Blogging for me began as a way to communicate my school effectiveness message to colleagues, in the hopes that by making my thinking visible through this modelling, that others would follow suit and post replies.  I was thrilled when a number of principal and teacher colleagues began reading, and even more excited when they would sometimes take the risk and post their thinking.  It’s been a year and a half, and I have come to realize however, that I don’t blog for others, I do it for myself as reflective practice, as a way to consolidate my thinking, whether about our SGDSB learning plan, a professional learning session that I have attended, or a book that I am reading.  I write because I believe that I need to clarify my thinking – and when I put it down in written word, I can see the logic (or lack thereof) in my thinking.

Engaging in OSSEMOOC’s Ten Minutes of Connecting this week has caused me to reflect on the many blogs that I read, and the notion that I seldom make my thinking visible in response to the author’s thinking.  I am truly a consumer! This week, I took some time to read Stacey’s blog (swallwin.wordpress.com/) and Kim’s blog (kfilane.wordpress.com) and a number of others (I read Connected Principals daily and Larry Ferlazzo). What I realized is that we are speaking about the same things.  It is true, “Isolation is now a choice educators make” (Couros, 2015).

http://georgecouros.ca/blog/archives/4156

Have a read of this blog and think about Day 2 of Ten Minutes of Connecting:

“When we consider what it means to be a connected learner, we can break it down into several components:

• Collecting information

• Connecting
• Curating
• Collaborating and Co-learning
• Creating and Remixing
• Sharing”

(https://ossemooc.wordpress.com/2014/11/02/ten-minutes-of-connecting-day-2-what-are-other-educators-thinking/)

What am I learning?  I am on this journey, and while I respect where others are at, I am falling behind!  It is time to model the risk taking that we speak about all the time. So my new goal based upon these first 4 days of becoming a connected learner…collaborating and co-learning. It is time to make my thinking visible to others in response to their thinking, not just my own – to consider their ideas, to collaborate, to co-learn.  I am hoping that my challenge to all of our elementary schools to engage in the Ten Minutes of Connecting will result in the same realization for you!

Until Next Week…What are you learning about yourself as a Connected Learner?  Are you a leader who is modelling learning through technology as the tool?

“Motivation, engagement and student voice are critical elements of student-centred learning. Without motivation, there is no push to learn, without engagement there is no way to learn and without voice, there is no authenticity in the learning. For students to create new knowledge, succeed academically, and develop into healthy adults, they require each of these experiences” (SEF, pg 22).

It has been exciting recently to find evidence that our SGDSB theory of action is no longer simply a theory on paper; there is beginning to be a shift in our classrooms to integrate student centered approaches that are recognized as being beneficial to all students – with the goal of achieving a greater sense of belonging, which we believe leads to improved academic achievement, and thus, overall well-being for all. In many classrooms, the voices and interests of the students are being increasingly heard and aligned with curriculum, and assessment for and as learning is growing in use. Student voice is also growing, and the role of the educator is becoming more of facilitation. This evidence, when analyzed, is telling us that we are beginning to collectively recognizing the impact of our work as we deeply integrate our beliefs into actions that lead to the further development of what we believe are “healthy schools”.

When we think about how student centered learning environments promote a sense of belonging that contributes to positive well-being, the revised (2015) Ontario Health and Physical Education curriculum comes to mind as a strong tool to further support the achievement of this goal.  When you read this document through a “well-being lens”, you see the curriculum expectations as supporting our work in an integrated manner. The Living Skills expectations, which are integrated into the three overall strands (Active Living, Movement Competence, and Healthy Living), are comprised of personal skills, interpersonal skills and critical and creative thinking skills, and help to make the learning “personally relevant to students” (OHPE, 2015, pg. 22). These skills are truly reflective of the student centered environment: our Conditions for Learning are each evident, as is the Assessment for and as Learning strategies and focus on goal setting.

Ontario Health and Physical Education Document, 2015, pg 24

 It is important that we have a conceptual understanding of this document as not just applying to the “gym” portion of our daily schedules, but as a vision for how classroom and school environments – the learning, physical and social environment – can be structured.  Students need opportunities to “learn about themselves—their interests, skills, strengths and aptitude – and others, and to develop and promote well-being,” through both “informal instruction and learning opportunities within and outside the classroom/learning environment (e.g., classroom discussions, hallway and recess conversation, before and after school programs, activities and interactions on school grounds” (Foundations for A Healthy School, 2014, pg. 3).  These opportunities lead students to developing strong living skills, which are captured by the body of curriculum expectations that “help(s) students develop a positive sense of self, develop and maintain healthy relationships, and use critical and creative thinking processes as they set goals, make decisions, and solve problems” (OHPE, 2015, pg. 23).  Self-regulated learning and meta-cognition are two important parts of our student centered goal, both of which are embedded in this document.

This belief is further evident through the “front matter” of the document, and explicitly indicated in several of the overall goals of the health and physical education program:

Students will develop:

• the living skills needed to develop resilience and a secure identity and sense of self, through opportunities to learn adaptive, management, and coping skills, to practice communication skills, to learn how to build relationships and interact positively with others, and to learn how to use critical and creative thinking processes;
• an understanding of the factors that contribute to healthy development, a sense of personal responsibility for lifelong health, and an understanding of how living healthy, active lives is connected with the world around them and the health of others.

The Importance of the Health and Physical Education Curriculum is stated perfectly on page 7 of the document and is worth taking the time to develop a full understanding of.

This curriculum helps students develop an understanding of what they need in order to make a commitment to lifelong healthy, active living and develop the capacity to live satisfying, productive lives. Healthy, active living benefits both individuals and society in many ways – for example, by increasing productivity and readiness for learning, improving morale, decreasing absenteeism, reducing health-care costs, decreasing antisocial behaviour such as bullying and violence, promoting safe and healthy relationships, and heightening personal satisfaction. Research has shown a connection between increased levels of physical activity and better academic achievement, better concentration, better classroom behaviour, and more focused learning. Other benefits include improvements in psychological well-being, physical capacity, self-concept, and the ability to cope with stress. The expectations that make up this curriculum also provide the opportunity for students to develop social skills and emotional well-being. This practical, balanced approach will help students move successfully through elementary and secondary school and beyond. In health and physical education, students will learn the skills needed to be successful in life as active, healthy, and socially responsible citizens.

As a district, we have been working on (and continue to work on) the notion that our adult learning needs to be integrated and aligned so that we do not see everything in “silos”.  This is a big idea that is important for our student learners as well. This document provides an opportunity for students to learn and use related concepts into several subjects, thus seeing learning as increasingly relevant and transferable.  It also provides schools with the opportunity to align their overall school big ideas with the goals of our theory of action. The front matter of this document is worth the read!

Until Next Week…Last week was Bully Awareness Week; a week which many of our schools approached from a strength-based perspective (e.g. Kindness Week).  How might the front matter of the Health and Physical Education document further support a whole school approach to well-being?

How do we know if we are achieving our goal of “putting the theoretical into practice”?  We recognize that we are in the partial implementation of this goal; we are searching for ways to integrate the theory into our daily practice and our decisions, and are engaged in monitoring the evidence carefully to determine the degree of impact on our learners.

(Adapted from the Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat Stages of Implementation)

If we are truly “practicing what we preach”, those with whom we work need to see evidence of this not only in our words, but in our actions and importantly reflected in our decision making.  We must model, at all levels, the expectations for our system.

As we gradually begin the resumption of our formal SGDSB learning agenda, I have been thinking about how important it is for our decisions and actions (our practices) to be reflective of our SGDSB learning themes (our theory). This is an important time for us, as we need to not only maximize the remaining formal learning time, but we also have to support and reduce the “stress” that some are feeling (myself included), given these short time lines and multiple learning agendas filled with important goals. All of this work is important, however we need to carefully remember not only our Conditions for Learning, but our learning themes, if true learning and thus, the desired change, is going to occur.

How we move into the “new normal” is critical to the success of the learning culture in our district.  Consequently, for our elementary schools, conversations have been taking place the center around the School Learning Plan; a document which not only provides direction for urgent learning, but one that captures the journey that the learning will take for the year, and is grounded in a collaborative approach for planning, learning and gathering evidence of impact. Thinking about our themes and the SLP:

1. People Don’t Support What they Don’t Create   The decision to encourage schools to simply resume (we were paused in early May) their School Learning Plan (SLP) work from last year stems from this theory.  While the SLP is a cyclical process, there are “begin again” actions that take place each year. At the end of one year and the beginning of another, the analysis of the available data is a lengthy process as we engage in the Comprehensive Needs Assessment with the goal of identifying the most urgent student learning needs and determining our SMART goal and Theory of Action.  It is important that this work be done collaboratively with all staff members having a voice (either directly or through representatives) at the table – which is another of our themes – the Power of Co – collaboration, cooperation, co-learning, etc.  With our short timelines, ensuring that all staff are involved in this process may not be able to occur; thus we are suggesting that we continue our work from last year.

2. Simplify and Focus   The permission to continue our work from last year also provides us with the ability to go deeper into some aspect of our learning – to truly “narrow the focus” as we are often speaking about. We know that we struggle to complete at least three cycles of inquiry each year where we refine our theory of action relative to the evidence that we are analyzing.  This is our opportunity to make this happen and to truly see how a deep focus supports the learning of our students.

3. Culture of Thinking (not compliance)     The fact that we are making our SLP process work in the best interest of learning is a solid example of intelligent decision making – we don’t simply create SLPs because we are required to. These plans are a document that captures the learning that is happening in the school.  With that in mind, it is very easy to see that our culture of learning is alive and well, and we are moving away from the culture of compliance.

4. Learner Mindset     The learner mindset in me is seeing the silver lining in this decision as well; there are so many opportunities that we can and have yet to identify around this decision to simply resume our work from last year. If we can maintain that Learning Mindset at all times in this situation, we may be able to re-capture the time that perhaps would be wasted looking at the negatives and the reasons why we “can’t” and turn our attention to what we can do.  We must maintain that Learning Mindset at all times.

This evidence is truly indicating that, when it comes to SLPs, we are moving towards Full Implementation of our shift from theory to practice.  Let the learning begin!

Until next week…as we move into our “new normal”, what opportunities can be turned around when we approach them with a Learner Mindset? 

An Interview With George Couros About The Innovator’s Mindset                 http://connectedprincipals.com/archives/12045

“If school stays the same while the rest of the world changes, people are going to either find or create something better for our kids.” 

                                                                                 (screen shot obtained from http://connectedprincipals.com/archives/12045)

This interview inspired me…and the book is my next read. Thought that I would share it with you as it may inspire you as much as it did me!

Until next week…how has your school innovated to make learning better for students?    

“Moving from a culture of doing to a culture of thinking.”  We use this phrase a great deal in our district but do we really know what it means?  Or why this shift is of the utmost importance not only for our students, but for our educators?  I continue to expand my understanding of this phrase each time I read educational material. This week, I returned to a book written by a cognitive scientist, Daniel T. Willingham, called Why Don’t Students Like School? (2009). In this resource, questions about how the mind works and what it means for the classroom are answered.  I found that much of what Willingham posits helped me to understand in a deeper way, why this shift is necessary for true learning to occur.

Much time has been spent wondering and exploring the reasons why our evidence is showing that many of our learners are not experiencing “learning as a permanent change in thinking and behaviour” (Katz and Dack, 2011).  Our supposition is that perhaps in some cases, they have learned to simply comply with our instructions, to “play the school game” as many of us describe it…to get by doing what the educator asks of us, whether that requires memorization, or telling the educator what you think they want to hear.  This resonates with me, as I believe, to a certain extent, that this is how I experienced school.  I was truly motivated by grades, and learned how to achieve those grades not by deeply focusing on my learning, but on focusing on ways to beat the system.  When I think about our student achievement data, and the gaps that exist – especially in math – as students move through the grades, this supposition is plausible. Many students are learning the procedures and algorithms and those are helping them to get by, until they reach a stage when they are required to apply those procedures and algorithms in a different context. It is then that they begin to struggle as the solid foundation of “permanent learning” that comes from deep understanding has flaws.

In reading Willingham (2009), there is much research to support that need to understand how learning actually takes place.   Critical to this understanding however, is the notion that, “people are naturally curious, but we are not naturally good thinkers; unless the cognitive conditions are right, we will avoid thinking.” (pg. 3)  The four factors that successful thinking relies on are “information from the environment, facts in long-term memory, procedures in long term memory, and the amount of space in working memory”. Willingham argues that people are naturally motivated by problem-solving – by engaging in “cognitive work that poses moderate challenge” (Pg. 19) that they see as worthy and that is solvable – he calls this “successful thinking” (pg. 18).

To actually do this however, people need to have the necessary background knowledge, which comes from having factual knowledge in our long term memories (the reason why we need to read a great deal and engage in experiences vicariously).  We need this factual information to be able to think critically, which supports what Hattie (Visible Learning for Teachers, 2015) tells us about the notion that without ideas/facts, we are unable to make connections or to extend that thinking to another context.  “You need something to think about” (Willingham, pg. 27).  “The very processes that teacher care about most –critical thinking processes such as reasoning and problem solving – are intimately intertwined with factual knowledge that is stored in long-term memory (not just found in the environment)” (Willingham, pg. 28).  I connected this to Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy and the need to have knowledge through remembering (lowest level) in order to move to creating (highest level).

Willingham cautions us however, that “our goal is not to simply have students know a lot of stuff—it’s to have them know stuff in service of being able to think effectively” (2009, pg. 48). “Knowledge pays off when it is conceptual and when the facts are related to one another, and that is not true of list learning…such drilling would do far more harm by making students miserable and by encouraging the belief that school is a place of boredom and drudgery, not excitement and discovery” (pg. 50). This brings me back to last week, when we discussed that we remember what we actually think about. When we simply “do”, items may enter our working memory, however when we actually “think” they have a chance of entering our long term member –and thus can be called up (permanent change to thinking and behaviour”) at a later date.  I understand that there must be a certain amount of “doing” in order to actually have something to “think” about; we must have information enter our working memory and then we need to use (and thus think about) that information in order to have it enter our long term memory.  However, in saying this, it is the balance of  “doing” and “thinking” that must shift.  This is what we mean by “moving from doing to thinking”- it is about where we are placing our focus.

I now have more questions.

• Are we carefully considering the essential concepts/big ideas  (versus a series of seemingly unrelated concepts) that our students need to have, and then determining how to build these concepts throughout the school year/term/semester so that students are given multiple opportunities to “think” about these concepts so that they enter their long term memory?
• What does it means to “think”? It brings me back to Bloom’s.  How are we using the Assessment for and as Learning strategies as the tool to have the students “think” about these concepts?  When students push back against co-construction, are we helping them to understand that true learning isn’t compliance? That true learning is growing your brain through “thinking” (growth mindset) which comes from practicing – from applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating information that they have understood and remembered?

Until next week…what would be the impact of revising Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy in light of where we are today in our understanding of Assessment for and as Learning?