Singleton and Looking PLCs for Singletons Introductions Meleah

Singleton and Looking PLCs for Singletons

Introductions Meleah Jones, MA, Instructional Coach mjones@springville. k 12. ia. us Melissa Murphy, MA, Secondary School Counselor mmurphy@springville. k 12. ia. us Trina Roos, MA, Elementary School Counselor troos@springville. k 12. ia. us Abby Stoll, BA, K-12 Gifted and Talented Coordinator, 4 -6 Art Teacher astoll@springville. k 12. ia. us Springville Community School District

Session objectives ● Understand PLC process ● Identify advantages of engaging in PLCs ● Share ideas for how counselors and other singletons can effectively engage in PLCs in their buildings

What is a professional learning community? An ongoing process in which educators work collaboratively in recurring cycles of collective inquiry and action research to achieve better results for the students they serve. Du. Four, Eaker, Many, & Mattos Learning by Doing: A Handbook for Professional Learning Communities at Work 2016

Three Big Ideas of a PLC: ● Learning for all: We accept learning as the fundamental purpose of our school and therefore are willing to examine all practices in light of their impact on learning. ● Collaborative culture: We are committed to working together to achieve our collective purpose. We cultivate a collaborative culture through the development of high-performing teams. ● Results oriented: We assess our effectiveness on the basis of results rather than intentions. Individuals, teams, and schools seek relevant data and information and use that information to promote continuous improvement. Du. Four, Eaker, Many, & Mattos Learning by Doing: A Handbook for Professional Learning Communities at Work 2016

Four Critical Questions of the PLC Process 1. 2. 3. 4. What do we expect students to learn? How do we know they are learning it? How do we respond when they do not learn? How do we respond when they have learned it? Du. Four, Eaker, Many, & Mattos, Learning by Doing: A Handbook for Professional Learning Communities at Work 2016

Turn and Talk As a small school or singleton counselor/teacher, what challenges do you currently face in collaborating in a meaningful way?

Ways to Organize PLCs ● ● Grade level Course alike Vertical Interdisciplinary Mattos The Power of One: Creating High-Performing Teams for Singleton Staff 2018

Turn and Talk What do you see as some advantages to counselors of working in PLCs no matter how they’re organized?

Advantages ● ● ● Going beyond one curricular area Feeling less isolated and more supported Brings visibility to the overlap in counselor/teacher issues Provides SEL perspective to other content areas Counseling program advocacy

How to Start Working As Singletons in Collaboration 1. Structure the team 2. Focus on common issues across all team members subject areas 3. After finding a common issue, figure out the desired common outcome 4. Develop a method of measuring current performance 5. Calibrate scoring and evaluate results 6. Develop common strategies to improve performance Aaron Hansen How to Develop PLCs for Singletons and Small Schools 2019

The school counselor’s contributions to PLCs YES! ● Experience with data analysis ● Access to data not often easily available to classroom teachers (ACT, multiple years of assessment data) ● Broader view of student and student success Noooooo. . . ● Listening to gripes about students ● Make schedules, find planning time ● Don’t prioritize other obligations over PLC

Learn from our mistakes. . . ● Calling yourself a PLC doesn’t mean you are engaging in the PLC process ● When we began, we were all members of two PLCs, one of which only met monthly--we didn’t have a sharp focus ● Keep the goal student focused, not teacher focused

What we’ve done right. . . ● ● Built strong rapport within each team Shared desire to impact students Worked hard on establishing strong, measurable goals Grown in our shared ability to analyze data

Elementary Example

Elementary Example

Secondary Example Problem solving rubric Creative thinking rubric Critical thinking rubric Supporting arguments with evidence Arguments data

Turn and Talk Offer three ideas for what you can take back to your school to increase the effectiveness of PLCs/advocate for school counselors in PLCs