Professional Learning Communities

1. Professional Learning Communities “There’s an assumption that schools are for students’ learning. Well, why aren’t they just as much for teachers’ learning?” - Seymour Sarason, as reported by Carol Dweck, Mindset

2. What is a PLC? “Professional Learning Community” is most often used in two ways to describe: • An entire organization committed to continuous learning and its applications through collaborative practice that values shared vision and collective strength; • A smaller team (also called a PLT) – in a school, a team of teachers who work together to improve student learning by enhancing classroom instruction. Research supports that PLCs are the single most effective method for improving student learning in lasting ways because the practice supports enhanced teaching and LEARNING on multiple levels.

3. Educators as Learners “Learning communities in schools harness the collective energy of staff for growth and change. The accomplishments of teachers working as individuals, good as they may be, pale in comparison to the accomplishments of a united faculty. It is like the difference between a bunch of good basketball players and an outstanding basketball team. The synergy that emerges from groups of teachers learning together and helping one another holds great potential for both improving student outcomes and creating a caring, nurturing environment among the staff (Joyce & Calhoun 1995).” - Ward and Castleberry, Educators as Learners: Creating a Professional Learning Community in Your School

4. Professionalizing the Profession Adapted from the research and work of Katherine Boles, Harvard University

5. Professional Development that Works “Professional development works, if it works at all, by influencing what teachers do….The quality and impact of professional development depends on what teachers are being asked to learn, how they are learning it, and whether they can make the practices they are being asked to try work in their classrooms.” - Elizabeth City, Richard Elmore, Sarah Fiarman, and Lee Teitel in Instructional Rounds in Education: A Network Approach to Improving Teaching and Learning

6. PLC = Infrastructure for Continuous Improvement • Consider the rate of change in our world just since 1900. Education should be about preparing students for citizenship in our ever-changing world. Yet, how significantly have schools changed to meet the increased rate of change in our world? • Are schools “stuck” in an Industrial Age model that utilizes a paradigm of assembly line and factory structures? Are strategic planning processes adequate for keeping up with 21st C. changes in thinking, learning, and working? • PLC enables teachers to overcome history and habit and improve the ways we teach and reach changing learners. • PLC provides an infrastructure that can handle the changes that education will need to make for 2015, 2030, … AND THE TEACHERS ARE EMPOWERED TO LEAD THE CHANGES IN A COLLABORATIVE, SUPPORTIVE ENVIRONMENT!

7. Est. 97 Schools/Systems Across U.S. in PLC Amazing Resource: www.allthingsplc.info

8. Brief History of PLC at Westminster

9. Pilots/Experiments in PLC at Westminster For two years, we have been piloting/experimenting with various groups that we have called “PLCs.” We are learning a lot about group vs. cohort vs. PLT Alfie Kohn Book Club Center for Teaching Cohorts 21st Century PLC on Teaching and Learning Math-Science-Econ8 PLC • Less Time • Less Support • Less Rearranging Structurally/Temporally • More Time • More Support • More Rearranging Structurally/Temporally Math-Sci-Econ PLC/PLT Cohorts Alfie Kohn 21st C. Group

10. Structure of 09-10 PLC at Westminster The 07-09 Math-Science-Econ 8 PLC model has become an ideal, best practice in many ways. This PLC meets during a class period, 4 days/week to engage in lesson study and action research (beginning), pedagogy discussion and shared research/common reading, medical/instructional rounds, etc. The principals, department chairs, and the Center for Teaching are creating the following model for PLCs at Westminster moving forward: 09-10 PLCs in JH and HS Math and JH English; modified experiment with JH History The PLCs will contain grade level PLTs. Additionally, there will be a stand-alone PLT in Science 8. Facilitators/Co-facilitators being trained in CFT SI in July (27 and 28)

11. NAIS President Pat Bassett and Best Practices

12. PLC Development at Westminster – Transferrable Learning

13. PLCs use collaboration,feedback, and sharedreflectionto maintain a balanced focus on Results, Processes, and Relationships with the ultimate goals being improved teaching and enhanced student learning. Enhanced Student Learning • Analysis of student work and research Adapted from Susan Sparks who adapted from Interaction Associates, LLC

14. 4 Key Questions of a PLC • What do students need to learn? • How will we know if/when students have learned “it”? • What will we do if students already know “it”? • What will we do if students do not learn “it”?

15. Transforming Schools for 21st C. “In this new paradigm, as we reflect on ourselves as learners in a larger community, we will better understand how our children feel as learners in similar situations. We will have new insights about cooperative learning in heterogeneous groups, learner-centered teaching, and the inquiry-based approach to learning because we will have the experience firsthand as part of a learning community.” - Ward and Castleberry, Educators as Learners: Creating a Professional Learning Community in Your School