Day 169 - The Little Inquiry That Could!

Next week is June first. I can't believe it, but it is that time of year. June is a time for endings and beginnings, grief and excitement. For me, it is a time of reflection. A time to look back at the work we have done and the impact it has had. 

This year, nothing has given me more gratification than the transforming learning spaces inquiry. It has been a privilege to work with incredible educators who have pushed themselves out of their comfort zones to meet the learning needs of their students. This was a true inquiry, we didn't really know how it was going to go. We certainly had no idea the spread it would have. We started with a small group of teachers and it organically grew to touch schools in all areas of our Board. It has become a constant conversation and starting point for many other inquiries. Educators are seeing the connections between transforming their spaces and it's connection to STEAM, Inquiry and play based learning. When space is transformed so is the learning. We have heard from students and staff that changing the space has created an environment that has allowed students to make decisions. They need to think about the working space that works best for them. 
Moving to community space rather than individually held real estate has fostered collaboration, a sense of team and empathy.

Mrs. Sweeney's Door!

We are also seeing that having a variety of spaces is having an impact on movement. Students are moving and being active in their learning significantly more than they were with traditional desks and chairs. We know this is important, "Amazingly, the part of the brain that processes movement is the same part of the brain that processes learning" (Jensen, 2005) For more information on the movement/brain connection, check out this link; Teaching with the Brain in Mind, Eric Jensen. We are seeing students who are now motivated to come to school and engage in learning in ways they never have before. 

We have learned a great deal about the importance of physical space on student learning over the last few months but this is just the beginning. We are encouraged by what we are hearing from the participants of this inquiry. We have also been inspired by spaces in Private Industry. Tyger Shark digital media welcomed us into their thoughtfully considered space in downtown Barrie. They have designed their space to foster creativity and collaboration. Between their space and their message of, "we need people who are hungry to constantly learn" we felt inspired and affirmed in our work. 

This work is challenging and there are often more questions than answers but when I walk into a transformed space and feel the learning, I know it is worth it. 

This year, I feel like June is only a launching pad for the incredible learning and work to come. The little inquiry that could is no longer little and it will only continue to gain momentum. I couldn't be more proud to part of this team that is changing learning environments for the better.

Day 39: Video Announcements

At Byng PS we always struggle to find the best time for morning announcements. Often the kindergarten students are in the coat area and are not yet into the classroom.  If you wait for the kindergarten students then it falls in the middle of the intermediate lesson. The idea was born to do video announcements.

On the day before, staff and students put any announcements in the announcement binder. Students take the announcement binder and use the ipad (Green Screen by Do Ink) app to video, then import the videos into imovie. At a staff meeting towards the end of last year all staff were given the time and training to get established on google drive. The videos are shared on the google drive each day. Each classroom chooses the best time to show the video in their classroom with the least amount of interruptions.

Our goal is to have the students independently create our announcements and a teacher only needed to supervise the filming.  In collaboration with our board’s Innovation team, we will be running a student workshop to develop student ability to generate ideas, plan, conduct interviews, present orally in an effective way, film preproduction and post production.

Students will develop various segments that will be incorporated into the announcements on different days of the week.  For example, we currently include a segment called “Things that Make you Go Hmmmmm” where the students choose a photo that encourages classes to discuss questions related to the photo.  We are looking forward to classrooms sharing their learning and successes through photos or video in the shared video announcement google drive folder and then incorporating these clips into our announcements.  We are hoping that creating an extended audience for student work will help to engage them in their learning.

Our video announcements are a work in progress but we are looking forward to our continued growth!

If you have any questions please contact us: Lesia Collicutt and Joanne Larmer

Day 38: Dreaming as Big as We Can

Recently, I had the opportunity to spend a day visiting the grade 12 World Issues class at Nottawasaga Pines Secondary School. What a visit! The class is currently engaged in an inquiry project related to the United Nations 17 Global Goals for Sustainable Development. I should also add that their teacher is involved in New Pedagogies for Deep Learning.

The class established a goal: to educate others about the UN Sustainability Goals and to prompt people to take action to achieve these goals. Based on the interest they felt most connected to and the issues they felt passionate about, students divided into seven groups. Each group chose one of the 17 global goals to focus on. (#npssglobalgoals)

This inquiry project had some parameters established by the teacher. Student work had to include:

• learning about the issue

• sharing learning with others  
• blogging about it and using social media to help achieve their goal
• taking action - at a local level and a global level
• identifying connections to Fullan’s Six Cs
• documenting their learning journey

For me, part of being in the class for the day involved interviewing some of the students about their learning as they launched into this project. I have to admit, I was quite emotional as I listened to what students had to say about their learning, their teacher, the choice and trust that was given to them, the risks they were taking, and the fact that they felt empowered to make a real difference. As one student said, “Dreaming as big as we can...going all out.” Their excitement was evident. I also found it interesting that not once did the conversation with these grade 12 students centre around marks. It was all about the learning, achieving their goal, working together and making a difference.  

The students have wonderful ideas about how they can share their learning and have already been very active in using social media to spread the word and in planning their local and global actions. They have already established partnerships with other departments in their school, community organizations, elementary schools, and global organizations. To get a glimpse of what is happening, check out their blog posts on: http://thegreentimberwolf.blogspot.ca/.

I can’t wait to see what happens as their learning continues. I am confident that this class will make a difference. Additionally, I believe the learning opportunities facilitated by their teacher will also make a difference in their lives in helping to foster a mindset and a skill set that will serve them long after their high school days.

Day 29: Blue Jays Fever is Alive and Well in Grade 5

We have all been swept up in the excitement of our Jays' success!!  Game 5 of the series between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Texas Rangers sent many of us to the edge of our seats.  As fans, we were rewarded with a victory and we are now onto the next round! 

Today, I had the privilege of visiting a grade 5 classroom where the student inquiry of the day focused on baseball success.  The over-arching inquiry question presented to the students was "How does a team make it to the World Series?"

Student groups were lead through a series of questions, group inquiries, and research opportunities to find evidence as to how a MLB team could win the World Series.  They learned how the rules varied between American and National leagues, the various divisions within a league, the post-season match-ups, strategies, etc.  

What Dave Billark (grade 5 teacher at Orchard Park PS) discovered is that the more the students inquired, the more questions they had!  Students were motivated to engage in a current, real-life approach to learning.  He recognized that when the students were invested in the learning and genuinely cared about the questions they asked, they would persevere in finding the answers to their questions.  

The real teaching moments came from the student research. Guiding students in how to critically determine and analyze what they were reading and interpreting was the big challenge!  The reward?  Student-led inquiry that was meaningful for them! The grade 5's gained insight, research skills and relevant information about a current event.

I suspect even "Joey Bats" would be impressed!!

Thank you, Dave Billark at Orchard Park PS for the invitation into your class to see your students' amazing work!

               

Day 26: Introducing Students and Teachers to Google Classroom

Today I had the great pleasure of working with students and staff at Hillsdale Elementary School. My goal was to support teachers and help them gain experience and comfort with Google Classroom.  The two teachers' purpose was to give their students an opportunity to use the online space in an authentic way.

From recent experience, I have learned that the best approach to integrating new technology is to have the students complete a task while using it, yet one that is somewhat more simplified than they might do without the tool.

These were the students' Learning Goals:

We really accomplished a lot in one block of time!  Ideally, you would want to break this down into about 3 or more separate lessons. Think about the fact that the time spent building a strong foundation will pay off in the long run. Here's a quick overview of what we did:

• oral discussion to activate their background knowledge: How do we behave in our regular classroom in order to be successful learners and to help others learn?
• students were given a challenge question to discuss with a partner and then reflected on how well they followed the expectations discussed earlier
• the teachers were taken into Google Classroom and set up a new class, then gave the code to their students who used it to join.
• teachers created a Google doc with a two-column table so students could brainstorm expectations for how they should interact in Google Classroom (Here's a peek at a copy of what they have so far.) The teacher posted it in Google Classroom as an Assignment and chose the option: "Students can edit file" so they could ALL edit that ONE file!
• next, students applied those expectations by participating in a written conversation.  The teacher posted a "Question" in Google Classroom.  This enabled the students to reply to a prompt before getting to see classmates' responses and then could even challenge the thinking of their peers by posing questions or making connections in a reply. Teachers were happy to hear about their ability to assess the student work in this activity
• finally, the teacher created another quick Google doc with one specific question that each student would answer independently.  It was added to an Assignment and posted for the students using the option "Make a copy for each student".  After completing the brief task, students clicked on Turn in.  It was also pointed out to them that they are able to "unsubmit" work

Reflecting back on the lesson, we would advise teachers to be sure that all students were already set up on their Board Google accounts and comfortable using their login and password before beginning these three separate lessons.  Teachers and students will need to revisit and add to the list of Expectations they co-created as the need arises. Posting them in the Google Classroom or on the wall as an anchor chart will emphasize their importance.  Differentiated instruction was achieved by showing some students how to use Voice Typing in their Google Doc and then having it read back to them using a text to speech extension.  Students were very engaged so it will be exciting to see how their skills evolve while they learn through this valuable tool.

Many thanks to Kim, Mac and their students at Hillsdale Elementary School.

Day 11: Entrepreneurial Thinking and Learning

Today we had the privilege of spending time with intermediate students (and teachers Marci Hunter and Jason Fishpool) at Ardtrea-Cumberland Beach Public School, as two classes were engaged in a range of technology-enabled activities lead by Tyler Cave.  His passion for entrepreneurial thinking and problem solving through technology was evident in every challenge he offered the students.

   

In one classroom (as well as an outdoor space), students had opportunities to experiment with a carousel of learning with Makey Makey, littleBits, Reality Goggles, Dash and Dot Robots, Sparkfun Inventor's Kits, a Roominate Building Kit, a Snap Circuits Rover, Cubelets Robot Blocks, a Vex Robotics IQ kit, an Arduino kit, a Logics Bumble Bee, among others. Students customized their own learning in a digitally rich environment.  

           

In another classroom, students were navigated through discussions that developed an understanding of role collaboration, design thinking, construction and evaluation.  They were given kits that included a wide range of materials to develop a Hovercraft.  The groups were given time to plan, design and build!  Were all groups successful on their first attempt?  No.  But they went back to the original design, assessed the model, made modifications, and tried again!
What came out of this valuable experience was a great deal of student choice and voice, meaningful discussions, and collaborative learning.  What was most inspiring was the perseverance and determination these students demonstrated.  For this group, "giving up" was not an option!  
Ardtrea students discovered, experimented, constructed and created throughout their day, with few limitations and minimal guidance.  In short, the students found constructive, fun ways to LEARN!  

Thank you to Marci Hunter and Jason Fishpool for inviting us into your amazing classrooms. Thank you to Tyler Cave for taking student engagement and innovation to a new level!

"Think left and think right and think low and think high.  Oh, the thinks you can think, if only you try!" ~ Dr. Seuss

Marci, Jill, and Paulyne

Day 8: Student Voice and Choice

The last couple of days I have been in a number of classrooms and spoken with many students. One of the things that made me very excited was seeing the intentional creation of opportunities for student voice and choice to be heard. 

I saw a variety of seating options. Not only choice for students to choose where they sit, but when and how. There was no assigned seating, and multi-levels of seating choices. Students made decisions based on the work they were doing and how they felt at certain times of the day. One student told me that in the morning the choice was to be at a standing level table away from other students. This helped the student wake up. Later in the day, this same student chose to sit on the floor with a group of peers to discuss the problem they were solving. This choice was extended to students even when they gathered as a whole group. Some students sat on the carpet, some stood along the shelving, some sat at tables at the edge of the carpet. All students were engaged and participating in the lesson, and there was minimal fidgeting and squirming. The classroom had spaces for quiet work and group work. It was lovely to see.

                           

Students told me that they loved being able to choose where to sit and who to sit with, because sometimes they liked to sit with friends but other times they needed to sit with different people or by themselves in order to learn better. I heard comments like "standing helps me do my math because I can jiggle my feet"  and "I like to be in a corner and lean back when I am reading a really interesting book" and "I like standing when we come to the carpet because when I used to sit I would need to move and wiggle and I would distract other people" and "I like sitting at a round table with my group so we can all reach the paper". Thanks to Mrs. Lalonde's and Mrs. Kowalyk's class for welcoming me and letting me join in their learning.  http://kowalyk.edublogs.org/   Our Thoughtful Threes @MrsKowalyksroom