Transcript PLC - Sam Bruzzese

Professional Learning
Communities
EDEM
Winter 2008
Presented by
Gianna Labbiento
Richard Mason
Christina Shousha
Overview of Presentation
1. Definitions & Characteristics of PLC
(Activity- Whole Group Brainstorming on Definition of terms)
2. Principal’s Role & Leadership Qualities
(Activity-Break out rooms on Leadership Qualities)
3. Relationships Within the School
(Activity -Break out rooms Discussion on Barth’s article)
4. Expanding PLC beyond the schoolhouse
(Activity –Whole Group Brainstorming)
PLC -a definition of terms
Brainstorming on the following terms:
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P (PROFESSIONAL):
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L (LEARNING):
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C (COMMUNITY):
PLC –a definition
A Professional Learning Community is a
collaboration of teachers, administrators,
parents, and students who work together
to seek out best practices, test them in
the classroom, continuously improve
processes, and focus on results.
*Rick DuFour, 2002
Essential Understandings
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It
It
It
It
takes time (3-5 years)
requires trust
involves quality training
requires tangible support
PLC
Fundamental Assumptions
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We can make a difference.
Our schools can be more effective.
Improving our people is the key to
improving our schools.
Significant school improvement will impact
teaching and learning.
3 “Big Ideas” of Being a PLC
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1. Focus on Learning We accept high levels of learning for all
students as the fundamental purpose of our school and therefore
are willing to examine all practices in light of their impact on
learning.
2. Collaborative Culture We can achieve our fundamental
purpose of high levels of learning for all students only if we work
together. We cultivate a collaborative culture through the
development of high performing teams.
3. Governed by Results We assess our effectiveness of achieving
high levels of learning for all on the basis of results rather than
intentions. Individuals, teams, schools, and districts seek relevant
data and information and use that information to promote
continuous improvement.
6 Essential Characteristics of
Being a PLC
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Shared mission, vision, values, goals
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Collaborative teams
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Collective inquiry
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Action orientation/experimentation
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Commitment to continuous improvement
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Results focus
*DuFour & Eaker
The Principal as Staff Developer
10 suggestions
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Create a consensus on the school you
are trying to become
Identify, promote, and protect shared
values
Monitor the critical elements of the
school improvement effort
Ensure systematic collaboration
Encourage experimentation
The Principal as Staff Developer
10 suggestions cont’d
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Model a commitment to personal growth
Provide one-on-one staff development
Provide staff development programs
Promote individual and organizational
self-efficacy
Stay the course
*R DuFour and T Berkely
Journal of Staff Development 1995
ACTIVITY
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A principal needs certain leadership qualities for
a professional learning community to
successfully develop.
Separate into groups of four in the breakout
room and discuss the above statement.
Select a reporter and list those leadership
qualities you feel a principal must have to
successfully develop a PLC in their school.
Be prepared to present your list and explain why
you feel these qualities are essential.
Our Ideas:
#1: Modeling
Description:
An effective leader models the behaviours
that are expressed and desired in the
shared vision. They walk the talk. An
effective leader demonstrates in every
action and conversation what he or she
values, believes and expects of the
school’s community.
#2: Courageous Conversations
Description:
An effective leader has the courage to talk
about the elephant in the room, the nondiscussables. Nobody wants to talk about
it, but everyone is talking about it. An
effective leader has to be able to bring it
to the table without fearing the response
and yet in a respectful and tactful manner.
The purpose must be for learning to take
place.
#3: Development of a Shared
Vision
Description:
An effective leader takes the time to develop a
vision with the school community that demonstrates
the school’s aspirations for a preferred future.
“Today’s effective principal constructs a shared
vision with members of the school community,
convenes the conversations, insists on a student
learning focus, evokes and supports leadership in
others, models and participates in collaborative
practices, helps pose the questions and facilitates
dialogue that addresses the confounding issues of
practice.”
#4: Building a Culture of
Collaboration
Description:
An effective leader knows the importance of
creating a culture in which people share
expertise, communicate and work together as a
team. This is when a learning community
collectively shares a common vision and
purpose, and works together to achieve it.
Building a culture of collaboration requires
transformational leadership.
#5: Shared Leadership
Description:
An effective leader discovers the strengths
and skills of the staff and uses that
knowledge to empower teacher leaders.
“It calls on everyone within the school, …,
to take responsibility for student
achievement and to assume leadership
roles in areas in which they are confident
and skilled.”
#6: Being a Trans-relational Leader
Description:
An effective leader
knows how important
it is to build
relationships
grounded in trust and
caring. The emphasis
is on communication,
collaboration, and
building interpersonal
relationships.
Support Staff
Community
Leader
Teaching
Staff
Students
#7: Focus on Student
Description:
An effective leader puts the focus on the student.
Student-centered learning is a way of thinking about
student learning that drives the teaching practice.
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i.e. a focus on how the students are learning, what they
experience, and how they engage in the learning context.
A shift from:
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I will tell you this and therefore you will learn
to:
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I want to help you in ways which are effective for you
and match your needs.
Roland S. Barth
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In the article Restructuring schools: Some questions
for teachers and principals (1991) Barth states:
“Despite compelling evidence indicating that
working collaboratively represents best practice;
teachers in many schools continue to work in
isolation. Even in schools that endorse the idea
of collaboration, the staff’s willingness to
collaborate often stops at the classroom door.”
Roland S. Barth
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Research shows that a culture of
collaboration is essential to be a successful
PLC.
Therefore, how can Barth’s findings and
suggestions in his article Relationships
Within the Schoolhouse, improve
collaboration within a school so that it
stops at the classroom door?
Discussion Period
1.
2.
3.
What parts of the article do you believe
are key elements (gold nuggets)?
Are any of the relationships
demonstrated in your current school?
Do you believe some are impossible to
achieve? Why?
Roland S. Barth
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Central to his thinking is the
concept of the school as a
community of learners and
leaders.
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He is currently chairman of the
board of the Aspiring
Principals' Program, run by
Dennis Litky in Providence,
R.I., with centers in Boston and
New York, and is a member of
the board of Editorial Advisors
of the Phi Delta Kappan.
Two Relationships
To Eliminate in order to be
Successful:
1.Parallel Play
Teachers work at relatively the same things but
do so separately from each other.
2.Adversarial Relationships
Blatant conflicts, withholding insights, not
placing enough value on our own craft.
knowledge and becoming competitors; rooting
for the failures of others.
Two Relationships to Promote
Success:
1. Congenial Relationships
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Interactive, personal and friendly
For example, setting up the coffee for the day,
or driving someone home
Congenial relationships help us get up in the
morning
2. Collegial Relationships
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Congenial relationships represent a
precondition for another kind of adult
relationship-COLLEGIALITY.
Of the four relationships, it is the hardest to
establish.
Signs of collegiality, is when educators are
“playing together”
4.Talking with one another about practice,
sharing craft knowledge, observing one
another, rooting for one another’s success
Relationships Within the
Schoolhouse
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What can teachers and school leaders do to
create a culture of collegiality in their schools to
promote PLC s?
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Talking About Practice
Sharing Craft Knowledge
Observing One Another
Rooting For One Another
1. Talking About Practice
A professional learning community is built on continual
discourse about OUR important work- conversations
about student evaluation, parent involvement, curriculum
development, and team teaching.
2. Sharing Craft Knowledge
A participant or two sharing an issue they recently
learned something important or useful.
A teacher new to the school explaining how students
were evaluated in a previous workplace.
3. Observing One Another
This is difficult because we will never be fully
confident that we know what we are supposed
to be doing or how students will behave.
None of us wants to risk being exposed as
incompetent….HOWEVER …There is no more
powerful way of learning and improving on the
job than by observing others and having others
observe us!
4. Rooting For One Another
“All too common in our profession is
widespread awareness of a fellow educator in
trouble: the principal under siege from a group
of parents, or a beginning teacher being
worked over by a tough classroom of kids.”
We monitor the situation from afar as another
person is hung out to dry- and we do nothing.
OFFER HELP!
BE VISIBLE AND SUPPORTIVE!
ACTIVITY
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A successfully developed PLC involves a
number of different stakeholders.
Take a few minutes, individually, to think
about exactly who these stakeholders are.
Be prepared to present your answers back
to the group.
Expanding Professional Learning
Communities beyond the Schoolhouse
Emergency
Business Personnel Social
Community
Services
Teachers
Parents
School
board
Student
Support
Staff
Daycare
Administrators
Buses
Conclusion
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It takes a village to raise a child.
By harnessing the collective talents of staff,
families, community members, an administrator
can garner tremendous support in the quest to
ensure that no child is left behind on the
learning journey.
*Pam Robbins and Harvey Alvy
The New Principal’s Fieldbook ,2004
Reflections
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Why might it be important to develop or
enhance a professional learning community?
Reflect on the organization in which you work.
What are the current structures in place that
encourage and support collaboration? What
new ones may be needed?
What connections do you see between building
relationships among professional staff members
and building relationships with students?