Learning in a Real Life Context

September 26, 2016October 4, 2016 Will Gourley Challenging Topics, General, Homework, Learning in a Real Life Context

The H word

Homework (shudder). It’s like two perfectly decent four letter words have conspired to become super villainous by joining forces. For most students, it’s part of a nightly ritual.

I get it. My parents used it as a polygraph test, of sorts when I was younger, by asking the same question after school each day.
“Did you do your homework?”

We’ve all had to go through it, but now as teachers we must wrestle with the pros and cons of having to assign it to our learners…or not.

So as the year begins and questions of “To assign homework or not to assign homework?” bandy around staff meetings and grade teams. I want to share some personal thoughts on this 2 x 4 letter word and ask you to reflect on how you use it in your learning spaces?

Homework is not always where the heart is.

I love home, and I like work. For me, home is a place of relaxation, retreat, and support among family. Work is my home away from home. I have a family of caring colleagues and a classroom filled with students in possession of boundless potential. However, when it comes to homework I feel that things have changed since I was a student. My memories of homework hearken back to 1000s of pages of banal reading from largely outdated textbooks which I like to call knowledge coffins, redundant work sheets, and largely irrelevant content which seemed disconnected from my life.

Like all the good learning soldiers in my day. I did it, knowing of no alternatives. I wonder whether we gained any advantage from the discipline in completing assigned tasks, or lost a little of our desire to learn for never asking why we were doing it and where it would matter to me?

In my class when homework is assigned, it must be relevant to a larger idea that requires consideration beyond the classroom. That might mean asking students to lead a conversation at the dinner table or on the way to hockey practice with a captive audience. I remember assigning my Grade 5 Social Studies class the task of asking their parents, “What they would change about the government?” followed by, “Why do we need the government?” the next night. The conversations that resulted allowed students to lead, share, and gather ideas as they build on in class concepts/schema and then were able to take it back home to add on a broader family perspective. When they came back to school their responses were rich, often humourous, and engaging. Mission accomplished.

Some Irreducible Minimums

I do assign something for students every night, 30 minutes, or more, of reading. Don’t judge me! This is non-negotiable. Students do not have to show me proof, but are expected to develop their own positive habits around reading, its genres, and via any media of their choice.

Additionally, I’ve created and assigned flipped lessons using TED Ed as homework. Students view the lesson content, get to look at the guiding questions, and are able to browse additional resources to establish initial understandings on a topic. When we tackle the work the next day, my students are already familiar with the concept having prepared for it the previous night. I can track their progress via the TED Ed Lesson platform and provide feedback and next steps too.

On other occasions I have encouraged students to help out with the dishes or with other chores without being asked. The results have been so positive for everyone after the initial groans. But hey, they groan when you assign homework too. Perhaps it’s time to rethink the purpose of homework? Kids can thank changes in socio-economics, urbanization, and the Space Race.

It’s only since the early 20th century where homework became de rigueur in education. Even then the fervour in its favour continues to ebb and flow. We have to remember most kids were working at home before and after school to help their families. It’s what people did. There wasn’t time especially when there were chores to do.

Nowadays, more and more students enjoy a quality of life, and abundance of free time far removed from their homework deprived agrarian predecessors. Instead, students are filling their evenings with music lessons, participation on one or more sports teams, tutoring, and or second language classes. With all of the extra-curricular activities there is little time left at the end of the day when homework is added into the mix. I’ve had students say to me they couldn’t complete work citing one or all of the above reasons.

In a his post on homework from earlier this year, Mike Beetham shared a powerful experience in his piece Homework or No Homework. I love the consideration he puts into his practice. The final lines of this post serve as guidelines, encouragement, and validation of the educator’s ability to use professional judgement when it comes to assigning homework.

“Homework for the sake of homework is not a productive component to any student’s learning. It must have a specific purpose that is helping meet the targeted academic outcomes of the classroom.”

How about you? Where does homework fit in with your pedagogy? Do you assign it to placate parents who insist their child have something to do at night? Do you vary the work from subject to subject each night? How do students who are chronically unable to complete homework get supported? Is the work you assign traditional in the sense of reading and responding to questions in writing? Do you post work via electronic classrooms or other apps?

If you’d like to discuss more about this post or learn more about TED Ed please take time to comment and I’d be glad to share more with you. Reach out via Twitter or below. Thank you for reading this post.

May 25, 2016 Kelly.McLaughlin Inspiring Students, Learning in a Real Life Context, Making a Difference Through Education, Occasional Teaching, Social Justice, Student Ownership

Students making a difference

Throughout this school year, it was one of my goals to not only start a fundraiser that would benefit a charity somehow but to have students orchestrate most if not all of the procedure. At my school Ancaster Meadow, I asked a group of 30 grade eights to plan with me a day entitled “All Star Day”. Together with myself the grade eights:

chose two charities for all monies collected to go towards
selected how the day would work picking the events at All Star Day
- 3 point competition $10 to play
- All star skills competition $10 to play
- All Star game where kids from grade five to seven would play and would be coached by grade eights $20 to play
- All star game where grade eights would play the teachers $20 to play
help run the day and organize the crowd to watch the event

There were many other tasks involved to help make the day a success. I went to 30 different companies to ask for donations as well as other companies to sponsor t-shirts, lunch the day of and volunteers were involved from Redeemer University.

The day went off without a hitch and we raised $2000 total, $1000 going to each charity. After this day, every grade eight came to me asking to lead more events, raise money for more charities, etc. They had all these ideas that are impossible to all say yes to because it is May at the end of a school year and the ideas they have would take many months to plan for. However, students do have the potential to make the greatest difference in their school. Whenever you have an idea, put it in the hands of your students and trust that they can take it anywhere. I have never seen kids more involved or more into what they were doing in a school building then I saw on that day. I cannot wait for next school year when I can do that same event again, keep building on it and inspiring children to know that they can make a difference and have an amazing time while doing so.

If you would like to see videos from our event, you can youtube: Ancaster Meadow All Star Day.

April 27, 2016April 28, 2016 Will Gourley Field Trips, General, Learning in a Real Life Context, Outdoor Learning, Year End Activities

Spring cleaning

Aaaaah, fresh air! It’s like the earth turned on an air purifier and sun lamp to awaken us from our annual hibernation. There is excitement all around and almost everyone at my school seems to have a bounce in their steps. This is probably because we are not getting weighed down by clunky boots, toques, scarves, mittens, snow pants, and parkas.

Spring has arrived, and the classroom has come alive again.

Is there anything like a fresh breath of air that comes with Spring? From our class window we watched a stubborn, dirt-laden snow pile melt into oblivion. We beat you this year Winter! And now we wait for the field to dry so we can, once again, run free over our own school savanna without fear of a mud bath.

Now that it’s official, it means there are a little more 9 weeks of school left for 2015-16. Thoughts of changing classrooms, grade assignments, or moving to a new school are popping up like the buds on a tree and returning Canada Geese. And then it hits – the sudden realization that reports cards are due in 7 weeks…or less.

This post is not intended to scare you, but to encourage you through what are some of the most incredible chances to teach, learn, and grow your classroom community. Have you taken advantage of planning some lessons that include the great outdoors?

One of my favourites is called Survivor – School Perimeter. In this lesson teams of students must complete Math challenges for a chance to win the choice of measurement tool they’ll use to find the perimeter of our building. Tools range from a broom handle, ruler, metre stick, rope, and Popsicle sticks. Students get to enjoy the time outside while sharpen their measurement and team skills in a large scale task. The activity culminates with students drawing scale diagrams of the school based on their measurements.

The great weather has also lead to community service projects. Last week our school celebrated Earth Week and spread out through our neighbourhood collecting trash from the lawns, sidewalks and side streets. Students were given gloves, a few trash bags and a half hour to tidy one block of our subdivision in Markham. This activity promoted civic pride, community outreach, and good environmental stewardship. Students could see the visible difference of their collective efforts and felt a sense of ownership and pride by their actions.

So with the weather warming, and the instructional days flying by faster than geese with jet packs heading north it’s time to get outside, take a deep breath, and enjoy some incredible outdoor learning opportunities. Thank you.

By Muffet - flickr.com, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16416451 — By Muffet – flickr.com, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16416451

Do you have a favourite outdoor activity or go to lesson now that the weather has improved? Please share it in the comments section below and help keep the conversation going. See you out there.

April 24, 2016 Beverly Papove agency, Learning in a Real Life Context, Student Ownership

Kinders as Enviro-Experts

A couple of months ago, I got the idea into my head that we should have an Earth Day Fair at our school. I found it frustrating that although we touch on aspects of sustainability and respect for the environment in the curriculum, when it came to Earth Day, saying “Happy Earth Day!” over the morning announcements, was pretty much as far as it went. I happened to mention it to the principal one day, and she said, “Got for it!”. So I started to put more ideas together and tried to figure out how I could also bring my kinders into the mix, not just as participants, but as leaders.

Time passed and things slowly came together. We held our fair in the morning, indoors, where tables were set up with various presenters to showcase their eco-friendly projects. In the afternoon, the whole school was invited to participate in a variety of eco-friendly activities in the school yard. It was marvelous!

Generally speaking, kinders are often not invited to participate with the general school in certain events due to their young age and somewhat shortened attention span. With the Earth Day Fair, however, I was willing to try out having a table set up, just like the big kids, where kinders could share their knowledge of the worms we have in our vermicomposter.

I decided to follow the science fair model of having a tri-fold poster board for all our information, some literature about worms, the things we need to prepare the compost, and the worms themselves for our information table. In the weeks preceding the fair, I invited students who were interested in showing what they know about worms to a table with pencils and paper and the tri-fold board already set up. I divided up the board into three sections I knew my kinders could elaborate on in order to be able to teach others about vermicomposting;

All about Worms
How to Compost
Why is it important?

There were 8 students who showed an interest – reviewing the books and looking at pictures (some even reading – “Madame! Look! It says here that worms can push ten times their weight!”); who wanted the challenge of writing and drawing their information; and who stayed and observed and asked more questions whenever I would open the compost bin to feed or check on the worms – and so they became my Worm Experts. Because they contributed to the poster display, they were the right people to represent our vermicomposting table at the fair. They were so excited!

I was there to supervise while the Worm Experts had the responsibility of answering questions. Students and staff who visited the display learned a lot as the kinders presented anatomical drawings they had made of the worms, delighting in stating that worms have 5 hearts. The Experts also explained that worms need to stay slimy or they will die, because they breathe through their skin. The composting they explained in three easy steps; collect compost, blend the compost, feed the compost to the worms. Finally, they stated that worms are important because when they dig tunnels, their poo becomes soil with nutrients that helps plants grow.

The Worm Experts answered questions for the better part of an hour, with the whole school filing past to visit the display. With their enthusiasm beginning to fade a bit towards the end, I asked if any of them would like to stay at the fair or return to the classroom. Half of them decided to return to the classroom because “Being an Expert is hard work.” The others who were happy to stay, chatted with other presenters or went and visited other displays with grade 6 Big Buddies, just like the big kids.

March 30, 2016March 30, 2016 Tisha Nelson General, Inspiring Teachers, Learning in a Real Life Context, Literacy, Making a Difference Through Education

Teaching the Language of Power

Most of the learning I’ve experienced as an elementary school student is a blur. There are few moments, however, that stand out as pivotal and that have helped shape my experiences as an educator today. One of such moments was grade 7. It was in grade 7 that I learned the word mediocre. Before then, I had never encountered this word and once introduced, it was truly a powerful moment for me. In learning this word I was given language to express an idea that I didn’t even know had existed. This is the power of language and this is why I fell in love with words. My fascination with the ways in which words can be intentionally nuanced to convey ideas with such lyrical intensity fascinates me; not only because of the creative ways in which ideas can be constructed, but also because it is a tool for granting access to discourses that without them one would remain silenced. I experienced the power of language but also that language was power. This experience brought me to my journey of engaging my students in the politics of language and exploring ways I could grant them access to platforms of thinking simply by equipping them with the language of power.

More than mere vocabulary boosters, words of the day or word studies, when introduced in meaningful contexts, can not only enrich student vocabularies, but can also give volume to their voices as thinkers, activists and world changers. My journey toward empowering learners with the language of power began in my first year of teaching. It was a grade two class and I was terrified. I had no idea what to do or how to go about it. It seemed like all the learning from my formal teacher education went out the door as soon as the students walked in. I realized I was in trouble when I would speak to my students only to receive blank stares. What I wrestled with was whether or not to make what I was saying more child-friendly or to simply bring the children up to speed and create many teachable moments with the words that I used. The result was the latter and we began an anchor chart entitled “Ms. Nelson’s Fancy-Schmancy Words” where when students stopped me mid-sentence to seek understanding of a specific word I used and it would be added to the list along with its definition and the sentence in which it was used. Now, 7 years later, the anchor charts have evolved into a word wall in which students are constantly identifying not only new words that I used but also introducing ones of their own and adding words they find in the literature they read or listened to on a daily basis. The love for words became contagious and the thirst for learning new ones was intrinsic.

Students were then invited to use words, or the language of power, as tools in exerting voice to an authentic audience. Students were empowered by words when they interviewed all 5 Mayoral Candidates in the 2015 Mayoral Election. Students wrote speeches and presented them as great orators in front of invited community members that included the local crossing guard, a church pastor and family and friends. Students raised awareness by writing blogs about the impact of their social identities and shared these sentiments with the school community. Their words spoke to issues of social justice and coloured the imagination with distinct imagery, was a power to be wielded in the pens and voices of elementary school students.

Word wall from my Grade 5/6 class: sabotage, aesthetics, logistics, schema, implications profound, trajectory, embrace, chronological, deconstruct, procrastinate, intimidated

March 28, 2016March 28, 2016 Will Gourley Constant Learning, General, Inspiring Students, Learning in a Real Life Context, Math, Resilience

Keep swinging for the fences

Spring is definitely here, perhaps this is not so evident in our temperamental weather, but by the fact that baseball season is back. In honour of that I wanted to share some connections to how being a student of the game is like learning in the classroom.

I look at baseball as a sport for all ages and genders. Everyone can play. In some ways, a baseball diamond could be the ultimate classroom with so much going on at anyone time in the stands, in the dugout, and on the field.

Baseball is a game of scenarios. There are constant situations to be thought through in every game and there are statistics kept from little league to the major leagues. Just think of all the other Math skills at play in the concession stands, ticket offices, and accounting/payroll departments. Math is an important part of baseball.

Baseball is a game of Physics. How a ball rotates from the pitchers hand towards home plate determines its trajectory. The angle and bat speed at which a player makes contact with a ball determines its flight duration and distance. Major League Baseball measures everything possible on the field that happens in a game, including ball rotation, pitch velocity, swing(bat speed), and field area covered in a program called Sabremetrics. I wrote this TED Ed lesson called Future of the game: Baseball latest statistical revolution to show how it is used.

Weather plays a role here too. Forecasts determine whether games can be squeezed in or postponed. Data from on-field temperature, and prevailing winds gets noted too. Imagine the engineering required to design the perfect outdoor ball park because no two seem to ever have the same design.

Baseball can be altered and adapted to suit the level of all its players. There is Kickball(soccer baseball), marshmallow baseball(played with a tennis racket and a bag of marshmallows), and Rounders. Some might even prefer the game of Cricket as it may be more familiar to their students than baseball. All of these adaptations have similar fundamentals and transferable skills.

Baseball is a team sport. No one can play all of the positions at once. It requires collaboration. Everyone plays a role whether in the field or waiting to bat. Baseball is a thinking game. Many of the lessons of life come from playing it. I mentioned Math and Physics before, but there are other areas that come in to play here too;

Emotional- Players can get caught up by a moment, or when a mistake gets made. This can lead to other mistakes if focus required to make the next play. Baseball teaches its players to keep their minds on the game. It also shows students that mistakes are going to happen. How they recover from them is an important part of the game/lesson.
Mental – With all of the statistics kept in baseball it is important for players to know what to do with the information. Processing on the fly and responding just like in the classroom comes from preparation aka practice. Players and students alike prepare for games/tests receiving coaching/instruction and next steps for improvement.
Feedback – Whether playing baseball or learning in the classroom there is always feedback. Some is positive and some is negative. This can depend on something as simple as mindset, timing, and delivery. With students the risk of being kicked off the team is never on the table. There are no minor leagues in education. Teachers are in the room to help all of their students make contact with the ball and circle the bases with their learning. Regardless of the type of feedback teachers and coaches are there to instruct, identify talents, and encourage their students.
When a player strikes out, there will be another chance to bat. When a player walks a batter or misses a throw, there will be another chance coming their way soon. The lesson is always be thinking and practising for the next opportunity whether it is in the classroom or on the field.

So as the players take to the field for the next umpteen months take some time to share this incredible game in your classroom. Take time to enjoy the Science, Math and chance to develop life strong habits of resilience and teamwork.

March 15, 2016 Mike Beetham Building Inclusion, Inspiring Students, Learning in a Real Life Context, Literacy, Outdoor Learning, physically active

That Chickadee Feeling

This classroom field trip is based on a book written by Frank Glew. It is a regular part of my classroom in the winter. Each year in my attempts to keep my students winter active I use this read aloud as a focus for my students to connect to their natural world in all seasons. The precise of the book is about how a young child is bored and has nothing to do. So the parent decides to take them on a hike. The child experiences for the first time that Chickadee feeling.

Finally the day has arrived where my class and I will be heading to our local outdoor education centre where we will try and experience in real life what we witnessed in the picture book. The snow is gently falling and the forest is covered in white with only the underside of branches showing their natural colour. It is a perfect day for what we are wanting to do as there are very few natural food sources available for our winged hosts. As we hike toward their feeding area, the Chickadees know we are coming and they start to follow us, knowing that human presence means it will soon be feeding time. My students start to both hear and see the tiny birds as they stay close to cover to avoid any natural predators.

Finally we arrive at the location where we will attempt to experience that Chickadee feeling. I take a few moments to talk about the best techniques to try and get the tiny winged marvels to land and feed from their hand. One-by-one the students collect some black sunflower seeds (Chickadees are very fussy eaters) and move to a location where we will serve as a human bird feeder.

Within minutes the word has spread somehow in Chickadee language and it seems like dozens of birds arrive and carefully scout out the sudden feast that awaits them. Then, it happens! The first Chickadee lands and perches on my student’s outstretched hand, grabs a seed, looks at my student and flies quickly away. This first landing creates a chain reaction of the same scenario and they feast for the next 10 minutes. Like a proud father I carefully observe my students to ensure that each and everyone of them have that opportunity to experience the Chickadee feeling. The smiles, the chorus of oohs and ah that echo in the forest tells me that they know they have just become a part of the infamous Chickadee Feeling Club. I hope you do one day as well.

March 8, 2016 Kelly.McLaughlin Combined Grade Classes, Constant Learning, Inquiry, Inspiring Students, Inspiring Teachers, Integration, Learning in a Real Life Context, Making a Difference Through Education, Resources, Students as Teachers, Use of Technology

Tech Talk

I would like to share a new initiative my class is starting at our school Ancaster Meadow.

Our class realized the large need for technology in the classroom. We noticed that students are sometimes unfamiliar with apps that are available for completing work and for presenting learning. We are starting a new program called “Tech Talk” where as a class we travel to classrooms and instead of “Reading Buddies” we will assist the class one on one with apps of the teacher’s choice. We came up with a benchmark of five:

Explain Everything
Kahoot
Weebly
Pic Collage
Prezi

These apps will be explored in detail by my class so when we visit our first class after the break, the break off sessions will be smooth and very productive. We will offer this program to grades two-five and speak to teachers before regarding sign up. Students will be able to explore the apps, prepare a small task and then share it with the whole class. The sessions will be fifty minutes long as that is how long a period is in our school. We hope that students will learn from each other and that everyone will be able to use these apps in the new future. I hope it will be a meaningful experience for my class to teach younger students skills that they already have. I cannot wait for our first trial after the break. I encourage everyone to try this “Tech Buddies” program and share your experiences as well.

March 4, 2016 Mike Beetham Challenging Topics, General, Inspiring Teachers, Learning in a Real Life Context, Mentorship, Resilience, Wellness

Rebound From Your Mistakes

Perfectionism seems to be a common character trait of teachers in that they expect to be perfect at everything they do. They must have perfect lessons, they have to have perfect classroom displays, they expect perfect interviews and so on and so on. If this level of achievement has not been met they often feel they have let down their students. They may feel guilt or embarrassment and tend to dwell on the negative aspect of the scenario. The reality is we are human and humans make mistakes even if they are teachers.

We are patient with our students. We expect them to make mistakes in their personal learning journey and offer formative feedback that allows them to reflect on their learning and move forward to the desired outcome. If this works with students, it will also work with teachers.

There have been many, many times over the course of my career that I made a mistake. Like when I said something I should have phrased a different way or when my reaction to a classroom situation was not handled in as professional a manner as it could have. Each time a situation occurs that I feel could have been handled a different way I complete a personal reflection that helps me move forward in my practice. All of those not so shining moments, have helped shape my learning and skill set for the present and future.

One of the Keys of Excellence in my classroom is ‘Failure Leads To The Sweet Smell of Success’. This foundational belief teaches my students that mistakes are inevitable and we can examine the error and turn it into a teachable moment so that future scenarios will result in success for all. An added bonus to this is that my students become more of a risk taker as it relates to ability to try new things. I live by this belief and it has helped me become a lifelong learner as well as a risk taker in experimenting with new pedagogical practices.

February 15, 2016February 17, 2016 Beverly Papove Indigneous Ways of Knowing, Inquiry, Learning in a Real Life Context

…What I have Learned

Well, true to form, the trajectory of inquiry can never be predicted. And so it was that at the end of the couple of weeks of exploring What Happens in Winter, our students ended up quite aways beyond knowing that animals hibernate and plants die off when the weather gets colder. Following a visit from a teacher from the Ottawa Inuit Children’s Centre, their understanding was now in the realm of recognizing how a wintery landscape not only makes animals adapt in different ways, but how it has also influenced the lives and culture of the Inuit.

The students touched sealskin, fox, and rabbit pelts; tried on an amauti (anorak), kamik (boots), and bone snow goggles; played a caribou skin drum; held seal knuckle bones which were used to create pictures during storytelling; and played Inuit games that involved strength and stability (hilarious wrestling games which they discovered are also easily played outside in the snowy school yard). Our KWL bulletin board filled up with sentence strips on which the students wrote about what they learned and liked about the visit; “I learned that sealskin is best for clothes and boots because it’s warm and waterproof.”; “I learned that Inuk live in houses not igloos.”; “I liked playing Inuit games.” At the art table, several chose to paint what they learned; “I learned how to play a drum – a man’s drum and a woman’s drum,” “I learned that fox don’t hibernate in the arctic – they change color,” and, “I learned how to tell a story using seal bones.”

In activities and centres we set up following the visit, we offered opportunities to draw on their learning. In math, after discussing the best shape of rock to build an inukshuk, students were challenged to draw an inukshuk with more than 5 rectangles and then to tally the total number of rock rectangles they used. Later in the block centre, several students took the challenge further and built free-standing, life-sized inukshuk (which are usually not very tall). Another day during the week following the presentation, a group of students were tipping over chairs and using them as blinds while they were hunting seal and polar bear – it started to get very physical with running and squealing, so, for safety reasons, the crew were redirected to the art table to make paper bag puppets of seals, polar bears, hunters and dog sleds. They were so excited to use the puppet theatre to act out their skit which we were later all invited to watch. Another provocation was posting the Inuktitut ‘alphabet’ on chart paper. Next to each symbol I wrote out the sound it represented. While some students recognized that there were several triangles in the alphabet, others attempted to find the syllables they could use to write their names.

Now when we are outside for our outdoor learning every day, I ask questions about the snow, the sky and clouds, and animals; “If we had to build a shelter, would this be good snow to use? Let’s find out.”; “What are the clouds telling us? What do you notice about the weather today? Is it different from yesterday?”; “Can you hear any animal sounds? Have you noticed any signs of animals?” (scat, tracks, birdsong, etc.)

The students are also now aware of the fact that, according to our local groundhog who got scared of his shadow, we are in for a few more weeks of winter. What does that mean for them? Now that they have learned a bit more about What Happens in Winter, and have explored how arctic animals and the Inuit have adapted and survived in a wintery land, my next challenge is to provide opportunities for them to show me what they will do with that knowledge. The big question is, what do I need to do to help my 5 year old students take the next step into stewardship and sustainability?