Professional Learning Communities
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Anecdotal Meeting Notes
Introduction
ELA PLC
I introduced myself to the English Language and Arts Professional Learning community and explained to them the purpose of the observation. As a gesture of good faith, I asked if the ELA Professional community as willing to participate during the observation and if I am welcomed to observe the proceedings of the meeting (Bernhardt, n.d.). As the section began, the facilitator of the ELA professional learning community offered a welcoming hand as they sat circularly to include everyone and create a comfortable and informal setting that will enable them to feel free and became part of the community.
The facilitator opened the floor with a review of the previous meeting by going through the minutes of the last meeting. Thy recapped on what they discussed the community is a very pleasant one as every community member seem to agree on the issues discussed. The facilitator opened the floor to any community member who had an issue with regard to the previous meeting to take the floor and address it. One of the community members took the floor and addressed the issue of timekeeping as she lamented that the previous meeting took a lot of time as it inconvenienced her. After, the facilitator offered his condolences and promised to keep time.
The session started with the reading of the agendas and purpose of the meeting which was designing the curriculum and finding materials for your classes. The facilitator offered a chance to everyone to contribute their input in terms of ideas of how the two main agendas of the meeting could be handled. “what entails a good curriculum?” a relevant question was posed to the facilitator by a community member as she sought to understand how best to design a curriculum. The facilitator went ahead to define what a good curriculum entails and gave sample examples of how a good curriculum design looks like. I observed this to be interesting as the faciliatory posed questions to the community members to keep them engaged in the session over it being one directional where the facilitator speaks at them.
The community member seemed to be jotting down notes while the facilitator was speaking and nodded their heads and often asked questions that sparked discussions. The facilitator seemed to be taking input and correction from the community members and often apologized in case of any miscommunication. The session observed showed that the community members and the facilitator were on the same page and organized.
Math PLC
Serving as a member of the Math Professional learning community I needed no introduction as I joined in the community members as the set to kick off the session. The facilitator is aware of the observation informed the other community members on the purpose o the observation and members welcomed the idea. The setting of the Math professional learning community was a typical classroom setting where the facilitator stood in front of the members addressing them. The facilitator took into account first the presence of every community member through self-introduction and immediately went into discussing the agenda and purpose of the session. The agenda was in designing a support system of enriching the elementary math teachers, and the community included the parents so as to provide information on how they can help their children with math back at home. “As teachers, we have a great responsibility of and a significant opportunity to make a difference” the facilitator opened the meeting speaking to the members on the significance of the role of a teacher in the lives of the ones they teach.
The facilitator spoke on the plans that are underway in attaining the goal of enriching the math teacher and parents he gave examples of setbacks that face the math teacher and some of the limitations that are present in the student developing the negative attitude toward the subject. The members nodded their heads in agreement as the facilitator talked. The facilitator often excused himself out of the meeting to pick phone calls and put on hold the questions that the community members in the meeting wanted to ask. The facilitator offered an opportunity to one of the parents to address the meeting and explain on some of the challenges they encounter in trying to help their children in math back at home (González & Jackson, 2013). The facilitator addressed some of the issues and concerns raised by the parent and offered solutions and fixes to them.
Meeting Summary
The ELA Professional Learning community seemed to be on the right track in achieving the set mid-term and long-term goals. The community during the meeting seemed to be in tune with the agendas of the meeting and did a follow up of on the progress as during the meeting before starting on discussing on the day’s agenda they recapped on the previous meeting minutes. The ELA Professional learning community seemed to be open to ideas on how best to attain their desired agendas. The facilitator was open to input from the fellow community members and correction as they seemed to be open and free with each other and the teamwork is necessary for any success of the community. However, the Math Professional learning community have some work to do if they intend to achieve their mid-term and long-term goal. The community as observed were not as in tune with the agendas as their Organisation cannot foster much. During the meeting, the facilitator did not raise on the previously discussed and agreed minutes instead go direct into handling the day’s agendas.
Meeting Flags
During the ELA professional learning community meeting, the members raised the question on the implications of the proposed curriculum design as the meeting was about to close. Therefore, the facilitator did not respond to it due to the lament of timekeeping as he saw it wise not to hold the members past the meeting time and postponed as an AOB I the next scheduled meeting. In the Math Professional learning community, the facilitator held of answering the questions posed by the members which included if there existed other unconventional ways that the math teacher could effectively teach math (Forward, 2019). Additionally, no decision was made that had implications for the other Professional Learning communities or needed to be broadly shared.
Both the PLC communities agreed on new strategies which were under consideration for implementation which included the inclusion of a third party to review the curriculum design, and the materials picked so as to ascertain benefit and relevance for the ELA Professional and Learning community. And the Math Professional learning community sought to implement the inclusion of student ideas in enriching the teachers and parents as they agreed that the student knows best on how he/she perceives and understand mathematics.
Observation and Survey Comparison
After watching the PLC at work and review of the PLC team survey the PLC works did not compare to my expectations as the PLC did not meet their set objectives of the Professional learning communities fully as the observation and survey conclude is that administrators use the PLC for ”filler” for anything and everything they would like to accomplish (Geier, 2019). However, after observation of the Professional Learning communities’ various recommendations for improvement was reached at which include; letting the content/grade level teams set the agendas of the meeting this will avoid sitting in a PLC meeting that has agendas that has nothing to do with you (Taylor, 2017). Also, differentiating the delivery of instructions in the meeting and allowing the Professional Learning Community meetings to be led by the teachers, not the administrators. Additionally, it is suggested that specific time slots are set as there is no reason why any PLC meeting should last an entire planning period. A designated time frame should be set for the meetings and the time be adhered to regardless of anything. And finally, the planning of the meeting should include activities that matter as nobody would want to sit through a meeting that is monotonous just staring at graphic organizers instead include time and develop some activities that will allow time to the teachers to reflect and engage in their work.
References
Bernhardt, V. Data analysis for continuous school improvement.
Forward, L. (2019). How Professional Learning Communities Benefit Students and Teachers. Retrieved from http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/learning_forwards_pd_watch/2015/08/how_professional_learning_communities_benefit_students_and_teachers.html
Geier, R. (2019). District and School Data Team Toolkit. Washington: Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.
González, R., & Jackson, C. (2013). Engaging with parents: the relationship between school engagement efforts, social class, and learning. School Effectiveness And School Improvement, 24(3), 316-335. doi: 10.1080/09243453.2012.680893
Taylor, L. (2017). How teachers become teacher researchers: Narrative as a tool for teacher identity construction. Teaching And Teacher Education, 61, 16-25. doi: 10.1016/j.tate.2016.09.008