As a district we have been "doing" PLCs for some time. Over time, however, we have gotten away from the true root of what a PLC is and how it drives student and teacher learning/growth.
Who We Are...
To bring about a sense of collective efficacy we started the conversation through the Compass Points protocol via the guidance of Nicole Young and Amy Ahmad. Once our Sendera team identified their compass point they joined others and created a synopsis of who they were based on four questions from the protocol (which can be located in the SRE Virtual Collaborative Classroom). The synopsis were shared out with the entire group.
Later eveyone was asked to post a response regarding this activity in the Google Classroom. If you haven't had an opportunity to post as a team and/or individual we would love to hear from you: https://classroom.google.com/c/Njg1NjI3NjA2OFpa/sa/NzA1MTEwODA0M1pa/details
WHY We Do What We Do...
Once we recognized the different strengths and perspectives we all bring to the table, we then moved into examining what is a PLC via an article entitled "Building Professional Community in Schools" where participants were asked to read the article and annotate. Once eveyone had an opportunity to become familiar with the article we followed the Text Rendering Protocol to build a common understanding and shared belief. Through the sharing of sentences, phrases and words that stuck out to us or resonated us we were able to see where we are as a campus in regards to the noting what authentic PLCs are.
From there we identified what our PLCs have been through creating independently how time had been spent in the past. NISD's four areas that PLCs should address was shared:
- Understanding Standards and Curriculum
- Creating Common Assessments
- Responding to Data
- Raising the level of rigor, relevance and engagement
The four areas along with the reflection from the article via the text rendering, teams were challenged to create a pie chart together or how PLCs should be going forward at Sendera Ranch Elementary.
From the pie charts that were created by each team the campus came to a consensus on how PLC time should be spent. This pie chart (shown below) will be embedded in the PLC agenda form that teams will use to guide and capture discussions.
It was noted that the four areas that should be address in PLCs are cyclical in nature and are not always equally discussed/addressed/taken action on in a single PLC. Rather, they are continuously addressed over time and if noted help guide that our conversations/work in PLCs contiuously revolve around these four areas. It was also noted that teams need to take care of the health of the team, keep their norms at the forefront of every PLC, have agendas that have been collectively built by all and through the use of documenting their own notes help determine what may not have been addressed in one PLC, and will guide what will happen at upcoming PLCs. Additionally, it was a consensus that there must be some time in PLCs to address the unexpected, challenging and situations that are not always part of the four areas... this led to the creation of the "Longhorn Loophole" that intentionally builds time in for those specific but sometimes undefinable needs.
How We Do What We Do
From the piecrafting of how we will spend our time in PLCs we moved into what ways we can collect our conversations/work and how we can foster collective efficacy not only on our teams but across the campus.
The Google Classroom: SRE Virtual Collaborative Classroom was shared and teachers were given the opportunity to enroll in the course. Within the course was a link to the Sendera Ranch Virtual PLC Team Drive which houses many additional resources beyond the Google Classroom. The Team Drive was shared with all teachers and supporting teachers. It houses folders for each grade level that include district assessment calendars, the Grade Level Assessment Calendar and will also house the team's PLC notes and other items as this "Virtual PLC Team Drive" grows and evolves.
The Team Drive along with the Google Classroom are designed to foster collective efficacy, transparency and provide a place to garner support/resources. All teachers are encouraged to utilize these vehicles for driving their teams and students toward growth.
Some additional features in the Google Classroom were a readily available link to the SRE Longhorn Learning Blog, A Link to the Sendera Ranch Elementary Virtual PLC Team Drive, Protocols that have been utilized or will be utilized for PLCs and PD, and best of all the ARD Input Form and IEP Form that can be found in the Google Classroom where it forces a copy to be made and then can be placed in a Google Folder and Shared with Jen Webster/Jen Marshall. Also located in the Sendera Ranch Elementary Virtual PLC Team Drive are additional SPED Resources in the SPED Folder, Alignment Documents to foster conversations about vertical alignment regarding content and academic vocabulary, and class schedules folder.
The Assessment calendars were discussed. The intention of the calendar is to map out a marking period at a time where district CBAs are, plan both formative and summative assessments with the understanding that dates and intended assessments may be altered, and ensure that teachers are alinged with the ways they are assessing and what they are electing to record in the gradebook. This is not intended to be a detailed plan, rather a forecast of where the team is going for a marking period recorded in one place for everyone to be able to reference.
Below is an example of a completed assessment calendar for one marking period (as was shared in the presentation):
The assessment calendar template is located in the Sendera Ranch Elementary Virtual PLC Team Drive in each grade level folder.
SPED Update
The SPED team presented to us some great insight and training to help us all have common language when supporting and serving our kiddos. Clarification was provided about accommodations, modifications, Google Resources and ARD Ettiquette. Additionally, Kourtney made herself available as a resource when determining interventions with RTI students and mentioned Intervention Central as a great online resource for finding way to support kiddos in the RTI process. This presentation along with the Speech supports that were discussed and emailed can be found in the Sendera Ranch Elementary Virtual PLC Team Drive in the SPED folder.
Some items that are needed to be completed in the near future:
-PLC notes when teams meet in PLC on Friday (completed as teams meet... anyone can scribe)
-1st Marking Period Assessment Calendar (Due by September 1st for 1st Marking Period, all other marking period assessment calendars due the Friday before the start of that marking periods)
-Respond to Google Classroom Question About Compass Points for your team or yourself (remember to reflect and respond how the compass points represented on your team can impact your team dynamics)
-Complete the "Who am I" sheet (except for the Mission and Vision) once the color printer is repaired, proceed with printing out and displaying (we can print again once we have our Mission and Vision solidified)
The PD presented today, Building Collective Efficacy, has been added to our Google Classroom to reference as needed.
Please don't hesitate to provide feedback, ask for clarification and or continue dialogue (through comments on here, in the Google Classroom and/or face to face) on what was discussed. We are just beginning to define what authentic PLCs mean for Sendera Ranch Elementary.
Please don't hesitate to provide feedback, ask for clarification and or continue dialogue (through comments on here, in the Google Classroom and/or face to face) on what was discussed. We are just beginning to define what authentic PLCs mean for Sendera Ranch Elementary.
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