The
Virtual
Protocol

Introduction

CAC Steps

Teacher
Presenter

Participants

Student Work

Prompt

Step I. Getting Started

• The group chooses a facilitator who will make sure the group stays focused on the particular issue addressed in each step.

• The presenting teacher puts the selected work in a place where everyone can see it or provides copies for the other participants. S/he says nothing about the work, the context in which it was created, or the student until Step V.

• The participants observe or read the work in silence, perhaps making brief notes about aspects of it that they particularly notice.

n Collaborative Assessment Conferences, the presenting teacher brings a piece of student work to share with a group of five to ten colleagues (usually other teachers and administrators). The process begins with the presenting teacher showing (or distributing copies of) the piece to the group. Throughout the first part of the conference, the presenting teacher says nothing -- giving no information about the student, the assignment, or the context in which the student worked.
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Facilitator: The purpose of the conference is to learn more about the student and in focusing on the student to learn about one's own teaching. The starting point is the student work, and what we have for student work is what Brenda brought: two drafts of a writing assignment. Remember the point here is not to do a good protocol, but to help Brenda think more deeply about issues that stick in your minds, to help her work on her classes, even though we're trying to follow this process to help her do that.

Are you ready to go? Okay, so let's take a few minutes to read the work. Remember, our first round is going to be, what do you see?, and we'll start with descriptions of the student work.

[After a few minutes, when she hears some whispering among participants, the facilitator asks the group to begin describing the work.]

Step I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII