
PLCs & 21st Century Skills
This year in our school district we are beginning our journey of learning about and doing Professional Learning Communities, or PLCs. Dr. Rick DuFour defines a professional learning community (PLC) as “a group of people working interdependently toward the same goal.”1 There are 3 “Big Ideas” that should be essential elements of a PLC. The first is to ensure that students are learning. The questions to ask are: What do we want students to learn? How will we know when they’ve learned it? How will we respond when they don’t and/or do learn it? The second big idea is working together, i.e. collaboration. Teachers working on building a professional learning community should work together with the purpose of learning for all. Isolation must end, no more closed doors, and “my kids”, instead teams work together, invite co-teaching and consider all students as “our kids”. The third idea is to continuously assess the effectiveness of what we do and strive for continuous improvement.
While initially, the focus of PLCs will probably be on the ‘hard skills’ of academic learning outcomes. In NISD essential questions can be found in the KUD’s and can be used to create common assessments. These common assessments will provide measurable results which can be analyzed to make instructional decisions. However, in order to prepare students for the rapidly advancing future, it is critical for us to pay more attention to the new soft skills of 21st Century learning. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21), defines four key skills or “Four Cs” — Communication, Collaboration, Critical Thinking, and Creativity. Some forward thinking philosophers suggest adding a 5th C: Compassion. These skills will be essential for citizens to survive in a world where automation, income inequality, and extreme ideologies are sure to increase.
With that in mind, I encourage you to ask your PLC how you are including technology and innovation in your instruction. I encourage you to invite experts to be a part of your planning process, Here in Northside, you can take advantage of your Academic Technology Coach. Bring them on board with your team planning and ask for their assistance with learning about new apps and technology tools that can help increase engagement and learning for your students.
Looking forward to learning and working with you in this new school year.
Live well and learn lots!