Characteristics of Effective Learning

Communities

PowerUp Orientation

Four Major Areas

Common Purpose

Collective Inquiry

Collaborative Teams

Continuous Improvement

Common Purpose

• Shared mission, vision, and values• Collective commitment to guiding

principles• Healthy learning communities

• determine collective expectations• agree on a process for assessing group

and individual progress toward accomplishing the expectation.

Collective Inquiry• Provides for improvement, growth, and

renewal by questioning the status quo. • Individuals work together to seek new

methods, test those methods, and then reflect on the results.

• Show an acute sense of curiosity and openness to new possibilities,

• Process of searching for answers is more important than having an answer

• Enables team members to develop new skills and capabilities, which in turn lead to new experiences and awareness

• Individuals construct knowledge by making their own meaning and sharing their understanding with others.

Collective Inquiry Process

• Public Reflection—members of the team talk about their assumptions and beliefs, and challenge each other gently but relentlessly.

• Shared Meaning—the team arrives at common ground, shared insights.

• Joint Planning—the team designs action steps, an initiative to test their shared insights.

• Coordinated Action—the team carries out the action plan. This action need not be joint action but can be carried out independently by the members of the team.

Collaborative Teams• Learn from one another, creating

momentum to fuel continued improvement. • Team building creates courteous protocols,

improving communication, building stronger relationships, or enhancing the group’s ability to perform routine tasks together.

• Building the community is essential for a healthy learning community.

• Community rituals are developed that promote a sense of belonging and of being responsible to the group.

• Supporting learners helps community maintain their passion over the long term.

Collaborative Learning Stages

1. Define

2. Explore

3. Experiment

4. Reflect

5. Share

Continuous Improvement• Innovation and experimentation are not

tasks to accomplish or projects to complete, but a process

• Aspirations into action and vision into reality• Recognize that learning occurs in a context

of engagement and experience• Includes the development, testing, and

evaluation of new theories. • Think about how the culture of their

classrooms and students could be changed by their individual or collective efforts.

• Assesses progress on the basis of results rather than intentions.

• Document reflection in the form of journals, reflection papers, and dialogues to provide evidence

Continuous improvement asks:

• What is our fundamental purpose?

• What do we hope to achieve?

• What are our strategies for becoming better?

• What criteria will we use to assess our improvement efforts?

This announcement brought to you by

Standards for Teaching INTASC—Interstate New Teacher

and NBPTS—National Board for

Professional Teaching Standards Charlotte Danielson—

Enhancing Professional Practice ISTE/NETS