Creating a Culture of Collaboration: The Promise of Professional

Learning CommunitiesDiane Hubona

IU8 PIIC Coaching MentorBellwood-Antis School District Literacy Coach

University of Pennsylvania Facultydih@blwd.k12.pa.us

http://piicpacoaching.org

PIIC’s Mission…

The Pennsylvania Institute for Instructional Coaching (PIIC) provides the uniform and consistent delivery of

sustained professional development around

instructional coaching and mentoring.

Please Do Now

• PLC’s—Knowledge Rating

• #5 Celebration• #4 I Can See Clearly Now• #3 I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking

For • #2 Help!• #1 Sixteen Ton

Post-It Note Brainstorm

• One word that comes to mind when you think of professional learning communities

PLC’s = Collaboration

• Without any discussion, list the names of people you can identify on the following slide.

How Many Do You Recognize?

Two heads are better than one…

Share your answers with your neighbor

Now how many people can you identify?

Making Connections for the Learner

What do they have in common?

Just the facts!

• God didn’t create self-contained classrooms, fifty minute periods, and subjects taught in isolation. We did—because we find working alone safer than and preferable to working together.

---Roland Barth—Lessons Learned

Professional Learning Communities

What Does the Research Tell Us About Job Embedded

Professional Development?

The implementation rate for new learning in traditional professional development without follow up is…

10%Showers, Murphy, and Joyce, 1996

Why Use a Job-Embedded Instructional Coaching Model as Professional

Development ?Because…

recent research indicates that with classroom coaching, the implementation rates are between -

85% - 90%University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning

Text Rendering

A Hoarding Culture vs. a Sharing Culture

Highlight 3 main points that stood out for you in the reading

OK, IT'S A NEW SEASON SO I WANT TO SEE SOME HUSTLE OUT THERE!

(Source: www.cartoonbank.com)

Coaching is no longer just for athletes.

OK, IT'S A NEW SEASON SO I WANT TO SEE SOME HUSTLE OUT THERE!

(Source: www.cartoonbank.com)

The Impact of Professional Learning Communities

• Anticipation guide

• Write “A” if you agree or “D” if you disagree with the following statements

Anticipation Guide

• #1—(Eastwood and Louis)

• Creating a collaborative environment has been described as the “single most important factor” for successful school improvement initiatives and the “first order of business” for those seeking to enhance the effectiveness of their school.

Anticipation Guide

• #2—(Gallimore and Ermeling)

• Job-alike teams of 3 to 7 teachers who teach the same grade level, course, or subject should be formed and sustained in schools

Anticipation Guide

• #3—(Gallimore and Ermeling)

• Professional learning communities require trained peer facilitators to guide their colleagues over time.

Anticipation Guide

• #4—(R.DuFour)

• Professional learning communities require the school staff to focus on learning rather than teaching

Anticipation Guide

• #5—(Donahoe)

• Professional learning communities encourage teachers to routinely collaborate with their peers.

Anticipation Guide

• #6—( Kornelis)

• The role of principals in professional learning communities is to develop decision-making structures and put them into place to facilitate the involvement of teachers in decisions

Where Do You Begin? Collaboration by Invitation Does Not Work

• The isolation of teachers is so engrained in the traditional culture of schools that invitations to collaborate are insufficient. To build professional learning communities, meaningful collaboration must be systematically embedded into the daily life of the school.

• Professional Learning Communities at Work: Best Practices for Enhancing Student Achievement, Richard DuFour and Robert Eaker

Assess School Readiness

• Survey faculty—choice is key to adult learners

• Develop the school mission statement together—faculty will buy in if they are part of the process from the start

• Administrative mandates thwart collaboration—offer distributed leadership

Ideas for Collaborative Teams:

• Implement team concept by grade level or subject

• Implement team concept on the basis of shared students

• Implement team concept in school-wide task forces

• Implement team concept by area of professional development

Effective Collaborative Teams…

• Afford time for collaboration that is built into the school day

and year

Effective Collaborative Teams…

• Train school personnel and provide ongoing support so that they become effective

facilitators

Effective Collaborative Teams

• State the purpose of collaboration and make it

explicit

Effective Collaborative Teams…

• Have educators who accept their responsibility to work

together as true professional colleagues

Enter Instructional Leaders!

• Instructional coaches

• Department heads

• Identified teacher leaders

• Superintendents

• Building principals

• Faculty

Written Conversations

• Idea Share

One major concern in implementing PLC’s in my school would be…

Barriers to Implementation

• Time—

• More time needs built into the teachers’ daily schedules to visit each others’ classrooms, to discuss common curricular issues, to plan together, and engage in action research

Barrier to Implementation

• Tradition--

• Teachers are often afraid to trust each other due to the tradition of isolation and competition in education

Barrier to Implementation

• Power—

• Many administrators are not ready to relinquish their positional power and dominance

Being a reflective practitioner means re-examining what we do and changing practices that have not yielded improvement in students’ progress–no matter how comfortable we have become with them. (Adapted from the TDW Writing Manual)

Evolution of Collaboration at Bellwood-Antis

• Data teams—voluntary--administration• Math Curriculum Committee—voluntary--administration• Book study groups*--voluntary• Lesson study groups*--voluntary• Performance-based assessment group*--voluntary• Curriculum groups—curriculum backmapping--administration• Professional development committees*--voluntary• Instructional strategies lesson tryouts*--voluntary• Penn Literacy Network classes*--administration• Teachers facilitate summer literature circles with students*--voluntary• Interdisciplinary teaching units*--voluntary• K-12 writing curriculum articulation*• High school grade level meetings during homeroom periods—administration• Grade-level meetings during homeroom periods—administration• Learning walks in the high school for IU8 coaches*--voluntary

PIIC Collaboration in IU8

• Coaches from various schools developed materials and presented at state conferences

• Staff and coaches from IU8 schools attended the PIIC/PLN 4 ½ graduate credit course, free of charge

• Administrators attended the PIIC/PLN Act 45 course for administrators, free of charge

• Cross-district visitations among IU8 coaches• PIIC quarterly statewide networking opportunities• 36 IU8 instructional coaches attend monthly PIIC

coaching workshops—17 districts represented

Ticket out the Door3-2-1

3 things you learned about PLC’s

2 actions you could take to establish PLC’s in your school if they’re not

already present

1 question you still have concerning PLC’s

Contact Information

If you’re interested in establishing PLC’s and need

help!

• Diane Hubona dih@blwd.k12.pa.us www.thefacultyroom.wikispaces.com (814) 742-2274 extension 4200 http://pacoaching.org