Why E-PLC?

As a new teacher teaching Economics and Personal Finance (which is now a graduation requirement in the state of Virginia), I was happy to know that my school had a PLC.  A PLC gives educators the opportunity to support each other, collaborate, share best practices, and review and compare student data and progress.  I was looking forward to sharing the great lesson plans I had developed over the summer as well as getting valuable input and ideas from veteran teachers.

What is a PLC?

“PLCs provide a structure for collaboration with colleagues and continual teacher growth and development. A typical PLC framework is embedded into the school day and facilitated by teachers or teacher support staff such as instructional coaches or curriculum facilitators”(UNC School of Education).

This PLC is having way too much fun, or maybe I'm just jealous :)

My First PLC Experience

We met every Wednesday, the meetings lasted anywhere from 1 hour to 1.5 hours.  We usually were given photocopies of lesson plan ideas (very wastefulL), and common benchmark examinations that were used by the entire department.  We talked very little about new ways to approach lessons or evaluating progress of our students (especially SPED and ELL). 

This is when I started to think about how we could improve our PLC by moving to E-PLC’s.

Why E-PLC

1. Save the trees!  It is common for our traditional PLC’s to use a great deal of handouts, with E-PLC’s we can share documents and print only what we will use.
2. Greater collaboration and easily share lesson plan ideas – Educators can collaborate and share from a great variety of resources such as YouTube and GoogleDocs using technology such as LiveBinders.
   
3. Encourage effective use of Technology – E-PLC’s provide a forum where educators who may be more reluctant to use evolving technology will feel more comfortable and maybe even encouraged to use technology with their students.
4. Use apps such as Twitter and Pinterest – Apps like Twitter and Pinterest enable educators to expand their professional learning community, the ability to learn from and share with experts and educators from around the world.
   
5. Ease of sharing data – Collaborators have the ability to review and  compare student data and progress using Google Classroom.
6. Better time management – Educators will not have to sit in on traditional meetings and can have more time for grading and planning.  Group members can share via self-created webcasts where others are able to access at their own leisure.
   
7. Online learning opportunities – PLC’s can access online chats, seminars, and courses from wherever they are.  Each PLC member can become the expert on a specific topic and share with the rest of the group.  
8. Improved access to information -  This is especially important for new teachers to the department; resources and information will be easily accessible from school or at home.
   

 I am happy to report that I have introduced the idea of an E-PLC to my colleagues and they have been very receptive.  I have began to develop Livebinders for each unit that we will cover; where videos, powerpoints, lesson plans, and handouts will be accessible all in one place. 

We will probably move toward an E-PLC model for the upcoming school year, and I am excited to see how it develops.  While there is value in having face to face meetings with your PLC, E-PLC’s are an excellent way to enhance collaboration and share new ways to keep our students engaged. 

About LiveBinders

“We created LiveBinders so that you could do with digital information what you do with the piles of papers on your desk - organize them into nice presentable containers - like 3-ring binders on your shelf.

With our online binders you can combine all of your cloud documents, website links and upload your desktop documents - to then easily access, share, and update your binders from anywhere.” Livebinders.com

·         See more at http://www.livebinders.com/welcome/about

·         Check out a livebinder in progress!

Renting and Purchasing a Home

http://www.livebinders.com/play/play_shared_binder/1702010?play_view=play

access key: easonepf

·         If you are interested in learning about how you can join or develop an online learning communities here are some resources:

o   Building and Maintaining an Online Professional Learning Community, UNC School of Education

http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/7012

o   Teachability – Teacher community for sharing ideas, advice, strategies, and more…

http://www.Teachability.com

o   Pinterest – Professional Learning Communities (please note: requires you to create a log-in)

     https://www.pinterest.com/explore/professional-learning-communities/