Math PLC #1
2013-2014
2
Purpose:
 To create a professional mathematical learning community that focuses on improving
teaching and student learning, where K-5 teachers and staff work together
collaboratively and hold themselves accountable for results.
--Summarized from “What Is a “Professional Learning Community”?
Non-negotiables:
1. Norms
2. Look at Student Work
3. Evidence of Student learning (formative assessment) from each teacher at every PLC
4. Do Math
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K-5 Math PLC #1: Agenda
Approximate
Time
Activity Topic
5 minutes
Welcome
Celebrations
--Around math and the work in the Math Learning Community; encourage teachers to
bring evidence of student work connected to celebrations.
Learning Targets
2 minutes
Review/Revisit /Create Norms
--If you have many new teachers in your building and/or you are a new coach in your
building, consider creating a new set of norms for your Math PLC work.
--If your school’s norms are well established, consider asking participants to select a norm
to work on during this PLC. As part of the exit task, ask participants to rate themselves
on their norm and/or suggest a norm that the group could work on next time.
--Norms should be posted at each PLC and referred to as needed.
10-15 minutes
Connections to Section
83
And
5 Dimensions of
Teaching & Learning
Building A Foundation
--This will vary from building to building. If the group doesn’t know what the
mission/vision of their work is, this might be the place to begin.
Menu of Options:
Developing a Mission/Vision
Collaboration
Collective Commitments
Data Picture of Math for our School
Effective Communication
Formative Assessments
Support documents for each of these topics are available on the Instructional Coach Site
under the math tab:
https://employee.tacoma.k12.wa.us/ci/math/Pages/default.aspx
45-60 minutes
Looking at Student Work/Evidence
--Prior to the PLC, establish common formative assessment that all teachers at a grade
level can agree to bring. Could be based on a CCSS domain.
--Another option, teachers could be asked to bring multiple pieces of student evidence
that reflect the CCSS Operations and Algebraic Thinking.
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--Using this evidence, K-5 teachers could collaborate to create charts that show what the
CCSS expect students to know and be able to do in Operations and Algebraic Thinking at
each grade level matched with examples from MX—vertical articulation from K-5.
Do Math/Model a Lesson
Model using the Math
Planning Tool
--Modeling a lesson allows teachers to consider the math content as well as practice
student discourse structures and integrate the mathematical practices (HOM/HOI).
--Modeling a lesson also allows for facilitators to share their planning process and
multiple features of the lesson that they considered. Examples—groupings for discourse,
HOM/HOI, worthwhile tasks, protocols, etc.
Model pressing teachers (and students) to explain and provide evidence for their
thinking.
Planning for Next Steps in Instruction
What instructional strategies can we utilize to increase student learning in mathematics?
Menu of Options:
Student Math Talk
Habits of Mind & Interaction (CCSS Mathematical Practices)
Using the Math Planning Tool to differentiate classroom instruction
Building mathematically productive classroom norms and relationships
Support documents for each of these topics are available on the Instructional Coach Site
under the math tab:
https://employee.tacoma.k12.wa.us/ci/math/Pages/default.aspx
Considering the needs of all Students
--How is/can the above practice be used with all students? Pros/Cons
10 minutes
Commitments for and planning the Next PLC
--What will every teacher practice in their classroom and bring evidence of to the next
PLC?
Could include peer observations, coaching cycles, videotaping, etc.
Revisit Learning Targets
Exit Task/Reflection
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Things to Consider
Group size and make-up: Consider the purpose of an activity and your purpose when determining whether
groups of 2, 3, 4, 6, whole group, grade level, or cross-grade level groups will be most effective.
Expertise: Because most of the Grades 3-5 teachers have attended Best Practices and are familiar with Habits of
Mind and Interaction as well as structured math talk, you will need to find ways to share these ideas with the K-2
teachers and support staff. Highlight successes and evidence from K-2 teachers that reflects Best Practices. You
might consider, having K-2 teachers visit 3-5 classrooms that are using Habits of Mind, Structured Math Talk,
and/or lesson planning effectively.
Moving from Procedure/Fact to Justification and Generalization: Provide opportunities for teachers to
formulate justifications and generalizations around core math ideas that can use in their classrooms. TDG’s
“Student Discourse Observation Tool” describes each level of discourse and could be used with a video of a math
classroom.
Math Planning Tool: This tool contains key features of an effective math lesson identified by TDG. Teachers could
work together to plan a lesson(s) using Math Expressions TEs as a grade-level. By doing so, they will consider
how/where student discourse will be included, how the mathematical practices will be applied, types of formative
assessments as well as how the lesson will be differentiated for all learners. The Math Planning Tool is available
on the K-5 Math Swift Site as well as the K-5 Math Share Point Site
https://employee.tacoma.k12.wa.us/ci/math/k-5/Pages/Fifth-Grade.aspx
Formative Assessment: There is a range of thinking about what formative assessment is and what it is not.
Spending time to consider the benefits and uses of formative assessment in mathematical classrooms may benefit
teachers.
5 Dimensions of Teaching and Learning: At some point in the Math PLC, allow time for teachers to consider
where they experienced subdimensions of the 5D.
Glossary of Key Terms and Concepts
The following glossary provides a brief definition of key terms and concepts as they are used in the context of
professional learning communities.
Action orientation: A predisposition to learn by doing; moving quickly to turn aspirations into actions and visions
into realities. Members of PLCs understand that the most powerful learning always occurs in a context of taking
action, and they value engagement and reflective experience as the most effective teachers.
Action research: A process of collective inquiry in which individuals work together to become more proficient at
identifying and solving problems. They steps of action research include: (1) formulating a problem, (2)
identifying and implementing a strategy to address the problem, (3) creating a process for gathering evidence of
the effectiveness of the strategy, (4) collecting and analyzing the evidence and making decisions based on the
evidence.
Balanced assessment: An assessment strategy that recognizes no single assessment yields the comprehensive
results necessary to inform and improve practice of student achievement, including formative assessments for
learning and summative assessments of learning. Balanced assessment also refers to using different types of
assessments based upon the knowledge and/or skills students are called upon to demonstrate. Rather than
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relying exclusively on one kind of assessment, schools and teams develop multiple ways for students to
demonstrate proficiency.
Capacity building: “Developing the collective ability—dispositions, skills, knowledge, motivation, and
resources—to act together to bring about positive change.” (Fullan, 2005, p 4)
Collaboration: A systematic process in which people work together, interdependently, to analyze and impact
professional practice in order to improve individual and collective results. In a PLC, collaboration focuses on the
critical questions of learning: What is it we want each student to learn? How will we know when each student
has learned it? How will we respond when a student experiences difficulty I learning? How will we enrich and
extend the learning for students who are proficient?
Collective commitments: The third pillar of the PLC foundation. Collective commitments (or values) represent
the promises made among and between all stakeholders that answer the question. What must we do to become
the organization we have agreed we hope to become?
Common assessment: An assessment of student learning that uses the same instrument or a common process
utilizing the same criteria for determining the quality of student work.
Data versus information: Data represent facts or figures that, standing alone, will not inform practice or lead to
informed decisions. To transform data into information requires putting data in context, and this typically
requires a basis of comparison.
Formative assessment: An assessment for learning used to advance and not merely monitor each student’s
learning; the assessment informs the teacher regarding the effectiveness of instruction and the individual student
regarding progress in becoming proficient. In a PLC, collaborative teams use common formative assessments to
identify students who are experiencing difficulty in their learning, provide those students with additional time
and support in a way that does not remove them from the new direct instruction, and give them additional
opportunities to demonstrate their learning.
Moral purpose: “Acting with the intention of making a positive difference in the lives of employees, customers,
and society as a whole.” (Fullan, 2001, p 3)
Professional learning community (PLC): An ongoing process in which educators work collaboratively in recurring
cycles of collective inquiry and action research to achieve better results for the students they serve. Professional
learning communities operate under the assumption that the key to improved learning for students is continuous
job-embedded learning for educators.
Reciprocal accountability: The premise that leaders who call upon members of the organization to engage in
new work, achieve new standards, and accomplish new goals have a responsibility to those members to develop
their capacity to be successful in meeting these challenges.
Team norms: In PLCS, norms represent collective commitments developed by each team to guide members in
working together. Norms help team members clarify expectations regarding how they will work together to
achieve their shared goals.
Glossary adapted from Learning by Doing 2006
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