In your table group, create a definition of a professional learning community.

 To create a professional learning community, focus on learning rather than teaching, work collaboratively, and hold yourself accountable for results. (Richard Dufour)

 Research shows… › Teacher learning occurs in two realms: individual and interpersonal. › Through “sensemaking”, teachers move through a continuum when they learn new ideas. › Looking at over 30 years of qualitative research, sensemaking doesn’t happen if teachers don’t have the opportunity to collaborate with others.

Initial enthusiasm Confusion about concept Implementation issues Abandon the initiative Start looking for next new thing We are at a critical juncture with PLC’s…

 How do we avoid this cycle? › Focus on “the big ideas”  Big Idea 1: Look at student learning  Big Idea 2: Create a culture of collaboration  Big Idea 3: Focus on results

 Shift from a focus on teaching to a focus on learning  Take “learning for all” literally  Ask and engage in 3 questions › What do we want students to learn? › How will we know students have learned it? › How will we help struggling students? The second and third questions separates traditional schools from learning communities.

 Educators realize that they must work together…so they do…and create structures for that to happen.  Collaboration doesn’t mean working together on a committee, helping each other supervise lunch, or agreeing on a procedure.  Powerful collaboration is…systematic…allows teachers to work together to analyze student work using an ongoing cycle of questions that can lead to deep learning.

 Remember…moving emphasis from teaching to learning  Working together to increase student achievement must become the routine work for all.  We experience DRIP…Data Rich, Information Poor  Intentional instructional strategies and common assessment, both formative and summative, is key to use the data effectively.

 Marzano says that schools must move beyond just presenting state standards to teachers and hoping they will use it.  Teachers discussions must move beyond “What are we expected to learn” to “How will we know when each student has learned?”  Educators must stop making excuses for not collaborating  Richard Dufour says “It is a question of will…”

 Ball, D., & Cohen, D. (1999). Developing practice, developing practitioners: Toward a practice-based theory of professional development. In G. Sykes and L. Darling-Hammond (Eds.), Teaching as the learning profession: Handbook of policy and practice (pp. 3–32). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.  Barth, R. (1991). Restructuring schools: Some questions for teachers and principals. Phi Delta Kappan, 73(2), 123–128.  Coburn, C. E. (2001). Collective sense-making about reading: How teachers mediate reading policy In their professional communities. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 23(2), 145–170.  Coburn, C. E. (2004). Beyond decoupling: Rethinking the relationship between the institutional environment and the classroom. Sociology of Education, 77(3), 211–244.  Marzano, R. (2003). What works in schools: Translating research into action. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.  Putnam, R. T., & Borko, H. (2000). What do new views of knowledge and thinking have to say about research on teacher learning? Educational Researcher, 29(1), 4–15.  Rosenholtz, S. J. (1989). Teachers' workplace: The organization of schools. New York: Teachers College Press.