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More Workshop Components

There are also things to do BETWEEN Workshops . . .

Homework Assignment

At the end of the support materials for each workshop, you will find a Homework Assignment designed to get you thinking about the topic for the upcoming workshop. This assignment will be incorporated into the Getting Ready Site Investigation for that workshop -- so be sure to come prepared!

The Great Bean Bag Adventure

In the support materials for each workshop, we will give you detailed information about our experiments. However, you are NOT required to follow our instructions -- in fact, we encourage you to design your own experiments using your own variables. Each experiment generally takes from 7 to 14 days, so you may not want to begin a new experiment each week, as we do. You will be given some time during the first two workshops to plan how you and your site will participate in the Adventure. Remember, this is an interactive investigation, so please share your data and observations on the Web site! (For more information, see pages 9-12.)

Representing Learning

A critical part of taking steps toward change is representing learning along the way. This is a deliberate process that calls for reflecting upon your own understandings before, during, and after key experiences, and documenting how these understandings change. While there are numerous ways to represent learning, we suggest the use of a journal, and optionally, the construction of a portfolio for documenting change throughout this workshop series.

Journal -- Keeping a journal is the simplest way to record and comment upon your own learning. As the series progresses, pay particular attention to changes in your thinking, and the implications of the changes. If you have registered to receive graduate credit from Colorado State University, you will be required to keep a journal, but we recommend that all participants maintain journals to document their changes in understandings throughout the workshop series.
Portfolio -- During this workshop series, you will have numerous opportunities to construct or collect various artifacts that represent your learning with regard to each workshop topic. These artifacts can be incorporated into a portfolio as evidence of your professional growth. Each artifact should therefore be accompanied by a caption that explains what the artifact is and the nature of the learning that it represents. In addition, you should include a table of contents, and introductory statement describing the purpose of the portfolio, and a concluding statement that summarizes your learning throughout the series as a whole.

Web Site

Can a seed grow in cyberspace? With your help it can. We've developed a companion Web site for this workshop series that allows you to take your participation and interaction with teachers to another level -- from developing an online bean experiment, to contributing to a metaphor project, to exchanging activity ideas with other teachers. While using this Web site is not required for participation in the series, we hope that visiting it will not only provide support for the workshops, but also expand your experiences and discussions beyond the walls of your site. The Next Move Web site is located at: www.learner.org/workshops/nextmove