8/19/2010

Creating a Vision for Collaboration


A team from Waverly-Shell Rock attended a Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) at Work Institute just last week. The ideas were nothing new or Earth-shattering, but they were incredibly compelling.

Our team came away from the event committed to articulating a clear and solid vision for collaboration in our district. We developed four guiding principles to both operationally define the overused term PLC at W-SR and to provide a means to monitor our progress as we work to implement collaborative learning time for teachers. 

Our Guiding Principles: 

Time for teachers to talk to each other about evidence of student learning is critical. (learning focus)

All W-SR teachers should be members of highly functional teams that engage in ongoing cycles of questioning to promote deep team learning. (functional teams)

We need a structure that allows teachers to collaborate on a regular basis in a way that facilitates both common learning and individualization. (differentiation)

We are the people we’ve been waiting for. The time to act is now. There are steps each of us can take today. (action)

W-SR staff: You heard these from your colleagues today. This is your chance to respond. What do you think? Feel free to post comments here, email thoughts directly to me or your building-level representatives, or stop by my office and talk.

3 comments:

  1. I am so excited about being on the ground level of this project. There are so many possibilities and I am thrilled to be a part of professional development that meets everyone's needs. Can't wait to get started!

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  2. Allison, you have been--and will continue to be--an important contributor to this work! Thanks for all the time, effort, and commitment you've already put forth. I look forward to great things!

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  3. "We are the people we've been waiting for" <-- I love that. I think this is a piece of PLC that, in action and in word, is seldom included in the continuing conversation.

    Thank you for sharing this process!

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