They’re still NSDC to us (smile) but we’re beginning to adjust to the new name of the National Staff Development Council:Learning Forward. At their annual conference in Atlanta this week, the professional development association honored TLN charter member Bill Ferriter and co-author Parry Graham with their award for Staff Development Book of the Year.
Building a Professional Learning Community at Work: The First Year is — as Bill says in this blog post commenting on the award — “a practical book designed to support schools in their first year of PLC implementation by sharing stories, approachable research and a heaping cheeseload of handouts.” And that’s so true – the book is supported by 30 reproducibles that any teacher or principal can download free from the website. You don’t even have to buy the book.
Bill, by the way, is a middle grades teacher in the Wake County (NC) Public Schools, where he and his principal Parry Graham led the development of a high-functioning professional learning community at newly opened Salem Middle School. The resulting book from Solution Tree (publisher of the DuFour series on PLCs) grows out of that authentic experience. Or, as Bill might say, it has cred. The folks at Learning Forward obviously thought so.
