Month: April 2016

Engagement vs Empowerment

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As one of the guiding principles of learning in the Winnipeg School Division, I based most of my classroom practices around the goal of engaging students. Engagement is not a buzzword but a practice, of captivating student’s attention, and having them invested in what content they are learning. Making learning interesting. Fun even. By keeping this as a central idea close to my heart while I taught, I thought I was putting students at the center of my pedagogy. I still think I am, putting students first that is. Engagement is good practice. But maybe I set the bar too low.

George Couros admits in his book, that even in his early days of teaching, he believed that engagement was enough. It’s not that engagement is bad practice. But as George goes on to explain by quoting Bill Ferriter, “Engaging students means getting kids excited about our content, interests, and curricula.” Still sounds pretty good to me. Until I read further.

Empowerment

Empowering students “means giving kids the knowledge and skills to pursue their passions, interests, and future”. We need to raise the bar from just settling for engagement through good content and practice, to empowerment. It’s easy to do an inquiry project, or genius hour as a “one-off” empowering activity, but how do you embed this idea mindset into our classroom environment? I do not have the answer yet, but I certainly hope to continue to learn and find out.

“Empowering students to succeed in school and life – means that we pay attention to the skills companies are seeking.”

As a high school teacher, I admit to occasionally resorting to an old adage, referring to my duty to adequately prepare students for the “real world”. George reminds us that this “real world” is the world we all live in, not some futuristic society. In Thomas Friedman’s article which George references titled, “How to Get a Job at Google”, there are five hiring attributes that the company desires in its employees: cognitive ability, leadership, humility, ownership, and expertise.

As teachers yes we want students to have these, as both Thomas and George point out. But I couldn’t help but notice that in order for an educator to truly embrace the innovators mindset, an effective teacher must have these attributes as well.

  1. Empowerment to process on the fly, learn new tools and technology, and adapt to student needs.
  2. Leadership to recognize when to relinquish power to the students, and allow them to take control of their learning environment.
  3. Humility to admit that you don’t know everything, and building a professional network to help support your weaknesses and foster creativity.
  4. Ownership to work on solving organizational problems within the classroom/school/division and rise above them to benefit students.
  5. Expertise: specifically listed as the least important attribute by Friedman, although some content knowledge is required to teach a subject area, thinking you already know the answer can’t keep you from exploring new and exciting options.

 

Jeremy Midford – Children of the Earth High School

Reflection on Innovative Practices

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 As I reflect on innovative teaching, I think back to the in-service I attended in January involving “21st century learning with Johnny Wells”. It was after this in-service that I recognized the importance of giving students the opportunity to work in small teams to accomplish a task. These “instant challenges” inspire creative and critical thinking, promote team-building, problem solving, risk-taking, and allow students to be project managers, to persevere when faced with a problem, and build self-confidence. These are all skills that students will need to have when they become adults and are ready to enter the workforce.

Finding the time to do instant challenges in my classroom is a challenge for me. However, I do think that I have been teaching students these skills through some extra-curricular clubs that I have offered over the years. In Lego Mindstorms Club, students work in partners to build robots out of Lego and then use computer software to program their robots to move around an object, move through a maze, sense colour, light, and sound, and hit objects, etc.

In Geocaching Club, students work in teams to follow coordinates that eventually lead them to a “treasure”. I have also done this activity as a field trip last year with our Geography Club. Students were divided into 4 teams and were provided with walkie-talkies which they used to communicate with other teams to let them know that they found the geocaches. It was like the “Amazing Race” and was team-building at its finest!

Lastly, I have used Minecraft Edu. in the classroom and offered it as a club. In the classroom, I had my students create a digital world of a novel that we were studying. After choosing an area of the map to focus on, students had to break into small groups and assign tasks to one another and build their structures using materials that would have been used in the story. In the Minecraft Club, students had the opportunity to work in groups and accomplish tasks that I gave them.

I enjoy doing the above mentioned clubs because I have a genuine interest in them. I think that is important because students need to see the teacher’s enthusiasm in order to buy in. However, there are always new ideas for using innovative teaching in the classroom that I am open to trying. I definitely want to try some instant challenges with my students before the year ends, and I have some in mind. Now that it is a little less busy, it might be a good time to try something new.

Michael Conklin

Carpathia School

Cluster 1996

My Social Media Inquiry….

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“One can choose to go back toward safety or forward toward growth. Growth must be chosen again and again; fear must be overcome again and again. ~Abraham Maslow

I was asked to write about the purpose of schools 3-4 weeks before our first meeting with George Couros. Here is an exert:

“…The purpose of schools I see not only through the lens of a teacher but parent of a 12 year old daughter and 10 year old son… we are educating the children of the 21st century. What does that mean? How does that change the stance on education from years ago? A few have questioned… I believe it is our mission to provide a multitude of experiences to our students that allow for creativity, collaboration, and communication and to ignite sparks of curiosity in classrooms. We, as teachers must cultivate a democratic culture where their voices are heard and valued as we unpack the curriculum in creative and interesting ways that are responsive to the learner. Providing students opportunities to wonder, derive theories and wrestle with wrong answers fosters stronger critical thinkers, problem solvers and reflective learners. This will make our future brighter. We teach kids to take risks, to think out- side the box, to get involved, to care about the world around them. We integrate technology into everything we do because we know that is their future. We infuse passion into learning about topics that matter, topics they won’t forget because it was connected to real life. We facilitate learning…as we teach them… they teach us…Why School? We are teaching students in the 21st century…tomorrow’s leaders… and they deserve to be ready.

The reason I share a piece of that with you today is to let you see how timely this workshop was to my thinking about education. My writing reflection was written from the heart, firmly rooted in what I believe and practice as an inquiry support teacher. Upon my return from session #1, I re -read my writing and the 3 sentences I highlighted jumped off the page and made me think… really think. I wrote about integrating curriculum with technology, our students being tomorrows leaders, and raised the question about what it means to educate a 21st century learner. I thought I got it. I thought had most of the answers, I knew what George was talking about… we spoke the same language. Well, maybe not exactly. Participating in George’s workshop and reading his book has challenged my thinking…has shifted my thinking. I am someone whose never been on Face book and bragged about it. Never been on Twitter, Snap Chat, Instagram- you name it…I wasn’t on it. I also held my daughter off of a device until 2 months ago (she’s almost finished grade 7 and the “ONLY ONE” without a device). George made me think about social media in a whole new way. He made me think about audience in a global context. He made me think about how social media is their future… the way to connect in the 21st century world and the earlier we start modeling Digital Citizenship more and more in our classrooms and utilizing it in connected meaningful ways, the more our students will be ready to use it responsibly on their own. I am a glass half full kind of gal but my outlook on social media was shattered after hearing all the negative stories.   I signed up on Instagram to follow my daughter and I am now on a personal inquiry journey with Twitter. I have a twitter account and connect with other educators everywhere! I tweet! But can’t hashtag properly (according to my daughter), I am holding learning lunches at my school to start the conversation about edublogs, twitter and digital citizenship. I have always read professionally but I am doing it even more now. So… George and WSD support, thank you. Thank you for a shift in mindset and the opportunity to learn. I thank you…and so does my daughter!

Camie Lawson/ Montrose School

 

Innovation

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I am very happy, excited and grateful to have this opportunity to connect with other teachers and participate in this journey to a culture of innovation with George Couros. As has also been mentioned by others, I found the first day together both enjoyable and inspirational. At first, I was not really sure that I understood what it was all going to be about. More recently, however, I have been doing some reading (via google and George’s book) thinking and reflecting, and here’s what I believe I am now coming to realize and learn about innovation.

Innovation is not one thing. In fact, innovation is the opposite of one thing. It’s many, many different things. It might be something small, like creating a newsletter using videos, or tweeting out your classrooms’ activities for the world to see and share. It could be something fearless, like embracing new technology that you’ve never seen before. Sometimes, it might be very simple like cutting those ties with your desk and taking your classroom outside for some fresh air. It could even mean empowering students by having them share their skills with technology, or anything else they know, with you. It might be experimenting with the latest in brain research in the classroom and trying to tap into long term memory. It’s connecting with people, other students or experts, outside the school building and all around the world. It’s much about engagement and doing things a better way. It’s about you, creating your own personal resume using social platforms, and teaching that importance to others. It’s hugely about connecting and reaching out to others for HELP! One thing I am positively sure about, it’s always about lifelong learning. And it does not mean you are alone.

Looking forward to the next step in the journey . . .

Christina Macdonald

Reflective Practice

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Shannon McMurtry      Grade 1 Teacher   Grosvenor School  Cluster 1996

After my time with George in March I was able to reflect on my practice as an educator.  I read the second chapter and was drawn to the points about having empathy for our students in how they learn best.  “Do the learning experiences you create mimic the type of learning you expect to engage in?” (p.39)  “Is there a better way?” (p. 42)  Since the beginning of the school year I have really been pushing myself to change my math practice to create more hands on learning.  Not just hands on learning in terms of having math materials on shelves but allowing the students to make their own discoveries around a main topic.  I have been allowing groups of students to visit a math centre based around a question posted i.e. “What can you discover about capacity?”  I had various containers, paper, pencils and materials such as water, beans and cotton balls laid out for them to discover with.  During this time I would have the others students working independently while I could listen to the conversations that were going on at the math centre and record what I was hearing.  At the end of math I would invite some of those students to share what they discovered at the math centre that day with the rest of the class.  The student’s were so engaged in their conversations and were excited to share what they discovered with the class.

I think I am moving in the right direction in terms of the innovator’s mindset.  I want my students to have more than just worksheet experiences in math and sitting at the carpet and me telling them how to solve math facts.  If I go back to decision that made me change my practice, it probably was from my own experience as a new mom, what would I want from my own daughter’s early years teacher?  A teacher who believed in play based learning with hands on experiences or a teacher who was old fashioned in her teaching style?  The first one would appeal to me more as a mom.  I’m excited to see what else I can come up with for my math practice in the classroom.  I’m sure George’s book and the conversations we will have during these sessions will inspire me with more ideas.

Thanks,

 

Shannon McMurtry

Grade 1 Teacher

Grosvenor School

1045 Grosvenor Ave

Winnipeg, MB

R3M 0M9

Mindset

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I admit I can be resistant to change. I fear the unknown and feel uneasy when pushed out of my comfort zone. And yet, when I reflect on the proudest, most memorable moments of my life, they have been when I’ve been the most scared, exhilarated or challenged. I wouldn’t trade being an exchange student in Sweden, or facing the joys and uncertainties of parenthood, learning to downhill ski or zip-line, or facing and overcoming the challenges of hearing loss and tinnitus for anything. These experiences have shaped who I’ve become and remind me I can be strong and discover new realms of capability. The latest challenge is training for my first half marathon. So why am I resisting something as simple as starting a Twitter account?

Typically I need time to listen, process and prepare before I speak. I reflect, I write, I ask questions and clarify. I’m not used to blurting things out (my inner monologue is a constant source of amusement, however), and I wonder if I’ll have anything significant to add to the conversation. I understand the need to connect through social media and the importance of sharing a wealth of ideas and experience. I guess, with my need to lessen the “noise”, I just want to know I will find what is meaningful and relevant for me on such a busy, social stage.

I am currently reflecting on the characteristics of the innovator’s mindset (from George Couros’ book) and asking myself whether I would want to be a learner in my own classroom. Have I established a safe and nourishing learning environment where students feel free to make mistakes, take risks and experience the joyful abandon of “messy” learning? I am blessed with a group of learners who demonstrate every day that they can adapt to changes and be resilient and push through challenges to deeper levels of understanding and wonder. It’s not always easy, but if I expect this growth mindset from them, surely I can do the same.

I feel I am being pushed as a learner this year through professional development opportunities and my school’s professional learning community and primary vertical team. I am opening my mind to ideas for innovative teaching, taking risks by experimenting with documentation walls that chart student and teacher learning and reflection, and excited (and slightly terrified) at exploring the endless possibilities of the genius hour as a school staff and with my own Grade 3 class.

Here’s to the adventure of growth and learning ahead!

 

Kristen Robbins

Grade 3 Teacher

Grosvenor School

To Innovate or Not to Innovate? That is NOT the question

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After leaving the first session with George, we were left with many questions to bring back to our school.

One in particular, is how do we move our school from tiny pockets of innovation, to a culture of innovation?

What we are left with, as well as from reading his book, was that much of the way information is presented to us as teachers – through professional development or implementation of new programs does not necessarily inspire everyone to be creative, and it often does not foster a CULTURE of innovation. Instead what we tend to see is a small group of inspired educators taking it upon themselves to learn something new or to challenge the boundaries and limitations that allow them to create relevant and purposeful learning opportunities for students. And this is great, these are the pockets of innovation that usually exist in a school. What is, and has always been the struggle is creating an environment and a culture where this becomes the norm.

The message that was received from hearing George speak, as well reading his book, was that building a culture of innovation will take everyone in an organization or school working together. That it is not a “top down” or “bottom up” approach, but an “all hands on deck” one. That the goal is not to change for the sake of change, but to make the change meaningful and purposeful. To move away from a culture of compliance to one of creative engagement, empowerment and as George put it… “a chance to do something amazing”.

So with this mindset, we will be sharing our ideas about innovation with our colleagues during our school planning day this coming Friday. We will be present what we have discussed and explored in the ITTL sessions, as well as what we have learned jumping into the world of Twitter, Google Apps, Google Hangouts and blogging as we become part of creating a culture of innovation at St. John’s High School.

 

Meghan Davidson & Jim Anastasiadis
St. John’s High School
Cluster 1971

Our Motto’s Is That We Are All Life-Long Learners

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After the March session with George Couros, I was incredibly excited about introducing new concepts with my students.  Reflecting upon my own classroom, I knew that in order for my classroom to grow (my students and myself) that by introducing technology with my students was the path that I wanted to go.  As a primary teacher, we are constantly learning through hands on, team building and creating.  But after the session, George showed us more ways to have our student’s little brains working and creating.

The entire session I kept thinking of how brilliant it would be for students to learn how to use technology appropriately and how to use technology to further their own learning.  It wasn’t about sitting in front a computer learning through a program, it was based on creating and making connections with students and people around the world. It’s learning at their fingertips.

Innovating teaching is about what we can do to further and enhance children’s learning.  It’s not just about technology, which I think a lot of people were afraid of.  It’s about creating problem solvers, creators, being reflective on their own learning…  I could go on, but I truly believe that this sketchnote that George had created sums it up perfectly.

Characteristics of an Innovators Mindset

 

As teachers, we are constantly learning and that’s what we want to be able to promote with our students.  One of our motto’s is that we are life-long learners, so that’s exactly the goal we need to have for our students.

name: Kimberly Bui
school: Champlain School
Cluster group : 1971

5 Reasons To Have a Collaborative Blog

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This was a quote from Kristin Melnyk, a member of the “Innovative Teaching and Learning Leads” that I am working with in Winnipeg School District.  The program is focused on developing not only educators to challenge the way they think about education, but to also develop innovative teacher leadership, to help this group lead meaningful change within their own schools.

It has been a great process so far, although I have only worked with the group one date personally. That being said, through the #WinnipegSDITLL hashtag as, well as being led by an awesome team within the Winnipeg School District, the learning shared has been great.

One part of the initiative is that educators in the program are asked to blog about something in their classroom or the program, to share their learning through the process, to the ITLL Project blog. This is a powerful way to share that their is a constant space for learning, and it is not focused only on our face-to-face time together, but shows the power of learning throughout.  Reading their blog posts online, will also help build relationships in the times that we are face-to-face as well, as I am able to learn more about them not only as educators, but learners and thinkers. It creates a pretty powerful dynamic for learning and relationships.

There are so many benefits to having this type of “collaborative blog” throughout a professional learning opportunity, and I am so grateful to the team supporting the process.  It has been wonderful to learn from them, but there are so many other powerful benefits.  Here are some of them below.

1. Safe “guest posts”.  Blogging is a powerful way to “openly reflect” on your learning, and in one of my favourite articles on the topic from Dean Shareski, talks about the power of this type of collaboration:“So here’s my plan. Hire a teacher, give them a blog. Get them to subscribe to at least 5 other teachers in the district as well as 5 other great teachers from around the globe. Have their principal and a few central office people to subscribe to the blog and 5 other teachers as well. Require them to write at least once a week on their practice. Get conversations going right from the get go. Watch teachers get better.”

Although I agree with what Dean is saying, having your own blog can seem daunting.  But having a space where you can have a post with some guidance, can help some people feel more comfortable with the process and perhaps realize that it is not only valuable, but they are pretty good at it.

2. Competitive-Collaboration.  This is a concept that is near to my heart.  I believe that we need to learn to work with one another, but I also believe we need to push each other.  In this space, I have noticed that the blog posts are getting more and more in depth, and I wonder if the quality is going up because the group is reading the posts that the others are doing.  They are also not only writing reflections, but either sharing visuals, or creating videos.  We wanted to give them some guidelines (suggested 250 words but shared that it can be more, or less, or anything), but wanted people to be creative in how they shared.Check out this great video posted from Veronique Bedard

 

The learning that has been shared in this space has not necessarily taught people to be creative, but unleashed their creativity.  Pushing each other in space where we also support one another, is where that “unleashed talent” is more likely to come to the surface.

3. Opportunities to Reflect. As Dewey states, “We do not learn from experience, we learn from reflecting on experience.” Although the process of change can seem “fast and furious”, this only makes it more important to slow down and think about why we do what we do. If we are truly looking at moving forward, we need to take the time to look back.  There is so much learning that can happen through the process of reflection.  It needs to be a non-negotiable part of the work in true learning organizations.

4. Rich data.  Not all data is measured by numbers, and this blog is proving that. We are seeing this process to be extremely valuable, but this blog has become that evidence.  As I was discussing this process with a group yesterday, how often do we do work in PLC’s and then create evidence that either no one sees, or really, no evidence of learning at all?  This space will be here long after the initiative but shows the evidence of this program.

5. Everyone is a teacher, and everyone is a learner. As the leader of this program, I truly believe that if the group ONLY learns from me, they are missing out on a huge opportunity.  This is why this space is so crucial.  Not only does the group have the ability to learn from each other, but selfishly, my own learning is being pushed and prodded by this group.  This flattened hierarchy of learning is beneficial to everyone willing to take part and ultimately will benefit so many kids in so many places.  It has been powerful to watch and learn from this great group.

Chris Kennedy recently wrote about seeing a decline in blogging, and a part of me agrees.  That being said, I actually think it is more valuable than ever. Giving people the opportunity to do it in a way where they get to experience themselves first in a safe space, and then seeing the value of learning from others, might be the best way to have them eventually create their own space, but even if they don’t, the opportunity to learn from these collaborative spaces has been extremely powerful.

Kristin Melnyk shared this quote in her blog post:

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”—Charles Darwin

What is important to understand is that we can’t change others, but only ourselves. What we can do is create the spaces where change is more likely to happen, and these platforms of open and continuous learning could make that impact.

Innovative Teacher Fail

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“Twitter is so out,” said my 14-year-old daughter when she heard me talking about my day with George Couros. I took the statement with a grain of salt because I know teenagers aren’t known for basing their findings in sound research. However, it opened the door to conversations about how my own kids use their personal devices for learning – at home and at school.

I used to be the teacher who gave the stink-eye anytime I saw a phone in my music class. ‘How dare you bring that portal to the outside world into my classroom?’ Although I’ve come a long way since then, I’m still a questioner. I will question the why and the how these devices are used in the classroom. Mostly because I have no idea.

Example – my innovative teacher fail story:

About five years ago I had a student, Cody. Cody was an energetic, fun, big personality, grade 5 student. Cody LOVED Michael Jackson. He asked me repeatedly and excitedly over the course of the year if we could learn about Michael Jackson. The teacher in me loved his eagerness to learn, but for some reason I could not wrap my brain around how to facilitate this request in the classroom. I was thinking like a “giver of information” and not a facilitator of creativity and curiosity. That year came and went, and, sadly, I had done nothing to encourage Cody’s excitement to learn.

Fast forward 8 months. I had just come back from a leave of absence. Cody was now in grade 6. He and the rest of his class began asking me, “Can we do PowerPoint presentations this year! When can we do them?!” They sounded almost urgent. They so badly wanted to learn using this tool. Upon further investigation, I learned that the substitute teacher, during my absence, had figured out what I couldn’t. With certain tools, in this case PowerPoint, students can direct their own learning. And when they have the incredible opportunity to cultivate their curious nature, there’s no stopping them.

As I continue my journey as a teacher, I hope I can walk the path of innovative education with the creativity, curiosity and excitement that Cody taught me. Who better to learn from than our own students?

Rhona Sawatsky
Earl Grey School
Cluster Group 1971