The Professional Teaching and Learning Cycle

SEDL staff help educators improve student learning through ongoing, job-embedded professional development like the Professional Teaching and Learning Cycle (PTLC). The PTLC is a professional development process in which teachers collaboratively plan and implement lessons aligned to their state standards. The cycle involves the following steps:

• Step 1: Study—Teachers work in collaborative planning teams (grade-level, vertical, or departmental) to critically examine and discuss the learning expectations from selected state standards.
  
  
• Step 2: Select—Collaborative planning teams research and select instructional strategies and resources for enhancing learning and agree on appropriate assessment techniques.
  
  
• Step 3: Plan—Planning teams work together to formally develop a common lesson incorporating the selected strategies and select the type of student work each teacher will later use as evidence of student learning.
  
  
• Step 4: Implement—Teachers carry out the planned lesson, make note of implementation successes and challenges, and gather the agreed-upon evidence of student learning.
  
  
• Step 5: Analyze—Teachers gather again in collaborative teams to examine student work and discuss student understanding of the standards.
  
  
• Step 6: Adjust—Collaborative teams reflect on the implications of the analysis of student work. Teachers discuss alternative instructional strategies or modifications to the original instructional strategy that may be better suited to promoting student learning.