Professional Learning Communities

Powerpoint created by Scott Swanson, Traci Schutt

and the PLC Committee

All materials come from “Professional Learning Communities at

Work” Summer Institute 2009
(Buffum, DuFour, DuFour, Eaker, Erkens, Parscale)
 Educators committed to
working collaboratively in
ongoing processes of
collective inquiry and
action research in order to
achieve better results for
the students they serve.
 Purpose
We ensure high levels of learning for
all students.

Commitment
We clarify how individually we will
contribute to achieving our vision.

Vision
We create the structures and culture
to ensure all kids learn.

Goals
We have identified indicators to
monitor our progress.
 We don’t
“do” PLCs,
we
BECOME
 By being passionate that all kids learn at
high levels

By creating group norms by which to collaborate

By creating learning targets in our area of focus

By making goals to improve student learning

By using data through formative and summative

assessments

By responding to student needs when they don’t learn

By keeping an open-mind to new ideas

 Gains in student achievement

Higher quality solutions to problems

Increased confidence among all staff

Teachers able to support one another’s strengths and

accommodate weaknesses

Ability to test new ideas

More support for new teachers

Expanded pool of ideas, materials, and methods

-Judith Warren Little (1990)

“A systematic process in which we
work together, interdependently,
to analyze and impact professional
practice in order to improve our
individual and collective results.

-DuFour, DuFour, &

Eaker (2002)
TEAM
NORMS!
 Collaboration with a FOCUS ON
LEARNING.
 Time for collaboration during the school
day and school year.
 Focus teams on CRITICAL QUESTIONS.

 Make products of collaboration explicit.

 Establish team norms to guide

collaboration.
Having clear norms holds
everyone accountable to
what they have agreed
upon.
 Each team establishes its own norms.
 Norms are stated as commitments to act
or behave in certain ways.
 Norms are reviewed at the beginning and
end of each meeting until internalized.
 Less is more! A few key norms are better
than a laundry list.
 Violations of norms must be addressed.
 Are we clear on the commitments we
have made to each other regarding how
we will work together as a team?
 Have we stated our commitments as
explicit behaviors?
 Have we discussed how to address the
issue if we feel someone is not honoring
our norms?
We will be fully “present” at the meeting by becoming familiar
with materials before we arrive and by being attentive to behaviors
which affect physical and mental engagement.

We will invite and welcome the contributions of every member

and listen to each other.

We will be involved to our individual level of comfort. Each of us

is responsible for airing disagreements during the meeting rather
than carrying those disagreements outside our meeting.

We will operate in a collegial and friendly atmosphere.

We will keep confidential our discussions, comments, and

deliberations.

We will be responsible for examining all points of view before a

consensus is accepted.
1.Meet as an assigned team to
participate in the “creating
norms” activity.

2.Meet back as a staff to discuss.

3. Discuss any questions.

4. Plan for the next meeting.

Learning targets in
your academic focus.
~For our next meeting, we will meet together
in chosen teams to look at our curriculum and
choose agreed upon learning targets.

~Are you in a team that shares curriculum?

~Discuss where you best fit.

Please sign up on a “team
sheet” to show where you
and others have placed
yourselves to work on
learning targets of shared
curriculum.