Published: April 16, 2008

Teaching Better Together

I can remember having dreams—or perhaps nightmares—during my first year of teaching about the acronyms that surround the educational world. These three- to four- letter phrases would pop up in my subconscious as I tried to process the new and often overwhelming events that crowded the first months of my new career. IGP, NCLB, and IEP all made cameo appearances in my nighttime world. Then came PLC.

When my principal first asked me to join a school-based team responsible for gathering information on professional learning communities, I seriously considered asking her if she had confused me with someone else. The team would be part of a project funded by the Wachovia Foundation called ASSET, or Achieving Student Success through Empowering Teachers (another acronym for my late-night entertainment). Our job would be to investigate PLCs and to lead our faculty through a three-year implementation process.

As a first-year teacher, I was plagued by feelings of incompetence and inexperience. I definitely did not view myself as a teacher-leader and worried that my peers would feel the same. Nevertheless, I agreed to join the team and began to learn how PLCs can...