Chapter 2: Effective Learning Communities

Learning does not necessarily come from a formal setup. We can recall a time when we casually sat with
our friends and discussed different aspects and issues of life, professional difficulties, and so on. These
informal discussions can be done over a cup of tea and even via an online medium which means physical
presence is not mandatory. However, it is important to realize that all these discussions do not
necessarily lead to us learning something.

In this chapter the writer refers to “learning” as a “social process” where he mentions that kids learn
while playing and adults while working. Almost all professionals whether working for banks, doctors,
coaching, journalists, or educators learn from each other. Another interesting term that is used here for
learning as a social process is “situated cognition”. The term has various meanings but the one that
stood out the most for me is “street smart”. A street-smart person essentially means someone who can
handle different kinds of situations effectively. This person may have learned the most useful way of
getting out of a bad situation by discussing the thing, interacting with people, or simply reading the said
situation when someone else was in it.

Learning is not just for human development, but also for organizations. These learnings can be looking
into the best practices and adopting the market’s best practices for improvement. Giacomo Rizzolatti, a
Neuroscientist, shared the concept of “mirror neurons” in the 1980s and 1990s. The initial idea was for
animal behavior, however, if we look at human behavior, we observe the same. For instance, if
somebody gives a smile while you are walking, you smile back. The same is the case when someone
yawns. We can call it a simulation, imitation, or even something else, but it is a function of the brain's
social processing.

There are different types of learning communities that we will go through in the coming part of the
chapter. Learning communities may have different types and they also have their strengths and
weaknesses.

Study Groups
Students usually use study groups as an option to learn together. When people have the same materials
to study, they go through the material before the meetup and discuss when they meet. We can call it a
self-determined learning group. This methodology can be very useful in schools as well where teachers
have some common subjects to teach, and a larger study group can be prepared with those teachers.
The challenge which can be faced in these study groups is that material can be unrelated or theoretical,
and members can be either very knowledgeable or have little knowledge of collective learning.

Action Research Teams

This refers to real-world problems which involve identifying problems, and weaknesses, and finding
solutions for them to improve professional practices. It also involves discussing issues with your peers
and reflecting on the solutions whether they worked or not. It is a cyclic process that keeps going and
you learn and improve things while working on them at the same time.

It is an important part of PLC practices and encourages people to learn from each other systematically
and reflect on their experiences. All participants discuss the insinuations for professional practice and
decide a way forward on actions and decisions already made. Action research can be implemented in
various ways. For instance, a group of educators work together on an issue they identified, suggest a
common solution, and do research on their results. The writer gives an example of less parental
involvement in student education and learning; he shares an incident of a teacher where her son led a
parent-teacher conference, and it made her realize that this should happen frequently for parent’s
awareness of how their children are learning and what they are doing.

He writes one more type of action research based on data. We all know that data is important while
making a decision, and it can show what is going on in a school. The writer suggests that educators
should make decisions based on the data not on assumptions which is quite right as a decision based on
some data lasts longer than the assumptions. Assumptions can be wrong, but data is based on facts.

Another example is an experiment on new strategies which educators can do in his/her classroom. He
shares an example of a Dry Creek school teacher who tried a new strategy of telling stories to students
for learning purposes. She noticed that her students showed marvelous improvement and her teaching
improved as well. This shows that a less rigorous strategy can work as well.

Communities of Practice
We see, observe, and learn from our colleagues. This kind of learning is done through professional or
informal conversations with our co-workers, this type of learning is called “communities of practice”.
The writer shares an example of an insurance worker who works in a claims department and happens to
receive a lot of different kinds of claims for processing. He looks at his colleagues to see how things
work, claims are processed, and learns different things from them. He has developed his kind of learning
community which has no formal setting. Educators also work with each other in an informal setup when
they talk about student issues, their results, and how improvement can be made in the behaviors or
results of students. Informal learning setups also have strengths and weaknesses of their own, as we
discussed for study groups, people have their knowledge and belief system which they come up with
and their practices can be good or bad.

Conversation Circles
This kind of learning is more like a deep discussion. We usually see these in movies where people gather
in church and sit in circles. People discuss their issues, and people around them listen to their issues and
suggest solutions, every person has an equal opportunity to speak their truth. Like other learning
communities, communication circles also have some challenges. During conversations, while speaking
their truths or inner voice, conversations can sometimes lead to a trivial side.

Communication Online
With the advancement in technology, online communication has become an important medium for
learning and different kinds of communities. People have started using online communication for
several different kinds of learning platforms, online training sessions, meetings, and discussions all can
take place where you can save your commute time and attend at your convenience. Online
communication can be done in closed groups as well as in a social network setting, like Instagram,
Facebook, etc. Organizations are moving towards online mediums due to convenience, time
management, and global interactions. They are very useful for the corporate sector that has offices
abroad. Technology is good for mankind and bad at the same time, people consider this as a
replacement for man-to-man interaction which is not healthy as human interaction is equally important
for sharing feelings and observing behaviors.

A Field of Listening
Who does not want to be heard? When we listen to an old person for some time, they become very
happy, and same is the case with kids. Listening is very important while developing professional
relations. The field of listening is a shared space where people prefer to listen to others for developing
better relationships and understanding one another. People share different stories from success to
failure, from classroom to admin offices, and share their experiences. The point we are discussing here is
about learning, whether it is through listening or participating, these are all different kinds of mediums
that can be used. Teachers who complain that they are never being heard feel isolated, develop stress,
and face troubles resulting in resentment. Listening develops a sense of security and a pledge to a
person that someone is there to listen.

Process Learning Circle

All the learning community types which we have discussed so far, have two main purposes.

The first and foremost is to develop a field of listening to build and develop trust as a foundation for
learning together. As we said, it is an excellent source to develop relationships with a peer, and we
agree that the better the environment is, the better the working culture would be. A good relationship is
a success for any organization.

The second purpose is to enable educators to become more adept in their profession. We need this to
have high levels of student learning, the more knowledgeable the educator would be, the more student
learning will be developed.

The Larger Picture

At the end of the chapter, the writer suggests that PLC can be individual as well as at the school level
too. Organizations can also have larger communities of learning where they can provide a chance to
learn and grow to all educators.
Chapter 4: Logistics
As discussed in the last chapter, while dealing with an issue through the process-learning cycle,
everyone irrespective of their role should be participating in it. It will help improve the learning process
to be more relevant, and valuable. Learning groups should be process-focused rather than grouping and
need to think out their group. When the focus will be on the process, interest will be in the area.

Administrative Details
While arranging some events, there are always a few things that need to be taken care of before
exercising the event. However, there will still be a few things that you cannot ensure till the last minute,
for example, people who committed to join got some emergency at the eleventh hour or the location of
the event had to be changed. But the key point to focus on is one needs to be vigilant and try to take it
ahead of time to avoid any issues.

Volunteers
We often see that people are given responsibilities just for filling out the slots, while most of them are
not comfortable with the assigned duties and hence fail to do so or do it with a very heavy heart. Write
shares the same example here that people should be given the responsibility voluntarily and it should
not be out of pressure. If somebody is willing to do something that means he or she will be good in that
area as well. While assigning it yourself or forcefully may result in a total disaster, where a person is not
comfortable and has been assigned to lead the event like public speaking. There is a possibility that the
person might be shy from the audience, not have enough confidence to speak in front of a large
audience or have communication issues.

It is always better to assign the roles as per the interest and the best way to do it is to ask people to
volunteer for it. At the same time, it does not mean that we ignore people or let people get away with
the fact that it’s in their hands to take part in learning or not, rather leaders should carefully check who
can do what and discuss with them accordingly.

Group Size
We are being advised to have a group size of 6-10 persons for PLC as it is very well managed. The larger
groups may have the drawback where people will not be able to speak adequately and convey their
thoughts. The same is the case with a smaller number of people and the effectiveness of the group will
not remain the same. For instance, if a few people out of 6 are not energetic, the whole group will be
facing the consequence of low energy and the expected outcome will not be achieved.

The writer also suggests that the group's size may vary depending upon the type of discussion and
interest of people in the issues being addressed. These group sizes can be larger than the suggested
where a time limit is allotted to everyone and can be smaller like pairs who can have a healthy
discussion with each other.
Location
The book suggests that people should often meet with each other outside their work premises, this
allows them to think out of the box and is a good idea for reflective thinking. People who meet with
each other at homes or private places, the writer suggests that one person should never be the host
always. The roles should be exchanged with each other, or you can have it turn-wise. If someone is
being a host then he/she should not indulge them with some heavy arrangements of food or tea which
take their focus away from the actual issue, which is learning. Always remember you are meeting up for
a purpose not just for leisure (if that’s a PLC meeting). At the end of the meetup, everyone should help
the host to clean the house, do the dishes and then leave the venue.

An example is given in the book about a principal who changed the school venue in a way that people
might not feel they are in the school. For example, he brought some paintings, decorated the area with
plants, and made the environment lively. I liked this idea very much as this gives a fresh start to the
meeting and doesn’t burden anyone at all.

Time and Duration

I would like to call it the frequency of the sessions, the book suggests that it has to be twice a month for
two hours, however, this may vary from institute to institute, how they want to go about it.

Not every strategy works at some other place. People should be given a buffer time to get themselves
relaxed and then start fresh in the session.

Process Leaders
While starting the process, the writer suggests that people with an innate ability to lead the processes or
general acceptability by all should be given a chance. However, this should not continue for a long time
as PLC says that everyone should get an equal opportunity to become the leader and the follower both.
If a person has been assigned a role as a leader that should be rotated after a few weeks so that the next
person may get a chance, and this should continue for the next person and so on. This leads to better
communication and equal opportunity for all.

Getting Started
The writer does not suggest any right or wrong way we may take. As we mentioned earlier, in the group
size it can be a pair of people who can have a healthy discussion over an issue. Similarly, a director of the
educational institution may form a guiding coalition or the school may have developed a large-scale
team to drive the purpose.

There is an example given in the book about the K-2 teachers in California, who studied DuFour’s books
and started implementing them with each other. Both of them had arts backgrounds and when they
applied the PLC strategies in their classes their students started showing improvement. After seeing this
the principal asked them to present it to the whole faculty so the rest of the educators can also learn the
best practices from them.

A Structured Beginning
When PLC is started in any institute it is often the process leaders or some of the staff members who
participate in it for a day or two, and sometimes the whole staff. The book suggests that everyone
should have experience being at the process leader's side and the participant’s side to build a strong
future and a strong PLC team.

The First Meeting

As they say, there is always a first time for everything, same is the case here. When you start the PLC
sessions initially there are chances that people might not understand, do not accept, or maybe have a
little understanding and reservation about acceptance. You need to give it some time so that people
may get used to what PLC can and cannot do.

Once you kick off the sessions you can have multiple things to discuss to roll it over, i.e., a roadmap of
the discussion, preparations, obstacles, or maybe a planner or calendar for the next few months or the
whole year. Everyone should have an equal opportunity to speak and to be heard. People tend to accept
the programs when they fully understand them, and it is ok if they take some time to read and go
through the materials they have been provided, indulge themselves in discussion with some colleague,
or observe the on-job things so they have a deeper understanding of the issues at hand.

Selecting Issues to Explore

This can be the most critical part of the PLC; leaders may face some challenges while selecting the
issues. Sometimes an issue is not a prerogative of the school, and sometimes it is not allowed to be
discussed at the private learning level. We talk about the shared commitment and hence the same
applies here as well. Instead of being indulged in a conflicting situation, the leader needs to select the
issue very carefully which is relevant, can amplify the learning, and needs to be addressed.