Friday Update 3-12-10

While all of the requirements of this year have made it hard to see the value of PLC's - there is value. If you remember, we started preparing for our "PLC journey" on those 1/2 day PLC days during the 2008-09 school year. As I said during the staff meeting on Tuesday, your collective growth as a staff is tremendous. You have all come a long way in terms of your ability to put away the "noise (frustrations, personal crises, etc.)" in order to focus on student learning. As we continue on our PLC journey and get ready for next week's extended PLC's, I wanted to remind you of the key parts of a true Professional Learning Community taken from the Richard DuFour book Learning by Doing (2006).

Professional Learning Community (PLC)"Educators committed to working collaboratively in ongoing processes of collective inquiry and action research to achieve better results for the students they serve. Professional learning communities operate under the assumption that the key to improved learning for students is continuous job-embedded learning for educators." Learning by Doing (2006)

What Are Professional Learning Communities?It has been interesting to observe the growing popularity of the term professional learning community. In fact, the term has become so commonplace and has been used so ambiguously to describe virtually any loose coupling of individuals who share a common interest in education that it is in danger of losing all meaning. This lack of precision is an obstacle to implementing PLC concepts because, as Mike Schmoker observes, "clarity precedes competence." Thus, we begin with an attempt to clarify our meaning of the term. To those familiar with our past work, this step may seem redundant, but we are convinced that redundancy can be a powerful tool in effective communication, and we prefer redundancy to ambiguity.
A Focus on Learning

A Collaborative Culture With a Focus on Learning for All

Collective Inquiry Into Best Practice and Current Reality

Action Orientation: Learning by Doing

A Commitment to Continuous Improvement
Inherent to a PLC are a persistent disquiet with the status quo and a constant search for a better way to achieve goals and accomplish the purpose of the organization. Systematic processes engage each member of the organization in an ongoing cycle of:
Gathering evidence of current levels of student learning
Developing strategies and ideas to build on strengths and address weaknesses in that learning
Implementing those strategies and ideas
Analyzing the impact of the changes to discover what was effective and what was not
Applying new knowledge in the next cycle of continuous improvement

Results Orientation
Finally, members of a PLC realize that all of their efforts in these areas—a focus on learning, collaborative teams, collective inquiry, action orientation, and continuous improvement—must be assessed on the basis of results rather than intentions. Unless initiatives are subjected to ongoing assessment on the basis of tangible results, they represent random groping in the dark rather than purposeful improvement. As Peter Senge and colleagues conclude, "The rationale for any strategy for building a learning organization revolves around the premise that such organizations will produce dramatically improved results."
This focus on results leads each team to develop and pursue measurable improvement goals that are aligned to school and district goals for learning. It also drives teams to create a series of common formative assessments that are administered to students multiple times throughout the year to gather ongoing evidence of student learning. Team members review the results from these assessments in an effort to identify and address program concerns (areas of learning where many students are experiencing difficulty). They also examine the results to discover strengths and weaknesses in their individual teaching in order to learn from one another. Most importantly, the assessments are used to identify students who need additional time and support for learning. Frequent common formative assessments represent one of the most powerful tools in the PLC arsenal.

DuFour, R., DuFour, R., Eaker, R., & Many (2006). Learning by Doing: A Handbook for Professional Learning Communities at Work™, pp. 2–4.
For more information, read the article "What Is a Professional Learning Community?"


“Learn everything you can, anytime you can, from anyone you can - there will always come a time when you will be grateful you did.”

Sarah Caldwell



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Next week
Monday 3/15 –SAT, Science Festival Kick-off, 3rd grade ½ day PLC in Dice’s room, EC ½ day PLC in Barnes’ room

Tuesday 3/16– Science Festival, Progress Reports Go Home, SIT, PLC Facilitator Mtg., Time to Eat Night, Kindergarten ½ day PLC in Dice’s room, Specialists ½ day PLC in Barnes’ room

Wednesday 3/17 – Science Festival, CC Mtg., 4th grade ½ day PLC in Barnes’ room, 1st grade ½ day PLC in Dice’s room


Thursday 3/18 –Science Festival, 2nd grade ½ day PLC in Barnes’ room, 5th grade ½ day PLC in Dice’s room

Friday 3/19 - Watch Dog – Todd Stephens, Admin. Team Mtg.

Week of 3/22-3/26
(3/22) 3rd grade PLC @ 12:10, Grades 3-5 testing window begins, SAT, Sagebrush Night, Volunteer Committee Mtg. @ 3:00
(3/23) Kindergarten PLC @ 8:50, Specialists PLC @ 9:30, Dental screening for grades K, 3, 5, EC, PBS Mtg., Board of Education Mtg.
(3/24) 1st grade PLC @ 10:20, EC PLC @ 12:00, 4th grade PLC @ 12:55
(3/25) 2nd grade PLC @ 11:05, 5th grade PLC @ 1:40, Watch Dog – Sean Eller
(3/26) End of quarterly testing, Admin. Team Mtg., Kindergarten to SciWorks

Duty Schedule
*Breakfast – Biggam, Trinkle


FYI/Reminders
-Just a reminder that if you would like to make a contribution to the FCAE campaign fund please see Terry Zimmerman, Pateah East, or Kathi Lawrence
-The RJM Financial Southwest Golf tournament is scheduled for Friday, April 9th at Salem Glen Golf Club. We are still seeking players, teams, sponsors as well as donations for the raffle. During the next three weeks, students may pay $1 to have their name put on a “golf ball” that will be used to decorate the hallway. Please send your collection envelopes to Cathy Weiss daily
- If anyone has any extra ziploc sandwich bags or paper towels in their classroom that they would be willing to donate to the health room, they would be greatly appreciated.
-Please submit your vote for our 2010 Volunteer of the Year. Turn your votes in to the glass office by Wednesday, March 17th.
- Thanks for the “goodies” we have been enjoying for Friday lunches. Just a reminder for the rest of the weeks:
March 19th – Kindergarten teachers and assistants, 2nd grade teachers and OWLS
March 26th – Administration, 1st grade teachers and PRTS

Staff Stars

Gateway tutors - Thank you for your wonderfully patient work on Mondays and Thursdays.
5th Grade Teachers - Great job with the ABC book on weather to promote Science vocabulary.
Becky Drummond - Nice use of manipulatives with your equivalent fraction lesson.
Multiplication tournament organizers, judges, announcers and participants - Thank you for your work to keep this a positive experience for our students.
Science Festival planners - Your time and efforts to prepare are greatly appreciated.
Katie Chamra + Terri Lowe - Thank you for being leaders and being so involved with new WSFCS PE initiatives.
Golf committee - Thank you for your efforts to make our tournament successful.
Jennifer Crain/Sarah Baldwin - Great job sharing DIBELS info with the grade level.
Erin Gough - Thanks for taking such great care of your hurt student.
Jan Barr and friends - Thanks for your help in locating our missing student.
Joyce Wilson/Jennifer Fausch - Your support for your student's family has been wonderful.
Sherry Marceron -Thank you for being such an outstanding advocate for your students.