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.
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This episode came from a question that was posed by Nirali Parikh, a transitional kindergarten teacher, originally from India that works at the Creation Village World School in Celebration, Florida. I’ve had the pleasure to work with Nirali on several occasions and she makes me think differently about the capabilities of an early years child. If you haven’t already, consider following Nirali on Twitter @NiraliParikh7. What are the expectations of a school? This simple question spreads its tentacles into every aspect of the school building. If the expectations of a school are unclear, how can the teachers deliver a purpose-driven curriculum? The two go hand-in-hand. When the leadership team has no vision of where the school is headed, it impacts how and what is taught. Let’s consider that the school has a clear vision. How are the expectations seen throughout the campus? One way I believe a school has clear expectations is that its practices align with the PYP transdisciplinary approach to learning and teaching. It’s visible as you walk through the campus within and beyond the classrooms. Transdisciplinary learningAt the heart of everything we do is the transdisciplinary approach to learning and teaching. As a PYP educator, we are dedicated to teaching our subjects together in a cohesive way, so that it makes sense to our learners. In real-life, we do not address complex issues by separating them into various subjects, rather, we look at how all of the parts work together to solve the problem or issue. If this is the reality, why do schools still teach subjects as separate ideas, instead as factors to problem solve? The answer: it’s hard It takes a lot of time, effort, and collaborative planning to teach in a transdisciplinary approach. Every teacher on the team must be unified in the same purpose and be on board to teaching in the same manner. This does not mean you can’t show your unique flair or teaching style. You can still guide your learners based on your preferences, but the end goal is the same. Creating young learners who can think, do, and act. Simple. To do this, we must approach how our classrooms look differently too. In the last episode, we talked about the importance of the unit wall. Now, we are going to begin to unpack what does and why it matters. Unpacking the Transdisciplinary Theme Descriptor Upper Elementary/ Primary At the beginning of the unit, I give one word/concept from the theme descriptor and ask my learners to unpack it into kid-friendly language. They use devices to discover synonyms, images, and other references. This helps them to identify the big idea, similar to the bundling exercise described in the last episode. Then, my learners are tasked to choose one picture from a group found on a back table. For the second part of this engagement, I would ask learners to describe their words using Claim, Evidence, Reasoning (CER).
After they presented their CER to the group, we would evaluate if the argument was valid and if they required more evidence to prove their claim. Once the evidence was satisfactory, we would post the CER and photo around the transdisciplinary theme descriptor, which was above my smart board. The theme descriptors would stay up all year long, so learners could refer back to these concepts on a regular basis. Lower Elementary/ Primary How can I do the same process with my early years learners? One possible way is to choose only one concept from the descriptor that you will be focusing on during the unit of inquiry. Ask learners to share what the word(s) mean to them. Then, choose a picture that shows it in action. Use the CER routine to help them unpack it into a real context. For example: you are beginning the WHO WE ARE unit of inquiry. Your conceptual focus from the transdisciplinary theme descriptor is beliefs and values.
By completing this process as a whole group, you are able to guide the process while establishing deeper conceptual connections with your learners. It provides a focus to your learners of what they will be exploring within your unit and how they will be evaluated. Unpacking the Central IdeaOne of the ways to show expectations of the learning is to unpack the central idea with your learners. Since the central idea shapes the understanding of the unit, it’s important that learners know it in their kid-friendly terms and that they can apply it to their own lives. How can we make this happen easily? Upper Elementary/ Primary I present the central idea to my learners and ask them what they think the individual words mean and as a whole. We unpack each concept and verb separately into separate word banks, so they can find words that resonate to them. Here is the process that I use with upper elementary/ primary aged children.
After learners re-write the central idea in their own words, I have them write it down for their portfolios. I have them create a picture of what it means in their mind and brainstorm what types of actions people can take. Remember, the entire purpose of the central idea is to build a learner understanding of what the unit is about and the various ways they can take action. Lower Elementary/ Primary With the little ones, I still use conceptual language in the central idea, but I break it down into words that they know. At my old school, Foster Elementary, the kindergarten team used the central idea: Awareness of self drives choices. We knew this central idea would be too big for our learners to understand on their own. Here’s how I helped the team to bring it down to early years
Once we unpacked the central idea together, we had them play a matching game of good and bad choices. We had a discussion about how we know if we are making a choice or if it’s a mistake. The difference is that we KNOW that we are making a bad choice on purpose. For the action, learners were asked to consider some choices that they had made that week. They were asked to think about how they could make their choices even better. This was the summative assessment. Year-long DisplaysA question posed by Emmanouil Zerai: @E_zerai, a PYP homeroom teacher at the International School of the Stockholm Region (ISSR) made me think about year-long displays.
What aspects are worth staying longer on the wall? It’s all about preference. What do you value the most? What do you think learners should know? Here are some of my preferences. Theme Descriptors After unpacking the transdisciplinary themes, I would leave them posted above my dry erase or smart board. I wanted them in a prominent place where my learners would see them regularly. As we proceeded through the year, I would use them as a teaching tool to revisit ideas and called on my groups that were the “experts” to remind us of their meaning in kid-friendly language. Miniature Unit Walls Many years ago, I had the opportunity to attend an IBEN development at the Frankfurt International School in Wiesbaden. I noticed that many of the classrooms put their big unit ideas on poster boards and placed them in their rooms. This allowed learners to see the progression of the big ideas and how teaching and learning was connected throughout the year. Key Concept/Learner Profile Boards Another thing that might be of value is to collect evidence of the key concepts and the learner profile attributes in action during each unit of inquiry. Create a running display that will last all year. As you revisit a concept or attribute, you can add more evidence of what it looks like in practice. I hope these ideas helped to shape the expectation of the school into practice. Join us next time as we explore what transdisciplinary learning looks like through the lines of inquiry. Welcome to our new series on a PYP classroom success criteria. I am so excited for this series, because I feel like it’s been so timely with things I have learned recently from the Pop-Up Studio Edu-Retreat in Brussels with Misty Paterson. In this workshop, Misty took items around the school to create a welcoming gathering place that was flexible and driven by learner use. This made think about this question post by Shailja Datt, the PYP Coordinator at the Horizon Japan International School in Kanagawa: How do we help in tickling the student’s brain?What a wonderful way to think about learning, which is more centered on curiosity, wonder, and awe. This episode, we are going to examine how we can tickle our learner’s brains through our school day and within our walls. I’ve had to sit with myself for a moment to think about how I tickle the brains of my learners. It’s a lot more difficult than it sounds, because we are considering how we provoke our young people to become excited about what they are learning. Sustaining this passion takes a lot of collaborative planning with our learners and peers, testing out practices, and reflecting on the process. Here are some of my ideas. Please share some of yours on Twitter @thinkchat2020 and LinkedIn @lugerlach. Teacher ProvocationsNothing massages the thinking muscles more than a wonderfully thought out teacher provocation. They don’t happen everyday, so when they do occur it's an event and time to pay attention. As an educator, I would regularly pose a teacher provocation to spark dialogue and assess prior knowledge. When I was teaching fifth grade at Al Mizhar American Academy for Girls in Dubai, I taught math and science in middle school. One day, I came to class with a 2 liter soda bottle filled with water and two nails stuck into the bottle. I had a bucket below the soda bottle, because I knew things would get wet. You could have felt the electric energy in the room as I took out one nail. I heard gasps of disbelief when nothing happened. A nail had been removed, but the water remained in the bottle. When I put the nail back inside the hole, I asked my learners their predictions of what would happen if I removed the second nail. As I pulled it out, nothing happened again. Equal amazement buzzed around the room in disbelief. As I put the nail back, we discussed what might happen if both nails were removed. Everyone was so confused by this point that they didn’t know how to answer. When I removed both nails and the water gushed out of the holes, there were squeals of surprise and confusion. This is what it means to tickle our learner’s brains with a provocation. Interactive bulletin board designThere are many ways to create a bulletin board, but if we want to tickle the brains of our learners, it’s going to have to look differently. It needs to be designed with the learner, so they can use it as a learning tool. A purposeful bulletin board allows for re-design, flexibility, and multiple-usage. Ms. Wiltz, a kindergarten teacher from my former school, created many interactive bulletin boards in her learning space. If it could not be manipulated by learners, it wouldn't go up. She had one for jobs, goal-setting, and learning stations. One of my favorites was in the hallway where she created an interactive letter/sound board that allows learners to engage in different ways during differentiated center exploration. She had picture and sound card match up games that learners could remove and use in their exploration. It tied with her educational goal of letter sound inventory, but the target was to get learners to authentically engage with language acquisition. Talking Points between DisplaysAnother idea may be co-creating talking points between displays. What do I mean? In between displays, have learners write reflections on how the two displays are connected together. This allows them to make connections between subjects and big conceptual ideas. Whoa, this might change the game in your classroom, because learners see the connection between each engagement you are teaching, instead of thinking they are “fun” or “cool”. I don’t know about you, but this is tickling my brain with new possibilities. I can see learners making visual and written connections, which the PYP calls learning stories. Learner WorkThis is the one that is the most controversial. I am very passionate about displaying learner work, but what is the main purpose? Is it to make your walls look pretty? Is it to show tons of “GREAT WORK”, so others can see that you are doing a great job? Think about that one for a minute. Something that has been tickling my brain has been how to display learner work that is co-created in design and display. This is more than a bulletin board, it’s about celebrating the learning journey. As such, I think we should have examples of work in progress, so all learners can share in the journey and growth. It’s not about being perfect or copying the teacher’s ideas to be displayed. If I see one more reproduction about a country leader or notable person, I think I might just turn into Rumpelstilskin…hopping up and down in a rant. Learner work is messy, developmental, and transformative. How are we tickling our learner’s brains to see the difference and strive for growth? How are we showcasing the process of seed to finished product, so they can see it requires work and multiple revisions? This to me is authentic and we need to see more of this as we display learner work in our rooms. Lu Gerlach 4th Grade Classroom (2016) The Unit WallHere’s another question by Siba Shekhar, the PYP Coordinator at GEMS Modern Academy Kochi made me ponder: I would like to know different ways to display the progression of the learning throughout the unit. This made me connect to the importance of a well-planned unit of inquiry wall. How do you consider all of the ideas to tickle the learner's brains while creating a unit of inquiry wall display? There are numerous possibilities, but you have to find the right way for you and your learners. Something I used to do is just laminate the titles: theme, central, lines of inquiry, ATL, and learner profile in English and the second language of the campus. We would unpack the central idea in their home languages (with the parent’s help) and use the Bundling strategy by Kath Murdoch to unpack the rest of the language. Lu Gerlach 5th Grade Classroom (2014) For the Bundling strategy, I would have learners work in small groups and I would give them one word to unpack. I tasked them to look up their word through pictures, videos, music, to get a sense of what it meant. On an index card, they wrote down synonyms that helped them to better understand the term and draw it in action. When the drafts were being made, I would circulate through the groups to clear up misconceptions. Each group presented their ideas to the group and they became the “expert” for that concept and I would frequently ask for their help as we explored it further. As we went through the unit, we would add to our unit of inquiry wall with similar activities to help unpack the big ideas and make relevant questions. For Siba, she may feel that her wondering has not been fully answered. The rest of this podcast series will go into detail on how to evidence the journey of the unit of inquiry. Just hang tight…it’s going to be a bumpy ride! Common MisconceptionsPart of our PYP journey is to authentically make the program come to life in our classrooms. After visiting many schools throughout the years, there are earmarks of different types of educators.
The LAMINATING QUEEN literally laminates everything, so they are ready for next year. They usually have the central idea, lines of inquiry, concepts, ATL, and learner profile attributes upon a wall like beautiful wallpaper. It’s usually typed, visually pleasing, but lacking any personality and student voice. Many times, it’s on the smallest possible bulletin or cork board in the room, so the rest of the walls can capture the real teaching. After the fourth year of being a laminating queen, I gave up. Each year like clock work, something within the unit of inquiry would change and it would throw out the rest of the unit focus. We would tweak the central idea, which meant the lines of inquiry were rewritten, which impacted the selection of everything else. I finally realized that the unit of inquiry will change year to year, because our learner needs, interests, and curiosities change each year. I stopped laminating everything and just stuck with the headers. Meanwhile, the BUSY BEE is so focused on doing a lot of activities that they fill their bulletin boards and classroom walls with a lot of work. Usually, it is work from curriculum materials or worksheets that is artfully displayed. When you take a step back, you realize there is no real substance or connection between the learning. It’s just a lot of isolated facts that are randomly taught at the same time. As a former Laminating Queen and Busy Bee, I can say that my teaching was not the deepest at times. I hid behind all of the materials on the walls, because I was scared and didn’t know what I was doing. If you are here, it’s okay. This is one small step in your learning journey. There are many more ahead. In the past six months, I have visited a lot of schools through official IB workshops, independent workshops, and curriculum development. One repeating theme that came from these encounters is this simple question: What does a PYP classroom look and feel like in practice?On the surface it seems like an easy question to answer. But, as you unravel the layers, you discover that there are many parts to making a PYP classroom come to life. Here are the two main parts that I have identified. The Physical SpaceWhen we walk into a PYP school, you can learn a lot about the culture by simply looking at the walls. These are the questions that instantly pop into my mind.
Lu Gerlach 4th grade classroom (2016) Over the course of this podcast series, I hope to address these questions and more. The physical environment does matter. It tells that story of what is valued and by whom. When I see a lot of worksheets on the wall, I know that inquiry is not happening, which means learner agency is not being modeled or guided. When I see a dominant culture represented around the campus, there is limited opportunity to explore a variety of voices about issues that impact all of humanity. Now I have a question for you: If I were to come into your classroom tomorrow, what would your walls say about you as a teacher, counselor, EAL teacher, coordinator, and principal/head of primary to name a few? To answer this question, I want to self-evaluate your classroom and office walls. Consider what the walls say about you by answering these questions.
As an educator, I really had to ask these questions to myself on a regular basis. When I was tempted to control the narrative about the learning in my classroom, I would have to take a hard look at my practice. Let’s be clear, it’s not easy to do this process, especially when you have teammates who have Pinterest worthy learning spaces. It can be intimidating to keep up, so you don’t look like “that classroom.” I had to stop competing at some point and examine what was more important: a beautiful classroom or one that was busy but authentic. The Independent SpaceThere is something magical about walking into an early years PYP classroom and young learners are self-regulating and managing their practice. They are driving the learning by making choices, collaborating authentically with others, and making decisions on a regular basis. Why is it that we lose this sense of wonder and awe in the upper-primary grades? As a teacher in public/state, private, and international schools, I’ve seen it all. In private and international schools, we had ample freedom to operate our classrooms. Some might say that it was too much leniency at times. While in public/state schools, the level of control can be so intense that the PYP program is barely visible. The question lingers, “Despite the physical space, how do we build up learner independence? A big part of this is building young, independent thinkers who can solve problems and resolve conflict on their own. We’ve heard this a thousand times. How is it done?
Nirali Parekh Transitional Kinder (2022) Modeling the ProcessWelcome to this master class on how to establish an authentic learning environment that reflects the elements of the PYP while supporting independent thinking. This process is filled with tried and true strategies that work. I’ve used them many times as a teacher, coordinator, and within IB workshops.
The ideas and strategies in this series are aligned with the PYP philosophy and approaches to teaching and learning, but they do not provide a recipe for how to be successful for a verification or evaluation visit. They represent my personal thoughts and feelings. Being human, I may miss some opportunities, so I’d appreciate your feedback and suggestions. Before beginning this series, I asked PYP fellow educators on social media what they would like to learn more about. In response to their wonderings, each episode has been shaped to provide ideas and strategies to answer their questions. As a result, this series has expanded in directions I had not intended, but so necessary for today’s culturally responsive classrooms. Let’s take a journey through creating thoughtful and meaningful walls in our PYP schools. |
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