MS+PLC+Facilitators

= MS PLC Facilitators =

__**2014-2015**__
Start on Time and Leave on Time Be respectful of others and their opinions Be honest with your own opinions Address agenda items first

SMART Goal and Action Plan
=== 100% of PLC facilitators will build leadership capacity by sharing progress in regards to their PLC's SMARTGoal and sharing what adjustments were made based on the progress data and offer support and ideas to help improve the data when needed. ===

Minutes
Below are the notes taken during our discussion of the Data discussion video we watched.
 * 3/9/15**
 * Casey Bisher, Chad Farner, Polly Ehret, Josh Bandstra, Andy Hotek, Brent Knoot, Kim Lowry**

1. They had a timekeeper and a facilitator with an agenda. 2. They brought in the 5th grade team to discuss the results they were having and they projected the data on the wall and went through each element together. 3. We felt the data analysis was effective. 4. They communicated well. The leader led the discussions in the right direction and focused the discussions. Each member was heard and respected. 5. Rarely do our PLCs look like the one in the video. We know that having timely data to examine is important. We felt the focus on the instructional strategies was the most effective discussion. 6. Concentrate on how formative data can lead to discussions on more effective teaching strategies. We struggle with determining what is good data to analyze.


 * 2/9/15**
 * Casey Bisher, Joe Bell, Chad Farner, Polly Ehret, Josh Bandstra, Andy Hotek, Brent Knoot**


 * Joe shared that he will send out the next video for Tools for Improvement. He said that it was only about 5 minutes long and is worth doing the activity. Andy said that at the last DLT, individuals were much closer to rating the lessons the same. On Wednesday there will be a 2 hour Tech session. The first hour will be learning about 60 apps in 60 minutes and then the last 60 minutes will be time to work on those apps. Andy has had a few takers to go around with him and do some walkthroughs. The offer is still open. Slots are filling up fast for the April 1:1 conference. Joe asked about the GLB's for the new classes - literature/reading. Is there time budgeted for create and revise those GLB's? Discussed what will happen with the days that staff will be here that students will not because of the switch from days to hours. It would be a great time to organize curriculum, move rooms, get technology organized, etc. Andy discussed all of the things that were happening in the building in prep of next year. There was a meeting on Friday about the scholastic traits that involve a universal set of writing expectations for the building. Polly shared what they learned. So next year we will have two coaches, 1:1, new 6th grade structure, a building wide writing curriculum, lit courses, PBL initiative, PBIS, we have a whole lot of things going on next year. A google doc will come out soon which will allow staff to comment on these initiatives and help identify areas of concern that we should be working on before the beginning of the school year. The half day PD on Februray 20 will be mini sessions about PBL, 1:1, and Fluency Strategies.**

Casey Bisher, Joe Bell, Chad Farner, Josh Bandstra, Kim Lowry, Andy Hotek No District PLC agenda to discuss but Joe shared that DLT is still using the videos to explore the Tool for Improvement. Andy re-emphasized how the A team believes that the Tools document is vital to use in developing lesson plans and improving instruction. Andy threw out the idea of having staff do walk-throughs with administrators - a peer observation type activity using the Tool for Improvement. Group discussed the merits of this. No real conclusion. Joe suggests that PLC continue to use the same videos as DLT. No real PLC data to share because of the missed PLC and break. We also discussed the new Wednesday schedules (1st & 3rd Wednesdays will have the last 15 min available for staff meetings). The 2nd and 4th Wednesdays are 1/2 PLC 1/2 Vertical or Staff Mtg. Andy talked about the TLS Grant - designed to boost teacher leadership by supporting literacy/math and tech integration. PLC & Vertical leaders get additional funds and the Middle School will get an additional instructional coach. The team liked the idea of a tech person as well as a literacy/math person. The tech person could help feed tech tips to staff. Andy thinks they will be posting those positions soon. Who ever takes the positions will need to be replaced. 1:1 Update - We have received the teacher chromebooks. Next Wednesday, staff will receive chromebooks to mess with for the rest of the school year. Changes for Next Year - Tom & Andy are working on the revised bell changes and shift to a 6th grade team. Probably going to happen. School would start at 8:20. 45 minute periods. 8 periods a day. Homeroom 8:00 - 8:20. 1st period and homeroom are the same group of kids. Hopefully most students will have language arts/reading to back to back and they have the same teacher. Discussed room arrangements as well.
 * 1/12/15**

Casey Bisher, Kim Lowry, Josh Bandstra, Brent Knoot, Chad Farner, Andy Hotek Talked about how we are using part of PLC time for PD about tech in order to prepare for 1:1. Whether it is a standing agenda item or not is up to the PLC group. The next subcommittee meeting is this coming Wednesday for the 1:1 subcommittee group. Andy shared that tonight the A Team is sharing with the board. They are sharing walk-through data. Goal - a walkthrough for each teacher, once a trimester. 100% of teachers will receive a 2 or better. 80% will receive a 3 or better. The district appears to be making progress towards their goals. Kim proposed that on these walkthroughs - instead of giving a 1, we should give an "NA". It seems that it is impossible to score well with a 6 minute observation in all areas. Not going to happen though. Not all PLC's had a chance to watch and discuss the walk-through video. We will discuss later. Andy discussed a new schedule that will address specific concerns and needs. There are several obstacles to this idea. Staff numbers is the big obstacle.
 * 12/08/14**

Casey Bisher, Chad Farner, Josh Bandstra, Mark Scholes, Brent Knoot Discussed Agendas. Casey brought examples of his agenda. We discussed things that worked in their agenda for their PLCs. Discussed building issues. 7th grade will be going to an Iowa Wild Game if they did not get a office referral in October. Discussed conferences. The middle school had about 43% attendance. 6th grade had the most, 8th grade the least.
 * 10/13/14**

9/08/14
Joe Bell was selected as MS PLC facilitator Chad Farner will take minutes. Discussed what our SMART Goal for 2014/15. Looked at last year's goal and discussed. We felt that we needed to do a better job of holding PLC members to bringing GLB data to their PLC's. Andy emphasized the importance of the "now what". Take the data and decide what the data tells us and how we can change. We reviewed the important points from our District PLC meeting - before the end of a meeting, create agenda for next meeting - add to agenda - "Meeting Purpose" Discussed some building issues - New procedures for commons duty 8:00 - 8:15 - On going discussion about using AIMS/WEB in the creation of IEP goals for identified students - Working with Kyle B. in making sure that we have supervision for sporting events - Andy and Amanda are going to China in October to continue developing our relationship with our sister school - After school program begins soon

Norms
Start on Time and Leave on Time Be respectful of others and their opinions Be honest with your own opinions Address agenda items first

SMART Goal and Action Plan
100% of PLC facilitators will build leadership capacity by sharing progress in regards to their PLC's SMARTGoal. -SMART Goal Progress -What is working -What is not working

Agenda's
9/9/13 Suggested Agenda Items per Andy: Setting Norms for our Leadership Team Setting a SMARTGoal for our 2013-14 Leadership Team We've been "all about RtI" since the first of the year. Let's have an update or summary of our results so far. Let's look at our "Current Reality" vs "Desired State" Achieving our "Desired State" begins with a commitment to continuous improvement. We simply begin by doing what ever is next.

10/14/13 Each PLC will have a report each month and Andy will have a separate report

Minutes
9/9/13 Attendance: Josh Bandstra, Kim Lowery, Casey Bisher, Joe Bell, Andy Hotek, Polly Ehret, Brent Knoot, Chad Farner Joe Bell was selected as facilitator. Chad will take minutes. Discussed the purpose of PLC facilitator meeting. Andy said it should be facilitator driven. We discussed concern about a lack of a forum to discuss building level concerns or issues. One of which is implementation of RTI. That spurred a discussion of progress on RTI implementation this year. Turned our attention to individual SMART goals for each PLC. Andy said that they were looking at SMART goals and sending out suggestions for improvement. Shared out different PLC SMART goals and discussed them. Generated Norms and SMART goal for our PLC Facilitator group.

Spent time discussing issues that we have struggled with. Things like data collection, delegation, keeping members on task, SPED teachers floating in and out of PLC's. LArts especially has that problem with people showing up and disrupting agenda.

Next Meeting: October. 14, 3:45 MS Meeting Room

10/21/13 Attendance: Josh Bandstra, Kim Lowry, Casey Bisher, Joe Bell,, Polly Ehret, Brent Knoot, Chad Farner, Mark Scholes

Joe discussed how we should share out data from our GLB's. We will send GLB data to Joe and then Joe can add them to the Wiki. We can discuss successes and concerns about GLB's during that portion of the meetings. Josh discussed the problem of his PLC sharing data because they all have different GLB's. Joe shared out struggles and concerns. His team is concerned that additional hoops that are being thrown at us has created a time crunch when we break from PLC to go to Vertical meetings. Kim shared concerns about making sure that assessments were administered consistently. Having study guides that are different in the LA dept. is a problem. Other depts. may not use the same study guide but do not view it as an issue. Kim wonders if it makes the data invalid. KIm shared good news about her most recent assessment. Kim says that things are going much better this year. That prompted a discussion about the challenges of difficult classes vs. great classes. Polly noted that sometimes it is not the quality of the teaching but the quality of the kids. Brent is a K-12 PLC. They all have different SMART goals. Brent's meeting his Art goals so far - 100% at a 2 or higher. Casey said that the Math Dept. is redoing their GLB's based on Iowa Core. They will need all new common assessments next year. There will be 6 assessments in the year. Chad reported that the 7th grade is moving forward with their common PBL and it seems to going smoothly so far. Josh shared a project that they did that involved creating a mechanical arm - no directions, no model - just the requirements. This got kids to problem-solve, use creative thinking, and come up with original ideas.

Data:

// Data: // K. Luck (Unit 1: Mesopotamia: 6th Grade): 100% (2 or higher) 97.2% (3 or higher) J. Maddy (Unit 1: Mesopotamia: 6th Grade): 100% (2 or higher) 93.5% (3 or higher) J. Maddy (Unit 1: Medieval Europe: 7th Grade): 100% (2 or higher) 93.6% (3 or higher) J. Bell (Unit 1: Medieval Europe: 7th Grade): 95.8% (2 or higher) 86.5% (3 or higher) D. Morgan (Unit 1: Medieval Europe: 7th Grade): 100% (2 or higher) 96.4% (3 or higher) D. Morgan (Unit 1: 8th Grade): 97% (2 or higher) // Data: // 6th Grade Unit 1: 17% (4) 49% (3) 24% (2) 10% (1) 7th Grade Unit 1: 10% (4) 66% (3) 20% (2) 4% (1) 7th Grade Unit 2: 1% (4) 61% (3) 30% (2) 8% (1) 8th Grade Unit 1: 5% (4) 64% (3) 21% (2) 10% (1) // Date: // 8th Grade: 100% scoring at a 2 or better
 * Joe Bell: (Social Studies) **
 * Casey Bisher: (Math) **
 * Brent Knoot: (Art) **

Next Meeting: Nov. 11, 3:45 MS Meeting Room

11/11/13 Attendees: Mark Scholes, Kim Lowry, Casey Bisher, Josh Bandstra, Brent Knoot, Polly Ehret, Chad Farner

Before we did the scenario and the had a long discussion about the walkthrough template. There were concerns about how we are evaluated and whether the tool reflects a realistic way for us to teach. When we did begin, we read the Walkthrough Scenario with the group presentations. Overall, we gave several 2's, a 1, and a 3. We discussed what we do in our classrooms as well. Kim talked about how she does presentations. Josh asked some questions about how others do presentations. There was good conversation about best practices in the classroom. We didn't talk about the tool in much depth however. We read the second scenario: The MS social studies scenario. The second scenario had far more 4's. We felt like the teacher did many things right. Polly wanted to know if they organized the students into groups or if they let the students make their own groups. From a spec.ed. perspective, when new concepts are taught, it is helpful for them to be in mixed groups. When they are doing independent work, it helps to have them working together. Discussed the challenges of grouping kids. Sometimes the same kids carry all of the weight. We shared successes with our PLC. Chad said that he was really pleased with how PLC has gone the last two weeks. Kim is a little frustrated with how PLC has gone the last two times. K-12 Spec. Ed. PLC went great last time as they tore through their agenda. All other PLC's are doing great.

12/09/13 Attendees: Andy Hotek, Polly Ehret, Kim Lowry, Casey Bisher, Chad Farner, Brent Knoot

Shared successes. Discussed GLB scoring and how different teachers/departments are assigning scores for benchmarks. Turned our discussion to the West DesMoines model of using a grading rubric instead of points and percentages. Discussed the pros and cons of the system. Some interest in how it works. It seems to work well for all sorts of subjects. It seems more realistic and easy to work with. Discussed the issue of retesting. We plan on sharing the presentation at our PLC's to get more input. We discussed challenges with using projects to measure GLB progress. When students don't complete a project, when they fall behind, don't do the work, miss the mark, it makes it challenging. Joe found students either were doing really, really well, or not getting it done. It is a challenge that we are all facing. Hopefully students will learn as we learn. Andy discussed his survey. What his intent was, how it went, and what he learned.

Next Meeting: January 13

1/13/14

Attendees: Andy Hotek, Polly Ehret, Casey Bisher, Chad Farner, Brent Knoot, Kim Lowry, Josh Bandstra

Andy talked about the tech day on Wednesday. We will meet in the library and then identify topics that people want to cover. Then break into smaller sessions so that each teacher can work on a tech topic of their choice. The Tech Committee will coordinate facilitators. There is a One-to-One Institute April 10. A DM conference for one-to-one schools. The MS is probably a year or two away from becoming a 1 - 1 school. The MS is going to have a group of 22 Chinese visitors spend a week at our middle school. They are coming the 27th and will get into town at about 11:30pm. They will meet with the host families that night. They are 10 - 11 year old students. Wednesday there will be a community social at Smokey Row. Thursday they will celebrate Chinese New Year with a traditional meal served at the MS. Friday is their last day.

Andy shared information about the TLC (Teacher Leadership Committee) and the grant that they are applying for through the state. Discussed the grant. A lot of discussion about what an "Instructional Coach" is and what they would do.

Discussed RTI model currently in place at the MS and possible changes in the future. Especially concerning is the "enrichment" part of the RTI implementation.

2/10/14 Attendees: Casey Bisher, Joe Bell, Chad Farner, Andy Hotek, Josh Bandstra, Brent Knoot

Discussed data. Social Studies discussed their portfolios and how they used them for assessing. Found success. It is a nightmare in terms of time management but it is worth it in the long run according to Joe.

2nd Trimester work day - 2 hr PD along with the work day. If it is a 2 hr. PD then vertical groups will be given the opportunity to share what they are doing. Most importantly, PBIS and what they learned at the conferences. PBL is the other area. PBL has been asked to share out what they are doing. Perhaps ideas for using in enrichment. It could be like a "sandbox" for the idea.

3/10/14 Attendees: Brent Knoot, Chad Farner, Polly Ehret, Josh Bandstra, Andy Hotek Discussed the new and improved "Tools for Improvement". We looked at the examples and discussed how we want to share out the new Tools. We will communicate with those that weren't here so that we all do the same thing on Monday. We also discussed the pilot program that will be implemented at the high school which will move GLB's to the forefront and moving grades to a smaller degree.

4/14/14 Attendees: Chad Farner, Brent Knoot, Polly Ehret, Andy Hotek, Casey Bisher, Kim Lowry Andy wanted to discuss Enrichment Ideas. He is thinking about using a 6 week rotation system. Each grade level would have some specific topics. It would be a graded rotation. Goal is creating more continuity and a standard platform for expectations. Chad said that he liked the 6 week rotation idea in that a teacher could create a 6 week core activity that we would rotate through 6 times throughout the year. We are concerned about lack of computers but some of the topics Andy generated could easily be done with little or no technology. Polly and Andy agreed that each should have a writing component. There is a rubric already that could be used for assessing the writing. Kim would like to see building-wide RtI for math and reading instead of the proposed or current model. Polly suggested that maybe those RtI lessons should be built into the 6 week enrichment topics.

5/12/14 Attendees: Chad Farner, Brent Knoot, Kim Lowry, Andy Hotek, Casey Bisher Discussed the docs which are due by the end of the year for PLC. Showed Kim where she can find Andy discussed plans for Friday. Thursday - am - students will get tickets with a 1, 2, or 3. 1 earns them a pizza, 2 earns pizza and icecream, 3 will get them a trip to the movie as well.

PD Days are being organized for next year. Next year- the 4th Wednesday will be staff meeting day. We will hold staff meeting then PLC the last hour. The two 1/2 day work days will have PD the other half of the time. They will be PBL technology days and 1:1.

Chad talked about the lack of data to analyze in terms of Iowa Assessments and MAP testing. For science, we just get a score. No real analysis of what was going on under the hood. What lead to the score that they received. The only real data that is specific is the data from GLB.