Professional+Learning+Community

**Professional Learning Communities ** A **Professional Learning Community**, or **PLC** is an extended learning opportunity to foster collaborative learning among colleagues within a particular work environment or field. It is often used in schools as a way to organize teachers into working groups. [|Wikipedia]

 To create a **professional learning community**, focus on learning rather than on teaching, work collaboratively, and hold yourself accountable for results. Richard Dufour

A **professional learning community** has a shared vision or running a school in which everyone can make a contribution, and staff are encouraged to collectively undertake activities and reflection in order to constantly improve their students’ performance. Ontario Ministry of Education

 [|Wikipedia]
 * Characteristics of a PLC:**
 * Shared vision and values that lead to a collective commitment of school staff, which is expressed in day-to-day practices
 * Solutions actively sought, openness to new ideas
 * Working teams cooperate to achieve common goals
 * Encouragement of experimentation as an opportunity to learn
 * Questioning of the status quo, leading to an ongoing quest for improvement and professional learning
 * Continuous improvement based on evaluation of outcomes rather than on the intentions expressed
 * Reflection in order to study the operation and impacts of actions taken

Timesaver Support for us Good discussions Working smarter For new ideas New skills For sanity! Sharing frustrations Efficiency It's nice to share! (Kerry) It's nice to receive! (Rochelle) || Lead teacher days and workshops Wiki to refer back to, publishcised to staff regularly Reference material Belinda - facilitator Lead Teacher Meetings Cluster Share Afternoons Participation in staff/syndicates meetings to share ICT Sharing ideas/knowledge/skills Blogs Cluster Expo Learning@school/ULearn || Ongoing discussions e.g. online forums, emails on our wiki More cluster afternoons with everybody - hands on, experimental time CRT - viewing other schools and classrooms More communication between schools Keep adding to our wiki space Look at other school's wiki spaces within our cluster and beyond Lead teachers meet with Belinda one afternoon per term as well as the workshop days ||
 * **Why do we want to develop an eastnet Professional Learning Community?**
 * **What are we already doing to develop our eastnet PLC?**
 * **What else could we do to develop our eastnet PLC?**