School leaders and policymakers must look carefully at the roles available to teacher leaders, recognizing the value in leading on ideas that emerge from others or from groups with which those leaders are involved.
The nature of the role may change over time as ideas emerge from the group. Need to be flexible with this.
As schools nationwide respond to increasingly complex CCSS requirements, such as tailoring general reading comprehension strategies to better fit disciplinary-specific reading, writing, and communication standards, collaborative models for professional learning, and particularly models led by teacher leaders, may become increasingly necessary
Are these driven by new content? Or are they driven by internal initiatives meant to change instruction?
the roles played by teacher leaders are becoming more vital for supporting these types of models, ultimately facilitating systematic changes in school culture and teachers’ practice
Is there a difference between groups facilitated by teacher leaders and groups facilitated by administrators?
In fact, PLC structures, perhaps due to their recent hurried and often mandatory implementation in many districts across the country, often fail to live up to the ideals behind the model
Slapping a name on a program does not help teachers implement the ideas without strong leadership.
He went on to explain that this mix of participation and leadership meant that team members could literally “see” her involvement in the work, which bolstered their interest and commitment.
Seeing progress emerge rather than stuff turned in can help increase motivation and buy in to the project.
structures she provided, such as clear agendas, detailed follow-up notes, and what one teacher described as a running “to-do list” for the group, helped her team members to stay deeply and intently engaged on their chosen focus for inquiry, and the result was what she described as “massive momentum [for] our group
Removing barriers of organization and facilitation from teachers allows them to dive into the work headfirst. Play a supporting role.
mportant balance between structure and inquiry and the vital role that structure plays in allowing the inquiry at the heart of PLCs to play out
Goals are important, but inquiry requires that questions be followed for emergence. What skills are necessary to balance?
Ultimately, team leaders’ focus on and commitment to the structure of PLCs and the content of the inquiry cycles was crucial as they planned and led focused meetings.
Were these leaders "officially" PLC trained? Or were they experts in working with adults and supporting initiatives at the district level?
The structure of PLCs, alone, may not have produced the new learning and the ultimate benefits to teachers’ practice described above.
Structure is based on solid goals and strong leadership. Calling meetings "PLCs" will not change culture or practice.
Teachers require guidance as they learn to move from what Nelson, Deuel, Slavit, and Kennedy(2010) term “congenial conversations”—which focus on safety, privacy, and preserving the status quo, to “collegial conversations,” which focus on digging into practice, wrestling with disagreements, and building new knowledge and practice together (
They require coaching in order to have fruitful discussions with one another.
However, even with a leader present, teachers do not always know how to collaborate effectively, nor is it always clear what they might discuss (
Ill-defined structure, too open ended.
The structure provided by PLCs may allow teacher leaders to realize their full potential as they facilitate colleagues’ growth, without encountering some of the hindrances that can come with more informal leadership
Providing structure without becoming too formal.
The current study adds to this body of research by discussing specific ways teachers work with teacher leaders and how these teachers perceive the teacher leaders’ work as shaping their practice
How do teacher leaders grow with one another?