The
Dufour Training
At the end of our first year in Teacher
Based Teams, a group of teachers attended the training Professional Learning Communities at Work: Bringing the Big Ideas to
Life from Dr. Rick Dufour and Becky Dufour. This training moved us forward
with what TBTs could be and what they could do for our students. If you are interested in learning more
from the Dufours’ thoughts on Professional Learning Communities, check out this
website: http://www.allthingsplc.info/
Our
New Direction
The teachers that attended this conference
agreed to share what they learned with the staff and within their Teacher Based
Teams. Last year our TBTs worked collaboratively to review data of the students
as a group. As a result of our training, this year our goal is to look at the
individual student’s work through common formative assessments and change
instruction and intervention based on those results. Then, we will come back to
see what’s working best and make adjustments for our boys and girls as
necessary.
Team
Norms
During our first year, teachers established
team norms. This came up again at the Dufour training. The training helped us
remember the importance of being accountable to each other, to remain positive
with each other, and to remember that all team members are valuable and should
be heard.
During the training, the Dufours suggested
teachers call those to task who choose not to adhere to the norms. There were several suggestions offered
to help teachers with this work. Our team did not reach a conclusion about what
teachers could do to help other teachers in this situation. Most teachers felt
uncomfortable telling another teacher that he/she needed to follow the norms
when he/she wasn’t. The lean was that the principal would step in and assist if
this should become an issue.
Why
Common Assessments
The Dufour training focused on the
importance of common assessments. When teachers create common assessments, they
are creating an agreed upon rubric to judge student work. What is proficient
now becomes the same across the grade level. It creates a common language for
us to discuss student progress and teacher instruction.
Moving
Forward
Teachers worked together before the school
year started to establish SMART goals, set team norms, and establish a schedule
for common assessments and data review for intervention groupings. At the end
of the first year, the East team decided that we needed a more consistent and longer
period of time for teachers to meet in Teacher Based Teams. We also needed a
regular daily time to provide intervention for our students based off the
analysis of the TBT day. In the next blog, I will share what our solution was
to make TBTs and intervention a regular part of our school week.
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