Boosting PLC Effectiveness: Actionable Strategies for Quick Wins

Summary

In the session titled "Boosting PLC Effectiveness: Actionable Strategies for Quick Wins," Andrea Listister, on behalf of the Teacher Recruitment and Retention office, explores how professional learning communities (PLCs) among educators can be made more effective. The video highlights common pitfalls that derail PLCs, such as unclear objectives and inconsistent participation. Andrea emphasizes the importance of having a shared vision, setting SMART goals, and creating norms to foster accountability. Practical strategies are presented to enhance participation and ensure meaningful outcomes, enabling teachers to become more productive and impactful. The session concludes with encouragement to start small, focus on progress over perfection, and take proactive steps to improve student outcomes through effective collaboration.

Highlights

• Andrea Listister hosts a session on making PLCs effective 🎤
• PLCs fail due to unclear objectives and participation 📉
• Importance of shared vision and measurable goals 🎯
• Creating norms improves accountability and participation 🙌
• Use of SMART goals for quick wins and clarity ⚡
• Reflection and adjustment are key for continuous improvement 🔄

Key Takeaways

• Shared vision and goals are crucial 🧠
• Set SMART goals for clarity and focus 🎯
• Encourage equal participation in meetings 🙋‍♂️
• Respect and support open discourse 🔍
• Reflect on practices and adjust as needed 🔄
• Start small and aim for progress, not perfection 🌱

Overview

In Andrea Listister's session, the focus is on revitalizing Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) for educators. She addresses common challenges like unclear objectives and inconsistent participation that often render meetings ineffective. Andrea emphasizes the necessity of a shared vision and the establishment of SMART goals to ensure each meeting is purposeful and productive.

Through engaging examples and practical strategies, the session showcases how to create effective norms to boost accountability and ensure all participants are involved. From rotating roles to thoughtful goal setting, Andrea underscores ways educators can foster a constructive meeting culture. Such approaches can dramatically shift ineffective gatherings to dynamic, result-oriented sessions that truly benefit student learning.

The session wraps up with a strong encouragement to start with small changes, reinforcing the idea that consistency and small wins eventually lead to substantial improvement. Andrea's insights provide a roadmap for educators to enhance their collaboration efforts, ensuring that their PLCs become a powerful tool for professional development and student success.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 01:30: Introduction and Overview The chapter titled 'Introduction and Overview' serves as the starting point for a series focused on improving PLC (Professional Learning Community) effectiveness through actionable strategies designed for quick wins. The session is hosted by Andrea Listister, representing the teacher recruitment and retention office. The office is in charge of various functions, particularly the recruitment process both incoming and outgoing.
• 01:30 - 04:00: Common Meeting Challenges The chapter explores strategies to improve the effectiveness of meetings by addressing common challenges faced during such gatherings. It emphasizes the importance of retaining educators in Oklahoma and highlights working with the teacher of the year program. Practical ideas are discussed that can be applied immediately to enhance meeting productivity.
• 04:00 - 07:00: Purpose and Goals The chapter focuses on making meetings within Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) more effective by identifying common reasons for their failures. PLCs may have different names, such as learning circles or collaborations, but the core aim is to enhance their effectiveness in a professional setting.
• 07:00 - 10:00: Meeting Norms and Structure The chapter discusses the structure and norms of meetings in an educational setting. It emphasizes the importance of teachers collaborating to move students towards common goals. The session is aimed at all teachers, not just team leaders or administrators. It focuses on identifying common obstacles that can disrupt teacher meetings and understanding strategies to overcome these challenges.
• 10:00 - 15:00: Key Traits for Effective PLCs The chapter titled 'Key Traits for Effective PLCs' discusses various obstacles and problems that can hinder the effectiveness of professional learning communities (PLCs). The focus is on gaining the necessary tools and strategies to enhance productivity and impact on student outcomes within these communities. While the session is not comprehensive, it addresses common issues that arise, offering solutions to improve the effectiveness of professional development sessions with colleagues.
• 15:00 - 24:00: Challenges Leading to PLC Failure The chapter discusses the various common pitfalls that lead to the failure of Professional Learning Communities (PLCs). It emphasizes the importance of identifying these challenges to find effective solutions. The author mentions the different types of collaborative meetings educators engage in, such as team meetings, departmental meetings, and planning sessions, each serving distinct purposes. It encourages reflecting on past meeting experiences to better understand these issues.
• 24:00 - 30:00: Shared Vision and Goals The chapter emphasizes the importance of productive and impactful meetings by encouraging readers to reflect on past experiences. It prompts the reader to consider what made certain meetings effective and how they felt afterwards, compared to unproductive ones. The chapter seeks to highlight the contrast between valuable face-to-face interactions and meetings that could be simply replaced by email correspondence, underlining the significance of a shared vision and goals.
• 30:00 - 35:00: Inconsistent Participation The chapter discusses the inefficiencies and barriers associated with in-person meetings, focusing on the frustration of having to physically attend meetings for information that could have been communicated via email. It encourages the audience to reflect on what hinders progress in meetings and suggests considering more effective communication methods.
• 35:00 - 40:00: Resource Management The chapter discusses the differences between productive and unproductive meetings, exploring what factors contribute to the effectiveness or perceived frivolousness of meetings. It raises questions about the purpose of professional development meetings and why participants might sometimes feel their presence in such meetings is unwarranted.
• 40:00 - 45:00: Reflection and Adjustment In the chapter titled 'Reflection and Adjustment,' the focus is on improving the clarity and effectiveness of meetings. The core issue addressed is the lack of clear communication regarding the purpose and expectations of meetings. The chapter suggests a simple solution: prominently display the shared goals of the meeting, either in the meeting space or at the top of the agenda. This ensures that all participants are aware of the meeting's purpose. Additionally, the chapter emphasizes the importance of revisiting these goals consistently to maintain clarity and direction.
• 45:00 - 53:00: Action Plans and Strategies The chapter emphasizes the importance of setting clear goals at the beginning of meetings to ensure focus and alignment among participants. This strategy is applicable to both educational settings and meetings, making it beneficial for teachers and students alike. By posting learning objectives, students can understand the day's direction, similar to how meeting participants benefit from clarifying the meeting's purpose and goals. The chapter also encourages seeking clarification whenever the objectives of a meeting are unclear.
• 53:00 - 57:00: Conclusion and Call to Action In this chapter, the speaker emphasizes the importance of providing reasons and clarity for actions, especially in an educational context. Teachers need to understand the purpose behind their activities to effectively engage and execute their responsibilities. The chapter suggests that if an action lacks a clear rationale, it may not need formal meetings and might be better communicated through emails instead. This reflection on the necessity of understanding 'the why' serves as the central call to action for educators to reconsider how they communicate and justify their practices.

Boosting PLC Effectiveness: Actionable Strategies for Quick Wins Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 Hello and welcome to our series on boosting PLC effectiveness, actionable strategies for quick wins. I am Andrea Listister and I will be hosting today's session. I am recording this session on behalf of the teacher recruitment and retention office. Uh we are responsible for several different functions including uh recruitment in in and out
• 00:30 - 01:00 of the state of Oklahoma, helping retain our amazing educators and also uh recognition which means we work with the teacher of the year program and organizing the gala for that selection process. Uh today we will be exploring how to make meetings more effective by addressing common challenges and focusing on practical ideas that you can apply right away in your
• 01:00 - 01:30 profession. So today what we're going to be doing is talking about how to make meetings more effective um and identifying common reasons why PLC's fail. Now we know that PLC's are called many different things. Um you know it can be learning circles, it can be um uh collaboration uh you know what whatever the different uh name that your
• 01:30 - 02:00 organization calls it. Um we're talking about those times when teachers get together and collaborate and talk about how to move students towards the common goal. We have three learning intentions today. Um first of all, this session is designed for every teacher. Uh not just team leads or administrators. Uh we definitely will be identifying the common obstacles that derail those teacher meetings and then also understanding strategies to overcome
• 02:00 - 02:30 those uh those problems or those obstacles. And then we will be gaining tools to help you make professional help you make your professional learning community more productive and impactful for student outcomes. Now this session is in no way meant to be the beall endall about how you choose to conduct your professional development times with your co-workers. These are just common problems that arise that keep them from being completely effective and we just
• 02:30 - 03:00 want to make sure that we address those common pitfalls and give you actionable ways to address those issues. So like I said, you know, there are many different ways that educators collaborate. We have team meetings, we have departmental meetings, we have planning sessions, and those are just some of the different meeting types that educators participate in. And each of them serve a different purpose. But I want you to think about in your experience, think back to meetings that
• 03:00 - 03:30 you have participated in that were productive and impactful. I can definitely think of several in my career. And I want you to think about what made those meetings most effective and how did you feel after the meeting ended? And I want you to think about the opposite, right? Think about an unproductive meeting. Think about how you felt during and after. I know I've sat in many staff meetings and said to myself, "This could have been an email, right? Did we really
• 03:30 - 04:00 need to track all the way to the meeting place, sit down, bring in our computers for you to tell me something that you could have sent me in a halfpage email, right? um what are the barriers that stood in in the way of making those meetings um progressive or of making progress in those meetings? I want you to take just a few seconds and feel free to pause the video at this point and I want you to reflect and jot down a few ideas. What do you think made the
• 04:00 - 04:30 difference between those two types of meetings? What was it that made the productive meeting feel productive? And what was it that made the meeting that seemed frivolous feel that way? What were those things that made the difference? And we're going to come back to those thoughts. So, have you ever sat in a professional development meeting and wondered why you were there? And this happens when the purpose and the
• 04:30 - 05:00 meetings, the purpose and the expectations are unclear because they have not been communicated well. A simple way to avoid this problem is to post your meeting's shared goals in a highly visible spot in the meeting space or on the top of your agenda so that everyone is aware of what the what the purpose is of the meeting, right? And then also you want to be sure to revisit those those purposes uh and
• 05:00 - 05:30 the goals briefly at the beginning of each meeting to keep everyone focused and aligned. This is a strategy any teacher could encourage with their own team. This also works very well with students. This is exactly the reason why we post learning objectives on the board so that the students know exactly where we're going for the day. And it's exactly the same purpose. It is also completely appropriate to ask for clarification if you are unsure of the purpose and the goals of the meeting you have been asked to attend. I will tell
• 05:30 - 06:00 you as an educator, one of the worst things that you can do for a teacher is to not give a reason. We need to know why we're doing things. We're very much about the why behind what we do. So, it's very important that you are clear about that. And if you don't have a why, maybe it doesn't need to be a MIDI. Maybe it needs to be an email. And that's definitely something to keep in consideration. So also with that it's very important
• 06:00 - 06:30 that if there if goals are not clear that maybe we take the time to co-construct those goals around the purpose and then also it's very important to agree upon norms. How is the group going to function? What are the purpose? What are the the expectations when we come to this meeting? Will we have cell phones? Are we taking turns? Are we going to start with the big picture and then break it down? Are we starting with the small steps and working our way up to the vision? What is what how are we going to
• 06:30 - 07:00 conduct this meeting? And then also it's important that we support and respect discourse and be open to new ideas. When someone is throwing things out or suggesting new things, we should give everyone equal opportunity to express those views and feel like they have stock in what's going on. And then also it's important to always go back and continuously re-evaluate the evidence of impact. So what we tried before, did it work? Did we give it time to work? Are
• 07:00 - 07:30 we looking at data when we're making decisions about how we're going to proceed? Or are we saying, "Ah, we just don't like this program. We're going to move on." But did we really give it are we basing that on research and evidence? Uh which is so important whenever we're making the data driven decisions. So there are five key traits that make PLC's thrive. Structure, shared values, relational trust, intentional learning,
• 07:30 - 08:00 and peer support. So I want you to think about your team. Which of these is your team's strength? And then which of these needs more attention? Here's how to identify if these traits are present in your meetings. If there's structure, the team will have a clear agenda and assigned roles. Everyone that is there knows what they're supposed to be doing. We know the direction that we're headed. We have a common goal and everyone is bought in
• 08:00 - 08:30 and on board. If the shared values appear when the team decisions reflect a common mission. So when we're all on one page, we're all on one accord, we're headed the same way, those values are going to appear and strengthen the mission. Relational trust shows up when teachers feel safe to share challenges. They are okay with saying, "Yeah, I tried this and it was a complete must.
• 08:30 - 09:00 It did not go well and I am at a complete loss as what direction to go from here on out." and they feel free to share those sorts of things without fear of judgment or being looked down on or uh you know being judged for their lack of knowledge or experience or whatever it may be. Uh you know intentional learning is focused on applying researchbased strategies to student learning and peer support involves coaching, modeling and celebrating wins
• 09:00 - 09:30 together. So that's having that supportive community of the educators that are about everyone winning and everyone improving for the greater good of the of the students. Implementing all of these things at one time can seem overwhelming to even a veteran educator to implement especially if you know expectations are not modeled from the top down. And so the goal is to improve practice not to be perfect. There is no such thing as perfect right? All we can
• 09:30 - 10:00 do is keep working and striving and evolving to become better. Remember the famous quote from Vincent Van Go. Great things are not done by impulse but by a series of small things brought together. Pick one thing and focus on it until that one thing becomes a part of the routine in professional meetings. So maybe just for example, we are going to focus on not giving our cell phones
• 10:00 - 10:30 energy for the first 30 minutes of the meeting. Everyone turn your phones to silent. We're going to put them under our chairs, under a folder, and we are going to focus solely on the mission at hand. And then during the second 30 minutes, maybe if a message comes through, something needs to be addressed, we'll do that. But for the first 30 minutes, we're going to focus on that and help that become a norm for our meeting. It's about being intentional and coming up with something
• 10:30 - 11:00 that will help us meet our goal. So, let's talk about why PLC's fail. What are some of those pitfalls and things that happen that derail those meetings that are very important? We have all been in PLC's that feel like a waste of time and teachers do not have time to waste. Our time is so limited as it is. And so to review before we move on, when a meeting fails, it is usually due to one or more
• 11:00 - 11:30 of these four things. Either there is no clear purpose, there's inconsistent participation, there's a lack of resources, or there's no time for reflection. meaning that we've implemented something but then we don't take the time to go back to see how effective it was. Today we will look at identifying common obstacles and the key symptoms to look for and then give you workable strategies to overcome and then an action plan for a quick
• 11:30 - 12:00 win. All right. So let me emphasize that any teacher can lead this work. Whether you are a veteran teacher or even a firstear teacher, you don't need to be a lead teacher title. You don't need the lead teacher title to introduce one of these strategies or to bring a new idea to the table. Sometimes that's what needs to happen. We need new blood.
• 12:00 - 12:30 That's how we move and evolve and continue to grow. Again, this PowerPoint is formatted to focus on the main four obstacles that derail successful PLC meetings. And for each obstacle, we will walk through key symptoms, a simple solution, and a plan for a quick win. These are designed to be easy to implement and have high impact for staff and students.
• 12:30 - 13:00 So the first obstacle is a lack of clear purpose and focus. The symptoms of this particular obstacle include aimless meetings. We've all been there. Unclear expectations and low engagement. Without a well-defined mission and shared goals, PLC's may drift without meaningful outcomes and
• 13:00 - 13:30 members begin to disengage. I can just think of my own career and I remember my first year. Um, we had PLC's but they were not at all impactful, purposeful, and there didn't seem to be a clear vision. more often than not, they, you know, decidedly fell into, well, I heard that so and so was getting ready to have a baby. Are they going to do a permanent sub? Well, you know, what are we going
• 13:30 - 14:00 to do? There's no basketball coach. Well, I'm not going to stay after and watch those kids because they've enrolled them in those classes. I guess they're just going to be sitting in the gym by themselves. Those were the sorts of things that we ended up talking about most days, right? And so, you know, it just kind of be began to just disintegrate. Um, and so without meaningful outcomes, the many of the members began to disengage. And I found myself not really wanting to go to PLC's because I don't care what's happening with the basketball team. I have papers
• 14:00 - 14:30 I can be grading. I have kids I can be tutoring. I can be going and watching someone else's classroom and trying to improve my own practices. And it is it's extremely essential to establish a shared vision. and set measurable objectives to guide the team's work and they need to be revisited regularly. Many times this vision is posted on a wall or written on a notebook that becomes invisible over time. The vision and the mission must be lived every time we
• 14:30 - 15:00 meet. It needs to be reflected and visible in all actions and decisions that the group makes. So the action plan for overcoming um this specific obstacle is to build a shared vision first. So an example of that would be we believe all students can grow when we collaborate intentionally and then what you do is you take that vision and you break that
• 15:00 - 15:30 into goals. Maybe you just start small. They have to be actionable, right? Start small. Maybe just analyzing writing samples together once a month could be that thing that you do to move students towards growing when we collaborate intentionally. So you start big and you break it into bite-sized chunks that you can do on a daily basis to move students that way. Even if it's minuscule
• 15:30 - 16:00 movement over the course of a year, minuscule movement is growth. And so you just create those actionable items that are goals that you can do together. collectively um and collaboratively. So what you want to do is you want to set smart goals, specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timebound for an idea that
• 16:00 - 16:30 is easy to suggest, implement, and and you will gain a quick win. You could use something like a a Google Doc agenda with a single goal for each meeting and allow team members to contribute prior to the meeting beginning. So that's an easy way for us to collaborate, achieve some of that pre pre-work so that when we arrive, we know exactly where we're headed.
• 16:30 - 17:00 So obstacle two, the next obstacle is inconsistent participation andor commitment. We have definitely all seen this in action in m meetings. The loud loudest voices dominate and then others tune out, get on their phones, get on their computer, check their email. And in scenarios like this, teachers may not feel ownership or accountability for the purpose of the meeting. And of course, you have the new teachers looking like deers in headlights because they have no
• 17:00 - 17:30 idea what is happening. And these meetings leave people walking away just feeling defeated and just hopeless and sometimes angry because they feel like their time has been wasted or like there was no point to this this amount of time, minutes of your life that you can't get back. I've said that before. The strategy for this is to foster accountability and provide a format that requires equal participation. So what that means is doing things like assigning rotating roles. Maybe someone
• 17:30 - 18:00 is the timekeeper, make someone the notetaker, make someone different, be the presenter. The that the veteran teacher doesn't always have to be the one presenting. Sometimes it is best to hear from new voices, those fresh graduates, those ones that have the the cutting edge research and new ideas and things that have been found to work based on new methods. Um, and a task for a quick win at your next meeting is to start each meeting with a check-in
• 18:00 - 18:30 question and a brief share out. And this sets a tone of inclusion and structure. This is a very a low-risk way to foster psychological safety within the group. Um, this is also an excellent strategy to use in the classroom with the students. So, a great example of this would be, hey, um, everyone, I want you to share good things. Everyone share one good thing or everyone share a win for this week. Um, what's your plan for this
• 18:30 - 19:00 weekend? Even if it's just to sleep and read a book or catch up on a Netflix show, whatever it is, it gives everyone equal footing in the group and it makes everyone feel like their presence is important and it matters and and it gives the group cohesiveness. So the action plan for this obstacle is to create shared expectations. These are often called
• 19:00 - 19:30 meeting norms as I referenced earlier. And an example would be that all members come prepared and ready to participate. So that Google doc that goes out, you've done your part before you get there. You come prepared to take notes, your computer, you have your data pulled up and we're ready to begin so that our minutes matter. And also just checking in with each member at the end of a meeting. Did everyone get a chance to speak? Did everyone feel heard? Do you feel included in the group? Do you feel
• 19:30 - 20:00 like what you say matters and is considered a a workable contribution? So, let's kind of talk a little bit about setting norms. And from experience in groups that uh we definitely have here, establishing team norms together is crucial. This is kind of like the class contract which I've
• 20:00 - 20:30 done with different age groups of kids and and it is important and it does matter and students will abide by it and so will adults and establishing team norms is profession in professional meetings is important because it sets clear expectations for behavior for communication and collaboration which leads to more productive respectful and efficient interactions. If you're not sure where to start, you could use a sentence stem like we will
• 20:30 - 21:00 begin meetings on time or we will assume positive intent or we will ask clarifying questions before disagreeing. These norms can be revisited and revised each quarter or every year or whenever you see that there's a need to make a shift. This is also an excellent classroom strategy to use with students and I can definitely testify to that. We I taught English and
• 21:00 - 21:30 it was so important with the number of uh multilingual learners that I had in my class that I make that be a safe space. And so my my rule was if you are not helping someone while they are reading or pronouncing then you are quiet. If you don't have something positive to say that is going to assist someone with being better, then you don't say anything at all. And I did everything I could to make that be a safe space. And what that did was allow
• 21:30 - 22:00 students to read out loud and to participate in class activities without feeling judged because they knew that I was going to protect them in that way. And so that's what norms do is they protect that safety of the group and they give everyone um equal footing in the group. All right, obstacle number three is it can be a little bit more challenging for classroom teachers
• 22:00 - 22:30 because it seems like leadership should be responsible for providing support and resources. But teachers can often achieve this without support from leadership. When teachers try to work around this obstacle in PLC's, it often leads to frustration and burnout. So, we hear phrases like, "I'm so overwhelmed," or, "I have too much on my plate," or, "I just don't think I can do all of these things." I encourage you to engage leadership in conversations around this obstacle.
• 22:30 - 23:00 So the strategy for obstacle three is to pull your available resources and delegate tasks among team members. So for instance, if you're exploring a new instructional method like student teaming or assign a team member who enjoys research to gather relevant information and share it with the group.
• 23:00 - 23:30 Meanwhile, others can take on other responsibilities. Maybe you host a monthly resource sharing session where teacher each teacher presents a favorite tool or strategy. Um, I have come to find that I actually enjoy research. I enjoy reading, you know, thesis papers and um people that have done experiments and, you know, conducted studies about new things that are working or finding out the why behind different um things that are happening in our student
• 23:30 - 24:00 bodies. And so that would be something that I would love to do um as a member of a staff. I would love to go out and look and see what research and sometimes you have to broaden the question before you find what you're looking for. So to be able to delegate that kind of divide and conquer is definitely the way to go whenever you're feeling like you don't have the resources that you need to accomplish the goal that you have. Um and a quick win would be to just create a shared Google Drive folder to house planning materials and templates. Many
• 24:00 - 24:30 teacher teams already do this. I know when I was teaching science, we definitely shared those resources back and forth. We had a folder. We had science folders, Google folders across our district that um allowed us to share all of our resources, all of the different things that we were doing, different experiments that we were conducting so that everyone had access to the same thing across the district. So they could be in a totally different middle school and we could be doing the same experiment or maybe we tweak it to
• 24:30 - 25:00 make it work for our specific student group. Consider having your te your administrator to team meetings to share your goals and collaborate on ideas such as common planning times, professional development op opportunities or even book studies. So the action plan for obstacle three would be a few different steps. First of all, you want to ask your team what resources they wish they had and
• 25:00 - 25:30 what resources they have in their classroom. Make a list of what is available and a wish list. Another step would be to work with your coach or admin to obtain one new support item each quarter. Sometimes it just requires asking and then asking again and then asking a third time. There are also programs and grants available in the community to obtain resources. I've seen
• 25:30 - 26:00 so many teachers be so successful at getting things by just posting an Amazon wish list. Many administrators have a small amount of money designated for professional development and additional classroom materials in case it is needed. Sometimes things like title one funds can be go to that especially if it's being used to assist students directly uh regardless of ability level. It doesn't hurt to ask and you may be surprised by the answer that you
• 26:00 - 26:30 get. All right, obstacle four. This step is often overlooked and given minimal time in PLC's because reflection requires thought and readjustments for what didn't work. I'm going to just say that again. Reflection requires thought and it requires readjustments for what
• 26:30 - 27:00 didn't work. This is the heavy lifting of PLC's. And so it's often the missing step. During this step, there are conversations that need to center around questions like, is this strategy actually helping students? And what is another strategy we can try? You can do this step by yourself, but it is so much more effective when done with a community of professionals. And don't be afraid to take a risk. Sometimes risk
• 27:00 - 27:30 can have big payoffs for you and students. And sometimes it's not about implementing a new strategy. Sometimes it's about revisiting the strategy that you're using and finding a new way to implement it. All right. So when reflection is a part of the PLC practice, this is where PLC's often experience what is known as analysis paralysis with while on the
• 27:30 - 28:00 quest for the perfect insight or using too much data from multiple resources. This picture is on the screen is just oh my gosh brings up yes trauma. Uh start small. So maybe you're just using student work samples and performing and performance data monthly. And a quick win would be to just spend 15 minutes each meeting reviewing exit t tickets from the past week and just
• 28:00 - 28:30 trying to identify trends. Overcoming analysis paralysis often involves setting clear goals upfront, time boxing the analysis phase, and focusing on good enough insights for decision making rather than perfection, fostering psychological safety to make decisions under certainty and ensuring clear roles and processes. So sometimes we get so caught up in wanting to be perfect that we miss the mark completely. We end up
• 28:30 - 29:00 down a rabbit hole. we get so involved in the data that we can't see the forest for the trees. So sometimes we have to back out and we have to pinpoint and and focus on one small sector so that we can have clear actionable goals and have clear direction as to what we need to do to move students where we want them to be. The action plan for obstacle four is may be the most uncomfortable for a classroom teacher to step into uh
• 29:00 - 29:30 leading their team. Step one is to create a simple protocol. What did we try? What did we already do? Did it work? What worked and what didn't work? And what is the data from what we tried that we will use? Step two is to pick one thing to change and revisit it at the next meeting. There are numerous data analysis protocols and agendas online. Find a simple one and as you can
• 29:30 - 30:00 as you become more comfortable with it, you can change the protocol to fit your team's needs. So monitoring and accountability are key. Use a shared tracker. An example would be a Google sheet with goals, timelines, and who's responsible. review it during the last five minutes of every PLC. What this does is this creates ownership. It gives someone
• 30:00 - 30:30 stock and and lets them know this is your thing. You're responsible for this this one small piece which is a part of the greater good. So just to kind of pull it all together, you don't have to wait for someone else to lead. You can start small and lead by example. Pick one thing and commit to improving it this month. Will it be having your team
• 30:30 - 31:00 clarify their purpose? Will it be ensuring everyone contributes, provides resources, and reflect often? It doesn't matter where you start. Just jump in where you feel comfortable. And honestly, at the time that this is being recorded, close to the end of the year, this is a great time to be looking at this and coming up with those goals, breaking down those goals to figure out where you want to be headed for the upcoming year. It's a great time to do it in that pre-year PD leading into the
• 31:00 - 31:30 school year. There's really never a bad time to refocus and pull it together and clarify your purpose and be sure that everyone is contributing to the direction that we're headed. So, just recapping the quick wins you can start tomorrow. Don't try to do them all at one time, but just pick one or two that you are committed
• 31:30 - 32:00 to to take back to your team. Just set one smart goal. Assign those roles. Review the data together. And then decode your school's vision into classroom behaviors. You have to take the big vision and break it down into actionable items. We are striving for progress, not perfection. Also know that it just may be you and one other team member, and that's okay. Start with who wants to be
• 32:00 - 32:30 there and who wants to improve practice for student outcomes. And do not become discouraged by the ones who do not want to participate. So this is your opportunity to be a change maker in your PLC. Regardless of your role, you now have the tools to diagnose PLC problems and strategies to solve them. Your next step
• 32:30 - 33:00 is implementing a strategy. I want you to think, what can I bring to my next PLC to elevate the work? You also want to self assess to make sure you are a part of the solution and not a part of the problem for your PLC's failing. At your next PLC, you can identify the obstacles the team faces, consider the
• 33:00 - 33:30 strategy to overcome the obstacle, and use an idea from the action plans. Now, we definitely always value your feedback because your insights help us improve our our future sessions. Please take two minutes to fill out our feedback form. Your thoughts help us
• 33:30 - 34:00 support teachers more effectively. So, feel free to pause the video here, scan this QR code, and we definitely thank you for your time and your feedback. Thank you so much for attending our session. We look forward to hearing from you. And until next time, just keep evolving. Have a wonderful day.