ALthought I have tried to keep up with the discussion as it passes by
me, just reading it is about all I've had time for. (I have had 7 trips in
the last 6 weeks, including three to my TE sites.)
My project, the American Astronomical Society Teacher Resource Agent Program,
involves about 25 teachers per site in a four week summer program. The
agents return to their communities across the US to serve as mentors
and workshop facilitators. Since the majority do not have
access to electronic mail, communication from them is sporatic. We have
regular newsletters and an annual meeting for the agents from the immediately
preceding year's institutes.
Following my participation in the NISE conference this year, we changed the
program this summer to include using parts of the "Facilitating
Systemic Change in Science and Mathematics Education: A Toolkit for
Professional Developers" (I choose "Understanding Adult Learning,"
"What is Good Professional Development?" and "Planning and Implementing
Professional Development" modules.
I was very pleased with how well these modules were received by the
participants -- they really sparked discussion and helped set the
framework, I hope, for the entire summer institute. As reports from
the participants come to me over the next year, we will evaluate the
effectiveness of this change. (In previous years we used materials
developed as part of TESIP = Texas Elementary Science Inservice program.)
My question is similar to those others have expressed: how does one
find out exactly what "leadership" roles these participants have assumed
within their communities? Sometimes they themselves don't recognize
the importance or the uniqueness of their activities.
Perhaps I should mention that the participants are K-12 teachers spread out
over 46 states and 3 territories. Very few are able to network with
other participants in their local geographical area; the rising use
of internet has helped some to stay in touch with their peers, but that is
not the norm.
Mary Kay Hemenway
PI, AASTRA
http://www.aas.org/~aastra/aastra.html
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