On Friday, April 22, the 4th grade team (Lynn Ross, Paige Grimm, and Livia Doyle) accompanied principal Brad Brogley to visit a group of soon-to-student teach pre-service teachers in the Elementary Education program at the University of Wisconsin – Platteville to share the importance of Professional Learning Communities or PLCs.
These students are wrapping up a course called Senior Seminar where they explore current topics and trends in education. Mineral Point Elementary has blazed a trail in Southwest Wisconsin by implementing Professional Learning Communities.
The presentation provided background information on what Professional Learning Communities are and what they are not. This information helped to clarify this acronym, PLC, for the students as they head into student teaching and ultimately, their professional careers. The presentation ended with a data mining activity where student took fictitious student data and grouped the students for additional supports.
Former Mineral Point graduate (class of 2012) and student in the class, Jessica James, said, “I think it was really important that the teachers were here because they were able to explain their experience with the Professional Learning Communities. A lot of times administrators just come to speak to us, but I like to hear the first hand experiences from the teachers as well. With the presentation, we were able to learn how they implement information and work collaboratively in the PLCs to enhance their classrooms.”