Seeing Through New Eyes

Today was a little less active than yesterday, but I had a chance to sit down and learn more about MESH Guides . In short, these are short summaries of research mapped out for public consumption along with any resources related to teaching and learning. This is in development initially in the UK, but they are working to have it become a world-wide network. It was interesting to take some time to look through them. It will be interesting to see where things go with potential collaborations with them. Our presentation went well even though there weren't a lot of people in attendance. But the people who were there appreciated hearing about our work at UCAR which includes UCARConnect , Globe , and the Curriculum Customization Service .

Day 2 at ICET was filled with meeting lots of people, attending some sessions, and a fun dinner that ended with our Scottish tablemates getting all of us up and singing with them. I had a nice breakfast with my UCAR colleagues John Ristvey (Spark/UCAR Connect) and Tony Murphy (Globe) along with James O'Meara from the National Louis University. He is also the President of the International Council on Education for Teaching (ICET). James wanted to learn more about UCAR, our projects, and what connections we wanted to make here at the Global Assembly for ICET. He suggested I learn more about:  A school in the Chicago area called Gems World Academy   The African Virtual University because he believes they have a similar system like the Curriculum Customization Service (CCS) that I work with MESH guides and their resources The International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa (IICBA)   The World Council for Curriculum and Instruction   Core New Zealand ...

This is my first time attending the World Assembly for the International Council on Education for Teaching (ICET) . It is being held in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada (just outside of Toronto). Today (day 1) has been very interesting and thought provoking. I thoroughly enjoyed the opening blessing by Rick Bourque and the singing by the O'Neill Collegiate Ensemble along with the drumming, singing, and dancing by Morningstar River . I was put into a reflective state this morning during the morning speakers. I noticed that everyone seems to still be grappling with access to high quality resources and everyone wants to push for student critical thinking. I was reminded that individually and as communities we need to be mindful of how people look at others and how we see and talk to people. Right in line with research I am currently working on, classroom discussion and facilitation in learning is vital, so the thought that the "best way to learn is together" (by Lee Maracle) resonate...

This week I have been finalizing preparations to attend two conferences, 1) the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) in Boston and 2) the American Educational Research Association (AERA) in Philadelphia. It is always an invigorating experience to attend a conference and attending a practitioner and research conference back to back will be great! I am happy to be presenting at NSTA with Patty Kincaid on the Curriculum Customization Service (CCS) and the Inquiry Hub project. And then at AERA I am presenting with Mimi Recker, Victor Lee, Andy Walker, Lei Ye, and Min Yuan on research associated with scaling of the CCS, teacher learning, and student learning. I am also presenting with Sam Severance, Raymond Johnson, and Bill Penuel on the Inquiry Hub project, our research-practice partnership and teacher professional learning.

I am so grateful for wonderful colleagues. As I watch daily the interactions and relationships among the amazing people I work with, I am amazed at my opportunity to be working with them. I am fortunate to be mentored by a group of people who are willing to support me along my journey. I hope I will be able to work with them for years to come. And I am looking forward to the laughs, hard work, and interactions.

The last couple of years I have signed up for and started a couple of open and online courses. Today these courses are called MOOCs, but I have found as a working professional who is finished with school that it is extremely difficult to prioritize my time so I can complete one of these free courses. Currently I am taking a course by Lloyd Rieber on basic statistics. It is a fairly short course (only 4 weeks) and on a subject that is always good to remember the basics. Now that we are starting week two, I am a little behind, but the videos are short and informative and the work we are doing (since I am already familiar with it) is fairly easy to complete. I am signed up for several more MOOCs in Coursera that begin in a few months and I hope I can devote the necessary time to completing them too. I have found that whenever articles cross my desk (or email) about MOOCs that I am drawn to reading them. As the newest shiny coin in educational technology, I find MOOCs fascinating, but am...

As I have delved further into the published literature about instructional coaches, I am learning that there are many types of coaches and sometimes the meaning of the word is lost (meaning, that it is used loosely for instruction that I don't believe is actually coaching). One interview I did last week, with a coach aligned directly with what I believe a coach should be: a support, a guide, a co-planner, a questioner, a data organizer, an analyst, full of feedback but asking more questions than giving answers, a relationship builder, and approaching the entire process with a inquiring mind. I have more to read and more interviews to do, but am in the process of revising an interview protocol. I am very curious to see what approach is taken in the problem-based learning literature in terms of coaches. If anyone has suggestions of where I could find PBL lit about instructional coaches I would love to hear about it.