Writing Survey Question Options

http://www.inverness-research.org/nwpsi-survey-2010.htm

Planning Document 4

Possible Facilitation Scenarios in Studio Sessions
(activities, language choices, interventions)

Facilitator "What If" Scenarios

• What if: What if students offer blank stares or fall mute when addressed with a question or prompt? (example: How many of you have an idea of where you want to be in 5 years?
• Facilitator Response: Simplify the question, narrow the scope, then build (example: How many people have plans for this weekend? How about next month? etc.)

• What if: What if a student uses profane language to describe or respond in a session? (example: "I would just tell my teacher to f**k off if they write negative comments on my essay")
• Facilitator Response: Acknowledge the emotion of the comment but redirect to more discursively appropriately terminology (example: "ok, well clearly you have a right to be upset, but how do you think your teacher might respond to that approach? Are there other approaches that may achieve the same goal of conveying that emotion? Perhaps you might say, 'Your comment here had a powerful impact on my approach to this assignment, would you mind explaining more clearly the thoughts behind it for me?' Does anyone in the group have any suggestions?)

• What if: What if a student doesn't bring any work with them to the studio session
• Facilitator Response: Inquire about what topics are being discussed and/or addressed in the class, what major upcoming assignments are on the syllabus, ask the group if anyone else is in the same class, ask student to reflect on one recent activity or discussion from the class.

• What if: What if one student tends to dominate the conversation and/or occupies too much of the session time, thus detracting from fair allocation of attention to other students
• Facilitator Response: Praise followed by reflective pause (example: "that's an excellent idea/question! What I want you to do is think about these 3 aspects of that idea/question while I poll the group on your idea/question or their own ideas/questions" OR "that's an excellent idea/question! What I want you to do is come up with one question pertaining to that ide/question you can ask each member in the group to see if they may be able to come up with some ideas for you)

• What if: What if a student "gives up" in a session either as a result of apathy or frustration? (example: "I don't know, I can't do this"
• Facilitator Response: Become a coach and encourage collaborative support. (example: ok, well that's not true at all. We just have to find a better way to look at this. Between me and all the other students here, we're going to find the right way for you to figure this out, guaranteed.)

• What if: What if a student feels overwhelmed by time constraints (example: "I'm never going to get this done by ...")
• Facilitator Response: Deflect time constraint with personal and collaborative engagement reminders (example: "Don't worry about the time, you do whatever you can. Remember, it's what you get out of the time you put into your work, not the amount of time you put into it. Plus, with the support of all of us here, you're gonna go a lot further than you would have gone alone"

• What if: What if students in the group get into a (possibly heated) debate, disagreement, or even argument?
• Facilitator Response: Acknowledge validity of both sides, re-encourage teamwork. (example: "Ok, you're both making excellent points and it is excellent that you both have a high level of interest in this issue. Let's just take a second to remind ourselves that we're all on the same team, trying to achieve the same goals and then let's see how we can make the most out of both sides of this debate so it can be beneficial for us all)

• What if: What if a student challenges the facilitator or the facilitator's "power" is called into question? (example: "who the hell are you? you don't know me, you're not my teacher, how do you know what I should be doing?")
• Facilitator Response: Concede to the claims, and remind them, thatg your role is to help, not direct (example: "You're right, I don't know any better than you do about X, and I don't want to lead you to believe I do either, because I don't. My job here is just to help you discover these types of things on your own in an environment with other people who want the exact same thing for you and for themselves. I apologize that you took my tone as authoritative, but I want you to know I don't assume the slightest bit of authority over you at all"

There are many more "What if's" for the studio sessions, however, I think what is most important for facilitators to remember (especially considering the Gutierrez reading) is that the group is to function like a team that is made up of individuals who have the same vision of achieveing some goal or dream that they have set out, and can help each other in the effort of achieving that goal or dream.

Design Document 4

Studio Session Protocol for Managing Student Work

Students should be instructed to come to Studio sessions with:
1. One copy of the assignment sheet from the course for each studio member
2. One copy of the student's attempt at the assignment for each studio member
3. A list of uncertainties and/or questions about the assignment that they need to address
4. An explanation or notes on what the teacher expectations of the assignment are (how it will b
be graded, any extra points made about it in class, etc.)
5. A statement about what kind of support they want from the group.

Facilitators should be prepared to:
1. Encourage the student to share their work
2. Ask the student to preface their sharing of their work with an explanation of what the
assignment was and what type of feedback they'd like
3. Direct the studio members to review the work
4. Open the floor to studio members for comments/feedback
5. Pay attention to students' explanation of their work and engage them in a discussion of how
their work is productive to their personal and academic development
6. Direct students attention to the reading (ask them to find sections of the text/quotations that
support their interpretation of what it says)
7. Summarize the comments/feedback provided and ensure that the student knows
how to implement them
8. Maintain a record of students' drafts and progress