Connecting for Greater Purpose: An Examination of a District PLC

• Main Authors: Annie Gojmerac, Lorenzo Cherubini
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of Windsor 2012-01-01
• Series: Journal of Teaching and Learning
• Subjects: professional learning community; teacher practice; student learning
• Online Access: https://jtl.uwindsor.ca/index.php/jtl/article/view/2980

This paper discusses an innovative professional development model based on a personal service approach of teacher collaboration in lieu of the more traditional expert-driven in-service paradigm. It presents a research-based Professional Learning Community (PLC) model in a large urban Ontario (Canada) school board that focused on transformational teaching strategies as a means of professional development to enhance teacher practice and improve student learning. The two key themes of the grounded theory qualitative analysis are also discussed. They include: (1) contextually-relevant PLCs, and (2) teacher leadership embedded in relationships. Last, the paper provides a framework for provincial, district, and school-level administrators to support the underlying values of teachers’ professional capacities as collaborative lead learners.