Mike Beetham Classroom Management, Constant Learning, Differentiated Instruction, Diverse Learning Needs, Literacy, Professional Learning and Growth

Anchoring Learning

Anchor charts have long been identified as a high-yield learning tool. What exactly is an anchor chart? Why use them? How do you determine what should be on an anchor chart? These are common questions faced by teachers as they try to establish optimum learning environments for their students.

I have heard anchor charts best described as the ‘third teacher’. The following is a quote from Scholastic’s Literacy Place – For The Early Years, 2010. “ To promote literacy skills and encourage independence, you will want to make strategic and purposeful use of print resources such as posters, signs, lists, charts, and student/teacher writing samples in your classroom. One tool in particular, the anchor chart, is very effective in promoting student success. An anchor chart outlines or describes procedures, processes, and strategies on a particular theme or topic and is posted in the classroom for reference by students. Examples of anchor charts include: what to do in an interview, tips on using commas, what readers need to do when they infer, how to choose just right’ books, or how to write a literature response.”

This of course aligns perfectly with the visual learner. Visual learners learn through seeing, observing and anchor charts allow them perpetual access to critical information and not just when instruction by a teacher is occurring. They can return to the key ideas or concepts when they need to and as often as they need to.

One lesson that I have learned is that not everything can be an anchor chart even though it is all so valuable. If the visual scene in your classroom becomes cluttered the benefits of this tool diminish as they just become part of the scenery and no longer a tool for the students. In my class we have a large variety of anchor charts positioned around the classroom with different colours, fonts, sizes, shapes and almost any other way I can make them unique and stick out. I did an experiment with my students one day where I gave them post it notes and asked them to go around and put them on the anchor charts they used most often and felt were most helpful to them. Prior to that I had made my prediction of what might occur. Needless to say, what I thought was most important did not align with their view. Sooooo from that point on, my anchor charts became a mutual task created by my students and myself. I still do all of the finish work, but the content and positioning in the room is a shared decision. One final change in my practice as a result of that data collection was that I am constantly changing the visual cues so that they stay fresh as learning tools and not just become a regular site in the room.

Another feature of this great tool is that I also have personal anchor charts around my desk that help me as I learn new pedagogy to add to my practice. I am able to return to them throughout the day to evaluate my growth and development progress. IMG_1799 IMG_1803 IMG_1804 IMG_1797 IMG_1806 IMG_1798 IMG_1800 IMG_1801

Will Gourley Celebrating Success, Constant Learning, General, Professional Learning and Growth, self reflection

2016, seems like we were just getting started…

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It’s too late. Whatever you wanted to share or teach in the classroom will have to wait until next year. I’d have liked a little more time. Was this the case for you too? Fortunately, a return date is just around the corner. Conversely, time away from routines can also restore mind, body, and spirit.

A break like this provides me with time to think about teaching and other pursuits. Usually, it’s catching up with family, over-caffeinating, reading, and blogging. With the school year already 40% complete, our time off serves as both restorative opportunity and cathartic challenge.

This December’s end, I wanted to reflect like it’s June. Think of it as part of my own personal development. I am trying to make sense of things now – in the moment. A resolution, pep talk, or plan of action if you please. This means there are a lot of questions to which the answers are either too simple, or underdeveloped.

Did I miss something? Could I have been more supportive? Did I make the curriculum come alive with relevance for my students? Did they have enough challenge, motivation, and opportunity to learn? Did I prepare enough? Did I assess too little? Too much? Did I give my students opportunity to succeed? Was I supportive to my colleagues? Did I give everything I could? Was my work-life balance maintained?

I am sure the answer to each one of the above questions could be yes. Even the one about work-life balance.

Now what?

Questions like these pervade my thoughts. I’m cannot be alone as a reflective practitioner in our profession. So how do you reflect at this time of the year? How are you de-stressing? Are you able to turn off your teacher brain for 2 weeks? How about checking your email or assessing student work?

Do you think that this changes over a career in education? After 8 years in the classroom, I am trying to see each season with fresh eyes, but still struggle with disconnecting entirely. Saying goodbye to 2016 and hello to 2017 will see me sharing, reflecting, learning, and unlearning as part of a process crucial to a professional pursuit of progress. How about you?

Keep the conversation going. Please share, respond, or retort.
I love hearing about your journey and heart for the art of education.

Happy 2017.

Will

Will Gourley Constant Learning, General, Modern Learning, Professional Learning and Growth, self reflection

Lessons from the hall. Or was it the mall?

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Not sure if anybody noticed, but local shopping malls were unusually festive over the past 6 weeks. Come to think of it, schools were too. Ever since Progress Reports went home, there’s been something in the air. In fact, I’m pretty sure it had to do with an annually anticipated event or holiday festivity. Whatever the cause, excitement abounded wherever I looked – whether it was in the halls or the malls.

However, there was one distinct difference, I couldn’t imagine have Boxing Day type line ups to get back into the classroom as if there was a 75% off learning sale. Get your lessons while supplies last! What if it was? There is no doubt that many educators and students were ready for a break.

The time leading up to the big day saw many classrooms adorned with seasonally themed crafts, gyms hosting concerts with particular attention paid to inclusive and acceptable winter music standards, and a lot of people wearing red in order to match the annual gift giving man’s commercially conjured wardrobe.

For years, many(not all) have decided, that during the six weeks leading up to the winter holiday break, they would attempt to cram as much kindness, creativity, and cuteness beyond human limits, capacity or reason. It was amazing to witness what can be accomplished when plans are hatched and deadlines approach. All of the work, acts of kindness/giving, and stress leading up to the winter break did not go un-noticed.

But wait, I wanted to connect this post to education not the Hall-i-daze or Mall-idays. 

In between dodging the inattentive and exhausted hordes, all I could think during my annual ‘mall-people-watching’ spectacle was how important having a purpose was to survive the experience. Come to think of it, teaching is quite similar. Having a purpose, a plan, and an exit strategy are imperative.

Am I saying that the halls of schools are filled with the inattentive and exhausted? Not exactly. Well maybe, but it does not have to be that way if we invigorate, iterate, and innovate our educational spaces. This can happen when educators at all levels are given the funds, flexibility and freedom to do so.

Take for example, instead of buying more text books a.k.a. knowledge coffins(my term), why not a document camera? See how I put some shopping in this post? Imagine the savings when digital copies of a Math text can replace 20 or 30 ($60 to 90) aging copies for fraction of the cost? Why should publishing companies be taking the lion’s share of our budgets? Of course, a few texts are necessary in each class, but not a text for every student in every subject in every class. The school wide savings of limiting text book purchases would free up budgets for more hands on learning resources like Math manipulatives, Science materials, maker spaces, and technology.

Allowing teachers a greater voice in their own budgets is a great place to start. In my classroom, we are paper minimalists. I do not believe in worksheets, instead make use of a document camera to share anything that might otherwise be copied. Instead of paper and consumables, I purpose 90% of my class budget for a growing collection of Math and Science manipulatives that will be useful from year to year instead of destined for the recycling bin.

By providing PD through school/board wide initiatives teachers would have a chance to engage in new ideas as new learners themselves. In the YRDSB we host 2 Edtech Summits per year to share ideas and learn new skills to use in the modern learning classroom. The new ideas, tools, and confidence can transform and invigorate a classroom. Imagine the engagement when students see a teacher as a learner too instead of the transmitter of lessons and marker of tests?

I can sense some walls and arguments being raised. Feel free to respond in the comment section. I promise it will not be comfortable at first. I promise it will be messy for a bit longer than that. I promise that mistakes will be made, but remember FAIL only means First Attempts In Learning. I promise that it will be the best thing you have ever done as an educator for a long time.

Will Gourley Challenging Topics, Constant Learning, Differentiated Instruction, General, Making a Difference Through Education, Modern Learning, Professional Learning and Growth, self reflection

Painting with the same brush.

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Underlying
An artist was preparing to paint one day. First, she stretched and secured her canvas over its wooden frame. The artist continued by arranging her brushes, planning a colour scheme, and then by setting up her supplies. Finally, it was time to ponder her subject forever to be captured in a moment of time and occupied space – where her vision would be on display in pigment, oil or acrylic for evermore for all to enjoy.

The artist could already see her finished masterpiece. As if the picture had miraculously painted itself. Without anything left to imagine, conjure, or deliberate she began.

Un-(der) inpired
It was all right there in living, er um, cold dead colour. All she had to do was slather it onto the wintery whitewashed space in waiting. She pulled out the widest brush in her kit, dipped it into the first colour, white, and painted a perfectly straight line across the top of the canvas. She dipped her brush again and repeated, the same thing over and over, with the precision of her first strokes until she has covered the entire canvas. She felt satisfied, but did not have time to admire her work for long. There were 29 more canvases to cover just like the first one. She smiled, sighed, dipped her brush, and started on the next one.  Yet, with a pallet of colours and brushes at the ready, the artist only knew how to paint with a single brush and to use white paint to do her work.

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Under pressure
Does teaching ever seem like this to you? Do educators feel they are asked to paint blank canvases everyday, but are only given one wide brush and a single colour to work with? I wonder whether that is how some teachers have come to feel when a learning system is imposed on them which expects students to be taught to the test?

Teachers plan and prepare their materials to deliver a lesson much like the artist in the story above and in the end are expected to use the broadest brush and one shade of paint. What may be more disappointing, is that many only have time to paint one coat before feeling they have to move on.

Underwhelmed
I am not a huge fan of the traditional textbook. In fact I have called them “knowledge coffins” in the past. When traditional textbooks are at the centre of the instructional day, there is little option for learners to explore beyond its pages.  Yes, it’s all in there, but at what cost are other things and ideas being left out?

First, consider the cost of purchasing texts/licenses per class. Math books alone can range upwards of $1500 to $2000 for a class set per subject. What happens when the curriculum gets revamped like what has recently happened in Ontario with the French(2013), Health/Physical Education(2015), and Social Studies(2013). Could the money schools, boards, and government pour into photocopies and textbooks be used to provide Chromebooks for every student instead? Imagine the cost savings in paper alone. If we did this, every learner from K to 12 could be equipped with a productivity and research tool for the classroom at their fingertips? And, at home too if WiFi is available.

Unrepentant
I am a fan of adaptive and hands on learning environments. In the classroom, I want students to have a voice in how and what they are being taught so we can democratize education. I believe all educators possess the means/ability to transform and tailor their instruction to suit their students. What they need now is a safe place to do so and that’s an issue of system and school leadership.

JFK Paint by Numbers
JFK Paint by Numbers

To paint a portrait of the future, educators need to use the prescribed curriculum as a pallet filled with colours that is not limited to a paint-by-number task. However, many are afraid to use other, less traditional brushes and materials to paint their masterpieces because the outcomes might not look resemble or match work gathering dust on the walls.

Yes, there are things to be taken from the past, but the world outside our classrooms has not remained fixed in space and time. Neither should it remain static inside. The classroom must become a vibrant and connected place where students have access to, and be able to contribute to a world of knowledge.

This requires courage to happen. It requires time for others to understand, accept, and embrace. It doesn’t have to look perfect. The mess is an important part of the process.

Ask yourself what or who inspires you to take chances as a learner? What new idea(s) would you try in your classroom if you knew you couldn’t fail? Start by giving yourself permission to change things up in one subject area, and then go from there.

I’ll be here to chat if you want to talk more about how we can change the portrait of education to a landscape of creativity, differentiation, and encouragement.

In the meantime I have some brushes to clean.

Mike Beetham Constant Learning, Inspiring Teachers, Learning in a Real Life Context, Professional Learning and Growth

Self-Guided Professional Learning

As an adult learner, you know what your strengths are as well as what your next steps should be. You understand you current lifestyle, the demands of family and friends as well as the other components that are a part of your busy life. Self-guided professional learning allows you to continue to enhance your classroom pedagogical practice and curriculum knowledge at a pace and focus that is specific to your needs.

There are so many learning options available to ETFO members. It starts within your local federation where your professional learning committee is already at work planning out opportunities for members to continue to enhance their best practice. Talk to your committee, find out what is being offered, put forth suggestions that they can look at or better yet, get involved in this committee.

The next main area that provides a treasure trove of learning opportunities is our provincial organization. If you go to the provincial website (http://www.etfo.ca/Pages/default.aspx) and search under the subsection professional learning you will find a wide variety of options that are offered by our provincial team. The scope and sequence of the options available ensures there is something for everyone. The provincial office also provides equitable access from a geographical standpoint.

Whether it is AQ courses, Summer Academy, one time workshops, workshop series, provincial or local book clubs, or just gathering together as same grade colleagues and having professional dialogue on a topic, find what you need and seek to grow as a teacher each and every day. One of the most rewarding facets of teaching is when students and teachers can continue to grow side-by-side.

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Kelly.McLaughlin Challenging Topics, Communication with Parents and Guardians, Constant Learning, Differentiated Instruction, Diverse Learning Needs, Interviews, Learning in a Real Life Context, Modern Learning, Professional Learning and Growth, Questioning

Meet the teacher night

Tonight was open house at my school and as usual parents wanted to know how their son or daughter were performing. This is always an interesting question to answer because parents want to know about math and language and I want to tell about how they are getting along with others and how polite and helpful they are.

It’s interesting to see that what a teacher values teaching the most is not always what would come up at a meet the teacher night. I hope that in my program I can help children with their math and language as well as help them treat others with respect as well as help them make our class a friendly place.

As a young teacher, I am always hoping that parents will be on board with the new shift in education, away from tests and onto rich learning experiences. Sometimes I wonder if after my students leave me, that I have failed them if they start to take tests and have no idea what they are doing. I do see the value in showing how much they know on a piece of paper as many high schools still work with this model, but I am always wondering how that will help them in their future. I understand that test writing is an important skill, so I need to think of ways to include this in my program in the future.

I am working on making our class a very open and comfortable space for learning right now and I am hoping in my next post to share about how the alternative seating is making the student space an amazing place to work. I hope to see the benefits of the seating and I am excited to take pictures of student learning experiences and share the stories.

 

Tisha Nelson Constant Learning, General, self reflection, Year End Activities

Revise, Refine, Reimagine

Although sometimes I would rather have a balanced-calendar school year, where summers were shortened and more frequent breaks are embedded throughout the academic year, the two months off that a 10-month school year calendar is still a welcomed experience. The structured close of what often is an intense year of teaching and learning, affords us the opportunity to touch the reset button, as it were, and engage in some meaningful reflection about how to continue the journey forward.

For me, this is one of the most difficult times of the year where my focus is consistently being challenged. Engaging in year-end activities (i.e. report writing, school celebrations, etc. ) while at the same time anticipating the year to come (i.e. new teaching-assignments, classroom moves, etc.) pulls my attention is so many directions that I find it hard to stay present and in the moment. My mind is constantly racing ahead as I would honestly rather engage in the year-end clean-up of my classroom as the thrill of reorganizing my “stuff” seems all too inviting. (Sidenote: teacher hoard WAY too many things…sigh…)

Reflecting on the year that was, however, is the best way to prepare for the year ahead. Intentionally thinking about the things that went well and the challenges that were grappled with can prepare you for a more focused year. The following is a framework for reflection that some colleagues and I have explored as we sought to address areas where we can improve in the work we do:

Revise: What were the things that didn’t work out the way it was intended to this year? Why was that so? How might you revise the experience so that it achieves the purpose and function that you had originally envisioned?

Refine: What went well this year that, with a few additional tweaks, could go even better the next time around? How might you refine your practice in ways that allows you to work smarter and not necessarily harder? What might be some efficiencies that you could employ that will allow your efforts to be stretched far and wide?

Reimagine: What possibilities might there be for aspects of your practice that you find stuck in your comfort zone? How might you embrace the spirit of innovation to reimagine possibilities that were once never an option? With the prevalence of technology and resources that support integrative thinking, what aspects of your practice might be opened to your imagination for radical shifts?

After engaging in thoughtful reflection the year forward can look so bright. With the natural starts and stops, we are compelled to be progressive as teachers. Here’s to closing the school year with a boom and beginning the new one with a bang.

Tisha Nelson Before School Starts, Constant Learning, General, Inspiring Students, Inspiring Teachers, Professional Learning and Growth, self reflection

What does it mean to learn? What does it mean to teach?

What does it mean to learn? For me, learning is the trajectory between not knowing and arriving at new understanding. What, then, does it mean to teach? Teachers have long been grappling with this question and exploring the best way to define this through the study of pedagogy.  Pedagogy is the method one engages to facilitate learning. It makes the difference between those who know a lot of information (content knowledge) and those who know how to skillfully craft learning experiences that will facilitate the acquisition or construction of information. Thus, to teach means to employ pedagogy.

So beyond big words, what does good teaching look like? This is something that I consistently reflect on to see  how much I’ve grown and developed as an educator. Seven years ago, as a new teacher, my enthusiasm around teaching revolved around how much knowledge I could share with my students. This was usually demonstrated by how much I spoke. Since then, my vision of teaching and practice of pedagogy has drastically shifted in that now I believe a good day of teaching takes place when my students do much of the talking and we all engage in the learning. Effective teaching, though ultimately reflective of student learning, is the intentional construction of experiences that invite curiosity and nurture the construction of new understandings. In other words, good teaching nurtures the conditions necessary for learning to occur rather than the teacher saying a lot of “stuff”.

As a math teacher, I get excited when learning opportunities arise that provokes dissonance and ignites curiosity. The careful blend of the familiar and not yet known motivates students to embrace challenges that have a low threshold but a high ceiling. Students are engaged in a real life problem that causes them to arrive at many stumbling blocks of previous understandings and must harness perseverance in order to proceed forward in constructing understanding. In such cases, I often encourage my students to “embrace the struggle” as the the inverse reaction to dissonance is learning. This way, students become motivated learners not because of a sticker or a final grade, but simply for the joy of learning.  Bottle up this experience and you get good teaching – the intentionally crafted growth-opportunities nurtured by teachers. These experience don’t happen when teachers do all the talking, these things happen when teachers allow students to experience their own journey between what is known to that which is understood. This is what it means to learn.

Mike Beetham Assessment, Challenging Topics, Communication Tools, Constant Learning, Feedback

More Than Right or Wrong

“Did I get it right teacher, did I get it right?”. This I am sure you have heard over and over again when it is time for students to take up their work. I can go back to my elementary school years (way too long ago to provide a date for you) and remembering sitting there anticipating getting my paper back so that I could look at the top of the page and see my grade. Red on your paper was not a good thing. Either a smile or a sad expression immediately came across my face and I would be asked to get it signed by my parents, return it to my teacher and move on to my next unit of study.

Good assessment pedagogy now has taught us that the opportunity for learning is in examining the mistakes, looking at what strategies were being used and providing timely feedback that allows a student to learn from their own work. This approach helps facilitate their growth toward those target outcomes.

I have an anchor chart in my room that is used by both my students and by myself when we are looking at the work we have completed. On that chart are three defined types of mistakes that can be made. The first is referred to as ‘Careless Mistakes’ which are characterized by minor mistakes that are made as a result of miscalculations, rushing through work or more typically a student not looking back and checking their work prior to handling it in. When I am conferencing with a student about their work and find these types of mistakes it indicates to me that the student has grasped the key concepts and need feedback/strategies on how to avoid making those types of errors.

The second type of mistake that can be made are ‘Misconceptions’. These are characterized by a student’s understanding of a concept being inaccurate and thus as the student moves forward with his/her thinking, that student is immediately going down a wrong thinking pass that will result in his/her work being wrong. This will lead me to create a mini lesson for that student or a group of students that will help adjust their thinking by clarifying the necessary content to eliminate the misconception(s).

The final type of error is due to a ‘Lack of Knowledge’. In this scenario the student does not have the necessary background knowledge or sub-skills in order to accomplish the task at hand. This immediately indicates the need for me to assess where the student knowledge base lies and backtrack to that point in order to provide him/her with the necessary next step in his/her learning. I find this often is below grade level and thus requires me to modify the content to help that individual gain the necessary knowledge to move his/her learning forward. This scenario occurred just last week in my class as we moved into a unit on fractions. In my diagnostic task it became very clear to me that my students had little or no understanding of what fractions were despite being comfortable with using the word fraction. They could take an apple and split it into two pieces, describe each piece as a half but not quantify what that meant.

By sharing this understanding with my students, it facilitates their participation and role in the learning process. They now have more ownership over their work, over their effort and over their plan on moving forward with their own learning.

Beverly Papove Constant Learning, Inquiry, Outdoor Learning, self reflection

Stewardship/Sustainability in SK

With our winter inquiry coming to an end, the biggest challenge in my mind was how to facilitate the opportunity for my senior kindergarten students to use what they have learned so that they can become valuable stewards of the planet.

To provoke an understanding of the need to care for and respect the environment which related to our winter inquiry and hoping the students would automatically spring into action, I wrote a note from the creatures the students have observed living in and around our schoolyard. In the note, the creatures complain that the snow is so dirty, that it is making them sick: “Chers Amis, Our homes are not healthy any more! When the snow melts, the water we need to live is making us sick. Many of our friends have already left to find a cleaner place to live. We don’t want to leave! Can you help us? Signed, your friends – Earthworm, Chickadee, Rabbit, Crow and Cardinal. I folded the note and tucked it into a space between the bark and trunk of one of our maple trees growing along the fence in the schoolyard.

During the morning Outdoor Learning period, we started off the lesson with a turn and talk activity to review some of the things we learned about What Happens in Winter. Information flowed as the students chatted with their peers. When they had finished, I gave them the challenge of looking for and finding evidence of living things in the schoolyard. I was beginning to wonder if anyone would find the note, when finally, a group of students came running back, all talking loudly at once about something they had found in a tree.

I gathered the students together and read the note aloud to them, ending it with the question, “What do you think?”  They turned and talked with their neighbours excitedly. “Rabbits can’t write!”  “Yes they can.” And about the message of the snow being unclean; “It’s true! There is sand in the snow. I can see it.”  “Snow looks clean but it’s actually really dirty.” Others mentioned the microbes and the dirt from cars as well as the dogs that dirty the ground. So I asked, “Can we drink the water if we melt this snow?” to which came the answer, “Ewww! No way!”

At this point, I was hoping the students would acknowledge that humans played a part in the messing up of things and that, consequently, it was up to all of us to stop it. However, I was quickly made to realize that, of course, how to clean up the planet is a gazillion dollar question that nobody can fully agree on, let alone a group of five year olds. At this age, they are very capable of figuring out how to help in such a situation, one animal at a time, by giving a bowl of clean water to drink, which is what they do for their pets at home. And what did I really have in mind as far as stewardship goes? Petitions? Posters? Protest marches? It became clear to me that rather than ask HOW we might help the creatures, a better question was, WHAT IF? So I started over again, asking them, “What Would Happen If There Were No Winter?”,  and I explained that, “There is something called Climate Change which is making our Earth warmer than it should be. Scientists think this is happening because of pollution caused by people using cars and airplanes to travel around, and building factories to make things.”

At first, the group was rather quiet, but then one of the students made the comment that a warmer Earth meant that the snow would melt. RIght away, more students began to add their thoughts as a conclusion began to form itself:

“If the snow melts, then the polar bears would have no home.”

“And the seals and foxes, too.”

“There would be no habitat for the animals.”

“All the animals would lose their habitat and then they won’t have anything to eat.”

“Their habitat is broken and the animals would get dead.”

Losing habitat is something the students could visualize and understand, and so I was able to ask them, “How do you think we can be habitat helpers, then?” They were so happy to articulate how they have bird feeders in their backyards, how they compost and recycle garbage, how they plant gardens with their families, and how sad they are when they see destruction of habitat such as trees being cut down, or dried up worms on the pavement. While five year olds may not independently engage in activism on a large scale, when we finished this inquiry, many of them realized that they already do have a positive impact on the environment. My own learning came when I had to acknowledge that Stewardship and Sustainability in an SK classroom are, of course, tied very closely to the five-year-old developmental stage and the way children at this age perceive the world, with themselves firmly at the centre of it all. I was reminded that everything does, after all, start with the individual.