My Interaction with a Plc

“In viewing collaborative learning cultures as a process or practice -  or worse, as the latest educational “innovation” - we risk losing sight of the intended outcome: a dramatic improvement in the culture itself that builds teaching capacity and improve student achievement.” (Ideas Into Action, 2) I feel it is important to remember and emphasise the importance to building teaching capacity and improving student achievement in engaging in collaborative learning communities. In the past I have been actively engaged with the European League for Middle Level Educators and many professional learning communities within my school environment. Through these experiences, I have experienced what PLC embody. To experience the PLC concept where excellence is everyone’s responsibility, and they push each other to take risks, dig deeper into each other’s instructional methodology, and together try to figure out what works best for their students (Hsu, 1) - is extremely rewarding and adds another dimension to your professional growth.

After completing our recent Design Brief assignment, I decided to reach out to a former research group I had worked with. We had conducted a research project to investigate how to implement mindfulness into our school community. Since one of the strategies, we identified in our Design Brief, for raising awareness and building metacognitive awareness was mindfulness - I thought to expand this concept further in how this would impact collaboration.​

We had a discussion on the concept of recognizing bias, how it impacts our perspectives and then how mindfulness would help - or would it? One of the challenges we identified is that not everyone is onboard to have a mindful practice. In order for mindfulness to have it’s full effect, you need a regular practice to raise your ability to focus your attention and in a non-judgemental approach. This is not easy and requires time, granted not a lot of time but you need to carve time out some time even if this means 5 minutes of your day - everyday. However, if a practice is established then this could be an approach but not an exclusive approach to tackling raising awareness. It’s one approach which may help certain individuals, and what may work for one person may not work for others. Through CI dialogue, you affirm many of your own understandings. Sometimes bouncing ideas just solidifies your own thinking, but there are moments where that idea builds to an innovative thought. In this case mindfulness being just one strategy, but thinking about other strategies diversifies our own thinking. Just as Steven Johnson pointed out in his video, Where do good Ideas Come From, sometimes we have missing pieces but those missing pieces are connected through collaboration with others. 

I have to admit it was hard for me to establish a new interaction with a PLC. I initially started with a Twitter post with Edutopia, only to feel a bit deserted. It felt discouraging, which made me realize the importance of perhaps connecting with a PLC which you have a personal connection with. I remind myself that this is for 'building teaching capacity and improve student achievement'. One of the challenges I face is that it takes me time to “warm-up” before being engaged or active. I like to observe and see where I fit in the PLC to gain the confidence. Then again there are times where I surprise myself by just taking the risk and jumping right in. I guess that’s part of the inquiry process to wonder the ‘what if’ and allowing yourself to be curious. Many times you may end up pleasantly surprised more often than not.
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Sources:
Hsu, P. (2015). What can PLCs do for you? [Research brief.] 
Ontario Leadership Strategy (2013-14). Ideas into Action: For Schools and System Leaders. Bulletin #3. Winter 2013-14