Understanding the desired outcome of a meeting is key to teachers knowing the participatory behaviors that are most productive. Everything being called a PLC interferes with participants being able to focus on the educator learning in true PLCs that leads to increased student success. In professional learning communities, purposeful teacher learning around how to increase student achievement is the focus. Teachers are collaboratively asking, "What do the students need us to learn?"

Listen to the podcast on PLCs with Doug Fisher and Nancy Frey here. 

Find Chris Jensen's guest blog, "Teaming and Workflow" here.  

Read the Finland Study, "PLC Characteristics" here. 

Read Zachary Herrmann's article, "Cooperate or Collaborate" here.

Subscribe to the Steve Barkley Ponders Out Loud podcast on iTunes or visit BarkleyPD.com to find new episodes!

Classrooms with less monologue and more dialogue are key to increasing student thinking and student learning. Peter Liljedahl recommends teachers using a strategy that publicly, randomly groups students.

The students visually seeing the groups form is an important element.  When having these random groups work at easy erase vertical boards, engagement and thinking increases. Students seeing each other’s work and the teacher seeing and hearing student thinking around the room all add opportunities for increased engagement in problem solving.

Mindshift: How to Get Kids Thinking Instead of Mimicking in Math Class

Find Laura Wheeler's blog here and read her article here. 

Subscribe to the Steve Barkley Ponders Out Loud podcast on iTunes or visit BarkleyPD.com to find new episodes!

Steve Ventura, co-author of "Achievement Teams: How a Better Approach to PLCs Can Improve Student Outcomes and Teacher Efficacy," identifies Achievement Teams as a structured, collaborative model that helps educators improve teaching practices and student outcomes through data-driven decision-making.  Collective Teacher Efficacy supports that working together can have a greater impact on student achievement than working individually. The role of instructional coaches and principals in support of Achievement Teams is also explored.

Visit Steve's website here.

Subscribe to the Steve Barkley Ponders Out Loud podcast on iTunes or visit BarkleyPD.com to find new episodes!

If teachers in PLCs are to function as teams, taking shared responsibility for student success, vulnerability is critical. A teacher needs to place his students’ work and his instructional practices on display for colleagues to share in structuring a plan to increase student success.  Teaching needs to be a public act for the trust of teams to be developed. Peer coaching among PLC members can provide the opportunity for vulnerability and trust building to occur.

Read "Can You have Trust Without Being Vulnerable?" here.

Read "The Connection Between Vulnerability and Trust in Teams" here.

Subscribe to the Steve Barkley Ponders Out Loud podcast on iTunes or visit BarkleyPD.com to find new episodes!

Teaming and sharing workflow allow teachers to leverage each other's strengths, reduce redundancy, and build a supportive community, all of which contribute to lower stress levels. Teaming can increase a sense autonomy by providing teachers with a collaborative environment that supports shared decision-making, allows for flexibility in implementation, and fosters professional growth.

Find Dr. Chris Jensen's book, "Triage Your School: A Physician’s Guide to Preventing Burnout" here.

Subscribe to the Steve Barkley Ponders Out Loud podcast on iTunes or visit BarkleyPD.com to find new episodes!

Whether you are an instructional coach, administrator, or teacher leader planning and supporting the growth of colleagues or designing your own personal improvement plan consider how to maintain momentum and push through the learning dips with implementation intentions, connections to beliefs and values, and a network of colleagues who provide reminders

Visit John Cambell's website & find his book, "3 Ways to Help Sustain Commitment Towards Goals" here.  

Subscribe to the Steve Barkley Ponders Out Loud podcast on iTunes or visit BarkleyPD.com to find new episodes!

How do instructional coaches address the mentoring concerns and needs of new teachers? Joellen Killion, senior advisor to LearningForward and international consultant to educational leaders addressing professional learning for student success, joins Steve to explore the mentoring elements of instructional coaching. They examine how instructional coaches and administrators can plan for novice teachers’ transitions from learning the “ways of the school through mentoring” to seeking “personal growth for increased student success” through coaching.

Subscribe to the Steve Barkley Ponders Out Loud podcast on iTunes or visit BarkleyPD.com to find new episodes!

Teacher messages are foundational to building strong, positive relationships with students. These relationships are critical for creating an environment where students feel supported, motivated, and capable of achieving success. When students trust and feel connected to their teachers, they are more likely to engage deeply in their learning, take academic risks, and ultimately achieve success.

Read Moments of Genuine Connection (MGCs) – DSJR Student Motivation Guide from Dave Stuart here. 

Watch Dave's video, "What are Moments of Genuine Connection?" here. 

Read Daniel Yeager's "Wise Critiques Help Students Succeed" here.  

Subscribe to the Steve Barkley Ponders Out Loud podcast on iTunes or visit BarkleyPD.com to find new episodes!

Dr. Kim Richardson describes that change is inevitable and manageable. As coaches and school leaders we need to be competent in guiding ourselves and others during change. Kim describes the need for emotional intelligence and resilient leadership. Knowing people are unpredictable requires coaches to observe and communicate. Change is a process not an event.

Contact Kim https://drkimleadership.com/

Subscribe to the Steve Barkley Ponders Out Loud podcast on iTunes or visit BarkleyPD.com to find new episodes!

The term "web of causality" refers to a conceptual framework used to understand the interconnected and complex relationships among various factors that contribute to a particular outcome. The term "web" emphasizes that causes tend not to be linear or singular but are instead interwoven. How do coaches encourage multi-valent thinking that acknowledges the complexity of situations, considering multiple perspectives and factors rather than bivalent thinking that simplifies issues into two opposing categories, which can be efficient but may miss important nuances?

Read "3 Ways to More 'Aha Moments in Coaching" here.

Check out The Cabrera Lab Podcast with Drs. Derek and Laura Cabrera from Cornell University here.