An Illustrated Guide to the 5 Questions for PLC+

Bring your PLC+ work to life with this illustrated guide to the essential questions

Traditionally, teaching was a solo act. While many educators developed expertise on their own, important decisions were made in isolation, leading to inconsistent student experiences and missed opportunities to learn from one another. Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) offered a way for educators to collaborate, but simply providing time to meet is not enough.

This beautifully illustrated guide offers a meaningful and accessible on-ramp to the PLC+ framework, an evidence-based approach that empowers teacher teams to do what matters most: boost student learning and improve teaching. By focusing on the five essential questions, this guide brings the big ideas of PLC+ to life with visuals, examples, and tools you can use right away.

This book will help you:

• Understand the five essential questions: Where are we going? Where are we now? How do we move learning forward? What did we learn today? Who benefited and who did not?
• Engage with illustrations and prompts designed to spark reflection and conversation, whether you're reviewing student work, planning instruction, or tackling tough questions with colleagues
• Use checklists to help your team see connections more clearly and determine actionable next steps
• Explore spotlights on research that bring the importance and impact of high-functioning PLCs to light

Think of this guide as a roadmap you can flip open when you need direction, clarity, or inspiration in your PLC work. Then, continue with Your Introduction to PLC+ to go even deeper into the framework.

Douglas Fisher is professor and chair of educational leadership at San Diego State University and a teacher leader at Health Sciences High and Middle College. Previously, Doug was an early intervention teacher and elementary school educator. He is a credentialed English teacher and administrator in California.  In 2022, he was inducted into the Reading Hall of Fame by the Literacy Research Association. He has published numerous articles on reading and literacy, differentiated instruction, and curriculum design, as well as books such as The Teacher Clarity Playbook 2/e, Your Introduction to PLC+, The Illustrated Guide to Teacher Credibility, Instructional Strategies that Move Learning Forward: 30 Tools that Support Gradual Release of Responsibility, and Welcome to Teaching!

Nancy Frey is a Professor in Educational Leadership at San Diego State and a teacher leader at Health Sciences High and Middle College.  She is a credentialed special educator, reading specialist, and administrator in California.  She is a member of the International Literacy Association's Literacy Research Panel. Her published titles include 50 Strategies for Activating Your PLC+, The Illustrated Guide to Visible Learning, Welcome to Teaching Multilingual Learners, Teaching Foundational Skills to Adolescent Readers, and RIGOR Unveiled: A Video-Enhanced Flipbook to Promote Teacher Expertise in Relationship Building, Instruction, Goals, Organization, and Relevance.

Dr. John Almarode is a bestselling author and an Associate Professor of Education at James Madison University. He was awarded the inaugural Sarah Miller Luck Endowed Professorship in 2015 and received an Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council for Higher Education in Virginia in 2021. Before his academic career, John started as a mathematics and science teacher in Augusta County, Virginia. As an author, John has written multiple educational books focusing on science and mathematics, and he has co-created a new framework for developing, implementing, and sustaining professional learning communities called PLC+. Dr. Almarode¿s work has been presented to the US Congress, the Virginia Senate, and the US Department of Education.

John and his colleagues have also focused a lot of attention on the process of implementation - taking evidence-based practices and moving them from intention to implementation, potential to impact through a series of on-your-feet-guides around PLCs, Visible Learning, Visible Teaching, and the SOLO Taxonomy