Bringing Your Learning Community to Life : A Road Map for Sustainable School Improvement

by Stephen S. Kaagan

• ISBN13: 9781412972970
• ISBN10: 1412972973
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-02-09
• Publisher: Corwin Pr

Summary

This do-it-yourself guide offers specific tasks, exercises, and brief case studies to guide educators step by step through the process of establishing a PLC in nine to twelve months.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. vii
About the Authors	p. ix
Preface	p. xiii
Laying the Foundation	p. 1
Leadoff Exercise: Take No Notes	p. 3
Having Productive Discussions 101: Cultivating Individual Skills	p. 4
Introduction	p. 4
Ten Pillars of Productive Discussion	p. 6
Interpreting the Pillars	p. 9
Initial Self-Assessment	p. 10
Practice Exercises 1-3	p. 13
Exemplary Outcome Narrative: Is Meeting Classroom Objectives Enough?	p. 17
Conclusion	p. 19
Leadoff Exercise: Weave the Threads	p. 21
Having Productive Discussions 102: Cultivating Group Skills	p. 22
Introduction	p. 22
Practice Exercises 1-4	p. 23
Exemplary Outcome Narrative: Bulling Through a Lesson	p. 30
Self-Assessment Reprise	p. 33
Future Use of the 10 Pillars	p. 33
Conclusion	p. 33
Discussion Pillar Checklist	p. 34
Putting your New Skills to Work	p. 37
Leadoff Exercise: Map the Terrain	p. 39
Shaping a Group Identity	p. 40
Introduction	p. 40
Soul Searching via a Careful, Clean, and Crisp Culture Audit	p. 41
Metaphor, the Path to the Future	p. 45
Professional Learning Community Attributes	p. 50
Ground Rules to Accompany the Attributes	p. 52
Practice Makes Perfect	p. 54
Exemplary Outcome Narrative: Flavor of the Month	p. 54
Conclusion	p. 57
Leadoff Exercise: Blaze the Trail	p. 59
Small Moves Make a Big Difference	p. 60
Introduction	p. 60
Small and Different Moves Elaborated	p. 62
Moving on the Small Moves	p. 73
Checklist of Small and Different Moves	p. 74
Putting It All Together	p. 76
Exemplary Outcome Narrative: A Mountain of Dilemmas	p. 76
Conclusion	p. 78
Leadoff Exercise: Track the Learning	p. 81
Sustaining Learning Community Growth	p. 82
Introduction	p. 82
Learning Strategies	p. 83
The Power of Authentic Learning	p. 84
Experiential Learning, a Complement to Authentic Learning	p. 85
A Little Experience, a Lot of Learning Potential	p. 87
Qualifying Experiences as Authentic	p. 89
Making the Most of Experience for Learning	p. 89
Outcome Narratives: Authentic Learning of Choice for Professional Learning Communities	p. 90
Why Outcome Narratives Work	p. 91
How Outcome Narratives Are Developed and Used	p. 92
Learning to Walk Before You Run	p. 94
Conclusion	p. 94
Additional Exemplary Outcome Narratives	p. 95
Phoning and Texting Learning to Death	p. 95
Moving Teachers	p. 97
Do Deadlines Trump Teams?	p. 99
Between a Rock and a Hard Place	p. 101
Sputtering Staff Empowerment	p. 103
Endnotes	p. 105
Conclusion: Taking the Leap	p. 107
Reproducible Resources	p. 109
References	p. 133
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