Tools for Schools, February/March 2009, Vol. 12, No. 3
Protocols: A facilitator's best friend
Protocol. Hearing the word makes some people think of formal dinners or White House etiquette. Others might think of the Kyoto Protocol and treaties among countries. For scientists, the term describes an exact procedure, for physicians, a practice they follow. In the field of education, protocols are simply an agreed-upon set of guidelines for conversation. They are a code of behaviour, a modus operandi, for groups to use when exploring ideas.
NSDC tool: Wagon Wheel
Examine a text with different partners to generate ideas for your next steps. To stimulate thinking about a text, connect participants, and generate ideas for further action.
NSDC tool: Three Levels of Text
Go deeper into your understanding by homing in on key sentences, phrases, and words. To construct meaning collaboratively, clarify, and expand thinking about a text, from a written document to videotape to the podcast, using increasingly specific descriptions.
NSDC tool: Success Analysis Protocol
To examine professional practise to gain an understanding of the reasons behind successes related to professional learning and then to examine these successes with the research report, \"Professional Learning in the Learning Profession: A Status Report on Teacher Development in the U.S. and Abroad\" to improve and apply strategies to future work.
