Developing a professional learning community for All-through schools

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• Well, good afternoon!  My silky smooth coat is
  as soft as a bed sheet!  My eyes twinkle like the
  North Star! 
• I am a sweet little lady who loves to go on walks
  and my, oh, myyou will be pleased with my
  excellent leash manners! 
• I love to be patted and I love to be brushed.  My
  face is full of expression and everyone says I am
  so, so cute!  I get along well with EVERYBODY.
  Come meet me today! 

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• Miriam - November 15th 2008
• MIRIAMDOGBreed German Shepard MixSize
  MediumAge 3 years Sex FemaleI.D. Number
  54089
• Well, good afternoon!  My silky smooth coat is
  as soft as a bed sheet!  My eyes twinkle like the
  North Star!  I am a sweet little lady who loves
  to go on walks and my, oh, myyou will be pleased
  with my excellent leash manners!  I love to be
  patted and I love to be brushed.  My face is full
  of expression and everyone says I am so, so
  cute!  I get along well with EVERYBODY. Come meet
  me today! 

• Made with LOVE by Miss Warmouths Primary 2
  students in Edinburgh,
• Scotland!!!!

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Developing a professional learning community for
All-through schools Graham
Thomson Website and course information
at www.scssa.ed.ac.uk
The engine room for change and sustained school
improvement
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Professional Learning Communities

• Professional Learning Communities are places in
• which teachers pursue clear, shared purposes for
• student learning, engage in collaborative
  activities to
• achieve their purposes, and take collective
• responsibility for student learning
• 
  Liebermann (1999)

• A Professional Learning Community is defined as
  a
• schools staff members who continuously seek
• to find answers through inquiry and act on their
• learning to improve student learning
• 
  Astuto (2002)

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parallel play Barth

• Turn to your shoulder partner.
• Come up with some examples of where you might see
  parallel play in an All-through school?

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There is a new generation emerging that will
change the world as never before. Tapscott,
Growing Up Digital
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ICT Literacy

• What should you teach a five-year old so that
• they will be ICT literate at the age of 20?

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Core to the Problem?

• The hardware doesnt yet exist
• The software hasnt been written
• Some of the key companies dont yet exist
• So, who do you ask?

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Gifted as a Team Activity
What subject is this?

• If we create a GM rice
• that is enriched with
• Vitamin C, we could cut
• scurvy.
• Can the West impose this
• technology for their own
• good?

• All-through schools need
• to focus their energies on
• nurturing multidisciplinary
• problem solving teams
• rather than simply
• supporting talented
• individuals.

Graham Thomson Nov 09
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Section 1

• Reason for plc
• What are they
• examples

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If the world were a village of 100 people...

• 57 Asians 21 Europeans 8 Africans
• 52 female 48 male
• 70 non-white 30 white
• 70 non-Christian 30 Christian
• 89 heterosexual 11 homosexual
• 6 possess 59 of entire worlds wealth, and all 6
  from the US
• 80 live in substandard housing
• 70 unable to read
• 50 suffer from malnutrition
• 1 near death 1 near birth
• 1 with college education
• 1 computer owner

The World Village
Harter (2000)
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? 33 would have cellular phones and 16 would be
online on the Internet.? 27 villagers would be
under 15 years of age.? There would be an equal
number of males and females.? There would be 18
cars in the village.? 53 villagers would live
on less than two U.S. dollars a day.? One
villager would have AIDS and 26 villagers would
smoke.? By the end of a year, one villager
would die and two new villagers would be born so
thus the population would climb to 101.

• http//geography.about.com/od/obtainpopulationdata
  /a/worldvillage.htm

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If your school is made up of 100 staff
members..What percentage would say

• There is a lot of collaboration in my subject
  department or stage
• There is a shared whole-school vision of where
  the school is going
• High levels of trust and respect exist in this
  school
• Staff development time is used effectively
  
• There is effective communication between
  teachers and senior managers
• There is a lot of cross-departmental or stage
  collaboration in this school

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• Key Stage 3 Strategy Pilot Evaluation
• Teacher Survey Results
• A
• There is a lot of collaboration in
• my subject department 80
• There is a shared whole-school
• vision of where the school is 53
• going
• High levels of trust and respect
• exist in this school 48
• Staff development time is used
• effectively 47
• There is effective communication
• between teachers and senior
  41
• managers
• There is a lot of cross-departmental
• collaboration in this school 26

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• Internal capacity is the power to engage in and
  sustain continuous learning of teachers and the
  school itself for the purpose of enhancing pupil
  learning.
• Such a school can take charge of change,
  irrespective of its source, and can thrive in a
  changing environment.

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Turn to your shoulder partners

• Why are some hospital doctors more innovative
  than others?

What happens between people is more important for
innovation than what is within individuals
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What is a PLC?
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Are You Part of a Professional Learning Community?

• Quality teaching requires strong
• Professional learning communities.
• Collegial interchange,not isolation,
• must become the norm for teachers.
• American National Commission on Teaching,
  2003

The collective action of beehives, photographed
by Ted Horowitz.
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Are You Part of a Professional Learning Community?

• The idea of making classrooms into learning
• communities for students will remain more
  rhetoric
• than real unless schools also become learning
• communities for teachers
• Thomas Sergiovanni

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ProfessionalWork that is grounded in the
distinctive knowledge-base of learning and
teaching (pedagogy)LearningThe constant desire
to know more about how work in schools can be
better understood and improvedCommunityGroups
of people committed and working together with a
common aspiration of achievement for all pupils
Developing Professional Learning Communities
Developing professional learning communities
http//www.edu.dudley.gov.uk/CPD/Documents/cpd_to
olkit/CPD20methods/Developing20professional20le
arning20communities.pdf
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Key factors for PLC success

• 1. members desire and capacity to improve
• 2. shared vision
• 3. a relentless focus on pupil learning
• 4. collective responsibility is taken for pupil
  learning and success.
• 5. enquiry-based learning.
• 6. collaboration
• 7. shared Leadership for learning
• 8. clear working structures and conditions
• new learning opportunities for adults
• good external links

Based on Developing professional learning
communities http//www.edu.dudley.gov.uk/CPD/Docu
ments/cpd_toolkit/CPD20methods/Developing20profe
ssional20learning20communities
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Heart By-pass Death Rate Drops 25 When Surgeons
Share Know-How

• 23 practicing surgeons and their staff observed
  one another in the operating room and shared
  their know-how.
• We didnt invent anything new we got better
  at doing things we already do, said one.

• 74 patients who were expected to die did not

In New England Research conducted at Dartmouth
Medical School Lebanon, N.H. March, 1996
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Sectionexamples of PLCs
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• Glow Groups are a great way to
• discuss and debate practice,
• share ideas and resources,
• or collaborate on projects.

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TRIOS
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Learning Rounds
observing learning
observing learning
observing learning
observing learning
observing learning
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The process

• Identifying a focus
• Learning and Teaching focus - will generate key
  questions to act as a focus to the observation.
• Observation of Learning and Teaching in school.
• Visit to school investigates this focus through
  observation. The team gather evidence that is
  descriptive and specific.
• Post Observation Discussion - 2 stages.
• Team members describe what they saw.
• They analyse the evidence - arranging it and
  identifying patterns.
• Next Steps Creation.
• In the context of available resources, the group
  generate and discuss a range of ideas on what
  should be done next at a system wide level.

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Learning Rounds

• Going beyond normal boundaries getting close to
  practice in different contexts
• Not passive observers but a dialogue after
  observations
• Emphasis on central importance of Learning and
  Teaching to school improvement
• Focus on observers learning
• Focus on Next Steps
• Approach to school improvement that can be
  duplicated across a system

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Working thru a PLC activity

• Training first,..we read a bit of literature
• Then look at evidence
• Then our next steps

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Blooms Taxonomy
CREATIVITY

• Evaluation appraise, defend, predict
• Synthesis compose, design, develop
• Analysis compare, contrast, categorise
• Application demonstrate, illustrate, solve
• Comprehension describe, explain
• Knowledge memorise, name,
• recognise, recall

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The Light-up Shoes
A few four-year olds were sitting together.
Three of the children were wearing trainers that
would light up when they stepped down on
them. Teacher Wow! Look at your shoes! That
is so cool. They light up when you step
down. Child 1 Yes, they do this. Jumps up and
down several times Teacher How does that
happen? How does it light up? Child 1 Because
they are new. Teacher Um, mine are new too but
they dont light up. Child 2 No, because they
light up when you step down on them. Steps down
hard several times Teacher Steps down hard
several times Thats funny. Mine dont light
up when I step down.
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Child 3 No, no, no, you have to have these
holes points to the holes Teacher Pointing
to the holes in her own shoe But I have holes
and mine still dont light up, and Josh has holes
in his trainers too and his do not light up
either. I wonder why? Child 4 I think you
need batteries. Kids, you need batteries. Child
1 Yeah, you need batteries to make them work.
Thinks for a while But I did not see batteries
when I put my toes in. Child 4 I think they
are under the toes. Child 2 I cant feel the
batteries under my toes. Teacher I wonder how
we can find out about this?
EPPE
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the jelly fish story
It was June in a three-year-old room. It was
circle time. The teacher had written on a flip
chart the words Things I Like To Do On My Summer
Holiday and listed every childs name down the
side of the paper. She started the lesson by
telling the class that summer was coming and
school would soon be over. They would be on
holiday. She wanted to know what they liked to
do on their summer holidays.
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Teacher To the first child on her right
Tyler, what do you like to do in the
summer? Tyler Bake. Teacher No, you can bake
anytime, but what do you like to do in the
summer? Tyler Bake Teacher No, baking is
something you do inside. In the summer it is
warm and sunny. What do you like to do in the
summer when it is warm and sunny? Tyler
Bake. Teacher Tyler, can you think of anything
else you would like to do this summer? Tyler
No, my mum said she is going to take time off
work and we are going to bake together any day I
want. Teacher Ok. She writes bake on the
chart next to Tylers name Talking to the next
child in the circle Josh, and what do you like
to do in the summer? Josh Bake. Teacher Can
you think of anything else? Josh No. Teacher
Reluctantly writes bake next to Joshs name
Brian, what do you like to do in the summer?
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Brian Go to the beach. Teacher With a big
smile Yes, thats right. In the summer we like
to go to the beach and swim in the water. Nicole
From across the circle I dont like to swim
because last year I went to the beach and I got
stung by a jelly fish. Andrew Me too and it
really hurt and I had to go to the lifeguard and
he gave my daddy medicine to rub on it and it
really hurt and it bit me. Dani Jelly fish
cant bite you they dont have teeth they just
have long arms I saw them on the beach and they
were all dead and they cant bite. Nicole Uh
huh they bite and they sting and I hate them and
I am never going to the beach cause they bite and
sting like a bee. Matthew I like jelly fish.
They have them in the quarium. Teacher
Children, we are not talking about jelly fish
now, we are talking about what we like to do on
our summer holiday. Julie, can you tell me what
you like to do in the summer? (shared sustained
conversations in REPEY)
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Light-up Shoes and Jelly Fish Story

• In the majority of classes we observed the
• questioning used was
• lower order
• teacher initiated
• and with few pupil initiated questions
• What will our PLC do now?

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g.r.o.u.p. brainstorming

• go for quantity
• record every single idea
• outlaw judgement
• unleash crazy thoughts
• period of incubation

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Brainstorm-go for quantity-record every single
idea-outlaw judgement-unleash crazy
thoughts-period of incubation

• The Pacific power and light company had a problem
  with ice forming on the electrical wires after
  snow storms.
• The ice had to be removed or over time the weight
  of the ice may break the electrical lines. The
  manual process to solve this problem was slow,
  tedious and dangerous.
• Come up with a sustainable and cost-effective
  solution to the problem

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Pacific Power and Light
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What issues lend themselves to PLCs
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So what should we teach a 5-year old today?

• Communication skills
• Numeracy
• Creativity
• Citizenship
• Love of learning
• Personal knowledge/knowledge
• ?

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Your PLC next steps.

• What have you heard today that you might use?
• If the answer is nothing, what will you do
  instead?
• What have you started that you will continue?
• What will your first step be?