PLC+Fridays

This afternoon we split our PLC into two halves. We kicked off by thinking about the culture of thinking in our building. What mindset do we want our students to possess? How do we promote that? We read one chapter from Ron Richart's new book, //Creating Cultures of Thinking,// and listened to a powerful TED Talk from Tanya Duckworth about Grit. Our staff took a lot of time to discuss these ideas, how they connect to what we already thought, how they're pushing our thinking, and what challenges we might have about this idea of culture of thinking.
 * __ PLC Fridays __**
 * __Friday, October 9th__**

The second half of our afternoon was spent in our vertical groups. The math group spent the afternoon sharing resources they find helpful in hoping to bridge content from grade to grade and create a common language among all math instructors. The 3rd through 8th grade literacy teachers shared their experiences around planning and pacing regarding their new EL curriculum. Then, they dove into looking at common language and best practices during Word Work.

We have a lot to process over the weekend, and all of our work today will impact our instruction next week.

Today we spent a time reviewing the stages and different types of inquiry, which is what we focused on as an entire staff last year. We reviewed this work because every teacher will participate of an inquiry study of their own this year around writing. When we look at our school's data and goals, it's clear that more growth needs to be made in writing. Therefore, teachers of all content areas are creating beautiful questions around writing, forming collaborative groups with people curious about the same things, and creating a plan of action. Each group will choose a professional text to read throughout their study. Inquiry is a powerful thing-especially put into action with a group of teachers. We are both excited to share with you our questions and findings as the year progresses.
 * __Friday, September 18th__**

__Friday, September 4th__
This afternoon was spent with Michelle Jones, our consultant from PEBC (Public Education Business Coalition). She helped us coalesce our learning from our past work together. We're a fast moving school, and she helped us synthesize. It's important to determine what's crucial to hold onto from past learning as we continue to learn and grow together. Then, we kicked off our writing study for the year by writing ourselves. We were then able to share some of our thoughts and beliefs and take a self assessment to gauge where we are as teachers of writing-regardless of our content areas. We're excited about our learning to come!

=== Supporting teachers in their learning process is one of the most spectacular things about Bill Roberts. Over the years, the staff has taken on literacy and math best practices, cognitive thinking strategies (deeper, critical thinking) for all content areas, increasing a cohesive and comprehensive school-wide writing practice, an in depth study of the inquiry process, and our study of the Harvard Zero Project through //Making Thinking Visible//. The staff has also increased the effectiveness of working as teams in focusing on closing the achievement gaps, pulling and analyzing data to inform and guide instruction, and planning in both grade level and vertical (ECE-8) teams in content areas. Much, if not most, of these high-level learning opportunities would not be able to take place if it weren't for early release every Friday. The first Friday of the month is our partner/professional development from PEBC (Public Education Business Coalition), who is helping us look in depth at our writing practices at Bill Roberts. The second Friday is dedicated to reviewing best practices and vertical planning around content areas. The following Friday is a chance for teachers to inquire about an area of writing of their choice. The last Friday is set aside for teachers to collaborate in order to ensure they are implementing all of their learning in their plans for students. You can find more info on the [|Bill Roberts Website.] ===

 • Activating and Applying Schema • Questioning • Determining Importance • Using Sensory Images • Inferring • Synthesizing • Monitoring for Meaning and Problem Solving