My blog readers know I rarely dwell on generalizations and that I prefer to share what I do in my classroom. If you are here now, I invite you to see how my students and I inquired into the concepts of “similarities” and “differences” in relation to ourselves and the people around us.

Obviously this is just one way to “teach” and by no means it is to be taken as a model of perfect teaching. I just share what I do and if you find some good ideas go ahead and use them. If you don’t, well then you wasted some precious time and I can’t help you with that. J

*NOTE: My students are second-language learners (like me) and are now in 3^rd grade.

The central idea that guided our inquiry was, “I am a unique individual with similarities and differences in relation to things and people around me. “

 

The process might seem linear but it is only apparent. For the sake of easy reading I had to put the learning experiences in a timeline so you can have the big picture of the learning process as it unfolded.

Collage Profile

- provide students with a sketch of their own profiles

- students draw and write inside (words and pictures they feel relate to themselves)

- share and discuss (Gallery Walk strategy)

This activity gave me and my students an authentic glimpse into what they see themselves like. As usual, I made my own profile,too, because students need modelling and enjoy learning about their teacher. I also share my reflection, reading, writing  and doodling journals with them. 

ME Box

- students share items they brought from home (favorite toys, books, other items)

- video record students and post the videos on the class blog for later reflection

- reflection: What do these object tell about me? 

- communicating likes/dislikes, abilities, interests helps in the inquiry process, but also in building orla language skills

This "box" is highly relevant because it contains what children cherish most and items that are related to their interests and abilities. 

 

IDENTITY Map 

- brainstorm with students things that people can "see" about us

- students complete the outer circle with personal details

- sharing time, discussions

The purpose of this activity was for students to notice what is "visible" about themselves and and it was also a springboard for the next activity where we went deeper into the concept of "identity". 

The ME You Don't See

- students brainstorm things that cannot be "seen" by others but are very important to us as persons

- they complete a blank Iceberg Model and the words are then written by teacher above and under the "water"

- students complete the second part (Share some things we don't know about you.)

TIMELINE of Me

- discuss the concept of timeline, show models

- students create a personal timeline with the most 5-7 most important events in their life

- I brought a timeline, too 

Some events shape our life, our personality and even goals. It was important for students to identify "big" events in their lives and make connections with who they are now as persons. 

 

If I Were...I Would Be....

I often encourage metaphoric thinking because it does stretch the mind and it provides a new perspective. The kids enjoyed this activity a lot and became aware of their uniqueness (even if, for instance, some chose the same color they did so for different reasons). 

 

Knowing YOU

 

A. Human Treasure Hunt

- an in-class survey is designed by students (Find Someone Who....)

- students came up with a list of questions that we immediately put in a document and started "hunting" for answers around the classroom (e.g. Find someone who...plays an instrument.) We made a graph in the end and visualized both similarities and differences within our class.

B. Interviewing Our Classmates

- students paired up and prepared questions to ask their partner

- they interviewed their classmate and we "broadcast" that (we used a microphone, headset etc) under the theme "Today's Special Guest". 

These interviews varied as I empowered students to make up their own questions and find out exactly they wanted from their peers. It was an engaging experience and one that deepened student reflection as they could see themselves in the videos posted on the class blog. 

Tug of War: Similarities vs Differences

- prepare two statements and attach them to the end of the "rope":

SIMILARITIES are more important because they make us a community.

DIFFERENCES are more important because they make us unique. 

- students bring arguments that "pull" towards the end they select (use post-its)

As you can imagine, at the end of the activity we concluded that both similarities and differences help us as individuals.

PERSPECTIVE

A. Conceptual understanding

- make three groups of students

- provide 3 sets of photos, each set illustrating the same object but from a different perspective

- question prompt: "What do these pictures have in common? What do you think the big idea is?"

- the groups share their ideas; provide the key-word at the end (Perspective) in case students do not know it

You'd be surprised how smart kids are. After initial struggles ALL three groups concluded that "perspective" was the major concept. 

B. Walk in My Shoes

- students bring  a pair of shoes that belongs to another family member

- they try to run, skip and move but it is, obviously, hard because the shoes are either too big (the parents') or too small (their siblings'). 

After the initial fun and smiles, we sat down and reflected. Their "big idea" was  that we sometimes judge people based on appearances without knowing what it feels like to be "in their shoes". 

C. Poems 

Reinforce this idea through poems, books, artwork. I used two poems and played music in the "background" for a greater effect. Allow students time to "sink in" and then reflect. 

While we were engaged in these  whole-classroom activities, the kids had their own questions (see our Wonder Wall). They pursue them individually and complete their Inquiry Journals. 

However, at some point, I noticed that many kids had inquired into gender differences ("Why are boys and girls different?") so I changed my planning to address that. 

GENDER Stereotypes

A. 

- bring magazine covers, ads and website pages (printed) that are designed for each gender

- use I See / I Think / I Wonder strategy so kids can make connections, clarify their questions and thinking

- bring the class together. Question prompt, "What words would you use for describing each set of pictures?"

- use Wordle to visualize the most frequent words

Kids noticed how different were the words used in relation to each gender, and also how different the pattern was - for describing girls there were a lot of adjectives about appearance, while for describing boys the focus was on personality/skills. Of course, this finding caused a very lively discussion! J

B.

- make a chart and divide it into Shapes/Colors/Animals/Symbols

- ask students to select and glue them under the headings Boys/Girls

- gather students as a class. What were the most frequent items associated with each gender? Record together on a big paper.

- discuss findings

You can only imagine the debate that followed! I also contributed my own view (at the end, so I wouldn't influence their choices). I told the kids how I dislike shopping (an activity usually ascribed to women), that I love dogs and used to play a lot of "boy" games when I was young, and I never wore pink in my life! 

These activities raised many questions and the kids' feedback was that "labeling" is unfair, that we do, indeed, are different gender-wise but that is also influenced by the media and the grownups around them. 

 

Well, hoping that I didn't bore you too much, I conclude here. I am aware that this unit of inquiry could be designed in many ways and that I certainly can improve. I had to take into account age-group characterstics and the fact that my students are scond-language learners (this involves simplifying language in some cases). Retrospectively, however, I feel I created activities that are engaging and relevant for students, developing skills and a sense of awareness that goes beyond "cute" busy activities. The end of the unit feedback from students also emphasized that aspect.

If you have time, leave a comment and do not refrain from criticism - I always prefer it because it makes me reflect and grow. Thank you!

Pam Thompson challenged me to write 5 things I would like my teacher to know. As a child I was an introvert…so my five things are slightly different from Allanah King's (who started this meme) and Claire's.

Dear Teacher, these are the five things I would like you to know about me:

1.        I love the physical world –mud, monkey bars, football, fresh air and running. Let me go outside, scratch my knees, climb trees, hop in puddles. There are enough washing machines and Band-Aids out there – I will be OK!

2.       I like to take time before you ask me to present my work. I often daydream, I am a bit shy and I get creative only when the clock is not ticking so fast.

3.        I like to spend time with my family at home. I learn from them things that you will never be able to teach me. So don’t burden me with homework – work is for adults and I am a child only!

4.      I like technology but crayons and books, real books that you can touch, unleash my creativity. Let me have both so I can be a balanced little person.  Give me this choice.

5.      Stretch my thinking but also let me struggle a little. You are always too close and too fast in helping me. How can I ever learn if you do it for me most of the time?

I now pass the meme to other 5 educators I know. What would YOU like your teacher to know about you?...

@@MaryAnnReilly  @HeidiSiwak   @FlyontheCWall   @AnIowaTeacher newfirewithin 

 

*Photo source

 

N

 

It has been a week full of memes and tagging teachers and lessons on how blogs written by children should be evaluated. Honestly, I am tired of that. And of course, I am against it.

Firstly, we should ask ourselves these questions:

1.      What is the purpose of student blogging?

2.      What are the reasons for assessing them?

3.      If assessing, how can you develop a rubric that covers creativity/round pegs in square holes?

 Since I do not have the same teaching values as everyone else (thank god for diversity!) I can only express my own views and share my own classroom practices.

1.      Purpose: My students do not blog to showcase their “best work” as others do. They blog to tell me about many things:

-          how they learned to play an instrument

-          who came to visit and what they did together

-          what criteria they would use for a final project

-          what ideas they have for the current inquiry unit (yes, I ask for their input so some lessons are done together, based on their views)

-          how they liked Skyping with a teacher

-          what their reaction is in relation to a lesson, a video that I or their peers posted

-          what application they discovered and how we can use it in class

-          what their questions are about a specific topic

-          to tell me what they are doing while they are ill, at home

and so much more.

Some write more, others less.

Some write nearly daily, others less frequently.

Some have more spelling mistakes (we are second-language learners), others none.

Some use pictures or videos or embed an app (e.g. VoiceThread), others don’t.

 

Conclusion: Our class blog transfers the idea of community and need for self-expression. It is not yet another assignment that has to be done.

That I encourage them to blog is one thing, but to make them accountable for not blogging enough or according to certain criteria is another. It is, eventually, a personal choice. Don’t WE blog when and if we want to?...

 

2.      Reasons for assessing students can be found at anytime, right? It is in our culture to judge and set kids against criteria (and often against each other - of course, under the surface). But then, I ask, why would anyone blog if they found themselves rated and judged all the time? I asked today on Twitter, “ Would you like to be evaluated based on a rubric”? It would be interesting to see who would.

 

3.      Now the famous rubric.  We can develop a 10, 20 –point rubric covering a lot of what one should look in a blog for: language, style, mechanics, multimedia etc. Sure we can do that – we are teachers. We can turn nearly everything into measurable scales. But…just take a look at the diversity of blogs out there. Most would inevitably  fail.

 

The first example that comes to mind is Seth Godin who has thousands of readers. Multimedia? None. Does it have a classical rigorous structure? Not at all. Length? Not even that – his blog posts are some of the shortest on the web. No, Seth, you wouldn’t get maximum of points on my rubric- sorry to disappoint you.

 

Other examples? John Hagel. Oh boy, he blogs very rarely and his posts…well, loooooooooooong. Really long and always packed with so many ideas to munch on. You always need to reread them and rethink. But oops, no multimedia there. Just plain, articulated, good writing. Sorry for you, John, but neither you will make the 100% on my rubric.

 

And the list can go on.

So here I am asking: how can a rubric cover this creative, very personal style of blogging? It can’t, in my opinion. Because a rubric also excludes. What is new, interesting and relevant in other ways.

 

For me, not only in regard to blogging but to teaching in general, this Indian saying  tells quite a lot: “If we want to make the elephant grow, we feed him, not weigh him every day.”  Let the children write, offer them models, let them engage in conversations – with peers, you, others – and allow them this freedom. Because eventually they would blog better. And better.

 *Because J. in the comments asked, I thought of providing a visual proof of how comments change in time without any rubric whatsoever. Feedback and conversations is all it takes for kids to get better - the same way we, as adults, improve.

 

In the past month or so I have been reading and thinking a lot about a few things that to me, even after more than 15 years of teaching, still sound like issues I struggle with so I would like to understand how others work them out. 

 

Engagement

I don't think engagement is the real issue - there are many ways to engage students, especially now with so much tech available. I think deep thinking, true reflection and long-term motivation for learning are more critical. 

There are two points I want to make here.

1.      I have seen many educators who use numerous tech resources with their students and that is a good thing. However, most of them did not engage them in deeper thinking, in making crosscurricular connections, in doubting their own knowledge, synthesizing knowledge in new, creative ways. To boost engagement is not enough – kids are always drawn towards new devices and apps. But to what purpose? Is there any evidence of inquiry, questioning, development in thinking afterwards?

2.      Engagement can be really misleading as it can often be nothing but busyness. Keeping kids “engaged” every minute of the day is not necessarily the path to building deeper understandings. Here come the 1) time and the 2) independent thinking time factors. Why? Because students are multitasking anyway - just think of how many subjects they learn daily, from language arts to math and chemistry. We need to go for “less is more” and allow for processing time individually.

Tension: between time constraints and authentic learning, collaboration and individual work

Curiosity

 As I said in a tweet, children are naturally curious. Don't mistake that with naturally good thinkers - not even all adults are. It takes modeling and practice.

Again, creating a “wonder” environment is not that hard in my experience – kids like to learn many things every time. Our brain is designed as such (another reason we tweet, blog and read a lot in the space of social media nowadays).  What is harder though is to keep them focused on a thread of thought, to make them resilient to obstacles, to make them persevere in finding solutions, to inquire deeper in a certain area. Because thinking is hard and it requires both knowledge and skills, critical thinking skills. To me, in vain we “engage” students unless we enable them to think, unless we model thinking strategies and use them constantly in our lessons. Product-focused or solely task-based learning is not enough for learning. The thinking processes are critical.

Tension: between our need for variety/play and rigor in intellectual pursuits

 

Relevance

“The simple fact that a learning achievement is measurable doesn't make it relevant.” - Lex Hupe

I agree on this but again, how do we know what is relevant? What criteria inform your choices? I always find that the obvious is rarely questioned and hence we keep building confidence that we are always doing the right thing.

Those who advocate for strictly real-life based tasks and learning experiences hit a target but miss a point. Me thinks. Literature and the arts, for instance, are completely “unproductive” in the real world but it is through them that we understand, develop, contribute to and share our humanity. A child is often unlikely to talk about Shel Silverstein’s poems or the law of inertia outside school because s/he engages in different types of learning – social and emotional mostly. Does that mean we have to take away from their education these bits of wonder and encounters with the humanities/sciences just because they are not built within a “real-life” context?

The other extreme – keeping the subjects strictly on an academic level – is as damaging. Unfamiliar experiences, both in time and space as well as emotional, become a wall in the process of internalizing information. 

Tension: between real-life experiences and what education offers

 

Empowerment vs. Accommodation

I still find it hard to draw the line between the two. It is obvious, from brain research as well, that we need challenging tasks so we can actually learn – we need moments of confusion so we can step back and reevaluate our knowledge in a new light. But how challenging should “challenging” be? Or how easy should “easy” be? How do I know, with each and every student, that I respond to his/her needs but still push them forward? How do I know I only accommodate instead of empower? Pretty tricky for me as I teach a class of second-language learners who not only vary in terms of age (from 7 to 10) but also have strengths in so many diverse areas.

Tension: between needs and goals

Other dichotomies - tech vs. analog, knowledge vs. skills etc - are simply false and I won’t bother mentioning them. My intentions are to reflect more on the issues presented above and find some answers in the future. It is, eventually, a balancing act and that is where expertise and art combine.

What are your takes? Do you have any of these questions in the back of your mind when you teach? I would love to hear others’ input. 

*Photo: MorgueFile.com - I edited it as it requires no  attribution and it allows for remixing work. 

*I hate it when Posterous changes quotation marks and hyphens into squiggly things. 

 

 

I am not sure if this deserved a blog post but well...I found myself here. It also might be an excuse for not having blogged in a long time (I told you I am not much of a blogger - the information, blogs and websites out there are overwhelming, who needs another one?). 

First, take a peek into our classsroom this year. I made a Word doc so you can download it (if it helps in any way). 

Our first day was filled with fun. Details? Yes, please. 

Tell Me Something Nice- I pinned various tags on each student's back and let them move around (e.g "Tell me something nice about my hair". ) Compliments upon compliments began to pour! But guess what? One of them came to me and my colleague (the Romanian language teacher) and pinned tags on OUR backs, too! He said, "You deserve compliments, too!" 

Snowball Fight - each kid wrote three things about themselves on a piece of paper (I told them to change their handwriting, so others would not recognize it). They crumpled the papers and ...boom! Flying balls all over the classroom until I said "Stop". We grabbed any paper we got our hands on, sat in a cricle and read, trying to guess who was who. (Of course, I wrote, too! I changed my writing so much that only one kid could guess!) 

 

Musical Chairs - But nope, not your usual game. This is exactly the opposite! We take a chair and the ones sitting need to MAKE ROOM for those left out! Imagine when we had only 1 chair left - 14 kids on top of each other , hah! 

 

HOPE - I created the word "hope"exclusively out of post -its, and then invited students to write their hopes for the new school year. 

 

ME - I gave the kids the paper below with two instructions. They cut and glue letter "M" upside down. What did it change into? "W(e)"  :)  We had a discussion on the purpose of this activity (community and collaboration). 

Of course...the last activity was reading a wonderful book: Little Blue and Little Yellow. If you haven't read it to your students, you (and they) are really missing out. It is about a little blue dot who plays with his friend, the little yellow dot. One day they hug one another and...oh, they turn green! They want to return to their homes but neither family (blue, nor yellow) wants to let them in...I won't tell you more, let your students find out. It is a wonderful story about friendship, differences and identity - as we will start our learning journey this year with a an inquiry unit about identify and diversity (Marvelous, Marvelous Me). 

I almost forget - we also wrote a "recipe"for our Reading Buddies (who now are in second grade and with whom we read the entire last school year) - How to Be a Successful 2nd Grader 

Well, this would be about our first day at school. We will tell and show you how we keep learning this year, and hope yours will be as great as ours! :) 

 

 

 

 

 

Guest post by Lindsey Wright

Lindsey Wright is interested in online learning and she focuses on the assessment issues that this type of learning poses to teachers. I am happy to have her share these views and solutions in the blog post below. 

 

Online teaching presents certain unique challenges that will test any teacher's creativity and mettle. Not the least of those challenges is assessment. When you're teaching students without ever looking them in the eye, how is it possible to accurately assess their work? To avoid the doubts and conundrums that typically plague the online educator, it is essential that teachers supplementing classroom education with web-based learning or teaching courses entirely over the Web in online college classes and similar contexts identify what assessment challenges are inherent to their online teaching environments and take steps to avoid the assessment pitfalls those challenges present.

 

Types of Challenges

 

Elsewhere on this blog, Cristina discusses the various types of assessment challenges generally. Among her observations are a number that are particularly relevant to the online classroom, and a discussion of those issues as they relate to online learning environments is particularly relevant to any consideration of solutions to online learning assessment problems.

 

One of these assessment pitfalls is what Cristina calls the anchor effect. This involves taking one student's outstanding work and making it the baseline by which all other projects are judged. For the online teacher, this is a particular risk because oftentimes the students are not well known to you. Judging one student's work against another's is easier because comprehension of student individuality isn't as pronounced.

 

The similarity effect is another that's particularly relevant to the online educator. This refers to the tendency of teachers to judge students based upon their own behaviors or work abilities. Thus, if the teacher was a good writer, he tends to judge students who are good writers more favorably. Online educators are particularly at risk of this assessment behavior when they don't know their students that well and have only their own personal work as a basis for judgment.

 

The order effect describes the tendency of teachers to grade different students' work similarly due to fatigue or waning interest. Often, online educators will easily fall prey to this habit when they have to grade classes that are larger than those taught in a traditional classroom.

 

Finally, the teacher style effect describes how teachers tend to grade those who demonstrate similar learning and expressive styles to the teachers' own as better than those who are different. This means that if the teacher is creative, she might judge a student who is more creative in her work as better than student who is more conventional. When the only work to be assessed is turned in over the Internet, this is an inherent risk because teachers are judging based upon perceived personality often without any additional understanding of students' learning styles.

 

How to Assess Online

 

The University of Massachusetts recognized that online educators face unique challenges and published a handbook designed to address the specific needs of these teachers. Specifically, the handbook features a section on online assessment techniques that is essential to any educator wishing to accurately measure the learning gains of students in a web-based class.

 

Among the suggestions that the handbook offers is that educators create a mix of different assignments designed to measure learning gains. This will allow them to develop a richer understanding of students' needs, but it will also prevent teachers from falling victim to the effects listed above. When each assessment is different, a teacher can't as easily judge students based upon style, similarity to another's work, or even the type of work produced. After all, multiple choice tests aren't likely to fall victim to the order effect, and essays requiring a different style every week prevent teachers from assessing based upon personal style or comparing one paper too much against another. The suggestions included by the university include such activities as end-of-semester papers, weekly tests, threaded discussion groups, and reading responses. Each measures a different type of learning goal and allows teachers to assess each student individually.

 

Additionally, it is essential that educators provide prompt, rubric-based feedback for each assessment. For instance, when an essay is turned in, a teacher should grade that essay using a rubric assessment and include specific comments with a quick turnaround time (probably a week or less). By using a rubric to structure the assessment and help determine the appropriate grade, the teacher is forced to contemplate why she is giving that grade for that essay and to address student concerns related to the work in a concrete manner.

 

Other behaviors that will help online teachers avoid the most common assessment issues include taking a break when it's needed and setting aside assignments that present exceptional cases until the end. This will prevent unfair judgment and fatigued grading, problems that can seriously undermine meaningful assessment in any environment.

 

The online classroom is not that different from the traditional one fundamentally, but because of its nature as an online medium it presents unique challenges to online teachers. Assessments, such an essential part of any structured learning program, are of particular importance among the challenges of online education. However, the inherent difficulties presented by assessments in web-based learning can be overcome with some study and creativity on the part of teachers and a willingness to reflect upon their own biases.

I won' insist on the importance of reading (aren't we all aware of that...). Instead, I am going to show you activities that I do with my students to encourage a love of reading - pictures of practice, I think, are most useful to educators so we can learn from each other.

*Reminder: My students are second language learners (as I am).

1. Mystery Reader Day 

Organization: whole class

How: Without students’ knowledge, I e-mail to parents who can speak English and invite them to read aloud to my class. Based on my previous lessons, I select an appropriate book. The kids are thrilled each time- they never know who is coming to read to them! During the read aloud session, the parent asks questions (to check for comprehension, to invite students to connect the text with own experience etc) and at the end a “feedback” conversation follows.

*One of my “mystery” readers was our school principal!

   

 

2. Reading Parties 

Organization: two classes of students who read similar books

How: My example would be the party we had after we finished Little Critter series in first grade. I knew that another  1^st grade  class read the book so I thought of having a party to celebrate that. I invited them to our classroom and had about 24 different games – puzzles, comprehension questions, fill-in-the-gaps games etc about the book. It was a memorable day for all (sure, we also had some sweets and soft drinks for the end of it J )!

*NOTE: If you don’t get what that ball is about, well,  it is something  I use for comprehension sometimes. I  tape questions about a particular book onto the ball, students sit in a circle and throw the ball to one another. Who catches the ball gets to answer ANY question written on those strips of paper. As students grew, I asked THEM to come up with questions. I find it less boring than regular comprehension activities and far more engaging (well, so do students J ).

 

3. Reader of the Week 

Organization: students names are written on small strips of papers and placed in a box; I ask a student each week to pick up a name – the student whose name was picked becomes the “reader of the week”

How: Once the student knows s/he is going to read to us, s/he selects a book he wants to read and we switch places: s/he sits on a chair in front of the class, reads, applies pre-, during and post-reading strategies, invites other students to make connections, to infer the meaning of new words, to question the author’s purpose etc. S/he also marks the responses of each student in our Reading Strategies Chart (which is not used for “competition” but for visualizing what strategies we tend to use most). Kids love to “show off” their reading skills and engage in conversations with their peers. We sit on the carpet –which makes it less formal. Questions flow naturally, students develop speaking and listening skills as well. At the end of the session a two-way feedback is given: the student's evaluates the reaction of the audience (that is us), and we tell our impressions about his/her reading, about how s/he engaged us etc. NO points, stars or whatever silly incentives are used in this process - just conversation. 

                       

 

4. Reading Buddies 

Organization:  students of different ages from DIFFERENT classes pair up and meet once a week; prior to this, I meet their teacher and together with her decide who should read with whom (we take into account reading levels, temperament etc); the pairs are changed the next semester so kids can interact with different styles

How: The younger student reads “to” the older one (4^th grade). The latter helps them read difficult words, checks for accuracy, asks comprehension questions etc. The 1^st graders (my students, in this case) would also write and draw in their Reading Journals being guided and inspired by the older students. At the end of each session they complete a brief feedback form - basically, a paper with some criteria that I had previously thought of.

     

 

5. Reading Partners 

Organization: two students from MY class this time are paired up and read a book together; it is important that you have a mixed-ability pair so the struggling readers can be helped by those with better reading skills

How: Students decide which strategy to use. Some are more comfortable with “echo” reading, others with “read with me” strategy – so it is critical to allow choice. Discussions and questions arise throughout the reading process and both students help one another comprehend the text. They also write down significant words or questions. 

   

 

6. Independent Reading 

Organization: each student reads from his/her own basket of books s/he had previously selected

How: I won’ insist on this activity as I assume everyone does it in their classroom. What is certain though is that children can sit anywhere they wish, read any books they want, take as much time as needed to finish the books (at their own pace) and have individual conversations with me about the books they read, how they think they improved, what their difficulties are etc.  I will talk about these in detail in anther post.

       

 

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….............................................

What  plan for next year? Many new things,  but the most interesting ones are the following.

1.   1.   Inviting a student from another class to impersonate a character (see below).

This idea came through Karen Bolotin (@kbkonnected on Twitter) - an educator I admire for resourcefulness, energy and capacity to work as hard as a bee! (the original source can be found here but I found it on Pinterest.com through Karen)

Following this I thought,  “Why not parents? Or other teachers, too?” I am sure it would be fun for both parties (who says parents and teachers don’t like fun?!)

2.    2.  Having a “Characters’ Meeting” in the school library

Students from all classes can attend, all dressed up like their favorite character. We would have questions, games and lots of other activities to engage them!

3.  3.    Skyping with teachers who could read-aloud to us

Why should we only participate a single day a year in the Global Read-Aloud Day? Why not making it a regular activity and engage different teachers from all over the world?

My had is exploding with ideas for writing, too (I already planned to create a wiki so my class would  communicate with a real WRITER – that is, with Julie Lindsay).  I just can’t wait to put them into practice after I finish with my exams.

Concluding this, what do you think?  Do you have other ideas regarding reading you would like to share?

P.S. I need to remember to check twice before posting (I posted the darft version initially, argh)

 

I wanted to share one of the most beautiful poems I randomly found on the internet. I will use it with my students...Confidence is important. And poetry, too. 

ONE song can spark a moment,

ONE flower can wake the dream.

ONE tree can start a forest,

ONE bird can herald the spring.

ONE smile begins a friendship,

ONE handclasp lifts a soul.

ONE star can guide a ship at sea,

ONE word can frame the goal.

ONE vote can change a nation,

ONE sunbeam lights a room.

ONE candle wipes out darkness,

ONE laugh will conquer gloom.

ONE step must start each journey,

ONE word must start each prayer.

ONE hope will raise our spirits,

ONE touch can show you care.

ONE voice can speak with wisdom,

ONE heart can know what’s true.

ONE life can make the difference,

You see, it’s up to YOU!

*I turned this beautiful poem into a PDF using a Morgue File free photo and Photoshop. I added the download feature in case you like to have it. 

I promised in an older post (Why I Don't Like Only FUN" ) that I would demonstrate why constructivism - and inquiry- work, and the simplest and most likely convincing way is to show my classroom experience.

If you don’t like long posts, you may very well give up. I intend to give a full picture of the inquiry unit as it developed in its 4 weeks and include photos, documents and, sure, explanations…

*NOTE: My students are second–language learners in second grade.

 

So here it goes.

Every inquiry unit develops around a Central Idea (which may or may not be revealed by the teacher at the beginning). This unit’s idea was “A city has complex systems that influence people’s lives and its development.”

 

I chose NOT to tell it to my students so they would struggle a little…

 

1. Nice, but how do you teach an abstract concept such as “system” to 2nd graders?  

Simple: I divided the class in three groups and gave each group something different: a toy car, a pen and a puzzle. The trick that the kids didn’t know…was that each was missing a piece! They tried to assemble the pen (hey, but the spring was missing!), the toy car (oh no, a wheel is not there!) and the tree-puzzle (again, part of it was missing). The kids thought, argued, rearranged…”Cri, we can’t finish it!!”

So we sat down and discussed . Their conclusions:

- a system is made of interconnected parts (yes, Ioana said that magic word!)

- if a part is missing the entire system will not work (Elenis formulated it exactly that way!)

Some will ask, “So what? No big deal. How do you know they UNDERSTOOD the concept at a deeper level?” Well, I asked students to prove they understood it. How? By asking them to actually give an example, illustrate a system that is familiar to them and then share with us.

What systems did they draw and illustrate? Lots! From the anatomy of a bunny (heart, bones, lungs etc) to complex machines, buildings, laptops, musical instruments, plants. All included parts of the system and each student explained HOW it worked and how they were connected.

 

Question: did I “cover” or engaged students “dis-cover” the concept?

*I gave another example of how I teach abstract concepts here. 

Step 2. Back to the “city”…

BRAINSTORMING: “What words come to your mind when you think of CITY?”

Purpose? Connect with prior knowledge (so I would have a foundation to build on later).

The photo is illustrative enough: tens of words began to pour.

   

But that was the easy part. Next step: CLASSIFY them. “Can we put them in certain classes/groups? Can you find criteria to divide them?” (certainly, this is a higher thinking skill…) They grouped them using the Affinity Diagram technique:

 

I also challenged students to create a diagram that would best illustrate the concept of “system” (visualizing abstract concepts is critical): they struggled because the diagram would not represent connections (e.g. the pyramid, or the tree –diagram etc). That was when Eliza came up with a simple yet powerful way to illustrate it (see how each part is linked to others and also to the whole): 

Step 3. Hm, let’s throw them into the central idea “figure-out” phase.

They already knew the unit had some connections with “city” and “systems” so they thought…and thought... and came up with these ideas (remember they are in 2nd grade :) 

Cities help many people survive.

Cties are part of our habitat.

Cities are one of the greatest things that help people.

Almost all objects are from cities.

All people need cities.

People need cities because they can buy things for them to survive.

There are many places to visit in cities.

I have to know where I live and other places.

I need a lot of things from the city.

We listened to each student, marked the “key words” and then I showed them the Central Idea. To let them play with language (because, you know, they are second-language learners) I cut all the words and asked them to put them together. Of course they figured out everything. We then discussed the “complicated/fancy heavy” words in it (“complex”, “influence”, “develop”).

 

Step 4. Good so far. Kids understood and applied the major concept…but let’s connect with others.

Find out what THEY think and know about cities. So off you go, kiddos! Go around the school with this questionnaire:

   

 

Upon return we made the T-chart (so we can get ALL the answers) and then used Create-a-Graph to illustrate the data (it is one of the simplest apps).

Step 5. Switch.

“What do we NEED?” (And you go, “Hm... How is this connected to your unit???”. Just wait…)

NEED: Kids brainstormed and concluded: food, water, shelter, to be safe, to be educated, to be healthy…

Next, “What do you WANT?” Well, as you can presume, they could hardly stop: toys, to travel, candies, a roller –coaster….

Now take a step back, I said…Let’s visualize this…and see how these connect to “city”. Bingo! ALL the systems in the city developed because of our needs and wants! AHA! So it all makes sense now…

Food--------- shops, supermarkets

Water ---- water systems, sewage systems

Shelter------ houses, buildings, blocks of flats

Health--- hospitals, medicine, utilities

Safety- police, fire departments….

Education-- schools, universities, museums, libraries… (and so on)

Ain’t that nice? For STUDENTS to get big ideas with just a push? *below is the final concept map 

 

Step 6. Global perspectives.

Wait, shouldn’t we hear from OTHER people about their city? Just so we can compare with our city (Bucharest) and see how the systems work there?

Thanks to a wonderful bunch of people on Twitter, in two hours after having posted the Google Document on Twitter, my class received over 10 responses! We had answers from Portland   (@ccassinelli), Tokyo ( @tokyoedtech) , Czech Replublic (@sandymillin), Bangkok ( @simreilly) and more!

     

*As a side note, what were the odds that a former student of MINE (whose teacher I was a decade ago!) to see the document and contribute to help my current generation of students? She currently lives in Turkey and wrote about Istanbul city systems. :D The power of connections!

 

Step 7. Okay, we have a foundation now to build our own questions.

(We cannot simply ask students to be inquirers without giving them some provocations AND build a little knowledge about the topic).

The kids wrote their questions which I printed the next day so they would classify them into “skinny”(closed questions – such as “What is the biggest city in the world?”) and “fat” questions (questions that drive the inquiry further and need more research). *see some samples below.

Each inquiry develops around these personal questions and kids research with little support from me. At the same time, we continue with whole class activities so kids can get a better picture of the concepts involved. 

 

Step 8. Let’s go even deeper…CAUSE-EFFECT relationships between systems.

Now this was rated as an “interesting yet challenging activity” by my students (I always ask them to give me feedback on how the unit develops). Of course it was…because making things too easy demotivates in the long run. And because mind-stretching is a good thing for our grey matter.

Since I like to alternate tech with paper-based activities, I simply gave students a flip-notebook (blank sheets of paper cut in the middle: Cause on one side, Effect on the other).

We sat in a circle on the floor and thought. Hard. We took each system and wondered...(e.g."If the transportation system did not work...what would happen to the city? To the people who need to work? To the children who need to go to school? To the police and fire deparment?...etc)

 

Step 9. Guest speakers : why not inviting them for a “real” interaction?

Nothing beats a face-to-face discussion! So we invited Andrei Avram (from a Romanian Institute) and … one of my PLN friends , Vijay Krishnan aka @bucharesttutor!      

Each replied to our questions (and we had LOTS brainstormed prior to these meetings!) and engaged us in great conversations. In English, of course (lucky us – because we could practice listening, speaking and reading skills!) Below is the Google Document turned into a PDF (kids wrote the questions prior to Vijay's visit; his answers - in bold or red - were written by me as he kept talking to the kids). 

 

     

Step 9. What about a visit? Hooray!

Yes, I plan visits at each inquiry unit: kids need to see REAL things, interact with REAL people, get LIFE as it is. But this time it was different because I did not get involved. Yes, I didn’t. PARENTS, whom I asked for help in an e-mail, offered to take groups of kids to their workplace! They came on the same day and took them to different places (bank, technology company and shop) and brought them back at lunch time. Needless to say that the kids had a wonderful time and learnt. A lot. Because they were armed with a reflection paper:

 

   

Because I don’t want to make this post longer than it already is…I would just mention that kids also created cities online , wrote in the class blog about a city in the world they chose …., answered quizzes that I created on the class blog etc. (see our links for the unit here ).

 

   The conclusion is that you CAN develop critical thinking skills and creativity without “teaching” ONLY the old way. You can. Without a textbook. Without talking much (just notice how little I actually interfered with collective knowledge in this classroom). 

And that constructivism is not a synonym with laissez-faire or "poor random learning". 

 

 

 

 

Ever since I have been on Twitter...I heard this and that about curriculum. It will probably be the never-ending-problem of education so I wonder ...
There are so many curricula that we, as teachers, should be perplexed at the complexity of our job...

1. The OVERT curriculum (the written, prescribed by authorities) 
Questions to ponder on: Who writes it? What are the criteria for selecting certain curricular items and not others? 

2. The HIDDEN curriculum (things that leave their imprint, more or less consciously, on the mental representation of the child, from the very physical building/space of school, the timetable, teacher's voice when interacting with certain students -the "naughty", the "smart", you know, all those implicit labels that a child can sense, what is displayed in the classroom and on school walls, whose work is displayed etc).

3. The SOCIETAL curriculum (the informal medium in which a child grows- family, friends, neighbors...)

4. The NULL curriculum (the zero curriculum: Intriguing, right? Well, it represents what is NOT taught in school, what is left out and because of which our students believe those "untaught" elements are unimportant and unnecessary).

5. The "PHANTOM" curriculum (everything representing the meta-culture and is transmitted via mass-mediaand which inculcates certain values and models - more or less explicitly)

There are more types of curricula but I will stop here before it becomes too complicated and annoy you.

My question is: can we, as educators, truly "model" children considering the impact of these non-formal and informal influences (which are often in opposition with what we try to teach)?... Isn't it time to be more reserved in our optimism and start pointing to parents and society at large as well?...
*just a wonder...

This brief post is actually a reply I gave to Tyler Rice who blogs here -Wisdom Begins With Wonder- and who posted the following question on Twitter: "Given complete control over the classroom how many teachers wouldn't choose inquiry-based learning?" He encouraged me to blog it...so I did (not sure if I should have but did it nonetheless).

 

I do. I really do. 

And I can already picture the frowns and disagreements that follow this statement.

For a fervent supporter of play and movement like me this comes as a contradiction. “Well, what on earth is your point then?” you might ask.

My point is that learning can be many other ways without being “fun”…

…It can be inspiring

when you link your lesson content with a beautiful video, an astonishing photograph or a memorable experience as recollected by a renowned artist, history figure, scientist

…It can be engaging

when you design your lesson so as children can collaborate on authentic tasks that enrich learning.

…it can be deep

when you frame the content in such a way that your students want to know more about it, not be “stuffed” with it.

…it can invite to wonder

when you set your lesson so that it triggers more questions and kids “uncover” the content, wonder and explore perspectives.

…it can trigger reflection

when you bring, at least now and then, an element that makes students question their own knowledge and take a step back to rethink.

…it can trigger struggle

when you design tasks that will challenge kids, and create a bit of confusion to the point it makes them smile with pride at the end, “Look at me, I did it!”

 

Making learning too simple demotivates learners. In the short run it might be effective, but it will affect their internal motivation, the only one that sustains lifelong learning.

Making learning too explicit is actually a barrier in learning. The brain needs interesting and increasingly challenging stimuli so it can build more synapses.

Making learning too “fun” can turn certain themes/topics into trivial outcomes. Using Facebook, for instance, when exploring topics on war, poverty, hunger…may be “fun”, but it undermines values that should not be taught through such a channel. Why not using Skype to connect with authentic, “living history” people who actually deal with these issues? Why not using a high-quality video from OpenCulture archives (or another reliable source)? Why not using community learning walks  (as Mary Ann Riley suggests) and establishing connections with veterans, or other people who actually lived during World War II? Why not connecting with experts (in science), book authors (for reading and writing), passionate reading and literacy consultants like Angela Maiers,  mathematicians…?

I do feel that sometimes the "content" and "form" are in a symbiosis, and breaking that connection diminishes them both. Similarly, relevance and (pure) fun can be on opposite sides of the spectrum sometimes.

 For those who disagree on difficulty...I leave you with the a more artistic approach here, with The Story of a Butterfly. How helping a butterfly actually....cripples it.

My next post (tomorrow, I hope), will be an illustration of these ideas in my classroom throughout a unit. Because I tend to practice what I preach. Like I did here, in this unit.  (those who follow my blog know I would rather bring real-life examples and photos from my own teaching experience).

Thank you for reading. Feel free to engage me and disagree in the comments section below. 

 

Buzzword: CREATIVITY.

Who encourages it? Nearly 99% of educators (or so we say).

Do we? Really?

I read and reflected a lot lately (those who regularly read my blog know my obsession with creativity, thinking and play) and created a slideshow for me to remember these things when I get back to the classroom in September. 

Our schools are not designed for creativity. Starting from the very physical space - which is, basically, a larger cubicle - and ending with the process of teaching - which is, despite our best and noble intentions, an agenda. 

1. Creativity - PROCESS

Question for reflection: How often do we actually encourage divergent thinking?

This question implies too many factors (from learning situations we create to content), but I would refer to something that occured to me in the past month. 

Collaboration: The very collaborative approach that seems to be pervasive in schools can sometimes choke creativity. Frown, disagree, but I will give you an example. Brainstorming. Oh yes, an excellent tool for making the neurons of various individuals fire together. Step back and think. Have you noticed that when students brainstorm collaboratively they end up having similar ideas? That happens because group thinking funnels initially divergent and original ideas towards a tacit and almost impossible to detect consensus. Kids, like us, behave differently in group and it is hard for them to detach and share their (sometimes remarkably) different ideas for fear they would be found ridiculous, unnaceptable, or too different to be taken into consideration. 

Conclusion: give kids SPACE to think independently

Aside from this there are introverts (like me) who find it easier to have time alone and only then share to the group. It is how some brains are wired and if we really want to have an "inclusive" education (another buzzword), we do need to pay attention and respect these differences in temperament and processing information. 

Time. Creativity cannot be commanded. But, hey, we have writing classes and kids are supposed to write.They have to, or else...OK. I got it.School is school. But how much time do we allow for ideas to grow? Not much, is my guess.They do have to write that poem or story in 50 minutes or two days. 

 Thinking of how we get creative...I doubt we get so inside school walls with a person in front of us trying to reinforce this or that writing strategy (no matter how nicely).

Conclusion: give kids (more) TIME to create

Method. We all know the reading/writing strategies that tell you what steps any "good" reader/writer needs to follow. I used them with my first graders. I did. But then I started thinking. I would hate them today as an adult. 

"Do you have a writing plan?"

"Your 5 Whs -who,what,when...- have to be in a logical order."

"You need to revise and edit this - how did you forget this step?"

Does it sound familiar? I think that after the initial coaching into writing (yes, kids need to walk before they fly), we should let children write as they deem to. No more control of how they write. How would the world literature be had Virginia Wolf, Hemingway, Elliot, Pablo Neruda, Shel Silverstein followed OUR school writing rules? It is ridiculous. Great literature was born despite of the rules. 

Conclusion: throw away TRADITIONAL models (may they be disguised in appealing websites); expose children to great literature, inspire them and offer help when needed or requested

*This can apply to any school subject. Science breakthroughs and art movements came to being in spite of old patterns. 

2. Creativity - PERSON

Question for reflection: Do we really nurture creative children?

How do we stimulate curiosity - which is central to the creative process? How do we encourage openness and a risk-taking attitude in our students? Are they autonomous learners - so they can feel confident enough to create? Are our students achievers or wonderers? 

Conclusion: watch and morph the overall class atmosphere, kids' confidence, relationships; the EMOTIONAL factor is critical

3. Creativity - PLACE

Question to reflect: Would YOU get creative in your class?

The classroom space is part of what is called the hidden curriculum. Explicitly or implictly, it conveys our education philosophy, classroom interactions, overall learning, teacher-student and student-student relationships. 

So...more questions: Does my classroom invite to wonder? Are there any items that trigger curiosity? What is there on the walls and in the classroom? Do we see only teacher-made materials (regardless of how beautifully handcrafted they are)? Do we see only "best" kids' work? Do we see only finished products or the process of thinking and creating is visible, too? Do we see that only work/task is cherished (but not the wonder, the thinking)? Is it identical (namely, all students did the same task and created the same product in the same format)? 

Conclusion: create a space of WONDER, reflection and individual creativity- one that belongs to kids

4. Creativity - PRODUCT

Question to reflect: Can my students choose how to express their creative nature?

What ways can they do that? Do I push paper OR technology-based formats just because it is trendy/more comfortable/time-saving? Can my students go beyond traditional learning products? 

 

Any last but not least. PLAY. 

In the words of Laura Richardson, designer, MIT graduate, "Play should be our greatest work, as it is the biggest driver of innovation." I won't insist on it as I already blogged about play here and here.)

Concluding this long post... I know there is not enough time. I know there is a curriculum. I know there are zillions of things that could make us give up, raise the eyebrow and not try.

But I also believe in subversive teachers. Teachers who can trick the system for the benefit of children. And I know I will try my best to make these ideas (more or less new) a reality starting with September. 

 

 

 

I was thinking....so I drew.

"Go against the tide if it's what's best for kids." Peggy Sheehy

 

The tide these days is technology. But wait…I am a geeky educator myself so why do I advocate for something that seems to contradict that? We have a class blog, a wiki, we Skyped, used VoiceThread, collaborated on international projects…so why?

 

Because we are becoming enslaved by our own passion: technology. And push that to children too often, too much.

 

Anyone who is also passionate about neuroscience knows the importance of so many non-tech stimuli for the growing thinking brain.  The old-fashioned senses. The old-fashioned face-to-face communication. The old-fashioned play.

 

So…getting back to Peggy’s statement we need to do what is best for kids, not for us. And the best means…

 

• Allowing children to have multi-sensory experiences (not only touching the keyboard)

Why? Because our brain’s semantic memory needs to be stimulated by episodic memory which is built by having hands-on experiences.

 

• Encouraging play, physical play where kids get dirty and manipulate toys (not only virtual “digital playgrounds”) 

Why? Stuart Brown demonstrates that eloquently in this TED talk. 

 

• Supporting REAL communication between students (not only tech-mediated ones)

Why? We all know the importance of Emotional Quotient in learning and general development and that is built mainly through face-to-face interaction.

• Develop THINKING skills through engaging and smart lessons (not throw tech resources at them just for the sake of being trendy)

If you just replaced textbooks with tech you’re on the wrong path. If you, however, build your lessons from scratch – using backward design – then you'll make a difference. In your students’ learning and engagement.

I haven’t used textbooks in 11 years and I plan every single lesson  every single day (hate templates, lesson plans from the web, Clipart and so many other pre-made materials).

So…before you disagree…just reflect and remember: I am a geek myself. But I am moving on. To being a better more balanced educator. Or my students will end up like this...(well,  a bit exaggerated...but pretty close). 

 

Wisdom and inspiration come in many forms and from many people. The very people I interact with or follow on Twitter are living examples of that. 

As I still have a week of school and cannot really blog intelligently (as in writing something consistent and that would not be an echo of other blogs)  I thought of creating posters out of the "sayings" of my PLN members. I always pay attention to what people think and say in the streamline...and some of these are gems. You will find quotes from John Hagel, Jabiz Raisdana, Joe Bower, Tom Schimmer, Edna Sackson, Justin Storz, Tristan Bishop, Vicky Davis, Ruslana Westerlund and more. The complete list however is here on my wiki. 

I used Photoshop and Word 2003 so they are not breathtaking but still can inspire you. 

Should you like them, I added the download feature. They are in PDF format so you simply download and print them. :)

*Photos from Morgue File 

 

 

I haven’t blogged in a month fact that I should be ashamed of. Or not. The end of the school year is the busiest for all of us so…I cannot be blamed (so harshly :D).

 

While waiting for Animoto to process a video I made, I thought I would post about a fun activity that I do in my class. It does not fit in Bloom’s taxonomy, nor in the “essential skills for 21^st century learners”.Well, it’s fun. That is all that I can say.

 

As second-language learners, my students need to approach language with confidence. And one way would be to play with it. And laugh at mistakes so we can learn from them.

That is when the Giggly Goofy Guide to Grammar comes to rescue the kids from the (sometimes) tense relationship they have with strange words of another language.

 

The idea came to me years ago while surfing the internet for ESL jokes  (yes, I always use jokes in class – about grammar, spelling and whatnot). And I came across a book. I instantly loved the cover and the title and I decided to adapt it to my students’ needs.

That is how our Giggly Goofy Grammar Guide was born.

 

Basically, we have a huge paper on the wall where we write the most hilarious mistakes we make. These mistakes can concern syntax, morphology or spelling.

Some samples from my second graders this year? Read below!

-         This animal survives without water for 1,000 ears.

-         There is a lot of nose pollution in big cities.

-         Some species of birds migrante…

-         Why do bars hibernate?

-         The most impotent thing about city systems is…

 

I should be bringing “professional” solid arguments for using this. I can’t. Except that kids enjoy it and that it makes them understand that language can be fun. And that it is perfectly okay to make mistakes. 

 

*Photo credits: Morgue File 

*And the video was processed by the time I finished this post. 

Paraphrasing the old Chinese proverb I would say,

“Teach your students facts and you empower them for a test. Teach them how to think, and you empower them for a lifetime.”

 

Having a good vision on education answers the WHY and is essential in our profession. But that is not enough. Because the next day you need to be in the classroom. And face curious minds that will need the HOW of learning. That is a hard and the most time-consuming part of our work. Hence I think it is more useful for educators out there to see others’ teaching and learning journey.

WARNING: This is the longest post I will ever write. I must be insane because long posts kill the number of readers but I have never seen a teacher’s effort to show the planning and learning process throughout a long period of time. I did it because it would have given me a better picture of strategies and vision of teacher had I seen it on someone else’s blog. 

WARNING 2: My students are second-language learners. Romanian is their mother tongue (like mine).  

 

Therefore…here is my teaching/learning journey …and how it unfolded the past month.

Briefly, my second graders inquired into wild animals and habitats, guided by the central idea, “Animals survive best in their habitat.” It might sound like a “nice” (over)done unit but there is more to it. We move past thematic units that cram all the information possible in a specific period of time and across all possible disciplines. We move past “cute” hands-on activities that do not illustrate anything but business and do not challenge kids to their potential.

 

How did this work?

 

Principle 1: Connect with prior knowledge

How? I just asked kids to tell me facts they know about animals. As simple as that. And then recorded them on a big paper in class, for everyone to see and, why not, learn from others.  

Principle 2: Make students comfortable with terminology (so they can focus on ideas later on)

There were a few key-words that students were expected to encounter in their readings and discussions later on. Students selected them (e.g. species, habitat, survive, endangered etc). Then they paired up, looked some words up in dictionaries (either online, from the class wiki, or from regular hardcopy dictionaries), and shared with class.

Principle 2: Allow and encourage student questions

Let students ask questions right then, at the beginning of the unit. Yes, they will ask skinny questions. Closed questions. But they are part of learning: “How many wild animals are there?”, “What are the rarest wild animals?” etc.  I displayed them on our Wonder Wall. 

Principle 3: Allow students to generate content. Be the guide on the side, not the sage on the stage.

We focused on a very “big” word in our central idea: “habitats”. It was a concept we would need a lot in our inquiry. So I simply wrote the word in the centre of a big paper and encourage students to add:

-         habitats they knew

-         animals that might live in those habitats

I need not tell you that they came up with ALL the answers except one (they did not know about “tundra”). Don’t you just love it when you need not “teach”? …

*Note: I also downloaded and printed a huge world map that resembled a puzzle. The kids glued the pieces together (which reinforced their knowledge on continents and oceans, learned in another inquiry unit Maps and Explorers) and we could add each habitat on the map throughout our inquiry. They were not showed the habitats - they located them and colored them on the map. 

Principle 4: Model thinking. Empower students to replicate the process.

Of course, as a language teacher, I needed to teach how to “read” informational reports, how to summarize information and how to process it. I printed a non-fiction text about tigers on a big A3 paper; I read-aloud each paragraph and thought-aloud (so students can “hear” my thinking – I tell them I “turn on” my brain volume). I slowly invited students to join-in and add their own thinking by placing post –its with “big” ideas (see photo). Next, as we have to gradually release responsibility, students paired up and had their own texts to work on and summarize information (visually, too).

Principle 5: Play games to practice thinking skills

Prior to the game I simply asked kids, “What do animals need in order to survive?” They came up with 4 answers but we selected together only three important ones: food, shelter, water.

Kids love play and I am fervent supporter of movement in elementary school. I used a game to anticipate the next learning target: The Deer Game. Basically, each kid had a different role: the “deer” have to run after “food”, “water” and “shelter” kids. Once they catch them, these turn into more deer.

At the end of the game students could conclude what I expected them to: the number of a species in a habitat influences the habitat to a great extent. Not only could they figure out the big idea, but they used CONCEPTS in relation to the game:

CAUSATION: Because the number of deer increased the vegetation and water were less and less.  

CHANGE: Due to the use of too much water, food and the need for shelter the habitat changes.

CONNECTION: Deer depend on the habitat which provides them food, water and shelter.

Principle 6: Encourage students to make connections

Bingo! The Deer Game was the link to the next big concept: food chains. I used the flipped class method: I posted an explanation of the food chain topic on the class blog prior to “teaching” it. The next day I asked students to teach ME what the food chain was and how it worked. They were brilliant!

Principle 7: Use technology to reinforce knowledge

I created two online games so students could deepen their understanding. They played food chain games, practiced on customized online quizzes, and even created some for their peers.

 *See this page of our class wiki to see what online resources we used in this unit. 

Principle 8: Encourage students to think visually

Visual thinking is essential in brain processing so I modeled how to turn a written text into a visual organizer. Kids had a different animal and practiced in their Learning Journal.

Principle 9: Encourage kids to build on the acquired knowledge

I modeled the tiger adaptation and kept asking students, “Why do you think it has retractile claws? How would a flexible backbone help the tiger? Why do you think the tigers fur has black and brown patterns?" etc. The students “got” the idea and I asked them to come up with their OWN examples of animal adaptation and explain them. They would hardly stop!

Principle 10: Encourage kids to THINK BIG

The next day, I told students, “OK, we know lots of information about animals. We know lots of stuff about how they adapt. But how can we organize all that information into a BIG THINKING MAP?”

And yes, kids are smart. They brushed over all the details and came up with a great mind map (see below). Basically, they identified major types of adaptations! (physical appearance, physiological etc).

I always try to encourage them to “think big” by asking them: “What do you think you will need to understand and remember not the next week, not the next month, but the next year – and it is worth remembering?”

 

Principle 10: Immerse kids in real-life situations. Use these as a trigger for thinking.

Going to the zoo was essential in my planning. Not only could kids see real wild animals, but that would prepare them for a new thinking session. We had the chart below during our trip; we completed just the first two columns there, and the last one in class.

Upon return, I had 4 choices spread on the whiteboard and a single sentence in the middle of it: Animals are better off in zoos because they have food, water and shelter there. The strategy is called the Four Corners: Strongly agree/ Agree/ Disagree/ Strongly disagree. It is used when ethical issues are raised (war, gender conflicts, poverty, media bias etc).

Step 1: Without any other prompt, kids posted their names under each choice. They were sure of their options!

Step 2. Challenging students’ opinions: kids were given a list of pro and con arguments for having zoos. Each read carefully, became a bit puzzled and thought. Bingo! Complex issues are never white and black. You need to rethink. You need to consider more points of view. THAT is where I wanted to bring students to. So what did they do? Well, they placed their names in a slightly different category. A more balanced approach. Of course a very vivid discussion followed. 

Principle 11: Stimulate creativity

After the kids posted their option I asked them to create a poster to illustrate their choice (see some samples below).

Principle 12: Use thinking strategies that allow for deeper thinking

 Estimations

After kids made their estimations, I provided them with the real data – which, in some cases, completely reshaped their thinking and stirred discussions.  

The Whys Stair 

Write a statement on the whiteboard and keep asking Why questions. This helps students deepen their understanding of the CAUSATION concept (they “dig” deeper and deeper into the problem until they find a root). My example was: Some species are endangered. (/ Why?/ Because people hunt them./Why?/ So they can get their fur? /Why?/ etc...). After this think-aloud with student input, they practiced the strategy in pairs and then independently (from different prompts). 

Principle 13: Review knowledge in a more challenging and collaborative way

Summative assessments are necessary from now so we played Jeopardy! in teams using Bloom’s taxonomy. Nothing was based on facts – but on understanding (see some samples below).

 

Principle 14: Multimedia stimulates creativity. It also appeals more to emotional intelligence.

I created PPTs, I showed videos and breathtakingly beautiful photos throughout the entire unit. That helped students react in more powerful ways, ignite discussions and encourage debates. I also used this approach to create teach students about design, effective use of fonts, colors, shapes etc.

*Source of photos in my PPT above: World Wild Life 

 

Throughout the entire unit of inquiry, students had Learning and Reflection Journals. They would write, doodle and reflect based on some given prompts: What have I learned? What would I like to know more about? What am I proud of? What do I still have difficulty with? What activities did I enjoy best? etc. 

We used photo tools, VoiceThread and other online sources to collaborate and create. 

Kids invented new habitats for given (fantastic) animals. And did the opposite as well - invented new species based on given habitats. They had to apply their knowledge of habitat, adaptation and food chains in a new context. 

They would also devise their own inquiry process, suggest final project formats, find materials, research, create and present their work. They establish criteria for the process (inquiry) and product (their end of the unit projects), assess themselves, reflect on their learning journey etc. Below are two samples of what their final projects look like.

*Elenis: Draft 

They guided their inquiry according to 8 big concepts: Form, Function, Causation, Change, Connection, Perspective, Responsibility, Reflection. These 8 concepts are transdiciplinary. Think of each of them and relate them with anything – from , say, multiplication (What is multiplication?  How is it connected to addition? How do multiplication results change if we use other numbers? etc) to language (e.g. Adjective: What is an adjective? How is it connected to nouns? How does an adjective change into an adverb? etc).

If I haven't bored you enough...I would love a comment. Tell me what I could improve. What you would have done differently. 

Thank you for reading!

 

 

 

 

We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are.  (Anaïs Nin)

I always shrug a little when I read about “academic rigor”. Sure, it has its place. Sure, it needs to be ensured. But then…what about the invisible? What about that which shapes our emotions, relations to the people, to the world at large?...

Perspective. Respect. Attitude. All and many hard to be measured. Hard to set a standard for. Hard to quantify. And yet…powerful triggers or barriers in our lives. And in our students' lives. 

As my readers (oh, what an annoying possessive…) know, I do not lecture nor give rules on teaching. I am humbled by my profession and keep learning every single day.

This post will be, as always, about practice. How I tried to address some core concepts such as perspective, respect, attitude. 

PERSPECTIVE

Step 1. Students were split in groups. Each group received a set of photos illustrating the same object but from different viewpoints (a dandelion, Eiffel tower, a piano etc). Nothing was mentioned, not even the purpose of the task. Just a question: Why do you think I gave them to you?

They arranged the photos. Rearranged. Argued a bit. Looked puzzled. And then, Bingo! They came up with a word: perspective, point of view, dimension.

Step 2. I challenged students to define “perspective” in their own words.

Step 3. We read The Elephant and the Blind Men  (each man touches a different part of the elephant’s body and defines it accordingly). Discussion followed.

Step 4. I used a photo of a volcano erupting and challenged students, in groups, to describe the event from the points of view of: a painter, a scientist, a news reporter, an inhabitant. Obviously, the texts differed a lot. That reinforced students’ understanding of this concept.

*We apply this concept in many of our activities. My 2^nd graders, for instance, are currently inquiring into wild animals, adaptation and endangered species. They could identify many points of view: hunters, poor people, large companies, zoo keepers, average person etc. They could grasp the complexity of reactions, knowledge and relationships we build from “where we stand”. 

*If you like it, download the poster I made for Perspective. 

 

EMPATHY

Seeing Red and Feeling Blue

I brought red semitransparent scarves and asked kids to cover their faces. What do they see? How do they see? Little by little, the discussion turned from the factual ("red") to the metaphorical part - anger, temper - and how these influence our reactions. 

Then we focused on blue...(see below). The Blue Heart Project: have a heart-shaped paper, two slits on the upper and lower parts of the heart. Kids write down their "blue"moment on a strip of paper that can be pulled out" from"the heart. Dsiplay so others can comment and connect. 

 

Walk in My Shoes

 

Crumpled Heart

I gave students a heart-shaped paper. I asked them to do the following: 

Obviously, despite their best efforts, they could not smoothen the heart again. It was still wrinkled. Conclusion:our good deeds do not make up for the hurt we cause.

OPEN-MINDEDNESS

Open-Mindedness Line

I asked students to reflect on this and place their names on the line (literally, by using post-its). We discussed choices and arguments. 

 

The Perfect Pumpkin

*also done in 1st grade* Read the activity description below. 

 

RESPECT, APPRECIATION

What IS Respect?

I asked the students to give their own answers to three questions (so as to make this concept more "tangible"):

- what does respect look like? (what you would  expect to see if people respected one another)

- what does respect sound like? (how would people talk if they respected each other)

- what does respect feel like? (how it feels to be respected)

Below you can see the Y-map they were provided with as well as students' answers. 

 

RESPECTometer

Students were given pictures and words focused on respect in relation to people, nature and property. They also had a picture of a "thermometer" and had to rate (by gluing on the thermometer) the severity of each behavior. We displayed our choices and discussed them (they were still in first grade, hence the simplicity of the activity and vocabulary used). 

 

Tell Me Something Nice

Have a paper stuck on each student's back (see below). Each paper reads somethign different starting with "Tell me something nice.." (ä bout my eyes",  "about my clothes"etc). Despite its apparent superficial outcome, students noticed how differently they felt after this "shower"of positive remarks. Reinforce the idea of words and their power. 

 

Certificate of Appreciation

Squeeze Some Respect 

Give each student a plastic plate and a toothpick. Have a toothpaste ready. Ask them to squeeze out as much toothpaste as they need to cover letter R (drawn onto the plate). R stands for both "respect"and "rudeness" but students don't know that yet. 

Then ask them to put back all the toothpaste. Obviously, it is very hard and definitely not a successful task. Draw the analogy with rude behavior and how it leaves marks that cannot be erased. 

ATTITUDE

Positive Mistakes (read the activity description below)

 

Other ideas to tackle such abstract yet important concepts are: 

- DRAW the feeling of...(e.g. caring)

- create a MASK to show how...would look like (e.g. empathy, tolerance)

- write the DIARY of (e.g. fairness) if you were it for one day

- take a PHOTO to illustrate the concept of ...( e.g. discrimination)

- use some CLAY and model the feeling of...

- prepare an INTERVIEW to find out opinions on... (e.g. bullying)

The more creative the challenge, the better. Students LOVE challenges - I never underestimate their desire to take risks. I increase challenges with age - since my students are ESL learners, I need to make sure they understand the language and are cognitively (and sometimes emotionally) prepared to do a task. 

What other ways do you use to encourage students to talk about and show their feelings? Learner here...:) consequently, a good listener.

*PHOTO Credits: Morgue File