Building a Professional Learning Community at Work™: A Guide to the First Year (a play-by-play guide to implementing PLC concepts) - Softcover

Parry Graham; William M. Ferriter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1934009598 ISBN 13: 9781934009598

Publisher: Solution Tree, 2009

Synopsis

Winner--2010 National Staff Development Council's Staff Development Book of the Year Award

Bronze Medal Award Winner--Foreword Reviews 2009 Book of the Year Award

Get a play-by-play guide to implementing PLC concepts. Each chapter begins with a story focused on a particular challenge. A follow-up analysis of the story identifies the good decisions or common mistakes made in relation to that particular scenario. The authors examine the research behind best practice and wrap up each chapter with recommendations and tools you can use in your school.

Benefits:

• Get a compelling, accessible narrative to grasp PLC problems and solutions.
• Read the book cover to cover or select chapters for mini-lessons.
• Gain reproducible tools you can use in your own schools.

Contents:
Foreword by Richard and Rebecca DuFour
Prologue: A New Beginning

Part I: Summer: Committing to a Common Purpose
Chapter 1: Starting With a Vision
Chapter 2: Empowering the Core Team

Part II: Fall: Building a Team
Chapter 3: Creating Trust
Chapter 4: Supporting Team Development

Part III: Winter: Weathering the Challenges
Chapter 5: Negotiating Personalities and Conflict
Chapter 6: Experiencing Frustration

Part IV: Spring: Looking Forward
Chapter 7: Connecting Data Analysis and Instructional Improvement
Chapter 8: Building a Collective Intelligence
Epilogue: Equal Parts Looking Back and Looking Forward

About this title

About the Author

Parry Graham, EdD, is principal of Nashoba Regional High School in Massachusetts. During his 20 years in public education, he has held a variety of roles, including high school teacher, consultant, and clinical assistant professor in the School of Education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Graham has also been a school-based administrator at the elementary, middle, and high school levels.

An experienced leader in professional learning communities, he consults with numerous schools and districts to turn PLC principles into concrete improvement strategies. He has written articles for the Journal of Staff Development, Research in Middle Level Education Online, Connexions, and TechLearning.

Dr. Graham completed a doctorate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

William M. Ferriter is a sixth-grade science teacher in a professional learning community near Raleigh, North Carolina. A National Board Certified Teacher, Bill has designed professional development courses for educators nationwide on topics ranging from establishing professional learning communities and using technology to reimagine learning spaces to integrating meaningful student-involved assessment and feedback opportunities into classroom instruction.

What Bill brings to audiences is practical experience gained through extensive and continuing work with his own professional learning team and students in his classroom. Teachers appreciate the practicality of his presentations, knowing that the content shared is content that is currently being used by a full-time classroom teacher. Every session is designed to give participants not just a clear understanding of the "whys" behind the ideas that he is introducing, but tangible examples of how to turn those ideas into classroom and collaborative practices that work.

Bill has had articles published in Kappan magazine, Journal for Staff Development, Educational Leadership, and Threshold Magazine. A contributing author to two assessment anthologies, The Teacher as Assessment Leader and The Principal as Assessment Leader, he is also coauthor of several Solution Tree titles, including Teaching the iGeneration, Building a Professional Learning Community at Work™, Making Teamwork Meaningful, and Creating a Culture of Feedback. Bill also maintains a popular blog, "The Tempered Radical," where he writes regularly about teaching in today's world.

Bill earned a bachelor of science and master of science in elementary education from the State University of New York at Geneseo.

Review

"Graham and Ferriter set out to restore the faith of educators that their efforts can have a significant impact on student achievement. They weave a story that is both refreshingly candid and powerfully compelling. [They] write with the honesty and insight that can only be acquired through direct experience. One of the most common questions we hear from educators who become willing to implement the PLC concept in their own schools is, But where do we start? Graham and Ferriter have answered that question, very specifically, in this powerful book. It is a wonderful contribution to the literature on Professional Learning Communities at Work, and we highly recommend it to educators at all levels."

--From the Foreword by Richard and Rebecca DuFour

"What a terrific resource! The authors have done a great job of organizing Building a Professional Learning Community at Work, starting each chapter with a real-life story and ending with a set of practical tools that have been well thought out. The Tools for 21st Century Learning Teams is a tremendously useful addition. This book is well-designed, well-written, and packed with useful information. I can see myself using it in my own work with professional learning teams. Kudos to the authors! You've given educators a practical and engaging resource!"

--Anne Jolly, educational consultant and president of PLTWorks

"Bill Ferriter and Parry Graham have put together a very accessible step-by-step guide on how to go about creating this kind of culture [professional learning communities], including ways to trouble-shoot potential challenges. The questions that it encourages readers to ask themselves and their colleagues might be the most important parts of Building a Professional Learning Community at Work™."

--Larry Ferlazzo, ELL teacher and Edublogger, Sacramento, California

Edition details

• Publisher: Solution Tree
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1934009598
• ISBN 13: 9781934009598
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 216