Tag: 21st century

Navigating Transdisciplinary Learning: Empowering Students in the PYP

Navigating Transdisciplinary Learning: Empowering Students in the PYP

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In the Primary Years Programme (PYP), transdisciplinary learning is not only a mouthful to say, but it’s a very difficult thing to articulate.  You might say that it is when we connect the dots between single-subject lenses, but that is only one dimension. You can say it is when we use real-world problems and challenges to provide authentic experiences for learning, but applying knowledge in a safe context through a project-based learning approach does not fully describe it either. The truth is that it is all of this, but so much more. So if we can barely describe it,  how do we know if we are doing it “right”?

Lately, I’ve been thinking about it differently. With the revised IB Programme evaluation process, our PYP programme development is ever evolving, always unfinished, as we elevate and improve our standards and practices.  So I have come to think about transdisciplinary learning, not like a checklist of “to dos” but more like a compass. As we inquire into how we “do” the PYP in our school’s unique context, we should seek a more holistic approach to our students’ learning, navigating on a path toward more meaningful and transformative learning experiences. So what direction do we need to go?

NORTH: Knowledge and Grit

There are many forms of knowledge. Transdisciplinary learning transcends mere memorization of facts. However, let’s be clear, the retrieval of information is valuable, but learners must realize that truths may change in the face of new evidence. Thus students must come to recognize that learning any content requires an understanding of the ways information is obtained, used, and created. Knowledge is acquired through study and collaboration within and across disciplines, in which new understandings are co-constructed, and thus may be revised.   Although there is satisfaction in knowing facts and figures, we must also remain curious and open to making more discoveries. If students are still asking questions, making connections, and keen to dig deeper at the end of a unit of inquiry, then you are pointing in the direction of transdisciplinary learning.

If not, then we need to come up with ways to create a learning environment that fosters intellectual grit and a thirst for ongoing discovery. Moreover, paving the way towards true transdisciplinary understanding might require more teacher collaboration and interdisciplinary exploration in order to analyze the unit of inquiry for opportunities to invite more student agency and investigation of topics within the related concepts.

EAST: Emotion and Care

Let’s be honest, if the heart is absent during learning, then true learning is impossible. Having an emotional response is key to a student taking an interest in a unit. And when there is student interest, the brain is open to taking in content and connecting this information to its schema. Emotion makes it “sticky”.

Transdisciplinary learning invites personal reflection, creating empathy, compassion, and social responsibility, nurturing a sense of concern for others and the world. According to the UNESCO Futures of Education Ideas LAB, this would look like students reflecting on how we are interconnected to each other and our planet. We impact our communities as well as being simultaneously affected by others and the world, stirring us to work toward a goal for the common good of all. They describe this as a “commoning” mindset or attitude of “caring for”, “caring about” and receiving care (“care receive”).

Let’s put this in a context of a unit of inquiry:

Central Idea: The interconnectedness of living things influences the sustainability of our planet.

Lines of Inquiry:

  1. The interdependence of living organisms in ecosystems(function)
  2. Human actions and their impact on the environment (connection)
  3. Strategies for promoting environmental sustainability (responsibility)
  • Care For: Students might actively participate in environmental conservation efforts, such as organizing a beach clean-up to protect marine life and habitats. They could create posters and awareness campaigns to encourage others to reduce waste and recycle, demonstrating care for the planet and its resources.
  • Care About: During the unit, students might develop empathy and concern for endangered species. They could research and present information about endangered animals and their habitats, raising awareness about the importance of protecting biodiversity and the interconnectedness of all living beings.
  • Care Receive: Students may collaborate with local environmental organizations or experts who share their knowledge and experiences in conservation efforts. These experts could visit the classroom or take students on field trips to engage them in hands-on experiences, deepening their understanding of environmental care and inspiring them to take action.

You can probably think about your own school’s programme of inquiry and start asking yourself if these units cultivate this spirit of “commoning”. If there are units that are blaise or do not invoke students to action, then chances are that their hearts are not ignited. This may require some re-visioning of the learning experiences or re-writing units altogether.

SOUTH: Skills and Habits of Learning

If we want our students to be truly empowered then they must be able to put their intellect into action, and that is harder than it sounds. There are plenty of smart people who sit on their sofas and never lift a finger to improve our world. Why is that? Are they lazy? No! I reckon it’s simply because they never learned HOW to organize their ideas into action.

So, we have to consider the value and importance of utilizing the PYP AtLs (approaches to learning) in order for our students to conduct meaningful research and become resourceful problem-solvers. We need to ask ourselves if our Atls are an afterthought in our planning or are in the forefront of our minds.

So what does that look like? Well, not only should our classrooms provide explicit instruction and success criteria that help students learn how to learn, but we should support students to create their own goals. For example, how often do teachers assess students and then sit down with students to share the results? Teachers may take weeks to do a reading running record but then miss out on the opportunities to discuss the strengths and opportunities for development for the learner, let alone give them the chance to co-construct goals with them. When we reflect on this, we must realize that there are possibilities within our current assessment practices that we can co-construct goals with our learners. This is a perfect moment to empower our students and create a more transdisciplinary approach to learning.

Even small changes in our planning of the Atls can yield big results when we start to brainstorm ways to elevate them in our classrooms.

WEST: Working Together

Developing the desire to live and work together, and thinking about the quality of life and common good for future generations is an inherent aspect of transdisciplinary learning.

One of the most exciting challenges in our programmes is managing the delicate balance of preparing our students to be open-minded while cherishing their heritage. This is why I think having a collaborative learning environment is critical to the PYP. Students must understand the influence of culture and values in shaping our opinions while seeking diverse perspectives when tackling complex problems.

We need to analyze our classroom cultures to evaluate if collaboration is a challenge or an innate part of how learning happens. Students must have opportunities to discover the joys of working together, pooling their varied talents and perspectives together in order to craft innovative solutions. Moreover, they need strategies for when conflict arises (which it ALWAYS does) and how they can find agreement in the midst of disagreement.

If students lack empathy and prefer competition over cooperation, then this is our signal that change needs to happen in our programme. I don’t think the age of the learner matters, a thoughtful discussion about this observation can help generate some new understandings and provide solutions on how the classroom can shift into a more collaborative spirit of work.

Walking in the “right” direction?

Of course our dream as PYP educators is that transdisciplinary learning infuses our students with a desire for a future grounded in unity, empathy, and sustainability. As we examine our programmes, I hope this “compass” helps you to consider what direction your school may need to go in so that transdisciplinary learning can no longer be a theoretical concept but a palpable plan for improving student learning. I think this is a highly personal reflection and gathering insight from a variety of stakeholders can help prioritize which one of these “directions” is right for your school.

If you have other ideas, please leave a comment below so we can engage in thoughtful dialogue. Together, we all can unleash the power of the PYP and move towards a more compassionate, collaborative, and sustainable world.

Want to Learn More? I was inspired by this reading. 

Sobe, N. W. (10 February 2021) Reworking Four Pillars of Education to Sustain the Commons. UNESCO Futures of Education Ideas LAB.  Retrieved from https://en.unesco.org/futuresofeducation/ideas-lab/sobe-reworking-four-pillars-education-sustain-commons

Delors, J. [. (1996). Learning: the treasure within; report to UNESCO of the International Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Century (highlights). Unesdoc.unesco.org. Retrieved November 6, 2022, from https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000109590.locale=en

A Different Way to Promote Teacher Well-being (#PYPCBookClub)

A Different Way to Promote Teacher Well-being (#PYPCBookClub)

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I’m going to be honest, I am skeptical about 2022.  Although Covid has impacted me on a minor scale personally, it’s quite clear that this pandemic isn’t over yet and I have had friends and colleagues who have really experienced its malingering effects. So, would putting a pause on professional learning be better for teacher well-being? Hmm….. 

Recently in a Teacher’s College Reading and Writing Project’s coaching institute Brooke Geller spoke about how important professional development is, especially during this time because teachers need to know (build capacity) and need to grow (have motivation). When we engage in meaningful and authentic professional learning experiences, it helps to fill our teachers’ emotional tank, as they feel reignited with purpose. But training and PLCs are not enough to sustain this spark. As leaders, we have to recongize how fragile and fleeting aspirations may be, thus kindle teachers enthusiam and interest. More importantly, we have to be vunerable and stand shoulder to shoulder with our teachers, learning together so we can grow together. Moveover, Brooke cited some of the advice from Leading the Rebound, in which leaders have to be more explicit noticing and naming the causal relationships in teacher’s practice and how this effort leads to impact on student learning.  An example of a teacher conversation might  “I noticed that you updated your word wall and because you updated the word wall, I see that the kids are using it to discuss new vocabulary terms and reference it for spelling.” In times like this, teachers need to know that their efforts are making a difference. Even our best, most talented and resilent educators need to be openly acknowledged. 

This insight could not have come at a better time. I am in the midst of reading  another great book, A Guide to Documenting Learning,   in our PYP Coordinator Book Club. Although this book by Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano and Janet Hale is aimed mostly at teachers, it challenges all members in a school community to consider how they can make their learning visible. They bekon all of us in education to embue the qualities of a life-long learner:

  • the curiousity and risk-taking of a Researcher
  • the restless spirit of an Adventurer
  • the dedication to unlearning and relearning as we make theories like a Scientist
  • the imagination of a Story teller
  • the courage of an Innovator

Thinking about my role as the coordinator, I feel I have an obligation not only to model this but to document these attributes in our teachers.  As a matter of fact, when I read this quote, I heard myself gasp outloud, as I recongized its signficance with professional learning:

You might agree that most teachers (like most adults) don’t know what they don’t know until they have an “ah-ha moment” or epiphany. Of course I can orchestrate self-reflection through the intentional use of thinking strategies in our meetings. But I want to stretch myself be a mirror in order to help teachers to see how they are as life-long learners as well as putting into focus the impact that they are making on student learning. I think I can not only proactively capture how learning is occuring but also provide noursishment to the souls of my teachers, making them aware that who they are and what they do matter. 

So as we begin our new term’s PLCs, I am making the intention to not only verbally praise teachers’ efforts towards self-improvement but also create artifacts of their learning journey (as well as the students) so I can model how to collect evidence of learning, but more importantly promote teacher well-being. And although I feel that 2022 feels a bit tenuous, I am excited by the prospect of demonstrating the growth and development of my amazing teachers. 

 

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?

DigitalLunch: How to Bring an End to Poverty (#TeachSDGs) using Google’s Blogger App

DigitalLunch: How to Bring an End to Poverty (#TeachSDGs) using Google’s Blogger App

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To imagine this goal- ending poverty in all its forms everywhere- seems like humankind would need to make a mighty effort to bring this into reality. However, I felt inspired by the research presented by Peter Diamandis in his book, Abundance, the Future is Better Than You Think. Extreme-Poverty-OurWorldIn his book, he presents really interesting data that shows that current efforts are making an impact, helping people get out of “absolute poverty” or extreme poverty which are defined as income levels that are below the minimum amount to sustain people’s basic needs. Although this is a dreadful situation, I believe as educators, we should convey a sense of optimism to our students–that WE can be the Change, while bringing them into awareness of the issue and compel them to eradicate it.

If we are to take on the challenge of teaching the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), then we can look to the work done by UNESCO to find learning objectives that we may embed into our current curriculum. They suggest to create a conceptual understanding of extreme and relative poverty and to critically reflect on the underlying cultural and behavioral practices that create these conditions. Furthermore, it should be our intention to connect the head to the heart, adding social-emotional learning objectives so that students begin to show sensitivity to the issues of poverty as well as empathy and solidarity with poor people and those in vulnerable situations. (Education for Sustainable Goals). I believe wholeheartedly we can do this, and I’d like to suggest using the Google App Blogger to cultivate knowledge of the local, national and global distribution of extreme poverty and extreme wealth.  In my opinion, student blogs can be a great way to chronicle their learning journey because they combine both traditional writing skills with the new literacy skill of visual messages as students create reflections and powerful posts that respond to their deepening understanding. 

Here are some of the basic reasons why I would use Blogger:

  • Free and easy to set up–all you need is a Gmail account.
  • Simple and easy to use its features.
  • Autosaves their work as a draft, and they can go back in “history” to review changes.
  • Can be used as an individual or collaborative blog
  • Great context for important problem-solving, critical thinking and cultural awareness.
  • Has the opportunity for an authentic audience experience.
  • Transforms students of “consumers” into “creators” of media.

My Personal Recommendations….

  • When you have the students sign up Blogger, make sure they DO NOT sign up for the G+ platform or it will not allow the blog to get set up if they are under 13 years old.
  • Make sure you have Admin privileges on the students’ accounts, so you can have editing privileges and can moderate comments.

Click on the video below if you are ready to learn  How to Create a Blog for Student Learning Using Blogger.  (If you are already familiar with Blogger, then you can continue to read how we could use to blogging to journey students through an inquiry into poverty…… )

 

Okay, so now that you have a general sense of the power of blogging in learning and how you can get started using Blogger, I’d like to provide some ideas of how you use the blog to show growth in their understanding of issues surrounding poverty, in their local and community and globally.

Suggested Provocations:

  1. Watching the film Living On One Dollar . Also, there are a ton of resources on that website and additional work done by the filmmakers. By the way, not an easy documentary to watch–will evoke strong emotions.  (I’m tearing up just thinking about it.)
  2. Field Trip to the Landfill. What does the trash tell us about the wealth in our community?  Depending on where you live in the world, you may actually bare witness to people who are living in extreme poverty.
  3. A ride on the local bus through impoverished neighborhoods. In some places, just the bus ride alone can be quite an eye-opener to the people who live in poverty. I would add the See, Think and Wonder thinking routine to this excursion.
  4. Student Challenge: What might it be like living on 1 USD a day?

Blogging about these experiences will be illuminating and can be done either in-class or for home learning. Here are some possible blog prompts:

blog prompts.png

I would also recommend that students read and respond to each other’s blogs using the comment feature. No matter the age-group, I think a review of what constitutes a helpful comment would be a smart idea. I would NEVER assume students understand the complexity of netiquette. In first grade, these were some of the “starters” we gave them to help guide appropriate responses: Helpful Comments. Perhaps those might provide a guide on how you might want students to engage with each other online.

These suggestions, as well as the blog prompts, are merely the beginning of what could be possible. If you go to the TeachSDGs website, you can find more resources and ideas. The great thing is that students could share their blog posts on social media platforms to further spread the message of the SDGs as well as be a resource to others grade levels within our school communities or across the globe.

If you have any feedback, I’d really appreciate how you felt about this information:

 

*This is the 1st of our Digital Lunch series, in which using Google Apps for Education training was used to support teaching the Sustainable Development Goals put forth by the United Nations. In this lunch hour training sessions, participates were exposed to SDG #1: No Poverty and the digital tool of Blogger. This blog post gives an overview of the training.

The Role of the #PYP Coordinator: 3 Things that No One Wants to Learn the Hard Way

The Role of the #PYP Coordinator: 3 Things that No One Wants to Learn the Hard Way

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About a month ago, I sat having wonderful discussions with PYP coordinators from all over the world in the Hague about the Enhanced PYP. Aside from curriculum, it got me thinking about other aspects of the leadership role of the Curriculum Coordinator. It’s not an easy position to be in and no 3-Day Workshop or online course can provide adequate training for your school’s special challenges.

As coordinators, we have the responsibility for The 3Cs: Climate, Curriculum, and Culture. It’s hard to say which one of the 3Cs comes first as a priority as they are critical to the success and impact you can make at your school.  You often have to juggle them and it’s hard to keep those balls up in the air but they have to stay in motion. The impact they have on the community can help to create a contagion of positivity and goodwill if done well. Most of our professional development comes from the context of those 3Cs and they take time to develop. And no coordinator can be successful alone–they need a team, and teams develop through relationships.  I think having empathy and coming from the perspective of “the teacher” is particularly important as it relates to developing staff relationships, and there are few things that I wish someone would have advised me on when it came to the role.

People Before Paperwork

We are human beings, not human doings.  You’ve got to consider people over paperwork because people are our job–whether it’s the little people in our classrooms or the big people that make up our staff. paperworkI know we have our checklists of paperwork that we have to stay on top of, but at the end of the day, I’d rather have teachers focused on making sure the kids have engaging, authentic and impactful learning and I have rarely found that paperwork inspires them to create that. This is especially true at PYP schools in which we have to reflect often on our students’ learning so that we can determine the next steps in their inquiries

I had one coordinator who used to come in nearly weekly and, during our meetings, he would put our conversations about learning into the PYP planner or onto our scope and sequence documents so that the ideas were documented (ticked the box) and the teachers could engage in more creative thinking during collaboration time. Also, I had more time to communicate with families, look at data and plan more thoughtful provocations.

Coordinators should always look for opportunities to free up time so that teachers don’t have to be bogged down so much with paperwork and instead shift their focus to making learning impactful.

Professional Relationships: You get people ON the bus when you don’t put people UNDER the bus

A common mistake that coordinators make is that they complain to teachers about the administrators as a bid for connections. Don’t throw administration under the bus in front of teachers. As a new or aspiring leader, choosing to throw someone under the bus is one of the telling signs of your leadership capabilities.

[bctt tweet=”When you blame somebody else for something that you should be taking some responsibility for, you are communicating weakness and not strength” username=”judyimamudeen”] In most situations, you can be a change agent so you should be seeking solutions and not be projecting your frustrations onto the staff.  I know it may help you to “feel” that can connect more with the teacher’s perspective but it’s unprofessional and you will develop a culture of complaint and gossip. Who really wants that?

evalutionAnd it’s poor form to throw teachers under the bus in front of teachers. Trust is so important in your work so if you undermine others, expect staff to lose their confidence in you.

It’s the Law of Karma-what is said aloud, goes aloud. So Watch your mouth! The minute you walk away, that teacher you complained to is wondering “hmmm… I wonder what my coordinator tells others about me?” If you feel that a teacher isn’t working up to their potential, talk TO them directly (not ABOUT them) and in a non-threatening way, and seek out a mentor for them. Also, how you say what you say matters. Under your breath, if you must, repeat the mantra: Stay professional. Stay Professional. Stay Professional.

I’m not going to lie here. I have suffered from bouts of “Insert Foot into Mouth Disease” and, goodness knows, that I have had to go back to a staff member to apologize for saying something in a wrong way.  But, for me, it’s more important to have peace and understanding than lose face. However, I once worked with a vice-principal who NEVER ONCE said an unkind word about anyone. EVER. He had plenty of opportunities to humor me with grievances but he never did. Bless him. I thought of him as a saint. And if he asked me to jump, I was like “How high?” and “Would you like sprinkles with that?” He is still my inspiration today because he was always compassionate, generous, thoughtful and caring.  Now, if we all could aspire to that level of professionalism, imagine what a peaceful and productive school we’d have.

Communication: The Human Touch 

Have you ever played a game but you didn’t know the rules? You read the rule book (if there was one) but you just didn’t get the gist of the game. It was frustrating, wasn’t it? You felt like you could never win.

Often that happens with procedures and policies at school. Admin sends them policy manuals and handbooks (if you have them) and tells them to read it. And through osmosis, they are expected them to “get it” and feel successful in managing the systems and practices of your school community. New teachers need explicit explanations of the rules and norms of this “game” called At Our School We Do….. Sometimes coordinators do this through an induction program that is spread out over time. I know that I have dedicated a period of weeks to this and I found it highly successful. My staff feedback was that it mitigated the overwhelm of their transition and helped develop our personal relationship.

Another coordinator I know has staff meetings “end” early during key times in the year (like the 1st 3-way conference, or report writing time, etc..) so that she can have a Q and A sessions with teachers about expectations and protocols for important events. The staff members who already know these procedures and processes feel happy because they can “be released” to do other work, meanwhile, the teachers (mainly new teachers) who need some support can stay behind and get their needs met as well. Later, she sends a follow-up email documenting the expectations that help these teachers to remember those conversations.

Speaking of Emails vs. Meetings

emailsCall me Old Fashion, but I prefer the personal touch of staff meetings over email any day. I like connecting with colleagues and having a common understanding of the events in our community and our school’s pedagogical approaches. Also, consider the fact that if teachers are more concerned with keeping up with emails, rushing to read them then they are not examining students’ work or reflecting on the discussions they had, then the focus isn’t on improving learning. We want teachers to be spending their cognitive power on making learning for students awesome rather than your 18-bullet email about professional development goals. Let that one sink in a bit. It’s good to have a weekly newsletter to communicate important things but if you find that your staff emails began as a couple of sentences and now is evolving paragraphs, then it needs a face to face. A quick and dirty chat will be more impactful than a back and forth conversation over the internet.

And one last point about “the human touch”-Do you go into classrooms? Or do teachers have to come to you? Are you “The Boss” or are you “a colleague and mentor”? How you present and project yourself weighs heavily on the level of trust and compliance you will develop with your team.  Kindness and connection are vital to the work we do in schools. It’s how you build trust and loyalty.  Talk to you teachers-You don’t have to be charismatic and bubbly but you do have to have sincere enthusiasm for the work they are doing in classrooms. We all need encouragement sometimes and when you say it to their face, it is always more meaningful and authentic than an email blast. It’s great to give them recognition amongst their peers but to take the time to tell them in person is really powerful. Don’t underestimate the value and meaning of your words.

Perhaps you might relate to these challenges. As humans, we are all a bit flawed (except for that saintly vice-principal) and when you are in leadership your flaws are even more obvious. So I am wondering what other ideas and perspectives you might share that would help develop more positive staff relationships as we engage in their role in the curriculum. Tips and tricks welcomed 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.

#PYP The Null Curriculum? Why PYP Schools Need to Examine Science in the Program of Inquiry

#PYP The Null Curriculum? Why PYP Schools Need to Examine Science in the Program of Inquiry

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Let me be clear, I am biased. I wholeheartedly agree with the Nobel-Prize winning quantum scientist, Richard Feynman, ” The world looks so different after learning science.”  In my mind, this is the greatest argument for scrutinizing our Programme of Inquiry to ensure that are developing scientific literacy. Scientific inquiry naturally challenges and changes you.

I have been trying to track down the memory of where I first heard a PYP educational leader say that out of our 6 Transdisciplinary Themes, there are some units that should be Social Studies focused (Where We Are in Place and Time and How We Organize Ourselves), another that should be Arts focused (How We Express Ourselves), 2 that are Science focused (How the World Works and Sharing the Planet) and the Who We Are theme can bridge multiple disciplines. Of course, it’s very easy to read the transdisciplinary theme descriptors and arrive at these conclusions, but this whole notion of a theme as the “arts” and the “social studies” unit is incongruent with the whole notion of what IS supposed to transdisciplinary learning. But whenever I look at a school’s Programme of Inquiry (POI), this sort of thinking seems to leave its fingerprints everywhere in their curriculum design. Look at your own POI, right now. I double dog dare you! You’ll see exactly what I am talking about.

I’d like to challenge this discrete packaging of developing knowledge by themes. Furthermore, I’d like to use this term, the Null Curriculum, ironically, to explore what it means to our POI.

The Null Curriculum: the options students are not afforded, the perspectives they may never know about, much less be able to use, the concepts and skills that are not part of their intellectual repertoire. -Elliot Eisner-

For those who don’t know, Elliot Eisner, a curriculum thought leader and art education advocate, coined this term null curriculum, in which he often stated that art appreciation is an important and often neglected aspect of our school’s implicit curriculum. However, this term is transferable to other subject matter. When we relegate science and its thinking skills to only a couple of TD themes, we are minimalizing its importance, making it null; especially since it is not a “special” (visual art, music/performing arts, additional languages and PE) that IB schools offer a couple times a week. Therefore, Science, as a subject, only gets to be spotlighted and explored for 6-12 weeks a year, for maybe 3 hours a week during the time in which we are not teaching math, literacy or the special subjects.

Did you just do the math? 36 hours or 3 days of Science learning a year. Ouch. That’s not a lot dedicated time to an area of learning that we know is emerging as a necessary element of our students’ lives. We know that technology is changing the dynamics of our society and STEM (Science, Technology, and Math) is becoming a focal point for innovation in many schools (which many schools have expanded STEM to STEAM to include art as an essential component) So shouldn’t we be examining our POIs to make sure we are in synch with emerging trends and provide a balanced curriculum?

Here’s what troubles me the most, science, in my mind is the binding agent of all the other disciplines. It is an inherently transdisciplinary inquiry. That’s because science explores the “magic” that remains invisible until we apply scientific habits of thinking. It starts off with What Does It All Mean, Man?-sort of thinking; our curiosity and our imagination are naturally provoked and we are driven to make discoveries which only lead to further questions and a revealing of new possibilities. Science, in my mind, is a big game of What If? which can be applied to all manner of subjects and cultivate deeper thinking. 

Anytime teachers think differently about (1).png

When the Arts and Science Get Married: Changing How the World Works to How We Express Ourselves 

I’d like to pull out some central ideas and challenge how you can put more science into other themes.  How We Express Ourselves is probably not the first one you would have picked so I’d like to start there.  Here’s the overview of the theme.

How We Express Ourselves: 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, I’m going to hit close to home and share the How the World Works unit that we did with our 1st graders:

Understanding sound and light can transform experience.

Put this central idea in that theme descriptor above. Think about how students could have applied their knowledge of light and sound if we had inquired through this theme.  We could have developed perspective-taking and thinking about an audience. We could have explored acoustics and how light enhances a performance. We could have used design thinking. It would have been messy learning. We, students and teachers, included, would have gone into the learning pit, and we would have had fun, we would have been challenged. It would have an impact and lasting memory on all of us. It would have been exhilarating and excruciating at the same time. Really the only constraints of this collaboration would be the depth of our lines of inquiry.

What about this central idea from another school’s  How the World Works Unit?

Materials can be categorized, manipulated and changed.

The same sort of collaboration would have been possible.  If we extended the central to include more concepts, I think there would be a richer learning experience. For example:

Materials can be categorized, manipulated and changed for a purpose.

Materials can be categorized, manipulated and changed for communicating a message. 

The second central idea makes me wonder how we might explore art curation or how manufacturers and designers consider the impact of plastic on our world. What about  Addis shoes made out of plastic?-Can you think of how you can teach students material science and apply it to innovation, making treasure out of trash? We just did this concept of transformation with musical instruments to make a sound garden at our school. (This unplanned collaboration came out of a Sharing the Planet unit) This is only one idea of a hundred possibilities. I’m not even scratching the surface. What ideas float up in your mind?

Here’s another central idea:

People are inspired to create by observing the natural world. 

If you pull out a piece of paper and start mind mapping the possibilities of this central idea, it would be hard to write only 3 lines of inquiry for it. My mind goes to weather, jumps to landforms, then airplane design or bridge building then wonders how we could capture movement and change in our drawings or dancing. I think about culture, whether it is folktale creation stories or costumes.  There all sorts of connections that can be made. I am only limited by my imagination.

I’d like to share one more thought about the marriage of art and science in our curriculum. Have a think about what Eisner is postulating:

eeisner
From Reimagining Schools: The Selected Works of Elliot W. Eisner

Did you read that last line? Connoisseurs of…the world. When you marry science to all the other areas of learning, you get all sorts of delightful experiences. You apply skills. You apply knowledge. So stop thinking that How We Express Ourselves is the Arts unit! It goes beyond those boundaries of that discipline, from passive to active learning, when you combine it with science.

I’m going to revisit this idea of putting science into other themes.  I just really want to challenge this notion of what disciplines are emphasized during a unit of inquiry. I want us PYP educators to really be true to the transdisciplinary nature of our framework’s design–not because we are blindly following Making the PYP Happen, but because the future world in which our students will live demand that they can transfer knowledge and skills between disciplines. Technology is blurring the lines between subject areas and we need to prepare students for the shifting nature of what we will call “progress”.

Perhaps you have any other thoughts that you would like to add to this discussion of curriculum. Please share! It helps all of us grow!

Why There is No Escape From the Learning Pit

Why There is No Escape From the Learning Pit

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It’s been almost two decades in education and I’m never sure if I’m stumbling into or climbing out of a “Learning Pit“–this term that explains when our current knowledge base and beliefs are being challenged. pit-1-simple-version It’s sort of ironic–me, the teacher, who is supposedly the expert, is often shoulder-deep with the students, trying to figure out the course and direction of the inquiry, instead of being assured and confident about the path we are going. It seems that bewilderment, frustration, and struggle have become the perks of being in a state of wonder and anticipation. Perhaps for this reason, I feel that I can never be the same teacher to a different set of students, because if they are different, so I too must respond to their uniqueness and intellectual demands. I cannot copy and paste from last year. They deserve a more customized experience, that is personal to each of them, and collectively as a cohort. I don’t know why I am this way, but I think I may have come across something that may explain my predicament.

 

I read this beautiful essay, Why Beliefs Matter by Heidi Mills with Tim O’Keefe the other day from the book, The Teacher You Want to Be and it has been a salve to my cognitive dissonance. In it, Heidi cuts to the root of this feeling for me.

The beliefs we hold as teachers shape the beliefs children take up about themselves as learners, the learning process and the world around them. …When we encounter new beliefs that resonate, we are inspired to take up new instruction and assessment practices that match them. If we are deliberately growing and changing as professionals, our cutting-edge beliefs are often ahead of our practices.

Because this feels true for me, I would also like to spin the first idea around to say that the beliefs children hold about themselves as learners, Anytime teachers think differently about (3)the learning process and the world around them, shape the beliefs teachers have about themselves and their approaches to pedagogy.  I feel very strongly that if I am to become the teacher that the students NEED, then I must be flexible, ready to listen and bend my practice to suit. This is precisely why I feel this collaboration and co-construction of meaning puts me “in the learning pit” half the time because my theories about education are being challenged, “growing and changing” alongside with the learners.

As I come into the awareness of my ephemeral practice, there is only one thing I am certain of: I will change as they change. And the professional conversations that I will engage in with my peers and team members will help to either clarify or complicate my feelings. Knowing me, I’ll throw all of into the “learning pit”–with the awful habit I have to challenge and question everything. But perhaps we will all clamber out of it by the end of the year, hopefully feeling a bit more intuitive and confident that we can meet learners wherever they are and go wherever they lead us, as we make sense of our worlds together.

 

 

 

 

#IMMOOC: I Used to Think, but Now I Think…Shifts in My Teaching Practice

#IMMOOC: I Used to Think, but Now I Think…Shifts in My Teaching Practice

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In one of my first professional development sessions, I  remember we had to read and reflect on the book Who Moved My Cheese?: An A-Mazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life  by Spencer Johnson. At the time, American schools were embarking on a major shift in their methods of teaching by using cooperative groups instead of desks lined up in rows. I was chatting with an Australian colleague about it, sharing a laugh about how “innovative” cooperative learning groups were early in our careers– it’s hard to imagine that there was a time that putting desks together to form a group was once an edgy idea in education. Desks seem like an ancient artifact of our former educational paradigm. My how far we have come in such a short period of time.

During this week of the IMMOOC, we are exploring our beliefs about learning, taking a stroll down memory lane and considering the question:

What is one thing that you used to do in education that you no longer do or believe in? Why the change?

That question is actually quite provocative because I’ve changed so much as an educator, and I would say that being an IB educator continues to transform my thinking, as we are on a mission to develop student agency so they can co-create a world that works for everyone.

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So as I put students front and center of their learning, who I was as an educator has radically changed from when I first began teaching and it continues to be in flux.

As I review the major shifts in my mindset, I thought I would use this Visible Thinking Routine , that encourages reflection. Just like cooperative learning, I remember this whole idea of wanting the students to share their ideas openly as quite a fresh approach to teaching and learning not all that long ago. It’s rather funny how much has changed in a remarkably small expanse of time in education, huh?!

But anyhow, I digress:

Here are 10 beliefs that have been changed over the years of being a teacher

I used to think that….

  1. it was the students’ job to get along with me and my rules, but now I know, there are no rules, just expectations of decency which are reciprocal and I must respect students in order for them to respect me.
  2. tests and quizzes were true and accurate measures of a child’s capabilities, but now I think, those are “snapshots” of their learning journeys and rarely define the true depth of their understanding and knowledge.
  3. I was the only expert in the room but now I know that there is more intelligence and talent in the room than mine alone.
  4. “good students” were obedient ones, but now I know that all students are “good” and have unique ways of showing it.
  5. my voice was the most important one to listen to, but now I know, that it’s the student’s voice.
  6. I was the teacher, but now I know, I am the learner as well.
  7. “special needs” were only for students who had “learning disabilities” but now I know, everyone has special needs because we are all unique learners; this is just good teaching practice to recognize and adjust the learning to accommodate our learning styles.
  8. labeling a child defined who they would become, but now I know, these labels are temporary and mostly unhelpful in cultivating their confidence as learners. Those labels are to help me more than them in identifying their needs as a learner.
  9. kids couldn’t be “trusted” to be in charge of their learning, but now I know, we are born deeply curious and students remain that way if we permit this curiosity to flourish in our classroom culture. We should trust their instinct for learning.
  10. ideas in education are stagnant and fixed, but now I know, with the research coming out on our brains, the best of teaching and learning is yet to come–and I hope to be a part of that shift.

Here is one belief that I think will always be unrevised in education: Teachers who spend time building relationships with their students will always stand out as exceptional in a child’s life and push students beyond their boundaries.

 

What do you think? What is something that you used to think, but now you know it to be different?–and what idea do you think is timeless and will always be preserved in the teaching profession? Share in the comments below.

 

#IMMOOC: Finding Opportunites for Innovation

#IMMOOC: Finding Opportunites for Innovation

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I was recently reading Dave Burgess’ blog about how change is built and not announced. He used this beautiful analogy of building a snowball that really resonated with me and how I think about innovation:

No matter what your position, you can create change. If you are struggling to do so, maybe you’re trying to pick up all the snow at once. Just grab a handful, pack it tight, and then start pushing. Change is a lot easier when you’re rolling snowballs downhill.

-Dave Burgess-

In this week’s IMMOOC, we are exploring our definitions of innovation and what they can look like in our school’s context. Change is an inherent part of innovation. In the book, Innovator’s Mindset, George Curous shares some of the challenges he faced with defining it as he took on his role as the Divisional Principal of Innovative Teaching and Learning. He contemplated Simon Sinek’s ideas on leadership, ruminating on how impactful organizations are when they dig into and articulate a clear “why” behind their existence and then move toward changing the what and designing their system of how to match their cultural values. Cultivating an innovative culture doesn’t require transformation -it requires information on what is ideal for our unique group of learners and school context, refining the current practices and classroom spaces so that it is optimal for learning. “Change for the sake of change” is not the point of innovation. George explains that “Innovation is a way of thinking that creates something new and better“, as we consider what would help spur the intellectual and emotional growth of our learners. When we keep the focus on the kids, innovation happens organically and with purpose.Anytime teachers think differently about.png

As I step into the classroom this week, I have the intention to think differently about our learning community and find the opportunities for innovation. If I think back to Dave’s snowball analogy, I’ll need to keep my awareness on the “small handfuls of snow” that I can pick up and build upon so that I can create some momentum with the innovative ideas that will best serve our students.

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