Prepared for the Professional Learning Community Members of

VETERANS MIDDLE SCHOOL by Dan Mulligan, Ed. D., flexiblecreativity.com, (twitter: @drdanmulligan)

October 2015

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE SECOND QUESTION:

RELATIONSHIPS + RIGOR + RELEVANCE =

RESULTSFocus on Learning

Build a Collaborative

Culture

Focus on Results

Excellence for ALL

Students

GROWING AND LEARNING TOGETHER

“Sometimes the questions are complex but the answers are simple.”~Dr. Seuss

Dynamic Data Wall

Focus on Results

Focus on Results

Each student is my student;

Data driven;

No excuses… All means All

Building a Collaborative Culture

Safe but accountable;

Using Google docs or One Drive to plan with everyone’s input;

Share video of teachers modeling and looking for opportunities

Focus on Learning

Formative, common assessments tied to specific EKSV;

Collaboratively analyzing results;

Spiraling for targeted students, reassess (e.g., guided group, flex-grouping)

PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITY

Continuously Refining Our Craft

WHYBOTHER?

The legendary cellist Pablo Casals was asked….why he continued to

practice at age 90.

“Sometimes the questions are complex but the answers are simple.”~Dr. Seuss

“Because I think I’m making progress, “ he replied.

Resources

to

Share

page2

Work collaboratively (e.g., construct viable arguments, critique, agree) to identify key

words that capture the essential elements of a functioning thriving

Professional Learning Community with fidelity.

Enjoy working with your new best friend.

practices of a thriving PLCCREATING AN

ENVIRONMENT FOR LEARNING

SETTING OBJECTIVES AND

PROVIDING FEEDBACK

Unpacking the Standard

A. CREATING AN ENVIRONMENT FOR LEARNINGADDITIONAL SAMPLE RESOURCES

pages 23 - 25

A. CREATING AN ENVIRONMENT FOR LEARNINGFOSTERING COLLABORATION WITH TECHNOLOGY

Research-Based Instructional Strategies

Category Ave. EffectSize (ES)

Percentile Gain

Identify similarities & differences 1.61 45

Summarizing & note taking 1.00 34

Reinforcing effort & providing recognition .80 29

Homework & practice .77 28

Nonlinguistic representations .75 27

Cooperative learning .73 27

Setting objectives & providing feedback .61 23

Generating & testing hypotheses .61 23

Questions, cues, & advance organizers .59 22

1. Create an Environment for Learning– Helping students know what is expected of them, providing

students with opportunities for regular feedback on progress, assuring students they are capable of learning content and skills

2. Helping Students Develop Understanding– Integrating prior knowledge with new knowledge– Procedural knowledge: constructing a model of the steps

required of the process and practicing its variations; using the process or skill fluently or without any conscious thought

3. Helping Students Extend and Apply Knowledge– Moving beyond ‘right answer’ learning to an expanded

understanding and use of concepts and skills in real-world contexts.

Framework for

Instructional Planning McREL, 2012

Think Pad is a resource designed to:• provide evidence of

understanding and participation during student-to student dialogue

• facilitate student reflection on their thinking

What is a PLC?“A Professional Learning Community (PLC) is a group of educators committed to working collaboratively in ongoing processes of collective inquiry and action research to achieve better results for the students they serve.

PLCs operate under the assumption that the key to improved learning for students is continuous, job-embedded learning for educators.”

4 – second partner

Find a friend not currently seated to your immediate left or right. Say ‘hello’.

Find 2 comfortable seats and relax.*Please bring your handout and a pen(cil)!

WHERE

ARE WE?

Searching

for

Opportunities

MicrosoftSharePoint

Page 3

PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITY

Continuously Refining Our Craft

WHYBOTHER?

Do the best you can until you know better.

“Sometimes the questions are complex but the answers are simple.”~Dr. Seuss

Then when you know better, do better.

Dr. Maya Angelou

50 POINTS 50 POINTS 50 POINTS

100 POINTS 100 POINTS

200 POINTS

ThrivingProfessional

LearningCommunity

Continuous Improvement Research-Based Collaboration

Accountability Evidence

Formative Assessment

THE

HOW

page5

UbD

Knowing the Target

Page6

Identifyingthe

DesiredResult

The Power of Our Questions

Pages7 - 12

Second

Question

ELA

Second

Question

MATH

Focus on the Essential (driving) Question

pages 13 - 15

Page6

Determining

Acceptable

Evidence

Click on the arrow to start and stop spinner.

Purposeful Learning

HELPING STUDENTS DEVELOP UNDERSTANDING

Assessing for Conceptual Understanding (These are…These are not)

Suggestion from Research:

Open (begin) with the rigor…

…but rather than rigor…scaffold the experience for students to foster rigor with nurturing…

page8

If you want a learner to

truly understand

and own essential

knowledge, expand your exploration

from ‘what it is’ to also ‘what it is

NOT’.

page8

? ?

How can you use the Where do I belong? structure to support your

role as teacher/administrator?

A = bh

Opposite sides equal

1 right angle

Right Triangle

4 sides

3 sides

4 right angles

A = ½ bhRectangle

One side is the longest

OPEN TASK AND CONSTRUCTED RESPONSE

page48

OPEN TASK AND CONSTRUCTED RESPONSE

WHAT’S MY RULE?Theme: Food

YES NoMilk Stick

Split Puck

Pin Hoop

Gutter Goal

Rule: Dairy

WHAT’S MY RULE?Theme: Geometry

YES NoTriangle Cube

Rectangle Pyramid

Square Pentagon

Quadrilateral Octagon

Rule: Plane figures with less than 5 sides.