Return to list of materials about "Reflecting and sharing on the on-going field experiences"
In-service program documentation
Reflecting and sharing on the on-going field experiences (D6.6)
Logistics and scheduling information (by Judith Fonzi)
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| Description of the various forums for reflecting and sharing |
| Scheduling of these activities within the program |
Sharing what was happening during the field experiences, and reflecting on these experiences, was an important component of the in-service program. There were three complementary forums for sharing and reflecting.
The planning and classroom support sessions involved individual teachers (or at most pairs of teachers) and the facilitator in on-going sharing and reflecting as they anticipated and planned the content and format of a unit and then reflected on the actual implementation of those plans. (See D6.4 and 6.5 for an in-depth description of these meetings.)
The weekly "support team" meetings, which involved all of the participants in a particular school or geographic location (from previous as well as the current implementation of the program) and the facilitator, were designed for the sole purpose of providing participants with a forum for sharing and reflecting on their on-going classroom experiences. The weekly agendas were occasionally pre-determined by the participants but most often were left open-ended. Participants were encouraged to discuss their experiences, raise questions, share their AHAs and disappointments and think about their own practice in light of what others were sharing. In addition to their participation in the meeting, participants were expected to write a shared journal each week. This provided another opportunity for sharing and reflection as well as a permanent record of their thinking throughout the experience. The journals proved to quite helpful as the participants engaged in an overall reflection at the end of the program. To illustrate the nature of these written reflections as well as the role the support teams played during the implementation of the first illustrative units we have included some journals from an entire team in the Participants' work for this section.
The third forum for sharing and reflecting were a series of project-wide "Follow Up" meetings which involved all of the project participants and staff. These meetings were scheduled at key points throughout the field experiences so that participants would have the opportunity to share their experiences implementing inquiry units with a wider audience. Since every school has it's own unique opportunities and constraints, and likewise every facilitator, project-wide sharing allowed everyone the opportunity to benefit from each other's experiences. The first and last of these meetings were devoted solely to sharing and reflecting while the remainder of the Follow Up meetings had some additional items on their agenda. The first meeting was scheduled immediately following the implementation of the first illustrative unit so as to provide participants with an opportunity to share their successes and their concerns as a result of this first attempt. Prior to the meeting all participants were sent a memo asking them to come prepared to share one thing from their experience that other teachers in this project could benefit from knowing and one concern they had. (The detailed plans and memo for this meeting are included in the Facilitator's plans and Instructional materials for this section.) Similarly, for each of the subsequent meetings participants were always asked in advance to focus their reflections and sharing in a particular way. During the meetings the actual sharing sessions were essentially left open for the participants to say whatever they felt was important. The final Follow Up meeting, which was scheduled after the implementation of participants' own inquiry units, invited participants to share the essence of their units and reflect on their successes and failures, and finally to engage in an overall reflection and planning for the future.
The scheduling of the planning and classroom support sessions are left to the individual teacher and facilitator, however the reader is urged to refer to the logistics accompanying sections D6.4 and D6.5 respectively were we have identified some key times throughout the program when these sessions are critical.
In our implementations, the weekly "support team" meetings have always taken place immediately after school. The sessions are typically 1 ½ to 2 hours long.
The Follow Up meetings are typically full-day sessions should be scheduled so that the agenda and the Field Experience implementation schedule support each other. A possible schedule and agenda for a one-year program follows:
1. (Mid October, when most participants could be expected to have essentially completed the implementation of their first illustrative unit)
2. (Early January -- when most participants were expected to be planning their second inquiry unit at this point)
3. (June -- at the conclusion of field-experiences but prior to the end of the school year)