JHS LID Day: August 30 & 31, 2023

 

Effective PLCs

 

Hall/Kukla/Montzingo/Tower

 

Objective & Methodology

Objective: To streamline PLCs in a way that allows you to capture a two-week progress snapshot of your current unit in a 90-second elevator speech, something that would be understandable to any colleague or student.

 

Methodology: We have developed focused questions centered around four familiar questions to unify our language within PLCs and eliminate the need for subjective translations.

 

Using the Four Questions to Create Your PLC

(1)	WHAT DO WE WANT STUDENTS TO KNOW?

Assumptions

·	We want students to know the objectives/standards of the unit (not activity or lesson), usually expressed in 3 − 6 statements.
·	Objectives/standards can be unpacked in terms of key concepts necessary for students to know the objectives/standards for the unit

 

Guiding Questions:  What unit objectives/standards do we want students to know? What are the corre- sponding necessary key concepts that we need to teach for students to know the objectives/standards?

         

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(2)	HOW WILL WE KNOW THAT STUDENTS DO INDEED KNOW THE OBJECTIVES/STANDARDS?

Assumptions

·	We can know if students know the objectives/standards

·	We can know if students know the objectives/standards by assessing whether students understand the necessary key concepts

 

Guiding Questions: What activities will we recognize as valid evidence of students’ knowledge of the objectives/standards? Conversely, which activities will not serve as such evidence? For each decision, provide a justification.

  

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(3)	WHAT IS OUR PLAN FOR THOSE STUDENTS WHO DO NOT YET KNOW THE OBJEC- TIVES/STANDARDS?

Assumptions

·	Consistency and uniformity in resources/assessments is necessary for useful, comparable data and ensuring that all students start from the same place.
·	Consistency and uniformity in resources/assessments is only one aspect of equity. Equity also involves tailoring resources (old and new, or a combination thereof) and instructional practices to the meet the unique needs of individual students or groups of students.
·	Any activities used for reassessment should answer question (2) if not previously discussed in your original response to question (2) in order to ensure that the activity is considered valid evidence.

 

Guiding Questions: What new resources, if any, will be provided? What modifications will we make for those students who do not know the objectives/standards? What is the expected time frame for reassessment? What affect does the reassessment grade have on the original assessment grade? Will additional opportunities be given for reassessment and, if so, how many?

          

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(4)	HOW DO WE FURTHER ASSIST THOSE STUDENTS WHO ALREADY KNOW THE OBJEC- TIVES/STANDARDS?

Assumptions

·	Differentiation for students who do know the objectives/standards is also necessary to achieve equity for those students.

·	Any activities used for differentiation should answer question (2) if not previously discussed in original your response to question (2) in order to ensure that the activity is considered valid evidence and relevant to the objectives/standards for that unit, or any other unit.

 

Guiding Questions: How will we motivate students who may be reluctant to do the differentiated work? What affect, if any, does the differentiated activity have on the original assessment or, more generally, on the students grade? How will, if at all, the differentiated work be included in future activities, particularly any kind of summative assessment for those students? Will these additional resources or activities also be provided to the rest of the class? How, if at all, will this differentiated content relate to whole-class assessments?

 

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