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Meeting Notes: April 29, 2011

Homework before the next meeting: 1) Collaboratively work to refine our "2 page overview" 2) Collect resources and send to Brad 3) Collect "quotes" and stories from the field of colleagues engaged in inquiry based projects. Find out if these individuals or teams are willing to share their stories at ISL(Improving Student Learning)

Present:

1. Sharing our definitions of CI

Continue to work on the "2 page overview"

2. Wiki

Plan to have a 1 hour Wiki meeting

3. Stories from the field

4. Planning - Next Steps


 * ISL meeting June 14th
 * Holding the torch - our connection to the other focus team work

Meeting Notes: March 11, 2011 __ Present: __ Stephen Anderson, Fran Fagan, Sarah Guilmant-Smith, Tom Lewis, Alicia Logie, Amy Newman, Ross Powell, Carolyn Sousa

__ Regrets: __ Brad Baumann

__ 1. Review of Wiki __ -little activity on wiki to date: perhaps due to tight timelines and stress with DEC move. __ 2. Review of critical questions __ -concern about premature framing of questions – we need to think about these issues deeply before formulating answers. How can we think i__ndependently__ about collaborative questions? We need to reflect, but also share and discuss. -have we even shared our vision about CI? Do we have consensus? -pondering questions tabled until discussion of shared vision.

__ 3. Brainstorming: What is CI? “When I think of CI, I think of….” __ Critical thinking with kids, adults Valuing shared ownership Feeling connection to the project/team Pproblematizing / “mucking about” together Staying with the question Finding out… Fostering curiosity Developing a progression of ideas –“cycle of spiraling interactions” (you are somewhere different at the end) Taking the time to reflect Taking a step back <span style="font-family: Calibri; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">Having a public, peer-based, group manifestation (of the work) <span style="font-family: Calibri; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">Engaging in a “messy” systematic, purposeful process <span style="font-family: Calibri; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">Articulating my wonderings <span style="font-family: Calibri; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">Developing a wondering into a specific question (or suite of questions) <span style="font-family: Calibri; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">Exploring the wider context of my question (reading, bringing in specialists, research, etc.) <span style="font-family: Calibri; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">Changing – both attitude and practice.

__ Common Value: __ <span style="font-family: Calibri; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">A spirit of questioning and curiosity helps make educators effective in their practice.

<span style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; display: block; padding-bottom: 1pt; padding-left: 4pt; padding-right: 4pt; padding-top: 1pt;"> <span style="border: medium none initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; padding: 0in;"> Examples for Discussion: //Would a classroom teacher working with a class to form a plan to re-integrate a suspended student be engaging in critical inquiry?// This is teacher-directed problem-solving, possibly not collaborative inquiry.

//When a classroom teacher encourages an individual student’s critical question to develop into the whole class’s exploration of the topic, is this collaborative inquiry?// This might be seen as student-centered problem-based learning, possibly not collaborative inquiy.

__ 4. Initial Queries: __ // What characteristics (of the players, of their situations) have to be in place for CI to occur? // <span style="font-family: Calibri; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">Class composition, shared enthusiasm, attitude and philosophy, teacher’s comfort/confidence/openness, beliefs in learning and the students themselves, external supports ….

<span style="font-family: Calibri; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">//But doesn’t CI have to be about teachers’ practice with other teachers?// <span style="font-family: Calibri; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">Perhaps, first, we understand CI as teachers (a community of adult learners), then we actualize it in our practice with students.

__ 5. Pondering Question: __ // What would it look like if Surrey educators engaged in collaborative practice in all things? // <span style="font-family: Calibri; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">-continued messaging about the value of CI and ongoing modeling of CI practices, from the highest level, would happen. <span style="font-family: Calibri; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">-there would be “universal” understanding about which situations call for CI but also which call for independent decision-making (assuming that input is welcomed) is preferable. <span style="font-family: Calibri; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">-we would see sharing/validation of strong collaborative practice when it happens in school communities. Teachers would be encouraged and given opportunities to learn from their peers.

__ 6. Next Steps: __ <span style="font-family: Calibri; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">-team members might bring to the next meeting (Friday, April 29th) their definitions of CI for discussion. <span style="font-family: Calibri; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">__ = = = = =January 28= Before next meeting:

1) Continue to look for resources / examples of CI in action in Surrey (stories from the field)

2) Collaborate in the discussion forum to begin to operationally define Collaborative Inquiry (All)

3) Focus some ideas and input on the first three questions (in red) under "Questions to Ponder"

Next meeting March 11 - 1:30 to 3:30 (Human Resources Board Room)

IDEAS FOR NEXT MEETING: 1) SHARING 2) TIME FOR DEEP DIALOGUE / CRITICAL QUESTIONS

=Welcome Team!=

__January 24, 2011__ __I'm looking forward to us starting to use this Wiki as a forum to touch base and share ideas and resources. Once we all get signed on and build the content of our Wiki, I hope it will become a place to regularly connect.__

__To begin, our work for the next meeting involved the following:__

__ 1) __**Treasure hunt**__: We are all going to look for quality resources that help support collaborative inquiry. This can be print, web, or video media (anything of quality will work). Be prepared to bring your treasures to share on the 28th.__

__ 2) __**WIKI:** __Feel free to begin adding commentary and resource links and documents to the WIKI. Here is a quick video regarding WIKI basics here: [|__http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dnL00TdmLY__] __

__ 3) __**Think:**__ Continue to think about how we can design or develop materials and / or actions that can support the work of the other focus teams and school teams. In thinking of what we might produce or collect, be mindful of the multimedia format we discussed in conjunction with our presence on the district's new Unified Communication System. I like my "little book", but have realized I must let go :-)

Next meeting: January 28th, 1:30 - 3:30 at IMS