Expert Resources
The resources listed on this page have been created by Parry Graham and Bill Ferriter and may be of value to principals, teachers and professional developers working with learning communities. Many of these resources were developed in conjunction with the Center for Teaching Quality in Chapel Hill, which is doing ground breaking work around the potential of using Professional Learning Communities as a tool for empowering teachers, reducing turnover and improving student learning in high needs schools:
Action Agenda for Building Better Schools
PLC_Action_Planning_Agenda.pdf
Restructuring your school as a professional learning community requires an action orientation on the part of all members of your faculty. Use this template to help guide your thinking during today’s session and to begin to plan your efforts after returning to your schools and communities.
The Unique Challenges of Middle School Learning Communities
PLC_Challenges_Middle_School_Final.pdf
In the past twenty years, almost 4,000 research studies have confirmed what most middle grades educators have always known—that children between the ages of 10 and 15 are a unique group of learners with physical, cognitive and social characteristics that demand special attention! Characterized as one of the most difficult periods of life, students struggle with growing bodies, growing minds and growing emotions. Understanding the implications that these changes have on instruction, successful middle schools provide rigorous academic challenge while allowing children to experiment with their developing personal identities in safe and accepting environments as members of small interdisciplinary teams.
This tendency towards organizing teachers and students into teams has made the move towards professional learning communities easier to embrace for middle grades educators. Accustomed to “sharing students” with colleagues, a strong foundation for collaboration has often already been built within most schools serving young adolescents. There are, however, several unique challenges that middle school learning communities must face in order to succeed. Three specific challenges include organizing teachers into logical learning teams, managing higher rates of teacher and administrator turnover, and providing differentiated learning opportunities for a cognitively diverse student population.
This document---written by session presenter Bill Ferriter---outlines each of those challenges.
Participant Comments on this Document:
The Power of Professional Conversations
http://www.teacherleaders.org/old_site/diaries04_05/other/BF05_04_05.html
Bill Ferriter, former Wake County Teacher of the Year and current North Carolina Regional Teacher of the Year, had the opportunity of a lifetime a few years back: He was invited to become a part of a school structuring itself as a professional learning community. What he didn't realize is how much joining his new school would change his instructional practices. In this journal entry, written for the Teacher Leaders Network and run in the Journal for Staff Development, Ferriter documents the impact that his learning team had on his instruction, giving readers an up-close look at the power of professional conversations.
Participant Reactions to this Article:
An Assessment Nightmare!
PLC_An_Assessment_Nightmare.pdf
In this article, Bill Ferriter---former Wake County Teacher of the Year and North Carolina Regional Teacher of the Year---wrestles with what is often a hidden reality in schools today--his inability to design instruction that is tied to state standards and holds students to high levels of mastery. He also details how the common assessments required of--and embraced by--his professional learning team helped to drive conversations that improved his instruction and student learning all at once!
Participant Reactions to this Article:
Time Well Spent: A Remarkable Year of Teaching
http://www.teacherleaders.org/old_site/diaries04_05/other/BF06_04_05.html
One of the most significant barriers faced by teachers working collaboratively is learning to "do" collegiality. Trained in a profession that is defined by isolation, educators who begin collective work have to master new skills in facilitation and teamwork. They have to design norms, develop trust and learn to engage in productive conflict---all while teaching students, grading papers and planning lessons! It's not easy work, Bill Ferriter argues in this diary entry written for the Teacher Leaders Network, but it's worth every ounce of effort invested.
Participant Reactions to this Article:
Year One on a Learning Team: What's it all About?
PLT, Year One on a Learning Team.pdf
Your first year as a member of a true professional learning team will be one of great exhilaration—and exhaustion! You will feel incredibly empowered, will change your teaching practices, and will collaborate in meaningful ways—possibly for the first time. You will also openly struggle to focus the work of your group, feel completely overwhelmed, and have conflict with coworkers—possibly for the first time!
This document---written by session presenter Bill Ferriter---outlines the characteristics of year one on a learning team.
Participant Comments on this Document:
Year Two on a Learning Team: What's it all About?
PLT, Year Two on a Learning Team.pdf
Your second year as a member of a true professional learning team will see you rolling up your sleeves and attacking some of the real barriers to student learning in schools. Because your group will have “worked out the knots” of collaboration during year one, you will find that your meetings are far more efficient and effective. You’re likely to have strong meeting norms and an understanding of what each member brings to your planning table. You’ll have a measure of trust with one another that will allow you to have powerful conversations and come to defensible consensus together.
This document---written by session presenter Bill Ferriter---outlines the characteristics of year two on a learning team.
Participant Comments on this Document:
Learning Community Data Literacy Survey
Because professional learning communities focus on results and make every effort to ensure that all students are successful, effective manipulation of data is essential. Teachers, however, often have little experience with data analysis and manipulation. This survey--created by Parry Graham and Bill Ferriter--is intended to help schools learn more about the levels of data literacy on learning teams. It covers topics ranging from simple awareness of essential data vocabulary to implementation of effective data conversations and can be used to help target school-based professional development efforts related to data informed instruction.
Participant Comments on this Document:
Learning Community Administration Survey
Few would argue that administrators play a vital role in highly functioning learning communities. As the instructional and organizational leader of a building, administrators have great potential for driving change across an entire organization. This survey--designed by Parry Graham and Bill Ferriter--is designed to collect information about how effective administration has been at supporting learning community development in a building by focusing efforts on a clear mission and vision, promoting an atmosphere of trust and mutual respect, and modeling an action orientation.
Participant Comments on this Document:
Learning Community Team Survey
In any building, learning teams will develop in diverse and organic ways. Like children, no two learning teams will be exactly the same at any point in their development. This survey--designed by Parry Graham and Bill Ferriter--is intended to help schools learn more about the type of work that has occurred on professional learning teams during the course of a school year. It is divided into two sections: the ways in which teams manage PLT meetings, and the types of tasks on which teams have focused.
Participant Comments on this Document:
Learning Community Collaboration Survey
One barrier to the continued growth of learning communities in a building is the lack of a common vocabulary and concept of the work of collaborative teams. This survey--designed by Parry Graham and Bill Ferriter--is intended to help schools learn about current collaborative practices and teacher goals for collaboration. By gathering reliable information about current practices, current areas of concern, and future goals, schools can constantly work to improve the quality of education provided to students.
Participant Comments on this Document:
Weathering the Storm
Storming Strategies and Suggestions for Learning Teams
One of the harsh realities of collaborative work in schools is that learning teams will often experience times of significant conflict between colleagues. These difficult moments--part of a broader stage of team development known as "storming"--are common, yet can seem overwhelming. Teachers embroiled in a storm often feel defeated and are tempted to walk away from their group. Moving teams beyond storming is essential for any learning community interested in long term success. This document--designed by Bill Ferriter and Parry Graham--outlines common issues that cause storms within teams and offers suggestions about how to move forward together!
It is broken into two categories: Strategies for addressing common instructional decisions (pages 1-4) and Strategies for managing group dynamics and discussions (pages 4-8).
Participant Comments on this Document:
Professional Development for Learning Teams
The work of learning teams present several new challenges for educators that must be addressed with systematic professional development opportunities provided at the school level. These opportunities can be broken into two broad categories: Team-based collaboration skills and skills for instructional reflection. This document--created by session presenters Parry Graham and Bill Ferriter--outlines each of these categories and makes suggestions about the kinds of support that teams will need in each area in order to be successful.
Participant Comments on this Document:
Learning Teams for Encore Teachers
A common challenge in many schools working towards restructuring as a professional learning community is finding collaborative opportunities for teachers who are teaching unique subjects or working in small departments with few colleagues. Specifically, teachers working in encore classes face unique challenges as members of learning communities. Typically grouped into one “department,” foreign language, performing arts, visual arts and technical educators often find themselves sitting at the same table during learning team meetings. The lack of a common subject and a common group of students makes conversations inefficient and awkward. Often, teachers in these situations feel “left out” and discouraged.
Designing productive collaborative partnerships for all teachers is essential to building buy-in and reinforcing the central premise that a school is one community of continuous learners. While there is no “right way” to engage encore teachers in collaborative work, this document--created by Bill Ferriter--offers suggestions that may work for your school community.
Participant Comments on this Document:
PLC Capacity Factors
Four interconnected factors--new structures and procedures, improved communication, enhanced teacher learning and collective ownership and intelligence--determine the capacity of a learning community. While each factor can be addressed individually to benefit student learning, maximum efficiency depends on finding connections between each area. This document--created by Parry Graham and Bill Ferriter--outline each of these four factors and provides suggestions for strengthening each in your school.
Participant Comments on this Document:
Diary Entry: Lessons Learned from One Fat Ox
The infinite wisdom of crowds has long been recognized by scholars—and bookies! Rarely are individuals better equipped to make complex decisions than groups of professionals brainstorming together. The impact that group decision making has on educators is explored in this journal entry written by Bill Ferriter as a member of the Teacher Leaders Network: “The diversity of opinions that we have in our group leads us to some pretty remarkable understandings--"truths" even--about instruction that I could never come to on my own. Like most groups, our decisions/thoughts/conclusions are strong because they are based on the collective wisdom of several professionals working together on common problems."
Participant Reactions to this Article:
Diary Entry: The Data Dilemma
http://theknowingteam.blogspot.com/2006/10/data-dilemma.html
Perhaps the single greatest difference between a professional learning community and a traditional teacher team is a single-minded focus on results. Data on student achievement is collected and reviewed by teachers in an attempt to identify instructional practices that work. So, what do you do when the data paints an unwelcome picture? How do you confront results that aren't expected or appreciated? This diary entry, written by Dr. Parry Graham, a school administrator in a large southern district, reflects on just those questions and has sparked an extensive line of comments! Join in the conversation and share your thoughts on approaching unpleasant results here.
Participant Reactions to this Article:
Diary Entry: The Underpants Gnomes
http://theknowingteam.blogspot.com/2007/03/underpants-gnomes.html
Spinning off of a classic South Park episode where gnomes have a flawed plan for profiting from stolen underwear, Parry Graham wonders whether or not learning teams are overemphasizing data and underemphasizing instruction in their actions. “Now, I don’t want to suggest that the PLC model is ineffective, or that professional learning teams are just spinning their wheels when they collect and analyze student assessment results,” writes Graham, “But if we keep on teaching the same material the same way, even if we’re re-teaching it a second time around to a targeted group of students, are we really likely to get dramatically different results?”
Participant Reactions to this Article:
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