PLC Team Meetings ~ post your minutes here

March 19, 2008 by Martha Rankin

We need one common spot to store our NMUSD Adult School professional learning community meeting minutes. This post will be our spot. You can easily find this post again by clicking on PLC Meeting Minutes under Categories on the right-hand column of this website. Now our PLC meeting minutes will be 1) easy to find, 2) all in one spot, and 3) in chronological order. Thanks for posting your meeting minutes here from now on!

Posted in PLC Meeting Minutes, PLC Work | Tagged professional learning communities, Professional Learning Community | 93 Comments

93 Responses

on March 19, 2008 at 8:37 am Rebecca Spohr

posted on Feb 6, 2008 at 11:16pm

Hi Martha,

Today the NMUSD Adult Education PLC Committee for the evening ESL learners met. We broke off into groups by class level to discuss our goals for spring 2008.

Listed below is the protocol followed by the Beginning High and Intermediate Low ESL Committee.

Team Smart Goal:
-After a discussion our committee decided to re-write the unit tests in our text so that they
are more beneficial for the students. We will use the competencies as a guide.

Strategies and Action Steps:
-Take one unit at a time, starting with Unit 2 from the student text.
-Change emphasis of what is being tested while following the same structure that has
been used in the past. (Re-word some of the questions).
-Rotate classroom meeting locations bi- weekly.

Responsibility:
-In attendance were Elizabeth, Mandi, Martha, Rebecca and Larry.
-All members of this committee are to brainstorm ideas for re-writing the Unit Tests
independently and then present their ideas at the next scheduled PLC meeting .

Timeline:
-Re-write 2 Unit Tests at each bi-weekly meeting following in chronological order of the text.
-Plan on being one to two units ahead of current classroom schedule at each PLC Meeting.
-Next scheduled meeting is for 2/27/08 at 8:30pm. Meeting location is Mandi’s classroom.
-Meeting duration will be 45 minutes.

Evidence of Effectiveness:
-Student Success
on March 19, 2008 at 8:38 am Martha Rankin

Posted on February 7, 2008 at 6:48 am

Elizabeth, Mandi, Martha, Rebecca, and Larry,

Excellent goal SMART goal, team!!!! Becky and I fully support your goal of rewriting the common formative assessments (All-Star Unit Tests). Let us know if there is any way we can support you all in your efforts.

Thanks so much, Rebecca, for posting your PLC meeting minutes on the blog. We all benefit from reading about the exciting work you are doing!!!!!! We are thrilled with the direction you are taking and the timeline/action plan you have devised. You are taking specific, measurable, realistic and timely steps toward your goal…very SMART!

Let us know how things go on February 27, 2008.

BTW, Do you need snackies on 02/27? As always, I’m happy to provide some delectable nibbles to help keep the creative juices flowing.

With abundant enthusiasm,
Martha
on March 19, 2008 at 8:49 am Anna

Posted on February 11, 2008 at 10:36am

PLC Team Great Beginnings!

Meeting Date 2/6/08

Team Goals: Student persistence (attendance); Effective Teaching Strategies

Team members present:

Anna (Beg Low)
Charlie (Beg Lit)
Nancy (Beg Low)

Topics/Meeting Outcomes: Charlie finds using music and singing effective plus choral responses from students. He models conversations for the students frequently so they can pair practice. Conclusions – As teachers we need to be nurturing for students and create a positive community class environment. An idea for persistence was to group students by local regions and have them create a presentation about their native region. It could be a semester project. Anna encourages her students to speak English by passing out raffle tickets for prizes. Nancy wants to create a small group project to encourage fluency and persistence. She wants to work on goals first and then create a meaningful project that students can share with the class.
on March 19, 2008 at 8:50 am Anna

Posted on February 11, 2008 at 10:44 am

Submitted by Anna for

Citizenship PLC Team

Meeting Date 2/6/08

Members present – Bud

Team Goals: Brainstorm ideas to enhance sutdent learning of English (Understand, Speak, Read & Write) Minimums needed to bea able to understand, then learn (by memorization or otherwise) and study the curriculum needed to pass the USCIS interview examination (represented by the USCIS 96 questions).

Topics/Meeting Outcomes: More oral reading from the textbook by less English proficient students;

-More proficient students’ explanations of readings, as well as translations;

-Slow, crisp, dramatic, oral reading, modeling precise pronuncation of pertinent English words that are essential for learning both the requisite questions, as well as answers, needed to ultimately pass the interview.

Questions/Concerns:

-Does the student have enough time to build up his/her English by attending ESL class on Tues. & Thurs. (& Sat. or mornings), like Roberto has done?

-Should student delay filing his/her N400 (application) until English proficiency meets at least intermediate low?
on March 19, 2008 at 8:54 am Mandi

Posted February 27, 2008 at 4:14 pm

Beg. High/Int. Low PLC Group Minutes

Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Room 116
8:30-9:20 pm

Team Members Present:
Mandi
Robbie
Elizabeth
Martha
Rebecca
Martha

Topics Discussed/Progress
-Initial goal of rewriting Unit Tests: still in progress. Members brought ideas and we discussed topics such as changing format to include more student produced responses rather than multiple choice, changing grammar section to random questions rather than a story format, and eliminating information that is not applicable.

-During discussion it was made very clear that many teachers are unhappy with the LEAP between All Star 2 and All Star 3. Members brainstormed ideas on how to rectify this issue.

Outcomes:
-Members were in agreement that we would brainstorm further ways to rewrite the Unit 3 Test for All Star 2, bring our ideas to the next meeting, and actually do the rewriting at that time.
-Martha volunteered to contact McGraw Hill to follow up on any progress that has been made regarding the “gap.” It is a topic that was heavily discussed at the focus group planning session in November.
-Several members also volunteered to tackle the task of taking apart All Star 3, eliminating what is unnecessary, and turning it into two curriculums that would be used for Intermediate Low/High.

Future Dates:
-next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Room 117 8:30pm
-We will be rewriting All Star 2 (unit 3 test) and following up on progress of All Star 3 “rewrite”
on March 19, 2008 at 8:57 am Martha Rankin

Posted on February 28, 2008 at 5:12 pm

Mandi,

Thanks so much for posting your Feb 27 PLC meeting minutes.

Follow-up progress report:
I contacted McGraw-Hill today and they will be working with us to help create a bridge curriculum…an All-Star 2.5 of sorts.

The curriculum designer who will work with us is in NY. We’ll be in contact with her via email and phone as our PLC Team meets to work on this bridge curriculum.

I really enjoyed sitting in on your meeting last night. You all have such great energy and insightful ideas. Your enthusiasm for excellent instruction is contagious and inspiring. You demonstrate a deep understanding of curriculum, and your suggestions for curricular modifications and formative assessment changes were well-founded. I walked away from our meeting feeling so comfortable with you experts at the helm of these crucial decisions about 1) what essential knowledge and skills your students need to acquire, 2) what common assessments you will use to monitor each student’s learning, 3) how to analyze these assessments to identify strengths and weaknesses, and 4) how to help each other develop and implement strategies to improve current levels of student learning.

One more thing…I love that you will reach beyond the limiting multiple choice assessments to really challenge and assess the higher order thinking skills of your students.

You’re doing superb work, team! I’m thrilled and humbled.

Martha
on March 19, 2008 at 9:00 am Suzette

Posted on March 3, 2008 at 9:09 am

Advanced PLC Group Minutes

Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Room 123
8:30pm-9:15pm

Team Members Present:
Bud–Citizenship class
Margaret–Advanced ESL
Suzette–Intermediate High ESL

Topics Discussed:
We discussed what the the goal of our meetings will be. It was agreed upon by all members that our purpose/goal in meeting was to improve our teaching methods as to enhance and optimize student learning. We agreed that we would accomplish this by sharing ideas, strategies, techniques, use of technology, and methods of interpreting and analyzing test scores (specifically CASAS test scores).

This week, Suzette shared with the group how she helps students increase their vocabulary and computer skills in one lesson.

Next Meeting:
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Room 123
8:30pm

Goal for next meeting:
Each member will be prepared to share a strategy they use in their classroom.
on March 19, 2008 at 9:06 am Taylor

Posted on March 3, 2008 at 4:41 pm

Newport-Mesa
Unified School District
Adult Education Program

PLC Minutes
February 8, 2008

After reviewing our purpose and direction plus that of the evening PLC group, we broke into two groups (the haves and the have nots) and did the following:

Group 1, the haves (those currently having All Star as a core text) continued matching CASAS competencies to All Star by page number.

Action: All Star 1 and 2 completed. All Star 3 in process. Martha SB contributed considerable research on All Star 3 vs CASAS.

Conclusion: The course competencies required by the course outline for Intermediate Low are not adequately addressed in All Star 3 but, ironically, are well covered in All Star 2.

Consensus: All Star 1 & 2 (especially 2) are quite good for Beginning Low and High levels. General feeling of frustration with All Star 3 & 4 (large disparity between 2 and 3 being part of the problem).

Group 2, the have nots, (those not currently using All Star) decided to come up with a plan to augment rather than duplicate the fine work being done by the evening PLC group (rewriting tests).

Action: Decided to plan supplemental exercises for students that would support CASAS competencies and better prepare them for the tests, both CASAS and our own revised tests. These are to be based on newspaper articles, internet material, books and teacher-created work. Meeting terminated before further details could be worked out.

Next Meeting: Friday, March 14 (second Friday of the month), Room 114, Lora leading, Duane feeding

Attendees: Lora, Carlos, Corrine, Miguel, Noe, Martha, Glenna for Ines, Taylor, Duane.
on March 19, 2008 at 9:09 am Martha Rankin

Suzette,

Thank you for posting the PLC meeting minutes for your team. It sounds like you’ve come up with a great SMART goal and have agreed upon ways to meet that goal. Well done and good luck as you move forward.
on March 19, 2008 at 9:11 am Martha Rankin

Anna, thank you for posting the PLC meeting minutes for your Beginning PLC Team. I loved your play on words — “Great Beginnings.” I look forward to hearing more about what you do in the areas of building persistence rates and sharing to improve instructional strategies. Best of luck!
on March 19, 2008 at 9:12 am Martha Rankin

Posted on March 3, 2008 at 4:56 pm

Taylor, I love your haves and have nots division. Also, loved your “leading and feeding” appointments. Your wit and way with words really tickle me.

Thanks so much, Taylor, for submitting these meeting minutes for your PLC Team. Sounds like our morning PLC teams are working industriously. We eagerly await more news (and your great CASAS/instruction goodies…
Martha
on March 19, 2008 at 9:15 am Nancy Pakdel

Posted on March 12, 2008 at 8:46pm

PLC Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Room 114
8:30 p.m.- 9:15 p.m.

Team members present:
Anna
Charlie
Nancy

Discussed: How to prepare a powerpoint presentation for our students. Anna took us through the steps and we practiced.

Outcome: We took notes and decided to try to prepare a slide show for our students before our next PLC meeting.

Goal: To practice preparing and giving powerpoint presentations to better illustrate lessons for the students. We will share our results at our next PLC meeting.
on March 19, 2008 at 9:22 am Lora Finch

Posted March 17, 2008 at 10:49 am

PLC Minutes
March 14, 2008

After reviewing our decision that we want to supplement the suggested text books in order to better serve the needs of the students, we broke into two groups (the haves and the have nots) and did the following:

Group 1, the haves (those currently having All Star as a core text) agreed to share our ideas, concerns and successes beyond using the text books.

Concerns: (1) The students have shown that they are unable to construct a complete sentence (spoken or written) unless it’s presented as a “fill in the blank”, or multiple choice, even at the intermediate low level. (2) The students need more practice in using numbers – cardinal, ordinal, money and time-telling. (3) The students seem to learn pronunciation more quickly if they are provided with transliteration examples. (eg. Cough – cof) (4) The students learn more quickly and retain it if they are encouraged to get on their feet and participate by writing on the board or other interactive projects instead of sitting and listening to the teacher. We want them to get excited about what they are learning.

Solutions: (1) Give the students more opportunities to create sentences, and teach them the three kinds of sentences : positive statements, negative statements and questions. Teach them the various kinds of questions: yes or no questions, information questions and tag questions. This concept can be taught with each form of the verb. The use of a picture file can encourage students to create questions and statements as well as practice in writing and speaking in complete sentences. Learning music is a way to retain correct sentence structure. The video program In English has an excellent section on basic grammar structure when used with the workbook. We want to explore the problem of how to teach the students to form complete sentences when there is no picture prompt. They need to form sentences or questions in real life situations. (2) Dictation of numbers in various forms or other practical applications of numbers in real life situations needs to be included. (3) Glenna has several published works with transliteration for hotel workers. She will send some of her materials to us next week. (4) We brain stormed ideas of how to get the students up and out of their seats and interacting with each other.

Goals for next meeting: We will look at all the Realia Kits that have been created by Glenna, and discuss how they can be used to help train the students in life skills or work situations. Lora will bring them to the next meeting.

Group 2, the have nots, (those not currently using All Star) decided to come up with a plan to find and list the difficult vocabulary in the CASAS tests and look for materials that would teach it. The students have their greatest problems in the CASAS tests with the vocabulary and the critical thinking.

Action: Each of the four teachers selected a CASAS test (33, 34RX, 35 and 36) to study and compile vocabulary lists. They shared the reading material that has been most successful for each of them. They will continue to search for appropriate newspaper, magazine or internet articles that can help with teaching vocabulary and critical thinking. There was a discussion about some of the skills that are covered in All Star 4 that need to be taught from another source.

Next Meeting: Friday, April 18 (second Friday of the month), Room 112, Miguel leading, Martha feeding

Attendees: Lora Finch, Carlos, Corrine, Miguel, Noe, Martha, Glenna for Ines, Taylor, Duane.
on March 19, 2008 at 9:41 am Suzette

Posted on March 19, 2008 at 8:18 am

Advanced PLC Group Minutes

Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Room 123
8:30pm–9:15pm

Team Members Present:
Bud–Citizenship Class
Margaret–Advanced ESL
Corrine–Advanced Low
Suzette–Intermediate High

Topics Discussed:
Margaret shared with the group that she had tried the strategy that Suzette taught during the previous meeting; she used it with a lesson on prepositional phrases, she said that is was successful. This week Margaret demonstrated for the group how she uses peer editing in her class. Students come to the board to edit in front of the class. The group brainstormed about different ways to use peer editing with their students. The group also discussed how we could use technology in peer editing to further enhance student learning.

Next Meeting:
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Room 123
8:30pm

Goal for next meeting:
Bud will be demonstrating a strategy that he uses in his class.
on March 19, 2008 at 9:46 am Nancy

BESST-Center evening site PLC Meeting Minutes
Beginning Lit/Beginning Low ESL Team:

PLC Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Room 114
8:30 p.m.- 9:15 p.m.

Team members present:

Anna
Charlie
Nancy
Discussed: How to prepare a powerpoint presentation for our students. Anna took us through the steps and we practiced.

Outcome: We took notes and decided to try to prepare a slide show for our students before our next PLC meeting.

Goal: To practice preparing and giving powerpoint presentations to better illustrate lessons for the students. We will share our results at our next PLC meeting.
on March 19, 2008 at 9:47 am Martha

Posted on March 13, 2008 at 10:09 am

Anna, Charlie, and Nancy,

What a wonderful way to follow up on last night’s Tech Tip from Anna! The goals of practicing and presenting a PowerPoint to support students’ learning are great goals. I can’t wait to learn more about your progress towards these goals. If you find the time, please add a comment here after trying out a PowerPoint. We’d all benefit by learning from your experience.

My very best to you!!! Let me know if I can help in any way!

Martha
on March 19, 2008 at 9:48 am Elizabeth

Beginning High/Intermediate Low ESL Team:

March 12th PLC meeting began at 8:30 promptly.

In attendance:

Mandi
Martha
Rebecca
Elizabeth
Our focus/goal was to rewrite the Unit 3 test for All Star 2, bringing ideas from all concerned.

We all agreed that the listening portion of the test was too difficult for the students and that they do not do well with this. We thought it was because the test gives them inference tasks- which are too high level for ESL students, simply because they are having to do two functions- translate, and infer in another language.

We chose to pull one part of the listening for our rewrite, and rewrite one of the questions, leaving some the same, and then adding two more questions to challenge the students further. We are keeping the picture, as it is in the book.

For the other portions of the test, it had been agreed upon that they were too simple, not diverse enough, and did not test what we wanted to see. Mandi (and I think the company should pay her for this, my commentary), over her two or so years with using the book, has written a very nicely arranged, and quite diverse pretest which she has used for an open book study (there really is no worthy pretest study offered in the series). We looked this over for relevance to our test rewrite cause and all agreed it was a very well thought-out piece of work. There is much diversity both in content and in testing style – therefore, students will have varied experiences and we, as teachers, will see what they have learned much more fully.

We chose eight words for students to change to past tense, two word problems, three questions which require complete sentence answers, a complete check filling- out activity, four sentences with which they are required to change the verb to negative form ( 2 regular verbs and 2 irregular verbs) .

For multiple choice questions, we chose all four of Mandi’s pretest questions.

The new test has 35 points/questions (the check-writing piece counting for three points). The original test had only 20.

Martha is working on changing out the Madeline Albright piece for a Cesar Chavez piece, which is for our next project. She will bring it to the next meeting.

Our next focus/goal will be the Unit 4 test.

We ended our meeting at 9:20.
on March 19, 2008 at 9:48 am Martha

Posted on March 13, 2008 at 10:15 am

Mandi, Martha, Rebecca, and Elizabeth,

You have taken on a mighty task…with enormous potential for impacting student learning and persistence. You are persisting with conviction and moving forward at amazing speed. I am in awe.

Mandi, thanks for emailing us all the revised Unit 3 test from All-Star 2. It looks fantastic. I love how it includes higher order thinking skills and response opportunities beyond multiple choice.

After your team adopts the Unit 3 test, would you mind forwarding it to all our All-Star 2 teachers? What a wonderful gift to all of us!!!!!!

You are changing our world, ladies. We are so grateful!!!

Martha
on March 26, 2008 at 8:07 pm Suzette Mascarenas

Advanced PLC Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
8:30PM–9:15PM
Room 123

Members Present:
Bud
Margaret
Suzette

Topics Discussed:

Suzette reported that she successfully applied Margaret’s peer editing strategy from our last meeting.

Bud gave the group background information in regards to his students’ Citizenship preparation for the USCIS (fka INS) interview.

He hopes to be able to prepare his first PowerPoint presentation to further identify and explain those important topics and parts of the US Government, which will comprehensively cover the specific subjects that need to be learned by his students in order to be able to pass the examination portion of the USCIS (fka INS) Interview to become citizens.

Margaret discussed how she used the Smartboard to have students edit their assignment in class and peer edit each other’s grammar lesson.
on March 26, 2008 at 9:51 pm Elizabeth Gellatly

PLC Meeting Minutes for March 26, 2008 started at 8:35 P.M.

Present were:
Jeff
Mandi
Martha S-B
Rebecca
Elizabeth

Our goal was to complete another unit test, that of Unit Four, for All Star 2. Based on Mandi’s shared (Unit Four) rewrite, we made some changes/additions. We also shared a few observations:

Our discussion proceeded as follows:

All three who had used the newly written Unit Three test (from the last PLC meeting) agreed that it better reflected the teaching, and assessed more clearly the proficiencies of the students. In addition, it was observed that students seemed to feel the test was more challenging- and they had to apply themselves more intensely, seemingly, because the questions are now more relevant, and more clearly written-and too, not just multiple choice.

We decided to keep the same structure, and the same format of a similar type and number of questions, since Rebecca and Mandi both had great success with their students on the test for Unit Three. Martha S-B reported about half and half, but still, the results were more beneficial for reteaching purposes.

In speaking about ways students could be encouraged to study, Jeff showed us a way to create a booklet- made from one piece of paper, folded and cut, then refolded in just such a way as to reveal six wallet-sized pages, all neatly attached! His students use this to study words on the bus, or just about anywhere they may happen to be. Six words or so, on each page, makes for easy access to a lot of vocab, grammar, or any number of other study topics. Quite do-able!

For Unit Four’s test changes, we discussed how we need to be certain to teach about the verb ‘going to’ as we will be requiring this of them on the test.

As promised, Martha S-B had her summarization of key points as a short Ceasar Chavez story, meant to replace the Madeline Albright Story in the original Unti Four test, along with 6 questions requiring students to answer in complete sentences. All approved, with one minor change in wording.

Mandi’s rewritten questions, as well as the few additions and changes we all agreed upon, were approved (and appreciated!)

One or two more questions with multiple choice answers were added to make the total number of points consistant with the last unit test.
We adjourned at 9:10 ish.
on March 26, 2008 at 9:56 pm Elizabeth Gellatly

Addendum-to PLC minutes for March 26th 2008 Martha
S-B’s Room

Idea from Jeff:
He has ties in his room that are used for acting out/role playing going on a job interview. Students get a chance to feel the part.
Also, next meeting in three weeks due to Spring Break- APril 16th-in Elizabeth’s Room 119
on March 27, 2008 at 2:00 pm Nancy Pakdel

PLC Meeting on March 26 began promptly at 8:20 p.m. in Anna’s room.

Team members present: Anna, Alida, Charlie, Nancy

Discussed: the effectiveness of power point presentations to illustrate vocabulary or a grammar point. Charlie got hands-on practice as Anna guided him through the steps.

Goal for our next meeting: to create power point presentations to illustrate lessons for our students. We will come with ideas of the lessons we want to create. We will see if the computer lab will be available in this regard.

Our next meeting is Wed., April 16, after Spring break. We adjourned shortly after 9:00 p.m.
on April 17, 2008 at 8:06 pm Suzette Mascarenas

Advanced PLC Minutes

room 123
8:20PM–9:15PM

Members Present
Margaret
Suzette

Tonight we discussed literature circles. We will be using google images and dictionary.com to enhance student comprehension. Comprehension questions asked at the end of each chapter.
Discussed collaborative civics project. Each class will choose a candidate to report on. Each class will research candidates’ opinion on particular issues. Each class will present their findings to the other 2 classes. A mock election will be held.
on April 20, 2008 at 9:07 am Elizabeth Gellatly

Martha-
In attendance:
Rebecca
Mandi
Martha S.B.
Robbie
Elizabeth
Our minutes 8:40-9:10 p.m.) for the April 17th meeting are as follows:
As a group we went over another of Mandi’s tests for AllStar 2 Unit 5. We included a great story that she had made up- a narrative about her day shopping- and it was tied to the picture that is in the book. She had questions to go along with it and we added one more. Great job, Mandi!
Our job was made easy as Mandi had most of it done- we offered a little input here and there- but it was great to have the time to discuss what we all do.
We accepted most of what Mandi had decided to change about the tests. She is brilliant, really- and we all agreed on that too.
Martha S.B. and I shared a little too on what we had done so far to improve the All Star 3 lessons. We mentioned that we were not only leaving things out that were too involved for our students or else not appropriate, but also we are adding in supplementary materials for the purpose of going deeper into what they do need practice on. We are meeting Sunday, the 20th at 11:00 again to begin again with the rewriting of unit 4 and maybe 5, and this time, Mandi will join us (though at this writing it will only be Mandi and myself for this one meeting.) Robbie was a great help, though she shared that she has not taught All Star 2 before. Still she is anxious to see and have access to the curriculum as it has been ammended when we start again next semester. It was clarified that we were not making materials appropriate for two levels, but rather just making the All Star 3 a more functional and relevant piece for the Intermediate Lows.
on April 23, 2008 at 10:23 pm Nancy Pakdel

April 23, 2008
Last week’s PLC meeting in Room 114
Team members present: Anna, Nancy , Steve, Martha Rankin

Discussed: Martha proposed that we coordinate the students to create a video project, highlighting what they learned through dialogues based on the vocabulary and grammar lessons of All Star I. Anna’s and Nancy’s students would then present the video to Beg Lit students to encourage their persistence in our program.

Martha also offered to show a demo of a video she did with her students in 2002, so the students would have an idea of what to do. Anna’s class could take units 1, 3 and 5 and Nancy’s students could do units 2, 4 and 6.

Steve’s students would develop their own project based on what they are learning in Beg Lit, such as the alphabet and simple dialogues.

Martha agreed to help us with the camera work and editing. We would also continue to finish the book, and work on the video project after break beginning in May. Filming would begin in June.

In addition, Nancy was able to make two power point presentations to her class, according to the goal of a March PLC meeting. The students seemed to like them, illustrating work clothing styles and shopping vocabulary.

Anna’s and Nancy’s students will view the video demo by Martha’s students on Thursday, April 24, after break in Anna’s room. Everyone agreed it’s a creative way for the students to review the units before the promotion test, and actively express what they are learning. We’ll see how the students receive the idea and give it a try!
on April 28, 2008 at 8:59 am Karly Landow

Thanks, very helpful!
on April 30, 2008 at 8:07 pm Suzette Mascarenas

Meeting Date–April 30, 2008

Rm. 123

8:20pm-9:00pm

Members Present– Bud, Margaret, Suzette

Members discussed collaborative project. Each member chose a presidential candidate for their class to research. Members decided on 3-5 issues to research. Members discussed ideas on methods of research.

Members discussed how students will present their findings to all 3 classes.
on April 30, 2008 at 9:18 pm Nancy Pakdel

Wednesday, April 30, 2008
PLC minutes
8:25 – 9:00 p.m.
Room 114

Team members present: Alida, Anna, Charlie, Nancy

Discussed: Student video project proposed at the last PLC meeting. Alida and Charlie want to view Martha’s video (made by her students) to have a better idea of the project. Charlie is interested in having his students doing songs and dialogues.

Anna reiterated that we’ll begin grouping the students Monday, according to the All Star unit they will be presenting. This will give the students an excellent way to review for the promotion test, plus prepare something creative. We may start filming before June, because we think the editing process will be very time-consuming.
(Again, Anna will do units 1, 3 and 5 and Nancy’s students will do units 2, 4 and 6 of All Star I.)

Anna and Nancy both believe they will be able to complete the book, and work on the video project a little bit each class. Anna remarked she will adjust the time to work on the video when the most students will be present.

We adjourned with the air of excitement and anticipation before embarking on a long journey. The students seemed enthused by the idea, and we want to encourage all of them to participate.
on May 10, 2008 at 3:29 am Elizabeth

Present were:
Jeff
Rebecca
Mandi
Martha SB
Elizabeth

Start time was 8:30 Finish time was 9:10

Initially, Martha SB and I had talked about the possibly of pairing off (with Jeff/Robbie), in order to use PLC time more efficiently, and also because Mandi has independently, already completed so much of what we wanted to accomplish that it doesn’t require more than two people to put on the finishing touches. This leaves some availability of the remaining three people- specifically, those who are working in the All Star Book 3, to discuss this project. It was mentioned that for Martha SB, the previously arranged Sunday meetings were not working out- therefore this new plan seemed to have further value. We decided that we five could double the work during the time allowed-and so we all agreed.
We also decided that Friday nights and some Saturday mornings would work to meet for extra work on the All Star 3 project.

We decided to begin this evening- and so Mandi and Rebecca worked on All Star 2, and Jeff, Martha SB, and Elizabeth began brainstorming about the logistics and next steps of the new ‘offshoot’ collaboration that we were now focusing on during this time. This included getting Jeff up to speed on what Martha SB and Elizabeth had already done with All Star 3.

Some ideas regarding All Star 3 for the next PLC meeting:

*Begin typing all notes taken so far (Jeff)
*Jeff will bring his lap top to next meeting
*Jeff suggested having a ‘morgue’ (a catalogue of pictures)readily available online as enrichment pieces to add to each lesson (this is a great idea for any curriculum!) He shared that he already has some filed. We all need to email Jeff with any pictures we have.

Mandi and Rebecca completed another Unit test for All Star 2.

Thank you, all, for being a great team!

Elizabeth
on May 14, 2008 at 5:35 pm Martha Rankin

I like Jeff’s idea of a online catalogue of pictures that enriches the curriculum. Jeff, let us know how that is coming…and how we can help disseminate this resource. Would you like to use the blog as the posting vehicle?
Martha
on May 14, 2008 at 8:02 pm Suzette Mascarenas

PLC Meeting Minutes

Wednesday May 14, 2008
Room 123
8:20PM–9:00PM

Team Members

Margaret
Suzette
Bud

Continued discussing Presidential Collaborative Project. Each class will present 3-5 issues within the next couple of weeks. The students are summarizing internet and newspaper articles. In addition, the students are practicing speaking in class in preparation for their presentations.
on May 15, 2008 at 9:53 am Rebecca

PLC Meeting Notes for May 14, 2008
8:30pm to 9:15pm
Elizabeth’s – Room 119

Present:
Elizabeth
Jeff
Martha S-B
Rebecca

Mandi was unable to attend this evenings PLC meeting, however she will leave a copy of the Unit 7 test that she created from her All-Star 2, Unit 7 review in Martha S-B and Rebecca’s mail boxes. Martha S-B and Rebecca can either use the Unit 7 Test that Mandi created or discuss possible revisions at a future PLC Meeting. Awesome, thank you Mandi!

Tonight’s focus was the continued discussion of the “Great Leap” between All-Star 2 and All-Star 3 and the revamping that is being done on the 8 units in All-Star 3. Elizabeth, Jeff and Martha S-B have reviewed to date Units 1 through Unit 3. They have pulled out sections or snippets students were having difficulty with. They have already made decisions on what is applicable for writing up in the teachers’ manual, e.g. small snippets, extensions to be included. This evenings group brainstormed and discussed if the sections in Unit 4 were relevant or pertinent to the students every day life. If the section was applicable to students every day life then an extension activity was discussed and/or created for students to acquire further understanding. If it was not applicable then the section will not be covered in a lesson.

Suggestions/Ideas for further improvements or extensions on Unit 4, “Money and Consumer Issues”:
• Vocabulary/terminology extensions, e.g. warranty
• Realia – several copies of warranties or guarantees
• Role Playing customer or sales personnel parts for returns, exchanges, complaints, etc on electronics. (Jeff has done this with his class and it was successful).
• Using the All-Star 3, Units “Big Picture” as a spring board for more conversations (Jeff has assigned his students names of the people represented in the picture to represent in their conversational groups.)
• Students manipulate conversations in the book in small groups for 2-way interaction. Listening Skills.
• Small groups for less fear/intimidation
• Craig’s list for on line shopping practice (utilizing technology)
• Edmonds for blue book prices on cars (utilizing technology)
• Coordinates: sounds the same as …

Additionally, the PLC Committee expressed an idea of possibly covering All-Star 3 in two semesters in order to include more activities for grammar and writing. In Unit 4, gerunds, suffixes and prefixes were water downed or skimmed over due to keeping pace with this semester’s textbook pacing schedule. The committee realizes there are considerations such as assessments, standards, pacing and CASAS alignments. The PLC Committee will mention this idea/discussion to administration.
on May 16, 2008 at 1:59 pm Larry Vescera

To: Rebecca, Martha, Elizabeth and Jeff

I know this gap problem between All Star 2 and 3 is a real problem. I think I’ve had individual conversations with each of you about this. I like your approach of supplementation. The possibility of splitting the book into two semesters is an idea we might pursue in the Curriculum committee.
on May 16, 2008 at 2:03 pm Larry Vescera

To: Suzette, Margaret and Bud

It is good to hear that the implementation of the project is proceeding smoothly. Suzette has been keeping me up on your progress. Please keep up the good work.
on May 16, 2008 at 2:10 pm Larry Vescera

To: Anna, Nancy, Charley and Alida

The video recording of this project is quite ambitious but what you are attempting is admirable. When Anna first described her concerns about the magnitude of this effort, I certainly understood but I know this will work out well. You people are super.
on May 28, 2008 at 7:57 pm Nancy Pakdel

PLC Minutes for May 28, 2008
8:30 – 9:15 p.m.
Room 114
Team members present:
Alida, Anna, Charlie, Nancy

Discussed: Student video project, for which we are rehearsing now. Anna wants to check out the video camera and film after break next week on Monday. Nancy will use the camera on Tuesday, and Charlie will film on Wednesday. Alida has a holiday song idea for her students, but wants to wait to film the following week, if possible.

We all expressed concern for a variable attendance, but we can film whoever comes to class.

Goal: To check out the camera and film next week, the week of June 2, so we will have time to edit the film before the end of the semester, June 19.
on May 28, 2008 at 10:08 pm Rebecca Spohr

PLC Meeting Notes for May 28, 2008
8:30pm to 9:10pm
Mandi’s Room

Present:

Elizabeth
Jeff
Larry
Mandi
Marth S-B
Rebecca

Began meeting with a recap of the last focus group.

All-Star 2 (Beginning High)
Mandi, Martha, and Rebecca discussed combining Units 9 & Unit 10 onto one test which will be given at the end of Unit 10. The decision was made to combine the two units on one test. Mandi and Rebecca worked on a draft of the new test. Mandi will finalize and give copies to Martha S-B and Rebecca.

All-Star 3 (Intermediate-Low)
Elizabeth, Jeff and Martha-B continued to discuss where they had left off at the last meeting regarding Unit 4 of All-Star 3. The All-Star 3 Group is still working on arranging a time that they can all meet off-site to discuss All-Star 3.

Additionally, a discussion was held about possibly giving a year end “Promotional Test” based on the All-Star 2 Unit Tests that were re-created at this groups PLC Meetings. PLC Group will request approval from administration. Revised Promotional Test would be for the PM Sessions only.
on May 29, 2008 at 7:28 am Martha Rankin

Elizabeth, Jeff, Larry, Mandi, Martha, and Rebecca,

Thank you for posting your detailed PLC minutes. It is exciting to see the great progress you have made on the original SMART goals you set back in February.

I’m thinking of creating an additional page on this blog to post your new All-Star 2 and 3 common formative assessments. Will that work for you? If so, could you email me what you have created thus far?

As far as your proposal regarding a new Promotional Test based on the recreated All-Star 2 Unit Tests — YES! That makes perfect sense to me. Are you wanting to try to develop and duplicate it for THIS promotional test cycle (June 11) or next semester?

Again, wonderful work, team! You are making fantastic progress with developing meaningful common formative assessments. I am most impressed!!!
on May 29, 2008 at 7:55 am Martha Rankin

Nancy, Alida, Anna, and Charlie,

Thanks for posting last night’s PCL minutes! Here are some things I can do to help with your video project:

1) I’ll keep the video camera plugged in so you can grab-n-shoot off the battery. It will be on my little table in the office — just unplug and go.

2) I will have a new tape named “Beg Lit / Low Project” next to the camera. That way, you won’t have to try to record around my recordings. Just pop out my tape and put in your new tape.

3) I gave Nancy a quick video camera lesson on how to turn it on, shoot, view, turn it off. If you’re interested in a quick tutorial, you can see Nancy or me.

4) I can definitely help you with the video editing when you get to that point. That work is totally FUN for me. If you are interested in learning how to edit film, we can have a session on it.

5) If you need guitar accompaniment for any song, just let me know!

The unpredictable attendance is ALWAYS a problem with project-based learning in our adult ed program. Keep the faith! Know that I know the challenges. Moreover, know that I totally respect your willingness to give it a try anyway. You inspire me!!!

I know your students will deeply learn the competencies they are presenting because they are generating their own learning. I’m reading a book about “generative learning” called POWER TO TRANSFORM – LEADERSHIP THAT BRINGS LEARNING AND SCHOOLING TO LIFE. I’ve never been so jazzed about educational transformation. I believe the work you are doing is indeed “bringing learning to life.”
on May 29, 2008 at 4:55 pm Larry vescera

To: PLC Team members present:
Alida, Anna, Charlie, Nancy 5/28

It is exciting to see your video Dialog project coming together. Martha has really made it much easier to get this done with the arrangements she has made for the camera. If I can be a help with the videoing just let me know.
on May 29, 2008 at 4:58 pm Larry vescera

PLC Members: Elizabeth, Jeff, Mandi, Martha, and Rebecca:
5/29

I know progress on closing that All Star 2 to All Star 3 gap is no easy matter but you are making progree and that is great.
on May 29, 2008 at 5:10 pm Larry vescera

To: PLC Advanced – Suzette, Margaret and Bud 5/28/08

Congratulations on getting most of your Candidate and Issues presentations completed. I know the students were very excited about doing this.
on June 2, 2008 at 11:04 am Rebecca Bishai

To our Fabulous PLC Teams,

I am extremely impressed with your progress and your commitment to sharing and learning together. Our students have already and will continue to benefit from your meaningful, intentional dialogue focused on student learning. Great work everyone! Together you make this the BEST place to work and learn!! I can’t wait to hear more about your collaboration and projects.
on June 12, 2008 at 8:07 pm Suzette Mascarenas

Thursday, June 12, 2008
Room 123
8:30-9:05 pm

Team Members Present:
Margaret (Advanced)
Suzette (Int. High)

We discussed our progress as a PLC group. We were very pleased with our success on the collaboration of the election project that we worked on. Actually, it went better than we had expected. We made the project simple, we discussed ideas for researching, paraphrasing, and summarizing to assist our students in these endeavors.

Each of us said that our students were engaged with this project, they learned quite a bit, and the teachers learned a lot as well! This format worked for us as a group. Next year we will have to think of a different project topic. We will discuss other ideas to aid our students in research.
on June 13, 2008 at 10:09 am Mandi

We had our final PLC meeting of the year last night. We all met to reflect on how the year went and what things we might change for next year. Each group reviewed their goals for this year and talked about how they felt it went:

- Beginning High/Intermediate Low:

Goal: Rewrite each unit test in All Star 2, including the promotional test, and continue revisions of All Star 3.

Results: Very successful. Students did vey well on the new promotional test, and teachers had a better understanding of what students really knew. The All Star 3 revision process is moving along…got through units 1-3 and will continue the process.

What we might change next year: Do something collaborative and present tot he other classes. Continue to work on revision of book 3.

-Citizenship/Intermediate High/Multi-Advanced:

Goal: Have students from each class do research on the 3 presidential candidates then present their findings in a speech to the other classes.

Results: Students were able to conduct research on the Internet as well as in books and newspapers. Speeches went well and students were very excited.

What we might change next year: Continue with research and speeches but change the topic to the 50 states.

-Beginning Lit/Low:

Goal: To put together a movie that highlights what students learned throughout the semester. Sort of like a book review but in movie and powerpoint forms.

Results: Students were very engaged and excited to do the project. They also did better on the promotional test this year as a result of going back and reviewing the entire book.

What we might change next year: Consider rewriting tests. Also, finding supplemental information and more project based lessons.

Overall, it was a successful year and we look forward to doing many great things again next year!
on June 13, 2008 at 4:17 pm Larry Vescera

This is a very accurate overview of the PLC’s activities. It was great to see every group plan and then follow through on their plans and produce positive results. All of you deserve to feel good about what you accomplished. It was an extra effort but it clearly paid off for the students.

It will be fun to see this continue to develop next year.

I’d like to thank each of you for your extra effort, diligence and genuine willingness to stretch and try something new. I’m sure everyone especially appreciated Elizabeth’s leadership.

Thank you to all of you – well done.
on June 30, 2008 at 3:44 pm mbirnbaum

Our PLC project went great. The students successfully transformed difficult internet material into their own words and put the information into short speeches about the issues the three presidential candidates are campaigning on for the presidency. The students practiced extemporaneous speaking before beginning their speeches. They were excited about speaking in front of the class and asked to do more. Next semester we shall definitely practice more in front of the class. They did a great job and felt successful ending the year with their project.
on October 15, 2008 at 7:59 pm Suzette Mascarenas

Advanced PLC Group Minutes

Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Room 123
8:30pm-9:15pm

Team Members Present:
Margaret–Advanced ESL
Suzette–Intermediate High ESL

Topic Discussed:
We discussed our newspaper project. The adult students from Intermediate High and Advanced will collaborate on a joint project to be published in the Newport-Mesa School Newspaper that is distributed district-wide. It is due to come out in December.
We will publish excerpts from the students’ work that reflects their opinion about adult school and why they like coming here. Each student will write one to two sentences. The excerpts will be published in the newspaper with each student’s name or anonymously if they so choose.
We brainstormed several examples to present as models to the students for them to follow.
on October 15, 2008 at 8:55 pm Nancy Pakdel

Wednesday, October 15, 2008
BEG LIT-BEG LOW group – GREAT BEGINNINGS!

8:45 p.m. – team members present: Alida, Charlie, Mandi, Nancy and Tony

PLC focus: best-practice instructional strategies that encourage persistence in attendance and student progress

We all agreed that the book does not have enough conversation practice and requires supplementation in this regard. Charlie likes the TPR technique. He also encourages interaction among the students to clarify the lesson. He’ll ask a student to give a translation of a phrase in Spanish so that everyone will understand.

Tony asks his students directly what they want to learn and what will help them in their work situation. For example, he has to do a lot of extra preparation for restaurant work vocabulary.

All present agreed they try to use conversations relevant to the students and their Costa Mesa community. Tony also has his students keep a journal to this effect.

Mandi mentioned we could share Anna’s PowerPoint on places in the Costa Mesa community, which was extremely effective.

Alida remarked that her students need to learn how to use the dictionary and she gives them activities for that purpose.

Mandi said that for the next meeting we should refer to the course outlines for Beg Lit, Beg Low and Beg High to see how to prepare our students for the next level. We will also discuss techniques and strategies included in the course outline and how to incorporate them in our instruction.
on October 16, 2008 at 7:27 am Rebecca

Hi Martha,

As planned, the NMUSD Adult Education Evening Teachers met this evening, October 15, 2008, from 8:25 to 9:05pm in room 119 to launch the Professional Learning Community (PLC).

Larry Vescera called the meeting to order and organized the following PLC Teams:

• ESL Beginning Literacy & ESL Beginning Low
• ESL Beginning High & ESL Intermediate Low
• ESL Intermediate High, ESL Advanced, Citizenship, GED & Computers

Larry will rotate and sit in with each group offering support where needed.

As you stated earlier, the PLC focus this year will be: “Best-practice curriculum and common formative assessments.”

The meeting was turned over to Elizabeth who went over the guidelines for this years PLC Groups. Forms that were used during last years PLC groups are available again this year. After a brief discussion, the teachers broke off into their groups to discuss their groups focus for the year.

PLC Group: ESL Beginning High & ESL Intermediate Low

Present: Elizabeth
Corrine
Martha
Rebecca

Group Focus that was chosen: “Best Practice Curriculum Delivery” which translates into “Student Success”.

We discussed ways of helping our students with various shared strategies: Sheltered Instruction was chosen which will encompasses SDAIE (Specially Designed Academic Instruction in English) and SIOP (Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol). These strategies include:
• Process Grids
• Graphic Organizers, e.g. KWL, Venn Diagrams, Compare/Contrast
• Co-op Strips
• Adjusting to student learning styles, e.g. TPR, audio, visual learners
• Incorporate lessons/activities to include the skills used for listening, speaking, reading & writing.
• Use visual aids, modeling, demonstrations, prediction, etc.
• Build on prior knowledge and experiences
• Utilize a high level of student engagement and interaction with students and teacher
• Supplemental materials that support our text.

We also discussed Marzano’s strategies – Compare and Contrast

Meeting adjourned. Our PLC Group will meet again in Room 119 on October 29, 2008
on October 16, 2008 at 5:50 pm Larry Vescera

Hi All:

Thanks for your enthusiastic launch of the PLC Groups last night. This should be a very productive semester as Best Educational Practices are at the center stage.

I am looking forward to seeing the Advanced Groups work being published in the Newport Mesa School News. Just imagine how excited and proud your students will be to see their work in print.

The Beginning Groups focus on sharing successful instructional strategies should also produce good results. Charlies plan to have students model pronunciation for each other sounded like a great idea.

I personally was moved by the Intermediate Groups efforts to obtain Special Education Speech Therapy services for a student with an impediment. That is an effort beyond Best Practices.

Thank you all again for a great effort.
on October 29, 2008 at 9:15 pm Nancy Pakdel

Wednesday, October 29, 2008
PLC meeting
team members present: Alida, Charlie, Mandi, Nancy, Tony
At 8:25 p.m., we convened in Mandi’s room with copies of our course outlines (for Beg Lit and Beg Low levels) to examine essential knowledge competencies that we need to emphasize in class. Our intention was also to discuss best practiced instructional strategies that encourage persistence in attendance and student progress.

For the ability to ask basic information questions, Mandi will give students an answer and have them give the question. Nancy also uses this technique, which is also a teaching strategy in the Azar supplemental grammar book.

As to how to keep students engaged and participating, Tony calls on students at random. He also uses physical activities, like asking a student to stand up next to the table, to demonstrate the use of the prepostion. Mandi likes to form teams and have the students competing in an activity, such as putting the cards with names of the months in order. Charlie has the students acting in role plays. Alida will call on a student, and have that student select the next student to participate, and so on.

Alida and Nancy both discovered their student like to draw, which is another way to demonstrate comprehension of prepositions of location, for example.

In our next meeting, we want to examine how to correlate the course outline competencies with our textbook to insure that the main points are being taught in class.

With that intention, we adjourned at 9:15 p.m.
on October 30, 2008 at 7:43 pm Suzette Mascarenas

Advanced PLC Group Minutes

Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Room 123
8:30pm-9:15pm

Team Members Present:
Margaret–Advanced ESL
Suzette–Intermediate High ESL

Topic Discussed:

We further discussed and refined topic for publication. Discussed procedures for writing and editing. Margaret’s class will write and edit their responses on October 30th before the break, and then go to the computer lab to type them out. Suzette’s class will write their responses on November 5th before the CASAS exam. We will edit and rewrite a final draft that same night.

We came up with several examples of responses to the question that we will ask the students. We will share those examples with students before they begin to write.
on October 30, 2008 at 7:51 pm Larry Vescera

It was great to sit in on the meetings last night. It looks like none of the groups is wasting any time in getting right into developing and implementing your plans.

I’m especially looking forward to reading the first of the copy from the advanced group next month. I’m also certain that the intermediate students will benefit greatly from the correlation of the CASAS competencies with the All Star text. The persistence strategy being developed by the Beginning group will certainly produce excellent results for the learners.

Thanks for your efforts.
on October 31, 2008 at 9:33 am Martha Rankin

Hi Beg. High + Int. Low PLC!

First, I want to express my appreciation for Rebecca’s detailed meeting minutes; they really gave me a sense of being there with you…(while sitting on my couch eating cheese popcorn watching our two candidates duke it out).

Your comprehensive list of best-practice strategies is impressive! What an important conversation you had! Keep up the inspirational work.
on October 31, 2008 at 9:35 am Martha Rankin

Posted October 16 in Our Professional Learning Community at Work

Hi Advanced PLC!

Suzette, thank you for being the recorder of your team’s minutes. I always appreciate your willingness to participate on our e-PLC!

And a big thanks to both Suzette and Margaret for being our first volunteers to work on a School News project.

School News ~ Cool opportunity for NMUSD Adult School and our students!

School News is our opportunity to be published (free) district-wide and throughout the Newport-Mesa community.

All NMUSD Adult School Teachers ~ If you are interested in publishing some of your students’ thoughts, please let me know. You may also want to talk with Suzette and/or Margaret about the process…now that they are our resident experts.
on October 31, 2008 at 9:36 am Martha Rankin

Posted October 16th

Hi Beginning Lit + Low PLC!

Great beginnings, indeed! Thank you, Nancy, for contributing your meeting minutes for your team. You are always so good at contributing comprehensive PLC minutes.

It sounds like you had a very productive meeting. I love your shared ideas on persistence strategies. The journal idea sounds cool…Tony, would you mind bringing a sample of the journal? What a great idea. I remember Anna’s awesome PowerPoint; what a great idea to use it for an All-Star 1 unit review on the community. I also think it will be valuable to take a look at the course outlines!

Keep up the great work, team!
on November 4, 2008 at 1:18 pm Cheryl Bodman

TECH CENTER INSERVICE
11/3/08
1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Cheryl & Jennifer Discussion of Agenda for Inservice

Carole Review new District website – accessing e-mail, etc.

Carole / Martha Tour of new AE website http://adulted.nmusd.us/; Blogging

Carole Outlook calendar training

Discussion Revising courses – Goal:
• Reframe content and processes so that students perceive content, outcomes, and activities as personally valuable and obtainable
• Increase student interest, curiosity, and competency with coursework that is challenging and requires a certain amount of effort
• Provide for freedom of choice by allowing students to participate in goal-setting
• Maintain student engagement by providing continuous and immediate feedback on learning and performance in ways that highlight accomplishments
• Ensure that coursework is practical for both students and teachers
• (Discovery Streaming software has been ordered)

All explore Internet for relevant websites to supplement courses
• Easily accessible
• Clear directions; user friendly
• Age appropriate
• Interactive (preferably)
on November 6, 2008 at 1:22 pm Mike Murphy

HS Lab group

Nice discussion points. I was wondering what other classes might be appropriate and interesting to the high school students? Maybe a quick survey when they come in to work with their teacher.

Mike
on November 8, 2008 at 8:19 pm elizabeth

Present:

Corrine
Martha
Rebecca
Elizabeth

We continued the Group Focus that had been chosen: “Best Practice Curriculum Delivery” for student success.

Continuing with Sheltered Instruction, SDAIE ,and SIOP, we discussed ways in which we use them, and shared new ideas. Again, we discussed Marzano’s strategies and how to best incorporate these into the daily instruction.

We shared forms and strategies and decided that we were able to learn some things from each other.

Each of us has some strategy in each of these areas that we do, though some of us have not known their more popular names, we discovered.

GLAD strategies were also mentioned/explained as ways to present vocabulary.

Meeting ended at 9:10. Next meeting will take place in two weeks.
on November 12, 2008 at 11:35 pm elizabeth

1. on November 12, 2008 at 11:35 pm elizabeth
Beginning High & Intermediate Low PLC meeting minutes……
11/12/08 8:30 p.m. to 9:10p.m.

Corinne
Martha
Rebecca
Elizabeth

All of the above were present. Rebecca had been looking at suggested uses for our time and coincidently, I had emailed Larry earlier in the week both of us thinking along the same lines of looking at the recent results of our assessments (CASAS) to see if there are trends, and to discuss what we might have done for success.

We all retrieved our own CASAS results and looked to see what the numbers of improved scores were for each of us. Martha and Rebecca had phenomenal numbers (my own qualifier here), and told us that the reason was that they had prepared their students by creating similar type questions for their students to practice as a whole group before the test. Some of the prep-work was vocabulary-based, other work was concept-based. We asked for examples – and Martha demonstrated how she took the word ‘date’, which students are not familiar with, and gave a mini lesson on what the difference was between it and ‘day’. In the test, she found that the students had no idea of the difference between those two words and so it always threw them. Her lesson was simple but very helpful, I am sure, as it served the purpose of giving the students the vocabulary concept knowledge.

Martha also believes her success came from the fact that the classes are better leveled and so more of the students are taking the same tests. She says that her method of studying is not possible when there is so much disparity between test levels.

Just a few other examples of words that are not covered in our texts to teach the students are ‘each’ and ‘crossing’ and ‘along’, from test 34X question 34. These are all in ONE question! How can students possibly do well, we wondered?

Good food for thought and obvious great results- great job Ladies!

Submitted by Elizabeth Gellatly

P.S. We would really appreciate having the test results that were given in such a way that grouped the questions for us so that we could tell how many of our students were lacking understanding for each question. This used to be given us- no one could think of what it was called but we all remembered it!
Thanks, Martha.
on November 13, 2008 at 9:10 am Martha Rankin

Hi Beginning High & Intermediate Low PLC Team!

Thanks for looking at your CASAS results and discussing ways to help your students demonstrate mastery of the CASAS competencies.

We will give you all the Class Performance by Competency report. I believe that is the report you are requesting. Thanks for your interest!

Duane, would you please print out the Class Performance by Competency reports for all ESL teachers? Thank you!
on November 13, 2008 at 6:15 pm Larry Vescera

Hi PLC Members:

It is great watching all of the groups making good progress. I had a chance to read some of the Advanced Groups letters that will be published in the School News. It’s gratifying to know that so many of them find their learning experience to be very rewarding. Some of the stories had some great one liners in them – even though they didn’t mean them to be funny. Some of the others were quite touching.

As the Intermediate Group focuses in on analyzing the details to the CASAS results, it will be interesting to see what trends are discovered? It will also be interesting to see if they can isolate the cause of those trends too?

It will also be interesting to see Beginning Groups Best Instructional Strategies to Encourage Attendance & Academic Progress pays off.

Thanks for your hard work to provide the best outcome for the students.
on November 13, 2008 at 8:59 pm Suzette Mascarenas

Advanced PLC Group Minutes

Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Room 123
8:30pm-9:15pm

Team Members Present:
Margaret–Advanced ESL
Suzette–Intermediate High ESL

Topic Discussed:

We edited and compiled the students’ comments for publication in the Newport-Mesa School News. We selected a representative number of students’ work to be included in the publication. This was a great project and the students seemed to be very enthusiastic about getting their work published.
on December 4, 2008 at 6:17 pm Larry Vescera

Hi PLC Members:

It is very encouraging to see all three PLC’s working on retention strategies. The Intermediate Group had an interesting idea, they are considering asking their students to invite a relative, friend or neighbor to join a class. I wonder if we could have an open house type of event one night and invite these people to attend a sample class? However that could present a legal problem because they are not enrolled?

Martha – what do you think, is it a possibility?

I also appreciate every ones concern for financial issues and maximizing revenue from CASAS Benchmarks. The Advanced Group is also working on developing their own CASAS Practice Test for questions above the level 33 test.

The Advanced Group’s wall of student quotes in the Faculty Lounge is a great idea. I forgot to ask if they have taken the students in to see it? If not I think they should.
on December 4, 2008 at 7:10 pm Suzette Mascarenas

Advanced PLC Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
8:25PM–9:15PM
Room 123

Members Present:
Margaret
Suzette

Topics Discussed:

We discussed creating a study guide for our students for the CASAS exam. Our study guide will be made up of questions from the previous CASAS exam where students have scored below 65% on the “class performance by competencies” printout. We will do this for test levels 34-36.
on December 11, 2008 at 7:46 pm alida labiosa

December 3 2008

Mandi
Tony
Charlie
Nancy
Alida

We discussed declining attendance in PM classes and rising attendance in AM classes. The impact of the economy on work schedules and income was found to be at fault.

Mandi requested that we fill out the Tech Survey.

Instructional practices and strategies were compared as related to the use of songs in the classroom. The idea is to reach the younger more culturally hip students in our classrooms. Tony explained how he uses Kareoke, Charlie uses musical chairs to stir things up and Alida uses songs focusing on specific grammatical parts.

We also discussed using the textbook for the whole year. All of us were very interested in this idea.
on January 7, 2009 at 9:01 pm Suzette Mascarenas

Advanced PLC Group Minutes

Wednesday, January 7,2009
Room 123
8:30pm-9:15pm

Team Members Present:
Margaret–Advanced ESL
Suzette–Intermediate High ESL

Topic Discussed:

We went through the class performance by competency lists and highlighted the competencies that the students scored less than 70%. We are making a list of competencies by test level that are to be included in a new practice test. The purpose of the new practice test is to give more practice for the 034RX, 035R, 036R level CASAS tests.
on January 7, 2009 at 9:53 pm mandi

Beginning Lit/Low PLC
Wednesday January 7, 2009
Room 116

Mandi
Nancy
Tony
Alida
Charlie

In light of recent attendance lows, we discussed persistence and what we can do to get our students back and keep them there. We agreed that Martha’s Persistence Talk was very beneficial but it just so happened to be on the worst attendance day (due to heavy rain). Tony will be giving the talk again this week, Mandi and possibly Alida will join him.

We continued to discuss strategies that we have been using in the classroom. Alida joined the karaoke site that we brought up last meeting, and she also used her FLIP camera to film students in her class. Tony talked about the “Hands On English” cloze activities that he found his students really enjoyed. Additionally, the resource room has great activities for getting students up and moving and participating. Nancy and Mandi both expressed concern about not having anything tangible at the end of our meetings but came to the conclusion that the discussion is just as valuable and helpful as anything else.
on January 8, 2009 at 6:04 pm Larry Vescera

Hi All:

Thanks for letting me use part of your PLC time last night to discuss next weeks Lockdown Drill.

Its great to see you all continuing so steadily toward your goals.

Thanks Again
Larry
on January 13, 2009 at 10:13 pm elizabeth

PLC meeting Minutes January 7th 2009
Present were:
Corinne
Martha
Rebecca
Elizabeth

We began at 8:30 p.m. and continued until 9:10 p.m.
First we revisted what we thought was working in our respective classrooms- then we talked about the fact that when the last results were recalculated, or students were taken out who had moved to other classrooms, the results from the last CASAs were not as good as we had originally thought. This is a little discouraging, if not a lot. We all thought that the book is too hard- and we keep reiterating this to each other. We all agree that the book should be split up into two semesters. The problem is, we all feel, that we need time to go deeper. In fact, that is pretty much what Martha has done by skipping around to key skills/chapters in the book. In addition to that, Martha spent hours looking for vocabulary that is NOT taught, or is taught differently in the textbook, from what is is on the test. She continues to work with students on these missing concepts while maintaining integrity in terms of not teaching what is on the test, exactly.
It is impressive to see the hard work Martha has put into going over the tests and pulling out these words. She then creates mini lessons around these concepts or words.
GO Martha SB!
Larry came in to speak about the LOCK DOWN DRILL.
Submitted by ELizabeth Gellatly
on February 11, 2009 at 8:48 pm Suzette Mascarenas

Advanced PLC Group Minutes

Wednesday, January 7,2009
Room 123
8:25pm-9:15pm
February 11, 2009

Team Members Present:
Margaret–Advanced ESL
Suzette–Intermediate High ESL

Topic Discussed:
Intermediate High and Multi Level Advanced met to continue creating a practice test for CASAS 34RX. We reviewed the highlighted competency descriptions that our students scored below 65%. We discussed a plan of action for collecting materials to include on the practice test.
on February 11, 2009 at 10:27 pm Nancy Pakdel

February 11, 2009
Present were: Charlie Beg Lit

Nancy Beg Low
Tony Beg Low

We convened at 8:25 p.m. in Tony’s room. Tony demonstrated the versatility of the Smartboard as a tool for teaching, and said he will share some of his activities with us through Mandi’s new blog.

Tony recommended we download smartboard.com on a computer at home, save it, and take it to our class.

This all sounds so simple, but Charlie and I need more specific and detailed training to be able to do this. I plan on asking Tony about his availability to give us a few more specific pointers that we can jot down and use as a springboard to learn how to use the smartboard effectively as a teaching tool in the classroom. Apparently, our smartboards do not have the elaborate software, such as graphics and so on, so images can be copied and pasted from google, for example.

Well, at least it’s motivating to see the possibilities with the Smartboard, and I want so much to get more specific instruction to be able to use it properly.

It was a stimulating introduction, and Tony showed us quite a variety of ideas for activities.

We adjourned at 9:10 p.m.
on February 12, 2009 at 12:36 pm Martha Rankin

Hi Beginning Low PLC Team!

I’m so glad you are exploring the options with our powerful and versatile SMART Board tools.

Tony, thanks for showing your team some tips and tricks…and being available for follow-up questions. You are a true PEER MENTOR.

It’s also great to hear that Tony will be contributing resources to our new blog page that Mandi and you all are helping design.

The more contributing hands…the better!!!

Thanks for your continued interest in learning and leading every day.

Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire!
William Butler Yeats
on February 12, 2009 at 12:55 pm Martha Rankin

Hi Suzette and Margaret,

Your work is so important! What a great strategy to zero in on the competencies that your students are missing (65% or less)…and coming up with sound instructional interventions.

You are transforming the CASAS test from a summative test (where you record the results and move on) to a formative test. You are using the assessment to diagnose the problem and identify where the students are experiencing difficulty.

Bravo. That’s what a powerful and proactive PLC is all about!!!

Martha
on February 12, 2009 at 6:06 pm Larry Vescera

Hi All:

It was great to see everyone back and enthusiastically involved with their PLC’s. It is obvious to even a casual observer that your time and efforts are paying of in better student outcomes and higher retention rates. Historically the Beginning Literature through Beginning High have always been the best attended classes. While they continue to be well attended the Beginning Low through Advanced classes are now also packed to overflowing in some cases.

It was impressive to see the approach the Beginning High/Intermediate Low Group is taking to build on their Best Practices Curriculum work from last Semester. It felt like you were turning a page on a new chapter at last night meeting.

The efforts of the Beginning Literature/Beginning Low Groups to concentrate on Smart Board use are really admirable especially given fact that at least one of you are struggling against Technophobia.

The Intermediate High/Advanced Groups efforts are also going to pay off when you finish your CASAS 34X Practice Test.

Thanks again for your efforts. Keep up the good work.
on March 4, 2009 at 10:49 pm mandi

Beginning High/Intermediate Low PLC
3/4/09
8:20-9:15pm

Members Present:

Mandi
Megan
Martha
Corrine
Rebecca S.

Minutes:

We have been talking about further support for the grammar that is/isn’t in All Star 3. Teachers have expressed concern over the discrepancy between what is expected and what level students truly are at. There has been a lot of reteaching of the grammar that students should already know in order to be successful in All Star 3.

Megan brought in a great resource she heard about called “Image Grammar.” It is a great way to make grammar a quick daily lesson rather than always making it just explicit instruction. (She can tell you more about it but it’s great!)

We discussed at length many different options to ways we can improve the curriculum and what we can do with what we have. We talked about ways to supplement the grammar with Azar (Red) A & B and decided book A is probably a better book to be using for Int Low rather than book B. After MUCH discussion and debate over what we can do this year, we have decided to:
– Use Azar A with Int. Low as a supplement to the grammar lessons in All Star 3. (It is yet to be determined when this will be implemented)

We closed our meeting agreeing to disagree on this topic and have decided to move on to a different topic for next time. Our next task is to look at our range of CASAS tests and possibly put together a new practice test.
on March 5, 2009 at 6:26 pm Larry Vescera

I want to thank everyone for letting me use some of Wednesday night’s PLC time to discuss routine matters. Thanks so much for your student persistence efforts. keeping the students in class every possible hour not only maxamizes their learning oportunity in Adult Ed. but will also help to meet our Cap this year. Given the new state budget constraints the importance of recording every hour of attendence is more necessary then ever.

Keep up the good work.
on March 5, 2009 at 7:35 pm Suzette Mascarenas

Advanced PLC Group Minutes

Wednesday, Maarch 4, 2009
Room 123
8:30pm-9:15pm

Team Members Present:
Margaret–Advanced ESL
Suzette–Intermediate High ESL

Topic Discussed:

We continued our search online for material that is representative of the questions most often missed to include on the practice test. We looked for bank depost slips, telephone message notepads, job applications, and medical record forms.
on March 18, 2009 at 8:48 pm Nancy Pakdel

Wed., March 18, 2009
8:45 p.m. post-team huddle meeting
Room 116
Team members present: Charlie(Morfin), Nancy (Pakdel), Steve (Herron) and Tony (Magana)

We agreed to remind our students about the importance of attendance, especially next Wed. for the post-CASAS test, March 25. Tony recommended we post this information in the room.
Nancy suggested we do the practice CASAS test, which is on the blog, to prepare our students for next Wed. Also, this is a very important test to bring in money to the school.

Our attendance is good now. We agreed that monthly awards help to encourage attendance. Tony and Nancy honor the top female and male students each month for the most hours of attendance (with prizes).

Charlie rewards students who ask questions with pencils. Steve recommends manythings.com for games and activities for the students. Tony likes puzzlemaker.com to make puzzles for current vocabulary. Tony also reminded us of United Streaming, which is now Discovery.com for educational videos for the students.

Tony agreed to give us basic training on using the Smartboard as a teaching tool for our next PLC meeting. We look forward to it!
on March 18, 2009 at 9:06 pm Rebecca S.

Beginning High/Intermediate Low PLC

March 18, 2009
8:15-8:45pm: Team Huddle
8:45- 9:15pm: PLC

Members Present:

Corrine R.
Mandi S.
Martha S-B
Megan B.
Rebecca S.

Topics Discussed:

We began our meeting with a team huddle where Mandi S. updated staff on the most recent Site Council meeting notes. After the team huddle, we broke into our groups.

At the close of our last PLC meeting the ESL Beginning High/Intermediate Low Group agreed that our next task would be to look at our specific range of CASAS tests and create a new practice test for our students.

At this meeting we continued our discussion on how to create a practice test focusing on the CASAS Exams that fall within our ESL students test form range. At the next meeting we will meet with our newest data, and begin creating the practice text.
on March 19, 2009 at 11:16 am Larry Vescera

I feel that we all owe Mandi a Thank You for the excellent job she is doing in leading the Team Huddles for BESST PM. The groups excellent input last night was also appreciated. Even though the Team Huddle ran long and ate into the PLC time, the lengthy discussion of the budget and other issues seemed to be productive. Unfortunately, these other issues do impinge on our Learning Community, so are necessary to be aware of even if they are largely beyond our control.

Thank you also for keeping your PLC’s on track and focused on your objectives. I think that this spirit of continuous improvement is being reflected in the fact that retention rates are higher this year despite the negative demographic impact of the current economic situation.
on April 2, 2009 at 5:06 pm Larry Vescera

Hi All:

Advanced Group: You have tackled a pretty big job in developing a new CASAS practice test for your group but it is great to see the progress you have made. Now that you have pulled together the visual aids and materials all you need to do is formulate the questions.

Combined Beginning and Intermediate Group:
Thanks Tony for the presentation you did last night for the two groups on the Smart Board Version 10 software. The lesson on using the clip art, games and drill questions was very useful. Hopefully the ESL computers will be upgraded soon so that everyone can access this valuable tool. After seeing your lesson last night I’m tempted to get a smart board for my home office.

Thanks again for giving me the time to talk with everyone about scheduling the Migrant Education Visits. The schedules are in your boxes.
on April 3, 2009 at 7:02 am Martha Rankin

Howdy!

Thanks, Tony, for giving the SMART Board workshop on Wednesday evening. I’ve heard great feedback from your colleagues about it.

Hooray to Steve H.! He went home and immediately tried to download SMART Notebook 10 on his home computer so he could start using it: http://www.smarttech.com

He emailed to say that he needed the serial # from the SMART Board. If you want to download the SMART Notebook software on your home computer, look on the sticker in the upper right-hand corner of your board. The serial number should begin with SB680-xxxxxx.

Steve has now downloaded Notebook 10 and committed to working on it over Spring break!

Wow, look what you’ve started, Tony and Mandi!!!
on April 22, 2009 at 9:04 pm Nancy Pakdel

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Room 116 8:15 p.m.

Team members present for Beg. Low and Beg. Lit:
Charlie, Nancy, Steve and Tony

After Mandi informed us the teacher resource tool is up and running on the blog, we met in our PLC groups.

Steve announced that he successfully downloaded the smartboard software onto his computer and showed Charlie and Nancy how to do this. The next step will be to put it on the flashdrive and take it to class.

Tony recommended we use songs with the students, because they really enjoy this activity and it’s a fun way to learn English. Charlie agreed and said he already uses a lot of songs in his class. Nancy tries to squeeze in at least one song every evening before the students go home. They seem to look forward to it as well.

Tony offered to work with Charlie, Nancy and Steve on smartboard activities next Wednesday, 4/29, at 5:30 p.m. or 15 minutes before class. If we need the practice, Tony offered to do this on a regular basis.

We all agreed the students always respond positively to smartboard activities, and this is a good teaching tool to cultivate. Steve also recommended we use Lora Finch’s present continuous verb exercise on the new teacher resource site to clarify this verb tense for the students.

With no further business, we plan to meet in Tony’s classroom at 5:30 p.m. on Wed., 4/29. to practice using the smartboard.
on April 23, 2009 at 7:59 am Martha Rankin

Hi ESL Beginning Lit and Low PLC –

First, thanks, Nancy, for the quick posting of your PLC minutes. We appreciate your team’s leadership…you rock!!

Second, let me just say how inspiring it is to see your PLC evolve into an action-based work group that shares ideas and expertise in order to achieve ongoing professional development.

A big THANK YOU to Tony for offering to lead a group session next Wednesday from 5:30-6:00pm on SMART Board activities to enhance student learning in ESL Beginning Lit and Low.

Would it be alright with your team if other interested teachers attend as well? I think you all have so much to offer…and I want to spread your wealth of knowledge and skills. Let me know what you think!

Again, great job!!!!! You go above and beyond the call of duty as you seek to continually grow professionally…in order that all learners (students and staff alike) can continually perform at higher and higher levels.

Way to go!!!!!!!

With deep respect for your ongoing learning,
Martha
on April 23, 2009 at 10:13 am Larry Vescera

PLC Meeting Notes:

I’m sure everyone in the PLC’s appreciated Mandi’s presentation on the new Teacher Resource page to the Adult Education Matters Blog that she constructed for her TIMAC project. Wow! What a great new set of resources. Thanks so very much Mandi.

Also thanks to Steve for his presentation to the Beginning level PLC on how to download smart board activities to your classroom computers from the web. As was evidenced by the interest level of your colleagues, that will be a great resource to everyone in your PLC.

Sorry that the Intermediate Group is going to have to drop completion of their CASAS Prep Test materials because of the new CASAS tests coming next year. However your decision to now concentrate on developing new test taking strategies for your students should prove to be a good one.
on April 23, 2009 at 6:51 pm Suzette Mascarenas

Advanced PLC Group Minutes

Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Room 123
8:30pm-9:15pm

Team Members Present:
Margaret–Advanced ESL
Suzette–Intermediate High ESL

Topic Discussed:

We compiled all visuals to include in practice. We have begun formulating the questions that go along with the visuals.
on May 14, 2009 at 6:10 pm Larry Vescera

Topic:

May 14 BESST PM Combined Group PLC

Despite all of the bad news about the next school year financial cuts, I really admired the attitudes expressed last night.

Even though most of the cost cutting suggestions offered can not be considered because of programmatic structural constraints, it was inspiring to see so many generous offers to make personal sacrifices in order to maintain the programs quality, commitment to students and to help support faculty members who may be facing hardship.

You are really a great group: imaginative, generous and flexible. It is an honor to work with you.
on May 28, 2009 at 5:04 pm Larry Vescera

Wednesday May 27 PLC Meetings:

It was good to see that every group is still on track and the focus remains providing a high quality program for the students regardless of the financial difficulties that the entire state is experiencing. Below are a few items of interest for all of the groups.

The Beginning group had some good discussion on Managed Enrollment. It was pointed out that going to four – ten week long quarters – may work well, because many of the students seem to like to take a break after about eight weeks of continuous class work. This is reflected in declining attendance after about the eighth week. This would of course require adjusting the curriculum but that is certainly doable.

The Intermediate Group reviewed the new CASAS Test booklets. I agreed with their assessment. The new tests are an improvement: they are clearer, cleaner, more focused and more interesting.

Suzette’s Advanced Group is soldiering on despite its singularity. She will be uploading some very useful resource materials to the Blog shortly.

Thanks for your continued good work.
on May 29, 2009 at 7:53 pm Nancy Pakdel

5/28/09 PLC meeting in Tony’s classroom at BESST:
Team members present at 8:25 p.m.: Charlie, Nancy, Steve, Tony
Topics discussed:
1. Budget crisis effect on us: no summer school
2. Positive idea: managed enrollment (instead of open enrollment) so that students would register the first week, stay in class for 8 weeks, then post-test the last week, for CASAS and promotion
3. Idea: We could do 1/2 the book for this shorter 8-week session (Steve says Berlitz Language School uses this time frame), and it would be better for student persistence and success
4. Students should be charged a nominal fee for class, such as $20 to $30. (Maybe we could use class sets of books, so that buying the books would be optional)
5. Nancy mentioned research in learning has shown that it takes at least 100 hours of instruction for most students to move to the next level (8 weeks at 12 hours a week would be 96 hours of instruction)
6. As we watch our numbers fall after each vacation,except for Charlie, this seems like a great idea to have more concentrated sessions and higher attendance consistently.
7. We adjourned at 9:00 p.m. with no further business.
on June 11, 2009 at 10:22 am Nancy Pakdel

6/10/09 PLC meeting at BESST at 8:30 p.m.
Team members present in Room 113: Charlie, Nancy, Steve, Tony
Topics discussed:
Student projects for the classroom:
1. Most of us have done the photo/student story project, which the students always adore! They really like to get their pictures taken and can be creative with this project. The life story can be brief, and Tony said he likes to use a cloze format, so the students can just fill in the spaces. This can be a project for one class session, and the photo stories always look great on the classroom wall! Displaying this project on the wall at the beginning of the semester also helps to create class community.
2. Another project idea is goal-setting, which most of the teachers already do, and early on in the semester. This is a project that can also be upgraded and revised later in the semester.
3. A third activity is for the students to do their family trees. This is more difficult to draw, and may not include all the family (cannot!), but it is a great learning activity to see the relationships and include the English vocabulary with it. Plus, many students are extremely creative and artistic, and it’s a wonderful way for them to express their abilities.
4. Nancy mentioned that one of her best class sessions this semester was the dream house project. Free housing booklets from Albertson’s provided materials for the students to find their dream house to either cut out or draw. Again, all the students partcipated and seemed to enjoy the activity. Plus, it encourages class community and when they like working together, they come back!
5. Finally, we concluded that the more students are actively engaged in learning and creatively expressing themselves in a cooperative environment, the more they will want to be there! There are many kinds of easy projects we can do with our students to give them a way to learn that is effective and enjoyable. Plus, the creative process itself becomes part of the learning adventure.
6. We adjourned at 9:00 p.m.
on June 11, 2009 at 4:48 pm Larry Vescera

Wow! What a year! If you have not yet read “National Spotlight on NMUSD Adult School”, I suggest you do. The link is on Martha’s email of 6/11.

Last night’s wrap up was a good overview of how much the PLC’s accomplished this year. Sometimes when you take that long perspective it is surprising to see how much was accomplished.

We will have to wait till after Summer to decide on how the PLC’s will proceed next year but it was also great to see some of you already considering new projects for next year. I am looking forward to seeing this Community of Educators continue to grow next year.

Thanks for all your hard work.

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