Category: Teacher Growth

The Ups And Downs Of Self-Initiated Growth

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I ran across this on my Facebook page a week or so ago, and the message really resonated with me.

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I kept this message in the back of my mind as I met for my second problem-based learning meeting with my colleagues Kevin, and Kelli. I am hoping to add an additional colleague from our dual track high school to make this a Tri-High project.  The above message has caused me to reflect on the following questions:  Where exactly am I stuck?  If I had not started this problem-based learning journey would I ever realize the degree to which I am stuck?  I see myself as being stuck because I know that my classroom  is not a student-centered teaching and learning environment.  I am stuck because I cling to the mindset that good classroom instruction requires strong teacher driven instruction  with minimal student choice. I don’t want to leave the impression with my readers that I am a chalk and talk teacher because I am not.  I use cooperative  groups, ongoing formative assessment, and differentiated instruction; but if you were to ask me to what degree is my coaching and scaffolding teacher lead versus student driven, my honest answer would be 90:10.

I must admit that I am still having a hard time with the fear of the unknown, and I am finding this process a tad stressful. I’m not a person who takes leaps of faith. . . . EVER.  I realise that relinquishing a large percentage of control is not at all going to be easy for me, and I’m not totally convinced this is necessarily a good thing for all students. In the same breath, Kelli has never said that this model is for all learners nor has she ever said that I won’t have to be prepared for Plan B if some students just do not flourish.  Thus, I question WHY does my mind constantly throw up red flags? There is no covert operation taking place because I initiated this process.  Again, I am making the assumption that students will recoil against this type of learning environment, which I have no hard data to support.  I have not considered that fact that students might just dive in and not look back.

From our second meeting, I am really excited by the types of problems that we have sketched out for the Gr. 11 Canadian History course.  These problems focus on inequities facing Aboriginal learners, Canada and Immigration, and finally Canadian conflict. I do believe that many students will be engaged based on how the problems are designed, and learning will NOT be focused on recognition and recall.  Their learning is definitely going to be pushed to the upper levels of Blooms’ taxonomy. During the meeting, Kevin and I discussed how we will navigate our planning around the curriculum’s use of enduring understandings.  We created a OneNote binder in which we sat down and started sketching out content that students would need to explore and began discussing the types of process skills that we want students to walk away with.

This brings me to my next problem, developing CLEAR and MEASURABLE learning targets. The Province of Manitoba’s  Gr. 11 Canadian History curriculum has been formulated around enduring understandings (EUs). There are MANY EUs in our curriculum.  The concepts of EUs comes from Wiggins and McTighe’s Understanding by Design (Ubd) planning approach.  I am HUGE advocate of this approach.   Although I have worked with Ubd for almost fifteen years, I struggle with developing assessments around EUs.  I have developed EUs from outcomes, but  my assessments focused more on measuring the outcomes versus the EUs.  Basically, the EUs got pushed to the side.  I have been creating assessments that link to the finite knowledge and skills embedded in  outcomes.   I find myself wanting to use the following deconstruction tool to deconstruct what the EUs are asking of kids to demonstrate. I feel the need to put in the EU and then work backward but my gut tells me that I’m missing the boat.  I am starting to doubt how well I do actually understand Ubd, or maybe I need to  realize that this is the next level in my learning journey. I always advocate that learning is a journey and not a destination. I am good at giving advice but maybe not so great at taking it.

Microsoft Word - Deconstruction outcomes.docx

 

Without clear and measurable learning targets,  I feel that I can not move forward.  Since I do not have any Ubd experts that I know of in my province, I took  a wild card shot and contacted Dr. Jay McTighe.  What have I got to lose?  I sent off an email last night and low and behold, he responded. He said that he would be able to chat regarding my question today.  Holy crap!  I don’t know if I could be any more excited if Mark Messier, Bjorn Borg, or Daniel Craig responded back. If you are reading this and wondering who these men are, Google them!  Maybe this problem-based and personalized learning approach does have merits for adult learners!

In his email, I received this  blog link which I have found extremely helpful, and I’m starting to see some glimmers of light through the grey haze in my processing.  The blog is called  Performance Tasks. com.  After looking at some of the posts, I am now starting to see a key roadblock in my application of Ubd.  First, the blunt fact is that I haven’t been creating performance task assessments and therefore, I am hypothesizing, this is a key reason why I struggle with using  EUs. I have been creating assessments that link to the finite knowledge and skills embedded in curricular outcomes.  I am fluid and competent in planning backwards from outcomes, but I am not confident in using EUS to develop open-ended performance tasks that will take student learning to a much deeper level.  I still have this NAGGING  question of what am I missing?   I do not believe that Ubd is about a willy-nilly exploration of whatever a student wants to look at.   I can’t wait to discuss this with Dr. McTighe, and I am hoping to walk away with a much clearer picture

My next epiphany from reading Dr. McTighe’s blog is around the assessment of performance-based tasks.  He outlines four different types of rubrics and the DIFFERENT PURPOSES that they serve.  I found this read really interesting.  His rationale around analytical and holistic rubrics has really made me think about where I need to go with my assessment tools.

I just finished my conversation with Dr. McTighe.  What a kind man and a great educational ambassador! I now feel that I can get back on my problem-based learning journey.  Here is what I learned and relearned about the Ubd process, which problem-based learning is directly tied to.  First, one needs to focus developing curriculum around the big transferable ideas that can be integrated within and between curricula. I knew this because I have honestly read the Ubd text and workbook from cover to cover many times, but I recognize that I really didn’t understand it. I had an “aha” moment when he was talking to me about this.  Things started to click with what he was saying.  Growth is like peeling back the layers of an onion.

I find that our Gr. 11 Canadian History Enduring Understandings are very content driven versus big ideas driven.  For example, if we want students to understand that power in the hands of a majority doesn’t necessarily ensure that the needs of all citizens will be equitably met and this reality results in the manifestation of deeply rooted social, economic and political problems that our present day society needs to not only address but collectively solve, then our EUs should be woven around the concept of power versus EUs woven around content concepts.

I explained to Dr. McTighe that Manitoba’s Gr. 11 Canadian History curriculum had approximately 50 plus enduring understandings. He felt that this amount was much too high. If I could have reached through the telephone line and hugged him, I would have.  What a relieve!  I wasn’t totally crazy. I was trying to madly process every ounce of what he was telling me.  Things started clicking for me and then I tossed out an idea to see if I was understanding his coaching correctly. What if Kevin and I were to sit down and review all of the enduring understandings in the curriculum and then from this review we would pull out the big transferable ideas that we want kids to uncover.  Once we have our transferable ideas for both process and content, we would then create essential questions that our enduring understandings would evolve from.  I would hope that we could condense some of the ones that are presently in our curriculum.  He felt that this would be a good place to start.  As a team, we would have a clear picture of the content and process that would connect to the big ideas, EU and EQs from which we could build our performance-based tasks around.   Dr. McTighe also advocated for us to post our essential questions in the rooms so that students could constantly use them to guide their learning.

I can’t wait to talk to Kevin, Kelli, and Linda in the next few days to share my thought and ideas.  I think that we can easily connect our big transferable ideas to the problems that we have created.  We now just need to look at EQs and EUs.  Well, my brain is hurting tremendously, so I am going to close off for this entry.  Exciting day and tons more learning to take place.

Best Wishes,

Ingrid

Change: Fear of the Unknown or . . . . ?

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When I was student nurse back in 1988, improvement of skill set and practice was an inherent component of the working environment, not just for students’ but for certified nurses as well. Nurses were constantly having to adapt to new technologies and techniques that were being introduced.  Having left the nursing program over 25 years ago, I have seen HUGE changes on the ward when I have visited loved ones. There are now computerized IV drips (THANK GOD! Calibrating them in the old days was a PAIN!) digital thermometers, computerized blood pressure machines, and the list goes one.  From my experiences and perceptions, I ask the question – why is change more readily accepted in this environment versus what I have experienced in my  educational environment?

In my 23 years as an educator,  I have not embraced professional change with the same gusto or joie de vivre, as in nursing.  I do not think that I am the only educator who has viewed  “change” in this light.  Part of my lack of enthusiasm is due to the adoption of bandwagon approaches by our education milieu, but I don’t think that I can solely quantify my skepticism to bandwagon fads.  Why as an educator am I more hesitant to embrace change compared to my days as a student nurse?  As a student nurse, I wanted to do everything that I could to help my patient recuperate as quickly and as comfortably as possible.  I watched nurses with VERY heavy case loads engage in collaborative teaming to meet patient needs. It wasn’t a perfect world but change in practice appeared to be embraced more readily, and interest in improving practice was sought out more eagerly.

As an educator, I want to help my students be the best that they can be, but do I really provide educational experiences that best meet my STUDENTS’ needs? Or is the educational experience more reflective of what I can provide, i.e  where my skill set and where my “mindset” are at? I have been really thinking about to what degree am I a student-centered educator, since embarking on my problem-based learning project.  Now after doing some professional reading about what problem-based learning entails and being coached by my mentors, I am not so sure that I am as student-centered as I once believed I was.   I am stuck in the middle of a change situation. . . a fork in the road

My definition of student-centred learning has now been challenged, and I can honestly say that I am struggling.  What I find intriguing is that I am instinctually assuming that this model will not value the skills or knowledge that I possess.  I come to the table defensive with an unsubstantiated assumption that I have to throw out all of my strong teaching practices. Yet, what I have read about this model contradicts my instinctual reaction. In actuality, this model does draw upon many of my educational strengths. Thus, throwing everything out would be ridiculous and counter productive.  So why am I jumping to these assumptions and judgments before I even know what problem-based learning will ask of me? I know that I am a hard worker and that learning is something that I like to do.  Yet, I am instinctually responding in a negative way to a process that I initiated!

I find this interesting because I perceive myself as a person who embraces change readily. Thus, do I truly possess a growth mindset or is my perception skewed?   Upon reflecting on my  first problem-based learning meeting with my mentors and friends, Kelli and Linda, I was deflecting, challenging, and torpedoing rather than embracing the opportunity to grow. I struggled with the idea of providing students with more autonomy to guide their own learning, wrapping my head around what this model will require of me, as “the teacher”, and worried how I would meet all the curricular and assessment accountability components that I face as an educator.   What will I do with the students that don’t buy into this model?  I think the bigger question that I need to ask myself is do all students really buy into the present model in the first place? The brutally honest answer to this question is no.

There was a lot of “I”-focused dialogue versus “student- focused dialogue in my filibustering. Research suggests that adult learners need to see “how” change will be of benefit in order to engage in the change process. The video below provides an interesting perspective on how to overcome adult resistance to change.  It provides insight into how adults may look at change.  The message that I picked up from the video was that adults will engage  more readily in the change process if they see some personal benefit.  Having data that demonstrates change is needed will lead to minimal growth.  I grasp the adult learning concept presented in the video, but I have to grapple with the impact this reality can have on classroom learning.  Should Ingrid, who is an adult and an educator, be able to opt out or disregard research-based practices because I do not see any personal benefit?  My answer to this is no.  What I have learned from my reflection over  the past few weeks is that  I care deeply about my students, but I unconsciously do exactly what the video suggests. I am unwilling to dive into problem-based learning full throttle because I do not see the personal benefit.  I see potential failure which is daunting, and a ton of work that may be for nothing.  I use the premise that the model won’t work for all kids as a way of justifying my apprehensions.  I now am more aware of how my learning bias is inhibiting potential growth.

Maybe one of my unexpected steps in this journey is to sit down and talk with groups students on what they would like to experience in class instead of assuming that I know what they want and need.   I fully realize that for a full-time classroom teacher the business of teaching most often supersedes being able to engage in the ongoing reflective practice.   Prior to my staff development role,  I got on my hamster wheel and sprinted to cover curriculum and meet my provincial mandates, to the best of my ability. But what if I minimized some of the Industrial Age School Model demands, just for a little while, and engaged in more reflective practice?  How might this impact student learning?

In two weeks, I meet for my second problem-based planning session.  I plan to collect data from students on what their “optimal” learning environment would look like, sound like, and feel like over the next 4 months.  I also plan to come to the table to learn and grow.  Stay tuned for  the next entry in my journey. I am going to keep in mind the messages that this video presents on change.   Wish me luck!

 

All the best,

Ingrid

Walking the Walk NOT Just Talking the Talk-Problem-Based Learning

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As a staff development specialist, there is great potential for my staff to view my role in a hypocritical light.  My job focuses on shifting  pedagogical practices and mindsets, but how often (in the present staff development structure that I work in) am I in the trenches demonstrating to staff what the messy professional growth process looks like, sounds like, and feels like?  Am I willing to open my classroom door and have colleagues come in and observe my practices, at any given time of day, with the expectation that they will provide me with feedback for growth?  Am I willing to be vulnerable in an environment that expects perfectionism?  Am I willing to take on the workload that is necessary to bring about better teaching?  Are my practices truly KID CENTERED?   Basically, am I willing to walk the walk and not just talk the talk?

The answer to this question is, ABSOLUTELY!

Does diving in face first scare me a bit? Absolutely! Do I feel vulnerable? Totally! But the bottom line is that if I expect my staff to make changes to their craft, I better be willing to pony up to the table and prove to them that I am willing to work just as hard as they are. As well, I better be willing to place myself in a situation that most likely will cause great frustration and that does not possess a 100% satisfaction guarantee.  I believe wholeheartedly that my students (every student in my school, not just the ones that I personally teach) deserve highly engaging, relevant, and student-centered learning opportunities. Research shows that teacher-centered instruction facilitates very low student engagement levels and minimal deep learning opportunities.  In addition, teacher-centered  classrooms fail to nurture ongoing authentic problem-solving and critical thinking opportunities.

Being able to meet the needs of my staff is a key reason for moving towards a classroom-driven staff development model. They are great people who deserve the very best.   I want to be a staff development specialist who can authentically demonstrate what teacher renewal looks like, sounds like, and feels like, on a daily basis, and have staff collaboratively involved in improving my practice.  My staff has a collaborative responsibility to improve my craft as an educator, just as I have a responsibility to help improve their craft.  Staff development is not about one person being seen as an expert, but rather a person who is willing to collaborate, share expertise, and take away some of the fear that is associated with change.

The work by the late Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe has had a profound influence on my teaching.  Understanding by Design (Ubd) is a powerful framework that facilitates teaching around curricular big ideas that provide students with more relevant and powerful learning experiences. I know that I am much better at assessment and planning, due to my Ubd studies. Yet, I know that I need further growth in this area because I have not hit the bull’s eye on having kids reach the enduring understanding level.   In a conversation with my good friend and mentor, Kelli, who is our Divisional Communication and Technology Specialist, I shared my frustration at this point.  Now, Kelli is a dynamic thinker, and she is definitely a risk taker.  She passionately believes in personalizing student learning. It was in this conversation that Kelli introduced me to the concept of problem-based learning.

For all of you out there in Blogland who are unfamiliar with this approach, the following overview is what my research and Kelli’s conversation has highlighted to date.  Please note that problem-based learning is COMPLETELY different from project-based learning. The following is what I have compiled with regards to problem-based learning:

1) Problem-based learning involves:

a) students being provided with a problem, and they:

  • identify pertinent learning goals
  • learn and teach each other the knowledge and skills
  • use the new knowledge to solve the initial problem
  • elaborate the new knowledge.

b) students learning the material on a need to know basis

c) students being empowered with most of the learning activities

2) The biggest difficulties faced in implementing problem-based learning are:

  • the mistaken attitude that teachers just pose a problem and then wonderful things happen.
  • the mistaken attitude that students can not learn a subject correctly on their own; “I need to lecture them first and then pose the problem”.
  • the mistaken attitude that students will enthusiastically embrace this approach; teachers fail to prepare students well for the transition.

3)  Problem-based learning (PBL) lends itself to authentic assessment

PBL encourages this by doing the following:

  • It lets the teacher have multiple assessment opportunities.
  • It allows a child to demonstrate his or her capabilities while working independently.
  • It shows the child’s ability to apply desired skills such as doing research.
  • It develops the child’s ability to work with his or her peers, building teamwork and group skills.
  • It allows the teacher to learn more about the child as a person.
  • It helps the teacher communicate in progressive and meaningful ways with the child or a group of children on a range of issues.

I was really intrigued, but I would be lying if I didn’t also say that my anxiety level soared a little.  The structural aspects of problem-based learning did not really freak me out because this structure draws upon Ubd planning.   As well, students still require coaching on at various levels.  What did get my anxiety going was that once the problem was presented to my students, they were in the driver’s seat on how the learning would be accomplished and how their achievement would be expressed. YIKES!!!!  What about students who don’t attend regularly?  How will I be able to meet the needs of students’ going in different directions?  What will my formative and summative assessment look like in this environment?  How will I transition students into this type of environment?  And the list goes on folks!

So with my anxiety in hand, I plan on walking the walk and enter into a problem-based learning approach.  Over the next five months, I will be collaboratively developing a Gr. 11 Canadian History scope and sequence using this approach, and then in 2016-2017 I will teach a section.  I am lucky to be working with another divisional colleague whose is presently  involved in the divisional personalized learning project.  I will be posting articles, materials that we develop for feedback, my successes, and frustrations.  I would greatly appreciate any support that my readers are willing to provide.

It is my great hope that this project will provide me with amazing growth opportunities.  In turn, this will make me a better staff development specialist.  As my brother, Garth would say, “Go big or go home!”

Kindest regards,

Ingrid

 

Photo is taken from:

Using Problem-Based Learning in Homes and School [Web log post]. (2013, April 4). Retrieved February 7, 2016, from http://ontariooakville.ca/problem-based-learning-schools-homes/