1. District Leadership Team
December 7, 2011
December 7, 2011

2. 4 Focus Questions for Collaborative Teams
• What do we want our students to
Q1 know, understand, and do?
• How will we know they are learning?
Q2
• How willDecember 7, 2011don’t learn?
we respond when they
Q3
• How will we respond when they do learn?
Q4

3. Key Objectives
1. Review purposes and functions of DLT
2. Deepen our engagement with and
understanding of collaboration, learning, and
results
3. Clarify expectations for collaborative team
time vs. professional learning time
4. December 7, 2011
Collaboratively clarify expectations for core
instruction action and PD plans
5. Celebrate our work as teams, buildings, and a
district

4. Meeting Procedures and Routines
Meeting In Case of
High Five
Documents Emergencies
• Go to subfolder • Look for the “high • For meetings at
“DLT Meetings” in five” as a signal to DEC, have your
shared folder for come back building’s
“Continuous together—a signal administrative
Improvement” – to wrap up your assistant contact
look for meeting final point during Judy Sherin in
date to locate a discussion as a Teaching and
materials and sign of transition Learning at ext.
processes (The TLT 6279
Google site and • You can check
Ning will replace text, emails during
need for shared breaks
folder)

5. Table Talk: Discovering Creativity…
(Initially Shared: 8/18/2011)
“We can’t be creative if we refuse to be confused.
Change always starts with confusion; cherished
interpretations must dissolve to make way for the
new. Of course it’s scary to give up what we
know, but the abyss is where newness lives.
Great ideas and inventions miraculously appear
in the space of December 7, If we move through
not knowing. 2011
the fear and enter the abyss, we are rewarded
greatly. We discover we’re creative.”
—M. Wheatley, 2002

6. The Leading & Doing
As your team reflects on the Wheatley quote, think
about what has become clearer about your work as
both participants in and leaders of collaborative teams.
Use the form provided to document your responses to
the reflective prompts.
• What has become clearer about our roles in
Decemberwork of collaborative
leading and doing the
7, 2011
teams since our first DLT meeting in August?
• What additional support and/or clarity do
you need to move through “the abyss”?

7. Sharing Our Progress
1. As a team, review the results
from the self-assessment on
learning, collaboration, and
results.
2. Identify quick wins that have
been documented and/or
plans that have been
established to address each of
December
the big ideas that have the
7, 2011
greatest impact, greatest
need, and/or least resistance.
3. Determine why your site
chose to focus on each of the
three areas you identify.

8. Sharing Our Progress
1. When prompted, join Partners A and B Protocol
a colleague from 1. Partner A shares.
another building and 2. Partner B listens.
share one of the three 3. When
focus areas: prompted, Partner B
learning, collaboration, shares.
or results. December 4. Partner A listens.
7, When
2011
2. Use partners A and B 5.
to engage in your prompted, discuss
sharing. what you heard being
shared.

9. Sharing Our Progress
As you regroup with your team, discuss
what you heard and what you learned.
Document your responses to the
following prompts on the handout:
December 7, 2011
1. What have we done?
2. What do we plan to do next?

10. 60 Second Lecture
1. Identify one of the big
ideas about which you
would like to share
with the whole group.
2. Using the “60 Second
Lecture”
protocol, share what
December 7, 2011
your site has done and
what you plan to do
next regarding
learning, collaboration,
or results.

11. 60 Second Lecture or Pink Flamingo
60 Second Lecture Protocol
The 60 second lecture, also
known as the pink
flamingo, requires the
person sharing to report to
the whole group to stand on
one-leg and summarize
December
their team’s reflection on 7, 2011
the prompts provided.
Preferably, those in yoga
are not invited to share. 

12. Looking Forward…
December 7, 2011

13. Be Back in 10…
December 7, 2011
….to Continue Our
Sharing and Learning!

14. Leading Collaborative Teams
“Practicing and
rehearsing the work of
teacher teams not only
trains principals to
assist teams within their
buildings, it increases
their credibility with
December 7,
teachers since they have
2011
done and can model the
work themselves.”
~Eaker & Keating

15. Functions of DLT Members
(Originally Shared: 8/17/2011)
1. Share responsibility to align the
work of the district with Effective
Schools research
2. Model the 3 Big Ideas (focus on
learning, collaboration, and
results) at the building level to
enhance learning and improve
student achievement
3. December 7,
Work in partnership with your 2011
principal to facilitate the
development, implementation and
monitoring of continuous
improvement processes

16. Focusing Our Efforts
1. What does the quote
from Eaker and Keating
challenge us to do as a
district, in our
buildings, and during our
collaborative team time?
2. What does the quote say
December 7, 2011responsibilitythe
about
the work of leading
for
doing?
3. Use the reflective form
to individually document
your thinking.

17. Focusing Our Efforts
Locate the number on your
paper.
0—stays
1—rotate 1 group
clockwise
2—rotate 2 groups
clockwise December 7, 2011
When prompted, share your
response about part of the
first question or the second
question.

18. Focusing Our Efforts
Join your number group, form
groups A or B (see bottom of
reflection sheet), and then
generate what you learned:
0—what do we need to do as a
district?
1—what do we need to do in our
buildings? December 7, 2011
2—what do we need to do in our
collaborative teams?
Document your group’s main ideas
on chart paper.

19. Focusing Our Efforts
Rotation Number/Letter Number Group
OA 1
0B 2
1A 3
1B December47, 2011
2A 5
2B 6

20. Focusing Our Efforts:
Deepening Our Understanding of Leading & Doing
• Read your assigned section of form Every School, Every Team, Every
Classroom: District Leadership for Growing Professional Learning
Communities at Work.
1. Pages 8-10—PLC is the Initiative to Ensure Student Learning to Leaders
Matter
2. Pages 15-17—Collaborative, Highly Dispersed Leadership Matters to
Professional Teaching Matters
3. Pages 18-21—Collaborative Teacher Teams (intro) and What Do We Want
Students to Learn? and How Will We Know if Students Are Learning?
4. Pages 18-21—Collaborative Teacher Teams (intro) and What Will We Do
When Students Don’t Learn or Need Enrichment?
5. Pages 37-39 and 40-41—Ask the Right Questions to Monitor What You Say
and Returning to the Why to Celebrate, Celebrate, Celebrate
6. Pages 88-92—Define the Work to Begin With the Principals
• Document the most critical points that will guide the implementation of
collaborative teams in our district.
• Be prepared to join members from your assigned group when prompted.

21. Focusing Our Efforts:
Deepening Our Understanding of Leading & Doing
1. Join those who read the
same section you read.
2. Generate a list of
commonly agreed upon
key points that will be
shared with the rest of
the group.
December 7, 2011 to share with
3. Be ready
the group in
approximately 15
minutes.

22. What Did We Learn?
• What are the five most
essential things you
learned?
• Generate a list as a DLT.
• List your top five on a
post-it note. December 7, 2011
• Be prepared to share
with the rest of the
group.

23. What Did We Learn?
1. At your table, use the key
messages from our jigsaw
and the contents of Figure
4.4 (pages 70-72) to
determine what you want
and need to happen in your
buildings so that your
collaborative teams work as
December 7, 2011
effectively as possible.
2. Generate a “wish list” that
highlights the questions
and/or expectations you
have for your collaborative
teams.

24. What are We Waiting For?
“Imagine if everyone in a school thought that
what happened in every classroom, to every teacher and
every student, was of tremendous significance and that
quality learning was the most valued commodity. What
would that mean for how time is used? What would it
enable in terms of teachers’ interactions with others?
December 7, 2011
What would principals, teachers, and community
members believe in and expect? What would students be
able to accomplish?”
-Martin-Kneip, Communities That Lead, Learn, and Last

25. Cookie Break
Grab a
yummy
cookie and
December 7, 2011come on
back in 5.3
minutes!

26. PD to Support Our Work
In addition to the district
curriculum development
& PD sessions…
1. Intervention Cohorts
December 7, 2011
2. Assessment Cohorts
3. Summer
Curriculum, Assessm
ent Writing

27. The School Improvement Plan Framework
(Initially Shared: 8/18/2011)
Current Reality (Needs Assessment)
Student Achievement Goals
Core System of Culture and Community
Instruction Interventions Climate Engagement
Action Plan Action Plan Action Plan Action Plan
Systems of Culture and Community
Core Instruction
Interventions Climate Engagement
PD Plan
PD Plan PD Plan PD Plan

28. Core Instruction: Defined
(Initially Shared with Principals: 11/13/2011)
• Core instruction involves
– The identification of essential learning outcomes for the grade
level and/or course(s) taught
– The development of units of instruction, guided by essential
learning outcomes and standards and benchmarks
– The development of a continuum of assessments aligned with
the essential learning outcomes, skills, knowledge, and key
academic vocabulary
– The identification of research-based instructional strategies to
deliver instruction
– The identification and/or development of classroom-based
interventions and enrichments

29. Dissecting the Core
1. With your assigned
groups, define the
component of the
operational definition for
core instruction—think what
does it mean and what it
requires us to do.
December 7, 2011your group’s
2. Document
definition of the component
on chart paper.
3. Be prepared to share your
definition with the entire
group.

30. Core Instruction: Work Groups
Component Teams
The identification of essential learning outcomes for the grade NJHS, WB, BAHS
level and/or course(s) taught
The development of units of instruction, guided by essential MWS, RN, BHS
learning outcomes and standards and benchmarks
The development of a continuum of assessments aligned with the HB, HV, MJHS
essential learning outcomes, skills, knowledge, and key academic
vocabulary
The identification of research-based instructional strategies to EN, ST, GP
deliver instruction
The identification and/or development of classroom-based VV, SO, ERJH
interventions and enrichments

31. Processing Our Learning
1. Individually think about how the definitions for each of the
components of our district’s understanding of core
instruction became clearer.
2. Think about our work from earlier in the day about the
leading and doing of collaborative teams.
3. What has become clearer about the leading and doing of
collaborative teams and the focus on core instruction?
4. Join your DLTDecember 7, 2011
on a gallery walk and then complete the
following sentence frame:
• “Our discussion on core instruction has made
______________ clearer. As a result, our collaborative
teams will _____________________.”

32. Core Instruction:
What’s Happened or Happening?
(Initially Shared: 11/13/2011)
• The units of instruction (based on standards and essential
learning outcomes) through our district curriculum meetings
• The essential learning outcomes (and essential
knowledge, skills, and vocabulary) being articulated through our
district PD days (including Jan. 23 & Feb. 20)
• The work of your collaborative teams dedicated to the 4 PLC
questions, not building PD topics
• The PD being led in your building to support teachers'
understanding of question 1
• The meetings related to reading, math, team or department
meetings that support the focus of question 1

33. Core Instruction: Defined
(Initially Shared with Principals: 11/13/2011)
• Core instruction involves
– The identification of essential learning outcomes for the grade
level and/or course(s) taught
– The development of units of instruction, guided by essential
learning outcomes and standards and benchmarks
– The development of a continuum of assessments aligned with
the essential learning outcomes, skills, knowledge, and key
academic vocabulary
– The identification of research-based instructional strategies to
deliver instruction
– The identification and/or development of classroom-based
interventions and enrichments

34. Core Instruction: Looking Forward
Given what has and is going to happen
related to core instruction (through
district curriculum and PD), what do
plan to focus on for the remainder of
the year in relation to the first three
components of the core instruction
definition?
1. The identification of essential learning
outcomes for the grade level and/or
2.
course(s) taught
December 7, 2011
The development of units of instruction,
guided by essential learning outcomes
and standards and benchmarks
3. The development of a continuum of
assessments aligned with the essential
learning outcomes, skills, knowledge,
and key academic vocabulary

35. DLT & Core Instruction: Looking Forward
1. Post your site’s core instruction action plan and evidence of impact
and implementation on the TLT dashboard (on Google) no later
than February 15.
2. Provide feedback on the plan and evidence before February 29 for
sites in your vertical cohort.
3. Update and post plan following our February 29 meeting.
4. Bring an updated version of your action plan and evidence of
impact and implementation to our June 12 DLT meeting.
December 7, 2011

36. Action Plan: Essential Questions
(Initially Shared: 8/18/2011)
• What actions or strategies
are needed? Current Reality
• What will you document as (Needs Assessment)
evidence of impact? Of
implementation?
• What resources will you Student
use? Achievement Goals
• Who will be responsible?
• What are your timelines Core
and processes for Instruction System of
Interventions
Culture and
Climate
Community
Engagement
Action
monitoring? Plan
Action Plan Action Plan Action Plan

37. PD Action Plans
(Initially Shared: 8/18/2011)
• Create an action plan that details how the learning
for adults will be implemented and monitored.
– The specific learning that your site will engage in (think
KUDOs—what teachers will “know, understand, and do”)
– The timeline for when the learning will occur
– The timeline for monitoring the learning (getting at impact
and results)
– The processes you will use for monitoring learning (i.e.,
reflections on learning, reflections for action, student
learning, etc.)
– The resources required to support your PD
– The person(s) responsible

38. DLT: Looking Ahead
Prior to and for February:
1. Locate documents from today’s meeting
to support your work
2. Develop core instruction action plan
3. Share progress on core instruction action
plan on TLT Google website
4. Provide feedback on core instruction
action plans for those in your cohort
(cluster)
5. Respond to reflective prompts on Ning
December 7, 2011
about documenting the work of
collaborative teams and the work of SIPs
6. Respond to reflective prompts on Ning
about the content of Chapter 6 “Ensuring
a Focus on Student Learning”

39. Ning Posting Coming Soon! Conversation will set up learning for February.
Essential Elements: Documenting Progress
(Initially Shared 8/18/2011)
• How will you document your progress?
• What evidence related to staff learning will you show
that you are making progress?
• What evidence related to student learning will you
document that you are making progress?
• When you share progress toward your goals at
principal meetings and/or at DLT meetings, what will
you share?
It’s the narrative or
story of learning. It’s the journal
for your journey.

40. Ning Posting Coming Soon! Conversation will set up learning for February.
Application: Essential Questions for CTs
(Initially Shared 9/22/2011)
How will we document What do we need to
the doing of our show as evidence of our
collaborative team work work—to monitor and
at our site? inform our work?
In what ways can we, as
Why do we, as teams individuals, inform our
and individuals, need to own work by using the
show our work and our documentation of our
thinking? team’s work?

41. Key Messages
What did we learn about
the leading and doing of
collaborative teams that
will guide our work?
What did we learn about
the development of the
December 7, 2011
core instruction action
plan?
What else did we learn?