Materials provided: "The Job Study," a tutorial and reference guide for teachers (see Appendix A-3); and a blank field notebook. The project faculty will arrange for each worksite mentor to issue teachers any special clothing or gear required at the worksite and to explain its use.
The goal for Week 2 is for teachers to observe problem solving in worksites. Teachers are matched to worksites and mentors based on their proposed curriculum units. The project faculty will encourage teachers to be inquisitive and to take the worker's lead in directing their observation. The faculty will coach teachers, as needed, on observation techniques.
Five days are required to accomplish this stage of the mini-sabbatical. On the first day, teachers travel to selected worksites and meet their mentors, department supervisor, and other staff members for a general orientation to the workplace.
On day two, teachers observe work tasks, beginning with routine and frequently performed tasks and then shifting to infrequent and complex ones. Routine tasks form a background of activity against which less frequent, but more complex and system-oriented aspects of the job can be understood.
The third day is devoted to summarizing fieldnotes and debriefing with other teachers and the project faculty.
Teachers return to the worksite on day four to observe start-up routines and follow up on task observations begun on the second day. The remainder of the fourth day is reserved for brief 20-minute interviews with a department head and trainer responsible for staffing the department. From these interviews, teachers appreciate the connections between the department and the larger organization, performance expectations for employees, and staff training.
On the fifth day, teachers return to the classroom for a final round of debriefing and begin writing up a summary of the department, the tasks performed, authentic problems encountered, and how workers go about solving problems. Authentic problems and the work context form the basis by which teachers develop classroom learning experiences.