Orange+CIG+Meeting+Minutes+1-15-2010


 * 1-15-2010**


 * Tasks**

Documentation: Lead the 6 sentence check in

Recorder: Type the minutes:

Discussion Leader: Lead the reading exercise and discussion:

Time Keeper: keep us on target to complete agenda by 2:15

Housekeeping/Announcements - 15 minutes Reading and Discussion: A Case Study in Inquiry - 45 minutes Complete Inquiry Briefs - 20 minutes Sharing - in pairs share your inquiry briefs - Cory is available for questions/help as needed
 * Agenda**
 * [|Six Sentence Update]**- 20 minutes

Joe - timekeeper Dianne - 6 sentence check in Lorraine - recorder Jackie - discussion leader
 * Minutes:

Our group** **__focus needs to move from content and curriculum to strategies and impact on the student.__** **Each of us has strategies that we are trying. We may share and borrow strategies from each other to try in our classrooms. It will look different in each classroom, but it might relate and impact all of our students. At the end, it isn't to find a group of lesson plans, but teaching strategies. As a group we need to show how our wondering benefits the whole as we reflect on our individual strategies that we implement in our diverse classrooms. To document the pros / cons of each strategy.

Each member is to write 6 sentences that describe our collaborative inquiry process on Cory's page. We all commented on our description.** The use of the Google doc can be continued by the members to document their progress. **[|Six Sentence Update]**

Lorraine - Protocol for data analysis. Helping your colleagues Make Sense of What They Learned. The paper concerns a teacher who used blogging to engage students in a reading assignment. Teachers were given four minutes to share with the group where he is with his inquiry. Tracy - He discovered that he wasn't getting the results he wanted. Jessica - They asked him probing questions to discover what he really wanted from this blog, why he chose the book (topic of blog), what problems he had. They could not ask questions that implied a solution. The questions need to broad and lead further into the inquiry or give a value statement. Diane - He decided that he needed a better value statement and set up explicit expectations for his students. He was asked if his students had the skills to follow those expectations. He discovered that he hadn't taught them the prerequisite sills necessary to be successful. He also needed a rubric. Joe - The last part deals with them question his "wondering". Jacquelyn - He hadn't mentioned that he hoped that this would help with the state testing. They asked him to go back and rethink his project. They suggested that he rethink the choice of novel and his assumptions of their prior knowledge and skills. The teacher then reflected on what his mistakes and successes were. Discussion - We all wish that we would spend more time in reflection of if our lessons were successful or not. Reflect on what were we really trying to accomplish. Choose a specific thing in your inquiry. Do a teacher action research. Gather information Keep a journal and samples of student work. Stay away from opinions. General then probing questions. Data is qualitative, not necessarily numbers! (lesson plans, student responses, student achievement)
 * Paired reading of the "Reflective Educator's Guide to Professional Development"**

Strategies planned by each member: Joe - Trying a new strategy each week to enhance classroom management. Some will continue and some may be discarded. Data collection - Journal results Q3 Tracey - Using art therapy strategies and adapting and modifying them each week. Data collection - verbal, written, visual journal, photographs. Q3 Jacquelyn - To get group work under control and involve everyone, minimize group size, give specific jobs, expectations given, use technology to make students accountable, control time expectation. Data collection - Q3, skype, back channeling (blogging) Diane - Technology based and how bringing it into the classroom increases learning. Data collection - comparing results through reflection. Lorraine - Strategy is to use graphic organizers and maps, infographics. Data collection - visual display of data and story telling, Q3 (Karl Goud) Jessica - Implimenting lesson plans that reach students with ADHD or other learning disability. Try new ones weekly. Data collection - documentation journal, recordings Q3

Summary - everyone of us can take some of the strategies used by all of us and apply them in our classrooms. It will enable us to branch out and use each other's research and practical application.