For all the participants in our recent Summer Institute, I hope you find yourself settling back into your lives–and discovering new ideas and insights as these percolate up from the last week or so. After an intensive endeavor like the Summer Institute, it’s often a good idea to give yourself some space to reflect upon the experience. As I mentioned at our closing, when you submit a course proposal, we’d like you to send us some of your thoughts about the Summer Institute as organized around 3 basic prompts or questions.  Pete has posted the guidance for writing up your course proposals. Below are the 3 prompts for capturing your reflections on the Summer Institute. Remember, we’re not interested in long or formal treatises on these topics. A paragraph or two on each would be fine.  Please submit these reflections with your course proposal via email to Pete by 8-31-09.

• The Most Challenging Aspect of the IF Discussion Process?

As you think back over your experience of the IF discussion process, or as you think about using this process in your classroom, what seems the most challenging for you? This might be the thing you feel is hardest for you to learn, or the aspect of the discussion process you’re struggling with the most. It could be the aspect of the discussion process or facilitation that you’d most like to focus on or to improve. This can be something you’re actively trying to figure out–not necessarily something you’ve resolved in your mind. We’ve found that it’s helpful to share challenges or things we’re struggling with–even if we don’t know what the resolution might be.

• A Key Lesson Learned?

As you think back over your experience of the IF discussion process, or as you think about using this process in your classroom, what’s a key lesson you feel you learned from the Summer Institute? This might be an insight you had during the Summer Institute, perhaps in your discussions with a colleague, or it might be something that has become clear to you now that you’re back at home.  You might reflect upon an important developmental moment for you, and the insight(s) you have drawn from this.

• What Would You Tell A Colleague?

Suppose a colleague was wondering about participating in a future IF Summer Institute, then you might tell them, “Well, if you’re interested in X, then this might be for you.”  This is a chance to explore and describe that X. You might think if  this as a way of another way of describing the take-away from the whole experience or the kind of benefit someone might get. You might think about the kind of person who’d be interested in this sort of thing and the kind of challenges and opportunities that person might find in this experience.

–Jeff Prudhomme