Professional Learning Communities

Transforming School Cultures with Critical Friends Groups

Margaret MacLean

Agenda

What is a Learning Community ?History and BackgroundWhy protocols?Stories from various schoolsMICROLABS*THREE LEVELS OF TEXT*Q and A

What is your definition of a Learning Community?

Quick write / pair and share

What are the attributes?

What are the essential ingredients?

What is a Learning Community?

Learning communities are groups of teachers working together in a conscious effort to adapt their practice to the learning needs of students. The focus of a Learning community is STUDENT learning.

How Does Change Happen?

Critical Friends Groups - History

Begun in 1996 at the Annenberg Institute at Brown University

Began to put the research into practice with schools and teachers in the field

Collaborated on the development of the work

Now an organization with an annual meeting and systems for sharing the work developed

http://www.schoolreforminitiative.org

Their purpose is to improve teacher practice, to increase student achievement and promote whole school improvement.

Learning Communities: Underlying Beliefs

School people, working together, can make real and lasting improvements in their own schools.

Educators must help each other turn theories into practice and standards into actual student learning.

A key to this effort is the development of a learning community based on public, collaborative, reflective examination of adult and student work.

Changing schools happens by changing school culture and not by simply implementing new programs.

Collaborative skills can be taught which make efficient use of time, enable every voice to be heard and through structured conversations produce results

Why Protocols?A protocol consists of agreed upon guidelines for a

conversation.

It is the structure, that permits a certain kind of conversation to occur

A protocol makes it safe to ask challenging questions of each other.

Using protocols allows groups to build trust by doing substantive work together.

A protocol ensures that there is equity and parity in terms of how each person’s issue is attended to.

Protocols build in a space for listening, and give people a license to listen.

Protocols make the most of the time people have.

The point is not to do the protocol well, but to have an in-depth, insightful conversation about teaching and learning.

Prepare participants to work collaboratively to:

Examine student work and adult work

Peer Observation

Learn from selected texts

Address dilemmas of teaching and learning

For credit course 3-5 days / 2 weekends with practice in between Onlinecourse follow up option Coaching

Critical Friends Group Training

CFG’s in International Schools

A match for teachers in isolated settings

SIX schools – SIX models for implementation

American School in Japan – 2004 - ongoing Seoul Foreign School -2006 Shanghai American School -2007 - 2009 American International school of Mozambique – 2009 FMV Ayazaga Isik Lisesi,Istanbul Turkey – 2009 – ongoing International School of Tanganyika - 2011

Microlabs

Form triads and number off - 1,2,3

Each person has equal time to talk The listeners should not interrupt, interpret,

paraphrase, analyse, give advice or break in with a personal story

Question OneOne minute think time

What are you currently working on in your practice as an educator?

How are you trying to improve?

What do you hope will be the result of your learning?

Question Two

Given who you are and your current role in your school what does your leadership style look like and sound like in practice?

What has your style helped you accomplish ?

Question Three

How is your school an effective learning community?

How is it not? What are the challenges?

Three Levels of Text

Read and identify a section of the text that you find significant

In rounds – LEVEL ONE share the section [read it aloud] LEVEL TWO say why you chose it LEVEL THREE what are the implications for your

practice? DISCUSS as a group [approx 3mins ]

Move to the next person – each person 5-6 min max

How to find out more?

School Reform Initiativehttp://www.schoolreforminitiative.org

Margaret MacLean margaret.maclean@ruraledu.org

http://www.teachercollaboration.org