A Case Study on Teachers’Professional Learning Community of Elementary School: The Example of Rainbow Elementary School

• Main Authors: Ni, Hui-Hsuan, 倪惠軒
• Other Authors: Yen, Kuo-Liang
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2011
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/85090924614378400383

碩士 === 國立新竹教育大學 === 教育學系碩士班 === 99 === The purpose of this study is to realize how teachers’ professional learning communities work and their affect on teachers’ professional growth and student achievements in Rainbow elementary school. The research is a case study, and data is collected by interviewing eight educational staffs, observing language community and math community in Rainbow elementary school, and analyzing documents and adding researcher’s reflection notes. The findings of the study are as following： 1. The working type of teachers’ professional learning community in Rainbow elementary school is cooperation, shared practice, and shared leadership. 2. The key of how teachers’ professional learning community works in Rainbow elementary school is support from the administrative team, the teachers’ will, and the support within the community. 3. The characteristic of teachers’ professional learning community in Rainbow elementary school is shared vision, cooperation, shared practice, supportive conditions, shared leadership, professional growth, and continuous improvement. 4. The administrative team of Rainbow elementary school gives supportive conditions for teachers’ professional learning communities, including structural factors like time and resources and relational factors like keeping teachers company. 5. The difficulties of teachers’ professional learning communities come from inner structure conditions of the communities, comments of students’ parents, and personal factors. 6. Teachers’ professional learning communities bring out the culture of teachers’ professional dialogues and paying more attention to students’ learning outcomes. These obtain the public compliments on teachers’ profession and student learning. 7. Teachers’ participation in the communities is the approach to promoting the development of the curriculum and instruction, which can be more focused on student learning. Moreover, teachers’ professional learning communities give novice teachers a supportive environment. 8. The reflection of teachers in the teachers’ professional learning community comes from professional dialogues after classroom observations, writing reflection notes and shared practice. 9. Student achievements and evaluation from the public compliments is the connection to examine teachers’ professional growth and student learning. 10.Students participate in discussion and express the enthusiasm of the subjects and activities in class. 11.Promoting students’ sensitivity to the Chinese literacy and math achievements. According to the findings of the study, there are some suggestions for Rainbow elementary school, intended schools or teachers and future studies.