EEPD 2009: The Collaborative Inquiry Process Farmington High School November 3, 2009

Identification of Student Learning Needs 1. Pick a topic or concept or a skill that you think students never quite understand; something that you want students to understand or be able to do better. Describe what led you to pick this “problem of practice.”

2. Develop a plan to teach this topic, concept, or skill in a way that students will understand it deeply. Our team will Research relevant content and best pedagogical practices related to our goal to surface strategies for students to do the work of the discipline. Develop common lesson plan(s) for the topic, concept, or skill our team is focused on. Included in this are common performance tasks and common assessment packages. Curriculum maps and curriculum map rubrics will be utilized in this process. Participate in collaborative inquiry activities. These class visits will allow us to watch students do the work of the discipline in real time. We will attempt to answer the question “ How does the work of the students reflect an understanding of the topic/concept/skill being taught? ”

The Collaborative Inquiry Process Observational Data Next Steps Analysis

Our Problem of Practice Students have difficulty developing and utilizing economic reasoning skills. Focus Question: Do students demonstrate their economic reasoning about how supply and demand work in the real world?

Observational Data Collection: The Descriptive Framework Teacher Content Student What is the teacher doing? What is the teacher saying, and to whom? What are the students doing? What are the students saying, and to whom? What is the nature of the academic task? What are materials and technology used in the lesson, and who are they used by? Adapted from CT Center for School Change, 2006

Analysis The team begins to answer the focus question.

Next Steps Based on what we saw and discussed, what are our next steps? Examples include: What instructional decisions do we need to make as a result of what we learned? What other research or work do we need to do to improve the lesson? Are there certain students or groups that we need to think about?

Video of a Teaching Episode

The Collaborative Inquiry Process Observational Data Next Steps Analysis