third+plc

= Week 5 PLC:Studying Teaching Practice in Professional Learning Communities =

PLC Meeting Location: UH PLC Meeting Time: 9-11am

[Note to PLC Leaders: make sure you tell groups how much of this plan you all will do together and what, if any, parts—such as the Engage and Explore sections—that members will do on their own ahead of time

. There is also a portion of the Elaborate section—reading and viewing Modules 4 and 5 of the QUEST Teacher Research Initiative that you might want to have members do ahead of time. Consider where you are meeting—if you will not have internet access or separate computers, you may have them do this ahead of time.]

==**Hour 1** == Please view the video below as an anticipatory set for today’s lesson, to get your attention focused on using Inquiry to study Teaching Practice in collaborative groups: [] (seems to take a while to load and displays very small, but is worth it! Approximately 15 min.)
 * //ENGAGE//**

[]
 * //EXPLORE://**

==**Hour 2** == //[Note to PLC Leaders: You will lead the group in responding to the video and other resources. Here is where you will post to your group space at least 3 open-ended discussion questions (For example, one discussion question might be, What would it take to provide time in a school day for teachers to discuss together?). Each PLC member should have an opportunity to share his or her understanding of the content.]//
 * //EXPLAIN//**

First, take turns discussing the data you have collected so far on your Child Inquiry. These questions might guide your conversation:
 * //ELABORATE//**
 *  Who did I choose?
 *  What did I see?
 *  What does it mean?

Next, it is time to analyze the data you have collected, or in other words, figure out what is going on with this student! Either individually, or in partners, take some time right now to read and listen to Modules 4 and 5. Once everyone has gone through these, discuss. Finally, the Inquiry #2 assignment requires you to select a teaching practice of your cooperating teacher to study—something that seems to work or something that doesn’t seem to work or something that has just caught your eye. Could be:
 *  Grouping
 *  Presenting
 *  Classroom management
 *  Communicating
 *  Technology use

As a group, make a list of teaching strategies that you see used in your class. Take turns formulating a “wondering” about one strategy. How can your PLC group help you to initiate, analyze, and write-up this inquiry?

==**Hour 3** == 1. As a group, reflect on what you have learned today about studying teaching in collaborative groups.
 * //EVALUATE//**

Today we learned a lot on collaborative groups. we learned that sharing ideas and thoughts are more effective for students. By sharing ideas students are more likely to gain knowledge and experience by working with different types of people.

2. As a group, draft a brief statement (approx 1-2 paragraphs) of what you learned or new understandings you came to during this discussion. What did you agree with/about, and what did you not agree with/about? How do you KNOW you learned and grew?! Post this statement to your PLC page.

We learned that sometimes as teachers we forget about ourselves and tend to only focus on certain needs, as oppose to looking at the overall picture. In order, to be an effective teacher we must not forget about ourselves and always keep in mind how we can enhance the way students learn. Incorporating different methods and strategies can increase the students chances of successful learning outcome. We must all come together positively and implement our supporting ideas in our everyday classrooms. For instance, we liked the idea of having book clubs for students and working in pairs or groups. Something we were not sure of was the peer editing. We felt that the students would feel overwhelmed or discouraged while others have an input on their individual work. Some students do not like their peers looking over there work because they feel they are not capable of producing great work. We feel we have grown because we have found more ways to help students out and not always having students doing individual work but collaborating with others.

3. As a group, please look at the Assignments page for the description and grading rubric for the Inquiry #2 assignment. Now is the time to being Inquiry #2, selecting a teaching practice of your cooperating teacher to study. The format is the same as your Child study, and you should use what you learned through the five [|QUEST Teacher Research Modules] .

4. Individually, please send your PLC Check as an email to Caroline so that she can get you recorded as "attending" in the gradebook:
 * <span style="display: block; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> What/Who worked well in today’s PLC meeting?
 * <span style="display: block; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> What/Who didn’t work so well in today’s PLC meeting?