Professional Learning Communities Saved My Career
Post written by Gwendolyn Todd, a secondary instructional resource teacher in the Charles County (Md.) Public Schools. This post was originally featured in ASCD Express.
When I began my teaching career just a decade ago, professors and veteran teachers warned me that teaching is a solitary profession. Although both groups continually taught me strategies to facilitate collaborative learning for my students, they also emphasized that my professional life would be lonely.
However, I started teaching at the advent of No Child Left Behind. The law’s push for tough-love accountability provoked a general panic among educators that I, as a new teacher, didn’t understand at the time. The panic prompted a new strategy: instead of working alone, a team of teachers could more effectively combat the heat of the accountability spotlight. Nevertheless, several colleagues who entered the field at the same
