March 18, 2014 PLC Minutes Present: Mr. Neugenbauer, Ms. Clements, Ms. Dannemiller, Mr. Bowe, Ms.

Nelson Progress on PLC --pre-writing Discussion---Mr. Neugenbauer/Ms. Dannemiller have used a variety of pre-writing graphic organizer for poetry and essay writing, and now are expecting students to be able to create their own graphic organizers for their assignments rather than giving them to students. From time to time, they still find they need to remind students about the options available, but are hoping that students will be able to do this on their own. Ms. Nelson/ Clements are currently using pre-writing to help students organize their research for their projects. Mr. Bowe is using an outline to structure essay writing, including how to write a thesis statement. Our end assessment will be to give prompts similar to that on the semester exam and grade their pre-writing with the same assessment rubric. We are still on steps 3/4 of this PLC. March 25, 2014 PLC Minutes Present: Neug, Nelson, CLements, Dannemiller, Harrington, Bowe Harrington is doing a different PLC, but was brainstorming with us for ideas The team shared pre-writing success and struggles in step 3 and 4 of our PLC. Nelson shared frustration in kids not completing the pre-writing for the research project. obstacles include: 1. Time management--students aren't getting it done b/c they get behind on the first task (i.e. research, so they aren't ready to do pre-writing to organize their info) 2. They want to jump in and see that pre-writing is just another thing to do that cuts into the time. 3. Are we effectively conveying the value of pre-writing? Suggestions: 1. Model several graphic organizers and when to use them 2. Tying outlining in with speeches 3. Working backwards--give a finished text, and have them work backwards to create an outline--Natalie has done this before, and provided an example Successes: MR. Bowe shared that after the OGT, the kids stated that the pre-writing helped them with the writing OGT. Update from Norma: 1. Send PLCs weekly to Norma electronically, so that we can get feedback sooner. April 1, 2014 PLC Minutes Present: Nelson, Clements, Dannemiller, Neug came in late--he was asked to cover a class\ Ms. Dannemiller discussed the continued use of pre-writing/ organizers; now, they are doing Spoken Word Poetry. Ms. Nelson is doing note-taking organizers, and the outline following the parcc pre-writing rubric. I am currently in between steps. I definitely found I needed re-teaching after the last attempt.