Powerful Conversations About Staff Development Quarterly Meeting
April 28, 2005, Shelby County Instructional Services Center, Alabaster, Alabama

Meeting Summary

“Working in the largest school system in Alabama, it is important that we stay ahead of the game in educational best practices. Anne did a great job explaining how to use the SERVE tool kit. I look forward to future Powerful Conversations meetings.”- Participant from the April 28th meeting

“These keep getting better- if that’s possible. We are working toward learning teams, have begun the process but needed help with organization and implementation and will definitely use this resource next year. Thank you.” - Participant from the April 28th meeting

More than 72 participants from 27 schools from around Alabama assembled around tables to focus on the topic for the day: Building Professional Learning Communities. Participants included teachers, principals, facilitators, in-service center directors, central office staff and members from the State Department of Education.

Former State Teacher of the Year Anne Jolly, who now is a Professional Learning Teams Senior Specialist at SERVE, the U.S. Department of Education’s Regional Learning Laboratory for the Southeast, led participants through exercises and discussions about a new publication: The Facilitator’s Guide to Professional Learning Teams: Creating on-the-job Opportunities for Teachers to Continually Learn and Grow, which she wrote. As she introduced the publication, Anne told participants that it is a “how to” guide for engaging teachers in professional growth and remaining in that mode of continual learning. Each school team attending the meeting received a complimentary copy of the Guide.

During the day, the room was filled with animated discussion as participants learned more about how schools can develop and implement an action plan for their professional learning teams.

Anne structured the day around how to use the Facilitator’s Guide as a workbook for:

• Organizing professional learning teams
• Analyzing data
• Setting goals
• Guiding teams through successful meetings
• Sustaining team momentum
• Monitoring team progress and effectiveness

Anne reminded participants that the book was not written to be initially read cover-to-cover, but rather to be used as a guide to prompt or expand the use of small learning teams in a school. During the day, Anne used several interactive exercises to engage the participants in the discussion. Several volunteers reenacted a well-prepared small team meeting by using a script contained in the Manual. The volunteers or “actors” were even given faux cups of coffee to add humor and a bit of realism to the skit.

Tabletop conversations followed with participants identifying and discussing the characteristics of this professional learning team. After the discussions, Anne provided a handout that listed the common characteristics of successful collaborative teams to help the groups identify what their teams at home might be missing.

Highlights from the presentation included:

• The desired impact of teacher professional development: “Higher achievement for all students follows higher achievement for all teachers.” Time spent engaged in collaboration and on the job learning with ongoing, goal-oriented teams can help build the momentum over time to positively change the culture of a school.
• “Never fool yourself that you are there (highest point of professional development). You will only stifle yourself and never grow again.”

Anne reviewed the Action-Inquiry Cycle that defines the plan for learning and action. The components are: define, explore, experiment, reflect, assess and share.

Before lunch, Anne asked schools to share strategies already in place:

• Cullman Middle School shared that they had established professional learning “pods.” The core pods are grade-level teams that meet everyday. Weekly, the grade-level pod meets with another pod to share their learning and discoveries. Time was created for these meetings by scheduling common planning periods for grade level teachers.
• E.D. Nixon Elementary implemented learning teams into their schedules by creating 40 minute planning periods for teachers to reach their goal of collective responsibility for all children. To ensure these meetings are meaningful and productive, minutes are kept and teams are encouraged to use data to determine both student and teacher learning needs.

During her presentation, Anne recommended the book, The Art of Focused Conversation edited by Brian Stanfield as a resource for leading a productive discussion in a learning team. In her conclusion, Anne reiterated the importance of establishing trust among the faculty so that a bond of commitment would be openly embraced. Anne added that because professional learning teams encourage reflection, they provide teachers with the opportunity to use their expertise to solve problems and “own” their learning. Anne Jolly, Professional Learning Teams Senior Specialist with SERVE, can be reached at ajolly@serve.org.

The next meeting for Powerful Conversations about Professional Development is scheduled for August 25th from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. More information about that meeting will be provided as the date draws near.