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Professional Development

Ruskin is using Web 2.0 technology, (wiki spaces), to extend our professional learning. Integrating our PLC's in this way creates an enhanced knowledge base with the ability to network and collaborate with other Ruskin PLCs. We continue to maintain the autonomy to collaborate within our individual learning communities. As we continue to use wiki spaces, we are confident that we will discover new potential and purpose using this collaborative technology.

Ruskin is using Web 2.0 technology, (wiki spaces), to extend our professional learning. Integrating our PLC's in this way creates an enhanced knowledge base with the ability to network and collaborate with other Ruskin PLCs. We continue to maintain the autonomy to collaborate within our individual learning communities. As we continue to use wiki spaces, we are confident that we will discover new potential and purpose using this collaborative technology.

Links to Ruskin's Professional Learning Communities:

	TEACHER OF THE WEEK
	ruskinplc1	ruskinplc2
	ruskinplc3	ruskinplc4
	ruskinplc5	ruskinplc6
HMC1 District guidelines HMC1 Objectives & Strategies	Ruskin Lead Team

WHAT IS PLC?

Professional Learning Community (PLC) "Educators committed to working collaboratively in ongoing processes of collective inquiry and action research to achieve better results for the students they serve. Professional learning communities operate under the assumption that the key to improved learning for students is continuous job-embedded learning for educators." Learning by Doing (2006) What Are Professional Learning Communities? It has been interesting to observe the growing popularity of the term professional learning community. In fact, the term has become so commonplace and has been used so ambiguously to describe virtually any loose coupling of individuals who share a common interest in education that it is in danger of losing all meaning. This lack of precision is an obstacle to implementing PLC concepts because, as Mike Schmoker observes, "clarity precedes competence" (2004, P. 85). Thus, we begin this handbook with an attempt to clarify our meaning of the term. To those familiar with our past work, this step may seem redundant, but we are convinced that redundancy can be a powerful tool in effective communication, and we prefer redundancy to ambiguity. A Focus on Learning The very essence of a learning community is a focus on and a commitment to the learning of each student. When a school or district functions as a PLC, educators within the organization embrace high levels of learning for all students as both the reason the organization exists and the fundamental responsibility of those who work within it. In order to achieve this purpose, the members of a PLC create and are guided by a clear and compelling vision of what the organization must become in order to help all students learn. They make collective commitments clarifying what each member will do to create such an organization, and they use results-oriented goals to mark their progress. Members work together to clarify exactly what each student must learn, monitor each student's learning on a timely basis, provide systematic interventions that ensure students receive additional time and support for learning when they struggle, and extend and enrich learning when students have already mastered the intended outcomes. A corollary assumption is that if the organization is to become more effective in helping all students learn, the adults in the organization must also be continually learning. Therefore, structures are created to ensure staff members engage in job-embedded learning as part of their routine work practices. There is no ambiguity or hedging regarding this commitment to learning. Whereas many schools operate as if their primary purpose if to ensure that children are taught, PLCs are dedicated to the idea that their organization exists to ensure that all students learn essential knowledge, skills, and dispositions. All the other characteristics of a PLC flow directly from this epic shift in assumptions about the purpose of the school. Source: Blog - ALLTHINGSPLC http://www.allthingsplc.info/wordpress/?p=74

Professional Learning Community (PLC) "Educators committed to working collaboratively in ongoing processes of collective inquiry and action research to achieve better results for the students they serve. Professional learning communities operate under the assumption that the key to improved learning for students is continuous job-embedded learning for educators." Learning by Doing (2006)

What Are Professional Learning Communities? It has been interesting to observe the growing popularity of the term professional learning community. In fact, the term has become so commonplace and has been used so ambiguously to describe virtually any loose coupling of individuals who share a common interest in education that it is in danger of losing all meaning. This lack of precision is an obstacle to implementing PLC concepts because, as Mike Schmoker observes, "clarity precedes competence" (2004, P. 85). Thus, we begin this handbook with an attempt to clarify our meaning of the term. To those familiar with our past work, this step may seem redundant, but we are convinced that redundancy can be a powerful tool in effective communication, and we prefer redundancy to ambiguity.

A Focus on Learning The very essence of a learning community is a focus on and a commitment to the learning of each student. When a school or district functions as a PLC, educators within the organization embrace high levels of learning for all students as both the reason the organization exists and the fundamental responsibility of those who work within it. In order to achieve this purpose, the members of a PLC create and are guided by a clear and compelling vision of what the organization must become in order to help all students learn. They make collective commitments clarifying what each member will do to create such an organization, and they use results-oriented goals to mark their progress. Members work together to clarify exactly what each student must learn, monitor each student's learning on a timely basis, provide systematic interventions that ensure students receive additional time and support for learning when they struggle, and extend and enrich learning when students have already mastered the intended outcomes.

A corollary assumption is that if the organization is to become more effective in helping all students learn, the adults in the organization must also be continually learning. Therefore, structures are created to ensure staff members engage in job-embedded learning as part of their routine work practices. There is no ambiguity or hedging regarding this commitment to learning. Whereas many schools operate as if their primary purpose if to ensure that children are taught, PLCs are dedicated to the idea that their organization exists to ensure that all students learn essential knowledge, skills, and dispositions. All the other characteristics of a PLC flow directly from this epic shift in assumptions about the purpose of the school.

Source: Blog - ALLTHINGSPLC http://www.allthingsplc.info/wordpress/?p=74

walkerruskin	Latest page update: made by walkerruskin , Apr 13 2009, 12:37 AM EDT (about this update About This Update Edited by walkerruskin 12 words added 8 words deleted view changes - complete history)
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Professional Development

WHAT IS PLC?

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