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We started by working together in whole day and half day meetings to develop confidence
and share experience of ICT. An early and continuing focus was to debate and attempt to
clarify key issues within English in relation to ICT.
Teachers experimented with mini
designs and with ways of collecting and analysing data. Discussion and reflection on the
outcomes informed the development of full design initiatives.
At this point teachers
worked on a more one-to-one basis with a university-based researcher. The process of reflection, dialogue
and collaboration supported professional development in a variety of ways.
During the main subject design initiative, as the work progressed, researchers collected video and other data. In each class six students were identified as a sample to be closely observed and interviewed at the end of the research period. Teachers and researchers worked together on the data, in particular the video data. In the second year of the project teachers where possible repeated the design initiative, adapting and developing it in the light of evidence from the first run. In some cases, where teachers were working with different age groups, new design initiatives were developed in the second year, also informed by the experience of the earlier work.
Whole and half day meetings continued each term and in these the results of the analyses of the classroom data were discussed and developed. Some of the teachers who applied for and were awarded Best Practice Scholarships were able to engage more actively in data analysis. These teachers also began to co-write and co- present papers at conferences with their university partners. Most teachers reported on their work to colleagues in school; some talked to local and regional groups of teachers.
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