Strengthening and Enriching Your Professional Learning Community: The Art of Learning Together

Geoffrey Caine, Renate Nummela Caine

ASCD, 2010 - Education - 208 pages

How can educators create a collective method of professional development that results in the genuine, sustained teacher learning essential to improving student achievement? That question is at the heart of this comprehensive and practical guide to process learning circles, a unique and powerful way to develop, strengthen, and enrich professional learning communities.

Authors Geoffrey and Renate N. Caine have dedicated more than 20 years to researching how people learn naturally. From this foundation, they describe in detail how process learning circles work, and they provide readers with a clear understanding of how powerful and successful this approach to professional learning can be. Along the way, they explore

* The three critical elements of great professional development

* How to create a field of listening

* The logistics and phases of process learning circles

* Tips for success as a process leader

* The effects of individual differences and group dynamics

* Principles for developing a process that works

Examples from schools that have implemented process learning circles provide evidence of the method's success, and the authors also include an explanation of 12 underlying brain/mind learning principles, guidelines for using online tools, and broader suggestions for how to move from teaching for memorization to teaching for understanding. Written with both teachers and administrators in mind, Strengthening and Enriching Your Professional Learning Community: The Art of Learning Together is an essential guide to professional learning and development that works.

Contents

• Introduction: 1
• Part IFoundations in Research: 9
• 1Foundations of Professional Development: 11
• 2Effective Learning Communities: 21
• Part IIHow to Conduct Process Learning Circles: 33
• 3The Process Learning Circle Format: 35
• 4Logistics: 41
• 5Ordered Sharing: 49
• 6Reflective Study: 62
• 7Implications for Practice Commitment to Action and Action Research: 72
• 8Regrouping: 84
• 9The Process Leader: 94
• 10Asking the Right Question: 104
• 11Results: 116
• Part IIIAdvanced Keys to Success: 127
• 12Individual Differences: 129
• 13Group Dynamics: 139
• 14Process Principles: 151
• 15The Path Forward: 159
• Appendix AHow People Learn: 167
• Appendix BThe Field of Listening: 177
• Appendix C The Second Meeting of Spring Valleys PrLC: 184
• Appendix DExpanding Online: 190
• References: 195
• Index: 200
• About the Authors: 207

Bibliographic information

• Title: Strengthening and Enriching Your Professional Learning Community: The Art of Learning Together; Gale virtual reference library
• Authors: Geoffrey Caine, Renate Nummela Caine
• Publisher: ASCD, 2010
• ISBN: 1416610898, 9781416610892
• Length: 208 pages
• Subjects: Education / Adult & Continuing Education; Education / Classroom Management; Education / General; Education / Professional Development; Education / Research; Education / Teaching / General; Education / Vocational & Technical