MeTA musings

PLCs are nice but I like PLNs better @NMHS_Principal #tic13
— Matt Degner (@mwdegner) June 19, 2013

Every once in a while I see a reference to PLNs, PLCs and communities of practice that makes me wonder if I understand the similarities and differences between these three phrases.  While I admit that I do not have a full understanding of these ideas, I thought it might be helpful for my own thinking to flesh out a few ideas in writing.

Personal Learning Networks (PLN)

"A personal or professional learning network (PLN) involves an individual's topic-oriented goal, a set of practices & techniques aimed at attracting and organizing a variety of relevant content sources, selected for their value, to help the owner accomplish a professional goal or personal interest." -David Warlick, slide 4

Furthermore:

"Personal learning networks (PLNs) are not new. We have long relied on our families, friends, colleagues, and acquaintances to supplement our knowledge about the world. Our professional learning also comes from reference books, the textbooks we carried home from college, the television and radio stations we tune in to, and the professional and personal-interest periodicals to which we subscribe. And we have been connecting with people and information through the digital realm for decades. But the times are still changing. Information and communication technologies (ICT), including an ever growing repertoire of open source applications, have freed content from the printed page, giving voice to the ideas of people we have never had access to before and enabling us to reshape our information experiences to suit our learning needs. Harnessing these new technologies to create and grow our own PLNs is imperative for educators who want to stay connected to the changing world we are charged with introducing to our students." -David Warlick (pdf)

Based on Mr. Warlick's definitions, a coin collector could have a personal learning network as might a doctor and elementary teacher.

While technology can play an important role in expanding and accessing additional resources in our personal learning network, I don't think today's digital tools define a personal learning network.  As an example, prior to joining Twitter several years ago, here's a snapshot of my PLN:

My goal was to improve as a high school math teacher.  I utilized professional journals, professional development (PD) opportunities, read publications and interacted with colleagues near and far.

Today, I am also able to learn through reading blogs, listening to podcasts, following conversations and links through Twitter, interacting with new and old friends face-to-face at conferences and video chat or talk on the phone with my siblings (and siblings-in-law) who are educators.  A PLN involves humans we interact with in person or virtually as well as the resources they create (i.e. blogs, journal articles, podcasts, conference presentations).

Professional Learning Communities (PLC)

"The idea of improving schools by developing professional learning communities is currently in vogue. People use the term to describe every imaginable combination of individuals with an interest in education - a grade-level teaching team, a school committee, a high school department, an entire school district, a state department of education, a national professional organization, and so on.  In fact, the term has been so ubiquitously used that it is in danger of losing all meaning."  - Richard DuFour 

So, what is a PLC?

"...an ongoing process in which educators work collaboratively in recurring cycles of collective inquiry and action research to achieve better results for the students they serve" - DuFour, DuFour, Eaker and Many, p. 11

From p. 14 of Learning by Doing, the essence of the PLC process is captured in three big ideas:

1. The purpose of our school is to ensure all students learn at high levels.
2. Helping all students learn requires a collaborative and collective effort
3. To assess our effectiveness in helping all students learn we must focus on results -- evidence of student learning -- and use results to inform our professional practice and respond to students who need intervention or enrichment.

In other words, a professional learning community is a group of educators who are working together to improve student learning.  From my vantage point, PLC is an education-specific term.  The adults who form a collaborative team within a professional learning community would likely share one or more of the following in common: students and/or content.  For example, a team of third grade teachers or high school science teachers may form a collaborative team working towards the ideals set forth in the PLC process.  It would be less likely that a secondary P.E. teacher, a first grade teacher and a guidance counselor would form a collaborative team within the PLC framework.  In my experience reading about and leading a PLC process, these educators are often a part of the same building or school district, but may also cross building or district boundaries.  Three physics teachers from separate districts could form a virtual collaborative team that uses evidence of student learning to inform professional practice.  

Communities of Practice

"Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly." - Etienne Wenger

This group of people have an identified shared interest.  As Wenger suggests, "In pursuing their interest in their domain, members engage in joint activities and discussions, help each other, and share information." To use a phrase from the term itself, this group of practitioners share their resources and experiences with each other for the conscious or unconscious rationale of collective improvement.

Communities of practice appear to be present in education, government, professional membership associations, and in many other sectors.

Synthesizing PLC, PLN and Communities of Practice
First, I think it's important to note that at least two of these three terms are not specific to education. None of the three require digital communication tools, however these tools can surely enhance and expand opportunities for learners.

I think the definitions and examples above help me better understand the differences between these three terms, but how do they overlap and interact with each other?

Enter a fictitious middle school social studies teacher, Jane:

Jane is assigned to a collaborative team with other middle school social studies teachers.  This team regularly uses student assessment results to inform their professional practice (PLC).  Jane regularly lurks on Twitter and spends time consuming content through her RSS feed and several email lists (PLN).  On Saturday mornings, Jane meets for coffee with a friend from church.  They regularly discuss their shared hobby, quilting (Community of Practice).  Jane often shares the resources from her PLN with her PLC when brainstorming new instructional strategies to help students learn at higher levels.  Every once in a while, Jane shares her passion for quilting with her students and middle school social studies colleagues, because it's part of who she is as a person.

Wrapping up
The purpose of this commentary was to write down my thoughts surrounding three phrases that, in my opinion, are sometimes inadvertently used synonymously. It was also to suggest how they might often overlap and can supplement each other.   Last, I hope it served to deepen my own understanding of these three phrases so that I might become a better learner and help others do the same.  

• Chromebooks may be appropriate for high school English students, because they often research using electronic databases and websites and summarize their thoughts in Google Docs. 
• When we provide iPads to lower elementary students, upper elementary students will have increased access to the existing mobile laptop carts in the building.
• When we provide a lab of Chromebooks to the high school English department, other departments will have increased access to the existing mobile laptop carts in the building.

We're nearing the end of the school year which means a lot of educators including myself are doing a bit of self-reflection.  Through several recent conversations with the teachers in my district, it's been exciting to hear about the progress we've made in our systematic transition to standards-based grading.  To further support this anecdotal evidence, student survey data indicates we're doing a better job communicating reassessment opportunities and procedures this spring compared to the fall.  In addition 75% of students agree "I have an understanding of where I am in my learning and the areas that I need to continue to learn." That's reason to celebrate!

At the same time, we still have room to improve in implementing our grading guidelines:

1. Entries in the grade book that count towards the final grade will be limited to course or grade level standards.**
2. Extra credit will not be given at any time.
3. Students will be allowed multiple opportunities to demonstrate their understanding of classroom standards in various ways. Retakes and revisions will be allowed.
4. Teachers will determine grade book entries by considering multiple points of data emphasizing the most recent data and provide evidence to support their determination.
5. Students will be provided multiple opportunities to practice standards independently through homework or other class work. Practice assignments and activities will be consistent with classroom standards for the purpose of providing feedback. Practice assignments, including homework, will not be included as part of the final grade.

Mr. Jones teaches the area of a triangle on Monday and assigns some practice problems to complete in and outside of class.  Some of the students complete all of the practice problems.  Some of them do not. All students are provided the answers ahead of time on the board.  Mr. Jones teaches the area of a circle on Tuesday and assigns some practice problems to complete in and outside of class.  Again, students are provided the answers to the practice problems ahead of time.  Some of the students complete the practice problems and some do not.  On Wednesday, Mr. Jones gives all students a quiz on these two standards.  After Mr. Jones looks at the quizzes, he sees that about half of the class still doesn't understand how to find the area of a triangle or the area of a circle.  He thinks to himself, "Well, I'm really glad we have standards-based grading, because these students can reassess."  The next day, he hands back the quiz and tells students what they need to do before they can participate in a reassessment.  When only a few students show up for a reassessment opportunity during the next week, Mr. Jones becomes flustered and wonders why students aren't taking advantage of reassessments.

Mr. Johnson teaches the area of a triangle on Monday.  Before he assigns some practice problems, he asks each student to complete a problem on their small whiteboard and hold it up in the air.  Mr. Johnson can quickly see which students are still struggling to understanding the concept.  Rather than assigning everyone the same practice problems to complete it and outside of class. Mr. Johnson makes a quick adjustment and groups together several students who appear to still be struggling.  They will be working with Mr. Johnson for some of the remaining class time and will also be completing different practice problems than their classmates.  The next day, Mr. Johnson asks each student to view a solution to a completed practice problem that is already written in the board.  Each student must write a brief paragraph explaining if the solution is correct or not and evidence to support their reasoning.  Mr. Johnson walks around the room while students are writing their paragraphs.  Next, Mr. Johnson asks students to pair up and share their paragraphs with each other.  Finally, he asks several students to share their written responses aloud and the class collectively decides what the correct solution is to the problem.
Mr. Johnson teaches the area of a circle to round out the class period on Tuesday.  Rather than assigning practice problems from the text, he asks each student to find the area of a circle found in their home.  Each student will be asked to share their findings tomorrow in class.  On Wednesday, Mr. Johnson decides to administer a quiz that he knows will never land in the grade book.  He uses the quiz as an opportunity to provide written feedback to every student, but only after each student has once again self-assessed themselves in pencil against the standards.  Mr. Johnson writes comments by many of the students' solutions and then circles where each student is on a continuum of understanding for each standard.

Mr. Johnson asks students with relative strengths and weaknesses to pair up for seven minutes during class on Thursday.  Josie understood area of a triangle at a high level, but stunk it up on the area of a circle.  She'll be conferencing with Alex who didn't have a clue on the area of a triangle, but dominated the area of a circle.
Later in the week, all students complete another assessment, but this time it goes into the grade book.  Mr. Johnson feels pretty good about the assessment results, because he had the opportunity to see and hear students' thinking during class and was able to provide them with structured feedback through the ungraded quiz prior to the most recent assessment.   Reassessment opportunities are offered to students after the most recent assessment as well.

3 days + 1 smartphone = 5 minute video documentary quenching your curiosity

"District Administrators: What do they do all day?"

EDIT: This is a follow-up to a previous post.  

It's a pretty exciting time to work in my current school district.  About twenty years ago, the elementary school implemented a standards-based report card.  Over the past several years, we've seen a grassroots movement in the area of assessment and grading reform in our secondary buildings.  Dozens of teachers and building leadership teams have visited and/or inquired about what's going on in our high school and middle school, which is one of the reasons we'll soon be co-hosting a standards-based grading conference in eastern Iowa (before you ask, we've reached our registration capacity and the waiting list has been closed as well).

The purpose of this post is to create a "one-stop shop" illustrating various artifacts that document our district's standards-based grading journey and next steps.

What is standards-based grading (SBG)?

• The primary purpose of grading is to communicate achievement status to students, parents and others.
• Secondary purposes of grading include providing feedback to students for self-assessment and growth and encouraging student progress and self-monitoring of learning.

4 - Demonstrates thorough level of understanding of course or grade-level standard.
3.5 - Demonstrates understanding of course or grade-level standard.
3 - Demonstrates a developing understanding of course or grade-level standard.
2 - Demonstrates partial understanding of course or grade-level standard.
1 - Demonstrates minimal understanding of course or grade-level standard.