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13/03/2015

Lerato shares her journal entry with fellow PLC members: she knows that language is a problem in her Grade 4 Maths lessons, because every time she does word sums, she is met with blank stares from her learners.

Mrs Moeti, the school principal is very disappointed. Her school’s Grade 3 ANA results are very low, so low in fact that she has been visited by DBE officials to find out whether the school has a problem.

The PTA meeting is vocal about the new Grade 2 teacher, Sipho Tshabalala. Is it fair to say that female Foundation Phase teachers are better teachers?

These are some of the real life situations that were discussed during the third in a series of four workshops on Profession Learning Communities (PLCs). Its main objective was to equip participants with ideas and skills to set up, follow up and maintain school-based PLCs within their districts. This series of workshops serves as a pilot for the implementation of Activity 3.3 (on PLCs) in the ISPFTED.

The first part of the workshop focused on resistance. This was a continuation of the previous workshop. Participants reflected on their own experiences with resistance and linked some insights from literature to their daily practice.

Does a good communicator
Or a master debater
Make a good facilitator?
No, there’s a lot more
Not one, two, three or four
Lining up by the door
Features by the score
It’s problem solving
And blame absolving
And ever revolving and evolving
There’s research to be done
So get off your b...
And make it fun, son
Your work’s never done
Fill your head with knowledge, not just porridge
Be informed, not deformed, but reformed
Be proactive, interactive, reactive, just plain active
Lack of personal skills
Kills a PLC
Fills it with despair
Don’t be pathetic, be energetic
Know your psychology and your technology
Encourage participation
That’s facilitation

 
By Anonymous in the Bloemfontein workshop

PLC activities focused on how facilitators can guide PLCs. An important starting point for PLCs is research. PLC facilitators have a double role in this. They stimulate fellow PLC members to conduct research in their classrooms. They also need to engage with research reports and bring them to the attention of teachers. We took some time to discuss examples from IQMS, NEEDU and ANA reports.
Participants then worked on several case studies which all contained authentic problems. Each problem could be the starting point for improvement trajectories at PLCs. Specific attention was given to the impact of language barriers on math education. Participants explored ways of dealing with this problem in a PLC. They also worked on word problems and how teachers can support learners in solving them.
The workshop again took the form of a trainer-the-trainers outline with activities that participants can use directly with the teachers they support. It included discussions on the rationale of each activity.

The workshop was co-facilitated by VVOB and Jika Communication and Training.