Please sign in and have refreshments “The most promising strategy for sustained, substantive school improvement is developing the ability for school personnel to function as professional learning communities.” (DuFour & Eaker, 1998)

PLC Facilitator Agenda August, 2013 Where are we? Where are we Going? Plan for September Icebreaker --Norms --Questions to consider What are your questions/goals?

PLC Organization Configuration of Teams—work with principals to make them meaningful, if across buildings we can help coordinate. Leadership of Teams—several trained facilitators, share the leadership, new facilitators to be trained September 6, decide who will go to principal/ facilitator/PD Rep meeting

Schedule for September 20 PLC Sample Agenda Team Building Activity Develop/Revise Norms Data Day Plan (Specials/Core) Develop/Finalize a General Plan for the Year Activities/Topics as determined by the PLC & principal. 85% of time on Questions of a PLC 7:30 to 11:30 PD in the Buildings 11:30 to 12:30 Lunch 12:30 to 3:30 PLCs Meet

It is easy to get the players. Getting ‘em to play together, that’s the hard part. --Casey Stengel

Clipboard Microscope Puppy Beach Ball Which one are you?

Clipboard Microscope Puppy Beach Ball Organized Detail tasks Analyzing Check Facts Responsive Encouraging Bouncy, bubbly Thinks outside the box

Activity P URPOSE: Awareness of individual differences and contributions each has to make in the PLC PROCEDURE: A. Each person goes to an area of the room representing their item. B. Those gathered at the same location discuss the following: 1. What are the strengths of this style? (4 adjectives) 2. What are the limitations of this style? (4 adjectives) 3. What other style is most difficult to work with and why? 4. What do other people need to know about us so that we can work together more effectively? C. Each group share their answers to the questions. TAKE NOTES AS YOU DISCUSS THE 4 QUESTIONS Large groups may want CHART PAPER

Follow Up Activity How important is this understanding in forming teams? NOT just a fun activity we do and forget! This activity gives us insight about important elements involved in working as part of a team. What is the make up of our team? What are the advantages of our team make-up? What obstacles might occur for us given our team make-up? How can we use what we know about how we work together in groups to be more effective and efficient in our team? How can we use what we know about the make-up of our team in decision making and conflict resolution?

NORMS PACKET DEVELOP/REVISIT NORMS Revisit Last Year’s Norms Revise Start from Scratch Include Ways for Publishing & Enforcing Norms NORMS EXIST WHETHER OR NOT YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THEM!!!

Norms  Why we need them?  What they are? Samples/Categories  How to develop/revise the norms  Publishing the norms  Enforcing them  Periodic evaluation NORMS EXIST WHETHER OR NOT YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THEM!!!

Why Norms are Needed Norms are ground rules to identify behaviors that will help us do our work & discourage behaviors that interfere with a group’s effectiveness. How we act How we interact How we conduct business How we make decisions How we communicate—to have honest discussions that enable everyone to participate & be heard. NORMS EXIST WHETHER OR NOT YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THEM

Categories of Norms Time Confidentiality Decision Making Participation Leadership

SAMPLE NORMS FOR PLC’s TIME/ATTENDANCE: Start & Stop on time Stay on task Attend all meetings CONFIDENTIALITY Say what you need to here in the room, not in the parking lot Individual comments are confidential DECISION MAKING Reach decisions by consensus, fist to five Use data to drive decisions We will publicly support all decisions made by the group PARTICIPATION Stay on task, focus on what we have control over and what moves the PLC forward Listen and hear one another’s viewpoints—look at pros & cons It is your responsibility to make sure your idea is put in the room Speak directly to the person and you have issue with. Address issues, not personalities Commit to getting representative views, allow equal airtime for all participants Focus on being a change agent Be willing to experiment and make mistakes Think creatively Be responsible for the work of the PLC LEADERSHIP: Assign and rotate roles of timekeeper, recorder/secretary, leader, etc.

ACTIVITY FOR DEVELOPING NORMS PURPOSE: To ensure all members have the opportunity to contribute To increase productivity & effectiveness To facilitate the achievement of your goals PROCESS: Put the categories for norms on the board, may want to add a miscellaneous Each person records behavior you consider ideal for a group, one per slip of paper and place it under the appropriate category. 1 or 2 people will work with each category to group those with similar ideas together. For each group of behaviors, the group writes a norm, record on chart paper. Determine support for the norms Adopt final set of norms OPTIONAL ACTIVITY

Publishing Norms How can you keep them visible? Posted in meeting room Copy for everyone Review at the beginning of each meeting Include on the top of each agenda

Enforcing Norms WHO IS RESPONSIBLE? ALL GROUP MEMBERS Norms will be violated so talk about violations & how violations will be dealt with. If you don’t call attention to violations, you are creating a second set of norms. Ask: “How would you prefer to be notified you have violated a norm.” Keep it light hearted, like throwing foam balls at someone who comes in late. Use colored cards, flags, hankies, money in a jar….. All members must agree to these methods. Periodically evaluate the adherence to the norm—How well did we do on this norm.

5 Principles of Successful Meetings Discuss only one topic at a time Use only one process at a time Achieve interactive and balanced participation Respect cognitive conflict by eliciting disagreements and respecting other viewpoints Have all understand and agree to meeting roles and responsibilities

Consensus occurs when… 1. All points of view have been heard 2. The will of the group is evident even to those who most oppose it. Use Fist to Five to get consensus All participants start with a fist and then put up the number of fingers to indicate their level of support for the topic. 5 = greatest support, fist=no support Those most opposed have the opportunity to voice their opposition. This is not a VOTE just an opportunity for those who are opposed the explain their reasoning for the opposition.

TODAY’s GOAL: RELATED SMART GOAL: AGENDA FOR THE NEXT PLC TIME: Date:Time:Place:Leader: GOAL: Materials to Bring: Individual Responsibilities: Professional Development Needs: SUMMARY OF TODAY’s PLC TIME: (Include any data reported) PLC EARLY OUT MONTHLY LOG for _____, 200_ PLC GROUP NAME:___________________________________________ Members Present:____________________________________________ Members Absent:_____________________________________________ QUESTIONS TO BE ADDRESSED During today’s PLC timeNext PLC Time What do we want students to learn? (Curriculum Objectives, Unit Development) How will we know if they learned it? (Assessment, Unit Development, Data Analysis) How will we help the students learn it? (Instruction, Unit Development) What will we do if they didn’t/did learn it? (Instruction, RTI, Enrichment)

Questions to Consider as you plan for your year Focus: As you consider our district-wide mission, “maximizing learning for all students”, what will be important for your PLC to focus on this year? Products: What products related to your focus might be important for your PLC to produce or provide input on this year? Support: What support from your building and the district would be most helpful for you as a facilitator for your PLC? What topics would be helpful to include in the new PLC facilitator training?

PLC YEARLY PLAN SHEET BUILDING: _______________________PLC GROUP NAME:_________________________________ Brainstorm with your Principal and PLC to plan the work of the PLC for the year to include: Question #1: What do we want students to learn? ELO’s, Pacing Guides, Common Core State Standards, Reading/Writing… Question #2: How will we know they learned it? Common Assessments, formative assessments, proficiency levels, common scoring, reviewing student work… Question #3: How can we help them learn it? Lesson planning, instructional strategies, student engagement…. Question #4: What will we do if they did/did not learn it? Emphasizing who and what, interventions & enrichments… What are the Professional Development needs of this building/ PLC, how & when will they best be met?

PLC Yearly PLAN SHEET September 20 (Data Day) October 11November 1 January 3 (1/2 day)February 14March 14

PLC’s Focus on educational issues not school politics not student behavior not personalities not school procedures & policies District-Wide Norm 85% of time on Questions of a PLC What is the direction for your building/PLC for 13-14?

Be in touch if you have questions. Thank you for your time and commitment to your PLC and our students.