ISWO First Week

Preparing the ISWO course site and preparing to facilitate a session is a big job. Even though many activities and readings are constant from one offering to another we spend a lot of time thinking about what went well last time and what didn't... what might be out-of-date and what new things we should try. And then when we see the individual responses to the registrations survey we think about ISWO in terms of this particular group and make additional modifications.

Every time I facilitate ISWO and read about the participants, I get scared - maybe it's excitement or nervousness - but I have this sort of panic feeling of "My god these people have such wonderful experiences, rich backgrounds and credentials and many of them are long-time instructors! What are we going to be able to teach them?!"

Then, I watch the first week unfold and realize - once, again - how much people learn from each other when given an environment and a little bit of structure. Participant who have very impressive resumes not only share what they know but also are able to zero in on the nuggets that others offer. We all 'teach' each other. It's always what I intend to happen... what I hope will happen - it's just a relief and vary exciting to see it happen, yet another time.

I've been particularly impressed, this time, with participants' ability to do sort of the meta-cognitive thing. They are able to participate in an activity and at the same time begin thinking about it in terms of what teaching/learning strategies are embedded in the activity... what it is trying to model - and, immediately, begin thinking about how to use/adapt it to their own teaching.