tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65148605136403860972024-03-13T14:58:53.978-04:00BYOD, ASAPAfter a few years of converting my classes to independent, BYOD-focused, proficiency-based learning (and blogging about it here!), I stepped into a new role as a Renewed Math Strategy Co-ordinator with my board. I will continue to blog at http://modelthelearning.blogspot.ca - I hope you'll join me as I learn!Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13987609384790057309noreply@blogger.comBlogger131125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6514860513640386097.post-11916301621026193452017-09-01T20:37:00.000-04:002017-10-28T20:38:56.116-04:00Looking for Newer Posts?<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It's amazing how much can change in a few years. <a href="http://byodasap.blogspot.ca/2013/09/preamble.html">Four years ago</a>, I was doing a lot of learning around how to bring technology into the classroom, flip the delivery of the content, and empower students to learn to the best of their abilities. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">At the start of the new school year, recognizing that my practice has moved beyond the concept "BYOD, ASAP," I have started a new blog at <a href="http://modelthelearning.blogspot.ca/">Model the Learning</a>. All new posts will be published there. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Please join me on my journey <a href="http://modelthelearning.blogspot.ca/">there</a>!</span>Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13987609384790057309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6514860513640386097.post-75832424357892471272017-05-10T07:44:00.000-04:002017-05-10T07:44:37.157-04:00Finding a Balance in Math<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For the past month or so, I’ve been participating in the </span><a href="https://notabookstudy.wordpress.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Not A Book Study</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> look at </span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Young-Mathematicians-Work-Constructing-Multiplication/dp/0325003548" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cathy Fosnot’s work on constructing multiplication and division</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span></span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-ba7f0e35-f229-d13f-c969-7313b454bcfb" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This has been a tremendous opportunity to make great connections with other math educators across Northern Ontario, and really deepen my knowledge of how students construct mathematical concepts. I’ve been searching for something deep to sink my teeth into for a while, and I find this book - and all the discussion surrounding it in the </span><a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23notabookstudy" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">#notabookstudy</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> - has been rich and extremely thought-provoking.</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As a secondary math teacher, I learned a lot in teachers’ college about tips and tricks to teach math through the intermediate and senior years. But we didn’t learn very much about how students learn math. How do they make the jump from thinking additively (counting 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3) to thinking multiplicatively (7 x 3)? How do they approach the concept of division? How do they go from being able to problem solve in a specific context, to a generalized one, eventually using variables and equations? </span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Needless to say, I’m learning a lot about learning by reading this book, and this will certainly enrich how I approach teaching mathematical concepts in the future.</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But I find I’m struggling with another aspect of teaching math as I continue learning about how we learn - finding the balance between discovering the concepts and practicing the skills.</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In secondary, there is very little discovery (I’m generalizing here, based on my experience teaching). Most of what the students learn is taught to them in a very procedural way, with perhaps a bit of inquiry or hands-on activities, but almost never where the students are discovering the math themselves. And the students certainly aren’t owning the math. </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On page 48, Fosnot says “Mathematics cannot be learned through transmission…” and I agree - students need to understand what the mathematics is telling them in order for them to remember what they learn. And yet we, as teachers, are still merely transmitting information.</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, in elementary (again, a generalization from what I’ve seen, mostly in primary and junior), there is a lot more discovery of the math, with lots of emphasis on concept construction, but not as much procedural learning. While this can promote a better understanding of what the math means, and a better growth mindset and approach to problem solving, the drilling of facts or repetition of procedure doesn’t seem to be, pardon the pun, part of the equation. </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Partially because of this, in secondary we are seeing students who struggle more and more with basic math facts. That struggle leads to frustration, cancelling out any gains that may have been made from understanding the math initially discovered in earlier years.</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Can students understand where the math comes from AND become procedurally efficient? </span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>I’d like to think so, but we as teachers need to work on that balance.</b> With respect to automaticity, Fosnot says “The issue here is not whether facts should eventually be memorized, but how this memorization is achieved: by rote drill and practice, or by fostering on relationships?” (page 86). </span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The former is shallow but “quick;” the latter is deep but takes time. And if “It is not up to us to decide which pathways out students will use [as they move toward constructing understanding]” (page 18), how can we ensure each student has the time to properly develop their thinking AND their automaticity? </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wherein lies the balance? My journey continues...</span></span></div>
Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13987609384790057309noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6514860513640386097.post-12188547476678649802017-04-26T23:13:00.000-04:002017-04-30T20:57:21.074-04:00Snapchat Stories<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I'm at my first <a href="http://www.canconnected.com/">CONNECT conference</a> this week, in beautiful Niagara Falls!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-288B3_cciWY/WQFdIqggFvI/AAAAAAAACsY/-SVrp3UIXjkD9YfzuskpOL2h2dw1EqLygCK4B/s1600/IMG_4316.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-288B3_cciWY/WQFdIqggFvI/AAAAAAAACsY/-SVrp3UIXjkD9YfzuskpOL2h2dw1EqLygCK4B/s400/IMG_4316.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Typically at conferences, I track some of my learning through Twitter (follow #CanConnectEd this week for some AWESOME learning!). But for this conference, I wanted to try something different.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So I'm trying out Snapchat stories as a way of capturing what I'm seeing and learning. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uiiPVwK9yqQ/WQFdRxFB7SI/AAAAAAAACsc/jz4MPNt6B28BUj0Aep6rfOgK9bP8ubucACLcB/s1600/IMG_4307.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uiiPVwK9yqQ/WQFdRxFB7SI/AAAAAAAACsc/jz4MPNt6B28BUj0Aep6rfOgK9bP8ubucACLcB/s320/IMG_4307.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Follow along!</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Pros</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I like that in the end, you get a running chronological story of what you see throughout the day. I like that you can caption images as you go, and though I haven't drawn on the images (or added stickers!), I like the idea of being able to do that quickly, too.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I appreciate the speed at which I can snap a photo, caption it, and get it published. And even though a normal snapchat will disappear soon after it is viewed, posts in Snapchat stories stick around for 24 hours before self-deleting.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<h3>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Cons</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But I don't like that it's not widely interactive - no one can see my stories unless they follow me, and you can't connect with others as easily as you can with a hashtag. And you can only have one story on the go at a time... I went for a hike yesterday and wanted to share some pictures, but didn't want to tack them into the conference story. It would have been nice to be able to make a separate story.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<h3>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For the long term...</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">At the end of the day, I can save the entire story to my phone and then export the video. Here are my stories so far!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Note: upon uploading and viewing the videos here on the blog, I realized they are all blurry! Is there a way to fix this? They're not this blurry in the original story... :)</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Day 1</b></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='640' height='532' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxYz_eDe87ONRE31IbhT_tYxoyhfAuRIOCcpRW9JFGSIIA-xPFc3JXFcHVqv5pirtgtlNQMu8seI4C68Ea_jQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Day 2</b></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='640' height='532' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxGoS3UX-QVdsBqxxstY7o-Vj2tsODfCfq48xO-4Qu6siPcFxh0m4eXEQHJb5yr590rsuyAO0qlWXT9Ujn2xA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Day 3</b></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='640' height='532' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzRUxcp8DX3lA20Rw1EsS3GDmuCeC2NAqH_z4JDC1gunG8I7H0bY3EWckv6852iUWNJOTvLs7frorHQvPrWdw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Day 4</b></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='640' height='532' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyA-uUi2--ZqI3Y4mtlZEjlNx-ZW-5sZFkVw56OCFPYCQhivzCHQXZeCesbVb-S2u1qsw4h_kE5Oes45S0H9Q' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<h3>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">End Result?</span></h3>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In the end, I'm not sure that I would use Snapchat stories again to track conference learning. I really liked the speed of snapping and captioning, but I missed the networking and connecting that often comes along with sharing on Twitter or Instagram through a hashtag.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">With only a few edu-peeps following me on Snapchat, too, I'm not sure it was worth "sharing" this way, either. It might have been better to just snap pictures right into an app like Evernote.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Why did I try this? We often talk about bringing the learning to where the learners are. With so many students on Snapchat, is it worth considering delivering content to them through this media? Is it feasible to have students document their learning through snaps?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Have you tried Snapchat stories before? Do you have any advice? :) What way of keeping track of what you see at conferences do you prefer? Have you tried using Snapchat with your students?</span>Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13987609384790057309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6514860513640386097.post-67754589014780402242017-04-22T14:09:00.000-04:002017-04-22T14:09:12.155-04:00Tracking Observations & Conversations<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In many of the collaborative inquiry projects I'm working on this year, the teams are choosing to focus on student communication. In some cases, we are looking at how a student can best communicate what they have learned. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Traditionally, this takes place on a unit test (or other culminating activity), supported by a number of smaller assessments leading up to the test, such as quizzes, worksheets, projects, etc.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, these are all product-based. <b>How can we, in math, move away from assessing primarily through products, and more through <u>conversation</u> and <u>observation</u>?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is a scary concept for many high school math teachers, who are so used to assessing products. It's easy enough for teachers to observe, or to have a conversation, but whereas you track a level/mark on a product (16/23 on a test, say) that you see directly on that assessment paper, how do you track what you see <i>off-paper</i>?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As I think about being back in the classroom, this is something I want to improve upon. Instead of chalking it all up to my "professional judgement," I'd like to be able to track what I see and hear, and offer that as a record of student learning.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But I have no idea how to start that tracking. The newness of it (to me), and the openness of it, makes the process feel overwhelming. A lot of math teachers are in the same boat.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So who better to ask about tracking observations and conversations than the <b>experts</b> - Kindergarten and Grade 1 teachers! Where so much of the learning is done <i>without</i> textbooks, worksheets, and tests, these teachers are the pros in recording what they see.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I did a quick poll of K/1 teachers on Twitter of how they track the learning that happens in their classrooms (<a href="https://storify.com/HTheijsmeijer/tracking-observations-conversations-in-the-classro">click here to see the Storify archive of the conversation</a>), and here are some of their responses:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Checklists</span></h3>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ABLVbEEYY9g/WPTqOFe3Q1I/AAAAAAAACqw/W6vZGYuB5Y8PmnnVIf99Fr0fx6Qxd_rRACLcB/s1600/tracking1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="520" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ABLVbEEYY9g/WPTqOFe3Q1I/AAAAAAAACqw/W6vZGYuB5Y8PmnnVIf99Fr0fx6Qxd_rRACLcB/s640/tracking1.png" width="640" /></span></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some teachers are using paper checklists, created in advance, highlighting the look-fors and the learning goals the students will be working to complete. They can be stored in a binder, always within reach in the classroom for when learning is observed or when the teacher and student engage in conversation.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Amy (<a href="http://twitter.com/Teach_Laidlaw">@Teach_Laidlaw</a>) shared an amazing post detailing her checklist process. You can find it here: <a href="http://misslaidlaw.blogspot.ca/2017/02/assessment-and-tracking.html">http://misslaidlaw.blogspot.ca/2017/02/assessment-and-tracking.html</a></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<h3 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Photos & Video</span></h3>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H-zWapK2ylE/WPTrJqJ5yzI/AAAAAAAACq0/sASK1A7Cg4M2Jkz64rXRItX1G5YLjkKmwCLcB/s1600/tracking2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="241" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H-zWapK2ylE/WPTrJqJ5yzI/AAAAAAAACq0/sASK1A7Cg4M2Jkz64rXRItX1G5YLjkKmwCLcB/s640/tracking2.png" width="640" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Aviva (<a href="http://twitter.com/avivaloca">@avivaloca</a>) is the QUEEN of documenting her students' learning through captioned photos and video. She and her teaching partner collect them and review them throughout the day, using them to not only assess the students, but also to plan future activities.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Brigitte (<a href="http://twitter.com/BrigitteDupont0">@BrigitteDupont0</a>) has a busy French classroom with lots always on the go - she uses pictures and video too. She also keeps everything in Google Drive for easy access.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cPh4-UMQCxc/WPTrJlMWwLI/AAAAAAAACq4/PyKB7lb8zAkjdOX1Es8VqypQs-Pkw8bcgCLcB/s1600/tracking3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="272" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cPh4-UMQCxc/WPTrJlMWwLI/AAAAAAAACq4/PyKB7lb8zAkjdOX1Es8VqypQs-Pkw8bcgCLcB/s640/tracking3.png" width="640" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Stickies & Colour-Coding</span></h3>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bb5fQ1X9fug/WPTrJ9cLJkI/AAAAAAAACrA/MS0MKYAlDqc7jMk_xlZQdAUjvYNtgxblACLcB/s1600/tracking5.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bb5fQ1X9fug/WPTrJ9cLJkI/AAAAAAAACrA/MS0MKYAlDqc7jMk_xlZQdAUjvYNtgxblACLcB/s640/tracking5.png" width="640" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think Marcie (<a href="http://twitter.com/MarcieLew">@MarcieLew</a>) is one of the most organized people I know. Her tracking method of choice is stickies and colour-coding for at-a-glance overviews of how her students are doing. She can then walk around the classroom with a clipboard and stickies, observing and conferencing throughout the lesson.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Google Forms</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EDkSNBDOCZ4/WPTrJ_nDKXI/AAAAAAAACrE/7fNkHouSDnkefGWDXSuHcG4GKdHRIOqiQCLcB/s1600/tracking6.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EDkSNBDOCZ4/WPTrJ_nDKXI/AAAAAAAACrE/7fNkHouSDnkefGWDXSuHcG4GKdHRIOqiQCLcB/s640/tracking6.png" width="640" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Amanda (<a href="http://twitter.com/amandakmalo">@amandakmalo</a>) creates online versions of checklists using Google Forms. There would be a drop down list for the student's name, another list for the subject, and then an open answer for comments and quotes. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not only could Amanda fill in the forms on a tablet as she was going around the classroom, but the ECE and prep teachers also had access to the form to record what they observed. With a running record of comments for each student, it made report card writing much easier, as well as learning stories.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Evernote</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wMV3xYCQnhg/WPTrKEWqeMI/AAAAAAAACrI/qkb7xP91q-IXDSXvya4FG_vLIVU1fuqJACLcB/s1600/tracking7.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wMV3xYCQnhg/WPTrKEWqeMI/AAAAAAAACrI/qkb7xP91q-IXDSXvya4FG_vLIVU1fuqJACLcB/s640/tracking7.png" width="640" /></span></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Geeta (<a href="http://twitter.com/geetaramikumar">@geetaranikumar</a>) also recorded her observations digitally, but through Evernote, which includes the capability of attaching images and audio files to a "note." Geeta also mentioned that she could add tags to the pages/notes for easy reference and sorting later. </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm so grateful to my PLN for sharing their practices with me. I'm a big fan of the paper checklists, but I'm leaning toward the convenience of the digital record keeping. How do you keep track of observations and conversations in your classroom?</span></div>
Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13987609384790057309noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6514860513640386097.post-63779277139382636302017-03-18T22:01:00.000-04:002017-03-18T22:35:44.169-04:00When do they Learn That?<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">With the introduction of collaborative inquiry (CI) projects in our secondary schools this year, it's been very interesting to see what schools identify as their students' greatest learning needs, and choose how to address those needs.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For our Numeracy CI projects, many schools identified various aspects of <b>communication</b> as a significant need. It was interesting (but, some would argue, not surprising) to see evidence of this need from a number of different data sources, including past individual EQAO results, overall EQAO school trend results, student IEPs/psycho-educational assessments, and/or anecdotal information.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One school decided to look at <b>vocabulary acquisition</b>. How could explicitly teaching and placing emphasis on math vocabulary help students when it comes to problem solving?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Throughout the project, we explored different interventions for students, tried different strategies in class, examined student data, and listened to student voice. In the end, we were able to help a lot of students find success where they didn't experience success before.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But it's one of the <b><i>spin-offs</i></b> of this project that I wanted to mention and share.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<h3>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">
When do they learn that?</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">During one of our team meetings, we were discussing which vocabulary words we expected students to know coming in to grade 9 math (and know well), and which words might be relatively new to students.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For instance, we figured students should know the word "area," since they start learning about the area of basic shapes in an early grade. However, the word "radius" is only introduced in grade 8 - having only been exposed to the word for one year, students might not yet have a solid grasp of its meaning.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(And, as an aside, a student who was on a modified curriculum before high school may not have seen the word "radius" at all. Important to note if we are now teaching these students in grade 9.)</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But what about the word "angle?" </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Or "factor?" </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Or "ratio?" </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">How well can we expect students to know these words?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<h3>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">
A Vocabulary Continuum</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We took a look at the glossary at the end of the Ontario <a href="http://edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/math18curr.pdf">Grade 1-8 Mathematics Curriculum</a>, and the glossary at the end of the Ontario <a href="http://edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/secondary/math910curr.pdf">Grade 9-10 Mathematics Curriculum</a>, and placed vocabulary terms in a continuum based on when they were first introduced. Check it out:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>(scroll down to see the five strands, and across to see the different grades)</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><iframe height="650" src="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1dWUHIQeDYU00o8oZd9CsWg8f7NXN4TpNJ5zI7t5HBj4" width="760"></iframe>
</span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Being not familiar with the elementary curriculum at all until this year, I found this layout fascinating. I had no idea students learned fractions as early as grade 4/5 (many grade 9 students still struggle greatly with fractions), or that scatter plots - which I've always considered a "basic" skill in grade 9 - is a concept students would have only just learned in grade 8.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<h3>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Some notes:</span></h3>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>We chose to only look at the grade 9 & 10 applied stream</b> (not the academic stream) to both keep the chart simple, and keep it aligned with our focus courses in the project.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In grades 9 & 10, the names of the strands change. <b>We kept the same strands</b> as in the elementary curriculum and tried to place the grade 9 & 10 words appropriately.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The placement of the words in the various grade levels was based on <b>when they first appeared in the curriculum</b> - this might actually be different in real life (and indeed, different from teacher to teacher, or from school to school).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As a spin-off of this spin-off, we also made a <b>list of "tricky words"</b> that have more than one definition - you can see those on the second tab at the bottom of the sheet.</span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>What do you notice? </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>What surprises you? </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>How can this help when it's time to introduce new concepts?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Thank you so much to Kris Oliverio, Megan Parry-Jamieson, Iain Brodie, Randy Porter, and Richard Duffy for double-checking the placement of these words for me!</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13987609384790057309noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6514860513640386097.post-89966436416368411682017-02-10T21:03:00.000-05:002017-02-10T21:03:40.588-05:00Finding Validation<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I've been home, sick, for the past two days. It's hard for me to come full stop, but I've learned that the best thing to do when you're sick is to <b><i>heal</i></b>. And if that means a lot of sleeping and tea and soup and video games and episodes of Star Trek: TNG (all interspersed with coughing fits), so be it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One day of resting to heal is fine. But on the second day, I'm restless. I even tried to go to work today, but got turned around on my commute. When I walked back in the door, my husband looked at me and said, "I told you so." :) I then fell back asleep for another 4 hours.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But on this second day of rest and healing, I started to think about everything I was missing while I was home, sick - an inaugural event at local schools on science and tech, a separate regional event that all the other board co-ordinators attended, the interactions with my colleagues, and coaching opportunities with my gymnastics team. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In a profession where I thrive on all those interactions with others, I was feeling left out, and unvalidated. So many people are accomplishing great things today! What am I doing?? Healing. As productive and contributive as my white blood cells are being, I certainly don't feel productive or contributive.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And that got me thinking about my students. When they are in school, what makes them feel valuable and worthwhile? Do they drift through their days feeling as though they haven't made an impact or a difference? Do they feel as though they contribute to their learning, or the learning of those around them? How can we make sure <b><i>they</i></b> feel productive and contributive?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DuzZvcknBLw/WJ5qbbgwC-I/AAAAAAAACmg/TpnMHYhD5aMtcG87va55hKH_QHhWe23HwCLcB/s1600/A-person-who-feels-appreciated-will-always-do-more-than-what-is-expected..jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DuzZvcknBLw/WJ5qbbgwC-I/AAAAAAAACmg/TpnMHYhD5aMtcG87va55hKH_QHhWe23HwCLcB/s320/A-person-who-feels-appreciated-will-always-do-more-than-what-is-expected..jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i><a href="https://goo.gl/FQvOCw">https://goo.gl/FQvOCw</a></i></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Allow students to contribute</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What do our students already know? What could they quickly find out? Instead of listing examples of amphibians in a note, could students seek out and find their own examples (and non-examples)? Can they come up with a way to design a lab, instead of always following instructions on how to set one up? How are they <i><b>creating</b></i> content for the course's curriculum?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<h3>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Allow students to share</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What can students teach others in a small group setting? How can they best share within the class? What can they communicate with a wider audience? How can students share what they're learning with other classes within the school? How can they connect with community members? Who looks to the students to learn?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<h3>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Allow students to drive their learning</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What interests students outside of school? How can their passions be used to further what they're learning in class? How can we provide choice in what or how the students learn? How can we make sure they are making gains in their learning every day? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<h3>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Allow students to provide input and feedback</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">How do the students feel about how they are learning in our classes? Are students included in the planning and assessment of the presented content? Are their actual learning needs the same as what we perceive them to be? Is their voice heard? How do their opinions on learning shape what happens in class?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>How do you make sure your students feel valued, productive, and worthwhile in their pursuit of knowledge?</i></span>Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13987609384790057309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6514860513640386097.post-80908188888164039412017-01-30T22:02:00.000-05:002017-01-30T22:02:34.841-05:00From Grade 8 to Grade 9<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This year, I'm learning a lot about how we can help students (particularly math students) transition from grade 8 to grade 9 successfully. </span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There are a lot of reasons why this transition is not successful for all grade 9 students in many boards. Off the top of my head, this is because differences include:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">New school:</span></b></div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Students go from knowing their way around their school very well to not knowing where to find anything or anyone.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Students go from having two nutrition breaks in the day to one lunch break (that's gotta make the period before lunch soooo hard for hungry students!). </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Students go from having opportunities to play and get outside (recess is a given) to having nothing like this scheduled (students can go out at lunch time, but don't have to).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Students spend more time on the bus. Bus rides, in a rural area like ours, get longer as there is only one high school servicing a large geographical area.</span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">New teachers:</span></b></div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Students go from having one teacher who knows them (and the 30 other students in her/his class) really well to having four teachers who know them (and the 70 other students they teach that semester) very little.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Students go from knowing all the teachers in their school (having been taught by most of them) to knowing NONE of the teachers in the high school.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Students go from knowing what one teacher expects from them to having four potentially very different teachers, and having to juggle a myriad of expectations.</span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">New peers:</span></b></div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Students go from having the same peer group to support them all day to different peer groups that change throughout the day.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Students may not even be with their usual peer group if their timetable is significantly different than their friends'.</span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">New courses:</span></b></div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Students go from unstreamed classes to streamed classes (that carry their own stigmas).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Students go from a modified curriculum (such as working at a grade 6 level in math) right into the grade 9 curriculum.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Students move into an environment where grades matter, exams are written, and credits need to be achieved. There are consequences for not passing a course.</span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">New Freedoms:</span></b></div>
</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Students can leave the school at lunch to walk up to a local restaurant, or just hang around outside the whole time. Some students aren't very good at disciplining themselves to come back to school in time for third period after this new-found freedom.</span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In short, there's a LOT that students need to adjust to when moving from grade 8 to grade 9. Part of my job this year is to examine how that transition is happening and what we can do to help students better bridge the gap.</span></div>
</div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>So I'm looking for suggestions. </b>What can we, as grade 8 and grade 9 teachers, do to help our students be as successful as possible as they manage these changes? Which of the above factors can we control and exert influence over? If we could make a TOP TEN list of ways to help students make the transition, what would that list include?</span></div>
Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13987609384790057309noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6514860513640386097.post-82837353293032594072017-01-22T21:47:00.000-05:002017-01-22T21:47:16.327-05:00Humans vs. Computers<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We hear a lot these days about how computers (and robots) are taking over all the mundane tasks we humans do on a regular basis; how we have to change the way we're teaching in order to prepare students for a very different-looking workforce.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Robots/computers can vacuum our floors (hello, little Roomba!), <a href="http://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2014/11/16/bionic-bar-timelapse-video">mix fancy drinks for us</a>, and can drive our cars. On assembly lines, robots complete tasks more efficiently and more consistently than we ever could as a species. They can even <a href="http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/blog/siebren-versteegs-computer-generated-abstract-paintings">create abstract works of art</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jun/28/computer-writing-journalism-artificial-intelligence">write newspaper articles</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've often wondered what the limit is: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Where is the threshold for what humans can do pretty well, but computers still can't do at all?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last month, I discovered one possible answer: composing music.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just before Christmas, a sound clip of the first computer-composed Christmas carol was released. This computer was fed hundreds of hours of traditional Christmas carols which it analyzed, decomposed, pulled the most common elements from, and then used to synthesize something completely original. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here it is - take a listen:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/38hxfC6M-pg/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/38hxfC6M-pg?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's AWFUL. I'm pretty sure some of the youngest students I teach, who have very little experience in music, could come up with something better. Especially those lyrics. Yikes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A computer can try and combine the most popular elements of existing songs - basically pulling from a huge resource bank, larger than any human would have access to - but can it really push the boundaries of music? Can a computer be daring? Can a computer take creative risks? At this point, I would venture that they cannot.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Humans, however, <i>can</i>. My husband (<a href="http://twitter.com/christheij">@christheij</a>) is a music teacher. Recently, while looking for new choir music for the spring season, he found this gem by Katerina Gimon. Take a listen - it's well worth it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/nl5Y8XQx-6k/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nl5Y8XQx-6k?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Perhaps my favourite part of this piece is the score, which contains, among other unique things, the following as notation (seriously, this is actually written into the music) (yes, that's forte fire):</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mYfctse9tU0/WIK7_ORDdPI/AAAAAAAACmA/OssV_bK8p4oVcS9XFZrTK2XYJ00mvBbbACLcB/s1600/fire.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="156" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mYfctse9tU0/WIK7_ORDdPI/AAAAAAAACmA/OssV_bK8p4oVcS9XFZrTK2XYJ00mvBbbACLcB/s400/fire.png" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Humans are able to take knowledge of music and not just synthesize from it, but expand on it, creating completely unique music that sounds GOOD, even from seemingly random noises. Computers? Not yet.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So what are we preparing our students for? If the mundane and routine jobs will become automated, but computers still can't be THAT creative, then it's probably a good thing to focus on those 6 C's of 21st century learning: Critical thinking, Collaboration, Creativity, Communication, Citizenship and Character.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But that's not to say we should give up rigour. We humans are still pushing: deepening our knowledge of how our brain works, and translating this into robots and artificial intelligence. The "hard" skills of the scientific method, understanding mathematical processes, and logic sequences that come with activities such as coding need to still be at the forefront. </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With these as skills, our students may one day be able to write a program that allows a computer to compose music that actually makes sense to our ears. </span></div>
Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13987609384790057309noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6514860513640386097.post-22884937758288081842017-01-01T21:29:00.000-05:002017-01-01T21:29:25.570-05:00One Word 2017: Patience<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Happy New Year!</b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">True to all the resolution-making and reflection that happens at this time of year, I've been giving thought to what my #oneword2017 focus will be for this calendar year.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In 2015, my one word was <b>Jump</b>. <a href="http://byodasap.blogspot.ca/2015/12/one-word-2016-reflection.html">This time last year, my one word was <b>Reflection</b></a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For 2017, my one word will be <b>PATIENCE</b>.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the classroom, there are a lot of new and innovative things you can try and usually see results - of one kind or another - very quickly. Even if you're doing larger projects or trying bigger things that take months to implement, you can get a sense pretty quickly of how things are going.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In my current position as a co-ordinator, a lot of what I do is behind the scenes. I'm no longer the one interacting with the students, trying out the new ideas, or monitoring how things are going. I'm much more of a facilitator: more learning, assisting, and guiding, and less direct implementation.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Because of this, I would like to focus on <b>patience</b>:</span></h3>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Patience with my own learning:</b> I'm doing a LOT of new learning when it comes to the collaborative inquiry process, special education, instructional strategies in math, and the transition from grade 8 to grade 9. Learning, and the reflection/digestion process that accompanies it, takes time. I'm not going to become well-versed in all of these overnight - I have to recognize that to learn well and deeply takes time.</span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Patience when implementing change:</b> This school year, we experienced a LOT of change within our school board. I'm directly involved with changing co-ordinator-led professional development (sage on the stage) to collaborative inquiry-based learning (guide on the side). This is a new model for all of us, and we have to remember that though implementation may not go smoothly in the beginning, we'll learn from our school teams to improve the process over time.</span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Patience when working with others:</b> It's been so great getting out and working with teachers throughout the board - I'm fascinated with the different viewpoints and backgrounds I encounter. In order to meet everyone's needs, I need to be patient, not make assumptions (or jump to conclusions), and <i>really listen</i> to those I work with. Not everyone will approach things the same way I would, which is an asset to how the teams work, but I have to remember to step back and appreciate the different perspectives.</span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Patience with filling in the big picture:</b> A lot of what we're working on as board co-ordinators are long-range goals - small cogs in an overall machine that could have huge impacts over time. I have to keep this big picture in mind and remember that even though one particular project may not feel all that earth-shattering or impactful, together with all the other initiatives, we're crafting powerful models of learning and addressing student needs.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>What is <b>your</b> #oneword2017 focus for this year?</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13987609384790057309noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6514860513640386097.post-87878845777053676742016-12-28T21:34:00.000-05:002016-12-28T21:34:43.586-05:00Revitalizing eLearning<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This summer, I was involved in a provincial writing project <span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">aimed at giving principals the tools for becoming leaders of learning in online environments. In coming up with ideas for the resource, as well as what shape the resource would take, there was a LOT of discussion about eLearning as a whole.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But one of the more powerful discussions came from a question that was raised several times during our time together: <b><i>How do we take eLearning classes from "second best" to THE class that students want to take?</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Right now, in Ontario education, eLearning takes a backseat to in-class learning. Students only take an eLearning course if that particular course isn't available at their school (or if there is a conflict between two classes the students want). It never seems to be a course students are *excited* to take, or choose to take, over a traditional class. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why is this?</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Students often love that they can go at their own pace through an eLearning course (even though sometimes this backfires). But many often find the content monotonous (all reading), and find there is little interaction between the student and the teacher, or with other students. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">eLearning is often perceived as being dry, unengaging, impersonal, and difficult, the latter because students often feel they are learning "on their own." </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Other than allowing students in small, remote communities access to courses that couldn't otherwise be offered at their school, seems like eLearning might be a bit of a dud.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But few would argue that teaching with technology isn't powerful! Think of all the things we can do with technology that we couldn't do in schools fifteen years ago:</span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Provide access to a <b>large range of resources</b> on all topics and all at levels - we are no longer constrained to a single resource in the form of a textbook!</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Instantly connect</b> with each other - in something as short as a tweet or as in-your-face as a Google Hangout, there are so many ways to instantly connect with others around the globe.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Facilitate collaboration on a large scale</b> - see above!</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Give timely (instant!) right/wrong feedback</b> to any student at any time, both in and out of class time - whenever the student needs it.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Demonstrate more complex concepts</b> that can't be done in class. For example, there is no way we could repeat Millikan's oil drop experiment in Physics class. However, with a simulation, the students can actually reproduce the experiment, get results, and perform the same analysis Millikan did when he discovered the charge on an electron.</span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
<br />
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What can I add to eLearning??</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If all of the wondrous things above can be done in an online class, what is my role as an eLearning teacher?</span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Provide access to just the <b>right topics at the right level</b> for the student who needs them.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Give personal feedback</b> - suggestions, challenges, ... sometimes, when completing longer math problems, my students just wonder <i>where</i> they went wrong - I can find the roadblock better than a computer can.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Facilitate collaboration on a small scale</b> - I can problem-solve with groups in person and coach individuals toward working as a team.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Engage my students in <b>hands-on demonstrations.</b> We can do these in-class as a demo or a lab during blended learning, or I can suggest things to try at home and troubleshoot if things don't go exactly as planned.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Get to know my students</b>, and allow them a voice in what they are learning. This might just be the most important thing of all.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A real teacher and an online environment - a perfect storm of personalized learning. So why can't we make eLearning an absolutely amazing experience?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>I should add that I know some good, and I mean REALLY good, eLearning teachers, who do all of the above and even more. But how many of us don't take advantage of maximizing <u>both</u> our talents and the technology's abilities, to create an extraordinary online course?</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What can we do to make learning online powerful, meaningful, and in-demand? How can we make it THE course(s) students WANT to take?</span>Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13987609384790057309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6514860513640386097.post-66611026022036232432016-12-27T14:11:00.000-05:002016-12-27T14:11:28.607-05:00Five Most-Read Blog Posts of 2016<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I first started blogging, it was a way to jot down new initiatives (moving my classes toward a flipped model and incorporating Bring Your Own Device) as well as get feedback on things I was trying in the classroom. Blogging has been an invaluable tool in connecting with other teachers.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But I've come to realize how important a reflection piece blogging can be as well. I find it really interesting to see how my viewpoint has changed with experience and a change in job, see how I was able to overcome some challenges, and see that I still have a ways to go in wrapping my head around certain pedagogies.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I find it intriguing, too, what others have found interesting over the few years I've been blogging. Here are my <a href="http://byodasap.blogspot.ca/2015/01/my-five-most-read-posts-of-2014.html">most-read posts of 2014</a>, and my <a href="http://byodasap.blogspot.ca/2015/12/five-most-read-blog-posts-of-2015.html">most-read posts of 2015</a>. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4okYol8fS2E/WGK7nnuxtKI/AAAAAAAAClQ/s3uPR5c5EMEDtSfVEkhmdVO529g6nj4xwCLcB/s1600/new-year-906892_1920.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4okYol8fS2E/WGK7nnuxtKI/AAAAAAAAClQ/s3uPR5c5EMEDtSfVEkhmdVO529g6nj4xwCLcB/s400/new-year-906892_1920.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On that note, here are my five most-read blog posts of 2016:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1) <a href="http://byodasap.blogspot.ca/2016/01/ontarioclassmatch.html">#OntarioClassMatch</a></b> <i>- launch of a new hashtag to help connect classes within Ontario.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>2) <a href="http://byodasap.blogspot.ca/2016/06/unleashing-creativity-all-about-bats.html">Unleashing Creativity: All About the Bats</a></b> <i>- the creative component of the culminating project by my grade 9 science class. </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>3) <a href="http://byodasap.blogspot.ca/2016/05/thinking-about-going-gradeless.html">Thinking about Going Gradeless</a></b> <i>- something I would love to try once I'm back in the classroom.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>4) <a href="http://byodasap.blogspot.ca/2016/05/spiralling-spinning-around-in-my-head.html">Spiralling: Spinning Around in my Head</a></b> <i>- something else I would love to try once I'm back in the classroom. Can I spiral gradelessly?? :)</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>5) <a href="http://byodasap.blogspot.ca/2016/05/clawing-back-freedom.html">Clawing Back the Freedom</a></b> <i>- when the independence that comes with a flipped model just wasn't working for some of my students.</i></span>Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13987609384790057309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6514860513640386097.post-17708910525015308572016-12-26T21:56:00.001-05:002016-12-26T21:56:19.365-05:00Manipulatives in Secondary Math<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As a high school math teacher, in the classroom, I made very little use of concrete manipulatives such as cube links, square tiles, or the ever-dreaded Algebra Tiles.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I say ever-dreaded because while Algebra Tiles have long been touted as an amazing resource, it's never been obvious to me how to use them. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you haven't seen or used them, they are a collection of small squares that represent units, large squares that represent x^2, and rectangles (with a length that matches the large square, and a width that matches the small square) that represent "x." Students can use various combinations of the shapes to model equations and algebraic thinking, leading up to more formal mathematical processes.</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KRMENMwzUTM/WFgqTJ1DtoI/AAAAAAAACkU/Fcb-7eNjbXwvrkLf8arQoCkJ78OJVkaUwCLcB/s1600/Algebra%2BTiles.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KRMENMwzUTM/WFgqTJ1DtoI/AAAAAAAACkU/Fcb-7eNjbXwvrkLf8arQoCkJ78OJVkaUwCLcB/s400/Algebra%2BTiles.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.assessmentservices-edu.com/images/products/detail/Algebra%20Tiles.jpg</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Other than their most basic uses, they confuse me. I don't think like that (visually), and I certainly wasn't taught like that. </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I did well in math through high school because <b>I like rules</b>. I could memorize and apply the rules for solving a linear equation, or factoring a quadratic equation, or completing the square. Though I may not have understood the math at the time (I was just following rules, remember), with <b><i>lots</i></b> of practice I was eventually able to see why the rules worked, and could apply that line of thinking to solving even more complex problems. </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I didn't make good use of manipulatives as a teacher partially because I never really learned how, either through experiencing it as a student, or by experimenting with them as an adult. </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<h3 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm changing my mind...</span></h3>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But what I'm learning this year, is that not only are these concrete manipulatives a good option for differentiating our math instruction, they are a NECESSARY instructional tool. </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For our students presenting with learning disabilities, there are a number of reasons why using manipulatives regularly in the classroom is beneficial. Among others, these include:</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For students demonstrating slower processing speeds, manipulatives </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">force the pace of learning to better match that of the student</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They provide a means for students with working memory needs to </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">better keep track of what they are doing</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, by displaying the process on the table in front of them. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They allow students to make use of </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">perceptual reasoning skills to accommodate for needs in mathematical computation</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, for ALL our students, manipulatives provide a depth of learning beyond what I was exposed to as a student. I was never taught how to think of algebraic processes outside of just rules for making numbers appear and disappear. I wonder how much more quickly I would have seen patterns and made connections if I could have visualized what the equations represented? </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is a stigma associated with using manipulatives in high school - that they are only for the kids that "can't do math." But what if their use isn't seen as a "crutch," but strictly as another way of thinking/seeing the math (which is exactly what they are!). Students who feel they don't need manipulatives (like I once was) could actually be encouraged to think mathematically in a new way.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is something I need to start doing more of.</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This isn't an easy transition for me - building manipulatives into my arsenal of teaching tools is going to take a lot of learning (and playing?) before I'll be comfortable with them. But for now, I can at least envision what this might look like. When I go back to the classroom, I'll be aiming to:</span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Physically move the manipulatives INTO my classroom</b> (out of storage) and have them in an easily-accessible spot for everyone to get to, not out of sight in an office or tucked away in a classroom closet.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Incorporate manipulatives purposefully into lessons</b> - carefully choose which manipulative the students will be using and know why I'm choosing to use it. What process does it demonstrate? In what way will it help my students think/reason?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Make manipulatives integral to the lesson itself</b>, not just have it as an add-on to what we're learning. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Challenge the students to whom math comes easily</b> to use the manipulatives, and get them thinking outside of the memorization box. I hope this might also reduce the stigma of using manipulatives.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But I still wonder...</span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How well do digital manipulatives benefit students (if at all)? Are apps worth investigating?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What resources are available for getting good, challenging-yet-accessible activities with manipulatives at the secondary school level?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How do students learn which manipulative to use when presented with a selection (or when they can choose what to use on standardized tests)?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How can I best incorporate manipulatives into <i>flipped</i> lessons?</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'd love to hear of good resources already in use out there for activities and materials that actively engage high school students in learning algebraic processes, and try my hand at some of them!</span>Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13987609384790057309noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6514860513640386097.post-34897363975486511662016-11-19T22:50:00.001-05:002016-11-19T22:50:48.969-05:00How Do We Model Self-Assessment?<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At our <a href="http://manignited.blogspot.ca/">Manitoulin IGNITEd</a> session on gradeless classrooms today, there was a lot of great discussion on the role of assessment in our courses. Jonathan So (<a href="http://twitter.com/MrSoClassroom">@MrSoClassroom</a>) posed some probing questions on our past experiences with assessment (both previously as students and now as teachers), as well as what the point of assessment in school should be.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the topics that a couple of participants delved into after Jonathan's presentation was on how students could better self-assess. How can we encourage (and eventually come to expect) students to reflect on their achievement? And how can they use the knowledge they glean from that reflection to help guide their future learning?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tOROp5tsVQ4/WDEbGOXByBI/AAAAAAAACjI/NXW-0nnlaeISRcCnwYB1CWhRyegjU-uHQCLcB/s1600/ttog.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="134" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tOROp5tsVQ4/WDEbGOXByBI/AAAAAAAACjI/NXW-0nnlaeISRcCnwYB1CWhRyegjU-uHQCLcB/s640/ttog.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>From Jonathan's Manitoulin IGNITEd slide deck</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A question we kept circling back to, though, was how do students know </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>how</i></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> to self-assess? Can they be good judges of their strengths and weaknesses? Can they take that self-assessment and use it to guide how they approach learning in the future?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do Teachers Self-Assess?</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As teachers, this can be something we model. We do self-assess informally - talk with our PLN about strategies, evaluate how a lesson went, replay scenarios in our heads... and then use that reflection to plan our next lessons and units. We do this on a regular (daily?) basis, and we can argue that we've gotten pretty good at it. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But our students rarely see it. If we want students to be able to reflect and self-evaluate - and see why it is an important process - we need to demonstrate how it is critical to our practice. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>So how can we make our reflections more public?</i></b> Some ideas...</span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Blog, blog, and blog some more. Get your thoughts down on virtual paper and reflect publicly on what went right, and what went wrong. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Seek input on said blog, and respond to comments. Show an evolution in thinking when in discussion with someone from your PLN.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do a post-mortem on projects or big lessons <b><i>with</i></b> your students. What worked? What didn't work? Seek out student feedback and allow them to see you take it in to consideration in the next project or lesson.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Apologize when a lesson doesn't go well. Learn from your mistakes and start over. We preach that failure is okay, let's model it too.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ask for feedback from your students and your colleagues. Have your students write a report card comment for you. What are your strengths? What are your next steps?</span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Assuming we <b><i>are</i></b> reflecting enough on our practice (<i>reflection</i> was my #oneword2016 this year, recognizing that I needed to actively practice it more...), what else can we do to model our reflection practices?</span></div>
Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13987609384790057309noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6514860513640386097.post-10044723107187797382016-11-14T19:16:00.001-05:002016-11-14T19:16:35.520-05:00Determining the WHY<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's one thing to observe a phenomenon. It's another to understand not just <i>what</i> happened, but <i>why</i> it happened.</span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This really struck me last month. I was listening to the news, and there was a story about a <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/nj-transit-crash-double-speed-limit-1.3794819">fatal train crash in New Jersey</a>. The question that everyone asked, of course, was: why did the train crash? </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the surface, it is easy to answer - <i>the train was going too fast</i>. But that answer isn't good enough. It's not enough to know that the train was speeding, we want to know WHY it was going too fast. Was it a mechanical failure? The fault of the conductor? Malfunctioning signals? Grease on the tracks?</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In other words, we want to understand the cause of the excess speed, so that we can make sure this tragedy does not happen again.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Byb21zCB48Y/WCdtP5wSNPI/AAAAAAAACh4/udy6XmcvcSYX5q0g6nBZjRGmm6r4fvGYACLcB/s1600/why.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="196" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Byb21zCB48Y/WCdtP5wSNPI/AAAAAAAACh4/udy6XmcvcSYX5q0g6nBZjRGmm6r4fvGYACLcB/s400/why.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://goo.gl/UZUfFH"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">https://goo.gl/UZUfFH</span></a></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
The Why in School...</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We are learning to take the same approach to our classes. In some cases - applied-level math courses, for instance - we see only a small percentage of students achieving provincial standard. Why is that?</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the surface, just like the train, it's an easy question. In some cases, students just aren't doing the work. They're not working efficiently in class, and they're working even less outside of class (if at all) to learn and master the material. They are not doing all that is required of them, so they are not earning provincial standard, or in some cases, not even earning the credit.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But again, like the train, that's not a good enough - not a deep enough - analysis to say "The students aren't succeeding because they are not doing the work." We have to start, REALLY start, asking ourselves <b>WHY</b> that work is not getting done. And there are many reasons why students might not be picking up their pencils and putting in the work...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
Ontario's Renewed Math Strategy</span></h3>
</div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The goal of Ontario's Renewed Math Strategy is to have teachers start asking this very important <b>why</b>, and implementing ways to help our most at-risk students, including those with learning disabilities.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By definition, a student with a learning disability has an average to above average intelligence. They just have ways - that have been identified - in which it is MUCH harder for them to learn. For whatever reason, though these students have average to above average potential, students with learning disabilities are disproportionately taking applied-level courses over academic-level courses. And they are achieving success at lower rates in those courses than students without learning disabilities. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So again, we ask ourselves, <i><b>WHY?</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That's not to say that we haven't asked ourselves this question before. But now we are being encouraged to really dig deeply for the answers, particularly when it comes to students with exceptionalities. This includes not just past achievement (results on report cards, standardized test results), but really looking at a student's Individualized Education Plan (IEP), Psycho-educational Assessment, and Speech & Language Assessment. We are looking to pinpoint very specific strengths and needs, for very specific students.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We recognize when we have identified students in our classes, but do we know - <i>do we truly know</i> - how to best accommodate for them so that they can reach their potential? For the first time we are really leveraging the expertise of our in-school Special Education Resource Teachers, and by pairing them with secondary subject specialists, bringing unified, purposeful interventions aimed at allowing those students to perform at their best.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And let's not forget, that what's good for a student with a learning disability, is good for even more students in the class. These purposeful interventions can have a huge, positive, trickle down effect.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That's what part of my new role is all about - digging down to determine the <b><i>why</i></b> for at-risk students with learning disabilities all across the school board, and working with teachers to best use that knowledge to help students achieve success in math. And perhaps we can prevent a few crashes along the way.</span></div>
Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13987609384790057309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6514860513640386097.post-43887104122416166822016-11-08T21:14:00.000-05:002016-11-08T21:14:20.595-05:00A Tiny Connection<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A wonderful little thing happened to me this morning.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I should start by mentioning that while I'm loving my new position, I do find it a little lonely compared with last year. At my home school, when I'm there, I work in an office by myself. Being in different schools throughout the week means I'm interacting with a lot of people, but I see the same people only on a semi-regular basis: lots of colleagues, but few friends.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Add to that the long drives and a good number of nights alone in hotels, and it's quite different than being in dynamic classes with your kids every day, or sharing lunch with your office of seven other zany science teachers!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>(Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining - just reflecting on the difference. The position also brings with it a number of independent projects that fit my interests, and quite a bit of freedom to approach things in the ways that work best for me, something that wouldn't always be possible if I wasn't working on my own.)</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've particularly missed the connections with my students - checking in to see how they're doing, having conversations about mutual interests, or being able to see their talents develop over time. I assumed that similar types of connections weren't really possible when you don't interact with the same people every day. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Which made this morning all the more wonderful.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was in a secondary school, waiting in the main office for the administrator to become available. One of the students at the school - whom I had never seen before - complimented me on my dress.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IjJgIhaocdo/WCJyvqb7ExI/AAAAAAAACho/znXxrPZ0a10ef8nh5FNGQ4L7GRr21rOhwCLcB/s1600/IMG_3624.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IjJgIhaocdo/WCJyvqb7ExI/AAAAAAAACho/znXxrPZ0a10ef8nh5FNGQ4L7GRr21rOhwCLcB/s400/IMG_3624.JPG" width="330" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Flowers on my dress today</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"I like the flowers on it," she said. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Thanks - I like them, too," I replied. "I like that they're a little bit darker than you'd expect from flowers. Not so 'flowery.'"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"They remind me of the flowers I sketch."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Do you draw?"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"I do. Will you be here for a few minutes? Do you want to see my sketchbook?"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She then disappeared to her locker, only to return a couple of minutes later with a pair of well-worn sketchbooks. We sat together, side by side, and she told me about her sketches - her inspirations, and how long it took her to complete them - </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">as I flipped through the pages.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I pointed out my favourite, a stylized profile of a butterfly, and shared that I wished I could be as good at drawing as she is.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was only a few minutes, but it was a lovely conversation - a tiny little personal connection - that completely made my day. I don't know what made her want to reach out, but I am grateful that she did, and I hope she got what she seeking from the conversation too (encouragement? feedback? self-validation?).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It reminded me that though classrooms are natural places to reach out and relate to each other, these connections can happen anywhere. It takes just a few minutes to engage someone in a genuine conversation, and that might be all it takes to make that person feel valued, or even just to make them smile.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A kind word, or a simple compliment, can go a long way toward welcoming or connecting with someone in our schools. How can we make sure we don't lose sight of this in the busy-ness that is everyday life?</span><br />
<br />
<br />Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13987609384790057309noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6514860513640386097.post-9247140396950278722016-09-15T19:02:00.000-04:002016-10-10T19:04:52.267-04:00Summer Reading: The Innovator's Mindset<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With a greater, intentional focus on Innovation within our board and schools this fall, George Couros' <i>The Innovator's Mindset</i> was high on my reading list this summer. Nothing fancy about this post - here are notes from my reading, with an emphasis on how I can address these facets in my role as a math co-ordinator in my board.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
What is Innovation?</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A number of us, in an attempt to describe "innovation" to colleagues, have been struggling to come up with a concise overview. I struggled especially with what innovation looks like - does it have to be huge and groundbreaking? Does it have to resonate throughout the school? Can innovation for one teacher be different than innovation for another teacher? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Of course it can. George defines innovation very succinctly as "a way of thinking that creates something <b>new</b> and <b>better</b>." It can come from invention (something new) or iteration (the process of improvement). Change for the sake of change, though, is never good enough. What you are trying (that is new and better) should be done for a purpose, and with an end goal in mind. How will these changes help our students?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
8 Characteristics of the Innovator's Mindset</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thank you, <a href="http://twitter.com/sylviaduckworth">@sylviaduckworth</a>, for summarizing this! I keep coming back to this sketchnote to reflect on how I am interacting with school teams, and to continue developing my mindset.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DXYjWBHt2N4/V9rp-r9e2WI/AAAAAAAACec/RZfHsAESpEIr6sXIBdTlPloB600fV_yEwCLcB/s1600/IMcharacteristics.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="491" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DXYjWBHt2N4/V9rp-r9e2WI/AAAAAAAACec/RZfHsAESpEIr6sXIBdTlPloB600fV_yEwCLcB/s640/IMcharacteristics.png" width="640" /></span></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<h3 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
What is My Role?</span></h3>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">George challenged us to think about our role as an educational leader: Have I created an environment where risks are not only encouraged, but expected? How have I highlighted the great work being done by our school to others in and out of the organization? </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The latter thought is key for me. In my new role as a co-ordinator, I have the ability to work with many school teams on a variety of inquiry projects. Sharing all that great work and team insights is something I have the power and the leverage to do (as well as the comfort in doing). But I'm still figuring out: how best can I share? How can I convince others to share? How do we, as co-ordinators, create that culture of innovation for these school teams? How do we build those key relationships?</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<h3 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
Eight Things to Look for in Today's <strike>Classroom</strike> Learning Environment:</span></h3>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">George summarized eight things to look for in the classroom as indicators that innovation is taking place. He also suggests replacing "classroom" with "learning environment," and "student" with "learner." We are all learners... how can I foster innovation in all the various learning environments?</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
</div>
<ol>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Voice</b>: Learners should have the opportunity to learn from others, and share their learning with others.</span></li>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Choice</b>: Providing choice allows learners to build on strengths and interests to make learning relevant and fulfilling.</span></li>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Time for Reflection</b>: "We do not learn from experience; we learn from reflecting on experience."</span></li>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Opportunities for Innovation</b>: It is important that innovation does not become an event for our learners, but the norm.</span></li>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Critical Thinkers</b>: We need to teach learners to respectfully ask questions and empower them to challenge the ideas of others to help all move forward, not to challenge simply for the sake of it.</span></li>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Problem Solvers/Finders</b>: Let's start asking learners to find problems and give them a sense of purpose in solving something authentic.</span></li>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Self-Assessment</b>: Looking back helps learners develop their own understanding of where they have been, where they are, and where they are going.</span></li>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Connected Learning</b>: We can design and activate powerful learning experiences for learners to engage with content experts and apply their learning to create new knowledge and ideas.</span></li>
</ol>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
The Role of Leaders of Learning</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Will growth in education happen organically? Though I'm sure it can, should we leave growth to chance? Can leaders of learning stand by and just watch to see if it happens?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In a workplace study, employees were far more engaged in their work when managers focused on their employees' <i><b>strengths</b></i>, rather than just assuming they would continue to grow on their own. Perhaps more importantly, they also found that having a manager who ignores you is <b><i>even more detrimental</i></b> than one who primarily focuses on your weaknesses. George mentions that active disengagement could be a "curable disease," if we choose to help the learners around us by encouraging them and focusing on their strengths.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-J1BgxSPPkSk/V_wa4fhk4tI/AAAAAAAACfU/r-r76p1z080BN15lySJyC9MbdFaBWRiNwCLcB/s1600/color1.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="364" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-J1BgxSPPkSk/V_wa4fhk4tI/AAAAAAAACfU/r-r76p1z080BN15lySJyC9MbdFaBWRiNwCLcB/s640/color1.PNG" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.birdvilleschools.net/cms/lib2/TX01000797/Centricity/Domain/2834/color1.PNG</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
I Need to Learn to Wait</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I love being able to jump into conversations with school teams, especially when they have exciting projects on the go. But I recognize that with a lot of these teams, I am the newcomer. I don't want to interfere with the natural rhythms of a group of teachers who have known each other for years.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Relationships are the most important element of schools learning spaces. George advises to sit back, wait and watch, and ensure that you are able to identify where people shine, rather than dictating roles in the learning process. I may have ideas, and I may be able to contribute these ideas in time, but I want to be able to coach effectively from the "sidelines," especially since it won't be me "on the field" with the students.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
A Monomaniacal Focus</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ever since reading <a href="http://twitter.com/RobinSharma">@RobinSharma</a>'s <i>The Secret Letters of the Monk who Sold his Ferrari</i>, I've been learning more about his approach to leadership, which include aspects of mindfulness, personal health, and a commitment to continually improving your knowledge base. He advocates continuing to learn about your craft so that you become the expert, and focusing all your energies on the leader you want to become. That monomaniacal focus, he calls it, is behind all great leaders stepping up to the plate, and making a difference.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In his own way, George states this too. He says, educators cannot feel like they are a "jack of all trades, master of none." Having a laser-like focus on a few things allows us to go deep and push our thinking, while creating new ideas to move forward. Innovation cannot happen when we stretch ourselves too thin. <b><i>Less</i></b> should definitely lead to <b><i>more</i></b>.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Final Words</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Spend time discussing pedagogy, ideologies. If educators can't answer "<b>why?</b>", then they will never get to the "<b>How?</b>" and "<b>What?</b>" This in itself is the inspiration for another blog post...</span></div>
Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13987609384790057309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6514860513640386097.post-2541525438271904202016-09-11T10:48:00.000-04:002016-09-13T22:00:27.903-04:00Creating Change: Week One<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This past week was the first time in 15 years that I didn't step into the classroom during the first week of September. If I can be honest, I miss the kids. I miss the excitement of getting to know everyone and re-establishing those connections that sat idle since the end of June. I miss the keen-ness of the new grade 9s, and watching new student leaders step up to the plate in grade 12.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But I'm in a new position now, one where I step back from "the trenches" and get to work behind the scenes in education to coach teachers and school leaders through forward-thinking inquiry projects and innovation. And I'm pretty pumped about it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We are in an exciting time in our profession. For the first time in over one hundred years, HUGE changes are on the horizon as teachers move from being the "keepers of knowledge" (the Internet does that, now) to the "facilitators of learning;" helping students develop their <i>soft skills</i> (communication, creativity, citizenship, collaboration, resilience...) and navigate, as well as harness, the seemingly infinite amount of information at their disposal. Teaching students to make a difference, rather than make a grade.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Schools <b>don't have to be</b> institutional: neat rows of desks, hands-in-laps-feet-on-floor students, silent classrooms. Teachers don't have to rely on the textbook to guide them through what <b>must</b> be taught. We are at a time when creativity and outside-the-box thinking can <b>truly</b> drive the teaching process and the learning environment.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-E0-7OO4S1jw/V9Vp8s5kziI/AAAAAAAACeM/3KI0-gfxACgUPoznmozrUSFi90cPfRpOwCLcB/s1600/playbased.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="205" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-E0-7OO4S1jw/V9Vp8s5kziI/AAAAAAAACeM/3KI0-gfxACgUPoznmozrUSFi90cPfRpOwCLcB/s400/playbased.png" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As our group of student success co-ordinators met formally as a group for the first time this week, we centred a lot of our conversation on how we were going to create this change. We have read up on why this change needs to happen. We've seen the amazing things being done in schools that have broken the mould. We have seen pockets of teachers shaking things up, but on a large scale - on a board-wide scale - we seem to be dragging our feet.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We know <b>WHY</b> this change is necessary. Our next question becomes, <b>HOW</b> do we start creating it?</span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">How do we convince others that change is necessary?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">How do we encourage principals to lead (and model) change in their own schools?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">How do we help introduce change in a way that teachers become receptive and open to try things that, when you've been teaching a particular way for 20 years, are very scary?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">How do we help teachers and principals do this when they already have a <i>million</i> things on the go in their schools/classrooms?</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It seems overwhelming, and we are up against a lot of challenges. It's daunting. But then I saw this fly by on Twitter this morning:</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6SDsoFR-Gtc/V9VpErsEjcI/AAAAAAAACeE/3HvVGXIEx5kheAsoMgtYEQfpBGw15jeVACLcB/s1600/dreambig.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="174" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6SDsoFR-Gtc/V9VpErsEjcI/AAAAAAAACeE/3HvVGXIEx5kheAsoMgtYEQfpBGw15jeVACLcB/s400/dreambig.png" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Regardless of the obstacles, we have to begin now. We can't just preach innovation, we have to be innovative ourselves. We have to meet teachers and school leaders where they are at, and introduce change in any number of ways we can think of to get the ball rolling (differentiation, anyone?). We have to continually reflect on what we're doing, why we're doing it, and how we know it's working. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And it's okay to start small. But we have to start. We have our work cut out for us. </span>Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13987609384790057309noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6514860513640386097.post-29909979756704481722016-07-24T19:12:00.000-04:002016-07-24T19:12:33.770-04:00Summer Reading: Good to Great<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After ten years of teaching at my current high school, I found myself cleaning all my stuff (wow, does it ever accumulate!) out of my classroom and office in preparation for my <a href="http://byodasap.blogspot.ca/2016/05/new-challenges.html">new role with the board next year.</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is exciting - this September will be the first in 15 years that I don't step into the classroom as a teacher (and, as my husband pointed out, it will be the first in <i>35 years</i> that I don't step into the classroom as either a student or a teacher).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What will my focus be for the new year? </span></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Who will I be in my new role? </span></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What concept(s) will I embody?</span></i></b></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My first summer read was <i>Good to Great</i>, by Jim Collins. I became familiar with the book a few years ago when one of my friends was reading it. I understood it to be a business book - how to get ahead in the industry - and it is. But after seeing a number of educators refer to it online, I thought I'd give it a read. Turns out, it was the perfect pick to get me thinking how I can answer these questions.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In short, Collins discusses how good companies became GREAT companies in their respective industries. He looks at leadership qualities, how to build a great supporting team, the role of technology and how to create finely-honed goals... a lot of which can be applied directly to an educational forum.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
The Three Circles & the Hedgehog Concept</span></h3>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The biggest take-away for me, was the idea of the three circles: how they create your hedgehog concept and provide focus for your big, hairy, audacious goal (BHAG).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The three circles:</b> Three dimensions to help identify your core values, and focus your efforts or role within an organization/industry.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jQRd98cLd3A/V4bZNN8LZcI/AAAAAAAACUU/ct8GCTsDJIEDL6N9aoMAk8iSAuyEyquDgCLcB/s1600/Good%2Bto%2BGreat%2Bcopy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="340" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jQRd98cLd3A/V4bZNN8LZcI/AAAAAAAACUU/ct8GCTsDJIEDL6N9aoMAk8iSAuyEyquDgCLcB/s400/Good%2Bto%2BGreat%2Bcopy.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Hedgehog concept:</b> A simple, crystalline concept that reflects deep understanding of the three circles. It's a go-to concept that guides decision-making and how you address challenges.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>BHAG:</b> A huge and daunting goal, of almost scary proportions. Without realizing the background of the BHAG, <a href="http://byodasap.blogspot.ca/2014/07/plans-plans-plans.html">I've tried working toward some in previous years</a>, with some exciting results.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Julie Balen (<a href="http://twitter.com/jacbalen">@jacbalen</a>) recently gave my thinking a push by adapting the three circles to apply to leadership in education as opposed to leadership in industry. <a href="https://jacbalen.wordpress.com/2016/07/10/onewordont-6-months-later/">In her own reflection</a>, she re-wrote the big questions as: </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_Vj0LCE_7cw/V4bZhWXQBsI/AAAAAAAACUY/V7m9ObI4luMG3Kc_vLHqNiFyrsMC2WeFQCLcB/s1600/Good%2Bto%2BGreat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="340" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_Vj0LCE_7cw/V4bZhWXQBsI/AAAAAAAACUY/V7m9ObI4luMG3Kc_vLHqNiFyrsMC2WeFQCLcB/s400/Good%2Bto%2BGreat.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My answers?</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What is my educational passion?</span></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Connecting with learners of all ages to help them push their boundaries and discover new passions.</span></i></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What drives the educational engine of my position?</span></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Allowing and supporting teachers to become more innovative.</span></i></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>What am I best at?</b> </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(This was by far the hardest one for me to answer)</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Leading by example and trying new things.</span></i></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've spent quite a bit of time thinking about my answers to these questions. I have yet to crystallize my Hedgehog concept or my BHAG for the next year, but it's wonderful to have some focus heading in to September.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mental note - it will be interesting to see how/if these answers change as the year progresses!</span></i></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
Getting the Right People on the Bus</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This coming year, our board is moving toward implementing a different kinds of professional development by means of collaborative inquiry projects. <i>Good to Great</i> discussed the importance of getting the right people on the team, and in the right roles; I'm looking forward to working with principals to make sure the right people are on the collaborative inquiry project buses, and sitting in the right seats.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With the right people in place, a solid collective vision will form and the motivation will come from within. I can think of no better model for PD than to have teachers drive their own learning.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
Technology is an Accelerator, not a Deciding Factor</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All of the good-to-great companies mentioned in the book made use of technology to become great, but they didn't use technology for technology's sake. They didn't jump on technology bandwagons and try to harness each new fad as it came about. Instead, they looked at how technology could help them answer their driving questions, or help them achieve their big, hairy, audacious goal. They were slow and deliberate, choosing only a handful of tools to focus on. Mastering those, they were able to skyrocket to "great" status.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was reminded of this graphic that a colleague and I used in some of our board-level PD this past year:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img height="306" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/uo1DInh7395ca1it6uL51yZiWyOHM8VWhMJKcRvR3Q4aNXxO_1kcEOmrA41DKF7yjMqnSy8uWfOQ6AVhxbnyhPNfr_s8tAM1DR5c8HoyIu4YIDsa0TUSCWjmRG7FOc4WGa8-UJQDxnA" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-c8fcefbe-e173-0afa-102b-5ccd2cc63a3f"></span><span style="color: #0000ee; font-size: 10.6667px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14.72px; text-decoration: underline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://pbs.twimg.com/media/BsNomSdCEAAJASL.jpg:medium</span></span><br />
<span id="docs-internal-guid-c8fcefbe-e173-0afa-102b-5ccd2cc63a3f" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-c8fcefbe-e172-d42c-4b62-ef619a45b98d"></span>What we do with technology has to have the end goal in mind. We're not using it because it's there - we're using it because it makes a good lesson even better. Next year, what technological tools will I use to help me reach my goals? And how can I introduce the right technology into collaborative inquiry projects so as to help those teachers achieve great things?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
Wherein Lie my Passions?</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The last chapter of the book is one of the most motivational. Collins talks about how while these ideas can take a company from good to great, they can also be applied to other endeavours: coaching, small business, volunteering. He asks, what other areas of your life can be made great using these same concepts?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm passionate about my work, but that's not all. I'm passionate about my gymnastics team. How can I make use of the three circles to come up with a Hedgehog concept and a BHAG for the team next year? We're on the right track, having won a provincial championship last season, but now I'm looking to build on that momentum. What questions should we, the coaches, focus on as we look to expand on our successes?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm also passionate about singing. I'm not looking to become the BEST singer, or even a "great" singer, but I am always looking to improve. I wonder how I can use a pared down version of the three questions to choose a method of improving my technique and sound over the course of the next concert season?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There's a lot more to think about yet, particularly how I can help coach these new project teams in the fall, but it's great to have a framework with which I can help take those teams from good to great.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What are you reading this summer?</span>Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13987609384790057309noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6514860513640386097.post-87895290308334377762016-07-07T23:22:00.000-04:002016-07-07T23:22:05.498-04:00Creating Mental Bedrock<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was speaking with a colleague a little while back, when the topic of conversation turned to changes in the focus of education. How important is it, we discussed, to have students learn and master basic concepts in elementary school? Things like multiplication tables, core vocabulary, or common calculations.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He shared an interesting metaphor on building knowledge that resonated with me, not the least of which because it was geological!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ruMRaVXBAo8/V38W71NV6bI/AAAAAAAACUE/dKdfUTJVFaor-4rPz1F7HLzshOG7TjIXACLcB/s1600/grand-canyon-lake-powell-las-vegas-499.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ruMRaVXBAo8/V38W71NV6bI/AAAAAAAACUE/dKdfUTJVFaor-4rPz1F7HLzshOG7TjIXACLcB/s640/grand-canyon-lake-powell-las-vegas-499.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://4feet2mouths.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/2012-06-05-15-grand-canyon-lake-powell-las-vegas-499.jpg"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">https://4feet2mouths.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/2012-06-05-15-grand-canyon-lake-powell-las-vegas-499.jpg</span></a></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He suggested that building up one's base knowledge is like <b>creating mental bedrock</b>. Bedrock is created by layers of sand and sediment being superimposed on each other over time, usually underwater. When the sand is initially laid down, it's still free to move around - some of it could be swept away by turbulent water, or disturbed by a fish swimming by. We can imagine this sand as new bits of knowledge when we first come across them.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But over time, as we learn more things and use those bits of knowledge in different ways (connecting them to other pieces of knowledge in other disciplines, say), more sand gets laid down on top of the previous layers. Only after lots of sand gets added, and we have the pressure of the water above it (lots of practice or use of that original knowledge), do those formative layers of sand harden and become bedrock - rock so hard that it is nearly impossible to chip away... a far cry from the easily-moved sand when it was originally laid down.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The top layers, my colleague argued, were the new knowledge we are continually gaining every day. It might sit in place in our brain for a bit, or it might get swept away if we don't use it regularly. But all that new knowledge is held up by the mental bedrock underneath it: knowledge that now comes to us </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">quickly </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">because of years of use and experience.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I like the idea that building this bedrock of knowledge takes time and effort. You can't just learn something once to have it stick - it has to be revisited, reconsidered, and re-applied. Mastering something new isn't always easy, but if we can persevere and work through the initial learning curve, what we end up with becomes, if I may say so, <i>rock solid</i>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The question then becomes: how thick should our base layer of bedrock be? How can we, as teachers, continually reinforce what students have previously learned so that one day it comes easily to them? In a world where all sorts of basic knowledge is at everyone's fingertips, how can we make sure our students have a good foundation upon which to build future masteries?</span>Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13987609384790057309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6514860513640386097.post-16128493630617272272016-07-06T17:44:00.001-04:002016-07-06T17:44:28.292-04:00Teachers: What are you Learning?<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At the end of May, a group of educators from across the province came together in Wikwemikong to launch a writing project aimed at giving principals the tools for becoming leaders of learning in online environments.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-b705lwpaNSM/V0taa2_CFwI/AAAAAAAACMA/e0VboPHvseMJyFbzltAn_sTG7oixcX6DwCLcB/s1600/PWG_wiky.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="484" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-b705lwpaNSM/V0taa2_CFwI/AAAAAAAACMA/e0VboPHvseMJyFbzltAn_sTG7oixcX6DwCLcB/s640/PWG_wiky.png" width="640" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Though online curriculum is, course-by-course, the same as what is taught in-class, there are obviously different practices at play when a teacher potentially never sees their students face-to-face. Our task was to look at how an eLearning teacher's teaching practices could be assessed by their local administrators. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When principals walk into a traditional classroom, they can immediately pick out what is working well, and what might need some help/encouragement/leadership to change. But can a principal walk into an online "classroom" (be it a Google Classroom, a D2L shell, blog, etc.) and make the same assessments?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We started by looking at the five domains of the <a href="http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/teacher/appraise.html">provincial Teacher Performance Appraisal</a> (TPA), and the competencies associated with them. We refined and "e-ified" the competencies, and arrived at 10 questions that principals could ask their teachers (or teachers could ask of themselves) to assess their online teaching practices.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(This week, we have gathered again as a group to really examine these questions, pare down the "big ideas" behind them, and create a resource that both teachers and administrators can use to better their practice.)</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Throughout the original process, there were two big questions which - though refined during our brainstorming process - really stood out to me as questions ALL teachers (online or not) should be asking themselves:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">What are you learning?</span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">How do you share what you are learning?</span></b></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Two simple questions that pack a lot of reflective punch. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There's value in reflecting on the <i>culture of teaching as a culture of learning</i>, be it learning to lead, or co-learning content with our students. As teachers, take a moment to ask yourself these questions (as I find I'm also asking myself): </span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When was the last time you learned something new as it applies to teaching? </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When was the last time you <i><b>tried</b></i> something new in the classroom based on something you learned/read/heard about/experimented with? </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Are you learning on a regular basis, or only occasionally? </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Are you learning on purpose, or do you pick up new ideas passively? </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Are you learning as much as you'd like to be learning?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What could you do to learn more?</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And if you <i>are</i> learning, can we learn along with you?</span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do other teachers in your school know what you are doing? (And oppositely, do you know what your colleagues are doing?)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do you have a digital portfolio?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do you keep a blog of what you're learning and trying (both what works and what doesn't)?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do you use social media to share?</span></li>
<li><b><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you aren't sharing, why not?</span></i></b></li>
</ul>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Check out what other Ontario educators are learning and sharing - there are great lists of Ontario edubloggers <a href="http://coursehelp.ca/bloggers/">here</a> and <a href="https://ossemooc.wordpress.com/category/bloggers/">here</a>. And if you learn something new, pass it along...</span>Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13987609384790057309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6514860513640386097.post-41117545364117120452016-06-29T18:44:00.003-04:002016-06-29T19:13:18.946-04:00Unleashing Creativity: All About the Bats<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rC73JhRoZBQ/V3RCo4yOXSI/AAAAAAAACOs/1aFkxwGqElYYFpmdPCvRbuOWc3EBWvOHACLcB/s1600/IMG_2869.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rC73JhRoZBQ/V3RCo4yOXSI/AAAAAAAACOs/1aFkxwGqElYYFpmdPCvRbuOWc3EBWvOHACLcB/s640/IMG_2869.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This past semester, I wanted to create a project for my grade 9 science class that not only had them learning more about their surrounding ecosystem, but also practicing good stewardship and advocacy for some of the creatures that seem to be disappearing from our area. They had all heard about the plight of the bees, but what about the bats?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The project had roots within our ecology unit, but also pulled in from other units - effects of light pollution/dark skies (astronomy unit) on the bats, and why bats are more likely to electrocute themselves than birds or squirrels (electricity unit). We looked at food webs involving bats, limiting factors on their population, the devastating effects of <a href="http://www.batcon.org/index.php/our-work/regions/usa-canada/address-serious-threats/wns-intro">White Nose Syndrome</a>, and how we as humans impact bat habitat.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The final piece of the project though, which we called the "Creative Component," was to come up with a way to give voice to the bats: spread the word about why we need bats in our ecosystem, or how we can help them make a return to Manitoulin Island.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I had tried a number of <a href="http://byodasap.blogspot.ca/2015/10/the-flipping-continues.html">creative assignments with my grade 12s</a> earlier this year, and absolutely loved what they created when there were no limits in place. I wasn't sure what to expect with my grade 9s (<a href="http://byodasap.blogspot.ca/2016/05/clawing-back-freedom.html">who struggled with the extra freedom at the beginning of the semester</a>), but in the end, I was overwhelmed with what they produced.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Click on any of the pictures below to see a larger version!</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<h3>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">
What Students Created</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A good number of students designed, built, and hung bat boxes on their properties:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table style="width: 100%;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-J-A9Jn8ZQoU/V3RIInTksyI/AAAAAAAACP8/gr1V9ERwGnQvMyWbRhCkVUaJQbih6TKbgCLcB/s1600/bathouse2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-J-A9Jn8ZQoU/V3RIInTksyI/AAAAAAAACP8/gr1V9ERwGnQvMyWbRhCkVUaJQbih6TKbgCLcB/s200/bathouse2.png" /></span></a></div>
</td>
<td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-V_GSLdu9D1o/V3RINluY_NI/AAAAAAAACQE/l3v9cy24H-MjrxYizD4lTSUPU0ZQ7FcKwCLcB/s1600/bathouse.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-V_GSLdu9D1o/V3RINluY_NI/AAAAAAAACQE/l3v9cy24H-MjrxYizD4lTSUPU0ZQ7FcKwCLcB/s200/bathouse.png" /></span></a></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-weNT1_bQpe8/V3RIVsIyJVI/AAAAAAAACQM/J2XdnJcERgc74YHAWnsrl8iro9CUrlvlgCLcB/s1600/IMG_2832.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-weNT1_bQpe8/V3RIVsIyJVI/AAAAAAAACQM/J2XdnJcERgc74YHAWnsrl8iro9CUrlvlgCLcB/s200/IMG_2832.JPG" /></span></a></div>
</td>
<td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9OT3aOOp82U/V3RIbDO-pWI/AAAAAAAACQU/PflcSMaUPc01xBxe4tf-BbOU_cXBjNZ6wCLcB/s1600/IMG_2841.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9OT3aOOp82U/V3RIbDO-pWI/AAAAAAAACQU/PflcSMaUPc01xBxe4tf-BbOU_cXBjNZ6wCLcB/s200/IMG_2841.JPG" /></span></a></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Some students sewed little bat plushies to help spread the word:</span><br />
<table style="width: 100%;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7FUtcTtfv7g/V3RHCPWbl3I/AAAAAAAACPg/HEvOFQD6rtg-xLa017A93d2B90XSI1VqgCLcB/s1600/IMG_2816.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7FUtcTtfv7g/V3RHCPWbl3I/AAAAAAAACPg/HEvOFQD6rtg-xLa017A93d2B90XSI1VqgCLcB/s200/IMG_2816.JPG" /></span></a></div>
</td>
<td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CodJWhG7UA8/V3RHQ6xwgrI/AAAAAAAACPo/DsmQ08dT6Q8YGlLeIHsxTA8fJycYfyr2gCLcB/s1600/IMG_2839.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CodJWhG7UA8/V3RHQ6xwgrI/AAAAAAAACPo/DsmQ08dT6Q8YGlLeIHsxTA8fJycYfyr2gCLcB/s200/IMG_2839.JPG" /></span></a></div>
</td>
<td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-C5w4TCjnDns/V3RHaP-QhLI/AAAAAAAACPw/MeQK3Xc_k8YXJOEq1XjPQoGtbq-HUZn_QCLcB/s1600/IMG_2831.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-C5w4TCjnDns/V3RHaP-QhLI/AAAAAAAACPw/MeQK3Xc_k8YXJOEq1XjPQoGtbq-HUZn_QCLcB/s200/IMG_2831.JPG" /></span></a></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Two of the students chose to keep their bats, but the middle one hangs (upside down!) in my classroom. Our peer teacher went all out and created a GIANT bat plushie/cushion for our comfy corner!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5a-THlzw5L0/V3RAgYsIaBI/AAAAAAAACNE/do3vhUg8IZUoPkdaQ4I47mXaVjXQZYVTQCLcB/s1600/IMG_2823.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5a-THlzw5L0/V3RAgYsIaBI/AAAAAAAACNE/do3vhUg8IZUoPkdaQ4I47mXaVjXQZYVTQCLcB/s320/IMG_2823.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Some students baked some bat-themed treats, and then delivered them to other classes in the school (or people in the community) along with a short speech about why saving the bats is important to our local ecosystem:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table style="width: 100%;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1EvUSce-8y0/V3RLMo8ZDTI/AAAAAAAACRs/H5e8REVf3Q4rkSsSpzfWmVTNGE3xkxQ3gCLcB/s1600/IMG_2814.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1EvUSce-8y0/V3RLMo8ZDTI/AAAAAAAACRs/H5e8REVf3Q4rkSsSpzfWmVTNGE3xkxQ3gCLcB/s200/IMG_2814.JPG" /></span></a></div>
</td>
<td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OebdcFirI6g/V3RLVVB3QGI/AAAAAAAACR0/bE1kMwgKIfA9cmENwaSGSvUpW9-EXThZACLcB/s1600/IMG_2818.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OebdcFirI6g/V3RLVVB3QGI/AAAAAAAACR0/bE1kMwgKIfA9cmENwaSGSvUpW9-EXThZACLcB/s200/IMG_2818.JPG" /></span></a></div>
</td>
<td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CXgUHmftNIk/V3RLfB4UgGI/AAAAAAAACR8/wLh5m6p-jkElK0fA1S4A65Jb-DVPx_8_gCLcB/s1600/IMG_2836.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CXgUHmftNIk/V3RLfB4UgGI/AAAAAAAACR8/wLh5m6p-jkElK0fA1S4A65Jb-DVPx_8_gCLcB/s200/IMG_2836.JPG" /></span></a></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HiMMlTpgZys/V3RLpcjjqnI/AAAAAAAACSE/WtEk1Xti1lEt6jQ0zeMfdQZT2u95R1XAACLcB/s1600/IMG_2837.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HiMMlTpgZys/V3RLpcjjqnI/AAAAAAAACSE/WtEk1Xti1lEt6jQ0zeMfdQZT2u95R1XAACLcB/s200/IMG_2837.JPG" /></span></a></div>
</td>
<td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R0hCtGHI4sU/V3RLv_pv7OI/AAAAAAAACSM/tjaSl4lh8XIi6FM9zZuP1rWw-eQDpU79gCLcB/s1600/IMG_2846.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R0hCtGHI4sU/V3RLv_pv7OI/AAAAAAAACSM/tjaSl4lh8XIi6FM9zZuP1rWw-eQDpU79gCLcB/s200/IMG_2846.JPG" /></span></a></div>
</td>
<td><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Aw6jcVMmIxg/V3RL4-XDRnI/AAAAAAAACSY/pJeEwh1TmPgF1jgp2nFFSds5NIp1ttUSgCLcB/s1600/IMG_2838.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Aw6jcVMmIxg/V3RL4-XDRnI/AAAAAAAACSY/pJeEwh1TmPgF1jgp2nFFSds5NIp1ttUSgCLcB/s200/IMG_2838.JPG" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Bat brownies!</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Many students harnessed their artistic abilities and designed posters/paintings to help get the word out (including the one at the top of this page):</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table style="width: 100%;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HLKodptKr_4/V3RJoTxXaAI/AAAAAAAACRE/Noz-63T3vGwlqHQ9seq3JZVA73FEHcoOACLcB/s1600/IMG_2828.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HLKodptKr_4/V3RJoTxXaAI/AAAAAAAACRE/Noz-63T3vGwlqHQ9seq3JZVA73FEHcoOACLcB/s200/IMG_2828.JPG" /></span></a></div>
</td>
<td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eCHnGLoQBU0/V3RJ3KQDVbI/AAAAAAAACRM/5Ld2spbidCkIfqE2pe4QH5M4x_neGejjgCLcB/s1600/IMG_2829.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eCHnGLoQBU0/V3RJ3KQDVbI/AAAAAAAACRM/5Ld2spbidCkIfqE2pe4QH5M4x_neGejjgCLcB/s200/IMG_2829.JPG" /></span></a></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-svWuC0IGuaY/V3RKUyYFYzI/AAAAAAAACRU/50MSpLyUfu0TrF95UmqXiBljERLS09DGwCLcB/s1600/IMG_2830.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-svWuC0IGuaY/V3RKUyYFYzI/AAAAAAAACRU/50MSpLyUfu0TrF95UmqXiBljERLS09DGwCLcB/s200/IMG_2830.JPG" /></span></a></div>
</td>
<td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eHwHaXlkRmM/V3RKbhvjQCI/AAAAAAAACRc/DCW90yhDnY8_U05y6DzhdmXzFk0Mo0bnACLcB/s1600/IMG_2840.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eHwHaXlkRmM/V3RKbhvjQCI/AAAAAAAACRc/DCW90yhDnY8_U05y6DzhdmXzFk0Mo0bnACLcB/s200/IMG_2840.JPG" /></span></a></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Some students designed and created t-shirts to bring awareness to the plight of the bats:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table style="width: 100%;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-F8Lmuy8DEfg/V3RJUSk-KPI/AAAAAAAACQw/R45auzhtDXwQ2n1ua7RaY4MXr3YmJKInQCLcB/s1600/IMG_2826.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-F8Lmuy8DEfg/V3RJUSk-KPI/AAAAAAAACQw/R45auzhtDXwQ2n1ua7RaY4MXr3YmJKInQCLcB/s200/IMG_2826.JPG" /></span></a></div>
</td>
<td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-68QX4kLmw_w/V3RJZPUgAZI/AAAAAAAACQ4/9XxIP_1h2WUBHSc5pnMlI0Zi8vW1uIJPwCLcB/s1600/IMG_2860.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-68QX4kLmw_w/V3RJZPUgAZI/AAAAAAAACQ4/9XxIP_1h2WUBHSc5pnMlI0Zi8vW1uIJPwCLcB/s200/IMG_2860.JPG" /></span></a></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Some students went on their own and did something totally original - I would never have thought to suggest anything like this. Love the creativity!</span><br />
<table style="width: 100%;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gq2Kgb1u4Ew/V3RJA8fe4jI/AAAAAAAACQg/h_4-lsNiodEeiUB3m4EJmFijzs1F6gn2gCLcB/s1600/IMG_2809.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gq2Kgb1u4Ew/V3RJA8fe4jI/AAAAAAAACQg/h_4-lsNiodEeiUB3m4EJmFijzs1F6gn2gCLcB/s200/IMG_2809.JPG" /></span></a></div>
</td>
<td><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-x6MXKH3zvXw/V3RJI7C3Y5I/AAAAAAAACQo/ZsVOGu5-jPgm0muE9B_UzjNLxzR_pNRJQCLcB/s1600/IMG_2817.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-x6MXKH3zvXw/V3RJI7C3Y5I/AAAAAAAACQo/ZsVOGu5-jPgm0muE9B_UzjNLxzR_pNRJQCLcB/s200/IMG_2817.JPG" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I LOVE cross-stitch!</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In the end, many students reported that the "bat unit" (as our ecology unit quickly became known as) was their favourite unit, as they could easily relate to how the bats affected us, and likewise how we affected them.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I loved how each student really took ownership of their creative component. With very little guidance, they were all able to play to their strengths and take a step toward benefiting their local environment. They were excited to see what each other had created, and were all able to explain the reasons why giving the bats a voice was so important. As a first step in trying a little STEAM in the classroom, it was a great success!</span>Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13987609384790057309noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6514860513640386097.post-9084267727285772772016-05-27T21:54:00.000-04:002016-05-27T21:54:11.553-04:00Thinking about Going Gradeless<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I've taken some pretty big mental strides recently toward the idea of a gradeless classroom - one where everything is assessed (given feedback) but not evaluated (given a mark). It's an idea that appeals to me, for a variety of reasons, but there's still a big part of me that is reluctant to give up my initial hold on grading.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I'm a numbers girl. I take comfort in data (provided it's been collected properly) and am constantly on the lookout for trends that hard data can provide. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--giVPDn7yYo/Vzj90WudAkI/AAAAAAAACK0/hGxmuwb_JpQmmvmviThGfvfD26PW8EjlQCLcB/s1600/trends.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="402" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--giVPDn7yYo/Vzj90WudAkI/AAAAAAAACK0/hGxmuwb_JpQmmvmviThGfvfD26PW8EjlQCLcB/s640/trends.png" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I shared this with my math class last week - I love what the numbers can tell us!</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As a teacher, for the longest time I was of the view that if I wanted to know exactly how much of the material my students had mastered, a hard and fast grade would be the way to find out. You got three questions right and two questions wrong. You completed three of the four steps needed to solve this problem. You didn't properly communicate your answer: -2 marks.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This was also something that was easy to show a parent or the student themselves if they wanted to know "why their mark was the way it was." It was (in my mind) reliable, calculatable, and foolproof.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<h3>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Shift Begins</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The past few years, though, I've moved toward assigning levels rather than grades, as outlined in <a href="http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/policyfunding/growSuccess.pdf">Growing Success</a>, and was surprised to see that I actually liked it. I liked being able to assign a <i><b>qualifier</b></i> ("The student predicts a result with considerable logic") rather than a <b><i>quantifier</i></b> (75%).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">After a decade of teaching, I found I had more trust in my professional judgement... a trust I didn't have when I was a new teacher. I didn't have to rely on a hard and fast number to report on the success of the student - I became more comfortable using a spectrum to identify strengths and next steps.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://byodasap.blogspot.ca/2015/04/ditching-effectiveness-miracle-of-page.html">With a writing workshop on rich task assessment last year</a> where we broke down the rubric-writing process, I also became much more comfortable creating good rubrics - ones with solid spectra for assessing specific success criteria. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Now, most of my gradebook is levels, with unit tests being the only numerical evaluation I record. I've seen how feedback can have a greater impact on success than grades. But I'm starting to wonder about taking things one step further...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<h3>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Going Gradeless?</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Last week, I tried something new - I returned a worksheet to my grade 12 math class with no grade, and no level written at the top. There was lots of feedback though - from checkmarks and happy faces to encouragement to try again or ideas of how to rethink their approach to problem solving. I recorded a level for myself, but wrote nothing at the top of the page for the students.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Would the students notice? Many of them are very concerned over their grades... would the students demand a mark? It turns out very few of them did. A couple of them asked "what they got" on the assignment, which then turned into a conversation about how they did based on the feedback embedded in the worksheet. It was actually a nice way to place the emphasis back on the feedback.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I'm feeling good about starting to go gradeless. But can I give up grades & levels completely?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I've been talking with Jonathan So (<a href="http://twitter.com/MrSoclassroom">@MrSoclassroom</a>) on how he ditched grades, meets curriculum expectations with his students, and how his students self-grade. I think it's fascinating how well he works with his students to develop not only success criteria, but also their ability to assess themselves. If his students can do all this in grade 6, surely mine can do the same in grade 9 or grade 12, right?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Along the same lines, at OAME this year, I heard about about one school that gives entire classes "I" ("insufficient") on the midterm report card, so as to not give false hope (some students stopped working figuring they could coast to the end of the year) or to dash hopes (by having students feel that there is no use in continuing to try). They are essentially providing a gradeless report card. Could I do that?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Jonathan suggested that I check out Starr Sackstein's book: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hacking-Assessment-Gradeless-Traditional-Learning/dp/0986104914">Hacking Assessment</a>. She was able to go gradeless with an AP class - I'm looking forward to reading about how she did it, and continuing my own exploration on feedback over grades.</span>Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13987609384790057309noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6514860513640386097.post-60383096520014617892016-05-23T19:04:00.001-04:002016-05-23T19:04:54.695-04:00Exploring a VUCA World Context<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At the Ministry's Provincial Mathematics Learning Day last week, where the renewed math strategy was rolled out to board supervisory officers and coordinators, I was introduced to a new-to-me acronym. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Alright, as a newbie coordinator, I was introduced to a LOT of new-to-me acronyms, but one in particular really stuck with me...</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></i>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #a64d79; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>VUCA</b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was used not as a noun, but as an <i>adjective</i>... for describing the world context for which we are preparing our students.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We've all seen videos like this one, relating just how quickly society is changing:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/uqZiIO0YI7Y/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uqZiIO0YI7Y?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For me, the biggest takeaway from these videos is always that <b>many of the top-ten in-demand jobs within the next few years have not even been invented yet</b>, or are trying to solve problems we haven't even dreamt of. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Into what kind of world will our students graduate? </span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That's where <b>VUCA</b> comes in. The future will be:</span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #e69138;">Volatile</span>:</b> rapidly changing, unstable and transitory</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #e69138;">Uncertain</span>:</b> not likely to follow past trends, unpredictable</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #e69138;">Complex</span>:</b> having many facets and interconnectedness</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #e69138;">Ambiguous</span>:</b> open to many interpretations</span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And it is our job as educators to prepare our students for this new work force. How can we do this? How can we expose our students to this kind of context, but still maintain a safe atmosphere - where it is okay to take risks and even fail as we learn and improve - in our classrooms?</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A little more poking around online turned up this graphic, which can help give teachers a focus when it comes to helping students adapt and thrive in a VUCA environment. It is written from a leadership perspective, but has a lot of good direction for me, when I am giving my students 21st Century-style problems to solve, or rich tasks to conquer. I often wonder if I am being too "hands-off," and this will help:</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rx195Poncjs/V0OH0WVX8PI/AAAAAAAACLk/QW0RyPPkbOsDectrUQYXGYkmriYBR3ewQCLcB/s1600/Leading-Through-VUCA.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rx195Poncjs/V0OH0WVX8PI/AAAAAAAACLk/QW0RyPPkbOsDectrUQYXGYkmriYBR3ewQCLcB/s640/Leading-Through-VUCA.png" width="596" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><a href="http://www.thindifference.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Leading-Through-VUCA.png"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.thindifference.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Leading-Through-VUCA.png</span></a></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">VUCA is a new lens through which I can view and guide what we're doing in class, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">all to prepare my students for this brave, new world. It will be interesting how this guides my job next year as a coordinator and coach for teachers also preparing for this new future of education.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13987609384790057309noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6514860513640386097.post-80600584412911137592016-05-11T20:14:00.000-04:002016-05-11T20:14:02.421-04:00New Challenges<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am happy to announce that there are some big changes for me on the horizon: beginning in September, I will be stepping away from the classroom as I take on one of two Math Coordinator positions (for grades 7-12) in my school board.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BjVsaqbwS-U/VzPDvlfFIgI/AAAAAAAACKk/v37GhibHB-0q1glHw_sAL3I3fP6z5IlEACLcB/s1600/try-new-things.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BjVsaqbwS-U/VzPDvlfFIgI/AAAAAAAACKk/v37GhibHB-0q1glHw_sAL3I3fP6z5IlEACLcB/s400/try-new-things.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>https://seanwes.com/2013/try-new-things/</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is a one-year, interim position where I get to work with other teachers in the board and help them achieve their numeracy, inquiry and innovation goals in their math classes. I'm beyond excited about the new challenges this will bring, and the new perspectives I will be able to bring back to the classroom a year from now.</span>Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13987609384790057309noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6514860513640386097.post-72436249218480822912016-05-08T19:39:00.000-04:002016-05-08T20:20:15.733-04:00Spiralling: Spinning Around in my Head<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Perhaps my biggest take away from last week's OAME2016 conference, was the idea of spiralling the curriculum in my math classes. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It wasn't a new concept to me - I had been following well-known Ontario spirallers <a href="http://twitter.com/AlexOverwijk">Alex Overwijk</a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/MaryBourassa">Mary Bourassa</a> for a while now - but before this past week, I hadn't had a chance to really think how it could be applied to my classes, or how I would go about doing it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">To spiral, is basically to <b>delinearize the curriculum</b>. Traditionally, a unit of proportions, a unit of linear functions, a unit of graphing, and a unit of geometry might be taught in that order, with a unit test after each set of lessons on that topic. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">With spiralling, aspects of <i>each</i> unit (or, at least, several of the units) would be presented to the students either through lessons or inquiry-based activities. Any given task might require some basic concepts from graphing, some work with proportions AND some elementary geometry, among other topics.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-E7RzhyZv3BQ/Vy-sveH_AmI/AAAAAAAACJ4/PggYLRKVuG0QIzpe3A2gnkJe-fRqAgyTwCLcB/s1600/spiral.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-E7RzhyZv3BQ/Vy-sveH_AmI/AAAAAAAACJ4/PggYLRKVuG0QIzpe3A2gnkJe-fRqAgyTwCLcB/s320/spiral.png" width="316" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">https://ieduc8.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/spiral.png</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Progression through the course occurs in cycles - seeing all the concepts for the first time at a basic level, revisiting them in a harder setting, and then seeing them all a third or fourth time in a yet more advanced manner, as mastery is achieved.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In a sense, we already do this in the Ontario system with math, but the cycles come around every year - with grade 10 math building on grade 9 math from the previous year, and so forth. This approach looks at building on curriculum within a single semester or school year.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<h3>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What's so good about it?</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There are a few advantages that seem to stand out to me right away:</span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">All the <b>material gets visited more than once</b>. If a student doesn't quite understand a concept the first time through, they will get to see it again. It's not "done and gone" as in a linear curriculum. It might make more sense in a different setting.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Applications of the concepts are implicitly provided</b>, as in the third cycle, students would actively use concepts explored earlier on in the course to solve "real-life" problems.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Spiralling can easily fit in with the <b>mastery-based, self-paced learning</b> we already have in our math classes. There would be no need to change how my class is set up, just the order in which I deliver the content.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In grade 9, where the students are preparing for the EQAO standardized test, spiralled curriculum ensures that everything is covered (more than once, even), and that <b>the students are constantly reviewing concepts</b>. There is basically no need for dedicated review - or the stress that goes along with it - going into the test.</span></li>
</ul>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vYNlpXvV0cA/Vy-yYhNIrvI/AAAAAAAACKI/NM_c3KQM5FIkHAqg4vdg54hh4L_esg-xgCLcB/s1600/spiral2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vYNlpXvV0cA/Vy-yYhNIrvI/AAAAAAAACKI/NM_c3KQM5FIkHAqg4vdg54hh4L_esg-xgCLcB/s640/spiral2.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From Mary's blog, outlining how she started spiralling, who in turn got it from Alex:<br />
<i><a href="http://marybourassa.blogspot.ca/2014/07/a-summary-of-spiraling-through.html">http://marybourassa.blogspot.ca/2014/07/a-summary-of-spiraling-through.html</a></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<h3>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What I still have to wrap my head around:</span></h3>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Tracking</b> what has been covered becomes trickier when you're jumping all over the curriculum (at least in the way it's laid out in curriculum documents). I would need to find a method that works for me to track both student achievement and progress through the course expectations.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I'm not sure <b>how long each cycle should take</b>. I know, from experience, how long previous units took when presented linearly. I anticipate it might be tough to plan out, time-wise, the first time through.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I'm a bit worried about <b>finding good activities</b> that naturally hit various expectations from the curriculum. So many teachers have offered to share what they have, though, and I hope to be able to take advantage of that.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Grade reporting might be tricky</b>, as we are expected to report on knowledge/understanding, thinking/inquiry, communication, and application throughout the semester. If application-type problems aren't investigated until the third cycle, how will this affect grades reported early on (for progress reports or midterms)?</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8U4QDu86F7k/Vy-1LYLj99I/AAAAAAAACKU/GGoeweNBn-A9WZ2Wp8puZiMrErGHzo2NgCLcB/s1600/Evernote%2BSnapshot%2B20160507%2B100726.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="476" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8U4QDu86F7k/Vy-1LYLj99I/AAAAAAAACKU/GGoeweNBn-A9WZ2Wp8puZiMrErGHzo2NgCLcB/s640/Evernote%2BSnapshot%2B20160507%2B100726.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alex, explaining his tracking system, in a session on spiralling at OAME2016.<br />
Activities are across the top (running vertically) overall expectations are along the <br />
side (running horizontally), and specific expectations are colour-coded by unit.<br />
Thank you, <a href="http://twitter.com/MsHLye">Heather Lye</a>, for the photo!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<h3>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Where I'd like to use it</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There is one course, that I teach regularly, that I think would be a perfect fit for this type of content delivery: MCF3M (grade 11 Functions & Applications). T</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">he course is broken down into units of quadratic functions, exponential functions, and trigonometric functions. In each, we look at the basics of the functions, then transformations of the functions and finally applications of the functions. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If we're teaching the same concepts throughout, why not break down the walls between the "types" of functions and teach them all together? I'm looking forward to giving it a try, and collaborating with a new PLN of spirallers discovered at OAME.</span><br />
<br />Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13987609384790057309noreply@blogger.com4