Learning Targets for Today Increased understanding of a Professional Learning Community (PLC)

1. “Until we are fully informed and professional, we will continue to use our new materials with our old mentality, to be victims of innovation without change.”Regie Routman (1999)

2. The Power of Professional Learning CommunitiesGeri L. ParscaleDirector of Professional Development and InstructionUSD 207, Fort Leavenworth Schoolsgparscale@ftlvn.com(913) 651-7373

6. “The most promising strategy for sustained, substantive school improvement is building the capacity of school personnel to function as a professional learning community.”Milbrae McLaughlin

7. Learning Targets for Today • Increased understanding of a Professional Learning Community (PLC) • Insights into the importance of the “Three Big Ideas”—What they are, How we use them • Increased understanding of the work and products created by PLCs “Whatever It Takes”

8. TriadsWhen we work today: Chocolate Caramel Nuts

9. One item you have on your mind right now that has NOTHING to do with professional learning Check In

10. ***NORMS***

12. ***NORMS*** “The standards of behaviors by which we agree to operate while we are in this group”

13. NORMS What do you need from others in the room to enhance your learning?

14. Norms for Our Learning:(based on what we know about adult learning) • Listen through the filter of a question • Speak openly and honestly • Pay attention to your “aha” moments • Postpone distractions

15. “The reason PLC’s increase student learning is that they produce more good teaching by more teachers more of the time. Put simply, PLC improves teaching, which improves student results.” Jonathan Saphier, 2005

16. What IS a Professional Learning Community??_________________________ Educators are committed to working collaboratively in ongoing processes of collective inquiry and action research in order to achieve better results for the students they serve.

17. “The very essence of a learning community is a focus on and a commitment to the learning of each student.”DuFour & Eaker, 2006

18. “The Way We Were” • Take a silent moment and think of an adjective that best describes you… Ten Years Ago • Share with your triad members • Think of one adjective describing HOW YOU WANT TO BE—5 years from now.

19. “The Way We Were”A Design of Public Schools • “Factory Model”, Time was the Constant, Quality was the Variable • Uniformity, Standardization, Bureaucracy • Identify the “one best way” of doing something and train others to do it that way • “Closed Door Mentality”—Leave me Alone and I will teach the way I always have

20. The “Way We Need to Be”A Design of Public Schools • Development of students as “Thinkers” • Create a culture that is collaborative, not closed • Focus on LEARNING rather than TEACHING

21. Which Question Do We Answer??? “What do we need to know in order to improve?” “Will we turn what we already know into action???”

22. What type of school are you building?

23. A. Learning is based on the student’s ability B. Learning takes place only if the student takes advantage of the opportunities to learn within the school C. All students can learn something, and we will create a warm, pleasant environment for them to learn D. All students can learn and we will do whatever it takes to help students learn and achieve the agreed upon curriculum/standards.

24. Questions to Consider: 1. What school did you attend? 2. In which school do you currently work? 3. In which school do you want to work? 4. Which school do you want your kids to attend?

25. What Is a PLC? A Professional Learning Community is an ethos that infuses every single aspect of a school’s operation. When a school becomes a professional learning community, everything in the school looks different than it did before. --Andy Hargreaves (2004)

26. Don’t tell me you believe “all kids can learn.” Tell me what you’re doing about the kids who aren’t learning. -- Rick DuFour

27. Our Message Must Be • Learning is required. You can and will be successful here. You may not choose to fail. • We want to connect with you through people who care about you. We want you to feel connected, get involved, and be successful.

28. Assumptions Driving the School Culture The fundamental purpose of the school is to ensure student learning. All of our practices, policies, and procedures must be assessed on the basis of their impact on learning. We can help students be successful. Our collaborative efforts do have an impact on student learning.

29. 3 “Big Ideas” of Being a PLC • Focus on Learning • Collaborative Culture • Governed by Results

30. 3 “Big Ideas” of a PLC • We accept learning as the fundamental purpose of our school and therefore are willing to examine all practices in light of their impact on learning. • We are committeed to working together to achieve our collective purpose. Culture of Collaboration • We assess our effectiveness on the basis of results rather than intentions.

31. To truly reform education, we must abandon the long-standing assumption that the central activity of education is teaching and reorient all policy making and activities around a new benchmark: student learning.--Edward Fiske (1992)

32. Teaching without learning isn’t teaching at all… It is simply presenting a lesson.

33. Triads • Chocolate • Caramel • Nuts • Focus on Learning • Collaborative Culture • Governed by Results

34. Turn to your partner (in triad)When you speak about your element, how does it look in YOUR world?? How would you LIKE it to look?

35. Focus on Learning:4 Critical Questions Guide All PLC’s • “What do we want our students to learn?” • “How will we know when each student has learned it?” • “What do we do when a student doesn’t learn it? • “What do we do when a student already has learned it?”

36. Determining Essential Outcomes (Critical Question #1) • The essential learning aligned with curriculum guides • Identified essential learning allows students to demonstrate mastery on assessments • Assessments created by the team must provide timely information so that students who are struggling are provided additional time and support.

37. Collaborative teams of teachers work together to build shared knowledge. Three-part test for teams as they assess the significance of standards: • Does it have endurance? • Does it have leverage? • Does it develop student readiness for the next level of learning? What current content can we eliminate because it is not essential? Doug Reeves (2002)

38. Does it have Endurance??? • Do we really expect our students to retain the knowledge and skills over time as opposed to merely learning it for a test?

39. Does it have Leverage? • Will proficiency in this standard help the student in other areas of the curriculum and other academic disciplines?

40. Does it develop student readiness for the next level of learning? • Is it essential for success in the next unit, course or grade level?

41. Keep, Drop, CreateTom Many, Kildeer Schools • Once per Quarter • In lesson plans/in curriculum guides—KEEP • In curriculum guide/NOT in plans—CREATE • In lesson plans/NOT in curriculum guides--DROP

42. Having a clear curriculum focus means that teachers in a learning community not only decide together what students should be able to do, they also decide what NOT to teach.---PLC at Work

43. Big Idea Two:Collaborative Culture and Collaborative TeamsPeople, Process, and Tasks

44. Collaborative Culture “Educators who are building a professional learning community recognize that they must work together to achieve their collective purpose of learning for all. Therefore, they create structures to promote a collaborative culture.” --Richard DuFour, On Common Ground

45. Norms Help Establish TRUST The standards of behaviors by which we agree to operate while we are in this group.

46. Meeting Agenda and Logswww.allthingsplc.info

47. Collaboration: “A systematicprocess in which we work together interdependently to analyze and impact professional practice in order to improve our individual collective results” DuFour, DuFour, and Eaker

48. “I lift, you grab . . . . Was that concept just a little too complex, Carl?” Team Skills A Team is a group of people working interdependently toward a common goal.

49. The Task at Hand

50. Are we a Group?? Are we a Team???