Professional Learning Communities Made Easy

Professional Learning Communities

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The term professional learning community describes a collegial group of administrators

and school staff who are united in their commitment to student learning.

Hord (1997b) notes, "As an organizational arrangement, the professional learning community is seen as a powerful staff-

development approach and a potent strategy for school change and improvement."

Professional LearningCommunities

Professional Learning Communities

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o They function as an effective strategy for building school capacity around core issues of teaching and learning (Darling-Hammond, 1995)

o They can serve as a mechanism to transform school culture.

Why are professional learning communities important ?

Professional Learning Communities

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…connect teachers with information, strategies and best practices.

In other words, PLCs…

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Schools that are highly effective produce results that almost entirely overcome the effects of student backgrounds

Robert Marzano,

What Works in Schools, 2003

Professional Learning Communities

SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS DO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

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1. To understand how collaborative communities (PLCs) can impact teacher learning and student achievement.

2. To understand the role we will play in PLCs.

3. To shift our thinking from teaching to learning

Our Objectives Today

Professional Learning Communities

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Culturally Responsive TeachingEffective Instructional Strategies

Examining Data

Key Focus Areas

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Building Based Content Based

Interdisciplinary

Types of PLCs at CHS

Professional Learning Communities

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*PLCs will meet on Tuesdays (second faculty mtg. of the month)

How will PLCs be organized, and when will we meet?

Professional Learning Communities

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Focus on student performance Collaborate with colleagues during PLC

time Become students of teaching and

consumers of research Accept responsibility for implementing

systems that enable each student to be successful

So, what’s my role?

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o Book Study Groupso Effective Instructional Strategieso Data Analysiso The Achievement Gap (Race and Equity in the Classroom)o Action Research o Developing Interdisciplinary Unitso Cornell Note Taking o Lesson Study*o Culturally Responsive Teachingo Looking at Student Worko Teacher Choice

Examples of PLC groups

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What is it we expect students to learn?

How will we know when they have learned it?

How will we respond when they don’t learn it?

How will we respond when they already know it?

Dufour, Dufour, Eaker

Fundamental Questions

Professional Learning Communities

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I know what you’re thinking…

Professional Learning Communities

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B ut…You’ll make it through…

Professional Learning Communities

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Shared responsibility for the development of all students and collective responsibility for student success

Reduced teacher isolation Powerful adult learning that shifts our focus from teaching to learning

Increased understanding of content and the roles teachers play in helping all students build capacity

Increased likelihood that teachers will build greater capacity for learning, will be professionally renewed and will continue to be inspired to inspire students.

Observed Outcomes for staff

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It is important that you understand that the PLC model is not a canned program or a step-by-step recipe for school improvement. It represents a process for making the structural and cultural changes necessary to help students achieve at higher levels and make teaching a more rewarding and satisfying profession.

Du Four, DuFour, Eaker

So, here’s the bottom line…

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www.allthingsplc.info

Linda Darling Hammond

Rick and Becky DuFour

Professional Learning Communities at Work (1998)

Whatever It Takes (2004)

Shirley Hord

Karin ChenowethIt’s Being Done (2007)

Peter SengeThe Fifth Discipline: the Art and Practice of the Learning Organization (2006)

Schools That Learn (2000)

Where can I find more information?

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The most critical factor in a child’s life is a caring, qualified, competent teacher

~ Linda Darling Hammond

The decision is ours.Together, we CAN make a difference!