This Powerpoint presentation by Faye L. Lewis, an assistant principal in Essex County New Jersey, will make Professional Learning Community implementation easy for those venturing into the worls of PLCs.

1. The term professional learning community describes a collegial group of administrators and school staff who are united in their commitment to student learning. Hord (1997b) notes, "As an organizational arrangement, the professional learning community is seen as a powerful staff-development approach and a potent strategy for school change and improvement." Professional Learning Communities 1 Professional LearningCommunities

3. They can serve as a mechanism to transform school culture.Professional Learning Communities 2 Why are professional learning communities important ?

4. …connect teachers with information, strategies and best practices. Professional Learning Communities 3 In other words, PLCs…

5. Schools that are highly effective produce results that almost entirely overcome the effects of student backgrounds Robert Marzano, What Works in Schools, 2003 Professional Learning Communities 4 SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS DO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

6. To understand how collaborative communities (PLCs) can impact teacher learning and student achievement. To understand the role we will play in PLCs. To shift our thinking from teaching to learning Professional Learning Communities 5 Our Objectives Today

7. Culturally Responsive Teaching Effective Instructional Strategies Examining Data Professional Learning Communities 6 Key Focus Areas

8. Building Based Content Based Interdisciplinary Professional Learning Communities 7 Types of PLCs at CHS

9. *PLCs will meet on Tuesdays (second faculty mtg. of the month) Professional Learning Communities 8 How will PLCs be organized, and when will we meet?

10. Focus on student performance Collaborate with colleagues during PLC time Become students of teaching and consumers of research Accept responsibility for implementing systems thatenable each student to be successful Professional Learning Communities 9 So, what’s my role?

12. Effective Instructional Strategies

13. Data Analysis

14. The Achievement Gap (Race and Equity in the Classroom)

15. Action Research

16. Developing Interdisciplinary Units

17. Cornell Note Taking

18. Lesson Study*

19. Culturally Responsive Teaching

20. Looking at Student Work

21. Teacher ChoiceProfessional Learning Communities 10 Examples of PLC groups

22. What is it we expect students to learn? How will we know when they have learned it? How will we respond when they don’t learn it? How will we respond when they already know it? Dufour, Dufour, Eaker Professional Learning Communities 11 Fundamental Questions

23. Professional Learning Communities 12 I know what you’re thinking…

24. B ut… You’ll make it through… Professional Learning Communities 13

25. Shared responsibility for the development of all students and collective responsibility for student success Reduced teacher isolation Powerful adult learning that shifts our focus from teaching to learning Increased understanding of content and the roles teachers play in helping all students build capacity Increased likelihood that teachers will build greater capacity for learning, will be professionally renewed and will continue to be inspired to inspire students. Professional Learning Communities 14 Observed Outcomes for staff

26. It is important that you understand that the PLC model is not a canned program or a step-by-step recipe for school improvement. It represents a process for making the structural and cultural changes necessary to help students achieve at higher levels and make teaching a more rewarding and satisfying profession. Du Four, DuFour, Eaker Professional Learning Communities 15 So, here’s the bottom line…

27. www.allthingsplc.info Linda Darling Hammond Rick and Becky DuFour Professional Learning Communities at Work (1998) Whatever It Takes (2004) Shirley Hord Karin Chenoweth It’s Being Done (2007) Peter Senge The Fifth Discipline: the Art and Practice of the Learning Organization (2006) Schools That Learn (2000) Professional Learning Communities 16 Where can I find more information?

28. The most critical factor in a child’s life is a caring, qualified, competent teacher ~ Linda Darling Hammond Professional Learning Communities 17 The decision is ours.Together, we CAN make a difference!