...Practices for Professional Learning Communities,” (2014) the author, Celine Provini, defines a Professional Learning Community as a “whole-staff involvement in a process of reflection upon instructional practices and desired student benchmarks, as well as monitoring of outcomes to ensure success.” These “communities” have been becoming more prevalent as educators continue to focus on student achievement and professional growth. Provini adds “PLCs enable teachers to continually learn from one another via shared visioning and planning, as well as in-depth critical examination of what does and doesn’t work to enhance student achievement” (Provini, 2014). These ensembles of dedicated educators seek to enhance not only their...
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...EDU 695 Week 5 DQ 2 Professional Learning Communities NEW To Buy This material Click below link http://www.uoptutors.com/edu-695-ash/edu-695-week-5-dq-2-professional-learning-communities-new Professional Learning Communities One component of the 21st Century Professional Development framework encourages sharing knowledge with fellow faculty, using face-to-face, virtual and blended communications. When we think of sharing knowledge, we often think of using professional learning communities. In several of your courses, the concept of a professional learning community (PLC) is presented and elaborated on. A professional learning community consists of individuals with an interest in eduction. The focus of a professional learning community can be taking measures to ensure students learn, creating a culture of collaboration in the school, for school improvement and more (DuFour, 2004). In this discussion, you will deliberate about the use of professional learning communities as they relate to the 21st Century Professional Development framework with an emphasis on technology. Initial Post: Think about the 21st Century Professional Development framework and technology when working in your mock professional learning community. Next, imagine your state legislatures have asked the non-partisan Legislative Analyst’s Office to advise them regarding the creation of a blended professional learning community across the districts within the state. As an educator who is well versed in employing...
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...about theories, history, change, and influential people. For my final reflection, I have chosen professional learning communities, conflict, and motivation as the three topics that I will address. I chose these topics for many reasons, but the main reason for choosing was simply that I wanted to follow my heart. It was important to me to choose topics that I could relate to or that I had a vested interest in. These topics are also very relevant in my current working situation. Through this reflection, I hope to gain further insight to these topics and to build my capacity as an instructional leader. Overview of Topics Professional Learning Communities A Professional Learning Community (PLC) is a group of educational professionals who come together to work collaboratively with the ultimate goal of improving student achievement. According to DuFour (2004), in a PLC, educators engage in on-going dialogue and questioning about teaching and learning. Engaging in meaningful collaborative conversations encourages deep professional learning, and this teacher learning may result in higher levels of student achievement (Dufour, 2004). The research conducted by Ferguson (2013) explored the struggles faced by a school administration in implementing a PLC. The study found that in spite of all of the frustrations associated with implementation, creating a professional learning communities created a more collaborative culture in which teachers worked together to benefit all...
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...There is no universal definition for professional learning community. But we can see a wide range of definitions are exits in the professional learning community framework. PLC may have nuances of explanations in different contexts. Mitchell and Sackney (2000, as cited in Wang, 2018) interpret that “PLC is a set of people sharing and critically interrogating their practice in an ongoing, reflective, collaborative, inclusive, learning oriented, growth-promoting way.” Bolam et al (2005) describes “an effective PLC has the capacity to promote and susutain the learning of all professionals in the school community with the collective purpose of enhancing pupil learning”. According to Hipp and Huffman (2010, as sited in Wang, 2018) they see PLC as “professional educators working collectively and purposefully to create and sustain a culture of learning for all students and adults”. Another definition by Liberman and Miller (1999) describes PLC as “places in which teachers pursue clear shared purposes for student learning, engage in collaborative...
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...Odyssey. As a good friend, Mentor was asked by Odysseus to watch over his palace and his son when he left to fight in the Trojan War. In this position of responsibility, Mentor coached and counseled Telemachus, Odysseus' son, guiding him in his development from infancy to early-adulthood. A significant number of organizations, such as commercial ones, are adopting mentoring programs as a vital part of their professional development plans. Mentoring is an effective tool to foster professional development to both the mentor and mentee. The practice of mentoring beginning teachers emerged in the 1980s as a professional development strategy for achieving a variety of goals. Teacher mentoring programs are now perceived as an effective staff development approach for beginning teachers. Cooper and Miller (1998) state that the benefits of mentoring include :faster, more effective integration of new teachers, retention of quality professionals, increased transfer of skills from one generation to another; gains in productivity and performance; increased learning from professional development activities; enhanced communication, commitment, and motivation; and a stabilizing factor in times of change. Zimbabwe introduced the attachment model for the first time in 1995. Shumbayawonda (2001) says “In 1995 Zimbabwe introduced the attachment model where student teachers were placed under the charge of experienced qualified teachers”. Definition of terms Mentor Furlong and Maynard (1995)...
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...Implementing Change through Professional Development Implementing Change through Professional Development As the instructional leader of the organization, I believe that the implementation of professional learning communities (PLCs) will be the most promising path for sustained and substantive improvement of our school. According to DuFour, DuFour, and Eaker (2008), leaders can take comfort in knowing that there is abundant research to support PLCs. The function of the instructional leader is to teach the employees what the characteristics of a learning organization are and how to achieve these characteristics within the organization. A true leader uses their power for good and gets their faculty on their side not by manipulation, but by taking the personal power route to gain full support and trust from his or her employees. Culture for organizational culture is a set of values, norms, and practices that prevail in an organization transformation-based direction of turnaround. This means enhancing the coordination between the people and to match resources with environment and capabilities. Cultural values are often embedded in people through their direct experience with family, most important, and thereafter in social groups of which they often perceived to be associated with. DuFour et al. (2008) stated that a leader could present the following findings from researchers both inside and outside education to convince those who find research persuasive. Schools should...
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...Sickels Implementing Change through Professional Development July 11, 2012 As an assignment to reorganize this learning organization to be a more professional learning community there will be numerous suggestions submitted that will make this change happen. Even though these changes will cause a great deal of pain and discomfort in some, overall the goals of this plan are to move the organization to the next level and make us a more acceptable educational institution. Hopefully, this will strengthen our capacity and we will be able to grow substantially because of these changes. As you may or may not know, the basis of many of these changes will be taken from suggestions made from the work of DuFour, DuFour, and Eaker’s research which has taken many years of research and development. These suggestions will serve as the framework into our new future and will serve us for years to come. The Professional Learning Communities (PLC) concept As a development design the Professional Learning Communities (PLC) concept will be employed as the foundation to the schools reorganization. How does and what exactly is PLC as it relates to reorganization will be described as follows: In order to better understand PLC a clearer view of learning organizations will assist in this process. Learning organizations are united by a shared vision of student and staff learning together. They have common values of respect,...
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... GIFTED CHILD TODAY Features Avenues to Professional Learning Online Technology Tips and Tools for Professional Development in Gifted Education Catherine A. Little1 and Brian C. Housand2 Abstract: The use of online methods for professional development activities is on the rise, with more schools exploring creative ways of providing teacher learning opportunities. Online professional development offers a promising direction for providing increased learning opportunities, promoting professional collaboration, and supporting teacher facility with technology resources. In gifted education, online activities may present effective ways of connecting gifted education professionals across multiple schools and districts and providing professional learning experiences in gifted education for colleagues in general education. In this article, the authors discuss key features of professional development and considerations for applying them in an online learning context. The authors emphasize the importance of coherence with the curriculum, active engagement, sustained attention, and administrative support. They then discuss five avenues or approaches for implementing online professional development, representing a range of interactive elements and opportunities for blending live and online components. Within each avenue presented, the authors share specific resources that would support implementation in the professional learning context. “ Online activities may present effective...
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...change is either ignored or left to others, especially the client, to implement” (p. 165). Dufour and Eaker (1998), report that trying to change beliefs and habits will be complex and difficult to achieve. They state, “…if a change initiative is to be sustained, the elements of that change must be embedded with in the culture of the school” (p. 133). As stated by Fullan (2008), “Systems can learn on a continuous basis. The synergistic result of the previous five secrets in action is tantamount to a system that learns from itself” (p 14). Performance and outcomes will always change so the system will have to learn from itself in order to move forward with changes for continual success. In addition, Bandura (1997) supports the idea of a system learning from itself when he says that people can and do control their own...
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... 1. Describe key areas of the selected company’s code of conduct that are of significant importance to the business, and explain why. State all the areas covered by the code of ethics. Describe each element in detail and explain why they are important to business. Discuss each area/ element in a specific paragraph. 2. Explain the key steps that the company should take to ensure that employees follow the code of conduct. Clearly state the steps the company should take to ensure that the employees follow the code of conduct. Discuss each step in detail. 3. Suggest three (3) ways in which the restaurant can engage in socially responsive activities in the community within which it operates. Specify three ways in which the restaurant can engage in socially responsive activities in the community in which it operates. Discuss each way in a specific paragraph. Describe the strategy and the advantage to the business. References Be sure to cite all your sources. Each reference must have a correspondent in-text citation. Here are examples of references (please deleted and replace...
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...Principles That Promote Learning Natalie White ORG 525 Mr. Foster September 4, 2002 Principles That Promote Learning Many of today’s schools are not organized to effectively support and encourage learning. Our existing administrative structures—often organized in a bureaucratic and hierarchical configuration, our value systems, and our professional training programs are often in conflict with the kind of systemic change that the times demand. Teachers are isolated, without opportunities to collaboratively solve problems, share information, learn together, and plan for improving student achievement. Too often, students are not provided with work that is engaging, that meets high academic standards, and that is challenging and satisfying. Time is not always utilized effectively, and technologies that could enhance teaching and learning are either not available or not fully utilized. And our educational leadership preparation programs have not prepared their graduates to identify, address, and resolve these issues. My finding articles “Sculpting the learning community: New forms of working and organization” by Karen E. Watkins and Victoria J. Marsick, talk about how “school are communities in which learning is supposed to take place, but they do not always function well as learning communities. The important of this article is that it gives one version of targets, key aspect of learning organizations as the basis for self-examination. As the learner read...
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...Successful sports professionals can earn a great deal more than people in other important professionals. Some people think this is fully justified while others think it is unfair. Stakeholders People Sports professionals: those who been successful in sports games, champions, heroes, sports stars Other important professionals: hard working people, specialists, scientists, managers Keywords: Unfair: injustice, bias, sort of discrimination, inequality Fully justified: fair, Agree | Disagree | (KP) Many sports stars earn money than any other professionals | Professionals working harder and serve the humanity with many technological advances | (SS) They make them stars to left their country’s pride and repetition | Professional like doctors spend most their lives studying to succeed in a highly competitive career with many professional milestones. | (DD) Most the money they gain coming from abroad, so it helps their country economy | to Professional like doctors spend most their lives studying succeed in a highly competitive career with many professional milestones. | Moreover, large part of the money they earn goes toward their club | Similarly, scientists spend most their time in the research laboratory to develop new technology breakthrough or product | Many people think that sports stars have the right to earn a large amount of money since they use their talent and most valuable time to practice and exercise. Others think...
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...Being Professional in the Workplace Being professional is one of the main factors to focus on while in the workplace today. “However, there is considerable evidence to suggest that the civil work environment is the exception rather than the norm (Suzanne).” Being professional can show those around you, whether it is customers, friends, or managers, that you take your job seriously. Throughout this paper I will highlight the some of the main characteristics that it takes to be professional in the workplace. These characteristics include: having a nice appearance, having a good attitude, being punctual, and being honest and trustworthy. The first key factor that one should possess to be professional in the workplace is a good appearance. When I think about appearance I think of two sayings that I have heard throughout my life. The first is “dress to impress” and the second is “ everyone remembers the first impression.” In my opinion these two statements relate directly to the importance of appearance not only in the workplace but in life as well. Some of the key areas to a have a good appearance are having a clean body and clean non-wrinkled clothes, which is something that some people forget about for some reason. Being clean shaven is a must for men unless they cannot due to religious reasons. People take you more serious when your appearance is a top priority and it makes you look professional. Secondly, having a good attitude and remaining positive...
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...Week 2 Assignment Wednesday oct 8, 2014 1.What is professionalism? Professionalism describes the qualities, skills, competence and behaviors expected of individuals belonging to any given profession. Professionalism in the workplace is based on many factors, including how you dress; carry yourself, your attitude and how you interact with others. The definition of professionalism indicates that each person perform their tasks with genuine earnest and honesty. It refers to a person doing his / her job with sincerity, and maintaining professional etiquette and ethics in the workplace. 2.Why is goal setting important? Setting goals is a fundamental component to long-term success. The basic reason for this is that you can’t get where you are trying to go until you clearly define where that is. Goals help you focus and allocate your time and resources efficiently, and they can keep you motivated when you feel like giving up. Furthermore, setting and achieving goals translates to feelings of success for both individuals and companies, which in turn spurs greater productivity and confidence. 3.What are Ways of teamwork in the physician’s office? Developing an effective and highly functional staff that puts practice performance first, though, is easier said than done. To a large degree, that’s because medical practices are comprised of a small group of people who work together but perform very different roles. As practice administrator, you can encourage teamwork by modeling good...
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...Final Plan for Collaboration Cassie Corona Capella University Introduction All schools have a vision or mission statement and this is what they strive to follow as far as what their goal is. My school is no different. To have a vision and action plan of collaboration is important. Having strong community-parent ties can ensure that students are learning and are successful. “When a school begins to function as a professional learning community, teachers become aware of the incongruity between their commitment to ensure learning for all students and their lack of a coordinated strategy to respond when some students do not learn.” (DuFour, 2004) Identifying the Problem Desert View Elementary has a primarily white population of 67%. However, we also have one of the largest Hispanic populations in the district with 29%. Desert View is 56% male and 44% female. About half of the student population comes from low-income families. We serve 53% of the student’s free or reduced meals. There are 14% of students that attend Desert View that are on an IEP and 15% that are ELL. For years now Desert View has been a school within our district that is a choice school. There is a current achievement gap among Desert View and the rest of the school district. The decision of making this school a choice school was made because of the consistently low PAWS test scores. PAWS is our standardized test that students are required to take...
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