Professional Learning Communities (PLC’S)

Scholars in Action: The 2011 UNI Symposium on Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity

Getting Started

Session Facilitators– Mary C. Herring, PhD

College of Education - Interim Associate Dean – Kelly Jones, LISW

School Improvement Consultant, GWAEA Recorder

– Stacey Snyder, Teacher Quality Partnership Project Manager/Instructional Designer

Outcomes

Create a shared understanding of the benefits and outcomes of PLC’s

Reflect on the current state of PLC’s at UNI and the desired future

Identify how the attributes of PLC’s might better support faculty in their teaching, scholarship, and professional development

Developing an Understanding

Review Components of PLC’s Figure 1:1

While watching youtube video, what ideas are presented that correspond with the components on Figure 1:1?

DuFour: Professional Learning Communities

Self Reflection

On your index card do the following:

Formulate a “hypothesis” about how the PLC contributes to your learning and teaching practices?

Paired Sharing

Find a partner to form a pair

Each partner share their “hypothesis”

Text Expert

Membership in the Community of Professional Learners and Professional Learning Community Benefits

Professional Learning Communities: What Are They and Why Are They Important?

Each partner choose a different text to read

Record, Reflect and Share

Record on your index card, 3-4 key ideas from your text and share them with your partner

Individually reflect on your learning and hypothesis

Share with your partner what impact this learning had on your hypothesis

Thinking about UNI

Find another pair and form a quad Identify a facilitator, recorder, timekeeper

and reporter As a group, respond to the reflective

questions and record on poster paper

Reflective Questions

What have you observed, heard, experienced at UNI that reflects the attributes of a PLC?

If your group could have whatever it wanted (do not consider time or resources); how might UNI embrace the attributes of PLC’s to better support faculty in their teaching, scholarship, and professional development?

Current Reality and Desired Future

Reporter for each quad share one item from the first question. Continue till all items from each group are reflected on the public notes

Repeat the process for the second question

Stacey will record on Google Doc