Elements of a Professional Community

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When schools become places for teachers to
learn, they also become schools on the way to
improvement. Willis Hawley and Linda
Valli University of Maryland
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Strangers are friends you have yet to meet.
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Like Me

• How many of you are elementary teachers? (Please
  introduce yourselves) Middle school teachers?
  High school teachers? Administrators? Others?
• Prior to today, how many have served on a
  district committee?
• How many have a child graduating this spring?
• How many plan to travel outside of South Dakota
  this summer?
• How many plan to travel overseas?

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Leadership Team Orientation
Leadership Team

• Marzano Research

Professional Learning Communities
Application
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Leadership Team

• Who are we?
• Why are we doing this?
• Why are we doing this THIS way?

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Why You Are Here
Reading Goal All students will improve reading
skills across the curriculum. Math Goal All
students will improve math skills across the
curriculum.
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Math Strategy Cues, Questions, and Organizers Math Strategy Cues, Questions, and Organizers Math Strategy Cues, Questions, and Organizers Math Strategy Cues, Questions, and Organizers Math Strategy Cues, Questions, and Organizers Math Strategy Cues, Questions, and Organizers Math Strategy Cues, Questions, and Organizers Math Strategy Cues, Questions, and Organizers Math Strategy Cues, Questions, and Organizers Math Strategy Cues, Questions, and Organizers
Goal All students will improve math skills across the curriculum.                  
Meade District K-12 Areas of Need                  
Math procedures                  
Algebraic concepts (solving problems)                  
Geometric Figures                  
Measurement                  
Problem Solving                  
Meade District K-4 Areas of Need                  
Analyze and describe properties and behaviors of relations functions, and inverses                  
Meade District 5-8 Areas of Need                  
See K-12                  
Meade District 9-12 Areas of Need                  
Analyze and describe properties and behaviors of relations functions, and inverses                  
Apply relations and functions to complex problem solving situations                  
Use various statistical models to gather data, study problems, and draw conclusions                  
Apply the laws of probability to predict events/outcomes and solve problems                  
Analyze and describe situations that involve one or more variables                  
Use units of measure within a system of measurement                  
Knee-Knee Eye-Eye
Layered Questioning
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Every great teacher is clearly teaching and
every great teacher is learning.
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Preparing All Students for Success Purposeful
instruction, assessment, and staff
development. Actively promote a climate of
achievement Incentives and
celebrations. Structure strong school building
leadership. Support students in building
knowledge and skills for success today and
tomorrow.
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• Step into the PASS Team Process
• (Preparing All Students for Success)
• The vision of this leadership team process is to
  meet
• the individual needs of schools.
• Select staff
• Four trainings during the 2004-2005 school year
• Plan and organize training
• Training staff during in-service days.
• One or two research-based instructional
  strategies (graphic organizers, questioning, etc)
  will be introduced.
• Strategies are tools that are intended to enhance
  teachers practice.
• Examining student work.
• The PASS Team process is research-based and
  correlates with effective professional
  development models proven to enhance student
  achievement.

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A School District That Cannot Learn Cannot Teach
Is our stated purpose consistent with our daily
practice?
Instructional Strategies Driving Student
Achievement
Students Needs Driving District Goals
Assessment SIP/NCA Plans PASS
Team Building Students
Adapted from Johnson, D. Sustaining Change in
Schools, 2005.
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PASS Training

I Do It We Do It You Do It
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• Professional Learning Communities

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Creating a Connected Community
Commitment to a Shared Purpose
Access to Information

Networking
LEARNING

Networking
Collaboration and Purpose
Leadership and Facilitation
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Step 1
Dialogue
Work Together
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PLC Graphic Organizer
Step 2

• Article is divided into three sections
• Divide group accordingly
• All read the introduction and conclusion. Each
  member reads his/her numbered section
• As you read the section, record important
  information on graphic organizer
• You will have 7 minutes to read your section and
  take notes
• Please be mindful of those that are still reading

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PLC Graphic Organizer
Step 3

• Choose a recorder and reporter
• Discuss your section with your group
• Determine ONE key idea from the article and post
  on the left side of T-Chart
• Determine how you would achieve the key idea back
  at your building(s) and post on the right side of
  T-Chart
• The reporter will explain the T-Chart to the
  large group
• You will have 15 minutes to complete this
  assignment

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Step 4
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Reflect/Transfer/Implement

• Refer to section 8 in your binder
• As a team, take some
  time to
• reflect on the two graphic organizers, and
• record ways to use it to inform instruction.

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If schools want to enhance their
organizational capacity to boost student
learning, they should work on building

a professional community that is characterized
by a shared purpose,
collaborative activity, and collective
responsibility among staff.
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Back at the Campsite . . .

• Trailblazers
• Pioneers
• Homesteaders
• City Folk
• Saboteurs

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• Marzano Research

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Marzanos Research
Students come in at 50 Leave at the end of the year
Average School Average Teacher 50 50
Highly Ineffective School Highly Ineffective Teacher 50 3
Highly Effective School Ineffective Teacher 50 37
Ineffective School Highly Effective Teacher 50 63
Highly Effective School Highly Effective Teacher 50 96
Highly Effective School Average Teacher 50 78
What does this research tell us about
schools? What does this research tell us about
teachers?
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You have to hire the whole environment. For a
flower to blossom,
you need the right soil as well
as the right seed. (William Bernback, as
quoted in Developing the Leaders Around You,
Maxwell) The right atmosphere
allows potential leaders
to bloom and grow.
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Robert Marzano What Work in Schools
Translating Research into Action Classroom
Instruction That Works Research-based Strategies
for Increasing Student Achievement A Handbook
for Classroom Instruction That Works Building
Background Knowledge for Academic Achievement
Research on What Works in Schools Classroom
Management That Works Research-based Strategies
for Every Teacher
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Strategy Cues, Questions and Organizers

• Tools
• Highly Effective Questioning
• Instructional Strategies
• Problem Solving
• Graphic Organizers
• Examining Student Work
• Research

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Marzanos Framework of Educational Strategies
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Questioning

• We use questions because of their unique ability
  to help us develop students abilities to
  think critically.
• Individually, define the phrase
  Critical Thinking Skill.
• As a group, determine what characteristics would
  be required for a skill to be considered a
  Critical Thinking Skill.

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A Critical Thinking Skill must be

• A mental act Requires a mental effort directed
  toward some underlying content, whether that
  content is text, a picture, sounds, or a set of
  symbols.
• A critical act The mental act in a questions
  must be important or useful (critical). Without
  importance the act in question becomes only a
  thinking skill.
• Amenable to instruction Must have the potential
  to be developed and improved through teaching or
  instruction.
• Generalizable across content Must be useful or
  applicable to learning and problem-solving in
  more than one content area and possibly several.

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Example To Recall

• Is this a mental act?
• Is this a critical?
• Is this amenable to instruction?
• Is this generalizable across content?

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Example To Compare

• Is this a mental act?
• Is this a critical?
• Is this amenable to instruction?
• Is this generalizable across content?

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Article Jigsaw

• Article is divided into three sections
• Number off by threes
• All read conclusion. Each member reads his/her
  numbered section

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Article Jigsaw

• As you read the section, use the following marks
• ? For something you have a question about
• ! For something new you learned
• For something you already knew
• You will have 7 minutes to read your section
  and make notes.
• Please be mindful of those that are still
  reading.

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Summing it up

• Create groups of 1, 2, and 3s
• Take 6 minutes to brief each other on your
  section of the reading
• Discuss the following question
• How do you think questioning is going
  to help you meet the NCA goals?

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• Ask yourself
• this question
• when confronted by a difficult problem
• How would Superman handle this?

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Assessment Discussion

• Considering the
  ABC Graphic Organizer
• or
• the PLC Graphic Organizer . . .
• What is going to be assessed and how?

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Assessment Questions

• Are we assessing whether teachers appropriately
  teach graphic organizers or questioning
  techniques?
• NO
• Are we assessing student achievement in reading
  and math?
• NO
• This is assessed through
  the
  state and district standardized tests.
• What are we assessing?
• How should we assess it?
• Rubric
• Checklist
• Other

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Guiding Questions

• Does the tool represent both content and skills?
• Does the tool focus on learning outcomes that
  require critical thinking skills? (Questioning
  vs. Graphic Organizers)
• Does the tool minimize skills that are irrelevant
  to the outcome or purpose?
• Does the tool provide adequate scaffolding?
• What feedback can you gain feedback from the
  tool?
• Could a student transfer the skill of using the
  tool?
• Is it sustainable?

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Let's Review!!!
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Leadership Team Review
Leadership Team

• Marzano Research

Professional Learning Communities
Application
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Application Develop a Plan
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Roll up the sleevesApply the learning.

• Discuss

• Consolidate

• Map Out

• Present

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• Back the campsite we are going to

Planning Guide
Section 7
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• When all else fails
• Walk fast
• and look
• WORRIED! ?