Hi everyone! I'm going to use some of my Thanksgiving time to catch up on all the blogs. I feel sorry for you guys who only have 2-3 days off & we have the whole week. I've held two local meetings so far and have another planned for the week after Thanksgiving. My group is smaller than I had originally thought. Unfortunately, the showcase falls during our spring break so that created some conflicts for several participants. It also falls the same weekend as the Secondary Reading Conference in Panama City Beach. I don't know if any of you other coaches have noticed that conflict. Although our group is small we have some great ideas being developed. One of the elementary teachers plans to focus on fluency. Debbi, I thought of you and referred her to your previous inquiry. Lake Butler also received a huge science grant this year. Therefore, another teacher plans to center her inquiry around some the developments through the grant. A guidance counselor at the middle school had a hard time deciding on her topic, but she has narrowed it to "How can we support teachers with a non-education background in a timely fashion, and what are the effects of that support?" I'm really excited about this inquiry because she is at my school and we have several new teachers that fall into this category. I also think it's an issue that's becoming very prevalent in education. Therefore, this inquiry will be helpful to everyone who has the privilege of hearing her presentation. A new math coach at my school plans to focus her inquiry around how to encourage students to perform their best on extended and short response questions. This also goes along with our school wide goal for this year. She has many great ideas already in place to make this happen.My inquiry will be an expansion of last years. I want to try some other ideas based on mentoring, so I'll be taking it a step further. I hope this is acceptable. Nancy, maybe you can reply to this question. I have one other teacher, but I can't think of her topic to save my life. All of my notes are at school, so I don't have them in front of me. I'll share her inquiry later.I hope everyone has a "Happy Thanksgiving!"Rhonda

Our first meeting cultivated some really incredible discussions with the seven people who were present (two who had committed could not make it). The dynamics of the group led to some very gratifying conversations about their inquiries. The conversation gained depth from inclusion of pre-K through high school teachers. It seems that teachers who are often isolated in their classrooms crave meaningful dialog with peers. Our meeting lasted well over the time I had planned, and we said our goodbyes three hours later, anxious to meet again at the end of the month. Even though I did bring brownies, drinks, and other treats, the success of this meeting was definitely due to the questions and insightful responses from the group members.
We will be writing our inquiry briefs and bringing these to our next meeting at the end of the month.

One aspect of my first local meeting (Developing Your Wondering) that went well was that we were all at the meeting on time. Also, I have teachers from the high school participating this year! I am so excited to see inquiry spread outside of my own school, where most of our past inquirers were coming. This is so exciting to me! We had a very informing, and organized first meeting. I presented my inquiry from last year since most did not attend the kick-off. (As I mentioned before in my blog I was very concerned about that!) We went around the circle and discussed our wonderings, and were already on the way to assisting others. I feel like we are a great team! We all seem confortable with each other, and respectful to each other. This was a big issue last year to me, because I had many who were "talkers" and were always taking us off task. (Drove me crazy!!) I hated to be "bossy" but I had to constantly steer us back. I did not see this happening this year..yet! LOL! Anyways, we are not meeting again until after the Thanksgiving holiday.

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 when is the best time to take our "sub day". We discussed this and tentatively decided to use it at the end when we are organizing our information and getting reay to present our projects. So, it all worked out.

Baker County is on a roll! :O)

One aspect of my first local meeting, (developing your wondering), is that I was pleased that all of my teachers came ready with a concern and a wondering. We took turns sharing ours wonderings and the group helped fine tuned the wording of the wonderings. We also discussed directions for the teachers to take in putting their inquiry into action and how to appropriately collect data. I was tickled when a few days later one of my teachers came to my office and said, "I am changing my inquiry." Her reading class had changed a few students and she said that she now saw a larger need. We talked about that is what a good teacher does, they inquire on the biggest need of their students. As their students change or grow, our methods have to change or grow.

One question about teacher inquiry that emerged for members of my group as a result of our first meeting is if a teacher is using a program or teacher material that has already been researched and proven is that really teacher inquiry?? For example, one of my teachers wants to use poetry to increase her students' fluency. She was going to use a book, "Poetry Partners." Can she use this book as part of her inquiry?? We discussed that teacher inquirers are not required to reinvent the wheel, but we are still fuzzy. Please give us your thoughts.

I've ended up with a nice size group. Nice enough that I'm going to split it into secondary and elementary. We've had 2 meetings and things are progressing nicely. We will meet again the end of November or beginning of December. Teachers should have their "wonderings" a little more solidified by then. They've had great ideas.

I, on the other hand, have been struggling with my wondering....but I've got several ideas, I just want a little more of a strong feeling before I begin. I've been working a lot lately with data and our lowest quartile, maybe something will jump out at me from all that.

I'll keep you posted.

Greetings Everyone!

I am so excited adfter our first local meeting! I was so disappointed after only 1 person showed up for the kick-off. I kept positive, and contacted everyone by email. (different schools) And guess what! They all came to the meeting, and they are focused and ready to go! Our meeting was so productive. (Last year I struggled to keep on track, due to random talking! :O( but not this year!!) I have three teachers from the high school,one is working with emotionally disabled students, so that should be very interesting. I also have a team of teachers who are ESE Support Facilitators for our school, and then myself.
Things are looking brighter! We planned for our next meeting, decided when we want our sub. I presented my last inquiry from last year to start with, since they did not have the opportunity to attend the kickoff. That was a genius idea on my part. :O) If I may say so myself! Our next meeting is scheduled for after Thanksgiving. We decided to meet on Wednesdays at 3:30. We also decided to use our sub day for writing our projects, and presenting them to each other as practice. So Baker County is on their way!

Levy District's first meeting(s) will be held Monday 10/29
and Tuesday 10/30 at a central location for convenience and accommodations for
prior commitments. With a large group (14
inquirers) this year, I felt that we would gain more by splitting the first
meeting to narrow down the wonderings. I
feel that I have the protocols down and look forward to honing in on the
burning questions. I will report on our
progress after our meetings and debrief sessions.
If you have not had a chance to visit the harmony school site for
additional protocol information, you should take the time. What a wealth of professional learning
community background and information!!!

My dilemma is with the administrivia.

I have not been able to find the sign up on my-points.org
activity search (none of my inquirers are registered). Any clues???

Also, are we to give invoices and activity logs to our
inquirers? If so, where do we find them
(attachments)?

What are our instructions for submitting sub-day info to our
district office (I plan to use that day to spend on Inquiry briefs with all
participants at one mass meeting)?

Fellow PLC,

Now that we are roaring into the jungle on this year's safari I find
myself elated. The excitement began shortly after the
Kick-off when several more teachers contacted me to join the hunting
party. We have set a pair of
back-to-back dates to meet after school in a central location.
This seems to accommodate those with prior commitments. Anyone
not able to attend our "R&D"
(refine and define your wondering) party will meet in small local
groups at a
later date with mentors and facilitator.

I am wondering if we need to have the various forms and protocols used in
past years available on this site so we can tap those resources as needed. Debbi seems to be a step ahead by providing
letters, etc. for us to adapt and use in our communication within our
district. THANKS Debbi.

Sabrina, can you provide the administrivia (instructions for invoicing,
timelines, activity logs, etc.) necessary for NEFEC via attachments?

Attached, please find Levy District PLC.

Fairly long entry alert: but feedback from anyone who has the time would be greatly appreciated.Suggestions/words of wisdom/expressions of encouragement and good cheer?I know we all need to get pushed from the nest sooner or later, and suspect that all the little birdies are somewhat loathe to leave the nest-service food and the congenial warmth at the same time they are developing curiosity about trying this flying thing. Although we're hardly fledglings in any other way, that's kind of where Anna Falcouner and I are this year in our role of trying to go out much more on our own with teacher inquiry professional learning communities in our district. Our county curriculum people worked with Sabrina to launch a semi-independent county-wide plan: facilitators in each school (several in a couple of schools), with each facilitator having the potential to work with up to 5 teachers, launching our own kickoff night, and our own showcase in the spring. To that end, Anna and I worked very hard last summer to plan a two-day workshop to lead the potential facilitators through Dr. Dana's book, to allow for questions and discussion, to practice a protocol, and to send them off to recruit in their schools. It has worked much better in some schools than others, but it looks at this time as if we might have up to 50 presenters early in May. We just had a three-hour follow-up meeting with the facilitators this last Wednesday during which time we gave them some of the idea-stimulating and product-honing activities from the manuscript of Nancy's new book. If anyone has the time, I'd be happy to send a list of the sections she graciously allowed us to excerpt. The meeting went pretty well: the new facilitators were glad to get the definitions and activities, and recognized their potential usefulness. It's an exceptionally bright group of people that we are lucky enough to be working with. They had numerous questions, but some of the participants were relieved to realize that all of us are really in learning mode together, and that right answers were not what we were about. While everyone who completes a project will get some money to spend for his/her classroom, and each person who presents will be paid our normal stipend ($100) for the showcase day, the participants cannot really be motivated by money, because it's just not that much to go into the personal pocket. We would appreciate:ideas for reducing jittersactivities from the manuscript that worked well with your inquirersany practical suggestions you can addthe abovementioned words of wisdomWe want to make inquiry a very normal and useful option for professional development in our system. Success this year can mean big long term pay-offs for the kids. What we're terrified of is the possibility that, if we aren't successful, the reputation of inquiry in our district will be clouded and its potential lost. We are birdies with butterflies in our stomachs, flapping our wings like crazy. Thanks so much--from both Anna and me.