Transcript Professional Learning Communities

Professional Learning
Communities
Ty Duncan
ESC 17 Senior Specialist
Purpose
“The best case for public education has
always been that it is a common
good. Everyone ultimately has a
stake in the caliber of schools, and
education is everyone’s business.”
Michael Fullan, The Moral Imperative of School Leadership (2003)
An Emerging View of Professional
Development
• https://blogs.esc17.net/users/tduncan/weblo
g/1a244/An_Emerging_View_of_Professional_
Development.html
• http://www.nsdc.org/news/NSDCstudytechnic
alreport2010.pdf
“We talk as though we want results,
but we generally fail to make the
kind of systemic, organized effort
that produces them.”
Mike Schmoker
Pedagogical Malfunction?
I will now torture you with the
dreaded “packet” of useless, meaningless
worksheets so you can practice something
you have learned over and over until you
look for sharp pencils for self-mutilation.
The Ideal State?
The Infrastructure of Every Organization
Easiest
Short-Term
(the visible aspects
Strategic/Climate
of the organization)
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Infrastructure
(the systems and processes for
directing and managing work)
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Behavioral
Durability of the Change
Ability to Influence or Change
Physical
(the daily actions and
Systemic/Culture
reactions of employees)
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Cultural
Most
Difficult
(the underlying assumptions, values, beliefs
and norms that shape daily behavior)
2005, Russell Consulting, Inc. www.RussellConsultingInc. com
Long -Term
Cultural Change
“Structural change that is not supported by
cultural change will eventually be
overwhelmed by the culture, for it is in the
culture that any organization finds
meaning and stability.”
Schlechty, Shaking Up the Schoolhouse:
How to Support and Sustain Educational Innovation
(2001), p. 52
Effective Implementation of PLCs
Demands the Leader
“Know” His/Her Staff
Dr. Anthony Muhammad
Cultural Wars
(School Crusades)
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The Believers
The Tweeners
The Survivors
The Fundamentalists
Believers
Objective:
Success for All Students
Tweeners
Objective:
To Find Comfort Zone
Within the Organization
Survivors
Objective:
Survival
Fundamentalists
Goal:
Maintain Status Quo
(Leave Me Alone!)
Fundamentalists
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Believe not all children can learn ( Social Darwinists)
Believe that school reform is a waste of time
Believe in autonomy and academic freedom
Organize to resist threat(s) to status quo
Believe that gaps in learning are due to outside forces
(students, parents, administration)
• Have varied levels of pedagogical skills
The Current State of School Reform
The Clash
Fundamentalists
School Improvement
(need for
stability/predictability)
(need to change to
meet organizational
goals)
Stalemate
Sources of Resistance to Change From
Dr. Daniel Duke’s Work
Source
 Lack of awareness of the
need for change
 Impatience
 Complacency
 Fear of failure / success
 Sense of loss
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Fundamentalist
Change Is Not Easy
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“Drop Your Tools” Research
People persist when they are given no clear reason
to change
People persist when they do not trust the person
who tells them to change
People persist when they view the alternative as
more frightening
To change may mean admitting failure
(Maclean, Young Men and Fire, 1992)
Experts say…
• “Schools won’t improve until the average building
leader begins to work cooperatively with teachers
to truly, meaningfully oversee and improve
instructional quality.”
Schmoker, M. (2006) Results now: How we can achieve unprecedented improvement in
teaching and learning (p.29). Alexandria, VA. Association for Supervision and
Curriculum Development
7/17/2015
The Main Thing
is to Keep the
Main Thing
the
MAIN THING
(Stephen Covey)
School is in the “Learning” business
not the “Content” business.
“We talk as though we want results,
but we generally fail to make the
kind of systemic, organized effort
that produces them.”
Mike Schmoker
Culture as a Behavioral Average
Cultural
“Average”
- Ken Wilber (1996)
A Focus on Learning
• Use students and moral imperative as platform
for communication/policies
• Control of language/conversation is vital.
Consistently use this language in context of
change and transformation
• Competent, confident, and decisive articulation
from leadership is essential
• Objectivity is your friend, Subjectivity is your
enemy
• Consider skill development in relationship to
change
The Big Ideas of PLCs
•A Focus on Learning
•A Collaborative Culture with a Focus on Learning for All
•Collective Inquiry into Best Practice and Current Reality
•Action Orientation: Learning by Doing
•Results Orientation
•A Commitment to Continuous Improvement
Learning By Doing
What Needs to be Included in a
Data Profile?
A “Data Rich” Environment
• What do you do with formative assessment
data?
• How do you present Walkthrough data to your
staff? What is the “cultural average” and how
would a teacher know if they are above or below
the cultural average in regards to instruction?
• Do teachers look at student work together?
• How Psychometric are grading practices?
• What do you include in your emails to staff?
Leading Dialogue?
• It is always better for teachers to draw their
own conclusions regarding practice through
self-reflection.
• What kinds of questions can you ask that force
self reflection?
• Self-reflection can often lead to “shooting the
messenger” as finding yourself below the
cultural average is emotional.
Instructional Data
SE Data Is the Most
Important Right Now!!!
Region 17 Heat Maps
• http://www.esc17.net/preview.aspx?name=dc
l.instructionalleaders
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Walkthroughs
• Perhaps the most under utilized tool we have
in our schools.
• Write a nice note and put a snicker in the box?
• Engagement data of teacher vs. campus vs.
district?
• Level of Questioning? Code Blooms!!
• Teacher directed vs. Student directed
Action Orientation:
Learning by Doing
• The Four PLC Questions:
– What do we want our students to learn?
– How will we know that they have learned
it?
– What will we do if they haven’t learned it?
– What will we do if they have learned it?
Learning By Doing: A Jigsaw
Personal Learning Networks
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Follow people with similar interests
Sharing knowledge and resources
Monitoring educational news sources
Gathering instant feedback
Mentoring others
Communicating & Connecting With Social
Media, pgs. 37-38
Hashtags #######
• Ten to follow on Twitter.
– http://coolcatteacher.visibli.com/share/h0jP8L
• Cybraryman
– http://www.cybraryman.com/edhashtags.html
Blogs
• There are an infinite amount of educational
bloggers out there with every point of view.
• Find blogs that frame your staff development
perspective and things that might be off
interest to your staff.
• BLOG YOURSELF!!!!!!! Your stakeholders value
your thoughts!!
– http://connectedprincipals.com/archives/5835
• https://blogs.esc17.net/users/tduncan/
People You Need to Follow
• Instructional Leaders
– https://twitter.com/#!/InstructionalLe
• Todd Whitaker
– https://twitter.com/#!/ToddWhitaker
• TxPrincipals.org
– https://twitter.com/#!/TxPrincipalOrg
• Rick Wormeli
– https://twitter.com/#!/RickWormeli
• ASCD
– https://twitter.com/#!/ASCD
The Leader Must
Be a Model
Learner
http://escite2.esc17.net/default.aspx?n
ame=wmsworkshop&w=12033