1. Singleton PLCs: Overcoming Barriers to Collaboration
Presented by:
Wayne Herron, Dianne Greif, Dirk Bortz, Emily Sorensen
Elgin School District
and Liz Durant, InterMountain ESD
Wayne

2. The Vision To create a functional Professional Learning Community
among rural Eastern Oregon high schools
Goal 1: Provide a supportive, collaborative PLC for Algebra I teachers to ensure Common Core State Standard are taught and that students are learning the standards.
Goal 2: Help other singleton disciplines become engaged with collaborative teaching and learning
Wayne

3. The Need
We need more students showing growth and meeting the Essential Skills math requirement
We need more students prepared to graduate and more students meeting the goal presented by the Governor
Wayne

4. How We Began
Proposal from James Sims, School Improvement Coach and Consultant for Education Northwest
Contacted superintendents in the region who had singleton teachers
Asked for support from InterMountain ESD (financial and staff)
Identified a team leader and scheduled the first meeting
Wayne

5. Staying the Course Support from administration is crucial Time
Resources
Goals
Evaluation
Wayne

6. The Process First meeting: ESD financial support
Agenda
PLC 101 presentation
Future meetings: face-to-face or use technology?
ESD financial support
Provide a solid basis to launch the work
Liz

7. The 4 PLC Questions What do we want students to learn?
How will we know if they learn it?
How do we respond when students experience difficulty in learning?
How do we respond when students do learn?
Liz

8. The Work What did we do the first year? What is a PLC Met once a month
Common Formative Assessments
Compared data (informally)
Discussed teaching strategies used in classrooms
Pacing guide
Dirk and Emily

9. Benefits Student struggles are not isolated
Common assessments showed similar data
Teaching strategies used in multiple classrooms
Confidence with what we are teaching
Collaboration of different ideas into one
Dirk and Emily

10. Challenges Distance Communication District Goals Learning Common Core
Creating Assessments
Dirk and Emily

11. Plan for Future Common formative assessments More formal data analysis
Discuss instructional strategies based on analyzed data
Improve on Common Core implementation
Dirk and Emily

12. PLCs at Stella Mayfield School
Limited resources/funding
Collaboration with neighboring districts
Teacher teams doesn't always mean within your building
Ease of sharing gained from using tools like "Google Docs"
Dianne

13. - Zig Ziglar, Motivational Speaker
You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.”
- Zig Ziglar, Motivational Speaker