Chunks and Bridges

Donelle Staples

Module 1: Professional Learning Communities (PLC)

Chunk 1
What do I know about a
professional learning
community?

Reinforcement Activity
Complete a pre-module
knowledge/key work
rating scale to active
prior knowledge

Introduction/Transition
Introduction: With the development of
New Illinois State Standards coupled with
the Student Growth Component initiative
the emphasis for real improvement in
student achievement has never been
greater and many school face state
sanctions if student achievement doesnt
improve. We cannot improve if we dont
know where we are starting from. Lets
examine what we know and dont know.
CHUNK! Pre-knowledge/key word rating
scale
Transition: Our knowledge/key term
rating scale will assist you defining key
terms throughout this module. Please add
new terms you discover throughout the
module.

Chunk 2
What is the role of a
Professional Learning
Community (PLC)

Reinforcement Activity
Reflective discussion
post

Introduction/Transition
Introduction: As educators you must stay
abreast of current developments and find
new ways of engaging all students in
academic work that support high
achievement and master curriculum.
CHUNK! Discussion Post
Transition: Reflect upon your discussion
post and those of your peers.

Chunk 3
Graphic representation
of the meaning of a
Professional Learning
Community (PLC)

Reinforcement Activity
Development of
infographic

Introduction/Transition
Introduction: Infographics, symbols and
icons bring meaning to concepts. Create
your own to solidify your understanding of
the big ideas of a Professional Learning
Community (PLC)
CHUNK! Infographic of big ideas
Transition: Now that we understand the
structure of a PLC is centralized among
the focus on learning, collaboration and
results, we will investigate how a learning
team framework can benefit yourself and
colleagues.

Form adapted from Smith, R. M. Conquering the Content. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass,
2008.

Chunk 4
Benefits of
collaboration

Reinforcement Activity
Personal/Professional
needs assessment

Introduction/Transition
Introduction: Lets examine your
personal and professional needs at school
to facilitate your endeavors for engaging
students in academic work that support
high achievement and mastery of
curriculum.
CHUNK! Teacher needs survey
Transition: Increasing teacher knowledge
and creating common understanding
amongst your peers are only two values of
working together. The benefits of a PLC
extend beyond the professional group.

Chunk 5
Benefits for Student
Learning

Reinforcement Activity

Introduction/Transition
Introduction: We can now begin to
understand how the culture of
collaboration and focus on learning are
part of the big ideas and have focused on
professional educators, Lets examine the
big idea, focus on results, and what that
means for student learning.
CHUNK! Discussion prompt
Transition: We have now investigated
what a PLC is and how it benefits
educators and students.

Chunk 6
Building Vocabulary

Reinforcement Activity
Pre- and Post- key
knowledge/terms rating
scale

Introduction/Transition
Introduction: As we have learned the big
ideas of a PLC include, focus on learning,
culture of collaboration and focus on
results, lets reflect upon your learning
and growth throughout this module.
CHUNK! Post-knowledge/key terms rating
scale and word cloud
Transition: Within Module 1 you have
not only learned the importance of a PLC
for professional growth and student
achievement but have also generated a
two job aids from this module, a PLC
infographic and word cloud. You can post
these in view as reference to the
importance role a PLC has within your
educational environment.

Form adapted from Smith, R. M. Conquering the Content. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass,
2008.

Module 2: Power/Priority Standards

Chunk 1
What does research say

Reinforcement Activity
Read selected
informational text and
provide a summary of
your understanding to
your team

Introduction/Transition
Introduction: The new Illinois Teaching
Standards are categorized by subject
matter, Lets explore working within your
PLC to align those standards with the
focus on learning and results.
CHUNK! Summary paragraph to a
supplied questions (jigsaw)
Transition: Post your question summary
using post-it on shared board or google
drive

Chunk 2
Need for
power/priority
standards
collaboration

Reinforcement Activity
Synthesize summaries
to develop a personal
understanding

Introduction/Transition
Introduction: As you are a professional
collaborative team, review your
colleagues summaries to develop your
own opinions and answer on of the post
questions.
CHUNK! Discussion post
Transition: You should begin to
understand that teams must agree on what
is most important for their students to learn
as well as to choose power standards that
align with what students need to know and
do.

Chunk 3
Endurance, leverage,
and readiness in
relation to student
learning

Reinforcement Activity
Participate in collective
gathering of the benefits
of endurance, leverage,
and readiness in
collaborative mind map

Introduction/Transition
Introduction: The real work in identifying
what is most important for your students to
know and be able to do will come through
identifying appropriate power standards.
Endurance, leverage, and readiness are
three key criteria embedded in a power
standard. Lets examine the relationship
between these criteria and student learning.
CHUNK! Post benefits of endurance,
leverage, and readiness in collaborative
mind map
Transition: Our collaborative mind map
is a collection of ideas from your peers and
reflects the benefits of endurance,
leverage, and readiness for student
learning. Review the map and identify at
least three what terms from each category
that are most meaningful to you.

Form adapted from Smith, R. M. Conquering the Content. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass,
2008.

Chunk 4
What does endurance,
leverage, and readiness
mean to me

Reinforcement Activity
Judge benefits
Graphic organizer of
choice

Introduction/Transition
Introduction: We have identified the
benefits of endurance, leverage, and
readiness but lets make a personal
connection to each criteria to create a dualmode effect within your cognitive load to
the link the benefits with the definition.
CHUNK! Judge the benefits of endurance,
leverage, and readiness and select three
from each criteria, locate and add an icon
that represents the definition of each
criteria and place all elements within a
graphic organizer.
Transition: Within Module 2 we have
identified the purpose and process for
identifying the most important outcomes
for student learning and produced another
job aid to illustrate the key criteria and
benefits of powering standards. You are
now ready to choose your power
standard(s) of choice with your team using
what we have learned in this module. Your
power standards will become the
foundation for creating common
assessments for student learning.

Form adapted from Smith, R. M. Conquering the Content. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass,
2008.