Archive for Collaboration

greystone | April 13, 2013
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Professional Learning is a Priority in Parkland School Division

 

I just came back from two days spent with my colleagues – members of our School Division’s “Lead Team”. Our Lead Team includes Principals, Assistant Principals, Learning Services Facilitators, Directors from our Finance, Transportation, Learning Services, Transportation, Human Resources and Communication Departments along with members of our Senior Executive. Gathering such a large, diverse group of School Division leaders together is no small feat. It meant that every individual who attended needed to leave the busy schedules of their day to day work behind and for those of us in schools, it meant trusting that our schools’ teacher leaders would “hold down the fort” during our absence. On behalf of our Senior Executive of Superintendents, it demonstrated that in spite of challenging financial times in the world of education, the importance they place on the value of our team’s professional growth and collaboration so that we can lead our schools effectively for our students will not be sacrificed. A few of us said we felt almost guilty for taking time away from our schools to head west to the beautiful mountain community of Canmore where we gathered for our learning.

Now that I am back home and have time to reflect on the experience – I can honestly say that I am grateful that our Senior Executive made the decision to provide all of us with this uninterrupted time together – away from the demands of our professional and personal lives back home. The Lead Team Retreat gave us an opportunity to learn from and with each other both formally during our scheduled meetings and presentations, but also informally as we shared best practices with each other, discussed some of our challenges, offered suggestions to each other and had long conversations on the road as we were encouraged to car pool with our colleagues. I have found that some of the best learning can come from the conversations that just happen when we spend time together talking about our students and our schools.

A few of the highlights for me were:

Mental Health Presentation

We were reminded of how significant an issue mental health is in the workplace. Research tells us that 1 in 5 Canadians between the ages of 18 – 65 will experience mental illness and that this will have an impact on their work. It was shared that of the people who face mental illness challenges, very few will be diagnosed and even fewer will receive successful treatment. We learned about the symptoms of mental illness and what to look for among our employees. We learned about what we can do to support those who are experiencing mental illness so that they can be successful in getting the help they need to improve their health. What stood out for me was how important it is to remove the negative stigma associated with mental illness so that our staff members know they have our non-judgemental support in order to seek treatment.

“Speed Dating”

This is simply an organized, yet highly effective, way to ensure that we got the opportunity to listen to each other share some of the amazing things we all have going on in our schools. In small groups, we moved from table to table and heard all kinds of new ideas for things we may want to bring back to our own schools. What I will be bringing back to Greystone are some great suggestions around technology from a couple of schools. Muir Lake School shared experiences and insights around their one to one technology pilot project. Meridian Heights School shared how they “trained the troops” on the use of google docs by scheduling chunks of time for the students to be taught the process by the tech “expert” on staff.

The most important “take away” from this valuable time spent together with my colleagues was that I continue to feel non-stop support and the power of collaboration from our Lead Team. Knowing that we are in this together allows me to return to the challenges and opportunities that await back at the school with a huge boost of renewed energy. For me, this was time well spent and reminds me that our School Division really does put its people first!

 

Category: Collaboration, Community Building, Professional Learning, Reflections, Shared Leadership |
greystone | April 7, 2013
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The Sideways Kids

 


 

Let every one mind his own business, and endeavor to be what he was made. Why should we be in such desperate haste to succeed and in such desperate enterprises? If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.

-Henry David Thoreau

Kids who march to the beat of a different drummer – our classrooms and schools are filled with these kids. In fact, my home even has a couple of these kinds of kids – my husband (the adult “kid” in my family) and my eldest son (now a young adult). A friend and colleague shared the term “Sideways Kids” with me – a very appropriate way to describe the “out of the box” individuals who sometimes challenge us as teachers, as parents (and as spouses!)

When I think about the school experience for both my husband and my son, it is safe to say that the traditional classroom setting did not consistently serve either of them really well. While each possess incredible language and communication skills – both being avid readers and having outstanding comprehension, problem-solving and critical thinking skills – they also have a very low threshold for boredom. This is typical of the “Sideways Kid” – that student who picks up on new ideas and concepts easily, who demonstrates creative ability and strength in figuring things out for themselves. These are the kids who often challenge us to explain the reasons behind why we do what we do – and who, in my opinion, are at risk for leaving the world of “formal” learning behind just as soon as they have the opportunity because the education system has tried to sort and process them not as individuals, with unique skills, talents and abilities, but instead has pressured them to conform to the status quo of the classroom. My son, the “Sideways Kid”, who taught himself how to play a number of musical instruments, to write songs, to compose his own arrangements and to record his music, wrote a song in his grade 12 year entitled Our Last Year as Cattle. I think it describes, extremely well, the way he felt about his formal public education experience.

How many “Sideways Kids” are in our classrooms, daydreaming, wishing they were somewhere, anywhere, else but sitting in that chair day in and day out hearing the same old messages about their school performance. Words like “what’s wrong with him?”, “why isn’t he motivated?” “why doesn’t he try harder?” “why doesn’t he pay attention?” are common themes throughout the years of teacher conferences and report card comments; or worse, these are the kids who are labelled “attention deficit”, “oppositional defiant” or “lazy”. I believe that there is absolutely nothing wrong with our “Sideways Kids”. In fact, there is something wrong with our assembly line, factory model classrooms and schools if we fail to serve the needs of our “Sideways Kids”. These kids have the potential to be the innovators, the problem-solvers, the creative and collaborative “right-brained” thinkers that will be needed to lead our communities into the future. Our school systems cannot lose these gifted individuals. We must re-create our schools to serve their diverse needs.

How can we do this? There are so many great ideas out there for how we can tap into the passion and talents of our young people. This year, our school experimented with one of these ideas - Innovation Week. It was an amazing way for our students to become highly engaged in their learning through a week long exploration into a topic of their choosing. The results of this endeavour were overwhelmingly positive and we learned, as a staff, that our students are capable of so much when we give them the opportunity to pursue something they care about. Since that week long experience at our school, I have been thinking about ways that this kind of learning could become more integrated into the daily and weekly learning that takes place at Greystone. Recently, I came across this video that shows a High School pushing this notion of providing students with interest-based learning even further.

If Students Designed Their Own Schools

After I watched this, I wondered how much better my husband and my son’s school experiences would have been if they had the opportunity to learn this way.

How many other “Sideways Kids” would re-engage in the notion of lifelong learning if this was their experience at school? I can’t help but get excited about the possibilities for all of our kids if we were to infuse more choice and personalization into our programs.

Category: Collaboration, Personalized Learning, Student Learning |
greystone | February 18, 2013
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While the Cat’s Away…

This cat has been away from Greystone for quite a while recently. First, I joined our grade nine students and two of our teachers for our SEVEC Student Exchange in Quebec and then I took a couple of personal days so I could head up to Alaska to take part in the annual parents’ weekend events for my son’s college hockey team. By the time I get back to work after the Family Day long weekend on Tuesday, I will have been away from the Greystone School community for almost two weeks.
What I noticed during my absence is how completely confident and relaxed I felt about how things were being taken care of back at the school. This does not mean that while I was away I did not care about the daily life of students, staff and families at Greystone. In fact, I care deeply, but I was able to be away without concern for the decisions that were made during my absence or the day to day teaching and learning or numerous other initiatives and projects taking place at our busy middle school. I was able to do this because of the strong trust I have for our staff. The Greystone team has demonstrated, time and time again, that they are capable of doing the right thing. Our staff is committed to the vision, values and purpose of our school – we are about kids and we believe in the promise of each and every one of our students. Does this mean that our staff won’t make mistakes? Absolutely not. However, I know that their intentions are good and that they always act in the best interest of our students. The staff has demonstrated the ability to lead by example, make great decisions and step up when called on to deal with difficult situations. Everyone on staff, from first year teachers to seasoned veterans; from Educational Assistants to our Office Leadership Team; supports one another in ensuring that our kids come first.
Leading a school community reminds me, in some ways, of parenting. For purely selfish, ego gratifying reasons, it can be extremely re-assuring to feel needed. As a parent, there is no better feeling than to be able to help your kids whenever possible – when they are young, it is incredibly fulfilling to be the centre of your child’s universe – loving and supporting unconditionally – jumping in to help them whenever they are struggling. In the long run, this kind of selfish parenting does not help children develop into confident, capable, independent, interdependent adults who are able to direct their own lives and learn to roll with the challenges that life presents. Children need to do things for themselves in order to grow. They need to stumble and fall in order to learn how to get back up and try again. The same is true when leading a school community. While it feels great to be needed by so many people within the school community, creating a school culture that is dependent on me is selfish. A strong school environment thrives when individuals interact interdependently and recognize that everyone contributes their strengths to the school’s overall success. In a highly effective organization, every individual has the capacity to be a leader when needed, and a follower, when needed. My time away from Greystone this past few weeks reminded me that this school community is made up of a strong team of highly collaborative, talented individuals who certainly don’t depend on me to ensure that the work carries on in my absence. For a leader, this is humbling – to know that it isn’t all about me – nor should it ever be. One of our Greystone teachers recently shared this quote. It describes the kind of leadership I strive for at our school:
A leader is  best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.
  ~Lao Tzu
While this cat was away, the mice may have played…but the mice at Greystone play every day, whether the cat is there or not. I trust the mice to play and work and learn and lead at Greystone. In fact, I hope that during my absence, the mice barely knew I was away.
Category: Collaboration, Reflections, Shared Leadership |
greystone | February 3, 2013
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A Target for Teachers

Our teachers at Greystone are becoming very skilled at helping our students understand the targets we set for their learning. We have been learning how to co-create criteria with our students so that they will understand what we are looking for when we assess their learning. We know that our students will be able to better meet the standards for high performance when the target is made clear to them and when we work with them throughout the learning process, to provide ongoing feedback and opportunities to improve their work, so that they can hit the targets we set.

The same thing is true for our teachers. When we talk about what kind of teaching needs to be going on in our classrooms so that we can make engaged learning come to life – we need to set some targets for ourselves as well. We have taken on this process of co-creating criteria for engaged student learning during our Professional Development Days this year. We are getting further along in developing our shared understanding of what we should expect to see in our classrooms when we are providing an engaging learning environment for our students. Here’s a snapshot of what our teachers have come up with so far:

Risk Taking - Learners are persevering to grow outside their boundaries.

Providing Evidence – Learners are an active part of the assessment and feedback process.

Learning Authentically – Learners are emotionally and intellectually invested in their work.

Questioning – Learners’ natural curiosity is leading them to explore deeper learning.

Collaborating – Learners are open-minded to different perspectives.

Creating – Learners are thinking, acting and engaging with ideas.

We are now developing specific actions that would be taking place in our classrooms to demonstrate each of these key areas for engaged learning. Once we have developed our action plan, we will be able to use this document as a tool to assess ourselves and provide feedback to each other as we continue our professional growth.

This is taking a long time, but the process is definitely providing us with lots of excellent opportunities for dialogue about best practices for our classrooms. I am confident that once we are finished, the criteria we have established together will be a valuable tool in helping us hit our target of getting it right for today’s learners.

 

 

 

Category: Assessment and Reporting, Collaboration, Professional Learning, Student Learning |
greystone | December 8, 2012
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Blown Away!

I often find myself getting frustrated with the timing of what I feel are extremely important learning days in a school – our Professional Development (Learning) Days where our lead learners (teachers) come together to reflect, discuss, collaborate, share best practices and learn together in order to create engaging learning for our students at Greystone. These very important learning days are usually scheduled on a Friday – not always the most productive day of the week. Our most recent PD Day fell at the end of a week when we were pretty exhausted from endless hours spent on getting Report Cards and Individualized Program Plans completed, reviewed with students and sent home. I went into the PD Day last Friday thinking it was going to be incredibly tough, due to bad timing, to get our teachers to do some very thoughtful reflecting and sharing around creating criteria together for what we believe learner engagement should look like in our classrooms. I really wasn’t sure what to expect…

First, we started the day looking at this inspiring video to get us thinking (and re-thinking) about the possibilities for our learners. It was included as part of the day at TEDxEdmonton last October.

Future Learning

We spent time reflecting individually, and sharing in groups, about what stood out for us in this video. We then moved on to a four corners activity where we discussed and debated our level of agreement with the following statements:

  • I believe I have to teach all the foundational skills before I can do inquiry work with my students.
  • I believe I need to know something really well before I can teach it to my students.

Teachers entered into dialogue around their individual experiences and beliefs. What we discovered was that there are so many different ways to interpret these statements, but fundamentally, most were on the same page about the importance they placed on creating learning opportunities for students that allowed for exploration, curiosity, providing meaningful context for learning skills and following student interests.

We then asked teachers to work in groups to revisit the components of learner engagement that they had established at our last Professional Learning Day. We asked them to create criteria on a google doc for what they would see students and teachers doing when there was a focus on these areas:

  • Creating
  • Questioning
  • Collaboration
  • Authenticity
  • Evidence of Learning
  • Risk Taking

I was absolutely blown away with the engagement and thoughtful contributions made by our teachers that day. What an excellent example they set for our students as the lead learners in our school!

I am looking forward to our next steps as we continue to develop our “This We Believe” document for Greystone this year.

 

 

 

Category: Collaboration, Learning Through Inquiry Projects, Professional Learning, Reflections, School Vision and Planning |
greystone | November 13, 2012
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What Do F’s Stand for at Greystone?

Five Fabulous Females Facing Fears!
 
 
 
 
 
Our Greystone Team just finished sharing a presentation in Portland, Oregon at the Association for Middle Level Educators’ National Conference…and we are fired up! It’s amazing how energized you feel when you face fear head on and figure out that all the time, effort and energy you put into moving out of your comfort zone can pay off BIG TIME!We planned, prepared and practiced for the past several weeks so that we would make our school and our school division proud of the incredible learning journey we have been on at Greystone since we opened the doors of our middle school eight years ago. We wondered, would our story be worthy of sharing at a conference of this magnitude? With 400 breakout sessions, many big name presenters including experts on Middle Years Education (Rick Wormeli); Differentiation (Carol Ann Tomlinson); and Brain Research (John Medina) we were feeling a little out of our league. Seriously…who would be interested in hearing about our little school from Spruce Grove, Alberta, Canada?We decided that the theme of our Greystone story would be our movement away from traditional practices – practices like grading student learning with F’s. At Greystone, the letter F refers to practices that better meet the needs of today’s learners. Our F’s stand for:
 
Familyof learners that are part of a school community where there is a high level of trust and strong, supportive relationships.

Flexibility in designing authentic, meaningful learning using an inquiry approach to engage learners.

Feedback for growth where students play a central role in co-creating criteria, assessing themselves and each other and understand what they need to do to improve in their learning.

Did we know in the beginning that the process of putting together this presentation would actually result in all of us facing our own fears and growing from the experience? As adult learners, we actually achieved the kind of learning that we strive for with our students. Our team of five from Greystone, Joan Papp, Claudia Scanga, Trish Spink and Lindsay Thornhill and I each took a giant step out of our comfort zone to face individual fears including the fear of flying, the fear of public speaking, and the fear of working with new technology. We challenged ourselves to learn through this experience. Was anyone interested in what we had to share about our little school from Spruce Grove, Alberta, Canada? We think so…people stayed after we were finished to ask us more questions (and no one left the room during our presentation – another one of our fears!) We even heard one attendee tell us that our session was her favourite from the whole conference – wow!!! If others can get some ideas from what we have done at Greystone to share at their own schools – then all of this will have been worth it – and we are ready to share some more!
Category: Assessment and Reporting, Collaboration, Learning Through Inquiry Projects, Professional Learning, Shared Leadership |
greystone | October 6, 2012
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What’s the Main Thing?

 

 

Initiatives, programs, technology tools, resources, meetings, workshops, deadlines…all of this has been swimming around in my head these past few weeks and I have been trying to make some sense of it all – aligning all of the new opportunities with the work we are currently doing at Greystone while making sure we don’t go off course or become distracted by the next “bright shiny thing”. Something I am keeping at the front of my mind – I don’t want to overwhelm our teachers by adding too much to their already full plates. Specifically, I have been hashing out ideas with team members around how and what to share with teachers in order to keep the main thing the main thing.

As we started this new school year – our teachers were energized (and so was I) by the high levels of trust and collaboration taking place. Last year, as we were planning for our upcoming year, each grade level Learning Community asked that the main thing we continue to focus on was collaborative time for our teachers to work together – developing common assessments, continuing to develop their inquiry/critical thinking projects and assisting each other to develop skills with technology. This is the main thing that teachers wanted us to commit to – and we have. Every Learning Community has common “team time” this year to continue their learning together.

Next step…reminding teams that all of the work they are doing together needs to have an end in mind – what is it we are hoping to accomplish and how will we know we are getting there? What is it that we will keep in mind as the main thing when we collaborate and learn together? How will all of the programs, tools, resources, initiatives support us in keeping the main thing the main thing?

This past Professional Learning Day – we suggested that we keep the idea of Learner (student & adult) Engagement the main thing. We shared ideas around what this looks like, experiences we have had in the classroom when students were fully engaged, what fully engages us as adult learners, and we looked at exemplars from other schools who are working towards this. We connected the dots by reminding teachers that all of the work we do, the initiatives that are out there, all need to support our goal of increased Learner Engagement. We shared our overarching guiding question for our Adult Learner Inquiry this year:

What do we believe about Learner Engagement and what is the evidence that we are getting it right for our Learners?

Teachers built on each others’ experiences and ideas by capturing the themes around learner engagement: choice, purpose, risk-taking, beyond the walls, dialogue, investigation, questioning, connections are a few of the examples that emerged.

As we move forward this year – we will be focused on ways to develop Learner Engagement and what we will accept as evidence that we are finding success. Now that we have established the main thing- Learner Engagement - we can look at all the “bright shiny things” that are out there, the initiatives, resources, programs, with a critical eye and ask ourselves “how will this support our work in increasing Learner Engagement?” in order to decide which “bright shiny things” to take on.

Learner Engagement at Greystone…that’s our main thing.

 

Category: Collaboration, Learning Through Inquiry Projects, Professional Learning, Reflections, School Vision and Planning |
greystone | September 28, 2012
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Design Team: Building Our Dream Together

To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.

- Anatole France 

One of the cornerstones of our school community is our dedicated group of teachers – Design Team – who commit time, regularly, to keep building on the Greystone dream. Over the years, it has been these teacher leaders who have pushed our school’s vision of exemplary teaching and learning forward.  Teachers, representing all grade levels from our school, have come to the table to share successes, hopes, frustrations and challenges in our work of leading a school community with vision, passion and creativity. When this group comes to the table, the expectations are made clear:

  • we construct and de-construct our knowledge and understanding together
  • everyone’s voice is heard and respected
  • decisions are made collaboratively based on what’s best for our kids
  • the work is often messy, the conversations tough, but there is trust in the process and in each other
  • no idea is too crazy and this is a safe place to make mistakes and figure things out together

Our Design Team has been instrumental in pushing our school community to take on projects, pilot new initiatives and share our learning with others. Here are some examples of what we have accomplished:

- highly collaborative learning teams at every grade level that have adopted an inquiry approach to teaching and learning via the Galileo Educational Network

- assisted all staff develop a balanced assessment program that focuses on Assessment AS, FOR and OF Learning. This means our school practices align with best practices in assessment – no awards assemblies recognizing the accomplishments of a few; growth is the goal for each and every learner and is recognized and celebrated by all teachers, students and parents.

- continued development of excellent home/school communication and partnerships through classroom blogs, student-led conferences, development of student portfolios and sharing other evidence of student learning

- submitted a proposal and were awarded with a Community Project Grant to purchase additional technology for use in supporting a school-wide inquiry into our Spruce Grove Community

- job embedded Professional Development opportunities where we meet in subject discipline groups to generate authentic learning tasks that see students focus on the process skills of thinking like a Scientist, Mathemetician, Writer or Historian.

- planned yearly Staff Retreats to focus on collaboration and professional learning with colleagues

- piloted new outcomes based report card focused on performance assessments and process skills

- shared examples of exemplary teaching practice with school board and senior executive guests on several occasions

- developed open practice of feedback/feedforward loops, professional dialogue and looking at student work; shared this practice at an international conference in New Zealand

- regularly evaluated, designed, adjusted our school’s focus related to our School Education Plan – and continue to look for meaningful ways to  measure success

This past week we had our first meeting of our new school year and welcomed a number of new teachers to the table. It is inspiring to see so many individuals wanting to contribute to the growth of our school community as we continue to work towards bringing the best learning to our students. We have a number of school initiatives starting up this year along with lots of support and ideas coming from our School Division. Our first task was to make some sense of it all for our school community and continue our conversation (and ACTION) around engaging all learners at Greystone. We’re livin’ the dream, building on the dream and pushing forward…always!

 

Category: Collaboration, Community Building, Professional Learning, School Vision and Planning, Shared Leadership |
greystone | September 22, 2012
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Unleashing the Magic at Greystone

I have been among the middle school magic at Greystone and have been reflecting on my role, as the leader of this amazing school community, over the past few weeks.

First of all, what’s the magic?

For me, magic happens when I see student and adult learners engaged, curious, self-directed, reflective, thinking critically, collaborative, compassionate, confident (yet humble and open to opinions and ideas of others) throughout the school.

Who is responsible for making this magic happen?

I believe that it is the staff who model dedication to continuous learning and growth in meeting the needs of our students who are most responsible for making magic.

So…what’s my role in all of this?

I must not only believe in the magic, support the magic, look for the magic and share the magic – most importantly, I need to get out of the way so that the magic can happen!

Over the past seven years as an administrator at Greystone, I have learned, and continue to learn, so much about leadership – from mistakes made, lessons learned, conversations had and courses taken from and with respected colleagues and mentors. One of the best lessons on leadership that I was provided with came from a workshop I attended where Todd Whitaker shared this simple but powerful bit of wisdom –  the best way to create an excellent school community is to hire superstars!

I have come a long way in my teacher hiring, supervision and evaluation practice as a school leader. I now only hire staff who knock my socks off in an interview; who have been highly recommended by trusted colleagues; who have been in our school as student teachers or temporary contract teachers and have demonstrated the ability to make magic happen. Once these people are in our school, I observe, listen, coach, support and get to know each individual. I make sure I am 100% convinced about the superstar qualities and potential of a teacher before I give him or her a permanent seat on the Greystone bus. As a result of my learning in this area, our school is filled with many superstars and the culture that has been established at Greystone is one where excellence is not the exception, it is the expectation.

Leading a school full of superstars is not a simple task. It requires high levels of trust and the ability to let go of control in order to empower others. Stephen Covey refers to this skill in his book The 8th Habit:

Empowering – focusing the organization’s talent on the results needed rather than the methods used and then getting out of people’s way. Empowering is all about execution. In an empowered organization, leaders give help and direction only when requested. Empowerment unleashes human potential without externally motivating it.

This means that I need to provide the resources, support, time and space to unleash the energy and passion of my high-flying staff. Eliminating the roadblocks and clearing the path for others does not mean that I don’t care about what they are doing or that I don’t want to find out about their plans. In fact, the opposite is true. I care deeply and I am always interested in their ideas. I just don’t micromanage the details and I try my best to reduce the red tape and hoops they need to go through in order to get on with their plans. The most important work I need to do is to ensure that everyone is aligning their plans and ideas with the vision, mission, beliefs and goals of our school – then it is up to them to make the magic. In addition, I need to create an adult learning community that mirrors their classroom learning communities – places where learners are safe to explore new ideas, take risks, make mistakes, learn and grow in the company of caring, trusted peers. When the staff is pointed in the right direction for our school, and are given the time and space needed, they can think big, dream big and make magic together.

Here is some of the new magic happening at Greystone this year:

  • Softer Approach to Learning with New Furniture Arrangements being Piloted in Two Classrooms
  • Health and Wellness Team
  • SEVEC Sports/P.E. Student Exchange with a School in Ottawa
  • iPad Project with Support from the Galileo Educational Network to Develop Critical Thinking Inquiries
  • Learning Coaches Supporting Teachers in Developing Inclusive Classroom Communities
  • Innovation Week
  • Making Learning Public Through Social Media and Exploration of New Technology
  • WE DAY Care Team Developing Community and Global Social Action Initiatives
  • Technology to Support Collaboration via GoogleDocs
  • Technology to Support Self-Assessment via ePortfolios
  • Morning Mentoring
  • Teacher Invited to Attend National Social Studies Parliament Workshop in Ottawa
  • Teachers Sharing Work at Local, Provincial and National Conferences

I am humbled to be leading such a talented staff at Greystone. They are an incredible team who are dedicated to bring the very best learning to our students. I look forward to sharing our journey this year as the magic unfolds!

~ Carolyn Cameron

 

 

 

 

Category: Collaboration, Community Building, Professional Learning, Reflections, Shared Leadership |
greystone | September 6, 2012
15 comments

Making Student Learning Public

 

Our teachers started the new school year with iPads in hand, ready to explore, as adult learners, in order to find ways to continue to improve the learning at Greystone. One of the areas we are developing is finding ways to make student learning public to our families and our community. We know that when students are sharing their learning beyond the walls of the classroom – that the level of engagement and the quality of work is improved. The work becomes more meaningful to students as they are sharing it with a larger audience.

I wanted to explore this a little bit with a grade 6 class I spent time with yesterday. I talked to them about doing some quality work – some pictures and words to share with others outside of our school about what it means to learn at Greystone. I told them that we would be making some chalk drawings on the front sidewalk so that the rest of the school could see their ideas – and also, parents who came in and out of the school would hopefully notice their work. This seemed to turn the activity into something more important than simply doodling on the front sidewalk.

The students asked how long these pictures and words would last out front – as the clouds were rolling in. I told them I would take pictures with my iPad so that we would have the pictures for as long as they wanted.I also told them that I would share their pictures not only with their teachers, but with all of them,their families and even the world through our school website and via Twitter. We then got into a short conversation about how Twitter can be used to connect with so many others from across Canada and even around the world. This seemed to make the task even more appealing to the students!

Students worked in small groups brainstorming a symbol that would represent our school and a message to go with their symbol – which they created on a rough draft. Ideas like Endless Learning, Anything Can Happen When You Try, Greystone Gives You Wings, and We Grow at Greystone  came from the kids. They were excited to get outside and bring their ideas to life on the front sidewalk of our school. Unfortunately, the only thing that got in our way was time, and we ran out of it so a few groups did not get finished. As predicted the rain came in the afternoon and washed away all of their work…but the process of brainstorming, collaborating, designing and creating in order to share their ideas with a larger audience was successful. Thanks Learning Community 6A – it was awesome working with you on this!

~Carolyn Cameron

 

Category: Collaboration, Student Learning |
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