Your lesson, should you choose to accept it, is to improve your teaching practice by being part of a Professional Learning Community, or PLC.  The special agent assigned to help you with this task is Chad Dumas, from Iowa.

In our conversation we discuss:

1️⃣ What is, and is not, a PLC?

2️⃣ How to start a PLC for the first time

3️⃣ How to improve an existing PLC with a focus on community

People and resources mentioned in the episode:

• Richard DuFour, the grandfather of PLC

• Interview with Nate Bowling (episode one of the podcast!)

• John Hattie, with Visible Learning for Teachers

• Peter DeWitt, who Chad quoted as saying “the most hated term in education right now is PLC”

• Bob Garmston and Art Costa’s Cognitive Coaching: A Strategy For Reflective Teaching (.pdf)

• Michael Floren, who Chad quoted as saying “groups are powerful, but they can also be powerfully wrong”

• Lesson: Impossible’s blog post on the TALK strategy

To learn more about Chad Dumas:

• Website: www.nextlearningsolutions.com

• Twitter: @chaddumas

• Facebook

• LinkedIn

• Buy his book: Let’s Put the C in PLC: A Practical Guide for School Leaders