Professional Learning Communities at Kilbreda College

‘Applying professional learning and evaluating and reflecting on the impact of a new approach on students, is key to achieving a change in teaching practice and learner outcomes.’

‘The benefits of high-quality professional learning are vast. When teachers engage in continuous professional growth, teacher quality improves, which in turn maximises the impact on learner outcomes.’ (Naylor & Sayed 2014).

Staff have been working in their Professional Learning Communities exploring both Differentiated Teaching Practice and the 3L – Literacy and Language for Learning program.

Here are some of the reflections from staff:

Throughout the 3L professional development, I have been challenged to consider the language and the structure of the sentences I use in the questions I am writing for my students. This is a simple review of the professional development. The truth is, the professional development has influenced me to review the purpose of the questions I am writing. Have the students identified the key words? Have I taught the students the skills to break down the questions into its parts? Have I taught the students the mathematical meaning behind the English words? The richness in this professional development is not only in the two hours I share with colleagues across faculties, but for me, it is the inspiration it gives me each fortnight from session to session.

Our Professional Learning involved the exploration of differentiation and strategies to implement in the classroom. Differentiation is a teacher’s proactive response to learner needs.

Each session provides information related to differentiation with evidenced based practices and an opportunity to collaborate and practise some of the strategies.

Some of the practices I have used in my classes include:

Think, Pair, Share – a useful strategy for introducing a new topic or concept. The teacher introduces the concept or topic and allows student some time for individual ideas.  These ideas are then communicated with another student (pair). When ‘sharing’ with the rest of the class, a student from each pair can share their idea or one from their pair.  This approach allows students who were unable to think of any ideas to participate in the sharing of ideas.

Because, but, so – is a useful scaffolding technique for a writing task. Addressing ‘because’ allows students to explain a concept. Using ‘but’ prompts students to discuss the issue by providing a different viewpoint or counter argument and ‘so’ enables students to analyse by acknowledging the impact/effect of the concept in a broader context.

Clare Kelly
Assistant Principal: Performance and Development