Supporting Schools and District Improvement in Massachusetts Building Professional Learning Communities to Improve Instruction and Raise Achievement ` October 2013

CCE Facilitation Team Dan French, Executive Director Meg Maccini, PLC Consultant Richard Dubuisson, PLC Project Lead Michael Brownstein, QPA Team Meg Robbins, PLC Consultant Mary Anne Connery Simmons, PLC Team Carlton Carter, PLC Team Frank DeVito, PLC Consultant

Institute Goals To continue to develop the knowledge and skills needed to create and sustain effective PLCs, including setting a vision for the work, and using protocols to collaborate with team members To experience facilitating protocols and participating in a PLC group that use protocols effectively To begin to develop some concrete goals/benchmarks that will help drive the PLC work To share successful PLC practices with other schools and collaborate to solve problems of practice together

Today’s Agenda - Morning Welcome & Introductions Connections – Dyad Reconnection Protocol Attributes of Effective PLCs Future Protocol Break PLC Structures – Agendas & Communication Morning Reflections Lunch

Today’s Agenda - Afternoon Connections – How are we the Same? PLC Protocol Practice Team Time Debrief & Reflections Closure

How we work together We use norms to create safe spaces for working together We make use of protocols to structure discussions and keep the focus on student and teacher work as a means to improving teaching and learning We model tools and practices for PLC implementation, group activities to promote learning from each other, gradual release of responsibility as we go through the work, and sharing of our learning through presentations and peer critique We use the website: http://plcexpansionproject.weebly.com/ to share our work, and resource tools to facilitate PLC work.

How we work together - Norms Our Norms: Active listening Recognize that everyone is a learner Check your assumptions Trust the process Respect all voices Start and end on time

Connections – Dyad Reconnections Protocol Protocol in Packet: Select a Prompt Think and write for 5 minutes Choose a Partner Listening Dyad Debrief

Attributes of PLCs Read Characteristics of PLCs (5mins) At your tables, create pairs and/or triads and have a conversation (10mins) Identify which characteristics are evident in your PLCs and which ones are not and need to be

Attributes of PLCs – Cont… Then Rejoin the large group and share/compare answers(20 mins) As a group, chart where your PLCs are strong and where they need to improve Highlight the top two that will have the greatest impact on your PLCs and ultimately student achievement

Future Protocol 5 Groups each with a CCE facilitator Groups may be split by school teams Goals is to learn a process for creating a vision coupled with action steps for a PLC

Break – 10 minutes

PLC Structures - Agendas Driving Questions What are the values at the core of these agendas? What should they be? What makes a good agenda? How should it drive our work? What needs to be there? Whose agenda is it? How much of the agenda is about what happens in the classroom?

Morning Reflections What new questions, or insights came up for you from this morning’s work? What are your thoughts on bringing this work back to your schools? What are the implications? Additional Reflections?

Lunch – 45mins

Afternoon Agenda Connections – How are we the Same? PLC Protocol Practice Team Time Debrief & Reflections Closure

Connections – How are we the same? Line up Step forward if you answer “yes” to the question - stay put if the answer is “no” Debrief

Protocol Practice 4-6 groups: Consultancy Protocol – Dan & Mary Anne Looking at Student Work Protocol – Richard Description of the Student Protocol – Meg & Meg Text Rendering Protocol – Michael

Team Time In your school teams: Determine what your next steps are with PLC work – what do you need to do next week? Think about the action steps from your Future Protocol. Think about – what will you have accomplished by the time we come back together in December? What will you bring as artifacts or evidence?

Final Reflections & Closing Please complete evaluations Learnings and thoughts from the day See you on Tuesday, December 10th