A Collaborative Culture

Monday Morning Memo (MMM)

Monday, September 22

Creating a collaborative culture is the single most important factor for successful school improvement initiatives and the first order of business for those seeking to enhance the effectiveness of their schools.

Kenneth Eastwood and Karen Seashore Lewis (1992)

During our opening gathering in August at our Rural Inservice, we talked a good bit about Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) and getting together in some form or fashion to "learn and share together." Although the first few hours back to school are hardly the ideal time to absorb new learning of a substantive nature, I have long been a big-time advocate of PLCs and all that they can accomplish—provided the process is undertaken slowly, steadily, and with a commitment on the part of all teachers and administrators within the school and school district. In 2012-2013 several teachers gathered at the ESD and asked for PLCs in front of the ChalkBoard Project leader and in front of ODE personnel.  A PLC book by DuFour, DuFour, Eaker, and Many (2006) titled, Learning By Doing: A Handbook for Professional Learning Communities at Work, is a great read that I undertook 4 years ago. I recently read it again. Although I have read this book before, I enjoyed rereading it recently. If interested, I'd love to purchase this book for those interested in doing a PLT book read together. Just e-mail Janet at caldwelj@harneyedu.net and we'll see if we can form a book read for those interested (PDUs available!!!). I hope that between now and the end of January—when we complete our study of this book— leaders will share with you what they have learned about PLCs and their personal thoughts on this framework.

I suspect that most everyone in Harney County schools is at least somewhat familiar with PLCs and the success and notoriety that Stevenson High School achieved through their work as they began the PLC journey that has continued for well over a decade now. Perhaps the most important “thing” to remember when we consider embarking upon a similar journey is that PLCs are not a “thing” at all. The PLC concept is not a program in any aspect, but a way of consistently and systematically conducting our core business of teaching and learning. A school that is functioning as a true PLC embraces certain areas of focus which become embedded into the school’s culture.

There are, of course, a plethora of books written on the topic of Professional Learning Communities, many of which extol the virtues of PLCs and how they have dramatically impacted student and teacher learning around the world. I would commend several of these books to you, but, for now, I did want to share with you an abbreviated overview, which you will likely recall from previous learning. I repeat the basic information here because it truly encapsulates the entire PLC framework. Put simply, PLCs are basically centered on four critical questions all educators should ask themselves within a culture that emphasizes three key behaviors. A true Professional Learning Community includes members who exhibit (a) a focus on learning, (b) a focus on results, and (c) a collaborative culture.

Within this cultural framework, teachers and administrators constantly ask themselves the following four questions:

1.    What is it we want our kids to learn?

2.    How will we know if they have learned it?

3.    How will we respond when kids do not learn?

4.    How will we respond when kids have already mastered the intended learning objectives?

In a nutshell, the above statements are really all there is to the PLC concept! Moreover, the above seven statements are the essence of effective schools staffed by dedicated teachers who do not settle for merely teaching the curriculum, but instead ensuring that kids are learning the intended curriculum. Earlier this year, Todd Whitaker reiterated what I have already stated on several occasions: there is really only one thing that makes a school great and that is having great teachers. We are blessed to have great teachers in our schools, great teachers who focus on learning, focus on results, and work collaboratively to ask and answer the four critical questions posed above.

As we embark on this PLT/PLC journey together, we should consider this good news. Most of you are already half-way there.  The critical components of a PLC are already in place to a certain extent in your schools. Working together to further our focus will fine tune these procedures!

Have a great week!

Eric

 Kudos to Jeff Zhoul for modification of this Creating a Collaborative Culture Blogpost!

INDISTAR TRAINING @ ESD on 9/19/14 sponsored by ODE

For those accepting Title 1A funds and that are school-wide Title, INDISTAR is required by 2016. Did you not receive and invite to the INDISTAR training? Are you a Title school? If you answered yes, to both questions...contact Stacie Ankrum     (503) 947-5633, Federal Systems Specialist. 

Random Resource:

Grade 3-6 STEM LAB

Partnering Videos:

Precision Partnering from K. Feldman

Good ideas, but not PRECISION PARTNERING: http://www.teachertube.com/video/partnering-in-whole-class-activities-245273

Checklist to Ensure You are using Precision Partnering!

“Precision” Partnering Implementation Checklist		Date________________________________    Observer____________________________ Teacher___________________________ Class_____________________________
Seating is conducive to partnering			Comments
Partners are pre-assigned
Provides a sentence starter
Models a response (verbally and in writing)
Designates who speaks first
Check for understanding  1.        □ Preselected 2.        □ Random call 3.        □ Volunteers
One promising instructional practice I observed:
One way to improve peer academic interaction and unified-class discussion: ­­­­­­­­­­­­­

Videos to check out!:

Common Core Math Lesson Example (13 min)

Standards vs. Curriculum (1 min)

Funny Highly Qualified Teacher (6 min)

Order of Operations Rap!!!

Articles you might want to check out:

Social Media--Lawyers and PD

Kids and Poverty and their teachers

Student Growth Assessments

Going Public with Students' work

What's Really wrong with Round Robin Reading

Calendar of Events:

Sept 19--Indistar Training @ Harney ESD sponsored by ODE
Sept 24--Double O and Suntex visit

Sept 25--Google Hangout PLC--see invite via email (need assistance-Please call!)
Sept 26--Achievement Compact/Report Card gathering @ ESD in AM
Sept 26--Last day for Report Card submission

Sept 30--Last day to pull down assessment funds from EGMS

Oct 3-4--CCSS Science training @ ESD--flyer from robbinsc@harneyedu.net
Oct 15--Achievement Compacts Due