3rd Grade PLC

On January 26, ESU 11 hosted a Professional Learning Community meeting for third grade teachers.  PLCs are an ongoing process in which educators work collaboratively to achieve better results for the students they serve.  During this session, third grade teachers set group norms, analyzed the 2009 and 2014 Nebraska English Language Arts standards, held professional conversations to identify essential learnings, and researched and shared resources and lessons that could be used to help students master these essential learnings.  Staff Development Director, Kate Hatch, also showed teachers the new types of questions that will be incorporated into the new state test.  Teachers then held professional discussions as to how to design lessons that would capitalize on these skills.  Jody Bauer, Technology Curriculum Consultant, also introduced the group to Mastery Connect, a cloud-based software platform that allows teachers to track student mastery of standards.  The next PLC will be held in the spring.  Between now and the next meeting, teachers will engage in action research to determine if the shared resources and lessons are effective in teaching the learning targets.