In this tutorial, we'll examine the process for reflecting on and revising your norms. We'll begin by assessing the impact of your current norms. I'll then show you how to use a plus/minus/delta chart to reflect on your norms, and finally, I'll share with you some tips for revising your norms. Let's get started.
Let's begin by examining the process for assessing the impact of your current norms. Successful site-based management requires an ongoing cycle of reflection and evaluation of your practices, your protocols, and your progress towards your goals. Having teams reflect on their norms is a part of this process. As a team member, you need to be considering whether your norms are supporting and encouraging the behaviors that are necessary to make progress towards the team's goals, and you need to consider whether those goals are actually moving you forward towards meeting the vision and the mission of the team, of this school, and of the overall district.
There are some elements that are essential to complete your reflection and your review of your norms. First, you need to consider both qualitative and quantitative data. Next, you need to evaluate all relevant data. This will likely include student achievement data, but it can include any and all data that was identified by your team in your specific goals. And more specifically, you need to determine whether that data is actually demonstrating that you are making progress towards your goals.
Furthermore, you need to consider whether your meanings are effective. For example, you might consider whether there is any identifiable level of conflict occurring during your meanings, and if there is, how are you handling that conflict? Are your meanings starting on time and ending on time?
Are team members meeting the requirements and the expectations for participation? Are team members treating one another with respect and actively listening while others are talking? Are team members focusing on the goals, or instead, are we getting tripped up by the obstacles?
Are we reviewing our data, and are we using collaborative problem solving when it is time to make some decisions. If any violations to the norms are occurring, are we addressing those violations right away? With all of these elements to consider as you are reflecting on your norms, you might consider using a plus/minus/delta chart to help you in the process. A plus/minus/delta chart can be a great option, because it will allow you to simultaneously review both quantitative data and qualitative data.
If you haven't seen one before, a plus/minus/delta chart is essentially a graphic organizer that assists you in the reflection process by allowing you to identify strategies that are working, strategies that maybe aren't working as well or that might be getting in the way of your progress, and also strategies that you might consider using in the future or strategies that might help you overcome the current barriers that are preventing you from reaching your goals. The reason we use the delta symbol for this third column is because in mathematics and reasoning, the delta symbol represents the change in something, and so the Delta column is where we indicate ideas for change. When using a plus/minus/delta chart to reflect on the norms of your team, in the Plus column, you can write down ways in which your norms are working to support your approach. In the Minus column, you can indicate the behaviors that are not working for you or the norms that maybe as written, are getting in the way of your team meeting your goals.
And then in the Delta column, you can brainstorm ideas for making changes. What can you do differently in order to move closer to your goals? How can you modify your norms to remove potential barriers to those goals?
So let me show you an example of how the plus/minus/delta chart might be used to accomplish this type of reflection and a revision of norms. For this purpose, I will refer back to the middle school math PLC norms that we created in a previous tutorial. So as the team begins the reflection process, their very first step would be to review these norms as a team.
Then in their plus/minus/delta chart, under the Plus column, they would list the norms that are helping to support the achievement of their goals. In the Minus column, they would list the norms or specific behaviors that are getting in the way of them achieving their goals. And then finally, under the Delta column, the team would brainstorm some ideas either for new norms, or just for maybe modifications to the existing norms, or maybe some potential specific behaviors that would help the team remedy the problems that are happening, and ultimately, move them closer to their goals.
Then the team would review all of the suggestions that have been made under the Delta column. They would potentially group like suggestions together, and then each team member could rank the suggestions in their own perceived order of value or importance. This would help the team to finally come to a consensus on the norms that need to be modified or replaced.
Finally, then, the team will revise the norms using those ideas that were agreed upon by consensus. So here were the original norms for the team, and here are the revised norms that address the concerns that were brought forward. Now, notice that these norms do mention those specific behaviors as negatives, and while in general, you want your norms to focus on positive behaviors rather than negative behaviors, in the case where you do find that you are having issues, this may be the best, most effective way to address those issues and prevent them from occurring again in the future.
After you have revised your norms, make sure to replace the norms that are hanging on the wall to memorialize the change in the norms and celebrate the collaborative work that your team completed on establishing behaviors and norms that are going to be more effective for your team. This is a great place for you now to stop and reflect. If your team currently has norms in place, what might you suggest as potential revisions to those norms to make them even more effective?
For more information on how to apply what you learned in this video, please view the Additional Resources section that accompanies this video presentation. The Additional Resources section includes hyperlinks useful for applications of the course material, including a brief description of each resource. Thanks for watching. Have a great day.
(00:00 - 00:20) Introduction
(00:21 - 02:30) Assessing the Impact of Current Norms
(02:31 - 04:16) Using a Plus/Minus/Delta Chart to Reflect on Norms
(04:17 - 06:49) Revising Norms
(06:50 - 07:24) Stop and Reflect
Process Tips for Plus/Delta
Montgomery County Public Schools has established this tip sheet for conducting Plus, Minus, Delta. It is a quick and easy overview of the process to follow. Click on the link in order to download the document.
https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/info/baldrige/documents/HowTo_PlusDelta.doc
Plus, Minus, Delta
Provided by Leapp: Classroom Tools this site overviews the Plus, Minus, Delta methodology and includes an excellent video example.
https://leappqualityclassroomtools.weebly.com/plus-minus-delta.html