PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES

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PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITIESBest
Practices For Enhancing Student Achievement
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Professional Learning Communities at Work

• Mission, Vision, Values and Goals.
• Collaborative Teams Engaged in Collective
  Inquiry.
• Changing Your Schools Culture.
• Planning a PLC-Model School.

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In times of drastic change, it is the learners
who inherit the future. The learned usually find
themselves beautifully equipped to live in a
world that no longer exists.
-- Eric Hoffer, 1972
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FUNDAMENTAL ASSUMPTIONS

• We can make a difference.
• Schools can be more effective.
• People Improvement is the key to school
  improvement.
• Significant school improvement will impact
  teaching and learning.
• BUT. There are a variety of ideas about the
  purpose of schools.
  

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WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF SCHOOLS?

• DIRECTIONS
• Find handout 5 in your notebook.
• As a PLC team, take a minute to consider what you
  believe is the purpose of your job and of all
  schools.
• 3. Write a concise statement articulating your
  view.

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DISCUSS AT YOUR TABLE

• Does your Mission Statement contain the
  commitment to ensure student learning? Where?
  Does it imply who is responsible?

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A PLC is ...

• PROFESSIONAL?
  
• Every teacher is a leader Every leader
  is a
• teacher.
• LEARNING?
• In a PLC School, learning applies as much to
  teachers,
• administrators, and parents as to
  students.
• Focus on instruction, curriculum
  and assessment
• COMMUNITY?
• Support
• Cooperation vs. competition
• Focus intensely on the mission, vision, goals,
  and values.
• Improvement of the whole vs. striving to get
  ahead individually.
• A sense of purpose all staff
  embraces and commits to.
• Its not all about me!

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PROFESSIONAL EDUCATORS

• Emphasize learning.
• Emphasize active student engagement and
  significant content.
• Focus on student performance and production.

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PROFESSIONAL EDUCATORS(CONT.)

• Collaborate with colleagues.
• Are students of teaching, consumers of research.
• Function as leaders.

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MISSION VS. VISION

• MISSION
• The WHAT. What do we want to occur?
• Ex. All Children Can Learn whatever it takes!
• What do we expect all kids to know and be able to
  do?
• What is our response when they dont?

• VISION
• The There. How will get from here to there?
• The dream school you would design for your own
  child or grandchild! The way things should be.
• Ex. Vision Students with a
  Future.

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Youve got to be careful if you dont know where
youre going cause you might not get there!
Yogi Berra
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WHAT KIND OF PLACE DO I WANTMY SCHOOL TO BEFIVE
YEARS FROMNOW?
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THE FOUR PILLARS OF PLC

• MISSION
• Why do we exist?
• VISION
• What kind of school are we trying to create?
• VALUES
• What attitudes, behaviors, and commitments
• must we demonstrate in order to create
  the
• school of our vision?
• GOALS
• Which steps should we take first?
• What is our timeline?
• What evidence will we present to demonstrate
• our progress?

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GOALS / PRIORITIES

• Challenge areas agreed on by all
• Steps we will take to get from here to there
• Focus on outcome, Linked to vision
• The gap between our vision and the current
  reality.

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Collaborative Teams Engaged in Collective Inquiry
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You cannot have students as continuous learners
and effective collaborators, without teachers
that have the same characteristics.

Michael Fullan, 1993
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Separated by their classrooms and packed teaching
schedules, teachers rarely work or talk together
about teaching practices.
Linda Darling-Hammond,
1995
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SIX STRATEGIES FOR CREATING TEAM TIME

• Creative scheduling
• Using paraprofessionals
• Parent volunteers
• Schoolwide activities
• Theme and team-teaching
• Purchased planning time

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FOR EFFECTIVE TEAMS

• Build in time during the school day
• Make purpose explicit
• Train school personnel
• Accept responsibility

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TEAM MEETINGS

• Agendas and prepared materials
• Note-taking
• Sticking to the task

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COLLABORATIVE TEAMS

• Grade-level or subject-area
• Shared students
• Schoolwide task forces
• Professional training (teaching strategies, etc.
• Vertical Teams

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God didnt create self-contained classrooms,
fifty-minute periods, and subjects taught in
isolation. We did---because we find working
alone safer than and preferable to working
together.
Roland Barth, 1991
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COLLECTIVE INQUIRYTHE SEARCH TO

• Clarify
• Research collectively
• Find, implement, test best practices

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COLLECTIVE INQUIRYThe vehicle that takes you
where you want to go.

• Looking closely at the underlying causes of the
  schools challenges.
• Inquiry into the relationship between your
  present situation and the way youd like things
  to be at your school.
• Inquiry into the priority areas where your
  current reality fell short of your vision.

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COLLECTIVE INQUIRY (CONT.) Based on the
premise No one is as smart as all of us.

• Inquiry is all about understanding WHY your
  challenge area exists BEFORE attempting to solve
  it, so that your solution will truly address the
  specific challenge vs. a band aid fix.

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Collective Inquiry IS NOT

• Jumping to conclusions
• Jumping on another bandwagon

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Collective Inquiry IS NOT (cont.)

• Making Assumptions without forming and testing
  hypotheses
• Placing Blame on any group in the community

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By emphasizing needed changes in the culture of
the schools and the daily practice of
professionals, the reform movement can
concentrate on the heart of the school---the
teaching and the learning process.
Karen Seashore
Louis, Sharon Kruse and Mary Ann
Raywid, 1996
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The CULTURE of aProfessional Learning
Community

1. Shared Mission, Vision, Values, Goals
2. Collective Inquiry
3. Collaborative Teams

• 4. Action Experimentation
• 5. Continuous Improvement
• 6. Focus on Results

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The processes involved in school improvement are
analogous to farming. We must plant the seeds of
school improvement, cultivate, nurture, and care
for them. We must practice patience.
Richard DuFour, Robert Eaker,
and Mary Ann Ranells, 1992
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Organizations cannot proclaim a change in
attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors. People are
often unaware of the uniqueness of their
organizations culture. In fact, culture has
been described as the way we do things around
here and the assumptions we dont see.
Richard DuFour and Robert
Eaker, 1992
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If you intend to introduce a change that is
incompatible with the organizations culture, you
have only three choices modify the change to be
more in line with the existing culture, alter the
culture to be more in line with the proposed
change, or prepare to fail.
David Salisbury Daryl Conner, 1994
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STRUCTURE VS. CULTURE

• STRUCTURE
• Day-To-Day Policies Procedures

• CULTURE
• Long-Term Beliefs, Expectations, and Habits

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A SCHOOLS CULTURE MIGHT MEAN

• Shared decision-making and teamwork.
• Effective meetings.
• Focus on goals.
• Excitement and support.

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KEYS TO PLC CULTURE

• Continuous Improvement
• Results Orientation

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TO CHANGE YOUR SCHOOLS CULTURE

• Promote your mission, vision, values and goals.
• Bring your staff together to find best practices.
• Sustain the culture through communication.
• Persist.
• Confront problems.

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WHY CELEBRATE?

• Public honor and reward motivate recipients.
• Appropriate celebration reinforces shared values.
• Recognition provides living examples of cultural
  values.

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WHY CELEBRATE? (CONT.)

• Celebration fuels momentum.
• Its fun!

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Share Own - Solve

• Share Concerns
• Own the Problem
• Solve the Problem Together

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FIRST STEPS

• TAKE STOCK
• FORGE VISION - MAKE IT VISIBLE
• ITENTIFY 4 PRIORITIES
• STAFF SELF-SELECTS TO TEAMS
• ESTABLISH A COMMUNICATION SYSTEM
• TRAIN STAFF IN PLC
• PRACTICE INQUIRY
• START SMALL
• CELEBRATE YOUR FIRST WIN

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MEETING NORMS

• Start and end on time
• Attendance
• Agenda
• Roles
• Meeting times
• Stay on the agenda
• Make meetings worthwhile
• NO SIDE BARS
• NO PUT DOWNS
• BE brief and directive
• Include all in decision making
• Provide a way for everyone to contribute

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ROTATE ROLES

• Facilitator
• Recorder
• Timekeeper
• Gatekeeper
• Visionary
• Inquirer
• Resource
• Closure
• Reporter
• Refreshments

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AGENDA

• Team Name Date of Meeting
• Present Absent
• Call to Order
• Reports
• Discussion
• Decisions
• Assignments
• Next meeting

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Collaborative Teams

• Parent Engagement
• K-Bowden
• 1-White
• 2-Smith
• 3-Masters
• 4-Norris
• S-Chandler
• Cl-Thomas
• P-Eslick
• C-Eslick

• Time On Task
• K
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• S
• Cl
• P
• C

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PLAN YOUR WORK WORK YOUR PLAN

1. REFLECT ON THE BENEFITS OF A PLC.
2. WHAT STEPS WILL YOU TAKE THIS FALL TO BEGIN THE
   PROCESS?
3. WITH WHICH STEPS ARE YOU MOST COMFORTABLE?
   UNCOMFORTABLE?
4. HOW CAN WE HELP YOU?