Friday Focus

I want to share a post from a colleague that I met on Twitter.

"If we have professional trust amongst us, then a 2nd grade teacher can trust that the student coming to her has been taught appropriately and can trust that when she moves that student on, that in the following grade levels, that student will be receiving the same great instruction and focus on learning as she had dedicated to that student.  As a teacher, you trust that the growth that you have seen in your students will continue year after year, no matter which teacher they are placed with.  Unfortunately, it only takes one teacher's practice to compromise the work of the entire school."

This quote had me pondering this morning. What 

have we done to encourage and support "professional trust?" We have a great culture and welcoming environment but what are we doing to enhance our educational collaboration? As we have grown as a staff I feel it is time to implement a PLC on our campus. Hord, (1997) defines a PLC as an ongoing process through which teachers and administrators work collaboratively to seek and share learning and to act on their learning, their goal being to enhance their effectiveness as professionals for students’ benefit. 

How can we empower and enhance our PLC? How can we build professional trust amongst each other so that we know when we send them on that they will get the same if not more rigorous instruction they received the previous year?