Principal as a Leader in Professional Learning Communites

Slide 1: Professional Learning Communities A journey, not a destination…

Slide 2: Chapter 9 The Role of the Principal in a Professional Learning Community

Slide 3: Professional Learning Communities • The best hope for school improvement is to be found in the principal’s office. • Let’s reconsider what it means to be a “strong” leader.

Slide 4: Strong Leaders…. Some descriptions… • Strong leaders: – Have definite ideas about teaching and a clear understanding of how their schools should operate. – More than willing to impose their ideas on their schools. – Strong, forceful, assertive individual who are quick to take initiative. • When you read this, what do you picture? From the Hoover Archives: http://hoover.archives.gov/

Slide 5: Emerging Research • On effective schools.. – Principals lead from the center rather than the top. – Less command and control and more learning and leading, less dictating and more orchestrating.

Slide 6: 5 Characteristics of Effective Principals Principals of professional learning communities: 1. Lead through shared vision and values rather than through rules and procedures. 2. Involve faculty members in the school’s decision- making processes and empower individuals to act. 3. Provide staff with the information, training, and parameters they need to make good decisions. 4. Establish credibility by modeling behavior that is congruent with the vision and values of their school. 5. Are results oriented.

Slide 7: 1. Lead through shared vision and values rather than through rules and procedures. • Engage the faculty in co-creation (of vision and values). • Demonstrate a sincere interest in finding common ground. • Regard this as one of the most important responsibilities.

Slide 8: 2. Involve Faculty Members in the School’s Decision-Making Process. • Two of the most significant and effective strategies used by capable leaders: 1. Involving others in the decision-making processes. 2. Empower individuals to act. • IN FACT – When improvement initiatives disintegrate it’s often because the leader (principal) makes the mistake of trying to effect change alone without building a coalition of collaborators. • The ultimate key is creating pleasure in the hard work of change.

Slide 9: 3. Provide staff with the information, training, and parameters they need to make good decisions. • Provide staff with relevant background information and research findings to help them arrive at informed decisions. • Ensure teachers receive the training to master skills that will help them meet the schools goals (more effectively). • Provide time and create structures for staff reflection and discussion. • Provide clear guidelines and boundaries to help direct daily work. • Loose/Tight Management – Loose on particular strategies – Tight on adhering to the vision, mission, values, and goals. – Loose on the means to achieve the end. – Unshakable tight on the end that must be achieved. • Both ardent supporter of teacher autonomy and passionate promoter of visions and values.

Slide 10: Responding to Resisters • Three mistakes when struggling with this problem: 1. Pay too much attention to resisters. – If you wait for all the teachers to get on board your ship may never leave the harbor. – Consensus does not necessarily mean unanimity. – Focus on advancing the cause rather than agonizing over those who are reluctant to join it. 2. Vilifying resisters. – Resistance is a natural and understandable human reaction to what people perceive as disruption. – Uphold the vision and values but legitimize dissent and always seek to learn what lies behind it. 3. Focusing on attitudes rather than on behaviors. – The effort to change attitudes must begin with the effort to alter behavior in ways that result in new experiences. – Focus on behavior. – Change what people do, provide new experiences that can become the catalyst for transforming attitudes. • Principals of successful learning communities do not hesitate to confront violations of the commitments articulated in shared visions and values. • To be perceived by teachers as serious about change, principals must care enough to confront.

Slide 11: 4. Establish credibility by modeling behavior that is congruent with the vision and values of their school. • Without credibility and trust, there are no followers. • Principals of PLC acquire trust the old fashioned way, they earn it. • Deliver on promises. • Consistent and predicable. • Establish and focus on priorities. • Willing to stand up for beliefs • Admit mistakes and change behavior. • Maintain composure and respond professionally during times of crisis. • DO WHAT YOU SAY YOU WILL DO.

Slide 12: 5. Are results oriented. • The ultimate test of a leader is results. • Principals of PLC are hungry for facts and constantly in search for meaningful data. • Analyze results critically rather than “Happy Talk” – Face the facts, don’t look for the silver lining in a black cloud.

Slide 13: 10 Guidelines for Principals in Building a PLC 1. Attend to the building blocks of a professional learning community. 2. Communicate the importance of mission, vision, values, and goals on a daily basis. 3. Create collaborative structures with a focus on teaching and learning. 4. Shape the school culture to support a professional learning community. 5. Foster an approach to curriculum that focuses on learning rather than teaching. 6. Encourage teachers to think of themselves as leaders. 7. Practice enlightened leadership strategies. 8. Establish personal credibility. 9. Be fixated on results. 10. Recognize that continuous improvement requires continuous learning.

Slide 14: 1. Attend to the building blocks of a PLC. • Mission • Vision • Values • Goals

Slide 15: 2. Communicate the importance of mission, vision, values, and goals on a daily basis. • The staff will find them important only when the principal pays attention to them on a daily basis.

Slide 16: 3. Create collaborative structures with a focus on teaching and learning. • Create teams that: – Engage in a constant cycle of reflection, planning, experimentation, analysis of results, and adaptation. • Provide time for collaboration and a clear purpose. – And the training and support needed to collaborate effectively.

Slide 17: 4. Shape the school culture to support a professional learning community. • Help facilitate the articulation of guiding values and vision. • Ask questions, prompt reflective dialogue. • Remind staff they are valued. – Celebrations, ceremonies…

Slide 18: 5. Foster an approach to curriculum that focuses on learning rather than teaching. • Work with teachers to: – Establish processes that clarify what students must know and be able to do. – Clarify strategies that enable the school to make valid conclusions regarding the degree of student learning.

Slide 19: 6. Encourage teachers to think of themselves as leaders. • Foster the image of a teacher as a leader. • Regard (and demonstrate this view) teachers as fellow leaders.

Slide 20: 7. Practice enlightened leadership strategies. • Demonstrate Loose/Tight leadership. • Listen carefully to resisters and strive to understand their position. • Focus on changing behavior rather than attitudes.

Slide 21: 8. Establish personal credibility. • Deliver on promises. • Act in accordance to you hat ! l do the values they ow wil D you ask others to say demonstrate. • Be consistent and predictable. • Admit mistakes.

Slide 22: 9. Be fixated on results. • Work with staff to: – Articulate clear measurable goals. – Identify indicators that offer evidence of progress. – Use evidence to inform practice, celebrate success, and to identify areas that need further attention.

Slide 23: 10. Recognize that continuous improvement requires continuous learning. • Help establish external resources and networks that support and stimulate innovation in the school. • Develop the ability of others.

Slide 24: Principals • Strong principals are crucial to the success of Professional Learning Communities. • Has this information shifted your view of a “strong” leader? From the Hoover Archives: http://hoover.archives.gov/

Slide 25: Professional Learning Communities A persistent endeavor.

Slide 26: Credits • Text Reference – Dufor; R., & Eaker, R. (1998). Professional Learning Communities at Work. Reston, VA: Solution Tree. • John Wayne Picture – The Hoover Archive • Clipart & PowerPoint Template – Microsoft Clipart Gallery • Music (if it worked for you) – The Dare Ya Blues Band from Long Island, New York • “Home to New Orleans” – www.garageband.com » copyright free