Professional Learning Communities need to demonstrate A.W.A.R.E.N.E.S.S, an acronym for focusing on A specific task/goal, Wisdom, Abilities, Response-ability, Education, Network, Experiences, Skills, and Scalable.
The “W” in AWARENESS is Wisdom. By Wisdom I am referring to Wisdom Stewardship. Wisdom Stewardship is the term I call for the surrounding, broadening, learning, capturing, and sharing of the best ideas and solutions within a Professional Learning Community.
Surrounding
Professional Learning Communities that practice the Wisdom Stewardship associated with AWARENESS surround themselves with the best knowledge and the best talent.
The “best knowledge” simply means that the Professional Learning Community seeks the best information, data, ideas, practices, methods, strategies, research, etc., from the best sources. PLC practicing Wisdom Stewardship have a drive for the “best knowledge” they can get their hands on, from the best sources, and use it to increase student achievement.
The “best talent” means that Professional Learning Communities are constantly using their individual and overlapping Personal Learning Networks to network and connect with the very best sources of “best knowledge.” It is important to note, that the “best talent” may be sitting at the table or maybe across the country depending on what is needed. Professional Learning Communities that practice Wisdom Stewardship must always view each other as starting point for “best knowledge” and “best talent”, but be humble enough to extend into their networks and scale up their membership as needed.
In other words, Professional Learning Communities that have AWARENESS combine the “best knowledge” and the “best talent” to create wisdom which they become stewards of.
Broadening:
While the primary starting point for pursuing “best knowledge” and “best talent” will always be the members of the Professional Learning Community sitting together, having AWARENESS requires the PLC to use their Personal Learning Networks to broaden their scope and their reach to obtain “best knowledge” and “best talent.”
Technology based collaborative networks (Twitter, Facebook, Ning, etc.) allows PLC to increase their “surface area” of reach and access to knowledge and talent. Using technology to increase “surface area”, PLCs are demonstrating good stewardship of wisdom, regardless of geographic location or formal connection to the school or district.
Broadening insists that teams use their technology based Personal Learning Networks to seek out diversity of perspective. Teams should have multi-disciplined networks filled with people from a many disciplines in, and I would suggest, even out of education. Teams should seek the greatest cognitive diversity (to a point) that is possible. Broadening from themselves to a diverse team of “useful outsiders” whose wisdom can be called upon and leveraged by the team.
Learning:
As Michael Fullan would say, “Learning is the work.” Professional Learning Communities demonstrate Wisdom Stewardship when they learn together, especially when they learn in context together. PLCs that practice AWARENESS should make every attempt to learn with each other and in context. PLCs that use Wisdom Stewardship develop capacity as individuals as well as a team. Growing in skills, in knowledge, in methodology, experience, and ability, together, is being a good steward of team wisdom.
Capturing:
Wisdom Stewardship also requires that wisdom, those best ideas, best practices, innovations, etc., be captured. There are numerous technology platforms that can be used to capture the wisdom of the team and teams can follow their own preferences, but whichever technologies teams choose to use to capture their wisdom, the best choices will be those that are easy to use, easy to access, and easy to share. Being a good steward of wisdom means that there must be a way to go back, to remember what has been learned or what has been done. Wisdom Stewardship asks the team to gather, collect, save, archive, and memorialize their wisdom for future use.
Sharing:
The final key to Wisdom Stewardship is sharing out the wisdom with others. Professional Learning Communities who practice Wisdom Stewardship are very concerned with K.W.O.K, or Knowing What Others Know. This is the Japanese concept of “Yokoten.” An idea, or wisdom, must be shared. PLC must overcome the hoarding culture and develop a culture of yokoten, which insists that for the good of the school, the students, the district, and education in general, great idea, solutions, and wisdom is shared with others. The technology choice in which the team captured their wisdom should make it easy to share with others.
Wisdom Stewardship surrounds, broadens, learns, captures, and shares the developed wisdom of the team to benefit students and their peers. It is a key part to having a Professional Learning Community that has AWARENESS.
Note: It is for all of the above that I believe the Professional Learning Community will need to evolve into the Professional Networked Learning Collaborative.
The “W” in AWARENESS is Wisdom. By Wisdom I am referring to Wisdom Stewardship. Wisdom Stewardship is the term I call for the surrounding, broadening, learning, capturing, and sharing of the best ideas and solutions within a Professional Learning Community.
Surrounding
Professional Learning Communities that practice the Wisdom Stewardship associated with AWARENESS surround themselves with the best knowledge and the best talent.
The “best knowledge” simply means that the Professional Learning Community seeks the best information, data, ideas, practices, methods, strategies, research, etc., from the best sources. PLC practicing Wisdom Stewardship have a drive for the “best knowledge” they can get their hands on, from the best sources, and use it to increase student achievement.
The “best talent” means that Professional Learning Communities are constantly using their individual and overlapping Personal Learning Networks to network and connect with the very best sources of “best knowledge.” It is important to note, that the “best talent” may be sitting at the table or maybe across the country depending on what is needed. Professional Learning Communities that practice Wisdom Stewardship must always view each other as starting point for “best knowledge” and “best talent”, but be humble enough to extend into their networks and scale up their membership as needed.
In other words, Professional Learning Communities that have AWARENESS combine the “best knowledge” and the “best talent” to create wisdom which they become stewards of.
Broadening:
While the primary starting point for pursuing “best knowledge” and “best talent” will always be the members of the Professional Learning Community sitting together, having AWARENESS requires the PLC to use their Personal Learning Networks to broaden their scope and their reach to obtain “best knowledge” and “best talent.”
Technology based collaborative networks (Twitter, Facebook, Ning, etc.) allows PLC to increase their “surface area” of reach and access to knowledge and talent. Using technology to increase “surface area”, PLCs are demonstrating good stewardship of wisdom, regardless of geographic location or formal connection to the school or district.
Broadening insists that teams use their technology based Personal Learning Networks to seek out diversity of perspective. Teams should have multi-disciplined networks filled with people from a many disciplines in, and I would suggest, even out of education. Teams should seek the greatest cognitive diversity (to a point) that is possible. Broadening from themselves to a diverse team of “useful outsiders” whose wisdom can be called upon and leveraged by the team.
Learning:
As Michael Fullan would say, “Learning is the work.” Professional Learning Communities demonstrate Wisdom Stewardship when they learn together, especially when they learn in context together. PLCs that practice AWARENESS should make every attempt to learn with each other and in context. PLCs that use Wisdom Stewardship develop capacity as individuals as well as a team. Growing in skills, in knowledge, in methodology, experience, and ability, together, is being a good steward of team wisdom.
Capturing:
Wisdom Stewardship also requires that wisdom, those best ideas, best practices, innovations, etc., be captured. There are numerous technology platforms that can be used to capture the wisdom of the team and teams can follow their own preferences, but whichever technologies teams choose to use to capture their wisdom, the best choices will be those that are easy to use, easy to access, and easy to share. Being a good steward of wisdom means that there must be a way to go back, to remember what has been learned or what has been done. Wisdom Stewardship asks the team to gather, collect, save, archive, and memorialize their wisdom for future use.
Sharing:
The final key to Wisdom Stewardship is sharing out the wisdom with others. Professional Learning Communities who practice Wisdom Stewardship are very concerned with K.W.O.K, or Knowing What Others Know. This is the Japanese concept of “Yokoten.” An idea, or wisdom, must be shared. PLC must overcome the hoarding culture and develop a culture of yokoten, which insists that for the good of the school, the students, the district, and education in general, great idea, solutions, and wisdom is shared with others. The technology choice in which the team captured their wisdom should make it easy to share with others.
Wisdom Stewardship surrounds, broadens, learns, captures, and shares the developed wisdom of the team to benefit students and their peers. It is a key part to having a Professional Learning Community that has AWARENESS.
Note: It is for all of the above that I believe the Professional Learning Community will need to evolve into the Professional Networked Learning Collaborative.
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