NJPLC

It’s an inevitable challenge we must all face: Once our data has confirmed that our instruction is solid for our first SMART goal, how do we move on to our next goal?

And we must move on. After all, that’s part of the PLC model. If we’ve done PLCs correctly, we’ve identified an area of weakness in our instruction (based on state or national standards), we’ve collected baseline data, we’ve improved our instruction and we’ve collected subsequent data to indicate that our students now understand the standard for which we tested.

So now what? Continue reading →

For most journalism teachers, frequent content-area collaboration in the form of a PLC, or even just talking shop with another teacher in your building, is impossible. Most of the time, the journalism teacher is a “singleton” – the only one in the building who teaches in that area.

We all know that support is vital, and it makes our jobs and our lives so much easier. This summer, while involved in work for another class I teach, that point became crystal clear. Along with journalism, this year I’ll be teaching AVID. It’s my first year, and I’m a little overwhelmed just thinking about it.

I met with our building’s other AVID teacher for about eight hours this summer. We talked about scheduling for the freshman class. We talked about the activities and assignments she has done with freshmen in the past. We made to-do lists. I feel better prepared for this class than I’ve ever felt about my journalism classes at this point in the summer.

All because I could collaborate with that other teacher. In that case, we weren’t necessarily developing a SMART goal or collecting data, but we were working together, bouncing ideas off each other, talking about what worked.

For years, journalism teachers have commiserated via the listserv, over the phone, or while at summer workshops. Let’s raise that commiseration up a notch – let’s make it collaboration, in the form of Professional Learning Communities. These PLCs can be developed on geographic lines, or with people who are far-flung. Use the tools you have available, and work with your group to improve student learning in your classrooms.

It’s my hope that the new PLC committee can help teachers who are looking for that collaborative connection. We want to hook you up with teachers interested in collecting data on the same content and talk about what works (and what doesn’t) in your classrooms. We want journalism teachers to be able to answer the four basic questions: What do we want our students to know? How do we know they know it? What do we do if they don’t know it? What do we do when they already know it?

Please let us know if you’re interested in working as part of a collaborative team of journalism teachers.

The JEA executive board officially created the National Journalism Professional Learning Community committee at its spring board meeting. JEA President Mark Newton, MJE, named Jill Chittum, MJE, as the committee chairperson. Continue reading →

Your next formal opportunity to learn about PLCs will be this spring at the semi-annual JEA/NSPA high school journalism convention in Anaheim, CA. We’ll be teaching an intensive pre-convention workshop on Thursday, April 14. You can register both for the convention and for the pre-convention workshop at this link.

While not required, it is helpful if participants meet the following criteria:

1. You participate in PLCs at your school.
2. You have the support of your administration to participate in a digital/virtual PLC.

Participants will be grouped using the following criteria:

1. People who want to create a PLC on-site. You will be matched with other PLC participants to create your own PLC at the workshop.
2. People who have their PLC group already formed. The understanding is that each member of the group will come to the workshop for training.
3. People who would like to gather information about digital PLCs and then plan to create a PLC when they return to their school.