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= Welcome to the BHS Professional Learning Community (PLC) =

A place where Brandon Hall educators can come together to share educational research, ideas, articles, conference materials, questions and more. The content is directed, created and edited by the BHS faculty and staff community.

Please take a few minutes to read below about the basic elements of PLCs and the PLC Research to understand and appreciate how we can utilize this collaborative tool to better educate ourselves and in turn the students we serve.

WHAT HAS BEEN UPDATED OR ADDED RECENTLY:
 * [|7 Steps to Creating PLCs Teachers Want to Use] - article
 * BHS Professional Development Conference- October 2014
 * Get More Out Google: Tips and Tricks for Students Conducting Online Research - article on the Technology page (Sept. 11, 2014)
 * Creation of Xperience STEM 2014 page (Aug 1, 2014)
 * Updates to 21st Century Learning- Resources page (July 17, 2014)
 * Updates to History page (July 17, 2014)
 * Database with Adobe Tutorials (Student friendly) can be found on the Adobe Master Collection page. (July 5, 2014)
 * Updates to Google Apps for Education page (July 2, 2014)
 * Creation of ISTE 2014 page (July 2, 2014)
 * Creation of WFLMS Workshop 2014 page (June, 2014)


 * What is a PLC? **

Professional learning communities (PLCs) are groups of teachers that share and critically analyze their practices in an ongoing, reflective, collaborative, inclusive, learning-oriented, and growth-promoting way to mutually enhance teacher and student learning. The focus is not just on individual teachers’ professional learning but of professional learning within a community context – a community of learners, and the notion of collective learning. Central to the notion of school community is an ethic of interpersonal caring permeating the life of teachers, students and school leaders (Hargreaves & Giles, 2003; Louis, Kruse & Bryk, 1995).

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Stoll, L., Bolam, R., McMahon, A., Wallace, M., and Thomas, S. (2006). Professional Learning Communities: A Review of the Literature (PDF) . //Journal of Educational Change //, 221-258. =====


 * Why a PLC? **

PLCs go a step beyond professional development by providing teachers with not just skills and knowledge to improve their teaching practices but also an ongoing community that values each teacher's experiences in their own classrooms and uses those experiences to guide teaching practices and improve student learning (Vescio et al., 2008). Research shows that when professional learning communities demonstrate four key characteristics, they can improve teaching practice and student achievement in reading, writing, math, science, and social studies subject tests ([|Vescio et al., 2008]):

1. Successful Collaboration 2. Focus on Student Learning 3. Continuous Teacher Learning 4. Teacher Authority to make decisions regarding curriculum, the processes of their own learning, and aspects of school governance.

Vega, Vanessa. "Teacher Development Research: Keys to Educator Success." Edutopia. 1/3/2013.
(See the "PLC Research" page for more information on the guiding principles and goals of a PLC.)


 * How do I contribute? **
 * Click on any topic on the left hand column to see posts or pages on specific topics.
 * Click Edit to add or edit content on any page - even if you weren't the one to "create" the page. One of the fundamental concepts of a wiki is "building shared knowledge."

For example:

 * Did you go to a conference or hear an educational speaker? Share highlights via notes, links, articles, Twitter hashtags, etc. Did the experience spark ideas, topics and questions that might be worth sharing and/or discussing with your colleagues?
 * Did you read an education-related article or book?
 * Do you have a PBL project idea that you want to discuss with colleagues?
 * Do you have 21st Century Skills related ideas, suggestions or classroom experiences to share?

For additional (and more detailed) instructions visit: http://plctemplate.wikispaces.com/Instructions+for+Wikispaces