5 Questions to Eliminate from your Class

What?
I came across this picture on Twitter tonight:

It intrigued me, so I read the whole article here. Removing these questions from student's vocabularies are encouraged as students become independent and self-directed in their learning.

So what?
I found the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th questions are doable in my classroom, as the year progresses.  The one that I found a stumbling block is the first one. The article says: 

"This question is a flag that indicates dependent students. Students that are of the understanding that learning is something delivered by an external entity. It assumes learning is an organised event that one attends. Your classroom must build an understanding that learning is constant and use approaches that encourage intrinsic desire to grow and take control of one’s own learning. Make sure your provoking questions are accessible and build habits in students to look after their own learning progress."

I don't know if I can ever get to that stage, and I'm not sure if I want to. I believe that students need guidance from a teacher, knowing the path they can travel. It comes down to "you don't know what you don't know." 

And me?
I will keep working hard to growing independent self-managing students, who want to be the best they can be.  I want students who do the best they can to grow, not to please others.

PYP Workshop - 27 January 2016

What?

Yesterday when I was walking the dog, I read this sign properly for the first time. I really liked the Whakatauki (proverb) at the bottom.

Tou rourou, toku rourou, ka ora te Iwi

With your contribution, and my contribution, we will thrive

This sums up teaching for me beautifully.  The end 'product' of education should be a well-rounded person, who is happily contributing to society.  I believe that nobody can achieve this on their own; that to thrive, a student needs support from a variety of sources, including:

• Parents 
• Teachers
• Siblings
• Wider family
• School
• Peers
• Other teachers across the school
• Sports coaches
• Music Teachers
• Community group leaders
• Tutors
• Society as a whole

And not to be forgotten: The STUDENT themselves

Although not exhaustive, this list serves to remind us the role we play in a student's upbringing. 

So what?

Although the role of a teacher is extremely important, we need to remember that we are a cog in a giant wheel.  The importance of the teacher's role will change depending on the student's background and the quality of their support network.

And me?

What does this mean for me...not only will I need to take into account a student's background, but I also will need to ensure that I keep in close contact with students' families. All students' cultures will be important too, as the support they will be receiving will often be influenced by their background.

Most Likely to Succeed

What?
Last week, I was fortunate enough to attend a viewing of the award-winning documentary "Most Likely to Succeed" made by Greg Whiteley. The screening was presented by CORE education, and screened at St Peter's School, in Cambridge.

The film's synopsis:

The current educational system in the United States was developed a century ago during the rise of the industrial age and was once the envy of the world. However, the world economy has since transformed profoundly, but the US education system has not. Schools are attempting to teach and test skills, when mastered, that still leave graduates woefully unprepared for the 21st Century. After presenting this problem, the documentary focuses on the story of a school in San Diego that is completely rethinking what the experience of going to school looks like. As we follow students, parents and teachers through a truly unorthodox school experience, the audience is forced to consider what sort of educational environment is most likely to succeed in the 21st century?

What caught my attention?

• student agency
• meaningful
• soft skills
• feedback
• exhibition
• real audience
• obvious growth and learning
• thinkers
• collaborators
• problem solvers
• re-imaging

Discussion
After the screening, the audience all participated in a group discussion where we shared our thoughts on the following questions:

What changes are happening?
What do we still need to do?
What action/discussion points will I take back to school?
What next?

So what?
I came away from the film with a renewed desire to look at my teaching practice. I was trained under the old style teaching (based upon system created in 1893). To me this system is not adequately preparing students for the society we are moving forward, where it's not about specific knowledge, but instead, knowing how to access knowledge, as well as being problem solvers who work creatively and collaboratively with others. 

I believe that I need to change the way I teach.  Fortunately, we work under a forward-thinking curriculum which gives us the freedom to make change.

Working out my thinking and how I am going to make changes will be a large part of my PLD over the next year or so.

Staff Meeting: eLearning

Google Expediditions

What?

Today, the students at Berkley were extremely fortunate - we had the opportunity to trial Google Expeditions as they introducing their programme to New Zealand.  If you're wondering what this is, here is an explanation:

I was fortunate enough to lead two classes on exhibition.

When Room 10 went on an expedition today, we started off by visiting and following a free climb up El Capitan in Yosemite National Park in the USA.  Following this, we went underwater and learned about a variety of sea creatures. Finally, we took a short tour around the canals of Venice.  In each place, the teacher is able to direct students to points of interest, and share information with them.

I would love to show you photos of Room 10's expedition, but unfortunately, I was so engrossed that taking photos completely slipped my mind.  Here are some photos from another expedition I led for Room 1...

It was interesting that the students chose to sit down when the staff didn't this morning:

There was an article on Stuff about the visit today (although it was the whole school, not just 24 students). Here's the article.

So what?
I enjoyed leading the classes in this, but more importantly, I enjoyed being at the cutting front of technology and introducing students to it.  For the future, this makes it important that I keep on top of new technologies and ideas and introduce them to my class.

Warm Fuzzies

What?

Every now and then something happens which makes us feel valued, which is a wonderful feeling.  I am feeling exhausted today, but I've just received this email from Greta Dromgool (our science teacher, who is on leave for two terms), and it felt really good.

"Hi Kathryn,

I hope that I have conveyed this in some small way already, but I would like you to know how thankful I am for the work you have done to support Science at Berkley. Thank you for keeping an eye out for the wonderful Rochelle, for all your many, many hours ensuring Science Fair was a success (and wasn't it just!), and all the times you have shown enthusiasm in meetings, or replying to my emails.

Looking forward to working with you again next year.

Greta"

So what?

This has shown me the power of well-chosen and well-timed words.  I often think appreciative thoughts of people, but often the time comes and goes in busyness and they get forgotten.  What I have learned from Greta is that it is important to share this appreciation with others. Just like it did for me, I may provide someone for support, just when they need it.