Big Book of Tools for Collaborative Teams in a PLC at Work®: (An explicitly structured guide for team learning and implementing collaborative PLC strategies)

by William M. Ferriter

Overview

Build your team's capacity to become agents of positive change. Organized around the four critical questions of PLC at Work®, this comprehensive book of field-tested, easy-to-use tools provides an explicit structure for collaborative teams. Rely on these resources and best practices to help you establish team norms, navigate common challenges, develop collective teacher efficacy, and more.

Use this resource to monitor the quality of your team’s work:

• Discover how to address the many challenges teams face, and develop the skills necessary to improve student learning.
• Understand how to build a solid foundation for your collaborative efforts.
• Study strategies for effectively developing a guaranteed and viable curriculum, common formative assessments, and remediation and extension opportunities.
• Obtain targeted support and tools that you can use immediately to strengthen the work of your collaborative team.
• Explore the core behaviors that are essential to collaborative success.

Contents:
Acknowledgments
Table of Contents
About the Author
Introduction
Chapter 1: Strengthening the Collegial Practices of Learning Teams
Chapter 2: What Do We Want Students to Learn?
Chapter 3: How Will We Know Students Are Learning?
Chapter 4: How Will We Respond When Some Students Don't Learn?
Chapter 5: How Will We Extend the Learning for Students Who Are Already Proficient?
References
Index

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781947604858
Publisher:	Solution Tree Press
Publication date:	05/01/2020
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	111,146
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 10.90(h) x 0.80(d)

Table of Contents

About the Author ix

Introduction 1

Matrix: Identifying Resources Worth Exploring 8

1 Strengthening the Collegial Practices of Learning Teams 13

Learning Teams 13

Developing Team Norms 15

Building Consensus Around Difficult Decisions 16

Resources for Strengthening the Collegial Practices of Learning Teams 16

Five Fundamental Resources for Strengthening the Collegial Practices of Learning Teams

Tool: Developing Team Norms 21

Tool: Establishing Team Roles 24

Tool: Learning Team Meeting Notes 27

Tool: Fist-to-Five Rating Scale 29

Checklist: Tasks Teams Can Tackle During Collaborative Meetings 30

Additional Resources for Strengthening the Collegial Practices of Learning Teams

Tool: Team Task Tracking 33

Tool: Team Meeting Evaluation Strips 34

Checklist: Professional Development for Learning Teams 35

Tool: Record of Team Accomplishments 37

Tool: Building Consensus Around Difficult Decisions 38

Tool: Resolving Conflict With a Colleague 40

Tool: What Is Your Team Monitoring? 41

Tool: Learning Team Quarterly Reflection 44

Survey: The State of Your Learning Team 45

Survey: The Trust on Your Learning Team 48

2 What Do We Want Students to Learn? 49

Developing and Delivering a Guaranteed and Viable Curriculum 50

Resources for What We Want Students to Learn 50

Five Fundamental Resources for What We Want Students to Learn

Checklist: Identifying Essential Learning Outcomes for a Unit of Study 55

Toot Unpacking Essential Standards 56

Sample: Unpacking Essential Standards-Kindergarten 58

Tool: Pacing Guide for a Cycle of Instruction 60

Sample: Pacing Guide for a Cycle of Instruction 62

Tool: Developing Exemplars to Standardize Expectations 64

Sample 1 Developing Exemplars to Standardize Expectations-High School Social Studies 65

Sample 2 Developing Exemplars to Standardize Expectations-High School Social Studies 67

Tool: SMART Goal Worksheet 69

Sample: SMART Goal Worksheet-Third-Grade Team 70

Sample: SMART Goal Worksheet-American Government 73

Additional Resources for What We Want Students to Learn

Tool: Essential Standards Chart 76

Sample: Essential Standards Chart-Second-Grade Mathematics 78

Tool: Identifying Important Questions to Study Together 80

Protocol: Identifying Important Questions to Study Together 81

Tool: Spotting Patterns in Standardized Tests and Universal Screening Data 83

Tool: Helping Singletons Identify Academic Skills and Dispositions Worth Studying 85

Tool: Helping Singletons Identify Essential Outcomes to Study 87

Survey: Does Your Team Have a Guaranteed and Viable Curriculum? 88

Tool: Guaranteed and Viable Curriculum Reflection Questions 90

3 How Will We Know Students Are Learning? 91

Giving Students Tools to Self-Assess 93

Resources for Knowing Students Are Learning 96

Five Fundamental Resources for Knowing Students Are Learning

Tool: Building a Common Formative Assessment 102

Tool: Using the ACID Test to Evaluate a Common Formative Assessment 103

Tool: Performance Tracking Table 105

Sample 1 Performance Tracking Table-Elementary School Mathematics 106

Sample 2 Performance Tracking Table-Middle School Science 108

Tool: Common Formative Assessment Data Tracker-Individual Results 109

Tool: Common Formative Assessment Data Tracker-Team Results 112

Sample: Common Formative Assessment Data Tracker-Team Results 114

Tool: Team Analysis of Common Formative Assessment Data 116

Additional Resources for Knowing Students Are Learning

Tool: Writing a Good Selected-Response Question 119

Tool: Instructional Implications of Common Formative Assessment Data 121

Tool: Individual Teacher Reflection on Student Learning Data 123

Sample: Individual Teacher Reflection on Student Learning Data 124

Tool: Defining Frequent Mistakes on a Common Formative Assessment 125

Tool: Tracking Frequent Mistakes on a Common Formative Assessment-Individual Teacher 127

Tool: Tracking Frequent Mistakes on a Common Formative Assessment-Team Results 129

Tool: Progress-Tracking Cards for Primary Students 130

Tool: Not Yet and You Bet Lists for Primary Students 131

Tool: Unit Overview Sheet for Student Self-Assessment in Upper Elementary, Middle, and High School 132

Sample: Unit Overview Sheet for Student Self-Assessment in Upper Elementary Middle, and High School 135

Tool: Evidence of Practice in Action 138

Tool: Evidence of Practice in Action-Teacher Self-Reflection 140

Tool: Practice-Centered Peer Observation 142

Tool: Understanding Common Assessment Strategies 144

Tool: Reflecting on the Dual Purposes of Common Formative Assessments 145

Checklist: Rating Your Team's Common Formative Assessment Practices 146

Survey: Data Literacy 147

4 How Will We Respond When Some Students Don't Learn? 149

Creating a Team-Based Intervention Plan for Struggling Students 151

Resources for Responding When Some Students Don't Learn 152

Five Fundamental Resources for Responding When Some Students Don't Learn

Tool: Prerequisites and Extensions for an Essential Outcome 157

Tool: Tier 2 Intervention Tracking by Individual Teacher 158

Tool: Team-Based Intervention Plan for Struggling Students 162

Tool: List of Common Misconceptions for an Essential Outcome 163

Tool: Rating the Effectiveness of Interventions on Your Learning Team 164

Additional Resources for Responding When Some Students Don't Learn

Tool: Individual Student Intervention Report 166

Tool: Quarterly Work Behaviors Student Self-Assessment 168

Tool: Tracking Student Work Behaviors 170

Tool: Intervention Plan for Student Work Behaviors 172

Tool: Tier 2 Intervention Tracking by Learning Team 173

Sample: Tier 2 Intervention Tracking by Learning Team 174

Tool: Behavioral Analysis Protocol 175

Tool: Creating a Record of Student Observations 178

Tool: Using Where Am I Going? Checklists to Differentiate Learning Experiences 180

Sample: Where Am I Going? Checklist 181

Tool: Assessment Analysis Form 182

Sample: Assessment Analysis Form 183

Checklist: Rating Your Team's Intervention Practices 185

5 How Will We Extend Learning When Students Are Already Proficient? 187

Extending the Learning With Care for Proficient Students 188

Resources for Extending Learning When Students Are Already Proficient 190

Five Fundamental Resources for Extending Learning When Students Are Already Proficient

Tool: Analyzing Your Team's Extension Reality 195

Tool: Extension Plan for a Unit of Study 196

Tool: Weekly Extension Planning Template 197

Tool: Using Proficiency Scales to Define Levels of Mastery 198

Sample 1 Using Proficiency Scales to Define Levels of Mastery-Social Studies 199

Sample 2 Using Proficiency Scales to Define Levels of Mastery-Physical Education 201

Key: Using Depth of Knowledge Levels to Increase the Complexity of an Existing Task 203

Tool: Using Depth of Knowledge Levels to Increase the Complexity of an Existing Task 204

Additional Resources for Extending Learning When Students Are Already Proficient

Tool: Building Your Learning Team's Knowledge About Extensions 206

Tool: Developing a Tiered Lesson Plan 207

Tool: Developing a Tiered Task Card 210

Sample: Tiered Task Card-Elementary School Reading 211

Tool: Curriculum Compacting Contract 212

Sample: Curriculum Compacting Contract-Eighth-Grade Science 213

Tool: Creating a Review Tutorial for an Essential Standard 214

Tool: Using Student Wonder Questions as Extension Tasks 216

Tool: Tracking Real-Life Examples of Essential Outcomes in Action 218

Tool: Rating the Extensions on Your Learning Team 220

Tool: How Is Your Learning Team Spending Your Collaborative Time? 221

Checklist: Evaluating Your Team's Extension Practices 223

Afterword 225

References and Resources 227

Index 231

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Bill provides a teacher's voice for teachers' work as he guides teams through troubleshooting collaborative challenges as only someone who has lived PLCs can." —Joe O'Brien, assistant principal for curriculum and instruction, Vernon Hills High School, Illinois

"William Ferriter has done it again! In The Big Book of Tools for Collaborative Teams in a PLC at Work, Mr. Ferriter provides over one hundred tools that can be used to guide collaborative work in your schools. All of the tools are easy to use and accessible to ensure your collaboration time is focused on the right work. This book should be mandatory for every PLC practitioner. What an amazing resource!" —Bo Ryan, principal, CREC Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts Middle School, Connecticut

"The Big Book of Tools for Collaborative Teams in a PLC at Work is another phenomenal resource from expert Bill Ferriter. He combines research and practitioner expertise to produce specific tools that support educators in various stages of understanding about professional learning communities and the four PLC questions." —Amanda McAdams, director of curriculum, Lincoln County School District #2, Wyoming