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

All,

What a rush!!!  The 4th (showcase) was spectacular.  All we needed was fireworks to top off a great experience.

 My principal and I got the verbal go-ahead from our district administration to host a district-wide showcase next year(like Flagler did this year).  We are talking about hosting presenters from our district and inviting Dixie and Gilcrest to join us if they want to participate.  I need input from Nanc so we do not interfere with anything planned by CSI/UF next spring.

 Also, do we use write-up instructions from last year or did I miss getting the attachment???

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

We will be sharing some of the ideas we learned during our next faculty meeting. Already we have our teachers implementing some of those ideas today! Thanks everyone for helping prepare your group – you did a magnificent job!

I really enjoyed the Showcase this year. Each year it seems to get better and better, although the first one was fantastic also. Even though my principal did not come (tired) and the county person didn’t show (grandchild sick and had to watch), I was happy that I did see a Columbia Co. group from a school show with their principal (they had no one presenting). I have been trying so hard for three years to promote how wonderful and fulfilling inquiry is with our county people… how it is the best IPDP (individual professional development plan), the deep conversations about student and teacher success, the reflections about one’s own path and methods… I will keep trying to bring these ideas to our county people here.

HI folks,

What a fantastic Showcase.  Everything was so well organized and my people were VERY impressed.

I'm starting to get questions about the invoices...can we submit them as soon as we submit our writeups?  It's $200 for the inquirers right?

John

Hey to everyone!  I hate to disappoint all of you, but I think Union counties presentations are the BEST!  We did a practice run yesterday & WOW- My participants did a great job.  I love how everything always seems to come together at the end even when you have doubts.

I can't wait to see everyone next week.  I'm off to enjoy Spring Break starting tomorrow.  I'll see you next Saturday!!!!

Like everyone else, we will be doing a practice run on Wednesday of this week.  We will be on Spring Break the week before the showcase.  Therefore, we wanted one last time to get together & work out any kinks in our presentations.  I have a couple that are extremely nervous - which surprises me since they both have an outgoing personalities.  One of my teachers misunderstood about the 20 minutes presentation & thought she was talking the entire 50 minutes.  It was comforting when I shared that she would only speak for 15 & take questions.   That in itself should help her nervousness.  I'm glad we communicated early & got this straight.  I looking forward to next Saturday.  It's just so hard to limit the sessions to a couple of choices.  So many of them look very interesting.  I'll see everyone next week.  Time is running out quickly!!!!!!!!!!!!

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 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

My group posed quite a few technical questions today, and I could answer all of them except this one.  I thought I’d post it in case anyone else wanted to hear what Chris or someone replies with.

Will the computer in the room at P K Yonge be a Mac or PC?  They said it might make a difference if they had a Quicktime movie within their PowerPoint.  I know there are different versions of PowerPoint with different backgrounds available, but did not know about movies. 

Nanc sent us all a letter to give to our principals regarding the showcase in April. NEFEC still has not posted the event so that people can register yet. I’m afraid that they will forget to do it if it isn’t posted soon. Either Brandy or Nanc - any idea of when NEFEC will post it so I can pass this along?

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