All Things PLC Magazine Volume 7, Issue 4 by Solution Tree

all things

PLC M A G A Z I N E Volume 7, Issue 4

all things

PLC M A G A Z I N E

goal of our daily efforts. Clarity around a topic or idea means providing teachers and staff with a clear understanding to arrive at a common goal. “Clarity precedes competence” (Schmoker, 2004, p. 85); this means that to do something successfully, we must first have clarity around the goal and target we are aiming at. We had taken all the right steps to create our mission. We determined our core values as a staff in small groups that were then shared and tweaked in the larger group set-

and all a we had n encompa though w mission a had not t As we r a lack of c While it s

Vo l u m e 7, I s s u e 4

Features Educator Wellness Timothy D. Kanold and Tina H. Boogren Navigating what we do for a living.

Simple Words, Significant Impact Anna L. Sturm and Mark J. Gonyea The metamorphosis of a school’s mission.

Who’s Got Time to Celebrate? Heather K. Dillard What PLC literature has to say about celebrating accomplishments as educators.

The Morton Grove School District 70 Story

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A practical example of a PLC success story.

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To o l s & R e s o u rc e s fo r I n s p i ra t i o n a n d E xce l l e n ce

First Thing

Learning is the only option.

FAQs about PLCs

Learning target and common assessments.

Learning Champion

Phillip Page refuses to lead in isolation.

Data Quest

Data-collection protocol.

The Recommender

Meeting the educational needs of multilingual students.

Skill Shop

Setting professional and personal goals.

Research Report

Meeting the educational needs of multilingual students.

Why I Love PLCs PLCs have limitless territory.

all things

PLC M A G A Z I N E

SOLUTION TREE: CEO Jeffrey C. Jones

PRESIDENT Edmund M. Ackerman SOLUTION TREE PRESS:

PRESIDENT & PUBLISHER Douglas M. Rife ART DIRECTOR Rian Anderson PAGE DESIGNERS Laura Cox, Abigail Bowen, Kelsey Hergül, Fabiana Cochran, Julie Csizmadia, Rian Anderson

AllThingsPLC (ISSN 2476-2571 [print], 2476-258X [Online]) is published four times a year by Solution Tree Press. 555 North Morton Street Bloomington, IN 47404 800.733.6786 (toll free) / 812.336.7700 FAX: 812.336.7790 email: info@SolutionTree.com SolutionTree.com POSTMASTER Send address changes to Solution Tree, 555 North Morton Street, Bloomington, IN, 47404 Copyright © 2023 by Solution Tree Press

A llThi n g s P LC | Vol u m e 7, Iss ue 4

First Thing Learning Is the Only Option Geri Parscale

n 2018, The New Teacher Project published findings from The Opportunity Myth report. In that report, the authors focus on the theory that students come to school and are ready to give their best to the work provided by teachers in their grade level and courses. If the scholars do that, they will be in a great position to be academically ready to continue the path toward their goals. However (and this is where “the myth” comes in), once student work samples were reviewed, it showed that their work met grade-level standards only 17 percent of the time, while 83 percent of these students in English and 78 percent in math were receiving As, Bs, or Cs. By anyone’s standards, these findings were troubling at the very least. In addition, the authors cite several other pieces of information. • Of the 180 classroom hours in each core subject during the school year, students spent 133 hours on assignments that were not grade-level appropriate and 27 hours on assignments that were grade-level appropriate. • Of the 180 classroom hours in each core subject during the school year, students spent 151 hours on lessons with weak instruction and 29 hours on lessons with strong instruction. • Eighty-two percent of teachers supported their state’s educational standards, but only 44 percent of teachers expected their students to have success with the standards. As a parent of two children, as well as being an educator for over 35 years, these results are staggering. These data are unacceptable in any classroom in any school system. While it may be easy to rush into a reactional approach, assign blame, or make excuses, schools worldwide must take notice, study the data, and move into problem-solving mode so that we can answer the question “What do we do to address the issues?” Schools that live as professional learning communities have the tools to do just that. The three big ideas of a PLC guide the way to address the findings. 1. Being focused on learning, not just the coverage of the material 2. Establishing a collaborative culture, not just being a lone teacher in the classroom 3. Being results driven, so that we ensure learning, not just hope that they learn

Collaborative teams with a deep understanding of the PLC process use these overarching ideas to guide their work in everything they do. They address their current reality by investing in themselves. As author Tom Many puts it, “Part of the PLC process is building shared knowledge and learning together. If they do that, you can give them any problem and they can solve it.” A collaborative team is able to turn within and address the findings from this study through the four critical questions that guide the work of collaborative team meetings.

1. What Do We Want Students to Learn? Instead of being single teachers in a classroom left to their own devices, team members work collaboratively to answer this question by studying the state standards for their grade level and content area. Together, they choose those most essential for the students to know and make them a priority in their classrooms. Teams study the knowledge and skill targets that are embedded in the standards and the level to which students need to learn them and develop learning progressions to help teachers sequence that learning. They discuss and reach consensus on vocabulary to be studied and which prerequisite and supporting standards need additional focus, and they identify first best instruction for the students. Collaborative teams in a PLC know their standards well and hold each other accountable for student learning to ensure that core instruction stays grade appropriate.

2. How Do We Know if Students Have Learned It? If we have agreed that our grade-level standards are what we want students to learn, we must also know how they are progressing toward that goal. Coupled with studying our gradelevel standards and ensuring grade-appropriate teaching, teams build, agree to use, and analyze the results of common assessments. Teams of teachers using common assessments not only reach clarity in diagnosing where students may be struggling with the essential targets but also understand why the struggle exists. When the team discovers “the why” for the student, the path to assisting the student can become more focused. In addition to diagnosing individual student needs, common assessments can also help teachers reflect on their own professional practice. What instructional strategies worked? What teaching methods missed the mark? What worked for other colleagues? Teachers are provided with knowledge about themselves to professionally develop on an ongoing basis.

3. What Do We Do if They Did Not Learn It? As a team, we have committed to prioritizing grade-level standards that are essential for all of our students to learn. “The

goal of a PLC is to ensure student learning of essential standards; therefore, when students aren’t learning, the school’s focus must be to ensure that they receive additional time and support” (Bailey & Jakicic, 2019, p. 131). The next step in our systematic approach is to use our diagnosis of student needs and develop a plan of support for them based on those needs. If the assessments that we have given provide us with data that we can use to make decisions on what students need, we should be able to design interventions that are directly tailored to meet the students’ needs and allow educators to give specific additional time and support to continue their path of learning at grade level.

4. What Do We Do if They Already Know It? As a team commits to help all students learn, we answer our fourth question for those students who have mastered the agreed-on essential outcomes. “If a school is going to build flexible time, support, and collaboration into its school week, it can apply these efforts to support students in advanced coursework as well” (Buffum, Mattos, & Malone, 2018, p. 29). We must challenge ourselves to think deeply and take our students and their learning from concrete to complex, from basic learning to advanced learning. For students who have demonstrated mastery, teams plan for learning and lessons that will deepen students’ understanding rather than just moving on to the next standard. What experiences can we offer students to acquire knowledge in different forms? An important point to remember is: “An intervention is anything a school does above and beyond what all students receive to help certain students succeed academically” (Buffum et al., 2018, p. 27). This holds true for both interventions and extensions. In In Praise of American Educators, Richard DuFour (2015) shares, “In the end, creating a learning-focused culture requires an organization to answer this question: Are we here to ensure students are taught, or are we here to ensure that our students learn?” (p. 103). As educators address research such as that referenced in this piece, there is one answer to that question: learning is the only option.

References Bailey, K., & Jakicic, C. (2019). Make it happen: Coaching with the 4 critical questions of PLCs at Work. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press. Buffum, A., Mattos, M., & Malone, J. (2018). Taking action: A handbook for RTI at Work. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press. DuFour, R. (2015). In praise of American educators: And how they can become even better. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press. The New Teacher Project. (2018). The opportunity myth: What students can show us about how school is letting them down— and how to fix it. Retrieved from https://tntp.org/assets /documents/TNTP_The-Opportunity-Myth_Web.pdf. Volum e 7, I ssue 4 | A l l Thi ngs PLC

Educator Wellness Navigating What We Do for a Living

Timothy D. Kanold and Tina H. Boogren “So, what do you do?”

How many times have you been asked that question? More importantly, how do you respond? How we introduce ourselves to the people we meet matters. Like us, your answer might sometimes feel a bit wordy as you try to explain the nuances of your work. The way we introduce ourselves can sometimes lack clarity, interest, or precision. Yet, thanks to a TED talk from entrepreneur Clay Herbert (n.d.), we learned that a great way to “introduce yourself to the world” is to use the formula: I + Help + People + Achieve a result. These days, if you ask us what we do for a living, our answer is clearer than it used to be: “We help all educators thrive.” And we mean it. It is what we do. During your social interactions and new experiences during the school year, how do you respond when asked, “So, what do you do?” Think about your current role as an educator and fill in the blanks with confidence: “I help ____________ to ____________.” We are also often asked a similar question: “What does your Educator Wellness work do?” If we applied Herbert’s formula to our Educator Wellness work, we would say: “We help educators successfully navigate the challenges of their chosen profession.” Herbert also urges us to be prepared to illustrate a story that might fill in the blanks if asked, “What does that mean?” Here is one such story. At a recent Educator Wellness Institute, a participant approached us after a session on living a more balanced 8

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work and home life. He was a middle school principal, and his wife was a school counselor. He thanked us and mentioned they had young children and between work and family it seemed the pace of life was relentless. His wife had asked him to give her just 15 minutes a day of quiet time—no kids, no noise—during which she could sit by herself and let her brain and body rest a bit from the challenges of the day. At the time, he did not see why that was important to do. After all, he did not feel like he needed such time. Then he said to us, “Now I realize that part of my purpose as her husband is to protect that time for her.” His comment was in response to an activity during one of our breakout sessions built on the work of Sherry Turkle, the founding director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Initiative on Technology and Self, where she reveals the positive impact a daily commitment to purposeful solitude has on developing successful relationships with students, colleagues, and family members. His wife will be a better school counselor and he will be a better school principal if they can both sustain a commitment to this one intentional wellness action inside the challenges and demands of work and home. At that moment, we both made the decision to be a better model of support to our partners as well. As educators—much like those in other helping professions such as medical professionals—we have a greater burden, gift, and responsibility to bring our best selves to work each day. We have a different standard of behavior due to the deep impact our knowledge and actions have on our students and colleagues. As medical doctors Ann E. Burke and Patricia J. Hicks

(n.d.) indicate, “Maintaining high standards for professional behavior, even under times of stress, is a responsibility that we share for ourselves and our colleagues.” But what exactly are the high standards we are to maintain?

Academic Knowledge: Necessary, Not Sufficient We teach, we lead, we counsel, we parent, and more. We immerse ourselves in an onslaught of social experiences every single day. Most days, we thrive in it; but some days, we struggle within it. We recognize there is a daily common humanity with others—including our colleagues, students, and families from our school community—built into the rhythm of our work life. Dates and deadlines arrive on our calendars. Sometimes we zoom past them, but more deadlines and pressures loom. The social media and technology crush seems ever present. We plan, prepare, and do the best we can, and the next month or next season arrives, and before we know it, the school year has ended. It’s over. We tuck away that year’s students and experiences and prepare ourselves for the next season of school and life. It is what we do. The question looms: Plan and prepare what? We would be the first to raise our hands and say, “Prepare and improve our academic knowledge and intelligence during each new season.” Yes, we do need to become more confident and competent with our academic knowledge through the preparation and study of the academic subjects we teach. Yet, there is another

fundamental truth to our work life. Our academic preparation, while necessary, will not be sufficient. We enter into a daily life where we also must prepare, learn, and grow our emotional and social intelligence—the kind of intelligence necessary to meet the deep demands of the social-sector work we love. We deliver our best academic content and knowledge, year in and year out, by simultaneously improving our emotional and relational intelligence actions as well. Our teaching journey beats the path as we walk it, and there are two sides to every path: our thinking side and our feeling side. Essentially, all teaching has some form of an emotional base. Keeping those two sides strong and in sync is one of the secrets of a thriving professional and personal life.

Your Wellness Journey Wellness is a personal journey of self-reflection, habits, and routines built on a lifetime of continuous improvement. We have a wellness story to tell and a future wellness story to write. Whether you are a new or experienced educator, you are the sum of all the stories that make up your life, and you are the author. Your planning, decisions, relationships, and sense of purpose all serve to create your personal story and path as an educator. Our wellness experiences ebb and flow based on weekly, monthly, or perhaps school seasons of work and life circumstances, decisions, and changes. And, through it all, the same questions persist: How do I bring my best self to my students and colleagues each day? How do I avoid the mental and emotional exhaustion that waits for me at some point in the school season? How do I remain kind Volum e 7, I ssue 4 | A l l Thi ngs PLC

tarting a new school is a daunting task, and like the construction of the physical building, laying a solid foundation is critical to its longevity and success. In February 2021, Rutherford County Schools, located in the heart of Tennessee, tasked Mark Gonyea with launching the 50th school of the district. As the construction crews worked feverishly to prepare the school to open in August, Gonyea set out to create a team that was willing to be flexible, coachable, and most of all, collaborative for the good of all students. This team would honor the work of Professional Learning Communities at Work and “focus on learning, a collaborative culture, and being accountable for results” (DuFour, 2004).

Simple

This willingness was sought in each candidate throughout the interview process to ensure a common alignment to teamwork. The process began with hiring two instructional coaches, Sheri DeJaynes and Shannon Bell, who then served on the committee to interview and hire the assistant principal, Anna Sturm. These first three hires all exemplified a strong desire to work as a collaborative team and a willingness to never stop learning. For the next two months, this team worked to seek out and interview potential candidates who also shared this common thread. During the interview process, all candidates were questioned about not only their experience and credentials but also their commitment to work together as a team. As we watched our team begin to form, we saw Bruce Tuckman’s (1965) stages of group development unfold: forming, storming, norming, and performing. We knew the importance of everyone working toward a common goal; therefore, we began the journey of creating that goal through the process of building and living a mission we all felt compelled to live out.

Signiﬁcan The Metamorphosis of

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Words,

Forming As our team began to build, our expectation of collaboration was modeled in all that we did. Our instructional team, which consisted of the administration and instructional coaches, met weekly to develop our core values to provide clarity for the mission of our school. Using the core values that would drive the school, we made our first attempt at a mission statement, which declared, “As a community we are dedicated to daily excellence with a focus on empowering our students for a lifetime of success.” During the school year, we met regularly with our leadership and instructional teams. In our first meeting, we walked our teams through the process of naming our core values and forming a mission statement that defined who we wanted to be as a new school. We know “in the effective school, there is a clearly articulated mission of the school through which the staff shares an understanding of and a commitment to the school’s goals, priorities, assessment procedures, and accountability. The issue of mission is one that must receive substantial discussion” (Lezotte, 2001, pp. 4–5). We began the work of achieving this understanding and committing to a common target. After a healthy discussion regarding the baseline mission statement, it did not change from its originally written form and was presented to the entire faculty on our opening day at Plainview Elementary School; we committed to establishing our foundation by agreeing to the core values and mission of our newly formed team. Our core values guided our work throughout the year, with the expectation that our mission statement would drive the daily work that each of us was so deeply committed to doing well. As year one came to a close, the instructional team shifted the focus in their weekly meetings to include a portion of time dedicated to making plans for year two at Plainview. It became evident that even though we had core values and a mission statement, most people did not

nt Impact a School’s Mission

Anna L. Sturm and Mark J. Gonyea

Volum e 7, I ssue 4 | A l l Thi ngs PLC

Learning

CHAMPION PHILLIP PAGE: REFUSING TO LEAD IN ISOLATION

Phillip Page, EdD, is the superintendent of the Bartow County School System in Cartersville, Georgia. His

experience spans more than 30 years and includes serving as a biology teacher, high school assistant principal, middle school and high school principal, and assistant superintendent. Page has provided the support and leadership for the Bartow County School System to become a Model PLC District and for 18 of 20 of its schools to become Model PLC Schools. He has been recognized as the Georgia PTA Middle School Principal of the Year and a system recipient of the LeadingEdge Award by the Georgia School Board Association, and he has been twice nominated as State Superintendent of the Year. 28

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Page earned a doctorate in educational leadership from the University of Sarasota, a master’s degree in educational leadership from the University of South Florida, and a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of South Carolina. While he was happy to share his story, he was also quick to point out that the successes of his district are not his alone. Among the many others who have worked alongside him to build model PLCs is Deputy Superintendent David Chiprany. Chiprany and Page have been in this work together from the beginning. They became principals at the same time at the middle school level. Then they were both assistant superintendents in the same district—Chiprany at middle school level, and Page at high school.

“We don’t want teachers teaching in isolation, and we don’t want leaders leading in isolation. So I’ve done everything in my power to make sure I’m not leading in isolation. I would not be where I’m at right now without David helping me; we’ve helped each other along the way.”

When Page became superintendent, he brought Chiprany over within the very first month. As Page says, “We don’t want teachers teaching in isolation, and we don’t want leaders leading in isolation. So I’ve done everything in my power to make sure I’m not leading in isolation. I would not be where I’m at right now without David helping me; we’ve helped each other along the way.” And with that caveat, here is Page’s story. AllThingsPLC Magazine: How did you get into education? Did you always want to be an educator? Page: I did. My mom was. I always really admired the teachers she worked with and the coaches I had growing up in different sports. I did kind of sway a little bit, though. I went to college and got a biology degree and wavered back and forth between medicine and teaching. And then, toward the end of my senior year of college, it became very clear that I really wanted to be in education and work in this amazing profession. And so that’s the route I took. ATPLC: What happened to make it clear that you wanted to be an educator rather than go into medicine? Page: I was doing two things: I was doing an internship

at one of the local hospitals, and I was working at a youth center right across the street from the hospital. So I’d do my internship and then go work with middle school youth. I began dreading going into the hospital every morning, but I couldn’t wait to get off and go across the street. Both are admirable professions, but one was bringing me great joy and the other, not so much. So I went the teaching route and haven’t looked back since.

ATPLC: Tell me about your experiences when you first started teaching. Page: I taught biology, anatomy, and physiology, and then I coached football, basketball, and fastpitch softball. When I first started teaching, it was very much in the style taught in college: I’m going to teach this, and you’re expected to learn it. That’s how it was when I went to high school and college. There wasn’t a lot of emotion attached to the teaching and learning experiences.

But coaching was completely different. It was passionate. It was working with the least-talented player on the team, because one game during the season you were going to need that person to win the game for you. I was always going to clinics. I was always researching. I was always trying to find better drills, better ways. But in teaching, I didn’t do that. Then, in my second year of teaching, I just had an epiphany: I worked with the least-talented player more than anyone else on the athletic teams I coached, but I didn’t do that with the students who were struggling in my classes. And that just seemed wrong. I apologized to all of my classes that second year of teaching for not caring as much about their learning as I did about my players being successful on the field, and that completely changed everything. I took it personally when a kid wasn’t doing well, and I started to take the same approach to teaching that I did to coaching and consequently got a lot more success in the classroom with my students’ learning.

teams

A proven path to educational excellence When a school or district functions as a professional learning community (PLC), educators within the organization embrace high levels of learning for all students. With Global PD Teams, you’ll explore how to implement the PLC at Work® process to focus on learning, build a collaborative culture, and ensure results.

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THE RECOMMENDER Christie Shealy

Meeting the Educational Needs of

Multilingual Students The 2020 census data show that one in four students in the United States indicates a Hispanic/Latino descent (Flores, 2023). Hence, the growing population of emerging bilingual students creates a greater need for educators to collaborate in “ongoing cycles of collective inquiry and action research” (DuFour, DuFour, Eaker, Many, & Mattos, 2016, p. 10). Madeleine McNamara (2012) defined collaboration as “an interaction between participants who work together to pursue complex goals based on shared interests and a collective responsibility for interconnected tasks that cannot be accomplished individually” (p. 391). The two books I recommend, Six Shifts to Improve Special Education and Other Interventions and Literacy in a PLC at Work, promote the collaboration of multilingual and classroom teachers to lay the foundation for high levels of learning for every student. Six Shifts to Improve Special Education and Other Interventions by Nathan Levenson

academic terms to communicate their learning” (p. 50). Ergo, the multi-

An educator’s mindset plays an instrumental role in the efficacy of the

learning experiences where students apply the four language functions

classroom; consequently, Six Shifts to Improve Special Education and

while demonstrating academic knowledge.

lingual teacher works with the collaborative team to create meaningful

Other Interventions discusses mindset shifts needed to create a more

A collaborative team including both the multilingual teacher and the

inclusive classroom environment. The reader enters a discussion that

classroom teacher brings all educators together in a strong teaching

shines a light on practices that interfere with high levels of learning for

and assessment cycle to provide an inclusive Tier 1 experience. Maeker

all students. Levenson (2020) incorporates many teacher interviews in

and Heller state, “When teams are able to articulate what learning must

the book and finds a common sentiment expressed among them: “It’s

occur at each step in the learning progression, teachers are able to re-

okay that I’m not an expert, because the special educators in my school

spond quickly and effectively when students do and do not learn” (p.

are” (p. 25). In this quote, classroom teachers are making an implicit

58). When all educators take collective responsibility for all students’

statement relegating the role of educating special education students

high levels of learning, meeting the needs of emerging bilingual stu-

to their special education educators.

dents becomes elevated!

Educators who feel this way abandon the “all means all” perspective in the PLC process. Similar perspectives hold especially true around

References

multilingual students; thus, the importance of Levenson’s first shift of tran-

DuFour, R., DuFour, R., Eaker, R., Many, T. W., & Mattos, M. (2016).

sitioning from special education to general education becomes an entry

Learning by doing: A handbook for Professional Learning

point to collaboration.

Communities at Work (3rd ed.). Bloomington, IN: Solution

This book provides excellent tools for the general education teacher who seeks to include multilingual teachers during pre-unit planning.

Tree Press. Flores, E. (2023, June 2). A quarter of all children in the U.S. are

Multilingual students spend most of their day with the classroom teach-

Latino, U.S. Census Study finds. NBCNews.com. Retrieved from

er, and if pulled out of the classroom for language acquisition support,

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/quarter-children-us-are

the students miss core instruction. The “Self-Assessment: Shifting from Special Education to General Education” promotes conversation about practices that stand in the way of a collaborative approach. Embracing the six shifts through a multilingual lens creates fertile soil to increase collaboration between classroom and multilingual teachers.

-latino-us-census-study-finds-rcna87253. Levenson, N. (2020). Six shifts to improve special education and other interventions: A commonsense approach for school leaders. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press. Maeker, P., & Heller, J. (2023). Literacy in a PLC at Work: Guiding teams to get going and get better in grades K–6 reading. Bloomington, IN:

Literacy in a PLC at Work by Paula Maeker and Jacqueline Heller Literacy in a PLC at Work focuses on the professional learning community process through the lens of literacy content. The “TEAMS Process Protocol for Deconstructing Essential Standards” featured in the book creates a space where the multilingual teacher becomes essential to

Solution Tree Press. McNamara, M. (2012). Starting to untangle the web of cooperation, coordination, and collaboration: A framework for public managers. International Journal of Public Administration, 35(6), 389–401. https://doi.org/10.1080/01900692.2012.655527.

the collaborative team during unit planning. Maeker and Heller (2023) describe in steps 1–4 of the TEAMS process that educators should “an-

CHRISTIE SHEALY, EdD, currently serves as the multilingual learner

alyze resources to learn what the standard is actually asking students

(ML) program coordinator and the director of testing and accountability

to know or be able to do” (p. 50); the collaboration with multilingual

in Anderson School District One in South Carolina. She has over 24

teachers during this process promotes the student’s language proficien-

years of experience at the high school, district, and collegiate levels.

cy through the grade-level learning targets while planning appropriate

Her primary responsibilities include leading professional learning

supports. During step 5, “teams also identify scaffolds, such as sen-

communities at the district level and guiding multilingual specialists in

tence frames, to support oral language development as students use key

supporting ML students. Volum e 7, I ssue 4 | A l l Thi ngs PLC

Why I Love PLCs PLCs Have Limitless Territory BY MARY D. MCCORVEY

The art of establishing a true professional learning community is a combination of having a shared vision, a thorough understanding of the goals, and mutual accountability among the stakeholders of the actions necessary to achieve the goals. Every decision made is centered on knowing that the fundamental purpose is ensuring that all students learn at high levels. As a practitioner, I get excited when I hear educators have “aha moments” as they dive deep into their data or collaborate to prioritize their standards. The evidence of their dedication to do the right work is seen when they shift their focus from teaching and testing to adjusting, extending, and enriching based on student learning needs. And when a campus begins to recognize the value of a full commitment to the PLC process and starts to abandon the less-fulfilling PLC lite practices, then the stage is set for more opportunities to build a greater investment for lifelong learners. When PLC members engage in honest, open, and transparent dialogue as they work to avoid taking those destructive detours and seductive shortcuts, then they create a safe space for teams to build trust, have autonomy, and engage in critical reasoning about the essential components of their work. They do not deem it as “one more thing.” Instead, they embrace it as part of their identity that propels them forward in their journey. In thinking about how the PLC process actually is, I am reminded of when I began training for my first 5K in 2022. The Hope Starts Here 5K is an annual event by the Southwest Transplant Alliance in Dallas, Texas. During the previous year, I participated remotely and half-ran/half-powerwalked my way through the 3.1 miles. To my surprise, I received the medal for having the fastest time for a transplant recipient! In hindsight, I did a “5K lite” version. However, the competitive side of me began to wonder what would happen if I fully committed to taking the running process 48

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seriously. I enlisted the support of a coach to support me in getting ready for what I was setting out to do. Interesting things can happen when professional practices and personal goals meet! So before we started, I established my 5K pillars. ♥ Mission. My fundamental purpose for running was to honor my donor hero’s life. ♥ Vision. In my own small way, I wanted to advocate and raise awareness for organ transplantation by recognizing those who have been either organ recipients or donors. ♥ Values. I made three commitments in my journey. � Schedule two days of strength and conditioning with my coach. � Wake up and run at 4:00 a.m. on non-coach days to increase my stamina (in addition to what I did with my coach). � Schedule the times on my calendar to show up and work out. ♥ Goal. My goal was to simply beat the previous year’s 5K lite time, which should have been easy . . . right? After I established my personal 5K pillars, the three big ideas seemed to fall naturally in line: (1) focus on running, (2) have a collaborative culture (listen to my coach), and (3) be results-oriented. And since I was moving away from 5K lite, I had to embrace the four critical questions to keep me on the right track, literally! My coach and I made adjustments based on my progress. She set stretch goals when I began to accelerate based on my stamina. When I got tired and wanted to walk more than I ran or just get off the track and go home, my personal pillars continued to push me. On a campus, teams need to have clarity, commitments, and encouragement. There will be some crucial conversations and necessary readjustments, and without a solid foundation, it will be easy to get off course.

On the morning of the 5K, I was excited and overwhelmed. Since I was participating remotely, there was no official kickoff or big start and finish lines. But since I had internalized my 5K pillars over the three months of my training, it became evident in everything I did, from my running playlist to my runner’s bib. As I finished, two of my closest friends were there to cheer me on. In the end, it was truly a fulfilling experience, and I met my goal! When campuses commit to doing the work that is vital to meeting their targets, then high expectations for administrators, teachers, and students are embraced and valued. It can be taxing and takes ongoing monitoring and refinement. But in the end, it creates a limitless territory for what students are able to do. That’s why I love PLCs.

MARY D. MCCORVEY is a secondary instructional specialist who supports campuses in the Pasadena ISD, addressing the needs of students with diverse learning needs. She is a Solution Tree associate who is certified in PLC at Work and Yes We Can! In 2019, Mary was a double organ recipient—a kidney and a pancreas, which she has affectionately named in honor of her parents, Raymond and Clara.

AllThingsPLC Magazine | Volume 7, Issue 4

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Discussion Questions

E Z I N 4 G A Volume 7, Issue

Use this convenient tear-out card to go over and reinforce the topics discussed in this issue with the members of your team.

Educator Wellness: Navigating What We Do for a Living (p. 8) 1. So, what do you do? And what does that mean? 2. What is your current wellness story? 3. Describe the wellness journey you would like to take in relation to the four dimensions of the Wellness Solutions for Educators framework.

Simple Words, Significant Impact (p. 16) 1. What is your PLC’s mission statement? State in your own words what the mission statement means.

2. In what ways are your daily actions tied to the mission statement? 3. When was the last time the mission statement was reviewed? Does it still hold true to who you are as a PLC today?

Who’s Got Time to Celebrate? (p. 22) 1. In your own words, describe why celebrating is important in your PLC? 2. How does administration celebrate staff? In what ways could this be improved?

3. How can the information in this article be applied to celebrating your students?

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AllThingsPLC Magazine | Volume 7, Issue 4

Refresher Course Because everyone needs a reminder now and again.

The 3 Big Ideas of a PLC 1. FOCUS ON LEARNING 2. BUILD A COLLABORATIVE CULTURE 3. FOCUS ON RESULTS

The fundamental purpose of the school is to ensure high levels of learning for all students. This focus on learning translates into four critical questions that drive the daily work of the school. In PLCs, educators demonstrate their commitment to helping all students learn by working collaboratively to address the following critical questions: 1. What do we want students to learn? What should each student know and be able to do as a result of each unit, grade level, and/or course? 2. How will we know if they have learned? Are we monitoring each student’s learning on a timely basis? 3. What will we do if they don’t learn? What systematic process is in place to provide additional time and support for students who are experiencing difficulty?

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4. What will we do if they already know it?

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Volum e 7, Issue

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No school can help all students achieve at high levels if teachers work in isolation.

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Schools improve when teachers are given the time and support to work together to clarify essential student learning, develop common assessments for learning, analyze evidence of student learning, and use that evidence to learn from one another.

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PLCs measure their effectiveness on the basis of results rather than intentions.

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All programs, policies, and practices are continually assessed on the basis of their impact on student learning.

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All staff members receive relevant and timely information on their effectiveness in achieving intended results.

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Strategies & Stories to Fuel Your Journey Each issue includes inspiration, fixes, tools, and more. A must-have for emerging and veteran PLCs.

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