The Inquiry Showcase was wonderful. Out of 7 teachers from Lafayette,5 of them were first year presenters and they had an awesome experience. Saturday went so smoothly and was inspiring. I again enjoyed attending and being a part of such a wonderful event.
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
When looking at the Showcase Program, I noticed that one of the abstracts had National Board Certified Teacher, grade, school, and email. Should we have our teachers list that as well? I thought we were only supposed to list name, grade, school, and email. I think if one has this, they all should list accomplishments. What do you think?
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!
Below are the P.K. Yonge abstracts for the Showcase.
21st Century Physical Science Meets the Needs of a Diverse Group of 8th Grade Students
Teddi Bearman, 8th Grade Physical Science Teacher, P.K. Yonge, tbearman@pky.ufl.edu
Today’s classroom requires a fresh approach to teaching the 21st century student. An online classroom was designed to meet the needs of a diverse group of physical science students in providing effective instruction through an on-line community called Moodle. This forum utilized discussion boards, interactive quizzes, and free on-line game simulators to facilitate learning. The program was found to have the largest impact on routing out the vast amount of misconceptions held by students and their teacher in physical sciences and incorporating new ways of addressing these misconceptions. First year Presenter
Supplemental Counseling and Services Needs Assessment in Middle School
Dr. Russ Froman, Assistant Principal, P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School, rfroman@pky.ufl.edu
Students of P.K. Yonge’s Middle School tend to be a microcosm of society along with all of the trials and tribulations of normal teens. There seems to be an inordinate number of support services available at P.K. Yonge that is not normally available in most schools. However, there seems to be a disconnect between the students’ needs and our professional guidance services available for the students to utilize. There is also not a formal referral process for teachers to refer students to the support services available, or a good way for students to know what services are available. The purpose of this study was to determine what the supplemental counseling and services needs are at P.K. Yonge as seen by the P.K Yonge teachers, parents and students and how a referral process can be implemented to meet these needs. First year presenter
Digital Portfolio’s Role in 9th Grade and Beyond
Mickey MacDonald, High School Science Teacher, P.K. Yonge, mmacdonald@pky.ufl.edu
All 9th grade students at P.K. Yonge, DRS complete a digital portfolio and autobiographical video that is shared with parents at Student Led Conferencing. Although this is the fourth year that 9th graders have been required to complete the project, as a team we have not developed the project to be as meaningful of an experience as it can be for all students. My inquiry has examined the ways in which the articulation of purpose and outcomes for the 9th grade digital portfolio project and restructuring its implementation can reduce technological difficulties, increase completion and attendance at student-led conferencing, and extend its applicability beyond 9th grade. Fourth Year Presenter
Getting Them All to Reach the Same Goal - Differently!
Annamarie Cairo-Tijerino, High School Spanish Teacher, PK Yonge, Tijerino@pky.ufl.edu
Although for the most part students do well in my class because it is a beginning level class, each year there are several who are not successful enough to continue to Spanish 2 and few continue to an advanced level. I want my belief that everyone can learn a second language to be reflected in the end result of all students leaving my class room with the knowledge, skills and motivation to become bilingual. To this end, I became interested in expanding my knowledge of what differentiation looks like in a level one language classroom, analyzing how differentiated my instruction is currently, and finding ways of reaching those students who don’t quite make it and those who may struggle at the next level of language learning. First year presenter
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
