Re: Basics and the Clue book

Barbara J Smith (bjsmith who-is-at oise.on.ca)
Mon, 15 Apr 1996 08:16:12 -0400 (EDT)

On Thu, 14 Sep 1995, Mike Cole wrote:

> Barb Smith,
>
> I wonder if you would comment on the issue of "basic" with respect
> to the curriculum you describe. I would love to see a report of it
> because it sounds similar in structure to our afterschool activities.
> mike

Dear Mike,
I've had this message on my "to do" books for many months now. I'll be
doing my defence in June and shortly I'll be starting to write articles
with respect to my peer teaching project. In fact I have one to present
in June (so I'll send you my "work" in progress and you can pick what
features of these reports you like). I also have a copy of the Clue Book
that we (six peer teachers and myself) co-developed last year - after
they had participated as peer teachers. I could send you this? Their
revision of my original "Clue Book" is far superior to the resource they
actually used (the one I made up ahead of time). Their insights into how to
make mine better is captured in this revised book. I suppose that is what is
considered "basic" for the time being. I'm sure when the next group
experience peer teaching - they will have even more insights into what is
"basic".

My latest project (Queenston Playground Leaders) is using the peer
teaching 'Clue Book' as a starting point for developing a 'playground
leadership resource book - name to be determined. As my whole thrust is
looking for ways to situate responsibility - we're expanding the
classroom domain to look at different curricular contexts.

I've attached a lengthy description of my playground leadership project
to date. (If you have any questions/advice/suggestions, please let me know!

Barb

****
Situating Responsibility: Grade 7 Playground Leaders and Grade 5
Co-Investigators

Situated Responsibility arises when individuals are given
opportunities to participate in joint activity where they are responsible
for making decisions that effect other people. In the case of the Queenston
Playground Leadership Project, two groups of students were engaged in
'situated responsibility' in two distinct capacities. In the first situation,
a group of grade 7 students were invited to participate as playground leaders
at recess for a period of six weeks. They were responsible for structuring
recess activity for grade 2 students in a sectioned off area of the playground.
In another situation, a separate group of students from one grade 5 class was
invited to participate in an investigation to discover whether or not the
grade 7 playground leaders had any positive influence on the grade 2 students
level of cooperative activity.

The Co-investigation Experience

30 grade 5 students at Queenston Public School participated in a
co-investigation with their teacher, Mrs. Ewen and a researcher from the
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE). The co-investigation
started in April 1996. For purposes of comparison, six research teams gathered
data about the grade 2 students' recess activity prior to the arrival of
the grade 7 playground leaders in May. Each research team has at least one
encourager (leader), one timemaster (time management coordinator), one
recorder and one reporter. The teams are responsible for gathering different
kinds of data. One team videos and takes field notes about recess at regular
intervals each day. Three teams are responsible for conducting surveys; a
grade 8 survey, a grade 7 survey and a teacher survey. One team is
responsible for interviewing students from three grade 2 classes and one
team is coordinating interviews with the school principal and vice
principal. All the teams will prepare reports which will compare their data
before and after the playground leaders have participated with the grade 2
students at recess. The reports will then be synthesized in one study and the
recommendations will be presented to a staff meeting in June 1994. The
experience will also be documented in a chapter on co-investigation in a
book (in progress) being written by the OISE researcher on 'situated
responsibility'.

The Playground Leadership Experience

While the grade 5 students were gathering data in April, the
playground leaders were participating in playground leadership conferences
and workshops aimed at developing and encouraging their growth as future
playground leaders. The principal, vice principal, guidance teacher,
behavioural teacher and a physical education instructor from the Faculty
of Education formed the steering committee for overseeing the
coordination of this playground leadership experience. Two days were set
aside for leadership development conferences. On April 22, 21 grade 7
students registered for the first day of their conference. Their
registration packages included donations from the Canadian Intramural
Recreation Association, the Ontario Physical and Health Education
Association and Participation who all were interested in supporting this
project. The program for the conference included activity sessions,
communication workshops, and discussions about promoting fair play and
positive behaviour. Following the first conference the participants
apprenticed in activity workshops during the lunch hours while the
faculty of education instructor taught games to a primary activity club
during the lunch hour. A second half day conference has been planned
following the apprenticeship experience - one week after the first conference.
During this time, the playground leaders will develop their plans and
discuss their roles in further detail. The grade seven leaders will work
in groups of three. One person will be the 'key leader'who will describe
the games and explain the rules. Another person will be the 'group leader',
who is responsible for organizing the primary students into groups. The
third person will be the 'material resources leader' who gathers and
returns equipment and records the events of the day in the Playground
Leader Log. Individuals in each triad will rotate through each leadership
role. The playground leaders will also have weekly meetings to discuss
their progress and make regular entries into their Leadership Journals.
In addition to making regular written contributions, the leaders are also
responsible for editing the Playground Leader Log, or writing a playground
short story or publishing a playday resource book. Providing the staff
supports the continuance of the program, the grade 7 playground leaders
will be asked to coordinate future conferences for playground leaders and
other primary and junior grades will be given opportunities to participate in
structured recess activity. The playground leadership experience will also be
documented for purposes of writing a chapter about this opportunity for
situating 'responsibility'.