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

2. 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

3. 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

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

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

6. 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: to share our work, and resource tools to facilitate PLC work.

7. 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

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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. Break – 10 minutes

13. 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?

14. 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?

15. Lunch – 45mins

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

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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?

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