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=Collegial Learning Structures for Educators=

Collegial learning opportunities empower educators to define, share, and grow their expertise as they collaborate over time. When the structures below are anchored in a clear and powerful vision and framed by measurable goals and outcomes, their potential to improve student and teacher performance is tremendous. Assessing the needs of all stakeholders in addition to levels of readiness is critical to the success of collegial learning groups, regardless of which form they take. Many educators find that engaging with their colleagues in small ways (through book study groups or learning clubs) provides points of entry into other kinds of collegial learning. Opportunities grow and evolve over time, and often, participation in one form of collegial learning will illuminate a need or desire for other structures that might reside within, beside, or beyond the initial group.

A Few Different Types of Collegial Learning Structures:
The links below provide greater clarity around popular collegial learning structures and in some cases, resources that can support your planning.
 * [|Communities for Learning] and a [|Framework that Supports Them]
 * [|Other Professional Learning Community Structures]
 * [|Etienne Wenger on Communities of Practice]
 * [|Learning Clubs], conceptualized by Harvey Silver and Richard Strong. [|Criteria for Successful Learning Clubs.]
 * [|Book Studies]
 * [|Resources that Support Lesson Study], provided by Columbia University
 * Sue Waters on Establishing a Professional Learning Network
 * [|Stephen Downes on Professional Learning Environments]

Protocols that Enable Meaningful Work

 * Provided by the National School Reform Faculty, [|these protocols can guide how groups learn from work, dilemmas, texts, and visitations.]
 * Protocols for inquiry work are provided [|here.]
 * Protocols for reflective dialogue are provided[| here.]
 * Lois Easton Brown's protocols are helpful as well. [|Find samples here]. I'm also happy to lend my copy of her book.


 * Understanding Stages of Group Development**
 * [|Bruce Tuckman is respected for his expertise on group development], and [|I often begin collegial learning with an exploration of his work and this recent piece by Greg Giesen and Lauri Osborne.]


 * Descriptions of Local Projects**
 * [|Collegial Learning Circles at Wellsville High School 2011]