General Resources for Professional Learning Teams

Direct link to this resource collection:  http://bit.ly/GeneralPLCResources 

One of the challenges of moving professional learning teams forward is that every team develops at a different rate and is ready to tackle different tasks at different times.  While teams move through predictable stages of development, they don't move through those stages at the same time.  Successfully supporting professional learning teams, then, depends on first identifying what kinds of collaborative tasks teams are ready to tackle and then providing targeted support to move individual teams forward.  The resources on this page are designed to do just that.

The State of Our Learning Team Survey

Handout - State of Our Learning Team Survey

This survey is designed to help teams identify collaborative tasks that they (1). have successfully mastered and (2). may be ready to tackle next.  Teachers are encouraged to fill the survey out individually and then come together with their collaborative teams to identify three tasks that they are already doing well and three tasks that they could move towards tackling in the near future. 

Handouts for Helping with Personal Dynamics on Learning Teams

Learning teams develop simultaneously along two continuums:  Personal dynamics and collaborative task development.  The handouts below are designed to support teams who are working on improving their personal dynamics.  

Fist to Five Ratings - Designed to give teams a tool for safely building consensus around important decisions.  

Managing Team-Based Conflict - A tool for working through disagreements.

The Trust on Our Team Survey - A survey that can start conversations about the levels of trust on professional learning teams.  

Weathering the Storm Strategies - A handout detailing the kinds of common conflicts that collaborative teams face and potential solutions for addressing those conflicts.

Personality Typing Activity - A handout designed to help teachers and students think about the strengths and weaknesses of their individual personalities.

Discovery versus Delivery Survey - Another tool for helping teachers to think through the impact that their personalities have on collaboration.

Team Agenda Template - A template designed to introduce teachers to the kinds of things that should appear on meeting agendas. 

Team Roles to Consider - Structuring successful teams depends on teachers who are willing to fill common roles.  This handout lists several roles worth considering.

Handouts for Helping with Collaborative Task Development on Learning Teams

Learning teams also tackle new collaborative tasks with one another.  The handouts below are designed to support team efforts to polish their collaborative practices with one another.  

SMART Goal Action Planning Worksheet - A handout designed to help learning teams develop an appropriate SMART goal to drive their work.

Identifying Essential Outcomes - A handout that introduces teams to a process for identifying a small handful of essential outcomes for an upcoming unit.

Converting Essential Outcomes into Student Friendly Language - A handout designed to help teams convert objectives into language that students can understand.

Sample Unit Overivew Sheet: K-2 - A sample of a tool that K-2 teachers can use to share essential outcomes with their students.  

Sample Unit Overview Sheet: 3-12 - A sample of a tool that teachers in grades 3-12 can use to share essential outcomes with their students.

Sample Unit Overview Sheet: 3-12 - Another sample of a tool that teachers in grades 3-12 can use to share essential outcomes with their students.  

Professional Learning Team Data Literacy Survey - A survey designed to force teams to think through their readiness to look at student learning data with one another.

Team CFA Check - A tool that teams can use to assess their assessment practices.  

Planning Formative Assessments - A handout that teams can use to plan common formative assessments that are aligned with the standards being assessed.

Writing Proficiency Scales - A handout that can help teams to develop shared rubrics for rating mastery of skills that can't be tested easily.

Evaluating the Quality of an Assessment - A handout detailing a series of simple questions that teams can answer to evaluate the quality of their CFAs.

Data Meeting Template - A tool that can be used to structure conversations during a meeting focused on learning data collected from a CFA.

Data Meeting Protocol - A series of steps that teams can work through during the course of a meeting focused on learning data collected from a CFA.

Structuring Data Conversations - Another tool for structuring conversations around student learning data collected from a CFA.

Intervention Practice Reflection Template - A series of questions designed to force teams to think critically about the efforts they are making to help struggling students.

Tracking Interventions in Your Building - A simple tool for helping learning teams to evaluate the impact that intervention efforts are having on student learning.

What is Our Team Monitoring - A simple tool to help learning teams make decisions about actions that are worth taking and actions that are worth abandoning.

Practice Centered Observation Protocol - A tool that can be used by teams and teachers who are ready to begin observing one another's classroom practices.