Teacher Teams
Teacher teams are known by many names: Inquiry Teams, Professional Learning Communities (PLC's), Kidtalk teams, Critical Friends Groups. They are all essentially the same thing: a team of teachers who regularly meet with the goal of increasing student achievement.
Richard DuFour, the guru on PLC's, clearly and concisely identifies what a "Professional Learning Community" is in his article Schools as Learning Communities. He identifies three big ideas to create a professional learning community:
See below for the full text.
Richard DuFour, the guru on PLC's, clearly and concisely identifies what a "Professional Learning Community" is in his article Schools as Learning Communities. He identifies three big ideas to create a professional learning community:
- focus on learning rather than teaching,
- work collaboratively, and
- hold yourself accountable for results.
See below for the full text.
| schoolsaslearningcommunities.doc |
Resources
The Chancellor's Handbook for Professional Learning outlines the Research, Resources, and Strategies for Implementation for Professional Learning. It is your guide for Teacher Team work. See below:
| pl_handbook_final.pdf |
The Center for Public Education published Teaching the Teachers: Effective Professional Development in an Era of High Stakes Accountability. This resource outlines the elements of effective PD and the role teachers play.
| cpe_professionaldevelopment_.pdf |
Protocols
National School Reform Faculty has a plethora of protocols for teacher teams, among other topics. Click here to see their list. Here are a few key ones:
Building Teacher Team Culture:
A few surveys to help establish an effective team culture. The Compass points activity helps groups to understand each other's preferences.
National School Reform Faculty has a plethora of protocols for teacher teams, among other topics. Click here to see their list. Here are a few key ones:
Building Teacher Team Culture:
A few surveys to help establish an effective team culture. The Compass points activity helps groups to understand each other's preferences.
| north_south__protocol.pdf |
| plc_survey_0.pdf |
| plc_survey_exercise.pdf |
| forming_ground_rules.pdf |
| eds_high_performance_team_instrument.pdf |
Utilizing Collaborative Inquiry Process:
A few graphics outlining the inquiry process.
A few graphics outlining the inquiry process.
| smp_cycle_inquiry_0.pdf |
| smp_cycle_inquiry_plc_0.pdf |
Link to an ASCD article about teacher inquiry and action reseach
Looking at Student Work and Data:
The Tuning Protocol and ATLAS are two good ones for looking at student work. Here are few others too.
The Tuning Protocol and ATLAS are two good ones for looking at student work. Here are few others too.
| tuning_0.pdf |
| consult_stud_work_0.pdf |
| atlas_lfsw_0.pdf |
| atlas_looking_data_0.pdf |
| norms_lfsw_0.pdf |
| collaborative_assessment_conference.pdf |
| looking_at_students_thinking_and_surfacing_the_gaps-cfn_107.doc |
| ela_student_work_protocol_final_1.pdf |
