Modern Learning

November 2, 2018 Michelle Fenn Combined Grade Classes, Constant Learning, Genius Hour, Learning About Your Students, Learning in a Real Life Context, Math, Modern Learning, Professional Learning and Growth, Technology in school, The Global Competencies, Use of Technology

Introducing Coding without Robots

A few years ago when I started hearing about teachers doing coding and robotics in the classroom I dismissed it as a fad. I didn’t understand the value of coding nor could I see how it tied to the curriculum. However, I recognize as a professional learner my initial reaction to something radically new can sometimes be resistance. I think that this is because I can’t see myself fitting “one more thing” into my classroom practice. I always have to give myself time to process, research, find the value and then finally accept it. After I have tried a new practice with students and see the beneficial outcomes, I endorse it and then begin to share it widely with colleagues.

When I began the journey with coding and looked at code.org I tried it on my own and admittedly, understood very little. I went to more workshops and conferences but avoided the coding and robotics thinking that it just wasn’t my bag. Then I had a colleague that dragged me in to the world of coding and robotics. We worked together. I’ve since become convinced that we need to teach all students how to code. I have also figured out that you don’t need any robots to do it. In fact, when you start-you don’t even need a computer.

The above picture is a coding game that I used recently with a grade one and two class. Students placed their obstacles (rocks) on a grid. They placed their “gemstone” or finish on a spot on the board and their “robot” (animal) on another spot. They wrote their code on a sticky note using arrows and then had their partner take their robot through the code to test it for “bugs”. A big part of coding is knowing your left from your right and being able to write instructions that someone else can follow. We started out the day coding one another to walk in a square using only: “forward” “turn left” and “turn right”. It was amazing to see how much problem solving took place. They were using positional language, procedural writing, clear communication, visualization and proportional reasoning. Their thinking was exploding! The students were engaged in the learning and well on their way to being able to code something online. From there we explored the Scratch Jr. app. After a short look together at what the different “buttons/blocks” meant they were able to code independently. As teachers we sometimes get bogged down in the fact that we don’t have the money to purchase the technology and shy away from trying things based on the fact that we don’t have “the stuff”. However, laying the groundwork before introducing the technology piece to students is key. We need to always consider the pedagogy before the technology.

October 31, 2018November 1, 2018 Laura Bottrell General, Modern Learning, Play-Based Learning, Professional Learning and Growth

Play-Based in Primary

At the start of October, I began a full year assignment at a new school teaching Grade 1/2. After teaching Kindergarten last year, I am overjoyed at the opportunity to teach these grades. I am looking forward to “following” the early learning continuum from a Kindergarten environment into primary, and the opportunity to bring along my favourite aspects of Kindergarten.

As a teacher, I feel I’ve got a strong foundation in my knowledge of child development in the early years. I majored in the subject in University and I am also a Registered Early Childhood Educator. Kindergarten was my “place”. I was comfortable there. I could talk shop for hours about the research supporting play-based learning and child-directed inquiry. I truly stand behind the play-based curriculum and spent my year in Kindergarten challenging norms and pushing thinking. The potential in children that is unlocked in a play-based program is powerful, and I see it first hand.

Moving to primary, I don’t want to suddenly ignore that part of who I am as a teacher. I’m glad that there is beginning to be a shift toward more play in the primary grades, but it hasn’t fully or truly happened yet. This often makes for a rocky transition for our students, who sometimes move from a free-flow day to one with a lot of structure. Some of our students have never seen a worksheet, and are suddenly expected to sit quietly and complete them for extended lengths of time. Even just a comparison between the difference in how long we expect them to listen attentively between the two grades just doesn’t make sense. There needs to be a continuum.

I do believe that change is needed to ease this sudden shift in what we are expecting of our young learners. If Kindergarten is designed to be best for a six year old’s development, why do all of those considerations disappear when they enter primary only two months older? I don’t have these answers, and I don’t have control over this – but I do have control over how I teach.

My personal learning goal this year is to explore authentic, play-based learning and inquiry in primary. I have a lot of questions and things I am unsure of:

How do I ensure I teach to where they’re at, while simultaneously teaching them for where they’re heading?

What does this actually look like? Where does this fit in my daily schedule? How do I effectively combine play and inquiry with necessary instruction “must haves”, such as math talks/three-part lessons, small group instruction or the components of balanced literacy?

How do I make sure I cover the necessary curriculum content?

How do I actually source the materials needed for an effective play-based environment in a primary hallway? My classroom certainly didn’t come equipped with blocks or loose parts!

How do I set up an environment that is conducive to independent inquiry? What materials will my students need access to, and what explicit teaching is needed to set them up for success here?

Aside from anecdotal and conferencing, how do I asses their progress? Obviously, pencil-paper assessments are necessary in many cases, but how can I assess in a more authentic way?

How do I ensure that my environment is meaningful and planned carefully enough that I know my students are exploring curriculum concepts in their play? I’m finding this gets trickier as the curriculum concepts increase in complexity.

How do I support and justify a play-based environment to those who do not understand or agree?

Also on my mind, is that I want my play-based environment to be built around authentic play. There is a difference between learning centre rotations and actual play. Adult created and directed activities are fun but they are not true play. Play is self-chosen, open-ended, child-directed and does not come with instructions. This is the play that allows a child’s curiosity drive them to discover and do wonderful things. This is what I want happening in my Grade 1/2 classroom!

As I figure all of this out, I hope to share my experiences with you. Are there any other play and inquired based primary teachers out there? I’d love to hear from you!

October 30, 2018 Arianna Lambert Constant Learning, Learning in a Real Life Context, Modern Learning

Creative Confidence

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about the concept of creative confidence. At its core it’s about believing in your ideas and that you hold the ability to have a positive impact on the world.

I share with people all the time that I’m always amazed by kindergarten students. Whenever faced with a challenge, they somehow jump right in and offer solutions that they truly believe will work. They eagerly share solutions to everyday challenges without censoring themselves or second-guessing their ability to actually be a part of a change for the better. But what happens with these eager students as they move into higher grades? At what point do they start to censor themselves and display that creative confidence in a muted way? I’ve had students as young as those in grades 4 and 5 who no longer believed in their ideas and genuinely didn’t know what steps to take in order to solve a problem “in the right way”. How did they get there? How do we get them back? I wonder if the following elements that exist in Kindergarten classrooms might be key in answering these questions.

Play

If I haven’t mentioned it before, I have the two most amazing nephews in the entire world! I genuinely love watching them play. Sometimes in role as others or even just as themselves, they interact and problem solve on the fly. Issues come up when the other character doesn’t quite respond in the way one expects and they have to come up with a solution so that the game or activity continues. There’s the freedom to play anything and to try anything. The idea that you have to be good at playing just doesn’t exist. They just do it at home and at school. I wonder if we adopted the same idea for older students as they entered the classroom, what might the learning be like? What if tools were given and they were asked to interact with them in a way similar to play? What if there was no association with being good at something but the idea of just jumping in and trying it was valued. Would students engage more and worry less about the outcome? Would they embrace failure and try again, ultimately learning as they try again? How would our classrooms be different if this concept or idea was valued well after kindergarten?

Design

Kindergarten students are forever designing something for someone or something. They build homes for their figurines with blocks and use craft materials to build homes for animals. They also draw pictures to bring a smile to a loved-one’s face and some use tech to create. How might we keep this going as they age? It’s no secret that I’m going to say…dig deep into Design Thinking! It’s a creative framework that can be used in any discipline to allow students to hone their creativity as they work towards creating unique and innovative solutions for real-world problems. Consider the learning goals that you are working towards, connect them to a real-world problem and let students engage in the process. The more that they see themselves as creators of meaningful change in the world, the greater their creative confidence will be!

Interdisciplinary Learning

I can’t help but be inspired by the interdisciplinary learning that happens in kindergarten. This reminds me of the learning that happens as adults. I joke that I don’t just do Math between 10:30 and 11:30 and often wonder why this is the case for our students. What if we were able to integrate subjects? What if students saw connections between the work that they were doing in Language and in Math? Or Social Studies and Science? Would they learn more easily learn the transferability of skills? I know that it’s a challenge when we have a specific number of minutes or hours of a specific course that have to be completed and even more so in Secondary Schools where subjects are taught by specialists. In what ways might we make a shift so that learning isn’t so siloed? I don’t have an answer but I wonder if when students see the connections between subjects, if they might just become more excited about approaching something new because they realize that they have a tool-kit from a variety of subject areas that can be meshed together to them as they go.

I’m working on my own creative confidence by playing more, designing new things at Future Design School and thinking about how I might be able to help others with interdisciplinary planning and learning for students. I’ll keep you posted on how things go!

July 23, 2018 Michelle Fenn Assessment, Celebrating Success, Classroom Management, Communication Tools, Communication with Parents and Guardians, Constant Learning, Inspiring Teachers, Mental Health, Mindfulness, Modern Learning, Professional Learning and Growth, Resources, self reflection, Start of the year, Technology in school, Use of Technology, wellness, wellness

My Yearly Notebook

Each summer I buy a brand new spiral bound notebook. Not the skinny ones that you get in the 3 pack from Hilroy with the flimsy cover that rips within a few uses. I am particular about my stationary. It may be a kind of a problem. I get the 8 1/2 by 11 solid cardboard spiral bound notebook. It is where I keep my lists. Lists of things to buy for the classroom. Lists of things I want to change in the physical space of my classroom. Lists of books I’d like to read or add to my classroom library. Lists of things to get done before September. Lists of the curriculum topics I’ll be teaching and in what months I plan to teach them. Lists of special events each month that I might highlight or celebrate with my students. Lists…of lists. I use that big notebook all school year long to add notes from meetings, professional development sessions and of course, more lists. I have many already filled spiral notebooks of new ideas that I’d like to try over the school year on my shelf in my office. This summer I realized something. After the school year is over I have NEVER opened those notebooks again. There are lots of great ideas in there that I didn’t implement and then I feel guilty about that! Teacher guilt never seems to stop, unless of course, I choose to stop it.

This summer I quickly read the book, “Ditch That Textbook; Free Your Teaching and Revolutionize Your Classroom” by Matt Miller. It has fantastic teaching tips for technology integration in the classroom. Although I do not have the desire nor the access to the 1:1 technology to go completely paperless, I found a lot of wisdom and great teaching tools in Matt’s book. I have also provided a link to Matt’s blog. Matt helped me to break a cycle. I haven’t bought a spiral bound notebook this summer and I’m not planning on buying one. Among many pieces of advice in the book, Matt suggests picking two new things that you are really excited about to add to your teaching practice, being clear about your intention for using those practices and following through. I’ve been guilty of overdoing the professional learning to the point that I overwhelm my students by doing a whole bunch of new things all at once and then don’t end up sticking to any of them. I also get overwhelmed by the many great ideas out there and wonder if I do something else, what I’ll have to give up doing.

I’ll admit that I’m already kind of cheating. Instead of just choosing two teaching practices I’m also choosing two new technology platforms to learn about for next year. One of the practices that I would like to get in the habit of doing is adding more descriptive feedback to assignments that students do online and have multiple opportunities for the students to respond to that feedback and re-submit assignments with changes. The second thing that I would like to do is educate parents on how to leave constructive feedback for their students online rather than a thumbs up or “Good job!” I plan on exploring the video and audio creation tools, WeVideo and Voki. I may explore more than these but these are the ones that I am committed to doing. Since I have written my commitment here on the blog, I also commit to sharing what I thought about those tools in a review format. If you get a chance to read Ditch That Textbook, I highly recommend it. It is a quick read with great already-made lists and hey, it made me “Ditch That Notebook”.

July 1, 2018 Michelle Fenn Constant Learning, Genius Hour, Inspiring Students, Learning in a Real Life Context, Making a Difference Through Education, Modern Learning, The Global Competencies, Use of Technology

Why Coding Is Important Part Two

In Part one of this blog post I talked about coding with relation to the deep learning competencies and learning skills. However, there are greater implications of teaching kids to code. I am a huge science fiction and dystopian fan. I think I am attracted to the resourcefulness of the characters in the movies and books. The characters that have hands-on life skills and leadership qualities are valued and survive. Let me be clear, I do not view the classroom as a dystopian or science fiction society…well…unless we are suffering from a severe heat wave. I think that understanding the way the technology on which we rely on a daily basis, is a skill worth exploring. That understanding also builds an appreciation of the work of coders and others in the computer science industry. After taking 20 minutes to code a square with a small spherical robot a student said to me, “Wow. Can you imagine how much time it took to code everything in FortNite? Every step my character takes, everything it wears or every background must be lines and lines of code.” That was a pretty serious revelation for a 9 year old.

It isn’t science fiction that there is a huge demand for computer science programmers and developers. According to Code.org, 71% of all new STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) jobs are in computing, yet only 8% of STEM graduates are in Computer Science. According to the employment website Indeed.com there are currently over 2500 full time job openings in the greater Toronto area in the field of Computer Science with annual salaries between $60,000 and $140,000. Learning to code increases the odds of securing a lucrative STEM career, especially in a world where computing jobs are growing exponentially. Coding has quickly become a vital skill in the work world. Elementary teachers can begin to open doors for students by exposing them to coding in a fun and interactive way. It is safe to say that coding language will develop into something much different before our students get into the workforce. It isn’t about the “content” or “language” of code. It is about teaching them a new way of thinking that they could apply to any coding language or problem solving situation. According to Code.org, many colleges and Universities are looking for experience with coding on entrance applications. It is difficult to ignore the statistics.

With Alexa, Google, and Apple in homes, cars, pockets and on wrists we know that this our reliance on computers as a society isn’t going away soon. Exposing students to these new learning opportunities to develop their deep learning competencies is necessary for development as learners and in the end, may prove quite lucrative for their futures.

July 1, 2018July 1, 2018 Michelle Fenn Assessment, Challenging Topics, Combined Grade Classes, Constant Learning, Curriculum Planning, Differentiated Instruction, Genius Hour, Inquiry, Inspiring Students, Inspiring Teachers, Integration, Learning in a Real Life Context, Math, Modern Learning, Professional Learning and Growth, Questioning, Report Cards, Resilience, Student Ownership, Students as Teachers, Technology in school, The Global Competencies, Use of Technology

Why Coding is Important Part One

I consider myself a fairly techie teacher. However, until recently I hadn’t really tried my hand at coding or robotics. Well, I had, but I had lost interest as I quickly felt as though I was out of my depth. So, I did what I always do when I really want to learn something about teaching, I go to a colleague that has the knowledge and I try it WITH the students. Collaborative inquiry.

Until recently, I didn’t see what the big deal was or why it was important to teach coding to students. Yeah, playing with robots is fun but what does that have to do with curriculum? When I started working with and learning coding along side students I had a change in mindset. There is a lot of math, strategic planning and visualization in coding. Coding may not always directly relate to curriculum content-that is true. However, in terms of teaching students about the deep learning competencies, coding is key. If you aren’t sure what I mean by the deep learning competencies; they are referred to as the 6 C’s. Here is a link to the New Pedagogies for Deeper Learning paper but I have extracted a summary of the 6 C’s for a quick reference:

Character: Character refers to qualities of the individual essential for being personally effective in a complex world including: grit, tenacity, perseverance, resilience, reliability, and honesty.

Citizenship: Thinking like global citizens, considering global issues based on a deep understanding of diverse values with genuine interest in engaging with others to solve complex problems that impact human and environmental sustainability.

Collaboration: Collaboration refers to the capacity to work interdependently and synergistically in teams with strong interpersonal and team-related skills including effective management of team dynamics, making substantive decision together, and learning from and contributing to the learning of others.

Communication: Communication entails mastery of three fluencies:digital, writing and speaking tailored for a range of audiences.

Creativity: Having an ‘entrepreneurial eye’ for economic and social opportunities, asking the right questions to generate novel ideas, and demonstrating leadership to pursue those ideas into practice.

Critical Thinking: Critically evaluating information and arguments, seeing patterns and connections, constructing meaningful knowledge and applying it in the real world.

I reflected on these 6 C’s as I wrote the learning skills for my grade 4/5 students this year. I spend the most time on my reports creating the Learning Skills for each student. They are personal and they reflect each individual student. As a parent, it is what I am most interested in reading about my own child. The 6 C’s are competencies not only for school, but for life. While students were exploring coding I had them working in pairs or small groups to give them the opportunity to communicate, collaborate and show leadership. When the code didn’t work, they were able to go back and find the error and correct it and try it again with results right away. Sometimes they found it painstaking and I had to let them work through that and they were glad in the end when I didn’t give them the easy way out and they solved things on their own. When they learned something in coding, they quickly wanted to share their learning with other students. I gave basic instruction about the program to start using a youtube tutorial and then let the students go. Students who often don’t do well in groups with “typical” academic tasks often excelled as leaders in coding because it is a divergent way of thinking and they had a self-check strategy built into the task. It was incredible to witness the amount of learning that was taking place.

You don’t have to have robots to code. There are online coding websites that teach kids to code such as code.org and Scratch. The students even as young as grade 3 are easily able to use these sites to code. Scratch Jr. is available for younger students. The sites have great tutorial videos and somehow the students seem to just start discovering and creating things intuitively. They begin helping each other when they see that someone has created something cool and ask the creator to show them how to do it too.

I am proud to say that I can now code a square, star and a small obstacle course using blocks and a Sphero robot. My students discover new things every day and share them with me. It is definitely a new age in teaching.

June 19, 2018June 19, 2018 Will Gourley Constant Learning, Diverse Learning Needs, Gender stereotypes, General, LGBTQ2S, Making a Difference Through Education, Modern Learning

Departure

A friend shared their thoughts on why cars have huge windshields? To them, it was so drivers and passengers could get the widest/fullest view of what was to come on the road ahead.

They added that the rearview mirror was smaller because it was meant to serve only as a reminder of the road already traveled, and that our focus would be best fixed on the future rather than what has happened in the past.

As part of our role as lead learners in the classroom we are constantly asked to prepare for our students for the future. How well are educators preparing for the future when they are equipping themselves with prescribed resources that are older than their learners? At times it seems like the rearview mirror is blocking the entire windshield. For some, the road ahead is so cluttered by the past that it’s hard to see at all.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ashleybuxo/15321215129/ CC by-SA 2.0

I wonder what it would be like to drive where the only view was like a peep hole on a door?

In itself, there is nothing wrong with using a tried and true resource in the classroom. We all have our favourites. My friend said that they use the windshield-rearview mirror analogy when they speak with people who are nervous about taking risks or are so stuck in the past that they are forgetting to live in the present or consider what’s coming.

What I am suggesting is that it should never come at the peril of losing sight of the future and our surroundings based solely on what has worked or been purchased in the past. Our schools are full of textbooks that are outdated the moment they are published. How are you keeping learning fresh and moving forward in your classroom when it comes to resources? I have cycled Language and Math resources this year. I try to give my students something fresh that has not been recycled from previous years’ plans. It took some time and searching, but the energy, encouragement, and engagement have been worth the effort.

As we wind down the instructional year, it might be a good idea to say goodbye to some old friends in order to welcome in some new ones. You might discover something new that has been waiting for you and if not a change is always as good as a rest. I get that change is difficult. I know that veering off of a familiar path can cause many to worry over the uncertainty. I promise that the destination will be worth the decision to make that departure. Make sure you have lots of windshield washer fluid to wash the bugs off on your journey. After all, you want to see the amazing destinations waiting on the road ahead. Bon voyage.

The post within a post

When I wrote this piece, I was intentional with my pronoun choices. In the opening paragraphs, they, them, and their were used instead of she, he, his, and her. I learned this from a wonderful PD session with a former student from the YRDSB who spoke on gender fluidity with our school staff. I mention this here to point out that the use of them, their, and they would serve us well in our writing to recognize that gender and identity are still often not being considered in all spaces, and that our ability to be inclusive and open can be challenged and stretched even further.

If you would like to see more about this please check out this amazing student voice talk by Noah Gibson shared at the YRDSB Quest for Well-being A Collective Responsibility.

Thank you for reading.

May 29, 2018 Arianna Lambert Literacy, Modern Learning, Technology in school, Use of Technology

Digital Literacy Day!

Let’s face it. The world is changing at a rapid rate and technology is evolving so quickly that some of us have a hard time keeping up. Do you know who is ready to embrace new tech and move rapidly with these changes? Our students! Thursday, May 31st, 2018 is Digital Literacy Day in Toronto. It’s a day to celebrate how we and our students are participating in 3 areas:

Finding and/or consuming digital information
Creating digital content
Communicating or sharing digital content

A few years ago, the Ontario Ministry of Education put out a monograph on Literacy for a Connected World which is an interesting read that is still relevant today. This monograph touches upon these 3 areas and asks us as Educators to consider how we might be preparing our students for a world that is becoming more and more technological.

Finding and/or Consuming Digital Information

I’m certain that many of us have asked our students to research for a particular topic for a project or presentation. In a day and age where students can Google everything, the challenge becomes empowering our students to be able to decipher and think critically about the information that is presented to them. I might be dating myself here but when I was growing up I had a set of encyclopedias that I took to be truthful and my main difficulty was discovering how to properly cite the information contained within. Now students are tasked with determining the relevance and accuracy of the information presented to them based on their searches. Many times I’ve had to tell students that Wikipedia may not be the most accurate source of information. How are we working with students to allow them to become great evaluators of the information presented? What steps can we take to ensure that they are able to determine which information is relevant and accurate when they are searching? I know that I have asked students to look at the source – where is the information coming from? Is it a reputable organization – but more and more, there are sources that seem reputable and yet they are perhaps not. In the past, I know that I have gone to my Teacher-Librarian to help with this and I usually stick to searches through our TDSB Virtual Library, but a critical question is, how do we move beyond this?

Another exciting part about consuming digital information are the assistive technology tools that can be used to make sure that more of our students can access content. The TDSB has an amazing Assistive Technology Site with more information on tools that support all learners.

Creating Digital Content

This by far is probably my most favourite part of Digital Literacy. Sharing a tool with students and seeing how they navigate it to create their own content to share with peers and teachers is truly exciting. We use the Google Suite for Education tools pretty much every day in our classroom. From sharing links and assignments in Google Classroom to collaborating in a Google Doc or sharing our learning through the creation of a Google Site, this suite of tools has simplified creation. Students can also receive timely feedback on their work and since the tools work so well together, they are easy to use in collaboration with each other.

I know that there is sometimes the fear of introducing a new tool that we ourselves are not proficient in but believe me, I’ve learned so much by introducing tools and having students be the ones who share and discover some of the tricks. It’s amazing how much you can learn from and along-side your students. Not only did my students quickly learn tips and tricks but they are often eager to share them with peers. What new tools are you learning about to share with students to get them creating? Consider your learning space. Is the focus more on the finding or consumption of digital information or getting students to create? You’ll notice a great shift in engagement when students are in creation mode. The possibilities are endless and they are eager to create. Let them.

Communicating or Sharing Digital Content

With sharing digital content, there comes great responsibility. I have to admit, this is the one part that gets me a little nervous. I have some amazing sites created by my students and the PUBLISH button at the top of the page is intimidating. I worry about their privacy and what doors that opens for these young students but I do understand the importance of building a positive digital footprint. Many of my students have worked on amazing projects that have the potential to impact the world and connect them to others who may help them bring their ideas to life in the real world and yet my fear restrains me from allowing them to freely press that button. I continue to be vigilant in addition to my due diligence in having these conversations around personal information being shared and being responsible for what we post. I wonder if my students were older if it would make a difference? How do we help students to share their digital content responsibly? What have you tried in your classroom or school?

As I said before, the world is changing and Digital Literacy is a part of Literacy for our students. How are we embracing the use of digital tools in the classroom? This Thursday, let’s celebrate Digital Literacy. The City of Toronto has a variety of activities that they hope will engage people in classrooms, schools and communities. For more information on Digital Literacy Day events in your neighbourhood, take a look this link on the City of Toronto’s website. Happy Digital Literacy Day!

April 22, 2018April 22, 2018 Will Gourley Assessment, Celebrating Success, Challenging Topics, Constant Learning, Differentiated Instruction, Feedback, General, Modern Learning, Resilience, wellness

Do-over day

https://www.flickr.com/photos/42931449@N07/5263539723

Have you ever wished that you could do something over again to make it better?
In education, this could be everyday, every week, every month, and every year in our classrooms. If we let it.

Have you ever taught a lesson more than once in order to ensure your students understood and could master the concept(s)? What, you’ve done this over and over!? You don’t say?

This happens more often than all of us think and that’s okay. I learnt very quickly in my career that last year’s grand slam lessons do not always guarantee success when used in the years to come. Hence the need for the do-over, or reinvention in order to revive or re-invigorate what we teach.

What about a retest? A few years ago, I completely misread my students’ progress on a Math strand and the results were glaringly obvious that I failed them. After an open discussion about the daunting unit, I had students take their tests, crumple them up, and throw them around the classroom. It was like a giant breath of fresh air had blown into the room as everyone exhaled.

We restarted the unit from ground zero and had a “do-over day” a couple of weeks later with much improved results. As a result, our class grew closer as a learning community. Students knew that I had their best interests at heart and that learning in our class did not come with an expiry date as laid out in dusty long range plans. After all the curriculum says, “by the end of each grade…” and not immediately after an assessment of learning.

Recently, my students were preparing to share a series of movie trailers they created about the book Loser by Jerry Spinelli. Each group, of 2 or 3, was asked to pull key elements from the text and to present them in the form of a live drama or digital version.

After much planning, production, and practice, the big day arrived for everyone to share their work. Not surprisingly, there were a number of interpretations of the text being shared and the trailers were being presented and screened. And then it happened.

Whether it was nerves or a case of over-preparation(I think it’s a thing), the majority of presentations shared were not the shiniest outputs from this group. Cue the do-overs. When I suggested this, the students seemed generally wary about it, but I was serious. With some descriptive class feedback, we started over again with much more positive results.

Now think about your classroom? Is there room for the do-over within your walls and halls? Imagine the opportunity to reinforce the idea that failure can still be a positive result when it is used as a stop along the way rather than the final destination to success. I believe that the more we build this into our pedagogy, the more our students will be willing to take chances, make mistakes, and move forward.

Thank you for reading. Please share your “do-over” stories in the comments section below.

April 2, 2018 Michelle Fenn Classroom Management, Combined Grade Classes, Constant Learning, Curriculum Planning, Differentiated Instruction, General, Inquiry, Inspiring Students, Integration, Math, Modern Learning, Questioning, Resilience, Resources, Technology in school, The Global Competencies

Deep Learning in Inquiry (Part 2)

In reading part one of my inquiry blog, one might think, “That’s all lots of fun, but building a bee house isn’t exactly something that I can write on the report card.” You would be absolutely right. The learning is imbedded in the exciting things. It is intentional and it is authentic. Connecting with a local expert, using technology for research and having hands on activities with students engaged scratches the surface of inquiry. Our deep learning with this unit began with the types of questions that we were asking. I noticed that when the students began asking questions on Padlet that Siri could have easily answered many of their questions with one or two word answers. This lead to a series of lessons on “THICK” vs. “Thin” questions. We added better questioning to our goals.

The students also noticed that I had included a lot of infographics on the Padlet. Infographics are seen everywhere in social media to communicate information efficiently and visually. However, students need to know how to use this information, how to synthesize it, how to put it into their own words and how to source it. We spent a significant amount of our language periods on reading and interpreting infographics.

Source:Visual.ly

Our learning goals and success criteria went way beyond making houses for bees and honey tasting. Students wanted to DO something to help bees. We created our learning goals and criteria together:

Early on in the inquiry we watched an informative YouTube video called, We Can Save the Bees Together. Sarah Red-Laird, bee enthusiast and scientist, gave us a number of ideas of actions that we could take. The students decided that one of the things that they wanted to do was to call for stronger legislation about mono cropping and pesticide use in farming. They wanted to write letters to politicians and change makers. In addition, when Susan Chan, local bee researcher visited, she “planted the seed” about creating a non-stinging bee friendly garden in our school yard. This prompted students to write letters to local school officials to solicit assistance and guidance. One of our students from Curve Lake First Nation decided to write the Chief and Band Council to ask them to consider building a bee friendly garden in their community. The desire for letter writing lead to a series of lessons on how to write a professional letter, how to proofread and how to edit in a meaningful and authentic learning context for students. The students also felt that educating others about conservation of bees was important so they are now working on developing presentations that they can take to other classes as well as media advertising to share their learning and call others to action.

In math, we had been focusing on data management. It fit in perfectly to what we were doing with our inquiry! There is an incredible amount of data about bees on the Statistics Canada website. We read real graphs with information that the students cared about, we labelled the important parts of the graphs and we will be creating our own surveys and graphing the information from different areas of our inquiry.

Statistics Canada

Honestly, the best part of inquiry is when the students start to direct their own learning. I guide them. I provide thought provoking questions and “what if” scenarios. They make choices and feel good about doing something that is affecting real change. Inquiry is empowerment for students. This students aren’t done with this inquiry yet-they have many more plans ahead! Stay tuned.