Leadership magazine Nov/Dec 2015 V45 No 2 | Page 10
tunities to problem solve as a staff. One resolution, for example, was in the fifth grade:
Four teachers selected the one most skilled in
teaching reading and writing to all fifth graders, while the others acted as assistants until
they developed the skills to teach reading and
writing effectively. After months of training
teachers and providing ongoing coaching,
teachers’ skills improved significantly.
The academic collaboration meetings became Professional Learning Communities,
in part, because “forward thinking” was a
new catch phrase that appeared to be very
vogue. The principal was not preoccupied
with the name placed on collaboration
meetings and trainings as long as it did not
stop the momentum or interrupt the recently
established structures and systems in place
to provide a quality educational experience
for all students.
The PLCs offered most of the necessary
components to improve the schools, in part
because they are defined as teams that are
composed primarily of teachers, with an administrator, other staff and resource persons
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Leadership
as appropriate. The main focus of these teams
is on improving student learning by enhancing their own learning and capacity in the delivery of research-based best practices.
Over time, academic pundits have concluded that Professional Learning Communities should manifest several characteristics. These include a high level of trust,
shared values and commitments, continuous
inquiry, cohesion, effective interpersonal
communication, cross-cultural sensitivity,
collaboration, data-based problem solving and planning. Some of the principles
to