EDU 6945 Social Studies PLCs and Internees - Professional Practice

EDU6945                            Social Studies PLCs and Internees                                        Ian Lewis

Throughout the course of the school year, I have had the opportunity to collaboratively engage in the educational community at Narrows View Intermediate at many levels. Regularly scheduled, whole-building staff meetings provide opportunities for professional development, positive behaviors interventions and support (PBIS) learning, and a wide variety of other topics necessary for a smoothly functioning school. Professional learning community (PLC) meetings are scheduled on a rotating system so that teachers responsible for multiple subjects may attend both of their subject meetings, and I have had the opportunity to attend both social studies and English PLCs on a regular basis (and occasionally science). Finally, at the classroom/mentor level, I have been able to collaborate and reflect with both of my mentor teachers in a variety of ways. In collaborating at such levels, I have been able to work with peers to better instructional practices with the net goal of increasing student engagement and success.

While the whole-building staff-meetings have provided practical experience for an understanding of the holistic operation of the school, especially with regard to goals and growth tracking, testing, the PBIS system, and regular updates, I have particularly enjoyed the close-knit experience of collaborating with the individual social studies PLC group, as well as my two social studies (and ELA and science, respectively) mentors. Working at the subject-specific level has allowed for much in-depth planning, creation and innovation, and reflection and revision in an effort to further enhance professional practice and student learning.

Over the course of the year in the social studies PLC, a main goal has been to track student growth in a few major areas that were decided as critical for success at the outset of the year based on student pre-assessment data and the overall social studies requirements for the year. For example, recognizing the difference between, and analyzing primary and secondary sources, has been a primary concern for growth tracking, especially as the culminating classroom based assessment (CBA) on government policy toward Japanese-American internees requires the knowledge of, and ability to analyze, a multitude of source material to express and support social studies perspectives and argue a point. Therefore, PLC meetings regularly include collaboration around resources and the analysis of student data on progress with analyzing sources. Before and after tests, the PLCs discuss backward planning (Image 1) in order to cover necessary content, as well as edit/create tests to better assess the primary goals for the year (e.g. analyzing sources). Including more questions that ask students to utilize, make observations about, and explain/analyze primary  and secondary source material, for example an analysis of a painting and letter of the Whitman Massacre, would provide students an opportunity to show what they know about the goal of explaining history using multiple sources. Based on students test results, reflection over assessment has included revising or reorganizing tests in hope that they are clearer for future use. 

Image 1: Example of PLC agenda, in which backward planning employed to rework curriculum map and CBA timeframe.

In addition to the specific work with student growth goals, such as those pertaining to sources, the social studies PLC has provided a wonderful opportunity to share ideas and practice creating new curriculum. The three social studies teachers have been very accepting and encouraging of new ideas for lessons and materials. On multiple occasions I have been able to create/edit curriculum and put it to use in multiple classrooms with the support of the group. When studying the Native Americans of Washington state, all in the group were on board to let me take over and teach all nine seventh grade classes (over the course of two days) about artifacts and native technology in an experimental, hands-on, and highly cognitively-demanding learning experience. Worksheets and study guides I have created have also been utilized by the entire team to augment the existing curriculum materials. Additionally, new methods for student engagement have been experimented with the PLC (e.g. “speaker cards” - see Image 3), as well as new methods for working through the textbook material have been employed. 

Image 2: Example of my lesson observation notes, and mentor's notes about my lesson, from beginning of year.

At a finer level, the work with my mentors has been phenomenal in establishing a sense of community based on collaborative support and reflection. Throughout the course of the year, both of my mentor teachers have provided countless, written notes about lesson observations, all of which were discussed in detail afterward so that positive reflection and growth could occur (Image 2). Whether positive or negative, notes about delivery of content, level of student engagement, how to support diverse learners, strategies for questioning, strategies for correcting assignments, or any other myriad material, were welcomed as they could be deconstructed, analyzed, and reflected upon in order to further grow as an educator (Image 3). Conversing with my mentors daily also has allowed for immense reflection. Lesson debriefs and planning sessions all continue to contribute to breaking down and analyzing what one does to better instruction and practice with the ultimate goal of increasing student engagement and success.  

Image 3: Series of mentor notes about lessons (blue) with my annotated reflections (black) for future consideration.