Microsoft Educator Network

Professional Learning Communities Kids Who Code: A PLC Project This school year, I am working on a very special project with two other educators from my PLC, and . We have been fortunate to receive support for our work from our local teachers' association, the . Our project is called and it's all about helping our young learners develop coding skills. We are pleased to have the opportunity to work together on this project. So... what is coding? According to , "Coding is what makes it possible for us to create computer software, apps and websites. Your ...

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Professional Learning Communities The challenges of establishing and maintaining PLCs and how they might be addressed? The difficulty of developing professional learning communities should not be underestimated. In addition to the usual daily implementation issues associated with any change process, there are bigger hurdles that, as yet, remain unresolved in many places. Of these challenges, we have chosen to highlight several in this book, although we recognize there are other important ones. The first challenge is the endemic difficulty of creating PLCs in secondary schools, where size and structure militate ...

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Professional Learning Communities Professional Learning Communities – Divergence,Depth and Dilemmas - Part 2 Developing a deeper understanding of how to develop PLC's. There is a considerable amount of writing on professional learning communities, their characteristics and development processes, and yet it is extremely difficult to develop professional learning communities. This is at least partly due to the many ‘layers’ that exist when establishing a culture of collaboration in schools; the subtle nuances of communication, relationship building, collaboration and collective learning. Judith Warren Little (2002: 944) posed a challenge a few years ago to those...

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Professional Learning Communities Professional Learning Communities – Divergence,Depth and Dilemmas Part 1: The evolving nature of professional learning communities. Part 1: The evolving nature of professional learning communities. There is no universal definition of a professional learning community, but there is a consensus that you will know that one exists when you can see a group of teachers sharing and critically interrogating their practice in an ongoing, reflective, collaborative, inclusive, learning-oriented, growth-promoting way (Mitchell and Sackney 2000; Toole and Louis 2002). An underlying assumption is that the teachers involved see the group as...

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Professional Learning Communities Characteristics of a Collaborative Learning Community. Along with other buzzwords and fads in education, "collaborative learning community" has the potential to lose its meaning, of losing its potency. Taken individually, each concept has incredible power and together, there is a synergy, a revolutionary force that we have not even begun to recognize yet in schools. So what is this thing called a "collaborative learning community"? It is a philosophy as well as a place; it is a way of being as well as a working model. It is a mindset as well as a ...

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Professional Learning Communities What is the difference between Collaboration and Teamwork? Teamwork and collaboration have many things in common but are fundamentally different. A professional learning community takes the characteristics of both to build collaborative teams whose aim is to take mutual responsibility for the learning outcomes of students. By building your understanding of the differences between teamwork and collaboration you will be in a position to make the most appropriate choice when asking teachers to work together. The term collaborative planning team is ...

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Professional Learning Communities Schools as Collaborative Communities This article was promoted by a conversation with staff at Mentor School in India who are currently focusing on a project to develop a collaborative learning culture across the school. The following commentary comes fro Carole Cooper and Julie Boyd whose article touches on many of the important issues associated with the increasingly prevalent use of the collaboration as a tool for teaching and learning. With all the buzzwords and fads in education, "collaborative learning community" has the ...

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Professional Learning Communities Characteristics of a Community - Schools as Learning Communities Sometimes we need to look carefully at the words and ideas we throw around as a matter of course, in doing do we espouse a certain set of beliefs and values about our school communities. There is that word again, ‘community’. When we talk about school communities or sub communities such as professional learning communities what are we really alluding to and why do we see a sense of ‘community’ as being an essential characteristic of a high performing school. By definition a community is a group...

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Professional Learning Communities What makes a good teacher - Theory or Practice? With a change of government in Australia we now in the process of determining what influences may now come into play at the political level that will have profound =influences on the way we work over the next few years. Christopher Pyne the new Federal Minister of Education is driven by his desire to improve teacher standards and who would disagree with this admirable ambition. But how does he intend to do this? Christopher Pyne believes that most teacher training institutions are too ...

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Professional Learning Communities Every Team Needs a Coach - The Role of the Principal In the past it was not uncommon to see sporting teams lead by a playing coach who was also usually the team captain and one of the best players. This model still persists in social leagues in many sports across the globe. However when we look at elite teams, those at the top of their game we never see one person coaching and playing. The team captain plays at the elbows on his team, takes leadership responsibility both at training and on game day. More frequently whether in NRL, NBL, AFL ...

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Professional Learning Communities $300 Million for PD? Let’s Throw a Little (or a lot) Towards Virtual Learning Communities Obama’s 2015 budget proposal allocated $200 million in funding for Connected Education. Another $300 million is going towards teacher professional development. This money is targeting 100,000 teachers spanning 500 districts. This is right on point for making a real change in the world of education. Both Connected Education and PD are critical to the improvement of our education system and student achievement. With PD, a mix of “formal” and “informal” learning is imperative. Through formal ...

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Professional Learning Communities Data Driven or Data Informed - Is there a Difference? In my most recent position as a Principal Network Leader my primary responsibility was to work with principals around school improvement. To lead conversations around school performance and strategies that might be adopted to improve performance and meet the goals and objectives identified in school improvements plans by way of outcome targets and key performance indicators. The conversations in schools focused on questions and topics such as; Where are the areas of that need improvement? How...

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Professional Learning Communities Making a cultural shift from teaching to learning. Why is this necessary? Where high functioning professional learning communities, collaborative planning teams or learning teams are in place, invariably you find school leadership has made provision for staff to effectively collaborate. These provisions include; time to meet within corporate time, established and agreed to group norms, data to analyses and inform decision making and educators committed to making a difference and a willingness to share and question their practice. Above all of these however that is ...

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Professional Learning Communities Partners in Learning Global Forum - Is this the worlds largest PLC? I am looking forward to spending the next week working with some of the most innovative educators in the world as we seek to build schools that can successfully meet the needs of todays students. I have shied away from saying anything about 21st century schools. We must stop talking about 21st century schooling as if it is something in the future, to do so does an enormous injustice to the millions of students in our schools today. Some just embarking on the journey and some finishing ...

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Professional Learning Communities Professional Learning I have often been intrigued by the use of the terms professional learning and professional development and what they actually imply and deliver for the teaching profession. Is there a difference between the two and if so what is it? I believe there is a fundamental difference and once we understand the difference we will be in a much better position to structure the professional growth of teachers and improve the quality of teaching in our schools. Professional development should be used to ...

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Professional Learning Communities How effective are Professional Learning Communities? Evidence of Effectiveness For many years Ric and Rebecca Defour have been working with schools in developing a culture of collaborative practice using the structured of PLC student driven and focused professional learning cycles to drive school improvement. Their website: provides a range of resources and insights. Want proof that the PLC process is working for others and can work for you, too? Search their database () to find schools and districts similar to yours that have built successful...

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Professional Learning Communities 2014 - The Year of Collaboration. As schools begin 2014 let us make a New Year's resolution to foster collaboration both within and beyond the Partners in Learning Network. Let's find and share new ways to work together and build both real and online learning communities. The Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians has as one of its key action areas the 'developing of stronger partnerships'. Central to this action is the need to: make learners and learning central to the decision making in schools, see ...

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Professional Learning Communities The Teaching Game - Tennis or Football When I started teaching in the early 70’s I came out of university with all the enthusiasm of youth, limited pedagogical knowledge and an environment in schools where teachers relied to a large extend of their experience of schools to frame their practice. With hindsight I am surprised that my students survived my initial efforts to be a ‘teacher’. We were expected to do our job with little support and what support we did get was mainly on the administrative side with little focus oin pedagogy...

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Professional Learning Communities We Are Not Good Until We Are All Good David’s attached document, “Taroona High School – The Way We Work, is a clear example of what is needed to make professional learning communities successful. We know by incorporating professional learning communities (PLC’s) there has been a resultant wide range of effectiveness at improving student achievement and teacher professional practice. The reason for this is stated quite aptly in David’s post – without clear direction, they were viewed as largely a social time to come together and in...

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Professional Learning Communities The Collaborative Inquiry Continuum.... Supporting Conditions Bob Jackson's post reminded me of the importance of really understanding the nature of the work of learning teams, the way they are structured and the outcomes that can be expected. As a newly appointed Principal several years ago I wasted no time in convincing staff and the school community of the merits of team work and established what I saw as highly effective collaborative planning teams based around grades and faculties(subject departments). I thought, rather naively in hindsight, that ...

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Professional Learning Communities A post from Bob Jackson...Collaborative Inquiry in Ontario David asks the question if knowledge building just the latest fad. From early understanding of this concept I see it as a next step to the Collaborative Inquiry (C-I) process occurring in schools in Ontario, Canada. It is not an extension of the C-I process but a next step that can be embedded in the process. I had the opportunity to hear Marlene Scardamalia speak and she made the point the at one time, the purpose of schools was to pass along culture, instill values, impart knowledge and ...

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Professional Learning Communities Working in PLCs can be easy! Sounds strange? Last year we had so many problems in finding time to meet each other for a conversation, consultation or discussion. This year we housed Office 365 for collaboration in PLC groups. And it works! Our focus this year is students‘ assessment and all teachers are looking for innovative ways to encourage their students to learn and evaluate their achievements. Therefore, it is very useful to share each other‘s experience, take the best practices and step forward towards the progress in...

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Professional Learning Communities Knowledge Building - What does this mean for Educators and Schools In an early post I talked about the need to move from knowledge transmission to knowledge creation in schools and that teachers needed to bring a new paradigm to their planning. Whether we recognise it or not knowledge creation has become a fundamental part of everyday life. Every minute thousands on new entries are loaded to sites such as YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and numerous other social media sites. We might argue that this is not essential knowledge but it is certainly information. We live...

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Professional Learning Communities Evaluating professional development... " Are you making a difference?" Schools and systems vast amounts of money and time in the professional development of their staff, individual teachers devote their time to improving their professional skills, knowledge and understanding. How can we just the effectiveness of this investment? How can we evaluate the impact professional development has on the capacity of schools to improve their practice? I suggest in this post that a possible model for evaluating the success of professional development and the establishment of ...

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Professional Learning Communities A case study in developing a professional learning community. I have been part of group that has been leading professional development in our school. This group consists of 7 individuals who design, facilitate and deliver the professional development program at the school. Each individual works on a reduced timetable with four hours dedicated to the professional development of our staff. The whole staff is divided into 6 learning groups, each with a senior member of staff including the Principal, led by one of these individuals. The group came about through...

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Professional Learning Communities Your mission, should you chose to accept it.... Years ago, the television show Mission Impossible always began with a scene in which the team leader, Mr. Phelps, would receive a tape describing his next mission. The tape invariably began, "Your mission, should you choose to accept it..." No matter how silly the rest of the show became, this single line reveals a keener understanding of human nature than is displayed by most product development organizations. Elite organizations have always appreciated the importance of voluntary choice when ...

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Professional Learning Communities Professional Learning - "A Cost or an Investment" We are all familiar with capital when we talk about money. We know that we can earn it, spend it, save it and invest it. Some people are experts in helping other grow their 'wealth'. Many people accept they have a responsibility to share their wealth with others less fortunate. Nations accept global responsibility to support other nations in times of need. How is this relevant in schools? What is the nature of capital in schools? It would seem reasonable to argue that professional learning can se...

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Professional Learning Communities Trust and the Professional Learning Community For Professional Learning Communities to be effective, the foundation for the work must be trust. In previous experiences, I’ve found that most PLC’s act as conduits for district mandates that clearly outline how outcomes will be implemented and measured. This can become problematic when not all stakeholders share the vision and/or belief in what they’ve been tasked to solve. During the 2012-2013 school year, I had the good fortune to work alongside colleagues who’ve forever changed my opinion ...

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Professional Learning Communities How can we make ALL members of PLCs work as much as they could? It has become a generally established practice that students and teachers communicate online - teachers set or accept students’ homework online (by email, in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, MS Skype). Some tasks are uploaded and downloaded from the Intranet where all subjects have got their sections. PCs in classrooms give teachers and students possibility to teach/learn online during the lessons (interactive exercises or demonstrations online). A number of classrooms are equipped with SMART boards and...

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Professional Learning Communities Emerging Themes about Successful Learning Networks Following on from my last post on an example of how successful learning networks can be established and facilitated I thought it would now be worthwhile to move from "the how" to some of the characteristics that I have observed in successful PLC's and learning networks both within schools and across schools. Many of these I have alluded to in previous posts in referring to the work being done in Ontario through their Principal Network Teams and I The Hertscam Network in the UK through the " ...

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Professional Learning Communities Building Capacity Through Learning Networks In a recent newspaper article in The Hobart Mercury July 23rd 2013 (article attached) the work, and outcomes of collaborative practice across two local schools was highlighted. I had recently done a considerable amount of work in these schools building their capacity to build professional learning communities across the 2 school communities and using a professional learning cycle to bring their separate teaching staffs together to work on join learning projects. This article about the use of ...

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Professional Learning Communities Cashing in on The Power of Professional Learning The sole purpose of professional learning should be to improve student learning. It should be about learning not just teaching. When teachers focus their learning on the learning of their students then real gains can be made. Teachers participating in professional learning communities know that their inquiry cycle begins and ends with students. Teaching is a highly interventionist and contextualised activity where the best teachers constantly use respond to their students learning needs by ...

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Professional Learning Communities Professional Learning Communities What they are and what they aren’t! An emphasis on building Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) shifts the focus of school reform from restructuring to re-culturing. It is important to recognize PLC’s as a concept not a action. The concept often is misused or implied to describe a team, committee or any weekly meeting in which the participants undertake data-based decision making. However, a PLC is much more than that. It is an ongoing process used to establish a school wide culture that is based on a fundamental belief in...

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Professional Learning Communities Why are Professional Learning Communities Important? Conversation starters. AITSL: Australian Standard for Principals Principals network and collaborate with a wide range of people to secure the best possible learning outcomes and well being of all students. They are skilled at establishing and maintaining professional relationships and structures. Principals are able to embrace uncertain, complex and challenging contexts and work with others to seek creative and innovative solutions that support quality outcomes for all. Microsoft PiL Research Innovative Teaching ...

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Professional Learning Communities Social capital: Why is it important? Social capital is gaining prominence in recent research as a potential key driver for improving the quality of teaching, not through the development of individual capacity but rather raising the bar and closing the gap in the quality of teaching and school performance. The evidence and insights gained during my visits to three countries support the assertion that high performing schools and systems focus to varying degrees on building both human (skills and talent) and social capital (...

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Professional Learning Communities Moving from Knowledge Sharing to Knowledge Creation As I move from school to school working with Principals and their staff helping identify areas for school improvement the conversation always seems to involve a conversation about collaboration. Almost universally school improvement plans have as a strategy the desire to have staff together collaboratively. and increasingly students, to build capacity and achieve high levels of cultural and strategic alignment. The identification of collaborative planning teams as a key strategy for school ...

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Professional Learning Communities Building social capital through professional learning communities Over the past 50 years the term professional learning community () has moved from the domain of the researcher trying to quantify some measure of value adding associated with collaboration to a constant murmur about the importance of building collective capacity in schools through collaboration. Following the work of , and others, in recent years, the formation of professional learning communities has gained prominence as a key construct for driving significant school improvement. What is it ...

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