Individualizing PD through PLCs

We continue to revamp our Professional Learning Plan (PLP) for teachers. Each Professional Learning Community (PLC) completes the PLP at the beginning of the school year. The PLC guides their own learning through the format below. For the past two years, our Professional Development Committee has continued to tweak the PLP. The latest addition allows all PLCs to choose a peer observation option to fulfill the Observation and Integration of Learning component. I am proud of our work and the focus on making professional development more meaningful for teachers in our school district.

You can find the editable document within the Dropbox link above.

Second Annual STEM Camp this summer at Rugby Public Schools

We are excited to announce a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Camp this summer at the Rugby High School for students heading into grades 3-5 next school year.  The STEM camp will take place from 8:00AM – 12:00PM Monday – Friday beginning July 25^th.  Highlights include: Biomes of the World, Buzzing a Hive, Bubble Festival, and Engineering Challenges. This will be a fun filled week to get kids excited about science. Registration forms can be found at Ely Elementary and the Rugby High School.  These forms are due by June 24^th. The cost for a student is $40.00. Spots will be limited so sign up soon.  For questions contact Melissa.goddard@k12.nd.us or Mike McNeff at 776-5201.

Day	Time	Events
Monday, July 25	8:00 AM - Noon	Biomes of the World
Tuesday, July 26	8:00 AM - Noon	Buzzing A Hive
Wednesday, July 27	8:00 AM - Noon	Bubble Festival
Thursday, July 28	8:00 AM - Noon	Engineering Challenge
Friday, July 29	8:00 AM - Noon	Engineering Challenge & Awards

Teacher Appreciation Week

Today is the start of Teacher Appreciation Week at Rugby Schools and across the nation. I think we can all remember that teacher that helped us at a certain time in our lives. In my own life I can remember several from elementary and high school. Teachers spend the majority of the day with our children and play a significant role in developing them into productive human beings. I am thankful for the teachers and support staff within our district. We have arranged small tokens of appreciation over the course of this week in celebration of Teacher Appreciation Week at Rugby Public Schools. 

Thank a teacher today! 

Making Time for PLCs in a Time Deprived Day

I will be presenting at the North Dakota PLC Summit this week. As I was preparing my presentation I put together a few suggestions for districts that are exploring embedded PLC time.

We cannot expect this work to occur during their prep, after school, during lunch, before school and etc. I believe we must embed a specific time that is consistent across the district.

Find a consistent time that works for your district. The time should be consistent across the district. This will help administrators support each PLC. This will also help with vertical meetings that will need to occur to address gaps and overlaps with curriculum, instruction, and assessment.

Meetings should occur at minimum once per week. If we aren’t meeting once per week we forget about our focus and it's harder to get back on track and use the time efficiently.

We need to ensure that this time is protected and considered sacred. People will try to consume this newly found time with meetings that don’t matter. Administrators need to protect this time. That means no practices, activity meetings, advisor meetings, and etc. The only thing that occurs during this time are activities that are associated with the PLC.

Target Wednesday morning for the day to implement PLCs. I truly believe there isn’t a better time than Wednesday morning. I don’t want our coaches and advisors to miss this time due to practice. There are typically less events and vacation days on Wednesdays.

What will you do with the students? We still allow all students to be dropped off at their regular times. In the elementary school, we have upwards of 100 students that head to the library to read silently, read with a friend, or be read to. This alone has been a positive for kids. For the remainder of our students we have our para educators supervise students.