Facilitation Skills(2)

Tip:
How can effective facilitation strategies help to sustain a Professional Learning Community?

Facilitating a Professional Learning Community can be a very rewarding experience, but can also present many challenges, as you need to find ways to have your members buy into what you are doing and contribute to the success of the community. Here are some tips:

  • Create a rationale for your community — give your members a meaningful reason to become involved and active.
  • Give them an overview of the process — make sure that they understand how your community works, how it is organized and what kinds of activities will happen there.
  • Guide your team in establishing ground rules.
  • Give them suggestions for personal organization of their time and process. Help them to get to the resources they need and set up regular times to meet or interact online.
  • Give teachers concrete ideas of how to engage in the work of being part of a team.
  • Support your teams as they begin and continue to work together.
  • Provide a way for assessing the work of the community and for reflection on process and experience.

See "Why Facilitation Skills Are Valued in Today's World," from the website International Association of Facilitators:

Submitted by:
Trena Noval, eCoach
trena@my-ecoach.com
www.my-ecoach.com

Next Tip: Encouraging Participation