Turning Nothing Into Something

On 1 May 201713 August 2017 By wonderingforwisdomIn Deep Thinking, InquiryLeave a comment

Wait, what!?

A unit changes for whatever reason right before you’re about to teach it. You can feel the panic start to rise with questions swirling: “How can they…”, “What about…” ,“Why would…” Something similar happened at my school, in my grade, on my team, to me! It’s easy being nostalgic about a unit’s ‘good old days”…even if the re-vamped unit is ultimately better. With not much time to plan before jumping in, I found myself vulnerable and uncomfortable. Even to seasoned teachers, sudden changes immidiately before starting a new unit might feel unsteady and awkward. For some, it’s easy to get caught in the negativity about the unit; hence, clear teaching is suddenly blocked. So, how am I not getting caught in a web of negativity?

Where to go from here?

I breathed and took a step back to grab onto what I knew. Whether structured, guided, or open,inquiry teaching is about meeting students where they are.

1.No Assumptions

Rather than just assume, a “Chalk Talk” (aka a “Flat Chat”) guided how to plan provocations. Questions asked were based upon the enduring understanding (ie. central idea in PYP language) and criteria (ie. lines of inquiry in PYP language). As I wanted students to deeply engage in the discussion, I also included our class discussion cards directly next to the questions.”

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Screen Shot 2017-08-12 at 9.31.52 AM — Prompts created together as a class.

Screen Shot 2017-08-12 at 9.31.41 AM — By creating these together there was more ownership in using them.

2.Seek Insight

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Using Twitter as a platform, I sought to use my vulnerability to benefit my students. By seeking advice via Twitter, I was able to take ideas and then manipulate them to meet my own student needs.

3.Look Beyond

Finding materials is something that can at times seem a challenge for a unit shift. With that, I chose to look beyond our team materials to develop provocations that used materials that weren’t specific rather, bring in materials that might spark thinking. Materials found were from across the school and age range.

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At the end of the day, being uncomfortable and not knowing exactly how it will all unfold is ok. Move through the uncomfortableness and negativity by responding to student need with purpose.

Enabling: The Powerful Parent

On 28 March 201729 March 2017 By wonderingforwisdomIn Creativity, Deep Thinking, InquiryLeave a comment

Parents are seen as an essential pillar in their child’s educational success. The classic phrases of “my door is always open” and “we’re a team” are in the Back to School presentation; where for the most part they stay safely tucked away until there is an issue. That may be unfair. For some teachers the painstakingly long newsletter lets parents know about the week’s events and suggests ways they may get involved. What does that look like in the upper grades where student autonomy should be on the rise? How can parents continue the conversation about school beyond “What did you do today?” with their upper elementary child?

I’ve definitely been the teacher who sent home the weekly newsletter and I found that parents didn’t respond and/or there didn’t appear to be any impact on student learning. This year I’ve made my communication more bite size so that parents and students can engage without it being a painstakingly slow read and/or conversation.

BITE SIZE AND NUTRITIOUS

I found that in leading parents to having meaningful conversations about school, I needed to scaffold conversations.

1. Newsflash

Rather than sending out a weekly newsletter, I send out cyclical ( due to our schedule) notes to students and then cc parents into the e-mail. By sending it out to my fifth grade students, I consciously develop autonomy and give parents a tool to prompt conversations.

Screen Shot 2017-03-28 at 12.23.07 PM.png — Typical Newsflash sent to both parents and students where reminders are woven between curriculum points.

2. Communication Prompts

My school has moved away from traditional homework. That being said, most parents are wanting some way to engage with their child about school. Consequently each week I’ll put up a new communication prompt that either relates to learning in some way–either directly as an academic prompt or more indirectly as a social/emotional prompt. These communication prompts often don’t require anything written down;hence, accountability is with students having to discuss the prompts on Fridays during a class meeting. I share these communication prompts on a running GoogleDoc that both parents and students have access to. Upon reflection, linking the document into the Newsflash notes would further promote accountability.

Screen Shot 2017-03-28 at 12.57.33 PM.png — For communication prompts, some videos are hyperlinked so that students and parents have a starting point for dicussions.

3. Test Follow Up Questions

Sending home math tests is a point of contention as some parents don’t see them or they just look for the number of correct questions. By providing a short letter and question prompts, parents are set up to have a higher success rate in discussing the test with their child.

Screen Shot 2017-03-28 at 12.24.16 PM.png — After reflection, the student will return the test with this half sheet note. Each time I get a 100% return rate; hence allowing me to use tests for further instruction.

Imagining Possibilities

On 24 October 2016 By wonderingforwisdomIn Creativity, Deep Thinking, InquiryLeave a comment

Well, here I am dear readers. Blog post 1. Who knows how you have stumbled upon this blog. Perhaps similarly to me, there is something that drives you to see the world in a slightly different way; seeing beauty and having curiosity in how the world continues. I am schizophrenic embarking on this journey; having to trust that this blog will evolve and not wanting to somehow mess it all up. With that, I can promise it as a dedication to the beauty in sensing wonder about the world.

Elizabeth Gilbert speaks of this creative challenge in her book Big Magic . A conversation really about the hangups we all have to live an authentic life in taking time to imagine creative possibilities.

Gilbert writes- “The essential ingredients for creativity remain exactly the same for everybody: courage, enchantment, permission, persistence, trust-and those elements are universally accessible. Which does not mean that creative living is always easy, it merely means that creative living is possible.”

With that I wonder about the connection between her essential ingredients for creativity and the permission we give ourselves to recognise the development of these elements. As a teacher, I wonder how often I have told my students “…and don’t forget be creative!” How daunting; especially in that some antonyms of creative are inept, unfruitful, and ungifted. It is no surprise living a creative life is daunting. In a world where children are more than ever expected to be creative how are we, as teachers or really as a society, fostering the essential ingredients Gilbert mentions? How are we pushing them to persevere and seek living a creative living?

Teaching with an inquiry based curriculum I find that I continually push my students to deepen their thinking. One anchor in my classroom is the poster I created (featured below). Often encouraging students to the bottom part of the iceberg; I find myself now wondering if more needs to be done to explicitly bring the essential creative ingredients alive in the classroom.

What do you wonder?

Wondering for Wisdom

Category: Inquiry