TheVirtualProtocolStep III. Asking questions about the work
- The facilitator asks the group, "What questions does this work raise for you?"
- Group members state any question they have about the work, the child, the assignment, the circumstances under which the work was carried out, and so on.
- The presenting teacher may choose to make notes about these questions, but s/he is does not respond to them now--nor is s/he obligated to respond to them in Step 5 during the time when the presenting teacher speaks.
uestions are an important component of the Collaborative Assessment Conference. After participants have taken time to describe the student work, without any context about the student, the assignment, etc., they ask questions the work raises for them. The presenting teacher does not answer the questions immediately, but instead listens, sometimes takes notes, and addresses some of the questions when she has a chance to provide context later in the protocol.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Facilitator: Okay let's move into questions. What questions does this work raise for you? Brenda's making notes about these questions but she's not going to answer them now.
Participant: Why do students begin their writing with a set of sentences: "Let me tell you about the best thing that ever happened to me."? Is it the only way to begin? I don't understand that.
Participant: Is this an example of a writing assessment? Is this his rough draft or is this what was sent in by the state or the district for a writing assessment?
Participant: Was there a writing process? I don't see the brainstorming so I was just wondering if this is all of the process.
Participant: Good question.
Participant: I wondered if the student was ESL because of the some of the ways he wrote. It sounds like English was not his first language.
Facilitator: It helps a lot for the teacher if when you ask a question you can say why or what in the work raises that question for you. Diane just modeled that for us.
Participant: I wanted to know if the child knew that he was being assessed. And what the assessment was for the piece? Did the child know that he was being assessed? Did he have prior knowledge about the assessment?
Participant: I'm wondering whether Miguel has had experience responding to specific prompts like this.
Participant: I was just wondering, did Miguel enjoy writing this; did he enjoy the experience of writing?
Participant: Has Miguel been with Brenda since September? Participant: I wonder if he's had the opportunity to tell this story before he wrote it down.
Participant: Good. I'm wondering how much time the student had to do this writing.
Participant: Who's the audience?
Participant: Has it been edited either by Miguel or other students? Has it been peer edited? Was there an editing process?
Participant: Was there any student input as to what the prompt might be? Were there choices?
Participant: Is there a word wall in your classroom?
Participant: And I'm curious, is this normal for grade three writing?
Facilitator: Normal or average?
Participant: Average I guess is a better word.
Participant: I was just wondering how much help he had between the first and the second draft, by either his peers or the teacher?
Participant: And when both drafts were written..the same day? Within the same week?
Participant: Did you have a rubric for assessing this piece? And who designed it? And if you did, did the student see it first?
Step I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII
