Chapter 7: No Turning Back!

Abstract: This chapter is all about the essential elements of PLCs and how they have progressed over time. . Much of what PLCs are all about is team based efforts and school wide outcomes. The author in this chapter believes that PLCs are the best cheapest, most professionally rewarding way to improve schools. A major thing that PLCs are against is isolation. Isolation is when teachers basically just shut their door and get no feed back or have no interaction with their colleague. Basically this isolation let the teachers do and teach whatever they wanted, regardless of whether their methods were effective. This way, teachers were never monitored or corrected. Probably a lot of teachers liked this, because basically they could do whatever they wanted. On the other hand, some teachers who are isolated feel misguided and uneasy about what and how they are teaching. Teachers also never really got a chance to professionally develop; they just kept teaching the same old things. Collaboration, what PLc's is all about, is just the opposite of isolation. Teachers learn best from other teachers and their methods and practices, and they work best together. This is why PLCs can be very helpful. Team based structures have wide ranging implications for leadership. The best team settings for growth are settings which 1) combine autonomy and responsibility for results, and 2) provide lots of opportunities for individuals to share kills and abilities in the strive toward better results. The power of self managing teams is a lot like businesses or industry. A turning point for PLCs is the idea of a new kind of leadership. There was a shift from an instructional leader to a learning leader. This put learning at the highest regard. A leaders job is to give opportunities t teachers to work together to improve their own instruction and learning.


Reflection:
I thought this chapter was interesting because it really seemed to discuss PLCs in the form of being business like. This was interesting to me because it reminded me of what we discussed after watching the “Story of Schools” 1980-present video, where big businesses were going in and running schools. If I was a teacher and some business person, who knew nothing about education came in and started telling me how I was going to teach, I probably wouldn’t be that impressed. They even found that with the business run school, the school was improved, they all got new computers and the grounds looked great, but the learning suffered, and no gains were made. School should be about learning, and that’s why I don’t know if I like the idea of businesses taking over our schools. Wouldn’t schools be better off if teachers were making the decisions? Not some random guys coming in that want to make some money!? If a school was one big PLC than learning would be the ultimate goal. I think learning should come first, and the business run schools aren’t the best idea. I think if a PLC is run right and effectively, teachers can have an active part in changing the school climate.