the institute is over: now what do i do? school and team ... · • a plc is simply a way of...

The Institute Is Over:Now What Do I Do?

School and Team LifeAfter a PLC Institute

Janel Keating

The Institute Is Over: Now What Do I Do?

School and Team Life After a PLC Institute

Janel Keating

Get Started and Get BetterThe single most important decision we made was to get started.

We did not wait for perfect conditions.

Everyone would not be on board. The time would never be right.

Instead, we decided to get started and then get better!However …There is a huge difference between agreeing with PLC concepts and practices and knowing what to do and how to get started!

• Our goal was not to become a PLC.

• Our goal was to improve student learning.

• A PLC is simply a way of thinking.

• We worked to make sure everyoneunderstood that PLC concepts and practicesare a means to an end.

“Don’t waste time waiting for inspiration. Begin, and inspiration will follow.”

—H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

© Keating 2017. SolutionTree.comDo not duplicate. 1

Remember, commitment follows experience—it doesn’t precede it!

Articulating a Moral PurposeThis point cannot be over‐emphasized:Everyone must understand whywe embed PLC concepts and practices into the school and district’s day‐to‐day culture.

The answer to the “why” question is this: The fundamental purpose of schools is to ensure high levels of learning for all students.

MultitaskingThe journey to becoming a PLC is nonlinear. We engaged inmultiple initiatives and activities at the same time.

For example:We spent (and continue to spend) time developing a common vocabulary and a deep understanding of the PLC concept while at the same time building the foundation of a PLC—organizing into collaborative teams and thinking of ways we might provide students additional time, support, and enrichment.

© Keating 2017. SolutionTree.comDo not duplicate.2

Don’t Assume Everyone Gets It—Drip, Drip, Drip …

Just because we understand—that we “get it”—does not mean that everyone else does! We must approach clarifying the professional learning community concept—how professional learning communities work and how they differ from traditional schools—with a relentless redundancy of message—a constant drip, drip, drip!

What You Need to Do …• Establish the “why.”• Create team time within the school day.• Build shared knowledge.• Select a guiding coalition.• Select a team leader.• Third‐grade team• Down the road—task/product specific• Plan a unit.• Engage in the repeating process.

And, We Approached Everything From a Positive Point of View!

We began by first honoring our school’s history.

Next we honored our district’s history.

We asked, “What is great about this school?”

We wanted to build on success.

Painting a Data Portrait of Our School and District

By honoring the history of our schools (and district) and describing the school we seek to become, we were essentially creating a gap between where we are and where we want to go—what we want to become. Therefore, we had to take a detailed look at our school and district from a standpoint of learning data—literally developing a portrait of our school and district using learning data.


We unpacked data to take a hard look at our schools—grade by grade, classroom by classroom, subject by subject, kid by kid, skill by skill!

We decided to view facts as friendly,regardless of what they revealed.

Organizing Into Collaborative Teams

We did not wait to build the PLC framework before organizing teams. We did it right away.

We embedded collaborative teams into virtually every aspect of school and district culture, including support staff.

We recognized two things.

First, collaboration by invitation will not work.Everyone favors collaboration, but not everyone wants to do it.

So, we organized into collaborative teams.Each team immediately developed team norms.


Team Structure• Grade level• Department• Interdisciplinary• Singletons• Music, PE, library• Special education—title programs• Support staff• Every aspect of district culture will be addressed incollaborative teams.


Tips for Team Norms• Each team establishes its own norms.• Norms are stated as commitments to act in certain ways,

rather than as beliefs.• Norms are reviewed at the beginning and end of each

meeting until each team member internalizes them.• One norm should require the team to assess its

effectiveness at least twice during each school year. Thisassessment should include a review of members’ adherenceto team norms and the need to add new norms.

• Less is more. A few key norms are better than a laundry list.• Violations of norms should be addressed.

—Dufour, Dufour, & Eaker, PLC at Work Plan Book (2010)

Creating Norms

We will address:• Time• Listening• Confidentiality• Decision making• Participation• Expectations• Accountability protocols

Accountable Protocols

Establish on the front end.


Select team leaders:• Coordinate and lead the work of their team.• Work with the building principal.• Ensure that the team focuses on the four criticalquestions.

• Demonstrate effectiveness in their own teaching.• Earn the respect of their peers.

Team leaders are the instructional coaching staff.



What not to do:• Ask for volunteers.• Be willing to let them, if they are willing to do it.• Automatically rotate to a new leader each year.• Vote.

One team used the “huddle up” strategy. It went like this: You have 10 minutes to huddle up with your department and pick your team leader.

And, We Defined What We Meant by “Consensus”

If we were going to decide important things collaboratively, we knew that, early on, we needed to define what we meant by reaching consensus.

In White River we adopted the recommendation of Richard DuFour, Rebecca DuFour, and Bob Eaker that essentially states that we had reached consensus when:

• Research and best practice were presented.

• All possible points of view were heard, discussed,and honored.

• The group’s will was evident, even to those whomost opposed the solution.

Defining Consensus Four Questions to Guide PLCs1. What do we expect students to learn? Common Core, essential

outcomes, power standards, learning targets, pacing, clarifying standards, standards in student work and rigor

2. How will we know if they learn it? common assessments, quickchecks for understanding, benchmark assessments, results analysis

3. How do we respond when students experience difficulty inlearning? differentiated instruction, POI, RTI, and PBIS

4. How do we respond when students do learn? differentiatedinstruction and rigor

—Eaker & Keating, Every School, Every Team, Every Classroom (2012)


Repeating Process for Each Unit or Chapter

• Identify essential standards.• Write learning targets.• Create quick checks for understanding.• Create the assessment.• Give the assessment.• Analyze the assessment.• Look at data and student work.• Apply interventions and extensions.

Repeat …—Eaker & Keating, Every School, Every Team, Every Classroom (2012)

Douglas Reeves (Accountability for Learning, 2004) suggests that educators emulate their most successful colleagues in music and physical education by providing feedback in real time.

We know that a basketball coach does not provide hints on effective jump shots nine weeks after a flubbed attempt. Nor does a great music teacher mention the improper position of a violinist’s left hand weeks after noticing the mistake.

Instead coaches and musicians provide precise and immediate feedback.

Formative Evaluation = 0.90

Medium

HighLow

Negative

The Effectiveness of Providing Formative Evaluation


Time and Support

Plans to provide students with additional time and support must be:• Written, systematic, schoolwide• Within the school day• Timely• Directional (rather than invitational)

Recognizing the Role of Principals

“Effective principals are the key, without whom the disparate elements of effective schooling practices and the concepts of a PLC cannot be brought together, nor maintained.”

—Lawrence W. Lezotte

Assess Your Progress

We monitor student learning and make adjustments. It’s part of a larger plan.The same must be true for schools and school districts. As schools and districts, we must plan to monitor our progress along the way—always asking the critical question, “Are the students learning and how do we know?”Ultimately, a PLC is a culture of continuous improvement.

Build Celebrations That Reflect What You Value

In the absence of rituals and ceremonies, important values—the things we say we care about the most—will lose all meaning.

(Deal & Kennedy, Corporate Cultures, 2000)


What’s in Your Trophy Case? Bottom Line: How Do We Know Our Team Is Successful?

• We get along.

• We meet regularly.

• We divide work.

Teams are successful if kids are learning!

Is your team getting results?

Thank You!

To schedule professional development at your site, contact Solution Tree

at 800.733.6786.


PLC Team Weekly Meeting Feedback Form

Team Name: Meeting Date: Team Goals:

Team Members Present:

Team Members Absent: Today’s Successes:

Questions or Concerns:

Plan for Next Meeting:

Building Administrators’ Needs:

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Analyzing Common Assessment

Grade Level: □ Pre-assessment □ Quarter 3Subject Area: □ Mid-assessment □ Quarter 4Teacher/Team: □ Post-assessment

Name of Assessment: Power Standard(s) or Learning Targets Measured:

Questions Responses

What areas did our students do well on this assessment?

What instructional strategies helped our students do well?

What skill deficiencies do we see?

What patterns do we see in the mistakes, and what do they tell us?

Which students did not master essential standards and will need additional time and support? What intervention will be provided to address unlearned skills?

Do we need to tweak or improve this assessment?

* Please complete one form in third quarter and one form in fourth quarter and keep them in your PLC binder.


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Four Critical Questions of a PLC (Source: The four critical questions are featured in DuFour, DuFour, Eaker, and Many, Learning by Doing: A Handbook for Professional Learning Communities at Work, 2010.)

1. What do we want each student to learn?2. How will we know if each student is learning it?3. How will we respond when a student is experiencing difficulty with learning it?4. How will we respond if the student already knows it?

White River’s Plan to Address the Four Critical Questions

Question One: What do we want each student to learn?

• • • •

Question Two: How will we know if each student is learning it?

• • • •

Question Three: How will we respond when a student is experiencing difficulty with learning it?

• • • •

Question Four: How will we respond if the student already knows it?

• • • •


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Getting the Most Out of Common Assessments By Mike Mattos (2009)

Like most schools that begin implementing PLC practices, the faculty at Pioneer Middle School learned about the importance of common formative assessments and decided that we would utilize this powerful tool to help us focus on learning. Unfortunately, as time progressed, our departmental teams experienced varied levels of success; some teams felt they gained significant benefits from their common assessments, while other teams were far less enthusiastic with their results.

As principal, my first thought was to question whether every team was truly using common assessments, or were they just “going through the motions” to appease me. After asking these questions at a faculty meeting, I was pleased to find that every team was frequently administering common assessments—in fact, every team said they also use our site assessment software, which produces powerful reports to analyze the results.

At this point, I was perplexed … if every team was giving common assessments and had access to the same types of disaggregated results, then why were our teams experiencing such varied outcomes? Upon further consideration, I realized that I was asking the wrong question; that is, it was not a question of, “Are we giving common assessments?” but “What are we doing with our common assessment data?”

When we discussed this question, we found great differences from team to team, with some teams digging deeply into their common assessment data, and other teams doing almost nothing with the information. Based upon this revelation, we discussed why we give common assessments, and determined that common assessments provide essential learning information that enabled each team to:

• Identify specifically which students did not demonstrate mastery of essential standard(s):Because we give common assessments to measure student mastery of essential standard(s),common assessments should identify students who need additional help and support.Additionally, if an assessment measures more than one essential standard, then the test resultsmust provide more than an overall score for each student, but also delineate specifically whichstandards each student did not pass.

• Identify effective instructional practices: Because our teachers have autonomy in how theyteach essential standards, it is vital that common assessment data help validate which practiceswere effective. This can be done best when common assessment results are displayed in such away that allows each teacher to compare their students’ results to other teachers who teachthe same course.

• Identify patterns in student mistakes: Besides using common assessment results to identifybest instructional practices, these data should also be used to determine ineffective

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instructional practices. When analyzing the types of mistakes that failing students make, patterns emerge that can point to weaknesses or gaps in the initial instruction.

• Measure the accuracy of the assessment: Through a careful item analysis of the assessment, ateam can determine the validity of each test question. Over time, this will build a team’scapacity to create better assessments.

• Plan and target interventions: The ultimate goal of any PLC is to ensure high levels of learningfor all students. If a team uses common assessments to identify students in need of additionalhelp, determine effective and ineffective instructional practices, and measure the validity of theassessment, then they should have the information needed to plan and implement targetedinterventions to assist the students that need help.

Once we realized that giving common assessments is not an “end” in itself, but instead a “means” to better measure our teaching and student learning, we decided that whenever a team reviews common assessment data, they would ask the following guiding questions:

• Specifically which students did not demonstrate mastery?• Which instructional practices proved to be most effective?• What patterns can we identify from the student mistakes?• How can we improve this assessment?• What interventions are needed to provide failed students additional time and support?

By asking these questions, we believe that we can get the most out of our common assessments, which in turn, allows us to give the most to our students. In the end, we learned from this experience that the power of common assessment comes not from giving them, but from what we do with them after we give them!

Pioneer is one of eight schools in the nation featured in the video The Power of Professional Learning Communities at Work: Bringing the Big Ideas to Life. Pioneer’s standardized test scores rank first of all the middle schools in Orange County and in the top one percent for the state of California. Additionally, Pioneer was named a California Distinguished School in 2003 and 2007, and is currently a state nominee for National Blue Ribbon recognition.

—Mattos, “Getting the Most Out of Common Assessments,” allthingsplc.info (2009)

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Do We Have Team Norms or “Nice to Knows”? By Kenneth C. Williams (2010)

Roadblock: Lack of Accountability Protocol Some teams do a great job of developing norms. Members agree and commit to them, even posting them on chart paper to be prominently displayed at every meeting. Elementary school teams often add attractive artwork in the form of ladybugs and bumblebees, and they may even go as far as laminating the chart paper. They feel great about the process. They know they’ve made progress.

But here’s what they don’t realize: no matter how well-developed norms are, no matter how committed the teammates are, no matter how prominently the norms are displayed, someone is going to violate them. I know it’s hard to fathom, but someone who agreed to the posted norms, who put their magic marker thumbprint on the poster and signed around it in a show of real commitment, who high-fived at the end of the norms creation session is going to violate one—or more—of them. And when that happens, the team finds itself at a crossroad.

Teammates will begin to awkwardly look at one another, trying to figure out the next step and appropriate response. The questions of how to respond and who is going to respond will dominate their thoughts. Why? They did not establish an accountability protocol. In my work with hundreds of PLC teams, I find this step to be the one most commonly missed by teams that have established norms.

They don’t have a process for answering the following question: What is our process for holding each other accountable in a respectful and dignified manner? Unanswered, this question is a definite team-dynamic derailer. Without this process in place, teams will end up with a list of “nice to knows,” rather than effective team norms.

Reason: “No One Will Violate the Norms” Teams typically experience waves of positive feelings soon after establishing team norms and mistakenly believe that the mere establishment of behavioral commitments is the end of the process. The feeling of accomplishing the task of developing team norms sometimes blinds teams to the fact that they have to know how to respond when violations occur. The truth is, they don’t believe that violations will occur.

In my experience, I don’t see teams skipping this step intentionally. In fact, most of the literature regarding team norms does not adequately address this step. The harsh reality is that the time and energy invested in developing team norms does not eliminate the need to have a protocol ready for when norms are violated. Without accountability protocols, one of three scenarios typically occur:

• The norm violation is not addressed, and as a result, unspoken tension and frustration growwithin the collaborative team.

• The norm violation is addressed, but inappropriately. With no established protocol, reaction tothe confrontation becomes defensive.

• Too early in the process, the team takes the issue to the principal for him or her to handle.

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When teams establish a process for holding each other accountable when someone violates a norm, then unnecessary confrontations and unspoken tensions are avoided. It’s a given that violations will occur, and collaborative teams that have a predefined process for dealing with them will be the ones that become highly effective. Teams that don’t engage in this very important step will often end up with a list of “nice to knows” instead of effective team norms and commitments. Teams that do address the question, “What happens when?” create the kind of safety and predictability on their team that serves to accelerate the collaborative culture.

—Williams, “Do We Have Team Norms or ‘Nice to Knows’?” allthingsplc.info (2010)

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Third Grade Team Norms

Time We will begin and end meetings on time:

PLC 8:30–9:30 Team time meetings—Times will be established and agreed upon prior to the meeting. Team meetings will typically be held on Monday afternoons.

Listening and Participation We will encourage participation of each team member by providing each member an opportunity to share ideas on each topic of discussion. Each member will actively listen and respond respectfully.

Confidentiality We will keep team-decided issues confidential.

Decision Making We will agree to abide by decisions made by consensus.

Expectations We will come prepared by bringing needed materials (such as binders, student work, and so on). We will communicate questions and concerns directly with team members. We will keep bird-walking to a minimum.

If and When Norms Are Violated “Accountability Protocol” Norms will be reviewed with the team and the violator will be given the opportunity to own up. In cases of repeat offenses, two or more team members will approach the violator to address the repeated offense and offer assistance.

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Algebra Unit 2B Linear Relationships Using Slope Intercept Form

Common Core Standards: A.CED.2/A.CED.3: Create equations that describe numbers or relationships. (Claim: 1, 2, 4) A.REI.10: Understand that a graph represents the set of all solutions to the equation. (Claim: 1, 2, 3) F.IF.4: Interpret key functions that arise in applications in terms of a context. (Claim: 1, 2, 4) F.IF.6: Calculate or estimate the slope from a table or graph. (Claim: 1, 2, 4) F.IF.7: Graph linear functions to show key features. (Claim: 1, 2, 4) F.IF.9: Compare properties of two functions using different representations. (Claim: 1, 2, 3, 4) F.BF.1: Write a function that describes a relationship between two quantities. (Claim: 1, 2, 4) F.BF.3: Shift linear functions vertically. (Claim: 3) F.LE.5: Interpret the parameters for linear functions in terms of the situation they model. (Claim: 4)

Timeline:

Vocabulary:

Sequential Learning Targets: 1. I can find the rate of change (slope) and start value (y-intercept) from a table, graph, pattern, or

real-world scenario. This means I can: a. Determine rate of change (or slope).b. Locate the starting value (or y-intercept).

2. I can find the slope from a graph, table, or two points using multiple strategies. This means Ican:

a. Use slope triangles on a graph.b. Use the slope formula (rise over run).c. Find differences on a table.• MATHO – Slope + Template• Climb the Ladder – Slope

3. I can graph a linear function. This means I can:a. Locate the y-intercept.b. Use slope to plot additional points.c. Convert a function to a form I can graph (move between point-slope, standard, and

slope-intercept).• Activity – Match Cards to Graphs• Speed Math – Graphing Linear Functions

4. I can write a function in slope-intercept form when given key information about the function.This means I can:

a. Determine the rate of change (slope).b. Determine the start value (y-intercept).• Activity – Poster Project Problems

5. I can describe key features from a graph from different representations. This means I can:


a. Identify the x and y-intercept and slope.6. I can compare two linear functions given two different representations. This means I can:

a. Compare slopes given two functions represented differently (table, graph, equation,real-world).

b. Compare x- or y-intercept given two functions represented differently (table, graph,equation, real-world).

• Multiple Representations7. I can describe what adding a value to a linear function does to the graph of the function. This

means I can:a. Explain the vertical translation of a linear graph compared to the parent function.

8. I can model real-world situations with a linear function using appropriate parameters. Thismeans I can:

a. Write functions for real-world situations.b. Describe the appropriate domain and range for a situation.c. Determine if a real-world scenario should be represented by a discrete or continuous

graph.• Climb the Ladder – Linear Function Word Problems• Displays Activity + Instructions

Review – Jeopardy

Intervention: • Fraction operations (include simplifying)• Finding contextual clues from application problems• Integer operations• Types of slopes and their visual representations

Extension: •

Common Core Tasks: • Linear Graphs• You’re Toast Dude• Jet Ski Rental

© Keating 2017. SolutionTree.com Do not duplicate.20

Algebra Unit 2B Linear Functions Assessment (Slope-Intercept Form)

Name: ____________________ Date: __________ Period: __________

Basic 1. Given the table, determine the following.

2. Graph.

x y -1 5 0 3 1 1 Slope:

y-intercept:

Equation of the line:

3. Given the graph, determine the following.

4. Given the scenario, determine the following. Lin is tracking the progress of her plant’s growth. Today the plant is 5 cm high. The plant is growing 1.5 cm per day. Slope: y-intercept: Write a function that represents the height, h, or the plant after d days.

Slope: y-intercept: Equation of the line:

© Keating 2017. SolutionTree.com Do not duplicate.24 21

Proficient 5. Write the equation of the line given the

table.

6. Graph 2x + 4y = 8.

x y 1 14 3 10 7 2 Equation:

7. A bike rental company rents beach bikes. They charge an initial fee plus $1 for each hour the bike is rented. Chet rented a bike for 6 hours and was charged $10. Let x represent the number of hours and y represent the total cost of the rental. a. What is the slope-intercept equation of the line that fits this information?

b. If Sara wants to rent a bike for 3 hours, how much should she expect to pay? Use words and/or numbers to show how you determined your answer.

c. If Sara has $20, how long can she rent a bike? Use words and/or numbers to show how you determined your answer.


Mastery 8. A farmer is selling watermelons. She has 43 watermelons and plans to sell them for $3 each. The

farmer’s total sales, in dollars, is a function of the number of watermelons she sells. Select all the statements that correctly describe the domain or range of this function.

a) The domain is the set of all integers from 0 to 43.

b) The domain is the set of all real numbers from 0 to 43.

c) The range is the set of all integers between 0 and 129. d) The range is the set of all multiples of 3 from 0 to 129. e) The range is the set of all multiples of 43 from 43 to 129.

9.

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Linear Equations and Systems (8.EE.C)

Over the next month, you’ll be studying equations, graphs, problem solving, and real-world scenarios that involve one to two data sets. While our data will grow at a constant rate, in high school you’ll study data that grows in other ways. For example, the population of a large city may grow exponentially.

Essential Questions Concept: How can I interpret solutions to linear equations and systems?

Skill: How can I solve linear equations and systems?

Application: How can I solve real-world problems involving linear data?

Learning Targets Task 1 Task 2 Task 3 I can solve equations that have integers. This means I can write out precise steps such as the distributive property, combining like terms, or inverse operations. I can also interpret my solution contextually. (DOK 1, 2)

I can solve equations with rational coefficients. This means I can extend my previous work to equations that have fractions or decimals. (DOK 1, 2)

I can predict an equation’s type or number of solutions. This means I can think strategically about an equation. Without solving it, I can determine whether the solution would be positive, negative, zero, or not exist. (DOK 3)

I can create equations that have infinitely many, one, or no solution(s). This means I can fill in missing numbers to make the two sides of an equation always, sometimes, or never equal. If I solve an equation that ends up with two identical or equal sides, I can also interpret the result. (DOK 2)

I can analyze graphs of systems. This means I can locate a point of intersection and explain what its coordinates mean. Moreover, I can make real-world decisions based on which line is higher on the graph. (DOK 2, 3)

I can solve a system by graphing. This means I can use y = mx + b, or evaluate functions, to draw precise lines that intersect. I can also interpret my solution contextually. (DOK 1, 2)

I can create graphs that have one, zero, or infinitely many solutions. This means I can use geo-boards to build lines that are intersecting, parallel, or collinear. Then I can describe my lines with equations. (DOK 3)

I can model real-world scenarios with mathematics. This means I can solve problems by drawing diagrams, collecting data in tables, analyzing graphs, or transforming given information into equations. (DOK 2, 3)

Vocabulary to Master coefficient constant distribute infinitely-many interpretlike terms linear point of intersection precise slope

slope-intercept form solution standard form system y-intercept

© Keating 2017. SolutionTree.com Reproducible. 27

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