The sixth-grade STARS team at Wester
Middle School meets to discuss strategies
being used to assist struggling students.
a teacher, in most cases to someone oth-
er than their regular classroom teacher.
Four days a week, students spend a
half hour in these groups getting addition-
al instruction in math or reading, either
enrichment to build on their learning or ex-
tra support to help them master the skill.
Every two weeks, the groups change.
The learning target changes. Teachers
see which strategies work with certain
students. Students get exactly what they
need.
“We all know each other’s kids and cel-
ebrate their growth,” said Wilson, team
leader of seven fourth-grade teachers at
Newman Elementary. “We’re constantly
learning from one another and getting
new ideas to make our instruction and
teaching practices better.”
This way of working together collab-
oratively, with a focus on results and
continuous improvement, is a hallmark
of schools across Frisco ISD. Educators
work in teams known as Professional
Learning Communities, or PLCs, to plan
for student learning and support the
needs of the whole child.
“It’s not just coming up with lesson
plans in reading, writing, math, science
and social studies,” said Daniel Kanzler,
assistant principal at Wester Middle
School. “Teachers are looking at the whole
picture of the student on a daily basis. It’s
a true fulfillment of the District’s mission
statement.”
At all levels, teachers work with col-
leagues who teach the same subject area
to align instruction from grade to grade,
course to course.
In middle school, when students start
having many teachers instead of just a
few, teachers also meet with those who
teach other subjects to the same group
of students. Planning time allows them
to discuss which students are struggling
and what additional strategies have been
used to help them succeed.
These conversations between teach-
ers give them insight into how a student
FOUR CRITICAL
QUESTIONS OF A PLC
What do we want students to
know and be able to do?
How will we know if students
have learned it?
How will we respond when they
have not learned it?
How will we respond when they
already know it?
is performing in other subjects across his
or her grade level. They address students
who’ve fallen behind and strive to close
achievement gaps.
“Everything is changing in middle
school and everything is new,” said Ashley
Reid, a sixth-grade science teacher at
Wester. “We know this is a time when
students risk falling through the cracks,
so it’s a chance for us to catch them and
make sure they are getting everything that
they need.”
That sense of shared responsibility
for all students is a key tenet of the PLC
philosophy.
Those responsible for teaching the
same grade level or course plan lessons
and assessments together to help identi-
fy the most effective teaching strategies
and any areas for improvement within the
curriculum.
“Sometimes we discover a confusing
test question or learn maybe we didn’t
successfully teach what the question
was asking,” said Eric Davis, a teacher
and coach at Independence High School
who collaboratively plans with two other
World History teachers. “That may mean
re-teaching an important idea that many
students missed or making tweaks in the
future.”
Planning for learning is a detailed and
deliberate process that matches the spe-
cific TEKS, or knowledge and skills that
students need to learn, with the lessons,
methods and assessments used to teach
and measure them.
The process supports both experi-
enced teachers and those new to the pro-
fession, since educators share lessons
and ideas to benefit all students.
“I can learn from them and they
can learn from me,” Davis said of his
colleagues.
“We all bring something to the table,”
agreed Erin Lester, who teaches World
History to special education students at
Independence.
“It keeps you from being comfortable,”
added Erin Fox, another World History
teacher who says working together en-
sures the best outcomes for students.
A PLC is a network of fellow teachers
to lean on.
“When we opened Independence
in 2014, about 30 percent of teachers
came from other FISD schools,” said
Independence Principal Alan Waligura.
“The rest came from all over with differ-
ent backgrounds and experiences. I think
the PLC model empowered them to share
their ideas and instructional strategies
and made all of us better educators.” n
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