Up and Running as Professional Learning Communities- Day 2 of the School Year!!!

We have a had a strong start to the school year here at Waterman Elementary.  Our grade level teams have already met to set their norms, to begin the backwards design process for curriculum and instructional planning, and to create common assessments for learning.  It is important to reflect upon last year at this time, when those three tasks seemed daunting and overwhelming!  Now, it is just part of "what we do", or our culture at Waterman!


Setting Norms
Each team begins their PLC process by setting up norms for operating as a Professional Learning Community.  It is important for each team to establish their rules or guidelines for the important work that they do each week.  These norms guide behavior and thinking, and keep the focus of the meeting on the most important factor, student learning.  Grade level teams define the routines and procedures for working as a PLC, as well as roles within the team.  Our teams follow the cycle of:

1.  Backwards Mapping the Standard
2.  Create and aligned pre/post assessment
3.  Analyze pre-assessment data to create differentiated groupings
4.  Instructional planning for differentiated instruction
5.  Analyze post assessment data
6.  Plan for remediation/enrichment

It is important to revisit the norms periodically, especially if team members are feeling like their PLC meetings are not being used effectively.  I encourage our teams to come back to the norms at the start of each meeting for the first month, and then monthly for the rest of the school year.  Norms should be fluid and flexible, so that the time in PLC meetings is maximized for student benefit.