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Building Professional Learning Communities to Improve Instruction and Raise Achievement
`October 2013
Supporting Schools and District Improvement in Massachusetts
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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
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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
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Today’s Agenda - Morning
Welcome & Introductions Connections – Dyad Reconnection Protocol Attributes of Effective PLCs Future Protocol Break
PLC Structures – Agendas & Communication Morning Reflections Lunch
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Today’s Agenda - Afternoon
Connections – How are we the Same? PLC Protocol Practice Team Time Debrief & Reflections Closure
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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.
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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
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Connections – Dyad Reconnections Protocol
Protocol in Packet: Select a Prompt Think and write for 5 minutes Choose a Partner Listening Dyad Debrief
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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
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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
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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
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Break – 10 minutes
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PLC Structures - Agendas
Driving Questionso What are the values at the core of these agendas? o What should they be? What makes a good agenda? o How should it drive our work? o What needs to be there? o Whose agenda is it?o How much of the agenda is about what happens in the
classroom?
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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?
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Lunch – 45mins
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Afternoon Agenda
Connections – How are we the Same? PLC Protocol Practice Team Time Debrief & Reflections Closure
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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
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Protocol Practice
4-6 groups:o Consultancy Protocol – Dan & Mary Anneo Looking at Student Work Protocol – Richardo Description of the Student Protocol – Meg & Mego Text Rendering Protocol – Michael
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Team Time
In your school teams:o 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.
o Think about – what will you have accomplished by the time we come back together in December? What will you bring as artifacts or evidence?
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Final Reflections & Closing
Please complete evaluations
Learnings and thoughts from the day
See you on Tuesday, December 10th