Category: The learning community

Is Agency the same as Personalized Learning?

Is Agency the same as Personalized Learning?

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There are two words that are trending in education right now: Agency and Personalized Learning. It’s rather funny that these ideas have been around since the 1960’s and are now emerging as shaping forces in our educational paradigms. However, I hear them used as if they are synonymous, but are they the same thing?

Is Agency the same as Personalized Learning?

This is a question that has been tumbling in my mind for a while. Ever since the PYP introduced the new branding symbol, I kept staring at the center of it and wondering how schools were really going to be “enhanced” by the updates? enhanced pypI also have been seeing a trend in which schools are starting to shift from a guided inquiry into an open inquiry approach, giving primary students, particularly ones in the upper grades, more say in the content of their learning. Although I have not directly visited those schools, I am given the impression that the children get to write their own units and learning is on their terms, in this way, the learning is quite personal and self-directed. I think these schools must be highly motivated to be innovative and deeply committed to this ambitious approach; from leadership to every member of staff, they focus their energy on creating a student self-directed learning approach. So is THIS personal learning? Personalized learning, by its definition, is to customize learning for each student’s strengths, needs, skills, and interests. So what can be more agentic than this?-As a student, I ultimately choose what I learn and when I learn it and teachers just coach me into my next steps.

So should we, as PYP schools be creating more personalized learning for students in order to enhance our student agency? Hmmm…..

A learning community that supports agency offers opportunities for students to develop important skills and dispositions, such as critical and creative thinking, perseverance, independence and confidence. These are vital to the learning process and the development of self-efficacy. The learning community further offers students multiple opportunities to experience the impact of their choices and opinions, which support their evolving perceptions of their identity. In return, students with a stronger sense of self-efficacy bring a stronger sense of agency to the learning community.

From The Learner – PYP, developed by the International Bacchaleurate

After reflecting on that, it seems to me that the answer is NO. Personalized Learning and Agency are not the same thing. Moreover, schools do not have to create “Studios” or “Learning Labs” in which teachers are supporting 20 different personal units of inquiry that the students have created in order for students to have agency. Of course, this is fabulous to have these structures and resources but to assume that this is the gold standard that all of our PYP schools should be doing would be missing the point of the enhancements. It’s about student empowerment, not individual inquiries or personalized learning tracks. So we don’t need a lot of tech and teachers in order to do this. How this looks may differ according to the context and budget considerations of that school. But to think that we need to recreate the wheel in order for us to cultivate student agency would build more barriers to getting started now in our classrooms. We need to think about learner agency as self-efficacy and not individualization. When you look at that excerpt, its the culture of the Learning Community is what creates learner agency, and this is more about developing competency and confidence and less about designing specialized learning spaces.

Agency is Self-directed Learning

The book, Empower: What Happens When Students Own Their Learning by John Spencer and AJ Juliani,  to me is one of the best books out there that really empowerarticulates how student agency can happen in our classroom. When students have the motivation and skills to explore content, they can take action that goes above and beyond our expectations for them. They can develop self-direction. THIS is the GOLD STANDARD  that we should be aspiring to.

Moreover, this book helps educators to cultivate the mindset necessary to relinquish control of classroom learning so that learners can become self-directed. It contained an important question in there that I think teachers should tape to their computers (or planning books) when they are sitting down to lesson plan:

What decisions am I making for students that they could make for themselves?

I know I found myself going to my class and asking the students “How might we….”

  • show what we know about this concept
  • explore this idea
  • experience our learning differently

No bells or whistles were required. It was about bringing them into the planning of their learning and supporting their decisions. Sometimes students wanted to go off and do their own thing, but more often than not, it meant collaborating with peers. I think this is why we shouldn’t confuse personalized learning with agency, especially since we, as PYP educators, are social-constructivists. We shouldn’t create “learning islands” in our classrooms, rather learning hubs, in which we can connect with different people and resources because, in the real world, this is often what we do to solve problems. This is true ownership of learning. This is the essence of a true Learning Community. We need to work at getting REALLY GOOD at collaboration, so students know who and what can support them in their personal growth.

PYP Coordinator Footnote

As a leader of learning at my school,  I can’t begin to express how much misunderstanding there is out there about student agency. I know I have to be careful to tread lightly on pushing student agency without being more informed about how I can support my teachers in supporting their learners. We get into vigorous conversations about this term and often teachers feel that this means that we should “kill” teacher-directed lessons or if we help students manage their decision making, we are squashing their agency. It seems that many teachers equate agency with kids having a free-for-all in classroom learning. Or, on the other hand, we should be differentiating every lesson all the time. Yikes! These are extremes.

So, I think we need to be careful about how we approach this at our schools.

I’m wondering what other terms like “personalized learning” are getting confused with Agency at your schools. Please share so we discuss and debate, arriving at greater clarity and purpose when implementing the PYP enhancements at our schools.

 

 

 

 

The Role of the Coordinator: Deep Listening

The Role of the Coordinator: Deep Listening

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I think to ask and not assume is probably the most important part of my job description. One skill that I believe needs constant effort for improvement. So, during this past year,  as I moved to a new country and a new school, I was very aware of the need to understand the complexities of my new environment and my role in shaping a more agentic culture. As a new leader to an already established learning community, I created a 90-day inquiry into my school in which I explored and examined our current practices and asked questions in the following areas:

Who We Are…

  • What are the values and beliefs of our community?
  • What level of influence do parents have on our school’s decision-making process?
  • What do we believe collectively and as individuals about education in the 21st century?
  • Who are the influential and important people on staff?
  • What are the beliefs that teachers have around technology? What are the beliefs around technology use in the home?

Where we are in place and time…

  • Where are we with respect to accreditation recommendations?
  • Where are we with transitioning to the enhancements?
  • Where are staff in their depth of understanding of the PYP?
  • How is the technology used? (SAMR/TPACK)

How we express ourselves…

  • What are the ways and means that we communicate?
  • How frequently do we communicate? What gets communicated?
  • How is information shared on Social Media

How we organize ourselves…

  • How do we order resources?
  • Where are important docs “housed” and how are they shared?
  • What do timetables look like?–What are the teaching/non-contact periods ratios with co-teachers? How much does each subject “get” on the time table?

Sharing the Planet…

  • What are the expectations and responsibilities of teachers and staff? Beyond teaching, what else are teachers expected to do?
  • What sustainability initiatives are underway? 
  • What opportunities exist for student action and community service?

How the World Works…

  • How is professional learning encouraged and fostered?
  • What are the budget restrictions? 
  • How do we plan excursions or get involved in community action? 
  • What are any political considerations when we consider initiatives?

Now that the 1st semester is over and I have a sense of “How We Do School Here”, it’s time to turn my attention and focus to the students themselves. I am currently engaged in what I am calling a Listening Campaign–a term generally used for a communication strategy that helps to identify and prioritize the concerns of stakeholders. Hearted Quotes - Page 3 | QuoteHDIn this case, I want to dig into the hearts and minds of our students. I have created a simple survey using Google forms which provides the opportunity to deeply listen to students and I am interviewing each student one by one to get a sense of what they care about and how apt they feel at engaging in our learning community. So, as I record their ideas, there is an interaction that I hope communicates how keen I am to hear from them. When I think of my practice of mindfulness, deep listening is a vital component of our relationships–whether it is with our closest and most beloved people in our lives or people who we have more obscure relationships with. I hope that as I sit with them, I communicate that I care about them–they are a valued school member– and I wish to support them on their learning journey. I love how this practice is described in the quote below:

There is only one purpose of deep listening: to help him or her to empty their heart.

“Darling, I’m here for you. And, Darling I know that you are there.”

The gift of your presence is powerful and transformative.

-Thich Nhat Hanh

And, so, I find the answers to my questions revealing if the students feel they have agency and how they might use their agency to make an impact. Here are some of the questions I am asking:

  1. Do you feel that if you have an idea, adults at school will let you try it out? 
  2. The reason why I think this way is because…..
  3. In your homeroom classroom, do you feel that you are interested and active in your learning?
  4. The reason why I said that is because…..
  5. How often do you give feedback or offer suggestions to your classmates?
  6. What kind of feedback do you receive from others?
  7. If I got to be the boss of school, the first thing I would change about how I learn is…
  8. If I got to be the boss of the school, the first thing that I would change about snack/lunch and recess is…
  9. One more idea that I have about how to improve the experience at school is…
  10. Is there anything else you want to tell me...

Now I know what you are thinking, they probably answer that we should eat candy at school and be able to play whenever they want. But I have to say that when you lean in, and they know that you want to authentically listen to them, the issues and ideas that come up really expose a deeper level of concern that they have.

I consider this time spent a great privilege and rare opportunity afforded to me. Since this is the first year of implementing the PYP enhancements, I really wanted to get a snapshot of how students see themselves as learners and what issues do they feel need addressing in our learning community. I call this an Agency Audit, and I hope to repeat it after we implement more of the strategies that create the culture of agency at our school.

What questions do you think we need to ask students? How would you approach talking to students? What other questions do you think are important to developing a larger understanding of the learning community?

 

 

Together, We are Better: Communication That Creates Community with Our Families

Together, We are Better: Communication That Creates Community with Our Families

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How do you see your parents? What words would you use to describe the families in your learning community?

Are they a nuisance? Are they demanding? Or are they helpful? Supportive?

Take a moment and think about the words you have used recently to talk about a family in your learning community. Were you complaining or complimenting? And, if you had to evaluate the language you use to talk about parents, in general, would you say you use mostly positive language or negative language?  

In the Ubuntu tradition of South Africa, they have this expression: “Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu / motho ke motho ka batho” which translates to “A person is a person through other people.” Or also said,  “I am because you are”.

The expression …means that we are recreated anew in every encounter with another person, bringing to each other the unique gifts of our humanity. Those gifts include our differences, which are worth celebrating and preserving. You enrich my life with your unique difference….Ubuntu does not ask that we erase differences and become the same. It asks that we interpret others positively, recognizing that whatever our differences, our humanity is equal. It is an invitation to dialogue, to understanding, even without agreement, and with understanding comes compassion, tolerance, nobility, sharing.

From “Ubuntu: A Philosophy of Dialogue” by Zara Houshmand

When you consider these words, it makes you wonder how are you interpreting others around you? Needless to say, it’s important to reflect on our “normal” discourse about our families at our schools because we need to consider if we have compassionate perspectives or critical viewpoints of them. Moreover, we need to recognize that those points of view create a bias in how we interact with them.

In the book, Letters to a Young Teacher, Jonathan Kozol provides advice and insight into how we make judgments of parents:

It is even more important to reach out with special care to parents who may seem to have the least involvement,  or least commitment to, the education of their children….it’s all too easy to for  young teachers, even quite unconsciously, to write off the parents who are not cooperative at first, instead of trying to discover why it is that some of them will not respond to messages that we send home or seem reluctant to show up to meetings that we schedule.

The parents that are most reliable, and the most cooperative…quickly win the loyalty of teachers because they are genuinely helpful. They also tend to share more of the social styles and the value systems of the teachers, so that teachers feel a natural rapport with them and find it easy to converse with them. In the case of the less cooperative parents, on the other hand, I’ve known teachers who throw up their hands and, out of sheer impatience or a feeling of futility, give up on any serious attempts to engage their interest and end up really knowing them.

I feel that he accurately describes the tendency we have to relate better to parents who seem similar to us, and, on the other hand, judge harshly the parents who seem disconnected. However, if we can recognize this bias and reflect upon it, I think it will help us to stay open to the ways in which we can “discover why it is that some of them will not respond to messages that we send home or seem reluctant to show up to meetings that we schedule.” I wholeheartedly agree with his advice to pursue a relationship with those families who seem detached from their child’s life. Whether or not it’s written in our job description, all educators must make parents a priority if they are going to create transformative learning experiences for their students. We must engage with our families.

Finding a Sweet Spot

Although I hate to simplify complex relationships, you can think of parents on a continuum, in which there is a range of engagement practices from completely disinterested and uninvolved to over interested and obtrusive.

Parents and Trust2

As I consider why it is that some parents, whether they are busy or not, make the effort to engage with schools, I think it boils down to trust. Sometimes, we have those helicopter parents who hover around the school, who are often seen as meddling. Often times, they appear intrusive and seem to lack confidence in our ability to meet their child’s needs. They are one level of the extremes and on the other side are those parents who seem to care less about their child and school. We often wonder why they drop off their kids and seem apathetic about their child’s cognitive and social development? In some painful instances, their children seem like more of an inconvenience than a blessing.

Oh and in the middle? These are the “helpful” parents, the ones that are easy to love, in which trust is freely given by the parents to the teacher and reciprocated by the teacher regarding the parents’ efforts to develop their child as a learner.

But what about other those “difficult” parents? The ones on the extremes. Well, I think we all recognize that we can’t match disinterested parents with our own disregard, nor can we get stressed out over the parents who are trying to prepare their child for the SATs in 1st grade. However, we need to “turn to wonder” and become deeply curious about the causes of this apprehension, and not only have an open mind but also have an open-heart to the struggle and conditions that create an unwillingness to partner with teachers. Likewise, the same ingredients that develop trust and get parents to “move toward the middle” work for both sides of this continuum.  And this comes down to communication. Although others have identified that there are 9 traits of trustworthy people, in particular, there are 3 main messages that must be communicated to demonstrate to families that you are deserving of their confidence and time:

  1. Competence: Trust me, I know what I’m doing.
  2. Integrity: Trust me, I keep my word and am acting in your best interest. I wouldn’t steer you wrong.
  3. Kindness: Trust me, I like your child and want to help.

Of course, if teachers can connect and develop a rapport with parents, it is easy to communicate these messages. The question is how do we establish these opportunities? And who’s job is it to initiate the contact? Well, in short, it’s EVERYONE’S!

The Institutional Handshake

School-wide communication

These are the newsletters, Twitter feeds, and other channels of communication that go out to the whole school community. In general, these are passive forms of communication, in which there is a one-way flow of information with very little expectation for parents to respond. In my mind, these forms of communication are the bare minimum that a school needs to do to keep families in “the know”. However, the school leadership and administration must plan school events to create occasions to celebrate learning and inform families of the progress that is underway in the learning community.

The School Calendar of Events

Creating school events that make face-to-face communication possible is really important to create a vibrant and engaged community. Sports Day, an International Fair, and concerts/performances are such events that mix fun with learning. They are low commital events though for families, but are necessary for culture building and are important opportunities for families to have exposure to staff to engage in informal conversation. Conversations are the heart of any relationship, which is why academic conferences are also sprinkled around the school year so that more directed discussions can take place around student learning. I know some schools have Celebrations of Learning after every PYP unit. That’s a tremendous amount of energy put forth into a class presentation, but Student-Led conferences are also a great way to share learning which may be less work to pull off on a frequent basis.

Listening Campaigns

In Stephen Convey’s book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Habit #5 is to seek first listen to understandto understand, then to be understood, in which the ability to listen with empathy is a key skill. When we genuinely listen to a person, it not only opens our eyes to their concerns but also validates them as a human being. This has the opportunity to build a lot of trust between the organization and the families they serve in the community. The possibility to generate an atmosphere of caring and positive problem-solving is high when schools engage in this level of communication.

Depending on the nature and size of an issue, schools can host “listening campaigns” in which they invite families and employees and students to give feedback about their experience of the system. There is an open invitation issued to participate in gathering and analyzing information.

So what is a listening campaign? In a nutshell, this is a research process, in which leaders strive to:

  • Examine a problem or issue in which school leadership would benefit from multiple perspectives, so as to identify and define a specific issue that needs to be addressed.
  • Explore possible solutions and find the necessary resources to implement the desired solution
  • Identify the decision-maker with the authority to resolve the issue
  • Gather “intelligence” on the dynamics that contribute to the problem.

 

More Up Close and Personal: The Classroom level

As a teacher, what words do you think parents might use to describe you? How do you make them feel?

I find it important to reflect on these questions because those answers depend on your level of communication. In general, parents are more satisfied with their child’s teacher when information about the learning is being conveyed. So what, when and where is this information being announced and shared?

Digital Communication

This is probably the most common form of communication–the emails, the SeeSaw posts, Google Classroom announcements, etc..

But how often do you communicate learning? Once a month? Once a week? Once a day?

One Harvard study shows that the frequency of communication really matters:

We find that frequent teacher-family communication immediately increased student engagement as measured by homework completion rates, on-task behavior, and class participation. On average, teacher-family communication increased the odds that students completed their homework by 40%, decreased instances in which teachers had to redirect students’ attention to the task at hand by 25%, and increased class participation rates by 15%.

When you consider this, how often you communicate really plays a significant role in your ability to create partnerships with parents. Moreover, the predictability and persistence of your communication matters.

What does that mean?

It means that you are sending out messages on a consistent basis such as a summary of the learning in a Friday email. Also, when you are sharing information or a request for support, do it with expectant gratitude. Here’s an example of a big ask (dedicating time to help your child research), followed by an affirming message of their support.

Dear Families, 

We are embarking on our first research mission for our unit and need your help! During this project, students will be responsible to research the different points of view when it comes to screen time usage for their age group. I have provided some websites for them already, but I’d like them to find 2 more so that they explore at least 5 different perspectives. In this way, they are not only learning HOW to research but also getting into the habit of discerning the information on the sites. Naturally, this complex task needs guidance and so I am so grateful for your support of your child, helping them to be independent and confident researchers. Your encouragement and assistance will make all the difference to their success, so please contact me if you need help in supporting your child with their use of the research guide I provided. I know that when we are partners in their learning, your child achieves more.

As always, I am grateful for your support and care. If you have any questions or concerns, I am happy to help.

All the best,

Ms. Judy

What do you think- Would you, as a parent engage? Why or why not? Do you feel that you could contact me with questions? As an educator, never underestimate the power and precision of your message. What you communicate and how you communicate creates the culture of your classroom–even to parents! They are a part of your learning community! And YOU train your parents to be kind and helpful when you deliver messages in the same way–it’s those mirror neurons kicking in, so develop your “teacher voice” in your digital emails to be one that is courteous and encouraging.

The Face-to-Face

At the end of the day, I used to love running out with the kids to have an opportunity to chat with parents. I know you may be tired and have a long list of things to do, but a few minutes of chit-chat is worth its weight in gold.  It’s a good time to be friendly, share an anecdote about a child’s day and ask questions.

“Oh my, Mia seemed so tired today. Is she sleeping well at night?”

“Paulo really made me laugh today. He told me that he knows all about the past since his mom comes from the past. Apparently, you are an expert!”

“Ollie mentioned that his grandma is in the hospital. Is everything okay?”

It’s these little conversations, more so than the formal parent meetings, which makes for the lasting glue in a relationship and the information you mine from these conversations–PRICELESS. And when you do have to conduct a formal parent meeting, families aren’t as nervous and defensive because whatever you are going to share with them comes from a place of genuine care for their child. They know that since you’ve been nothing but considerate and approachable from Day 1 of school.

There are a lot of really great teachers who squander the opportunity to meet and greet families on a regular basis. This frequently happens in the upper grades since you may not have to escort students out at the end of the day and so stay in your classrooms. But when you avoid parent contact, families don’t actually think you’re so hot. They find you aloof and often discredit your teaching approaches. You end up being a source of complaint in the WhatsApp or WeChat group, which sometimes ends up with an email to the principal. All it takes is a smile and a bit of banter to change the tides. The time spent is absolutely worth it.

“I am because you are”

In the PYP, we are social constructivist. We grow through each other. Keep parents in that equation. They matter. A LOT. They are a part of our learning community. Lean into the challenges of your parent groups and enlist them through positive and productive conversations. It is our collective positive effort that lifts everyone–all members. So, I hope I have inspired you to reflect and consider your communication style and its impact on student learning and relationship building. Please share any unique way that you or your school cultivates parent involvement. We all do better when we do it together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 3rd Teacher: Messages in School

The 3rd Teacher: Messages in School

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As I walked my daughter to her summer camp’s team table in the lunchroom, I noticed that there were signs on the walls. Since I am an educator, I love coming into schools to examine the clues about the school’s culture. (Student art is my favorite!) 3rd teacher malaguzziBut I stopped and gawked at the walls, having busy parents brush past me, I was mesmerized by their PBIS (Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports) posters: large, realistic with students posed. No colorful mascot with catchy graphics. It was the kids. The character traits that the school focused on were:  Safe. Trustworthy. Accountable. Respectful.

I was too stunned that I didn’t take a photograph, but now I wish I could share the poster that had transfixed me: Respectful.

The Poster: Imagine a group of students, about 5 of them, mostly white but there’s a mixed-race kid thrown in for diversity, standing complacently at the camera with fingers pressed against their lips. “Shhhh” is what I hear.

My heart feels a pang. Respect=Quiet. Really?….Really?

I think to myself, “Judy, this is the cafeteria. Maybe they just want the students to use quiet voices in the lunchroom. Calm down”. This self-talk doesn’t help much. So I take a deep breath as I exit the room.

Why does THIS bother me? Why do I feel such a strong reaction to this image?

As I buckle my seat belt in my car, I sit with this feeling for a moment: Anger?…nearly…but not quite that charged…Disappointment…yes, there’s a hint of that..but I decide on Frustrated Confusion. “Frustrated” because it combines mild anger and disappointment. “Confusion” because I feel puzzled by what this image is suggesting.

In school, every inch of its campus should be designed to promote learning. Loris Malaguzzi, an Italian early childhood psychologist and founder of the Reggio Emilia’s preschools, was the first to recognize that the environment is the “Third Teacher“. Students often are influenced by what they see, hear, smell and feel, and more and more in education, we are designing learning spaces with this in mind. So, in my mind, these posters, which we know were created to teach what “respect” looks, sounds and feels like are particularly confounding because the message they communicate. The children are co-constructing conceptual understanding that respect is the equivalent of silence: Children should be seen and not heard. Is that the message that they really want students to embrace as they grow as a learner?

Because I am in a state of “frustrated confusion”, I decided to go to the school’s website later on that evening and research if they espouse a compliance model of student behavior. However, this is what I found out about the demographics and the values that they want to instill:

Screen Shot 2019-06-29 at 7.09.36 AM

The Lifelong Guidelines are: Truth, Trust, Active Listening, No Put Downs, and Personal Best

The Life Skills are: Integrity, Initiative, Flexibility, Perseverance, Organization, Sense of Humor, Effort, Common Sense, Problem-Solving, Responsibility, Patience, Friendship, Curiosity, Cooperation, and Caring.

 

Those “Life Long Guidelines” and “Life Skills” are really lovely, right? So how do those posters support their overall aim of character development in children?  In my mind, these posters are in direct opposition to the Life Guidelines and Skills they want to develop. I mean, how can we develop Trust and Truth to create Friendship, Problem-solving, and Caring, for example, without dialogue? In a lunchroom, in which conversations and discussions are not controlled by the teacher, this is a very important place to create those attributes. It is a critical communication center and a learning environment that schools should be designing with care and deep consideration.

As we prepare to open our school doors to students, we must not take lightly the role of the 3rd teacher in creating our learning community. As administrators, we need to ensure that the messages we share with children are consistent with the values we want to instill. Also, as teachers, we need to have the courage to advocate for this alignment-first with modeling it in our own classrooms and then reminding others in our learning community of the important function of our learning environment.

 

A Different Kind of Practice for this PYP Educator

A Different Kind of Practice for this PYP Educator

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As a Primary Years Programme educator, we often refer to ourselves as “practitioners” not teachers. That’s an interesting choice of words, isn’t it? Does it make you wonder what it is that we practice?

As it is the beginning of a new year, we have an opportunity to reflect on the accomplishments of last year and contemplate the goals of the 365 days that lay before us. Considering how I am fresh from a holiday mindfulness meditation retreat at Thai Plum Village, it’s easy for me to focus on who I want to become, not just what I want to do like “get in better shape” in the new year.  In fact, I have been contemplating what it means to be a practitioner and examining what I want to “practice” more in 2019, not just with the students, but with all the human beings that I am in contact with. There are 3 things that I’d like to become more proficient as a “practitioner”.

Practice #1: Patience

My daughter just turned 9 years old on December 27th. Future (6)During her celebration, I always remember how I actually went into labor on December 25th, Christmas Day, but it took her 2 more days to make her entrance. That pretty much sums up my daughter for you. She likes to take her time. She’s cautious. She saunters. She has a mind of her own. And at times I feel frustrated and eager to “get going”–a phrase I use with her often. Naturally, this sort of tug and pull with time can create tension and frustration between us. So it makes me wonder what other relationships do I need to practice more patience in and in what situations does the need for exercising patience arise?

I think of moments in which I lean into my students, stopping to listen to them fully. This is what often is the fodder for a “teachable moment”. But as I ponder these “Teachable Moments”, they don’t have to be miraculous events in a lesson. I think there are numerous opportunities to allow time for understanding to organically emerge through our interactions.  But I watch the clock, thinking about our schedules all the time. Of course, this is just one dimension of developing patience in daily school lives. What if I tried to do less to accomplish more in our inquiries, instead of trying to march through our “standards” and “learning objectives” so I can take a breath and provide more space for them to share and reflect. I know this will take more skillfulness in asking questions and planning provocations, but if I am patient, if I am deeply listening to students, I know that these skills can naturally develop. I don’t have to read the latest and greatest professional books, I can just pay better attention to my learners. They are my best teachers. They are my professional curriculum.

It also seems obvious, but a pregnant pause during a conversation with colleagues would also genuinely help me to be more attentive to the ideas and concerns of others. I don’t have to rush in and share a thought or opinion. I can be patient and listen. I can also be patient when it comes to email replies or tasks to be ticked off my to-do list. There is really no shortage of opportunities to practice patience in my work-life.

Practice #2: Joy

If you were to ever meet me in person, I often say “Happy Monday.”..or Tuesday…or whatever day it is when I am walking to my classroom in the morning. To me, it’s a pleasure and honor to get to do the work that I do; I don’t HAVE TO do it, I GET TO do it. I wasn’t always like this. I remember there was a time in which I taught High School that I dreaded Monday. I had to cultivate happiness and when you are a curmudgeon, it feels like an effort to see what is right in a situation. Sharing a smile is where I began. I would stand in the doorway, greeting my Integrated Science students, smiling and inviting them into class. If they smiled back at me–SCORE!!–I knew that they were ready to learn. It felt like a genuine accomplishment. It lifted my spirits and eventually transformed my experience of working with adolescents.

When I started working with younger students, especially the Early Years, it was really hard to be grumpy. If you come across grouchy, those kids lose interest in building a relationship with you. And I can’t say I blame them. So I learned quickly that I was better off singing a song powerplant.jpegor playing a game to get them to focus while I explained something. But those outward actions don’t hide the frustration and agitation going on inside. I had to learn how to calm down internally–still am, for that matter–so that I can bathe our classroom community in that calming presence.

A few years ago, I came across Brendon Burchard, a life coach who preaches that you have to “Bring the Joy” to wherever you go. I honestly hadn’t considered that phenomena, and developing that level of energy and enthusiasm is a life skill that I think all of us should master. It sure makes life more fun and interesting. Here is a quick video on this concept if you are keen to learn more:

Nevertheless, I have been working on “generating” joy on demand. If you go to a Zen retreat like I did, it becomes very easy to learn how returning to our breath is an opportunity to find happiness in the present moment. You don’t have to be a Buddhist to stop, breath, and tune into the present moment. I practiced it for a whole week, and I intend to continue practicing it. There is joy in simply being alive when you connect to the present moment, slow down and look deeply into the situation. It’s very hard to transcribe this experience to you so that you can see how beneficial this practice is for you. But any opportunity to learn mindfulness is advised and I would recommend You Are Here by Thich Nhat Hanh to be a lovely place to start.

Needless to say, becoming more mindful is an opportunity to practice joy in the classroom. Years ago, when I was forcing myself to smile, I had no idea how I was laying down neurological tracks in my brain for peace in my body.

Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.

Read more: Thich Nhat Hanh

Smiling literally changes us, sending off a cascade of chemical signals that tell our bodies that indeed there is something to be happy about. And I have noticed that my smile turns into laughter: quiet chuckles and boisterous guffaws. I wish to practice more of this joy-on-demand this year, and, more importantly, teach it to students. Who knows, maybe I will lucky enough to articulate well to adults, who have more fixed ideas and stories around joyfulness.

Practice #3: Understanding

This practice might be the hardest for me. I know in the PYP, we talk about developing empathy and perspective in our students, but as an adult, our judgment and self-righteousness are hard to shake off at times. At least for me, if I am being honest.

But I am beginning to appreciate that I often don’t have enough information in order to form an opinion about something or someone. I need to practice understanding, taking time to ask questions and observe a situation more closely before drawing a conclusion. It doesn’t happen in one conversation, in one meeting. It takes time, and, again, deep listening, in order to develop clarity.

Let me give you a current example. I have a student that I am pretty sure has dyslexia. The statistics are that 1 in 5 students have it. Seeing how I have 18 students in my class, there’s a high probability that at least 1 student in my class has it, so I am biased to be looking for this reading difficulty to start with. This student has many of the features of dyslexia, but I should not be quick to label him. I need more time to observe and reflect on how he sees words, writes letters and numbers, and hear sounds. We’ve already started interventions with him, so we have to continue reflecting on his response to these approaches. In other words, I need to truly understand him in order to teach him since he learns differently than average kids–which is really what this label of “dyslexia” really means. But he is not the only student that deserves this. All students do.

So for me, developing understanding goes beyond examining data, it is an appreciation for the motivations and emotions of each student–and for my colleagues for that matter. Understanding the “why” behind the behavior, including my own, is so important in cultivating enriching interactions. Approaching others with curiosity and a “beginner’s mind” can help renew my relationship with them and cultivate a fresh perspective of situations, providing me with greater awareness and opportunities to explore different approaches.

New Year or Same Year?

As I carefully consider how I might approach being a teacher and a PYP practitioner differently, I know that there will be moments of genuine effort involved in order to create a NEW YEAR. Because if I just continue repeating habits and behaviors of the past, the calendar may say that it’s a new year, but in truth, unless I change, it’s the same year all over again. It is my intention to develop myself emotionally, as well as intellectually, as I embark upon a new dimension of my professional practice.

Perhaps you have begun to consider who you want to be as an educator as well. What do you want to practice more of in the year to come–what emotions or attitudes do you want to cultivate? Feel free to share in the comments below so that others can be inspired by the energy of your commitment.

I wish you a genuinely Happy New Year.

May you be well.

May you be safe.

May you be peaceful.

May you be love.

May you be happy.

The Only Thing You Need To Do To Develop Student Agency

The Only Thing You Need To Do To Develop Student Agency

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Every school is trying to define and articulate how they are developing “Agency” in their curriculum, but I’m going to tell you the only thing you need to know. I’ve come to realize that it’s not that complicated. First of all, if the term confuses you, change it to “Independence”, because that is what it really means. Don’t overthink this jargon. Now, simplifying this term should help you to realize that you don’t need to create huge innovative initiatives at your school. In fact, I believe it doesn’t begin with our heads, it starts in our hearts. So what is the ONLY thing you need to develop student agency (i.e. independence)?–It’s TRUST. So ask yourself right now, Do I trust my students?

That’s a really important question so sit with it for a minute because our level of trust gets communicated with our words and actions (or inaction) toward our students every day in our classrooms. Have a think about this quote from Peter Johnson, author of Choice Words.

When you figure something out for yourself, there is a certain thrill in the figuring. After a few successful experiences, you might start to think that figuring things out is something that you actually can do. Maybe you are even a figuring out kind of person, encouraging an agentic dimension to identity. When you are told what to do, particularly without asking, it feels different. Being told explicitly what to do and how to do it–over and over again–provides the foundation for a different set of feelings about what you can do and can’t do, and who you are. The interpretation might be that you are the kind of person who cannot figure things out for yourself.

A few weeks ago we had a parent meeting, and there was a lovely debate about what was “better” about teaching through inquiry vs. traditional methods. Parents questioned why education was moving in this direction that felt “slow” to them. “What has changed since we grew up?” was the essence of that sentiment. Perhaps you could say that technology has taught us teachers that we are not the beacons of knowledge anymore–but I replied “brain research”. In my opinion that is really the heart of why we are shifting because inquiry-based approaches have been around since the time of Socrates–maybe even longer. This approach isn’t new either, it’s really an ancient technology that is making a comeback, if you will, in education. However, now we have evidence that our brains get wired differently when we have passive vs. active learning experiences. Since these ideas are still under research, not many schools develop metacognition through the use of using neurological terms like synaptogenesis and neural plasticity, but I do think that the term Growth Mindset has become more commonplace which reflects this phenomenon. Having a Growth Mindset is the key to cultivating the confidence that encourages this “agentic dimension to identity”, as Peter Johnson calls it.

So what does trust look like? We’ve filtered it down to 3 things: giving students more choice, voice, and ownership in their learning. And because we are educators, we feel the need to unpack this, create criteria and continuum that demonstrate the growth of these things in our classrooms.  If you are not sure what I am talking about, here’s an example:continuum-voice-web

It’s a great reflection tool for us when we examine the culture of learning in our classrooms and schools, but this is not in and of itself the means by which agency is developed–we are not trying to force kids into action (not that these teachers are suggesting this with this infographic but I know there are some school leaders who may take it that way) just so we can say that we are ticking the box when it comes to “Voice” with student agency. Truthfully, our kids come with lots of “voice” when they first arrive at school–we can just “shush it” out of them. I know, I am an Early Years educator, and there are lots of gentle and not so gentle ways of doing this; it’s a burden to consider how much our classroom culture shapes their identity and confidence level in these formative years.  But their voice is the expression of their thoughts, and when we suppress that, we limit their motivation to think and contribute to problem-solving situations. Furthermore, if we never offer them choices, then there is no practice in making good decisions, which means “ownership” is void. How can you “own” something you never have the privilege of thinking carefully about and solve problems around? I’m sure you can relate to this through your own experience.Future (5).png

In my mind, this quote from Ron Ritchart really summarizes the work we do to not only create “cultures of thinking” but foster agency. When we promote students making connections and the mindset of “I can do this”, it is no longer a question of IF they will take action, it’s just a matter of WHEN. And we have to TRUST that too–that time is on their side.

Recently we had a student-led Performing Arts assembly that was outstanding. It was extraordinary because every element of that assembly was created by students. Our performing arts teacher, Graham Baines (aka PYP Chef), provided the props and structure, but otherwise, it was purely the students. They’ve been working on a personal “dream goal” for months, spending break time, lunchtime and after-school time to practice and perfect the performance that they designed independently or in collaborative groups. Here is one of the fun student performances–an audience favorite:

It was such a stark contrast from previous assemblies which felt awkward, tense (at moments) and contrived, from the teacher written MC scripts to the songs performed to the order of the acts. This one was energizing, fun and inspiring. There is no doubt that other students will be eager to put in the effort and time to improve their “dream goal” and perform for a large crowd just like this. Also, imagine how those students feel with having such wonderful success, which they get to completely own. However, Graham had to completely trust the students and relinquish control of “the show”, even if it meant that his reputation might be diminished as a teacher in our parent and teacher community.  I have high regard and appreciation for that level of vulnerability and visible courage, as he broke the mold when it came to providing this opportunity to students.

So, with that in mind, how can we not only let go of trying to control everything and trusting students but how can we get more of their thinking expressed in general? Because when we give them space, I truly believe that they will exceed our expectations and their own.

Evolving Relationships with Parents: Open Forums to Open Minds

Evolving Relationships with Parents: Open Forums to Open Minds

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I’m a parent. So I am biased.

In my experience, parents are children’s 1st and longest lasting teacher. And not all the lessons they teach kids are “great ones”. We know that. But we also know that they are doing their best with the knowledge and strategies they have. More importantly, by and large, parents are invested in their child’s future and care about their role in helping their child grow up to be successful. That term “successful” looks and feels different based on the cultural and socioeconomic background, but it is a part of our job, as educators, to find common ground and understanding so that we may become united in our purpose with making our school year the best one on record. I’ve written before about how our school approaches every school year with a “prequel” to great learning by connecting with families: Hopes and Concerns-The Power of Conversations with Parents and Caregivers. However, that can’t be the only time, outside of conferences, that we invite their ideas and develop partnerships.

At our school, like many PYP schools, we have parent meetings to explain how our curriculum is taught and assessed. Often our transdisciplinary approach has to be translated to families since most of them come from traditional schooling backgrounds. Recently we had a parent coffee morning in which we went over our approach and philosophy around literacy learning. It turned out to be an hour-long discussion and debate about why we approach reading through a Love of Reading vs. Leveled Reading lens. Whether they were from Brazil or Bulgaria, Australia or Malaysia, parents were asking “yeah, but what makes this better?” I personally love it when parents challenge us. I know that when they ask questions, they are open to understanding. They want to know. They care. They are co-constructing knowledge, trying to make sense of the why, what and how schools are changing. As an educator, I love leaning into this sort of challenge.

At the end of our conversations, they got it. They felt empowered. We had given them tools and strategies to walk away with, and they asked for more meetings like this. Our team felt wonderful to know that we had drawn them in, not only as partners but as advocates.

However, we know that this isn’t the end, this is the beginning of discussions. We are wondering how else we can invite them in. We don’t want them on the outside, looking in; we want them to become an integral part of the learning community.  That’s an intention of ours! For example, one of my goals this year is to get parents involved in our unit planning retreats so that they might see past the 3Rs: Reading, wRiting and aRithmatic.  But this tweet also inspired some other directions that might support my intention surrounding this goal and has sparked a lot of thinking about how we might create active and involved parents.

But of course, there are more than 6 ideas to engage parents! This is really the tip of the iceberg. Parents are so much more than “parents”, they are resourceful and creative and curious learners, just like our students. And we have to find more ways to have us educators “mingle” with our families around the topic of learning in the 21st century so that we can expand our definitions of what a learning community can be in our schools.

How might we approach this?-I think our approaches will evolve as our thinking about our families as an integral part of our learning community evolve.

How might we know we are evolving?-I think when we see families go from a passive (or passive-aggressive) to a productive role in our schools, we will know that we are on the path.

For me, I find this an exciting time to be in education. How about you?

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