This year was my first year in a Professional Learning Community (PLC) and honestly I didn't enjoy it at all. Why you might ask? First, I was a middle school music educator, attending a high school hodgepodge PLC with an art teacher, TAG teacher, Technology/Teacher Librarian, a couple Spanish teachers, the instrumental music teacher, and the vocal music teacher. Now this may sound find and dandy, but let me tell you the struggles. First the culture was one of negativity, pessimism, and was deemed "The Island of Misfit Toys". Honestly, we were. It was rough. I'm typically a positive person, searching to stay on task with the task at hand and follow the norms. However, I found that we were talking about different topics, like HS standardized test scores or what to do with the HS's study hall?
How does this relate to what a PLC is supposed to be? It really doesn't. PLC's are designed to have content teams, grade alike teams, building teams, and others that share the same students to work through curriculum development, common formative assessment, and helping each other improve their instruction. Unfortunately I felt that it didn't work that way. The primary reason for this was because I was, what the faculty at Solution Tree called a "singleton". A singleton is an educator that is the only one that teaches their content with a specific grade level.
I have learned that being a singleton isn't really a bad thing, and to a degree doesn't really exist. I am the only one teacher middle school band/choir at my school, but that's okay because I should be able to collaborate with team members of either speciality content (district level music department), or one of the sessions considered using Skype and other technological tools to connect with teachers that have the same position.
My big take aways and hopes for this upcoming school year:
1. Meet as a music department and determine essential outcomes. In music there should be a PreK-12 curriculum, that is changed and altered to align with Common Core Standards created by the National Association for Music Education. These standards are shared to give us framework, a presence among our "core" content area teachers, and are flexible enough to be tailored to our instruction.
2. Once those essential outcomes are determined, why not work as a department on some common formative assessment. Music educators have data as well - if you look at my concert footage, or my lesson binder, you will be able to recognize students that are struggling and where I have attempted to put interventions in place. We should meet at our weekly or bimonthly meets to share out data and see if there are better ways to teach. I know, I know, we all struggle with putting ourselves out there for critique, but I, like many others need to step aside and let students be the driving force, the reason for what we teach.
3. I want to become more cross-curricular. Duh! Music is already an interdisciplinary course, why not use that to the students' advantage? I think a physics teacher should consult with a music teacher to talk about sound, perhaps the anatomy and physiology teacher could consult with a choir director about vocal help... and the list goes on and on.
After leaving the PLC institute today I felt a sense of clarity, a sense of fear, and a revived purpose for teaching. Clarity was given through learning about what the proper PLC process is supposed to be. Fear is because there will be push back. Purpose is my drive. This is the reason why I'm moving to Standards-Based Grading next year. I need to look at essential outcomes and learning targets, create assessments, and strive to allow students to grow as musicians and as students.
TGZ
How does this relate to what a PLC is supposed to be? It really doesn't. PLC's are designed to have content teams, grade alike teams, building teams, and others that share the same students to work through curriculum development, common formative assessment, and helping each other improve their instruction. Unfortunately I felt that it didn't work that way. The primary reason for this was because I was, what the faculty at Solution Tree called a "singleton". A singleton is an educator that is the only one that teaches their content with a specific grade level.
I have learned that being a singleton isn't really a bad thing, and to a degree doesn't really exist. I am the only one teacher middle school band/choir at my school, but that's okay because I should be able to collaborate with team members of either speciality content (district level music department), or one of the sessions considered using Skype and other technological tools to connect with teachers that have the same position.
My big take aways and hopes for this upcoming school year:
1. Meet as a music department and determine essential outcomes. In music there should be a PreK-12 curriculum, that is changed and altered to align with Common Core Standards created by the National Association for Music Education. These standards are shared to give us framework, a presence among our "core" content area teachers, and are flexible enough to be tailored to our instruction.
2. Once those essential outcomes are determined, why not work as a department on some common formative assessment. Music educators have data as well - if you look at my concert footage, or my lesson binder, you will be able to recognize students that are struggling and where I have attempted to put interventions in place. We should meet at our weekly or bimonthly meets to share out data and see if there are better ways to teach. I know, I know, we all struggle with putting ourselves out there for critique, but I, like many others need to step aside and let students be the driving force, the reason for what we teach.
3. I want to become more cross-curricular. Duh! Music is already an interdisciplinary course, why not use that to the students' advantage? I think a physics teacher should consult with a music teacher to talk about sound, perhaps the anatomy and physiology teacher could consult with a choir director about vocal help... and the list goes on and on.
After leaving the PLC institute today I felt a sense of clarity, a sense of fear, and a revived purpose for teaching. Clarity was given through learning about what the proper PLC process is supposed to be. Fear is because there will be push back. Purpose is my drive. This is the reason why I'm moving to Standards-Based Grading next year. I need to look at essential outcomes and learning targets, create assessments, and strive to allow students to grow as musicians and as students.
TGZ
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