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“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 AgendaAugust, 2013

• Where are we? Where are we Going?

• Plan for September 20-

--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 Buildings11:30 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

ClipboardMicroscope

PuppyBeach Ball

Which one are you?

ClipboardMicroscope

PuppyBeach Ball

OrganizedDetail tasks

AnalyzingCheck Facts

ResponsiveEncouraging

Bouncy, bubblyThinks outsidethe box

ActivityPURPOSE: 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 QUESTIONSLarge 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 PACKETDEVELOP/REVISIT NORMS

• Revisit Last Year’s Norms• Revise• Start from Scratch

• Include Ways for Publishing & Enforcing Norms

NORMS EXIST WHETHER OR NOTYOU ACKNOWLEDGE THEM!!!

“NORM FORM” 20__- 20__ PLC GROUP:__________________________ ______

NORM

ENFORCEMENT METHOD

PUBLISHING: How will we keep the norms at the forefront of our PLC?

COMMITMENT: Below is the signature of each PLC member who is

willing to abide by the norms and be responsible for enforcing them.

TURN I N TO THE PRI NCI PAL AT THE FI RST PLC FACI LI TATOR/ PRI NCI PAL MEETI NG

NormsWhy we need them?What they are? Samples/CategoriesHow to develop/revise the normsPublishing the normsEnforcing themPeriodic evaluation

NORMS EXIST WHETHER OR NOT YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THEM!!!

Why Norms are NeededNorms 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 meetingsCONFIDENTIALITY• Say what you need to here in the room, not in the parking lot • Individual comments are confidentialDECISION MAKING• Reach decisions by consensus, fist to five• Use data to drive decisions• We will publicly support all decisions made by the groupPARTICIPATION• 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 PLCLEADERSHIP:• 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 NormsWHO 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 heard2. The will of the group is evident even to those who most

oppose it.

Use Fist to Five to get consensusAll 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 ADDRESSEDDuring today’s PLC time Next 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)

PLC LOG

PLC Team:________________________________ DATE: _________________________________ SIGN-IN:

Present Present Present List Absentees

AGENDA GOAL:

SUMMARY OF TODAY’S MEETING

PLAN FOR NEXT MEETING:

PLC LOG FOR:_____________________________________________ (name of group)

LOG # _____ DATE ____________________________ Time: __________ TODAY’S FACILITATOR: _____________________

Members Present: __________________________________________________ Members Absent: _________________________

__________________________________________________________________ _________________________

__________________________________________________________________ _________________________

Goal:Agenda Items:

What happened today? Briefly describe discussion/activities.

Application: What are the results of what you are learning and doing TODAY?

NEXT MEETING: DATE: __________ TIME _________ FACILITATOR: ______________________ PLACE: ______________

AGENDA ITEMS: ___________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

PREPARE OR BRING: ________________________ _______________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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 11 November 1

January 3 (1/2 day) February 14 March 14

APPLICATION FOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FUNDS

20- TO 20-

APPLICATION PROCEDURE: 1. Complete p.1 & 2 of this form. Print the form and attach a copy of printed material from the sponsoring organization which includes costs, dates, times, and location. 2. Present a hard copy and send the completed form electronically to a building PD Representative for: a. Approval/denial of funds from the building PD budget (in consultation with the principal) b. Approval to attend the activity (in consultation with the principal) 3. Complete the follow-up section within one month of the event.

Describe how you will share the information received with others in our district.

FOLLOW-UP SECTION--COMPLETE AND RETURN TO THE PD BUILDING REP. WITHINONE MONTH FROM ATTENDANCE. DUE:

A. I learned and have incorporated the following into my classroom as a result of this PD Activity:

B. I shared information with colleagues in the following manner:

C. What evidence is there that student achievement in my classroom was improved as a result of my participation in this activity?

PROCEDURE FOR APPROVED APPLICATIONS1. Registration, reservations, receipts, & applications for reimbursement etc. will be your responsibility.2. Include the PD Activity # given below on ALL Purchase Orders, sub requests, requests for reimbursement, etc.3. If for any reason you are unable to attend the activity, return this sheet to your PDC building representative ASAP. This will allow funds to be used for other activities.

BUILDING APPROVAL:Funding from Building Funds: Approved DeniedParticipation: Approved Denied

Building Principal Signature: Date:

Building PD Representative Signature: Date:

PDC USE ONLY:Action Taken: Approved Denied Partially Approved

Reason if Denied:

PD Activity #: P. O. #:

BUILDING TEACHING ASSIGNMENT

PARTICIPANTS NAMES

PLC’sFocus on educational issues

not school politics

not student behaviornot 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.