Month: April 2018

#PYP: What is a Successful Programme of Inquiry?

#PYP: What is a Successful Programme of Inquiry?

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This question was recently posed to me and I believe it plagues many curriculum leaders so I am going to address it in this post.

In my opinion, the Written Curriculum is the driving force behind dynamic teaching and learning. So, a successful Programme Of Inquiry has to be viewed through the big picture of the school’s context and the more microscopic lens of the grade level. [bctt tweet=”Teachers engaging and challenging central ideas are vital and we need more single-subject teachers voices to be heard in order to have a more transdisciplinary programme of inquiry.” username=”judyimamudeen”]

However, it’s a process and it’s ongoing. Yet, I’ve tried to summarize some essential practices when determining how close a school is to achieve a “perfect” POI: Coherence and Learning Power. 

Macroscopic: How Do We Develop a Coherent Programme of Inquiry?

Most of the “big stuff” is answered in the PYP document, Developing a transdisciplinary programme of inquiry such as examining the vertical and horizontal alignment of concepts and subject-areas, as well as closely looking at the language of the central ideas so that they are not value-laden and provide for multiple perspectives.   This is the go-to document!

Transdisciplinary-themes

Just a few more thoughts on some minutia for curriculum leaders to consider…

  • The “coverage” of the transdisciplinary theme indicators. For example, looking the Sharing the Planet theme, at what year level are they inquiring into ‘rights and responsibilities”, “the struggle to share finite resources with other people”, “access to equal opportunity”, and “peace and conflict resolution”? By the way, these indicators are NOT in any sequential order so the central ideas that are created around these would reflect the developmental appropriateness of the students.
  • The “coverage” of Key Concepts within a theme. For example, as you look vertically at whole school POI, does your school’s  How the World Works units only examine this theme through the Key Concepts of Form, Function, Causation, Connection, and Change–are you lacking Responsibility or Perspective or Reflection? Cross-check for this. This same examination could also be applied to the Learner Profile and Attitudes.
  • The “coverage” of the subject level strands. For example, what science strands are you missing?–do you have biological sciences, chemical sciences, earth and space sciences, forces and motion and scientific thinking and skills? What about your arts?- what is the balance between creating and responding units? How about “coverage” of social studies?-do you have organizational systems and economics, geography, development and movement of cultures, personal identity, and civic responsibility, and technology and innovation?
  • How does mathematics fit into you POI? Are there opportunities to apply mathematical thinking and skills into the UOI so that it can be naturally embedded and transdisciplinary? What needs to become “stand alone”?–explore data such as standardized testing may help to articulate the needs of your programme.
  • How can we connect dots? What units in the early grades support inquiries in the upper grades. For example, you can’t have an entrepreneurship unit in Grade 3 if they haven’t been exposed to the basic concepts of money and economics in Grade 2 or Grade 1. Or an ecosystem unit in Grade 4 if they haven’t learned about habits and cycles.  What are the prerequisite concepts that students need to explore before doing more active or abstract concepts?
  • Do you need to map the TD Skills/ATLs? You don’t want kids to come to Grade 5 and be in shock when they do their Exhibition. We should be thinking about how to develop research, self-management and communication skills, in particular so that students can become life-long learners.

Microscopic: 6 Questions to determine the Learning Power with Grade Level UOIs

  1. By Whom?-Teacher have excitement and interest: Has teacher friendly central ideas that are broad enough but not too ambiguous so that teachers know how to launch the inquiry and plan provocations.  I personally find that using related concepts in central ideas really help to create focus and address this challenge and is recommended in the Developing a transdisciplinary programme of inquiry guide.
  2. For Whom?-Students need to “Get It”: UOIs should be some “mystery”–students should understand what they are learning about. So it has to have student-friendly language in a Unit Of Inquiry to decrease the “unpacking” of the language of a central idea. The language used in a central idea should develop a deeper understanding of a concept but not be full of so much adult-speak and gobbly-gook that kids can’t access the intention of the learning. The “big words” should be the related concepts that you are exploring.
  3. What?-Go Deep Over Wide: Too much knowledge to develop in a unit of inquiry? Going deep rather than wide is an important feature of a unit. If you have to spend a lot of time “teaching” the unit’s content knowledge, then you either have to disperse the knowledge into weaker units which you can strengthen with building knowledge and skill, or you have to prioritize and streamline.
  4. When?-The Sequence Matters: There are lots of approaches to this, so looking at your school calenadar will help you reflect on when certain units work best. But, my general rule would be to place the easiest conceptual units in the first term and the very hardest unit in the 2nd to the last unit is an important consideration.  (The last unit always gets side-swiped with school-wide benchmarking and celebrations, etc.., so it usually gets cut short hence the suggestion here.)
  5. How?-The Process of Learning Matters: Units that dovetail into one another really help build upon the conceptual understandings of one another and there is a seamless segue of learning. Perhaps units could even be combined because the importance of ideas overlaps and compliment each other. I usually pick a general concept that acts as the uniting theme for a year level. For example, in our current POI revision, Grade 1 units are linked together through the conceptual lens of Relationships:
    • Who We Are:  Our choices and actions as individuals define who we become as a community.
    • How We Express Ourselves: The language we use can communicate messages and develop relationships.
    • How the World Works: Understanding sound and light can transform experience.
    • Sharing the Planet: The cycle of the earth impacts living things.
    • Where We are In Place and Time: Homes reflect cultural influences and local conditions.
    • How We Organize Ourselves: The needs and wants of a community determines how it’s organized                                                             *Hopefully, you can see that there is an intention that the central ideas show a congruence to the year group’s conceptual thread of RELATIONSHIPs in the inquiry.   In this case, I am asking What is the relationship that we are exploring in this theme? 
  7. Why? Student Engagement Matters: The units must be meaningful and create “sparks” of curiosity and student action. If the teacher has to drive the inquiry in order to pull it off, then it has to be scrapped and rewritten. Period. End of discussion.

These are just broad strokes of ideas, but it would wonderful if others could chime in with their suggestions and considerations.

One more thing that I’d like to add is that in schools that have the MYP and DP, I believe we need to extend these conversations beyond our PYP staff and try to develop improved articulation of our school’s programs. Backwards planning from the DP is one way to approach this but I have yet to have this experience.

I’m curious what ideas am I missing here? Can you think of other examples of evaluating the POI that has made it more impactful?

#PYP: Are We More than Data? Units of Inquiry that Develop the Digital Lives of Students

#PYP: Are We More than Data? Units of Inquiry that Develop the Digital Lives of Students

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Have you stopped to consider what this might mean for ourselves and students?

“Cambridge Analytica is just the tip of the iceberg, and this problem doesn’t begin and end with Facebook,” Evan Greer, the campaign director for the Internet activism group Fight for the Future, told me when I asked about last week’s media circus. “It’s not even just big tech companies; retail chains, hospitals, and government agencies are vacuuming up massive amounts of sensitive personal information about all of us. We’re seeing now how that data can be used not just to invade our privacy, but to manipulate how we think.”

Vanity Fair: Why the Privacy Crisis is Bigger Than Facebook

I’ve been thinking about how people and governments are responding to the Facebook privacy scandal, wondering how I, as a digital citizen should respond and how schools, as citizen developers, are considering what might need to shift or change in curriculum.  Of course, this seems obtuse of me to think that schools are holding staff meetings and having conversations about this. Probably most of us haven’t even changed our privacy settings on our personal accounts, either due to ignorance or indifference–what’s the point?–they got our data anyhow! That may or may not be true. But what I do know if that we have a chance to change the trajectory of our student’s digital’s lives, as educators, we should be reflecting and responding to this opportunity.

In the past, I promoted the launch of a BYOiPad initiative starting at Grade 3. I wanted to further expand this initiative to Grade 2 because of its success. When first discussing this idea, we consciously decided to do a BYOD initiative instead of investing in a 1:1 program because of the unique opportunities that this would create in shifting attitudes; students and families would come to see that technology is not a toy, instead it is a tool because these were personal devices, and so they had to consider their responsible use of it. Needless to say, this created real and purposeful contexts for developing digital citizenship.

In the beginning, however, we went for tech and digital citizenship lessons that weren’t embedded into our units of inquiry. These were one-off lessons and usually in response to concerns we had in the learning. But into our second year, there were so many challenges and misconceptions that cropped up, we decided that we would have to write a digital citizenship unit into our Programme Of Inquiry (POI)  in the year group that launched the BYOD (3rd grade) so that they could create a deeper understanding of the tool (iPad) that they were using. This was the Where We Are In Place and Time unit.

The use of mobile devices has changed the way we work and play.

  • How digital technology works (function)
  • Changes in society and culture (change)
  • Our responsibility as digital citizens (responsibility)

And what ensued? Self-initiated and authentic student action.  Why? Because it ticked all the boxes for a well-written unit of inquiry:

Engaging:  Of interest to the students, and involving them actively in their own learning.

Relevant:  Linked to the students’ prior knowledge and experience, and current circumstances, and therefore placing learning in a context connected to the lives of the students.

Challenging: Extending the prior knowledge and experience of the students to increase their competencies and understanding.

Significant: Contributing to an understanding of the transdisciplinary nature of the theme, and therefore to an understanding of commonality of human experiences.

Making the PYP Happen

In that unit, students not only developed knowledge of how the internet works and what a “digital footprint” is but more importantly a critical understanding of questions that mattered to them like “What is cyberbullying” and “Do I have technology addiction?”  So this is where the conversation began within our curriculum but now I have to wonder where it has gone next. hmm…..

Naturally, this experience has shaped me and my attitudes toward technology. And I feel strongly that schools shouldn’t squander the chance to include it into their curriculum.

So as I think about the learning opportunities that can arise in our upcoming How We Express Ourselves unit, I get excited about how we can incorporate more robust digital experiences as a meaningful context for students. Here’s the unit:

The language we use can communicate messages and develop relationships.

  • Different forms of media (form)
  • The way we choose to communicate will affect relationships. (reflection)
  • How we can interpret and respond  (causation)

scopesequencedigital citizenI’ve been examining standards and curriculum sources like Common Sense Media that address the concepts and skills that need to either be embedded or explicitly taught.  Obviously, those lines of inquiry are perfect for developing our digital behavior and we have access to a wonderful resource called NearPod to help support the learning. Also, using our SeeSaw classroom account creates a safe haven to test out concepts around social media and Flip-Grid provides another layer of online interaction for our 1st graders. I think these sorts of platforms give us a “digital playground” for our students to experience the ups and downs of life online.  They also get to develop their awareness and maturity around its use, while applying the critical thinking skills and skepticism of information that we get online.

As we begin to launch this unit, I am wondering about what other educators’ experience has been–I’d love to learn from the observations and struggles that you have encountered.  Please share! Because our humanity far exceeds the borders of our data, and we need to be thinking about how we can educate, not only ourselves but most importantly the Mark Zuckerbergs of tomorrow.

 

 

 
#ChangeInEducation: Doesn’t This Bother You?

#ChangeInEducation: Doesn’t This Bother You?

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Some people think that stress is productive, that it is “fertilizer for creativity” but I liked to call bull$*&# on that. When you are concerned about your basic needs being met, how you can the bills, it takes ninja skills to keep your mind focused.

In 2007, my husband and I packed up our things from beautiful Arizona and decided to move to another state, a more progressive state, to try my luck in the educational system there. It was a gamble, but I felt confident that Washington state invested in their education system and would allow me to be the teacher that I wanted to be without having to worry about layoffs and pay cuts. This Facebook post summarizes the trajectory of what I left behind years ago.

 

A former colleague relates her frustration with working in the Arizona public school system.

 

If I knew about the crumbling economy perhaps we wouldn’t have moved, but who could have predicted the housing market bubble bursting, coupled with intense competition for teaching jobs (because apparently those who cannot do, teach–ARGH!). This made for one of the worst decisions ever and by the spring of 2008, we were back in Arizona, living in the good graces of my loving family. I cringe to think what would have happened without their support.

So, although my career as an international teacher was more of a push due to economic circumstances rather than a pull for adventure, there is never a moment of regret and there is certainly no longing to go back into the American public school system. But how can we not address the elephant in the room? teachingAmerica is not the only country–this is a global issue! Teacher pay and job security is a huge factor in our performance. You give a pay cut to professional baseball players or basketball players and see how well they play?

So how can we talk about innovation in education without addressing this most fundamental issue? Do politicians really think that robots are going to replace us? You cannot automate the heart and emotion that goes into the care of students! —I don’t care how crafty an AI algorithm can be! Watson and Siri are not going to create the citizens of tomorrow.

I acknowledge that this post is more of a rant, but so often educators are made into martyrs which is incredibly unfair given the weight of our position. We are shapers of the future and not cogs in the wheel of the industrial complex. This sort of thinking and culture needs to be disrupted.

Don’t you agree?

 

#PYP: Trying to Avoid Controversy? An inquiry into How We Express Ourselves.

#PYP: Trying to Avoid Controversy? An inquiry into How We Express Ourselves.

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I really want this nagging to go away. It’s been going on for months, maybe ever since the American Presidential campaign, maybe for even longer. But as time passes, it has become more apparent that I have the opportunity to change the future as an educator. Yet I wonder if I  have the courage to challenge the status quo or do I just keep up the pretense that classism and sexism and racism doesn’t exist?–not in my classroom!…. Anyhow,  we address those more prickly issues in PYP Exhibition, right? C’mon, it’s not an age-appropriate topic for younger grades, yeah? No, no, no, we should just do a wonderfully creative and fun How We Express Themselves unit to round off the year.

The educator has the duty of not being neutral.
Paulo Freire, We Make the Road by Walking: Conversations on Education and Social Change

However, there has been a recurrent theme that just keeps popping up and I think avoiding difficult discussions is no longer an option.  Anytime teachers think differently about (4)This year a snowball has been building, from the “Me Too” movement to reading The Power by Naomi Alderman, to conversations about the UN’s Global Goals to a blog post on Making Good Humans which kicked me in the pants about the importance of the Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire.  But just yesterday-as I sit in a parent-teacher conference, I spoke with one of the mother’s about her son’s difficulty with working with girls and his frequent use of sexist comments. The mother just sort of nervously laughed it off and said, “Well, his father is from south-east Asia so what do you expect?”

Huh…….

What do we expect?  That’s a fair question.

Here’s my answer:

When we fail to educate our children about these issues, then yes, we can expect more of the same. And if we don’t examine these beliefs and perceptions in the early primary when they are being hard-wired into our brains, then when will it ever be a good time?

Their ideal is to be men but for them to be men is to be oppressors. This is their model of humanity. –Pedagogy of the Oppressed

Last week, when our team sat down to discuss and challenge the central idea: Our experience and imagination can help us to create, our conversation on collaboration shifted to examining the larger context of this transdisciplinary theme:

An inquiry into…the ways in which we discover and express ideas, feelings, nature, culture, beliefs and values; the ways in which we reflect on, extend and enjoy our creativity; our appreciation of the aesthetic.

Now we are looking at changing the central idea to

The language we use can communicate messages and develop relationships.

Some ideas that sprang forward as we tweaked the central idea was to develop learning intentions and provocations which involved examining the following:

  • audience as a context for storytelling
  • writing: revision and word choice, spelling and conventions
  • computer programming language: 2D and 3D shapes drawing.
  • digital citizenship (via SeeSaw): how to provide feedback online
  • blogging: reflection on learning through SeeSaw
  • reading: visualization strategies
  • dramatic arts: acting out scenes in our stories.
  • Social Emotional Learning:: collaboration and conflict resolution–tie back into Who We Are unit

As I stare at this benign-sounding central idea, I am reminded of another quote from Paulo Freire: “language is never neutral”.  I suspect this might be true and maybe it’s worth exploring.

Honest to goodness, I’ve never considered engaging in controversy in the classroom. In all my years of teaching, I have played it safe. I may say provocative statements every now and again amongst my peers, but I have never thrown a genuine conflict into the front and center of the learning. And now I am seriously considering it–I’m sure to my team’s chagrin–to bring it into the curriculum. But this isn’t about the sexist commentary that I witness in an influential boy in our class, it’s also about “white-privilege”, classism and economic disparity that I have observed in silence as an international educator. Furthermore, I know that these topics may also touch a nerve in me–how do my own actions and words contribute to the –isms? I am just as much a student as I am a teacher in this sort of inquiry, recognizing that I am blind to so many things just because of the privilege that I have experienced in my life. There is something personal at stake when I start poking around these cultural “sleeping dogs”.

“The radical, committed to human liberation, does not become the prisoner of a ‘circle of certainty’ within which reality is also imprisoned. On the contrary, the more radical the person is, the more fully he or she enters into reality so that, knowing it better, he or she can better transform it. This individual is not afraid to confront, to listen, to see the world unveiled. This person is not afraid to meet the people or to enter into dialogue with them. This person does not consider himself or herself the proprietor of history or of all people, or the liberator of the oppressed; but he or she does commit himself or herself, within history, to fight at their side.”
― Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed

 

As I find the words to finish off this blog post, I have a strong compelling feeling mixed with fear; in my heart, I am searching for the hope that we can execute this idea well, that my intention to address this need in our humanity will be well-received and that our provocations spark more kindness and compassion in our learning community.  And, maybe I too will be transformed in the process, learning more about myself and how I can contribute to the dignity and joy of those who I share this planet with.

Any and all ideas welcomed by educators who have been braved enough to confront these issues are highly valued and welcomed.  Please post in the comments below.

#PYP: 3 Things to Consider when Evaluating a Programme of Inquiry

#PYP: 3 Things to Consider when Evaluating a Programme of Inquiry

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The Programme of Inquiry is a living document.

So it’s not a surprise that around this time of year, many PYP coordinators are getting staff to hover around the Programme of Inquiry, taking a critical stance into the what and how we do teaching and learning in the classroom. Often times we thumb through the guide on developing a programme of transdisciplinary learning and wonder if our central ideas meet the criteria, and see if we have horizontal and vertical alignment of the key concepts, learner profile attributes and ATLs.  If a school is really thorough, they will make sure that there aren’t any conceptual gaps, particularly in science and math, and ensure that units of the same flavor aren’t repeating themselves. I find this simple task of deeply examining our POI a vital component of what makes a PYP school unique because, in so many ways, it is an inquiry into Who We Are, as a school, digging into the written curriculum, discussing the breadth and depth of our curriculum. This sort of professional conversation and debate are what creates a dedication to quality learning and ownership into the school culture.

But I think, not many schools really poke or probe their units of inquiry to see if the ideas are even worth inquiring into. They spend more time wordsmithing them instead of challenging the value of them. Investigating the Programme Of Inquiry (POI) with a good measure of curiosity and openness to change can really enable schools to rewrite units so that they are engaging, relevant, challenging and significant (Making the PYP Happen)  to the learners and the context that you find your school in and be innovative with your curriculum.

Here are 3 things that you could consider when looking at units of inquiry:

Why over the What

I’ve seen plenty of Units Of Inquiry (UOI) that read like it is a learning objective or standard from a national curriculum.  quote-it-is-better-to-teach-a-few-things-perfectly-than-many-things-indifferently-and-an-overloaded-andre-maurois-251482Yes, developing content knowledge and skills are really important, but what’s more important is the WHY that knowledge and skill are important. I think we can all agree that if you can google it, it shouldn’t be in a line of inquiry, let alone a central idea.

Schools should be seeking to bring more innovation and inspiration into the learning environment so that students can become more empowered. So the WHY should always be about the kids.

Why would students want to learn this?

Why is learning this important for their future?

Start with Why and the What takes care of itself anyhow.

When

Not all Central Ideas should be taught to all grade levels. Yes, I understand that the rule of thumb is that they should be written in such a way that you could theoretically teach them to any grade level, however, that doesn’t mean that it’s really appropriate for ALL grade levels.

Let me give you an example. I had an early year’s Central Idea from Where We Are In Place and Time that was about personal histories. Let’s be honest, 3-4-year-olds just don’t have a lot of personal history that they can reflect on, plus time is a very abstract concept that doesn’t really develop until they are 7 years old. So, we moved it to 1st grade and it became one of the favorites of that year group since the students had ownership and pride in that inquiry.

Here’s a hint: if a unit is not suitable for an age group, then the teacher has to micro-manage and direct the inquiry in order to “get through the unit”; it’s probably out of their developmental experience and aptitude…or interest! You can choose to rewrite it so it’s more appropriate or transfer it to another year level.

How might we …….

Now every school has their unique context and challenges, but overall we should be having conversations about improving our curriculum about issues that might naturally invoke agency.

For example, last year, our school developed a special Who We Are unit in which every grade did the same Central Idea (Our choices and actions as individuals define who we become as a community.) which included specific lines of inquiry that developed our understanding and appreciation about the local culture and traditions. These lines of inquiry also gave our local staff an opportunity to be more involved in the learning, thus providing more voice for our instructional assistants.

However, thinking ahead for next year, we’ve been inspired by Teaspoons of Change and our conversations may shift into examining and reflecting on how we can promote the UN Global Goals. Personally, I’d love to see that!

Global-Goals

So perhaps you could be wondering how might we incorporate more……..

  • Computer Science and System’s Thinking
  • Financial Literacy
  • Sustainability
  • Design Thinking
  • Entrapreunual skills
  • Equity Issues
  • Nutrition and Fitness
  • Digital Citizenship
  • Artistic behaviors
  • Well-being and social-emotional learning

into the Programme of Inquiry. These ideas are just a smattering of things that could be brought into your written curriculum so that it is challenging, engaging and relevant for your learners.

At the end of the day, we want units of inquiry that inspire our learners and develop student agency-right?! Spending time as a staff having dialogue and debate is not silly nor a waste of time. It’s a wonderful opportunity to have deep professional conversations, and come to an understanding of how we live out, not just the mission and vision of our schools, but also IB’s aim to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.

Hopefully when you consider the important questions of Why?, When? and How Might We..., your school’s Programme of Inquiry will come into greater focus.

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