Blog
Social Media Influencers and Student Assessment Pushback
If you spend time scrolling through social media you have most likely seen a teacher or principal who has become a social media influencer, it is the newest “second job” for educators. . . . Read more
Pandemic Provides New Lens for Clear Mission
Over the past 17 years, I have had the distinct pleasure of working with a wide variety of schools. Some of them were public, others private or charter schools. Some were comprised of students from . . . Read more
From Theory to Practice: A Jigsaw Approach to an Elementary Master Schedule
Creating a highly collaborative school culture and high performing teams is multifaceted and can take many years to establish. Creating and maintaining a system of excellence is a hard job! Schools do not become great overnight and they certainly do not remain great without constant evaluation of systems and practices. The fundamental purpose of a school is learning, not teaching. Read more
Assessing the Remote Learner
Shifting to remote learning over a weekend and then starting the fall semester remotely has been a challenge for many teachers. Read more
Prioritizing the C3 Standards to Address Question 1 of a PLC
Many schools have already adopted or are in process of adopting the new C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards. The C3 Framework is organized into 4 dimensions. As schools using the PLC adopt the framework, the first step is to engage in the process of addressing Question 1: What do we want our students to learn? As with other standards documents, there are numerous standards in the C3. Read more
The Power of Going Vertical
A great deal of our work to improve student learning is accomplished through powerful conversations at the team level. Collaborative teams answer the guiding question, “What do we want students to know and do?” by identifying essential standards and examples of proficiency in those standards. Read more
“Blurring the Lines” in an Elementary School
What would it look like if we “blurred the lines” in our school? How would schools function if every student received what he or she needed regardless of disability or language? At a . . . Read more
Should We Provide Ability-Based Tracking in Our School?
We received a question on the All Things PLC website from a high school English department that was in the process of revising its curriculum. The school offered three levels at each grade level . . . Read more
Q&A on Guided Reading in a PLC
The following is a Q&A email correspondence between Susan Huff, PLC at Work™ associate and principal in Spanish Fork, Utah, and Cynthia Watkins, a third-grade teacher in Asheville, North Carolina... Read more
Tracking
We received a question from a social studies department regarding leveling, or tracking. The school had taken steps to eliminate remedial courses, and in the first year of implementation, the department was questioning the loss of remedial social studies classes. Some members expressed… Read more
Questions New Teams Should Consider Early On
Twice this week we received emails from teachers who were just beginning to work in collaborative teams. One of the first issues they tackled was grading and homework policies, and they immediately . . . Read more
Student Grouping in a PLC
We received a message from a school that had concluded assigning students to academic classes based on their ability was the best way to promote differentiated instruction for students. While we . . . Read more