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(More customer reviews)Before I read this book, I have to admit I wasn't quite sure what a "professional learning community" was. I must confess that, even though I'm a fan of co-author Bill Ferriter's blog, I generally skipped over his posts about this topic.
Through his book, I've learned that it's basically about strategically and intentionally developing a "community of learners" among school staff. Bill and his co-author Parry Graham have put together a very accessible step-by-step guide on how to go about creating this kind of culture, including ways to trouble-shoot potential challenges. The questions that it encourages readers to ask themselves and their colleagues might be the most important parts of the book.
In many ways, the process is similar to doing good community organizing (I spent nineteen years as an organizer prior to becoming a teacher) -- identifying potential leaders, beginning with a vision and having others adapt it to make it their own, focusing on conversations and relationships. This book makes it all applicable and usable in a school situation. In fact, I think it would be a useful book for anyone who is trying to create a collegial learning culture in any type of organization or business.
I have taught in two schools. The school where I've been for the past six years has been lucky enough to have a principal who has worked with teachers to use these methods -- almost to a "tee" -- and develop a culture of collegiality and professionalism that has truly transformed our school.
The one where I taught for my first year had none of these elements, and I believe that it contributed to its being permanently closed-down.
As its epilogue says:
While the challenges of reculturing schools into professional learning communities are great, the rewards -- successful, empowered practitioners and students who are learning regardless of circumstance -- are worth the effort!
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Building a Professional Learning Community at Work: A Guide to the First YearBuilding a Professional Learning Community at WorkTM: A Guide to the First Year addresses the real-world critical questions that arise when schools begin their work to become professional learning communities. How can administrators and teachers take the promise of a PLC and turn it into reality? How can school leaders transform theories of collaboration into highly effective nuts-and-bolts practices? This book is set in the context of one year in the life of a PLC. It chronicles the efforts of a building principal, Steve, and his teachers to build a true PLC at Central Middle School by focusing on the successes and challenges inherent in the process. Each chapter includes four elements. An opening story highlights an important event in the growth of a learning community. Lessons From the Front Line spotlights the successful decisions and common mistakes made by the characters in the opening story. The Relevant Theory and Research section introduces the theories of experts and connects them to the work of PLCs to provide readers with an approachable framework for understanding and a language for describing the complex, yet predictable, changes that are inevitable when schools restructure as PLCs. The Recommendations section offers a collection of suggestions from which to draw while working through change in a building. The lessons in Building a Professional Learning Community at Work are drawn from the authors own experiences working as teachers, building administrators, consultants, and coaches at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. It emphasizes that powerful collaboration can happen anywhere, but it requires hard work, purposeful steps, and a deep understanding of the PLC model. The tools in this book have been tested time and again by real teachers and teams.
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