Agenda · 2020-05-26 · Agenda Lincolnshire, IL • August 3–5 Monday, August 3 6:30–7:45 a.m....

Agenda

Lincolnshire, IL • August 3–5 Monday, August 3

6:30–7:45 a.m. Registration Glass Commons

Continental Breakfast Field House

7:45–9:45 a.m. Keynote—Sarah Schuhl Ready, Set, Go! Using the Foundations and Big Ideas of a PLC at Work to Grow Student Learning

Performing Arts Center

9:45–10:15 a.m. Break

10:15–11:45 a.m. Breakout Sessions

11:45 a.m.–1:15 p.m. Lunch (provided) Field House

1:15–2:45 p.m. Breakout Sessions

2:45–3:15 p.m. Break

3:15–4:15 p.m. Panel Discussion—Presenters provide practical answers to your most pressing questions.


Tuesday, August 4

7:00–8:00 a.m. Registration Glass Commons

Continental Breakfast Field House

8:00–9:45 a.m. Keynote—Mike Mattos The Litmus Test of a PLC: Making Decisions Through the Lens of Learning


9:45–10:15 a.m. Break


11:45 a.m.–1:15 p.m. Lunch (provided) Field House

1:15–2:45 p.m. Breakouts Sessions

2:45–3:15 p.m. Break

3:15–4:15 p.m. Team Time—Presenters are available to aid in your collaborative team discussions.

Field House

Wednesday, August 5

7:00–8:00 a.m. Continental Breakfast Field House


9:30–10:00 a.m. Break

10:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m. Keynote—Robert Eaker Would It Be Good Enough for Your Own Child?


Agenda is subject to change.

Breakouts at a Glance

Presenters & Titles Monday, August 3 Tuesday, August 4

Wednesday, August 5

10:15–11:45 a.m. 1:15–2:45 p.m. 10:15–11:45 a.m. 1:15–2:45 p.m. 8:00–9:30 a.m.

Daniel Cohan

Building a Professional Learning Community at the High School Level

x

Why Is It So Confusing? Defining Team Structures and Responsibilities in a PLC

x x

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back: Continuous Improvement Through Challenges and Setbacks

x x

Robert Eaker

Friday Night in America: A Commonsense Approach to Improving Student Achievement

x

A Focus on Learning: What Would It Look Like If We Really Meant It?

x

Aligning the Work of a Professional Learning Community: Central Office, Schools, and Teams

x

Developing a Stretch Culture x

Chris Jakicic

Too Much to Teach, Too Much to Learn

x

Simplifying Assessment Design x x

Writing Quality Questions for Common Formative Assessments

x x

Marc Johnson

Okay, So We’re a Team. Now What?

x x

So Who’s Leading This Thing? I Guess We All Are!

x x

Collaboration Rocks! x

Presenters & Titles

Monday, August 3

Tuesday, August 4

Wednesday, August 5

10:15–11:45 a.m. 1:15–2:45 p.m. 10:15–11:45 a.m. 1:15–2:45 p.m. 8:00–9:30 a.m.

Diane Kerr

Collective Commitments: The Misunderstood and Often Forgotten Pillar

x x

Answering Question One Through the Eyes of an English Learner

x

Let’s Celebrate! x

Brig Leane

Instructional Excellence via the PLC Process

x x

Sustaining a Highly Effective PLC x

It’s Not Your Fault, but It Is Your Problem

x x

Mike Mattos

Are We a Group or A Team? x

Simplifying Response to Intervention: How to Create a Highly Effective, Multitiered System of Supports

x

Raising the Bar and Closing the Gap: Whatever It Takes in Secondary Schools

x

The Power of One: Creating High‐Performing Teams for Singleton Staff

x

Guiding Principles for Principals: Tips and Tools for Leading the PLC Process

x

Anthony Muhammad

Bringing the Four PLC Questions to Life: Systems That Ensure All Students Learn

x

Overcoming the Achievement Gap Trap: Liberating Mindsets to Effect Change

x

Presenters & Titles

Monday, August 3

Tuesday, August 4

Wednesday, August 5

10:15–11:45 a.m. 1:15–2:45 p.m. 10:15–11:45 a.m. 1:15–2:45 p.m. 8:00–9:30 a.m.

Anthony Muhammad

Building Culture, Creating Purpose, and Overcoming Frustration on Your PLC Journey

x

Collaboration Is a Lifestyle, Not a Meeting!

x

Getting Started: Building Consensus and Responding to Resisters

x

Maria Nielsen

The 15‐Day Challenge: Win Quick, Win Often!

x x

Show Me What Ya Got: Student Engagement Strategies to Keep the Pulse on Learning

x x

Help Your Team: Overcoming Common Collaborative Challenges in a PLC

x

Lisa M. Reddel

PLCs: What’s in It for Me as a Teacher?

x x

Second‐Order Change: Moving Outside the Familiar to Build Lasting Cultures

x

Facilitating Great Meetings x x

Sarah Schuhl

Mathematics Lessons That Matter: Formative Assessment Processes for Learning Every Day

x

When Content Isn’t Enough: Strategies to Help K–5 Students Learn Mathematics

x

Data, Data, Data: What Do Teams Need? What Do Teams Do With It?

x

Mathematics Assessment in Action x

Focusing Teams and Students With Learning Targets

x

Presenters & Titles

Monday, August 3

Tuesday, August 4

Wednesday, August 5

10:15–11:45 a.m. 1:15–2:45 p.m. 10:15–11:45 a.m. 1:15–2:45 p.m. 8:00–9:30 a.m.

W. Richard Smith

Moving From “Just Doing” to High Performing: Fresh Ideas and Approaches for PLCs

x

Differentiation Isn’t a Dirty Word, but a Great Way to Ensure Learning

x x

Wow! So This Is What We Should Be Doing: Best PLC Practices in Action

x x

Jeanne Spiller

Yes We Can! An Unprecedented Opportunity to Improve Special Education Outcomes

x

Less Is More: Developing Essential Next Generation Standards

x

Get CLEAR: A Protocol for Gaining Clarity Before a Unit of Instruction

x x

Leading Your PLC With Intention: Eight Important Considerations

x

Eric Twadell

Social and Emotional Learning in a PLC at Work: Best Practices for Teaching and Learning

x x

Leadership by Design: Four Essential Conversations for District, School, and Team Leaders

x

Proficiency‐Based Learning and Assessment

x

Grading for Learning: The Five Stages of Evidence‐Based Grading

x

Mark Weichel

Connecting PLCs to Personalized Learning

x

When They Already Know It: How to Extend and Personalize Student Learning in a PLC

x x

Building Your PLC Toolbox x x

Kenneth C. Williams

Starting a Movement: Embracing the Blessed Burden of Leadership

x x

At Risk or Underserved? Focusing on What Really Matters in Student Learning

x

12 Angry Men: The Power of Productive Conflict

x x

Agenda subject to change.

Session Descriptions

Daniel Cohan

Building a Professional Learning Community at the High School Level

American high schools are charged with being comprehensive and individually focused, serving as the

center of the community while preparing all children for graduation and their future. How can high

school principals and staff meet these expectations while increasing learning and achievement for all

students? The best hope is by adapting PLC practices and implementing strong RTI structures in our

high schools.

Daniel Cohan draws from his experience teaching, leading, training, supervising, and supporting high

schools of various structures, sizes, demographics, and philosophies to aid staff and administrators on

their PLC and RTI journeys. He leads participants through strategies, tools, and techniques to facilitate

the development of a highly effective PLC and provides tips and resources customized to the high

school level.

Outcomes from this session include:

Building demand for, and collective ownership of, a PLC culture at the high school level

Gaining strategies to overcome obstacles and model effective PLC practices

Creating structures to systematically provide interventions and enrichment to help all students

reach higher levels of learning

Exploring high school schedules and other products to aid school and district PLC journeys

Why Is It So Confusing? Defining Team Structures and Responsibilities in a PLC

Traditional schools and PLC schools have various “teams” and structures. Small and large schools and

districts alike must have clear team structures and functions that work interdependently to be most

effective. The difference in the makeup of the team, how the team functions, its specific

responsibilities and actions, and how teams are monitored and measured distinguishes traditional

schools from highly effective PLC schools. Student intervention teams, building leadership teams,

content‐ and grade‐level teams, and interdisciplinary teams all have a place in a PLC. This session

explores teams’ expectations and responsibilities. Participants in this session learn key factors of PLC teams, such as:

How teams in small and large schools function effectively within the PLC model

The interconnected responsibilities among building leadership teams, teacher teams, and RTI

teams

The importance of focusing on collective inquiry and action research

Basing effectiveness on results

Developing next steps for their school or district

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back: Continuous Improvement Through Challenges and Setbacks

Like cultivating a garden, cultivating a highly effective PLC requires preparation, perseverance, and

continuous monitoring and nurturing. Ongoing challenges and new variables inevitably arise, leading to

setbacks, derailment, or paralysis. Leading PLCs is a delicate balance of attending to culture and

structure at the same time. We must understand and remind ourselves that challenges are part of the

continuous improvement cycle. Participants in this interactive session share their stories and learn

from one another about how to maintain momentum in their PLCs.


Learning how to stay the course and maintain the essential elements of an effective PLC

Exploring how 100‐day plans can serve as a continuous improvement tool for your PLC

Clearly defining individual and team responsibilities in your PLC

Understanding the importance of short‐term wins

Reviewing examples from schools that have overcome common obstacles and setbacks

Robert Eaker

[KEYNOTE] Would It Be Good Enough for Your Own Child?

After five decades of strong and consistent research, it is no longer in doubt what an effective school

looks like. The central question facing educational leaders is, “Are we committed to embedding

practices for all students that are as effective as the educational practices we would want for our own

child?” This session emphasizes research‐based practices that comprise the Professional Learning

Community at Work framework which, when implemented with specificity and fidelity, ensures high

levels of learning for all students.

Friday Night in America: A Commonsense Approach to Improving Student Achievement

Teachers already know more about how to ensure student learning than they may realize. Band

directors, art teachers, coaches, and other singletons regularly employ successful strategies in

nonacademic school settings. In particular, tactics football coaches use to win on the gridiron on Friday

nights are similar to efforts school teams use in the academic arena. Robert Eaker reviews practices

that lead to improved student learning across the board. He shows how teacher teams can “suit up”

with powerful strategies to triumph every school day.

A Focus on Learning: What Would It Look Like If We Really Meant It?

There is a fundamental difference between schools that function as professional learning communities

and their more traditional counterparts: a shift from a focus on teaching and covering content to a

focus on learning for every student, skill by skill. While few would disagree with the importance of

student learning, some schools struggle with exactly how to embed practices that promote student

success in the classroom. This session focuses on specific strategies schools, teams, and teachers use to

enhance student success in schools that really mean it when they proclaim they want all students to

learn.

Aligning the Work of a Professional Learning Community: Central Office, Schools, and Teams

A districtwide professional learning community is more than a sum of individual parts. A high‐

performing school district that functions as a PLC reflects a thoughtful alignment and integration of

work at the central office level, in individual schools, and in teacher teams. While highlighting the

efforts of highly successful school districts, Robert Eaker describes how these districts organize and

align at each level to implement professional learning community concepts and practices districtwide.

Developing a Stretch Culture

If the goal of achieving high levels of learning for all students is to be realized, then schools must

develop a culture that stretches the aspirations and performance levels of students and adults alike.

Robert Eaker focuses on cultural shifts PLCs make while developing a stretch culture. He pays particular

attention to assessment and providing students with additional time and support to achieve high

academic benchmarks.

Chris Jakicic

Too Much to Teach, Too Much to Learn

What do we want our students to know and be able to do? This question serves as the foundation for

the work of a PLC and guides teams on what to assess and respond to. Chris Jakicic shows why

identifying essential standards is necessary to having a guaranteed and viable curriculum and to

increasing student achievement. Doing this work is the basis of the first critical question teams ask and

vital to getting started in the right way.

Participants in this session:

Gain an understanding of how identifying essential standards leads to a guaranteed and viable

curriculum.

Investigate ways for teams to do this important work.

Discuss how high‐performing teams use essential standards to ensure all students learn at high

levels.

Simplifying Assessment Design

Common formative assessments written, administered, and used by collaborative teams can have a

significant impact on student achievement. This session focuses on helping participants avoid making

common mistakes in assessment design that often lead to misusing data in response to student

learning needs. Participants learn how to unwrap standards into learning targets and how to write an

assessment plan to gain reliable data.


● Understand how unwrapping standards into learning targets helps teams define what

proficiency will look like and improves the quality of formative assessments.

● Learn how to choose the right type of assessment to match the rigor of learning targets.

● Discover how to create an assessment plan that leads to a more valid and reliable assessment.

Writing Quality Questions for Common Formative Assessments

If educators base teaching decisions on assessment results, how do they know their assessment items

provide accurate information? Participants in this session explore how to write items that translate

into better information about student learning. In particular, they gain strategies for assessing more

rigorous learning targets.

Participants can expect to:

● Become familiar with how to write better constructed‐response questions that provide teams

with more accurate information about what students need next.

● Become familiar with how to write better selected‐response questions that allow teams to

respond effectively when students don’t achieve targets.

● Explore ways to choose or develop stimulus information to increase the rigor of an assessment

item.

Marc Johnson

Okay, So We’re a Team. Now What?

Focused collaboration is the key to high‐performing teams. Rebecca DuFour states, “It’s not, ‘Did we

spend time together?’ but rather, ‘Did the time we spent together impact our work?’” The aim is to

ensure that teams stay focused on learning in a collaborative culture driven by results rather than

intentions. This session explores ways to develop clarity on collaborative work and the flow of work

required for teams to respond to the four critical questions of a PLC through their actions.


● Develop clarity in their work through team actions in response to the four critical questions of a

PLC.

● Explore tools that help teams stay focused.

● Engage in the work of a collaborative team that connects adult actions to student outcomes.

So Who’s Leading This Thing? I Guess We All Are!

Every high‐performing team has a leader who influences and inspires its members, but in systems

where high‐performing teams exist, leadership roles are also dispersed at all levels throughout the

organization. No one person leads alone. Rather, team leaders exist at multiple levels of the

organization. Understanding the role of leaders and having clarity around what is expected in this role

are essential. As Mike Schmoker writes, “Clarity precedes competence.” Marc Johnson helps clarify the

leadership role in teams, how to develop a systemwide view of leadership, and how to develop

leadership capacity.


● Discuss leadership characteristics and challenges.

● Explore the role of leadership at the district, site, and team level.

● Discover tools and strategies to strengthen teams and develop leadership capacity.

Collaboration Rocks!

Cultivating a culture of collaboration is the second big idea of a PLC at Work. All too often, educators

treat shaping culture as little more than a feel‐good moment at the start of a new school year. Guiding

the development of an organization’s culture requires deliberate, purposeful, ongoing action by

leaders and team members at all levels. Marc Johnson provides an overview of elements that impact

culture and essential contributions at all levels of the organization in shaping and guiding a

collaborative culture.


Develop an understanding of what most influences culture.

Focus on the development of common intent through shared mission, vision, values, and goals.

Experience a hands‐on collaborative activity to help process the learning.

Diane Kerr

Collective Commitments: The Misunderstood and Often Forgotten Pillar

The foundation of a school that operates as a Professional Learning Community at Work rests on four

pillars: mission, vision, collective commitments (values), and goals. We find that the foundation of

many schools is shaky because they have not clearly understood the purpose and power of developing

schoolwide collective commitments. Is your school on shaky ground because staff has not committed

to specific behaviors to which they hold each other accountable? This session focuses on this pillar and

provides a structure for school teams to refine or develop critical values. Participants will leave with

tools and resources to support this important work.

Outcomes for this session include:

Building common understanding of collective commitments and how they ensure the school’s

mission and vision are realized

Learning and practicing a process for creating and committing to schoolwide collective

commitments

Answering Question One Through the Eyes of an English Learner

What do we want students to learn and be able to do? This question is more complex when we

consider the needs of learners who are simultaneously learning academic content while acquiring

English language skills. When teams clarify what students must learn and dig deeper into each essential

standard, it is important to have a process in place that ensures teams are routinely identifying and

planning for the instruction of academic vocabulary and language. When teams focus on the language

of the standard, it not only benefits English learners but their classmates as well.


Gain experience recognizing and appreciating the important difference between academic and

content vocabulary.

Learn a process for unpacking standards to understand what we want students to learn and to

identify the academic vocabulary and language of the standard.

Explore instructional supports for developing academic language.

Let’s Celebrate!

“Recognition provides opportunities to say, ‘Let us all be reminded and let us all know again what is

important, what we value, and what we are committed to do’”(DuFour, DuFour, Eaker et al., Learning

by Doing, 2016). In this session, Diane Kerr focuses on how celebrations are an important tool for

sustaining the PLC at Work process and how celebrations build and maintain a positive school culture.

She shares her own experiences of celebrating at Mason Crest Elementary School and explores various

ways schools can recognize and celebrate improvement, effort, and achievement. Additionally,

participants share their ideas and learn from one another.


Examine the vital importance of celebrations.

Explore various ways to make celebrations everyone’s responsibility and ensure that there are

many winners.

Gain practical and enjoyable ideas for celebrations in their schools.

Brig Leane

Instructional Excellence via the PLC Process

How do teams sustain improved instruction through the PLC process? Brig Leane illustrates how the

products effective teams create help educators emphasize and track team learning over time.

Participants also learn to strategically place team members during interventions to maximize student

and educator learning.


Exploring critical templates to guide highly effective collaborative teams

Gaining guidance on collecting team learning at key steps in the PLC process

Examining how intervention time can best be utilized for teacher and student learning

Sustaining a Highly Effective PLC

What key steps should leaders take to sustain the PLC process over time? Leaders in this session learn

to guide their teams toward true interdependence with team‐based collective commitments.

Educators also learn effective and simple techniques for helping teams review and standardize their

processes, set manageable goals for improvement, and develop tracking systems to identify which

teams need help.

Participants in this session learn:

Methods to develop truly interdependent teams

How to develop periodic and learning‐focused team reviews

Ways to maximize effectiveness by recognizing which teams need more time and support, and

how to provide them with it

It’s Not Your Fault, but It Is Your Problem

Kids come to school with all kinds of issues impacting their ability to learn. Hardworking educators are

hired to ensure student learning in spite of those issues—and society is depending on it. There is no

finger‐pointing or laying blame in this session, just participants rolling up their sleeves and learning the

best ways to solve problems. Participants explore assumptions we all make about students, proven

practices to help struggling students, and ways to effectively accomplish achieving high levels of

student learning.


Fundamental assumptions about students, teachers, and schools that result in positive change

How to maintain a steadfast focus on student learning

How to lead a collaborative process of solving problems

Mike Mattos

[KEYNOTE] The Litmus Test of a PLC: Making Decisions Through the Lens of Learning

The fundamental purpose of a professional learning community is to ensure high levels of learning for

all students. To best achieve this mission, educators within the organization commit to making

decisions based on a critical question: Will doing this lead to higher levels of learning? Practices and

policies that improve learning are embraced and those that fall short are abandoned. In this keynote,

Mike Mattos examines how professionals would apply this “learning litmus test” and identifies the

actions proven to best serve our students.

Are We a Group or a Team?

Collaborative teacher teams are the engine that drives a professional learning community. When these

teams are highly engaged in the right work, student learning accelerates … and when they are not,

learning sputters and stalls. Because teachers have traditionally been required to attend grade‐level or

departmental team meetings, schools often mistakenly assume that merely renaming these gatherings

“PLC time” represents teacher collaboration. The act of meeting together does not make a team, but

instead, merely a group.


Assess if they are currently part of a group or a team.

Review the essential work of teacher teams in a PLC.

Learn how to successfully navigate team disagreements.

Leave with specific action steps to improve your teacher team.

Simplifying Response to Intervention: How to Create a Highly Effective, Multitiered System

of Supports

How does your school respond when students don’t learn? Compelling evidence shows that response

to intervention (RTI)—also known as a multitiered system of supports (MTSS)—can successfully engage

a school’s staff in a collective process to provide every student with the additional time and support

needed to learn at high levels. Yet at many schools this potential lies dormant, buried under layers of

state regulations, district protocols, misguided priorities, and traditional school practices that are

misaligned to the essential elements of RTI. This session shows how the PLC at Work process creates

the larger, schoolwide framework required to successfully create a multitiered system of supports.


Understanding the characteristics of the three tiers of the RTI process

Connecting the work of teacher teams in a PLC to effective supplemental interventions

Clearly defining the roles of classroom teachers, administrators, and support staff in the RTI

process

Raising the Bar and Closing the Gap: Whatever It Takes in Secondary Schools

Identifying which students need help is not the biggest obstacle most secondary schools face in

providing interventions; it is how to schedule the time needed to provide that help during the school

day. This session provides real examples from a high‐performing school showing how it creates time

for supplemental and intensive interventions.

Participants learn specific steps to implement a flexible secondary intervention period, including

how to:

Determine what interventions to offer each week.

Require students to attend specific interventions.

Monitor student attendance.

Allocate staff.

Extend student learning.

Address potential obstacles.

Do all this within teachers’ contractual obligations.

The Power of One: Creating High‐Performing Teams for Singleton Staff

High‐performing collaborative teams are the foundation of any professional learning community—the

engines that drive the entire process! Nearly every school or district has educators who are singletons

(the only person who teaches a particular course or grade level); educators who support multiple grade

levels, such as a special education teacher or reading coach; or educators who provide supplemental

support, such as a school counselor, psychologist, or librarian. How do these individuals fit into

collaborative teams? This session offers guiding principles and real‐life examples of how to create

meaningful, powerful, collaborative teams for educators looking to connect to the power of one.

This session calls on participants to:

Learn multiple ways to create meaningful, job‐embedded teams for singleton staff.

Consider teaming options for elective or specials teachers, special education staff, and staff

who oversee unique programs.

Repurpose a site intervention team into a high‐performing collaborative team.

Guiding Principles for Principals: Tips and Tools for Leading the PLC Process

The principal has an essential role in creating a PLC. Without effective support and leadership,

achieving this outcome is virtually impossible. Specifically targeted to site administrators, this session

provides proven practices and examples of how to lead and support the work of collaborative teacher

teams.

Participants are called on to:

Learn how to create an effective site leadership team.

Effectively address violations to a school’s collective commitments.

Monitor and support the work of collaborative teams.

Maria Nielsen

The 15‐Day Challenge: Win Quick, Win Often!

This interactive session establishes, reboots, or re‐energizes the work of collaborative teams. Schools

across the country are using this simple learning–assessing process to connect the dots of a PLC. Maria

Nielsen helps teams see the big picture of a PLC and put it all together in a recurring cycle of collective

inquiry. The 15‐day challenge is a practical way to bring the PLC process to life.


● Clarify the work of collaborative teams.

● Establish steps for a guaranteed and viable curriculum.

● Explore the learning–assessing cycle in a unit of study.

Show Me What Ya Got: Student Engagement Strategies to Keep the Pulse on Learning

Maria Nielsen helps teachers move past “sit and get” in the classroom to a place where all students

actively participate in learning. She shares engagement strategies to assess student understanding

throughout a lesson or unit of study.

Participants can expect to:

● Explore the nifty nine best teaching strategies.

● Learn how to assess student learning by implementing engagement strategies.

● Identify the differences among assessment questions, open questions, and engagement

questions.

Help Your Team: Overcoming Common Collaborative Challenges in a PLC

What should happen when a team starts to struggle? As teachers move toward becoming

interdependent teams, challenges inevitably arise. Ensuring high levels of learning for every student

requires a change in thinking and practice. Participants briefly review the work of highly effective

teams, consider scenarios showing common team challenges, and work collaboratively to identify

strategies for moving a team forward. This session is based on a book of the same title (Solution Tree

Press, 2019), coauthored by Maria Nielsen and other educators who possess a wide range of

backgrounds and experiences in all levels of education.


Identify common challenges that limit a team’s efficacy.

Collaboratively resolve specific challenges and share strategies to help teams progress.

Practice specific coaching strategies designed to assist teams in their critical work.

Lisa M. Reddel

PLCs: What’s in It for Me as a Teacher?

“PLCs sound great, but what's in it for me as a teacher?” Teacher autonomy and team accountability

are balanced in a PLC. Collaborating effectively with others is a condition for membership in virtually all

professions. Yet, teachers often work in isolation from one another. Participants in this session explore

the balance of team responsibility and individual autonomy in the PLC process.

Learning outcomes for this session include:

Examining how the simultaneously loose and tight culture in a PLC empowers teachers to make

important decisions

Understanding how team accountability and teacher autonomy can work together to benefit

student learning

Exploring strategies for bringing a collaborative culture and collective responsibility to

classrooms and schools

Second‐Order Change: Moving Outside the Familiar to Build Lasting Cultures

Culture eats structure for breakfast! Understanding the difference between first‐order and second‐

order change helps any educator address cultural change within their school and district. Implementing

and fostering cultural change in a PLC brings initial results in short order and, in time, lasting results.

Building a PLC is a process, not a program. Participants examine how school cultures built to last must

first go through cultural changes.

Facilitating Great Meetings

Having productive, engaging, and efficient meetings about learning is the goal of every collaborative

teacher team. Lisa M. Reddel offers guidance and strategies for facilitating meetings in a PLC that focus

on learning and results. Participants in this session delve into clarifying roles of team members,

strategies to help teams and meetings become more organized and productive, and how to build

consensus without winners and losers.

Learning outcomes from this session include:

Understanding the difference between first‐order and second‐order change

Examining how educators can apply “change” knowledge to their roles

Acquiring a toolkit of strategies to manage second‐order change

Sarah Schuhl

[KEYNOTE] Ready, Set, Go! Using the Foundations and Big Ideas of a PLC at Work to Grow Student

Learning

A professional learning community focuses on ensuring learning for all students. But what does this

really mean across a school or district? How do collaborative teams in a PLC at Work accomplish high

levels of student learning?

Strong foundations and an emphasis on the three big ideas to guide the work are needed to become

an effective PLC. Within such a framework, collaborative teams build a shared understanding of

standards to intentionally link instruction, assessment, and student re‐engagement as needed. What

does all of this look and sound like? The work can seem daunting without a roadmap or vision for how

to efficiently and effectively create the materials needed and respond to the data gathered. Sarah

Schuhl clarifies this work using practical tools, protocols, and examples.

Mathematics Lessons That Matter: Formative Assessment Processes for Learning Everyday

How will you know if students are learning the content and process standards for mathematics in daily

lessons and units? Which effective tasks further develop student learning and how should they be used

in class? Participants in this session explore the six elements of high‐quality mathematics lesson design

and how collaborative teams use lesson design to formatively assess student learning. Outcomes from this session include:

Understanding the daily formative assessment process in mathematics classes

Learning the six critical elements of quality lesson design

When Content Isn’t Enough: Strategies to Help K–5 Students Learn Mathematics

Explore ways to engage students in content using strategies focused on the standards for

mathematical practice. How can student knowledge be deepened through inferences, multiple

representations, or strategies to solve tasks? Which literacy strategies might also be effective in

teaching mathematics? Determine key elements of lesson design to meet the needs of mathematics

students. Participants in this session:

Explore mathematics strategies to engage K–5 learners.

Learn the critical components of quality lesson design when teaching mathematics.

Investigate the use of high‐level tasks during mathematics instruction.

Data, Data, Data: What Do Teams Need? What Do Teams Do With It?

The third big idea of a professional learning community is to focus on results. How do collaborative

teams use data to 1) make informed decisions about assessment and instruction, 2) determine

whether or not students have learned, and 3) involve students in the learning process? Participants in

this session explore ways to collect and organize data and consider how to respond to the results

obtained. They also learn a protocol for analyzing assessment data in a PLC collaborative team. Mathematics Assessment in Action

How can common assessments motivate and engage every learner? How can they be used to assess

the critical thinking required of students learning mathematics? High‐quality assessments, when

intentionally designed, inform teachers and students about what has been learned and what has not

yet been learned. It is much bigger than a grade on a test. Sarah Schuhl leads a discussion on the team

actions needed to create a meaningful assessment process.


Learn criteria essential to quality mathematics assessment design.

Explore strategies and tools for reflection and goal setting to enable students to learn from

assessments.

Examine how to plan and respond to assessments with students.

Focusing Teams and Students With Learning Targets

How can students articulate what they are learning? How can assessments be created to determine

whether students are learning? Learning targets bring clarity to students and teachers about outcomes

expected in each course or subject area. Participants in this session gain insight into writing clear

learning targets from standards. Sarah Schuhl discusses strategies for using learning targets to help

students self‐assess their progress and for collaborative teams to create and analyze common

assessments. Outcomes from this session include:

Examining how to write effective learning targets

Developing strategies for using targets to involve students in their learning

Discovering ways to create and analyze tests using learning targets

W. Richard Smith

Moving From “Just Doing” to High Performing: Fresh Ideas and Approaches for PLCs

W. Richard Smith provides a step‐by‐step approach to make any PLC function at a high level.

Participants learn the critical nuts and bolts to ensure teams make the most of their PLC time. They

gain fresh ideas and approaches proven to be successful for teams of all sizes and at all grade levels.


Discovering tools and activities that promote successful collaboration

Exploring the relationship between the four critical questions of a PLC and the actions that

make PLCs effective, efficient, and meaningful

Gaining access to pragmatic activities and actions that make schoolwide and districtwide PLCs

purposeful and impactful

Differentiation Isn’t a Dirty Word, but a Great Way to Ensure Learning

Differentiated instruction is often misunderstood or seen as impractical. W. Richard Smith presents

differentiated instruction as doable practices that maximize learning for all students. He discusses best

practices and strategies to address students’ diverse learning needs through five key areas: content,

process, product, environment, and affect.

Wow! So This Is What We Should Be Doing: Best PLC Practices in Action

When attending a Solution Tree PLC at Work institute, participants gain a wide array of valuable

information, but they may wonder how all this will play out back at their own schools. W. Richard

Smith presents a real‐time look at the work of a PLC team. The PLC process comes to life with clarity

and purpose as participants review data and see the efforts and best practices of successful teacher

teams.

Participants leave this session with:

Best practices to consider for their own PLC teams

Clarity about the impact of data and instructional best practices

Structures and practices that help guide teams as they respond to the four critical questions of

a PLC

Jeanne Spiller

Yes We Can! An Unprecedented Opportunity to Improve Special Education Outcomes

Warning: This work is not for the faint of heart! When teams commit to the PLC process and decide to

engage in a cycle of continuous improvement, the first critical step is to examine their personal and

systemic beliefs about students, themselves, and learning. Only then can they exclaim with confidence

that “all really does mean all!” Once team members collectively make that commitment and

understand how they got there, they must then define what improvement looks like and how to get to

that place. Jeanne Spiller challenges participants to examine their professional beliefs before delving

into collaborative structures, the importance of scaffolding, what tailored instruction does and does

not look like, and ideas and examples that have resulted in improved outcomes for all students.


Understanding past realities regarding special education

Learning strategies to build a school and district culture with the belief that all students can

learn at high levels

Examining collaborative structures and tools to support high levels of learning for all

Investigating the concept of tailoring instruction to meet complex student needs while

maintaining high expectations

Examining collaborative structures to support high levels of learning for all

Considering collaborative team meeting structures, content, and focus

Discussing ways to align IEP goals specific to student areas of deficit, driven by the goal of

attaining grade‐level expectations, including alignment for complex learners

Less Is More: Developing Essential Next‐Generation Standards

Developing essential or priority standards is a necessary and powerful practice. This practice affords

teachers the time to adequately teach, assess, reteach, and reassess to meet the needs of all students.

Participants discover the importance of a guaranteed and viable curriculum and learn a step‐by‐step

process for determining essential standards that can easily be replicated in their own buildings or

school districts.


Understanding and articulating how developing essential standards is a crucial part of the PLC

process and helps address the four critical questions of a PLC

Understanding and articulating why developing priority standards is imperative

Learning a process to distinguish essential standards from state or national standards

Get CLEAR: A Protocol for Gaining Clarity Before a Unit of Instruction

This session focuses on a protocol in which collaborative teams can engage prior to a unit of instruction

to effectively prepare for the instruction–assessment cycle. The CLEAR protocol engages collaborative

teams in conversations focused on gaining collective clarity about the standards that will be taught and

assessed during a unit of instruction, proficiency expectations, assessments the team will administer

throughout the unit, the instructional plan for the unit, and more.


How a continuum of assessment can guide the teaching and learning process

Factors that should be considered before assessment occurs to ensure student data can be

used to guide instructional next steps

A protocol in which collaborative teams can engage before each unit of instruction

Leading Your PLC With Intention: Eight Important Considerations

Implementing and sustaining the PLC process requires diligent leaders who persist in ensuring that

their school is a place in which leaders and teachers collaborate, make evidence‐based decisions,

understand that students are the top priority, communicate effectively, and are involved in trusting

relationships.

Participants in this session explore eight areas of focus to consider in effectively leading the PLC at

Work process.

1. Achieving focus and staying intentional

2. Establishing and maintaining organization

3. Building shared leadership

4. Using evidence for decision making and action

5. Prioritizing the student

6. Leading instruction

7. Fostering communication

8. Developing community and relationships

Eric Twadell

Social and Emotional Learning in a PLC at Work: Best Practices for Teaching and Learning

How do we respond when students don’t learn? The typical answer is “through expanded curricular

support.” But many students who struggle are missing key social and emotional skills they need to

learn and grow, or they have them but require ongoing reinforcement to reach their full potential.


Explore the core SEL competencies of the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional

Learning: self‐management, self‐awareness, social awareness, responsible decision making, and

relationship skills.

Learn strategies to enact the explicit instruction of these competencies.

Understand how these competencies impact student learning.

Leadership by Design: Four Essential Conversations for District, School, and Team Leaders

District, school, and team leaders play an important role in developing PLCs. This session explores the

essential characteristics and roles of leaders in creating and sustaining a culture of collaboration and

shared responsibility in a PLC.


Take part in four leadership conversations that focus on building coherence and clarity for the

work of leaders in a PLC.

Discover how effective leaders facilitate a culture of shared responsibility.

Examine strategies effective leaders must utilize to develop a learning‐centered culture in

districts, schools, and teams.

Proficiency‐Based Learning and Assessment

The old adage is true: “If you do what you have always done, you will get what you’ve always got.” The

same can be said of traditional assessment practices. As understanding of assessment deepens,

educators must think differently about how they can use assessment as an instructional practice. This

session explores how Adlai E. Stevenson High School (“birthplace" of the PLC at Work process) has

restructured and recultured assessment practices to focus on proficiency.


Explore the differences between traditional and proficiency‐based teaching and learning

environments.

Learn the differences between traditional quizzes and tests and proficiency‐based assessments.

Receive ideas on how to begin transitioning to a proficiency‐based teaching and learning

environment.

Grading for Learning: The Five Stages of Evidence‐Based Grading

Standards‐based grading has often been cited as the “third rail of school reform.” And yet, this is an

important destination on the journey to becoming a PLC that embraces assessment and grading

practices and supports student learning. This session provides participants with a roadmap for

differentiating professional development for teachers and teams interested in implementing

standards‐based grading.


Gain an appreciation for using a learning map to differentiate professional development.

Explore challenges associated with traditional grading practices and reporting results.

Learn how to structure professional development and a learning map for teachers and teams

specifically focused on standards‐based grading and reporting.

Mark Weichel

Connecting PLCs to Personalized Learning

School and district strategic plans often include the term personalized learning. Despite the growing

popularity of personalized learning, it can be difficult to conceptualize and connect to existing

structures, such as those in PLCs. Participants in this session learn about the five elements of

personalized learning and see how this work can connect to and enhance the work of a PLC.


● Understanding why personalized learning has gained popularity

● Learning what personalized learning is and is not

● Receiving examples and resources to support future implementation

When They Already Know It: How to Extend and Personalize Student Learning in a PLC

A basic tenet of professional learning communities is ensuring that collaborative teams acutely analyze

the four critical questions of a PLC. For some teams, the most challenging question to address is how to

provide extension for students who have already learned stated targets. Participants in this session

learn strategies and protocols for teams to consider when planning enrichment for students who

already know the material.


● Realizing the importance of addressing the fourth critical question of a PLC

● Gaining strategies for extending learning for high‐ability and high‐potential students

● Understanding how teamwork increases student engagement

● Receiving individual and collaborative team reflection tools

Building Your PLC Toolbox

PLC teams need to have a number of tools at their disposal to improve instruction and learning. This

session provides materials to document PLC conversations, create common formative assessments and

scoring methods, and use results to motivate students. Participants leave with a full toolbox of

resources for collaborative teams to immediately begin using in their schools and districts.

Kenneth C. Williams

Starting a Movement: Embracing The Blessed Burden of Leadership

The greatest challenge facing PLC school leaders is creating buy‐in among teachers and teams. Some

teams take off with the PLC process, some start but get stuck and stall, and others don’t start because

they haven’t bought in yet. This dilemma creates “pockets of excellence,” where some students benefit

from high‐performing teams fully engaged in the PLC process, while others are denied that

opportunity. We can no longer leave to chance every students’ accessibility to the best our teachers

and teams can provide. The PLC process maximizes the efforts and capabilities of our teachers and

leaders. In this session, Kenneth C. Williams clearly describes the five leadership shifts necessary to

create buy‐in breakthroughs. Participants leave this session with a process to ensure fidelity to best

practices across every grade level and department team.


Learn how leaders unknowingly sabotage teacher buy‐in.

Discover the difference between epiphanies and breakthroughs.

Shift their thinking about how buy‐in unfolds.

Gain clarity about what they’re doing well and where they need to improve.

Leave with a solid plan to accelerate buy‐in at their campus.

At Risk or Underserved? Focusing on What Really Matters in Student Learning

The questions teachers ask about educating youth impact the results. Participants in this session learn

to shift traditional thinking and change paradigms by collaboratively using expertise and resources to

maximize student achievement. Kenneth C. Williams helps educators capitalize on PLC principles to

ensure success for all students.

12 Angry Men: The Power of Productive Conflict

Kenneth C. Williams uses the classic film 12 Angry Men as a lens to discuss five qualities that

characterize effective teams:

1. Open inquiry

2. Accepting responsibility for decision making

3. Participation of team members

4. Productive conflict to discover ideas and reveal new information

5. The essential role of diversity in decision making

The film explores consensus‐building techniques among a group of men whose diverse personalities

create intense conflict. Kenneth shows how teams face and overcome similar challenges to collaborate

and succeed. The primary learning outcome is for participants to gain ideas to substantially improve

team communication and effectiveness.

Agenda · 2020-05-26 · Agenda Lincolnshire, IL • August 3–5 Monday, August 3 6:30–7:45 a.m....

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Transcript of Agenda · 2020-05-26 · Agenda Lincolnshire, IL • August 3–5 Monday, August 3 6:30–7:45 a.m....