Hi All -

I hope you are enjoying the wind-down of the school year. Attached please find the Showcase Feedback -- I've included both the Friday and Saturday session feedback so you have some information that could be helpful for you as you move inquiry on into the future. It is all quite positive, with some great suggestions as well. (Chris will attached when he has a chance as the site won't let me attach any more documents. I'm over my limit).

Also, just wanted to remind everyone that write-ups are due by the end of the month. So far, I've received John's write-ups -- Thanks!

Joan Thate sent me a wonderful email yesterday with the program for the Flagler Showcase to take place this Saturday. Keep Joan and Flagler teachers in your thoughts this Saturday as they share their thinking and practice with one another at their local Showcase. Joan will be a great resource for everyone as she has done a great deal of work in Flagler to promote inquiry within the district itself. Congrats Joan, and THANKS! Let us know how it goes!

Finally, as we wind down the school year and bring closure to another cycle of inquiry, I'm asking each of you PLEASE to post one final reflection to our on-line learning community. This will be a wonderful way to bring closure to our work together. Here are some questions to help you frame your last post, and provide "food for thought" for the future of inquiry as teacher professional development:

1. What has been the most powerful component of engaging in teacher research for the inquirers you coached this year?
2. In what ways have the inquiries that you've witnessed this year and/or in the past impacted students?
3. What are some of the most important lessons you have learned about inquiry and coaching inquiry as we worked together this year?
4. What has your journey of inquiry and coaching inquiry meant to you?
5. Where to you plan to take your journey next and what will you need to do so?

I am looking forward to reading everyone's reflecctions as we end our year's work together. . .My very best to everyone for a wonderful remainder of the school year, restful summer, and continuation of learning and growing as a teacher inquirer!

Nanc

Hi Everyone -

It took me a few days to recover and attend to a few items I had to let slip off my plate as we were preparing for the Showcase, so I'm just getting to the number one new item on my "To Do" list that was added since Saturday -- Posting a BIG CONGRATULATIONS to everyone for a successful event this past Saturday, and a wonderful inquiry year! My only disappointment was not being able to be in more than one place at a time so I could see all of you present! Know that you were all in my thoughts, even if I wasn't able to be present at your session. I know everyone did phenemonal, as did all of the folks you coached!

Working together, we were able to create a very special space for teachers -- a space where they could feel what powerful and meaningful professional development is, and know that their work as teachers deserves and garners the deepest respect from all! Where ever you are able to take this work in the years ahead, know that your work as an inquirer and as a coach has impacted many, many teachers and their students! Thanks go out to each one of you for the tremendous work you do!

Congratulations!

Nanc

Hi Everyone -

WARNING!! VERY LONG POST WITH LOTS OF INFORMATION.  YOU MIGHT WANT TO PRINT THIS ANNOUNCEMENT OUT! 

Eight days to go until the Showcase!  We are busy, busy, busy here at CSI handling all the details - name badges, programs, certificates, pins, handouts, schedules, signs, etc., etc., etc.  It is all coming together slowly but surely and it is clear that with all of your hard work and awesome inquiry facilitation skills, the 2008 Showcase is sure to be the best ever! We have approximately 200 people attending on Friday evening and 350 attending on Saturday!!

Here's some important reminders and details:

1.  Technology.  If your presenters are doing a powerpoint presentation, please remind them that there will be an lcd projector and computer in each room.  They should bring their presentation on a flash drive or burn it on a CD.  Of course, while not necessary, presenters are also welcome to bring their own computers and hook them up to the LCD projector if they feel more comfortable doing so.  Please also remind presenters that it is ALWAYS good practice to be prepared if your technology does not work by printing out a copy of your powerpoint as a handout or just to speak from.  David Young and Jeff Boyer will once again be available to troubleshoot any technology problems, but remember there are 20 presentations happening simultaneously, and they can only be at two places at any one time . . .and an occasional problem can't be fixed.   

2.  Showcase Program.  The program is now posted on the CSI website: http://education.ufl.edu/csi.  Click on the Showcase Button on the menu, and you can download the entire program.  In addition, there is a table that lists presentations by day, topic and grade level.  This "Showcase At A Glance" document can help attendees find sessions they wish to attend.  This document will also be handed out with the program on Saturday morning.  With the great deal of selection and choice, please strongly encourage your inquirers to visit the website and look at the program prior to the morning of the 19th to help plan their day out and not feel overwhelmed by all of the wonderful selections.  

3.  Arrival Time.  We will begin PROMPTLY AT 8:45 in the P.K. Yonge Performing Arts Center.  I would encourage all presenters to arrive between 8:15 and 8:30 so assure parking time, obtain their programs and name-badges, and  "check out their presentation room" prior to the start of Showcase if it will make them feel more comfortable.  

4.   Procedures.  Remind presenters that there will be two presenters in each concurrent session, as well as one or two UF students.  The UF students  will begin the session by each taking 3-4 minutes to share inquiries they have completed during field experience as  a "poster talk."  They will then introduce the first presenter.  Each presenter then has 15 minutes to share his/her work, and five minutes to take questions from those in attendance at the session.  After both presenters, there will be 5 minutes for General Discussion.  The UF students will help each presenter be aware of time by holding up 5 fingers to indicate to the presenter when he/she has 5 minutes left and 1 finger to indicate to the presenter when he/she has 1 minute left.  We will also be handing out a schedule for the timeframe of each session with the Conference Programs when people check in.  

5.  Hand-outs.  Presenter handouts are greatly encouraged!  The feedback from previous showcases indicates that people LOVE to receive handouts.  I anticipate the average audience size will be 15, but there may be some sessions with 3-4 people and some sessions with as many as 25.  Therefore, I'd encourage presenters to bring 15 - 20 copies of a hand-out for their session.  If they run out, email addresses are printed in the program, so audience who did not receive a handout can send the presenter an email request.  If the presenter has extra handouts, he/she can leave them in the presentation room or lay them out at the end of the Showcase in the Performing Arts Lobby for others who couldn't attend the session but are interested in the topic to take.    

6.  The Spirit of the Showcase.  Remind presenters that every session is guaranteed three - four  people in attendance  as there are 2 presenters and 1-2 UF students presenting in each session.  The purpose of the day is to celebrate, share, and have the opportunity to discuss educational practice with other professionals.  Both smaller, intimate sessions of 3-4 people and larger sessions of 10 - 15 are equally valuable for celebrating, sharing and discussing!  In fact, sometimes smaller sessions can be the most valuable as some fantastic discussion ensues when a small number of educators, passionate about a similar topic, gather together to discuss their work.  I want everyone to feel GREAT about their accomplishments regardless of the size of the audience at their session.

7.  Closing Ceremony - Pin and Certificated Distribution.  As the closing session of the program, all presenters will be receiving pins and certificates.  First year presenters will receive the Circle of Children pin.  Second, third, and fourth year presenters will receive a different pin.  To facilitate their distribution, I am going to have the appropriate number of pins and the correct certificates in envelopes for each of you for the teachers that you have worked with this year.  Please see Susan Stabel on the 19th immediately prior to the Closing Ceremony to pick up your envelope containing certificates and pins for your teacher inquirers.  

I think that about does it (for now anyway)!  The 18th - 19th of April is sure to be a POWERFUL learning experience for educators throughout our state and each one of us!!  Can't wait to see everyone on the 19th!

Happy Inquiring!

Nanc 

Hi Everyone - OK, the Showcase Countdown is officially beginning . . . 16 DAYS! As we enter the final stages of preparation and planning here at CSI, we are greatly anticipating this exciting event!

A couple items of note. Attached please find a revised schedule/handout that was giving to the UF students who will be poster presenters. Recall that most presentations will now have two poster presenters as they did in the past. I've added five minutes to each session to allow for the second presenter. They are looking forward to meeting and seeing real teacher inquirers in action and participating in our Showcase event. You might want to share this handout with your presenters so they know how the poster presenters in their sessions have been prepared.

Next, as you meet for the final time with your presenters, you will want to review the write-up instructions (also attached). The monograph from last year is now completed and looks fantastic! Due to budget cuts, we will not be printing and handing out hard copies at the Showcase this year. Rather, the monograph will be posted on the NEFEC website so participants can go view it electronically. Brandy will be printing covers with the website address to hand out at the Showcase so everyone will have access to it. I'm having a few hard copies printed here at the Center to have on display at the Showcase itself.

That's about all the news for now. I still owe everyone a blog about our experiences presenting at the International Conference on Teacher Research. I'll try to get to it as soon as there's a little break in Showcase preparation (which might not be until after the Showcase itself, but I'll try to get to it sooner!)

Can everyone post something about how you and your inquirers are doing and how your feel about the upcoming Showcase? Thanks!

Best to All!

Nanc

PS - Chris will add the attachments as soon as he can - I am at a limit for posting attachments and can't do it from my computer.

Hi Fabulous Inquiry Facilitators –

Well, a draft of the program is done and ready to go, and it’s going to be bigger and better than ever! It’s such a thrill to read all of the abstracts and titles – you can’t help but get excited about all of the incredible learning that’s occurred this year from inquiry, and the wonderful sharing of it all at the Showcase!

Please look in the program and make sure that all of your inquirers are listed, and their information is correct (name spelled correctly, etc.). Saturday presentations begin on page 18. If you see a typo or someone is missing, please send the correction to Patricia Fleming at pgfleming@coe.ufl.edu. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT!! DO NOT SEND CORRECTIONS TO ME!! Recall that I will be in New York all of next week for the American Educational Research Association (presenting my inquiry on administrator action research) and International Conference on Teacher Research (presenting our work on action research and Professional Learning Communities with Mickey and Diane). Therefore, Patricia Fleming, a program coordinator here at UF, will be making any corrections and getting the program to the printer.

DEADLINE FOR CORRECTIONS TO PATRICIA IS TUESDAY, MARCH 24!! She’ll compile any corrections and make them with Susan Stabel, and then send the program to print on or before 3/28. We need to give the printer 10 business days to put the program together, and we want to be sure we have it back in time for the Showcase!

Once the program is 100% done, we’ll post it on the CSI website so your inquirers can look at it before they come on Saturday. I am also asking that if any of your presenters are also going to attend the Friday evening portion to let me know so I can have an accurate headcount for the Friday reception.

One other note – In many presentations, we had to put two pre-interns instead of one. I added 5 minutes to these sessions and I will redo the original schedule and get it to you within the next week or so. I’ll try and complete it before I leave, but I might not be able to get to it.

Also, we did our very best to put two presentations together that shared a topic or a grade level (elementary or secondary) or had some kind of link. Sometimes, we found good matches, but sometimes the matches were a stretch. We did the best we could to match, but I know that even if the topics aren’t exactly matched up, folks will enjoy and learn in ways they wouldn’t necessarily learn if everything was perfectly aligned! We did our best!

Hope you are all doing well and recovered from FCAT!! Can hardly wait for the Showcase!

Happy Inquiring To All!
Nanc

PS – Chris will attach the Showcase Program, as I’m to the limit on what I can post to the site. We just met and he’ll attach the program as soon as he can!

Hi Everyone - Debbi inquired about technology for the Showcase, and I thought I'd post an announcement so everyone would know what to expect.

Each presentation room will be equiped with a projector and a laptop.  The laptops will be PCs.  I am told that even if presenters created their powerpoints on a mac, it should work fine on the PCs at PK Yonge. Otherwise, folks are welcome to bring their own laptop and cable adaptor for the projectors.

As a presenter, I always am prepared to talk even if my powerpoints aren't working (and it actually happened to me once for a keynote!).  I usually bring a handout and speak from that if the powerpoint isn't working.  You might share with your inquirers that it's always a good idea to be prepared for technology that doesn't work, just in case there's a glitch.  As last year, we'll have at least one technology person circulating and helping (David Young) and I'm trying to get a second person (Jeff Boyer) to help as well.

Hope this information will be helpful to you all!  

 Nanc

Hi Everyone -

Just a reminder that titles/abstracts are due one week from today (March 17, 2008). Of course, it's OK to send them earlier as well. I think it might be good to email me directly with the abstracts (ndana@coe.ufl.edu), as well as post them here in our on-line community. This way, we have a back-up check.

I'm so excited to see everyone's abstracts/titles for this year . . . I feel like a kid right before Christmas morning! It's ALWAYS so incredibly exciting to see teacher learning unfolding in the Showcase!

Have a great week everyone!

Nanc

Hi All -

As you hold your data analysis meetings in the coming weeks and prepare for your final showcase meeting, I thought it would be helpful to have a Showcase Schedule for Saturday as well as a copy of the directions that the UF students were given when I spoke to them over the last couple weeks (they are very excited about participating!). You may want to copy these documents for your teachers so they have a good idea on how the Showcase will run as well as the roll the UF students will play in each session. I will ask Chris to attach these documents as my "attacher" still doesn't seem to want to work.

ALSO -- IMPORTANT REMINDER -- ALL ABSTRACTS AND TITLES MUST BE TO ME NO LATER THAN MONDAY, MARCH 17TH!! We need to work round the clock this year to put the program together in a week's time to have it to print before I leave to present at the American Educational Research Association and International Council on Teacher Research in New York City on March 24th.

My plan is to literally work around the clock and use Tuesday (3/18) to slot all the presentations, Wednesday to enter them in the computer (3/19), and I hope to send a draft of the program to you on Wednesday evening or Thursday morning for you to check that all of your presenters are listed appropriately. I will need any changes back from you by Friday morning (3/21), so this is a heads up that there will be a quick turn around time on proofing the program this year.

I presented this past week at the Association of Teacher Educator's conference in New Orleans on the process of action research and it went great! There are so many people excited about this work throughout the nation! We continue to be on the cutting edge!

Remember to share with us how your data analysis meetings are going!

Happy Almost Friday! and Happy Inquiring!

Nanc

Jack asked that I post the abstract writing instructions . . . I have emailed it to Chris and he will attach it as soon as he can, as my computer right now is not allowing me to attach it.

Remember the new ground rule of posting something every two weeks . . . it's been about two weeks since we last met, so it's about time for you to all to post something.

A couple prompts if you'd like to use one or both (but don't feel you need to respond to these if you have something else you'd like to post on or reply to one of your colleague's postings) . . .

* What are some things you are thinking about as you prepare for your data analysis meeting?

* What have you learned about coaching data analysis from reading chapter 5 of The Reflective Educator's Guide to Professional Development?

Happy February!

Nanc

Hi All -

As you requested, I have drafted a letter from me that you can share with the principals in your districts about attending the Showcase, and providing comp time for teachers who might wish to attend as well. You requested I draft this letter at our last meeting.

I am going to ask Chris to post it as an attachment when he gets a chance, because since it is printed on letterhead, the file is too large for me to post here, so be on the look-out for it. Once it's posted, please let me know if you'd like any changes.

Hope you're all having a great week! Happy Wednesday!

Nanc

Hi Everyone -

 Just a couple important announcements to follow up on our great meeting last week --

 1.  Remember to read Chapter 5 of The Reflective Educator's Guide to Professional Development.  This is a GREAT resource for preparing for and planning your data analysis meetings that will be coming up soon.  I think you'll enjoy the "scrap booking" metaphor that opens the chapter, and this analogy for data analysis can help you help your inquirers think about what data analysis is all about!  Also, remind your inquirers to read Chapter 5 of their book, The Reflective Educator's Guide to Classroom Research. This chapter will take them through the process of data analysis step-by-step.  

2.  As your inquirers continue on with their work, remember the importance of literature as data (pp. 81 in The Reflective Educator's Guide to Classroom Research).  As last year, CSI will utilize the UF Library and do literature searches for each one of your inquirers to help support them in figuring out which pieces of literature connect to their wonderings and will give them insights as their study is unfolding.  We'll search for you and forward to you the top few resources we find.  We've done this already for a number of facilitators.  If you haven't yet submitted your list of inquirers and their topics/wonderings to Katie Tricarico and would like to take advantage of this service, please do so as soon as possible.  We have more inquirers than ever this year, and each search takes approximately one - two hours!  Katie's email address is:  k_tricarico@hotmail.com.

3.  At our last meeting, Jack asked me to post a resource on questions you might want to ask during data analysis . . . I think he might have been thinking about the probing questions figure that actually was created to help coaches probe during wondering development, but I've attached it here in case you think it might help with the data analysis meeting.  

 Sometime this week I will work on the letter to your administrators announcing the Showcase and suggesting they provide comp time for teachers to attend.  Have a great week everyone!  

 -Nanc

Hi Everyone -

SO WONDERFUL TO SEE EVERYONE
YESTERDAY!  While a large portion of our meeting was devoted to taking
care of a lot of business, we got an incredible amount accomplished, including:

• Discussing
  our role in Teachers Network Leadership Institute and planning a
  post-Showcase organizational meeting for any NEFEC teachers interested in
  working with this organization next year

• Planning
  the 4th annual Showcase, fine-tuning the schedule, and discussing ways to
  get more people involved other than presenters (Within a week, I’ll draft
  a letter to administrators suggesting comp time be provided as an
  incentive for teachers who aren’t presenting to attend and post it for
  your use)

• Revisiting
  our on-line community (with Chris' Help) and revitalizing this important
  mechanism to keep us connected to each other, and maximize the individual
  and collective learning that we are all engaged in about both teacher
  research and coaching teacher research  (Remember our new ground rule:  Each member of the community will
  post at least once every two weeks as a reminder to us all that our
  on-line community is alive and vibrant)

• Reviewing
  the data analysis protocol and planning for this local meeting

• Sharing
  the ways support for Inquiry is being shifted from NEFEC/CSI to districts,
  and identifying issues that are important to address as plans for this
  work continues

I will be working on a number
of things on my end to keep all of our ideas and planning moving forward as you
meet and work with your teacher inquirers over the coming months on data
analysis and Showcase preparation . . . I’ll keep you abreast of updates and
developments, as well as send our reminders as we approach critical dates (Like
Titles/Abstract Due On or Before March 17!)

During our small group work
yesterday around the data analysis protocol, in my group I shared a little bit
about a consultant I had gone to see that helped teachers teach test- taking
skills.  With FCAT season upon us,
Rhonda and John were both interested in what I learned, and asked that I share
it with them . . . As I was preparing to send them an email, I thought some of
you might be interested as well, so thought I’d fold it into our on-line
learning community.  So here goes .
. .

The gentleman I saw present
believes our bottom quartile students perform poorly on the FCAT because they
are not familiar with 12 common words that often appear on standardized test.
 Oftentimes, these learners might know the content to be able to answer
the question, but don’t know what the question is asking them.  The 12
common words that are frequently found on standardized test, as well as how
they can be explained to kids are:

Trace – List in steps

Analyze – Break apart

Infer – Read between
the lines

Evaluate – Judge

Formulate – Create

Describe – Tell all
about

Support –Back up with
details

Explain – Tell How

Summarize – Give me
the short version

Compare – All the ways
they are alike

Contrast – All the
ways they are different

Predict – What will
happen next

His premise is that we can improve kids test scores if we
“teach” these words and use them every day of the school year with our
students.

I share this with our community for whatever it’s worth to
you . . . I think in this era of high-stakes testing and accountability, it’s
important and necessary for us to devote some time to the teaching of
test-taking skills.  Sometimes I am
saddened, however, when the intense pressure the permeates our schools today
leads us to focus more on test-taking skills and test performance than on good,
sound, teaching and learning practice. 
In the spirit of inquiry, I wonder how we, as educators, can balance
preparation for tests and the teaching of test-taking skills with continued
meaningful teaching and learning. 
I know there is no answer to this constant tension we all feel each and
every day, but perhaps through engagement in inquiry, we can learn to navigate
that tension in the best possible ways . . .

Ahhh . . . Another inquiry for another day!

Have a great rest of your week! 

Best!

Nanc

Happy 2008 To Everyone!

I hope you all had a restful and enjoyable break, and an as stress-free as possible re-entry back into school yesterday!

As well as getting back into the swing of school, it's time for us to get back into the swing of inquiry this year! I am looking forward to seeing everyone on January 22! As a reminder, we'll meet in the Terrace Room at Norman Hall, but you should park at P.K. Yonge. Susan and I will meet you in the parking lot of PK, and Susan will drive the College of Education van from PK to the Terrace room at 8:55. I'll lead the folks who want to walk over at 8:50, so whether you are going to ride or walk, please plan to arrive between 8:45 and 8:50 at the P.K. parking lot so we can all be in the Terrace Room ready to go at 9!

This meeting will be important for all of us to get our inquiry momentum going, as well as discuss some very important details to the success of our work this year as well as in the future. We'll spend time getting updates on TNLI work, discuss showcase planning (there's some new things happening this year!), revisit our on-line community and have a discussion about where we are to head in the future (beyond this school year). Another reason this meeting will be important is that Sabrina Crosby has left NEFEC for a new position at Flagler County. We are happy for her and wish her well but will miss her leadership on this project. Brandy Arnold from NEFEC will be taking over where Sabrina left off, and I'm hopeful she'll be able to attend our meeting to meet everyone, and answer NEFEC related questions you may have about our work.

We'll revitalize the face-to-face component of our learning community of inquiry coaches on January 22, but in the meantime, it's important to revitalize our on-line learning community communications as we head into the new year. Therefore, I'd like everyone to post SOMETHING between now and our meeting on January 22nd. Any thought, reflection, comment, or response at all is fine for posting, but please do post SOMETHING! Some ideas you can pick from for those of you who like prompts:

Something I'm looking forward to when we meet on January 22 . . .

Something I'm wondering about my own inquiry this year is . . .

Somthing I've been thinking about regarding coaching inquiry is . . .

One idea for getting back into the swing of teaching and inquiry after the holiday break is . . .

Have a FANTASTIC couple weeks and I'll see you face-to-face on January 22 and in cyberspace sometime between now and then!!

-Nancy

Hi All -

I just received word from NEFEC that they'll fund up to three teachers (Travel, Registration, and Hotel) to participate in the National Staff Development Council Summer meeting to present our inquiry work! Mickie's on board -- I hope two more will volunteer!! You'd LOVE this conference! Let me know by Wednesday as I'll write our proposal on Thursday and it's due Friday! -Nancy

"Twas The Night Before School Breaks"

Hi Fabulous Facilitators -

I've set a date and secured a place for our January meeting. I think everyone who responded about meeting can make it on Tuesday, January 22 (Debbi asked to stay away from the last two weeks in January due to DIBELS in her district, but others couldn't do early January, so I'm hoping with enough notice Debbi can make her schedule so she can come!)

The Community Classroom at P.K Yonge was not available, so we will meet in the Terrace Room at Norman Hall. You can park at PK and either walk over or we'll get a van to ride people over. We'll meet for our traditional 9:00 - 2:00 time. On the agenda - How Everything Is Going, Showcase Planning and Preparation (There is A LOT to share with you about this!), Our On-line Learning Community, and more! NEFEC covers the cost of your substitute. I will expect that everyone will attend, this, our last meeting before the Showcase, unless I hear otherwise.

I can't believe how quickly this year is flying by - it seems from some of the recent posts to our on-line community that inquiry is flourishing in many districts! Here's something for you to ponder as facilitators -- we have now entered a very hectic time of year for teachers and students personally and professionally: holiday preparation, functions and activities will cause the month of December to "fly by" -- what are some ways we can keep enthusiasm for inquiry sustained during this hectic time period in everyone's lives and/or if we all take a little "breather" from our inquiries during the hectic month of December, how do we renew and restore the energy needed to continue the inquiry process when we return from our holiday breaks in January? If you have any thoughts on this -- please share!!

Nanc

As we head into the weekend, just wanted to remind everyone to make their "Thanksgiving Post" sometime before Thanksgiving, and to let me know of your thoughts about a January meeting. I've copied the post prompt into the end of this announcement.

In addition, be sure you respond to at least one other person's post (more is OK too) . . . There have been some very interesting posts by members of our community over time since we began this process back in September - you can respond to any post at all. I encourage everyone to take about 15 minutes just to "visit" each person's blog area and check it out. The email notification system has been working only sporadically, and I think some folks may have posted over time and you may not have received an email notification. Click on the blogger's name and peruse anything they've contributed to the community - respond if you'd like to anything, no matter when it was initially posted!

I wish you all a MARVELOUS, RESTFUL, and PEACEFUL Thanksgiving holiday!

All The Best!

Nanc

Thanksgiving Prompt:

One aspect of my first local meeting (Developing Your Wondering) or my second local meeting (Designing Your Inquiry) that went well was . . .

One question about teacher inquiry or about coaching teacher inquiry that emerged for me or for members of my group as a result of our first two meetings is . . .

Hi Wonderful Facilitators -

Hi Everyone -

Hi Fabulous Facilitators –

LONG ANNOUNCEMENT WITH LOTS OF INFORMATION – I’VE DIVIDED INTO A QUESTION AND ANSWER FORMAT TO MAKE IT EASIER TO FOLLOW –

QUESTION ONE: Nancy, you haven’t posted anything to our on-line community for a while . . . Where have you been?

It is hard for me to believe that it’s almost Thanksgiving! I’ve been immersed in writing the second edition of The Reflective Educator’s Guide to Classroom Research! Thanks to all of you for your help with this endeavor – the manuscript is now done and has been submitted to Corwin Press. What’s new for the second edition? We’ve added sections on the relationship between inquiry and differentiated instruction, data driven decision making, progress monitoring, and response to intervention. We’ve updated teachers’ definitions of inquiry (thanks to your blogging!). We’ve added five new ways to collect data in chapter four including digital photos, video, Critical Friend Group feedback, standardized test scores/assessment measures, and of course, what else, but BLOGGING! We’ve added a few new models for writing up inquiry work, more examples of teacher inquiry from middle school and high school contexts, as well as a whole new chapter on assessing the quality of your inquiry. The second edition should be out sometime around September of next year – I’ll keep you all posted, and thanks again for your insights, feedback, and help in crafting the second edition of this book! You are all AWESOME!

QUESTION TWO: How’s Showcase planning going?

In-between writing, I have been working hard behind the scenes on the Showcase as well. I had an outstanding meeting with Sabrina last Thursday, and we’ve got some great ideas for this year – including incentives to get teachers from your districts to attend as audience. I’m working on developing a plan now for audience members to receive up to 10 professional development points for attending on April 19th. Sabrina is also investigating donations of gift cards from local businesses that might be a bonus incentive on top of the points! . . . There is much to share about the Showcase and all the great ideas we have for this year. I hope to be able to share this with you in person!

QUESTION THREE: When will we meet again?

In talking with Sabrina, she agreed that it would be nice to plan another face-to-face meeting as we have much to discuss and share with one another. Rather than plan this meeting for Feb/March where it was in our schedule as a tentative meeting time and potentially interfere with FCAT, we thought a better time to get us all together would be January. NEFEC will pay for your substitute teachers. On our agenda would be the following: (1) Showcase Updates (There’s a ton of information to share and discuss about new ideas for the Showcase), (2) Time to Share and Reflect on How Everything Is Going with Local Meetings, (3) Our On-Line Learning Community – Continuing the discussion on if it is OK to add someone, and (4) Preparing Your Inquirers in March for the Showcase Program Abstract and Inquiry Write-Ups. Please respond to this announcement and let me know if you would like to hold a face-to-face meeting in January, and what dates in January are absolutely impossible for you to attend should we agree to have one.

QUESTION FOUR: Can you remind us of where we should be in our local inquiry work?

According to our calendar, by Thanksgiving, you should have held your first two local meetings: developing your wondering and designing your inquiry. Your inquirers should have read chapter 1 – 4 in their book, and you should have read chapters 1 – 4 in your coaching book (I hope you are finding the coaching book useful). Each of your inquirers, as well as you, should have a wondering developed and a plan for your inquiry, and be on your way to collecting data. Finally, when you get the opportunity (no rush), you should email a list of your inquirers (including yourself) and their topics to Katie, who will begin a search for literature that may relate to your topics and send them on to you. Katie’s email address is: k_tricarico@hotmail.com

QUESTION FIVE: It’s been a while since you’ve prompted us to post to our on-line learning community – would you provide a prompt for a posting?

I’d love to!! Given that we are winding down on the first leg of this inquiry journey, and as we head into the holiday season everyone gets so busy, I’d like everyone to post a response to the following prompt and respond to at least one member of our community’s old or new postings by the Thanksgiving holiday (that’s one week from today). If everyone posts a simple message and responds to someone before we enter the holiday season, we will revitalize our community and reaffirm our commitment to inquiry before all the holiday season craze is upon us. Here’s your prompt:

One aspect of my first local meeting (Developing Your Wondering) or my second local meeting (Designing Your Inquiry) that went well was . . .

One question about teacher inquiry or about coaching teacher inquiry that emerged for me or for members of my group as a result of our first two meetings is . . .

Place your post in your own blogging space, rather than respond to this announcement. I know I haven’t been receiving email communications when someone has posted, and I’m checking with Chris on this. I encourage everyone to take a few minutes and visit each person’s blog space to look for new entries that you may wish to respond to.

I think that’s about all for the questions/answers! Happy Almost Turkey Time!

Nanc

Hi All- Jack asked for the figures from Chapter 3 to be posted so you have them electronically in case you want to use some of them for your upcoming local meetings on developing a wondering, so here they are.

Hi Everyone -

As we head into the weekend, I wanted to share that there have been a number of great posts reflecting on the kick-off that are begging for response. I'm not sure if you received email notification on some of them, as I did not, and only stumbled upon them by playing around in the site and clicking on recent comments and bloggers, so be sure to visit the kick-off reflection posts of Debbi, Gayle, Joan, and Sherri (There are other great posts too this week, but I think these are the only ones you may not have received email notification about). I wish you all a fabulous weekend! My little girl turns 12 and we're celebrating this weekend -- I can't believe she's almost a teen! Happy Weekend! -Nanc

Hello Everyone-

I spoke with Gail Ritchie on Monday night, and I am quite excited about next Tuesday! It is shaping up to be a wonderful day! Attached please find the agenda for the meeting we will have with your administrators, as well as the agendas and teacher timeline for the kick-off.

Note that we will be starting our meeting with the administrator(s) from your district at noon at the Paramount Hotel. You and the district administration who will be attending should arrive at the meeting having already had lunch. Being that our time is so limited and we are beginning at noon, we did not want to take the time to eat during our session. We will, however, be providing everyone with a snack.

You may want to touch base with whoever is attending from the administration in your district, and perhaps ride together. Also, remember to send a reminder to the teachers you will be working with this year that we begin the Kick-Off on Tuesday at 3:30 at the Paramount in the Bivens Arms Room. Sabrina will have books to hand out, and I’ll bring some copies of last year’s program and monograph to spread around for people to glance through during the session. As you’ll note on the agenda, the following facilitators are presenting their work as per our planning session during our last facilitator meeting: Jack, Leanne, Debbi, Sherri, Mickie, Rhonda. Sabrina will arrange to have an lcd projector in each room, if you need one for your presentation.

Please review the materials for the kick-off.

Also, as facilitator of our on-line learning community, I’m asking each of you to make one post before our meeting and respond to at least one community member's post. There are a number of items you can choose to focus on in your post (as per our ground rules, you wished to have a focus for posts – sometimes), so here they are:

A. Reflections on Chapters 1, 2 or 7 of The Reflective Educator’s Guide to Professional Development – what are you thoughts on the reading? (See pink sheet entitled, “Our Inquiry Facilitator On-Line Learning Community” for more ideas for posting about a reading).

B. Recruiting Teachers To Participate This Year – How’s it going? What type of interest are you seeing from teachers? How many people have committed to the process this year? How did you go about recruiting them? How do you feel about the group you will be working with? How do they feel about the upcoming kick-off?

C. Reflection on Participating in TNLI and/or Presenting at NSDC – How do you feel about the opportunities that are being afforded to us to participate in national groups? What are the barriers/constraints to taking this work outside our schools/districts?

D. Time Management for Participating in Our On-Line Community - What personal strategies to you have for checking into our PLC, and participating? How is it working for you? Does it feel overwhelming or manageable or somewhere in-between?

REMEMBER TO LET ME KNOW BY TOMORROW IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN THE ALL EXPENSE PAID NATIONAL CONFERENCE PRESENTATION IN JULY, OR THE ALL EXPENSE PAID NATIONAL MEETING OF TNLI FELLOWS! I am really hoping that we at least get two more people for the July conference in Orlando! Such a generous offer from NEFEC to fund three teachers to participate – Thanks Sabrina and Mark!! Hope we can take advantage of these opportunities!

Can’t wait to see everyone on Tuesday!

Nanc

A few more figures from Ch 3

Here's the call for proposals for the international conference in NY.

Hi To Everyone -

First, for your positions as a Teacher Fellow in the Teacher Leadership Network, Diane has been asked to provide a brief biography of each of you. Please send Diane 2-3 sentences about yourself (i.e., the school and district you teach in, what grade/subject you teach, how long you've been teaching, etc). Email your brief biography to Diane at dyhoppey@coe.ufl.edu. I noticed on the TNLI listserv that they now have available a downloadable podcast of a teacher sharing his action research. If anyone checks it out, let us know. I think the idea of a podcast of teacher research is cool - maybe something we might incorporate into our work sometime in the future.

Speaking of the future . . . Anyone interested in putting in a proposal for the International Conference of Teacher Research with me? The dates of the conference are March 28 and March 29 -- this is the conference Gail Ritchie spoke of. It is at Bank Street College of Education in New York (a pretty fun place to visit!) . . . not sure how we can fund travel but I'll work on it. Perhaps a bake sale at the Showcase? (I'm only kidding about this one, but I have considered selling the t-shirts we made for all of you last year as a way to raise some funds to support travel - Apparently Susan was approached by a couple folks last year who asked if we were selling them - imagine that!). Open to any and all ideas! I'd love to have at least one of you attend this international conference! I'll write the proposal, so all you have to do is commit to attend and share at our session should it be accepted.

One final announcement . . . I met with Chris yesterday and he is still working on some tweaking for our on-line community to help it be even more user-friendly. There have been some very interesting, thoughtful, and informative posts in the last week so if you haven't had the opportunity just to "play around" in our community and visit different bloggers and posts, and respond to their blogs, you may enjoy doing so.

That's all the announcements for now . . .

Nanc

Gail just sent me multiple emails with multiple attachments of all kinds of stuff she uses in her work . . . I feel like I've just been handed a treasure chest and can't wait to look closely at all the jewels!

Hi Phenemonal Facilitators!!

YIPEE -- Another year of inquiry is underway -- thanks to your great work yesterday at the annual Kick-Off! Just wanted to take a quick moment to thank you all for participating in our kick-off yesterday, as well as our second face-to-face facilitator meeting. I hope you enjoyed the opportunity to interact with Gail Ritchie, and reflect on ways this process may become embedded in your district teacher professional development plan.

And now . . . A New Blog Prompt -- Reflections on The Kick-Off and Our Second Meeting. Take a minute a post your thoughts about yesterday - (Some questions you might want to address include: How did the day go for you and for the teachers and administrators from your district? What new insights did you gain yesterday that will be valuable to your work as a coach? How did the administration from your district perceive our work? How did the teachers from your group experience the day? What constraints/concerns/barriers do you anticipate as you coach the inquiry process this year?)

I think it would make sense to post your reflections on the kick-off as a personal blog entry, and then others can read and respond to your kick-off post, as well as have their own initial post in their blog space. If everyone titles this entry "Kick-Off Reflections" and uses "Kick-Off" as one of the Keywords/Descriptions, we should be able to click on Kick-Off in the right hand column "Key Words/Descriptions" and get to all the posts in one place. I think this might work the way Gayle was suggesting to organize us on-line yesterday. Let's try this and see how it works and then have an on-line discussion as to how it worked to follow up with our time with Chris yesterday. I'll do my own reflections later this evening in my blog space to get us started.

I'm enjoying reading everyone's contributions to our on-line Professional Learning Community. Have a great remainder of the week! Thank you all again for the incredible day you created yesterday! I'm pumped for a great year of inquiring -- I can hardly wait to see how each individual teacher's inquiry unfolds!

Nanc

Hi Incredible Inquiry Facilitators -

     Just wanted to remind everyone that you should arrive tomorrow at noon already having eaten lunch.  As we have such a small amount of time to meet with the administration from your districts and to tap into the knowledge and expertise of Gail Ritchie, we didn't want to take time away from meeting and discussion time for lunch . . . but we will have a yummy snack bag for everyone to sustain you through both our facilitator meeting and the Kick-Off! 

     We are busy getting ready and can't wait to see everyone tomorrow!  If you have the opportunity, it might be nice to remind the adminstrator(s) who are attending our noon meeting from your district to have lunch before they arrive.  

      See you all tomorrow at noon at the Paramount Hotel!  Hard to believe the Kick-Off is almost here!!!  

 Nanc