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Many professional learning teams pass through these 7 stages
Imagine having the opportunity to work at a new middle school, built around professional learning community principles. From day one, teachers are organized into professional learning teams working to define essential curriculum, develop common assessments, and analyze student data. Similarly, administrators work as a team to support the development of professional learning teams and emphasize a distributed model of leadership. Several years ago, we had the opportunity to work as a teacher and an administrator in this new school in the Wake County (N.C.) Public School System.
With little experience to guide us, we learned a number of important lessons. First, professional learning teams represent a powerful mechanism for improvements in teaching and learning. Second, developing successful professional learning teams is difficult, requiring concerted effort from teachers and administrators. And third, while different teams develop at different rates and with different personalities, most professional learning teams pass through similar stages in terms of the nature of their work.
Like many, we found that the work of professional learning teams progressed from a focus on teaching to a focus on learning. Helping teams make that progression, however and emphasizing effective dialogue and reflection along the way - are key components in building a professional learning community. Here we outline these stages of development and provide recommendations for supporting and challenging teams.
STAGE 1: FILLING THE TIME
The first question that novice teams often ask is: "What exactly are we supposed to do?" Initial meetings can be rambling affairs, especially for teams lacking clear guidelines. As teachers initially explore collaboration, meetings can swing from one extreme to the other: either struggling to fill time or tackling too many tasks in hour-long meetings. Frustration is inevitable for groups struggling with new responsibilities.
The best way to help teams move quickly out of this stage is to set clear work expectations. Defining specific tasks - such as identifying essential objectives or creating a common assessment - lends direction to an ambiguous and overwhelming process. Sample agendas, suggested team roles, and sets of adaptable norms are helpful for developing teams. When school leaders fail to provide basic structures for early meetings, collaboration can quickly become confusing and seen as...