Achieving Mastery

Climbing Solo

I've had this TED video earmarked for watching for quite a while now and finally, while having some downtime during report writing, I managed to watch it.  The time taken for preparation to ensure that he was ready for his solo climb reminds me (in a less life-threatening environment) of how important it is to ensure that our learners are prepared and ready so that they too can celebrate success when 'going solo'.

Ticking Some Boxes

Making a Deal

I'm home with a runny nose, itchy eyes and irritating cough.  Sleep has been beckoning, but my mind is going crazy because I'm here with an opportunity to catch up on some reading of blogs and watching of videos.  So I've made a deal with myself - to look a little closer at the work by Murray Gadd first, then have a rest.

Earlier in the year I had the opportunity to attend a workshop run by Murray and I've been wanting to follow this up with further research into his ideas and practice.

Identifying the Audience

The video that I chose was just a smidgen over 40 minutes.  I'm adding to this blog as I watch; adding some notes as I go.  What I noticed in the first 10 minutes of the video was how Murray kept referring to the learners as his readers - he had 'think alouds' and questioned the learners about what was needed to be a 'good writer'.  He also told them that his goal when writing would be to use sentences of different lengths and what was important when writing this recount.  This was a great way to help the learners understand the thinking process needed before writing starts.

Building on Vocab

Instead of writing, Murray provided the kids with an oral recount of his story with Baxter (the naughty dog), extending vocabulary along the way. This was another cool way to engage the learners and have them think how a writer chooses better words when writing.  At times, Murray sounded the initial letter sound of words and the learners helped him out.  He did this again later when writing 'focus' words on the board (to ensure that his ideas were sequenced) which modelled to the learners how to sound out unfamiliar words.

Scaffolding

Together, Murray and the learners wrote the beginning of his story, 'Baxter nudged the door open with his slobbery nose', and asked them if it had enough detail - "Will my reader know?" This resulted in the opening sentence to change to, "Baxter, the spoodle dog, nudged Murray's bedroom door open with his wet, slobbery nose." to describe what Baxter did and elicited from them that these were verbs.  He also asked them about the use of commas when providing extra detail (which a learner later used in his own writing) and an apostrophe. 

Engagement

I noticed that the learners were sitting for a lengthy period, but Murray's technique kept them engaged by sharing a funny story about Baxter the dog (a familiar topic for many of them) and by having them participate in the planning for his story.  He identified learners who might not usually share their thinking and purposefully asked them questions. The learners were given a chance to share their ideas with a partner before starting to write their book.

This video illustrates the importance of learner involvement and contribution when modelling 'how to be a writer'.  These learners were ready to write because the scaffolding was there and the ideas had been generated.

Learning Menus

What?

For the past year, I've been listening to the Google Teacher Tribe podcast, produced by Kasey Bell and Matt Dillon.  Yesterday, while driving home, a listener sent a message about using 'Learning Menus' in her class.  I picked up on the word menu as it reminded me of 'maths menus' that I had used successfully in my class a few years ago.   So, what are 'Learning Menus'?

According to Kasey, it's all about choice.  These menus are a form of differentiated learning that can be created in a variety of styles and mediums.   Check out Kasey's blog post here to find out more. You can also view her Pinterest board for more ideas.

How?

Learning Menus are flexible and adaptable - including learning opportunities for all the learners in my habitat.  Their design differs to Hyperdocs in the sense that they provide choice - just like a menu in a restaurant (keep this in mind when designing your Learning Menu).  To quote Kasey,

Student choice is the big idea behind Learning Menus.

Kasey suggests to start using Learning Menus by creating a 'Tik-Tak-Toe' menu which can be for both short and long term learning:

In the above Learning Menu, #5 (the middle square) is compulsory, then the learners could choose any other of the other menu choices, but they must include at least one blue and one yellow choice.  The learning opportunities cover a range of ways for the learner to demonstrate their understanding - and the choices are open to all abilities.  

Sometimes, the choices could vary for abilities.  This would mean that the learners will be required to select a choice that is appropriate for them, but at the same time, enabling them to stretch and grow.  

Why?

Learning Menus appeal to me because they provide the learners with choice.  The menus also provide the learners with opportunities to extend and stretch, at the time when they are ready to do so.   We all learn at different stages and sometimes need time on one aspect to make meaning, before we can move forward.  These menus also sit nicely within the UDL framework because the choices provided on the menu are designed with all the learners in mind.  Learners will also be able to try new ways to share their understanding... I feel this might need to be encouraged if the same choices are being made frequently.  This leads me to thinking that the Learning Menus would need to be updated and revamped frequently, to avoid repetition of choices.

I see the Learning Menus as being just like a menu in a restaurant - catering for all needs and dietry requirements, e.g. vegan, gluten free, vegetarian etc.  Sometimes you want a snack, other times you want the whole 5 courses.  Each Learning Menu needs to be designed to accommodate all these needs.

I'm looking forward to designing my first Learning Menu.  We have more independent learning time (iTime) now that we have started our swim programme on Wednesdays and I envisage Learning Menus being a good fit within this time.

Final Thoughts...

As Kasey mentions in her blog, Learning Menus can be in a static, paper form, but they come alive with digital tools.  This leads me to my current grumble... lack of devices.   There are so many areas of exciting learning that we are having to timetable due to our lack of devices.  Despite email requests to parents, we have less than 10% of our learners bringing in their own device.  This means that we our own school devices are stretched - currently 1:4. 

It will be interesting to see how we use a Learning Menu in our habitat.  There will need to be menu choices for both online and on paper.  I hope that there is enough interest in both areas from our learners otherwise there won't be repeat customers in our 'restaurant'.

Expeditionary Learning

It's nearly the end of 2017 and I have retreated to the coolness of our temporary living room (currently in the midst of a major house renovation), to escape the insanely hot afternoon sun.  The current dry spell that we are experiencing provides me with the perfect opportunity to catch up on Jo Bolar's Mathematical Mindset online course.  The latter half of Term 4 was filled to the brim with assessment, report writing, reflections and meetings - leaving little time to squeeze in anything else.  So now I am on a mission to complete as many parts of this course as I can.  Hopefully, I may even manage to finish it before the start of the Term 1 next year!

Catching Up

I am currently watching an interesting interview that Jo Bolar had with Carol Dweck, and Jo asked Carol if she had examples of schools that implemented her work successfully.  Carol replied that many are - giving the work of Stephanie Fryberg and Ron Berger as two exceptional examples.  Fryberg's work was on a Native American reservation in the state of Washington and Berger was the founder of Expeditionary Learning that embed growth mindset around students' projects.  I felt an urge to explore this further and subsequently lost a few hours of study time, but gathered a few gems along the way.

Ron Berger is the same guy that travelled across the states to share 'Austin's butterfly' - the movie that illustrated the importance of constructive feedback.

Gems for my treasure box

The Expeditionary Learning education model refers to all students and educators as being part of a 'crew'.  Everyone is responsible for pitching in and supporting each other achieve their personal best.  Their moto is, "We are are crew, not passengers".  Expeditionary Learning (EL) schools embed growth mindset around students' projects - many of which are in the community.  At the completion of the project, the students give presentations to the community, highlighting their struggles and the obstacles that they've had to overcome.  While watching a video on the EL school site, I heard that the students in EL schools are "on a mission to contribute as scholars and citizens to a better world".  This got me thinking...

Giving Feedback

The learners use models and rubrics (see below) to 'enhance their ability' through critique and feedback which is guided by the norms, "Be kind, be specific, be helpful."

Here's a link to the approach that EL school's .  I know that I'll be returning to this site frequently over the next few months to gather ideas and identify best practice for supporting my learners to give (and receive) constructive feedback.

Standards

With the change in government, New Zealand schools have now been able to wash their hands of the National Standards.  This is wonderful news, but it also brings about a sense of uncertainty.  Since 2010, we have used the language of National Standards for reporting and assessment.  It has driven, (but also narrowed), our learning pathway.  Will it be difficult to shift away from this mindset?

EL education identified that the US core standards made it difficult for teachers to consider high standards because they were more concerned about covering the content.  As a result, Berger found that: 

One consequence of this is students feel more and more like there isn’t time for mistakes or revisions, or editing.  They are often in a rush to complete assignments and they are missing the value of the work. And when one doesn’t understand the value of the work, maintaining true pride in successes and a growth mindset in failures are difficult to own.    (Source)

So, my takeaway from this is to look at slowing down the pace so that the learners are able to have time to work through the challenges, identify their mistakes - and have the time to recraft, redesign, redo.  As Carol Dweck suggests, growth mindset is not about the final outcome, but it's about what happened in the learning journey.

This delightful distraction from my online learning has now completed it's circle.  Now, let's get back to Jo Bolar and her interview with Carol Dweck.

Resources to check out:

• Grades 3-8 English Language Arts Curriculum
• Beautiful Work - Project based learning
• EL - Our Approach