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The PLC+ Playbook, Grades K-12 - Book Cover Look Inside
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The PLC+ Playbook, Grades K-12

A Hands-On Guide to Collectively Improving Student Learning

By: Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, John Taylor Almarode, Karen T. Flories, David T. Nagel

Help your PLC+ group to work wiser, not harder with this practical guide to planning and implementing PLC+ groups in a collaborative setting. 
Product Details
  • Grade Level: PreK-12
  • ISBN: 9781544378442
  • Published By: Corwin
  • Year: 2019
  • Page Count: 176
  • Publication date: June 03, 2019

Price: $32.95

Price: $32.95
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Description

Description

Help your PLC+ group to work wiser, not harder. This practical guide to planning and implementing PLC+ groups in a collaborative setting is designed to equip professional learning community teams with the tools they need to work effectively toward improving student learning.   

Designed as an accompanying resource to PLC+: Better Decisions and Greater Impact by Design, the Playbook helps educators bring the PLC+ framework to life by supporting teams as they answer the five guiding questions that comprise a PLC+: 
  1.  Where are we going?
  2.  Where are we now?
  3. . How do we move learning forward?
  4. . What did we learn today?
  5.  Who benefited and who did not benefit?

Twenty-three modules support PLC+ groups as they work through one entire cycle of learning, addressing the five questions and four cross-cutting themes—equity, high expectations, individual and collective efficacy, and effective team activation and facilitation. Tools to support implementation of the PLC+ framework are embedded throughout the Playbook: 

  • Blank templates allow team members to record their work for every module
  • Step-by-step instructions guide PLC+ groups to facilitate productive discussion, engage in professional learning, and gather and analyze evidence of student learning
  • Crosscutting themes provide cohesion and focus throughout the work 

PLC+ groups can utilize each activity in the Playbook or find an appropriate entry point and continue the work of building PLC+. Engage in deeper learning around the ideas and concepts central to PLC+ and make greater equity and efficacy a reality in your school or district. 


Key features

  • Blank templates for team members to record their work accompany every module
  • Includes step-by step directions on how to have productive discussions, gather evidence, engage in professional learning, and analyze evidence of student learning
  • 4 Crosscutting themes from the PLC+ book provide cohesion and focus throughout the work:
  1. Equity
  2. Individual and collective efficacy
  3. High expectations
  4. Facilitation
Author(s)

Author(s)

Douglas Fisher photo

Douglas Fisher

Douglas Fisher, Ph.D., is professor and chair of educational leadership at San Diego State University and a leader at Health Sciences High and Middle College. Previously, Doug was an early intervention teacher and elementary school educator. He is the recipient of an International Reading Association William S. Grey citation of merit and an Exemplary Leader award from the Conference on English Leadership of NCTE. He has published numerous articles on teaching and learning as well as books such as The Teacher Clarity Playbook, PLC+, Visible Learning for Literacy, Comprehension: The Skill, Will, and Thrill of Reading, How Tutoring Works, and How Learning Works. Doug loves being an educator and hopes to share that passion with others.

Nancy Frey photo

Nancy Frey

Nancy Frey, Ph.D., is a Professor in Educational Leadership at San Diego State and a teacher leader at Health Sciences High and Middle College. She is a member of the International Literacy Association’s Literacy Research Panel. Her published titles include Visible Learning in Literacy, This Is Balanced Literacy, Removing Labels, and Rebound. Nancy is a credentialed special educator, reading specialist, and administrator in California and learns from teachers and students every day.
John Taylor Almarode photo

John Taylor Almarode


Dr. John Almarode is a bestselling author and has worked with schools, classrooms, and teachers all over the world on the translation and application of the science of learning to the classroom, school, and home environments, and what works best in teaching and learning. He has done so in Australia, Canada, Egypt, England, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Scotland, South Korea, Thailand and all across the United States.

He is an Associate Professor of Education in the College of Education. In 2015, John was awarded the inaugural Sarah Miller Luck Endowed Professorship. In 2021, John was honored with an Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council for Higher Education in Virginia. At James Madison University, he continues to work with pre-service teachers and graduate students, as well as actively pursues his research interests including the science of learning, the design and measurement of classroom environments that promote student engagement and learning.

The work of John and his colleagues has been presented to the United States Congress, Virginia Senate, at the United States Department of Education as well as the Office of Science and Technology Policy at The White House.

John began his career in Augusta County, Virginia, teaching mathematics and science to a wide-range of students. Since then, John has authored multiple articles, reports, book chapters, and eleven books including Captivate, Activate, and Invigorate the Student Brain in Science and Math, Grades 6 - 12 (Corwin Press, 2013), From Snorkelers to Scuba Divers (Corwin Press, 2018), both with Ann Miller, and Visible Learning for Science, with Doug Fisher, Nancy Frey, and John Hattie (Corwin Press, 2018). He recently finished a book focusing on clarity, Clarity for Learning, with Kara Vandas (Corwin Press, 2019), as well as Teaching Mathematics in the Visible Learning Classroom, Grades 6 - 8, and Teaching Mathematics in the Visible Learning Classroom, Grades 9 - 12 both with Doug Fisher, Joseph Assof, Sara Moore, Nancy Frey, and John Hattie (Corwin, 2019), all with Corwin Press. Teaching Mathematics in the Visible Learning Classroom, Grades K - 2 and Teaching Mathematics in the Visible Learning Classroom, Grades 3 - 5 with the same author team plus Kateri Thunder hit the shelves in March of 2019. He is also the past co-editor of the Teacher Educator’s Journal.

In 2019, John and his colleagues developed a new framework for developing, implementing, and sustaining professional learning communities: PLC+. Focusing on sustained change in teacher practice, the PLC+ framework builds capacity within teacher-led teams to maximize student learning. The books, PLC+ Better Decisions and Greater Impact by Design, The PLC+ Playbook, Grades K - 12, The PLC+ Activator’s Guide will support this work in schools and classrooms.

John and his colleagues have also focused a lot of attention on the process of implementation – taking evidence-based practices and moving them from intention to implementation, potential to impact through a series of on-your-feet-guides around PLCs,Visible Learning, Visible Teaching, and the SOLO Taxonomy. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, John and his colleagues developed the Distance Learning Playbook for College and University Instruction (SAGE). In November of 2020, Student Learning Communities (ASCD) was released, followed by Great Teaching by Design (Corwin Press), The Success Criteria Playbook (Corwin), an educational textbook on teaching science in the inclusive early childhood classroom, Inclusive Teaching in the Early Childhood Science Classroom (Routledge), and A Quick Guide to Simultaneous, Hybrid, & Blended Learning (Corwin).

Continuing his collaborative work with colleagues on what works best in teaching and learning, How Tutoring Works, Visible Learning in Early Childhood, and How Learning Works, all with Corwin Press, were released in 2021.



Karen T. Flories photo

Karen T. Flories

Karen Flories is currently a full-time professional learning consultant for Corwin. In her role, she works with teachers and leaders across the nation to understand the Visible Learning research and use it as a guide to inform decisions about what best impacts student learning. Karen also facilitates professional learning centered on teacher clarity, formative assessment, feedback and works hands on with teachers and leaders to drive learning at surface, deep and transfer levels. Most recently, Karen and her colleagues have developed a new framework for developing, implementing, and sustaining professional learning communities: PLC+.

Focusing on sustained change in teacher practice, the PLC+ framework builds capacity within teacher-led teams to maximize student learning. The books, PLC+ Better Decisions and Greater Impact by Design, The PLC+ Playbook, Grades K - 12, The PLC+ Activator’s Guide will support this work in schools and classrooms. Other publications include, Becoming an Assessment Visible Learner Teacher’s Guide 6-12, Becoming an Assessment Visible Learner Learner’s Notebook 6-12, Becoming an Assessment Visible Learner Teacher’s Guide 3-5, Becoming an Assessment Visible Learner Learner’s Notebook 3-5.

Prior to her role with Corwin, Karen was the Executive Director of Educational Services for 5 years and Director of Literacy and Social Studies in VVSD for 2 years, after serving as the English Department Chair for Romeoville high school. Karen’s classroom experience includes high school English, special education, and alternative education. During her time at the district level, Karen led the implementation of Visible Learning specifically focusing on teacher clarity, classroom assessment and feedback. Karen’s presentation style is highly engaging and focuses on participants being able to understand and apply specific practices in their school or classroom based on solid evidence, instruction for secondary students, PLC facilitation, close reading, and text-dependent questions. She is a National Board-Certified Teacher and currently teaches 11th and 12th grade English at Health Sciences High and Middle College, an urban high school in San Diego, California.

David T. Nagel photo

David T. Nagel

Dave Nagel is an international educational consultant and researcher. He is an engaging and dynamic presenter that brings authenticity and practicality to all his work. Dave will ensure that participants understand how evidence-based concepts and ideas can be implemented to bring about student learning gains.

Dave’s educational career started as a middle school science and high school biology teacher. His administrative experiences involved middle school assistant principal, high school associate principal, and director of extended day and credit-recovery programs. In his former district, Dave was instrumental in implementing power standards and performance assessments. He was honored numerous times as a ‘Senior Choice’ winner, where graduating seniors selected him as someone who dramatically affected their life in a positive way. His efforts in augmenting and implementing a multifaceted credit recovery model transformed Ben Davis High School (enrollment 3,400 students in Grades 10-12) from a middle-of-the-road high school in terms of diplomas awarded into a graduation factory. By focusing on differentiated goals for students based on specific proficiency measures for all students, Ben Davis High School was able to move their graduation rate 14% in just over four years.

He is certified in many key Corwin service lines including Visible Learningplus, and has contributed to several white papers and SmartBriefs, national webinars, and submissions on Corwin Connect. Dave is also an author of several Corwin publications including the PLC+ series as well as Effective Grading Practices for Secondary Teachers (2015). He has been an author consultant with Corwin since 2013 and became a full-time consultant with Corwin in 2018.

Published multiple times in various publications such as Principal Leadership and Educational Leadership, Dave has also presented at various national conferences such as ASCD, Learning Forward (Formerly the National Staff Development Council), National Association of Secondary School Principals, National School Boards Association (NSBA), and The Superintendents Association (AASA).

Some specific areas Dave specializes in when working with schools revolve around teacher clarity, effective assessment, grading and effective feedback actions that align with targeted instruction, leadership, and effective collaboration. Dave has also done extensive work around helping school teams work on critical aspects of effective collaboration. This has proven to significantly impact student achievement through focusing on intentional adult learning and instructional actions and approaches as teams develop collaborative expertise.

Finally, and most pertinent to Dave’s work and his passion, he has done deep level work and implementation related to effective grading practices. He has worked with teams, schools, and entire districts adopting new grading policies and practices: Des Moines (Iowa) Public Schools, Tri-Creek Schools (Lowell, Indiana), Lyon County Schools, (Nevada), the Pajaro Unified School District in Watsonville, California, Lovejoy ISD, near Dallas, Texas, and Lancaster School District (California). His book is Effective Grading Practices for Secondary Teachers: Practical Strategies to Prevent Failure, Recover Credits, and Increase Standards-Based/Referenced Grading (Corwin, 2015) and has received excellent reviews from numerous practitioners in the field.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

List of Videos


About the Authors


Acknowledgments


Welcome to the PLC+ Playbook


Module 1: The Purpose and Status of Your PLC+

     Put the Playbook to Work for You

     PLC Defined

     PLC+ Guiding Questions

Module 2: Crosscutting Values and Opportunities to Grow Your PLC+ Team

     Put the Playbook to Work for You

     Crosscutting Values

     SWOT Analysis

Module 3: On Your Own: The Plus Is You

     Put the Playbook to Work for You

     Your Individual Identity

     Teacher Credibility

     Teacher Credibility and Its Intersection With Crosscutting Values

     Teacher Self-Efficacy

     Teacher Self-Efficacy and Its Intersection With Crosscutting Values

Module 4: Collective Efficacy and Credibility in a PLC+

     Put the Playbook to Work for You

     Revisiting Teacher Credibility and Teacher Self-Efficacy

     From Individual to Collective Teacher Efficacy

     Setting Norms for Our Ways of Work

     Norms for Our Ways of Work in Our PLC+

Module 5: Guiding Question 1: Where Are We Going? Analyze Standards

     Put the Playbook to Work for You

     Analyzing Standards

     Design the Learning Progression

     Develop Daily Learning Intentions

     Identify Success Criteria

     Complete PLC+ Template for Guiding Question 1: Where Are We Going?

Module 6: Where Are We Going? Crosscutting Values Check

     Put the Playbook to Work for You

     Equity and Expectations Values Checklist

     Activate Learning for Myself and Others Checklist

     Collective Efficacy Checklist

Module 7: Guiding Question 2: Where Are We Now? Data Collection

     Put the Playbook to Work for You

     Initial Assessment Data Collection

     Data Gathering

Module 8: Where Are We Now? Data Analysis, Common Challenges, and Misconception Analysis

     Put the Playbook to Work for You

     Data Analysis Protocol

     Common Challenge Protocol

     Identify Student Misconceptions

Module 9: Where Are We Now? Crosscutting Values Check

     Put the Playbook to Work for You

     Equity and Expectations Values Checklist

     Activate Learning for Myself and Others Checklist

     Collective Efficacy Checklist

Module 10: Guiding Question 3: How Do We Move Learning Forward? Strengthening Our Teaching Practices

     Put the Playbook to Work for You

     Pair Teaching Strategies With Evidence Gathering

     Coaching Corners Protocol

Module 11: How Do We Move Learning Forward? Assignment Analysis

     Put the Playbook to Work for You

     Assignment Analysis Tool

Module 12: How Do We Move Learning Forward? Learning Walks

     Put the Playbook to Work for You

     What Is a Learning Walk?

     Types of Learning Walks and Their Purposes

Module 13: How Do We Move Learning Forward? Microteaching

     Put the Playbook to Work for You

     Microteaching in a Professional Learning Community

     Preparation for Microteaching: The Volunteer Teacher

Module 14: How Do We Move Learning Forward? Crosscutting Values Check

     Put the Playbook to Work for You

     Equity and Expectations Values Checklist

     Activate Learning for Myself and Others Checklist

     Collective Efficacy Checklist

Module 15: Guiding Question 4: What Did We Learn Today?

     Put the Playbook to Work for You

     Build the Habit of Reflection

Module 16: What Did We Learn Today? Build Expert Noticing

     Put the Playbook to Work for You

     Expert Noticing: How Is Our PLC+ Using Student Evidence of Learning?

     Expert Noticing Video Protocol

     Noticing Note-Taking Guide

Module 17: What Did We Learn Today? Common Assessments

     Put the Playbook to Work for You

     Common Assessments/Quality Assessment Evidence

     Design a Common Assessment to Use for Preunit and Postunit Comparisons

Module 18: What Did We Learn Today? Determining Impact and Comparing Progress and Achievement

     Put the Playbook to Work for You

     Determining Impact

     Progress Versus Achievement

     Visualizing Data

Module 19: What Did We Learn Today? Crosscutting Values Check

     Put the Playbook to Work for You

     Equity and Expectations Values

     Overcoming Obstacles to Talking About Learning

     Equity and Expectations Values Checklist

     Activate Learning for Myself and Others Checklist

     Collective Efficacy Checklist

Module 20: Guiding Question 5: Who Benefited and Who Did Not Benefit?

     Put the Playbook to Work for You

     On Your Own

     Data Review

     On Your Own

     Equity Audit Protocol: Revisit the Data as a Team

Module 21: Who Benefited and Who Did Not Benefit? Responding to Improve Student Learning

     Put the Playbook to Work for You

     The Vital Nature of Progress Monitoring

     Tiered Intervention Progress Monitoring Protocol

Module 22: Who Benefited and Who Did Not Benefit? Crosscutting Values Check

     Put the Playbook to Work for You

     Equity and Expectations Values Checklist

     Activate Learning for Myself and Others Checklist

     Collective Efficacy Checklist

References