CAPSTONE IN REFLECTIVE TEACHING WEEK 1 1/15/11 EDRS 698

Agenda 8 – 8:45 Introductions and warm-up  Crosswords Activity and introductions  Introduce and practice 7 norms of collaborative discussion.  Practice using the norms with a Pair/share.  Debrief 8:45 – 9:00Discuss the course guide; Snacks discussion 9:00 – 11:30 Student in Context presentations and BREAK 11:30 – 12:00 Access blog, and wrap up. Check in with for strands 2 – 5.

Cross Word Connections  Write your first and last name across the middle of the paper.  You will have just 5 minutes to connect with as many people as possible. A connection occurs when you find someone who can:  1. Write their name on your paper in a way that includes a letter from your name or another name on your sheet.  2. You write on the back of the sheet one thing that you have in common with that person: Ex, things you both like: food, movie, free time, places you’ve been, family size, etc.  At the end of the activity we will debrief

The 7 Norms of Collaborative Work © Bill Baker, Group Dynamics Berkeley  Pausing Pausing before responding or asking a question allows time for thinking and enhances dialogue, discussion and decision-making.  Paraphrasing Using a paraphrase starter that is comfortable for you: “So…” or “As you are…” or “You’re thinking…” and following the statement with a paraphrase assists members of the group to hear and understand each other as they formulate decisions.  Probing Using gentle open-ended probes or inquiries such as, “Please say more…” or “Can you tell me about…” or “Then, are you saying?” increases clarity and precision of the group’s thinking.  Putting Ideas on the Table Ideas are the heart of a meaningful dialogue. Label the intention of your comments. For example, you might say, “Here is one idea…” or “One thought I have is…” or “Here is a possible approach…” or “I’m just thinking out loud…”  Paying Attention to Self and Others Meaningful dialogue is facilitated when each group member is conscious of self and of others and is aware of not only what s/he is saying but how it is said and how others are responding. This includes paying attention to learning style when planning for, facilitating and participating in group meetings. Responding to others in their own language forms is one manifestation of this norm.  Presuming Positive Intentions Assuming that others’ intentions are positive promotes and facilitates meaning dialogue and eliminates unintentional putdowns. Using positive presuppositions in speech is one manifestation of this norm.  Pursuing a Balance Between Advocacy and Inquiry Maintaining a balance between advocating for a position and inquiring about one’s own and other’s position assists the group to become a learning organization.

Practice Using the 7 Norms  Can you think of an example in your own experience where participating in a discussion caused you to rethink and then change your position on an issue?  Conversely can you think of a time when group discussion made you feel uncomfortable and caused you to stop examining your beliefs or ideas?  Can you begin to describe features or elements of either of these experiences that might help you to understand the enabling and disabling features of those sorts of “critical” conversations? (p. 19)

Course Guide  ? Any questions? Some activities will be moved around to accommodate the various days. As with each new group, I’ll make changes that seem appropriate for learners or for instructional flow.  Data presentations—we will have the first and third, Comm. Conn. and Tech with 3 groups of 4, 3, and 3. The second and fourth, CR Man. and Inst. Str. will use two groups of 5.  Groups for 1 st Data Presentation—  Groups and presenters for all subsequent strand topics and data presentations TBD next week.

Snacks/Contact List???  Do we want to do a snack sign-up or do you just want to bring in your own munchies?  Do you want to do a contact list with phone numbers/ s?

Student in Context Presentations  Using the power point you created about numbers 2 – 4 of the Student in Context strand, present the information to your peers.  In addition to the basic data, touch on ideas that are most meaningful to you, and why they are important.  Time limit: 8 – 10 minutes, strictly enforced! 50 points for presentation, 10 points for the artifacts that accompany it.  Listeners: Write down basic notes for future reference – i.e. Student’s name, school, grade level, things that popped out, made you wonder, you want to remember.

Our class blog/ Teacher Metaphor  Our class blog is located at  You will need to join as a follower. To do that you must have a Google account. Easy to do, just follow the directions.  Next week we will look more deeply into reflective teaching and the social context of teaching. You will address your own personal “teacher metaphor,” based on your own practical theory, which grows out of your text reading, personal values, and classroom experiences.

Prepping for next week…  --If you’re still working on reading Zeichner and Liston, get it done. If you’ve completed that reading, a brief review and/or updating of the questions would be a good idea.  --Read/review Nieto Chapters 1, 2, 6, and 7. Review the articles you have picked through the article search.  --Utilize the above to create your Web 2.0 mind map (Mindmeister, e.g.)  --Post your response to the blog question re: your teacher metaphor. I suspect that your strongest ideas for this will be gleaned from your reflective teaching mind map, but keep it brief – don’t discuss the entire mind map.