·      Activity 1: Introduction to Meeting Four (15 min)

• Activity 2: What Does Writing Mean to You? (1 hr) Small and whole group activity to introduce the process of writing practitioner research briefs.
   
• Activity 3: Criteria to Use in Writing Our Reports (1 ½ hrs) Small and whole group activity to determine the criteria for writing and publishing the practitioner research briefs.

Activity 1: Introduction to Meeting Four
 

Group Process:

Welcome participants. Review the meeting agenda. Explain briefly the focus and purpose of activities planned for the next three days and how major blocks of time will be used. The meeting objectives, which have been posted in the room, are for the participants to: 

• Learn about writing a research brief
• Establish criteria for writing and publishing the group’s research
• Produce initial draft research briefs 
• Convey the significance of their research findings and professional learning
• Reflect on and evaluate practitioner research as a professional development experience
• Celebrate the group’s accomplishments

Post the ground rules that participants created at the initial research meeting and have been using to guide subsequent meetings. (Ground rules generally include: arrive on time, don’t interrupt, speak-up when someone says something personally offensive, limit side conversations, no question is too silly, etc.) Ask participants if any rules need to be added or changed. Remind participants to reference these throughout the retreat.

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Activity 2:  What Does Writing Mean to You?
 

Group Process:

Discuss pre-retreat assignment. Ask the group to take out the writing exercise they completed as homework prior to this meeting. In it they were asked to write a short piece in response to these questions:

• From all the written texts you have ever produced, which piece are you the most proud of? Why?
• What was your last piece of writing? What kind of writing have you done most often during the past year?
• What causes you problems in writing? What is fun?
• On the basis of your answers so far, try to respond to the following question, if possible in a single sentence: What does writing mean to you?

Pair work: Partners exchange writing exercises and read each other’s work. They discuss any differences, similarities or surprises they have found. (20-30 minutes)

Whole group work: Facilitate a discussion to help participants process the homework activity and pair work. Ask participants to report one or two interesting or important ideas that emerged in the pair work.

Through this discussion it should become clear to the group that in one way or another everybody has to cope with writing difficulties. It can be helpful if the facilitator joins in the discussion by presenting his or her own experiences and difficulties with writing.

On flip chart paper, post the tips and suggestions about writing that emerge from the group discussion. For example, the main points about writing could include:

• View writing as a building process of incremental steps.
• Take baby steps.
• Expect to produce many drafts (initial, rough, and final).
• Get feedback from others at the various stages and work with an editor.
• Create the right conditions for writing.
• Gather and organize all research and reference materials before beginning to write.

Ask the group if there are further questions or concerns about the writing process; answer based on your understanding of the process. Note any questions that you can’t answer and tell participants you will try to get the answers. (20-30 minutes)

 _______________________________________________________________________

Altrichter, H., Posch, P., & Somekh, B. (1993). Teachers Investigate Their Work: An Introduction to the Methods of Action Research, pp. 193-194. London and New York: Routledge.

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Activity 3: Criteria to Use in Writing Our Reports*
 

Group Process:

Discuss the purpose of standards. Begin this activity with a brief discussion of standards: What are some basic standards for writing? In publishing? What do we mean by standards in general?  Facilitators may wish to remind participants of the Meeting One activity, Establishing Ourselves as a Learning Community, in which the group established a set of norms for participation in a practitioner research group.

Discuss the group’s standards for writing practitioner research briefs. Begin by asking participants: How would standards be useful to the writing of practitioner research briefs? The following ideas, for example, will arise in the discussion:

• Standards will give the reports a uniform look representative of the group.
• Standards will guide the writing process.
• Standards will structure the editing process; giving and receiving feedback and making revisions.
• Standards project a professional standing in the adult education community.
• Standards help to bridge the worlds of practitioner research and academic research.
• Standards will help others judge the quality of the practitioner research briefs.

Post the group’s responses; include your own ideas and experience as necessary.

(15 minutes)

Critique sample practitioner research briefs. Divide participants into groups of three or four. Give each group a research brief to read and discuss. The members of each small group should read and discuss the same research brief, but distribute an assortment of research briefs across the groups. For this activity, you can use the Practitioner Research Briefs from the Virginia Adult Education Research Network, or select another set of relevant research briefs/reports.

Use the following questions to frame the group discussions:

• How did they feel, in general, about the research brief they read?

• What did they like best about the research brief?

• What elements in the writing were most effective?

• How could their own research briefs improve upon what they just read?

• What would the group have to do to make their own reports more useful?

Tell participants to begin to synthesize their discussion and prepare a report, approximately fifteen - twenty minutes before the small group work is scheduled to end. Ask participants to write the main points from their discussion on flip chart paper and to post their reports on the walls for everyone to view.  (45 minutes for small group work)

(Participant break)

Reconvene to debrief participants’ small group discussions. Allow about five minutes for everyone to read the small group reports on the walls. Next facilitate a discussion to compare/contrast the different ideas across the groups. Help the group come to consensus about a set of criteria among those posted that they can use to write their research briefs. Continue in the discussion to help participants identify any important/necessary criteria that might be missing. (30 minutes)

The criteria should be typed and distributed to participants, as soon as possible at the conclusion of this activity. (Facilitators should edit the document as necessary with the researchers’ permission.) 

View sample criteria for writing and publishing research briefs, developed by the 1999-2000 Virginia Adult Education Research Network.

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*Criteria to Use in Writing Our Reports: Adapted from Altrichter, H., Posch, P., & Somekh, B. (1993). Teachers Investigate Their Work: An Introduction to the Methods of Action Research, pp.189-191. London and New York: Routledge.

Conclusion of session
 

Session 14: Telling Our Stories

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