inquiry

Sorting Out: Part II

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T51-nxlpM6aL._SX331_BO1,204,203,200_his week, I have been reading Promoting Resilience in the Classroom: A Guide to Developing Pupils Emotional and Cognitive Skills, by Carmel Cefai. Again, this presents a model of resilience-enhancing classrooms, which focuses on caring, prosocial, engaging, collaborative, and empowering classrooms. Within this, in order to achieve relatedness, autonomy, competence, and fun, Cefai (2008) suggests seven classroom processes that students should be a part of:

  • Feeling connected with their teacher and their peers
  • Being told that what they do is valid and worthwhile
  • Are supported to engage in meaningful activities in which they feel autonomous and successful
  • See their accomplishments and efforts recognised and celebrated
  • Have their voice heard and their choices respected
  • Share common values and beliefs related to learning all together cooperatively
  • Work together collaboratively to achieve common goals

2016-01-25 14.35.18Examining these models is allowing me to identify common themes, as well as gain some insight on what is important to me. What i’m finding is that there are many resiliency models out there, but the majority are theoretically based and don’t include the practical strategies that teachers can take and apply within their classrooms. This books does include case studies and practical examples, but most are aimed towards the primary grades. This is something I hope to develop with my own model of resiliency in the classroom, with perhaps creating a little mini-unit on teaching the importance of vulnerability and failure. 

 

References

Cefai, C. ( 2008). Promoting resilience in the classroom: A guide for developing pupils’ emotional and cognitive skills. London: Jessica Kingsley.

Sorting Out: Part I

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This week, I managed to get through one of my key resources, Resiliency in Schools: Making it Happen for Students and Educators, by Henderson & Milstein (2003). This was helpful in giving me a general overview of the topic of resiliency in schools, allowing me to start “sorting out” my resources and guiding my research in the direction I want to go in. Henderson & Milstein argue that there are six steps to fostering resiliency, which they present through a Resiliency Wheel. They break it down into mitigating risk factors and building resiliency in the environment. The six areas they describe are:

  • Increase prosocial bonding
  • Set clear, consistent boundaries
  • Teach ‘life skills’
  • Provide caring & support
  • Set and communicate high expectations
  • Provide opportunities for meaningful participation

What was interesting about their approach was that they also emphasized developing resiliency in educators. I initially hadn’t planned to include this as part of my question, but in thinking about this, in order for educators to facilitate the development of resiliency in students, it is important for them to be able to understand and model resiliency themselves.

Last post, I mentioned that I may start to mind map the direction I am going in. While this is subject to change, based on the reading I have done so far, I plan to break my question down into four areas:

  •  Building self-efficacy through classroom management
  • Teaching failure and vulnerability through risk-taking
  • Building a resilient, supportive community
  • Building a supportive student-teacher relationship.

References

Henderson, N. & Milstein, M. M. (2003). Resiliency in Schools: Making it happen for students and educators. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press, Inc.

 

A New Challenge…

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As of beginning of January, I have started at a new practicum school which, excitedly, is in the very first stages of becoming a PYP school. And while I feel like the new kid on the block again – having to learn names, find my way around the school, and work out what the staff room etiquette is – I am particularly grateful for being able to see the IB programme at different stages, and how it works in both a public and an independent setting. What’s more, I get the added bonus of working in a different grade, with 9 more kids than my previous practicum class. In other words, a new (and possibly greater) challenge… which means a more valuable learning experience. Bonus!

2016-01-30 16.47.56

Starting a brand new PYP programme from scratch, in a small but established elementary school, without a full-time PYP coordinator, must be quite the challenge. But with such caring and dedicated staff, I am glad I am able to accompany them on part of this journey. This week in our courses, we have been starting to learn about the IB Planners. In most schools, these are already set up, which teachers continuously review and alter based on the year and the needs of  the classroom. Yet this got me thinking, where does a school start in transitioning to the PYP programme? Where do you go with a blank planner template?

Once accepted as a candidate school by the IBO, schools have a trial implementation of the programme which can take a couple of years to reach authorization. This includes training staff members and implementing the curriculum, which is the stage my practicum school is currently at. The below image summarizes the full process to gain authorization.

IB Authorization Process. Retrieved from http://www.ibo.org/become-an-ib-school/how-to-become-an-ib-school/

IB Authorization Process. Retrieved from http://www.ibo.org/become-an-ib-school/how-to-become-an-ib-school/

Subsequently, not only are they implementing their first Units of Inquiry, they are also combining this with trialing the new BC curriculum…. AND having teacher candidates they have to mentor?? My hope is that we can help with the process. We will likely be collaborating to help develop the planner for the next U of I, which will be great experience to create it from scratch and reflect on how it is progressing in a real educational setting. I am also hopeful that the knowledge we have gained over the last five months will be helpful during the IB planning meetings we will likely get to attend once we are at the school full-time. The next couple of weeks will be crucial, as we learn more about implementing the planner, and chat further with our SA’s in planning for our extended practicum.

Finding Out: Part II

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IMG_-cl42roWithin our learning teams, we are continuing on our “Finding Out” journey. Since last week, we have made some progress, although it is difficult with so many final deadlines for other courses taking priority. The nice part though, is that everyone is so passionate about their inquiry topic, so it is easy to jump straight back into it. This week, I have taken some small steps in listening to some TedTalks and taking out some books from the library. We also reached out by email to some inquiry and assessment experts in local school districts. I even sent out a Tweet (#resiliencechat) to see if the Twitter World has any words of wisdom for me. As I start to make my way through my many resources, my plan is to create a mind map over the next week in order to identify common themes and organize my thoughts. We have been using these frequently in our methods courses for unit planning, and i’ve found it particularly helpful in visualizing concepts and developing direction in projects.

“Failure was an AWESOME experience” (Cordell Steiner)

Check out this TedTalk from this little superstar, on what classrooms should look like.

Until next time…

Finding Out: Part I

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Following the winter break, we are now re-focusing in on our Inquiry Project. In order to guide our learning, we are working within “Inquiry Teams” as way to support, challenge, and reflect on our progress. When we meet each week, we will be summarizing where we’re at, providing feedback, setting some new goals for the following week, and have a rotating team leader in order to help facilitate discussion. As other deadlines loom, this is particularly helpful as it helps us stay focused by providing accountability – so i’m intrigued to see how the next few weeks progress.

inquiry_cycle

We are using Kath Murdoch’s Inquiry Cycle as a way to guide us through the next few months. At this point, after spending Term 1 Framing the Inquiry and Tuning In, it is time to move onto the Finding Out and Sorting Out phases. Where am I going with my learning? What new ideas are emerging?

The next step will be to re-read over the articles I have sources so far as part of my Inquiry Proposal, in order to identify a clear direction in my learning, before Going Further to source additional resources that may be helpful. In the next few weeks, I will be working on reviewing books, journal articles, Ted Talks, blog posts, and maybe even seeing if Twitter can help me out! For me, the final aim is Taking Action, and producing some practical guidance for my fellow teacher candidates to take with them as they embark on their career. Thus, keeping this in mind as I begin my research will help me stay on task!

IB and the Inquiry Mindset

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During my practicum in Grade Five, I have been fortunate enough to see how students transition through a full Unit of Inquiry. Through the transdisciplinary theme of Who We Are, our class is focusing on the central idea that “Learning about our body systems helps people make informed choices”. As with anyone that is new to IB, the concepts surrounding the Programme of Inquiry and how this can be authentically implemented in conjunction with BC Curriculum, can be a bit daunting at first. How do we genuinely incorporate the Learner Profile into our everyday language? How do we take an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the Central Idea? Where do we begin with taking real action? We can cover all the theory we like in our classes, but until we get into the schools and start seeing it in practice, that is when we will really get to see the IB “magic”.

Who We Are Unit of Inquiry

Who We Are Unit of Inquiry

My School Advisor breaks each unit down into six weeks, with each week roughly covering the following themes: Tuning In, Finding Out, Sorting Out, Going Further, Making Connections, and Taking Action. The picture above was taken during the second week of the unit; we are now in week five, and having not been present for week 3 and 4, the advancement in their level of understanding and the depth of the connections they are now making is remarkable. On enquiring, I found that this was the Kath Murdoch model of inquiry, which is extremely similar to the Spiral Model of Inquiry we have been learning about in our ‘bible’, Spirals of Inquiry, by the amazing Jody Halbert and Linda Kaser (who we were very fortunate to attend a keynote speech by this past week).

inquiry spiral

Spiral Model of Inquiry (Halbert & Kaser, 2013)

When I think back to my own education as a child, as well as throughout my undergraduate degree, there is definitely a stark difference between then and the direction that education is now heading. I was a student to a lot of transmission-style teaching… and let’s be honest, there’s not much of my learning in elementary and high school that I can recall. But the great thing about this, is that we as educators and administrators are making progress. And with the upcoming transition with the new BC Curriculum focusing more on competencies (the ‘doing’), this is an exciting time for teacher candidates. We are going to be part of the change, and what’s more, with our understanding of inquiry through the international baccalaureate program, we are going to be, hopefully, ahead of the game.

We are all responsible for our own learning. The teacher’s responsibility is to create educational environments that permit students to assume the responsibility that is rightfully and naturally theirs.” (Brooks & Brooks, 1999).

Class inquiry in action

Class inquiry in action

So as a new inquiry teacher, how do we go about inciting student ownership over their learning? This is something that I will be working to uncover over the remainder of my BEd, as well as developing my skill set over the rest of my career. To get started however, on her website (link below) Kath Murdoch provides 10 practices of the effective inquiry teacher:

  1. Challenge more students to think more deeply more of the time
  2. Teach students about thinking: help build their critical, creative and reflective thinking toolkit, as well as asking them to share their thinking processes with others
  3. Provoke curiosity and wonderment: celebrate questions and teach how to ask good questions
  4. Invite student voices into the learning process: have them construct intentions and success criteria
  5. Help students make connections: assist them to see how their thinking grows and changes
  6. Teach the skills and process used by researchers, so they have a variety of methodologies and feel confident as researchers
  7. Ensure that students have the bigger picture: context and purpose for their learning
  8. Let kids in on the secret: share learning intentions
  9. Focus on process as much as the content: invite students reflect and plan how they learns
  10. This is all in the context of having a genuine, trusting relationship with your students.
Mind Maps: brainstorming and making connections on real-world issues

Mind Maps: brainstorming and making connections on real-world issues

So ask questions, investigate the unknown, discuss ideas, interpret information, and reflect regularly… this results in becoming an authentic lifelong learner, and if you can endorse this, your students will do too.

 

 

References

Brooks, J. and Brooks,M (1999) In search of understanding: the case for constructivist classrooms, Sage publications.

Halbert, J. & Kaser, L. (2013). Spirals of Inquiry for equity and quality. Vancouver, BC: BCPVPA

Kath Murdoch website: http://www.kathmurdoch.com.au/new-page-2-1/