PLC Data Driven Facilitator's Guide
The Curriculum Coach and I developed a facilitator's guide focusing on the three components (Plan, Implement, Reflect) of our Johnston County Public Schools Instructional Model to be used in weekly PLC meetings. The questions aligned to each tenet help teachers analyze data to determine student needs and develop instructional strategies to address areas of concern for specific students. Highly effective Professional Learning Communities not only motivate educators to learn and grow from one another, but they also improve outcomes for students. Our PLC Data Driven Facilitator's Guide has helped our PLC meetings to become more focused and productive.
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Professional Learning Communities Professional Development
In our School-Based Planning, Management, and Evaluation in PLC's course, we had to design a professional development session on Professional Learning Communities. My group's presentation focused on helping teachers learn the six characteristics of high-functioning PLC's and using the information to consider how to make their own PLC's more effective and productive.
If we want our school to function as a professional learning community, we must ensure all educators have a common understanding of the purpose and characteristics of PLC teams. Teachers and staff must see the value in working collaboratively, rather than independently, to improve teaching and learning for every student. |
Human Resource Management Plan
In our Human Resource Management course, we created a Human Resource Management Plan that called for us to research best practices in establishing effective processes and systems for recruiting, hiring, placing, and mentoring staff. In addition, we had to use what we learned to create a plan for our ideal school. Through this assignment, I learned the many facets of the hiring process, including adopting the mindset that it always "recruiting season". As a school leader, I want the very best educators in front of my students, which means I will have to be thoughtful and strategic about how to bring effective teachers and staff into my building. Partnering with local colleges and universities to recruit new talent, utilizing an interview team to select the best candidates, and implementing effective onboarding and mentoring processes will ensure I recruit and retain high-quality, high-performing staff.
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Mentor Coordinator
During my principal residency, I served as the Mentor Coordinator. In this role, I supported Beginning Teachers and their mentors. I facilitated monthly Mentor-Mentee meetings to offer professional development on topics such as parent-teacher communication, building positive relationships with students, classroom management, and teacher self-care. In each meeting, I used strategies or activities that teachers could take back and implement in their classrooms. In addition to our monthly meetings, I conducted walkthroughs and/or checked in with my Beginning Teachers often. By serving as the Mentor Coordinator, I learned the importance of providing ongoing feedback and encouragement to Beginning Teachers. In addition, using monthly Mentor-Mentee meetings as a way to provide relevant support for issues happening in their classrooms in real-time, ensures Beginning Teachers feel prepared to fulfill the many responsibilities that teaching requires each day.
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Clinical Supervision Cycle Reflection
During my principal residency, I conducted several formal and informal teacher observations. For our Human Resource Management course, we were asked to complete the entire observation process with a teacher and capture the post conference on video. This assignment required me to stop and reflect on each component, the pre-conference, observation, and post conference, which allowed me to internalize the importance of each step. The post conference presents a valuable, uninterrupted opportunity to have an honest conversation with teachers and staff about their performance, including a discussion of strengths and areas for improvement. Evaluation and feedback must be ongoing in order to help teachers and staff grow and improve in the profession, which ultimately impacts student achievement.
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Observation/Evaluation Schedule
At the beginning of the school year my principal mentor tasked me with creating the Observation/Evaluation Schedule for all certified staff. I had to determine each staff member's number of years of employment within the district and their licensure status/cycle in order to place them on the correct evaluation plan - comprehensive, standard, or abbreviated. I used the district's observation timeline to establish dates of completion for each set of observations. I also ensured that every teacher had the opportunity to be evaluated by at least two different administrators over the course of the school year.
In creating this schedule, I learned more about the evaluation plan types and the requirements associated with each. |
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