Managing the tipping point (part 2) without losing sight of what’s important…

It gives me great pleasure to support our curriculum leaders and teachers to achieve our goal of “Using data to inform teaching and enhance learning”. Our latest PD looked at ways to gather data using the “now literacies” of twitter, back channeling and blogs, to name a few. Our curriculum leaders are big ideas people and know other big ideas people so our PD was of exceptional quality. Thanks, @whatedsaid and @langwitches. Each teacher will have got something out of the sessions- depending on their entry point. And based on their responses over the week, I feel they will be able to take the next steps through the sharing and collaboration process that has started to happen from this PD. But more so if leaders in our school manage the tipping point by looking out for and recognising the signs. Even better would be to avoid going over the tipping point altogether by giving the time needed.

I feel that teachers now need time to process and practice what they have learned in this recent PD where for some a big shift in their thinking has started. In our various leadership roles we now need to give teachers the time, space and support to do so without tipping the scales to the point where they feel overwhelmed and stressed and stretched too thin. Sam Sherrat (and others) have stressed the practise of giving time to the things we value. We have got much better at this at our school, but sometimes we can get so enthusiastically caught up in what’s happening that we lose sight of the what else is happening for our teachers. The last two weeks of term are going to be super busy with annual school events in addition to the regular meaningful stuff that needs to get done.

Looking ahead what does our time budget need to allow for?:
*Next term there are Parent Teacher Conference nights at the start of term.
*We are also introducing a new report format to all and this needs some facilitation.
*And we are in the final step of shifting to creating digital portfolios for and of student learning, which for some teachers means big changes.
*Every unit in maths and units of inquiry is new to our new teachers and our inquiry pedagogy is brand new to some.
*Each year level team has at least one new staff member and so are still adjusting to the new dynamics that come with that.
*In addition, teachers are supporting the social and emotional well-being of their students and needing to communicate with parents and do the usual daily essentials.
*In their efforts to lead balanced lives we encourage our teachers to look after their own well-being and our Learning Team Leaders to also look out for their teams’ well-being.

This week I felt it was timely to remind our leaders that if we create the time for ongoing discussions and sharing, more people will be more inclined to take action and embed great practise as a result.

How can we create time to maintain the momentum started in our PD?
*Maybe LTLs can set aside 10 minutes regularly for reading and maybe leaving a comment on our shared teachers “Pictures of Practice” blog or http://www.langwitches.org/blog or whatedsaid.wordpress.com or any other blog teachers have found relevant and engaging.
*I could set aside times in a morning briefing for teachers to briefly share the next step in their journey or a blogpost they have read which has influenced their practice.
*The “now literacies” and the skills needed for embedding them in our teaching and learning practise could be revisited in future PD sessions.
*I welcome more suggestions.

Our teachers want to be the best they can be but we need to set them up for success. By the end of last week some felt close to their tipping point. Excited but also pressured. Tension is good but too much and it can become counter productive.

What ways do you have for managing the tipping point and creating time for your teachers?

The impact of choosing the right images for a provocation!

I, see, think, feel and wonder…

My thinking…
When looking for images for our opening provocation for our unit, it occurred to me that the images we had used in our previous unit’s opening provocation were not as successful in provoking deep thinking. This time round I suggested to my team that we purposefully include images and info-graphics that showed contrasting situations and that would be challenging and require analysis. This time round we had about 50 images.

I was excited to see how our students would respond. We asked them to use the thinking routine ” I see, think, feel and wonder…” and record these on an index card. We gave them 10 minutes to study the images which were spread out on a long strip of paper stretching across the room. We expected them to work independently and in silence to give each student the time and space for thinking.

What happened?Students were so engaged by the images that they didn’t talk (apart from a few who occasionally were wondering allowed about the images). Students were so engaged that they needed an extra couple of minutes. Students didn’t just see the obvious, they made connections and comparisons. There was a depth to their thinking and wonderings they demonstrated that a deeper conceptual understanding had happened for most students. Their responses indicated that our choice of images were spot on for provoking thinking and wonderings directly related to our unit’s central idea and transdisciplinary theme.

What I learned …
Choosing the right images empowers students to become engaged and challenged grapple with ideas, make connections, make comparisons, connect personally and respond emotionally, build conceptual understanding and go beyond the obvious when wondering.

When the other two teachers repeated this provocation with their students, they had the same response from their group of students. Jina came to me excited about the impact the images had had on their students and we chatted excitedly about all we had learned from this experience.

I used to be the kind of teacher who…

Over the last two years I have changed and grown professionally…

I used to be the kind of teacher who…

knew exactly where my lesson was going from start to finish, from introduction to plenary, from activity to activity, did most of the talking, was the conduit for student talking, controlled who sat where and who spoke when, made all the decisions, expected students to respond to the engagements in the same way, controlled the time and space for learning, made a lot of assumptions about student learning and owned the learning.

Fortunately, I am also reflective and have always wanted to do what’s best for my students’ learning. I just didn’t always fully understand how to teach so kids can learn. My understanding has grown exponentially and I have undergone a substantial paradigm shift.

Now, when I’m at my best, I’m the kind of teacher who…

knows where I want us to focus conceptually, plans thoughtful and purposeful engagements to this end, notices and listens to my students’ thinking and follows their lead, caters for differences in learning styles and abilities, values and is mindful of making the time and space for learning, talks less and listens more, encourages students to make their own decisions, focuses on developing skills and attitudes to enable student decision making and independence, looks for evidence, makes student thinking explicit, actively encourages collaboration and student ownership of learning.

I have some way to go and I’m excited to go there. I look forward to who I will be in a year’s time…

How did letting go, go?

Letting go…

For background to this momentous step forward please refer to my post: Ownership of learning: a big step forward.

I apologise for a lack of visuals in this post, but I was so engrossed in the process of noticing and naming; and consciously engaging and interacting with my students in a way so as to promote ownership of learning, that I forgot to take photos!! I am still on a high from the awesomeness of it all!

Who has used a map?
This was my opening question to my students who responded with enthusiasm.

I then asked them to consider and record their response to this question: What are the criteria for making a good map?

I then asked them if there are criteria that a good map should include that they may not have considered – they agreed. To which I responded, “Let’s find out.”

I put the question on the smart-board: What are the criteria for making a good map? Show your understanding in any way you like.

I followed this with an brief explanation of my intention, “I want to hand over the learning to you rather than control it. Before you approach me with a question, please ask yourself: Who owns the learning?” I then wrote this question on another board as a reminder to them and to myself.

We then discussed the skills and attitudes they could need for the task.
I scribed their responses on the board:
research,
thinking,
mapping,
problem solving,
decision making.
As they inquired and problem solved, I made a point of naming the skills they were using so we added these to our list as time went by.

Next I asked them to consider the attitudes they could need to demonstrate? They responded:
patience,
persistence,
creativity,
cooperation,
risk taking,
tolerance,
independence,
confidence,
enthusiasm.

Part of letting go included allowing time for reflection. We used a familiar structure for doing this:
1. What went well?
2. What challenges did you face?
3. How did you solve these?
4. What attitude do you still need to work on?
5. What skills do you still need to work on?

Here is a collection of responses…
1. Finding information and organising it; we showed persistence; cooperated; finding pictures; confidence; helping each other; organising ourselves by dividing up the responsibilities.
2. When I got stuck I didn’t know what to do; no patience; no risk taking; concentration at times; technology and making decisions; at first we didn’t know what we were doing; cooperation; time limit; team work; when we all wanted to present in different ways.
3. Asked friends; worked with the teacher; tried a different way; we stuck to our agreement; asked the teacher; compromised.
4. Patience and risk taking; creativity; commitment; cooperation; respect; positive attitude; reflective; openminded.
5. Decision making; cooperation and communication; thinking; research; problem solving; computer skills.

What did I notice and what did I learn today?

* handing ownership to the students naturally differentiates according to needs and learning styles;
* my learners are engaged in their own learning and so stay on task
* they collaborate as they need;
* they find ways to solve their problems;
* asking a question to answer their question is more effective than giving them the answer;
* pointing to the question: “Who owns the learning?” was enough of a reminder for them to make the decision for themselves;
* I am more available for the kids who need more support.

Will I do this again?

For sure!

Why?

Ownership of learning promotes learning! Duh!

Sent from my iPad

Ownership of learning – a big step forward!

The Inquiry Cycle
by Stephen Kemmis.

I am participating in an action research project with a few other enthusiastic colleagues. The idea behind it is to inquire deeply through the cycle of noticing, reflecting and acting.

We are connecting our inquiry to our school’s learning principles. Thus far we have unpacked some of the learning principles, identified the area which really interests us, created our action research questions (these are refined on an ongoing basis), watched engaging youtube videos, referred to relevant blog posts and been highly engaged in thinking, questioning and discussion.

On Thursday it was my turn to share my process thus far. The protocol for sharing is: the speaker shares their process without being interrupted. Next, the members of the group respond through directing questions to the speaker and they are only allowed to ask questions. Following this kind of protocol puts all the focus on that individual’s inquiry and for me it was deeply satisfying and hugely encouraging. I left our session with an even stronger sense of clarity, purpose, motivation and was on high for the rest of the day.

This is the first time I have experienced a discussion taking place in this way and I found it to be an incredibly powerful tool for deepening thinking and eliciting possible areas for further investigation. I didn’t feel anxious or defensive and admired my colleagues’ restraint and commitment to the protocol as it is our tendency to have messy discussions (which are also great for promoting thinking and developing understanding).

What next…

1. I am refining my question for now as the original version incorporated several parts and the essence of my inquiry is clearly ownership of learning. Thus my question has been refined to:
How can I promote ownership of learning in my learners?

2. I realised the need for mindfulness on my part and planning with this intention in mind so I will be asking myself the question: “Who owns the learning?” all the time. I will also be using the Gradual release of responsibility continuum as a means to clarify who really is owning the learning in the learning engagements when planning.

3. I am going to notice and name the behaviour and highlight to my students and myself when ownership of learning is happening .

4. I am going to hand over control of the learning at the beginning of the lesson and set aside time at time at the end of the lesson for reflecting on what happened.

What happened later in the day…

I found myself consciously noticing and naming behaviours that demonstrated ownership of learning. As I was doing this I realised this is happening more than I initially thought. I also realised, once the students had gone home and I was reflecting on the day, that I had missed a few opportunities for naming ownership of learning and I can’t wait to start the day by celebrating those behaviours with my students.

What happened during the night…

I thought about the location lesson I had in mind for today and put it to the litmus test: “Who owns the learning?” Not my students.

What to do?…

As this is the start of a new numeracy unit I grappled with my concern that some of my students might not know enough to manage their learning and my genuine desire to hand over control. I thought back to Jocelyn’s observation that messy learning is learning and her reassurance that students find their way through the mess. I decided that this was a golden opportunity to believe in my students.

So, I have decided to re-schedule our guided reading session and give my students a big block of time (4 lessons today and more next week) so they can work at their pace to construct meaning according to their learning style.

I am trying to use the “flipped classroom” model as a guide for letting go.I came across this graphic on twitter last night and thought I would use it as a visual for my students when introducing the task.

What do I plan to do:

Ask an open question and set an open task:
What makes a map great? Show your thinking in any way you like.

Use what you have learned about maps to create your own map for visitors to our school to use to find their way from our reception to the kitchen garden.

I will let them decide if and when they want to collaborate. And, of course, I will let them decide everything else.

As I write this my excitement is growing exponentially and I can’t wait to hand over control.

Students teaching students… powerful learning for students and teachers.

Setting the scene…

Over the last four weeks, Charlie (a colleague) and I have been teaching “Time” to our Year 4 students. We realised from the pre-test that student understanding varied from very basic to extensive. We decided to combine our students to allow us to more successfully differentiate our teaching.

Differentiating across two classes really helped us to manage the learning. Charlie was able to consolidate and extend her group’s understanding of time. I was able differentiate within my group again and target teach to their needs. I was also able to work at a pace that suited all of my students. As different students grasped time I regrouped them again according to their needs.

Towards the end of the four weeks, Charlie’s group became very confident in all aspects of time and we decided to let them teach 24 hour time to my students. This would provide them with an opportunity to apply their learning in a meaningful way and would give my students an opportunity to have one-on-one teaching and guide the teaching by stating their needs.

Students teaching students

In discussion with Charlie, her students came up with the best ways they could think of to teach their peers. Some decided to do a pre-test to see what their peer already knew about 24 hour time and time in general. Several gathered concrete materials to use, such as mini clocks and mini whiteboards. Some created teaching aids. They prepared all of this in one 40 minute lesson. In the next lesson, we paired students up and the video shows the teaching and learning happening.

Student feedback demonstrated that they found this way of learning enjoyable and successful. They felt they learned a lot from each other by learning in this way.

What the students taught Charlie and I:

*It didn’t matter who paired up as they were so engaged in the experience.
*Purposeful learning happened for both the student teacher and the student being taught.
*Students know what works to support their teaching and the learning.
*Student teachers adapted to the needs of their student without needing to be told.
*Students applied many skills in addition to the mathematical ones.
*This was differentiation and target teaching at its best!!!
*Giving students ownership of their learning supports learning.

We should look for opportunities for students to teach students more often.

Why have I changed?

Last week a collague asked me, “Why do you think you have changed?” She was inquiring into the reasons for my change in my attitude and approach to learning, not doubting that I had changed 🙂

In my last post I reflected on how I had changed (in my teaching practice) and how my students had changed and the connections between the two. But my colleague’s question really got me thinking about how and why I have changed/ grown. I have thought about this for nearly a week…

I no longer feel I have to be in control or be the expert, instead I have taken ownership of my learning…

This may seem like a contradiction but, simply put, I am owning my learning – I consciously take on board the new learning and I consciously decide how I will manage that new learning. I realise I have changed significantly in the way I approach new learning and this change has impacted on my attitude to trying new ways of learning with my students. Up until about a year ago, when I was presented with a new resource or new program or new web tool we were going to learn to use in our teaching, my default setting most of the time was to panic about the time required to become knowledgeable and the time required to implement it properly. I would then feel frustrated that I was being forced to learn something new when I was still trying to embed recently acquired knowledge or skills.

I don’t panic anymore. I am comfortable with just exploring and seeing what I learn, see what others learn. I am comfortable with not having to do something exactly as presented. I am comfortable with adapting it to meet the needs of my students or my own. I am comfortable with letting things percolate until I’m ready.

Guiding questions for my learning…

Another factor contributing to my change, I think, is because I am now approaching new learning using the key questions, “What am I doing?” and “Why am I doing it?” I learned to think this way because of the explicit discussions my class and I have around these two questions this year.

I have always asked these questions but because I have let go of the need to be in control or be the expert, I approach new learning with a curious attitude and an open mind. I try and enjoy it for what it is.

What this has made me realise about my learners…
I’m not sure that I’ve been articulating my thoughts well, but the point of this reflection is this: I have been trying to encourage my students to become authentic, reflective learners who want to take ownership of their learning. (I have written a few posts about my attempts). BUT it’s just hit me that they may be resisting learning sometimes because…

*they feel the panic I used to feel because they feel pressured by a lack of time,
*or they may not be ready, or interested in what I am presenting them with at the time.
* or I haven’t given them control of their learning – (I’m not 100% comfortable with doing this yet because I’m still learning how to)
* or they may feel frustrated because I am limiting them with my expectations
* or I am not appealing to their learning style.

If I want my students to take ownership of their learning then I need to be mindful of how they may be feeling about their learning. I also need to question whether what we are doing and how we are doing it is setting them up to take ownership of their learning.

Which brings me to the other stuff…

Last term my class and I regularly considered our learning. One discussion really stands out for me. I had asked them, “When you are learning about something, what else are you learning?” I then gave them a few examples to make my question clearer. For example, when you are learning how to draw a graph, or learning how to do something with a group, what else are you learning?

After a few hits and misses, they got what I was referring to. One student suggested we refer to the two types of learning as formal and informal learning.

This is what they thought…

Formal learning is: the content or the task, what the teacher is trying to teach, what the students are working on.
Informal learning is: the other stuff, learning to work collaboratively, learning to solve a problem, learning to use technology, getting better at making decisions, learning to take turns, learning to communicate, learning to take risks, being on task and most importantly, who owns the learning.

As a result of days of reflecting about why I had changed, I have realised that I need to ensure that the “other stuff” my students are learning, doesn’t contradict or undermine our goal for them to take ownership of their learning!!!