Innovative Inquirers
  • Home
  • Blogs
    • My Professional Blog
    • My COETAIL Journey
    • My MALDT Progress
  • Publications
  • Videos
  • Curations
  • Coaching Stories
  • Connect

My Professional Reflections Blog

Adventures in EdTech, Student Agency, Inquiry, and Coaching.

Coaching Cycle Comparisons

2/7/2023

0 Comments

 
I am currently completing EDU615 at Ferrum College - Instructional Leadership, Coaching, and Evaluation. For my recent assignment I was asked to compare three coaching cycles and speak about trust, relationships, and reflection methods in each of them. Below is what I came up with.
What I would like to do next is take away the written reflection elements of it and create a chart that compares different cycles in a simple and visual way. What do you suggest adding to the table?
CKaardal EDU615 Coaching Model Comparison by Cindy Kaardal
0 Comments

Coaching Teams

1/29/2023

0 Comments

 
I am officially 1.5 years into my coaching journey. I love this role and am constantly growing. At a PYP school, one of my jobs is to sit with teams (including specialists) as they project their next unit of inquiry. Today, sitting with a team, it dawned on me to try it in a different way.

What I usually do:
Coordinators give specialists and coaches a piece of poster paper with unit information on it - central idea, lines of inquiry, concepts, learner profile, and approaches to learning. Before the meeting I sit and brainstorm ideas for technology integration in the unit. The specialists all then present their ideas to the grade level and initiate conversations and collaborative opportunities. These meetings are mainly for specialists but I found value in presenting my ideas to the team members as well... until recently when I felt repetitive and preachy.
Picture
What I am thinking:
What if I took the structure of a coaching conversation and flipped my presentation.
Ask the teachers how they integrated technology in this unit last year. What worked? What didn't? What options do they have this year? And what else? Do you want more suggestions from me? Anything you might need help with? (in this case it would be with a tech integration lens, but the structure could work with innovation coaching, or coaching in any subject, I would think).
Picture
I have more meetings like this with different grade levels later this week and am wondering if I should mix it up. This approach might take longer... It won't align with the specialist teachers approach (but I am not a specialist teacher)...

My thinking is that if the teachers go through this process they might be more likely to implement the ideas they come up with. If I stand there preaching tools, etc. most of them will still do whatever they're going to do.


Are you a coach or someone who projects a unit with a group of teachers? What successes have you had in the past?
0 Comments

Coaching Stories - Sam Gray

1/16/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
Teacher: Sam Gray (@samaugustgray​)
School: Chadwick International - Songdo, South Korea
Grade: 4
Coaching Cycle: October 2021 - December 2021
Goal(s): 
  • To help students use technology to develop agency
  • ​ISTE Connection: Empowered Learner
Picture

Before Coaching

Picture
Sam was eager to shake up his timetable and get students working on things they prioritized themselves. He decided to start with math lessons, as we felt this would be the easiest transition point for the students. Prior to coaching, math lessons were dictated by the teacher and the process was linear for all students.

During Coaching

As we met and reflected, Sam’s lessons began to open up. Sam offered choice in the order of when to complete math tasks. Students had 3-4 activities for the week and thought about which ones they wanted to complete first, and why. Through student interviews, we found that students were happy to have choice, but were struggling with the amount of time given. We reflected and made changes based on student input. Students then started to use a Padlet to reflect on their goals and evidence their learning of different math strategies. This was an easy way for Sam to quickly check in with each student’s progress, even if he did not have the chance to sit with them individually.
​

Near the end of the math unit I came in to teach the class how to use Clips to create video tutorials of their choice of math strategies. This bit of extra creativity gave the students an energetic boost to engage with their math.
Picture
Picture
Picture

Looking Forward...

Picture
Sam is keen to continue with another coaching cycle. He wants the students to take more responsibility of their learning, while giving him the time to confer with students and find out where individual needs can be met. The momentum his class has gained is growing with excitement. 
Read more of Cindy's Coaching Stories here.
0 Comments

Coaching Stories - Alyssa Smith

1/12/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
Teacher: Alyssa Smith (@alyssasmith727​)
School: Chadwick International - Songdo, South Korea
Grade: 3
Coaching Cycle: October 2021 - December 2021
Goal(s): 
  • To help students use technology to develop agency
  • ​ISTE Connection: Empowered Learner
Picture

Before Coaching

Picture
Picture
Alyssa is an innovative educator who seeks the best for her students. Due to Covid restrictions and distance learning, Alyssa’s teaching practices were constrained. She did not feel like she was teaching her truth. 
​

Students were participating in more whole group lessons than ever and lacking the ownership and agency over their learning that used to ignite her classroom. They would look to her instead of to themselves every step of the way.

During Coaching

Alyssa and I spoke about the learning happening in her class. The students were already using Padlet in class to record their goals, but Alyssa wanted the responsibility for updating to be on the students, not her. In addition to goals, we decided students would record separate steps they might take towards their goals, and finally, evidence of their learning. 
​

Students needed support to identify steps to take to reach their goals, so a strategy Alyssa chose was to offer multimodal learning opportunities. Students could choose how they would like to learn or practice a skill. Eventually, they would use blocks of time 2-3 times weekly to update their goals, steps, and evidence by color coding so they could easily see whether goals were not yet started, in progress, or met. Once a system was in place, Alyssa and her co-teacher Rose could confer easily with the agentic and confident learners. 
​

The IB’s Action Cycle was also a large part of goal setting for Alyssa’s class. Students choose, then acted, then reflected on their learning. Having this clear cycle made it easier for students to think critically about their learning. Students also had the opportunity to pivot or persevere on their goals when the time was right.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture

Looking Forward...

Alyssa’s class is eager to continue having ownership over their learning. I witnessed first hand the excitement the students had when they got to choose how they learned. This multimodal approach takes a bit of planning, but works for all subject areas and keeps the students actively engaged in a meaningful way.
Picture
Picture
Read more of Cindy's Coaching Stories here.
0 Comments

Coaching Stories - Maisie Bradley

1/10/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
Teacher: Maisie Bradley (@maisie_bradley)
School: Chadwick International - Songdo, South Korea
Grade: 5
Coaching Cycle: October 2021 - December 2021
Goal(s): 
  • To help students use technology to develop creativity and communication skills
  • ISTE Connection: Creative Communicator
Picture

Before Coaching

Picture
Students were not confident in different ways of publishing/creating. Most students were using Docs to publish their writing. Some students commented about using drawing apps at home, but most were not using these talents for school projects.

During Coaching

I came in while students were preparing to publish their narrative writing pieces. I showed them three new tools to explore (Keynote, Scratch, and Canva). Maisie practiced offering different tools like Book Creator and Google Slides for #booksnaps and other activities. Students were excited to try a variety of tools, and started to give good reasons for choosing a tool to publish in. After a few short weeks students were using at least six different tools when I came in for an open-ended publishing day.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture

Looking Forward...

Picture
Because of working on these goals, Maisie and I came to the realization that the grade 5 How We Express Ourselves unit (currently taught by specialist teachers) could be an opportunity to cover some of these gaps. Students could be thinking about how they can creatively express themselves when publishing or showing new understandings, including purpose, audience, and the tool they choose. In the future, when selecting mentor texts for literacy units, grade 5 teachers can also consider widening the range of texts to includes ones that are not published in a book - this could include videos, interactive stories, websites, podcasts/audio books, etc.
Picture

Read more of Cindy's Coaching Stories here.
0 Comments

Coaching Stories - Diana Suk

1/10/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
Teacher: Diana Suk (@dianasuk)
School: Chadwick International - Songdo, South Korea
Grade: 2
Coaching Cycle: October 2021 - December 2021
Goal(s): 
  • To help students use technology to develop agency
  • ISTE connection: Empowered Learner
Picture

Before Coaching

Picture
As Diana is new to Chadwick International, an easy way to teach math was with the whole class doing the same activity. However, even with the hands-on activities, it was difficult for Diana to confer regularly with all of her students. It was also difficult to check to see if the students were really understanding the lesson through the games. Diana wanted to be able to hold herself accountable to incorporate the standards for mathematics and hold students accountable to their learning. Diana was also keen to step up student agency opportunities in her class in order to allow students to have choice, voice, and ownership with their learning. ​

During Coaching

Picture
Diana’s class caught fire with agency. The students understood the structures straight away and loved having ownership of their choices in math class. The planning that went into choosing stations for the week was mirrored near the end of the unit as the students prepared for their assessment project. Students used their newfound planning skills to schedule the steps they would need to complete the task. Students reflected on their progress and evidenced their learning in Seesaw along the way.

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture

Looking Forward...

Picture
Diana and her class are keen to continue learning utilizing methods, like Studio 2: Math, that promotes student agency. Students are not only accountable for their learning, but they have ownership of it as well. Diana is able to confer with students more often and has a better grasp of student needs and growth.
Picture
Picture

Read more of Cindy's Coaching Stories here.
0 Comments

Coaching Stories - Charisse Patacsil

1/10/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
Teacher: Charisse Patacsil (@cha_patacsil)
School: Chadwick International - Songdo, South Korea
Grade: 3
Coaching Cycle: October 2021 - December 2021
Goal(s): 
  • To help students use technology to develop agency
  • ISTE Connection: Empowered Learner
Picture

Before Coaching

Picture
Students in Charisse's class learned the same lessons at the same time, with some differentiation and small groups. Everyone was working towards the same goals (which were teacher made, known, and led). 

During Coaching

Charisse took lots of risks with her students. She wanted to focus on different modes of learning (play, write, draw, act, etc) as well as who students learn best with (individual, partners, small groups, teacher-led). She created structures to help this happen in her classroom using Google Slides as a tool for visual thinking routines. Students often reflected on Approaches to Learning and set goals for themselves about these skills. Reflecting on learning and practicing math with different learning modalities helped students to improve their self-knowledge. This helped the students have voice, choice, and ownership of their math learning.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture

Looking Forward

Picture
Charisse and her New Teacher Intern are looking forward to having their students set more of goals across multiple subject areas. They will be talking to other grade three teachers about evidencing the learning happening from their goals, and are thinking about using the MoSCoW method (Must, Should, Could, Won’t) to help structure students’ plans to reach their goals.

Read more of Cindy's Coaching Stories here.
Picture
0 Comments

Mid-Cycle Stuck

11/10/2021

1 Comment

 
Picture
As I stated in my last post, I have recently started a new job as an EdTech Integration Coach. 

I have been keen to dive into the ins and outs of this new role. It is a learning curve, but one I am so excited to get into with my new colleagues. I have started the Google Certified Coach program, bought a few books (mentioned in my last post), and have signed up for multiple PD's my school is hosting based on coaching - what a year to be here! Jim Knight's Instructional Coaching and Cognitive Coaching being the two big names we are working with this year. In short - I am excited to learn all that I can about being a coach.

Because I know my knowledge base is small right now - I have some questions for all of you experienced coaches...

I have started formal coaching cycles with 9 teachers at my school. I felt like I had great energy and lots to collaborate on... We have identified their goals, we have worked through possible solutions, they have chosen tools to work on this solution, I have been into their classroom to observe, we have reflected on those observations and made next steps.... and now I am feeling like...

  • - Now what?
My check ins with teachers are becoming shorter - because they are on a roll and know what they're doing next. I don't want to waste their time. I am still consistently meeting with them to be a collaborator and have them voice next steps, etc...
  • - But could I be doing more?
  • - Is this normal for a coaching cycle?
​I want to back off and let them fly, as I would with my students. I want to give them breathing room and time to think and experiment. But I also want to keep committed to them in this coaching cycle. I just feel a little stuck at this point.
  • - Is this imposter syndrome creeping in, as she tends to do? 
  • - Or am I the baseball stuck between the fence and the ground, waiting for a kick in the right direction?
Picture
1 Comment

Beginning My Coaching Journey

10/7/2021

0 Comments

 
 Last year when I was applying for jobs I made the conscious effort to decline classroom job interviews, and stick to my instinct about moving into the world of EdTech coaching. The universe provided, and in a few short weeks I accepted a Technology Integration Coach job at Chadwick International (Korea) to work in a department of 2 for the Village School (elementary).

The beginning of the year was a whirlwind. Having 2 weeks of quarantine after entering the country and starting with online orientation made the foundations of my job (relationships) a little difficult. Even once we were completing the end of orientation in person, we still had to adhere to social distancing and smaller groups. The natural act of sitting beside people and "accidentally making a new friend" was pretty impossible.

For the first two months I have been attending meetings to give a little peep of a suggestion here at there, teaching a couple of digital citizenship lessons to kick off the year, and helping to administer MAP Tests in grades 1-5. We also had an IB Evidencing Learning workshop which gave me another good chance to connect with colleagues.

I also began putting together a monthly Coaches Corner. I feel this makes the coaches and pedagogy leaders in our school more visible. Each month I am asking them for submissions, then on the first of the month I email it out to the Village School and also post them in common staff areas such as collaboration rooms, staff rooms, and even bathrooms. Within this, I created a #ChadwickSlowChat on Twitter. Each month I am asking a different teacher to pose a question to our community. The start has been slow, but I am hoping to watch it grow!
Picture
Picture
This week we began our new Simply Certified sessions. This week we started with "All About Apple" where I reviewed all of the types of certifications teachers can get from Apple. At least 3 more teachers are already Apple Teachers from this session, and many more have started their journey by earning badges! Coming soon is Google, and I also sent a document out with information about Seesaw, Nearpod, Flipgrid, and more.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Now is the natural time that I have people/teams approaching me with bigger ideas. I am excited about their eagerness and am happy to dive in with them. However, as I am new to coaching, I just want to know all of the things. I bought 3 books to help guide me. The EdTech Coaching Primer by Ashley McBride, Courageous Adventures by Jennie Magiera, and The Complete EdTech Coach by Adam Juarez and Katherine Goyette. These have been a great place to start, but I found myself wanting/needing some sort of organization to document and help guide my conversations with teachers.

I started by modifying one from Magiera, and then scratched it completely and began from what was in my heart. However, a few elements still remain the same. I need to try to evidence where they are so I can meet them there. Then I need to try to outline possible solutions and key people, resources, blogs, and links that might help them get there. Teachers have a lot on their plate and if I can do some of the heavy lifting for them, I am willing (and excited!) to do that.

Below is what I have started. I spent the end of this week filling them in for people I have spoken to already, and tweaked things as I went along. This doesn't work - don't need this - need to add this. I will continue this tweaking process as I go along
Picture
Picture
While this is a large learning curve for me, and creating a coaching culture within a school may not be easy, I am excited to see where our team takes it!
0 Comments

March Mammal Madness - What is this?!

2/15/2021

0 Comments

 
Do you have an animals or habitats unit coming up? How about something to do with adaptations? How about a writing unit with a focus on research or information texts?

March Mammal Madness 2021 is your answer!

Picture
This will be my third time participating in March Mammal Madness with my class. It is much like March Madness, but with animals!  4 divisions of 16 animals (plus a wild card) "battle" to see who wins! Don't worry, the battles aren't real (often the pairs would never encounter each other in real life) and don't always end in death either... sometimes an animal is just disinterested in a conflict, like in real life. Your job is to research each animal to the best of your ability so you can predict the winners and score the most points on the bracket.​

Here is Everything You Need to Know:

Educators can get access to materials early: Click here to request information from them before it is live on their website. This will help you prepare materials for your class and plan activities and expectations. You will get the bracket as well as some lesson plans to help guide you. This request is available NOW until February 26th, 2021, when the official bracket is released.
Official Bracket drop: February 26, 2021
Battles begin: March 8, 2021
2021 Tournament Schedule: The battle timeline can be found here. When there is a winner, they will be posted on YouTube and a summary PDF will be available.
Picture

Ways I have used MMM in the past (with grades 3 and 4):

2018 - One class researches the whole bracket (in person, at school):
  • ​Printed A3 research papers for my small class of grade 3s. They worked in pairs on one animal at a time, fill in in my predetermined "important" things to know.
  • When they were done one, they chose another animal until all were researched, as a class.
  • I took a photo of each of the research papers and compiled them into a book on Book Creator. Then I pushed the ePub to each student so they could look at them on their iPad to make their choices for their bracket.
  • Brackets were posted in a central location (our door) and winners were announced as they came out. Excitement built each morning and students tallied their points.
  • Bonus: Another possibility here would be to brainstorm together what they think are the important things they should know/research about each animal. This brings agency and ownership to their research
Picture
Picture

​2020 - One class researches the whole bracket, but 5 other classes also participated (home-based, online learning):
  • ​Each class had a set of Google Slides to complete about the animals (here is a link to a blank version).
  • I wrote the division, animal, rank, and student names on the slides before students had access.
  • Because online learning was not having 100% attendance at this time, students who finished quickly and were eager to research more were able to complete more slides that were not done yet
  • Each class' Google Slides were available for viewing/comparing as students made their final choices on their bracket
  • I updated a master Google Slide with winners, videos, and stories of the outcomes all linked to the MMM resources. These slides had many photos that were not checked for copyright (fair use for educational purposes), so I will not share them here, sorry.
  • It was a little hard to know their level of engagement/excitement post-research because they were at home, but some were definitely still checking out the winners
  • For grade 4 learners, we found it useful to change editing permissions every now and then for different reasons (a break in the school calendar, when editing was done, etc)
Picture
Instructions slide with tutorial videos
Picture
Student research slide
Picture
Timeline slide
Picture
Division 1 winners slide

​2021 - Five classes will research the whole bracket (preparing for home-based, online learning):
  • Our plan for this year... we might be home-based, or we might be back in the classroom
  • Research to be done on Google Slides again (blank template here)
  • Possibly going to do one research bank for the whole grade level (5 classes), possibly do one/two classes together
  • Some animals will have two people researching because of numbers. English language learners or those with lower home learning engagement will be paired with someone with high engagement, so that animal will have two slides worth of information
  • Similar to last year, I will provide a master document with results and links to videos and summaries from the MMM resources they provide. Here is a blank version I plan to use (this requires you to be looking at the MMM website for updates on battle days).
  • Hopefully we will come back to the classroom and we can build the excitement in person. If not, I plan to use my morning meetings online to talk more about the animals, the battles, and the outcomes.
Picture
Title slide
Picture
Assign animals to students
Picture
Step by step instructions
Picture
Student research workspace (shared with classmates)

​Other Ideas:
  • Have students create an informational text/book about each animal using Pages, Book Creator, Docs, or even Slides
  • Have students create informational videos about each animal using Clips, iMovie, Adobe Spark, or other movie editors
  • Have students create the "battle" scene of one of the outcomes using Clips, iMovie, Adobe Spark, or other movie editors
  • Use MMM's teaching resources to help you with the following lessons (released to you if you sign up for them)
    • Visual arts lesson plan
    • Haiku lesson plan
    • Humanities lesson plan
    • Research for life sciences lesson plan
    • Other life sciences lesson plan
  • Get a staff tournament going! I participated in this my first year I knew about the tournament. Thanks to Matt Reynolds and the ISBerne team. It was a lot of fun!

Of course, if you are viewing this and it is after March, you could always use the old resources and create your own timeline for your class.

Cindy's Resources

Research Template

Winners Template

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
0 Comments
<<Previous
    Picture

    Cindy Kaardal

    ​Passionate PYP Educator and EdTech Integration Coach in South Korea.

    Former PYP Coordinator and Head of Computing Curriculum/ICT.

    Apple Distinguished Educator 2019, Google Educator L2, Microsoft Innovative Educator, Book Creator and Seesaw Ambassador.


    Picture

    Picture

    Picture

    Picture

    Picture

    Picture

    Picture

    Picture

    Picture

    View my profile on LinkedIn


    Archives

    February 2023
    January 2023
    January 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    July 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    October 2019
    September 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    August 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017

    Categories

    All
    Apple Teacher
    App Review
    Collaboration Tools
    Google Certified Educator
    Inquiry
    Inquiry Cycle
    IPad
    PYP
    Student Examples
    Video

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Blogs
    • My Professional Blog
    • My COETAIL Journey
    • My MALDT Progress
  • Publications
  • Videos
  • Curations
  • Coaching Stories
  • Connect