Week 5 Assignment

1. GATHERING GOODS:
TO INSPIRE EXCELLENCE IN
EDUCATORS AND TO ENSURE
EXCELLENCE IN STUDENTS
Ms. Dijane Lynch
August 24, 2015

2. OUTLINE FOR TODAY’S PLC
• Description of Participants
• Summary of Activity: “Multicultural Me”
• Discussion and Responses With Peers
• Characteristics of Critical Thinkers
• Critical Thinking Questions to Explore
• Benefits of Information from the Exercise
• Possibilities for Sharing with Students
• Conclusion

3. Description of Participants
The type of teacher in attendance today is varied. Some
of us are tenured and valued, some are new and untried.
We all belong here because everyone can improve
instructional delivery in the classroom.
When new teachers join our team, we customarily
organize Professional Learning Community (PLC) events
to inspire staff collaboration towards improving the results
of our efforts.
Teacher development refers to the ongoing professional
growth of teachers, particularly that which takes place after
their initial training (Thornbury, 2006).
Our goal is to establish and implement workable solutions
to improve operational expertise, to enhance the
accomplishments of our students, and to become a
constructive and cohesive force.
As a team, our goal is to formulate principles that can be
embedded and thereafter sustained in school protocol

4. Description and summary of
“Multicultural Me” Activity
We can probably all identify some associations that we engage in
with various groups at different times. As individuals, we appear to others
in a relatively limited way: We cannot see each other’s friends and relatives.
We may not yet know the full extent or breadth of our colleagues’ alliances.
Therefore, our perspective of others is limited.
In today’s activity, we will be disclosing some features of this
heretofore private information. If participants will please write their names
inside a circle in the center of a sheet of paper. Then, in circles drawn off of
that circle, please briefly share the types of groups with which you identify.
In connection with the information noted in each of the outer
circles, and in the interest of enlightening your colleagues, please share any
details regarding your development or difficulty in association with your
presence or membership in a given group. Also, please include any of your
personal, social revelations (if you care to do so) that have transformed you
as a result of being in those groups.

5. Discussion/Responses with Peers
• 1. It is fair to acknowledge a few generalizations about ourselves
and the students in our schools, namely, they want to learn and we
must ensure that they do.
• 2. Enthusiasm dwindles into confusion over controversial topics,
and we must alleviate the effects of disagreements among
professional staff.
• 3. In a cycle of recurring failure, realistic reforms and idealistic
plans become tangled and then become ineffectual, until another
positive generation of theories develops, and the process cycles
again.
• 4. A viable solution is simple: Hire an abundance of teachers who
possess multicultural sensitivity and interest in professional
development.

6. Several Characteristics of Critical Thinkers —
A Super-streamlined Conception
• …maintains an open-mind
• …desires to be well-informed
• …ascertains whether information is credible
• …identifies assumptions and preconceptions
• …asks appropriate questions for clarification
• …formulates plausible hypotheses
• …draws conclusions with caution
• …develops and defends reasonable positions

7. Critical Questions
1. Does every suggestion become trite before it can
become an instrument for change?
2. Is the status quo permanent?
3. Has the power of a catalyst become obsolete?
4. Has active implementation been replaced by static
theories?
5. Who first found it necessary to differentiate
between teaching and learning?
6. Should we still be asking what we want students to
learn?
7. Is it so difficult to gauge whether a student has
learned something?
8. Are we capable of teaching children how to handle
life, to care about education, and to construct
meaning for themselves?
9. Is there any consensus about what constitutes
academic fundamentals?

8. Instructors and participants’ improved professionalism
Students’accomplishmentsand
goals
Assumptions
about other
cultures may
tragically be
inaccurate;
therefore, it is
advisable to
become
familiar with
diversity, and to
enjoy learning
new things
about other
cultures.
We have to give
students honest
descriptions of
the future that
are, at least,
feasible, if not
concrete. We
cannot tell them
that professions
in the future do
not presently
exist because
such a
declaration is
too abstract.
Working Toward Future Mastery
Participants may find
that the PLC activity
is a bit challenging;
therefore, there will
be a break after filling
in the circles, after
peers’ discussion,
after deliberating
upon the selected
questions, and prior
to sharing visions of
possible means for
sharing results with
students.

9. Possibilities for Sharing with Students
• One of the interesting aspects of the activity
introduced in this PLC is the fact that an “age
appropriate” limitation does not apply. It can be
developed for any group of people, whether it is
educators, students, or parents.
• In many ways, we are stumbling around
discussing cultural diversity, but we are
overlooking cultural similarities, which, in
actuality, bridge divisions better than differences
do.
• We are all the same in more ways than we are
different, and we should be reinforcing the
teaching of this truth among ourselves and
teaching it to our children and students.

10. THANK YOU. THIS CONCLUDES THE PRESENTATION.
IT HAS DEFINITELY BEEN A PLEASURE “GATHERING
GOODS,” INSPIRING UNITY, FOSTERING EXCELLENCE
IN OUR PROFESSION, AND BUILDING OPTIMISM ABOUT
WELCOMING AND INSTRUCTING OUR STUDENTS.

11. References
Breiseth, L., Robertson, K., Lafond, S. (2011). A guide
for engaging ELL families: Twenty strategies
for school leaders, Colorin Colorado
Du Four, R. (2004). What is a professional
community? Schools as Learning
Communities, vol. 61, issue 8, ASCD.
Ennis, R. (2012). Definition of critical thinking:
Reasonable reflective thinking focused on
deciding what to believe or do.
Thornbury, S. (2006). An A-Z of ELT: Dictionary of
terms and concepts, Macmillan Books for
teachers.