PLC time
PLC time is a topic of interest in the district. There was a training last Friday (8/18) that generated some concerns. UTW Leadership communicated with downtown and met with them on Monday to discuss PLC time. The scheduled training on Tuesday (8/22) was revamped after what happened on Friday. The result was a training that did a good job of trying to explain PLC time. They attempted to clarify a new (to Wichita middle & elementary schools) and hard to define idea for the principals and teachers present. During the course of the training, a few items that were discussed should provide some relief to many of the apprehensions and concerns that have been expressed.
It was made clear that there should never be dictated agendas for PLC Teams. It should never be top-down. Shared decision making was used numerous times to describe the atmosphere PLC Teams should experience. It was also made clear that succesful PLC Teams will not be the same from building to building. There are still questions unanswered. It all seems a little fuzzy yet to many folks. True collaborative application takes a sincere effort to want to improve from all PLC Team members.
It was made clear that there should never be dictated agendas for PLC Teams. It should never be top-down. Shared decision making was used numerous times to describe the atmosphere PLC Teams should experience. It was also made clear that succesful PLC Teams will not be the same from building to building. There are still questions unanswered. It all seems a little fuzzy yet to many folks. True collaborative application takes a sincere effort to want to improve from all PLC Team members.
8 Comments:
It sounds as if some actual collaboration is taking place as far as the PLC issue goes. It would be a good thing if administration is willing to inform the teachers as to what they expect from PLC time as they also inform Instructional Facilitators. That way, everyone knows exactly what downtown expects rather than to have their directives filtered out under dozens of individual misinterpretations.
We only have to look back to the time of Superintendent Ron McIntire to recall that educating building administrators about an evaluative process while keeping building teachers in the dark was not a good way to go about implementing a new concept.
Side Note: There are other comments on this PLC topic posted under “First Post”. It appears that some may have been under the impression that the list of original topics may have been a string of comments and they added theirs at the end rather than to click on the “comments” link under a particular topic. That is the main reason that I am adding this first comment to the “PLC” topic – so that others might catch-on to that scenario. This Blog is very similar to that of The Wichita Eagle.
I am not opposed to the collaboration that will (hopefully) take place during PLC time on Wednesday morning. However, I do not like the fact that we agreed to the PLC time, then it was decreed (from Winston) that it would take place on Wed. morning. The last time I checked, professionals at my school were able to decide on our own what day and what time (before or after school) this 40 min. time could occur. I feel like it's a bait and switch tactic by our superintendent and I know I am not the only one who feels that way.
We have been told at our school we MUST have our agenda ready each week for PLC time. While I believe this time will probably be beneficial to us, I do not like that Winston decreed it WOULD BE on Wed. We are capable of deciding what day we will have our 40-min. PLC time. For our school, we have a 1/2 day of PLC on Wed. morning from 9-12, and that means no plan time for 3rd-5th grade teachers at all on Wednesdays. This 40-min. morning time makes for an EXTREMELY long day.
The PLC will work. I am blessed to have outstanding leadership at Marshall who understands that there will be some initial 'growing pains' in September, but this should develop into a truly 'teacher-led' collaboration.
I am a staunch supporter of PLC time, and I am working tirelessly to ensure its success at Marshall. Yes, the mandatory 7:10 A.M. decision may not be the best fit for all schools, but that is something we can look to change next year.
My beef with the PLC time is also on the mandatory Wednesday morning meeting time. This conflicts with our mandatory PD time that has been scheduled also for Wednesdays. Therefore, every single teacher in my building must arrive to school an hour early, work the entire day with no planning time twice a month. Even Walmart workers get a break, but not educators.
I agree with the previous posts...the concept of PLC is fantastic...however the mandatory Wednesday meeting needs to be released! Twice a month all the teachers in my building must arrive an hour early for the mandatory PLC and then give up two 45 minute planning times for mandatory PD time because they both have been scheduled for Wednesday. Neither administration will admit a change needs to be made, and 50 people must suffer. This leaves us teaching all day with only a 40 minute lunch. Even Walmart employees have it better.
While I love the idea of PLC, I am having a hard time getting anything out of it. I am an elementary art teacher and have no one else in my "community". The music teacher works breakfast so I don't even have another fine arts person to talk to. The other issue is that our principal "suggested" to specials teachers that we meet with a grade level every week and see how we can enhance their curriculum. I try to tie in art to academics when I can but sometimes I need to concentrate on art elements only. Any thoughts?
The struggle to build PLCs as "teacher led collaborative groups" has seen some gains, although administration has been retaliatory against those who have spoken up for this orientation. A teacher at my building was written up for "unprofessional behavior at staff meetings" for raising questions of "teacher choice" for PLCs. This dissent was not welcome. The building administration and its Leadership Committee sought to impose repeating agendas for study of "data" in Math and Lang. Arts. The "powers that be" at my school don't seem to understand that democratic discussion is the way to sort out issues. What are they afraid of?
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