How to build a PLC as a singleton planner

As someone who taught with three other English teachers at a large school in a large district, the concept of “singleton” teachers was new to me when it came up at a conference this last year. Singletons do everything a team of teachers usually does but completely by themselves, and if you’re here because you’re a singleton…you’re already painfully aware of that fact.

Ideally, your administrators try to make your life easier by providing you with curriculum packages, teaching assistants, or other forms of support to lower your workloads. However, building a community of educators with a common goal is far more difficult for you than for teachers whose teams are built into the structure of their schools.

In this blog, we want to provide tips, guidance, and research that might help you build that community. We also encourage you to forward this to your principal or other administrators who can provide moral support and momentum for your goals. Sometimes, administrators will need to step in to make the kind of changes that will facilitate the changes we suggest.

First, let’s talk about PLCs and why it’s important for teachers to have a community.

Table of contents

PLCS are essential for teacher growth and student success

Teachers are overwhelmed and overworked

A quick summary of what a PLC should include

You may still be able to build a PLC at your school

Vertical alignment teams

Same grade-level (different subject) teams

Electives teams

Mentor-mentee teams

Other non-traditional forms of PLC

How to start a learning community

Your checklist for connection

Connect with us for resources like this one

As a singleton, you may not know much about PLCs. PLC stands for Professional Learning Community. In some states, these teams of teachers with common goals are referred to as Professional Learning Units (PLUs). PLCs as we know them today were introduced by the Dufours in 1998.

These units often work together for a shared purpose. Teachers who work in the same subject or department share data, write and modify curricula, exchange resources, step into each other’s classrooms, and provide the encouragement and work support that the team needs. One critical aspect of these units is that teachers learn from each other to gain new skills and knowledge that make them more effective educators.

According to the experts, a PLC should also extend beyond its small group and across school communities to unite educators as they achieve common goals, pursue shared visions, and undertake their shared missions to provide students with a high-quality education (31).

To us, this sounds like both vertical alignment and a strong program focus are essential for creating widespread professional learning communities. However, these are critical aspects of a small team PLC as well.

In discussing the benefits of these units, much of the research surrounding PLCs primarily focuses on student growth. As teachers collaborate, they become more effective, thus driving student achievement (Teaching and Teacher Education). These are essential benefits of PLCs, but in a world of overwhelmed educators who are outnumbered in their classrooms, we should also discuss the emotional and workload benefits of a PLC.

At a recent conference, a teacher came up to the Eduphoria booth to talk about some features she was hoping to see in our assessment platform. It came up that she’s a singleton teacher who struggles to find time to write assessments for all of her preps.

If you’re a frequent reader or watcher of Eduphoria resources, then you know that we’re big proponents of formative assessments and data analysis to inform instruction. If you’re on your own, especially if you’re teaching multiple different classes on your own, a lot of time and effort would have to go into maintaining an assessment program like we recommend.

Assessments aren’t easy to write, especially if they’re good assessments that accurately measure the student’s level of mastery and learning needs.

Were this teacher in a group, this would be a responsibility that she could share with her colleagues. During our discussion, she mentioned that she has a lot of other responsibilities. She still has to grade, plan, teach, and tutor students. Not to mention that singleton teachers in small schools often have tasks to fulfill outside of the classroom, such as lunch monitoring duty, concession stand duty, or coaching. To her, a proper planning period was a luxury and a rare indulgence, meaning she spent a great deal of time planning and grading at home.

To us, and considering the conditions teachers are battling which are contributing to high rates of burnout, the overwhelm of singleton teachers is a vital consideration that should not be overlooked.

Definitions of PLC vary by state and sometimes by the methodology to which the researcher subscribes; however, there are a few common themes. For the most part, experts agree that a PLC should include the following:

• The opportunity to form meaningful relationships
• Shared planning and resource creation
• Common assessment goals and learning priorities
• The use of assessment data to refine teaching strategies and curricula
• Continued learning to improve and refine teaching practices

For the rest of this resource, we’d like to talk about how singleton teachers can access the benefits of a PLC through non-traditional methods.

Even if you’re the only teacher in your department, that doesn’t mean you’re out of options for building a PLC locally.

Here are a few options for teams that could form an effective PLC:

• Vertical alignment teams (e.g. 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grade teachers of the same subject)
• Same grade-level, cross-curricular teams
• Electives teams
• Mentor-mentee teams, regardless of like-subject affiliation

Let’s talk about each of these types of PLCs individually and, later on, what you could do to get them going.

Whereas a same-grade-level team would work together to examine standards for students currently in their classrooms, a vertical alignment team would meet to ensure students are receiving instruction on essential standards, retaining growth and momentum from year to year, and receiving the instruction that’s most beneficial for their individual needs.

Aligning teams on essential standards

Vertical alignment teams are in a great position to identify essential standards, as they understand what students will need to know from year to year to be successful in the next course.

Richard DuFour and fellow researchers (in their book Learning by doing: A handbook for professional learning communities at work) identified three aspects of an essential standard:

• Endurance
• Leverage
• Readiness for the next level

In other words, will the knowledge imparted through these standards last the test of time? Will they be able to use it elsewhere? And, will they need it to move on to the next level of instruction?

These are the guiding questions that will unite your team as you identify learning standards that will need to be closely monitored through assessment, data analysis, and interventions.

Helping students maintain growth and momentum

One of the key benefits of identifying essential standards is that teachers can improve on their team members' efforts to build student momentum. Plus, they aren’t accidentally impeding the efforts of their team to build foundational skills.

For example, say that a vertical alignment team at the elementary level decides that phonics instruction will be paired with whole reading instruction to maximize student exposure to authentic reading experiences. Because teachers had this discussion as part of their planning, there’s no chance that a Kindergarten or First grade teacher will make ideological instructional choices that cause Second and Third grade teachers to play catch-up.

The instructional choices that a teacher makes when exposing their students to important skills will have a ripple effect on that student’s education for years to come. So, it’s important that teams are aligned on how to teach these skills, so each teacher’s instructional methods and ideologies don’t contradict the others.

Passing on knowledge of individual student learning needs

This is a matter of opinion, but I personally believe that one of the most important pieces of information a teacher can pass on is how a student learns. This information is often safeguarded to prevent teachers from forming an unfair bias; consequently each teacher has to start from scratch with each new student. This creates a difficult trial-and-error period in which students struggle to familiarize themselves with a teacher and the teacher with them.

Instead of starting from ground zero with each new year, what if teachers passed important, non-biased information on to their team so students start strong and teachers are already familiar with each student's important learning needs?

Here are some examples of things that teachers could share with their team about student learning needs and habits:

• Environmental preferences, e.g. a certain student prefers natural light and gets restless under fluorescents
• Level of parent involvement, best ways to communicate with families
• Strongest intervention methods
• Student interests, passions, and expertise that keep them engaged and involved
• “Triggers” for students that may upset them or lead to behavioral issues
• Especially strong or difficult standards for students who may need reinforcement or continued monitoring
• Strong or developing skills that may affect their continued learning

While this blog isn’t an ad for our software, users may be interested in knowing that we have an excellent way of facilitating this transfer of knowledge for vertical alignment. In Mastery Tracker, a teacher’s observations of student learning persist for the duration of that student’s time at that school. If a teacher diligently documents their interactions with a student and their observations of that student’s unique displays of learning, their higher grade-level teachers will be able to use that knowledge for years to come.

Every child deserves to start fresh with each new year. However, information that can help them settle in faster is well worth sharing.

One might ask, “How could I collaborate with teachers who aren’t teaching the same subject as I am?”

Well, that’s a great question! Are you teaching common skills? Are there essential pieces of knowledge that you want students to take with them to the next grade level or past graduation? Even if you don’t think you are, you are teaching common skills. You do have common goals for students, and cross-curricular planning is a great way to give students strong foundations in the skills they need to succeed outside of the classroom.

Finding common learning goals

Cross-curricular planning isn’t easy, but there are more accessible ways to dip your toes into each other’s curricula. For example, let’s say your World History teacher is discussing World War II. There’s a lot of learning content here that could be shared among the team members. 

What if the English teacher assigned an essay or multi-media project that allowed students to engage in real-world discussion about the long-term effects of World War II?

What if the Geometry and Algebra II teachers created word problems using World War II battles or scenarios? Or, what if they used ballistics or battle formations to teach real-world math applications?

What if the Chemistry teacher talked about the chemical composition of combustible materials used in World War II?

This is a somewhat surface-level but effective way of uniting teams to use important units for the benefit of all students and all teachers.

An even deeper way of uniting teams is by identifying essential standards or common learning goals.

For example, what are some core learning goals that all teachers have for their students? Probably, each subject wants their students to learn metacognitive problem-solving strategies that can help them identify errors in their work and pivot to self-correct. This is a valuable skill, no matter the subject.

If this is a core learning need, then teachers can create curricula and rubrics that help to teach and monitor the success of teaching initiatives that target this skill and this common goal.

Using shared rubrics for essential skills

Your tests will look very different from subject to subject, but you can still assess these important skills and goals by discussing how you will measure a student’s progress.

For example, if you’re monitoring a student’s metacognitive skills, you could create a shared rubric that accompanies each project or assignment in which one of the domains measures a student’s problem-solving skills.

Does the student use available resources to solve problems and overcome hurdles?

Does the student self-identify areas for improvement?

Does the student improve from draft to draft, or does their work show that they’ve gone back to correct mistakes?

Every teacher can measure success in these areas.

Enhancing student learning outcomes by leaning on prior knowledge

Every teacher knows: prior knowledge is an extremely effective catalyst for continued learning. So, how can you build upon units that are fresh in a student’s brain to help them deepen their knowledge, expand applications for their knowledge, and gain new skills?

This might primarily be done through a deep exploration of essential standards. 

Let’s explore how these connections might be made using the same course examples as before.

In World History, a student is expected to learn how to contextualize historical developments and make connections between them. This is a great standard to build on, as drawing in the support of cross-curricular teachers helps students build those connections and add context that evolves into a greater depth of knowledge.

If students are closing out a unit on ancient Egypt, teachers can help students use their understanding of Egyptian history and culture to dive deeper and build new knowledge.

Chemistry teachers, what elements, chemicals, and processes went into the embalming process?

Math teachers, what Math practices from Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia built the foundations we’re still using today? Can discussions of the development of Base 10 facilitate deeper conversations about number sense and the way numbers work?

English teachers, which translated Ancient Egyptian texts can you use in your curriculum to teach essential reading and writing skills?

Electives teachers are very commonly singleton teachers. They may have one prep or several! Art electives teachers, how’s your pottery, jewelry, and drawing 101 course load going?

Unfortunately, teachers who are exclusively electives instructors are often left out of major program initiatives, don’t have planning groups, and don’t receive the same kind of support because they’re not instructing in core subjects where assessment scores matter for state funding.

Electives teachers are just as important to the functioning of a school and the achievement of our students as core subject teachers, and they deserve a team of people who can support them professionally, help them grow, and share ideas.

If that’s you, we’ve got ideas to help you build a cross-curricular electives team!

Use areas of commonality to share ideas and build essential skills

Some electives teachers will have an easier time finding areas of commonality. If your school offers Spanish, French, and German, these foreign language teachers should work together. However, what about pairing theatre, speech and debate, and creative writing classes together?

What about Economics, Finance, and Business teachers?

Who is teaching a class that can build on what you’re teaching, or whose knowledge could you benefit from to continue learning and developing a killer curriculum that teaches life-long skills?

Teams with this kind of makeup will have lots of opportunity to share ideas, reuse resources, and maybe even team up to measure success with certain skills.

Foreign language teachers, if you’re measuring language acquisition, how do your results compare across the same grade level? Are students acquiring Spanish more successfully than German? Perhaps, it’s worth discussing techniques that are helping students achieve to improve learning outcomes across the board.

Use common goals and beliefs about the purpose of instruction to improve curricula

Let’s say several computer science teachers are forming a team. One way to unite a team tackling several unique computer skills is to focus on a common goal.

What is your goal for the students in your classroom? Regardless of the subject, you could aim to make students more proficient at solving technical issues independently. Maybe your team shares a common belief about the value of computer science instruction.

Do you believe that each student in your classroom needs to leave knowing how to operate basic programs and learn new skills on unfamiliar software?

These beliefs about the importance of your curricula can unite you to focus on common goals.

How will you measure student success in learning a new program on their own? Which skills will you teach them to learn new software? What resources can you give them that will help them in their careers or in college when they’re presented with new technology?

These questions and the data you collect can help you improve curricula so that students take away what you’d like them to take away. Whether they choose careers in tech or not, they can leave with important life skills.

A note about the kind of data that can be used to make decisions

You may be thinking that it’s going to be difficult to collect data that measures the success of your initiatives if you’re teaching vastly different subjects. While this is a valid concern, it’s worth stating that your means of data collection doesn’t have to be through assessment.

If you’re measuring a student’s technical literacy and ability to orient themselves in new software, then projects, assignments, and observations are excellent forms of data that can facilitate discussion about the success of your initiatives.

What are some trends among students? Are they struggling with similar problems, such as proficiently using basic software on their take-home computers? Are technical issues preventing them from succeeding on their assignments?

You can solve these problems together by talking about your students’ and your common experiences.

Many people believe that the most important aspect of a PLC is that it allows teachers to build knowledge and skills that make them more effective educators. One way they do this is by problem-solving together and observing their fellow teachers. 

A mentor-mentee team could fill this void in a singleton teacher’s life and provide the kind of moral support that fights burnout and job dissatisfaction.

Sharing expertise, regardless of subject area

No matter what you teach or how long you’ve been teaching, assessment, teaching strategies, and interventions will always evolve and improve. The more experienced educator in the mentor-mentee relationship can help the newer teacher to perfect their strategies, but this relationship should definitely go both ways.

Some practices transcend the subject being taught. Here are some areas where you may be able to collaborate to improve teaching:

• Effective methods of assessment writing and administration
• Effective methods of intervention and enrichment to drive student growth
• Behavioral interventions for students with continued problems
• Methods for improving parent involvement, especially if one teacher has had a student before and has lived experience with that family
• Strategies that may improve lesson retention and performance outcomes
• Everyday accommodations that improve engagement and trust
• How to build trusting relationships with students
• How to improve tricky projects, assignments, or lessons
• Where to find information on best practices, learning opportunities, and continued learning on the educator’s subject

Creatively reusing and repurposing resources

Everyone who has made a slideshow knows that a lot more goes into the creation of an instructional masterpiece than putting words on the slides. These are the kinds of resources that you may be able to share for creative re-use.

Here are some other suggestions for things that could be shared or repurposed regardless of subject affiliation:

• Homework assignment templates
• Project ideas
• Classroom signs and reminders
• Creative materials
• Project exemplars
• Course framework designs for Canvas or Blackboard
• Syllabi
• Cadence of assessments and interventions
• Games and activities

Assessing and analyzing data to fulfill personal goals

Teachers don’t have to be teaching the same subject to analyze data together, especially if the older or more experienced teacher can provide insight about how to analyze data, a skill that often isn’t explicitly taught to new teachers

Mentors, it may be helpful to review your mentees' data with them to help them draw conclusions and create goals. You can also walk them through the process of creating a goal and measuring success, whether it’s for themselves or their students.

Finally, there are ways you can talk about data that don’t have to do with assessments. Talk about what you’re observing in your classrooms. Talk about the trends and outliers that concern you, and don’t forget to celebrate those that give you hope.

There is always common ground between teachers that is ripe for discussion, analysis, and improvement.

Obviously, a professional learning community would be more efficient in person; still, in an increasingly remote, technological world, there’s nothing wrong with building your community online.

Online and asynchronous units can function in very similar ways to an in-person unit. You can discuss trends in assessment (without disclosing confidential student information), exchange strategies and resources, and swap stories.

If you’re unsure how to connect to a PLC online, here are some avenues that may help you find your people.

• LinkedIn: Simply search for keywords in the people search bar and make connections with people who are teaching in a similar field. You can also connect with former colleagues and friends to build your community.
• Other social networking sites: Educators are everywhere on social media. While the community on Twitter has shrunk in recent years, there are still active communities of teachers and administrators on all the common social networks. Follow people who share your philosophies, send direct messages, and build your community.
• Reddit: Yes, Reddit is a social networking site, but it’s also an active forum where people are already doing the work of PLCs. Find discussions where people are solving the same problems that you’re dealing with and connect with those posters! Maybe they aren’t interested in a real, productive professional relationship, but maybe they are.
• Paid opportunities to connect: If you have the resources, there are companies that will connect you with fellow educators and provide learning opportunities that mimic the structure of traditional PLCs. If you don’t have the resources, it might be worthwhile to pitch these opportunities to your administrators to see if the school can pay your way.

Don’t forget about your free tools, such as Zoom and Google Suite which would allow you to connect face-to-face with your digital PLC! We hope you can use the insights in the rest of this resource to shape your online community for more effective planning, learning, and sharing.

We recognize that this is not a quick or easy process. Your plans might have to evolve over time as you learn and experiment with different structures and meeting schedules. Regardless, we’d like to provide a checklist that might help you kickstart your own process and feel out ways to connect with others.

Step 1: Identify your people

• Who are the people in your in-person or online community that share your beliefs, needs, and core student learning goals?

Step 2: Connect with your people

• It may start with an email. Perhaps you know this person well enough to grab coffee or steal a second between class periods. Simply ask, “How would you feel about starting a PLC with me?” or “I need some data analysis buddies. Would you like to join forces?”

Step 3: Meet!

• Find a time when you can all get together, whether in person or over Zoom. If you can’t find a common time, set up a chat or an email chain where everyone can ask questions and share ideas. Set up regular intervals for check-ins!

Step 4: Discuss your common goals

• It’s time to talk about what unites you as a group. Is it a core belief about the purpose of education? Is it that essential standard that you want to make sure your students remember? Or, is it a set of skills that will prepare them for life? Write them down and make them the driving force behind your get-togethers.

Step 5: Create rubrics and other measurements of success

• How are you going to discuss your shared initiatives? Can you all measure success in a standardized way? If not, how will you discuss progress so that everyone can learn from mistakes, improve on the process, and drive student achievement? Consider these four guiding questions to establish a common protocol.

Step 6: Create roles and responsibilities, and share what can be shared

• For some people, it’s helpful to assign roles so that each person knows what they should bring to the group. It can help to focus discussions and make meetings more effective. Is there one person responsible for compiling grade-level assessment scores? Is there a person whose task it is to take notes and send reminder emails for follow-up? Or, can you create a shared drive where teachers can repurpose and re-use slideshows, assignment formats, intervention activities, and more?

Step 8: Refine, iterate, and improve

• It might be awkward at first, but don’t give up. Give your discussions purpose by continually driving at a common goal. If your common goal is simply: Help students improve, then use each meeting to discuss progress toward that goal! As you go along, you’ll find ways to improve the process and continue supporting (and enjoying the support of) your new community of colleagues.

We hope this resource gets your wheels turning about how you can reach out to others, get support, and find your people. If you want more resources like this, including short-form social posts, newsletter updates, and webinars, subscribe to our socials and sign up for our newsletter! We publish a Monthly Digest with Eduphoria updates on the second week of each month and a robust Eduphoria software guide with use case suggestions, thought leadership content, and best practice spotlights on the last week of the month. We’re excited to have you here!

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