Developing the SCDN Professional Learning Community

1. Developing the SCDN Professional Learning Community SCDN December 6, 2007 Communities for Learning and LCI

2. Facilitated by Giselle Martin-Kniep Communities for Learning: Leading Lasting ChangeTM Learner-Centered Initiatives, Ltd (LCI) 516-502-4231, and 516-502-4232 www.lciltd.org www.communitiesforlearning.org gmklci@aol.com Communities for Learning and LCI

3. Outcomes • Explore the relationship between leadership style and professional learning communities • Develop a vision for the SCDN professional learning community using leadership style as an entry point • Assess the SCDN organizational readiness to support professional learning communities • Identify interventions to promote the capacity of SCDN to support professional learning communities Communities for Learning and LCI

4. Exploring our leadership style(based on Hargreaves, 2007) Who are you most of the time in your place of work? Communities for Learning and LCI

5. Autocratic • You will…. • Delegating what we hate to do • Promotes resistance Communities for Learning and LCI

6. Traditional delegation • Maximizes existing structure • Maintains or improves the existing management of an institution • Convenient Communities for Learning and LCI

7. Progressive delegation • Changing structures to create different kinds of conversations • Feels like change (i.e., multi-age teams; co-teaching; job sharing) Communities for Learning and LCI

8. Guided distribution • Necessary if there is no collaborative structure in the organization • No “no go” area Communities for Learning and LCI

9. Emergent distribution • Creates a culture where leadership comes forward • Genuinely shared vision Communities for Learning and LCI

10. Assertive distribution • Shared vision and arguments over best way to achieve it • Hard to follow this style Communities for Learning and LCI

11. Anarchy • Anything goes Communities for Learning and LCI

12. Skillful leadership is flexible and differentiated (balancing purpose, style and needs)Andy Hargreaves Chris James Communities for Learning and LCI

13. Grouping activity Communities for Learning and LCI

14. Visioning activityParts 1 and 2 Communities for Learning and LCI

15. So…. what is a Communities for Learning professional learning community? Communities for Learning and LCI

16. Communities for Learning Definition Collective forums that share a purpose, a vision and goals related to developing schools as learning organizations Communities for Learning and LCI

17. Teachers Students Parents Principals and other building administrators District administrators Professional developers Board members Community members School counselors University faculty School specialists Participants may include… Communities for Learning and LCI

18. Why multiple roles? • Access to multiple perspectives • De-politicized discourse • Better access to the complex nature of teaching, learning and school systems Communities for Learning and LCI

19. What differentiates one professional learning community from another? Communities for Learning and LCI

20. Communities that Learn Include individuals whose primary focus is learning to increase understanding about an issue or topic or area of interest related to teaching and learning. Communities for Learning and LCI

21. Communities that Lead Comprise participants who are committed to leading the learning of others. They remain learners, but their learning is focused on deepening their own leadership and facilitation skills. Communities for Learning and LCI

22. Communities that Last Focus on sustaining the learning and work of the community and organization. Their learning revolves around systems dynamics, strategic planning and organizational development. Communities for Learning and LCI

23. Visioning Activity Parts 3 and 4 Communities for Learning and LCI

24. How might leadership style relate to professional learning communities? Communities for Learning and LCI

25. Core Elements of Communities that learn, lead and last Communities for Learning and LCI

26. Identification, Cultivation and Use of Expertise/Experience Communities for Learning and LCI

27. Alignment of Individual and Organizational Passions, Needs and Vision Communities for Learning and LCI

28. Development of Dispositions of Practice • Commitment to Understanding • Intellectual Perseverance • Courage and Initiative • Commitment to Reflection • Commitment to Expertise • Collegiality Communities for Learning and LCI

29. Activity with Dispositions Communities for Learning and LCI

30. Commitment to Understanding Looks like… • pursuing questions and developing ideas related to teaching and learning • using research and evidence • accessing multiple perspectives Communities for Learning and LCI

31. Intellectual Perseverance Looks like… • considering ideas or questions for a period of time to improve our work • revising and revisiting our work and our thinking to improve it and to reach high standards • withholding the need to finish work before it’s the best that it can be Communities for Learning and LCI

32. Courage and Initiative Is… • discussing uncomfortable topics or issues, including own values and questions • accepting the discomfort that stems from the need to change • seeking or accepting new or unfamiliar roles, responsibilities or challenges Communities for Learning and LCI

33. Commitment to Reflection Looks like… • sharing our thinking to develop and evaluate it • thinking about our thinking and learning to set goals, assess and understand ourselves, our work and our organization • producing work that results from goals, actions and strategies that are grounded in the analysis of past learning Communities for Learning and LCI

34. Commitment to Expertise Is… • refining and expanding our current professional knowledge and skills • disseminating our knowledge and expertise within and outside our own organization • engaging in learning and work that addresses organizational or professional needs Communities for Learning and LCI

35. Collegiality Is… • learning with and from others • acting on the belief that learning and working with others increases our expertise • producing work that results from engaging in collaborative learning and problem solving Communities for Learning and LCI

36. Defining the distance between our vision and our current reality Communities for Learning and LCI

37. Assessing SCDN’s Organizational Readiness Communities for Learning and LCI

38. Identification of Interventions to Increase Organizational Readiness Communities for Learning and LCI