Sample
Agenda for a 5-day Facilitator Institute
This
sample agenda is intended to give you an idea of how one might prepare
facilitators to lead groups of teachers using the Fostering Geometric Thinking
(FGT) materials in a five-day institute setting. The FGT materials are designed to be used by
facilitators who have not been trained, but the chance for facilitators to
learn about the materials and think about facilitation will certainly help
their work with teachers. The activities
that are listed in some cases are math problems or student work analyses
activities that are pulled directly from the FGT materials. In other cases, especially where noted, there
is information that should be shared and you can read about that information in
the Introduction to the FGT materials.
Day 1: During Day 1 facilitators will immerse
themselves in the materials by trying some of the math explorations and student
work analyses investigations that are a part of the materials. In addition, they’ll hear an overview of what
the materials are all about and how the Geometric Habits of Mind framework and
the Structured Exploration Process guide the work of teachers using the
materials.
|
8:30 |
Opening (Click Here for a PowerPoint Presentation related to
this sample)
|
|
9:15 (Break
included) |
Do Math: Comparing Triangles (Click Here for a related
PowerPoint Presentation) Participants
work on problem and share their solutions and thinking. |
|
11:00 |
Introduce
Geometric Habits of Mind (G-HOMs) (Click Here for a related PowerPoint
Presentation) (see
Introduction to FGT for more information) |
|
11:30 |
Lunch |
|
12:15 |
Do Math: Finding
Area in Different Ways
Participants
work on math problem and share their solutions looking for evidence of the
geometric habits of mind. |
|
1:45 |
Break |
|
2:00 |
Analyze Student Work:
Finding Area in
|
|
3:10 |
Introducing Structured
Exploration Process (see Introduction to FGT for more information) |
|
3:20 |
Announcements
and Quick Feedback |
|
3:30 |
Adjourn |
Day 2: Day 2 will again allow facilitators to
familiarize themselves with the materials by trying out some of the mathematics
problems and analyzing some of the student work that they will use with their
teacher groups when facilitating FGT sessions.
In addition, facilitators will learn about the Geometric Task Demand
framework and its relation to Cognitive Demand by engaging with an activity
that they will later use with their teacher groups. The day will end with a chance for
facilitators to familiarize themselves with the layout of the materials so they
will understand the kinds of support and guidelines that will be available to
them when they lead FGT sessions.
|
8:30 |
Daily Check-in |
|
8:45 |
Do Math: Dissecting Shapes Participants do
and discuss Dissecting Shapes, and
reflect on the structured exploration process. |
|
10:00 |
Break |
|
10:15 |
Analyze Student
Work: Dissecting Shapes Participants
analyze and discuss written student work samples from the problem and reflect
on the structured exploration process. |
|
11:30 |
Lunch |
|
12:15 (break
included) |
Do Math: Finding Centers of Rotation (Click Here for a Related
PowerPoint Presentation) Participants do and discuss Finding
Centers of Rotation, paying particular attention to their geometric thinking
and use of geometric habits of mind.
|
|
1:45 |
Introduce Cognitive
Demand Framework and consider in relation to Finding Centers of Rotation
(Click Here for a Related PowerPoint
Presentation) |
|
2:45 |
Present the
Layout of FGT Materials |
|
3:20 |
Announcements
and Quick Feedback |
|
3:30 |
Adjourn |
Day 3: Day 3 is when the work of the facilitators
will transition from immersing themselves in the FGT materials to thinking
about what it means to facilitate the materials. The day will start with some discussion of
what it means to facilitate, and then will quickly move into preparations for
“practicing facilitation.” Every facilitator
will be part of a practice team, and each team will prepare for and lead a
mini-FGT session for the other members of the group.
|
8:30 |
Daily Check-in |
|
8:45 |
On Facilitation
(Click Here for a
related PowerPoint Presentation) Discussion of facilitation issues and present guidelines and
tips for facilitating math and student work discussions. |
|
9:30 |
Putting
Facilitation into Practice Intro Frame the
structures for practicing facilitation of doing math and looking at student
work. Participants sign up to lead a math or student work mini session. |
|
9:45 |
Break |
|
10:00 |
Putting
Facilitation into Practice Prep Time Time for Teams
to prepare their practice sessions. Doing Math
facilitators will ·
Work
on their math problem and discuss the geometric thinking and G-HOMs the
problem prompts. ·
Design
a doing math session around that math problem. ·
Think
through questions to facilitate a math discussion ·
Determine
which group members will facilitate and which will observe Student work
facilitators will ·
Select
student work artifacts (written, transcript or video) they think have
evidence of geometric thinking and habits of mind and design a mini analyzing
student work session using FGT session 3 & 13 materials. ·
Think
through questions to facilitate looking at student work ·
Determine
which group members will facilitate what. |
|
11:45 |
Lunch |
|
12:30 (break
included) |
Facilitation
Practice: Doing math: Constructing Area by Paper Folding and
Puzzling with Polygons Goals: Facilitators have the opportunity to
facilitate doing math, presenting solutions, and discussing geometric thinking.
Others get to experience one more FGT math problems. Everyone can reflect and
give feedback on facilitating a math discussion. |
|
3:00 |
Debrief of
Facilitation of Do Math based on facilitation practice. |
|
3:20 |
Announcements
and Quick Feedback |
|
3:30 |
Adjourn |
Day 4: During Day 4, the
student work “practice facilitation” groups will have their chance to try out
their ideas with the group. If
available, an experienced panel of facilitators will serve as a great resource
for the institute participants. The
afternoon is devoted to thinking about issues related to having teachers bring
the FGT problems back to their students – how do we ensure they will maintain
high cognitive demand; how do we help them with the logistical issues of
collecting and selecting written work or video; etc.? The afternoon also allows time for thinking
about connections to practice, such as the language activities built into
certain FGT sessions.
|
8:30 |
Daily Check-in |
|
8:45 (Break
included) |
Facilitation
Practice: Analyzing Student Work: Finding Centers of Rotation Goals:
|
|
11:00 |
Debrief of
Facilitation of Student Work based on facilitation practice. |
|
11:30 |
Facilitator
Panel: A panel of
experienced facilitators answers questions from the group. |
|
12:15 |
Lunch |
|
1:00 |
Bringing the
Problem to the Classroom (Click Here for a related PowerPoint
Presentation) |
|
2:00 (Break
included) |
Bringing the
Student Work Back from the Classroom |
|
3:00 |
Connecting to
Practice |
|
3:20 |
Announcements
and Quick Feedback |
|
3:30 |
Adjourn |
Day 5: Day 5 begins with
a chance to revisit the G-HOMs that the group has been exploring throughout the
week. One way to revisit the G-HOMs is to
identify examples of each G-HOM that have emerged in the work of the group over
the course of the week. Day 5 is also devoted,
in large part, to planning for the work of using the FGT materials with each
facilitator’s teacher group.
|
8:30 |
Daily Check-in |
|
8:45 |
Geometric
Habits of Mind Revisited |
|
10:00 |
Break |
|
10:15 |
Making Plan for
Session #1 and Rollout Participants
will work individually to create a roll-out plan for using the FGT materials in
their sites. Time for consultation
about issues/concerns/questions can be built in to the planning session. |
|
11:30 |
Reflection:
Eager / Anxious Human Graph. If one wall of
a room is considered the Eager axes and an adjacent wall is considered the
Anxious axes, facilitators place themselves in the room in the location that
represents their level of eagerness and anxiety about leading FGT
sessions. This activity leads into
discussions about why (and about what) facilitators are eager and/or anxious. |
|
12:00 |
Wrap-up &
Evaluation |
|
12:15-1 |
Lunch and
Adjourn |