KWRL Charting
I. Background Information
Title of activity:KWRL (Know, Want to know, Resources to provide information, What I’ve Learned) Charting
Time: 30 min
Focus of Activity:At this point, our audiences have a wide range of knowledge about EFF. This serves as a pre-assessment activity to understand where participants are coming from and where they want to go. It can also be used as a post-assessment at the end of a session (comparing the L part of the chart to the K and W sections). This activity can be used to model one way to do goal-setting in a classroom or a program.
Purpose of activity: Assessing audience’s knowledge of EFF
Target audience:Teachers and Directors
Format: Active involvement with audience moving around
Materials: Four large sheets of flip chart paper; large post-its
Key discoveries: This activity models one way to pre-assess, whether it is for a workshop or a classroom. It also models using a constructivist approach by beginning where the audience is.
Facilitation notes:Flip charts should be posted before the session begins. This activity is more effective if you have extended time with an audience (i.e., a 2-day session) so that you can have time to try to adapt your sessions based on the feedback from this activity.
Feedback/Commentary: The participants expressed their appreciation for the opportunity to gather their thoughts about EFF and to state what they wanted to know. Almost everyone said, “We want practical, how-to-apply-EFF information.” The “what do you know” section proved to be the hardest. Even though many of the participants had attended other sessions, they were not able to articulate their knowledge.
The State Even Start Coordinator liked this so much that when I returned to present a follow-up workshop, she wanted me to do it again. Then she used that as the evaluation form. Each person turned in his or her KWRL with additional comments so that we could see what they really said about how much they had learned. I thought that was very beneficial.
This is what I would consider for another time: Put them in small groups and ask them to use their EFF Standards book to discover, discuss and define what they know. Just locating the role maps, for example, will remind the folks that they have tools to help facilitate teaching and learning. Seeing the standards will remind them that EFF is a “standards based system reform initiative.”
We did end each day by asking what the participants had learned and posted those messages. That is a very important step because they begin to correct some of their own misconceptions. At another time, I would pause throughout the day to collect that information.
It is important that the facilitator becomes very familiar with these KWRL charts and refers back to them, especially the “what do you want to know” piece, when she/he is working with a concept that is posted there. This acknowledges and gives power to the participants’ voices. Meta Potts
II. Description of Activity
Description:
Step 1: Tell participants that you’re going to assess what they already know about EFF and what they want to know. You also want to provide them with some resources and will want to know what other resources they might need.
Step 2: Point out the four charts (only 3 will be used at the beginning of the session – the L = What I’ve Learned will serve as an assessment at the end). Explain what each of them means:
K = What I Know about EFF
W = What I Want to know about EFF
R = Resources to provide information
Step 3: Ask participants to put their thoughts on each of the topics on post-it notes under the appropriate flip chart heading. Under K, they should put things that they already know about EFF. You should be able to use this information to figure out the participants’ understanding of EFF, whether it be the history of EFF, components of the EFF framework, the work being undertaken now regarding assessment, etc. Under W, they should list questions or concerns that they have about EFF. What do they need clarification on? What don’t they understand about how to implement EFF? Under R, they might want to list where they think they can go to find the answers to their questions listed under W. This is also a good time to mention the items (if applicable) that are in the participant folders.
Step 4: While participants are putting their own post-its up on the flip charts, ask them to take time to read what other participants have listed. You might also want to take a few minutes to share some of the items listed. Tell the audience that you will work to address some of the issues listed under the What I Want to Know about EFF chart. You will also provide them with other suggested resources to answer questions that you will not be able to address during this session.
Step 5 (end of session): Be sure to have participants now write on post-its what they have learned during the session. You may want to refer back to their earlier postings on the What I Want to Know about EFF chart.
Segue: Whatever the next series of activities, it will be important to integrate information learned from the participants as they shared not only what they know about EFF but also what questions, misconceptions they may have. Because you have asked participants to explain what it is they want to know, this activity could be used in connection with the Learn through Research Standard in Action activity, which encourages participants to discover their own answers to their questions.