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Activity #1 - NCREL's Indicators of Engaged Learning
Activity #2 - Powerful Learning Activity

Activity #1 - NCREL's Indicators of Engaged Learning Activity

Purpose: This activity will focus participants on characteristics of an Engaged Learning environment. It offers them the opportunity to examine their own beliefs and practice and to identify areas discrepancy. Though the online tool prints out a graph in summary of a participant's responses, the highest value of the activity may lie in the thinking, dialogue and reflection that is easily stimulate by the activity. In the end, the activity serves as a sort of assessment but the results can be used to guide participants into inquiry areas that reflect an individual's needs and interests.

Preparation:
If the facilitator is familiar with the characteristics of Engaged Learning preparation involves only that the facilitator think through the options within the process below and decide which will work best for the time available and the group involved. Facilitator should visit the site (http://www.ncrtec.org/capacity/profile/profeng.htm) ahead of time and take the profile herself to get an idea of the types of questions and the amount of time involved. If the activity is to be done in part or in whole as individuals working alone an instruction sheet should be provided. If the facilitator needs background on Engaged Learning they should read the small book Plugging In from NCREL, available online at http://www.ncrtec.org/capacity/plug/plug.htm and read the Pathways section, http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/engaged.htm

Process:
Be certain the group understands the purpose of this activity. It is for their own information and sharing of results is voluntary or anonymous. Discuss Engaged Learning and/or share parts of the resources listed above. Explain that we often have difficulty characterizing our teaching methods and that this tool breaks the indicators of engaged learning into categories and as they complete the profile they will be able to identify ways in which they create an engaged learning environment in their classrooms and probably be able to identify ways that they would like to improve their practice. (10-20 minutes)

• You may decide to have everyone meet in a computer lab and complete the profile individually but in the same room and in the same relative timeframe. You may want to give the directions and ask that each person complete the profile on their own, at their convenience, sometime during the next week. In either case, you will probably want to use a computer and projector to show the profile tool how to access it. It might be helpful to look at the first question or two as a group. Remind people to respond in a way that reflects how their classroom is most of the time - not how it is on rare occasions or how they hope their classrooms will be. This is difficult, but the thinking that goes into the decision of which bubble to mark is helpful in analyzing current practice and desired practice. Allow 30 - 45 minutes to complete the profile.

• After they complete the profile they should each print out the profile containing the questions and their answers (This is private and should be kept for future reference.) They should also print out the graph. Some facilitators ask that everyone turn in a copy of their graphs without names attached. This gives the facilitator an idea of where the group stands and it may reveal areas for future professional development experiences.

• Provide a set of reflection questions i.e. Which areas are important to you? Which are not? Which indicator of Engaged Learning would you most like to work on? What question was hardest for you to answer? Is there a topic or two that you would like more information about? Participants should write their reflections after which you may ask them to discuss some of their thoughts in small groups or in a large group or on a listserv or discussion board.

Due:
(Reflection Due:

NCREL's Indicators of Engaged Learning

1) Go to http://www.ncrtec.org/capacity/profile/profeng.htm
2) Follow the directions and complete the profile.
3) After completing the survey, PRINT. This will be your own record of where you started.
4) Click on "Graph Responses" and then print that page, also. (Make a copy of this page and give it to the person collecting them for your building. Be sure your name is not on it.)
5) Use the printed copy of the survey to reflect on your answers. Which areas are important to you? Which are not? Which indicator of engaged learning would you most like to work on?

IMPORTANT:

Think, honestly, about the current conditions in your classroom as you complete the profile. (Teachers often have the tendency to fill it out as they would like their classrooms to be or as the classrooms they are working to create.) No one will see this other than you. You will just turn in a nameless copy of the graph.

6) Turn in nameless copy of the graph to your building representative by Friday, February 4. Post a brief reflection to listserv by Tuesday, February 8.

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Purpose:
This activity helps focus participants on big ideas rather than small technology pieces. Like the other sample activity in this section, characteristics of learning environments frames the discussion. If professional development is ultimately to improve student learning we need to be aware of the learning environments we are creating and identify ways to improve them. This activity will lead many participants to identify a characteristic of powerful learning that they would like to emphasize more in their classrooms. Then we can look for ways that technology can support or enhance that characteristic of learning.

Preparation:
   1) Acquire and read the small ASCD book, Powerful Learning by Ron Brandt.
   2) Reproduce p. 12 - one for each participant (Take off the partial paragraph at the bottom. Maybe run page 12 on the left half of an 8-1/2x11 sheet of paper, leaving room to write on the right side.)
   3) Give each participant a copy of Powerful Learning by Ron Brandt, ASCD, Virginia, 1998, ISBN# 0-87120-305-7

Process:

• Read and summarize, for the group, key introductory points from Chapter #1. (10 minutes)

• Hand each participant a copy of page 12 (or give them their copies of the book to write in). Ask them to put a star (*) by the two or three conditions that they believe are most easily seen and regularly present in their own individual classroom. Ask them to underline one or two conditions that are not often conditions found in their classroom. This forced-choice method causes deeper thinking about the issues. (15 - 20 minutes)

• Ask participants to save this page. (It might become part of their portfolio.) Assign Chapter #2 as reading. As they read, they should refer to their notations on page 12. Now that they have read about each condition further, would they change any marks? Do they have better understanding of the conditions existing in and absent from their classrooms?

Reflection & Discussion:

Write a brief reflection and identify one or two conditions that they would like to try changing or improving in their classrooms. The reflection can be private or all or parts of it made public through an email discussion/posting or through face-to-face discussion at your next meeting. Are some people really good at something that others feel a need to improve. Can you identify mentors, coaches and possible collaborators?

Use these ideas and identified needs to guide individual and/or group inquiry and professional development activities.

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