all things
PLC M A G A Z I N E
Winter 2017
all things
PLC M A G A Z I N E
Winter 2017
Features Hiring New Staff at Mason Crest Elementary School Diane Kerr & Brian Butler
Hiring is a schoolwide collective responsibility.
Crossing the Chasm Casey Reason
Singleton teachers and virtual teams.
What Is a PLC at Work™ School or District?
Rebecca DuFour
Rebecca DuFour gives us the elevator speech.
On a Learning-by-Doing Journey of Improvement, There Is No Destination Called Good Enough! Marc Johnson
Our journey begins.
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To o l s & R e s o u rc e s fo r I n s p i ra t i o n a n d E xce l l e n ce
First thing
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Four simple words: a focus on learning.
ICYMI
7 & 47
Short bits that you might have missed!
Learning champion
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Leading 4000 failures.
PLC clinic
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How differentiation works in the classroom.
FAQs about PLCs
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A commitment to the learning of each student.
Words matter
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Formative assessment vs. common formative assessment.
Skill shop
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Survey on team norms.
The recommender
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Websites to PLC by.
Classic R&D
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School culture and effective schools.
Contemporary R&D
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Teacher collaboration matters a lot.
Data quest
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Data analysis protocol.
Why I love PLCs
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PLCs create conditions that save students’ lives.
Winter 2017/AllThingsPLC Magazine
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PLC M A G A Z I N E
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SOLUTION TREE: CEO Jeffrey C. Jones
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PRESIDENT Edmund M. Ackerman SOLUTION TREE PRESS:
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First Thing F O U R S I M P L E WO R D S
A Focus On Learning
T
he meaning of this simple phrase, which serves as the foundation of the Professional Learning Community at Work™
process, appears at first to be quite obvious and straightforward: schools, and the educators within them, most certainly should center their attention on learning. Hardly a revolutionary expectation for an occupation that refers to its employees as “teachers,” the phrase seems akin to asking doctors to focus on healing or chefs to focus on cooking. Yet these four simple words call for a seismic shift in the way
PRESIDENT & PUBLISHER Douglas M. Rife
most schools have functioned for the past century. The word focus
ART DIRECTOR Rian Anderson
linchpin. So instead of viewing their primary job as the teaching
PAGE DESIGNERS Abigail Bowen, Laura Cox, Rian Anderson
means to make something the nucleus, core, heart, cornerstone, of curriculum, educators in a professional learning community (PLC) believe it is their responsibility to ensure all students actually learn the essential knowledge, skills, and behaviors needed for future academic success. This shared mission serves as the reference point—the North Star—for which all educational decisions are made on behalf of the students. Every instructional practice, program, policy, and procedure is evaluated against one uncompromising criterion: will this action improve student learning? And how does a PLC achieve this ambi-
AllThingsPLC is published four times a year by Solution Tree Press. 555 North Morton Street Bloomington, IN 47404 800.733.6786 (toll free) / 812.336.7700 FAX: 812.336.7790 email: info@SolutionTree.com SolutionTree.com POSTMASTER Send address changes to Solution Tree, 555 North Morton Street, Bloomington, IN, 47404
tious mission of high levels of learning for every student? Consider for a moment the term professional learning community. Who is doing the learning? The professionals. PLCs operate under the assumption that the key to improved learning for the students is continuous job-embedded learning for the educators.
Copyright © 2017 by Solution Tree Press
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SolutionTree.com/atplcmagazine Until every student is learning at high levels, educators must
many forms, including the study of both relevant research and
assume that continuing to do what they have always done is
actual evidence of increased student learning.
unlikely to produce better results. This reality requires teachers
One of the primary goals of this magazine is to be a valuable
to continually seek better practice. The intent is not to merely
resource in your professional learning. The concise format of a
learn about better instructional practice but to apply this learn-
magazine article is particularly well suited for review during a
ing and monitor the results to see if the changes increase stu-
team meeting or for educators to read during the limited mo-
dent achievement.
ments they have during the school year to devote to profes-
Learning together—referred to as “collective inquiry”—
sional study. Equally important, the articles in this magazine
should be the first step when addressing each element of the
are written by outstanding practitioners—individuals who have
PLC process. For example, when a school begins to write their
gained the practical knowledge only acquired by successfully
mission and vision statements, they should learn together about
putting research into action. The goal is to provide practical
the characteristics of highly effective schools to help them craft
ideas and examples that can be applied at your school.
a picture of the school they want to become. Or when a teacher team begins to answer the first critical question (What do
So, as educators, let us create a focus on learning . . . our learning! Let us become the learners we want our students to be.
we expect our students to learn?), its members should start by first becoming students of the standards. This learning can take
UNLEASH YOUR PLC’S POTENTIAL
Mike Mattos
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Crossing the Chasm
SINGLETON TEACHERS AND VIRTUAL TEAMS by Casey Reason
What is a singleton? A singleton is an educator who is the only person in the building or district who teaches a particular subject, course, or grade level. (DuFour & Reason, 2016)
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The Solitude of Singleton Teachers Rogene is in her 10th year as the only German teacher in a small school in a very rural district. Her school embraced professional learning communities several years ago, and she is a raving fan of the concept. At a team level, she happily tries as best she can to apply the concept with Ted, the district’s only Spanish teacher. In their work together, they challenge each other to identify essential learning, come up with more acute formative assessments, and meet the national standards for language acquisition. Even so, Rogene still feels like she is very much alone. The next closest German teacher is almost 100 miles away, and they have only met briefly at a conference. The central office consists of a superintendent and curriculum director, both of whom are former math teachers. None of the principals she has worked with during her tenure have had any experience teaching foreign language, and the nearest university is also almost 100 miles away.
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A Deeper Look at the Problem Despite how it feels, Rogene is not alone. The problem of singleton teachers in a district attempting to implement the PLC model has always been a challenge. I’ve recommended that districts get creative in finding ways to allow teachers from neighboring districts to work together to strategically implement the essential elements of the model (DuFour, DuFour, Eaker, Many, & Mattos, 2016). That said, there’s no question that geographic and district barriers have presented some significant challenges for singleton teachers. The purpose of this article is to shed some light on solutions that are emerging today that can help teachers like Rogene make connections and grow! But before exploring the solutions, let’s take a deeper look at the problem. Here is a list of challenges Rogene is facing in being a singleton teacher: • She lacks a peer group to examine the curriculum and identify essential learning. • Her common formative assessment strategies and approaches have improved by collaborating with Ted, but she doesn’t have anyone to share her results with on the specific assessments she is using. • By working alone, she doesn’t have a discipline-specific colleague to bring new perspectives or sensibilities to her work.
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Simply put, she remains largely unchallenged. • Rogene cannot explore the deepest elements of collaboration and immerse herself in the process of reciprocal accountability (DuFour et al., 2016) wherein she could both lead and be led. Rogene needs to be challenged in order to grow and meet her potential.
Crossing the Chasm: Virtual Teams to the Rescue Rick DuFour and I took on this topic in a book titled Professional Learning Communities at Work and Virtual Collaboration: On the Tipping Point of Transformation. We shared the optimistic observation that technology is helping us cross this difficult chasm and that with technology we have a chance to help teachers like Rogene expand their horizons and more comprehensively embrace the most profound benefits of engaging in the PLC process.
What Is a Virtual Team? A virtual team is one wherein all or part of the work of the team is done with the assistance and support of various technological elements. Arguably, most PLCs today are in some way supported by the use of technology. The goal, however, should be to use technology to expand the reach and impact of a team. To reach this goal, we must investigate the concept of virtual collaboration.
Technology is not the answer! Albert Einstein once said, “It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.” I wonder if Einstein would double down on that assertion if he saw us today with our faces buried in our smartphones. Despite my strong belief that technology provides us with unprecedented opportunities to innovate and improve, technology isn’t the answer. It’s just a tool to get at the essence of a learning-driven, resultsoriented PLC.
What Is Virtual Collaboration? Virtual collaboration is designed to help educators use technology to extend, enrich, and ultimately improve the existing PLC process (DuFour & Reason, 2016). When done correctly, virtual collaboration applies the power of technology to: • Improve communication • Enrich collegial relationships • Extend opportunities for innovation • Expand access to professional expertise • Promote best practice in supporting student learning • Accelerate the learning of individual educators in collaborative teams
What’s Possible? Let’s try to conceptualize virtual teaming at a very high level—in this case, for Rogene in her pursuit of excellence in teaching German. This virtual team is made up of four German teachers from across the state. Their schools are hundreds of miles apart, but they agree to work together as a team. By banking some professional development time, all four districts are able to pull these German teachers together at the beginning of the year and give them time to establish all of the essential elements of a team within a PLC. This includes the establishment of team norms. The team decides to only focus on German 1 with the goal of first learning the process of working in a virtual team. They then identify essential learning for the year. Even though each district has its own adopted graded courses of study, the curricula are based on recognized state
and national standards, so their district expectations are relatively similar. As the year gets started, the team meets weekly in a live Google Hangout. They carry on all of the functions of the local collaborative teams from their schools. In Rogene’s school district, certain classes for students are offered online. As a result, the district has access to a digital course room learning space, or shell. Rogene’s curriculum director gives her German 1 team their own course room shell and provides each teacher with access. This learning space allows the teachers to post meeting notes, ask each other questions in discussion spaces, share data, and participate in virtual conversations. As the year progresses, this virtual learning space grows. Each participant floods the course room with links to articles, videos, and other teaching tools that make the learning space quite dynamic. The number of logins per week increases, and the team begins to rely on each other and their assigned digital space as important elements of their work. Rogene is very active on Twitter and has found several other very dynamic German 1 teachers from other states.
Virtual collaboration is designed to help educators use technology to extend, enrich, and ultimately improve the existing PLC process.
Although these teachers aren’t formally on the team, she invites them to contribute and share in the benefits of their growing learning space. By spring break, Rogene’s team has six other German 1 teachers all posting resources in the course room and sharing ideas. Even though these educators do not join in the weekly Google Hangout meetings, their contributions are quite helpful. As the year comes to a close, Rogene, her principal, and the curriculum director convince the principals from the other districts to allow this dynamic foreignlanguage team to design and execute their own professional development workshop in the fall. Their plan is to use the collective wisdom of approximately 20 German 1 teachers who have been engaged at one point or another during the year and invite interested teams to present their ideas and innovations in a webinar format. They plan to record the presentations and save them for future reference in their digital learning space. Vladamir, a retired international school headmaster who is teaching German in a small school district in North Florida, offers to bring in a guest speaker for this virtual conference from Bern, Switzerland, in the fall. As you read through the exciting evolution for Rogene, it’s clear to see how much she has benefited from utilizing a virtual team. Following are the attributes of virtual teams mentioned earlier. Let’s reflect on Rogene’s application of each. Improve communication. With the use of the course room space, the team had virtual office space to store key items and to share them. Also, the course room allowed them to continue to collaborate asynchronously. This is possible
(DuFour & Reason, 2016)
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Why I Love PLCs PLCs Create Conditions That Save Students’ Lives
BY JACQUELINE HELLER
Gerardo. More recently, Josslyn, Dillon, and Maryam. But of the many reasons I love the Professional Learning Community at Work process, the most important by far is Gerardo. All educators carry with us the faces of a few select students. Of course, there are the former students who make us smile and burst with pride when we conjure up their image, but the ones we carry with us long term are the ones we weren’t able to reach. They are the ones who haunt us when we get a great idea in the shower, at a workshop, or by snatching something interesting off the copy machine. We think, if only we’d had this idea in our bag of tricks back when that certain student was in our class, maybe we could have helped him more.
I can be confident that there is a systematic and collective response when those kids have difficulties. If you are an educator reading this, your Gerardo has already popped into your head, hasn’t he? It may have been years since he or she was in your class, but right now, the anxiety, frustration, failure, and guilt of not being able to meet his or her needs in spite of your best efforts is coming back and weighing on you. Sorry. There is a reason for it, though. That weight is there so we not only remember our Gerardos, but honor them by continually striving to 48
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improve our practice. It’s been nine years since I let Gerardo and myself down, and since that time, I have been part of transforming two schools into high-functioning PLCs that embrace collaboration over isolation, emphasize learning for both the students and staff, and keep a laser-like focus on the results. In short, by creating our PLC, we’ve created the conditions that may have saved Gerardo’s life. I was an elementary reading teacher with 12 years’ experience when I sent sweet, gentle Gerardo, a former street child from El Salvador, to middle school reading on a first-grade level, even after working one on one with me. He had also gotten significant support from several other dedicated staff, but we lacked the collaboration and system of interventions necessary to ensure we were doing the right work. Are we surprised he was expelled for gang-related activity by eighth grade? I don’t know if he is alive or dead today, and that is not the life he deserved. His picture hangs above my desk. Josslyn, Dillon, and Maryam are also kids for whom we have not cracked the code, but they have come into my life more recently—when I teach in a PLC and I can be confident that there is a systematic and collective response when those kids have difficulties, and it isn’t left up to me in isolation to bear the weight of meeting their many needs. The whole staff embraces the idea that there are no longer “my kids” and “your kids” but they are all our kids and together we can find the answer in the room to help them learn at high levels. Ahhhh . . . exhale. Doesn’t
that feel much better than the anxiety of bearing the burden on your own that so often leads to teacher burnout? So if it is healthier to be part of a school that functions as a PLC at Work and we want all our students to have a life of limitless possibilities, why isn’t every school further along their journey to becoming that kind of place? It takes trust and a willingness to be vulnerable; it takes a hard look in the mirror and some tough conversations; it takes courage—all hard, messy work. Sometimes we have bad days. But on our worst days, we are still the best hope for some of our students. On my worst days, I can look up at the picture of Gerardo above my desk, then look across the room at my teammates, and remember why I love PLCs.
JACQUELINE HELLER is a literacy teacher and coach at Mason Crest Elementary School in Annandale, Va. She is a former classroom teacher, mentor resource teacher, and reading recovery teacher.
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