Susan Schaeper
Klein ISD
What is a PLC?
“A Professional Learning Community (PLC) is
educators committed to working collaboratively in
ongoing processes of collective inquiry and action
research to achieve better results for the students they
serve. PLCs operate under the assumption that the key
to improved learning for students is continuous, jobembedded learning for educators.”
—adapted from Learning by Doing
Critical Ideas
Focus on Learning
Collaborative Culture
Results Orientation
Establish Norms
PLC – Four Critical Questions
 What do we want students to learn?
 How do we know when they have
learned it?
 How will we respond when they don’t
learn it ?
 What will we do if they already know
it?
Question 1
What do we want students to learn?
THE TEKS
Unpack the TEKS
USH.2C
Analyze social issues, including the treatment
of minorities, child labor, as well as the impact
of Social Darwinism on the lives of the people.
 What is the specific content focus?
 What is the expectation asking the student
to do?
Question 2
How will we know when they learn it?
The Classroom Assessment Cycle
Pre-Assessment
Formative
Assessment
Summative
Assessment
ASCD, S. Brookhart
The Formative Assessment Process
Student
Teacher
Understand the target. (Focus on learning
goals.)
Select and clearly communicate the
learning target (understand typical
learning progressions in the area.)
Produce work.
Make at least one assignment.
Compare the work with the target. (Take
stock of where current work is in relation
to the goal.)
Compare student performance with the
desired target or goal, and determine its
place in a typical learning progression.
Evaluate strengths and weaknesses.
Evaluate students’ strengths and
weaknesses.
Prescribe action for improvement.
Give clear oral or written feedback.
Take action for improvement: study,
practice, review, rewrite, etc. (Take action to
Support or assign action to close the gap.
move closer to the goal.)
DATA
TEKS Comparisons from STAAR
Campus Common Assessments
District Benchmarks
Question 3
How will we respond when they
don’t learn it ?
Differentiate the Instruction
 Determine the learning goals
 Determine learning needs of the
diverse students
 Adapt the task
RTI for Social Studies
Levels of Support
Universal (Tier 1)
Targeted (Tier 2)
Intensive (Tier 3)
•Standards based curriculum
•Effective classroom
instruction with research
based strategies
•Frequent monitoring to
assess struggling students’
performance levels and rate
of improvement
•Standards based curriculum
•Increased academic support
•PLC team identifies
academic problem, its cause,
and develops, implements,
and evaluates a plan to
address the problem
•Variety of interventions
based on student needs and
data
•Interventions are flexible
and individualized
•Frequent monitoring to
assess student’s progress
•Standards based curriculum
•Intensive academic support
•Students may receive
evaluation for identification
of learning disability
Question 4
What will we do if they already know
it?
Differentiate the Instruction
Alignment
TEKS
Student Expectations
Learning Targets
Assessment
Common
Benchmark
Instruction
Student Centered
Differentiated
Thought for the Day
“If you want to feel secure,
Do what you already know how to do.
If you want to be a true professional and continue to grow…
Go to the cutting edge of your competence,
Which means a temporary loss of security.
So whenever you don’t quite
know what you’re doing,
know you’re growing!”
Madeline Hunter 1987