Honestly, I was disappointed in the learning that took place in the Chalk Talk today. In the rooms that I walked through during that activity, I observed that a noticeable minority of participants were disengaged (sitting, whispering, etc.), and the debriefs that I saw didn't tie things together the way I had anticipated.
My purpose in placing a Chalk Talk at this point in the agenda was to give participants an opportunity to synthesize the many activities that they had already experienced (2 different seminars, opening QTL activity, LC, and informal conversations). I think that I should have added a phrase to the prompt to make the synthesis aspect more obvious since some facilitators didn't put that bit of background information in their oral directions to the participants and some facilitators totally changed the prompt. A better prompt may have been "Keeping in mind the new things you have learned throughout this Institute, respond to this quote: 'The staff didn't go looking for a quick fix or a "package" that would answer the challenges they faced in helping students learn. But they did develop their capacity for leading, learning, and change.'"
I think that part of the problem is that many participants have engaged in Chalk Talks with a different purpose. People think "Oh, I've done this before" and don't bother listening to the specific directions.
What I learned about planning and facilitation
·I need to make my own thinking about the purpose or objective of each activity absolutely clear to the facilitators. I encourage facilitators to be resonsive to their group's needs, but I also worry that changing activities may shortchange some of the learning that takes place in the home group.
·I shouldn't assume that everybody has the same mental picture of how the Chalk Talk should be set up.
·If I think that an activity will be challenging to facilitate, I should make it part of the facilitator orientation so that the facilitators get to practice and have a shared experience.
·Most facilitators, myself included, need to sharpen their debriefing skills. What questions should we be asking to help our groups reflect? How do we know they "got it"?
Comments (1)
I know my co-facilitator was disappointed in our chalk talk, but when you really read the comments -- they were making those connections. I even took some pictures of the chalk talk to illustrate those connections.
Posted by Michaelann | July 30, 2005 8:34 AM
Posted on July 30, 2005 08:34