Owning the Learning

I have the lofty goal of getting my students to really take ownership of their learning this year. My students owned a great deal of their learning in Grade 3. It is amazing to watch students immerse themselves in a project and work hard to learn as much as they can. I find children work harder, enjoy the process more, and dare I say learn way more this way. Classroom management is much easier as everyone is too busy and engaged to misbehave. Sometimes students even stay in at recess just to continue working. It is so much fun to teach in a class like this.

I had the opportunity to really own my learning when I worked on my professional growth plan two years ago. I worked harder and learned so much more than I did during past teacher evaluation processes. I got up early to watch inspiring Ted Talks, read books and changed my practice in the classroom. I learned along with my students and had the best time. I can tell you that it is incredibly satisfying to grow in this way.

This past year I had the opportunity to let my own daughter own her learning. She was having a challenging time in math class and was getting discouraged. I brought up the idea of dropping the math class and taking the math class online. My daughter would be in control of learning the content and completing assignments and tests independently. My husband initially thought it was a crazy idea to do such a thing during the graduating year, my daughter did have to get into university.

I am happy to report that my daughter loved taking ownership of her learning. She worked harder in this course than any other and even started tutoring a friend once a week. She got an excellent mark in the course, earned three scholarships, and is ready to study Neuroscience this Fall.

Taking ownership of one’s own learning is best for students and teachers alike. We can all reach for the stars when we own our own learning!

 

 

Reflection

I have heard so much about reflection over the last year. I wanted to do lots of reflection with my classes and really have students thinking about their learning. Some students took this process seriously and some did not. Most of the reflection was done ar the end of projects or units. At the BLC’19 conference, my colleagues and I talked about reflection a lot. Ongoing reflection is key for the growth mindset. We all resolved to do ongoing reflection this year.

This summer I have been reflecting on my reflecting. Do I refect as much as I should? Could I do more reflecting to improve my practice and grow myself professionally?  I read about a blogger who felt writing blog posts allowed for deep reflection and a place to organize thoughts. Perhaps I should try to keep blogging this year and see what happens. I am beginning to understand that if I want my students to reflect on their learning I have to start reflecting first. This blog is the perfect place to reflect, share my ideas, and to be vulnerable. Wish me luck!

The First Five Days

Inspired by the BLC’19 conference I attended in Boston I decided to listen to a podcast with Alan November discussing the First Five Days of school. Fresh from the conference with so many ideas swirling around in my head I kept thinking of the First Five Days talk by Alan November I saw last October. I remember being upset at the time because I had not started the school year the way Alan November talked so passionately about. I vowed that this year would be different as I listened and took notes. It is all about Relationships, Risks, and Responsibility.

Day 1  Ask Questions

Day2  Search &Organzie Find your own answers

Day 3 Responsibility

Day 4 Be Problem Designers

Day 5 Global Collaboration

To get ready for Day 1 I will work on researching and getting comfortable with open-ended questions. It was surprising during a workshop session on Learner Driven Inquiry that most teachers ask too many closed questions. I will be looking to https://rightquestion.org for resources and ideas. I love how Alan November talks about starting off with no content and having students formulate questions will be engaging and motivating for them as no judgment will happen during this phase. Students of all abilities will be excited to formulate questions and work with a partner to look at questions to prioritize the top 3 questions. I cannot wait to start off the school year in an exciting way. This should be awesome!

Reflection of the BLC’19 Conference

This summer, I had the privilege of attending the Building Learning Conference in Boston with four of my colleagues from the OJCS. We spent three days together attending different workshops, making connections, sharing what we learned, and spending meaningful time together.

It was apparent on the first day that our school in Ottawa is well on its way to being the best school. The messages we heard at the conference of letting students be the problem finders, the problem designers, take risks and learn from failure and most importantly own their learning, were part of conversations already taking place at the OJCS.

I came away from this experience feeling inspired and so excited for the upcoming school year. I plan to put much of what I learned at the conference into my teaching practice this year. Digital citizenship will be embedded in the curriculum naturally by making global connections. The students and I will be documenting our learning and making our thinking visible through the blogging process. Learner driven inquiry will hopefully be the norm in Grade 4 this year.

I made some excellent connections with the presenters of workshops. One presenter Dr. Marialice Curran, created the first course on digital citizenship at a university. I was lucky to connect with this professor at the workshop. She gave me her book and has offered to help me this Fall as I start to connect globally. Another presenter Alisha Collins has promised to send me her Science curriculum for some teachers to try out this year. Our school will also be part of the World Peace Song Project with schools all over the world. We will be the first Canadian school to join this project. This opportunity came about as I chatted with a teacher in another workshop. Silvia Tolisano gave an amazing workshop about documenting learning and student portfolios. She urged us to start our own professional blogs before we start them with our students.

The most meaningful part of the experience was spending time with my colleagues. We all went to different workshops and shared what we had learned. We got to know each other on a different level and appreciate one another. It was nice to discuss our craft and brainstorm ideas.  It is upon reflecting on the whole experience that we come away feeling inspired to design authentic learning experiences, encourages students to take risks, to ask rich questions, to fail to learn, to collaborate, to think critically, and to learn along with your students. We have made new connections and learned new things. We are excited to share with our colleagues and start collaborating on new projects/prototypes.

It is worthwhile to send a team to this conference every year. The team will bond, learn new things, make connections, get inspired, and more importantly come back to share and inject their enthusiasm into the school culture. Each teacher and administrator deserves such an enriching learning opportunity.