PRKA3012 Planning of Teaching and Learning

Professional learning community or PLC is one of the most important tools in the
Malaysian educational system. It is especially useful among the professionals such as the
teachers and lecturers. In PLC, teachers are able to visit the teaching and learning session of
other teachers in order to gain new ideas, create a collaborative workspace to either make
amendments in the teacher’s pedagogical approach or discussing to create new teaching
ideas to be used in the future. Moreover, one of the ways for teachers to be able to create a
more effective teaching and learning activity or approach, is by engaging themselves is the
professional learning community (Provini, 2012). This is because through PLC teachers get to
know how other teacher approach the pupils and also how they bring the education to the
pupils through the activities that they have planned.

Activities created through the implementation of the underlying principle of PLC will be
more effective and efficient towards the pupils. This is because, PLC based activities are
focused more on team based learning. This means that the pupils will learn as a team. One of
the benefit of this is that the pupils as a team, will have shared mission, vision values and
goals among each other. Moreover, this also teaches the pupils about collaborations and how
they can use it in their learning (Edglossary, 2014). Other than that, PLC based activities can
also provide the pupils with ample hands on experience as it is focused more on experience
and real life engagement with the lesson. In addition to that, these experiences will also
encourage the pupils to generate and create new ideas. This will then lead them to have
commitment towards continuous improvement (DuFour, 2009). Lastly, the principle of PLC
also states that the teaching and learning approach will be focused more towards the
educators, but can also be applied towards learners. This also means that, by engaging and
mastering the skills in PLC, an educator will not only be able to improve oneself but also apply
the knowledge towards learners as a form of skill for them to use in the situation where
collaboration is critical (Vescio, Ross, & Adams, 2007).

An example of activity based on PLC is gallery walk. This is an activity where pupils
will prepare a gallery or a station where they will showcase their work or their view in a way
similar to a gallery. Other pupils will then be able to visit their gallery and during the visit, the
owner of the gallery will then have to explain more about their points and at the same time,
fulfil the visitor’s inquiry about the gallery (Gray, 2012). This situation will create a situation
where the pupils will then have the commitment to continuous learning, suitable to the
underlying principle of PLC. This is because, as more and more visitor come to visit the gallery,
they might ask the same question all over again. This will then encourage the pupils to improve
on their understanding of their own points in order to both ease the explanation process and
also to provide a more understandable and acceptable point for the visitors (Gray, 2012)
(DuFour R. , 2004).

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Other than that, another activity that is based on the principles of PLC is role play. Role
play is activity where the pupils will be given a character as a role and they need to act and
play as the given character. This is effective because during a role play, pupils are given the
chance to experience for themselves, the topic that they want to learn, in which in this case, it
would be English as the Second Language (Budden, 2004). In addition to that, during role
play, pupils are given the chance to experience their character and thus enables them to learn
based on their experience, suitable to the principles and elements of PLC. Moreover, role
play activities also compliments on action based learning. This is important for the pupils
because through actions, they will gain experience and through experience, they will learn
new things (Reynolds & Vince, 2004).

Another activity that is suitable for the pupils are group discussions and debates. This
activity focuses more on teamwork and collaboration. During this activity, pupils are required
to discuss in a group to establish a point and also to determine whether a point is either
acceptable or not. This activity is basically the holy grail of PLC as it involves a team working
together to achieve the same purpose (Bailey, 2010). Moreover, in a debate situation, the
pupils will have the experience of working interdependently in a team to both achieve the same
goal and also to make sure that each and every member of the team are mutually accountable
for the points that they have made.

Besides that study tour is also one of the activity that are based on the underlying
principle and elements of PLC. During study tour, pupils are given the chance to experience
their surroundings (Bailey, 2010). Moreover, pupils are also given the privilege to learn on their
own based on their own pace and priority. One benefit of doing a study tour is the space that
is given to the pupils to enable them to question their surrounding and since they are travelling
in a group, they will be more inclined to ask as they know that they will have the support from
their peers. Lastly, study tour can also promote the same benefit as gallery walk where the
pupils will have the commitment to learn continuously as the situation that they are in are
considered as an enjoyable situation to them (Culatta & Duncan, 2014).

Lastly, simulated activity is also an activity that can be considered when deciding for a
PLC based activity. During a simulated activity, the teacher will be able to simulate events or
activities that are either hard or too risky to recreate in a classroom environment or are straight
up impossible (Blecha & Haynes, 2014). As an example, the teacher can teach about spending
money to the pupils and also simulate a situation where the pupils can spend fake money
without having the risk of involving sensitive belongings of the pupils. This will give the pupils
the experience of spending money without risking anything. This activity compliments the

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principles and elements of PLC in a way where the activity develops interest among the pupils
and in return will make them more inclined to learn new things to the application of fun learning.

As a conclusion, professional learning community of PLC is very beneficial of both

educator and learners. This is especially true for learners because through PLC, a multitude
of activity can be created to benefit from the underlying principles of PLC which in this case,
focuses more on collaboration, experience based learning, continuous learning and also the
will to question the surrounding (DuFour R. , 2004).

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References

Bailey, K. (2010). Learning By Doing. California: Solution Tree Press.

Blecha, B., & Haynes, B. (2014). Pedagogy in Action. Teaching with simulation, 1-2.

Budden, J. (2004). Role-Play. Spain: British Council.

Culatta, R., & Duncan, A. (2014). Effective Professinal Learning Stratergies and their use in
future ready districts. New York: Office of Educational Stratergies.

DuFour, R. (2004). What is professional learning community. Schools as learning

communities, 8.

DuFour, R. (2009). Professional Learning Community. The key to improved teaching and
learning, 1-5.

Edglossary. (2014, March 3). Professional Learnign Community. Retrieved from Education
Reform: https://www.edglossary.org/professional-learning-community/

Gray, S. (2012, September 11). Using gallery walks in the classroom. Retrieved from Shelley
Gray: http://shelleygrayteaching.com/using-gallery-walks-in-classroom/

Provini, C. (2012). Best practices . Profesinal learning community, 1-3.

Reynolds, M., & Vince, R. (2004). Critical Management Education and Action-Based Learning.
Synergies and Contradictions, 442-456.

Vescio, V., Ross, D., & Adams, A. (2007). A review of research on the impact of professional
learning community on teaching practice and student learning. Gainesville: University
of Florida.