What 21st Century Learning Looks Like in 2017

Learning-Featured1

While considering what 21st Century looks like to teachers, students, and in classroom, my Primary/Junior Math AQ colleagues, Ms. Sicondolfo, Ms. Hawkyard and I, developed this summary.

This summary has helped me consider how modern learning looks in 2017.

Modern Learning

What 21st Century Learning Looks Like in 2017 chart

This work was inspired by Peel District School Board’s Empowering Modern Learners #peel21st.

Student surveys

If you haven’t had your students use google forms, the survey creator on google drive, then you must! Students will have the chance to create online surveys and administer them to anyone they want.

We took our data management project to whole new heights when they created a survey for a certain grade to answer. We were looking at student satisfaction in regards to clubs and teams available at school. The answers were shocking as sometimes 75% of  students in the grade were unhappy with the clubs and teams available to them. My 28 students were divided up among all the grades at school and each group surveyed the grade they chose to survey. We will now look at the results and try to accommodate to add the new teams and clubs to our school.

I also was able to survey my students using the same program, google forms. I asked them about the way I ran the math program, language program and drama program. They were able to check mark all that they enjoyed about each program. Here are the results for the math section:

  1. 11 students enjoy projects
  2. 9 students enjoy group work
  3. 8 enjoy math around the class
  4. 6 enjoy tests
  5. 5 enjoy lessons on the board
  6. 2 enjoy quizzes
  7. 1 student wants to learn taxes

This way, when I do my next math unit, I can plan for maximum student enjoyment. It is important to know how your students want to learn so that you can have the best learning environment possible.

Ontario Student Record Search

Wow, we are already into the second month of this school year and I am not sure I really know my students very well yet. I have a working idea of who they are as students and as people but need to gather more information to help me with my programming. That is where using their Ontario Student Record (OSR) can help you gather further data to assist me  in this process.

I typically do not complete my OSR searches until after the first month of school so that I can establish my own opinion about them as learners. The OSR is a cumulative record of them as a student since their entry into the Ontario education system. It is a legal document that travels with them from community to community and school to school in Ontario. It is a valuable tool for any educator who is working with a student.

There is a wide variety of information that exists in a student’s Ontario Student Record. First and foremost are the provincial report cards from their time at school. It is here that a teacher can gauge where a student has typically performed in the various curriculae. In addition there is often a wide variety of other sources of information specific to that student. For example, there could be documentation around outside supports such as occupational therapy, early intervention, psychological assessments, legal documentation around custody, Family & Children Services involvement, suspensions, Individual Education Plans and Safety Plans. When you look at the back of the OSR you can see a history of whether a student has had a stable education in one school or whether their circumstances show multiple schools with little or no stability. I have had one student who was entering into his 8th school and he was only in Grade 4.

There is a combination of hard data as well as data that has a subjective component and is based on the interaction and opinions of adults. It is important to differentiate between the two. I am not saying you should discount in any way or ignore that data, but rather understand that the circumstances in which that data was obtained may have been affected by many outside factors. For the student who was entering into his 8th school, his OSR showed that he had difficulty making friends. That data was accurate but was also impacted by his inability to be in a single place long enough to establish friendships or the fact he knew if he did make friends, he would probably be moving soon.

The OSR search is most valuable to me for my at risk students. Students who I know come with challenges either from an academic or behavioural standpoint are the first ones I search, as they demand my attention immediately. When I have a firm understanding of what level of achievement my students are displaying I then look at previous report cards to help me. If for example a student is obtaining a lower mark in mathematics then what has been previously reported it prompts me to further examine my assessment data to ensure my determinations are aligned with my criteria.

It is important to familiarize yourself with the proper protocol of what goes in an OSR, who can access an OSR, where that OSR can be viewed and the responsibilities a teacher has in regards to filing information in a student’s Ontario Student Record. A really rewarding aspect of doing my OSR searches is that I get to see how they have changed over the years with their annual photo. I have attached a template that I use when completing an OSR search.

 

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How to Get Outside

I know I have probably spoken about the wonderful connection my school has with a nearby bird sanctuary, but I thought it might be of use to other educators to know some of the administrative requirements that are in place that make it happen. Depending on the location of your school in relation to that of a nearby green space, it may be possible to establish the opportunity for your students to access a natural setting (a park, a watershed, a field) on a regular basis – without extra costs or volunteers to organize. This is how teachers and students at my school have managed to be able to do just that.

Every Wednesday and Thursday, I take a groups of 5 kindergarten students out of the school yard, across a soccer field, over a bike path, and through a turnstile into a forest located at a large pond formed beside some rapids on the Ottawa River, not far from downtown Ottawa. It is called Mud Lake, and it is considered a “Provincially Significant Wetland and an Area of Natural and Scientific Interest by the government of Ontario.”

It is a very important destination for birders carrying all variety of cameras, and it boasts meandering walking paths in the summer and fall, and snowshoeing and cross-country skiing trails in the winter. Some winters have even seen a rink being flooded and cleared at one end. It is well used, but not overused or abused. The trails are clean and it is rare to find any garbage on a walk through the forest.

The kindergarten students are not the only lucky ones to be able to regularly go for a trek in the forest for an art lesson, some math, or science inquiry, this is what the entire school does each week. While having such a rich and diverse natural environment to explore may sound too good to be true, it is counterbalanced by the fact that the outdoor area on the school property is less than to be desired. In particular, the kinder yard is an inhospitable square of pavement surrounded by a chain-link fence, and offering absolutely no shade. The children wilt at their outdoor play on warm, sunny afternoons, so having the respite of a cool, verdant forest is extremely welcome.

To be able to take a small group of kindergarten students each time we visit, there are 2 important criteria that need to be fulfilled: firstly, the parents receive a year-long field trip permission form to sign on the first day of school. Secondly, the kinder educators maintain the student-to-adult ratio of 5:1, thus avoiding the necessity of requiring parent volunteers. This way, if we need to change the time of our visit for some reason, we can still go later on in the day because there is no one else to organize except ourselves.

On Wednesdays and Thursdays, while the rest of the class is engaged in outdoor learning, I go to the forest with a group of 5 kinders. I have 20 students who are divided into 4 groups and I take 2 groups each week. It would be great if we could manage more visits any time we wanted, but it is not entirely feasible within the framework of the kindergarten day or week to go more often. With the way we have it set up, each child gets to go every 2 weeks. They still always get their outdoor learning time each day, which may or may not be limited to the kinder yard, so the wait is not so long that they feel hard done by. After school hours, many of the students have started to visit the forest with their families, too, which may account for the clean and healthy condition of the trails and surrounding area.

Every school culture and location is different, of course. You may not have access to a large, safe, natural area to adopt as an extension of your class or your school’s learning environment, but if you do find somewhere to explore, hopefully 2 legal hurdles – the year-long field trip permission form and the student-to-adult ratio requirement – won’t prevent you from making it happen.

Plans for January

Well, it’s a good thing I hadn’t planned on trying an inquiry on SNOW this year. With the unusually warm weather, I am wondering if maybe an inquiry on climate change would be more appropriate! However, that would be a rather depressing topic for 5 year olds (as it would be for people any age), and regardless of the lack of snow, there is still plenty to explore about Winter.
During the last week of school before the holidays, we had our team meeting to make sure we all have an idea of what we will be doing when we jump back into the game in January.
Here’s what I am planning on doing when we get back:

 

  1. I’d like to do a Winter Web of ideas, to gather what the students know about “What Happens in Winter”. Following a field trip to a bird sanctuary in early December, we have been reading books and talking about what people, plants, animals and bugs are doing as the weather gets colder. A Winter Web will help anchor the ideas and vocabulary we are hoping to expand upon through our inquiry.
  2. Winter Wonder Wall – A Knowledge Building Circle is so helpful for giving students a space to ask their questions, and where possible, to have them answered by their peers. We write “I wonder” questions that need more exploration on sentence strips and will post them on the board beside the Winter Web to be answered as discoveries are made. To help with our Winter Inquiry, we are really looking forward to a presentation from the Ottawa Inuit Children’s Centre where we will learn to play some Inuit Games as well as see and touch Inuit clothing and tools.
  3. Assessment/Evaluation – Following threads of wonder, each of the educators for our classes (2 ECE educators, 1 English teacher and 1 French Immersion teacher) will provide opportunities, such as the live Bear Cam of two grizzlies hibernating at https://www.grousemountain.com/wildlife-refuge/bear-cam , for the students in both classes to explore in more depth an aspect of the Winter Inquiry (hibernation, adaptation, migration, etc.) The goal is for the students to show us what they have learned about “What Happens in Winter”.

 

I am not sure how this inquiry will evolve. I can imagine our classrooms being completely transformed into wild places where the sand and water tables have hibernating reptiles and insects deep below the surfaces; where the cubbies are stuffed not with backpacks and coats, but furry animals curled up for a long sleep, and where tables and shelves have evidence of the life cycle of various plants. And in the middle of the space (with the windows wide open), the children, dressed for the cold, are playing Inuit Games. Sounds rather perfect, however, we will have to see where the students decide to take their learning. Stay tuned!

Occasional Teachers As Partners

In my classroom an Occasional Teacher is referred to as a Guest Teacher for many reasons. The most important being that the person who arrives that day is first and foremost a teacher. That individual is a qualified teacher who is there to help students continue on their daily academic journey. They are not there to keep students busy nor are they there to just supervise for the day.

It is very important that in my plans I both value and allow that incoming expertise to be shared with my students. Of course I have developed plans that will be a continuation of what is going on in my classroom but have left instructions that are open ended and allow the guest teacher to be able to adjust them based on the needs of the students they are working with as well as the expertise and experience they bring into our classroom. In that way, my students are able to enjoy and share the uniqueness of each teacher they work with.

My experience has taught me that one of the worst things I can do is to set up the guest teacher for failure or classroom management problems by assigning work that is not relevant or connected to the day-to-day academics that are occurring in that room. My students need to know that each and every task they are working on is important to their overall growth and academic success.

I truly enjoy the day after a Guest Teacher has been in my room and the students remember their name, tell me something personal they learned about that individual and are eager to share the work they completed. That type of response provides very valuable feedback about how well my students are transferring the classroom agreement to all individuals they come into contact with.

 I want to tell Occasional Teachers how important your role is and how much I appreciate the time and effort you put into my students. Thank you for everything you do as partners to contract teachers.

Yikes! I’m Teaching A “Split” Grade Class

Meet Linda. The start of the school year has come and gone and she has finally been successful at landing her first Long Term Occasional teaching assignment in October. It’s an FDK/Grade 1 class, and given the dynamics of the FDK program, she struggles to even make sense of what that might actually look like.

Meet Lester. After finally feeling settled with his Grade 5 class, he learns that as a result of a school wide reorganization, his neatly packaged single-grade class has now become a “split-grade” class.

Do either of these situations sound familiar? Do these narratives hold true for your current experience? Before you pull out your hair or scream, here are some practical strategies that will help you navigate this new experience. Consider the following 3Cs, Context, Community and Curriculum, for teaching in a multigrade classroom.

Context: Although a multigrade classroom is not the ideal setting for an optimum teaching and learning experience, it is worth re-imagining the situation as a combined class rather than a “split grade.” The idea of a “split” gives the impression of a type of separateness that does not accurately describe the context of learning in a class of students who generally are within the same developmental stages. The great news is that combined grade class have of two consecutive grades in one class as opposed to grades that are years apart. In this way, a combined grade class maintains a similar diversity of students, range of learning styles, social skills and academic needs as in a single grade classroom.

Community: Rethinking the notion of a “split” grade can do wonders for the type of classroom environment you nurture. As in any class dynamic, students learn best in an environment that is inclusive and fosters a of sense community and belonging. As such, the ways in which the class environment is setup should work to unite students rather than separate them based on grade. Students should have opportunities to work in flexible groupings using a range of collaborative learning structures as often as possible to invite positive peer interactions through both collaborative and independent learning situations. A combined grades should never be thought of as housing two classes in one room. Rather, students should know that they are one class engaging in similar learning opportunities. Students should be taught how to navigate their unique learning situation by explicitly teaching the importance of cooperation, and how to engage in learning that takes on a variety of groupings; such as whole class, small group, partners or even independent learning. Inviting leadership opportunities and encourage students to view their peers as resources will help to establish a community based on cooperative interdependence.

Curriculum: The idea of covering a combination of two curricula is one of the primary concerns for teachers who have been assigned combined grades. In Ontario, thankfully, many of the content areas align in ways that make tackling both grades more manageable. These content areas include Mathematics, Language, Health and Physical Education and The Arts. In these curricular areas, differentiating instruction is an essential tool for ensuring that the overall expectations of each grade is addressed and assessed. Differentiating content, process and product will allow for a seamless flow between the different grade expectations. At the same time, using the gradual release of responsibility will set the tone for independence that is often essential in a combined grade classroom. For content areas that are less similar such as Social Studies and Science, teaching through an inquiry framework allows teachers to focus on essential skills and invite students to apply those skills in different contexts. By focusing whole-class instruction on big ideas, thinking processes and strategies, teachers are able to engage students in parallel learning experiences while differentiating content.

Teaching a combined grade is never easy. But with the heart for learning and the art of teaching with finesse, even the least of ideal situations can be one that is done successfully.

For more information about teaching in a combined grade class, check out the resource Learning Together: A Teacher’s Guide to Combined Grades at Shop ETFO.

Sharing Your Passions Early and Often

When you are passionate about something, whether it is spending time in the natural world, cooking, art or music your excitement is palpable. It is also contagious. I have used this belief for the last three decades in my teaching practice. Every September my initial plan for developing a learning community and establishing relationships with the new collection of young learners is designed around those areas that I am passionate about.

My personal passions that I bring into my classroom centre on movement, life outdoors and literacy. Through these three vehicles I engage my students from the moment they enter into my classroom. I teach them that you don’t have to be an athlete to enjoy moving, to have fun through games and play. I spend as much time in the outdoors using the natural world as a springboard to the curricula we will journey through over the next 10 months. Finally, my love for reading is shared through a treasure of wonderful, engaging books that bring learning to life for my students. My favourite book to start off my year is ‘YO! YES!’ (written and illustrated by Chris Raschka) as it helps set the stage for the type of community our classroom will strive to become.

Photo of Mike Beetham

Service Learning Projects

Service learning projects are a form of project-based learning in which learning outcomes are accomplished through community service. It is a powerful approach to teaching that provides students with authentic learning experiences in real-life contexts. The outcomes of a quality service-learning project are endless (citizenship, responsibility, character, teamwork). Service learning projects are timeless and can be used at any time of the year.

I have used a service-learning component in my yearly plan for over two decades. In that time, my Junior students have worked with seniors, redesigned local parks, multiple environmental projects with the municipality, projects within our own school community, work at local outdoor education facilities, assisting local charities or community organizations and international projects with Sierra Leone. No matter what the project, the outcomes have been very consistent. First and foremost my students are able to start to look beyond their personal needs and develop a global awareness.

The goodness of all children just shines through like beacons when they know they are helping others. For my current teaching assignment I work with students who have reputations as aggressive, ego-centered individuals who do not care about the people around them. They rapidly lose that bravado when they know that they are making a difference for other people. Throughout this year we worked with our local education centre stacking wood for the upcoming maple syrup program, replanted trees and helped keep their site litter free. The experience of knowing they were making a difference for others created an outcome that was palpable. I am sure that I could see their self-esteem grow in front of my eyes.

My most memorable service-learning project occurred several years ago where my Grade 4 class worked with a group of seniors in a program called ‘Walk A Day In My Shoes’. The end result of our year-long work together was two fold. My students developed both respect and understanding for seniors and for many of the seniors, they found a new purpose in their life. As for me, I was reminded how much I love my profession and the difference teachers can make.

 

 

 

Everyday Accommodations for All Students

I, like most teachers, have many students each year who have IEPs. I have worked with students with a variety of needs, some requiring more complex accommodations than others. It can be daunting to read IEPs and see the lists of accommodations you’re required to put into place for your students, but I promise it’s not usually as hard as it sounds.

Over the past few years, I’ve found that many of the accommodations I put into place for these students are beneficial to all of my students – so now I plan with these accommodations in mind, whether I am “officially” required to have them or not. Keep in mind as you read through these that I am a Middle French Immersion teacher, meaning that  my students are all in their first or second year of learning all subject matter other than Math or English in their second language (French).

1) Strategic Seating – I doubt this one is a new idea for anyone. I rarely allow my students to choose their own seats in class because for me, strategic seating has always been a priority. I teach a second language program, so I need to make sure that the different levels of linguistic ability are spread around the room and that everyone has someone at their level to converse with when appropriate. I don’t want there to be a table of strong French speakers or a table of weak French speakers. I want every table to have a few speakers at each ability level. The confident French speakers encourage their peers to keep speaking in French. It’s a really important element of an FSL classroom, to me.

At the same time, I also need to keep in mind attention skills, social skills, aptitude in other subject areas, friendships, not-so-friendly rivalries, and a few other kinds of needs as they pop up. Planning seating arrangements takes me a long time… and I change them regularly. My husband can only laugh at this point when he watches me spend an hour planning a seating arrangement only to realize at the end that I have one student left to place, nowhere appropriate for them to go, and I have to scrap the whole thing and start over. I have always found it worth the effort, though, even if that one evening I spend working on it gets a little long!

2) Simplified Formats – Teachers love to dress up handouts and make things look fun and interesting. When you’re teaching a second language to beginners or novices, though, all of those extra things – fancy fonts, illustrations, etc. – can make it really difficult for students to understand the language. I’ve really worked hard at stripping my handouts down to the bare minimum where possible. It doesn’t just help with language comprehension, of course; this is often a suggested accommodation for students with NVLD, ADD, or LD.

3) Breaking Work into Steps – I love projects. I am all about projects. Some of my students love that, some hate it, and it’s almost always something my students use to describe me as a teacher. “She makes you do a lot of projects.” (Exchange the punctuation for more enthusiastic or frustrated symbols as appropriate.) The thing about projects, though, is that they usually require planning and time management.

I don’t know about your students, but I find that my Grade 4 students are not all that skilled with either of those concepts. They need a lot of training. Consequently, any project I assign has been broken down into steps for them to follow, usually with a checklist that I have to sign (for each step!) before they can move on. What I have found is that breaking the work up like this forces students to plan ahead, whether they want to or not.

At each step, I conference with every student (not really all that time consuming) where they show me the completed step. If I’m satisfied that their work in that stage is done, I initial their checklist and send them off to start working on the next one. When they’ve finished their project, they hand the checklist and all of their planning in with the completed task.

It’s not as time consuming as it sounds, I promise. We’re talking about steps like Brainstorming (they show me their spider web organizer), Storyboards (they show me their stick figure storyboards for their graphic novel), Sketches (self explanatory), Revision (they show me their rough copy, which they have gone through and revised on their own or with a peer), etc. It takes a matter of seconds to look over each step and sign off on them.

Overall, this has made my students’ work more cohesive, logical, and detailed.

4) Written and Oral Instructions – This one is really, really easy but has huge benefits for students. I used to have a bad habit of only providing instructions orally. Then, when I had a student with Executive Functioning Disorder, I learned why it was important to provide instructions both ways. Now, when I give students a list of instructions, I also write them on the board (usually with numbers). I provide a lot more detail orally than I do on the chalkboard; the written instructions are just a reminder for students about what to do next.

5) Extended Time Limits – On the rare occasion that I give something like a quiz, I never give my students limits on how long they can take to finish it. I find that giving them a specific amount of time really makes some of them panic, which doesn’t really lead to them doing their best work on the quiz. I try to plan an activity after a quiz/test period that they can easily jump into a little late, or ideally a work period for one of the many projects they’re working on all the time. I do also allow students to stay in at recess to finish something, but I try not to do that too much because I’m often calling parents, attending meetings, or supervising at that time.

6) Visual Schedule – I’m still struggling with getting this into my routine (it usually takes a student mentioning it before I update it for the current day) but it REALLY helps my students prepare for the day when they know what’s going to happen. I think my most loathed question (after “how long until lunch?”) is “What are we doing now?” Put a schedule on the wall. It doesn’t have to be detailed – often just having the subject and time is enough for them.

 

Those are by no means the only accommodations that would be useful to all students, but they’re definitely my top six that I always put in place no matter the needs in my classroom.