About next year's coaching component: you should know that the curriculum coordinators/directors of PREP were especially eager that the cohort offer means for "spreading the word" about literacy. "Coaching" may be too formal a word for what we have in mind...perhaps "buddy system" or "thinking partner" would be better?
The cohort will be helping you (in the Fall) to think about this: selection criteria for your mentee/buddy/thinking partner; pointers on working with a colleague in an expert and novice situation; and a series of activities to inspire (ok, force) you to engage in dialogue and support with a colleague.
This will NEVER be evaluative. It WILL prompt you to move a little out of your comfort zone and to have those professional conversations and classroom visits we all know we should but never make the time to do/have. Really, don't worry about this! Enjoy the summer and I'll see you back here in the fall!
Sunday, May 31, 2009
A word from Maureen...
About my little powerpoint--I didn't take time at the end to emphasize that all the other questions were designed to help answer the dense question. In theory talking about ourselves as readers, the text of PREP, and our world of school, and then the overlaps of ourselves and the text of PREP, ourselves and the expectations of the world of school, and school's engagement or disengagement with the text of PREP, we were warming ourselves and collecting bits of data to help us answer the dense question about our goals for PREP next year. Ideally the discussion and answers to the dense question are richer and more connected because of the questioning circles.
I think Leila Christenbury's Questioning Circles strategy offers potential for both teachers and students. As teachers it helps us to think strategically about how to organize material and categorize questions so that our students are engaging in three domains to eventually ponder a dense question. For students, after working in the model with teacher-guided practice, they can begin naming the three domains and generating questions in each of the domains and overlaps to make their way to designing a dense question. The possibilities are endless: students could work in pairs and swap questioning circles; students could workshop their model to get feedback from peers; students from one class could construct a model to swap with students from another class; students could use the model to facilitate discussion in Socratic circles....
I think Leila Christenbury's Questioning Circles strategy offers potential for both teachers and students. As teachers it helps us to think strategically about how to organize material and categorize questions so that our students are engaging in three domains to eventually ponder a dense question. For students, after working in the model with teacher-guided practice, they can begin naming the three domains and generating questions in each of the domains and overlaps to make their way to designing a dense question. The possibilities are endless: students could work in pairs and swap questioning circles; students could workshop their model to get feedback from peers; students from one class could construct a model to swap with students from another class; students could use the model to facilitate discussion in Socratic circles....
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