Breathe, Learn, Rest

I have been practicing yoga for 6 ½ years and I have found it a necessary part of each week. This is

a space in my life where I will always be a learner and engaging in the practice leaves me aligned in many ways.  More than once, when I have been engaged in a practice session, I have mulled over the parallels between yoga and personalized learning. Here are my musings...

Everyone is learning together but everyone has different goals and different needs. Yoga is a series of poses with connected movements. A yoga instructor leads the class through the exercises and guides our practice but everyone has something different in mind as a goal. My first goal when I first started yoga, was to nail a side plank...without my knee down. This was easy for other members of the class but it took me awhile to build strength to do it.  Our goals are based on our needs and those vary from person to person.

Focusing on what others are doing makes you lose your balance.  Learning is really personal and when we focus on where other people are in their path rather than being secure where we are, it throws you off.  Learners who compare themselves to others or are over-concerned with how they appear, risk developing a fixed mindset. When attempting tree or eagle, where you balance on one foot, don't look at anyone else. Find a spot that doesn't move and focus on it intently. As soon as you move your gaze away, your body will follow and you lose your balance.

Supports allow for you to deepen the stretch.  Sometimes, when you can't reach the floor, bringing the floor up to you with a brick can help you get all the benefits of the stretch that you wouldn't get while hovering in the air. I think of this often when we give learners visual strategies to support their learning. A number line is a tool in math that brings the math to the learner and makes it accessible.  I won't always have to use the brick if I keep up with my practice but I will still get all the benefits each time I do use it.

We all find different routes to get to where we need to be. When moving into a half moon, you usually come up from some sort of forward fold. For some reason my body does not work that way. I once fell and sprained my thumb attempting to move into that pose from being inverted. I have learned that I need to come down into half moon from a standing position. It was through lots of practice that I discovered this about myself and now I'm no longer a hazard.  Are we giving learners the opportunities and coaching to help them uncover their own paths?

Breathe into discomfort. How often have we tried something new or challenging and felt the discomfort of not knowing your next step? If we are learning something new, this can cause our brains to shut down and stop working.  Our brains actually stop thinking.  By reconnecting to the physical world around us, through consciously focusing on the breath, we can breathe into the challenge and open our minds back up for thinking.  This understanding is key for supporting learners through productive struggle.

At the end of a strenuous session of practice, rest. Shavasana means corpse pose and that's exactly what you do - lay on your back and breathe. This short period of time allows you to reflect on your practice and appreciate the opportunity you just took to stretch yourself and make yourself strong. This is how we should end learning sessions. By engaging in metacognitive practices, we deepen the learning and support transference.

Finally, end each session with wishing everyone well. The rituals and routines we build into our learners’ days helps them feel safe and cared for. In yoga, you wish everyone Namaste. While there are many interpretations to what this means, my favorite is “I honor the light that is in you as you honor the light that is in me.”  What an incredible way to show you value the people around you.

I hope you have a space in your life where you can be a learner...don't forget to breathe.

New Year - New Connections

One thing I always loved about being an educator was the gift of two New Year’s.  There is the Fall opening; the fresh start that only a new school year offers.  And, then, there is the January New Year that the rest of world enjoys; the chance to reflect, pivot and move forward.  

As our learners spill back into our schools and classrooms, it’s a perfect time to reconnect,

reflect and chart a course for the next span of learning.  

Here are some ways to connect with your learners:

Reconnect your learners to Each Other:

Whenever a community reconvenes, it is important to set aside time to rediscover who we are.  Over the break, we all had a chance to rest and grow.  Our experiences make us slightly different than we were two weeks ago.  Provide opportunities for learners to share their experiences but be careful of sharing about items or experiences that highlight differences in individual’s holidays.  Topics such as “what was the most challenging thing about your break?” or “how did you deal with boredom over break?” allow every learner an entry point.  Whereas “what did you get for Christmas?” or “where did you travel over break?” can have the unfortunate effect of shining the light on glaring differences of individual children’s experiences.

Reconnect your learners to their Purpose for Learning:

What is your purpose for going to school every day?  Do you know what your learner’s would say?  We know that motivation and effort are directly tied the purpose behind what you are doing.  Have you ever coached learners to think about the mission of your learning community’s work or the vision for what they want their classroom to be?  

Engaging in these conversations can be very powerful for helping learners find THEIR purpose for schooling.  You may find that not everyone is working for the same reason!

Reconnect your learners to important Agreements and Procedures:

Often, in the week before any break, teachers mention additional challenges in keeping learners engaged and focused on learning.  The break in the action allows teachers to rest and rejuvenate and learners to catch up on sleep, family connections and probably some TV viewing.  It is important to keep in mind that, by nature, the expectations at home are different than those that that support the learning experience.  A new year provides a perfect opportunity to redevelop classroom norms and even relaunch some workshop routines.  Most importantly, don’t forget to reconnect learners to the mindsets that support learning.  Provide opportunities for learners to explore how flexible thinking, empathy and optimism shape their learning experience and contribute to developing a growth mindset.

Reconnect your learners to LEARNING:

Jump right in!  While it’s important to make time and space for reconnection, these conversations should be embedded into planned learning experiences.  Establish the need for learning by engaging learners in rich learning experiences on Day 1!  Don’t wait for reconnection and relaunching...make it a part of how you do business.  Make inquiry and design thinking span across the learner day and you are establishing a community that is committed to investigating the world around them.

Happy New Year!  Enjoy this time with your learners.  Enter into this time with a sense of wonder as you rediscover who is in your learning community. Happy connecting!

Design Thinking: It's not about THE process, it's about having A process.

Audience: STEM Waukesha Teachers

Design Thinking: It’s not about THE process it’s about having A process.

If you were to do an image search in Google with the search parameters “Design Process” you would get pages and pages of images of DIFFERENT design processes.  Go ahead...try it...they all look pretty cool.  These design processes have been employed for everything from landing a rover on Mars to reorganizing your living room furniture.  While there is no perfect process that will work in all design challenges, the act of using a process is vital to frame thinking and guide learners.  

Below are two design processes that have been used to coach K-12 learners through inquiry based design projects.  The top is from John Spencer & AJ Juliani’s Launch Cycle, recently published and promoted through the website (thelaunchcycle.com) and book Launch.  The bottom design “wheel” is from the Engineering is Elementary program.  We have kits from this program available in both STEM buildings and these units are woven into our curriculum maps.

We are kind of biased when it comes to “favoring” specific phases.  What we find to be the two most important phases for design thinking in our world today are the ASK and IMPROVE stages.  

• When we prompt learners to ASK questions, we are nudging them to look at the world around them and consider how they could improve things.  We are asking them to empathize with the end user.  Will the person, animal or group be happy with the design?  What do “they” need?  How can we help?  
• The IMPROVE phase is where our growth mindset is developed as we remind learners again and again that failure is part of the process and if we continue to make changes to our thinking then we WILL succeed.

Take some time to study these design loops.  How are these processes different and how are they alike?

*Sources:

The LAUNCH Cycle: A Design Thinking Framework for K-12 Students

Engineering Design Process: Ask, Imagine, Plan, Create, Improve (EiE)

Hawthorne STEM staff will engage in a design brief during STEM PD on Wednesday.  Bring your flexible thinking and creativity!  Which design loop will you use?

There are so many ways design thinking can be woven into the learning experience for our STEM learners.  Continue this conversation with your colleagues and explore how you will encourage learners to think deeply throughout the design loop and make their thinking visible.

Literacy Ideas For All!

Audience: Literacy Teachers

This blog post is all about the sharing of ideas. John Maynard Keynes said, "Ideas shape the course of history." By sharing our ideas, we can shape our schools and the learner experience. This post will highlight curriculum updates, as well as a variety of awesome literacy ideas that I've seen in action since we've been back this year. Thank you in advance to those who were brave enough to share their ideas through this blog post. I'm hoping there's a little something in this post for everyone to take away and try!

CURRICULUM UPDATES

A few weeks ago Emily Reddy blogged about curriculum updates in the Connect. Here is the presentation she included. Take a look at it to learn about some of the fantastic work teachers and coaches did around literacy curriculum this past summer: Curriculum Updates. There are two other things to note about curriculum updates. The first is that there are updated language workshop planners on BB9. The standards on these planners have been updated to better reflect the standards at each grade level and their correlation with each phase. The second thing is that you will notice the resources at the bottom of the unit frameworks for writing and reading look different. The old Lucy Calkins units have been removed and they are now replaced by links to "Unit Resources." These unit resources are based on the new Lucy Calkins units for reading and writing. These are the same unit resources that are included in the "Curriculum Updates" presentation above.

LITERACY IDEAS FROM STEM WAUKESHA TEACHERS

Conferring:
Conferring is one of my favorite parts of the reading and writing workshop because it's a time where we get to give individual (or small groups) of learners our undivided attention. We get to listen to them and study them to collaborate around next steps that will help them to grow. Having said that, one of my least favorite parts was figuring out a manageable system to document these conferences. If you're anything like me, you've changed your conferring system multiple times in hopes of finding the perfect form. Here's my advice... pick a conferring system that helps you document the necessary parts of a conference and stick with it for a while... maybe even for the whole year! The point of these notes is to track our interactions and teaching during conferences with learners and when we constantly abandon conferring systems for new ones, we lose track of the notes that hold so much rich information about our learners. So, if you're still someone that's looking for a conferring system that fits your needs, look no further... some of our STEM Waukesha teachers may have an answer to your problem:

Kristin & McKenzie's Conferring Google Sheet

• Ashley Manthey and Erin Gokey use this document to keep track of their conferring notes. Their ed. assistants also use this. [Gokey/Manthey's Conferring Form]
• Becky Anderson keeps track of her conferring notes via a Google Form. This form outlines the architecture of a conference as a reminder. [Becky's Conferring Form]
• Kristin Kobriger and McKenzie Rabenn use a Google Sheet to keep track of their conferring notes. They include notes around a star (something the learner is doing well), a teaching point (what they work on during that conference) and a step (something to work on in the future with that learner). The continuums for each individual learner are also linked within their conferring sheet.
• Wendy Hamilton created a conferring notes form for her team of interventionists to use when they push into learning communities to confer with learners. This form also follows the architecture of a conference. [Wendy's Conferring Form]

Language Workshop Notes:

Shelly, Amber and Lynn's Language Workshop Notes

Many of us have experienced the power of language workshop throughout the last year or two. This is a time of the day when learners continue to shock us with the depth of thinking they're able to display in conversations around the analysis of text. This week I had the opportunity to facilitating language workshop in a Level 2 classroom at Hawthorne STEM. We were reading the book Boxes for Katje by Candace Fleming. This is the story of a little girl, Katje, who lives in Holland at the time of World War II. The town she lives in must go without many necessities, like socks, soap and milk. Rosie, who lives in America begins to send packages to Katje. Soon Rosie's whole community begins to send packages of necessities to Holland for the town of Olst, where Katje lives. At the end of the book Katje and her community send a package of tulip bulbs to America to brighten Rosie's town. During one of our conversations a learner in Level 2 explained, "In this book there is an entire community empathizing with another community. They realized times were tough for Katje's community and so they did something to help." Another student added on, "I think the message is that when you get you should try to give back. Rosie sent all kinds of things to Katje and so Katje gave back. Even though she didn't give back as much stuff because she doesn't have a lot, it still meant just as much." These are the conversations that give me chills... these are the pieces of evidence that are awesome to share with families. So, how can we begin to keep track of some of this thinking so that we can notice patterns? Shelly Troedel, Lynn Pascavis and Amber Kraus are using a Google Sheet to track thinking in language workshop across the different mentor texts they use. They jot thinking down on sticky notes (not everything, just thoughts they want to keep track of) and after language workshop they enter these notes into their spreadsheet (usually 2-3 per phase). This spreadsheet already holds a wealth of evidence to inform our instruction and to celebrate with individual students and their families.

Book Talks:
In literacy PLCs at both schools we're focusing on studying our learners (who they are, what they're interested in, and what they can do) in order to get them independently engaged in READING! In working with level 3 teachers to amp up engagement during independent reading and encourage the reading of picture books, Duy and I visited a classroom to do book talks on picture books... yes, that's what I said... picture books in Level 3! Last week I did a book talk on Emmanuel's Dream: The True Story of Emmanuel Ofosu of Yeboah by Laurie Ann Thompson. Duy did a book talk on Little Roja Riding Hood by Susan Middleton Elya. I can honestly say that we had Level 3 learners rushing to grab the books to read after the book talks were finished. Consider borrowing this idea and try some book talks with your readers! I think you'll be pleased with the response.

Mary Kuhnert's Book Banners

Book Banners:
When you walk into Mary Kuhnert's Level 1 classroom you will immediately see banners with the covers of books hanging from wall to wall. These are books she has read and discussed with her learners this year and in years past. This is a fun way to celebrate the books you're reading in any classroom!

I would encourage you to borrow any of these ideas that pique your interest and seem like they will have a positive impact on your learners. Change them to fit the needs of your learners and then reflect on how it's going. And finally... take a risk and share your ideas with others! This is how we grow.

Enjoy the week with your learners!

Inquiry Process

Audience: STEM Waukesha Teachers

In our last blog, we promoted the practice of inquiry as a process for learning that aligns with how humans learn about the world around them. There are MANY inquiry cycles, processes, plans available to teachers that can be used to frame the learning experience. We would like to offer up the following inquiry process (based on Stephanie Harvey and Harvey Daniels work on Inquiry Circles) as a suggestion for organizing you and your learners’ thinking around any learning experience you develop this year. (Thank you to Kristin Kobriger for sharing her visual with us.)

As a planning tool, your team should think through what each of these phases could look like in your learning community.  There will be opportunities for learner choice along the way, and each learner will find their own path to the learning, but as the facilitator, you input and guidance along the way is essential to ensure the learners are acquiring accurate information and making meaning.  Struggle is inevitable, and an important part of the experience, but learners need scaffolds to find their way back on track.

Teams often launch an inquiry experience with an entry event during the Immerse Phase. This event ties the inquiry to the Go Public stage and sets the stage for a common experience at the end. Thinking with the end in minds gives the teacher the opportunity to establish the purpose for the learning, a “need to know and share”, as well as grow the community that wants to learn together.

We will meet to work through this planning tool at STEM PD at Hawthorne STEM tomorrow (7:30 in the library). STEM Randall, this would be a great planning tool to discuss in your level PLCs next week.

Take care,
Talk soon,

Are you writing Lesson Plans or Learning Plans?

Audience: Math Teachers

I borrowed this topic from this month’s ASCD journal.  The editor posed this question to the readers in the opening letter and I admit it took me back.  It took me back to my “transitional” years as a teacher.  The years when I was teaching grades 4, 5 and 6 at Hadfield and I found myself shifting from a "teaching" platform to a "learning" platform.  These were the years, when I really began to ask myself some important questions about what I was asking kids to do with their time in my classroom.

What’s the difference between writing lesson plans and writing learning plans?

• Lesson plans are based on the standards, we can google the CCSS number and a pre-written lesson will pop up.  Print, copy and deliver for students.

• Learning plans are based on the learners.  We collect data on our learners with every interaction and we co-craft a learning experience with them that is responsive to what each student needs and aligns with student interests.

Learning Plans connect to an Essential Question and weave a coherent story that builds understanding.  

In math, it is easy to get very skill based in our learning opportunities.  There are many games and activities that build automaticity and give practice on skills and concepts that we know students need to be fluid with their math thinking.  

We should also spend time helping students look at the larger picture by framing conversations around the essential questions.  These essential questions help learners see the connectedness within math content areas and help them see math as a coherent study of the world around them.  

It is absolutely vital that learners see the purpose behind numeracy and how being flexible with your thinking is a life skill we grow while solving math problems.

Learning Plans are connected to learners through both where they are on a continuum as well as through contexts that are relevant and interesting to them.

We have built units on the SDW continuums that give our learners an entry point and the opportunity to move as far as they can on this continuum.  The data we collect from AVMR assessments, pre-assessments/exit tickets and CGI assessments, gives us information we use to tailor the instruction to meet the needs of individual learners. BUT ALSO, we consider the interests and passions of the learners.  Are we connecting them to a context for the math that is relevant to who they are?  Are we crafting tasks related to the world they live in and helping them find tasks that they want to solve?

Learning plans provide opportunities to learn that are actually connected to life.

I’ve been very excited to walk into classrooms and see learners exploring math as it relates to mini-golf and football games.  As students solve problems related to what they did this weekend or imagine math that connects to their STEaM/Inquiry unit of study, they are finding the empowerment that comes from understanding how math is a way to solve problems in the world around them.

So, thank you!  Thank you for creating contexts that learners CAN’T WAIT to dive into.  Thank you for finding ways to engage your learners in finding and solving problems that shape their lives!

Inquiry as a Way of Life

Audience: STEM Waukesha Teachers

How do we learn? Learning is an incredibly complex process that results in an actual, physical change in the brain.  When we learn, we are transformed.  Our lives, perspectives and actions change for the remainder of our lives.  So how do we provide rich learning experiences that ensure both understanding and transfer of the concepts, skills and strategies that support our navigation through the world around us?

First, it is important to understand what actually happens in the brain during learner.  In Jame Zull’s book, The Art of Changing the Brain, Zull outlines a learning process (or learning cycle) that employs the biology of the brain and gives us insight into the conditions that need to be present for learning to take place. (We highly recommend reading this book!)

This first stage of learning, the gathering, begins with a feeling or emotion.  There is a motivation or need to know ignited within the learner.  When we consider ways to personalize learning, beginning with learner interests and passions is an important way to ensure engagement and ownership of learning.  From here, the teacher crafts an inquiry experience, based on what we have learned about what motivates our learners, that guides them through the remainder of Zull’s cycle of learning.  

Inquiry is so important to personalizing learning, we believe it should have it’s own cell in the The Institute’s Learning and Teaching Practices within the Honeycomb. This is also why Process Thinking is one of our Big Rocks at STEM. Within this Big Rock, we also engage learners in Design Thinking and that will be a focus of a future blog post.

From the moment we are born, we begin to engage in inquiry as a process for learning. Take a look at this video of a baby learning to walk. As you watch, consider the following questions:

-How does Zull’s theory fit with this learner’s accomplishment?

-What is the role of the learner (baby)?

-What is the role of the facilitator (parent)?

-What is the role of the community (brother, sister, grandma)?

Hawthorne STEM Teachers: This week in STEM PD (Wednesday, September 28th) we will view the video of a baby learning to walk together and have a conversation about what we notice. Then, you will have an opportunity to work in level teams to reflect on the same questions in regards to the inquiry experience you are developing. Please bring anything you need to work on developing your inquiry experience to STEM PD with you.

STEM Randall Teachers: This would be a wonderful activity to engage in during level PLCs.

Take care,
Talk soon,