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My COETAIL Journey

Certificate of Education Technology and Information Literacy

Course 4: Week 2 - Partners in Learning

11/13/2020

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As stated in my last post, I am very much on the pedagogy (and technology) side of the TPACK diagram. Because of this, the article we began to read this week (A Rich Seam by Michael Fullan and Maria Langworthy) really resonated with me.

I feel fortunate to currently work at a school that has a history of being open-minded. Anyone following ISHCMC's journey will know about our trials and iterations of the Studio model in grade 5 and followed by 4. If you don't, feel free to catch up on this website from a few years ago (it has not been kept up to date, as many educators have moved to different schools or grade levels).


The team I am currently working with in Studio 4 are some of the most collaborative partnerships I have ever been in. Everyone is willing to take a risk, try something new, FAIL, and move forward. We adjust based on what we feel the learners in front of us need at the time. This could be very different to what last year's learners needed... or even the same learners a week ago. If you want to know more about Studio 4 (structured a lot differently to Studio 5, you can read my personal blog and follow my current and previous colleagues on Twitter (Paul Cheevers, Justin Ouellette, Corie Olson, Danielle Looney, Johnathan Phillips).

Our partnerships (between teachers and students) are strong. Our spaces play a roll in this. We have moving walls (large sliding glass doors that double as whiteboard space), open areas, a "town hall" we sometimes have called a "literacy studio" based on student needs at the time, and resources out and available for student use, as needed. Student goals are visible online and offline so anyone (teacher or student) can see what someone is working on and seek or offer assistance. All teachers are available to all students, and we grow these partnerships by mixing students and rooms as much as we can (varied with each unit and time of year). Goals and evidence of learning are also shared with parents weekly. This strengthens the partnership at home by giving transparency and a "window into the classroom." 

Because of these meaningful partnerships, we are discovering and mastering content collaboratively with the students, just as the authors describe in A Rich Seam. The quote "
We are at the early stages of disruptive innovations, which represent a new period of development, trial, error and further development" from this text describes my time in the studio well. We are constantly making iterations of what we do and what we create in order to suit our students better.
I think an area we could grow in is collaborating with specialists and other age groups. Time is a main enemy here. Not only time to meet with the teachers and figure it out, but also timetables of the structured "school" we are all used to. It is limiting.

What if those structures were taken away? What could specialists look like if they didn't have a timetable? Would we be benefiting students by letting them explore these subject areas as needed, or would we be hindering them by taking away opportunities to experience new things? In elementary/primary school I feel like the balance of this is hard. A phrase that we often say is "they don't know what they don't know" ... but we also want them to follow a passion once they do know it. 

2 Comments
Shalene
11/15/2020 12:14:07 pm

Hey Cindy,

I absolutely love how your student goals are visible online and offline- so anyone can see what others are working on and seek or offer assistance. It must take a lot of trust and relationship building for students to be comfortable sharing more personal goals, have you had any parents have a harder time with this? Though also think it's great your partnerships extend to the parents as well- super important and love that you give weekly update and feedback. Can I ask what system you use for this? I have a shared google doc. with each student and their goals- with their classroom teachers and parents, though I find it not utilized as much as it could. Even with bi-weekly e-mail reminders to check in on their progress and ensure validity with their goal tracking and progress monitoring. We use a method by LeeAnn Young, (her book: https://www.amazon.com/Goals-Growth-Intervention-Support-Classroom-ebook/dp/B07BYR5NQ4) I'd love to share the tracker with you via e-mail, I got some great feedback directly from her, on how to continually improve it, as she also moved it to an online program, but always looking to continue to expand ways to increase engagement and accountability around personalized learning goals.

I also loved how you mentioned, 'All teachers are available to all students, and we grow these partnerships by mixing students and rooms as much as we can' this is a great idea and I would certainly like to look more into what other blocks the Humanities teachers have and look to expand our learning goals and feedback beyond just our one class.

You have a great blog within a blog! Thanks for sharing!

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Simona link
11/18/2020 05:45:12 am

Hi Cindy!

I found it very inspiring your post and your questions:
"What could specialists look like if they didn't have a timetable? Would we be benefiting students by letting them explore these subject areas as needed, or would we be hindering them by taking away opportunities to experience new things? "
Being a specialist teacher, who I am constantly learning from my amazing colleagues homeroom teachers in other classrooms, it is so important to visit them often and understand in their classroom, on their (classroom) boards where are they on a certain moment. Even we plan carefully in advance some units of inquiry, during the teaching of a unit are many changes of the way how we approach the theme, and we need to adapt to the interests of the children, because we place "student's voice" very important in our school. Which is amazing and bringing closer to their curiosity and focus on a topic.

I love collaborations and I found it very exciting to have the freedom to be creative, to design special lessons for special classes and needs. The 3rd Graders from last year are not the same as the 3rd Graders from this year. Anyway every two years we change the curriculum with different units of inquiry.

I like very much this idea where the classroom have transparent walls and the people could come in and out and feel connected and the process of learning has a vivid dialog and a continuity.
I totally agree that teaching and learning is so specific to the context of one group of children, or one specific situation. It is not a scheme that you can apply to all the people.

Luckily we have a strong collaboration among our subjects and across the years and I am very happy to be part of a wonderful team of teachers at ISB.
One example is the Kindness Week that we planned across the ES. Different teachers across the school took different actions to teach about kindness our students.
I was creating a collaboration project with G1, G2, G3 and G4. I invited the children to create a Village of Kindness. The children from G2 were crafting houses in 3D with kindness messages on their foldable windows and doors. G3 -created the Garden of Kindness with painted stones and positive messages. G4- were placing different "Kind People" in our settings and G1 were folding origami hearts and butterflies and enriching our Village of Kindness.
If you like I could share later some pictures with you. Or please follow Deanna Rupert (@DeannaRupert3 )on twitter with this project #kindnessmatters. She organized us.

Anyway, it was very impressed to see how strong collaboration you builded with Studio 4 over the years and how active you are together.
Studio 4 is a strong group. More people can move more and are stronger together. And it is so much more exciting to have a vivid dialog:) about what is the best for the education of our students.

Lots of success and good luck further! I will follow you all on twitter.

Best wishes, Simona.

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