Professional Learning Communities

1. Professional Learning Communities An Educational Model Built on Collaboration

2. What is a Team? Activity 1: On the next slide, you will see a series of 21 letters. You will have 30 seconds to memorize as many of them as possible. When the 30 seconds is up, the diagram will disappear and you must write as many letters as you can in their proper location on your paper.

3. J D X B M T R V C N Z A L Y Q H S E K U F 2 20 21 22 23 24 27 26 18 28 29 30 25 19 3 8 17 4 5 15 7 6 9 10 11 12 13 14 16 1

4. What is a Team? Activity 2- Now get together with 2 other people and compile all of the letters that you got correct. See how many letters you placed correctly collectively.

5. What is a Team? Activity 3- Now, between 3 or 4 of you, take 2 minutes to make a plan how you would approach this task together. Come up with a plan how the 3 members could memorize the 21 letters given another 30 seconds. You will now have 30 seconds to look at a new diagram and together, record as many letters as possible.

6. M G X B J V L T A N Y C R Z F H K D S U Q 2 20 21 22 23 24 27 26 18 28 29 30 25 19 3 8 17 4 5 15 7 6 9 10 11 12 13 14 16 1

7. What is a Team? Discuss with your partners under which circumstances you were acting as a(n): Individual Team Group Which method was most effective?

8. Whose methods were the best? How did they do it? Could someone else’s strategy be combined with it to make it even better?

9. What is a Team Community? Sharing strategies school-wide and working together to use each other’s strengths to create a product that is better than any team could have created alone now makes you a . . . COMMUNITY!

10. The Power of Collaboration Step 1- Take 1 minute to write on each card a classroom-level barrier that keeps students from achieving their potential. Don’t list outside influences that we have no control over like “Class size is too big” or “Not enough money.” Step 2- In a group of 3 or 4, combine your items into one stack, eliminating repeats and similar items. Step 3- Separate the stack into two piles: 1) Issues that collaboration can solve 2) Issues that collaboration cannot solve Bring them to the front and stick them on the two tables.

11. PLC Characteristics • Shared mission, vision, values, and goals • Collective inquiry • Collaborative teams centered around data • Action orientation and focus on learning • Continuous improvement • Results orientation

12. PLC Characteristics • Shared mission, vision, values, and goals • Collective inquiry • Collaborative teams centered around data • Action orientation and focus on learning • Continuous improvement • Results orientation • Break up into 6 groups and on a chart paper, describe what your assigned characteristic would look like in a PLC school that had mastered this characteristic. Be prepared to share with the rest of the group.

13. PLC Characteristics • Shared mission, vision, values, and goals • Collective inquiry • Collaborative teams centered around data • Action orientation and focus on learning • Continuous improvement • Results orientation Group 1 share out

14. The Four Pillars of a PLC - Mission - Vision - Values - Goals

15. The Four Pillars of a PLC - Mission - Vision - Values - Goals

16. Pillar # 1: MISSION mis sion [mish-uhn] – noun “The fundamental purpose of an organization.”

17. MISSION The mission of an organization is found by answering the question: “Why do we exist?”

18. “Our mission … [because] we choose to accept it …” Learning!

19. MISSION Fundamental Questions to Answer 1. What is it we expect all students to learn? 2. How will we know when they have learned it? 3. How will we respond when they don’t learn? 4. How will we respond when they already know it?

20. Pillar # 1: MISSION Clarifies Priorities and Sharpens Focus

21. Real Mission Statements Through the cooperative effort of parents, community, and staff, ___ School is committed to challenging students to strive for continued personal growth and academic achievement in a caring supportive environment where cultural and intellectual diversities are enhanced and independent thinking is emphasized through a quality academic and vocational program.

22. Weak Words and Loophole Words Through the cooperative effort of parents, community, and staff, ___ School is committed to challenging students to strive for continued personal growth and academic achievement in a caring supportive environment where cultural and intellectual diversities are enhanced and independent thinking is emphasized through a quality academic and vocational program.

23. Real Mission Statement 2 The mission of the ____ School community is to ensure that students attain academic excellence, lead productive lives and value diversity. We will set measurable goals, provide the means to reach the goals, monitor progress and design interventions to meet the changing needs of students. We will instill in our students pride in our school community while encouraging growth through enriching educational and cultural experiences. Analyze the Mission Statement

24. The Four Pillars of a PLC - Mission - Vision - Values - Goals

25. Pillar # 2: VISION vi sion  [vizh-uhn] – noun “A realistic, credible, attractive future for an organization.”

26. VISION The vision of an organization is found by answering the question: “What do we hope to become at some point in the future?”

27. VISION Fundamental Questions to Answer 1.“What are the essentials for our students?” 2. “If we did an excellent job with the essentials, what would that look like?”

28. Pillar #2: VISION Establishes Direction

29. The Four Pillars of a PLC - Mission - Vision - Values - Goals

30. Pillar # 3: VALUES val ues  [val-yoos] – noun “The specific attitudes, behaviors, and commitments that must be demonstrated in order to advance the organization’s vision.”

31. VALUES The values of an organization are found by answering the question: “How must we behave to create the school that will achieve our purpose?”

32. Professional Learning Community VALUE Statements Represent a Fundamental Shift - frombelieftobehavior - fromthinkingtodoing - from “we believe” to “we will”

33. Pillar #3: VALUES Guide Behavior

34. The Four Pillars of a PLC - Mission - Vision - Values - Goals

35. Pillar # 4: GOALS goals  [gols] – noun “Measurable milestones that can be used to assess progress in advancing toward a vision.”

36. GOALS The goals of an organization are found by answering the question: “What results do we seek and how will we know we are making progress?”

37. Professional Learning Community GOALS • Provide short-term priorities and steps to take to achieve the “benchmarks” of student achievement • Foster both the results orientation of the PLC and the individual and collective accountability for achieving the results • Are essential to the collaborative team process

38. Meeting Short-TermGOALS • Helps sustain momentum toward the Mission • Allows for celebration of small Successes • Creates an atmosphere of Teamwork

39. Pillar #4: GOALS Establish Priorities

40. Which Goal(s) Focus on Learning? • We will use 3 SDAIE strategies before our next meeting. • We will reteach standard 2 Thursday and Friday after school in room 201. • We will do a “balancing equations” intervention and retest, shooting for 80% proficiency.

41. The Four Pillars of a PLC- Review - Mission: Clarifies Priorities/Sharpens Focus Vision: Gives Direction Values: Guide Behavior Goals: Establish Priorities

42. PLC Characteristics • Shared mission, vision, values, and goals • Collective inquiry • Collaborative teams centered around data • Action orientation and focus on learning • Continuous improvement • Results orientation Group 2 share out

43. PLC’s RequireCOLLECTIVE INQUIRY When engaged in a process of collective inquiry we are asked to: - question the status quo - seek new methods - test those methods - reflect on the results

44. When engaged in PLC COLLECTIVE INQUIRY “The process of searching for the answers is more important than having an answer.”

45. PLC Characteristics • Shared mission, vision, values, and goals • Collective inquiry • Collaborative teams centered around data • Action orientation and experimentation • Continuous improvement • Results orientation Group 3 share out

46. PLC’s RequireCOLLABORATIVE TEAMS col lab o ration[kuh-lab-uh-rey-shuh n] – noun “A systematic process in which we work together interdependentlyto analyze and impact professional practice in order to improve our individual and collective results.”

47. Four PLCAssumptions about Collaboration 1. If schools are to improve, staff must develop the capacity to function as professional learning communities. 2. If schools are to function as professional learning communities, they must develop a collaborative culture focused on data related to student learning.

48. Four PLCAssumptions about Collaboration 3. If schools are to develop a collaborative culture, they must overcome traditional teacher isolation. 4. If schools are to overcome their tradition of teacher isolation, teachers must learn to work in effective, high performing teams.

49. Brainstorming It has been said by a wise man that “The hardest part about PLCs are the people.” (Horton, 2010) What is your school presently doing to help teachers to function in high-performing teams?

50. Brainstorming