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Building a Professional Learning Community at Work: A Guide to the First Year

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Before I read this book, I have to admit I wasn't quite sure what a "professional learning community" was. I must confess that, even though I'm a fan of co-author Bill Ferriter's blog, I generally skipped over his posts about this topic.

Through his book, I've learned that it's basically about strategically and intentionally developing a "community of learners" among school staff. Bill and his co-author Parry Graham have put together a very accessible step-by-step guide on how to go about creating this kind of culture, including ways to trouble-shoot potential challenges. The questions that it encourages readers to ask themselves and their colleagues might be the most important parts of the book.

In many ways, the process is similar to doing good community organizing (I spent nineteen years as an organizer prior to becoming a teacher) -- identifying potential leaders, beginning with a vision and having others adapt it to make it their own, focusing on conversations and relationships. This book makes it all applicable and usable in a school situation. In fact, I think it would be a useful book for anyone who is trying to create a collegial learning culture in any type of organization or business.

I have taught in two schools. The school where I've been for the past six years has been lucky enough to have a principal who has worked with teachers to use these methods -- almost to a "tee" -- and develop a culture of collegiality and professionalism that has truly transformed our school.

The one where I taught for my first year had none of these elements, and I believe that it contributed to its being permanently closed-down.

As its epilogue says:

While the challenges of reculturing schools into professional learning communities are great, the rewards -- successful, empowered practitioners and students who are learning regardless of circumstance -- are worth the effort!

This is the best resource for school teams and principals who are getting started on the PLC journey. There are surveys and templates that can give you a starting point for the journey. A must read for all who are beginning the process.

Education and learning is a job all of its own. "Building a Professional Learning Community at Work: A Guide to the First Year" discusses how to form a professional learning community and keep it afloat through the times. Professional learning communities success depends on implementation, and Perry Graham & William M. Ferriter explain the concept well and give great advice in understanding it and taking it to the next level. "Building a Professional Learning Community" is a must for any PLC trying to become an early success.

This book is a great resource in guiding a school community to becoming a professional learning community. The book leads the reader through approximately ten months from the principal's initial concept to the results seen within the school near the end of the academic year.

There are several features that make this book stand out. First, each chapter begins with a scenario of the circumstances in an imagined school. The stories provide a look at the challenges that occur in various stages of making a major organizational shift. Backed with research, the chapter examines the challenges and provides insight into why these may arise and methods to assist in the shift. Finally, the chapter ends with reproducible worksheets, charts, and surveys to assist groups in their work.

I did not appreciate all the aspects that go into building a professional learning community at work. Reading the book provided me with insights for the future. It is a book that I will come back to over and over again. I read it cover to cover to get a broad overview. Now, as different situations arise, I can go back to particular chapters and utilize the worksheets or select recommended books to further my knowledge. The book helped me prepare for a recent workshop. The outcome of the workshop was a more dynamic and focused experience for all the teachers.

Mr. Graham and Mr. Ferriter have a wealth of information for people who are charged with creating a school dynamic of shared learning and growth for the benefit of students.

Parry Graham and Bill Ferriter said,

"Lacking any kind of organizational decision-making power, teacher leaders can only change the behavior and commitments of colleagues when they are committed to actively building positive relationships with peers" (39).

Over spring break I anxiously started and finished Building a Professional Learning Community at Work: A Guide to the First Year by Graham and Ferriter. I was really excited to read this book, not because I am a self-proclaimed expert in PLCs or even have any experience at all with teacher collaboration, but the idea of creating common assessments, building consensus about what it is all students should learn and be transparent with colleagues about successes and failures in the classroom has intrigued me ever since reading a few of the (in my opinion) more theoretical PLC books written by DuFour, DuFour and Eaker. This book claimed to be written BY practitioners (Ferriter is a teacher and Graham is a principal) FOR practitioners and it lived up to the claim.

In my nearly six years teaching, I have slowly realized as Ferriter and Graham suggest,

"The truth is, most teacher just don't talk about practice with one another" (50).

In my admittedly rare visits to the staff lounge, the talk is typically centered on weekend plans or recent sporting event successes and failures - adults being social and there's nothing wrong with that, I guess. When the phrase "teacher collaboration" comes to mind, I think of informal hallway conversations about weather-related dismissals or the timing of the upcoming pep rally. Other times, I think about all staff in-services or departmental meetings. Teachers "collaborate" from time to time, right?

"It's not whether teachers are collaborating - it's what they're collaborating about" (51, emphasis mine)

This book proposes specific tasks for teams to complete, "such as identifying essential curriculum objectives for the next quarter or creating common assessments..." (73) - just the kind of practical suggestions I'm imagining a true professional learning community needs as it begins the journey of trust, collaboration and transparency.

Yet another part of the book that stood out to me was describing collaboration as seen in many schools today and how it differs from that of a professional learning community.

"Unfortunately, many teams get complacent and fail to move beyond the simple sharing of instructional practices, while such conversations are a good beginning, the real work of PLCs is reflective and inquiry oriented, resulting in teacher learning and improved instruction" (73).

Ferriter and Graham describe the journey of a fictitious school, both the ups and the downs, as they begin to form grade-level, discipline-friendly professional learning communities. Coupling realistic scenarios with the theories such as proximal development and positive deviants make for a fresh mix of academic, yet practitioner-friendly commentary.

Most of all, I appreciated the pragmatic outlook expressed by the authors. Bill and Parry clearly articulate the work of a PLC functioning at a high level, scaffold the necessary steps to overcome the
inevitable obstacles, leaving the reader hungry to jump in and start the journey for him/herself.

Ready-made surveys, templates and PLC handouts are provided at the end of each chapter with digital copies are also available online. If you've read any of the DuFour, et. al books and are ready to put theory into practice and begin collaborating with your colleagues in a meaningful way, this book is for you.

This book came at just the right time! I'm working with a committee to create a PLC manual/website to support my school district's transition to Professional Learning Communities. This guide has informed our work tremendously. Thank you for writing such a user-friendly, beautifully laid out book.

This book is an easy read with practical and useful stories, tips, and reproducible materials from those that are in the front lines.

Solution Tree lists no fewer than 16 books on transforming schools into collaborative communities. Building a Professional Learning Community at Work stands out as the most teacher-friendly explanation of PLCs that I've read.

It's written by teachers with teachers in mind. This is not a standard PLC theory and research dump. Parry Graham and William Ferriter follow a fictional principal and his core team of teacher-leaders as they work to reform their building as a professional learning community. The scenes in their PLC story serve as the launch point for each chapter. Each scene is followed by clear, concise analysis, an explanation of the underlying research, and practical recommendations for school leaders moving forward.

If the scenes feel staged at times, it's an easy flaw to forgive. Each line of dialog serves to illustrate a critical element of working in collaboration with others. While the story is fictional, it's clear that the authors have lived through many of the meetings and conversations portrayed in the book.

Graham and Ferriter don't shy away from the messy parts of teamwork, collaboration, and leadership. Sometimes teachers disagree. Sometimes they let each other down. Sometimes teachers hurt each other. More than once, I found myself cringing at the too-honest comments of teachers trying to figure out how to make collaboration work. If you've ever worked collaboratively with other teachers, you know that the results can be tremendous, but the process can get barbed and personal at times. In Building a PLC at Work, Graham and Ferriter point out common trouble spots in collaboration and share insights for overcoming the instances of friction in a collaborative team.

This book includes no shortage of research. These guys read a lot of really good books, and they apply fundamental principles from these books to education. If you've read and enjoyed books like Good to Great, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Here Comes Everybody, and Professional Learning Communities at Work, then Graham's and Ferriter's ideas will really resonate with you.

Reproducibles in every chapter help you to get started now. No need to wait for committees to form and surveys to be turned in. Building a PLC at Work includes sample meeting agendas and worksheets for every step of the process, from initiating informal conversations to reflecting on data conversations.

If you've been put off by the one-dimensional idealism of many PLC seminars or district workshops, Building a Professional Learning Community at Work will be a breath of fresh air. Graham and Ferriter unpack the good, the bad, and the ugly aspects of reshaping a school as a professional learning community, and they cast a real-world vision for how schools can leverage collaboration to realize high achievement for every student.

Teachers want books that have the ring of authenticity. These are pretty hard to find in the field of "professional learning communities," where much of the shared expertise comes from on high. Teacher Bill Ferriter and Principal Parry Graham lived -- and are still living today -- the experience of creating and sustaining a successful collaboration among teachers in a school. Take a look at the contents pages...this is the real stuff. I liked it so much, I interviewed Ferriter here: [...]

If your school is just starting out implementing PLCs, this is the perfect book for you. I've already recommended this wonderfully written book to both my principal and assistant principal. It gives the reader an easy to follow and implement guide to what exactly a PLC is through interesting stories from the perspective of a fictional teacher and her principal. In additon to be an easy to read and follow guide, there are teriffic reproducible resources at the end. Congratulations to to Mr. Ferriter and Mr. Graham for a book that will be an invaluable resource for any school or district needing guidance their first year of building professional learning communities.