Let me start at the beginning. My first year of teaching was a dream come true. I was at this amazing little school, with so much heart it oozed out of the building. The kids, the staff, the community - everyone worked hard to pour their efforts into that building. It was pretty magical. Granted, I don't remember a lot of that year because I was so tired and drowning in work that I think all the 'not-so-great' parts have been wiped from my memory. I had a six-month contract that eventually got extended to the end of June. It looked like I was going to be able to keep my assignment at this school too....but as we know, life sometimes has different plans.
I was devestated to learn I was not staying on at this school. I actually had no idea where I was going - I was in limbo. Eventually, I got wind of a position at a rural school. I interviewed and was offered a position. I was excited to have a job, but not so excited to be leaving MY school. Isn't it funny that after one year, I felt that my first school was MY school? Teachers are habitual, but I'm not sure that's a good thing. I ended up starting at this brand new rural school the following September, but it wouldn't be until January/February of that school year that I finally stopped mourning the loss of my last assignment and began really owning my new one. This is where things really took off for me. I realized the endless potential of my students and myself when I stopped aching for the past and began to dream big. I owe a lot to the students I taught at my rural school. Specifically, my first homeroom class. They were so eager to hop on the Weber train that we accomplished so much together. Small schools really are amazing. Want to start a social justice club? Sure Mrs. Weber! Want to start a flipped learning project? Sure Mrs. Weber. Want to go camping/hiking in Grand Cache? Sure Mrs. Weber. Want to plant a field of donated wheat to build a school in Africa? Sure Mrs. Weber. The students allowed me to be the teacher I had always wanted to be. On top of that, the administration challenged and supported me in a way that only new teachers could hope for. I know with 100% confidence that I am the teacher I am because of WHERE I was for the last four years. I am grateful. So you might be wondering why I started with a long drawn out story of my illustrious and long (haha!) teaching career thus far? Well, I just so happened to receive a new teaching assignment for next year at a new school. Initially, my inner teacher-ness screamed out in agony at the idea of starting at the beginning again with new curriculums, staff, and students. I think as teachers, we have this change-phobia because hey, teaching is A LOT of work! However, as I've had some time to mull this new project over in my mind, I find myself day dreaming about how fun this change could be. I'm starting to see my new curriculum everywhere I look. I get butterflies when I think about walking into my new school. Change is exciting. Scary. But exciting. Teachers, in my experience, are not fond of change. Resisting it at pretty much every turn and in every form - technology, pedagogy, curriculum. Change is always something to be weary of. I know that time and time again at staff meetings or PD days we would be faced with a 'new' idea. Cue the grumbling, eye rolls, and the 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' mentality. Teachers are amazing. At so many things. But adapting is not one of our professional strong suits. Despite change being loathed in schools and classrooms, we need it. Students need it. Change is the only way we can attempt to stay relevant to our students. They are different learners so we much be different teachers. If they can find all of the answers on Google, why should they show up and listen to what I have to say? How can schools stay relevant in a world that is rapidly adapting and changing every single day? I don't just mean technological changes either. I think sometimes change is automatically linked with the addition of technology and I am increasingly convinced that that equation is actually a false promise of change in the classroom. Technological advancements in your classroom are great, but true change should be able to happen without an iPad in the hands of kids. Change forces us to be be better educators because we have to begin again and become learners alongside our students. Alberta Educations model for 21st century learning is a great basis from which to begin this metamorphosis as an educator or to carry with you for reassurance when change feels chaotic. You may not have all the answers, but that is okay. You may not feel totally in control, but that is okay. Change is good for us and good for our students. As I begin diving into new curriculum and starting my new journey this fall, I want to remember how change MADE me who I am. Once I stopped aching for the past, I was able to grow exponentially and see the potential of what was in front of me. I appreciate change in a way that I used to fear it. Education requires us (educators) to change so that our students can ultimately change the world by creating and seeing potential of what is in front of them. Isn't that what we are hoping we can accomplish? For our students to BE the change?
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"You say I dream too big. I say you think too small." Whoa. It's been a while. Time flies when you're raising a tiny human. I apologize in advance for the dusty writing. Here we go... Today, I was fortunate enough to be able to join in a committee that I was part of last year for a meeting. Baby was napping. Husband taking the helm. I ran out of the house exhilarated by the idea of being in a room with all adults. I was pumped! You may be thinking I must have lost my marbles if I'm pumped to go sit in a board room at the end of a long day....but you don't understand how AWESOME these meetings are. Firstly, there is great food (very important for hungry educators). Secondly, the company is outstanding. The group of educators and administrators that gather for this committee are exceptional individuals. Articulate, thoughtful and humorous - the group that gathers for these meetings truly make it what it is. These meetings are real brain busters too - forcing us as teachers and administrators to ditch our excuses for 'what can't be' for what COULD be. I often leave these gatherings with my brain buzzing and feeling like I totally drank the kool-aid. It's intoxicating to be in a room filled with big dreamers and like-minded souls who dare to push on the archaic restraints that are holding us back in education. I love to put aside all of the excuses and just dream. What could it be like? Once you do that, the possibilities are truly endless. Tonight, we were asked to design our ideal school. I am still full on fantasizing about this question hours later so I figured I might as well share my dreams.... Dirt and Tech (my school vision) - They seem like opposing ideas but the BIG idea for my school is balance. I love the idea of student-directed education. If you think about it, that is who we ultimately work for: STUDENTS! Here is the reasoning behind my school design:
Outdoor Focused Education: - There are so many reasons to get kids outside. Lower anxiety, better quality of life, lower rates of illness, etc. I really like this article to back outside schooling. When we get back to nature and feel part of a natural world, we become stewards of our environment as well. Nothing wrong with a little environmental activism training is there? David S. would not disagree. Mastery Learning: - Taking the time to deeply comprehend a topic versus glossing over it and amping up quantity of information taught will help students develop a curious mind and autonomy over their own learning path. Bloom wrote about mastery learning and I think the most prevalent theme throughout his writing that spoke to me was that "mastery learning requires TIME". We need to give students time to truly grasp what it is we are trying to teach them. True, deep-rooted learning. It will be different for every student too and the environment in which students learn needs to accommodate this, as well as the educators guiding students. Project-Based: - From a personal standpoint, I can say with 100% conviction that Project-Based learning radically altered the way I teach and the success my students felt in my classroom. Finding real-world, authentic problems or having students generate their own essential questions to find answers to was one of the BEST challenges I ever gave myself professionally. To see my journey with PBL check out my blog from last year (2014 and 2015 posts). Unstructured Play: - This is my current research obsession. I work in jr. high mostly and often wonder why it seems my students lack emotional coping and resiliency skills necessary to navigate the emotional mine-field of puberty and secondary school. This article gives some insight into why we need to back away and let kids be kids. Play is important and we should not overlook the necessity of time set aside for unstructured play in junior/senior high school settings. Community Based: - Getting students into the community to serve, learn and observe will only pique their curiosity about the wider world and connect them to those around them. Also, volunteer opportunities should not be seen as a way to 'boost' resumes but as valuable learning opportunities for students to give back and develop the social-emotional skill set necessary for the 21st century. Job shadowing, visiting the elderly, and having community members as an integral part of a school will all help to personalize and build a village around students. Technology: - Balance is key. Access should not be hindered, but boundaries and expectations for use should be modelled at all times. There are times to use the gift of technology, but there are also times we all need to disconnect and have down time. Taking technology to the next level such as video creation, photography, digital design, coding, gaming and game creation will all set a technology tone in the school. It turns out that I have a condition. I, Kate Weber, am a PBL junkie. I am finding it impossible to stop seeing and thinking about authentic, real-world and engaging tasks everywhere I go. Here is the story of why I started a PBL project at the end of May..... There were hints. Everywhere. A small light bulb idea here and there. A comment from a student - "Mrs. Weber, I really wish we could do another project like that BUX market one...". An interaction with a local artist. Another conversation with a colleague about science and biodiversity. It was all piecing itself together and I couldn't ignore it any longer. Whilst sitting beside one of my BUX market collaborators at lunch time, I spilled my thoughts on the rough idea about a project I had mulling in my brain. It went something like this "So, I have this project idea. Environmental action on issues facing Canadians today? What do you think? Got anything that could pair with that?". She looked at me, wide eyed (and I think it was in slow motion, just like in the movies...) and said "ART. IS. THE. ANSWER". I had no idea what she was talking about, but I nodded anyways. We dove headfirst into the nitty-gritty of what her project in art class was and what my topic in Social 9 was. The pieces began to fit snuggly together. After making a project map for the BUX market, I felt way more confident to create one for this project. I could see the project better this time. That seems strange to say, but I could truly envision what it could look like from start to finish. I can remember going home that night and gushing to anyone who would listen (mostly, my husband) about how AWESOME this project was going to be. I love that these projects get my creative juices flowing and embarking on an art focused project was intimidating for me (as I do not consider myself particularly gifted in the art department), but it inspired me to think differently about my own abilities and take some risks with the students doing the project as well. Within a few days, we had the project ready to roll out. I am thankful I have such great colleagues to work with and that I was not turned away because it was 'too much' to take on at the end of May. Silent shout out to all my collaborators! Here are some of the details of the project: Cross-curricular - Social 9, Art CTS jr. high, ELA 9 & Science 9 elements. Time: Approximately 4.5 weeks (60 minute blocks X ~ 2 blocks a day = 120 minutes/day) Final Presentation: Pop Up Art Show Expert Involvement: Fine Arts instructor(s) from the community as well as many patrons of the arts Main Idea: If art is the answer, what is the question? Other ideas: What environmental issues facing Canadians do you have questions about? How do you research valid and reliable information? What is visual art? How does visual art engage the public in issues and topics (past and present - Berlin Wall, Banksy street art, etc.) What role/responsability do we as citizens have to become involved with these environmental issues? What role/responsability does government have in solving these issues to help maintain quality of life for Canadians?
Final Projects: Pop Up Art Show
Inspiring. Innovative. Dynamic. That is why I started a project-based learning project at the end of May.
I came across an example of how a student demonstrated their learning to me for an authentic project in the PBL Health-Religion 7/8 class I instructed this year and I just had to share it! I received GREAT feedback from students on this project as well as many, MANY emails from parents about how happy this project made them! Students had to choose an organization project or new study skill/strategy to implement for a month and then document their 'experiment' some way (blog, vlog, journal, photos, etc.) Examples of student selected projects included: Mind mapping, flash card making for core subjects, room organization, organizing closets, etc. Below is the project a student completed to clean their room every week. They time lapsed the cleaning of their room every week and then would submit these on google drive (with a blog post on their portfolios). Enjoy!
I chose these two feedback results to evaluate closer. I am very pleased that those projects that were more 'rigorous' seemed to be more enjoyable to the students. Why should we be concerned with rigor in education? Well, let's look at the definition first: "The term rigor is widely used by educators to describe instruction, schoolwork, learning experiences and educational expectations that are academically, intellectually, and personally challenging. Rigorous learning experiences, for example, help students understand knowledge and concepts that are complex, ambiguous, or contentious, and they help students acquire skills that can be applied in a variety of educational, career, and civic contexts throughout their lives." (http://edglossary.org/rigor/). Rigor is that work that really makes them well...work! The projects that I believe had the MOST rigor involved were projects #1 (e-portfolios), #4 (positive life role model) and #2 (volunteerism). While students may have struggled to create and build the finishing products in these projects, what they did come out with was truly original and creative answers to our big driving questions. This is important to note: STRUGGLE does not mean FAILURE, but it can actually mean quite the opposite in Project-Based Learning. Struggle in project-based learning should really be considered part of the rigor of the project itself and important to the process of growth in project-based learning classes. As an educator, I would not say I feel particularly successful when I see my students struggling. My automatic response is to want to help them along - to solve the problem for them. As I learned early on in this year of PBL, I can not do this for them as it will totally defeat the whole purpose of the process. That is the thing - Project-Based Learning is not so much about the driving question, the formative assessments and authentic tasks, but I think it has to do more with students learning a NEW process of learning. Learning how to learn in a new way.
The students know it is beneficial to work in a pod. They get that, but they are also in junior high and sometimes self-control and focus are lacking. I was SO impressed with the mature choices they made in regards to their pod selection. Interestingly, it was almost identical to how I would have grouped them too. So what was the difference then? CHOICE is VOICE. When students were allowed to have control of their learning environment, they felt more responsible and almost protective of their pods. Family-type bonds formed among these groups faster and more authentically than if I had chosen the pods for them. Also, just to note, I reserved all right to question pod selection and all pods had to be approved through me prior to commencing a project. Questions I began asking sounded like this - "Do you think this is the best option for you? Why do you think this? What will you do if someone is off task in your group? How will you benefit from this group?". It was more of an interview than anything. Overall, student selected pod choices seemed to increase efficacy and energy with regards to our PBL classroom.
The form above is what I will use to collect this information. If you have never used GoogleForms in your classroom....WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! They are so easy to make, and they organize into a spreadsheet of information after submitted. Brilliant! I use googleforms to collect current events every month from students in social studies, gather feedback from unit projects, assess students, enter students for track meet...you name it. I also did a presentation a few years ago to my Grande Prairie Catholic School District colleagues at our Technology Day on GoogleForms in the Classroom. Just saying...I like these forms...kind of like...a lot. Check them out and maybe you'll have something cool to use in the classroom this week or next. Have a great Tuesday!
It is around the time of year that teachers start to...well do many things! Clean, plan, review, see the light....BUT! Before we can go on that wonderful vacation from forms, reports and marking.....I have maybe a few crumbs of wisdom to offer. Over the last four years, I have slowly developed a greater capacity to reflect on my teaching year as a 'big picture'. I think I finally realized how important reviewing the year was when I knew I'd be teaching at the same school again for a second year. I had the same kids. I would be teaching similar if not the same subject areas. How could I not get into a rut of 'boring' teaching? How did I know what I was teaching was any 'good'? I wanted to 'wow' those kids next year so I decided I needed to beef up my existing stuff and determine what was worth keeping and what was not worth mine or the students' time to repeat. I'm really happy I decided to blog about my journey through PBL this year because I can go back in the archives and see how far I've come in this learning journey (and likely how little I understood in September about this massive topic). Below are two examples of projects we journeyed through in the combined Health-Religion 7/8 class I instructed this year. Two of my favourite ones so far! This class is a challenge to say the least (40ish Jr. High students. One way too warm room. You get the picture), but the size and challenges of this class forced me to think differently about delivering material, which I am really grateful for. I needed that final 'push' to go full PBL and to just dive into it without fear. I had taught both Health 7 and 8 before as well as Religion 7 and 8. When I began planning for this class, I asked myself "But did I teach these subjects 'well'?" I couldn't be sure if what I had done before was going to be successful so I took a risk: let's start from day 1and go full Project-Based Inquiry Style. WOW! I was so naive to think that this would be an easy task. My first challenge was to get students to jive with this type of learning. Actually, that is still a pretty big struggle for some learners in my classroom. That is something I still need more answers to: How does PBL work for those students who need more direct instruction and guidance? How can I build independent skills into the projects I make but support the students enough to take risks on their projects? I would say that the older students in my classroom (grade 8s) were able to do the inquiry-focused tasks more successfully than the younger students (grade 7s). I have discussed with my colleagues and we think that the gap between elementary and a Jr. High PBL learning environment is a lot bigger than we anticipated. SO - we need to fill that gap with independent skills...but how? when? who will do this? I still have so many questions about this going forward. Starting a class of 40 students on the PBL journey required that my students to take risks in creating new and different projects. Gone were the days of posters, power points and boring me to tears. However, looking back, I realized that I ALSO had to take a risk in planning and implementing my class in this way. The biggest risk I had to take was to think BEYOND the curriculum. Once I could bust out of that box, I was free to create some truly awesome projects that I am really proud of. Here it is...are you ready? My crumbs of wisdom.....Do not be afraid! If you are willing to model the calculated risk-taking needed for Project Based Learning in your classroom, your students will follow your lead. Be bold. Be brave. The rewards far out weight the worrying.
The BUX Market was.....
Some students who are not typically 'shiners' in the classroom were the brightest and most engaged learners during the market. They had purpose and real world connections. Some students have even discussed how owning their own businesses and going to post-secondary for business would be something they would love to do. HURRAH! The connection has been made. These were the students that, after the market day, stayed after school just to talk more about it. Normally, these are the students running out the door when the bell rings at the end of the day! GREAT to see all around engagement from our students. Even the students participating in the market as consumers were engaged and already started thinking about ways they too could be profitable next year. They ALREADY want to start working on their companies and building things. Pretty cool! It was a really great moment for all three of us on the project to sit back and watch this awesomeness take place. I will be doing a full blog post about this project by next week. This week, we are focusing on the "Dragon's Den" finale. The students need to get investors to expand their companies! This is the final activity in our project. Sad to see it in the last week but so excited to see what the students will come up with
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May 2019
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