The meeting norms and expectations are:

1) The PLC meeting will start on time and end on time, 2:30-3:30.

2) Stay focused on the discussions of the PLC, avoid outside work, and limit distractions.

3) Everyone will have the chance to be heard.

4) Learners will be spoken about in a positive and supportive way; no negative talk will be accepted.

5) When discussing data, results will be discussed but never in an evaluative way of one another.

The sixth-grade special education teacher will be in attendance; their role will be to be active in the PLC meetings. They will be responsible for serving students on IEPs who also attend ELA classes daily. They will bring student data from their instruction time with students to meetings to inform data decision-making.

The 6-8 ELL teacher will be in attendance; their role will be to be active in the PLC meetings. They will be responsible for serving ELLs who go to sixth-grade ELA classes. They will bring resources for ELL support and data from the ELL students to inform data decision-making.

The PLC lead member will be in attendance; their role is to facilitate the PLC meetings and lead the discussions. They will provide guidance and support for data decision-making. They will need to bring an agenda to each meeting and any resources they have to support the sixth-grade ELA team.

The principal will be in attendance off and on; their role is to oversee the work that is being done during PLC meetings. They will provide guidance and support to the PLC. They may bring resources to support the PLC or items that they would like to be discussed and reviewed during PLC time.

The first suggestion for sharing best practices would be for the PLC lead to bring the best practices to the table and discuss them as part of the agenda for the PLC meeting. The next suggestion would be to have all members research best practices, and each member can share and bring them to the next PLC meeting to discuss.

Resources

The first suggestion for sharing resources would be to add it as an item to the PLC agenda. This would allow built-in time to share resources if members have any to share. The next suggestion would be to take turns during each meeting, sharing one helpful resource each member has found throughout their week of teaching. This would be an assigned task for each member.

Technology

The first suggestion for sharing technology would be to schedule it on the agenda as an item for the PLC to discuss or go over. Then they would make time to discuss the suggested technology. The next suggestion is for the PLC to take time to discover technology tools that support the work of the PLC on its own. Each member in the PLC needs to be given space, and when too much work is forced, the PLC is often not effective (Miller, 2020). Giving PLC members time and space to discover technology that would support their work would be effective. This may look like telling the PLC that in three weeks, they will be sharing and presenting different helpful technologies they have found.

Effective Instructional Strategies

The first suggestion for sharing effective instructional strategies would be by having the PLC lead member to present on new effective instructional strategies. This would provide members with new insights on how to present instruction. The next suggestion would be to observe all the members teaching while using an effective instructional strategy. Teachers need to be allowed to try out instruction strategies on their own, or they will never be able to figure out what works best for their students (Miller, 2020). The teachers could be given a list of effective instructional strategies to try, find on they like, and then the PLC team could take turns observing the strategies in action.

Stage One: Predictions

During this stage, the PLC will discuss their predictions of the results of the data that is being collected. This is done privately and allows time for educators to predict or make assumptions about the data before discussing it with anyone else (School Reform Initiative, n.d.).

Thinking/Talking stems for this portion are:

I assume....

I predict.....

I wonder....

Stage Two: Go Visual

During this stage, the PLC will work to make the data visual. This can be done by creating a data wall, creating a graph, or putting it on large sheets of paper (School Reform Initiative, n.d.). This is a great time for trends to be highlighted.

Stage Three: Observations

During this stage, the PLC will work to make observations about the data that is now in visual form. They will discuss the facts that they see from the data, and during this, no conclusions or explanations are allowed (School Reform Initiative, n.d.).

Thinking/Talking Stems for this portion are:

I observe that......

I can see that......

I can count....

Stage Four: Inferences

During this stage, the PLC comes up with explanations for the observations in stage three, and additional information/data may need to be added to back up the explanations (School Reform Initiative, n.d.).

Thinking/Talking Stems for this stage are:

I believe the data suggests.....because......

Additional data that would help me confirm my explanations is....

Student 1: 10 Points

Student 2: 2 Points

Student 3: 4 Points

Student 4: 6 Points

Student 5: 10 Points

Student 6: 10 Points

Student 7: 8 Points

Student 8: 8 Points

Student 9: 10 Points

Student 10: 10 Points

Student 11: 6 Points

Student 12 6 Points

Student 13: 2 Points

Student 14: 2 Points

Student 15: 10 Points

Student 16: 4 Points

Students who scored 4 or fewer points: 5 Students

Students who scored 6-8 points: 5 Students

Students who scored 10 points: 6 Students

Now that the data is divided into subgroups, it can be used to inform instruction and interventions. The data can be analyzed even further to see what exactly each student is struggling with, and then from there, activities or interventions can be created to help the student succeed on the failed skills (School of Education, 2019). In this sample, the students who scored 4 points or fewer would need several remediation opportunities over the skill, theme. The students who scored 6-8 points would need a few more opportunities to work on theme, and then they would reach mastery. The students who scored 10 points are showing mastery of the skill and would not need intervention. One way to provide remediation is to work with students who score 4 or fewer points in a group and reteach how to identify the theme of a story. Then you would work with students who scored 6-8 points in a separate group and give them opportunities to practice identifying the theme of stories a few more times until you can tell they have mastered the skill.