On Tuesday, May 6, the CART awardees met at Anderson Academy for our third support session of the year. Present were Tim, Donna, Debbie, Mandi, Nichole, Angela P., Carolyn B., Michaelann, Robin, Jennifer, Jenita, Angela M., Loche, and Shirlene. Three CART groups did not have a representative there and will be meeting with me soon.

Tim started us off with an icebreaker. He asked us to name the top 3 songs on our iPods or our favorite three songs. This was a fun icebreaker. There were some participants that I had not met before, and this was a quick way to get some insight into people’s personalities as well as share some laughter. The three songs that came to my mind that afternoon were “Perfect Day” by Hoku (it’s the peppy theme song to Legally Blonde), “If We Are The Body” by Casting Crowns, and “Passionate Kisses” by Mary-Chapin Carpenter. However, I really hardly ever listen to music on the iPod. I mostly use it for listening to “This American Life” podcasts whenever I walk the dog.

After the icebreaker, I went over the ground rules and agenda, and then we dug into reading an example of a teacher’s action research report: “How can I improve student learning through the implementation of several strategies related to reflective practice?” by Jennifer Sztramko. http://schools.gedsb.net/ar/passion/pppii/jenn.html

This source of case studeies was highlighted in McNiff and Whitehead’s book All You Need to Know About Action Research (2006). There are dozens of case studies available at the Passion in Professional Practice website. http://schools.gedsb.net/ar/passion/index.html
It’s worth exploring this site to get more examples of how an action researcher can write about their findings and provide evidence.

After reading the article quietly, we split into three groups and used the “Three Levels of Text Protocol” to discuss and enlarge our understanding. Some of the issues that came up in my small group were the challenges of consistent reflection, modeling reflection for students, timing, and looking for evidence that we have changed.

We debriefed as a large group and then looked at the CART Grant Interim Report and Request for Renewal Funding. This report is due on or before July 31, 2008. I want to read the story of each grant team. I really want to have a narrative of learning rather than just a dry report. The text that we read can serve as a model—What was your original idea? What needed improving? What did you think might work? Did you try it out? What happened? Did it work? What is the evidence? How will you modify your plan for next year?

Please note that you should share your evidence—reflections, excerpts from journal entries, transcripts of conversations, samples of student work. What else can you use to show a change in practice and a change in results?

The reflections are in the extended entry.

Continue reading "CART Meeting 5-6-08" »

Continue reading "Tampa Winter Meeting--Day Two" »

The NSRF Winter Meeting took place last week in Tampa, Florida, December 13-15, 2007. The opening session kicked the meeting off with an amazing teaching demonstration from Gloria and the Math Team from her elementary school. Gloria uses movement and call and response to teach math vocabulary and problem solving patterns. The children were obviously both excited and proficient, and I was excited to be there. It was a great way to put students and learning at the forefront of our discussions for the next two and a half days.

Most of the Winter Meeting was devoted to spending time in Home Groups. For the first time, I got to facilitate a Home Group and I was truly blessed with a group who came to work.

We started with a 3-2-1 icebreaker. In pairs, we shared three things about ourselves, two AHA's that we had from the opening session, and one burning question that we brought with us. We introduced our partners to the group, shared the burning questions, and debriefed the process.

Next, Phil led us through the Passions Profiles Protocol. This was one of the most popular activities of the day. I had never used it before, and now I am itching to use it in other contexts.

After lunch, we recorded the norms that we were already using and added some to help us think about how we would help each other do powerful work.

Continue reading "Tampa Winter Meeting--Day One" »

The CART Grant cohort met last night from 4:00-7:00pm at Challenge Early College High School. Present were Karen, Linda, Debbie, Matthew, Terri, Ron, Michaelann, Sonia, Lauren, Chong-Hao, Carolyn, Donna, and Tim. Two of the ten groups did not have a representative present at the meeting.

The purpose of the meeting was to build our network of fellow researchers, get support for any challenges we might be facing in our research, and deepen our understanding of how to gather data and generate evidence.

We began with the “Affinity Groups” icebreaker and then jig-sawed Chapter 13, “Monitoring Practice and Looking for Data,” in Action Research by Jean McNiff and Jack Whitehead (2006). Click on the thumbnails to see some of the learning from the chapter.

Since the snacks were late getting delivered, we took some time to simply go around and share what our initial questions are and what sorts of data we’ve already collected. Examples included chalk talk posters, summaries of peer observations, samples of student work, parent comments, written reflections, archives of student case files, email correspondence, personal journals, and many others.

We refreshed ourselves with yummy sandwiches, wraps, fruit, cookies, and drinks from Jason’s Deli and then engaged in a new protocol dubbed “The Heart of the Matter.” Each group displayed an artifact that they brought with them and wrote a brief description of the artifact. We then quietly examined each other’s artifacts and wrote down clarifying questions. Each group responded orally to the clarifying questions, and then we again quietly walked through the room to re-examine the artifacts and add probing questions and connections.

Tim debriefed the process and I wish I had audiotaped the debrief.

We asked that people email any questions that they have about the grant and promised that answers would be posted on line where everybody could refer to them.

Reflections are in the extended entry.

Continue reading "CART Support 10/16" »

On Thursday, June 14, the CART Awardees met for the first time. The purpose of the meeting was to provide a forum for the recipients to meet and interact as well as share important information about budgets, ethical considerations, and strategies for collecting data.

We started with the 3-2-1 icebreaker. The participants partnered with each other and shared 3 things about themselves, 2 things about their grants, and 1 question that they wanted to have answered. As the participants introduced themselves to the whole group, Tim and I scribed the questions. There were many questions about budgeting as well as concerns about getting the research started.

Next, Tim and I reviewed the expectations of the Houston A+ Challenge for the CART teams. The recipients agree to
1) conduct the inquiry as outlined in their proposal,
2) complete an interim and final report,
3) present the findings at a public forum and submit the findings for publication, and
4) attend the CART support meetings three times a year.
The dates for the 2007-2008 meetings will be set in early August.

Catherine, Director of Finance for the Houston A+ Challenge, then answered many of the financial questions that participants brought. This grant has special challenges for our organization because of the variety of groups and the way they will get access to the funds. There are school-based groups, multi-school groups in a single district, a group with members from three different school districts, a charter school, and a university-based group. For most groups, the monies will be loaded with the school district and the grant recipient must follow school guidelines for making purchases. The multi-school group and the university-based group will leave the funds with A+ and must fill out expense reports to get reimbursed.
HA+C will send each team a budget spreadsheet with drop-down menus for the object codes and function codes. These budgets must be checked and returned to HA+C for the monies to be loaded with the districts. Transfers from one category to another are allowed, but must be approved by Tim. All receipts should be saved, and they must be itemized. HA+C does not reimburse for alcohol or hardware.

As we transitioned to talking about ethical considerations, Tim and I shared that we are doing our own action research around the questions “What is the role of an intermediary organization in supporting improved teaching and learning?” and “How can we best support the creation of sustainable, reflective, collaborative, professional groups in the Houston area?” Furthermore, Cheryl, a professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at U of H is investigating a project titled “Teacher Learning in Houston A+ Challenge Sponsored Groups: A Four Year Study.” We asked each participant to sign the “University of Houston Teacher Consent to Participate in Research” form and encouraged each group to consider ethical concerns in their own projects such as maintaining confidentiality and gaining consent of their research participants.

We ended the meeting with the participants at each round table sharing their strategies for collecting data and then everyone wrote reflections.

Excerpts from the reflections are in the extended entry.

Continue reading "CART Award Meeting" »

While riding in the car on our way home from Dallas last weekend, I passed the time by re-reading portions of Into the Classroom by Thomas Hatch. You can read an excellent book review by Michaelann here at the Connections website.

In Chapter 1, Hatch asks "Why Is Making Teaching Public So Hard?" and compares some assumptions about teaching with what we assume about other professional fields. Hatch writes:
"The lack of support for teachers' learning stands in marked contrast to the elaborate and sophisticated support systems that can help professionals in other fields to develop their ideas and share them with a wide range of audiences. Nowhere are these differences in support more evident than in comparing the treatment of artists and scholars with the treatment of teachers. 'Uninterrupted time to work, good working conditions, and a supportive community'--that is the promise of many institutions dedicated to advancing the work of scholars and artists. In institutions for advanced study, scholars and artists learn when they work alone and without interruption, with little or no guidance from others, in a beautiful environment and a relaxed social setting; but teachers usually learn in intense courses, seminars, and workshops, in close collaboration with peers, and under the supervision of someone else. (Hatch, 1998)."
This passage got me to dreaming about what a retreat center for advancing teaching and learning might look like. Of course, it would have to have beautiful grounds, relaxing views, and a chef on staff! I think it would also have flexible meeting space, a great library, and a supply closet with no lock on the door.
I'm envisioning a space where individual teachers could come for a sabbatical--a place to "fill the tank" and do some deep thinking for a few days or even a semester. My foundation would raise funds to train a highly qualified corps of substitute teachers whose mission would be to make sure the students continued to progress while their regular teacher was taking a break from the classroom to improve her practice.
I'm also envisioning space where teams of educators could come to think and plan together.
Well, if I ever win the lottery, I'll use it to build this retreat center as my legacy.

Reflections are in the extended entry. I will post a summary soon.

Continue reading "May 2 Facilitator CFG" »

Here are my personal reflections and reminders for the process of developing a grant and shepherding people through the application process.

What Worked
•I was really glad to see that the number of CART applicants was more than double the number of Teacher As Researcher grant applicants that we had three years ago. I hope that this is an indicator of strengthening interest in CFG work in Houston.
•There was also more of a range of CFG experience in the applicants. A couple of the applicants just completed their training in spring 2007. For the TAR grants, most of the applicants had been trained in 1998 and 1999.
•The support sessions helped me and Tim make connections with the CFG community and I think it probably strengthened several of the applications.
•The scoring went smoothly. This particular group of readers/scorers was very serious and committed to carefully evaluating each proposal. I think it helped that I created the “What is A+. . .” information sheet that explained the purpose and values of the Houston A+ Challenge, CFG’s, and action research.

What Needs Tweaking
Here are a few things to remember to tune up if I am ever involved in writing another Request for Proposals.
•Add a line on the cover sheet for applicants to tell when they were trained as CFG coaches and who trained them. This will help us check and confirm eligibility. We were able to dissuade several non-CFG trained folks from applying for the grant when they came to the support sessions, but one slipped by. That group cannot get funds from this particular grant, but I hope that this experience encourages that school to send some people to CFG training.
•Be more clear about the limits of what A+ will fund. They do not pay for big technological purchases.
•Solicit more detailed information on the budget summary form.
•Remember to take a calculator to the scoring event. Some readers made minor math errors as they were scoring the applications. I double and triple checked everything at home later that night, but it would have been better to do that immediately so that I could have been absolutely certain of the scorer’s intent.
•I also regret that we didn’t have time to get written reflections from the readers.

Other Thoughts
On future requests for proposals, I want to communicate to the applicants that communication skills really do matter. Almost all the applications could have been improved by a careful editor. A razor-sharp focus with supporting details would be much easier for a reader to understand and score than the meandering prose this year’s readers sometimes had to deal with.
I have found that I have a really difficult time giving cool feedback about writing to adults. I know that this is ridiculous since I used to teach eighth grade English and had to prepare students for the Writing TAAS. Maybe it’s the fact that I think that feedback is most effective when it is asked for, and these colleagues haven’t asked for any specific feedback.
Finally, I want to note that the commitment letters really mattered to this set of scorers. They preferred individual letters to checklists, and lukewarm letters from supervisors were definitely remarked on on the scoring sheets.

Congratulations to the following educators who have been awarded the Houston A+ Challenge’s CFG As Research Team (CART) Grant for the following year. These grants encourage qualified CFG coaches to form a group and use action research to study their own practice.

Chong-Hao Fu and his team from KIPP Sharpstown College Prep will be asking “How can we create a school-wide vision of student and teacher excellence that looks beyond simple quantitative data and seeks a more comprehensive view of teaching and learning?”

Michaelann Kelley and an interdisciplinary team from Eisenhower High School in Aldine ISD are asking, “How does changing the content and context of collegial conversations create a space for collaboration and reflection? How is this shift illuminated in teacher practice and expressed in student learning?”

The essential question of the CART group from Houston ISD's Challenge Early College High School, led by Matthew Martinez, is “What instructional strategies can we identify and implement to benefit our students’ learning and self-efficacy, and what structures can we establish that will build capacity across the faculty to examine classroom practice and adopt effective strategies?”

Debra McIntyre and her team from the SLC and PACE Programs in Humble ISD are asking, “How does a highly personalized educational experience reconnect at-risk students to the academic process?”

Lauren Nguyen, a Reading Specialist in Houston ISD’s Curriculum Department, will lead a multi-school team of reading teachers in a study of these two questions: “What impact does the Master Reading Teacher (MRT )have on reading test scores and the self-efficacy of teacher mentees? and Which MRT schedule shows the most impact?”

Sonia Pacé and her team from Anderson Academy in Aldine ISD will focus their inquiry around these questions: “How can Anderson Academy’s teachers collaborate to improve their classroom practices and student’s learning through the infusion of the arts in core curriculum? What can we learn about arts integration in the early years from the literature, school visits, and conference attendance? What integration strategies/approaches/content seen most attractive to our particular student population and teaching faculty? and What reflective insights bubble to the surface through this individual and shared inquiry?”

Mandi Painter and her team from Stovall Academy in Aldine ISD are asking, “What is the impact of daily reading interactions using poetry on early fluency development?”

Dr. Angela López Pedrana, an assistant professor in the Department of Urban Education at the University of Houston-Downtown, will be facilitating a group of faculty members from several local universities. Their inquiry revolves around these questions: “How might teachers’ knowledge, the contexts of teaching, and the influences that teachers have on student growth and achievement be better understood through collaborative forms of research and scholarship? and How might we advance the scholarship of teaching and research through sharing our unfolding inquiries with our field-based partners and Faculty Academy colleagues and capturing it in chapters, books, and portfolios?”

Carolyn Thibeaux from Chavez High School in Houston ISD is facilitating a team of educators from Alief, Aldine, and Houston ISD’s. They will be inquiring, “How does change in administrative leadership affect the school culture, as interpreted by empowered school leaders?”

Nichole Thompson from Houston Academy in Aldine ISD will be leading a collaborative group that includes educators from Bethune and Drew Academies as well. Their research questions include: “How have the STARS units of study been adapted? for what purpose to what effect? How might student and teacher learning relating to the units of study be documented and shared with others? and What reflective insights do our individual and collective inquiries into teachers’ curriculum making in context make possible?”

One reason that I haven’t blogged much for a few weeks is that so much of what I’ve been working on has not been public knowledge. Much of the CFG as Research Team (CART) grant preparations and scoring had to be kept under wraps. Now that the awards have been announced, I feel like I can breathe again. This goes back to a tension that I wrote about at a Teacher As Researcher meeting and in one of the traveling journals for the portfolio group: How can I make my practice public and retain a feeling of safety? What are the implications of making my own practice public when so much of what I do is collaborative?