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Learning by Doing: A Handbook for Professional Learning Communities at Work, Chapter 2 (pp. 13-42)
Richar DuFour, Rebecca DuFour, Robert Eaker, and Thomas Many provide useful tools for developing your school’s mission, vision, and values so that your school can be designed around a shared purpose.
The Amazon.com summary for Learning by Doing: A Handbook for Professional Learning Communities at Work says:
This handbook is a guide for action that will:
Help educators develop a common vocabulary and consistent understanding of key PLC concepts.
Present a compelling argument that the implementation of PLC concepts will benefit students and educators alike.
Help educators assess the current reality in their own schools and districts.
Convince educators to take purposeful steps to develop their capacity to function as PLCs.
It also addresses seven critical questions encountered when shifting from a traditional school to a PLC:
Why questions. Why should we do this? Can you present a rationale as to why we should engage in this work? Is there evidence that suggests the outcome of this work is desirable, feasible, and more effective than what we have traditionally done?
What questions. What are the exact meanings of key terms? What resources, tools, templates, materials, and examples can you provide to assist in our work?
How questions. How do we proceed? How do you propose we do this? Is there a preferred process?
When questions. When will we find time to do this? When do you expect us to complete the task? What is the timeline?
Guiding questions. Which questions are we attempting to answer? Which questions will help us stay focused on the right work?
Quality questions. What criteria will be used to judge the quality of our work? What criteria can we use to assess our own work?
Assurance questions. What suggestions can you offer to increase the likelihood of our success? What cautions can you alert us to? Where do we turn when we struggle?