1. What would be your process to move teachers to a true collaborative culture as mention in the article?
My process as an administrator would be thoughtful, purposeful, and planned. What I mean by this is that I’m going to imagine a scenario where I’m a Principal at a school that has established PLC’s, but much of the school is looking for a “jump start” so to speak, to move from just being a PLC to becoming a force for learning. First, I review the data and the success that comes out of a high functioning PLC, but most educational professionals understand that the data is clear about the success of PLC’s. The question that needs answering is, why are we not flourishing?
Where much of the PLC failure occurs …show more content…
In my experience, the PLC’s that struggled had three limiting factors that prevented their development. Lack of organization, lack of follow through (Collective Commitments, p. 16), and personality clashes (ego). I can talk about all the wonderful attributes of the article A Shift In School Culture: shifting fundamental purpose, shifting focus, shifting the work, but what about the internal conflicts of the men and women who make up the PLC? Professional respect, follow through, trust, and take nothing personally: these are some the concepts that set the core personal foundation for a PLC (as evidenced by the millions of norms that are written) and these are the fundamental factors that get glossed over (from time to time) when crunching the data. How does an administrator, who knows that a PLC is struggling, help that PLC overcome the intrapersonal challenges they are experiencing? How would an effective administrator spur the process of change in a PLC? This too gets glossed over way too many times in my opinion and I believe needs to be …show more content…
That quote right there can help move a staff to a true collaborative culture. As an administrator, I want to build trust by listening, offering suggestions when the listening is completed, thinking purposefully about the individuals involved in moving our campus and our PLC concept to the next level. Administration: part teacher, part councilor, part economist, part bridge builder, part repair man, part data collector, part relationship builder, part realist, part dream crusher who then has to go and repair the dream again be that dream unrealistic or