Archive for Personalized Learning

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 | January 27, 2013
2 comments

Just Dance – Changing Role of the Teacher

 

 

I love to dance! I’m not a great dancer…in fact, I’m not even a good dancer. I really don’t care, though, I just dance or, as the saying goes, I “dance like no one is watching“. So, when I attended a learning session this past week where the presenter shared that teaching was like being a choreographer, I was intrigued.

The presenter was Garfield Gini-Newman from The Critical Thinking Consortium. The topic was about using technology to transform teaching practice. Gini-Newman reminded us all that technology

has the potential to be a curiosity amplifier and can transform teaching and learning but only if harnessed in powerful pedagogy.

We reviewed Critical Inquiry and how creating an engaged, curious classroom community can serve the needs of today’s learners. What really got me reflecting this week was when Gini-Newman identified what the teacher’s role in this learning environment needs to be.

For me, I always felt the role of the teacher included a balance of the following:

Teacher as Expert ~ the teacher needs to have some depth and breadth of knowledge about the subject discipline – preferrably not just to dispense information to students but to know where to guide students as they uncover curriculum together in order to assist students in making connections, both to prior learning and to the real world where the subject discipline lives.

Teacher as Facilitator ~ the teacher needs to bring out the past experiences, new understandings and individual perspectives from students – often watching and observing as the learning unfolds while giving students voice and choice, when possible, in exploring, in more depth,topics of interest.

Teacher as Coach ~ the teacher needs to continuously assess the developing understandings and skills in order to support next steps in learning – asking questions and helping students find answers within themselves while developing confidence and perseverance through ongoing feedback and opportunities to learn from mistakes.

This week, Gini-Newman provided me with a new way to consider the role of the teacher – which caused me to do a lot of thinking. I wasn’t sure, initially, if I agreed with his analogy.

Teacher as Choreographer? ~ I am in awe of talented dancers – the movement, the skill, the grace and strength. Quite frankly, even though I took several years of dance in my youth (and was really very bad!) I have little to no understanding of what is involved as a choreographer. What my limited understanding tells me is that choreographers plan a dance routine and get the dancers to follow their plan. So, how is this any different from the traditional role of a teacher? Plan a lesson and have the students follow your plan (Teacher as “Sage on the Stage”). Then I did a little research. I watched this TEDTalks video to help me understand more about the role of a choreographer.

What I discovered is that in the kind of choreography shown here, the choreographer exposes the dancers to an idea or gives them a challenge, creates a mental picture, and provides them with choices for what to do for themselves. As they explore the creative process, the choreographer observes how the dancers are interacting with the movements and ideas and then makes decisions, in that moment, about how to collaborate with them to change, adjust and connect to the central idea. The process is fluid, based on taking risks, expressing voice and communicating ideas.

The skilled classroom teacher, as choreographer, follows this same creative, collaborative process. The process is never fixed, always fluid, dynamic, responsive to individuals and allows for individuals to interact with new ideas and understandings in a way that is meaningful to them. The teacher continuously assists students to connect the smaller pieces to the big, overarching idea in order to bring coherence and meaning to the process.

Teacher as choreographer – it is a lot more complicated than to just dance!

 

Category: Personalized Learning, Professional Learning, Reflections, Student Learning |
greystone | December 21, 2012
One comment

Christmas Came Early for Me

I felt like a kid on Christmas morning today as I entered the gym on the final day of my school’s first ever Innovation Week. Rows of tables had been set up, by students, to display the results of their week long exploration into self-directed, creative innovation. What I saw absolutely BLEW ME AWAY!

I had been in and out of learning spaces all week long, checking in with students to see how they were doing with their projects; however, I had no idea what the final results of the efforts of 260 students would be. In fact, I had convinced myself that the end product wasn’t what mattered, it was the process that was the most important part of this week. I said that, in large part, because I had absolutely no idea how this would all turn out.

Well, not only has the process proven to be successful in that students demonstrated perseverence, problem-solving skills, independence and interdependence – but the final products they displayed today showed that they have the ability to be CREATIVE!!! They came up with original videos, comics, music, games, new inventions that I had no idea they could produce. We are onto something truly remarkable here – and I can’t wait to take the lessons learned from this extraordinary week of learning back to our classrooms. How can we inject a little “Innovation Week” into every week of learning in our school?

Thank you Greystone Innovation Week Students for my early Christmas gift – you are an inspiration!

 

 

Category: Personalized Learning, Professional Learning, Reflections, Student Learning |
greystone | December 18, 2012
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Don’t Want to Miss a Thing

 

Tomorrow is Day #3 of our school’s first Innovation Week and I really wish I could be there to see the day unfold. I will be away at our monthly Leadership Meeting with the rest of our School Division’s Administrators but I don’t want to miss a thing that happens back at the school during what is proving to be a most interesting, unpredictable and inspiring time at Greystone. There are so many stories that need to be told about the things that are happening in and around the school these past two days - from new baking creations to sculpting, dressmaking, songwriting, music-making, novel writing, cartooning, rebuilding engines and even designing a hovercraft – to name just a few of the projects our students are exploring. I wish I was recording every incredible moment that I happen across as I spend time in and out of each learning space that has been set up to accommodate more than 250 students who are engaging in learning projects of their choice this week.

For me, the real highlight, so far, has been watching the process of putting together this amazing experience for our students and then seeing our students come to life with enthusiasm and dedication. The other part that gets me fired up is the unpredictablity of the whole thing – from day to day, we really have no idea how things will work out, if they will work out and what the day will look like. It’s energizing, really – coming to work for the past two days and just being completely open and present for whatever the day brings. I don’t want to share too much in this post about all the learning that is happening (for both adults and students!)or about the projects that are coming together as I know the students will be doing a lot of sharing in a few days when we celebrate their efforts from the week. However, for me, it’s all about the process and so far, the process has been about kids passionately pursuing their interests while learning how to create, invent, design, explore and persevere. I hope Day #3 goes well tomorrow, Greystone – I really don’t want to miss a thing!

Category: Personalized Learning, Professional Learning, Reflections, Student Learning |
greystone | December 11, 2012
One comment

Excitement in the Air

 

Typically at this time of year we should expect our students to be getting tired, counting down the days until the well-deserved holiday that is just around the corner – but this year is different. There is an intriguing sense of excitement in the air…

This year we are winding down (or should I say winding up) into our final week before the Christmas Break. Instead of the typical fun activities that are a part of the last week before holidays – which often include making gingerbread houses, Christmas carol singing, crafts, classroom parties, Christmas tree decorating - our students are excited about our first ever Innovation Week. This will be a week long exploration into areas of choice and interest for our students. Our School Support Coordinator, Jesse McLean, introduced this engaging learning opportunity to our students several weeks ago and since that time, our students have been buzzing with enthusiasm for what they might take on as an innovative project, with the goal of having them tap into their creative side, during our last week before the Christmas holidays.

Jesse was inspired to give students the opportunity to choose learning that was interesting and meaningful to them as he read about an Innovation Project taken on by Matt Bebbington from Cheshire, England. Students at Greystone were invited to complete a proposal to participate in Innovation Week. In order to participate in this week long school-wide initiative, students needed to complete an application stating what their creative endeavour would be.  At last count, over 250 applications were approved for participation in Innovation Week.

While we do not yet have all the details figured out – one thing we know for sure…the student excitement for learning is contagious and no matter what bumps in the road we may come across along the way – the ultimate goal of having students engaged in learning is certainly going to be achieved. We have seen evidence of this throughout the application process as we met with all of our enthusiastic Innovation Week participants. There’s no doubt we will learn a lot from our very first “test-drive” of this experience. What we know for sure – we have the right people – those who are willing to take risks for the sake of doing what’s right in helping our students explore and discover what engaging, meaningful learning can look like when we are truly motivated to learn about something that is our choice. Also, we have the flexibility to do whatever we need to do to make this happen for our kids AND we have the trust of our parent community who know that we are working hard on behalf of the kids. They trust that we want to get it right for our learners.

We are looking forward to seeing the excitement continue next week as we launch our very first Greystone Innovation Week!

Category: Personalized Learning, Student Learning |
greystone | November 25, 2012
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We Don’t Remember the Days – We Remember the Moments

 

I had a moment this week that stuck with me – so decided I should capture it in a blog post.

I have not done a lot of reflecting and writing lately as I have been on the gerbil wheel, racing around frantically trying to complete the “to do” list of report card reading, teacher evaluations, finishing touches on the School’s Annual Report and hiring new staff. This, combined with my choice to spend the last four weekends traveling near and far to visit family, watch my son play hockey, take part in an annual run with friends and present at a conference with colleagues from Greystone – has left me feeling like there’s not enough time during the week to get everything done…time to slow down!

From experience, I know that I do my best thinking and reflecting when I make time to relax – ideas flow, I get inspired by what I read or things I hear. That’s what happened today – something I heard during a meeting popped back into my head – it was a moment from this past week that I want to remember.

I had an “aha moment” in teaching – about fifteen years ago. It was in that moment that I understood what it meant to be a teacher. I figured out that the most important thing I could do for my students was to create a love for learning. Not only did I understand that this was the reason for my existance as a teacher, I also learned how I could make it happen. I needed to get off my stage and take a back seat to the students. They were the ones who needed to question, think, explore, figure things out. They needed to do more talking than me. They needed to learn how to think for themselves. They needed to NOT NEED ME. When I figured this out, my job became even more complicated and complex – but far more rewarding! I realized that in order to move my students to a place where they were directing their learning, I had to be even more organized, more thoughtful about my planning, more knowledgeable about the need to knows versus the nice to knows in the curriculum, more flexible to let students take their learning in unexpected directions and most importantly, more responsive to them as individuals. I needed to remember that each learner brought different background experiences, prior knowledge and even possibly some misconceptions to the table and that each learner required something different to build their understanding around a topic. I needed to create the setting for students to explore, deeply, the landscape of a topic. My job was to coach their learning by asking the right questions, sharing the discoveries as they were made and supporting students to reflect and ask questions of each other. I needed to create curiosity and a sense of wonder in my classroom – then get out of the way and put the learning and thinking in the hands of the students. I remember, so clearly, the moment when this happened for me, as a teacher. I became an observer, listener,facilitator and coach for the students – I was no longer the “chick in charge” at the front of the class.

Fast forward fifteen years later – I am Principal of a school full of bright and talented teachers. One of the many things that inspires me about my work now is when I see the “aha moment” happen for teachers at my school. This took place for one of our teachers and she shared it during a meeting last week. She said something like this:

I realized that it isn’t my questions that are important or me telling them what they need to learn about. What needs to happen is that they ask the questions – they come up with what they want to learn more about. I need to figure out how to help them do this.

YESSSS!!!! The “aha moment” – shifting control of the learning from the teacher to the student. Creating a sense of wonder and curiosity among our students – this is the real art of teaching. As John Medina puts it in his book Brain Rules:

Rule #12: We are powerful and natural explorers.

We need to provide students with the opportunity to become curious about the world and then give them the freedom to explore and discover for themselves. This is how we help them create the memorable moments in their learning.

 

 

Category: Learning Through Inquiry Projects, Personalized Learning, Professional Learning, Reflections, Student Learning |
jmacdonald | May 10, 2011
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What Really Matters

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I have been away in the land of learning, dialogue and planning for what the future of education should look like in our province.  This is an extremely uncertain time for us as educators.  The students and families we serve are coming to represent a more diverse and complex range of needs.  We are finding ourselves faced with the challenging task of continuing to find ways to personalize the learning for our students.  As a classroom teacher, I always found this a most difficult yet crucially important responsibility  – how to find a way to reach each and every one of the special and unique learners I had in my classroom?  Now, it has become even more complicated for our teachers as we must address additional factors including a new understanding of the dynamic nature of what it means to know and understand in a way that prepares our learners to become successful in a world of continuous change and uncertainty.   As a result, we are often left questioning ourselves as teachers.  Are we making a difference?  Are we helping our students to feel that each of them is a success story just waiting to be written?

Currently, our government is making some great steps forward in the area of inclusive education, curriculum re-design and the integration of technology to transform learning so that we, as teachers, can be supported in the challenging work that we face.  The dialogue has begun and the groundwork is being laid so that we can make improvements to our school system.  I had the opportunity to be a part of the dialogue this week as I attended roundtable research discussions around Action on Curriculum.  The process that was facilitated by Alberta Education was excellent.  Gathered together, in an extensive two-day “think tank”, were educators from around the province who had experience, expertise and a willingness to do what’s best for our students in order to move them forward through an educational system that prepares them to be successful, lifelong learners of the 21st century.

We heard from a variety of experts in the field of Education, who helped us to understand the bigger picture of what constitutes real learning.  We uncovered, together, a shared understanding of different ways of knowing .  The big message that resonated for me was that real knowledge and understanding cannot necessarily be imposed – rather, it comes from within a very deep, rich, contextual history of experiences, stories and values, unique to each student, each family, each culture and each community.  This way of knowing should be respected, as something that is worthy of carrying forward among our learners and has a place in the curriculum that we develop for our learners.

Conversation also centered around personalized learning and what that meant to each of us – how do we recognize and value the individual in the context of the prescribed program of studies.  We discussed the breadth and depth of learning – and came to an awareness of the constant struggle to determine when it is most important to come to know a little about many things or when we should go deeper into a particular discipline so that we come to understand the complexities, connections and applications about a topic of inquiry that we can personally and passionately connect to.  So many excellent conversations about what is most important for our students to learn.  What is it that constitutes real, memorable, relevant learning?

 

The learning continued as I left the roundtable discussions in Calgary and headed to Banff to join the Senior Executive and Principals from Parkland School Division for the College of Alberta School Superintendents Conference.  More dialogue and discussion followed as we worked collaboratively to plan the way forward in Parkland School Division.  We heard presentations from Ben Levin and Michael Fullan, who have led school and system improvement projects in Ontario.  There were many reminders from this session that assisted our team in re-focusing on the most important factor leading to school and system improvement:  excellent school leadership and excellent teaching.  As long as we stay focused on this goal, we will be able to meet the needs of our students and provide them with the strong foundation they need to become confident, curious and capable learners in the 21st century.  When we look at what really matters for our students…we can sum it up very simply:

Excellence in Teaching = Excellence in Student Learning

This message was created by one of our students last week during our Spring Fling – so great to see that our kids understand what really matters !

Carolyn Cameron

  

Category: Personalized Learning |
jmacdonald | February 12, 2011
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Get off the Gerbil Wheel!!!

 
Ahhhhhh…Teacher’s Convention…an opportunity to take a breather from the fast pace of our action-packed, always busy, often unpredictable school days.  For two full days, we are given time to learn something new to improve our practice, reflect on our work, reconnect with our colleagues and re-energize for the second half of the school year.  Why don’t we make time, more often, for this?   What would our work and our lives be like if we could slow down, take time to breathe and get off the gerbil wheel that keeps us racing through our school days, our “to-do” lists and our lives?  Would we be more effective, more creative, more passionate about our work?

 

The highlight of my Teachers’ Convention this year was hearing Sir Kenneth Robinson speak in Red Deer.  His message reminded me of the importance of cultivating each individual’s creativity in our mission to educate youth for the 21st century.  Some significant themes stood out for me during Sir Ken’s talk - many of them were things that I believe we have identified as cornerstones to the teaching and learning at Greystone Centennial Middle School:

 

1.  Schools as Organic vs. Linear

 

The traditional model of schooling highlights a one size fits all, standardized curriculum that measures, sorts and ranks students in a linear manner in order to feed them up to the next level on the “Educational Conveyor Belt”.   This concept of the education system hit home with me personally, when my very creative “out of the box” musician son, in grade 12 at the time, wrote a song in his last year of public education entitled “Our Last Year As Cattle”.  As a personal aside, it has been the educational experience, as seen through the eyes of my oldest son, that has contributed to fueling my fire for educational reform for all of our children.  The “system” worked for me, as it funneled me off to University in a predictable, linear way…but that conveyor belt doesn’t necessarily work for others who “march to the beat of a different drum”.  This linear structure does not work for so many who possess more insight, creativity, imagination and talent than I could ever dream of possessing myself.

 

The industrialized model that de-personalizes education and treats individuals like “cattle” does not take into account the uniqueness of each of us.  It does not value the GROWTH mindset that we need to embrace so that all students feel that they have the potential to realize the unique gifts and talents they possess.  A growth mindset can be observed at Greystone when we see teachers emphasizing the use of:
  • Student Portfolios in which the student charts his or her learning journey over time – looking at successes as well as identifying, for himself or herself, areas for growth AND, with assistance from the teacher, can make a plan for what to do to get to that next level;
  • Process Reflections that help students focus on becoming aware of themselves as learners; 
  • Assessment FOR Learning that provides students with timely feedback about their learning and what is needed in order for that particular learner to show growth next time around;
  • Fail Forward – mistakes are used to improve learning, we use them as opportunities to develop skills in perseverence, reflection and goal setting for next time.  Students (and teachers) engage in the process of objectively analyzing their own work and the work of others in order to identify whether or not co-created criteria have been met (and if criteria has not been met, what would need to be done to improve).

As Educators, it is our responsibility to uncover those “human resources” that live inside each of us and if mined, would provide our youth with what they need to contribute confidently to the world of their future.  This is what we do when we differentiate our instruction based on individual learner needs and when we seek to build an inclusive model of education for students by providing “room at the table” for each and every learner who comes into our school. 

 

Sir Ken does a brilliant job of exploring the paradigm shift that needs to occur if we are to move from an industrialized to an agricultural system of education that personalizes learning for students and provides multiple pathways to the future.  To this end, we are so excited about the work being done in our School Division, particularly at the High School level, where students are being provided with opportunities to have their unique needs as learners met through the Flexibility Enhancement Project.

 

Beginning with the end in mind, we need to remember that we are preparing our students for an end we can’t even imagine right now…so it is best to tap into the unique potential of each and every one of our learners in order to provide them with an education that gives them the confidence in themselves to recognize their talents and then to continue to explore and build upon those talents to create success for themselves now and in the future.  So…how do we do this?

 

2.  Space to Create

 

 

 

 

In Sir Ken’s TEDTalk about the Education Revolution, he describes the “Fast Food Model of Education” that values speed in productivity with an emphasis on conformity.  When we keep running around and around on the gerbil wheel each day, attending to our endless list of same old same old activities, tasks, meaningless assignments and booklets, we not only fail to ignite the passion and creativity of our students, but we also extinguish the flame of purpose and excitement among our teachers.  As a result, we move to dreary ”Flobbertown”, where, as Dr. Seuss describes in his book “Hooray for Diffendoofer Day”, everybody does everything the same.  In this scenario, the classroom, school and community becomes a very dull, boring and soul-less place to be.  Most importantly, we all fail to realize the potential each of us has for using our imagination and creativity…to move into a space where,as Sir Ken describes in his book “The Element” we can live lives that are filled with passion, confidence and personal achievement.

 

What we need to do to create a school community that is alive with growth, new ideas and fluorishes with potential is provide TIME …the space for all of these wonderful opportunities is available right now by doing more with less…getting “back to basics” as Sir Ken puts it.  Back to basics implies that we have all that we need in a classroom, in a school RIGHT NOW.  We don’t have to wait for someone to transform the system in order to create connections, ignite desire and uncover passion that exists in each and every one of us.  We can reconnect to the art of teaching by slowing down and making time to build the relationships between teacher, learners and the relationship between learner and topics to be uncovered.  No more rushing to “cover” the curriculum; but instead, make time to connect with ideas, processess, and understandings that are there to be “uncovered” by all of us.  How to do this:

 

  • Ask important questions – have students share their interests and understandings with each other.  Uncover misperceptions and build a shared understanding together.
  • Collaborate with colleagues – work together with each other to design learning that brings together many key processes from more than one subject area so that we are actually creating more time to go deeper with the learning for ourselves and our students. 
  • Create flexible schedules/structures – STOP the shuffle from class to class with bells going off every half hour.  At Greystone, we have implemented a flexible time table that puts the responsibility for deciding how much time to spend on key learner outcomes in the hands of our professionals.  Our teachers, as highly capable professionals, are responsible for ensuring that time is taken to focus on the big ideas and on what it is that is most important for students to understand.  Re-examining the traditional structures in our school system, like not switching teachers every year, can help us find ways to create more time with our students for personalized, in-depth learning with students.  We have established a looping system at Greystone, which provides students and teachers with two or three years together so that they can focus on what is important ~ getting to know each and every learner as an individual, and then, in the company of colleagues, assisting each other with the creative process of designing experiences that will capture the interest and imagination of learners. 
What if we make time to slow down our lives, to focus on the really important things…would we feel more fully alive, inspired and would we be able to tap into the creative talent that lies inside of each of us?  And how would this impact our own lives and the lives of those we touch each and every day?  Time to get off the gerbil wheel…

 

No great thing is created suddenly.  There must be time.  Give your best and always be kind. ~ EPICTETUS

 

Category: Personalized Learning, Reflections, Student Learning |