DB 2 EDUC 642
(PLC’s) Professional Learning Communities is a valuable entity in a school. I enjoyed what
listening to Ms. Anderson’s presentation about what would make for a successful campus and I
can relate to what she presents because I am right in the middle of PLC’s every day. As she
stated teachers can no longer view their classrooms as their own and not be willing to collaborate
with other teachers within a department. The success of a campus is made of the administrator,
counselors, teachers, parents, and students. Ms. Anderson highlighted that it takes departments
coming together during common planning periods to discuss how structure and curriculum will
be implemented. As instructional leaders, it was stated that they must be a part of these
discussions and they need to ensure that teacher within departments are on task with their lessons
and providing assistance to those who might struggle through professional development sessions.
As to how I would develop this practice, I would begin each year by taking the different
department heads who teach core subjects and reviewing data from previous assessments and
developing a plan collaboratively that would improve the core curriculum and other instructional
departments would follow this same plan. Working on a high school campus is different than
being on an elementary campus and while the goals are the same providing instruction that will
cause students to be successful in their academics. The time in which high school students have
to successfully pass their state exams is critical. Students must pass their state exams in order to
graduate from high school. We would ensure parental involvement in their children’s education
by teacher to parent contact during grading periods. Finally, an important piece of the puzzle is
students having access to their academic advisors because students need to be aware of where
they stand academically throughout their high school career, GPA’s, class rankings, and
knowledgeable about how many credits they need to graduate.
