Seminar for Department Chairs, held at De La Salle High School, summer 2007.

1. A 21 st Century Learning Community

3. Defining “Professional Learning Community”

4. “ We’re a school and we’re a community – so we’re a learning community” - a high school teacher

5. Communities of learners “operate with a commitment to the norms of continuous improvement and experimentation and engage their members in improving their daily work to advance the achievement of school district and school goals for student learning.” - National Staff Development Council

6. “… groups of people engaged in intellectual interaction for the purposes of learning .” - Patricia Cross

7. Three Primary Characteristics 1. Shared vision 2. Collaboration 3. Collective responsibility

8. Strata of Learning Communities School faculty Academic departments Subject levels Districts and diocese large large large

9. Formal vs . informal Learning Communities

10. Creating a Professional Learning Community

13. Maintaining a Professional Learning Community

18. Extending the Culture of Collaboration