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This introductory collection includes the Understanding Map and several of Harvard University's Project Zero routines. Workshop participants will select a routine(s) based on the type of thinking...

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Finally, having built stamina for working independently through simple tasks and worked on self assessment, the learners are now ready to take more responsibility for when and where they will complete the day's tasks and who they will work with in the form of peers and to gain support from adults. They are ready for a workshop.
Thursday Workshop
Their Thursday is heavy this year. They start with PE and then are with me for the rest of the day. I have booked the ICT room for the last lesson so that we can get out of the room. That leaves 6 lessons back to back with me. For most of the class, this is the first real workshop that they have done with me. Five of them were with me last year, so are familiar with the way I organize the workshop day and will be able to help the others understand how it works.

I've prepared a timetable for the day that will be projected onto the whiteboard. I've booked the ICT lab for another slot so that they can complete research for our unit project. (We're down to 5 lessons in ouroom.)
Choose
The day follows the PYP model - Choose, Act, Reflect. So the first lesson after PE starts at 8:15 with Choose.

During this time, the learners will self assess by reviewing their progression charts, listen to the options for the day and then choose what they will do. This takes up time, so we're down to 4 lessons to make choices for today. This is a good number of choices for a first workshop.

I explain what the tasks are for the day and any support that will be provided from me or any other adults available. Today there will be Miss Isobel and Miss Erika in the room at certain times. Also, I want to have 2 groups reading with me for 20 minutes each, so those times are specified.

Then it is time to place their personalised colour coded names. They chose their colours previously and this makes it easier for all to see who is doing what during the day. (I know the colour of the disruptive ones, so I can really quickly spot what they are supposed to be doing.) They all need to place one name in each column and each row. At first this takes time to get right.

Today, if they are in red or yellow groups, they need to place their names in those boxes first so that they read with me, then select the other activities.

Once all the names are up, we check through to make sure each has a name in each row and column. Then we're ready to start.

As they love owning their timetable, it doesn't take long for most to get started and my first reading group starts with Word Work independently, so I'm available to help those who need assistance to start the other activities. I can give assistance to small groups and individuals for 20 minutes before listening to my first reading group.

Then we switch activities and repeat. The second time slot runs just like the first. I only listen to 2 groups reading each day (half the class), so for the rest of the day, I can be fully available for groups and individuals completing other tasks like maths, writing and inquiry.

Finally, it is time to reflect. Learners make notes in little reflection diaries about what they have completed, what struggles they might have encountered and what they need to continue to work on.
Benefits of Workshop

It is incredible how much time you have to work with small groups and individuals.

Learners own their day and are highly motivated.

By self assessing at the start of the day, learners understand what they need to focus on during the day.

They have choice of what they do, when and with whom.

They know that they will reflect on what they have done at the end of day, so are held accountable for their own learning.

Next steps... Friday workshop?

To find out more about Learner Agency visit: https://thirdcultureteachernet.wordpress.com/2019/08/13/step-one-of-learner-agency-ownership-of-the-learning-space/?preview=true

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Finally, having built stamina for working independently through simple tasks and worked on self assessment, the learners are now ready to take more responsibility for when and where they will complete the day's tasks and who they will work with in the form of peers and to gain support from adults.

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Encouraging students to show agency throughout the inquiry process

by Fabricio Miranda, Andino Cusco International School, Peru.

Our third-grade students engaged in an interactive triggering activity, an auction role-play where they observed different objects for sale.

I presented objects such as pencils, notebooks, candies, chewing gum, and fruit and, at the end of the auction, students answered the following questions:

Why did you decide to buy that object?

Was it a good decision?

Why?

Students then completed a thinking routine, writing their ideas and questions for the unit. That was how our unit of inquiry began - with the transdisciplinary theme "Who we are" and the central idea: "The decisions we make affect our well-being".

An important objective was to encourage student agency. Students were completely in charge of planning, designing and demonstrating their own learning - and action - actively participating in different learning experiences. One of these was to research the concept of "decision" and students shared their inquiries in groups by using the ' museum' technique.

After reading a book on decision-making, students connected the story to their daily lives; on the moments they had to make a decision and reflect whether the decision was easy or difficult to make. Students then connected our unit of inquiry to one of the IB attributes; they chose "balanced" which the IB defines as "We understand the importance of balancing different aspects of our lives-intellectual, physical, and emotional-to achieve well-being for ourselves and others. We recognize our interdependence with other people and with the world in which we live." ( IB learner profile, 2017). They understood that making decisions can affect their bodies, feelings and emotions, and well-being, so they decided to take actions that demonstrate "agency" including:

Creating healthy menus

Brainstorming a list of healthy habits.

Developing an action plan to make good decisions at school and at home. (This was a great opportunity for parents and children to work together).

Creating a plan for healthy eating habits for a week.

Putting into practice everything they wrote in their journals.

Identifying and reflecting on situations in which they had to make decisions.

I enjoyed observing my students engage in these different learning experiences, such as:

sorting information about healthy habits, food pyramid, and well-being

using graphic organizers to show their understanding of the information they gathered

writing paragraphs about their favorite foods

participating in different speaking activities, sharing about the foods they liked and disliked as well as the activities they practice at home to stay healthy

singing a song and reciting a poem - they also recorded their presentation to share it on our social media platforms so that our learning community could put into practice the IB attribute "balanced".(Blog)

inviting a teacher to practice mindfulness with them and brainstorming ideas about how to keeping spiritually healthy and respect all the different perspectives including religion, soft music, Yoga, etc.

As a final action, my students decided to invite students from Kindergarten to Fourth grade to share their final portfolio - including all the learning evidence they had collected throughout the inquiry process.

They assessed themselves as a group and as individuals.

They reflected on their learning and wrote their reflections in their journals.

From a teacher perspective, I noticed that our students developed positive attitudes towards making decisions, understanding that every choice affects our well-being. Thanks to the experiences in this unit of inquiry, they expressed feeling comfortable when demonstrating to their community that they can be balanced and take initiative, express their interests and be aware of their own learning goals. They showed agency throughout the entire learning process.

References

RAMOS VALDIVIEZO MARIA MILAGROS, "Aplicación de la técnica del museo para mejorar la planificación de la sesión de aprendizaje de las docentes de la i.e.i. n° 64 -callao". Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, 2017. Web May 29, 2019. "Definición de la técnica del museo" http://repositorio.upch.edu.pe/bitstream/handle/upch/3936/Aplicacion_RamosValdiviezo_Maria.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

International Baccalaureate Organization (2013) IB Learner profile. Recovered from: https://www.ibo.org/contentassets/fd82f70643ef4086b7d3f292cc214962/learner-profile-en.pdf

Fabricio Miranda, PYP English Teacher and Early Years-Primary English Coordinator at Andino Cusco International School in Peru is passionate about helping students to learn by constructing significant and relevant concepts through inquiring and collaborative work. After moving from Trujillo to Cusco because he wanted to work in an IB World School, Fabricio joined Andino in 2017 where he is pursuing his dream to let more people know about an IB education.

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by Fabricio Miranda, Andino Cusco International School, Peru. Our third-grade students engaged in an interactive triggering activity, an auction role-play where they observed different objects for sale. I presented objects such as pencils, notebooks, candies, chewing gum, and fruit and, at the end of the auction, students answered the following questions: Why did you decide to buy that object?

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This article is about how field trips can be the perfect platform for students to show agency in practice.
Each year our fifth grade students have the opportunity to travel to one of the three regions of Peru: the coastal city of Chincha, the mountain city of Tarma and the jungle city of La Merced. Aside from being a great moment to learn about the culture of each of these places, it is also a great platform to put student agency to the test. I found myself asking these questions:

What attitudes will students show outside of school?

Will their actions be principled and respectful?

Will their communication be empathetic and open-minded?

Will we see them be agents for their own learning?

Will we see them be agents for change and a better world?

Self-care
Agency could be partly defined as the ability to first of all take care of oneself. Field trips like ours mean that students have to develop independence to take care of themselves. This includes cleaning shared spaces, maintaining personal hygiene, making decisions about appropriate food to eat, making agreements with others about taking turns in the shower, and showing tolerance and patience towards friends and teachers. Through their own inquiries students also learn a lot from the people who work in the hotel about how to organize their belongings, make their beds and how to prepare some recipes.
Self-motivation
For many of our students, this is the first time that they have been away from home and their families. It is also a very intense three days of activities such as hiking, learning to do local crafts and visiting historic landmarks. Students get tired. It provides the ideal moment to talk about the importance of self-motivation and what success means for different people in the group.
Small actions
We have found another way to focus on agency is to have students keep a log of actions that they have done each day - something for themselves, something for another person in our group and something for someone outside of the group or the environment. We found that students made a great effort to be kind to each other and that this kindness extends beyond our community to others who we meet on the trip.
Self-reflection
Guided reflection related to specific attributes of the IB learner profile is also a way to foster greater agency. Giving students the opportunity to reflect each day on ways that they have shown different attributes raises awareness of the importance of being confident, respectful and committed.
Self-directed learning
The field trip is an ideal moment for students to try out their questioning skills and find out about their interests. They are encouraged to ask the perspectives of the people who live in the cities we visit, the authorities and other people that they meet. All this leads to self-directed learning in their areas of interest.
Significant impact
One of the most significant activities that we do on this trip is to spend time with children in a local school in need of support and resources. During this visit, friendships are formed as children have the opportunity to create an art project together and share their appreciation for the beautiful country we live in. On their return to school, this year many of our students have selected to work on the challenges with education, nutrition and poverty as part of their exhibition projects. Their action will reconnect them with the students and school that they visited during the trip in order to organize collections, donations and a further visit to help their new friends.
The ultimate test
Field trips are the ultimate test of student agency, because-if focused correctly-they provide opportunities for students to show themselves as agents in the real world. When taken out of the academic environment, young people can surprise us by showing they can be agents for themselves, agents for their friends and agents for action in the wider world.
Kathryn Rymarz is Deputy Head of Lower School and PYP Coordinator at Newton College in Lima, Peru. She is an IB Workshop Leader and School Reviewer for IB Americas. She has worked in international teaching for 12 years and holds a Masters Degree in Instructional Science and School Leadership from Drexel University, PA. You can follow her on Twitter @KatRz7.

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Are field trips the ultimate test of student agency?

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This article is about how field trips can be the perfect platform for students to show agency in practice. Each year our fifth grade students have the opportunity to travel to one of the three regions of Peru: the coastal city of Chincha, the mountain city of Tarma and the jungle city of La Merced.

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Listening to Learning agency in the early years 

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Listening to Learning agency in the early years 

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This article is based on an example of listening to learning within a pre-kindergarten classroom and how teachers tuning into student voices helped to shape the direction of our inquiry into the transdisciplinary theme of 'How we express ourselves'.
Within our school in Suzhou, China, our pre-kindergarten learners shine brightly as leaders in their quest for understanding and experts in their play. As a co-teaching partnership, my colleague Anna and I understand that often our job is to listen to learning and to take our cues from what we hear.

As we began our inquiry into the central idea that "imagination extends our ability to think, create and express ourselves", Anna and I were supervising outside morning play and talking about how to get started. What provocations might we set up? What stories might we share? As we were talking, a most extraordinary thing was taking place, not five feet from us. One of our students had bent down in concentration, another had joined, and another, until a little group huddled closely, and the buzz of their excitement was reaching us. As I approached, one of our students exclaimed: "Look! Look what we found! It is a blanket from a fairy!" The "blanket" was a golden sweet wrapper, cradled carefully in the hands of a 4-year-old child. As I examined this treasure, our students began to add to the fabric of the tale. "There must be a fairy house nearby! Where could it be?", said one learner. "I hope the fairy is not cold without her blanket!", add another one. Little voices erupted around Anna and I, brimming with excitement and ready to seek out magic.

In The learner in the enhanced PYP communication, it is said that "agency is present when students partner with teachers and members of the learning community to take charge of what, where, why, with whom and when they learn" (IB, 2017). Student agency is supported when teachers marry the interests, talents and skills of the children to the inquiry. Samuellson (2008) notes that play, initiated by children, is often separate to learning, initiated by the adults around them. Within the early learning framework of the PYP, there is a strong case to be made for teachers leveraging students' play and making it the foundation of inquiry, enhancing the status of play and celebrating the competency of children.

Immediately, we realized that the provocation we were seeking had come straight from the perspective and imagination of our learners. Immediately we sought books about fairies from the school library. Supporting our line of inquiry, which was to bring stories we read, share and know to life, we became consumers of fairy mythology. Designing clothes and homes, making beds and blankets, we gave life to our theory of fairies in our playground through shared belief. We naturally began to explore our second line of inquiry, imaginative use of everyday materials, as we played and built.

That evening, I painted a small fairy door and hung it on one of the trees. The next day at play, a shriek of excitement told Anna and I that it had been found. We began to sketch fairies, talk about who might live behind the door, and whether we could only see it now because the fairies knew we believed in them. When the fairies sent us a letter with ingredients for a magical potion, we mixed the ingredients and began to wonder if a small fairy school existed behind the door, where making potions and flying lessons were taught. Students talked, played, drew, sculpted and danced their ideas of what magic might exist around us. We effortlessly explored our final line of inquiry, which was different ways to express ideas.

It may be said that often times, we unpack our central ideas through looking at the words on a page or through a conversation without context. Had Anna and I ignored the voices beside us that fateful day in the playground, we could have had a very different inquiry. Our lesson that day was that the possibilities for magic and wonder that exist when we listen, trust and follow the leads of our students is simply phenomenal.
References:
Pramling Samuelsson, I. & Asplund Carlsson, M. 2008. "The Playing Learning Child: Towards a Pedagogy of Early Childhood". Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research. Vol. 52, issue 6.

Primary Years Programme. The Learner in the enhanced PYP. December 2017. http://blogs.ibo.org/sharingpyp/files/2017/12/2017-December-The-Learner.pdf
Niamh Price is from Ireland and has been teaching for ten years. She has been a pre-kindergarten teacher at Suzhou-Singapore International School in Suzhou, China for 6 years. Prior to this, Niamh enjoyed 4 years of teaching and working with children and families in different areas of Dublin, Ireland. Niamh holds a Masters degree in Drama in Education, with a research specialization in play and creativity in the early years classroom. She believes in the importance of establishing relationships with every student who crosses the threshold of her classroom and is committed to finding out not just what each child can do, but who they are. Creating environments that invite beauty, curiosity and collaboration is an essential feature of her practice.

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Listening to learning: Agency in the early years

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This article is based on an example of listening to learning within a pre-kindergarten classroom and how teachers tuning into student voices helped to shape the direction of our inquiry into the transdisciplinary theme of 'How we express ourselves'.

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Agency is the power to take meaningful and intentional action, and supports voice, choice and ownership for students, teachers and the wider learning community. Students with agency: have voice,...

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Day-to-day life can leave little cognitive space for parents to consider the future-focused and transformational nature of the PYP. As the PYP moves forward in developing agency in the Learners, the potential benefits of bringing our parent communities along with us as informed and active partners cannot be overstated.
For those familiar with psychology, the term agency will not be new. Originating in Alfred Bandura's (1989) social cognitive theory, agency communicates the notion that humans, including children, have the self-efficacy, individual capacity and free-will to take action in a given environment.

Student agency has always been implicit in the Primary Years Programme (PYP). Perhaps we just didn't toss the term about as intentionally as we now are. For many, working in partnership with students rather than 'boss managing' them through the curriculum and schedule went without saying. I've heard more than one veteran PYP teacher recently say something like "oh, agency... that's what we call it now! We've always really been doing it".

Yet within our broader learning communities, agency is surely less widely understood.

Acts of choice and ownership by students in educational contexts heavily influenced by industrialism and capitalism are historically rare. Not only have many community members never heard of agency, they have also never experienced it in their own upbringing and education. It's inevitable that gaps exist between our practices in school and our parent community's understanding of agency in the PYP.
Getting Practical with Parents
Day-to-day life can leave little cognitive space for parents to consider the future-focused and transformational nature of the PYP. We need to continue to engage with parents, inspire them, upskill them, unite in empathy and work in partnership. After all, just getting socks on your child's feet before school can sometimes be challenge enough.
Tuning Parents into Agency:
In a recent parent coffee morning we posed this question to parents: "how much ownership of their life does your child really have?" Encourage a deep dive into this question, because a quick reply can easily overlook the lack of personal agency that is explicitly developed or expected from students at home.

Try this: ask parents to sketch out a "day in their child's life" by listing all the things their child does from wake to sleep. Next, have them consider how much personal choice their children really have within the items on this list. Results can be startling.
Going Deeper than the 'To-Do' list:
After conducting the above review, parents may initially misunderstand that charts of jobs (e.g. brushing teeth, walking dogs, etc), which are often associated with external rewards, are building agency. Nope! As Stixrud & Johnson put it: "these scenarios are not about developing motivation - they're about enlisting cooperation".

When parents cross these routine tasks on their lists, we are left to consider "what motivates my child?" and "what opportunities do they have to pursue these sources of motivation?"
Starting the Day with Agency:
Many adults choose to start their days with meaningful routines; whether it be yoga, a 20 minute run or a pot of strong coffee. The children in our schools? Perhaps not so much.

Encourage parents to try waking-up their children 15 minutes earlier than their regular schedule, and then hand this time back to their kids. If their child wants to lay in bed for 15 minutes, they can; if they want to rush to the playroom and dive back into yesterday's LEGO adventure, the choice is theirs. Read the next chapter of a book? Be our guest. And starting the day by experiencing intentionally scheduled agency? Perfect.
"It's Your Call":
Stixrud and Johnson advocate teaching parents the phrase "It's your call" as a script that they should look to use with their children whenever appropriate. In life's bustle parents may need reminders of their good intentions and a go-to script helps jolt memories. This phrase must come with limits and structures though, because voice, choice and ownership isn't achieved by laissez-faire parenting - or teaching. Children have compelling, and at times competing, desires for both autonomy and structure in their lives, and we have to offer them both.

Another useful line to encourage parents to use repeatedly is "What do you want to do about this?" Use this line so frequently your child already knows what you are going to say, before you say it.
Parenting for Agency Starts in the PYP:
Parenting always comes from a place of love, but stressed, anxious and protective parents end up unintentionally diminishing their child's emerging agency. Conversely, warm and supportive environments facilitate secure attachment and develop young people who act with the assumption that what they do determines their reality.

Recent news coverage has raised the dangers of 'snowplow' parenting. Pushing life's challenges out of the child's way simply raises the stakes for them later down the road. When overprotective parents work harder than their kids to problem solve "kids become weaker, not stronger" (Stixrud & Johnson, 2018). Placing agency as a central parenting message to your community is both timely and vitally important. If your school runs parent workshops on topics like play-based learning, action or the Exhibition, then chances are you are already running a stealth campaign promoting agency. Being explicit and upfront with parents about agency can help even more.

In a world where some parents struggle to offer even 20 minutes a day playing with their child, carving out extra time to build agency is likely to be an afterthought at best. As schools move forward in developing student agency, the benefits of bringing parent communities along with us as informed and active partners cannot be overstated.
References:

The Learner: Agency via PYP: From Principles to Practice, International Baccalaureate 2019

Bandura, A. 1989, Human agency in social cognitive theory, American Psychologist, 44(9), 1175-1104.

Hayden, M 2007, Introduction to international education, Sage, London

IB Mission Statement, via PYP: From Principles to Practice, International Baccalaureate, 2019

How to Help Your Kid Wake Up Happy via com

The Self-Driven Child, William Stixrud & Ned Johnson 2018

Intrinsically Motivated, via gse.harvard.edu

How Not to be a Snowplow Parent, via New York Times

Choice or Chance: Understanding your Locus of Control and Why it Matters, Stephen Nowicki 2016

Your Image of the Child: Where Teaching Begins, Loris Malaguzzi 1994 retrieved from reggioalliance.org

The Bad News About Helicopter Parenting: It Works via New York Times

How Parents are Robbing their Children of Adulthood, via New York Times

How to Raise an Adult, Julie Lythcott-Haims 2015

Parents + Student-Directed Learning = ?, Mel Taylor via empower2b, also available via ibeducatorvoices

Why our Children are More Entitled than Generations Before via com

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Dylan Meikle is an elementary counselor at United Nations International School Hanoi and is an experienced homeroom teacher in the PYP. He is a member of the IBEN and an Apple Distinguished Educator. Dylan is passionate about learning environments and contributes to a blog on the subject at www.makespace4learning.com. He welcomes feedback, collaboration and further discussion via Twitter @dylan_meikle.
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Activating Parents to Develop Student Agency

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Day-to-day life can leave little cognitive space for parents to consider the future-focused and transformational nature of the PYP. As the PYP moves forward in developing agency in the Learners, the potential benefits of bringing our parent communities along with us as informed and active partners cannot be overstated.

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Agency is the latest buzzword in educational circles, especially in international schools. So what is everyone talking about, just what is Agency in relation to students and the IBPYP? And how can I, as an Early Childhood teacher, interpret this?

The IBPYP defines agency as the power to take meaningful and intentional action, and acknowledges the rights and responsibilities of the individual, supporting voice, choice and ownership for everyone in the learning community. IBO - THE LEARNER IN THE ENHANCED PYP

The part of this statement that stands out to me the most is supporting voice, choice and ownership for everyone , and the first question I have to ask, is do we really do this in the PYP? When it is teachers that design, plan and implement each unit, how can any student have agency if they are simply following the teachers lead?

Early Years teachers would, on the whole, say that their students have greater agency than others further up the school, due to not having as many academic or other requirements placed on them. In the Early Years, children often explore their units through play and this naturally lends itself to giving agency to our youngest students.

But does it really?

If play is setting up activities that all the students must complete, if it is asking all students to engage in the same thinking routines or presenting assessments that look eerily similar, then I would question, where is the play and where is the agency?

I believe, in the Early years, teachers should and must think through play, not playful activities that all children complete, but child initiated and led play. Play with or without a purpose, it is in these moments that students find their voice, action their choices and untimely take ownership of their learning. And this learning should look different for every student. No teachers' classroom look the same, yet we consistently ask students to be the same, it is easier for us if they are, after all, we can track the progress of our units better if we use one measuring stick!

But what if we changed the way we think of and view our units of inquiry? What if we wrote units that allowed students to interpret them in their own way and in their own time? What if we designed units that were open to the student's interests, that fit their thinking. In doing this, would we not give students a strong sense of agency?

At my current school, we asked these very questions. Our answer was to look at our units, do they naturally lend themselves to what we see in our students play already? Those that didn't we rewrote to better fit our students. We then took the bold step of deciding to run all of these units year long, our vision was for individual students to dip in and out of each unit throughout the year. Most importantly, no two students inquiries would look the same. It was our job as teachers to interpret their play, questions, thinking and reflections into these units.

To help us, we adopted a digital portfolio platform - . This platform is designed especially for Early Childhood and gives us greater opportunities to track each students learning through anecdotal stories. The programme allows us to tag units, concepts, learner profile and attitudes, as well as ATL's to each story we write. Our stories can be individual or group and as our Early Years is an open, free play environment, teachers can write stories about all students in the EY, not just those in their class. We write about the student's questions and our shared journey to find answers, we write about wonderings that have come out of each student's play and how we extended their thinking, we write about conversations with teachers and peers, and we write about their challenges and successes. By following the students lead in what they want to learn about we are striving to give a strong voice, choice and ownership to each student.

Our students lead their own learning, it is their passions and interests that drive our day. On any given day we can be discovering the solar system, creating a robot hand, exploring bugs and experimenting with colours in art, all at the same time. At first glance none of these fit within our units, however, as a team, we have chosen to view our units differently, they are broad and open and can be interpreted in various ways. By giving fluidity to our units, our students know that they are listened to, their questions and wonderings are followed and their ideas are actioned.

It's not perfect, at times it is loud, messy, and crazy, but it is never generic or the same for all. It is student agency at its imperfect best.

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Agency is the latest buzzword in educational circles, especially in international schools. So what is everyone talking about, just what is Agency in relation to students and the IBPYP? And how can I, as an Early Childhood teacher, interpret this? The IBPYP defines agency as the power to take meaningful and intentional action, and acknowledges...

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This article illustrates the importance of listening to students' voices and the powerful learning that can happen when allowing them take the lead. Planning for inquiry
As we made our way through the first year of our Primary Years Programme (PYP) journey, teachers at Summerhill International School shifted their focus from planning a unit of inquiry with their teams to a collaborative process that included the learners' voices in the planner.
Listening to the students' voices
Our five-year-old class was exploring the central idea, Members of a community can cooperate to achieve their common goals under the transdisciplinary theme How we organize ourselves. During circle time, the students discovered that their teacher had gotten engaged during the break and were excited to hear about her wedding plans. Upon hearing that their teacher had not yet had the time to plan for her wedding, one learner said, "It's ok; we can help you plan". Everyone was very excited about that idea and the Wedding Project was born.
Letting students lead

One way of thinking of learner agency is when learners have the 'power to act'. When learners move from being passive recipients to being much more active in the learning process, and actively involved in the decisions about the learning, then they have greater agency.
~ Derek Wenmoth, CORE Education 10 Trends

The students started by thinking about what they needed to plan for the wedding. As they started to share their ideas, they decided that they needed some way to record and remember their thoughts. They recorded their ideas on cards and stuck them on the wall. A system to organize all the ideas and everyone's roles and responsibilities soon emerged as the students were readying to put their ideas into action. After a group discussion, the students decided to organize their ideas into categories and delegate who would be doing what.

As they got started, they began to take on roles within their wedding plan. The students negotiated their responsibilities with their friends, managed their own materials, and then chose a space to store their on-going project. They also used the calendar to manage their own time by counting how many days were left until the wedding party.
Putting it all together
After all of the wedding preparations for the bride, the students turned their attention to the ceremony and celebration events. They had decided that since they would not be able to attend the actual wedding, they would have a class wedding party with their teacher. This launched a new query into how people celebrate their weddings. The children took on roles as wedding planners by planning and organizing the schedule of events, the guest list, what to wear, and how to set up and decorate the room. They even found a way to make sure that the groom was present at the wedding!
What we learned
Throughout this unit, we witnessed the power of learner agency when we involve students in the planning process. Both students and teachers learned a great deal during this inquiry. With reflective dialogue the teachers realized the power of following the students' lead and how empowering this is when students have ownership over the direction of the inquiry, and are truly invested in what is going on. As teachers became more comfortable with the capacity of young learners to steer the inquiry, the depth and quality of the inquiry rose substantially.

At the beginning of our PYP journey, we tried to plan for student-led inquiry by filling in all the boxes in the planner without leaving room for the learners' voices in the planning. As a school that is new to the IB Primary Years Programme, we felt comfort in knowing that the unit was planned for and in a sense, "completed" before we began the learning. Now we have shifted our thinking to a having a planner that starts off with just a few good provocations and an inviting environment. This means that there is space for children's ideas in the planner. Student-led inquiry can only happen when we listen to and honor the children's ideas and take the time to plan the unit together.

Reference:

Wenmoth, D. (2014) "Ten trends 2014: Agency ". Edtalks. http://edtalks.org/#/video/ten-trends-2014-agency
Jenny Yan is the PYP Coordinator at Summerhill International School, and IB candidate school. She has been a PYP educator for seven years and is passionate about supporting the development of critical and creative thinking in learners.

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Supporting learner agency in the early years

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This article illustrates the importance of listening to students' voices and the powerful learning that can happen when allowing them take the lead. Planning for inquiry As we made our way through the first year of our Primary Years Programme (PYP) journey, teachers at Summerhill International School shifted their focus from planning a unit of inquiry with their teams to a collaborative process that included the learners' voices in the planner.

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Learner Agency isn't a new concept in the Primary Years Programme (PYP). Those of us who have been teaching in the PYP for some time might not recognize the word "agency" but the idea of centering learning and teaching around learner voice, choice & ownership is one that we should all be familiar with.

from "Learner Agency" a section from "The Learner" in "PYP: From Principles Into Practice"

Learner agency can be remembered as "voice, choice and ownership" which Bandura says "enable[s] people to play a part in their self-development, adaption, and self-renewal with changing times" (in Learner Agency, IB 2018).

The idea of agency is closely connected to self-efficacy, a belief in one's own ability to succeed. When learners believe in themselves and have a strong sense of identity, they are more likely to exercise agency.

When students are agentive, they:

Take initiative, responsibility & ownership

Express interest

Make choices

Are aware of their own learning goals

Monitor and adjust their learning

Voice opinions

Influence and direct their own learning

Develop approaches to learning & dispositions

They also work collaboratively with teachers to:

Make decisions together

Create shared agreements

Create shared routines

Set up learning spaces

Reflect together

It is important to recognize that teachers cannot give learners agency, but rather they can create opportunities in which learners can exercise agency. They can do this by:

Working in partnership, building relationship

Actively listening

Respecting and responding to learner ideas

Noticing learners' capabilities, needs and interests

Reflecting on when students need help, intervening & giving feedback

Establishing a welcoming culture

Modeling desired behavior and language

So what should PYP schools be doing, now that there is an increased emphasis on learner agency in the PYP? If you walked into a PYP that is dedicated and focused on giving students the chance you exercise learner agency, you would see:

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Learner Agency isn't a new concept in the Primary Years Programme (PYP). Those of us who have been teaching in the PYP for some time might not recognize the word "agency" but the idea of centering learning and teaching around learner voice, choice & ownership is one that we should all be familiar with.

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Most teachers probably have some "choice time" built in their weekly schedules. This article looks at how this time can be used to move students toward independent learning and student agency with a few easy adjustments. The Origin
For several years, I have built pockets of time called "Mish Mash" into my 5 th grade classroom. Mish Mash simply meant that "a little bit of this and a little bit of that" was happening at the same time. Generally, a list of choices was put on the board for students, often in a "Must- Do, Can-Do" format. Children who needed to finish things up would, before moving on to the "Can- Do" items which included choices such as Writer's Workshop, Independent Reading, math games, language games, etc. Aspects of Mish Mash varied over the years - the frequency, time of day, format, range of choices, and systems of accountability. But what never varied was the level of interest and engagement on the part of the students. Students would frequently ask, "Will we have Mish Mash time today?" and when the answer was that they would, they'd respond with the proverbial "Yessss!" followed by an exuberant fist pump.

At the start of Mish Mash time, students could be heard asking each other, " What are you doing for Mish Mash?" and then planned out their time together: "Let's do some independent reading for about 15 minutes and then meet to play Bananagrams." During Mish Mash time, students were always very engaged, happily moving between tasks, managing their time expertly. I often marvelled at how enthusiastically the students embraced their learning tasks. What was it about this time that made it so engaging? What was the driving force behind the success of Mish-Mash? Student choice! This became even more apparent when students started to offer suggestions for items on the "Can-Do" list: student voice! This led to even more engagement and more teacher insight into students' interests. Here was the student choice and voice educators were talking about!

Of course, we are all now acutely aware that voice and choice is a part of student agency - a highly valued characteristic we want to develop in our learners. I wanted to somehow build upon what I saw was happening in Mish Mash to create even better opportunities for students to develop agency.

At first, I talked with the students about the importance and value of student agency. I presented the following list:

Students demonstrate agency when they:

influence and direct their own learning

make choices

voice opinions

ask questions and express wonderings

communicate understandings

construct new meanings

participate in and contribute to the learning community.

We talked about how these opportunities could be present in an extended version of Mish Mash. We decided to try it out on a Thursday, the day the students are in homeroom the entire day. And that was the start of what the students named Independent Learning Thursday or ILT.

The day starts off with a quick run through of the day's ILT Google Doc. (insert link to sample doc?) The format of the document has been tweaked week after week based on student feedback, but its current format consists of Must - Dos and Can- Dos. The Must- Dos generally include learning goals, a curated list of learning resources to choose from, and suggested ways to show evidence of learning. There is space for a quick reflective comment upon completion of each task.

Students set about organizing their day, with the aim of completing the Must-Dos and having time for Can-Dos. They make decisions over what to tackle first, what to save until later, etc. This has led to great class discussions in which children share techniques for managing their time:

" I like to start with mathematics because I feel like I have more brain energy in the morning."
"I like to schedule reading breaks during the day to relax and clear my head."
The children also can create their own "best learning conditions" - in other words, develop metacognition. They are thinking about where to work and with whom to work - alone, with a partner or a small group. During our debriefs, children share what worked and what didn't work:
"It really helped me to work through the fractions task with a partner, but I liked doing the Unit of Inquiry task on my own because I concentrated better on the Newsela article by myself."
"Listening to music, helps me get into my writing bubble." A recent addition to ILT has been for children to plan their homework for that evening. Some children decide to build more Can-Do time into their day and schedule a Must-Do for the evening. Others prefer to have their Must-Dos done and select some Can-Dos for home. Either way, they are accountable to share their plan before leaving school and report back the next day.
The Role of the Teacher
Thursdays have become my most enjoyable and productive day! Often I will offer teacher-led sessions: "Who would like to work on a fractions task together? When shall we meet?" Apart from those sessions, I am floating around, checking in with students, observing and conferencing the entire day. I have found that Independent Learning Thursdays have allowed me to spend so much more quality time with the children, really getting to know them better as learners. But sometimes, I just take a moment to stand back and look around. It is so satisfying to see everyone so engaged. The students are really in the driver's seat, making choices for themselves and in charge of their own learning. To feel almost unneeded and redundant means that children are really on their way to becoming independent learners. How rewarding!
Next Steps
The students are making choices about when, where and with whom, but it is still currently the teacher who is planning the "what". Yes, there are choices built in, allowing for different levels, but it is me setting all of the goals and curating tasks and resources. Eventually, I'd love to move to a system in which children have even more input into their learning by selecting which goals are most relevant to them and involving them in designing learning paths that will best help them to meet their goals.

With Independent Learning Thursdays, students are making more choices, adding their voices to our learning routines, and influencing and directing more of their own learning. And that is a stepping stone to authentic student agency!

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Lauren Grahame has been an educator for nearly 30 years and has been teaching at Istanbul International Community School for more than fifteen. She is a firm believer that teachers must always be learners themselves and continue to hone best practices. She is also a huge Pearl Jam fan and goes to as many live shows as possible. You can follow her on Twitter @LaurenGrahame11.
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Independent Learning Thursdays - A Stepping Stone to Student Agency

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Most teachers probably have some "choice time" built in their weekly schedules. This article looks at how this time can be used to move students toward independent learning and student agency with a few easy adjustments. The Origin For several years, I have built pockets of time called "Mish Mash" into my 5 th grade classroom.

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This article talks about the journey of a Primary Years Programme (PYP) exhibition and the role of student agency in designing inquiry and research.
As the IB rolled out a PYP enhancement about learner agency, the grade 5 team at International School of Tanganyika thought about how to incorporate agency into our PYP exhibition. Unpacking the understanding of agency and thinking about its implication in this major event in the life of a fifth grader was a challenge.

Our first step was to break out of our preexisting notions of group dynamics and setting an expectation that each student would eventually work in a group. As the grade level central idea "Through our interests we can gain a deeper understanding of what matters in our community" was rolled out, the students were asked to inquire into an interest that they would like to learn more about. The enthusiasm to inquire into what they were genuinely passionate about paved way for more choices about the nature of groupings. At this stage, teachers chose to step back and let the students take charge. Students made choices about what they wanted to focus on after a few weeks of research and narrowing down their choices, which authentically led to forming groups based on common interests.

Choices of topics ranged from conventional ones like deforestation, gender equality, recycling, poaching and endangered sea life to more unconventional topics like guitar, mathematics and chronic kidney disorders. After an initial engagement with the grade wide central idea, students crafted their own central ideas based on their interests, developed concept questions and made choices about the transdisciplinary theme under which to place their inquiries. A focus on three key concepts drove the inquiry deeper. Some students decided to branch off from their umbrella group into working independently on ideas that excited them.

To combat the challenge of providing mentor support for each group/individual, the fifth-grade team decided to try a 'floating mentor' system. This enabled the mentors to visit classes and support various groups/individuals in the allocated times. Traditionally our school had allocated a mentor to each group, but with more flexibility this year, the mentors were able to support the groups/individuals that were hungry for "more". This model provided more time and efficiency to be able to scaffold the learners based on their needs.

Learner agency was gradually taking shape and students were more in control of their learning. It was exciting, yet unnerving at times for us as we sometimes struggled to see what the "end product" was going to look like. It was truly amazing to see students taking on their learning and demonstrating the approaches to learning as PYP learners. The power of student agency was on display. Teachers now have a better understanding of learner agency beyond its literal meaning as we got real life professional development from our "learners".

One of the students reflected on the process and commented that "During the exhibition I displayed self-management, commitment and independence. I learned that I was often asked the questions in the group and I often felt like the leader in the group. But with this position comes responsibilities, because lots of people are counting on you."

Designing an inquiry into personal interests was definitely successful and we hope to continue being able to enable students' choices about areas of interest. As the PYP enhancements are released next school year, we feel more and more excited to take on the role of learner agency into all areas of curriculum development.
Rehana Jasani has been a PYP practitioner for over 13 years. She is a PYP workshop leader, school visits team member and a PYP consultant. She currently teaches grade 5 at International School of Tanganyika, Tanzania. Prior to this, she was a PYP coordinator for 7 years at Aga Khan Schools, Dar-es-Salaam. Rehana is a lifelong learner who is passionate about inquiry based learning and believes in empowering students to take action as part of their learning. You can follow her on Twitter @Rehanajasani.

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This article talks about the journey of a Primary Years Programme (PYP) exhibition and the role of student agency in designing inquiry and research. As the IB rolled out a PYP enhancement about learner agency, the grade 5 team at International School of Tanganyika thought about how to incorporate agency into our PYP exhibition.

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Give an ear to students

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Summer break has always been a perfect time to reflect. This personal reflection on agency is the result of the data gathered through the collaborative reflection done with our school community. In this article, I will share about the ways we reinforce voice, choice and ownership at our school.

Hearing students' voices and enabling them feel that the school is a place that belongs to them is really important for us. We have an active student council that is formed with representatives from each class. The students get their friends' suggestions, share them in the regular meetings and after negotiating the suggestions, decisions are made together and implemented at school. The interesting thing about the student council has been that most of the time the students' suggestions match with our plans about learning and teaching. For example, in the past years the students have asked for increasing the use of the learning environments beyond their classrooms, extending the use of technology and these were areas that we had already planned to keep developing each year.

We feel that knowing the students and their goals is essential. Thus, we ask the students to set their goals for the year and share them in the form of a three-way conference. As the students share both academic and personal goals, this helps them see that their choices are important for us and we are there to support them not only for their academic goals but also for their personal goals (hobbies, interests). During goal setting meetings they share how we can support them as they take action and reflect on their goals throughout the year. We also have portfolio presentations twice each academic year and as the students choose the pieces of work or performance that they want to present, this allows them to organize what and how they want to present.

Individualizing learning is a stance that we feel increases agency. By differentiating instruction according to the students' needs, interests and learning profile, the students receive the message that we appreciate who they are as learners. When we started to differentiate instruction, our first step was to create an atmosphere where the students felt comfortable about performing-being different. "Let's Learn Together" project (started 7 years ago) has made a huge positive impact in achieving this. The students think about the areas that they are good at and the areas that they need to further develop. They fill out the charts in their classrooms (see the images below), sharing about the areas that they can support their friends, and the areas they would like to receive support in return. They then organize the times and places that they will come together and learn from each other. This voluntary project has helped the students feel good about what they can do.

As a result, we learned that many of our students wanted to start interest clubs at school. We see students working on origami, led by a student in one corner of the library, others practicing and sharing techniques about the hula hoop in a corner in the garden, and others writing a scenario together. We offer free time activities that the students select according to their interests, such as drama, chess and dance. These clubs that the students organize themselves, based on genuine choices and interests, give us ideas about we can offer each year.

The language of instruction in our school is Turkish and all our students speak Turkish as their home and family language. However, some of our students come from bi-cultural backgrounds and to enhance their sense of belonging, we ensure that these languages are represented in our school; with books in the library and sometimes with parents joining our classes.

At the end of each year, we give the students an end-of-year feedback form. We ask them questions about how they feel themselves at school, what they enjoy doing, what they want to do more at school, what supports their learning, what they do while learning something new, what their favourite unit of inquiry was, and a unit that they would plan if they had the chance. The data we gather from the students is invaluable as this helps us see their suggestions for school, and the way they perceive learning and teaching. We analyze and consider their feedback. These feedback forms have been very effective in hearing students' voices and help us understand how well we have achieved our mission.

I think the real impact of agency is student-initiated action and each year we see that the students are taking their learning further by taking responsible action. During the PYP exhibition, students form groups and select a global issue that they want to learn more about and take local action. As this is a process that the students lead, we see that the students own their work and use their full potential.

Next year, we are planning to offer "I Time" - an hour that the students inquire into a topic or skill that they are passionate about. We also plan to have student representatives in some of our collaborative planning meetings. We will keep improving and deepening our practices to ensure that the students' voice and choices are heard within our learning community.
Ceni Alpanda is the PYP Coordinator of ISTEK Baris Schools in Istanbul, Turkey and Coordinator of ISTEK Schools' PYP Coordinators. She is an IBEN member; with the roles of workshop leader, school visit team leader, consultant and reader. She is passionate about PYP and feels privileged to be a part of a large network of PYP educators that helps her learn and grow every day. You can follow her on Twitter @CeniAlpanda.

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Summer break has always been a perfect time to reflect. This personal reflection on agency is the result of the data gathered through the collaborative reflection done with our school community. In this article, I will share about the ways we reinforce voice, choice and ownership at our school.

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Inspiring Learning – Kath Murdoch in Conversation

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There is something about how people learn that involves a balance of activeness vs passiveness, self-direction vs micro-management, ownership vs compliance, intrinsic vs extrinsic motivation. Something based in interest and engagement and basic psychological needs such as autonomy, mastery and relatedness. Something that leads to curiosity, creativity and thriving.

It is something that is all too often lost in translation.

I write a great deal about student agency, by which I mean when students of their own volition extend the learning experience. This could mean exploring further in a topic area than required by an assignment, getting up on a Saturday to work on a project just because it's compelling, learning something outside of school such as video editing, suggesting a new way to demonstrate mastery, or any of a number of other acts. I always say that agentic students have taken ownership of their learning, not just their grades.

But when I look at what people write about student agency, I see definitions like: "Learner agency is the capability of individual human beings to make choices and act on these choices in a way that makes a difference in their lives." In another example, agency is described as being associated with the following characteristics: Punctuality, Good Conduct, Effort, Help Seeking, and Conscientiousness.

These framings of student agency miss the point entirely. They come from a framework where the teachers and parents set the goals and students are asked to be independent and self-directed in achieving them, even though the work might be tedious and uninspiring. It's as though the goal is to teach students that life is work and work is something you don't want to do, so you may as well get used to it now and develop the discipline and willpower to persist in things you do not like.

But where's the joy? When I talk about agency, I am talking about work that is joyful, that feels like Papert's hard fun. The gamification movement has tried to instill into education the agency that students experience when playing video games, though it often fails as it becomes a thin veneer of points and levels pasted over the same tedious work and passive learning experiences of traditional teaching.

Others suggest that we need to support student passions - that this is the way to get them inspired about school work. This can work sometimes, for some kids, but unfortunately it is too easy to take a topic where students have passion and apply it to work that remains uninspiring. It is also a significant burden to place on students to expect that they have passions. Instead, why not take the fascinating topics from standards and let them be interesting?

What too many ideations of student agency miss, is that at the heart there is a core of volition. Of desire or curiosity or interest. I repeat, "Agentic learners have taken ownership of their learning, not just their grades." How do you know if this is happening?

Look at how much willpower it takes for your students to do their work. On a scale of 1-10, do they fall on the side of "I hate this and it takes everything I've got to make myself do it" or "I would do this even if I didn't get credit?"

Think about it like exercise - do your students feel about homework the way many people feel about exercise? They buy into the goal of being fit, and they truly hold that as a goal, but it takes every ounce of willpower to meet it. Or are they like athletes who take joy in what their bodies can do and are always seeking ways to eke out just a little more performance? Willpower is a limited resource - we only have so much of it. Someone who hates exercise is not going to become a world-class athlete (unless their mindset changes).

Someone who has to use all their willpower to complete their homework assignments isn't going to explore topics for fun or suggest interesting ways to demonstrate mastery - their resources are depleted by simply complying with the minimal requirements. However, in a classroom where work and the environment is structured to foster agency, students are more like those world-class athletes - they enjoy their work and are interested in it. The learning is meaningful to them for its own sake.

In practice, of course, the willpower metric lies on a spectrum. There can often be some willpower required to get started until intrinsic motivation takes over due to the design of the work and the appeal of the topic. Even the most agentic classrooms will have some rote work required, and the most rote classrooms will have glimmers of engagement. And, of course, learning work ethic and self-discipline is important as well.

But when definitions of agency lead to work that is driven purely by willpower, those definitions need to be reconsidered. The agentic classroom should be hard but fun for teachers and students alike.

For more, see:
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Marie Bjerede is President at Agentic Learning. Follow Marie on Twitter at @mbjerede.

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The Willpower Gap - Misinterpreting Student Agency

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There is something about how people learn that involves a balance of activeness vs passiveness, self-direction vs micro-management, ownership vs compliance, intrinsic vs extrinsic motivation. Something based in interest and engagement and basic psychological needs such as autonomy, mastery and relatedness. Something that leads to curiosity, creativity and thriving.

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The following is an excerpt from "It's a Gift: Disposed to Learn" by Ruth Crick. To download the full white paper and others in the Corwin Educator Series, click here
Resilient agency in learning begins with a that matters, and this purpose is informed by and, in turn, energises the devel opment of learning dispositions -that complex mix of behaviours , values, attitudes, feelings, cognitive resources , and stories which enable students to navigate their way around in the zone of the top right-hand quadrant of the knowledge agency window .

One way of describing the sort of learning that takes place here is 'authentic enquiry' : authentic in the sense that the enquiry journey is real and meaningful in the life world of the student and also in the sense that the student is the author of her own enquiry journey. In this context , the pedagogical challenge is how to ensure the intellectual rigour and depths of outcome when the precise content of what is going to be learned is unknown ahead of time.

It's at this point that learning power can provide useful 'scaffolding' between the learners' sense of identity and purpose and their encounters with the data, information, experience , and knowledge they need in order to achieve that purpose. The purpose can include goals shaped by external criteria, such as qualifications. Scaffolding can be understood as a 'sign post' or a 'structure' that enables the 'builder' to produce something new, which can stand alone .

A project funded by the Royal Society of Arts in the UK was designed to explore what that 'scaffolding' would look like where students were inspired and fueled by their own identity and purpose in learning. Working across several learning communities, the following iterative and sequential knowledge building capabilities were identified . These provide a focus for developing students' learning dispositions and their sense of personal agency as part of a meaningful learning journey. The focus here is not on the knowledge the learner has to acquire, or the curriculum that has to be covered, but on the student's own disposition to learn his way forwards to solve a complex problem that matters to him: his resilient agency. It's about the thinking and learning processes he goes through when he's addressing an open-ended, wicked, problem, the which enables the or the purpose of the enquiry to be achieved.

The student is encouraged to choose a concrete object, place, person, event , or a problem that fascinates her. Careful, 'hands-off' prompting and guidance may be needed from the tutor or coach, to ensure that personal interest is strong and authentic. The rest of the process will be highly influenced by the integrity of this choosing process. At this point , it is the strength of the student's interest and engagement that are important.

She observes and analyses the chosen obj ect/place, both as a separate, objective entity and in relation to her own interest and reasons for choosing it. In this, she is developing her sense of personal responsibility. This initiates the cycles of a personal development process which is recorded in a workbook or online journal and in which the student, tutor and, later others, can participate. It requires the student to develop the critical curiosity and mindful agency necessary for independent learning, in the context of effective learning relationships. She is also developing hope and optimism in herself as a learner who can change and grow over time.

She starts asking questions- obvious, but open ones, such as: How did it get there? What was there before? Why is it how it is? Who uses it? How and why did they get involved? What's it made of? She is initiating and conducting a process of enquiry and investigation, driven by personal interest and shaped in turn by the answers to her own questions. She is exercising and developing critical curiosity. All the time, the student is encouraged to reflect on her motivation, reasoning and identity as a motivator of her own learning.

The questioning leads to the uncovering of narratives, both around the chosen object and in the unfolding of new learning. Historical and present realities lead to a sense of 'what might be' both for the object/place and for the learner and her learning. She is becoming the author of her own learning story or journey. She is sense-making , using her imagination and intuition and Mindful Agency.

The learn er begins to discern that this ad-hoc , subjective n arrative leads in turn to new, objective facts and knowledge. Subjective learning starts to be related to a wider, objective awa reness. The learning becomes a knowledge map that can be used to make sense of the journey and of new learning as it comes into view. She is sense-making by connecting new learning to the story so far .

With informed guidance and support, the student's widening 'map' of knowledge can be related to existing maps or models of the world: scientific, engineering, mathematical, historical, social, psychological, theological, philosophical . This is where awarenes s of the diversity of possible avenues of learning becomes useful. It requires the tutor to ac t as supporter, encourager, and tour guide in the student's encounter with established and specialist sources and forms of kn owledge. It is where knowledge experts can be really helpful . It's where the learner begins the intellectual hard work of knowledge construction.

The student arrives at the interface between her personal enquiry and the specialist requirements of curriculum, course, examination, accreditation , or business proposition. Her development as learner enables her to encounter specialist knowledge and make sense of it, in relation to what she already knows and in the way she already learns, interrogating it and interact ing with it, instead of simply receiving it, u sing the model of learning and knowledge mapping skills she has developed through the enquiry. This is where her resilient agency , which will have started to grow through the responsibility and challenge of a self-motivated enquiry , will be tested .

The student can forge links between what she now knows and institutional and social structures receptive to it : qualifications, job opportunities, learning opportunities, needs, initiatives, outlets, relationships, accreditation, publication... Initially, this takes the form of a portfolio or presentation, based on the workbook, making explicit both process and outcomes of the enquiry. Her learning has met its communicative purpose. She has created a pathway from subjective response and observation towards the interface with established knowledge and assessment criteria.

In doing so, she has also achieved life-enhancing personal development by asking and answering such questions as: Who am I? What is my pathway? How did I get there? Where does it lead me? What were the alternatives? Who helped me and how? The outcome of this learning facilitates a sense of vocational identity: how I can make a difference in the world . (Deakin Crick, 2009)
To read more from "It's a Gift: Disposed to Learn" and other white papers in the Corwin Educator Series,click here or on the banner below.
These iterative and sequential stages of authentic enquiry can help to 'scaffold' a project from the identification and formulation of a problem through to an outcome which achieves a negotiated purpose. It is one of the most powerful means of developing a student's learning dispositions since different 'learning muscles' ar e flexed throughout the process -and both these knowledge capabilities and the learning dispositions can be made visible, discussed in the learning community and specifi cally in coaching conversations -and, significantly , they can be assessed.

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Developing Student Agency Through Authentic Enquiry - Corwin Connect

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The following is an excerpt from "It's a Gift: Disposed to Learn" by Ruth Crick. To download the full white paper and others in the Corwin Educator Series, click here. Resilient agency in learning begins with a purpose that matters, and this purpose is informed by and, in ...

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When I first started writing this post, my intention was to jump straight into ideas for implementing student agency in our PYP classrooms. Then I got to thinking that maybe not everyone is wholly familiar with the PYP's enhancements to be released this year. (2018) And so, I thought I'd take a step back, try to clarify the term "student agency" and go from there. So, bear with me if you're up to date with the shifting and changing going on. The ideas follow the chat. Otherwise, grab a cup of tea and read on.

Form: What is agency in the enhanced PYP?

Even though the term "student agency" is the new buzz word regarding our learners in the PYP, it really isn't altogether new. It's important to keep in mind that it's not a brand new change but rather a shift towards a greater emphasis of providing more deliberate autonomy for our students, thus developing leadership. This form of leadership can be viewed as deliberate, independent decision making for one's own success or leading synergistically within a group.

Agency is basically when our students have ownership of their own learning and action that comes from that learning. Our job is to facilitate opportunities with their learning that enable more active participation for the kids.

"Agency is the power to take meaningful and intentional action, and acknowledges the rights and responsibilities of the individual, supporting voice, choice and ownership..." IBO November 2017

Function: What is its purpose and how does it work?

Within a learner-centred environment there is a lot more student participation with reflection and responsibility than in a teacher-centred environment. The children identify and set their own goals, help to choose their own differentiated activities and reflect upon how well they have met their goals. It becomes more of a partnership with the teacher when the students are helping to design the projects and activities along the lines of inquiry, which is driven by their curiosity and interest. With a learner-centred classroom the teacher becomes the facilitator of the learning and assessment, monitoring the action, the progress and checking in with the kids.

It has been an explicit expectation of the PYP for a while, that successful inquiry will lead to student initiated action as a direct result of the learning process, which in turn, extends the students' learning. Which, when you think about it, how can it NOT extend their learning? Student action looks like:

It is no accident that the attributes of the Learner Profile are repeatedly showing up within this process. As the Learner Profile has always been the centre of the PYP, so must the Learner become the centre of our classroom.

Responsibility: Giving the Kids A Voice

There are many ways that we can start to bring more responsibility into the hands of our pupils. As we begin to plan for this however, we have to really get to know our learners as well as bring a heightened awareness to the children of their role as active learners rather than just kids passively showing up in class day after day. This reflection sheet is a good start when it comes to analysing ourselves as learners, according to the Learner Profile. I like to model it for the children first, using myself as the subject. You can download it for free right here or by clicking on the image.

Once the children reflect upon their strengths and challenges as a learner, the Create Your Own bunting below is a great focus activity where they can select a few profile traits and attitudes and explain more about how they see themselves within THAT profile trait. It makes a great display too. 🙂

Creating this mind-set early on is a win-win for all involved. (There is another blog post that goes into more depth about actively engaging learners with a growth mind-set here.)

Transferring Decision Making Into the Hands of the Students

Probably the simplest way to get your kiddos thinking like active and important members of the classroom community is to involve them in making some of the decisions for their classroom. This immediately gives them a voice. These things can be introduced as slowly or as quickly as you feel your group of learners can cope. It really all depends on your group of kids and how much autonomy they may have been exposed to prior. It is of course an on-going process.

Essential Agreements - These seem like the most obvious start to me. Right at the beginning of the school year but can be revisited with each term. You can learn a wee bit more about those in this previous post.

Flexible seating gives them your trust together with their integrity, to choose where to sit freely AND with the added responsibility to focus on tasks in hand.

Develop a class voting system for class decisions novel study options, class rewards ( E.g. popcorn party vs. extra recess?), drama on Monday or Tuesday?

Classroom layout - Have some input from the children as to what goes where. This is so empowering for the kids at the beginning of a brand new school year, not to mention feels really grown up. 🙂 It doesn't suit everyone, but I do like to change the furniture around a bit each term.

Self grouping - Have students put themselves into collaborative groups with your guidance. ( E.g. mix it up from last time, same sex groups, work with someone you've not worked with before, choose someone you communicate well with, etc. ) Depending on your group of kids, it can take some time to get it down. Persevere.

Planning the schedule or a part of your daily/weekly schedule, where possible. We would do this on a Friday afternoon, reflecting upon our week and adding additional time with maths if necessary or writing etc., setting goals for APL skills and planning a reward if we meet them. ( Example: Greater communication within group work, using our question stems with the reward of ten minutes extra recess or a class game.)

Planning Their Own Learning

Kids trip out when you first have them help plan their own learning! But they absolutely love it!

Using success criteria and self-assessment helps them to make informed choices.

Daily learning objectives is an easy one for both teacher and students to get used to the concept. Great to do either on a Monday morning planning session or a Friday afternoon as a reflection of the week, in preparation for the following week.

Literature Inquiry Circles - Many of us are familiar with this fabulous way to allow students to independently direct their learning. I highly recommend Harvey Daniels book show above for those who'd like to learn more about Lit Circles. It has very useable ideas that area easy to implement. Click on the image and it'll take you to Amazon where you can read more about it.

Differentiation stations - This is another form of self assessment. As you prepare differentiated activities, group the materials (I use labels such as " I am improving with this skill", "I can do this independently, with some help", "I can teach this skill to others") and set each station with the label, around the room) and then give the children the choice of which differentiated task they will work through. This is actually easier than it sounds.

The first time I introduce this to my class, I will take time to explain the expectations, making it clear that we all have different strengths and challenges and that just because your best pal chooses one station doesn't mean that it is the right station for you too. I also like to make it clear that the children can begin with one station and, if they find it too difficult or not challenging enough, then they can move onto another station. I have done this successfully with reading, science and math inquiries. The reflection afterwards is quite powerful indeed. It takes a wee bit more preparation on the teacher's part but it is well worth it, I promise.

Choice boards - as they state, they give the kids the opportunity to
independently choose which inquiry based activities they will do. These are always popular. I have a Tic Tac Toe version for all transdisciplinary themes, geared for 3rd-5th grades that you check out here as well as choice boards for math standards. So easy to print and go. You can try it out for free if you like, here.

Peer Learning - The famous quote by Benjamin Franklin sums up this aspect of student agency perfectly.

"Tell me and I forget.

Teach me and I remember.

Involve me and I learn."

Involvement is peer learning at it's finest with children working together to learn something, teaching each other a skill or a strategy. I have found that works best in one-to-one pairings. However, small groups can collaborate to teach another small group a skill that we have been learning. It is also a brilliant homework task - choose something that you have learned this month and prepare a lesson for the class. Kids LOVE standing up and being the teacher. As the facilitator, it is easy to jump in and help as necessary. And it covers so many of the APL skills! Win-win!

Self-assessment & Peer Assessment -

1.The good old rubric never goes wrong with self assessment and peer assessement. I like to take it a step further and involve the children in the creation of such rubrics. It is a terrific way to reflect upon the expecatations, setting goals at the same time. Easy to implement, put a blank rubric chart under the document camera or on your Smart board, enter the data that must be met ( key concepts, skills, subject knowledge etc) and then set 2-4 expectations per goal.

With peer assessment, be sure that the kids know to give positive and constructive criticism. We had to practice this in the beginning with a mini lesson on empathy and caring. 🙂

2. Traffic Lights - this is a quick and easy way for the children to self assess themselves and for you to gauge their understanding and confidence of the topic. I ask them to add a coloured circle in the top corner of their page so that it is easy for me to see as I walk around the room or when marking their work. These classroom posters are free to download here if you'd like.

Scheduling Teacher Conferences - Monitoring progress has always been an on-going process and it becomes more meaningful when the child is actually involved and aware of their growth. Students LOVE to schedule themselves for our once a week one-on-one conference. I keep a sign up sheet on a clip board hanging at a convenient point for everyone to reach.

We discuss the data that I have tracked, their questions and concerns and together we set goals for the following week. This is kept in our Reflection Journals, which each child brings with them to our conference. Tracking progress can be done with a simple rubric, chart, graph or a software programme such as Accelerated Reader/Math. There is always a few kiddos that you have to chase down but for the most part, the kids enjoy the independent aspect of the conference. This takes about 60-75 minutes to complete a class in one sitting and I schedule it at the same time as our independent reading time, where the kids are working quietly on reading and related activities.

Personal Learning Plans (PLPs) - these tie in well with the above conferences. There is a simple form that I use and the children and I reflect and set goals for the coming week, keeping them in our Reflection Journals. (You can grab a copy of this form by clicking this link. )These can be shared with other staff
as well ( specials teachers, SPED etc) and parents, making for a wonderful communication tool between all parties involved.

In addition to the PLPs, we take time each term to set goals for our own learning and I like to keep those goals on display so that they are easy to refer to and right under ittle noses, thus keeping everyone accountable. These Goal Setting activities are simple to print, go and display.

Scheduled Workshops - these are where I will have a focus group for a particular skill that needs reviewed or for kids who need to be challenged with certain skills. The kids can add their names to this schedule, when we review our weekly learning goals on Mondays. I do discuss this in our weekly conference too, just in case I feel that someone is slipping through the net. It isn't too unlike guided math/reading groups except that it's far more flexible. If there are too many in one group, then I get the message that I need to review the skill as a whole class lesson and plan for that. You can see how this allows the children to control the pace.

Documenting Learning

What? -

-our questions, activities that we do, conversations that stuck with us, noting our mistakes & our discoveries, making connections etc.

Where? -

-reflection journals - as bullet notes, sketch notes, short paragraphs, graphic organisers ( focusing on teacher-guided specifics or free choice), sticky notes, pictures glued onto pages with thoughts/questions

-inquiry banks - a white board or large sheet of poster paper that can be used as a "bank" to note down our questions. There are many different ways to do this. Some people prefer to use sticky notes, I prefer dry erase markers on a whiteboard.

The inquiry bank is a communal area where the children are encouraged to read others' inquiries and answer them too. The answers are written beside ( or sticky note added beside) the inquiry. If there is a particularly popular question, then I will add it to our lines of inquiry. The last 10-15 minutes at the end of the day is our reflection time, where we discuss and share our new knowledge, our reflection journals and look at the inquiry bank.

-PLPs - These can kept in the back of our Reflection journals and then added to our Portfolios for each unit. If I am using them as a Knowledge Focus(specifically focusing on math, writing skills or reading) then I keep them in our working binders until the unit is completed.

-Portfolios - I still prefer to use the good old fashioned binder for our main portfolios and therefore we can keep a record of our learning from each UOI within. I know many are using digital portfolios and, of course, these can be used as a record of learning too.

Having read all of the above, you are no doubt thinking to yourself, " Well, hey, I already do a lot of this." And I would have to agree. The difference with the current shift towards greater student agency is that the emphasis is on the word . We, as the teachers, have to develop a greater awareness of what agency in our classroom looks like so that we are conscientiously implementing that shift towards supporting and developing even further ownership of learning amongst our children by giving them greater opportunities for voice and choice.

Please feel free to comment below and add any other suggestions and ideas that you may have. Til next time.....

FOLLOW ME HERE, FOLLOW ME THERE.....

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Implementing Student Agency in the IB PYP

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When I first started writing this post, my intention was to jump straight into ideas for implementing student agency in our PYP classrooms. Then I got to thinking that maybe not everyone is wholly familiar with the PYP's enhancements to be released this year. (2018) And so, I thought I'd take a...

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Classroom strategies to encourage agency 

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Classroom strategies to encourage agency 

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Classroom Strategies To Encourage Participation And Learner Agency | KQED

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When students participate in class discussion and activities they’re more engaged and learn more.

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Encouraging Agency

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By Barbara Blackburn
Do you remember the first time you made a major purchase or invested in something really big that was yours? For me, it was my first car. I worked several summers as a lifeguard to save enough to buy a small red Toyota.

It took all of my savings, but it was mine. I washed it, took care of it, and had a special pride in knowing that it was mine and that I had worked for it.

What about your students? How do they view the classroom? Is it yours, and they are simply renting space for a short time? Or do they feel like they own it with you, that it is our classroom?

That may sound funny, but go back to your personal experience. How do you feel about things you own? My guess is you have extra stick-to-it-ness-a longer-term view about things you own. You are more invested in taking care of them and making them better.

Students in classrooms where there is a sense of shared ownership have the same feeling. They love coming to school, and as one student told me, "It's my class, and if I'm not there, I'll be missed!"

Don't just expect students to claim ownership

You might be thinking, "I'll take the ones who want to be here, and for those others, well, after all, they are just here a year. If they want to have that attitude, it is okay with me; it is their choice. I can wait them out, too."

But helping students establish ownership is really important to YOUR success, too. A key part of motivation is feeling a sense of ownership in what is going on. Consider that students spend almost a third of every day in school. That is a lot of time!

I talked to a parent who said, "We've just resigned ourselves to having a bad year. Michael just isn't 'into' school this year." We know that for many students, particularly those who are not performing on grade level, it takes several years to make up for one bad year or for one year with a less effective teacher. Part of being effective involves your invitation to students to become co-owners.
Ownership is a characteristic that takes time to encourage, but you can build it by focusing on three specifics: choice, voice, and leadership.
1. Build ownership by offering choices

Offering choices is one of the simplest ways to encourage student involvement in your classroom. Unfortunately, I talk to many teachers and students who don't feel as though they have any choices at all.

I talked to one student who told me he felt like school was a place where "they tell you what to do all the time." Feeling a lack of choice is disheartening and frustrating for anyone. There are many opportunities for students to have choices in your classroom.

One of the most basic ways to integrate choices is to allow students to choose how they demonstrate understanding of content. When I assigned a book report to my students, they could choose the desired format. Some wrote a report, others made a poster or created a commercial. I've been in primary classrooms where students could choose whether to write, draw, or tell what they know about the lesson, and this is becoming more common in middle grades classrooms, often with some technology involved.

I was in an alternative school where students felt they had no choices. The English teacher was planning a unit on Shakespeare. As she and I talked, she realized that allowing her students to choose a final project would encourage stronger participation from them. However, she was uncomfortable simply letting them come up with whatever they wanted to do.

So she began by allowing them to explain the literary work by choosing from a list of appropriate projects, such as painting a mural, creating a music video, designing a commercial, or writing a children's book.

You could offer these options with just about any assignment you do, no matter the subject. Imagine the depth of understanding needed for a student to explain a concept in a two-minute commercial or the creativity involved in developing a music video to explain content. If they are allowed to choose how they show you they understand the content, many students will invest more time and effort on the task.

2. Build ownership by encouraging voice

Student voice is actually taking the notion of choice to a higher level. With choices, you are still the primary decision maker, and you are allowing students to make some decisions, usually within some parameters. Voice is about students truly sharing in the decision-making process.

Adam Myers, a language arts teacher at Coulwood Middle School, employed a controversial approach to spur his students to use their voices to express strong opinions. In the middle of a novel study, Forged by Fire by Sharon Draper (the story of a young boy's life as he attempts to protect his younger half-sister from mental, physical, and sexual abuse from their stepfather), Adam hid the books.

When students asked for the books, he explained that parents were unhappy about the decision to read Forged by Fire and that the book was banned from the classroom because of the inappropriate subject matter in the book. The students quickly responded: "Whose parents told?" "The book isn't even that bad." "I hate this school!" "This is wrong."

Then Adam encouraged students to write letters to parents, the principal, the governor, or the president expressing how they felt about the book and what happened. All agreed that the novels belonged in their hands - no one had the right to take them away.

He then told them he was just kidding. Here's what he said about the experience:
I like to think of their laughter and comments about their mean teacher as relief that the books were still going to be a part of the classroom. What amazed me most...were the answers I received when I asked them why they thought I would do such a thing. It was in this conversation with my students that I saw that I had truly used literature and writing to help my students both academically and developmentally. They were attached to the characters and felt cheated that they wouldn't know the end of the plot. They took ownership of their writing as they justified that although the novel was controversial, it allowed them to explore a realistic situation that unfortunately was too close to some of their friends, classmates, or family members. My students have not forgiven me, and that is o.k. because I'm sure they will never forget me.
What a powerful lesson. He tapped into students' strong feelings of justice and choice with a real-life example of censorship to spark ownership of an issue. Although a controversial activity, it clearly had a lasting impact on his students.

3. Build ownership by encouraging leadership

A final way to build ownership is to provide opportunities for each student to be a leader in your room. I think the best, most consistent examples of this happen in early childhood classrooms.

There is a leader for the day listed on the board. Or there is a chart on the board and it lists several leaders for the day: the lunch line leader, the calendar leader, the recess leader, and so on. Every child has a specific role, and the teacher rotates those regularly. In that particular classroom, everyone is a leader at least once a week.

Gin Sorrow, a middle school teacher, shared a leadership story with me:
I had some very social and unmotivated girls that were negative leaders in a class. I challenged them to teach the next section. They would come early in the mornings and work with me during planning times to prepare the lessons. It was a wonderful experience. I was able to see some of their methods for connecting with their peers that I could incorporate into my teaching the rest of the year. The girls grew into more positive leaders and challenged the other students to improve. It is definitely a strategy I would use again.
Many teachers use more formal structures, such as electing class officers. Tamara Willis, seventh-grade social studies teacher at Sullivan Middle School, chose a similar approach after her students complained, "School is like a job and...we should get paid for attending."

They voted to create a business, which was named Sullivan University. Students prepared resumes and applied for positions (Dean, Professor, and Intern) and interviewed one another for the jobs. Those students who were hired to be deans held an executive board meeting with Ms. Willis to form teams and design new classroom rules to address issues related to poor behavior and absenteeism.

As the experiment continued, students began to demonstrate leadership by quieting their peers when they were disruptive. The result? Attendance increased, students were more engaged in instruction, and discipline referrals decreased.

All these examples have one thing in common: The teachers chose to channel students' negative behaviors into positive actions, tied to leadership development.

Shared ownership is a win-win

Ultimately, you have the final say in your classroom. After all, you are the teacher. You're the CEO of Learning. But as the most successful executive leaders will tell you, if you are willing to share some ownership with your "employees," you will create a true community of learners, and you will also reap the benefits. Not only will your students want to come to class, so will you.

__________
Barbara Blackburn is a best-selling author of 15 books including Rigor is Not a Four Letter Word. A nationally recognized expert in the areas of rigor and motivation, she collaborates with schools and districts for professional development. Barbara can be reached through her website or her blog. She's on Twitter @BarbBlackburn. Her latest books are Motivating Struggling Learners: 10 Ways to Build Student Success and the second edition of The Principalship from A to Z, written with Ron Williamson.

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3 Ways to Build More Student Ownership of Learning

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By Barbara Blackburn Do you remember the first time you made a major purchase or invested in something really big that was yours? For me, it was my first car. I worked several summers as a lifeguard to save enough to buy a small red Toyota.

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Agency is the capacity and propensity to take purposeful initiative-the opposite of helplessness. Young people with high levels of agency do not respond passively to their circumstances; they tend to seek meaning and act with purpose to achieve the conditions they desire in their own and others' lives.
A new Harvard study , sponsored by the Raikes Foundation , suggests that student agency may be as important an outcome of schooling as basic skills.

The report, The Influence of Teaching Beyond Standardized Test Scores: Engagement, Mindsets, and Agency , relies on the Tripod survey of teaching. Over 300,000 students in grades six to nine in 14 states were surveyed during the 2013-14 school year.

Developed by Ron Ferguson 15 years ago, the Tripod construction appears more relevant to traditional teacher-centered classrooms than student-centered approaches. As a result, there are some limitations of an instrument designed for measuring agency in low agency environments. However, next generation Bay Area models including Summit Public Schools and Education for Change (EFC) find the survey useful.

"Where this report is effective is in pushing us to think about agency in the context of what grown-ups have to do to facilitate it," said Hae-Sin Thomas, CEO of EFC. "Tripod unfortunately is not a tool designed specifically to evaluate teacher practice specific to agency, but it's as good as it gets with respect to student surveys and student-centered teacher practice."

An important subset of Habits of Success ( discussed last week ), agency, the capacity and propensity to take purposeful action, is key to success in life.

Albert Bandura said:

Through agentic action, people devise ways of adapting flexibly to remarkably diverse geographic, climatic and social environments; they figure out ways to circumvent physical and environmental constraints, redesign and construct environments to their liking... By these inventive means, people improve their odds in the fitness survival game.

Hitlin and Elder suggest four overlapping conceptions of agency:

Existential agency: The capacity, or free will, for exerting influence on our environments.

Programmatic agency: Following rules and routines.

Identify agency: What we believe about ourselves and the ways that we wish to be perceived by others.

Life-course agency: Actions that we take to affect future outcomes.

10 Guidelines for Teaching

The Influence of Teaching report makes 10 suggestions for teaching.

More Than Teaching

The report logic map is shown below. It suggests that teachers and family assets play a major role in support agency development.

The central question explored by this report is, "How do distinct components of teaching influence the development and expression of agency-related factors in sixth to ninth grade classrooms?"

A more useful question, given advances in tools and schools in the last 15 years, would be, "How do distinct components of learner experience influence the development and expression of agency?" In particular, factors related to learning models, progressions, and environments appear critical to promoting or damaging agency.

A useful complement to this report is exploring how new models, like NGLC grantees, promote agency through:

Blended learning environments where students have some ability to co-create path, pace, and place;

Competency-based learning environments where students show what they know and progress based on demonstrated mastery;

Project-based and interest-based learning where students have some ability to shape the driving question, the process, and the work product; and

Work and service learning experience that students select or create.

The report completely misses model-based factors which are becoming at least as important as teacher factors. The difference between a Summit or EFC secondary school and a big bad high school is everything. There are certainly differences in teacher quality, but it's one of a dozen model factors (e.g., mission, schedule, structure, advisory, technology blend, learning trajectories, and real world connections).

The report dumps a lot in teacher's laps but most of them are stuck in an obsolete low agency model that infantilizes teenagers rather than empowering them to own their learning.

Every high agency secondary school I have visited has had some kind of an advisory structure . The sustained relationship with a caring adult that sets the cultural tone, is part of a distributed guidance system, and provides continuous feedback on success habits is every bit as important as classroom instruction in developing student agency.

Agency development isn't just a product of quality teaching, it's the product of a quality system-one designed as a high agency environment.

Hae-Sin Thomas said, "It's definitely time to take this conversation around agency to a deeper level- what are the components of agency, how do we measure those components, how do we map those components to specific practices, conditions or attitudes and then how do we measure those specific to building agency."

For more see:
Stay in-the-know with all things EdTech and innovations in learning by Images from The Influence of Teaching Beyond Standardized Test Scores: Engagement, Mindsets, and Agency. signing up to receive the weekly Smart Update

Tom Vander Ark is author of Difference Making at the Heart of Learning, The Power of Place, Better Together, Smart Parents, Smart Cities and Getting Smart. He is co-founder of Getting Smart and Learn Capital and serves on the boards of Education Board Partners, 4.0 Schools, Digital Learning Institute, Latinx Education Collaborative, Mastery Transcript Consortium and eduInnovation. Follow Tom on Twitter, @tvanderark.

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Agency is the capacity and propensity to take purposeful initiative-the opposite of helplessness. Young people with high levels of agency do not respond passively to their circumstances; they tend to seek meaning and act with purpose to achieve the conditions they desire in their own and others' lives.

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CORE Education highlights the top ten education trends of 2017. These trends include Learner Agency, Artificial Intelligence, The Cloud, Blockchain, Communities Of Learning, Virtual Learning, Collaboration, Data Science, Automation and Stem. Explore these trends and how they can benefit your professional learning.

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ARTICLE: How Blended Learning Can Support Student Agency | NGLC

(5:00)
Blended learning puts students in the driver's seat of learning by increasing their voice, choice, and motivation.

ARTICLE: What student choice and agency actually looks like

(5:00)
Snapshots of six schools that use blended learning to put students in control.

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ARTICLE: How Blended Learning Can Support Student Agency | NGLC (5:00)Blended learning puts students in the driver's seat of learning by increasing their voice, choice, and motivation. ARTICLE: What student choice and agency actually looks like (5:00) Snapshots of six schools that use blended learning to put students in control.

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I often receive questions from educators around the world, and I am so grateful. Questions lead to thinking and, often, collaboration. There are few things I enjoy more than talking literacy, inquiry, and all things learning. (You can see what I mean by listening to the podcasts I've had the pleasure to be a part of.)

This morning, I received some very thoughtful and timely questions from a wonderful international educator.

I'm writing to you because I wanted to ask you about your perspective on a topic of discussion at my school: the inquiry cycle. As the "inquiry coach," I have been asked by the principal to make sure the teachers in the PYP understand how the inquiry cycle works. Personally, I used [a particular version] for several years but moved away from it since I found it restricting to be using a set cycle and that it made the inquiry process lack in authenticity. Many of the learning engagements fell into more that one component...and I didn't really see the value in discussing with the learners which stage of inquiry we were in at each given moment.

Depending on the nature of the UOI [Unit of Inquiry], I spent some time experimenting with different inquiry cycles as well as design cycles. Recently, I have stopped using inquiry cycles per se but have been going through the motions of inquiry as they naturally take place. Some of the teachers at my school believe that all teachers should use the same inquiry cycle for all units so that students will learn to use one over the years.

So my questions to you are the following:

As PYP teachers, is it necessary that we use an inquiry cycle? If so, would you recommend that the whole primary school (plus Early Years) stick to the same cycle? Would you recommend that each teacher uses the same inquiry cycle throughout the year?

I love these questions. They spark thoughts around relevance, autonomy, and authenticity.

My short answer is: No. It is not necessary, and I do not recommend it.

Of course, there is much more nuance to it than that.

Words Matter

You will notice that throughout the ePYP (the Enhanced PYP) From Principles into Practice, inquiry is referred to as a process rather than a cycle. There can be many or few steps in an inquiry process, and they can vary greatly-in what they are, in what order they occur, in how or if they overlap, etc.

Inquiries take different paths depending on the starting points, interests and experiences of students and teachers. This means that teaching through inquiry is inherently open and can take many directions based on student and teacher reflections.
PYP Learning and Teaching, 2018, p. 45

The ePYP also refers to inquiry as an interplay.

Represented as the interplay between asking (inquiry), thinking (reflection) and doing (action), this constructivist inquiry process leads towards open classrooms where different views and perspectives are valued. This process is the basis of the design and implementation of learning and teaching in all IB programmes.
PYP Learning and Teaching, 2018, p. 40

To date, this is my favorite word used to describe inquiry. Interplay brings all of the connotations with it (and the denotation as well) that encapsulate the spirit of inquiry. After all, it includes the word play inside it. Play and a curious mindset are key to inquiry-at all ages. When we are curious, when we look through an "I wonder..." lens, the world opens.

There is No Prescribed Recipe

The ePYP recognizes the same concerns my colleague noted through her questions. In too many places around the world, inquiry has been misunderstood as a linear, lockstep march through inquiry, action, and reflection.

But that's not how inquiry works.

Inquiry is gloriously unique in every classroom and with each learner. Inquiry, reflection, and action-asking, thinking, doing-still tend to pop up again and again, of course, but there is an interplay, and often overlap, in their order and flow-and it's different with each inquiry you embark upon. Note the distinctions made in an excerpt from the ePYP chart below.

PYP Learning and Teaching, 2018, p. 41

What's Best for Kids?

As I've said before, the kids are our North Star. Everything we do must come back to asking: Is this what's best for kids?

Jeff Anderson is an educational consultant who has been inspiring others to embrace the power and joy of the writing process for almost thirty years. He recently said, "Writing is not a fill-in-the-blank pursuit."

The same holds true for inquiry.

For all learning.

Fill-in-the-blank, template inquiry will only lead to fill-in-the-blank, template thinking. And that is most definitely not what we want for our kids. Our kids deserve opportunities to use and grow their critical and creative thinking skills. They deserve open-minded learning environments where thoughtful risk-taking is appreciated and process is valued over product.

They deserve true inquiry. And that is not a fill-in-the-blank pursuit.

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Inquiry is Not a Fill-in-the-Blank Pursuit - Tonya Gilchrist

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Fill-in-the-blank, template inquiry will only lead to fill-in-the-blank, template thinking. And that is most definitely not what we want for our kids. Our kids deserve opportunities to use and grow their critical and creative thinking skills. They deserve open-minded learning environments where thoughtful risk-taking is appreciated and process is valued over product.

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In this article you will read about how the Teaching for Artistic Behavior framework has enabled an art teacher to authentically encourage and support student-led inquiry every minute of every day in the art room. Students worked independently and in small groups to discover how art was connected to every other aspect of their lives.
Two years ago, I was reflecting on my practices as an IB Primary Years Programme (PYP) art specialist. I was a well-oiled machine: introducing and directing art projects, and making connections to every single grade level planner. In a way, I was comforted because I knew the connection was there; I was at the very least exposing students to these connections while they improved their skills. However, I found myself mostly disappointed, because I found it difficult to get the students to care about those connections with me. I started admitting to myself that those were my connections, they only made the most sense to me, and that forcing those connections onto the students was not helping their own inquiry process.

At about the same time, I began hearing about Teaching for Artistic Behavior (TAB) from other art teachers on social media. Like any lifelong learner, I was curious. I started asking questions, reading books and visiting TAB classrooms nearby. I learned that through this philosophy the teacher facilitates the art room as a studio space while the students drive the inquiry and the learning.

The TAB approach consists of three essential statements:

What do artists do?

The child is the artist.

The art room is the child's studio.

Practitioners of TAB employ the framework Studio Habits of Mind, designed by Project Zero of Harvard. The Studio Habits are a structure that reminds me of the scientific method as it is a natural process a growing artist lives and breathes. The habits are:

Develop craft

Engage and persist

Envision

Express

Observe

Reflect

Stretch and explore

Understanding art worlds.

The results of my inquiry encouraged me to make the biggest, most meaningful change I have ever made professionally. I flipped my art room to reflect studio practices and relinquished control of the projects.

Now when students come to class the only first five or ten minutes are mine. I may do a quick demo on a skill or technique. I may introduce an artist, movement or cultural tradition. I may set out their current projects and have students constructively critique with each other. Anything I choose to do is in reaction to observed student needs or a connection to the unit of inquiry. After that, students have the rest of class to be artists.

The older students write plans with art-making goals and sketches in their sketchbooks. When their plan is approved by me, they work on that project until it is complete. Once it is completed, they write an artist statement and reflect on their initial art-making goal.

The younger students are in centers where they practice art making skills, expose themselves to different materials, and learn about art from other places and times. This center structure has positively impacted engagement and behavior.

For each unit of inquiry in each grade, I will write a challenge on the board to help students make a connection. If kindergarten is learning "People celebrate who they are" under the transdisciplinary theme of "who we are", I will challenge them to make an artwork celebrating their individuality or their culture. We will read books about the importance of celebrating yourself. I will introduce them to self-portraits.

If fourth grade is learning "The distribution of resources presents challenges and opportunities" under "sharing the planet", I will challenge them to create an artwork bringing awareness to an issue. We will look at art with a voice, analyzing the artist's choices and message. I will introduce the importance of graphic design if employing lettering within an artwork. Students are introduced to art connections but are not limited to my connections, they have the freedom to create their own.

Every day is wonderful chaos. Every class surprises me with variety, creativity and capabilities. The amount of joy, curiosity and expression coming from each student has rejuvenated my own wonder. Making this monumental shift was not at all terrifying, because I knew it was what needed to be done to provide the students an authentic art experience.

If you are interested in learning more, please check out "Engaging Learners Through Artmaking: Choice-Based Art Education in the Classroom" (2018, second edition) by Katherine M. Douglas and Diane B. Jaquith and "Studio Thinking from the Start: The K-8 Art Educator's Handbook" (2018) by Jillian Hogan, Lois Hetland, Diane B. Jaquith, and Ellen Winner.
Julia VanOudenhoven has been the PYP Art Specialist at Jefferson Lighthouse School, USA since 2007. She enjoys helping students find joy in art, self-expression and making transdisciplinary connections. You can follow her art room on Instagram @jls.art.

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How to support student-led inquiry through "Teaching for Artistic Behavior"

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In this article you will read about how the Teaching for Artistic Behavior framework has enabled an art teacher to authentically encourage and support student-led inquiry every minute of every day in the art room. Students worked independently and in small groups to discover how art was connected to every other aspect of their lives.

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The documents on this page may be downloaded and printed free of charge by teachers to assist in their personal, professional learning. Should you wish to use the documents for other purposes (for example, as part of a school based workshop or seminar) permission must be sought directly from Kath at kath@kathmurdoch.com.au.

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The documents on this page may be downloaded and printed free of charge by teachers to assist in their personal, professional learning. Should you wish to use the documents for other purposes (for example, as part of a school based workshop or seminar) permission must be sought directly from Kath at kath@kathmurdoch.com.au .

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Designing and Documenting: The Inquiry Cycle | Agency by Design

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While there is a rhythm to the cycle that is inherent in all thoughtful planning for teaching and learning, there is a specific emphasis on exploring the Agency by Design framework and specifically the capacities in each phase of the inquiry cycle.

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The biggest question, when I'm planning an IB PYP unit of inquiry is, at what level is my class in terms of experience and initiative when it comes to inquiry? In other words, which level of student inquiry will I be planning around - structured inquiry, guided inquiry or open inquiry?

The biggest catastrophe that can happen to a teacher embarking on inquiry for the first time is to implement an open inquiry without fully understanding the level of her students' independent inquiry skills. There aren't many children who are new to the IB PYP that have been formally guided through the skills necessary for independent inquiry. This can result in confusion at best and frustration at the worst. Not to mention that moment when you just have to abandon the lesson and re-group. I know this, cos I've been there many a time! Haha!

We want to ensure that our inquiries are structured in such a way that will introduce strategies and guide and support the children as they experience and develop those independent inquiry skills. By selecting a level of inquiry that will offer that necessary support, you are setting the students up for greater success with their learning.

Form: What do the different levels look like?

Structured inquiry: This is used more frequently when a class is new to inquiry based learning. You can identify students who are less confident and less inclined to take initiative . They are unsure of higher level questioning and tend to stick with the fundamental questions - who is, how does, what is? Few are prepared to take risks with uncertain answers or answers that may not have a definite solution.

The teacher will support the children by delving deeper into observations and inferences, questioning at a higher level and encouraging perspective and open-mindedness. Give them the chance to try out strategies, share findings and embrace failure as a learning opportunity. The inquiry will be mostly planned and

implemented by the teacher, based on simple questions generated by the children and the curricular content to be covered.

Basic research skills will be taught, along with the tools that can provided sources of information and solutions. I have several resources that help with developing inquiry skills at this level. You can take a look at these by clicking on the links or the images and they will take you to my TpT store.

Guided Inquiry: This level of inquiry is used when a class is relatively new to inquiry or has carried out inquiries before and they are beginning to suggest their own direction, demonstrate higher levels of creative thinking and question their own questions. Or if the class contains a group of students who demonstrate higher levels of curiosity, generate ideas willingly and confidently and offer conjectures. Guided inquiry is great to use if this group is able to carry their class mates if grouped within small collaborative groups.

Using the students' questions and observations from the prompt or provocation, the teacher will guide the children in developing further a line of inquiry, narrowing it down for depth of knowledge rather than breadth. This will in turn encourage the children to dig deeper with their observations, building upon their questions, offer more conjectures and use multiple strategies (within maths, research skills, comprehension etc.) and sources( databases, books, web searches, prior knowledge) that will help them to find or solve their problems. This is an important level to share the benefits of reflection and understanding that failures are actually a positive step closer to finding success. This resource, Developing Inquirers and Thinkers Task Cards, is a good tool to help with developing questions from a prompt and with concept based thinking. It also guides the children with their research skills. Whilst, Developing Global Thinkers begins to release some of the structure, guiding the children but also giving them more choice. The activity shown above, with the girls in their glasses is Developing Inquiry Skills through Science . It includes a set of STEM task cards that can be structured or guided inquiry.

Having a set of posters or cards that regulate the structure of inquiry, discussions and group work is a great tool to help scaffold the process and encourages the children to work and think independently.

Open Inquiry: This is used with students who are experienced in inquiry and can direct their own process and learning entirely independently or using the posters and cards to support themselves. They are able to take a line of inquiry or a prompt and develop it further using their knowledge of multiple skills and strategies. They may suggest changing the line of inquiry in order to explore a direction they are more curious about. They take initiative in group discussions, delegating tasks and commitment to finding sources and strategies, offering opinions and recognising their mistakes as a step closer to success.

Teachers will be largely facilitating this level of inquiry. They can encourage use of structured tools when regulation is necessary and they will help to guide the children towards higher level thinking, hypotheses and research sources. ( asking for older grade levels assistance with mathematical strategies, suggesting librarians' assistance, communicating with experts, higher level internet/database searches etc.) As you, the teacher, become more experienced in inquiry based learning, you will find that you are moving between the levels of inquiry within a lesson as you differentiate. It will also depend on what it is that you are inquiring into. For example, a maths related inquiry may look more guided than a more open social studies inquiry or vice versa! More than anything though, treat it all as a fabulous learning experience for all to enjoy! Keeping the lines of communication open between you and your class helps to build that sense of community, in that we are all in this together and, it can even help to develop that student agency, as you reflect with the children on your progress as a whole class.

I hope that you are able to use some of this to help develop inquiry based learning in your classroom. Please do share your own experiences and advice too.

FOLLOW ME HERE, FOLLOW ME THERE.....

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Developing Student Led Inquiry in the IB PYP

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The biggest question, when I'm planning an IB PYP unit of inquiry is, at what level is my class in terms of experience and initiative when it comes to inquiry? In other words, which level of student inquiry will I be planning around - structured inquiry, guided inquiry or open inquiry?

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Welcome back! And if you're just showing up....welcome! I have had an overwhelming response to video number 1! I'm beyond grateful for everyone who commented, sent me private messages and all in all, expressed thanks. I feel incredibly thankful to be a part of such a fabulously supportive, global community of teachers.

Video number 2 is here! Following on from training video number 1, where I introduce the idea of using concepts within teaching and learning, I'll now go on to give you some practical ideas for developing conceptual thinkers.

These videos are a snapshot of my new online professional development course, Essentials for Inquiry: Getting Started with Inquiry-

Based Teaching, which I shall be releasing SOON! I receive so very many questions from teachers all around the world and this course is designed to get you off to an effective start from planning, through the inquiry process, to assessment. It comes complete with lesson suggestions and ready-made resources. I'm pretty excited about it!

For now, you can download a great graphic organiser that works with ANY subject or inquiry from the PDF that goes with video 2 here. Video number 3 shall be coming out in the next few days, where I shall be sharing a HUGE part of every inquiry-based classroom. Don't miss out! Add your e mail to the box below and it shall drop conveniently into your in box very soon.

And so without further ado, I present video 2.

Add your name into the box below, and be sure not to miss video 3 coming in a few days.

Enjoy!

Over the past few months, I've been hard at work creating an online training course for teachers who are new or newish to the concept-based, student-centred, inquiry classroom. Does this sound like you or someone you know? I am happy to announce that it is ALMOST ready to be released!

I'm calling it Essentials for Inquiry. (has a nice ring to it, I feel.)

Meanwhile, I have these FREE training videos which will give quick, practical and useful information and can be available on demand. I shall be releasing the 3 training videos over the course of the next week. So, make sure you have subscribed so that they will drop right into your inbox. Allow me to introduce this video training series and scroll down for training video 1, Introducing Concept-Based Learning.

Video 1 : Introducing concept-based learning:

What is a concept?

The purpose of concept-based teaching

Related concepts vs. key concepts

Developing conceptual thinking

Download your free PDF here to use alongside the video below.

And this is just the beginning! Look out for video 2 coming in the next few days, where I shall be giving you an FANTASTIC activity to begin developing conceptual thinking within your kiddos. You wont want to miss this! If you aren't already subscribed, be sure to add your e mail in the box below and get the next free video directly into your inbox!

Enjoy!

Hello there! It feels like its been a while since our lengthy conversation on Assessment Practices in the IB PYP. I'd like to wrap it up with a chat about the Student Portfolio and the role it plays with inclusive assessment. I will cover the different formats, the value and function and how to incorporate reflections by Pre-K/Early Years children. Continue reading "The IB PYP Student Portfolio"

Following on from my recent live webinar on Facebook, this week's chat is looking at different approaches to the IB PYP Central Idea and how each method can benefit the learner in meaningful and effective ways within the inquiry process. I have added the video below.

When youre new or newish to the PYP, the jargon alone can be intimidating, nevermind what youre supposed to do with it all. When you are presented with a central idea that leaves you with the thoughts, " Huh? What does that even mean?" , this is a huge clue that the central idea is, in my opinion, ugly! If you are struggling with it, how do you think the children will feel? Over the years I have found there to be 3 types of central ideas: the good, the bad and the ugly. Here is one UGLY example that stuck with me ( for obvious reasons). It was geared towards 7 & 8 year olds. I am not kidding!

" The relationships within a community can determine the structure and engagements of its organisations within."

So, after deciphering what the heck it actually meant, we changed it to:
" The relationships within a community help shape its structure."
You see what I mean? If you can't look at the central idea and have an idea of where to begin your inquiry, then your unit planning is going to be all over the place. A good central idea will provide you with direction and it will be broad enough in its conceptual scope to bring depth to an inquiry.

Now, of course, there are some very well written central ideas as well. Those we can work with relatively easily and those we can easily introduce to the children. My point with this article is to suggest different approaches to using the central idea, keeping in mind that its primary value is to you, the teacher, leading you in a direction with your planning of the unit of inquiry. We can create more value for the children by working around the concepts of the central idea rather than directly with the entire statement.

This article is NOT about writing a central idea. I'll save that joy for another day. This post is about working the central idea into your unit of inquiry, introducing it to the children and using it as a meaningful tool rather than simply a box to be checked off.

Here is a summary of what makes a good central idea:

It is a concept based generalisation

Children can access the language

It acts as a provocation for the children

It connects to other concepts within future units

It is organically transdisciplinary

You can find a clear summative assessment from the central idea

The children can add their input to the creation of the summative assessment, from their knowledge of the central idea.

Within this video, I'm offering suggestions for different approaches to the central idea. I will chat about the following approaches:

1. Deconstructing the Central Idea

2. The Central Idea as Assessment

3. The Central Idea as the Provocation

4. Constructing the Central Idea with the Children

I hope that this video serves some use for you. I am planning future Facebook live webinars and would love it if you keep in touch. You can follow along on my Facebook page below, PYP Teaching Tools.

Enjoy!

Tis the season.....Student Led Conferences! They are an incredibly reflective experience for all involved; the teacher, the students and their families. This post will walk you through what I've found to work well over the years and there are several freebies within this conversation. You'll also find a FREE list of over 100 report cards comments that relate to the Learner Profile and ATL skills, found at the end. Simply copy and paste the comments that work for your group of kids, taking HOURS off of this task! Please read on, take what you like and enjoy.

Continue reading "Step Back & Enjoy IB PYP Student Led Conferences"

Hello again! If you're following on from part 1 of this conversation, Assessment and Student Agency in the IB PYP, then welcome back. If you missed part 1, you can link to it above if you wish.

Assessment in the PYP classroom has so many different looks to it. Some schools where I have taught have to complete the standardised testing that is required by their school district but most IB PYP schools use a myriad of tools to assess the children, including teacher created tests, formative assessment tools and activities and,of course, the unit summative assessments.

I have listed some of my go-to favourite inclusive formative assessments that encourage self & peer assessment, promoting agency and, not only assess the children's' knowledge but also the ATL (Approaches to Learning) skills that they are developing on their journey to becoming avid, independent life long learners. Take a look and hopefully you'll find something new to try out in your own classroom. I've created a FREE printable sheet of these strategies and a few tools that you can take into your classroom today if you'd like. Read on! Continue reading "Assessment Strategies for the IB PYP"

I recently attended an IB ARMS ( Rocky Mountain Association of IB World Schools) symposium in Denver and found myself in an interesting conversation regarding student agency. I think that the current buzz word student agency must be recognised for its role of bringing greater awareness to our role of giving the children more pertinent opportunities to use their agency. In other words, providing the children with more authentic chances to use their voice, make choices for themselves, both collectively and as individuals, and to encourage ownership for their own learning. So, let's look at the area of assessment and how we, as the facilitators, can increase the children's' involvement with this part of their learning cycle.

Since this is a lengthy subject, I'm going to break it down into 2 parts. I will also be including free samples of assessment tools. If you'd like to follow along, please add your e mail into the box on the right and you'll receive the posts directly into your mailbox as they are released.
Continue reading "Assessment and Student Agency in the IB PYP"

Practising an inquiry based learning approach in my classroom has been the most meaningful form of teaching I have ever implemented. The authenticity it brings to learning, along with the benefit of increased student agency and connections it makes to 21st century skills, are reasons in themselves for the power of the philosophy. Then, when we add in student engagement and motivation for learning, it all adds up to a very powerful approach indeed. Education, as you know, has many trends that come and go. Inquiry however, is nothing new. Inquiry based teaching and learning has been around for a long time. There are several different models of it out there, including the IB PYP. So, when I see the trends of today promoting inquiry, project based learning, conceptual learning....I smile quietly and nod approvingly.

Why adopt an inquiry based teaching model?

I know there are many teachers who are brand new to teaching and the IB PYP, as well as experienced teachers who are new to the PYP. In the beginning, regardless of how many years you have in the field, it can be daunting to open up your perfectly planned lesson to children's inquiries. And let's not mention how risky it feels to actually encourage the children to direct the lesson! But, if you stick with it, you'll see that the children become better thinkers, with better engagement, better enthusiasm for learning and better learners overall. I could talk about so many reasons why you should adopt inquiry based teaching but I'm going to give you 10 of the top reasons why I believe inquiry based learning is the teaching model to embrace. Okay, here we go.....
Continue reading "10 Reasons to Develop An Inquiry Based Classroom"

We hear incredible stories of kids, from schools all around the world, taking action and using their knowledge from inquiry to make an impact for the better. But how much of that action is truly student-led? How big does action have to be? Does it even matter if it isn't student led? And how do we inspire the children to independently take action? Are those some of the questions that pop into your head when you hear about such wow-factor action? Well, never fear.....I'm here to shed some light on the matter and to dispel some of the doubt (and dare I say cynicism?) that may be whispering in your ear. I have an action plan ( and some free tools) to develop and inspire your class of future heroes! Read on...... Continue reading "Inspiring Student-Led Action in the IB PYP"

Hello dear teachers! I'm excited to share this idea with you. It is really easy to implement and can be done with ANY age level. I call it the INQUIRY JAR. (I know, really imaginative, right?) Let's get straight to it!

A few posts ago, I wrote about developing inquirers and the three stages that are CRUCIAL to this development; structured inquiry leading to guided inquiry before you finally have independent inquirers. ( You can link to that article here if you like.) Well, this activity with the Inquiry Jar, is a great way to encourage the inquiry process and model what it looks like and sounds like as well as moving on to teaching higher level thinking skills through questioning and thought analysis. You can find this plus 9 more ideas for bringing inquiry into your classroom in my free guide. It also comes with another great, FREE activity.

Structured Inquiry: Model the Inquiry Process

Simply, grab a jar or a box. ( I prefer a jar because it provokes the kids' curiosity since they can see a bit of what's inside.)

Then, gather about 10 items to put inside your jar. The key here is to gather unusual items; items that are somewhat unfamiliar to most of the kids in your class. You can see from my example that I have a mouse trap, a dreidel, the strange contraption that is used to clean out the coffee machine ( does that thing even have a name?) , a mushroom cleaning brush and a variety of other knick-knacks. My point is, the artefacts are probably not really fitting into the schema of my group of kiddos.

To begin, I like to use this activity a few times a week for about a thirty minute activity. Perfect for that end of the day time when we all come together or even as part of a language lesson on questioning or describing.

Have a child pull an artefact from the jar.

As a whole class, discuss ideas, schema, suggestions as to what it is OR what it could be used for.

Those questions can be directed under key concepts if your students have that ability - FORM: What does it look/feel like? FUNCTION: What is it used for? What does this part do? CAUSATION: How does this work? Why might it have been created?

Document the class's suggestions on your board so that the children's ideas and their thought process are visible. It is very important to demonstrate visible thinking strategies as a part of the development towards independent inquirers.

Next, analyse everyone's thinking using the recording on your board.

Separate the questions from the suggestions, categorising their thinking.

For a higher level, you can look at the questions they came up with and teach them how some questions have a definite answer but the open-ended questions are moving us into higher level thinking. 🙂

Collaborative Thinkers:

Alternatively, if your students are ready for less structured inquiry, you can give one artefact to each small group.

You will then have them share their ideas, suggestions and schema within their group.

They will document their thinking in their journal or working binders either using a graphic organiser that allows them to make their thinking visible or have them create their own graphic organiser if they are at that level.

You can structure and guide their thinking in the beginning, with specific vocabulary related to inquiry, on the graphic organisers. ( discuss, share, analyse, record, question, observe etc.)

And there you have it! Simple but very effective. If you'd like more of these simple ways to bring inquiry into your classroom today, simply sign up on the form to the right on the side bar, with your e mail and I'll send you that free guide I mentioned.

Enjoy the activity and please do share! You can connect with me on Facebook or Instagram@ pypteaching below! I'd love to see your inquiry jars in action.

Catch you soon,

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Welcome back! And if you're just showing up....welcome! I have had an overwhelming response to video number 1! I'm beyond grateful for everyone who commented, sent me private messages and all in all, expressed thanks. I feel incredibly thankful to be a part of such a fabulously supportive, global community of teachers.

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Having just 1 year experience, what attracted me the most to the IB was inquiry-based learning, hence I kept digging into it. This article and yearlong practices are the product.

"Strong inquiry schools have a distinct climate - a climate that breeds curiosity, a relentless passion for investigation and a genuine fascination with learning."
~ Kath Murdoch

How I wonder that since the whole world, its machines, approaches to finance and life have changed completely in last few decades; why has education not changed? The IB does promise to bring that transformation and indeed it has. Classrooms in the IB PYP schools are led by curiosity and inquiry both from teachers and students. Our learning and teaching is focused on 'what our students know' and 'what they can do'. Guiding an inquiry based classroom is challenging, but fun! Certain practices of an inquiry based classroom will take your learning and teaching to another level.
Effective planning
Planning for inquiry takes time. Teachers need time and space to collaborate and come up with flexible plans for guiding inquiry in their classrooms. No matter how experienced you are; planning collaboratively and regularly reflecting on your planning weeks ahead will always be important. Deeper conversations, curiosity and research are from which powerful teaching comes into existence.
Groundwork for inquiry
For an effective inquiry, prior preparation is the key. To go ahead with any concepts, one should be well informed and well equipped for it. For example, our school has a practice of sharing all the work samples and study material on Google Drive in a folder called Resource Pool. We can refer and access any grade's materials and resources for our own inquiry and for vertical and horizontal planning. For new teachers it is a valuable resource. They can have a look at the previous year's activities, planners, learning engagements, etc so that they do not have to begin from scratch. It also helps in self-assessing our own work from last year. We can always improve learning and respond to the students' interests and inquiries better when we have all the samples in one place. Therefore, practices like these, where you refer and learn from yours and other's experiences, make a strong foundation for a productive unit.
Inquiry into what students already know
Provocations are open-ended invitations for a child to explore and express a variety of thoughts, interests and ideas. Schools can sometimes overlook the importance of provocations and take them lightly, whereas they are the foundations of a strong and active inquiry based learning. For example, our grade 2 students were inquiring into 'workplaces'. To get them engaged, we took them for a visit around the school especially to the unexplored administration block. They were full of curiosity and bursting with ideas. This experience acted as a perfect provocation.

Prior knowledge is more than the building blocks for knowledge and learning. It can facilitate learning and provide a kick start to the knowledge, skills and conceptual understandings being taught. Prior knowledge activities should be equally engaging and interesting as they help us to understand from where we need to begin.
Drive the relevant inquiry
Once the teacher or the student understands what inquiry is, next they need to know what it is not. At times it happens that students ask questions that might be outside the scope of the ongoing inquiry. For example, while facilitating a unit inquiring into efficient use of machines, one student kept asking questions about how robots are made. I did not want to stop his excitement and curiosity, so we ran with that. But I had to bring the inquiry back to where it was supposed to be headed. Hence, I took his question, wrote it on a post-it, displayed it on the board and told him "we will come back to it". Later, I posted a question to the class "How do you think people might use robots efficiently or inefficiently?". This made my students thinking about the efficient ways to use robots or any machine and it also sufficed for the student's query. Fuel students' curiosity and try not to discourage any inquiry.
Connecting ideas with opportunities/reality
Inquiry-based classrooms lets students experiment, innovate and explore, encouraging their creativity and imagination. If they are not interested in the way you are teaching them; change the way you teach. For example when my students were learning about multiplication, it began to make sense to them when I told them that multiplication is used when we need to add a number certain times. I designed a party menu where 20 guests were invited. Each guest would be offered 5 burgers, 2 pastries and 3 chocolates. This got students excited as they love the idea of organizing parties. And there started our application based learning. Students understood that situations like these (and even more complicated ones) need quick solutions that multiplication offers. As they finished making the party menu, we planned and organized an actual party at the end of the unit using multiplication skills learning during the unit.
Assessments: An inquiry by teachers
During assessment teachers positions themselves as inquirers into the learning of their students. They choose inquiry based methods not just to teach but also to assess the students' understanding of any concept. We observe, analyze and question to know what they have understood and what learning needs to happen next. Each student experiences the unit in a different way as we all are unique. When we were learning about measurement, the whole unit was full of hands-on activities. When it came to assessment, we planned it with even more rigour. We gave the students a shopping list and made stations based on different products and standard units. They were divided into different groups and their task was to shop the exact amount of products as written in the list, for example: 1 litre oil, 2kg rice, etc. This assessment not only tested their understanding of standard units, but also its real life application. It enhanced their social, communication and critical thinking skills. Inquiry-based learning and assessments help students to personalize the content and make it meaningful to them.
Reflection, a step towards meaningful action
The IB recognizes reflection as an integral and essential part of learning process. We learn best when we reflect on our experiences. We know how inseparable reflection and PYP are, hence we must emphasize inquiry oriented reflections. We have a working action cycle in our class where students put their reflections under Choose (what was the problem?), Act (how can I solve it?) and Reflect (what worked and what did not?). This gives them a clear understanding of both reflection and action.

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Mishkaat Khan is the homeroom teacher for grade 2 at Eastern Public School in India, with 1 year experience. She is a dedicated academician with a vision to create a positive difference in the field of education. You can follow her on Twitter @mishkology.

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Having just 1 year experience, what attracted me the most to the IB was inquiry-based learning, hence I kept digging into it. This article and yearlong practices are the product. "Strong inquiry schools have a distinct climate - a climate that breeds curiosity, a relentless passion for investigation and a genuine fascination with learning."

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Student-led development of lines of inquiry

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Student-led development of lines of inquiry

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An investigation into student-led development of personal lines of inquiry.
Learner agency as terminology is increasingly thrown around in educational discourse as the 21 st century continues to roll through. But I wonder: Is it simply something we talk about doing - that we think about doing - that we think we are doing... but aren't?

In no way am I suggesting that learner agency does not exist in classrooms - it absolutely does. I simply mean to point out the thought process that I went through when I realized that I was short-changing students on authentic choice across units of inquiry.

In light of my thinking, student development of lines of inquiry was the logical starting point for our grade 4 team.

Our students needed a sound understanding of the underlying principles of the unit of inquiry before personal development of lines of inquiry would be effective. Therefore, we bade our time until it felt right - until students were starting to really brim with rich wonderings about the central idea.

To leverage these wonderings, we employed a go-to tool from Rothstein and Santana (2011), Question Formulation Technique (QFT). Defined by simplicity, we used this tool with modifications that helped to draw depth out of student questions and align them to the unit of inquiry. Questions are framed by a QFocus; a statement that provides only a general direction, which in this case was the central idea:
Indigenous people's connection to place and country is changed through exploration and settlement.
Our simple modification is the inclusion of the key concept posed as questions; How is it changing (change)? How is it connected to other things (connection)? What are the major points of view (perspective)? We hoped that students had an embedded understanding of these concepts, having been exposed to them over the years, and that these lines of thinking enhance the questions asked.

The 'rules' of the QFT are:

1. Ask as many questions as you can.

2. Do not stop to discuss, judge, or answer any of the questions.

3. Write down every question exactly as it was stated.

4. Change any statements into questions.

The questioning begins and the classroom buzzes. We do scaffold if necessary and provide students who are stuck with a questioning matrix (Weiderhold, 1991) that gives a kick to confidence that many students require.

Inevitably, the buzz slows, sheets are filled with questions, and the time is right to move on. At this point we do not expect sheets brimming with brilliant questions; instead, we expect that most will be discarded, but that is just the nature of a good inquiry (isn't that how we began?). But here is where the significance of the process is drawn out; the analysis of questions in an attempt to tease out the ones that would lead to the 'strongest' inquiry. Our students used the following points to discuss questions:

Which do we think are the easiest to answer?

Which questions are "Googleable"?

Which questions are "non-Googleable"?

Which will be the hardest to answer? Why?

Which questions are you most excited by?

(Murdoch, 2015)

Each group discussed these prompts and starred their top 3 - the questions they thought would drive an inquiry - and then passed their 'strongest' questions around to the next group. The process starts again, but this time the goal was to identify the single question from that sheet that they thought would drive the strongest inquiry (this should not be taken lightly and students are often passionate about 'their' questions, so justification of choices is necessary).

At this point we had 5 student questions that are transferred onto sentence strips - two steps left. The first step is a quick mapping of questions against the key concepts to reinforce their significance within the context of the unit of inquiry. The second step, and most important of all, is for students take the time to choose their line of inquiry that will be explored collaboratively in the coming weeks.

This process sounds extensive, but it really is not. Instead, it is something that students love to do and something that teachers make available if they want to see students engaged completely in units of inquiry.

References:
Murdoch. K. (2015). The Power of Inquiry. Melbourne, VIC: Seastar Education
Rothstein, D., & Santana, S. (2011) Make Just One Chance. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press
Wiederhold, C. (1995). Cooperative Learning and Higher Level Thinking: The Q-Matrix with Question Manipulatives. San Clemente, CA: Kagan Cooperative Learning

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Benjamin Zonca is a grade 4 teacher at Auburn South Primary School (ASPS) in Hawthorn East, Victoria. ASPS has been an accredited PYP school for almost a decade and continues to seek innovative approaches to teaching and learning. Benjamin holds a bachelor's degree from Monash University and is on the edge of gaining a master's degree from the University of Melbourne. You can follow him on Twitter @benjaminzonca1.

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Student-led development of lines of inquiry

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An investigation into student-led development of personal lines of inquiry. Learner agency as terminology is increasingly thrown around in educational discourse as the 21 st century continues to roll through. But I wonder: Is it simply something we talk about doing - that we think about doing - that we think we are doing...

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Involving students in inquiry based planning 

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Involving students in inquiry based planning 

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"Look what I found!" This is one of the many statements I hear from my students throughout the day. Our classroom is full of wonder and excitement because my students are stakeholders in their own learning.

Typically I begin a unit of study with questions such as, "What excites you? What do you want to know more about?" Involving students in the planning of their own learning allows for meaningful learning experiences that all students want to engage in. To assist students in this process I provide choice in the inquiry process while involving students in planning how our learning environment will look, act and feel.

One learning experience that supports students in planning for their own learning is providing students with choice in the inquiry process. For example, students were put into expert groups based on topics that interested them. One support that was used during this learning experience was an organizer where the expert groups of students had to collaborate with each other to generate three questions regarding their topic. Some of their questions included:

How does water pollution form?

How does water pollution let animals survive?

How is water pollution expected to go away?

They then choose one of the three questions to focus on to guide their research and discovery. Students next embark on their learning journey which creates excitement and curiosity, encouraging communication and cooperation among the groups.

Creating classroom essential agreements is another learning experience where students are involved in planning for their own learning. Students want a say in how they want their learning environment to be for the school year. One way we involve students in creating these agreements is through a gallery walk. Students respond with sticky notes on posters to the following questions:

How do you want to be treated by each other in this class?

What should students in our class be doing to make sure it runs smoothly?

What will you need in order to be successful this year?

How do you want to be treated by Ms Rassp?

We then look at all the responses individually and compile our classroom essential agreements based on their responses. This learning experience allows for students to plan out how they want their classroom environment to be for the entire school year. These agreements and responses set a positive tone for all of the learning experiences coming their way while creating a sense of "we are all in this together" atmosphere.

A third learning experience that supports students in planning for their learning lies in our classroom reflections. One example of this is during our Sharing the planet unit where students work together to create a newscast. After students have been given time to work with their groups, they are asked to reflect on how it went with the following questions (using the IB learner profile attributes, attitudes or approaches to learning):

Today our group worked well at _______________.

One thing that our group could improve on is _________________.

Tomorrow, I will work on _________________ so that my group can be successful.

One student response said, "Today our group worked well at using our communication skills. One thing that our group could improve on is our time management skills. Tomorrow, I will work on showing cooperation so my group can be successful." Students then share their responses with their group members so that they are held accountable. These reflections assist students in not only planning for their learning, but also in making more successful choices within a group setting.

When you involve students in the planning, learning is more meaningful and relevant!

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Allison Rassp is currently a fifth grade teacher at Alvin Dunn Elementary, United States. This is her third year at Alvin Dunn and her fourth year teaching with an International Baccalaureate World School. My passion as an educator is to influence students to be open-minded, caring citizens who use their curiosity to grow in their knowledge of the world around them. Allison tweets at @Msrassp.

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Involving students in planning and inquiry

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"Look what I found!" This is one of the many statements I hear from my students throughout the day. Our classroom is full of wonder and excitement because my students are stakeholders in their own learning. Typically I begin a unit of study with questions such as, "What excites you?

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How to escape  education's death valley 

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How to escape  education's death valley 

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How to escape education's death valley | Sir Ken Robinson | TED

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Do schools kill creativity? | Sir Ken Robinson | TED

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What it means to be an inquiry teacher. 

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What it means to be an inquiry teacher. 

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What does it mean to be an inquiry teacher?

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Classroom Strategies To Encourage Participation And Learner Agency | KQED

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When students participate in class discussion and activities they’re more engaged and learn more.