PLC Conference Reflections - October 19, 2016

This week I did not complete any guest teaching assignments because I spent three days at the Solution Tree PLC institute.  It was fantastic.  We are just beginning our PLC work in our building.  This was a chance to learn from the experts and collaborate with a group of 5 teachers from my building.  The learning and experience overall was outstanding.

Mike Mattos gave evidence as to why the PLC and intervention process is so vital to students' success.  And how it is even more powerful than poverty.  The data and statistics reeled me in right away.  His real-life examples as to how it worked in the schools he was in made it seem possible.  I can imagine it working in our school too!

Anthony Muhammad reminded us that for PLC work to be successful, a culture must be cultivated in the building.  These were great points as we begin our work.  Yes, we have the collaborative time built in the schedule and the intervention time built in the schedule.  But do we have the culture created among our staff for it to be successful?  I think we need to step back and look at that piece.  How can we make it meaningful for all staff?  We need to combine the data Mattos gave us with the cultural aspects Muhammad explained to really make it work for our staff.

Spending time with my staff and seeing their reaction to the information was energizing.  Each of us had special "a-ha" moments and different things that we want to share with the whole staff.  We took time to collaborate and begin to plan future professional development sessions for our staff.  We talked big picture and long term, as well as must-do's and things that need to be done right now.  We even discussed how the rest of the staff may respond.  It is a long journey ahead of us, but I am confident in the team that I spent time with last week and know that they are strong.  They even took the opportunity to look in the mirror and share some personal conflicts that the conference brought to light.

Although I didn't make it into a classroom last week, I was still able to collaborate with teachers, learn about what their struggles are, and how they want to fix them.  I wouldn't change this experience at all.  I'm excited to take this work back to our whole staff and light the fire among them as well.