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.

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.