The Oasis of a PLC in School Deserts

The Oasis of a PLC in School Deserts

      For a few years as a teacher in the early learner environment, I always felt that there was something lacking at my school when we had meetings. We discuss events, designate duties and talk about specific children or situations if we have time left over. Somehow it was just not enough for us to see reform in classrooms that were struggling or with students that seemed either ahead or behind their class. This year, due to my Masters in Educational Leadership course, I have come to learn about the Professional Learning Community.

What is a Professional Learning Community and why does my school lack one?

     My current kindergarten is actually a prep school, which means there is so much that is not required or even expected in terms of educational institutions. They exist as small businesses dedicated to one sole boot camp style focus of any particular area of education. Mine happens to be the English language.

     A Professional Learning Community (PLC) is established when teachers of a specific subject, age group or child, come together to discuss progress, collective data and strategies. While a PLC would provide my school with a collective understanding of how particular students or classes are performing, and elicit a conversation about how we came upon the findings, what we're expecting to do about it and our individual roles in the matter. Let's look at it in practice.

Data from an International School

     Here is what we found at the kindergarten level (ages 5-6) in language arts.

     As you can see, one child is already at a 1st grade reading level and at a whopping 98% rate of accuracy while the rest of the class is at grade level with four at or above 90%. It is interesting to see that these children are capable of reading fictional material with good understanding as well. 

Assessment of Writing (Spelling)


     In terms of writing, we found that there is much variety in the spelling levels and two students are in the developing stage

Conducting a PLC

      I preferred to have all of the data before meeting for a PLC. I found that it may be best to have a process where every teacher is using the same assessment methods for collaboration purposes. However, if they don't, each teacher should at least have the same understanding of all terms and methods used in data presentations to save time and stick to the purpose of this meeting, which was strategic planning.

     I needed to know what was expected of students, what skills they should have, and how we would know that they were learning them.


 
(2014) PLC - 4 Essential Questions

      After a review of the data, specific students can be pointed out and there can be a discussion of theories on why the student is in the current position. With the help of the teachers and administrators (if any) in attendance, we can brainstorm methods of improvement based on what our past experiences in addition to research or what our district has established as best practices.

Strategies to Improve Reading and Writing

     At the early education level, reading for five year olds involves simple sentences and short compound sentences. Since much creativity and sometimes nonsense words are required for fiction, it is understandable that not all children read fiction much. Here are some ideas to improve each child's ability to grasp fiction.

  • Implement more storytelling time from the teacher involving some fictional aspects. Children gain a lot of their familiarity with reading from being read to such as hearing the correct phoneme breakdowns, learning to visualize events and build a sense of community when laughing at the same jokes or being shocked at the same time.
    • Pausing for student led gap fills. This will help children learn to make inferences and develop a reading pace that allows them to gather necessary details.
  • Reread a book of the week (or month) three to five times in a week. This repetition helps children comprehend more of the reading each time. At the same time, children can see the same words and use them to quickly process them and build fluency.
  • Require reading aloud. This helps children practice visualizing the story by "hearing" it even though it all comes from their own minds.


    The students are not considered at risk in terms of the milestones they should have down currently, so when it comes to spelling, the continuation of various word games will help them to improve and be prepared for the first grade level.

     We will use Morin's (2022) list as a way to measure student success in a month.
  • Match each letter to the sound it represents
  • Identify the beginning, middle, and ending sounds in spoken words like dog or sit
  • Say new words by changing the beginning sound, like changing rat to sat
  • Start matching words they hear to words they see on the page
  • Sound out simple words
  • Start to recognize some words by sight without having to sound them out
  • Ask and answer who, what, where, when, why, and how questions about a story
  • Retell a story in order, using words or pictures
  • Predict what happens next in a story
  • Start reading or asking to be read books for information and for fun
  • Use story language during playtime or conversation (like “I can fly!” the dragon said. “I can fly!”)

Resources

Barrington, M. (2017, June 21). Spelling Milestones For Children 5-6 Years: School age: Kidspot NZ. Kidspot. Retrieved December 11, 2022, from https://kidspot.co.nz/school-age/spelling-milestones-five-six-years/

FCIC. (2014). PLC - 4 Essential Questions. Retrieved December 11, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSJ6ljmSmg8.

Haack, D. M., & Marshall, J. M. (n.d.). How Plcs Can Get Better At Using Student Data. ASCD. Retrieved December 11, 2022, from https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/how-plcs-can-get-better-at-using-student-data

Khan, B. (2020, June 18). 10 Significant Benefits Of Reading Aloud To Your Students. Literacy In Focus. Retrieved December 11, 2022, from https://www.litinfocus.com/10-significant-benefits-of-reading-aloud-to-your-students/

Morin, A. (2022, May 4). Reading Development And Skills By Age. Understood. Retrieved December 11, 2022, from https://www.understood.org/en/articles/reading-skills-what-to-expect-at-different-ages#Kindergartners_(age_5_years)

Nayton, M. (n.d.). Factors That Contribute To Successful Reading Comprehension. DSF. Retrieved December 11, 2022, from https://dsf.net.au/news/factors-that-contribute-to-successful-reading-comp-6088b387

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