TheVirtualProtocolStep II. Describing the Work
- The facilitator asks the group, "What do you see?"
- Group members provide answers without making judgments about the quality of the work or their personal preferences.
- If a judgment emerges, the facilitator asks for the evidence on which the judgment is based.
hrough a series of questions asked by the facilitator (such as, "What do you see in the work?"), the group works to understand the piece by describing it in detail, raising questions about it , and speculating about problems or issues.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Facilitator: Okay, ready? I like to chart the description piece because it sometimes helps the group to see it, and usually the presenting teacher says it will really help if we can see all the descriptions on paper. We'll start with five minutes but hopefully go eight or nine minutes on description. So, what do you see? And don't be afraid to be really literal in the beginning--that often helps the group get going.
Participant: I see a big sequential development of ideas. Is that what you mean?
Facilitator: Can you be more specific?
Participant: I see it throughout the story because he had to start the story with the first sentence but then he's very sequential about what "happen" and where it "happen."
Facilitator: A beginning, a middle, and an end?
Participant:Yes, a beginning, a middle, and an end.
Facilitator: And what words in particular indicate the beginning, middle and end?
Participant: Hmm, "last year."
"it happened last year."
Participant: I also see a story that is infused with a lot of emotion. I see words like "happy," "it was fun for me." I guess when I see the words "and I think it would happen again," there's this excitement about the fact that there's this future where there's going to be fun again.
Participant: And there are interactions between the characters: "my godfather asked me if I like the bike." A lot of detail, a lot of detail. "My godfather asked me if I like the bike and I said yes." So there is an interaction there that is personalized.
Participant: Detail, yeah...Maybe this is an assumption, but it seems as if he is relating a story about something that has actually happened to him. There are lots of details about what had happened, even the conversation, the comments the characters have back and forth like "my godfather asked me if I like the bike and I said yes, so he gave me the bike..." We talked about sequence, but there is a lot of detail.
Facilitator: How about somebody who hasn't had a chance.
Participant: I see a story with two sentences.
Participant: Are we supposed to stick to basics like spelling errors?
Facilitator: We can.
Participant: Okay, I see where the student always uses the capital letter 'L'.
Participant: I see first drafts with the title and the final copy of title.
Participant: How do you know which is which?
Facilitator: Okay, we're pulling into questions, and those are great but those are for the next section, so hold onto them and we're going to stay with description longer than it feels comfortable.
Participant: I see a lot of spelling errors.
Facilitator: Is there any pattern?
Participant: Well, the interchange is "ride" and "write."
Participant: Sometimes he spells ride R-I-D-E, sometimes he spells it W-R-I-T-E.
Facilitator: It's not consistent, "riding" and "writing."
Participant: I see some good spelling, though. He's got some fairly long words here. I mean, he may have used "writing" incorrectly but he spelled it correctly.
Participant: Right, he spelled "happened" and..."would."
Participant: Yes, he has some good spelling.
[Descriptions continue, touching on the student's handwriting, spacing, punctuation, and capitalization.]
Participant: We were just looking at his name, Miguel. The last L is capitalized.
Participant: All his L's are capitalized.
Participant: All of them?
Facilitator: No, in his name, there was a capital L in his name.
Participant: If the word begins with L, it's capitalized.
Participant: That's neat, like: "Left," "Last," all capitalized . And his name with a capital L at the end.
Facilitator: Well, look at the word "April" in the date.
Participant: Oh you're right, it sure is.
Participant: I would never have seen that.
Step I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII
