Archives

Student Voice: Why Framing Their Stories is Important for our Future!

Student VoiceI recently had the opportunity to listen to a student panel of four remarkable students. They shared some of their personal stories in the context of the complex and exciting work of equity.  Each student described their path/struggles at school and a staff member who made a positive impact in their life. Their stories helped to frame the WHY behind our need to create safe and equitable spaces in our schools and reminded us of WHO is in front of the daily decisions we make as school and system administrators. The students’ honest and optimistic messages highlighted that the actions of educators, both large and small, have impact.  In fact, the impact they had in the room that morning was almost palpable.  I personally left the meeting feeling incredibly optimistic about work of equity and inclusion in my role.

This opportunity left me reflecting on the power of student voice. Student voice is so incredibly impactful yet, after listening to the student panel, I considered that there are more ways that I could use student voice effectively in my role.  Often, student voice is heard with good intentions but converting their words into meaningful actions is where there is much room for growth.  Our realities often get in the way and daily actions are impacted by mood, bias, multiple demands for time, urgent needs, deadlines, events from our personal lives, quality of sleep or even the weather to name a few.

How can we keep students and their ideas at the centre of the decisions we make? There is no doubt that many things will influence our actions but there are ways to keep students at the forefront. Since humans are influenced by what we are most connected to, keeping students in our line of sight can help to ensure that they are at the centre of our decisions.  Consider the following:

Engage in diverse student voices. Some students naturally rise to opportunities to share their voices.   What about students who are not predisposed to typical leadership opportunities?  These are the voices we need to hear. Educators need to support students who are underrepresented in conversations by ‘lifting up’ their voices. We need to reflect on how we draw upon the voices and realities of our students to make responsive decisions in our schools because not all voices need to be heard in the traditional sense of the word.

Connect with students regularly in different settings As a principal it means intentionally booking time each day, even with the multiple demands for our time, to walk through the school, visit classrooms or interact with students during recess or during inter-curricular activities.  So much can be learned from students during both structured and less structured times in the day.

Invite students to participate in ‘adult’ meetings where decisions are being made on their behalf. Students can be incredible agents of change. Often they do not see the barriers that adults can see and are able to solve seemingly complex problems with the most creative and often simplest solutions. Student insights are astounding and who knows better about what a student needs than the student.Honour Student Names

Get to know students by name (and how to pronounce it correctly).  Speaking to a student by name changes the dynamic entirely and often helps to create a connection that may lead to an open dialogue. If you don’t know how to pronounce a student by name, just ask.

Get to know a student’s story. Understanding who a student is and their story is one step to building a genuine con

nection. When you are connected to a student they are more likely to engage and share their voice.

See students as School Leaders. At my most recent school many assemblies, some clubs and all morning announcements were student-led.  This cultivates student leadership and engages the student body in meaningful ways. Think of the traditional forms ways things are lead and how students can be incorporated more.

Be explicit about how their voices had impact Share with students – “Here is what you said…here is what we did.”  Let them know that their voices actually matter.

Surround yourself with student work. In my most recent school-based position I had a wall of the work shared with me by students. The wall was plastered with work samples as well as notes and drawing given to me by students. It was amazing the power that the rereading of a kind note can have to keep me focused on the ideas that students have shared with me through their writing.

These are just a few of the personal ways that I have stayed connected to students and plan to revisit these more frequently.  I encourage others to share the ways that they stay connected to the voice of students in their daily decisions.

I began by talking about a student panel I was fortunate enough to help host. Here are some tweets from various educators in our system who were also at that event. Their responses resonated with me and confirmed again why giving students a “voice” is so very valuable to all of us here in Thames Valley.

***********************

Susan Bruyns – Principal at Sir Arthur Currie P.S. in London Ontario – TVDSB  Follow Sue at @sbruyns

Sue Bruyns - Principal of Sir Arthur Currie PS

**********************

Riley Culhane – Associate Director of Education – TVDSB – Follow Riley at @RileyCulhane

Riley Culhane - Associate Director - TVDSB

*********************

Lisa – Follow me at @LisaMunro11

Form Follows Function

There are times when function can naturally follow form. When I walk into the classroompreschool-still-life-painting-classs of young students I often observe children creating; building, painting, sculpting…. I ask them to tell me about their work. I sometimes observe them looking their creation over….pausing and, depending on what they observe, decide in that moment what their creation is destined to be. This, and the dialogue that follows, are valuable moments in inquiry learning. Although function can follow form with ease in an inquiry-based learning environment, form should follow function and students should become the driver when redesigning spaces for learning.
As a classroom teacher, although I took pride in collaboratively creating an inviting learning space with my students, I admittedly saw the physical space within the classroom as somewhat static and rarely considered the possibilities beyond reorganizing desks and using the walls to share artifacts of our learning.
Form following function is requires a commitment to recognizing that students learn in different

screen-shot-2014-09-30-at-12-26-55-pm

One of many different configurations a teacher could use.

ways and learning spaces need to reflect this. Learning environments should provide flexible spaces for collaboration, innovation, creativity, focused learning, and communication. By designing spaces with these skills in mind we set students up to be successful for the future world in which they can thrive.

I had a recent opportunity collaborate with a Learning Supervisor colleague and two Mental Health TOSA’s in our school board. Here are some of the questions we used to inform our dialogue about learning spaces:

  • What are the goals for learning and does the layout of your classroom facilitate meeting these goals?
  • Do you have predictable spaces for calming or spaces where students can access visual schedules and materials with ease?
  • Are there varied learning spaces for collaboration, independent work, inquiry, and communication?
  • Is your furniture agile and/or easy to reconfigure?
  • What alternative seating do you have for students who fidget, wiggle, and need to stretch or like to stand?
  • Can you alternate the amount of lighting in your space for activities conducive to brighter lights, warmer lights or reduced lighting?
  • What storage solutions do you have to reduce the clutter in your room and allow for ease of movement and increased sightlines?The truth is children can learn in the most unlikely of spaces but imagine the opportunities for learning when we provide them a space designed to unleash limitless potential. What one thing can you, right now with your physical space to support this potential in all your students?

edutopia-wade-visualizing21stcclassrmdesign

Visualizing 21st-Century Classroom Design  (acknowledgements – @mary_teaching)

Also go back and read one of my blogs from March 2016 – Rear View Camera

Do What the Best Do: Problem Solving in Math

Students often encounter a situation in math where they don’t know immediately what to do. Instead of moving quickly and applying known procedures incorrectly in hope of a solution, think about what the world’s best do!

Problem-solving is what we do when we don’t know what to do.

The world’s best problem-solvers thrive in these situations because not knowing immediately triggers a process in their brains to allow them to slow down and begin to make sense of the situation.

Consider the two problems below:

mathProblems

 

Students who do not activate a thinking process may begin to multiply numbers together in the ‘blinking’ question and may ignore the legend showing the proportion of the eye image in the ‘eye colour’ problem.

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), an assessment of 15 year-olds around the world, finds similar results: students who rely on memorization fair much more poorly than those who rely mainly on making connections and seeking to understand the situation.

goodmemory

How do we get our children to do what the best do?

First: Understand the Problem

Prompts: What is the problem asking or telling us to do? What do we know from the problem that might help us? How could I draw or build what is going on here? What math does this remind me of?

Second: Make a Plan

Prompts: Think back to strategies I’ve used before: what could I try to use to solve this?

Third: Carry Out the Plan

Prompts: Try it!  If it doesn’t work as you had hoped, switch to a different plan.

Fourth: Look Back

Prompts: Does my solution make sense? Does it fit what the question asked or told me to do? How can I check my thinking to be sure?

Try this with your child:

Understand but don’t solve: Take a problem and invite him to tell you the ‘gist’ of the problem. “Without using any numbers, tell me what is going on in the problem and ‘the general idea’ of what we must do.”

Represent but don’t solve: Take a problem and invite her to draw or build a model that helps her to understand the math and find a way ‘in’ to solving it.

Critical thinking and creativity are the keys to being a good problem solver. We can encourage our children to take their time to do just that.


Editor’s Note:
The following information was sent out by Scott Armstrong  (Learning Supervisor of Math) and Chris Silcox (Learning Coordinator) to be inserted into school newsletters. Click here to download this blog as a document!

 

Rear View Camera

backup_cameraI have a rear view camera in my car. This tool helps me back into a parking space by providing a visual of what is behind me while I am backing up. Today was a very muddy, wet day and, much to my dismay, the camera was covered in mud so it was of no use to me as I was backing into a parking spot. Surprisingly, I backed into the spot effortlessly – even without the camera.

Initially when I got the rear view camera I assumed this tool would do the work for me—I would no longer have to do the “thinking” when I put my car into reverse. What I realized today, when the mud was covering my camera and I was left to back up on my own, was that I had been doing the “thinking” all along, even with the camera. This technology in my car was just helping me back up more elearning-course-authoring-toolsefficiently and see things I otherwise may have missed (i.e., my blind spots).

Many technological tools are like the camera in my car—they don’t do the thinking for students; rather, they help scaffold learning by providing support. Learning tools give us the confidence to practice and ultimately become better and better.
Although the tools are important (i.e., the saw, the paintbrush, the technology), the real magic happens in what students learn to do with the tool.

Over the next few weeks we are in the process of reconfiguring our school library into a Library Learning Commons (LLC). In the LLC students will be given the opportunity to research, build, and create with new and not so new technologies. They will learn skills in collaboration, communication, connecting, reasoning and proving in many areas of the curriculum. More will be shared with you over the next few months. Stay tuned.

These are NOT pictures of our Learning Commons, but images of what other schools around the world are doing with their libraries and computer labs to create these new learning environments. This is 21st Learning and Emily Stowe is a part of this exciting movement in education, preparing our students for an equally as exciting future.

 || click the image to see more ||

Learning Commons

Great Teaching, Great Coaching, A Lot in Common!

rita_piersonThink of a coach or group leader in your child’s life. Now imagine that, during each practice or performance, the only feedback the coach ever gave was, “Good job,” or “Not so good.” Would that help your child improve? Obviously not. A great coach provides timely feedback, during or immediately after a performance. A great coach shares information with the child about what he/she does well and can improve upon. The feedback to the child is clear, specific, timely and meaningful (e.g. “I liked the way you were in ready position. Next time, you need be out in front of the net for the pass.”). Great teaching and great coaching have a lot in common. Like great coaches, great teachers are committed to ensuring your child reaches their fullest potential. One way a teacher does this is by providing feedback daily, both formally and informally through conversations, questions, discussions, observations, student work, performances (and so much more).

Feedback about strengths and next steps are a very important part of assessment. Providing precise information students_teacher_learningto students so that they understand what they have done well and what they need to do next has a more powerful impact on going forward with learning than just knowing a mark or grade.

This past Friday your child will have received their term 1 report card, an evaluation of your child’s learning at school. The report card provides a formal opportunity to understand your child’s strengths and next steps. Please take some time to read both the grades/marks and the comments in your child’s report card. Discuss the feedback shared by the teacher in the comments section of the report card. If you would like to understand even more about your child’s progress at school I encourage you to contact your child’s teacher to set up an interview.

Can New Year Resolutions be SMART Goals?

Best-New-Year-Resolutions-4I am optimistic by nature and setting New Year’s resolutions is no exception. My annual resolutions are usually lofty with traditional goals such as no more sugar in my diet or exercising every day. It is discouraging to know that, statistically, only 8 % of people actually maintain their resolutions. Why is this? I believe it is because lofty goals are vague, difficult to attain, and unrealistic. By their nature, New Year’s Resolutions set most people up for failure.

As I reflect, if I handled my personal goals the same way our school approaches learning goals for students my likelihood of success would go up considerably. Goals set for improving student learning are SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely). We have learned that Instead of committing to a lofty non-specific goal like improving math scores by 20% in a month we commit to smaller, incremental goals like improving mathematical communication skills in numeracy. We regularly revisit, reflect upon and fine tune our goals. After a smaller goal has been met we build upon it as determined by our next urgent learning need for our students.

SMART GoalsCutting out sugar is neither realistic nor attainable for me but I know that I can achieve success with smaller steps like first cutting out sweets when I pack my lunch for school each day. I plan to reflect on how I am doing and tweak things a little if I am not being successful (like maybe adding a healthy afternoon snack to get me through until supper time). Once I am successful, I will move to a next step such as focusing on how I can prepare easy-to-make, healthy suppers. I will commit to ensuring my personal goals are simple, realistic, and attainable. With this approach I believe I will be more likely to maintain success over the long term.

As parents, this approach to goal setting can help you to guide your children as they set goals for home and school life such as daily reading, homework completion and limiting screen time. Family life is busy and most families cannot maintain to lofty goal like reading with their child for an hour each night but it is possible to start by committing to reading for 15 min a day on week nights or bringing math into the kitchen by discussing ingredient quantities while baking. Once these goals are achieved they can be built upon and deepened. Remember; start simple, be realistic and make sure that the goals you set with your children are attainable.

Creating Pathways – We All Have a Role!

growupWhat do you want to be when you grow up? This was a “go-to” question I remember having been asked countless times as a child. My career ambitions ranged from food services to veterinary medicine and (luckily) education. Looking back, my prospective career choices were influenced by my exposure to television shows, toys I played with, important people in my life and personal experiences. After I graduated from high school there seemed to be a finite number of choices available to me and, fortunately, choosing to become an educator was a fairly straight forward decision for me. In contrast, my sister made several different educational changes before choosing a career that she felt fulfilled by.

As an adult I find myself asking the very same question to students, often curious about their goals, ambitions and influences. Some students answer this question excitedly with limitless aspirations for the future; others divulge that they are not sure what they want to do when they grow up. I am left wondering how both the decisive and the less certain students can be supported in making successful transitions to reach their postsecondary destinations—recognizing that all students can achieve success in many forms and through many different routes.

The challenges and opportunities presented to students of the 21st century are unlike those of any previous generation (Creating Pathways, p. 6) so it is imperative that students have the knowledge and skills they need to make informed education and career/life choices.

Creating Pathways to Success (2013), a document developed by the Ministry of Education to respond to the realities of a complex, rapidly changing world, recognizes that career planning is a lifelong process. The document was developed to support students in their career choices. It provides opportunities for learning both in and outside the classroom and engages parents and the broader community in the development, implementation, and evaluation of the program to support students in their~learning.

Effective September 2014 students from FDK to grade 12 are engaging in education and career/life planning using a four step cyclical inquiry process that will continue throughout their time at school:

  • Knowing Yourself – Who am I?
  • Exploring Opportunities – What are my opportunities?
  • Making Decisions and Setting Goals – Who do I want to become?
  • Achieving Goals and Making Transitions – What is my plan for achieving my goals?

Students from FDK to grade 6 will be encouraged to document what they are discovering about themselves and their opportunities in and outside of school in a portfolio called “All About Me.” In grades 7 to 12 students will build on the learning from their portfolio as they develop an Individual Pathway Plan (IPP) which focuses on making a successful transition to secondary school and their initial postsecondary destination. My own children are currently in the process of managing their own IPPs; it has been a fascinating journey watching them explore the pros, cons and requirements of potential career paths.

Where are parents in this picture? Parents play a critical role in student achievement and success. Most students view parents as their primary source of career planning (King et al., 2009 in Creating Pathways, 2013 p. 38). As such, parents will have opportunities to review and observe student evidence of learning within the portfolio. In addition, we have a parent representative on our school-based committee for Creating Pathways.

I encourage you to have conversations that explore who your children are, what opportunities are available to them and what they want to become. For more information on the Creating Pathways document click the image below.


pathwaysSuccess
|
| click image to read the entire document ||

 

What Is Your Job?

steveJobsquoteI recently read a blog entitled “What’s Your Job.” The blog made me to reflect on my job as an educator.  Steve Jobs said it well, ““The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” Teaching is the career that I have chosen because I love what I do. I genuinely want to make a difference in the lives of the students that I work with.  I want Emily Stowe to be a place that everyone wants to be on a daily basis.

It seems like the obvious answer to the question “What’s Your Job” for an educator is to teach children and prepare them for the work world.  For me the job goes far beyond that. At the end of the day my job is to ignite a passion for learning, instill confidence, emphasize good character and provide the skills and rigor necessary for our students to be contributing citizens of the world.

This question also left me thinking about what my job is in supporting families in their child’s education.  Are there ways that we, as a school community, can better support families with the learning that happens at home?  I am certain there are always ways we can grow so I would love to hear from you.  If there are topics you would like to hear more about in weekly blogs or topics that can be explored at the school level, please feel free to send me an email at l.munro@tvdsb.on.ca.  Your ideas may provide wonderful inspiration for next steps.

I leave you with one final request.  As parents and community members I encourage you to reflect on what your job is in your child’s education.  What parts of your role are most proud of and where would you like to go next?


20 Ways You Can Help Your Children Succeed in School

44 Proven Ideas Parents Can Use to Help Their Children Do Better in School

Ways to Cooperate with Teachers for the Benefit of Your Child


 

The Fourth R – Resilency!

resilienceYou have probably heard of the 3 Rs, in education. What about the fourth R – Resiliency? Resiliency is the ability to bounce back from setbacks, learn from failure, be motivated by challenges and believe in your own abilities to deal with the stress and difficulties in life. Resiliency skills are as important as the other 3 Rs because every child’s life will be touched by setbacks as well as achievement, pain as well as joy, loss as well as triumph. In order for children to reach their fullest potential they need to know how to approach life with resilience. What you might not know is that, just like reading, writing and arithmetic, resiliency can be learned. Children learn from their parents, teachers and coaches – how to develop the skills of resilience. Resilience enables your child to thrive no matter what life puts in his or her path.

How You Can Help Children Build Resiliency:

  • Start with a nurturing and caring relationship
  • Add lots of listening and respect for the young person’s voice
  • Teach skills for self-control and self-discipline
  • Believe in their ideas, dreams and abilities
  • Model optimistic thinking
  • Demonstrate problem-solving skills and ways to handle disappointment)

Taken from the Bounce Back Resource, pg. 17

This week is Mental Health Awareness Week in Thames Valley. The resource attached below provides strategies that support efforts to help young people understand the importance of resiliency in their lives. Personally, I love this valuable resource and refer to the strategies to support students in working through some of their challenges around resiliency.
toonieTuesday

Toonie Tuesday
The Thames Valley Education Foundation’s (TVEF) system wide fundraiser ‘Toonie Tuesday’ is officially scheduled for Tuesday, May 6, 2014 during Education Week. Every toonie collected will go into the Foundation’s Caring Fund to assist students in need within our own school system. TVEF, through its Caring Fund, is working to ensure that help is always close at hand for students with urgent and pressing needs. Thames Valley school communities have been challenged to raise the equivalent of $2 (a toonie) for each person who works or learns in Thames Valley. – Just imagine how many students and families we will be able to help! The message is simple: a little coin, a lot of change. Thank you for helping to make ‘Toonie Tuesday’ a big success in your school and across the Thames Valley. Thank you for caring enough to give.

It Might Be All About the Questions!

questioning_imageThere was a time when I believed good teaching meant knowing all of the answers. Now I would argue that good teaching is asking the right questions. This shift in thinking has influenced my responses to parents when I am posed with questions about how parents can support their children in learning mathematics at home.

The way mathematics is taught has changed since many parents have finished school. Sometimes the different approaches used in today’s classrooms can make parents feel reluctant to support mathematics learning at home. I believe that taking a questioning stance towards the learning of mathematics helps to eliminate some of the challenges. Questioning is important because it helps children make their own connections between ideas.

Open Questions – Open questions are questions that encourage a variety of responses. Open questions build self-confidence and allow children to respond at their level of development. Consider “What is 4 + 6” (closed question) versus “Is there another way to make 10?” (open question).

Wait Time – Waiting a few extra seconds allows children to formulate their thoughts into words. Wait time can be especially beneficial for less confident learners.

Pose Questions that Actually Need to be Answered – Rhetorical questions like “Doesn’t a triangle have three sides?” provides students with an answer without allowing them to engage in their own reasoning. 

(Ideas taken from http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/inspire/research/CBS_AskingEffectiveQuestions.pdf)

Here are some tips for mathematical learning at home:

Tips for math K to gr. 3:

http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/abc123/eng/tips/mathkto3.html

Tips for math Gr. 4-6

http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/abc123/eng/tips/math4to6.html

Tips for math Gr. 7-12

http://oame.on.ca/mathies/files/Partnering%20with%20your%20teen.pdf