Session 1: Workshop Opener
25 minutes
discussion-based
Purpose
Bring participants together to kick off the workshop and reflect on how things are going in the classroom. This is a place to check in on specific lessons that people have already taught, as well as pacing and teaching practices that were recommended or discussed in the previous workshop.
It is common to surface concerns during this session that can be revisited and addressed throughout the workshop.
Objectives
- Participants can correct their own misconceptions and existing questions have been asked and answered.
- Participants can reflect on the dynamic in their classroom and providing support.
- Participants can evaluate their pacing at this point in the year and have ideas for how to get back on track if they’ve fallen behind.
Supplies & Prep
Room Setup (using the supplies provided by Regional Partner):
- In pods
- Posters up for people to add post-its to as they come in
- “Where are we now?” - On a piece of chart paper or on the board create a histogram for teachers to add where they are in the curriculum.
- Question Parking Lot - For participants to write and post questions they have.
Facilitator Supplies:
- Poster Paper (Regional Partner Provides)
- Workshop Dashboard - Tool
- CSP Slides - Workshop 3 - 21-22
- Facilitator Handbook - 2021
Participant Materials:
- Curriculum guide (Should bring with them)
- Journal (Should bring with them)
- Computers for attendance
- Pen/pencil
- Post-its
Agenda
Facilitation Guide
Workshop Opening Logistics (5 minutes)
Facilitator Tip
The 💷 symbol indicates that a slide is included in the slide deck to cover the content in that section. This is to help you know where you are in the agenda to some extent. It is important to note that the slides do not include all of the text from the agenda.
(0 minutes) As Participants Enter the Room
As participants enter the room, remind them to:
- Take out their Curriculum Guide as a guide to unit progressions
- Add post-its to the following posters:
- “Where are we now?”: On a piece of chart paper or on the board, create a histogram for participants to add where they are in the curriculum.
- Question Parking Lot: For people to write and post questions they have.
(1 minute) Attendance
Have everyone complete the attendance for the day on the online workshop dashboard found in your workshop.
Follow the instructions found in your Facilitator Handbook to take attendance for your workshop.
(2 minutes) 💷 Review the Agenda
Describe what will happen during this session - teachers should know that they will have time to talk about how the year is going more generally (classroom management, how students are responding, etc).
Walk through the agenda of the day. Participants should be aware that they will be gaining more experience with the programming concepts introduced in Unit 7 and the Create PT.
Facilitator Tip
More information about these norms can be found in our Professional Learning K-12 Norms One-Pager. This document isn’t necessary to distribute to participants, but can help to provide context for you as you review groups norms.
(2 minutes) 💷 Review Norms
Remind the group of the K-12 Professional Learning norms that were established during the Summer Workshop.
- Be present.
- Make space and take space.
- Seek to understand.
- Take risks.
- Expect and accept non-closure.
Reconnect (15 minutes)
(3 minutes) Personal Reflection
Goal: Refresh your participants’ memories, and encourage them to think concretely about the lessons they’ve done so far and what’s coming soon.
💷 On your own, reflect on the following and be ready to share with someone else:
- Think back to your 30-60-90 day plan you created in the last workshop to help recruit a group of students that represent your building as a whole. How is that plan going?
- What successes have you had?
- What do you want to try and re-visit yet this year or next year to recruit students to your classroom?
- What have you done for students who have missed classes?
- What challenges has this caused for you or for students?
- What compromises have you made to support students who miss class?
Facilitator Tip
While discussions are happening, one facilitator should circle the room while the other reads over the post-its on the wall from when teachers came in the room. (posters described in the section above)
As teachers share in their groups, the facilitators are circulating to hear their thoughts and are thinking about the topics to discuss in the whole-group share out.
(7 minutes) 💷 Speed Network
Have participants “speed network” their responses to the three prompts above for two rounds of 3 minutes each. They should be looking for advice, ideas, questions, or issues.
(5 minutes) 💷 Table Share Out
Instruct participants to head back to tables and share their concerns and what they learned from others.
Discussion Goal
This should be a space to celebrate and share successes as well as seek out suggestions or provide advice when asked.
After tables have a chance to catch up and share, facilitators should circle the room to predict what questions will likely be raised in the share out next. Facilitators should also listen for larger themes that they want to pull out in the share out if no participants raise topics.
Room Share Out (5 minutes)
Discussion Goal
This is time to get a bigger perspective from the room. The goal is to provide multiple opportunities to share and discuss topics that are important to teachers in the classroom.
💷 Facilitators open the floor to the whole group to celebrate successes or raise questions that could not be resolved at the tables. This might be around recruiting, supporting absent students, or a different topic raised at tables.
- What successes do you want to share with the room?
- What questions do you have that you want to address today?
If this session starts to run long, suggest that the remaining questions go on post-it notes to the question parking lot.