My PLC: What and How

I am fortunate enough to be part of several different collegial groups - professional learning communities or PLCs - that help me learn and grow. 

Today, I want to tell you about one of those PLCs that is particularly close to my heart. We meet monthly over lunch. Our meetings are scheduled about 12 months in advance. We've structured our time in a variety of ways. Right now, someone selects a peer-reviewed and published article (mostly research) about literacy for each meeting. We read it prior to the meeting and discuss it. We keep notes from the discussion, so we are each able to quickly access information when it is relevant to our job.

Here are some lessons I've learned about PLCs from this PLC:

• Our group formed for an authentic purpose. To do our jobs well, we each need to understand reading and literacy from a variety of perspectives.
• We operate from established norms (which we revisit often). We established norms for our PLC and wrote them down. We refer to these norms during our conversations and email exchanges, but we also revisit these norms in a very formal way when our group is struggling.
• We meet regularly. Right now, that's about monthly while eating lunch.
• We communicate. Meetings are scheduled in advance and on everyone's calendar. We use email to confirm attendance or let others know of conflicts.
• We all have ownership. Right now, we meet monthly. Each month we discuss a different research study (peer-reviewed and published) selected by a member. We all read the selected study and come to the meeting prepared.
• We have varied backgrounds and areas of interest/expertise. We each bring a unique lens to our discussions and truly learn and grow from our conversations.
• We do hard work. The pieces we read and discuss are, generally, difficult to understand. Talking about them keeps us accountable and helps us understand.