Conclusion

So, I have reached the end of my goal.  I have completed the two books that I set out to read at the beginning of the school year,  a goal that I honestly set just because it was a requirement.  But now as I come to the end, I have found myself reflecting on my teaching practices and what I can do to help all of my students to succeed.  I hope to continue that reflection so that I become the teacher that I want to be, not just the lecturer that I have been in the past, but the coach who believes in the abilities of my students and who meets them where they are and helps them to improve, no matter what their starting points may be.

What We Are Already Doing or Need to Do

     In writing our lesson plans, we should already have a target to hit and should be communicating this target to the students.  Assessments should show true student learning.  I am not in agreement that the current standardized tests in Virginia show true student learning; rather, I believe that it shows the teacher's ability to adapt and teach to the test.  All teachers need to stand for higher expectations for their students and testings should never be tied to dollars for education.  That process takes the focus on the importance of the learning and puts the pressure on to get high scores just to get the dollars, not for the sake of the students to actually be able to perform. 
     If I may quote Dr. King, "I have a dream" but my dream is not one of equality for race, but one in which teachers work together to create a learning environment for all students to achieve at the very highest level of which they are capable.  My dream does not include federal testing mandates, but collaboration of teachers who truly want to educate the next generation to succeed in whatever their future endeavors may be.  I like the idea of PLC and what it could be, but for now, it is a Utopia that has not yet been achieved where I teach.  
 

A "Stretch Culture"

Learning should be the central purpose of every school, and no matter how high the scores are on the standardized tests, there is always more that students can learn, so there is more that teachers can teach.  In the "stretch culture" described in the final chapter of Dufour's book, the premise that teachers will work together to set goals, develop assessments, look at the results and then help each other solve problems.  I am particularly drawn to the statement that in a PLC, all students should achieve a high level of learning.  Intervention occurs whenever any student has a difficulty, whether this student is a gifted student or a special education one.  Teachers in a PLC are not lecturers, but they are coaches, inspiring students to practice, step higher, practice, step higher and learn how to learn.  I wholeheartedly agree that our schools today only recognize the elite learners, those on the Honor Roll or the NHS students.  In a PLC, students should receive recognition for being persistent learners, for showing improvement or for good attitude and character. 

Challenges to Interventions

There are some rather amazing statements on this particular topic in Dufour's book.  The one that I found astounding was that students aren't invited to join the support system; rather, they are directed to do so. Tutoring was not just offered, but it was mandatory.  No excuses are accepted for not doing work, and students lose privileges like lunch with their friends if they don't complete it.   The most true statement in this chapter is that the teachers and students have to form a relationship in which the teacher shows consistently that he/she cares that the student succeeds.  In this era of teaching and moving on and leaving some behind, this is an eye-opening statement.  "I care that you are failing, and I will work hard to help you to pass.  So, my expectation is for you to work hard, too."  I think that I tried this method before I read the book with an academic contract that I had my struggling students sign.  Within a few weeks of signing the contract that required that they work harder, almost 70%of my students had improved in their learning and work habits.  I would like to find a way to keep this motivation up all the way until the end of the year, but I have found that during this fourth quarter, students are returning to the old belief that since they can't pass, they may as well not work.  Unfortunately, this attitude is fed by parental attitudes who tell students that is okay to "quit trying" and just work on their other subjects.  It is my firm belief that we need a class on how parents can help their students to succeed, and one part of that class would be that choosing to fail is never an option.

Common Threads in Successful Schools

     It is interesting that sharing power in a school results in more job satisfaction and better performance.  Dufour also clearly states that good principals empower teachers.  I think that is the goal, but we aren't there yet in my school.  There are too many divisions among the teachers in order for administration to empower us.  What has happened is that some teachers feel empowered while others do not, creating a school environment that is competitive and non-trusting rather than a cohesive unit.  We need to take our eyes off of our differences and return to our fundamental reason for working at the school, i.e. to ensure that our students learn. 
     Collaboration is required in a PLC school and the author makes it clear that time needs to be deliberately scheduled to allow this.  When teachers work together for a common goal, then they are more likely to find common ground and look for common ways to ensure the success that is our purpose.
     Assessments should be used to improve teaching and learning, not to show whether students passed or failed or to evaluate the effectiveness of a school.  Intervention following the assessments is critical.  After an analysis is done of what is needed to improve the learning, then there needs to be the practical application of what can be done to intervene.
     In the model presented in the book, the leadership team met daily.  This team consisted of the principal, the assistant principals, and  the department chairs.  They then divided into teams for other meetings and parents were parts of the learning teams.  No one member of the team was the designated leader for every member; leadership flowed from one member to another based on what expertise was needed at the time.
     The author made it clear that there would be members of any staff not willing to buy into the PLC concept.  These teachers should be allowed to request a transfer, if needed, in order to maintain the integrity of the final goal. The community can only be achieved if everyone involved buys in, including administration, teachers, support staff, students and parents.

PLC in the Elementary School

I have little experience in working in an elementary school, so much in this chapter of Dufour's book did not apply to me as a high school teacher.  There were some truths, however, that apply to all educational levels.  The fact that there was difficulty getting students to stay after school for remediation is a common thread, with excuses of transportation problems and other activities.  The school that was used as a role model, Boone's Mill Elementary in Virginia, had to identify essential outcomes.  A brief description was given of the SOL tests administered in the state of Virginia and the word "rigorous" was used to describe them.  At this point in my reading, I had to pause to reflect since I live and teach in Virginia and I know from my own experience that these tests are not at all rigorous.  In fact, the cut scores demonstrate the lack of rigor on these tests, proving that they are indeed meant for "minimum competency" so that all students can pass and federal dollars will still flow freely to the state.  That said, it is commendable that BMES took measures to make sure that all of their students were being reached at whatever level they started.  The most interesting part of this chapter in the book dealt with tutoring and assistance offered by volunteers, including parents, grandparents, college students and others.  This idea is one that should and could be implemented in any school that has struggling students.  Of course, I believe more volunteers would be lining up to work at an elementary school than a high school, but we should be willing to take whatever help we are offered whenever it is offered.  I also liked the idea of having workshops to train parents about what would be taught during each marking period, thus sharing the responsibility for the students' learning with the parents or guardians.  I think that ownership of the learning belongs with the students and the responsibility to help the child learn should be a joint venture between the teachers and the parents.  It is when all of the responsibility falls on the shoulders of the teachers that the system begins to fail because the student does not feel any need to learn; after all, it is seen as the fault of the educator when learning does not occur.  In fact, the fault lies with the students, the parents and the school..they work together towards success or go separately into the abyss of failure. 

Success in the Middle School

The school which is touted as successful has many positive things going for it, including a schedule that is flexible and teachers who work in teams to ensure the success of the students.  According to the anecdotal record in Dufour's  book, the school in Texas identifies the needs of the students by testing with a common assessment weekly and then have cumulative bench mark tests each marking period.  They also offer proactive remediation before the state assessment.  The only real issue that I have with this method of instruction is how effective these methods are for the more gifted students.  Although enrichment is mentioned briefly, it does not seem to be a focus.  In my years of experience, I have noticed that the students who struggle are given much more attention than those who are quick to understand and who could move on, but they are generally "held back" while the slower students catch up.  I have seen the curriculum become less and less demanding so that the norm is the lowest common denominator, or knowledge, instead of setting sights as high as possible and having students strive to reach a higher expectation.  I have never considered a minimum competency test to be one that truly shows what students can do; instead, it generally shows the ability of the teachers to teach to the test, regardless if this is done on the middle school level or any other level of education in the U.S. today.

Adalai Stevenson High School

This is a Blue Ribbon school that earned the right to be on top because of the vision and hard work of the teachers.  Together, they set high standards but they learned to vary the time needed for individual students to meet that goal.  One of the things that they do that I would like to see implemented where I teach is a summer study skills course for incoming freshmen at the high school. The gap between high school and middle school requirements and expectations is wide and we would be well served to try to bridge that gap with a class focusing on skills students will need to succeed in high school classes, skills that include taking notes and organizing their time and materials.  I teach quite a few 9th graders and I spend a lot of time all year long trying to encourage the organization skill and to get them to take notes.  This should be an expectation of all teachers, of course, but in reality, it isn't, so a small  number of us struggle with study skills in our academic classes.  
The ideas put in place at ASHS are radical, like a mandatory tutoring program and a guided study teacher who acts as a liaison between the students and the teachers and the parents and the school staff.  It amazed me that this remarkable school was able to set up meetings with a social worker, a mentor and parents once a month to help parents be more effective in helping their children to succeed.  An idea worth exploring!  After all, every teacher needs the support of parents in order for the students to want to succeed.  

Responding When Kids Don't Learn

Dufour, et. al, present the case in Whatever It Takes that schools react differently when students don't learn.  I think that teachers respond differently as well.  After having read the descriptions of the reactions, I decided that I belong to the "Pontius Pilate" school.  This is the one that says that the teacher teaches and it is the students' jobs to learn and they are responsible for their own decisions.  I am not sure why this name is given to this school but I think that it may have something to do with the fact that this Roman despot was the one who washed his hands of the responsibility of Jesus' death.  I don't want this to be me, so I am interested in reading about a better way.  The "Henry Higgins" school is more like how my school is currently trying to achieve better results, i.e. new strategies are employed and teachers are working harder to get every student to succeed.   
Whatever your philosophy of the best approach is, Dufour makes a valid case that in PLC, the teacher knows what he/she wants the students to learn before beginning the unit.  Again, this goes back to having a target to hit.  I have used small-group tutoring and one-on-one help for my students and have found that it is successful, but I also think that the students have to buy into wanting to succeed.  And I agree with the author that students who have difficulty learning should receive additional support, regardless of who their teacher is.  This is not happening at my particular school. A handful of teachers offer extra help while others head out the door at the end of the contract day.  I don't think that we can be a PLC school until all teachers share the same vision that part of our job is to help the students to succeed, "whatever it takes".  

All Kids Will Learn

In order for all students to learn, each teacher should know what every student should be able to do at the end of each unit.  Of course, this only makes common sense because if you don't have a target, then you don't know at what to aim.  Formative assessments are essential for this to happen.  I agree with the author of Whatever It Takes, Richard DuFour, that schools need to have a plan in place when students do not learn.

Afterword

The author concludes that the most powerful resource for change in a school is the teacher who wants to work toward substantive change.  That is one of my goals...but my idea of substantive change is to improve education instead of dumbing it down.  In my world of education, standardized tests would not be for minimum competency, students would be held to higher standards, and teachers would be allowed to be creative once again in their classrooms. 

Audiotape assessments

Using audiotapes to assess students seems to save time for the teacher in the long run since they tell each student individually how to improve their work.  However, the most important part of an audiotape assessment is that the students may actually listen to what the teacher has to say.  When I hand out graded papers, even though I go over the correct answers, the students are only interested in the grade on the front.  For the most part, they don't bother to look at their errors and learn from them.  I would like to possibly use my DVR for a goal next year in supplying audio assessments for my students.  I am going to have to give this more thought, though, because this could get very expensive buying CDs to burn.  I like that the teacher mentioned in Marzano's book got cassette players for each of her students to listen to their audio assessments.  Now, all I have to figure out is how to apply that to the newer technology of digital voice recorders. 

Massed and distributed practice

Massed practice is many small practices close together.  Distributed practice is spreading out the practice over longer intervals.  It is my belief that both are needed, but true learning only occurs if distributed practice is used and students truly learn the material, not just memorize it to take a specific assessment.  Many years ago, I taught at a Christian school that used the Abeka curriculum.  I have never since used a curriculum that was so targeted for distributed practice as effective as this curriculum.  Kudos to a great Christian curriculum that got it right the first time!

Vocabulary Instruction

Since I teach vocabulary constantly in my foreign language classroom, the chapter about techniques that work was interesting and validated some of the things that I have been doing for years.  For example, I always present vocabulary in context and the students always practice at least 8-10 different times before they are quizzed on new words.  It is also interesting that the author states that associating images with words helps students to recall them.  The textbook series that I use provides many visuals that assist me to include images in presentations and practices.  Nice to know that sometimes we get things right in the classroom!

Using experimental inquiry

When I first read the information about experimental inquiry and deductive/inductive reasoning, my first reaction was that it would work well in a science classroom, but not so great in a foreign language setting.  However, after some reflection, I have concluded that it would be helpful to me and my students if they would explore things like why they are missing the conjugations of verbs that they should have learned in Spanish I.  What has happened is that they are missing content and the realization by the students about what kinds of knowledge they are lacking and what they can do to bridge the gap would be helpful as they pursue the next level of the language.  I like the idea of asking students to explain their reasoning that led them to their answers...again makes the student accountable and encourages them to pause before they write just anything down.

Feedback

I totally agree with the assumption that feedback has to occur soon after the assessment in order to be effective.  What I don't know and have never been able to resolve is how you go over a test or quiz when not everyone has taken it yet.  I seldom (more likely never) give a test on any given day on which all students are present.  So, although I grade the assessments on the evening after I give them, I either have to wait until all of the absentees have completed the test/quiz, or I have to create a new version for them to take.  I have tried both and neither is very effective.  I have parents upset because they want their child to have additional time to complete work, although my policy clearly states that students have five school days to complete missed work after their return to school.  I just had two students take a vocabulary quiz over a month late ( I just returned them to the rest of the class on days when these two were absent again) and they failed it.  Of course they did!  Did anyone think that they were still studying the material and would pass it when we were on new material already?  The parents must have thought so since they insisted that their child receive extra time to complete the work.  Permission was granted, but the effort of the students was less than stellar.  Not a surprise to me...students invariably do poorly on missed tests or quizzes because they also missed a lot of instruction and class practice and they don't ever make that time up.  Any solutions out there for timely feedback without compromising the validity of the assessment...share and compare, please.

Who is responsible for learning?

Marzano's idea that students should be held responsible for their own learning and should keep a learning journal based on their own goals and achievements is revolutionary!  Who knew that students should be held accountable?  In this era when the responsibility seems to lie more and more on the shoulders of the educator, I appreciate the fact that in the end, the student chooses to learn and exert effort or not.  Of course, Marzano does not negate the fact that a lot of preparation of objectives and strategies is the role of the teacher, but sincerely appreciate anyone who will honestly state that students have to take a major role in their own learning.  The idea that the students start with statements about what they want to know is a good starting point for true education to occur. 

Base groups

I discovered in my reading a good reason for having base groups, i.e. make the students accountable to each other for checking on homework issues.  I also like the idea of a base group creating a "team spirit" within the classroom.  My big concern would be that the base group would become a team in which one member does the work and the others just copy it.  I have found that high school students really do not discern the difference between helping someone to learn a skill and just giving their friends the work to copy and saying that was helping them.  I do like the idea of accountability and may work it into my first block class that I see daily...like a contest of which base group has the fewest 0's on homework or the highest quiz/test scores in one grading period.  I will have to give this idea some more thought and perhaps use it during second semester.

Sizes of groups

I agree that the size of groups must be limited, based on the task assigned.  I have found that when there are too many members in a group, little is done because the students don't really know how to divide up the tasks.  When there are the same number of tasks to be done as members of the group, then the students can easily manage completion of the assignment.

Cooperative Learning

As a foreign language teacher, I use cooperative learning a lot just to give the students practice with partners in using what they have learned.  According to Dr. Marzano, the groups I use most often are informal groups and they last maybe 15-30 minutes per class.  I have found these groups to be most effective in dealing with new grammatical structures because one partner can usually help the other partner to understand.  I generally use ability grouping, but I group high learners with low learners as often as possible, especially if I am using groups of two.  When I move to a project and I am grouping the students, I use random grouping and them look at the groups and make sure that they are heterogeneous so that all students have an equal opportunity to succeed on the project.  One thing I do not believe in is giving a group grade for a project.  My students are generally surprised that they can receive different grades and be in the same group, according to their individual effort.  I have the students keep a log of what they have contributed each day that they are doing the project, and I also observe their efforts within the group.  I have always considered it grossly unfair that when students are doing a group project, one student feels compelled to "carry" the others in his/her group for the sake of getting a good grade.  I think that group grades reward laziness.  I did not see this issue addressed in Dr. Marzano's book, but I do feel that it is an important issue and the reason that some students approach group tasks with trepidation because they are the ones motivated to excel and don't want to be responsible for earning a grade for a group.