Prepared & Presented by;
ELS. Madawi A. Al-Obathani
#TESOL_YANBU_2014
PROFESSIONAL LEARNING
COMMUNITIES
“BEST PRACTICES FOR ENHANCING
STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT”
PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES AT SCHOOL
PLCS
• Mission, Vision, Values and Goals.
• Collaborative Teams Engaged in Collective Inquiry.
• Changing Your School’s Culture.
• Planning a PLC-Model School.
IN TIMES OF DRASTIC CHANGE, IT
IS THE LEARNERS WHO INHERIT THE FUTURE.
THE LEARNERS USUALLY FIND THEMSELVES
BEAUTIFULLY EQUIPPED TO LIVE IN A WORLD
THAT NO LONGER EXISTS.
-- ERIC HOFFER, 1972
FUNDAMENTAL ASSUMPTIONS
• We can make a difference.
• Schools can be more effective.
• “People Improvement” is the key to school improvement.
• Significant school improvement will impact teaching and
learning.
As a group, take 2 minutes and discuss what
is the professional learning community ?
WHAT IS THE PROFESSIONAL LEARNING
COMMUNITY?
DEFINITION • Simply, PLCs are “Professionals coming
together in a group – a community – to
learn” (Hord, 2008, p. 10).
A PLC IS ... • PROFESSIONAL?
“Every teacher is a leader; Every leader is a
teacher.”
• LEARNING?
In a PLC School, learning applies as much to teachers,
administrators, and parents as to students.
Focus on instruction, curriculum and assessment
• COMMUNITY?
Support
Cooperation vs. competition
Focus intensely on the mission, vision, goals, and values.
Improvement of the whole vs. striving to get ahead individually.
A sense of purpose all staff embraces and commits to.
• It’s not all about me!
PROFESSIONAL EDUCATORS…
• Emphasize learning.
• Emphasize active student engagement and significant content.
• Focus on student performance and production.
• Collaborate with colleagues.
• Function as leaders.
MISSION:
The “WHAT”.
• What do we want to occur?
• What do we expect all students to know and be able to do?
• What is our response when they don’t?
VISION:
The “There”.
• How we will get from here to there?
• The dream school you would design for your own child or grandchild!
• The way things “should be”.
MISSION VS. VISION
YOU’VE GOT TO BE CAREFUL
IF YOU DON’T KNOW WHERE
YOU’RE GOING ‘CAUSE YOU
MIGHT NOT GET THERE! YOGI BERRA
WHAT KIND OF PLACE
DO I WANT
MY SCHOOL TO BE
FIVE YEARS FROM
NOW?
THE FOUR PILLARS OF PLC
MISSION
Why do we exist?
VISION
What kind of school are we trying to create?
VALUES
What attitudes, behaviors, and commitments
must we demonstrate in order to create the
school of our vision?
GOALS
Which steps should we take first?
What is our timeline?
What evidence will we present to demonstrate our progress?
COLLABORATIVE TEAMS ENGAGED IN
COLLECTIVE INQUIRY
YOU CANNOT HAVE STUDENTS AS
CONTINUOUS LEARNERS AND
EFFECTIVE COLLABORATORS,
WITHOUT TEACHERS THAT HAVE
THE SAME CHARACTERISTICS.
MICHAEL FULLAN, 1993
SEPARATED BY THEIR
CLASSROOMS AND PACKED
TEACHING SCHEDULES,
TEACHERS RARELY WORK OR
TALK TOGETHER ABOUT
TEACHING PRACTICES.
LINDA DARLING-HAMMOND, 1995
SIX STRATEGIES FOR CREATING
TEAM TIME
• Creative scheduling
• Using paraprofessionals
• Parent volunteers
• Schoolwide activities
• Theme and team-teaching
TEAM MEETINGS
• Agendas and prepared materials
• Note-taking
• Sticking to the task
COLLECTIVE INQUIRY
• Looking closely at the underlying causes of the school’s challenges.
• Inquiry into the relationship between your present situation and the way you’d like things to be at your school.
• Based on the premise: “No one is as smart as “all of us”.
:IS NOTCOLLECTIVE INQUIRY
• Jumping to conclusions
• Jumping on another bandwagon
• Making Assumptions without forming and testing hypotheses
• Placing Blame on any group in the community
BY EMPHASIZING NEEDED CHANGES
IN THE CULTURE OF THE SCHOOLS
AND THE DAILY PRACTICE OF
PROFESSIONALS, THE REFORM
MOVEMENT CAN CONCENTRATE ON
THE HEART OF THE SCHOOL---THE
TEACHING AND THE LEARNING
PROCESS.
KAREN SEASHORE LOUIS, SHARON KRUSE AND
MARY ANN RAYWID, 1996
1. Shared Mission, Vision, Values, Goals
2. Collective Inquiry
3. Collaborative Teams
4. Action
Experimentation
5. Continuous
Improvement
6. Focus on Results
THE “CULTURE” OF A
PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITY
Share Concerns
Own the Problem
Solve the Problem Together
SHARE – OWN - SOLVE
FIRST STEPS
• BUILD VISION - MAKE IT VISIBLE
• SELECTS THE TEAM
• ESTABLISH A COMMUNICATION SYSTEM
• TRAIN STAFF IN PLC
• PRACTICE INQUIRY
• START SMALL
• CELEBRATE YOUR FIRST “WIN”
MEETING NORMS
• Start and end on time
• Attendance
• Agenda
• Roles
• Meeting times
• Stay on the agenda
• Make meetings worthwhile
• BE brief and directive
• Include all in decision making
• Provide a way for everyone to contribute
ROTATE ROLES
• Facilitator
• Recorder
• Timekeeper
• Visionary
• Inquirer
• Resource
• Closure
• Reporter
• Refreshments
AGENDA
Team Name Date of Meeting
Present Absent
1. Call to Order
2. Reports
3. Discussion
4. Decisions
5. Assignments
6. Next meeting
PLCS USING SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS
1.Shared vision and goals.
2.Shared values.
3.Mutual trust and respect.
4.Openness to differences
5.Collaboration.
6.Sharing of knowledge.
7.Collective learning.
PLCS USING SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS
1.Subjective Knowledge.
▪E.g., reflection, dialogue.
2.Objective Knowledge.
▪E.g., book chapter, journal article, books.
3.Practical Knowledge.
▪E.g., live demonstrations, recorded demonstrations,
lesson plans, teaching materials, learning materials.
PLCS USING SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS
• Social Media Tools must enable:
• Individual reflections.
• Collective dialogues.
• Sharing of lesson demonstrations and observations.
• Sharing of reading materials.
• Sharing of teaching and learning materials.
PLCS USING SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS
• Real or virtual PLCs?
• Mixture is ideal.
• Openness and trust comes from knowing the people in real life followed by participation in virtual PLCs.
• Advantages of virtual:
• Saves time. Knowledge can be shared synchronously.
• Optimize participation. The virtual space also every participant to contribute to virtual PLCs.