Aspiring leaders

1. Aspiring leaders May 17, 2010

2. Essential questions • What are the core elements of professional learning communities? • What is the difference between professional learning communities and communities of practice? • How does CESD function as a PLC? • What are our strengths? • What are our challenges? • What do you believe is important in relation to PLCs?

3. Characteristics of Professional Learning Communities 1. Shared mission, vision & values 2. Collective inquiry 3. Collaborative teams 4. Action orientation and experimentation 5. Continuous improvement • Results orientations Dufour & Eaker (1998)

4. PLCs & Communities of Practice PLC Community of Practice Mutual Engagement Joint Enterprise Shared Repertoire Wenger (1998) • Shared Mission, Vision, and Values • Collective Inquiry • Collaborative Teams • Action orientation and experimentation • Continuous Improvement • Results Orientation

5. 6 Essential Components of School Improvement Essential Structure – Learning Community Essential Method – Collaborative Inquiry Essential People – Educational leaders Essential Process – PD Essential Focus – Classroom Practice Essential Commitment – Gathering the Evidence

6. Mission & Vision Leadership Organizational Structure The Learning Community Culture Learning Figure 1: Dimensions of a Learning Community

7. Assessing CESD: Essential Structure

8. It’s About Learning (and it’s about time) • Students • Teachers • Leadership • Learning Community • Capacity Building • Stoll, Fink & Earl (2003)

9. Reflection • Read chapter provided on your own • As you read, think about • each of the 9 elements • their importance to you

10. Diamond 9 Working with a group of 3: 1. You have 10-15 minutes to discuss the 9 elements and to sort them on the diamond pattern according to their level of importance. 2. Discuss and determine your group's perception of the most important roles 3. Drag the roles onto the diamond pattern, ranking them according to level of importance to you as a group. 4.Roles that go across a row are considered of equal importance 5. You will be asked to present your top three choices and briefly explain how you arrived at these choices.

11. Application of 9 elements: • Think about this through eyes of a leader • Think about an initiative in your school or unit that you would like to begin or are currently engaged with • Mind map • Reflection of your initiative • Planning tool for your initiative

12. Distributed Learning Example: • What connections (resources, people, knowledge) will you need to make to help ensure your project moves forward? • How will you attend to motivation of the stakeholders in this initiative? • How will you address the emotions you will encounter from stakeholders in your initiative?

13. How will you engage your community in this initiative ~ respecting the culture of the community? • How is inquiry promoted in your initiative? • How will encourage creativity ~ playing at the edges of the box? • How will you promote a cycle of learning? (practice) • How do you maximize time for learning and development?

14. Commitment • What have you done? • What have you learned? • What will be your next steps?