Time for Reflection

The last week of school is a great opportunity for reflection. It is a good winding-down exercise that the students can enjoy. In my grade 5/6 class I am currently leading the students through the steps of creating a Portfolio of their work. This is what we are doing:

– last week, we handed out all the work that I had saved through the year in various folders for assessments/interviews (such as math tests that were returned after being signed, displayed writing pieces, art work, individual goals).

– each student had a large pile of accumulated work to sort through on their desk. As they sorted I listened to their recollections and delights as they discussed their work with their peers.

– I provided each student with a folder and instructions to select 2-3 pieces to represent math, language, art and any other subjects that they wanted to represent.

– then they were encouraged to create a table of contents for their work, and write a reflection on why they chose the pieces that they did.

– now they are assembling and decorating their folders as they choose. Some students have stapled their work in, while others have used holes and ribbon to create a book.

– in the next few days we plan to do a gallery walk and the students can share their portfolios with others in the class.

This exercise in reflection has provided students with direction and time to reflect on their own progress and success. Every student has been engaged and interested in creating their own personal portfolio. It has also encouraged them to take pride in their work and take home at least one folder, rather than making the rash decision to recycle their work before it even makes it home. It also provides a vehicle to share the work with their families.

Photo of Mike Beetham

It Takes A Village To Raise A Child

As another year of learning is counting down and it is time for our learning community to show our appreciation to each other and the people who have helped us be so successful. I start by holding a classroom meeting where we look at our classroom Wall of Fame and reflect on how successful we have been both individually and collectively. The visual reminder of all of our accomplishments never ceases to being out smiles, laughter and a rousing chat session. I then ask them “Who has helped us all be successful?”. They respond with the obvious, their teachers, and the principal. As we delve deeper into this question, the list begins to significantly grow. The custodian who ensures our classroom is ready to go each day and allows us to be creatively messy sometimes. The secretary who always keeps us informed and has organized many of our activities. The librarian clerk who always seems to have the books we need. Their parents who have supported them in so many ways outside of school. The Occasional Teachers who have filled in and assisted them throughout the year. Parent volunteers who have supported activities in our school throughout the year. Teachers who have organized assemblies, special events and coached sport teams or choirs. Finally they discover how much they have supported each other in the year long journey.

The next part of the classroom discussion shifts to how do we show our appreciation to these people. It is quickly discovered that the best way to show our appreciation is to tell them how much their efforts were  appreciated. This is where the leadership shifts to the students. In small groups the students are  assigned key people to whom they are responsible for talking to on behalf of our classroom.Those messages are personally delivered over the last two weeks. We send a letter to our Occasional Teacher Local thanking the teachers who have been in our classroom this year.

As our community time draws to an end I ask them to write end of the year messages to each other. A chance to say thank you for the support, friendship and fun they had together. This message is kept secret until the last day of school where they are shared via video tape. I always view the draft of the message prior to filming is done. As a teacher, I also get to send my message to my students to thank them for helping me become a better person and teacher. It is now time for our village to move on.

Photo of Mike Beetham

Classroom Advisors

Wow, things have certainly changed since I was in school. When I went to school we __________ (fill in the blank with a change you have observed). When I look at the behaviours of my students, the choices they make and day-to-day social interactions in my classroom I filter it through the 54 year old brain of mine. It usually doesn’t make sense or seems silly and a waste of time. There are many times when I can’t make heads or tails of some of the things that my students do. So, what I tried (and found very useful) is to try and understand it through the brain of the age group I am working with. I sit and talk with individual students, small groups or even at times the entire class and have them explain to me the why of what took place. I tell them that through my adult brain it does not make sense and why would anybody do that. This opens up a wealth of opportunities to delve into the world of my students.

It has evolved to the point where my class votes in key students who will represent their needs and interests and those students become the classroom advisers. When ever a decision that requires our entire group’s input is needed, I go to the classroom advisers who then go to their classmates and get their feedback. The advisers then must prepare a summary of the input they received and meet with me as we collectively make the best decision for our group. In other scenarios, they serve as a resource who can explain to me what a student was thinking or why this makes sense to them. The final role these students play is being a peer mediator/mentor as students work their way out of poor decisions they have made. Needless to say, this is a very empowering strategy for both my students and me.

Photo of Mike Beetham

Time To Smell The Roses

As the year now shifts to the final months of academia, it is important to take the time and reflect on the growth of yourself as a teacher, the academic gains that your students have made and the endless best efforts that took place in your learning community. We often start to stress or feel the pressure of the year ending with so much curriculum yet to cover that we neglect the opportunity to recognize the gains accomplished thus far. By instilling in your students (and developing in your teaching practice) the skills to reflect on their effort, accomplishments and next steps we pave the way for students to become a partner with us in the educational journey.

The timing is critical as it will allow all parties involved the opportunity to give and receive feedback that will direct them in their goal setting for the last two months of the year. If this feedback is provided too close to the end of the year there will not be an adequate amount of time to use it to create change. This is an essential time when I focus on the accomplishments of each student and work with them to establish next steps. An analogy that I would use is when a coach takes that final timeout to share a plan and pump up his/her team for that final push to reach their goal. The message the student receives is that I am capable, I have been successful and it is important for me to keep it going rather than coasting into summer vacation. Enjoy this time of year and take great pride in what you have been able to accomplish with your students.

 

 

Photo of Mike Beetham

Shared Learning – Not Competition

In a learning community the focus becomes a shared learning, teamwork and helping each member to reach their potential. This collaborative classroom design creates a community of risk takers, where talents blossom and are shared for the good of all over time. Now, lets shift the scene to a school staff. It is made up of a wide variety of individuals with unique talents and levels of experience. A diverse talent pool that when shared creates a school portfolio that meets the needs of all of its learners.

I share this blog topic based on my many years of teaching in a wide variety of schools and communities. My early years of teaching witnessed classrooms as separate entities within a larger building where the only sharing that took place was at staff meetings. The most rewarding settings were always where classrooms were not a competition between teachers but rather a continuum of grades that were seamless in their beliefs and goals. Teachers seeking help from each other was encouraged and not frowned upon. The sharing of resources should be common practive and not items to be hidden. Mentoring, teaching partners, grade level planning are all significant enhancements to teacher planning pedagogy. Regardless of your level of experience, I highly encourage that you make time for colleague collaboration for it will become a regular part of both your learning and planning. “Even Einstein asked questions!”

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Context – That Makes Sense

Please turn to page 134 in your Mathematics text and complete questions 1 -5. Students comply with smiling faces, complete the work, take up the solutions and then move on. Next day when you revisit a topic, it almost seems like they had forgotten everything that had been done the previous day. This is not a rare occurrence in classrooms of all ages. Research clearly points out how important the role of emotion is in learning. One of the most critical tools for a  teacher is the strategy of context. I always ask myself prior to developing a unit of study what would this concept or skill look like in the everyday life of my students. That helps me frame the context for the learning task.

When I am able to make connections to the everyday lives of my students and the focus of instruction in the classroom I find that the learning is more likely to be consolidated and accessed by the student in future related tasks. Here is an example of how I used context in February. I took my class to camp for 3 days. Prior to going to camp we had to look at what the total costs would be per person as well as for the group. The level of engagement was extremely high as they explored a real life task that required them to access prior mathematical knowledge. While at camp they took photographs and filmed a specific activity they took part in. When we returned to school we did a recount of our experience that was to be shared with their families. It was some of the best writing they had done all year and it allowed me to see a transfer of the skills we had been working on since September. There was no reluctance, no hesitation as the task was real for them.

Photo of Carmen Oliveira

The Freedom of Giving Up Control

When my non-teacher friends describe teachers, words like type A, perfectionist, and control freak tend to be at the top of the list and although they may say it’s all in jest, I know that’s exactly how they see most educators.  Truth be told that in conversation with colleagues and observing many classrooms, I have to admit that to some degree, giving up control presents a challenge that not everyone is willing to take on.  For some teachers, the thought of having students organize the classroom library or put up a bulletin board on their own makes them nervous, to say the least.

I’ve always thought of myself as an educator who shares in the learning with my students and I’ve worked to create an environment in my classroom that I feel is conducive to exploration, inquiry and self-expression.  Of course, this is how I believe things to be without taking into consideration if indeed, my students feel the same way.  I decided to speak with my class about how they felt with respect to the control they had over how things we run.  Interestingly, we came to the conclusion that although they felt they could question anything and could express themselves while feeling valued, they did wish they had more control over day-to-day routines such as organizing supplies, creating the class calendar, writing the homework, putting up bulletin boards, etc.

I realized that I hadn’t given them those opportunities because of my limited belief about how much eight and nine year-olds could handle without creating havoc in our classroom.  I had my doubts about giving up that control over the day-to-day tasks but was curious to find out how they would handle it.  Students began to put up and take down bulletin boards, organize the class schedule and calendar, write up the homework on the information board, organize the forms and notes mailboxes, track completed and unfinished work using class charts, create their own anchor charts, organize the classroom library and supplies cupboards, etc.

What began to happen was wonderful: the students quickly demonstrated how independent and capable they are to run the day-to-day classroom tasks and I had more time to myself that I used to plan, mark and prepare for activities.  Giving up control ended up giving us all the freedom we needed both to do our jobs better!

Photo of Mike Beetham

Update on J

When I last shared (September), J had arrived  in a foreign school, classroom and community. After three months of focussed work to help J realize his potential, celebrate his uniqueness and work through his challenges, I am ecstatic to report on a young boy who has blossomed. He comes to school each and every day with a smile on his face (and most importantly) a belief that he is a capable learner who now views school as a safe place to be.

Our journey is not over, but rather just beginning. J is now in an emotionally safe  place where the academic and social gaps that will help him return to a regular classroom can be addressed. As with all good instruction, the front loading work established the foundation that was necessary to build the bridge to allow J to join the learning community that awaited him.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday and that you are able to enjoy it with family and friends.

 

Venetian Glass

In Praise of Fragility

Teachers spend a lot of time trying to identify students’ strengths.  Through the lens of an attributes-based approach, we can use those identified strengths to intentionally structure tailored learning opportunities.  The Heart of Teaching and Learning reminds us that we can empower our students by simply acknowledging and purposefully using their positive attributes.  Truly, at the heart of teaching is the belief that every child is special, that every child is strong in a way.

Such a heavy focus on student strengths makes me wonder if we adequately acknowledge our students’ weaknesses.  In our quest to identify strengths, what do we do when we discover that some of our students are, in fact, quite fragile?

Admittedly, all of us are fragile a little bit, but we keep it very hidden.  “Most of the the time, we have to be strong, we must not show our fragility.  We’ve known that since the schoolyard,” writes contemporary philosopher Alain de Botton in his new book, Art as Therapy.

It’s unfortunate that we often unassumingly teach the lesson that fragility should be replaced with strength.  “Just ignore him, Sally,” we say to the girl who comes to us in tears for the umpteenth time because of a classroom bully, “and if you don’t give a reaction, he’ll stop bugging you.”  “Walk it off, Scott!” we say to the boy who hurts himself on the pavement.  “No, you don’t need a Band-Aid.  Go.  Play.”  We’ve all dished out the unhelpful advice that really teaches this lesson:  toughen up already.

But fragility has its place.  Alain de Botton gives us this object lesson using Venetian glass goblets:

Venetian glass doesn’t apologise for its weakness.  It admits its delicacy; it is confident enough to demand careful treatment; it makes the world understand it could easily be damaged.

It’s not fragile because of a deficiency, or by mistake.  It’s not as if its maker was trying to make it tough and hardy and then – stupidly – ended up with something a child could snap, or that would be shattered by clumsy mishandling.  It is fragile and easily harmed as the consequence of its search for transparency and refinement and its desire to welcome sunlight and candle light into its depths.  Glass can achieve wonderful effects but the necessary price is fragility.  Some good things things have to be delicate – the dish says:  ‘I am delightful, but if you knock me about I’ll break, and that’s not my fault.’  (Excerpt from Art as Therapy).

Not unlike Venetian glass goblets, some of our students require delicate handling, and we would be remiss to think that the associated character attributes were undesirable.  Light bulbs demand to be treated delicately, and when they are, they can shine beautifully.

As teachers, we need to create spaces where fragile children can thrive.  Where shy children can interact with others at their own pace. Where children who are easily hurt can find refuge.  Where children who are simply unsure of themselves can find acceptance.

Is your school a place where being fragile is okay?

 

Photo of Carmen Oliveira

Tackling Challenging Topics: The Dolphin Dilemma

Recently, our Grade 4 class began exploring habitats and communities in our Science unit.  The children were very excited to share what they thought we would be learning about and which habitats and animals they were looking forward to researching.  One student was eager to tell the class that she saw dolphins at a marine park during the summer and would like to learn more about them because they were beautiful.  Now, I have to preface my story by saying that every student I’ve ever had in my classroom knows how much I love dolphins.  In fact, anyone visiting my classroom immediately notices the countless dolphin figurines lovingly given by many of my former students.  However, what students may not know is how strongly I believe that these mammals do not belong in marine parks but rather, should be left to swim in the wild.

During our classroom discussion one of the boys surprised me by asking the student who had visited the marine park why she liked to see dolphins in pools when they were supposed to be in the ocean.  Many students looked at him confused and admitted to having seen dolphins in marine parks and they also thought they were “cool.”  He seemed outnumbered by the blank and puzzled stares coming from his classmates and looked at me for support.  I have to admit that my natural reaction would be to defend him, prove why he’s right and try to educate students by raising awareness about the issue.  Of course, after so many years of tackling challenging issues related to social justice, the environment and students’ personal lives I know that the best way to engage in meaningful conversation is to keep an open mind, look at all perspectives, raise relevant questions that will provoke critical thinking and provide factual (hopefully biased-free) material that can be used to analyze the issue at hand.

This always takes me back to Chimamanda Adichie’s TED Talk  “The Danger of a Single Story.”  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9Ihs241zeg
In the past I’ve broken down this video with my students for us to realize how biased we all are to some degree and how those biases can greatly affect how we see and interact with the world.  When we have the tools we need to deal with challenging topics, we end up not only learning more, but growing from our experience, even if we continue to disagree.  It’s a powerful lesson to learn in life: before deciding where we stand on an issue,  step back and look at it from all sides before venturing toward a conclusion.

I do have to confess that despite all my attempts to stay neutral I did wear my Dolphin Project – Swim Wild t-shirt to school that same week.  Needless to say the students have decided (without my coaxing) that they’d like to learn more about a dolphin’s natural habitat and study the impact that keeping them in marine parks has on them.  This inquiry will definitely present some challenges for me but I hope to guide my students to their own well thought-out conclusion.  I’ll post our findings in the near future 🙂