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Responsibilities of Professional Learning Communities

Team PLCs:

­ Interdisciplinary (4 members) ­ Establish and Follow PLC norms ­ Discuss shared students, curricular commonalities, common instructional practices, and

team management ­ Team Leader: Liaison between team and administrator/counselor; initiate and collect

team decisions; express team concerns; plan and execute team ideas/initiatives

Department PLCs:

­ 9 + members (grades 6­8/same content) ­ 2 Chairs per department ­ Follow PLC Norms ­ Discuss data, PD needs, curriculum and instructional strategies, resources/materials ­ Department Chair: Make determinations regarding department PD needs based on

data; lead and/or schedule department PD and data analysis

Content PLCs:

­ 3 + regular education teachers ­ includes ESE teacher in ELA/Math ­ 1 PLC Leader ­ Follow PLC norms ­ Plan units and common assessments, analyze assessment data, share in professional

development experience ­ Content PLC Leader: Initiate planning, discussion of data, and PD

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Dutchman Creek Middle School

Professional Learning Community (PLC) Unit Planning and Reporting Form

Please complete and submit the Unit Plan portion of the unit at least one week prior to beginning the unit; complete and submit the Unit Report portion of the unit at least 1 week after completing the unit. The Weekly PLC Meeting portion of the unit should be completed each week during PLC planning meetings and should be submitted with the Unit Reporting portion of the unit, although the form should be available upon request. Please submit this form to your grade level AP, Department Chair(s), Dr. Holmes, and Dr. Williams. Unit Plan Unit Title and Focus Projected Unit Start and End

Dates Team Members

Enduring Understanding(s) Essential Question(s) Formative Assessments (Attach formative assessments/Provide a description of assessments that cannot be attached) Skills/Concept Assessment Summative Assessment Projected Date (Attach test, assignment sheet and/or rubric)

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Teaching Strategies State and Common Core Standards Strategies to address State and CC Standards

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Weekly PLC Meeting

Week of Unit Title PLC Team Members

Results of Previous Week’s Formative Assessment(s)

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday

Learning Intentions

Standards

Learning Activities

/ Tasks

Whole Class

Small group

Independent Practice

Formative Assessments

Resources

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What will we do if they already know it? (specific strategies)

What will we do if they didn’t learn it? (specific interventions)

Goals for next meeting

Tasks before the next meeting Team member responsible

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Unit Report Summative Assessment Results (Please attach an Item Analysis per PLC member for all multiple choice and mathematics assessments; all rubric scored assessments should be analyzed per rubric category per PLC member.) How will we respond if they didn’t learn? (Please list specific interventions.) Teacher Learning (What have you learned and how will it impact what you do in the future?)

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SAMPLE

Professional Learning Community (PLC) Unit Planning and Reporting Form

Please complete and submit the Unit Plan portion of the unit at least one week prior to beginning the unit; complete and submit the Unit Report portion of the unit at least 1 week after completing the unit. The Weekly PLC Meeting portion of the unit should be completed each week during PLC planning meetings and should be submitted with the Unit Reporting portion of the unit, although the form should be available upon request. Please submit this form to your grade level AP, Department Chair(s), Dr. Holmes, and Dr. Williams. Unit Plan Unit Title and Focus Projected Unit Start and End

Dates Team Members

‘No Bullying Allowed’ Schooled

Sept. 23­Oct. 25

Larry Curly Moe

Enduring Understanding(s)­

We should be accepting of the unique character traits of others. We can learn a lot about ourselves through our experiences with others.

Essential Question(s)

How are you impacted as a reader by the varying perspectives of others? How do my interactions with others reflect on my own character? What are the valuable character traits needed to be a good person?

Formative Assessments (Attach formative assessments/Provide a description of assessments that cannot be attached) Skills/Concept Assessment Explain how an author develops the point of view of the narrator or speaker in a text

First Impressions or Educated Guesses?­ chart

Determine a theme or central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details

CAR strategy (Character­Action­Results)­ theme bumper sticker activity

Describe how a story’s plot unfolds in a series of episodes and how the characters respond or change as the plot moves towards a resolution

Character Metamorphosis­ graphic organizer

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Summative Assessment Projected Date (Attach test, assignment sheet and/or rubric) Argumentative Writing Task: due Oct. 25th Rain raised Cap in a very different environment and with a very different set of values. Do you think this has made Cap a stronger person or handicapped him? Cite evidence from the text to support your argument. Multiple Choice Assessment with Cold Texts on POV, theme, and characterization: Oct 20th Teaching Strategies State and Common Core Standards Strategies to address State and CC Standards Explain how an author develops the point of view of the narrator or speaker in a text (RL­6.6)

Read chapter 1 from Schooled Model think aloud focused on POV of Cap. Use First Impressions or Educated Guesses chart Discuss possible life experiences of Cap that shape

his POV Compare point of view of chapters 1 and 2

Determine a theme or central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details (RL­6.2)

Read chapter 3 from Schooled Model think aloud of “Again and Again” signpost

from Notice and Note Complete Signpost think sheet based on chapter 3 GRR technique using CAR graphic organizer

Describe how a story’s plot unfolds in a series of episodes and how the characters respond or change as the plot moves towards a resolution (RL­6.3)

Using Character Metamorphosis GO Whole Group Modeling with Zach Small Group Practice with Naomi Independent Practice with Cap

Have students add to earlier draft of narrative (“Describe a time when bullying affected you…”) How would your role be different if that situation?

Compare and contrast texts in different forms or genres in terms of their approaches to similar themes and topics (RL­6.9)

Create stations with students reading a different short text about bullying:

Station 1: “True Teen Story ‘I was getting death threats’” Station 2: ‘Say Something’ Station 3: ‘Is Facebook Making You Mean?’ Station 4: ‘Are You a Bully?’

Students rotate through 2 stations per day Use Text­to­Text GO from J. Allen each day Respond to prompt, “How does ignoring bullying

hurt the victim? Cite evidence from at least 2 of the 4 texts from the station work to support your discussion.

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SAMPLE

Weekly PLC Meeting

Week of PLC Team Members

Sept. 30, 2013 Larry, Curly, Moe

Results of Previous Week’s Formative Assessment(s)

CAR bumper sticker from Sept. 25th:

Larry­ 90/100 students accurately determined the theme Curly­ 100/100 students accurately determined the theme Moe­ 85/100 students accurately determined the theme Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday

Today we are learning…

Learning Intentions

Theme is the idea or message that the writer wants the reader to understand.

Characters usually change as the conflict of the story is resolved…but not always.

Authors use different techniques to prove the same point.

Authors use different techniques to prove the same point.

Standards (RL­6.2) (RL­6.3) (RL­6.9) (RL­6.9)

Learning Activities

/ Tasks

Whole Class ­Read aloud The Rainbow Fish

­Model using the CAR chart.

­Discuss theme of The Sneetches

­Think aloud character metamorphosis GO with Zach

­Model marking up the text strategy with focus question from prompt

None

Small group Have students work in small groups to identify the theme of various texts (leveled based on

­Students work in small groups on character metamorphosis GO with Naomi

­Station work gathering support for argument with first 2 stations

­Continue station work from previous day with remaining 2 stations

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previous assessment using CAR).

Independent Practice

Have students read The Sneetches and identify theme.

­Students work independently on character metamorphosis GO with Cap

None ­ Organize notes into GO for pre­writing

Formative Assessments Exit Ticket: Theme statement for The Sneetches

Product­

Indiv. Charts with Cap

Exit Ticket:

Based on reading so far, how does ignoring bullying hurt the victim?

Product­

Graphic Organizer

What will we do if they already know it? (specific strategies)

­ Extension Activity: writing short story surrounding a given theme to be submitted to Literary magazine.

What will we do if they didn’t learn it? (specific interventions)

­ Create stations for extended practice for students who have mastered the concept ­ Create teacher guided station for students still struggling with concept ­ At teacher guided station complete Think Aloud of excerpt from “The Courage to Be Yourself”, make note of ideas found again

and again, discuss why the author brings the idea up again and again, discuss connection to theme, use another excerpt from“The Courage...” for group Say Something.

Goals for next meeting

Read the 4 articles for next week’s station reading

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Tasks before the next meeting Team member(s) responsible

Create Assignment Sheet for Writing Prompt for Group to Review

Curly

Practice using SubText App All

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Unit Report Summative Assessment Results (Please attach an Item Analysis per PLC member for all multiple choice and mathematics assessments; all rubric scored assessments should be analyzed per rubric category per PLC member.) Writing Assignment Analyzed by category on rubric Teacher (Rubric Level­Percentage of students scoring on this level%) Content­ Larry (1­20%, 2­10%, 3­50% 4­20%) Curly (1­ 10%, 2­60%, 3­ 10%, 4­ 20%) Moe (1­15%, 2­ 55%, 3­ 20%, 4­ 10%) Organization Larry (1­20%, 2­10%, 3­50% 4­20%) Curly (1­ 10%, 2­60%, 3­ 10%, 4­ 20%) Moe (1­15%, 2­ 55%, 3­ 20%, 4­ 10%) Voice Larry (1­ 20%, 2­ 10%, 70%) Curly (1­ 10%, 2­ 60%, 3­ 30%) Moe (1­ 10%, 2­ 30%, 3­ 60%) Conventions Larry (1­20%, 2­10%, 3­50% 4­20%) Curly (1­ 10%, 2­60%, 3­ 10%, 4­ 20%) Moe (1­15%, 2­ 55%, 3­ 20%, 4­ 10%) MC Assessment Analyzed down by item. Teacher (item #­ percentage correct) Item # Larry Curly Moe 1 90% 100%

95%

2 5% 3%

4%

3 100% 15%

10%

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4 80% 85%

90%

5 99% 15% 100% How will we respond if they didn’t learn? (Please list specific interventions.) The skill assessed in question #3 (characterization) was highly mastered by students in Mr. Larry’s class; however, the skill was a struggle for students in Mr. Curly and Mr. Moe’s classes. A re­teaching of the characterization lesson will be conducted by Mr. Larry using a ‘class swap’ with Mr. Curly and Mr. Moe’s classes. Mr. Curly will create a new whole class lesson on the skill from question #5 (theme) based on the approach utilized by Mr. Larry and Mr. Moe. Teacher Learning (What have you learned and how will it impact what you do in the future?) Question #2 was eliminated from the assessment scores for students because the question was poorly worded. The students needed multiple opportunities to practice determining theme. The students loved the novel and made great connections between DCMS and Claverage Middle School. Ideas for next year: Have students create PSAs based on ‘themes’ that relate to middle school Do more background building on the Peace Movement

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PLC NORMS PLC Members:

When establishing norms, consider: Proposed Norm

Time

When do we meet? Will we set a beginning and ending

time? Will we start and end on time?

Listening

How will we encourage listening? How will we discourage interrupting?

Confidentiality

Will the meetings be open? Will what we say in the meeting be

held in confidence? What can be said after the meeting?

Decision Making

How will we make decisions? Are we an advisory or a

decision­making body? Will we reach decisions by consensus? How will we deal with conflicts?

Participation

How will we encourage everyone’s participation?

Will we have an attendance policy?

Expectations

What do we expect from members?

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Are there requirements for participation?

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Unit Syllabi Template

Unit Title: Unit Dates:

Objectives/Standards/Essential Questions: Resources/Strategies for Further Practice:

Assignments: (Approx.) Dates:

Final Assessment: (Approx.) Dates:

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PLC Meeting Agenda/Minutes

Meeting Date: PLC:

Agenda Items: Action Taken/To Be Taken: Minutes Discussed:

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Instructional Checklist

Learning Intentions (student friendly objectives) are posted and are visible

for students. Students should be able to articulate what they are learning

each day.

A variety of instructional models (i.e. whole class modeling, guided or

independent small groups, or individual student practice) are incorporated in

the lesson.

A variety of instructional strategies are incorporated in the lesson.

The lesson incorporates reading and writing as outlined in the applicable

components of the Common Core State standards.

The lesson incorporates technology when applicable.

The components of the lesson are engaging and student­centered.

Formal or informal formative assessments are used to determine progress in

student learning.

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