Transcript Slide 1

Limestone Coast
Professional Learning
Communities
where are we now?
Katrina Spencer and Margot Foster
August 16th 2007
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Building learning community. . .
1. What is the quality of the experience you wished
to have in your PLC?
2. How much risk have you been prepared to take?
3. What level of engagement have you committed to?
4. How surprised have you been?
5. How prepared are you to contribute to other people’s
learning?
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Where to today?
1. ‘I forgot the iced Vo-Vos!’ – reflecting on the first visit
2. Reconvene in your PLC – synthesis around 4 big ideas
- organisational issues – successful practices and approaches
- reflection on own learning – ahas and ouches
- deepening the challenge - how much further can I/we take this learning?
- sustaining the learning
3. Advice to the district for 2008
4. Trading Post – learning about
- engagement in learning
- wellbeing
- teacher learning & development
- ensuring learner success
5. Prep for next meeting (term 4) and 2008
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Big Ideas from our first session
Learning is not just increasing the store of
knowledge, taking in and retaining more
and more information, it is about searching
for meaning, developing understanding and
relating that understanding to the world
around us.
Quality learning is about conceptual
change – seeing the world differently is the
essential outcome.
Willis 1993
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Big Ideas from our first session
Adaptive challenges
go beyond our current
capacity or current
way of operating.
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Big Ideas from our first session
Defining a PLC
A professional learning community is:
an inclusive group of people,
motivated by a shared learning vision,
who support and work with each other,
finding ways, inside and outside their
immediate community,
to enquire on their practice and together learn
new and better approaches
that will enhance all pupils’ learning.
Stoll et al 2006
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Big Ideas from our first session
Successful PLCs
Form around a compelling issue
Focus on student learning
Create new opportunities
for adult learning
Plan and manage for
success
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In your PLC, then ……
• Using the personal recording
sheet, determine your shared
response to each question – all
take a personal record
• Form new foursomes – only 1
person from each PLC
• Share your group responses to
each question
• From your varied PLC
responses, synthesise your
“advice to the district
re PLCs for 2008”
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District Advice- PLCs / 2008
• Keep existing groups [if they want to]
– Do we invite and include others?? How?
– Can we have ‘nice’ exit strategies for those who want to leave
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Forming around compelling questions
Advice- keep across levels of schooling groups
Going deep needs at least 12 months
1 day a term is a useful model and balance with district business days
Travelling together creates an opportunity
Taking it to the next level- staff, shared PD, district role to extend
Documenting great ideas and processes to share across the groups
Murray is brokering [$$$$] for his vacancy
Presenting the learning- add high stakes but not competition!! MI8 ideas
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Trading Post
Choose an area
of interest
1 John Shelton
2 Asha Crozier
3 Kirsty Traher
4 Anna Young
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Final Thoughts
Touchstones:
Will this make a difference for learners?
Am I learning?
Is this reflected in my practice/actions?
Any others??
Coming together is the beginning.
Keeping together is progress.
Working together is success.
Henry Ford (1863-1947) American industrialist
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lunch
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