We Planned Your Next PLC (You’re Welcome.)

Transcript [pdf]

SHOW NOTES

What if your next PLC didn’t involve sitting around a table, working through another PowerPoint, or trying to squeeze meaningful professional learning into an already packed agenda?

In this episode, Julie and Kristie share a simple way to turn podcasts into professional development through a Walk & Talk PLC. It gives educators movement, choice, conversation, and practical ideas they can actually use.

If you lead PLCs, staff meetings, professional development, or educator teams, this episode may have just planned your next few meetings for you.

Key Takeaways

• • Effective professional development should leave educators thinking differently, talking with colleagues, and ready to try something new.
  • Adults benefit from autonomy and choice in how, when, and where they learn.
  • Podcasts can create interaction with experts, content, and colleagues without requiring another sit-and-get training.
  • Short episodes leave time for the part PD often misses: discussion, reflection, and application.
  • Professional learning is more powerful when it becomes an ongoing habit rather than a once-a-year event.

Episode Download / Handout

Turn a Podcast Into Your Next Walk & Talk PLC

The free Episode 78 companion guide gives you a practical structure for using The Inclusion Podcast as professional development—without having to build your next PLC from scratch.

You’ll find:

• • Guidance for setting up a Walk & Talk
  • An explanation of why movement can strengthen the PD experience
  • A ready-made example centered on challenging behavior
  • Podcast episodes and resources already organized around the topic
  • Discussion questions to move teams from listening to application
  • A structure you can adapt for other priorities such as co-teaching, differentiation, Tier 1 instruction, or fading adult support

Why download it?

Because finding good PD content is only half the job. You still have to turn it into meaningful professional learning. This guide does that part for you, giving you a structure you can use for one PLC or build into an ongoing professional learning series.

👉 Get the handout at: inclusiveschooling.com/download78

Practical Moves for Your Next PLC

• • Choose a topic connected to something your team is already working on.
  • Let educators listen while walking rather than requiring everyone to sit together.
  • Keep the content short enough to protect time for discussion and application.
  • Offer episode choices when different staff members have different needs or levels of readiness.
  • Include paraprofessionals, specialists, early childhood educators, and others who are often overlooked when PD is planned.
  • End by asking what educators want to try, change, or explore next.

Additional Resources

Sample District Walk and Talk- 🎙️The Inclusion Podcast PD Series: From Behavior to Belonging: See how one district turned The Inclusion Podcast into an ongoing professional learning experience focused on behavior and belonging. This real-world example provides a flexible model for pairing podcast episodes with practical resources, Inclusion-Bytes, collaborative reflection, and exit tickets. Use the complete series as inspiration or adapt individual pieces to create meaningful, connection-centered professional learning for your own school or district.

Inclusion-Bytes: Professional Learning for Inclusive Schools: Build a shared understanding of inclusion — and the practical skills to make it happen. Inclusion-Bytes offers flexible, on-demand professional learning designed for PreK–12 educators, with expert-led learning, downloadable resources, reflection opportunities, and implementation tools that help teams move inclusive practices from ideas into everyday classrooms.