PLP

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I was selected to be a member of the year 1 Powerful Learning Practices (PLP) team from our school district for the 2011-2012 school year. A team from our school had already gone through the program last year (2010-2011), so we we the second group to participate. The veteran PLP team was meshed together with the 21st Century Learning committee, which was solely a district initiative. This made our team's experience unique because there was not as much direction and accountability from the district's perspective. Another obstacle that we had when initially discussing the purpose of this team and why our district was participating was that the person who spearheaded the PLP team's involvement had retired, and some information/reasoning was lost when that person left our district. So, at the beginning, our team felt very lost and lacking direction.

The purpose of the PLP team project, in general, is to make a change in your district while using technology to facilitate this change. The team discussed a variety of options for how we would accomplish this task. The previous team was responsible for a professional development day for K-6 which focused on various web 2.0 tools. Teachers were broken into groups and rotated among sessions for the professional development. Our team discussed doing something similar, but with a little twist. We considered hosting something like a "science fair," but instead it would be a "technology fair." The idea would be to showcase the amazing instruction (that integrated technology) that was occurring within our district already. However, we felt this was too similar, it could be difficult to find presenters, and where was the accountability for those who were not presenting (they could potentially walk around and get nothing out of the day).

We began to think of the needs for our district. Our district was going through a reconfiguration for the 2012-2013 school year. In 2011-2012, we had four elementary schools that were K-4 and a 5-6 building. In 2012-2013, all elementary buildings will be K-6. With this change there would be many staffing changes, leading to the physical dissolving of working partnerships. We chose the topic because of the tremendous changes and the disconnect we have observed within the grade levels. There is a disconnect in communication, content, collaboration. We are trying to prevent the disconnect among the 5-6 teachers because they have been able to physically discuss information, but now will be in different locations. Additionally, there is a need to train staff using the new district website.

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Our plan is to develop a virtual PLC on our district’s website using groups to share grade level or department resources. Additionally, our goal is to establish a positive collaboration climate among grade levels and departments through sharing resources on this website. We are m oving from the physical connections to the virtual so that we do not loose resources and ideas.

=Action steps=

Our plan culminates with a change to the opening day of our school year. Due to the drastic changes, we are going to create a celebration day to new working partnerships. We plan to have a team building exercise in the morning that will include a geo-caching activity (scavenger hunt) with each checkpoint either highlighting a different type of skill (artistic/creative, leadership, athletic, technology, puzzles, organization/time management, enthusiasm/spirit, problem solving) or giving some historical background about the town of Dover. We wanted the community to also be involved in this "new beginning". In the afternoon, we will introduce the district’s website and the capability to establish and continue the PLC’s within our grade levels or departments. Staff will go back to their respective buildings. We will have break out sessions according to levels of comfort/technology skill to demonstrate how to access and add resources to the website. We will have already trained a few experts to assist in the managing of those groups, with more assistance in the lower ability groups. We plan to have at least one PD day so that we can support the continued use of the website. We can also have monthly refreshers offered in the morning to help teachers.

=Procedural details/Documentation=

1. Develop a preliminary plan 2. Discuss plan with Dr. Krantz, superintendent, for informal approval and a budget 3.Create stations 4. Determine 5. Obtain T-shirt sizes from staff 6. Order T-shirt materials 7. Plan logistics and make contacts *Rich Leathery- Athletic Director (water stations, concessions) *Dave Nelson- Head buildlings and grounds (tables, chairs) *Faye Rinker- Head of Transportation- (drive vans for those with mobility issues) *Deb Curry- Food Services Director- (breakfast for staff and support/custodians/bus drivers at locations) *Dave Concino- Human Resources- (drive a van) *Nurses- (help out at water stations) *Wayne Topper- AV coordinator- (setting up projector/ audio/ microphones) *Principals *Sue Kanigsberg- Create Act 48 sessions *Amy's Cakery- station for refreshments *Northern Regional Police 8.Create first day agenda 9. Break staff into groups for the geocaching 10.Reserve rooms/ building for afternoon PD sessions 11. Collect materials for the stations 12. Draft letter to staff/support staff/custodians/bus 13. Draft letter to trainers 14. Create video tutorials for eChalk (sample) 15. Create videos of principals for introductions at the beginning 16. Make reminder contacts to ensure all responsible are aware of their duties 17. Complete a run-through of the audio/visual aspect of the first day 18. Set-up stations =Conclusion=

We are still in the process of ensuring that all items are in place for the professional development on the first day. This event will occur August 23rd. As I reflect on the experience that I have had this far, I am very glad that our team decided to take on a project of this magnitude, although I'm not entirely sure that I realized the enormity of it when we made the decision to be responsible for the first day events and professional development. This has been a very valuable experience and a true lesson on collaboration. One person cannot make this happen. The six people on our PLP team cannot make this happen. It requires a coordinated effort by many individuals in the district for this plan to come to fruition.