Professional Learning Communities: Transforming Groups into Teams
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Transcript of Professional Learning Communities: Transforming Groups into Teams
Professional Learning Communities
Transform your group into a team! by Joan Richardson
Reviewed by J. Polakovsky
The Big Question How do you move from being a group of
people with a common characteristic — such as teaching the same subject or grade level — to being a team or a community with a common vision and focus?
“No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main…” – John Donne
Professional learning community is the new name for team.
Not all Groups are Teams
PLC is a Team with an Intentional Focus on Learning
Devote time for group team development
Spend time on the basics
Four stages of group development
Forming
Norming
Storming
Performing
Updating the Team Development Wheel
Community Development- the making of a team
Pseudo-community
Chaos
Emptiness
Community
The Principal’s Role
Spend time on basics
Understand the team development process
Give time to conversations about “how to do the work”
Avoid plunging in
Time must be given to trust and relationship building
Realize that every group feels special
Groups need predictable stages
Groups need to know that conflict is natural.
Developing Norms Teams need to create norms by which all will
abide.
An activity enables groups to develop these ground rules.
Often making task an anonymous one ensures ideas are expressed freely.
Supplies can range from same type of pens, index cards, poster paper, display board, tape and tacks.
Task should take a total of two hours.
Post Norms in the teaming room
An Example We will work together as a community that
values consensus rather than majority rule.
We will be fully present at the meeting by becoming familiar with materials before we arrive and by being attentive to behaviors which affect physical and mental engagement.
We will invite and welcome the contributions of every member and listen to each other.
We will be involved to our individual level of comfort. Each of us is responsible for airing disagreements during the meeting rather than carrying those disagreements outside the meeting.
Which stage is your team in? Use a questionnaire.
Questionnaires contain statements about teamwork at the various levels.
Rank each question from “Almost Never” to “Almost Always”
The following link will lead you to 32 good questions and to what stage each belongs for scoring purposes.:
At What Stage is Your Team? Questionnaire
R.E.A.C.H. Risk-Takers building a PLC take an
adjustment of thought, procedures and time. Major changes will have to occur.
Effectiveness develops after the team is created and plans can be enacted.
Autonomy is not being that island unto oneself but rather displaying independent thought responsibly. This initiative adds to the strength of the group.
Collegiality is a promotion of community.
Honor is displayed by treating others with respect and dignity
Food for Thought
No one of us can be effective as all of us. Unknown
Build with your team a feeling of oneness, of dependence on one another, and of strength derived from unity in the pursuit of your objective.
–Vince Lombardi
Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; and working together is success.
Henry Ford
Resources
Richardson, Joan. Transform Your Group into a TEAM, Tools for Schools, Vol. 9, No. 2,November/December 2005. http://www.nsdc.org/members/tools/tools11-05.pdf
Merideth, Eunice. Leadership Strategies for Teachers, 2nd ed. Corwin Press, Thousand Oaks, CA. 2007.
Heart Sutra http://www.silcom.com/~eclarson/heartsutra/hs-ra/hs06.html
Images from… http://
www.nsdc.org/members/tools/tools11-05.pdf
http://www.karagwe.com/index.php?page=100
http://rewls.com/sports/football-news/the-wins-and-losses-of-vince-lombardi/
http://connect.in.com/henry-ford/photos-765-3959461.html
http://hubpages.com/topics/business-and-employment/business-management-and-leadership/teams/1089
http://www.videolife.tk/Prajna/