As a child, especially those teenage years, I didn't realize how blessed I was to grow up in my hometown. I always wanted to be in edgier places like Oakland, San Francisco, or New York. Instead, I was stuck in "Vacaville", which had no life for a young inspiring professional. The one thing I did have was a strong sense of community through my church and people I grew up with in my neighborhood In all, I spent 25-30 years living in and out of Vacaville. I would always return home after having adventures in New York City, Alberta, Canada, Melbourne, Australia, Koeln, Germany, and Dubai, UAE. On every major holiday break and summer, I would always return home to see my family. My parents knew that the first stop would be to my favorite restaurant, Murillo's. I can't count how many times my family ate together at this local Mexican restaurant. I can see my mom laughing over a basket of chips and my dad complaining that he ate too many. Now that my mom has passed away and my dad lives in Texas, I rarely have the opportunity to return home. In August 2023, I had the opportunity to lead a workshop in Berkeley, about 45 minutes away. Just like old times, I picked up my rental car and drove directly to Murillo's to reminisce and create new memories. This video captures my happiness with returning back to the best hot salsa ever made and my favorite combination plate of a shredded beef tostada, cheese enchilada, rice, and beans. I need to return home more often.
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I'm very excited for Denise Kraft and her team as they welcome Trevor MacKenzie to their Igniting Inquiry conference in Middletown, Connecticut on June 27-29, 2024. For more information, please watch this video! We are all driven by a mission to change the world. I've long since believed that the school library was part of mine, since they are the hub of all school activity. School libraries have evolved greatly since many of us have been in school. When I think of librarians from my childhood, I envision an old lady sitting behind a circulation desk stamping the library card. She is dressed in a cardigan with a flowery dress that reaches over her knees with a pair of glasses sitting on the bridge of her nose. Does this sound familiar? Now, school librarians have taken on a broader set of skills that enhance what is being learned in the classroom. The librarian is a... To meet all of these needs, we need to consider our spaces and how they are used. We are no longer a curator of a collection, but of tangible, digital, and human resources. This requires a different mindset of how to create spaces that meet these needs. To assist with this process, I have created an overview video to help you. Let's have some fun! What are others ways you create a more learner-driven library space? Please post below! Every week, I want to begin to shout out ideas that I have learned from different campuses that I've visited. This is an informal reflection on some things that have touched me and helped me to become a better educator. For my first shout-out, I would like to present Le Jardin Academy in Kailua, Oahu, Hawaii. I was approached by the PYP coordinator to lead a consultancy about the culture of agency and personal/shared inquiry. To begin our process, we explored how to build a culture of agency based on the work of Edgar H. Schein on his work related to organizational culture. We took Shein's three levels of culture and applied them to agency. We met over an hour session online to set the stage for goal-setting through the use of a success criteria. The staff was challenged to make a goal related to cultural artifacts, espoused values, and underlying assumptions. For our in-person sessions, I had the privilege to walk the campus and see learners focusing on their personal inquiries. This was a magical experience. It was fun to see them take risks on their wonderings and apply different approaches to inquiry. Afterwards, we had a sit down as grade levels to explore various ways that we might grow and clear up misconceptions. This campus is truly open-minded and here are some of my thoughts that might inspire you as well. This past year, I was asked to participate in Inquiry Spotlight with Kimberly Mitchell. This process helped me to honor my own educational journey while helping others. In honor of this process, I want to shout-out each week a person who has impacted my life through their kindness and generosity. The first Educator Shout-Out is none other than Kimberly Mitchell. She is the author of Experience Inquiry and a mentor to many through her numerous webinars and speaking engagements. Please share your interactions with Kimberly and how she has shaped your educational journey. How are we being more flexible with our learning spaces? How do they reflect our learner's needs and not our own as the teacher? This delicate balance is always at the forefront of my mind as I navigate new spaces each week. As a full-time trainer, I am always perplexed by shared spaces and how I will make them intimate for my participants. I use everything from windows, doors, sides of cabinets, vending machines, etc. Usually, I am in cavernous spaces, such as libraries and cafeterias, because they are large enough for a whole group. At FLIBS last year, I was gifted an entire villa for my workshop with a rooftop terrace overlooking a pool. For some, this might have been a distraction. Instead, I looked at it as a golden opportunity to connect with the outdoors in break out rooms. My participants, especially the ones from Colorado, really appreciated the opportunity to work in mixed spaces. How are you turning your learning spaces from lemons to lemonade? We know that most classrooms are smaller than they should be, so how do we reframe them to work for our learners? One possible way is to ask our learners how to redesign our space, so it's flexible and more aligned to their learning preferences. An obstacle quickly turns into a win-win for everybody! How do we capture pure excitement for ourselves and our learners? Excitement is a big part of how we learn, because it shapes our connection to the ideas being shared. When learning is dull or boring, there is very little to remember for the future. What do you do to get you learners excited about the process of learning? What has you excited to learn more about? Currently, My partner and I are learning how to take random ideas and put them into a book form that will bring about curiosity. This is has been a challenge, because it's so easy to go into information mode. The world has plenty of those books. Instead, we want to spark ideas and get teachers excited about teaching again. In this video, we focus on cooperation, where we each have our own part that works towards a bigger goal of moving the marble farther down the hall. As we engage in professional development as a staff, how are we modeling different ways for learners to engage in meaningful cooperation focused on content mastery? If you look at this video, you might first think of force and motion. When I take a deeper look, this engagement could be focused on measurement, use of materials, variables, etc. What are you doing to get your learners to cooperate in short investigations that spark curiosity and wonder? Have you heard about the #tccbookclub? Well, be sure to join our next book club event beginning on April 6th. We have readers from around the world who are interested in learning more about universal design for learning. To learn more information, be sure to watch our video. To join our book club, be sure to become a member of our Facebook group: Confessions of a PYP Teacher. The Zoom link will be there. For timings, please look at the information below. I really appreciate this quote below by Maya Angelou, because we often beat ourselves up as educators about what we can do better. There are times that we just don't know what we don't know. This is fact.
As we gain more experience with the craft, we are able to make more informed decisions about our craft, our learners, and how to navigate things like standards or grade level expectations. One thing I see all the time with new teachers and new teachers to the PYP, is they put so much pressure to be perfect in everything that they don't have a focus. They burn out by trying to be like all of the other veteran teachers, so they don't look less competent. Please stop. You are doing a wonderful job. You are doing your best. You can't do any more than that. If you do, you may burn yourself right out of the teaching profession. A friendly reminder, it takes 5-10 years to feel like you have some grip on this thing called being a teacher. Don't buy into the myth that anyone can do it. Teaching is a craft that is built over time, so be kind to yourself. When you learn better in the future, be better. I'm super excited about this upcoming workshop with Misty Paterson. I've had the pleasure to participate in an edu retreat with Misty and it's unlike any other training. She is personal and conceptual at the same time. Just what we need to revitalize the learning within our classroom. If you are in the Atlanta region or can make it, be sure to register! Here is the link. As I was getting up this morning, I ran across this interesting article on the effectiveness of Social Emotional Learning (SEL). I have mixed reviews on how I perceive the findings of a longitudinal study. One one side, I agree that SEL as a stand alone curriculum is not effective. I've seen many traffic sign charts fail, because the teacher made a one-size-fits-all approach to self-monitoring behavior. When we teach SEL as a curriculum, it sets up a false reality that only during "this" time do you focus on being empathetic, mindful, and caring. We don't embody those characteristics while learning math, reading, and science. This seems like quite a disconnect for me as a PYP teacher. On the other side, I do believe that we need to have a means for learners to express themselves on a regular basis through reflection. How do we do this? We leverage the language of the learner profile. Recently, a workshop participant made the connection that the learner profile attributes are actually skills learners need to develop in order to operate within the world. This got me thinking deeper about their role. I concur that the learner profile are skills and dispositions that help young people to articulate how they are acting, thinking, and feeling. It's about learning the correct definitions, instead of downloading the latest poster set from Teachers pay Teachers. We've all done it, including me. How well do you know the language of the learner profile attributes? Are you teaching them according to the definition outlined by the IB? For SEL in the PYP, we use the language of the learner profile attributes and the approaches to learning (ATL). In partnership, they create dispositions of authentic thinkers, communicators, and so much more. What part of the learner profile attribute will you zoom into in your next unit of inquiry? I'm excited to lead a session at the IB Global Conference in Dublin, Ireland on Oct 7th. This will be my first time leading a session at the AEM conference, where I began my PYP journey. It feels like a full circle moment. The IB was kind enough to respond to my post, which made my day. Something that will stay with me throughout my life is the positivity that exudes from my father. Ever since I can remember, he has always been so jolly and talkative to every clerk in a grocery story. One day, I asked him why he was so happy all the time. He shared, "Every day, I wake up to a new morning. I am alive, so I choose to be happy."
Living with this wisdom reminds me to continuously champion the positivity, even when we don't feel like it. We all have days where it's a struggle to get out of bed and face the world. In those moments, remind yourself that you made it to a new day. You have already conquered half of your battles already. Engaging in Collaborative Communities involves thinking differently about how we interact, the alternative use of spaces, and capturing ideas based on learner strengths and preferences. For this workshop, our classroom was comprised of a condominium on top of a recreation center. We had everything set up in a living room. It was quite perfect for the ten participants in my group, because we had a beautiful terrace with lounge chairs and tables with umbrellas. We had to think differently about how we could collaborate to maximize the space. It was a real hardship to recline on the loungers during our breaks and drink freshly made fruit punch and lemonade. The alternative classroom set up helped us to think differently about collaboration and how we can rethink our spaces to allow for more authentic connections to naturally occur.
I've been getting over my fears as I approach my 50th year on this planet. We all have hang ups about how we look, sound, and feel on camera. I'm following the lead of Gary Vaynerchuk and not caring about what I look like, but the message I'm sharing. This pivot in thinking led to the Traveling Teacher. I'm excited to share my travel adventures with you while offering some teaching tips. So excited! I've had an interesting interactions with this word. In my childhood, it equaled pain, suffering, and punishment. I didn't want to be associated with this word, so I remained quiet and compliant. Yet, there is a flipped side to this word. Sometimes, we make choices and there is a positive reaction beyond our greatest imagination. This is also consequence. Let's make sure we use both the positive and negative sides, so we don't have another generation fearing this word. Something that has transformed my life has been sketching. It's become part of who I am and how I process the things happening in my world. We all have our happy days, moments we are frustrated, and others where we don't want to get out of bed. This has helped me along with exercise to balance out those melancholy days, because I express the immediacy of my needs. Below represents my feelings of the final day of the VeeCon community panel applications. In one week, I'll know if I am on a panel or if I buy a ticket. To be honest, I'm fine with either just so I can attend. My heart would love to speak about my passion about making education a safer place for entrepreneurship. But, I recognize that some dreams are delayed. It's okay. The main point is to put our dreams, fears, hurts, and life onto the page. As a society, we don't journal anymore. This is my way of capturing all of the feelings I have inside and chronicling my life. Isn't it great to find the way that works the best for you? I'm starting my sketch club to help others to find their voice too. There are five things that are most underused within the PYP, per my observation and working with thousands of educators:
As you look at this list, you are probably scratching your head and asking yourself, “Aren’t those majority of the elements of the PYP?” You’d be correct. The reason I made this controversial statement is that some schools, maybe not yours, are playing at being PYP. What do I mean by this? They put up nice poster sets, have a unit display, and create units on the planner or within Toddle. The IB logo is proudly displayed in the office, on the floors, and on school uniforms. But, the school does not live and breathe the philosophy, it’s only a thing they do. Something to PonderI remember Paul Campbell, who used to direct the IB Global Conference, asked a profound question while attending a coordinator meeting in Texas before the pandemic. There are many IB schools in my region of the world although we have a heavily scripted curriculum proposed by our local government. The dichotomy spurred this question by Paul, “Does Texas have IB schools or schools offering the IB?” Let’s apply this to our learning and identity spaces. Are we an IB school or are we a school that is offering the IB? If we are an IB school, then this philosophy spreads through everything we are planning and everything our learners are doing? This week, I was provoked by a question by Yuni Santosa, a Grade 1 Teacher and IBEN member at the International School of Ruhr in Essen, Germany. She inquired, ”Hmmm... is this the criteria based on the visible aspects (see and hear)?" Right now, we are basing what we see in a classroom, but let’s not forget that our learners should also be speaking about them in their daily practice. It’s about making all of the language of the PYP come alive as just another list of vocabulary that we use to make sense of our learning. It’s not a separate list, wall, or display. Your room as a whole should be PYP not a separate bulletin board. What you put up tells you, your learners, and the community what you are spending most of your time on. I know, many of my early years and specialist and supporting teachers, office staff, and leadership are shaking their heads and saying, “This does not apply to me.” This is the problem. It’s not just the homeroom teacher’ job to teach the vocabulary throughout the day. It belongs to the entire community. One possible way is to begin with an idea that was sparked by our old friend, Shailja Datt, the PYP Coordinator at Horizon Japan International School in Kanagawa. Shailja suggested that, “Key concepts begin with and & then whether they are relevant, challenging and significant or not.” Once again, Shailja made me stop and think based on her critical and creative thinking. This poses the question: How do we make key and related concepts engaging, challenging, relevant, and significant for our learners? This made me reflect back on the purpose of the inquiry, thinking strategies of engaging, challenging, relevant, and significant. How do we connect them to our key and related concepts? How is this reflected in the classroom environment? Challenge accepted! Using Inquiry Thinking Strategies with ConceptsI am going back to the inquiry thinking strategies found in Think About Inquiry. I will take one strategy and apply it to exploring the key and related concepts. Are you ready? EngagingTo engage is more than having fun, it's awakening the mind to think and connect. How can we make the process of using the key and related concepts more engaging for our learners? The Fishbowl First Round (related concepts): Split the class into two main groups: action and evaluation group. The action group separated into three smaller groups around a cluster of desks or a small table in different places in the room. The action group will be given a bag of random materials that connect to the unit content to sort using the 2-3 related concepts from the unit of inquiry. Meanwhile, the evaluation group will take notes of the sorting process by using the PZ visible thinking routine, Think Puzzle Explore. This thinking routine asks learners what they see and their connections, in this case, it will be the materials sorted by related concept. Then, they will write down any questions that arise by the placement. Then, they will pose ideas that could be explored further when re-sorting the materials. Once the visible thinking routine is complete, the evaluation group will give their feedback to the action group. They will discuss if their ideas were on the same wavelength and differences. The whole group comes back together to share their findings to calibrate the similarities and differences through a quick gallery walk and reflect on one Think Puzzle Explore. Second Round (key concepts): It’s now time for the evaluation group to take action. They now take the materials and distribute them to show the key concepts in action. This time, they will be required to show the connection between the key concept and the lines of inquiry. The evaluation group will use Think Puzzle Explore to capture their thinking, each group will debrief, participate in a quick gallery walk, and share their findings. ChallengingTo challenge is confronting misconceptions and stretching ideas to a place of discomfort. Claim Evidence Reasoning (CER) My favorite challenging strategy is claim evidence reasoning. This is a strategy that is normally used in science to prove a theory but I’ve applied it to all the subjects. In table groups, provide 1-3 related or key concepts to choose from, be sure to not overlap between groups. Have each group make a statement about the key or related concept, which will be the claim. Example: Culture is the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution or organization Next, they must provide evidence of the concept in action that supports the claim. They can use books, magazines, videos, vlogs, blogs, etc. as evidence. Example: In the book, Yang the Youngest and His Terrible Ear, we learn about a Chinese family that relocates to Seattle. The family is dedicated to many things within their culture and their love of music. The parents teach music within the community and expect all the children to participate, even Yang who doesn’t play very well. To save face, he asks his friend to pretend to play for him, since he is quite talented. Finally, describe how the evidence supports the claim. In my culture, we are expected to save face to our community so it doesn’t bring disgrace on the family. This can come in the form of behavior, grades, careers, and whom you marry. I connected with Yang, because he has a lot of responsibility placed on his shoulders, even though he is quite young. He can either show what a terrible violinist he is to his parent’s clients or he can pretend and have his friend play for him. If I were in the same situation, it would be tough to make the right choice. RelevantTo find relevance is reflecting on prior and current experiences and delving into their implications Provide Utility Value Utility Value answers these questions, “Why am I learning this? What can it be used for?” It makes application of learning to real-life situations and potential careers. For example: we are learning about the needs of plants through the concept of conservation; a careful preservation and protection of something. To make this meaningful for your learners, invite a local florist, nursery operator, botanist, park ranger, etc. and have them share why plants are so important to our lives as humans. Have them show what conservation looks like in their roles and what we can do as everyday citizens to conserve as well. This shows real jobs in action supporting the related concept in action. SignificantTo find significance is bridging issues from our local experience and finding the commonality of the human experience around the world Projecting Across Distance This is one of my favorite PZ visible thinking routines, because it really goes deep about global issues. Pick an issue that might be looked at differently from around the world. How is the issue viewed in…
For example: we are learning about health; the condition of being sound in body, mind, or spirit First, look at the general health within your community. What are the healthy trends that are happening? What are the unhealthy habits that might need to be changed? Take a look at another city in your country. Since I live in the United States, I would examine the general health of people that live in New York City. Are they connected in body, mind, and spirit by living in such a hectic city? A country east or west of mine is Australia. How do they balance out their health? What does it look like in school, on personal time, and within cities versus country. A country north or south of mine is Peru. Does everyone have access to health care? Is mindfulness built into the school day? How do people deal with stressful situations? A country across the distance is the United Arab Emirates. With such a hot climate, how does everyone find balance between their body and soul? Are the people generally healthy? If not, what are the main reasons? As you can see, there are different ways to tease out the related and key concepts through the inquiry thinking strategies for different ages and subjects. The main factor for anything that we do well is consistency. We use the key and related concepts throughout the day and plan with them in mind. Evidencing the ConceptsThis leads to our next part, how do we evidence the learning? Something I have done is post the key and related concepts on a separate part of my classroom. As we see them in action, we post evidence and write a learning story of how it is connected to content and big ideas with the unit. It’s tangible and learners see the concepts in practice.
One thing that I do differently is that I keep the key concepts all year long. Since some repeat, I build on prior connections, so they can see a bigger picture of what they look like in different subjects and different contexts. To me, the biggest indicator that concepts are being used is that I am intentionally planning with the each week, I use them regularly to build connections between different content, and my learners are referring to them as they reflect. I have been having so much fun with the current podcast series, because it makes me think so much deeper than when I do it on my own. A big thanks to my PYP friends who have been contributing. Here is a brief video about more ways to contribute. I can't believe the thinkchat sketch club is about to launch! We are going to have so much fun together reflecting on the past, sitting happily in the present, and dreaming about the future. Be sure to get yourself a drawing pad, pen (my prefer is the dark blue from Paper Mate), and some colored pencils. Let's be kind to our hearts and release some of the pressure that builds when we don't let things go. I have let go of so many old wounds. This may be a way for you to do the same. Our first meeting is on April 15! We all have those days where we feel like hiding under the covers and eating an entire tub of Bluebell Ice Cream. If you haven't tried it, you need to visit Texas right away! There are other days where we wake up on the weekend full of positive vibes and we want to share it with the world. This is how I felt this morning. After a long battle with a project, I was finally able to crack through it on Friday, which made me feeling positively alive. What moments have made you feel the same way? Everything we create is in response to who we are, how we are feeling at that moment, and what we hope to become. I've always believed in my capability in the workplace, even when surrounded by naysayers. It's something I had instilled in me as a child growing up in an LDS household. Unlike popular myths, I grew up loving myself and continuously reaching for my potential. I've always been slightly overweight and conscious of my physical presence. This can be something that makes us wonder: Am I good enough? Am I pretty or handsome enough? Should I just stay home? Do I have value? In re-reading The Four Agreements, I was reminded that the dream we have in our own minds is not true, so don't take them personally. Be mindful of the reel that is replaying in your mind. Is it helping or hurting you? If it's hurting you, can you find a new tune to replace it? As we venture into our week, remember that you have value just as you are. You don't need to change to attract people that are going to love you. It will happen. You just have to love yourself first so it can happen. To ensure that I live to make this quote come true, I have decreased the people I engage with on a regular basis, the types of films that I watch, and music I listen to on Spotify. All of these messages can attack our sense of value. The greatest addition to my life has been sketching everyday. This has helped me to regulate my feelings, fears, and shortcomings in a positive way, so they don't fester. This is part of growing up. If I were to hang out with any group all day, it would be my fellow Hot Chocolate Design collectors. I'm obsessed with my shoes and they make me feel beautiful. What makes you feel sensational? I wanted to start off the "Read Aloud with Older Kids" with a book that has spoken to my heart, since the beginning of my teaching career. We all have that book that if it were lost or damaged, we would cry alligator tears. This is mine. At the beginning of my teaching career, I was quite poor. Thankfully, I grew up in a community that had an outlet mall, which meant the prices were considerably cheaper. In their bargain big, I found this book. I was moving to Dubai, so the cover intrigued me. Little did I know that it would become one of my valued treasures that I would read each year to my fifth grade class. in fifth grade, personal identity is everything. Learners are beginning to hormonally adapt and their emotions are everywhere. Every time I read this book, I see grown boys cry and girls that feel like a character knows them. I hope you will join me on this journey with Buran, daughter of Malik. Greetings friends! Welcome to another week of our PYP Classroom Success Criteria podcast series! We are going to have a lot of fun exploring interactive walls that are transdisciplinary. More talk about the walls? Yep. They are the most underutilized teaching tool that we have at our disposal, so let’s talk about ways that we can use them better. This episode was sparked by a question by our old friend, Shailja Datt, the PYP Coordinator at the Horizon Japan International School in Kanagawa. Shailja asked: Are the walls interactive? A couple episodes ago, we talked about interactive bulletin boards as a teaching tool. But this time, we are going to examine how we can use them to build deeper connections. Meanwhile, our friend Nirali Parikh, a transitional kindergarten teacher, at the Creation Village World School in Celebration, Florida posed a simple question. Nirali asked: Is it transdisciplinary? The bigger question should be, how do we create walls that are interactive and transdisciplinary? The simple answer: the lines of inquiry. The Purpose of the Lines of Inquiry vs the Central Idea After a busy week, we often reflect on different events that have occurred and try to identify if there is a common thread. When we discover the thread, we examine if there are any other possible actions we could have taken and then make a plan to work towards it. This is the natural way that we process the events in our lives and how we feel about it. In teaching, we try to replicate the process for our learners. For every unit of inquiry that we teach, we have a big idea of what it’s all about. This is the central idea. The primary objective is to build learner understanding, so they can take personal action, based on the content they have learned. This makes sense, because we only truly understand something after we have acted upon it. To help us get to this understanding, we have three or four statements called lines of inquiry that outline what we must KNOW and DO to get to the big understanding. Their job is to break down the content we teach and give it meaning…our thread to the big understanding. This sounds so simple, but it’s amazing how many schools do not recognize this important fact. They aren’t statements that we laminate on the walls and never engage with during our unit. They are the heart and soul of our teaching. ***For the lines of inquiry to reach their true potential, they must be written conceptually. This means that they are written with concepts and not topics. How to do this is a conversation for another day, but my process takes time, which I don’t have for this episode. How to use the lines of inquiry as a teaching toolThe first step in using the lines of inquiry as a teaching tool is unpacking the statements. I do this process similarly with the central idea, so my learners have a word bank to draw upon. For each concept (a big overarching idea that is universal, timeless, and abstract) and verbs, I break them down into everyday language for learners to understand. We do this together through pictures and words. For older learners, I will have a large word bank of 6-8 words per each concept and verb. This allows for different access points of application to their personal experiences. I provide one picture for each term, so it’s clear what it is. For younger learners, I mainly use pictures to guide the process with a few words. This helps them to break down the concepts into their language while not getting overwhelmed by the choices. Too many pictures and words will drown out your message and they will be very confused. How to use the lines of inquiry to guide the teachingThe next part is the most crucial. When planning for the unit, you need to look at each line of inquiry and determine which content can be taught. Usually, I have the content organized first before creating the lines of inquiry, so this process is easier. It’s up to you. The job of the line of inquiry to give purpose to the content you are teaching. Imagine you have a line of inquiry that states, “The connection between values and balance.” Now, you are looking at your content as a whole and deciding which parts can be taught through this lens. For this to happen in a transdisciplinary approach, your lines of inquiry need to be written using concepts and not topics from your content. Many units that I encounter look like this, which is not transdisciplinary. It’s disciplinary, because only one subject can be taught through it. Central Idea: Migration can lead to change Lines of inquiry: An inquiry into…
This is a very superficial approach to learning and this becomes labeled the “migration unit” instead of the unit about “where we are in place and time.” Here’s a possible alternative. Central Idea: Movement can bring about opportunities and consequences Lines of inquiry: An inquiry into…
As you can see, there is a big difference in the possibilities and it’s very transdisciplinary. How to collect evidence under each line of inquiryAs you are teaching your content under each line of inquiry, how are you documenting the process? One way I do it is by posting work samples under each line of inquiry along with a learning story, so I know how they are connected. You and your learners will forget why you posted work, so this helps to keep the connection active in your mind.
As you teach the content through the unit, you will add more and more samples under the line of inquiry. Soon, you will see transdisciplinary examples of the learning under each line of inquiry, including the Arts, PSPE, ICT/Computers, Library, Additional language, etc. This is what it means to be transdisciplinary…across the subjects and not just the ones that the homeroom teacher explores. It’s truly beautiful when the work is unpacked and evidenced on the walls. I ask my learners, “Which work is worthy of going up on our unit wall?” We don’t just want any work up on display. It has to speak to the heart of the line of inquiry. Since we are adding ideas, pictures, work samples throughout the unit, it becomes an interactive tool that guides the learning and teaching. Something you can do is ask your learners what is the connection between two assignments. This gets them thinking critically and creatively, which is activating those meta-cognitive skills. I hope I answered the two questions with fidelity. I could talk about this all day! Final note: I’m starting an online sketch club to help me continue with a deeper reflection process. It will begin on April 15 and we’ll meet every couple of weeks. Be sure to check out my Twitter page @thinkchat2020, LinkedIn @lugerlach, or on the Confessions of a PYP Teacher Facebook group. |
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