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,

Essential Questions: The Learning Belongs to the Curious

Audience: All Staff at STEM Waukesha

If you have ever spent time around a two year old, you know what it’s like to be peppered with questions. How?, why? and what? asked in rapid succession can be exhausting and it puts us on the spot to feel like we have all of the answers. A really smart mom once shared her secret with us. She told us to turn the question around on the child. Answer the questions with a question… "What do YOU think?” The trick is, you have to listen to the answer and listen closely. In their answer is insight into how a child sees the world around them. This is our entry point into our learning.

Developing essential questions to guide a learning experience is an early and challenging conversation for many teams.  It asks us to step back from the content we know and are eager to share and requires us to look at the bigger picture.  The time spent on this conversation supports all of the other big rocks and supports the team in their norming around the experience.

The Future Belongs to the Curious from Skillshare on Vimeo.

Watch this video of a learner sharing his learning experiences and consider what essential question may have sparked his curiosity into the topics he is exploring.  Keep in mind that an essential question is broad, but should provide opportunities for learners to investigate topics they’re interested in more specifically.

During Hawthorne’s STEM PD on Wednesday morning (Sept. 13 @7:30), there will be time for teams to: 1) view the video above, 2) have a conversation about possible essential questions that inspired this learner, and 3) dive into planning STEaM/Inquiry for the current or next unit.  Please bring all relevant materials that your team needs to support this work to the meeting.

At the end of our time together, teams will be asked to share a poster demonstrating the Essential Question for your learning experience. Specifically, teams will be able to answer:

+ What is your essential question?

+ How does your EQ connect the thinking learners will do related to the world beyond our classroom?

STEM Randall teachers, this could be an activity your teams complete during your Level PLCs.

Enjoy your week and BE CURIOUS!

Taking the Time to Listen

Audience: Literacy Teachers at STEM Waukesha

brown girl dreaming 
by Jacqueline Woodson

Welcome back to the first FULL week of school! I have to admit, it was nice to ease into the school year with the two day week and then the four day week... now we're ready to take on the full five days... and so are our learners.

I was in and out of a few literacy classrooms last week and I noticed a trend of teachers working REALLY hard to get to know their learners and to build community within classrooms. This important work of getting to know our learners serves as the foundation for everything we do. While we sometimes put pressure on ourselves to fit everything we need to into a day, we must remember to grant ourselves the time to just listen to our learners. Listen to what they say. Listen to what they don't say. Take the time to get to know their stories. I'm currently reading brown girl dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson. In this book Jacqueline Woodson shares her story. As I read this book I've been reflecting on the stories that belong to our learners... each as powerful and as valuable as the story of Ms. Woodson's. I'm thankful to see you all making the time throughout the day to build relationships, to listen and to truly understand the little people you interact with on a daily basis.

brown girl dreaming 
by Jacqueline Woodson p. 278

In literacy PLC this year our work will focus on getting to know our learners as readers, writers and as people in order to develop a learner experience that grows each and every one of our learners. Our goal this week is to norm around the administration of running records so that this assessment can become a tool to help US get to know OUR learners, rather than a data point that we submit in a system for someone else. At our next PLC we will norm around the analysis of running records. This is where we study what the learner did or did not do in order to determine areas of strength & next steps and to plan for intentional instruction.

Marie Clay says, "If a child is a struggling reader or writer, then the conclusion must be that we have not yet discovered the best way to help him or her learn." Let's put our time and energy into listening to our learners and into studying our learners this year so that we are able to discover the best ways in which to help every child grow.

Vertical Literacy PLCs:
Hawthorne STEM - Tuesday, September 13 @7:30 in the Collaboration Space
STEM Randall - Wednesday, September 14 @3:15 in the Collaboration Space

I hope your week is filled with the space to listen to our learners' stories.

Coaching: The Why, The How, and The What

Audience: Teachers at STEM Randall & Hawthorne STEM

The role of Effectiveness Coach has changed considerably in the few years of its existence. As this role continues to evolve, we want to take a moment to explain the Why?, How? And What? of the role of Instructional Coach.

Why?	Our role is supportive, not evaluative. We are here to unlock your potential so that you’re able to maximize your performance. Our goal is for all of our teachers to see themselves as self-directed learners. We strive to connect the work of teachers in our buildings to the broader work of district, to the work of our buildings as STEM schools, but most importantly to what our learners needs are. We measure the effectiveness of our practice in your growth as teachers.
How?	* Lab classroom development - this is our primary objective for the majority of the year (more info to come)* Observations, feedback and coaching conversations for all literacy & math teachers * Coaching cycles related to lifting the learner experience * PLCs & professional development The Wordle represents the responses we received when we asked you (teachers) how we can best support you all. The larger the word, the more often it came up.
What?	Our coaching will focus on growing our practices around the math and literacy big rocks, as well as the STEaM and inquiry experiences. This work should tie directly to your professional goals (SLO, PPG).

Please reach out to us with any questions you have about your learner experience.  Email is the easiest way to connect and we will share our schedules with everyone soon.

Growing Mathematicians

Audience: Teachers of Math at STEM Waukesha

Many of you have heard me share the story of how I used to think that I wasn’t good at math.  In 6th grade I once had to write 6x8=48 one hundred times because I answered the question wrong (twice) on homework.  Somewhere along the line, I developed an identity that did not include “mathematician” in who I was as a learner.   I began to believe the myth that some people are not “math people.”  

My thinking shifted in high school as I fell into solving algebra problems.  I loved the order and balance of finding solutions.  I thought of them as puzzles and attacked them with determination.  I realize now that my experiences in school primarily shaped my mindset about learning math.  What my teachers put in front of me for learning experiences shaped whether I felt math was a set of rules to memorize and apply or a set of challenges that I could tackle.  THAT is how we want our learners to experience math at STEM...as an opportunity to explore numbers in the world around them to develop competency in numeric thinking.

Our Instructional Vision at both schools supports this important work.  Over the last two years STEM teachers have developed and refined an  instructional vision to frame our workshop experiences around.

Waukesha STEM Academy - Randall Campus

Hawthorne STEM School

A feedback rich (teacher-student, student-student, student-self) learning environment where students build a conceptual understanding of math concepts and apply this understanding in real world contexts through design briefs and problem solving tasks.  Students have access to “just right” math instruction throughout the different parts of the workshop.  Students own their learning through setting goals and crafting learning plans to meet their goals.  Students have access to resources to allow for anytime/anywhere learning.

A discourse driven learning environment where students build a conceptual understanding of math concepts and apply this understanding in real world contexts (project or problem based).  Students have access to “just right” math instruction throughout the different parts of the workshop and regularly self-assess and reflect on their progress.  Students own their learning through setting goals and crafting learning plans to meet their goals.

Our role as teachers is to provide a mathematically rich environment where learners can think deeply about problems in the world around using numbers as a way to make their thinking visible.  Learners engage in inquiry through the rigorous problems, tasks and activities available to all students.  Learners connect their thinking to each other to build understanding towards the essential question.  Our big rocks mirror the School District of Waukesha Math Big Rocks as instructional components that support this type of learning experience.

STEM MATH BIG ROCKS

Problem Solving	At STEM we add opportunities for learners to craft their own problems to solve and students use process thinking to solve math problems.  This can include using design briefs to make math thinking visible.
Discourse	Our STEM experience provides ample opportunities for learner voice to guide and stretch the learning. We strive to have learners facilitate the conversation and connect the learning - this is the same expectation throughout our district.
Small Guided Groups	In addition to using the district look-fors to frame this piece of our math workshop, at STEM, learners have the opportunity to set and work towards goals as it relates to where they are in the math continuum of learning.  Teachers give feedback on the continuum of learning by evaluating various evidence pieces.
Technology	STEM Learners use technology to create and collaborate around mathematical ideas.  In addition, students use visual and written lines of code as a way to make their thinking visible.

Because we are a multi-age environment, we want to ensure that students have access to content at their just right level along the continuum of learning every year.  What we shift every year for learners, is the context in which they are applying the mathematics.  The continuum of math learning is used to guide the content and our curriculum maps are used to guide our thinking around the context. (Numeracy continuum is available on bb9)

Level 1 Curriculum Map	Level 1 STEM Parent Curriculum Map
Level 2 Curriculum Map	Level 2 STEM Parent Curriculum Map
Level 3 Curriculum Map	Level 3 STEM Parent Curriculum Map

Throughout the year, we will work together to develop our practice around our math experience.  PLCs are held twice a month for the purpose of analyzing student and instructional data, developing plans for providing responsive instruction and to provide professional development specific to math.

STEM Randall Vertical Math PLCs	Hawthorne STEM Vertical Math PLCs
1st and 3rd Wednesday of the Month In the Collaboration Space 3:15 PM	1st and 3rd Tuesday of the Month In the Collaboration Space 7:45 AM

Looking to stretch your math wings and learn more about providing a quality math experience?  Check out the two options linked below.

• Carroll University Math Certificate Program - this program was developed with the School District of Waukesha and has helped shaped our math program district wide.  This program can be rolled into a Master’s Degree for those who are interested in that option.  There is still room available for Fall Registration so sign up soon!  I just finished the program in December of 2015 and I would be happy to answer any questions you have about the program.
• How to Learn Math:  for Teachers by Jo Boaler at Stanford University - this course is completed online from the comfort of your home.  Jo Boaler has been a leader is shaping what math instruction looks like for ALL learners based on what we know about how the brain learns and grows.  Grab a team-mate and sign up together.

I encourage you to spend some time reflecting on your own feelings and attitudes around math.  Consider the baggage we all bring to our practice.  Did you feel successful in math?  What experiences from your own math learning stick out in your memory?  What role did the teachers in your lives play in your math learning?

Also, tap into what you believe to be your “WHY?” of teaching mathematics.  For me, I know that the highest level of math a student takes in high school is often a determining factor in post-secondary schooling, career path and subsequently, life-time earning potential.  Numeracy is essential for full participation in world.  If we have a learner leaving our classroom believing that they are not a “math person”, then we could be putting up roadblocks that will slow them down for the rest of their life.

Matthew Felton, a professor and co-author of many CCSS and NCTM documents shares,

“I believe that students should study mathematics to—

• learn about and appreciate diversity in human thinking and accomplishments throughout history and around the world;
• see the role of mathematics in their daily lives, their community practices, and their cultural backgrounds; and
• understand, analyze, critique, and take action regarding important social and political issues in our world, especially issues of injustice.”

I believe that too...