 Dear FOR-PD Facilitators:
I would like to wish each of you a safe and happy holiday season. Enjoy your time with friends and family.
I would like to thank those facilitators who attended our fall Facilitator Meeting
and Focus Group. It was a pleasure seeing old friends and placing faces with
names. At the meeting, facilitators heard of changes for the upcoming spring.
I encourage all facilitators to check the discussion board, read the newsletter,
and check your email for updates on the upcoming spring semester. You should
also plan to attend one of the scheduled chats in January. It is important that
all facilitators have this information even if you will not be facilitating
this spring.
This month's Facilitator Resource continues to focuses on cognitive coaching and the five States of Mind established by Garmston and Costa. The FOR-PD course is designed to impart research about literacy instruction across grade levels and across content areas. As online literacy coaches, our job is to help teachers reflect on the material they are learning and assist them in understanding how to transform their classroom practice. Facilitators are encouraged to ask probing questions and to engage participants in conversation about what they are learning. As you read this month's resource, take a look at the questions the author poses. Look at how she constructs questions that develop a sense of ownership and power for that teacher. Think of how you can use the five States of Mind to assist your participants in becoming reflective literacy practitioners.
Many of you have already closed your sections for the fall. I encourage you to do some reflecting of your own. As has been said in the past, you are the key to the success of your participants. I hope that you will take the time to reflect and analyze your facilitation experience. Think about what worked and what didn't work. Be open with yourself - if what you have been doing so far is not working, plan to try something different the next time you facilitate. Every section brings new people, opportunities for learning, and challenges.
Spring registration is currently open and will close January 8, 2007. We expect to have close to a thousand teachers registered via our open registration process. Districts will also be submitting registrations for the spring semester as well. Facilitators chosen to facilitate this spring will be notified by January 10, 2007 and provided access to their course by January 16, 2007.
Keep up the phenomenal work you are doing in support of the FOR-PD project. You are having an impact on teachers across the state! I look forward to our continued work together. Please feel free to contact me in case you have any questions or comments. You may reach me at cc@orion.itrc.ucf.edu and/or 1-407-207-7294.
Best wishes,
Catherine Glass
Project Director, FOR-PD
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 What's
My Role
Dear Facilitators,
As you know, we at FOR-PD put great stock in the data we collect and
feedback we receive from our participants and facilitators. This data
drives changes in our project, just as assessment drives the instruction
in your classroom. While we do not always make the specific changes you
recommend, we do seriously consider all avenues and implement those we
feel best for the project. In the spring you will see several changes
that we think will benefit everyone. These changes are outlined
here.
Lesson Due Dates and Grading Schedule:
FOR-PD feels
very strongly that a large part of the benefit of the course comes from
communication within the course. FOR-PD, while online,
is not intended to be an independent study. For this reason we are scheduling
very specific due dates. We will strongly encourage participants to keep
to that schedule and expect you to do the same. We are also providing
grading deadlines that are intended to keep everyone up to date.
- Lessons will now be due on Saturday night at 11:55pm
- Grades must be posted by Sunday at 11:55 pm EST of the week following
the date assignments are due
Grade book:
We hear often that the procedure for review
and documentation of the Literacy Logs is cumbersome. In order to streamline
this somewhat FOR-PD is adding columns by each Lit Log for comments. This
will help both the facilitator and participant see at a glance that the
log has been reviewed and the status of that entry.
These columns will be titled LL #_c, so for example Lit Log 2 will have
these columns: LL2 & LL2_c. In the first you will see the 0 grade
as always. The second column is for you to put one of the following comments
after you have reviewed submissions. Please do not modify these comments,
as we will be explaining to participants what they mean, as well.
- Lit Log Reviewed - will indicate that the Literacy Log entry has
been reviewed, feedback inserted and the entry in complete.
- Incomplete
- will indicate that the Literacy Log entry has been reviewed, and
there are sections that have not be completed.
- Revise - will indicate
that the participant submitted a log, but one or more sections need
to be revised. The facilitator must indicate which sections need revisions
within the log.
Grading Requirements:
Current policy states that facilitators
are not required to grade assignments for participants who fall
7 or more lessons behind, but the facilitator is in control of that
choice. This policy is changing. FOR-PD feels strongly that any participant
who falls this far behind has clearly missed the point and benefits of
communication within the course. Beginning
in the spring, these participants will not be allowed to continue period.
Facilitators will be required to notify FOR-PD, deny the participant
access and notify the participant they are being dropped. Faciliators
might suggest they enroll in a future course.
Quizzes:
Currently participants in sections other than
college or university sections are allowed to take the quizzes as many
times as needed to reach master. Beginning in the spring participants
will now only be allowed to take the quiz three times. Facilitators should
not reset quizzes, but rather notify FOR-PD if they have a participant
who has taken the quiz three times and still has not received a mastery
score. Facilitator need to encourage participants to look at the feedback
given after they quiz has been taken.
Course Calendar:
We continue to have issues with required dates being added to
the course calendar or being posted on the wrong date. In order to keep
all courses on the same schedule FOR-PD will be adding dates to the courses
as they begin. You may need to add additional dates that will be unique
to your course.
FOR-PD will now add:
- Lesson Due Dates
- Course Closing
- Denied Access
- Tech Chat Dates
Facilitator will add:
- Course Chat dates - these are dates scheduled for meeting with participants
in a structured chat
- Office hours - many facilitators like to hold specific times during
the week when they will be available by phone or in a chat room
- Important dates such as days the facilitator is unavailable
"Welcome" & "Meet Me Here" Messages:
FOR-PD
will now be posting a "Welcome Message." However, facilitators will still
be required to post a "Welcome Message" and a "Meet
Me Here" prior to the course opening. What this means is that
the facilitator's message should be more personal and make the participant
feel welcomed, yet at the same time be very specific regarding course
requirements and availability. It should include information regarding
format that is preferred for posting, the best time to be reached, etc.
QAC Process:
Because we are making changes in requirements,
the process and focus of our Quality Assurance Checks will also change
slightly and focus more on the quality and frequency of discussion responses.
These changes are currently under development, and further information
will be available prior to the spring courses opening.
Literacy Log Submissions Pilot:
We have been listening carefully regarding issues surrounding
the Literacy Log. So in the spring we will have five courses that will
pilot a new submission process for the Literacy Log that will maintain
the integrity of the graphic organizers and hopefully make review and grading
easier for facilitators, with less confusion for the participants. If this
goes as expected, we will launch the new Literacy Log during the summer.
Facilitator Manual:
The above changes will be specifically addressed in the newly updated
Facilitator's Manual, which will be available for you prior to the start
of our spring sections in January. When you receive notification, please
be sure to read the manual thoroughly.
Sample Discussion Postings:
New sample discussion postings for each lesson will be included
in the spring facilitator manual. Please remember that these are only samples.
You may choose to use them or use one of your own.
Lessons Moved:
Currently, all content from the lessons
is located on links that are housed outside of WebCT, which has made
it easier to fix broken links or make updates when courses were in session.
However, this also makes our content vulnerable to those who wish to "borrow" it
without permission. To avoid this, the lesson content will be moved back
into WebCT for the spring.
All this means is that the navigation and the process for downloading
lessons will now be the same as in the Facilitator's Course. All facilitators
have taken that course so the changes should be familiar. The lesson
pages will look the same and the grade book and all other aspects will
function as always.
Other Spring
Changes
Facilitator Course Revisions:
The facilitator course
will be revised this spring to address course changes. We intend to have
registration open for those interested in becoming facilitators by April.
Our New Look:
The FOR-PD website is getting a makeover! The
new website will be sleek and professional with easy to use navigation,
making access to the content and resources quick and easy. Look for that
sometime in February.
Newsletters:
The newsletters will also be getting makeovers. What won't change
is our intent to support facilitators and our participants through these
publications. One specific change in the FFF will be a section that will
give facilitators ideas on teaching the content for individual lessons.
Facilitator Professional Development:
Beginning in the spring
the design and implementation of our professional development will not
only focus on skills facilitators need to be effective, but also be more
directly related to the content of our courses. The
topic for spring will be Teacher Presence in an
Online Environment and
the resource offered monthly in the FFF will correlate with the topics
in our full professional development.
Bi-Monthly:
The Bi-Monthly discussions will be discontinued. As the intention is
to narrow the focus of professional development to a central topic each
semester, topics will no longer be posted in this section. Facilitators
will be expected to participate in the full professional development
offered each semester or respond to the monthly resource offered in the
FFF.
Participant Expectations and Communication:
The Participant Expectations Document has been updated to clearly
explain to participants what is expected of them throughout the course.
A link to this document will be emailed to them prior to the start of the
course. The project will also increase communication with participants,
sending them regular email to keep them apprised of where they should be
at certain points during the course. This should have positive effects
on their participation, assisting facilitators in keeping participants
on track.
 Fall
Facilitator Professional Development Summary
Fall Facilitator Professional Development Summary
The main focus of the fall PD was on issues surrounding the Literacy
Log. Other issues were touched on as well, including use of the facilitator
tutorials and most common problems facing facilitators.
Over the course of the seven weeks, facilitators shared their thoughts
and ideas on the benefits and challenges surrounding the logs and created
several process/instructional documents and a suggested rubric for grading
logs.
In general it was expressed that the Literacy Log was beneficial to
learning, but the managing and grading were often cumbersome and confusing
for both participants and facilitators. Also, the current incarnation
of the online log, while better than mailing paper, lost something in
the translation since the graphic organizers were no longer visible.
Some of the process documents created during the PD explained to facilitators
the best ways those participating had found to manage and grade the log. Other
documents explained to participants how the Literacy Log relates to the
course and how it is graded.
Facilitators also reviewed the facilitator tutorials and suggested changes.
In general the tutorials were found to be useful, needing some limited
modifications and facilitators offered some excellent solutions to problems
they face regularly.
The documents for the fifth week listed any issues facing facilitators
and included potential solutions. These ran the gamut and included participants
falling behind, feeling isolated, motivation, not following the rubrics & grading
issues.
If you are interested in reading some of these documents, please log
in to the For Facilitators Only section and read the postings under Facilitator
PD.
QAC Corner
In the up coming spring courses we will be making some changes in QAC
department. There will still be two QAC checks during the course term
for every section, but the things that we will be checking for are going
to change. FOR-PD will now have important dates already entered on your
course calendar before the beginning of the course. Course calendars
will contain lesson due dates, course closing dates, technology chat
dates, and the date that the participants will be denied access to the
course. FOR-PD will have a generic Welcome Message and a generic Meet
Me Here message already posted in the course, but facilitators will
still be required to post their specific messages. This will help to
ensure that courses are using the correct schedule and it will allow
the facilitator to spend more time concentrating on the required correspondence.
Facilitators will be responsible for posting a Welcome Message that contains information that is detailed for the course. It should include specific information and requirements. Some items may include when the facilitator will be online for virtual office hours, dates that the course facilitator may not be available and course chat dates. When composing a course Welcome Message include when you expect participants to post course assignments and when they can expect you to post lesson grades. If you expect a course assignment to follow a certain format, be sure to include that as well.
In the upcoming semesters we would like to spend more time focusing
on the quality and timeliness of facilitator responses within the course.
The quality of interaction between participants is one of the main components
of the FOR-PD course and is a valuable tool for the personal growth of
the participants who take our course. As more details about the upcoming
changes to QAC are decided and modifications to our current system are
made we will notify all facilitators. We hope that these changes will
help to ensure the growth and success of everyone who is involved with
our program.
Facilitation Resource
of the Month
Last month we included a resource, which described one teacher's
experience & action research using Cognitive Coaching as a
means to increase Teacher Efficacy. Teacher Efficacy is just one
of the five States of Mind that, through the process of Cognitive
Coaching change perceptions about and implementation of teaching practice.
This month our resource is a reading from the same site that gives
a summary of each of the states of mind. A
New Way of Thinking: Beginning Teacher Coaching Through Garmston's
and Costa's States of Mind by Jennifer Abrams. The five
states of mind are described by Abrams as:
EFFICACY: Knowing
that one has the capacity to make a difference and being willing
and able to do so.
FLEXIBILITY: Knowing one has and can develop options to consider
and being willing to acknowledge and demonstrate respect for empathy
for diverse perspectives.
CRAFTSMANSHIP: Seeking precision, refinement and mastery. Striving
for exactness of critical thought processes.
CONSCIOUSNESS: Monitoring one's own values, intentions, thoughts
and behaviors and their effects.
INTERDEPENDENCE: Contributing to a common good and using group
resources to enhance personal effectiveness.
Ms Abrams explores each state of mind and gives us examples of
situations that have arisen when working with teachers signaling
they might need a shift in a State of Mind. She included examples
of the kinds of questions that help to create those shifts.
As you read this article and think of a situation you have been
in where either you or someone you are working with either in a
coaching position or as a FOR-PD facilitator needed a shift in
State of Mind to move the teaching practice forward. Then please
post on the discussion board including a synopsis of the situation,
which State of Mind you felt might need to be shifted and some
sample questions that might have helped that process
As the year comes to a close, we would like to
thank you for all of your hard work this past year.
We wish you special moments with those you love
and restful ones, too!
All of us at FOR-PD
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Writers
Still Wanted 
WANTED:
Do you enjoy reading the FOR-PD Monthly Literacy Newsletter? Would
you like to contribute to the Newsletter with your own thoughts and
ideas on specific topics and themes? If so, then we’ve got a spot for
you! FOR-PD seeks short, practical summaries (250-500 words) on strategies,
techniques, or ideas that match the In Focus topic
of the month. We welcome personal examples from the classroom and
thoughtful advice on the designated topics. At least one month before
the publication date, you can e-mail your summary as an attachment
to lourdes@orion.itrc.ucf.edu.
A committee will review all submissions for appropriateness. If your
summary is chosen for publication, an email will be sent to you.
Summary RequirementsYour summary should include the following information:
-
Title
-
Your name and current position
-
Intended audience (primary, intermediate, middle, high, all)
-
Summary of technique, idea, or strategy that relates to In
Focus topic
-
Summary should be edited and proofread
FOR-PD strives to share new and interesting research on hot topics
that affect teachers and their students. Read our list of upcoming
themes for spring and consider submitting your idea or example summary.
February
2007 Topic: Using Technology to make Reading/Writing
Connections Due Date:
January 15, 2007New technologies are available to our students more
than ever before. Blogs, the Internet, instant messaging, text messages,
emails, and chats have become staples in our students’ lives. As a
teacher, how do you use these tools to enhance your instruction or
motivate your students? What are some practical uses for these types
of technologies in the realm of literacy development?
March
2007 Topic: High School Reform Due
Date: February
15, 2007A current focus has risen across the country to improve education
for high school students. Many organizations have written proposals
and statements on ways that the U.S. Congress can help foster reform
that is needed to support our nation's high school students. The Association
for Supervision and Curriculum Development has focused on five key
components:
-
Determine accountability through multiple measures of assessment.
-
Increase support and flexibility for comprehensive professional
development.
-
Provide flexibility and resources to support innovative high
school reform.
- Increase support and resources for school readiness and early
development of the whole child.
- Increase flexibility for research-based interventions in schools
needing improvement.
How do these components effect your classroom instruction? What benefit
do you believe will come from them and how will they impact your students?
April 2007 Topic: Informational Text for
Younger Students Due Date: March
15, 2007 Informational text is a type of nonfiction that conveys information
about the world around us. It can include social or scientific topics
and themes. Helping our young readers experience informational text
is a great way to prepare them for real-life reading and having success
later in school by building up their interaction with expository text
structures. What experiences have you had in this area and which strategies
or activities work well with your students? If you work with older
students, which strategies do you use to help striving readers in your
classroom with informational text?
May 2007 Topic: Scripted
Programs and Material Fidelity Due Date: April
15, 2007 When a school chooses a core reading program to use in its
classrooms, the program should be well-designed and have a solid research-base.
Scripted programs are once again seen as the possible answer to cover
both of these areas. Overall there has been a large amount of debate
over the need and use of scripted programs. Once a school selects a
program, whether scripted or otherwise, it is vital that the program
be fully implemented with high fidelity. What scripted programs have
you used in your own classroom and how does your school help you strive
for fidelity in its use? How do you ensure fidelity of the reading
programs you use?
Call for Facilitators 
Would you like to facilitate
a spring open enrollment or district course? Please
let us know now by emailing forpdfac@mail.ucf.edu no later than Friday, January 5th.
Open enrollment has begun and closes on
January 8, 2007. We will choose facilitators on January 9, 2007. Spring
courses begin January 22, 2007. We look forward to working with you
this spring!
If you are interested in facilitating,
you must have all required paperwork up to date - Facilitator Conditions
of Service and your W-9. This paperwork will only need to be updated
by those facilitators who did not update in the fall.
 Open
Enrollment Registration for Spring Continues:
Began: November 13, 2006 at 9:00am EST
Closes: January 8, 2007 at 5:00pm EST
FOR-PD
Course Schedule Spring 2007
| Week 1 |
Jan 22 - Jan 27 |
Week 8 |
March 11 - March 17 |
| Week 2 |
Jan 28 - Feb 3 |
Week 9 |
March 18 - March 24 |
| Week 3 |
Feb 4 - Feb 10 |
Week 10 |
March 25 - March 31 |
| Week 4 |
Feb 11 - Feb 17 |
Week 11 |
April 1 - April 7 |
| Week 5 |
Feb 18 - Feb 24 |
Week 12 |
April 8 - April 14 |
| Week 6 |
Feb 25 - March 3 |
Week 13 |
April 15 - April 21 |
| Week 7 |
March 4 - March 10 |
Week 14 |
April 22 - April 30 |
| Participants Denied Access: May 1 Course Closing Info: May 14 Faciliators Denied Access: May 15 |
Spring Course Calendar 2007 - 14 week Courses
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Dear
FOR-PD
Dear FORPD,
I know it is a mandatory requirement that
I attend two chats per sememster, but they fall on the same night
as a mentoring group meeting. Are there any other options for meeting
this requirement?
My Calendar is Full
Dear My Calendar is Full,
If you are unable to attend any mandatory chats, you may meet the
requirement using the discussion board. Simply go to the Chat Transcripts
and Discusions section of the discussion board. Read the chat transcript
that is posted there after the chat and respond.
Your response should be thoughtful and relevant. If you have any additional
questions you should include these as well.
Hope this helps!FOR-PD
Facilitator Only Chats
Upcoming Facilitator Only Chats: The
following chats have been scheduled to assist facilitators with course
questions and support. ALL facilitators
are required to attend one of the January "Spring Changes" chats,
whether you are facilitating a spring section or not.
Please remember that 2 Facilitator
Chats per semester are MANDATORY! One
of these chats will count toward that requirement.
January:
WHEN: Wednesday, January 10.
TIME: 7:00pm - 8:00pm EST
WHERE: For Facilitator Only Course Chat Area, Room 1
WHO: Facilitators
TOPIC: Spring Changes
WHEN: Tuesday, January 16.
TIME: 7:30pm - 8:30pm EST
WHERE: For Facilitator Only Course Chat Area, Room 1
WHO: Facilitators
TOPIC: Spring Changes
February:
WHEN: Wednesday,
February 21.
TIME: 7:30pm - 8:30pm EST
WHERE: For Facilitator Only Course Chat Area, Room 1
WHO: Facilitators
TOPIC: Facilitating Content (with time for technical issue
questions)
Content Area Chat
February:
WHEN: Wednesday, February 7.
TIME: 7:00pm - 8:00pm EST
WHERE: General Chat for all courses
WHO: Facilitators & Participants
TOPIC: Reading/Writing Connections
Guest: Dr.
Jeffrey Kaplan, Co-director of NWP@UCF
Tech Chats Please
post these dates on your course calendars for your participants.
January:
WHEN: January 30, 2007
TIME: 7:00pm - 8:00pm EST
WHERE: General Chat for all courses
WHO: Participants
TOPIC: Technology Support
February:
WHEN: Thursday February
1, 2007
TIME: 7:30pm - 8:30pm EST
WHERE: General Chat for all courses
WHO: Participants
TOPIC: Technology Support
WHEN: Tuesday February 20, 2007
TIME: 7:00pm - 8:00pm EST
WHERE: General Chat for all courses
WHO: Participants
TOPIC: Technology Support
WHEN: Thursday February
22, 2007
TIME: 7:30pm - 8:30pm EST
WHERE: General Chat for all courses
WHO: Participants
TOPIC: Technology Support
|
