"I'm in 'PLC'." also irritates me.
PLC stands for Professional Learning Community. Community is a noun, not a verb. Therefore, PLC is a noun, not a verb.
You are a PLC. 'PLC' is not a verb; it's a noun.
If you go to a PLC weekly, it might be a meeting instead of a PLC. We Are A PLC.
— Steven Weber (@curriculumblog) December 17, 2013
You would not say, "We are team'ing right now, because you are part of a team. You are a member of the team. You are a member of a Professional Learning Community. A PLC commits to ensuring high levels of learning for both students and educators with common goals. The actions occurring within the PLC are the verbs, not the PLC itself.
I asked some members of a fully-collaborative PLC with a collective commitment to the PLC to respond to "What does 'PLC' mean to you?".
"A PLC is a family. All of our students are our children - not my class or your class; they are all ours." - JW
"The creation of an environment that gives teachers the opportunity to learn from the practices and experiences of other teachers. A PLC allows teachers to share their strengths, improve upon their weaknesses, and develop lessons that are more effective than they would be if they were created and implemented with the input of only one individual." - JR
"A PLN [PLC] of any size serves as a way to grow as an educator, to work together to make education much more than just 'school' for our kids. The collaboration of great teachers allows for balance of all our strengths and weaknesses and together we become more." - BY
"A PLC is a support system. It should be a place where you can share success and failure, receive constructive criticism, improve your instruction by using data analysis and have a sounding board for innovative ideas." - AN
All of the above responses use 'PLC' properly: as a noun. The responses also characterize the practices of an effective PLC to strive for continuous improvement.
Thanks for reading,
CS
The opinions shared in this blog belong to Craig Smith and do not represent the school or district in which he works.
Well done, Craig! I was wondering how you knew the PLC you spoke to was "fully-collaborate" - then I read the quotes and answered my own question. I am proud of your PLCs (noun!) for realizing the value of "becoming more" (to borrow from the third quote). You are an amazing administrator and your blog is an inspiration. I appreciate all of your hard work on behalf of your school, students, and our school system. Keep up the good work! - DA
ReplyDelete