topic in class. Students are enjoying it so far as well.”

The language arts PLC is working on improving writing among the students.

“The teachers are working on the writing skills in different clusters, coming up with ways to improve student scores,” Howe said. “They want to try and have the students work together. For example, some might be better at persuasive writing, and they could help those who are weaker in that area.”

Not only do content areas have a PLC, but so does the school’s character education program.

The middle school has long lived by what it calls the pillars of character, which include caring, citizenship, respect, fairness, responsibility and trustworthiness. A PLC has been put together to work on making the school climate better for all students and staff.

“That group has devised and distributed a questionnaire that all the students took that gauged the climate in the school,” Howe said. “They also do pep rallies for important events like the beginning of the NJASK.”

Each week, Patch will take a look at a different school in the district to find out what the PLCs groups in that school are taking on.