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Course: EDUC 5240 - Creating Positive Classrooms

Instructor: Dr. Dyer

Date: 19 November 2020

Source: Wolk, S. (2008). Joy in school. ASCD. https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/joy-in-school

This is an article which really spoke to me the first time I read it, during my first M.Ed. course at UoPeople. And for some reason, it has really stayed with me throughout my whole M.Ed - I think it's because of how simply and honestly it is written, and because I share the author's vision. And so, I've found myself referring back to it consistently, and reflecting on how I  instill a joyful climate in my inquiry classroom and allow for joyful learning.

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Abstract

JOY 1: Find the Pleasure in Learning

JOY 2: Give Students Choice

JOY 3: Let Students Create Things

JOY 4: Show Off Student Work

JOY 5: Take Time to Tinker

JOY 6: Make School Spaces Inviting

JOY 7: Get Outside

JOY 8: Read Good Books

JOY 9: Offer More Gym and Arts Classes

JOY 10: Transform Assessment

JOY 11: Have Some Fun Together

Teaching As a Joyful Experience

Joyful learning can flourish in school-if you give joy a chance.

Abstract

JOY 1: Find the Pleasure in Learning

JOY 2: Give Students Choice

JOY 3: Let Students Create Things

JOY 4: Show Off Student Work

JOY 5: Take Time to Tinker

JOY 6: Make School Spaces Inviting

JOY 7: Get Outside

JOY 8: Read Good Books

JOY 9: Offer More Gym and Arts Classes

JOY 10: Transform Assessment

JOY 11: Have Some Fun Together

Teaching As a Joyful Experience

Two quotes about schooling particularly resonate with me. The first is from John Dewey's Experience and Education (1938): "What avail is it to win prescribed amounts of information about geography and history, to win the ability to read and write, if in the process the individual loses his own soul?" (p. 49). If the experience of "doing school" destroys children's spirit to learn, their sense of wonder, their curiosity about the world, and their willingness to care for the human condition, have we succeeded as educators, no matter how well our students do on standardized tests?

The second quote comes from John Goodlad's A Place Called School (1984). After finding an "extraordinary sameness" in our schools, Goodlad wrote, "Boredom is a disease of epidemic proportions. ... Why are our schools not places of joy?" (p. 242). Now, a generation later, if you were to ask students for a list of adjectives that describe school, I doubt that joyful would make the list. The hearts and minds of children and young adults are wide open to the wonders of learning and the fascinating complexities of life. But school still manages to turn that into a joyless experience.

So what can schools and teachers do to bring some joy into children's formal education? Children typically spend from six to seven hours each day in school for nearly 10 months each year. During the school year, children generally spend more time interacting with their teachers than with their parents. What happens inside schools has a deep and lasting effect on the mind-sets that children develop toward lifelong learning.

Dewey's point about the destructive power of our schools should make us ask ourselves some fundamental questions: What is the purpose of school? What dispositions about learning, reading, school, the world, and the self do we want to cultivate? Ask young adults why they go to school. You will hear nothing about joy.

I am not using the word joy as a synonym for fun. For many children, having fun is hanging out at the mall, watching TV, text-messaging their friends, or zipping down a roller-coaster. Having fun certainly brings us joy, but students don't need to be having fun in school to experience joy. According to my Random House dictionary, joy means, "The emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something good or satisfying." Surely our schools can do some of that. Joy and learning-including school content-are not mutually exclusive. Many of our greatest joys in life are related to our learning. Unfortunately, most of that joyful learning takes place outside school.

As educators, we have the responsibility to educate and inspire the whole child-mind, heart, and soul. By focusing on the following essentials, we can put more joy into students' experience of going to school and get more joy out of working inside one.

JOY 1: Find the Pleasure in Learning

Why do people learn? I don't mean inside school-I mean learning as a part of life. Surely a large part of our learning is necessary for survival and a basic quality of life.

But there is another, entirely different, reason to learn. Learning gives us pleasure. This kind of learning is often (but not always) motivated from within, and no outside forces or coercions are needed. We also don't mind the possible difficulties in this learning. We often expect the challenges we encounter; we tend to see them as a natural part of the learning process, so we are far more open to taking risks. Some love to learn about cars, others love to learn about history, and some find great joy in learning how to dance. According to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1990), such learning is an example of flow, which he defines asthe state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience itself is so enjoyable that people will do it at even great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it. (p. 4)

If we want students to experience more flow in school-if we want them to see school and learning as joyful-we need to rethink how and what we teach. No longer can schooling be primarily about creating workers and test takers, but rather about nurturing human beings (Wolk, 2007). By helping students find the pleasure in learning, we can make that learning infinitely more successful.

JOY 2: Give Students Choice

Outside of school, children are free to pursue their interests, and they do so with gusto. They learn how to play baseball or the drums; they learn how to ice skate or play video games; they read comic books, graphic novels, skateboard magazines, and Harry Potter.

But during a typical six-hour school day, how much ownership do students have of their learning? Practically none. It's not surprising that their interest in learning dissipates and that teachers complain of unmotivated students.

Joy in learning usually requires some ownership on the part of the learner. Students can own some of their school learning in several ways. They can choose the books they want to read through independent reading. In writing workshop, we can inspire them to be real writers and choose for themselves what genres to write in. During units in math, science, art, and social studies, they can choose specific subtopics to study; then, as "experts," they can share their learning with the class. Students can also choose which products they want to create to demonstrate their learning. What brings more joy-studying the civil rights movement in the United States through a textbook and lectures or creating comic books, writing and performing plays, interviewing people to create podcasts, and proposing your own ideas? Which would you rather do?

I advocate giving students one hour each day to study topics of their choice in what I call "Exploratory" (Wolk, 2001). In Exploratory, teachers collaborate with students to help shape student-initiated ideas into purposeful, inquiry-based investigations. During this time, students are scattered around the room, absorbed in an endless variety of topics that matter to them. While one student is studying the life of ants, a second is researching the workings of the FBI, and a third is exploring the life of Frida Kahlo. While two students work together to investigate the history of soccer, another is engrossed in surveying adults on their opinions of video games. Exploratory can teach students that school can be a place that nurtures curiosity, inspires them to ask questions, and helps them find the joy in learning.

JOY 3: Let Students Create Things

People like to make stuff. Having control of our work and using our minds and hands to create something original give us a tremendous sense of agency. There is a special pride in bringing an original idea to fruition. It empowers us and encourages us; it helps us appreciate the demanding process of creating something from nothing.

The list of what students can create across the curriculum is virtually limitless: newspapers and magazines, brochures, stories, picture books, posters, murals, Web sites, podcasts, PowerPoint presentations, interviews, oral histories, models, diagrams, blueprints and floor plans, plays and role-plays, mock trials, photographs, paintings, songs, surveys, graphs, documentary videos-the list goes on and on. At its best, school should help and inspire students to bring their own ideas and creations to life.

JOY 4: Show Off Student Work

Our schools and classrooms should be brimming with wonderful, original student work. School spaces that are devoid of student work perpetuate a sterile and joyless environment. I tell my teacher education students that the walls of their classrooms should speak to people; they should say exactly what goes on in that space throughout the school day. I can tell what teachers value by simply walking into their classrooms and looking at the walls.

The same is true for a school building. My son, Max, is in 4th grade, and his school, Augustus H. Burley School in Chicago, is a joyous place to visit. The hallways and classrooms are filled with remarkable student work, and there is rarely a worksheet in sight. The teachers also show off the students themselves. There are photographs of students next to their favorite books, above their posted work from writing workshop, and next to the doors of some classrooms.

JOY 5: Take Time to Tinker

Gever Tulley has started a unique summer school in California called the Tinkering School. His blog describes it this way:The Tinkering School offers an exploratory curriculum designed to help kids-ages 7 to 17-learn how to build things. By providing a collaborative environment in which to explore basic and advanced building techniques and principles, we strive to create a school where we all learn by fooling around. All activities are hands-on, supervised, and at least partly improvisational. Grand schemes, wild ideas, crazy notions, and intuitive leaps of imagination are, of course, encouraged and fertilized. (Tulley, 2005)

At Tinkering School, students are allowed to dream. They come up with their own ideas for an object, and the faculty and staff help them sketch, design, and build it. When have you seen a public school that encouraged students to come up with "grand schemes, wild ideas, crazy notions, and intuitive leaps of imagination"? In fact, schools actually work to prevent this from happening.

Our school days are too planned, leaving no room for spontaneity and happenstance. Kindergarten is the last refuge in school for letting kids tinker. Once they enter 1st grade, students must banish the joy of "fooling around" with objects and ideas and, instead, sit at their desks most of the day listening to lectures, reading textbooks, and filling out worksheets.

Sometimes the best ideas come from tinkering-and teachers, not just students, should be doing more of it. We must push beyond the teacher-proof curriculum the textbook industry has created, which tries to plan every subject for every hour of the day. Far from being think tanks or workshops, our schools continue to be assembly lines. We need to free teachers to take risks, experiment, play with the art of pedagogy, and feel the joy that comes from tinkering with their teaching.

JOY 6: Make School Spaces Inviting

Why do classrooms need to look so much like, well, classrooms, with desks in rows or arranged in groups, with a chalkboard or whiteboard at the front? When I walk into a classroom in my son's school, I usually see a space that looks a lot like a family room. There's a large rug, a class library with the best in children's and young adult literature, bean bags, couches, comfortable chairs, pillows, colorful curtains, fabric hung over the ceiling lights, and lamps scattered about the classroom. In fact, sometimes the ceiling lights are off, and the lamps warmly light the room.

And what about the public spaces inside and outside the school-the hallways, foyers, meeting areas, and school grounds? Anyone who has spent time at a university knows how integral these spaces are to the learning and social dynamics of the campus. The same can be true for a school. Why not transform these often unused and sterile spots into places for small groups of students to work or cozy nooks for kids to read or write? How about filling a foyer with plants and flowers? Why not give a large wall to the students to create and paint a mural? One colorful mural can transform a barren hallway or entrance into a vibrant and joyful sight. And schools can turn outdoor spaces into gardens, sculpture parks, walking paths, and quiet reading areas.

JOY 7: Get Outside

I am bewildered by how much time students spend inside schools. I don't mean that the school day should be shorter; I mean that more of the school day should be outside. We adults know all too well how much we like to get outside for a respite during the workday, and the same applies to students and teachers in school. They need a break from being confined inside a classroom all day. Fresh air, trees, and a sunny day can do miracles for the human spirit.

Interacting with nature brings a unique joy. Gavin Pretor-Pinney (2006) writes, "I have always loved looking at clouds. Nothing in nature rivals their variety and drama; nothing matches their sublime, ephemeral beauty" (p. 9). Naturalist and artist David Carroll (2004) describes his childhood enthrallment of seeking out turtles as he walked the ponds and marshes:The sheer joy of being there, of simply bearing witness, continued to be paramount. I went out neither to heal my heartbreaks nor to celebrate my happiness, but to be in nature and outside myself. Turtles, spotted turtles most significantly, were a living text moving upon an endless turning of the pages of the natural world. (p. 27)

The easiest way to get students outside is simply to have recess. There is a special joy in standing amidst the students as they burst from the school and spread out like a swarm of hungry ants. Kids say that recess is their favorite time in school. Recess was also one of my favorite times of the day as a teacher because I was outside and surrounded by children having fun. Tragically, recess has become a rare sight, which may say more about our schools today than anything else. Why do so many schools find it so difficult to allow children 20 minutes each day to play?

As a teacher, I would often take my students outside to read, write, or have a class meeting. It is delightful for a student to sit under a tree and read or for a class to sit in a circle on the grass and talk. Much of our science curriculums could directly include the outdoors. A school does not have to be near a forest or the ocean for students and teachers to explore nature. Ecosystems are all around us. Have students dig a hole in a patch of dirt, and they will witness the flourishing life in the soil beneath their feet. Don't underestimate the power of sheer joy that children-and adults-can experience from tipping over a large rock and seeing the ground teeming with life.

JOY 8: Read Good Books

Everyone loves a good story. We all know that if you have a 5-year-old sitting on your lap and a good book in your hands, you will soon experience the magic of stories. And what amazing stories there are! We are living in an astonishing time of children's and young adult literature. Immerse students in a culture of good books, and you surround them with joy.

For the past few years, I've been working on a grant with a Chicago public school, in part to help teachers make literature an important feature of their classrooms. I have brought loads of good books into the school. As I did book talks in 4th and 8th grade classrooms about dozens of new titles we ordered, the room was abuzz with students who could not wait to get their hands on the books. When I walk into a classroom now, I am met with the excited voices of the students telling me what books they're reading.

Of course, if we want joy in schools, then sometimes students should read books that aren't so "serious." I believe that books with important themes can make a better world, but we must also sometimes allow-even encourage-students to experience books for sheer pleasure. Have 3rd graders read Dav Pilkey's Captain Underpants and the Perilous Plot of Professor Poopypants (Scholastic, 2000). Have 5th graders read Jeff Kinney's Diary of a Wimpy Kid (Amulet, 2007). Have young adults read Sherman Alexie's very funny (and serious) The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (Little Brown, 2007). Encourage students to read thrillers; romance novels; action-adventure books; stories about sports, animals, and pop culture; graphic novels and manga; and nonfiction on topics they love. You will see plenty of joy.

JOY 9: Offer More Gym and Arts Classes

In recent years, with our zeal for increasing test scores, "specials" in school have become nearly as rare as recess. It is not uncommon, especially in more impoverished schools, for students to have no art, music, and drama at all, and gym only once or twice a week. In my son's previous school in Chicago, he did not have gym until January.

With his work on multiple intelligences, Howard Gardner has helped us better appreciate the uniqueness of children and has spoken to the need to give students opportunities to use their varied strengths and interests in school. For the legions of children who have a special affinity for the visual arts, theater, music, or sports, classes in these subjects are golden times for them to experience joy in school. But how much joy can they experience when it's limited to 45 minutes each week?

JOY 10: Transform Assessment

When I was a kid, I dreaded report card time. When I was a teacher, many of my students were anxious about their grades. For far too many students, assessment in its dominant forms-tests, quizzes, letter grades, number grades, and standardized tests-is a dark cloud that never seems to leave. Must it be this way?

The idea of assessment in school is not inherently bad; children assess themselves all the time. When they're busy doing something they love outside school, such as tae kwon do, baking, or playing the saxophone-when they're experiencing flow -they don't mind assessment at all. In fact, they see it as an important part of the process. But for most students, assessment in school is the enemy.

We can, however, make it a more positive experience. We need to help students understand the value of assessment. We also need to rethink "failure." Our schools see failure as a bad thing. But adults know that failure is a vital part of learning. Portraying failure as a bad thing teaches a child to avoid risk taking and bold ideas. Imagine if we graded toddlers on their walking skills. We would be living in a nation of crawlers.

We should limit how we use quantitative assessments and make more use of narrative assessments and report cards, portfolios of authentic work, and student presentations and performances. In addition, parent conferences should not only include students, but also encourage the students to do much of the talking, using the conference as an opportunity to present their work and discuss their strengths and areas to focus on for growth.

As a teacher, I had my students regularly do self-assessments. This gave them some real power over the process. They assessed most of their schoolwork before I did my own assessment. And during report card time, I passed out photocopies of a blank report card and had my students complete it, for both grades and behavior, before I filled it out. I don't recall a student ever abusing this opportunity. At another school in which I taught, I redesigned our report card to include space for a photograph of the student inside; the cover was left blank so students could either draw a picture or write something meaningful there.

JOY 11: Have Some Fun Together

Recently, when I was visiting a school, I was standing in the hallway talking to a teacher when a tall 8th grade boy from another classroom exuberantly walked up to that teacher. They began some good-natured ribbing. Back and forth it went for a few minutes with smiles and laughter. What was this about? The teacher-student basketball game held earlier that week. Here were two people-an 8th grader and his teacher-having a joyous good time.

Schools need to find ways for students, teachers, and administrators to take a break from the sometimes emotional, tense, and serious school day and have some fun together. Sporting events, outdoor field days, movie nights, school sleep-ins, potluck meals, visits to restaurants, schoolwide T-shirt days, and talent shows can help everyone get to know one another better, tear down the personal walls that often get built inside schools, form more caring relationships, and simply have a wonderful time together.

Teaching As a Joyful Experience

Recently, I visited a former graduate student in her classroom. It is her third year as a teacher, and I was excited to see her creative and thoughtful teaching. But she said to me, "I never imagined this job would be so hard. I'm tired all the time."

Yes, teaching is hard. John Dewey's quote-about school sapping our souls-can be as true for teachers as it is for students. Considering the staggering turnover of new teachers in urban schools, it is in everyone's interest to help teachers find joy in their work. So teachers must strive in whatever ways they can to own their teaching so that each morning they can enter their classrooms knowing there will be golden opportunities for them-as well as for their students-to experience the joy in school.

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Two quotes about schooling particularly resonate with me. The first is from John Dewey'sExperience and Education (1938): "What avail is it to win prescribed amounts of information about geography and history, to win the ability to read and write, if in the process the individual loses his own soul?"

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Date: 9 July, 2023

Source: Kratochvil, S. (n.d.). IB Things. https://wakelet.com/wake/doHe8cDnK1vjkvhudTfp0

This Wakelet offers a wide variety of tools and visual resources specific to the IB world. It also expands to the MYP, which is not the program I teach but is part of the IB continuum and is interesting for me to see and make connections between both programs.

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SDGs in connection to IB PYP Learner Attributes

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SDGs in connection to IB PYP Learner Attributes

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Date: 11 July, 2023

Source: Gadbury, C. (2018). Global Goals Learner Profile. Magic Story Books. https://www.magicstorybooks.com/uploads/5/8/4/5/58457229/globalgoalslearnerprofile_magicstorybooks__1.pdf

With this visual learning resource, Chris Gadbury encourages us to think about connections between the 17s SDGs and the 10 IB Learner Profile attributes. Again, this is about develop global mindedness, and inspiring today's children to take action towards resolving global issues and working towards global goals.

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Date: 11 July, 2023

Source: Gadbury, C. (2018). Global Goals Units. Magic Story Books. https://www.magicstorybooks.com/learning-resources.html

In this visual resource, Gadbury invites teachers and students alike to reflect on the connections we can make to the 17 SDGs throughout our inquiry journeys regarding the different IB PYP transdisciplinary themes.

This is something I see myself using at the start of the next school year, whether on my own, with my co-teacher, or with my primary students.

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A guide for lazy people to help save the world

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A guide for lazy people to help save the world

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Date: 10 July, 2023

Source:

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Start Doing Good: a short story to introduce the 17 SDGs 

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Start Doing Good: a short story to introduce the 17 SDGs 

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Date: 10 July, 2023

Source: Hervey, M.C. & Molina, G. M. (2020). A Smart Way to Start Doing Good. https://issuu.com/perceptionchange/docs/start_doing_good_en_web

This resource is a book I'd like to use with my students to introduce them to the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals and to start inspiring them to take action towards these global goals and developing their global mindedness.
Like the author writes:

At school we learn all about our ABCs, So why don’t we also learn our SDGs? (p.1)

I also like how colourful and rythmic the story is, I think it can make for an enjoyable reading experience for all grades across primary.

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Course: EDUC 5240 - Positive Classroom Environments

Instructor: Dr. Dyer

Date:

Source: Johnson, B. (2016). The 5 Priorities of Classroom Management. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/blog/5-priorities-classroom-management-ben-johnson

This article establishes and describes five components and key priorities of effective classroom management that help teachers establish strong structures that entice and motivate student learning. These are:

1. Developing effective working relationships with students

2. Training students on how learning takes place in your classroom

3. Protecting and leveraging time

4. Anticipating student behaviors in well-written lesson plans

5. Establishing standards of behavior that promote student learning

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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Teaching expectations, routines and procedures

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Teaching expectations, routines and procedures

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Date: 9 July, 2023

Source: Peshak George, H. (2019). Teaching expectations, routines and classroom procedures: Practices for effective classroom management. The Education Hub. https://theeducationhub.org.nz/teaching-expectations-routines-and-classroom-procedures-practices-for-effective-classroom-management/

I was looking for inspiration for routines and procedures I could use in my next mixed-aged preschool classroom and found this article which explains the importance of teaching routines and procedures in creating a positive classroom culture. The article also makes a case for involving students in co-establishing expectations and transition routines to give them agency in the process and help them take equal responsibility for the climate of their classroom.

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Date: 23 June, 2023

Source: Walker, S. (2022). Phonics. Ruby Tuesday. https://seanpypparis.blogspot.com/2022/03/phonics.html

I was looking for ways to teach literacy through play, and found this article written by my former co-worker.
The following paragraph really resonated with me and inspired me to think about my own values and how they might help me develop my own playful strategies to get my young learners to become confident readers and writers.

I value learning that involves children themselves as thinkers and engaged in a process of meaning-making. I also want children to find value in what they learn so it is framed in authentic and meaningful contexts. There are many varied approaches to developing phonological and phonemic awareness, but being clear about my values helped me to develop playful routines so children became more confident and skilled in using phonics to read and write more independently.
(para 3)

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This is a post I knew I needed to write from the time I set out on a quest to document my first year teaching Kindergarten! Of all my posts,…

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What Teachers need to know, understand and be able to do to differentiate well.

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KUD (know, understand, do) for differentiation in the classroom

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KUD (know, understand, do) for differentiation in the classroom

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Date: 10 July, 2023

Source: Walker, S. (2022). Differentiation. Ruby Tuesday. https://seanpypparis.blogspot.com/2022/04/differentiation.html

Looking-up ways to differentiate in the multiage classroom I'll have as of September, I read this blog post from my former colleague and IB PYP workshop leader: Sean Walker. In this piece, Sean writes about the webinar he attended where Dr Carol Ann Tomlinson shared various ways to create a classroom culture that supports differentiation; this will be a necessity and key priority for me this upcoming school year. This resource provides appropriate classroom strategies for me to try out and think about!

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Froebelan aproach to developing holistic self-regulation

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Froebelan aproach to developing holistic self-regulation

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Date:  31 May, 2022

Source: McNair, L.J. & Cerdan, C. (March 2022). Nurturing Self-Regulation: A Froebelian Approach. The Froebel Trust. https://www.froebel.org.uk/training-and-resources/pamphlets

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Date: 25 April, 2022

Source: Walker, S. (2022). Self-Regulation in Kindergarten. RUBY TUESDAY. https://seanpypparis.blogspot.com/2022/04/self-regulation-in-kindergarten.html

With this article from his reflective educational blog, Sean really made me think of how essential it is that we enable young students to become self-regulated learners. This is no doubt part of the PYP ATL self-management skills, but it is also where teachers are encouraged to think of children holistically, and promote the healthy development and regulation of each dimension of a child.

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Date: 10 July, 2022

Source: Cowdy,T. (2012). An Inquiry Into Where We Are in Place and Time. Inquire Within. https://inquiryblog.wordpress.com/2012/03/17/an-inquiry-into-where-we-are-in-place-and-time/

This article provides a descriptive, detailed example of a PYP transdisciplinary unit of inquiry, highlighting ways in which children were involved in the different stages of the instructional decision-making process, giving them choice, voice, ownership, and helping them become active agent in their learning despite their young age. Indeed, even young learners such as Kindergarteners have the capacity (and the right) be empowered and inspired by their learning experiences.

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Date: 8 July, 2023

During my induction week in my new IB PYP school, I was asked to write a list of books I'd like to have in my classroom. I've always loved kids' books and over my years working along side different teachers from different contexts, I'd already started collecting some of the books I found most inspiring, impactful and empowering for children ranging from the early years to upper primary grades. So far, I have elaborated the following list.

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Course: EDUC 5270 - Elementary Instructional Tchniques

Instructor: Dr. Polubiec

Date: 19 May, 2022

Source: My portfolio assignment for Unit 7

This was the first unit of inquiry I designed and developed by my self. Indeed, prior to this exercise, I had only collaboratively planned for units of inquiry. I incorporated as many elements as I could from my prior classroom experiences and knowledge from the PYP framework and IB recommendations, so that it would be appropriate for later use in an IB PYP setting.
This piece reflects both my understanding and practice of using an inquiry approach to learning and teaching in the elementary years.

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Date: 27 February 2022

Source: Jones, K. (2018). Taking KWL Charts Up a Notch. Elementary Inquiry. www.elementaryinquiry.com

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Date: 7 July, 2023

Source: Kain, L. (2022). Making Mathematics Playful. Toddle Learn. (professional account)

This resource from Toddle is a toolkit designed to help inquiry teachers make mathematical learning more fun, playful and enjoyable for children, and enable learners to approach mathematical concepts and build strong foundations though play-based activities.

This resource covers the following sections:

Maths - the big ideas

Developing mathematical language in play

Loose parts maths

Exploring maths through stories

Going further - books and podcast recommendations

The Loose Parts section was particularly interesting for me, as this is something that was only just recently introduced to me.

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Course: EDUC 5440 - Assessment & Evaluation
Instructor:
Date:
Source:

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Desining and redefining the Programme of Inquiry (POI)

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Desining and redefining the Programme of Inquiry (POI)

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Date: 4 July, 2023

Source 1: Clegg, T. (2019). The Problem With a POI. Making Good Humans. https://makinggoodhumans.wordpress.com/2019/05/14/the-problem-with-a-poi/

Source 2: Clegg, T. (2021). Reimagining the POI. Making Good Humans. https://makinggoodhumans.wordpress.com/2021/01/05/reimagining-the-poi/

Source 3: Clegg, T. (2018). Student-Planned Units of Inquiries. Making Good Humans. https://makinggoodhumans.wordpress.com/2018/02/18/student-planned-uois/.

These three articles offer provocative thoughts about designing the programme of inquiry in IB PYP settings. Each provides insightful experiences, reflections and offers practical suggestions for the inquiry classroom.
- In the first article, Clegg shares his reflections on the challenges that creating and reviewing a POI presents for teachers, such as making it something fixed and rigid as opposed to something responsive and living.
- In the second, he provides suggestions for taking a different approach that balances a more emergent, organic, learner-centered approach to unit planning whilst also having a POI that is transparent, visible and accessible to the whole community.
- In the third article, Clegg makes a strong case for empowering students to plan their own units of inquiries and involving them in the design of the curriculum.

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Date: July 5, 2023

Source: Clegg, T. (2018). What could an agency-supportive first week of school look like? Making Good Humans. https://makinggoodhumans.wordpress.com/2018/08/12/what-could-an-agency-supportive-first-week-of-school-look-like/

In this article from this blog, IB PYP teacher Taryn Clegg shares his experiences and reflections about the first week of school, and offers advice for teachers to support and promote student agency from the very first days of the school year.
Working in an IB PYP school setting myself, I really want to ensure I empower my students to have voice, choice and ownership in their learning and our shared classroom environment, and this source provides interesting suggestions for me to consider, such as inviting my students to help plan the curriculum and set up their own classroom. This means letting go of "planning in advance" and leaning towards planning in response instead!

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Tips for a First Year Kindergarten Teacher

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Tips for a First Year Kindergarten Teacher

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Date: 4 July, 2023

Source: Simpson, L. (2015). Tips for a First Year Kindergarten Teacher. Kindergarten Works. https://www.kindergartenworks.com/kindergarten-teaching-ideas/tips-first-year-kindergarten-teacher/

In this article, Simpson shares her experience as a kindergarten teachers and offers 4 tips to new kindergarten teachers:

1. Really get to know your standards for the first 6-9 weeks of school

2. Get yourself a good planning binder setup (it’s okay if you don’t know everything that you’ll need/use yet – it’ll be great to have a place to put things)

3. Really list out a daily routine you’d like to have established by week 4/5 of school.

4. If you can also write down a list of your classroom management expectations (down to the nitty gritty) you’ll be glad you’ve thought through how to react before hand.

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This is my letter to you, dear first-year kindergarten teacher.

Let me start by saying that even though you may be nervous as all get out - if you have excitement for being in kindergarten - then you've got this!

Of course, there will be challenges, but that is something everyone has to overcome - so you're not alone. You can do this!

I do not believe this list to be exhaustive. It's just what I see as top priorities to wrap your mind around when you're staring down a "school starts" date on the calendar.

Now - jump to the part that fits you best!

If you're a new teacher {period}

If this is your first year of teaching {{ever}} then I'd say:

1. Really get to know your standards for the first 6-9 weeks of school

2. Get yourself a good planning binder setup (it's okay if you don't know everything that you'll need/use yet - it'll be great to have a place to put things)

3. Really list out a daily routine you'd like to have established by week 4/5 of school.

4. If you can also write down a list of your classroom management expectations (down to the nitty gritty) you'll be glad you've thought through how to react before hand.

Why those?

You need to have a filter with which you plan your lessons

When you know your standards (for... let's say up until your first report card - you can become an expert on the rest later) you now have a filter with which to pull lesson ideas, kick others to the curb or organize them for use later on.

Otherwise, every lesson you see may seem cute... or awesome... but with a filter, you can decide more easily if it's worth the time spent preparing it and the time spent on it in the classroom knowing if it will help fit your students' needs.

A binder will be a helpful place to keep everything

Create yourself a teacher binder. You can add to it, trash stuff part way through the year and you can tote it between home and school daily if needed.

You'll have it at your fingertips when you need to look at your schedule, lesson plans, phone numbers or staff meeting notes.

Having a daily routine will help all students know what to expect

You can work diligently over the first 4-5 weeks of school getting it in place and the students can grow their attention spans to match the length of your activities planned. You can tweak this over the year to fit your needs, but have a routine/order to your day makes it run smoother.

Here is our routine from my teacher perspective... we simply interrupt the normal routine to insert specials like gym, art, etc.

Positive and high expectations are a must

Create yourself a detailed plan and think through small things like:

turning in stuff

where to put stuff while it's drying

how to handle a pushing/shoving situation

what to do with the random blurts during any whole group activity in the beginning.

It's cool to over-plan and write down how you might respond. "In our class, we are expected to ... and you chose to ..." can go a long way in the beginning plus you should totally teach mini-lessons on this stuff... don't expect them to know it.

They will learn it, love practicing in positive ways, and being recognized for it. You'll love that they meet those high expectations because you've taught them how to achieve them and given lots of opportunities to practice them.
This is the stuff that will take time on the front end, but pay off all year long.
If you've taught older grade levels

If you have taught older grade levels before then let me share that procedures and routines have to go under a microscope the first 21 days of school.

Break things down piece by piece and do not expect students to honestly, really know how to do anything school related may be helpful.

You'll be pleasantly surprised when you find someone who has a clue into "how to do school" or can cut with scissors right off the bat - which is fun, rather than being overwhelmed by all they "can't" do... when you may be used to what students in older grade levels come in knowing.

Break it down

This may seem silly or over the top... but let me share that I do a mini-lesson on blowing noses and finding the kleenex boxes in my room. Why in the world do I do this?
Because I don't want to be frustrated.
A kid wiping their ever.running.nose on their sleeve {{uuugh}} then corrected to use a kleenex will generally only wipe the kleenex across their face the same way they did their sleeve...

Right, so while you are teaching a bajillion little lessons during the first few weeks of school (since they need to move every 15 minutes), take the time with them when they're on the carpet the first few days to go over the small stuff.

Show them:

how to color (how does your arm/wrist remain still and your hand does the back/forth or circular motion)

how to cut (open, slide, shut)

how to clean up after themselves (make a spill/mess and show how to get the tools to clean up the majority of it)

how to move from point a to point b

how to hold that pencil

While you won't expect that they have everything mastered right away {{aka insert "germ catcher" cough into your elbow reminders}} you can remind them that they were taught how to, can have a reference point to work from and/or hold them accountable when needed.

Either way - if you're new to kindergarten

Either way, I'd say jot yourself a list of transition ideas (calling by rhyming names, if you have an "a" in your name, move like an alligator, etc.) to help move students from one area of the classroom to another quickly.

That'll help when you're doing tons of transitions the first two weeks of school as they lengthen their attention spans and adjust to the length of your school day. If you don't think you'll recall them in the moment, simply plug them into your lesson plans. That's totally cool.

So what's next?

Kindergarten teachers are a unique breed of teacher and now you're one of us. Welcome. You're in.

Welcome to kindergarten!

Come hang out with us kindergarten teachers on facebook and come back to this website often.

You may want to get this tip and 8 others sent directly to your email with my free Back to School Bootcamp course. You'll get my best on starting kindergarten and be on your way to feeling more prepared than ever!

If you like what I do here on KindergartenWorks, then be sure to subscribe today. I look forward to sharing ideas with you weekly.

More Back to School

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Tips for a First Year Kindergarten Teacher - KindergartenWorks

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This is my letter to you, dear first-year kindergarten teacher. Let me start by saying that even though you may be nervous as all get out - if you have excitement for being in kindergarten - then you've got this!

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COLLABORATION & COMMUNITY:

- Establish partnership with local english bookstore to order books for professional development (e.g. Murdoch's new book) and for building my own repertoire of children literature books.

- Establish partnership contract with parents: "Handle with Care"/bring in recyclable materials from home/bring in cultural items and children's most cherished belongings/participation in classroom activities

CLASSROOM IDEAS:

environment

- co-create a reading den with students
-

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The first days of school: How to be an effective teacher

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The first days of school: How to be an effective teacher

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Date: 3 July, 2023

Source: Wong, H.K. & Wong, R.T. (2018). The first days of school: How to be an effective teacher (Fifth Edition). https://www.effectiveteaching.com/store/products/books/the-first-days-of-school-5th-edition

This is a book that was recommended to me by my new mentor. I have just ordered it and I will be reading it over the summer!

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Over 4.2 million copies have been sold of the preeminent book on classroom management and teaching for lesson achievement. Now in its 5th edition, it includes the new DVD, You Have Changed My Life, featuring William Martinez. Suggested Retail Price: $37.95 Paperback Authors: Harry K. and Rosemary T.

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Sowing the seeds for a great year of inquiry:  10 Tips for Term 1

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Sowing the seeds for a great year of inquiry:  10 Tips for Term 1

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Date: 2 July, 2023

Source: Murdoch, K. (2015). Sowing the seeds for a great year of inquiry:  10 Tips for Term 1. Just Wondering.

In this article, inquiry expert Murdoch shares her own reflections and answers to the prompts below, to help teachers prepare for the school year ahead and grow cultures of inquiry in their classrooms even before day 1.

How will you foster strong relationships in your classroom from day one?

How will you find out about your students’ interests?

How will you ensure the classroom is ‘owned’ by the students? How will you involve them in creating the learning space?

How will you ensure that curiosity thrives in your classroom?

How can you make some of your beginning of the year ‘activities’ more inquiry-based?

How will you use questions to drive learning?

How will you help students learn and use the language of learning?

How will you make room for the unexpected?

How will you get connected?

How will you prepare the way for inquiry to grow in your classroom this year?

How will you nurture your own inquiring mind?

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Sowing the seeds for a great year of inquiry: 10 tips for term 1. - Kath Murdoch

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The school year has just begun here in Australia. It's a time of great anticipation, resolution and excitement - I love the sense of possibility that accompanies this time. For many of us - having had a break - it is also a time of adjustment.

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The Summer To-Do List for First Year Teachers (online article)

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Summer To-Do List for First Year Teachers

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Summer To-Do List for First Year Teachers

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Date: 2 July, 2023

Source: Wolz, J. (2017). The Summer To-Do List for First Year Teachers. Teachers Off Duty. https://teacheroffduty.com/summer-list-first-year-teachers/

This article shares great advice and resources to help beginner teachers like me prepare for their first year of teaching.

Table of Contents:

1) How to Prepare as a First-Year Teacher:
- Design your Classroom Management Plan
- Plan your first couple of weeks
- Select and Plan Get-to-Know-You Activities
- Create Paperflow and Material Systems
- Create data collection systems
- Bonus: Shop school supply sales like mad

2) Things New Teachers Should De-prioritize:
- Pinterest-Perfect Classroom Decor
- Planning out ALL the units
- Anything else that distracts you from setting up a smooth-running, welcoming classroom or getting to know your students

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The Summer To-Do List for First Year Teachers | Teacher Off Duty

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You’ve probably got about 80,130 things swirling around in your head that you want to do before the school year starts. It’s such an exciting time! I remember the summer before my first year teaching obsessing over EVERYTHING #anxiety. I thought I needed to make my plans incredible and have my cla…

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My constructivist principles and practices

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My constructivist principles and practices

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Course: EDUC 5270 - Elementary Instructional Techniques

Instructor: Dr. Polubiec

Date: 13 April, 2022

Source: My Written Assignment for Unit 1

In this paper, I shared my understanding of what constructivism is and how it infused my teaching philosophy and practices. In particular, I describe the following three key constructivist practices, and explain how I apply them in my classroom: (1) student-led learning, (2) group discussions, and (3) connecting prior and current levels of understanding.

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5270 - U1WA - Constructivist principles and practices

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Course: EDUC 5440

Instructor: Dr. Gerges

Date: 16 March, 2021

Source: My Written Assignment for Unit 7

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Course: EDUC 5010 - Education in Context

Instructor: Dr. Nyemba

Date: 16 February, 2022

Source: My written assignment for Unit 3

In this paper, I described and discussed seven key principles of progressivist education, drawing on the work of Dewey, while making connections to both relevant classroom practices and to the International Baccalaureate (IB) milieu. I also explaining how progressivism is relevant to my own educational philosophy.

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5010 - WA3 - Progressivism_ an educational philosophy 

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Course: EDUUC 5410 - Child Development

Instructor: Dr. Yahn

Date: 23 May, 2022

Source: National Association for the Education of Young Children. (2022). Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs Serving Children from Birth through Age 8. Retrieved from https://www.naeyc.org/resources/position-statements/dap

This resource by the NAEYC has helped me inquire into DAP (developmentally appropriate practice) and build a deeper understanding of both the theory and practice behind it:

First of all, this source provides a guiding statement behind using DAP for young learners:

Each and every child, birth through age 8, has the right to equitable learning opportunities—in centers, family child care homes, or schools—that fully support their optimal development and learning across all domains and content areas. Children are born eager to learn; they take delight exploring their world and making connections. The degree to which early learning programs support children’s delight and wonder in learning reflects the quality of that setting. Educators who engage in developmentally appropriate practice foster young children’s joyful learning and maximize the opportunities for each and every child to achieve their full potential.
(para 1).

It then provides several access links to different sections further explaining what DAP is and what it entails for educators and their classroom practices:

1. Purpose

2. Statement of the Position

3. Defining Developmentally Appropriate Practice

4. Core Considerations to Inform Decision Making

5. Principles of Child Development and Learning and Implications That Inform Practice

6. Guidelines for Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Action: Using Knowledge of Child Development and Learning in Context

7. Creating a Caring, Equitable Community of Learners

8. Engaging in Reciprocal Partnerships with Families and Fostering Community Connections

9. Observing, Documenting, and Assessing Children’s Development and Learning

10. Teaching to Enhance Each Child’s Development and Learning

11. Planning and Implementing an Engaging Curriculum to Achieve Meaningful Goals

12. Demonstrating Professionalism as an Early Childhood Educator

13. Recommendations for Implementing Developmentally Appropriate Practice

14. Recommendations for Schools, Family Child Care Homes, and Other Program Settings

15. Recommendations for Higher Education and Adult Development

16. Recommendations for Policymakers

17. Recommendations for Research

18. Conclusion

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Montessori, M. (1995). The Absorbent Mind.

This book is a new addition to my shelf, because I will be teaching Kindergarten in an IB setting that also promotes Montessori practices and principles. Of course, I already know of and adhere to these key ideas of the Montessori approach, however I still want to deepen my understanding.

If education is always to be conceived along the same antiquated lines of a mere transmission of knowledge, there is little to be hoped from it in the bettering of man's future.  (p. 04)

Powell, W. & Kusuma-Powell, O. (2010). Making the Difference: Differentiation in Internaitonal Schools.

This book has long been on my teaching shelf, ever since I was first introduced to differentiation practices in the classroom, during a training workshop in my second year working as a teacher assistant. The book clearly presents and explains the key tenets of differentiation, and provides both case studies and accounts from teachers, in addition to sharing practical tools to use in the international classroom.
This book was my go-to reference when I first dived into differentiated instruction. Working in an international school setting, I think it is in fact a must have for me, as differentiated instruction is an IB approach to teaching.

MacKenzie, T. (2016). Dive into Inquiry. Seastar Education.

I purchased this short book as I was deepening my understanding of inquiry-based instructional practices. Mackenzie offers compelling arguments as to why teachers and students alike ought to learn through inquiry; he also shares practical classrooms examples and tips.

Murdoch, K. (2015). The Power of Inquiry. Seastar Education.

This book was given to me when I first started working in an IB PYP school in 2019, and since then I have found myself consistently going back to it - especially throughout this M.Ed. program. This beautiful and practical book can serve as an introductory guide to inquiry practices and principles.

Alvarez, C. (2016). Les Lois Naturelles de l'Enfant. Arenes.

This book was given to me by a former colleague in the first school I ever worked in, which was a Franco-American School. In this book originally written in French, Alavarez shares her experiences working in the public school system at preschool levels. This book was a great success here, as it helped promote the shift from traditional to more progressive approaches to learning and teaching in France.
In her first book, Alvarez clearly explains the major scientific principles underlying learning and development. She shares her experience, the activities that can help children develop their potential, and the developmentally-appropriate posture and practices for adults to model.

Alvarez, C. (2019). Une Année pour Tout Changer. Arenes.

In her second published book, Alvarez shares about her year-long experience and work in a Belgian preschool, where she was invited to reorganized the classrooms, sorted activities and individualized teaching, all without additional financial resources. This is an innovative piece of work in my country's context, and a great source of inspiration for me when working alongside young children, as Alvarez grounds her work in a Montessori approach.

Claxton, G.(2021). The Future of Teaching: And the Myths that Hold it Back. Routledge.

The purpose of this book is to eliminate debates that rely on inaccurate assertions about the brain and a lack of comprehension of cognitive science. In it, Claxton strives to regain a balanced approach to education that fosters both in-depth knowledge and the development of essential qualities. By doing so, it sets the groundwork for an education system in the 21st century that seeks to realise the promise of contemporary education.

Bauer, S. (). The Story of the World Collection.

The Story of the World is the engaging, award-winning series that has been making students fall in love with history for over twenty years. Suitable for early and middle grades, this four-volume set covers the sweep of human history through time and place, giving students the background needed to gain meaning from the past.
Working as a classroom assistant in a grade 3-4 classroom, during history lessons, the teacher I worked with would use these books to read aloud to the kids. I noticed how engaged the children would be during these lessons, completely captivated throuh the power of storytelling by what they were learning. After the read aloud, the children were given several options to share their understanding of the studied chapter: they could work in small group or individually to create a product of their own choice reflecting their learning - through a play, a comic strip, a poster, etc.

Fox, M. (). Reading Magic.

Tyler, . (19). Curriculum and instruction

Gallagher, E. (). Equal Rights to the Curriculum.

Curtis & Carter. (). The Art of Awareness.

Adventuring in the Early Years.

Nelson, J. (). Positive Discipline.

Mathematics Explained to Primary Teachers.

Perry, B. & Szalavitz, M. (2010). Born for Love: Why Empathy is Essential -- And Endangered. HarperCollins Publishers Inc

This was the reading that prompted me to choose the topic of empathy for my applied research project.
In this provocative book, renowned child psychiatrist Bruce D. Perry and award-winning science journalist Maia Szalavitz interweave research and stories from Perry's practice with cutting-edge scientific studies and historical examples to explain how empathy develops, why it is essential for our development into healthy adults, and how it is threatened in the modern world. The authors show that empathy underlies the qualities that make society work- trust, altruism, collaboration, love, charity-and how difficulties related to empathy are key factors in social problems such as war, crime, racism, and mental illness.

Gordon, M. (2009). Roots of Empathy: Changing the World Child by Child. The experiment.

Founder of the program Roots of Empathy, Gordon chronicles the creation of her award-winning classroom program. She shares in this book her vision of a society of compassionate and caring children who will pass on their legacy of empathy to their own children.

Westman, L. (2021). Teaching with Empathy: How to Transform Your Practice by Understanding Your Learners. ASCD.

Diving deeper into my research on teacher empathy, I found this book that then became the backbone of my study, as well as of my own classroom practice.
In this short yet very complete resource, Westman defines empathy, explains how it is developed and what teachers can do to develop and hone their own empathic skills in order to better understand and meet their students. Prompts for teacher reflection and tips for classroom action and application are provided.

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The following books have either been recommended by fellow teachers I have either worked with or learnt from in some way (some from online, international communities!):

Harris MaKay, S. (). Story Workshop: new possibilities for young writers.

Building Number Sense.

Early Years Theories.

Inquiry Mindset: Elementary Edition.

Mindset Mathematics.

Mudoch,K. (2022). Getting Personal with Inquiry.

Ritchhart, R. (2023). Cultures of Thinking.

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Oracy in the classroom: a teacher's guide

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Date: 20 June, 2023

Source: Main, P. (2021). Oracy In The Classroom: A Teacher's Guide. Structural Learning. https://www.structural-learning.com/post/the-importance-of-oracy-in-language-development?utm_medium=email&utm_source=rasa_io&utm_campaign=newsletter

Speaking is one of the most basic skills that humans possess. Oracy is central to language development but also to building students' literacy and communication skills.  This article explores ways of developing a strong culture of language use in the classroom.

Oracy can be described as learning to talk and learning through talk. This article focuses on the latter, we are particularly interested in how using active discussions can form the foundation for pupils understanding of curriculum content.
(para 2)

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In this article, we explore ways of developing a strong culture of language use in the classroom. The importance of oracy in language development cannot be emphasised enough. Discussion is central to all aspects of the curriculum including areas such as grammar development. If the conditions are set up correctly with the right sort of tools, children can have purposeful discussions about the possibilities, effects and meaning of the curriculum.

Oracy can be described as learning to talk and learning t hrough talk. This article focuses on the latter, we are particularly interested in how using active discussions can form the foundation for pupils understanding of curriculum content.

Enabling children to understand the different types of discussion roles available to them broadens their repertoire of classroom talk. As well as being a tool of communication, effective oracy skills enable pupils to participate in deep learning activities where they can exchange ideas, explore new areas and challenge assumptions.

This area of pedagogy has particular significance for disadvantaged or low-attaining pupils. Within this article and the rest of the website you will find examples of how classroom talk can be used for knowledge acquisition and the development spoken language skills. Oracy is the art of speaking eloquently and persuasively. When someone speaks in a persuasive manner, they try to convince others of their point of view. While this type of communication is common in everyday life, it's also a fundamental part of the curriculum.

Speaking is one of the most basic skills that humans possess. We learn to talk early in life, and our ability to communicate continues to develop throughout adulthood. Regardless of whether someone speaks fluently or struggles to express themselves, learning to speak is the foundational building block of literacy. Learning to read and write is much easier when you understand the basics of spoken communication.

For example, knowing how to pronounce certain letters and sounds allows children to recognize letter patterns and build vocabulary. When kids grow into adults, they continue to rely on their knowledge of pronunciation to decode written text. It's no surprise then that mastering the art of speech is a critical part of developing literacy. People who lack proficiency in speaking tend to fall behind academically, especially when it comes to reading comprehension. Organisations such as Voice 21 I've been promoting effective oracy skills across schools in the UK, it is clear that providing children with the tool of communication sets them up for a lifetime of success.

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Oracy is to communicate what literacy is to reading and writing; and numeracy to mathematics. The term 'oracy' was first used by Andrew Wilkinson in the 1960s. Andrew believed that oracy - one's ability to express themself with fluency in speech - must get equal status to math performance and literacy in school curriculums.

In its simplest form, oracy is to be able to express oneself well. It relates to having a broad range of vocabulary to say what one needs to say and the proficiency to structure thoughts so that the person makes sense to others.

More recently, oracy has become even more important. This is because, education in schools is predominantly provided in English (in the UK), but many children lack spoken communication skills because they speak another language at home. Once schools begun reopening after the initial pandemic lockdown, many educators reported a dip in oracy skills particularly in children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

How do you measure Oracy Skills?

Many studies have discussed the potential role of teachers and schools in building Oracy skills in students. In recent times, online learning has made serious negative impacts on students such as social isolation, and poor communication skills. After opening, the majority of schools can reduce the negative impact of online education through different competitions, programmes and resources based upon 4 key oracy skillsets: evidence and reasoning; response and listening; delivery and expression; and prioritisation and organisation. Schools must teach and develop students' proficiency in these skillsets just like literacy and numeracy.

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Improving Oracy Skills in the classroom

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Schools can take the following steps to build strong foundations of oracy skills for the students in a classroom:

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1. Allocating Extra Classroom Time for Oracy Techniques: More than anything else, classroom time is needed for building correct language speaking skills in the students. Although each class has a fixed timetable to follow, the teachers must try to engage students in oracy explicit activities within the classroom time. Also, teachers must not be hesitant to make oracy an objective or focus for a lesson. Learning through Oracy must be practised in every classroom.

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2. Promoting Oracy in the Classroom: The most effective teachers take the responsibility for the language development of children very seriously. They make sure to commemorate oracy in their classroom environment. Following are some of the ways to promote oracy in the classroom.

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a. Children's verbal comments must be gathered and displayed in the classroom.
b. Teachers must frequently read aloud and tell stories to the students.
c. Children must be invited to perform the poetry and plays.
d. Displaying unusual objects in the classroom and encouraging children to talk about them.
e. Making a ' talking corner' in the classroom and inviting guests to talk about an interesting topic with the class.
All the above activities will build students' confidence and enhance their oracy skills.

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3. Explicitly Teaching Oracy: Teachers must use direct vocabulary instruction especially with the students having any other native language. They must teach oracy related topics in the classroom. It is suggested to start by teaching a language structure or speaking frame each week. But unfortunately, teachers cannot give everything they know to the students. Children have to grab things and make them their own. Hence, teachers must support children to reflect and analyze their language skills - not only after they've completed their written tasks but also while they're writing their ideas and vocabulary.

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4. Providing Opportunities to Practise Oracy: To make children confident speakers, teachers must provide them with a lot of opportunities to use their oracy skills in the classroom. Teachers must try different ways to talk about different topics and the structures they use in the classroom. Teachers can ask questions about students' major achievements in education or, prompt or comment about any topic. Teachers need to build upon students' comments. It is a must to think about how frequently children get the opportunity to report verbally, both planned and unplanned. It is also recommended to allocate some of the classroom time for children with poor communication skills and design additional language-related activities for them. Teachers can build a 'conversation station' with some rules to facilitate conversations between children.

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5. Practice to Elaborate: An element of communication that's extremely powerful is ' elaboration.' Elaboration means to explain one's idea to someone else and add details to it. This method acts as a verbal rehearsal before writing ideas on paper. For young learners, oral practice separates the process of the creation of ideas from the more complex task of writing them. Older children can practice elaborating which help them in trying out different ways to write sentences and to listen to their writing aloud.

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6. Expect Oracy from each student: For teachers, it is crucial to teach students about the fundamentals of classroom talk and model what good communication sounds like. A teacher's thinking voice plays an important role in building children's metacognitive skills in both oracy and writing. To think about the most useful ways to phrase speech and to verbalise oracy choices are keys to supporting the development of oracy skills. It is an effective way to give feedback about Oracy. A teacher must not highlight if a child says something incorrectly, it might be more effective to repeat what they said incorrectly using the right words.

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7. Make Oracy a fun-filled Activity: It is necessary to enjoy oracy explicit activities in the class with children such as games, role play, performances and debates. Teachers can design a thorough curriculum for oracy including many oracy related activities to improve oracy in children.

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A child first acquires language to build upon natural fluency. Each student must get the opportunity to improve their content vocabulary through oral presentations and discussion rather than learning new vocabulary to be used in writing. Improvements in a student's spoken English are usually followed by developments in their writing skills. However, incorporating tier 2 direct vocabulary instruction into the curriculum has been shown to have positive outcomes for pupils.

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What are the benefits of Oracy Skills for the pupils?

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High-quality language development activities in primary classrooms can greatly improve educational attainment, from improving science and SAT results in maths to enhancing reasoning, reading and writing skills.
There is an extensive body of evidence that suggests that students with better communication skills are 4 times more likely to achieve five A* at GCSE.

When teachers engage students in cognitively challenging classroom talk students do not only improve their language skills but also gain additional progress in subjects like science and mathematics. High-quality oracy education improves different techniques of writing in students; mainly including extended writing and collective writing skills. Oracy also has a positive impact on children's spelling and reading comprehension. The spoken language supports children's cognitive development, helping them to understand the world around them.

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More recently, teachers and employers think that life skills such as communication, confidence, resilience and motivation are equally or even more important than educational qualifications. Oracy improves a child's academic and cognitive outcomes, his mental-wellbeing, self-esteem, employability, social mobility, and civic engagement. With companies now rating effective speaking as the most desirable skill, having superior public speaking and communication skills and a strong ability to express ideas through discussion are more needed in life beyond school.

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There are hundreds of schools all across the country where teachers have understood the importance of building strong Oracy skills within the students. But, despite having all the above advantages and teachers' realisation of its importance we don't see the oracy curriculum receiving as much attention as literacy and numeracy in the school curriculum.

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According to academic evidence, pupils' average contribution in each class remains limited to just four words per lesson. Therefore, it is suggested that just as literacy and numeracy, oracy framework and key oracy skillset must be taught and, essentially practised for developing communication proficiency in students.

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Building learning conversations

As a teacher you can't give them what you know. Learners have to take it and make it their own, and it's the discussion that really helps to do that. You can really support this by giving children tasks that require them to create several versions of something and then discuss which is best. Using the 'Writer's block', we have seen children make changes and then reason their ideas to someone else. So you might say, 'write several opening sentences and discuss which one is the best'. The children can then use the Structural Learning blocks to move and change the parts of the sentence without any fear of 'getting it wrong'. As learners make changes, they always justify their thinking to their peers, a gateway to critical thinking.

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There are many different types of communication skills, including speaking, listening, asking questions, giving feedback, and presenting ideas. Each type of skill requires a specific set of techniques to master. Speaking is the most fundamental form of communication to learn. When facilitating classroom talking exercises, focus on your learners practicing their voice inflections and pronunciation. Once they feel comfortable with their speaking abilities, try practicing public speaking. Listening is another key component of effective communication. While you might be able to read someone's body language, you still need to pay attention to their tone and volume level. Try to practice active listening by actively participating in conversations.

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Questions are another useful technique for communicating effectively. Asking open-ended questions allows others to share their opinions and feelings. Avoid leading questions, however, which can lead to answers that aren't entirely honest. Instead, ask questions that allow others to answer honestly. Giving feedback is yet another way to communicate effectively. Giving constructive criticism in the classroom is helpful for improving relationships and encouraging academic growth. As with any performance, avoid faulting students directly; instead, offer suggestions for improvement.

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Classroom talk for generating ideas

Another important role for talk in writing is the kind of talk that helps children to generate the ideas.

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You can't write if you haven't got anything to say and the talking to generate ideas helps you to work through your ideas in a logical way. One element of talk that's particularly powerful is elaboration. This is the idea of explaining your ideas back to someone else and adding details along the way. This approach acts as an oral rehearsal before pen is committed to paper. For very young children, oral rehearsal separates the formulating of a sentence from the very difficult demand of writing it.

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With older children it helps them try out different possibilities for sentences and to hear their writing aloud. And finally, talk is important for reflection and evaluation. We all know how hard it is to get children revising their work. Support children to reflect and evaluate on their writing - not just after they've written but also as they're developing their ideas and vocabulary. The block structures can easily be manipulated into different combinations, it's a lot less daunting than putting a line through it. Focus their revision with key evaluative questions tied to the learning focus.

Remember, talk is the foundation of all learning.

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Oracy tips for your classroom

Communication is one of the most important aspects of learning. Children learn best when they are actively involved in the learning process. They learn best when they are engaged in meaningful tasks. Children who are able to express themselves clearly and effectively are much more successful learners. This means that teachers need to pay attention to the communication skills of students.
1. Be Aware of What Students Say
It's important for teachers to listen carefully to what students say. Teachers should ask questions to find out what students think and understand. Teachers should also encourage students to explain things to each other. For example, if a student has an idea for a project, he/she may want to discuss it with another child.

This helps students develop their understanding of others' opinions and encourages them to talk about their ideas.
2. Encourage Students to Talk About Their Ideas
Encouraging students to talk about their ideas is a great way to improve their ability to communicate. If students don't have any ideas, they won't be able to talk about them. However, encouraging students to talk about their thoughts and feelings is a great way to promote self-expression.

When students feel comfortable talking about their ideas, they are more likely to participate in class discussions and projects.
3. Help Students Develop Their Writing Skills
Writing is a skill that develops over time. Educators can encourage students to write down notes and then elaborate on their ideas which helps them join their points together. This type of practice helps children create logical arguments that fit together.
4. Provide Opportunities for Students to Practice Speaking
Speaking is another area where students often lack confidence. To help students overcome this problem, teachers should provide speaking opportunities. These opportunities could include giving presentations, participating in debates, or presenting information orally.

Providing these opportunities gives students the chance to practice speaking in front of groups of people.
5. Give Students Time to Think Before Responding
Sometimes, students respond without thinking. This can make them appear rude and abrupt. Giving students time to think before responding is a great way to avoid such problems. Teachers should allow students to pause after asking a question before answering. This allows students to reflect on their answer before replying.

By doing this, students are more likely to come up with thoughtful responses. Asking students to pause before responding is a simple way to teach students to think before they speak.

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Oracy in the classroom: a teacher's guide

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Oracy in the classroom: A teacher's guide to the development of pupils speaking skills for knowledge acquisition.

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Date: 20 June, 2023

Source: Mackenzie, T. (2021). Inquirer Profile.  https://www.trevormackenzie.com/companionresources

This resource is designed to have primary learners reflect on a variety of questions and create their own Inquirer Profile. The slides set  students off on a meaningful start to inquiry whilst supporting teachers in designing learning from their students.

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Date: 20 June, 2023

Source: Mackenzie, T. (2021). Younger Years Reflective Journal. In Inquiry Mindset: Assessment Edition. https://www.trevormackenzie.com/companionresources

This resource is intended for lower primary students, whom I am most passionate about working with. This little book contains prompts for reflection, and I think it would be great to help me empower my students to take ownership of their learning, but also to promote their metacognitive skills. It would also allow me to evidence the learning and support my young inquirers.

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Date: 20 June, 2023

Source: Mackenzie, T. (2021). Educator Reflective Journal. In: Inquiry Mindset Assessment Edition. https://www.trevormackenzie.com/inquiry-mindset-assessment-edition

This is an excellent resource from inquiry expert Trevor Mackenzie: it encourages inquiry teachers like me to reflect on who their learners are, what their interests, strenghts and needs are, and some of the most critical components of student agency in inquiry practices, particularly regarding assessment of inquiry learning.

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Course: EDUC 5410 - Child Development

Instructor: Dr. Yahn

Date: 20 April, 2022

Source: My Written Assignment for Unit 2

The written assignment for the second unit of this course required us to develop our own comparison chart of the theories of Skinner, Piaget, and Vygotsky, including what each implied for different aspects of learning.

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Theories of Learning and Teaching (Wilson & Peterson, 2006)

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Learning theories and instructional implications

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Learning theories and instructional implications

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Course: 5410 - Child Development

Instructor: Dr. Yahn

Date: 20 April, 2022

Source: Wilson, S. M. & Peterson, P. L. (2006). Theories of learning and teaching: What do they mean for educators? Washington, DC: National Education Association. Retrieved from: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED495823.pdf

In this excellent and easy to read resource, the authors provide key information as to how learning and teaching are changing in our contemporary world, and what those changes lead to. They give us a brief tour through predominant theories of learning and their implications, and also encourage us to reflect on and interrogate our own beliefs and assumptions about what learning and teaching mean to us.

As experienced teachers, we believe that all teachers operate according to theories. Our practice is driven by our “theories” about what will work for our students. Some of those theories are explicit and are learned in school; some are tacit and are the products of years of experience in schools—as teachers, parents, and students. The theories we briefly explore here have enormous potential both for helping teachers explain why they teach in the ways they do and for disturbing those patterns and prompting teachers to rethink their practice.
(p.14)

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Copie de Theories of Learning and Teaching (Wilson & Peterson, 2006)

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Course: 5410 - Child Development

Instructor: Dr. Yahn

Date: 23 April, 2022

Source: Zhou, M., & Brown, D. (2015). Educational learning theories. Educational Psychology Commons. https://oer.galileo.usg.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.bing.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1000&context=education-textbooks

This source presents all of the educational learning theories and their respective authors, and provides a brief overview of the educational implications for each theory.  In total, there are 12 chapters, each devoted to a specific theory. I have selected in bold the chapters I have found more relevant to my own educational beliefs and practices:

1. Chapter 1 Behaviorism

2. Chapter 2 Stages of Cognitive Development

3. Chapter 3 Social Cognitive Theory

4. Chapter 4 Sociocultural Theory

5. Chapter 5 Theory of Moral Development

6. Chapter 6 Experiential Learning Theory

7. Chapter 7 Bioecological Model of Human Development

8. Chapter 8 Psychosocial Theory of Identity Development

9. Chapter 9 Theory of Multiple Intelligences

10. Chapter 10 Bloom’s Taxonomy

11. Chapter 11 Theory of Human Motivation

12. Chapter 12 Information Processing Theory

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Educational Learning Theories_ 2nd Edition

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Course: EDUC 5410 - Child Development

Instructor: Dr. Yahn

Date: 21 April, 2022

Source: Orey, M. (2010). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Jacobs Foundation. https://textbookequity.org/Textbooks/Orey_Emergin_Perspectives_Learning.pdf (licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License )

This textbook serves as an overview of learning and instructional theory. Each chapter contains a thorough description of a theory, model, or strategy along with multimedia files that support and illustrate the content.

Section 1: Learning and Cognitive Theories

Section 2: Learner-Centered Theories

Section 3: Inquiry Strategies

Inquiry Strategies: Tasks

Inquiry Strategies: Changing Learners' Minds

Section 4: Tools for Teaching and Learning

Tools for Teaching and Learning: Changing or Encouraging Human Behaviors

Tools for Teaching and Learning: Technology Tools

Section 5: Socially Oriented Theories

Section 6: Direct Instruction Strategies

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Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology (Orey, 2010)

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Course: EDUC 5470

Instructor: Dr. Singh

Date: 22 March, 2023

Source: My Portfolio Assignment for Unit 8

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Course: EDUC 5810

Instructor: Dr. Harris

Date: August 5, 2022

Source: My Portfolio Assignment for Unit 8

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Course: EDUC 5271

Instructor: Dr. Dorrell

Date: August 8, 2022

Source: My Portfolio Assignment for Unit 8

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Course: EDUC 5270

Instructor: Dr. Polubiec

Date: 28 May, 2022

Source: My Portfolio Assignment for Unit 8

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Course: EDUC 5410

Instructor: Dr. Yanh

Date: 2 May, 2021

Source: My Portfolio Assignment for Unit 8

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Course: EDUC 5440

Instructor: Dr. Gerges

Date: 17 March, 2021

Source: My Portfolio Assignment for Unit 8

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Course: EDUC 5010

Instructor: Dr. Nyemba

Date: 17 March, 2022

Source: My Portfolio Assignment for Unit 8

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Course: EDUC 5711

Instructor: Dr. Ringer

Date: 22 October, 2021

Source: My Portfolio Assignment for Unit 8

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Course: EDUC 5710

Instructor: Dr. Wade

Date: 22 October, 2021

Source: My Portfolio Assignment for Unit 8

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Course: EDUC 5220

Instructor: Dr. George

Date: 28 May, 2021

Source: My Portfolio Assignment for Unit 8

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Course: EDUC5210

Instructor: Dr. McCollum

Date: 19 March, 2021

Source: My Portfolio Assignment for Unit 8

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Course: EDUC 5240

Instructor: Dr. Dyer

Date: 31 December, 2020

Source: My Portfolio assignment for Unit 8

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Course: EDUC

Instructor: Dr.

Date: 10 May, 2021

Source: Mike Gershon, M. & Ketko, P. (2020). Whole Class Feedback. Inspiring Inquiry.

This resource is great to engage in assessment FOR learning, it offers 25 techniques for teachers to use across different grade levels to gauge all of the students' understanding.

‘Whole class feedback’ refers to any method which allows the teacher to gain information concerning the knowledge and understanding of all the students in a class. Further in this document there are twenty-five examples of such methods.

The techniques explained here have frequently helped teachers to ‘work smarter’, allowing them to deal with misconceptions on-the-go and onmass. Many also enable peers to aid one another’s learning, decreasing reliance on the teacher and increasing awareness of the learning process.
(slide 3)

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Date: 17 June, 2023

Source: Gadbury, C. (n.d.). Guided Inquiry Journal for Students. ToddleLearn. https://learn.toddleapp.com/resource-post/guided-inquiry-journal-for-students/

This resource is an inquiry journal designed for students. It is a great way to empower them to become agents in their learning, helping them take ownership of their own inquiry.
The guide contains open-ended worksheets, graphic organizers and thinking routines to support students as they build new understandings and skills.
I would very much like to use it with upper elementary students one day!

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Author Chris Gadbury Experienced PYP educator

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Designed by Chris Gadbury, this PYP inquiry journal is your students’ best friends in their learning journeys. Get this PYP student planner!

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Date: 17 June, 2022

Source: International Baccalaureate Organization. (n.d.). PYP Planner: To be used alongside the PYP planning process. Inspring Inquiry. https://www.inspiringinquiry.com/the-learner/pyp-overview/pyp-planner

This resource is designed to support PYP teachers in their planning processes, as they develop units of inquiry. I have never used it before, but would very much like to use it next school year, as I start working in a new IB PYP school.
I find this planner is visually pleasing and well-organised, which makes it less overwhelming than other templates.

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The Empathetic School - ASCD (online article)

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Course: EDUC5410 - Child Development

Instructor:  Dr. Yahn

Date: 22 May, 2022

Source: Tomlinson, C. A., & Murphy, M. (2018, March). The empathetic school. Educational Leadership, 75(6), 20-27. http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar18/vol75/num06/The-Empathetic-School.aspx

It was reading this article that I was first inspired me to conduct my own action research on the role and value of empathy in our classrooms.
In it, the authors explain how making decisions based on empathy can humanize our work in school and enhance student learning.

"What if we set our sights on creating an environment where our central and shared goal, as we teach and lead, is to understand the experiences and perspectives of those who share our space and to make decisions based on what would serve them best?"
(para 4)

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Vol. 75

No. 6

Abstract

Defining Empathy

The Merits

What an Empathetic School Asks

Leading the Empathetic School

The Payoff

Learning through Understanding

When we set our compass "due north" to empathy, we humanize our work in schools.

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Abstract

Defining Empathy

The Merits

What an Empathetic School Asks

Leading the Empathetic School

The Payoff

Learning through Understanding

Schools, not unlike hospital emergency rooms, are incessantly busy places. Those in charge must make complex decisions at wearying speed, knowing that those decisions bear strongly on the welfare of others, and yet finding sparse opportunity to reflect on their actions in the press of the day. The question of what internal or external compass guides educators' decision making is complex as well, and in many instances, there is no evident answer.

School leaders seek to do well for the adults whose work they guide. Teachers seek to do well for the young people they teach. And yet, there are few sustained conversations in many schools about a compass we agree to use that points us to "due north"-to the direction most likely to lead us to a good place.

We make decisions about curriculum too often based on documents that an external authority hands to us. We make instructional decisions to ensure that we "waste" no time in covering curriculum, so that our success and that of our students will be judged affirmatively on standardized measurements that many teachers themselves believe are oppressive and even unjust. We find ourselves making disciplinary moves based on a uniform point system, when our students are decidedly not uniform. We adopt new initiatives with no deep understanding of their implications because, on the surface, they seem fresh or may alleviate the urgent pressures that bear on all of us associated with schools. It's easy to interact with parents from a position of exhaustion and even defensiveness. And in all these instances, we always mean to do better. Still, the job gets done. Good things happen in schools on a regular basis. And we move on.

We must acknowledge, however, that these kinds of decisions are not pathways to lasting improvement. So, here's a question worthy of our consideration: What if our compass-our "due north" for decision making-was creating an "empathetic school"? What if we set our sights on creating an environment where our central and shared goal, as we teach and lead, is to understand the experiences and perspectives of those who share our space and to make decisions based on what would serve them best? What promise might accrue in a school where leaders, faculty, and staff aspire to practice empathy and to support students in doing that as well? There's reason to conclude that such an approach would result in a school that extends the potential of both the adults who work there and the students who attend-energizing a community in far-reaching ways.

Defining Empathy

At its core, the term empathy suggests an ability to understand and share another person's feelings and emotions-to see things from the perspective of another and understand another's point of view. Bob and Megan Tschannen-Moran (2010) describe empathy as a "respectful, no-fault understanding and appreciation of someone's experience; as such, it is an orientation and practice that fosters radically new change possibilities" (p. 21).

Language is tricky, however, and subtle distinctions can be important. Some experts worry that empathy can lead people to feel so deeply with others that they themselves literally share the fear, pain, anxiety, or self-doubt of the person or group with whom they are empathetic. As a result, empathy can become exhausting and disabling rather than energizing. These experts (such as Bloom & Davidson, 2015) prefer compassion to empathy. Although there is overlap in the terms, there is an important distinction. Compassion suggests we understand and care about what another person feels, but do not attempt to feel it ourselves. In that way, compassion, these experts say, is more likely to lead to action on behalf of another because it calls on us to be kind and to see the need for action rather than simply to experience the feelings of another.

On the other hand, the term compassion may be more deeply associated with the suffering of another person, while the term empathy may suggest being attuned to positive feelings as well. It seems wise to seek to recognize and act on feelings like joy, satisfaction, success, and engagement, as well as feelings like distress, fear, isolation, anger, loneliness, and hopelessness.

With these semantics in mind, we offer the idea of an "empathetic school." We choose to define empathy as seeking to both understand a person's condition from their perspective and understand the needs of others, with the aim of acting to make a difference in responding to those needs or building on the positives. If you prefer the idea of a "compassionate school," that phrase works, too. In either case, the goal is to humanize the work we do by understanding and learning from one another in ways that lift our work.

The Merits

Grounding our work in empathy (or compassion) is a theme in numerous, enduring bodies of work in education, psychology, and neuroscience. Maslow's hierarchy of human needs (1943) indicates that learning follows satisfaction of more fundamental needs, such as those related to physiology, safety and security, belonging, and love-suggesting that teachers' attention to the status of those needs in students is central in grasping a young person's readiness to learn. In addition, self-actualization, the pinnacle of Maslow's hierarchy, implies a sense of purpose, morality, and fulfillment to which a person's work should certainly contribute.

Similarly, key theories of moral development (such as Gilligan, 1982; Kohlberg, 1969) suggest a progression from focus on self and personal preference through a series of stages that increasingly value relationships and the perspectives of others, and ultimately employ universal and comprehensive principles of morality, such as mutual respect, justice, and kindness, as guiding principles for one's life.

Finally, emerging insights from neuroscience tell us that:

Stress and negative classroom associations impair learning.

Emotion surpasses cognition, so that when a learner feels threatened, it is unlikely that the part of the brain in which cognition occurs will function as it should.

The brain is quick to tune in to threat and slow to forget it (see the work of Sousa, 2011; Sousa & Tomlinson, 2017; Willis, 2007).

The brain is a social organ and so close, supportive relationships enhance learning (Cozolino, 2013).

A teacher functions much like a parent in building a young person's brain. A caring teacher who shows positive regard for a learner, demonstrates optimism, is encouraging, and minimizes classroom conflict positively impacts student achievement (Cozolino, 2013). In addition, Carol Dweck's work (2006) makes a compelling case for the importance of teachers working from a growth mindset about their students so those students can develop a growth mindset about themselves and others.

Findings from all these disciplines call on a teacher to understand students' classroom experiences and to orchestrate positive classroom experiences-to see school through the students' eyes and to respond in ways that minimize negative experiences and maximize positive ones. It is not a great leap to translate the conclusions to adults in the school as well, so that decision making seeks to foster positive working conditions for and build supportive relationships among adults in the building as well as students. Paul Zak's recent work (2017) suggests that a more intentional investment in people and their growth encourages "whole people development." This investment has the potential to lead to "a culture of trust and purpose, [which] resonates with the social nature of human beings and creates engagement, joy, and profits" (p. 208). Therefore, an empathetic school would place the highest value on not only caring about those who spend much of their lives in schools, but also caring for them. In other words, making decisions that go beyond an interest in students and teachers to doing whatever is necessary to promote their growth and welfare (Gay, 2010).

What an Empathetic School Asks

An empathetic school asks everyone in it-teachers, leaders, staff, and students-to diminish some of their self-focus and respond in a fuller and more informed way to those around them. It guides us to develop an inclusive place where the highest aspirations of democracy are consistently at work, where community functions as it should, and where the best of human behavior is evident every day. It asks us to invest both our cognitive and affective energies toward those ends.

With that focus, we would seek to know those around us beyond the surface. We would pause often to listen. We would frame teaching and leadership around significant issues and ideas that can infuse lives with meaning and purpose. We would create classrooms, meetings, and informal spaces characterized by dialogue rather than monologue. In those places, we would express gratitude when that is called for, generosity always, and forgiveness when it is needed.

Teachers in such places would consistently give students voice in what they learn, how they learn, and how they might best show what they know. They would look for the problem behind misbehavior rather than seeing the child as a problem-and find solutions to the problem rather than punishments. Principals in these contexts would join with teachers to craft spaces and schedules that invite learning, account for human variance, and anticipate the need for flexibility. Teachers and principals alike would focus on assets rather than deficits, helping others identify their strengths and use those strengths as launching pads for further growth.

These things are often neither intuitive nor easy to achieve. They are aspirational. Nonetheless, pursuing the aspiration makes us more attuned to one another, to the world around us, and to ourselves. It makes us better people and better educators.

Leading the Empathetic School

In the empathetic school as we envision it, the principal would play a crucial role. The principal would have to work with others to envision and institute a critical vision of mutual support. He or she would do this by seeking to understand and respond more effectively to the needs of all members of the school community and to expand the reach of that community by learning from its diverse perspectives. It is the principal who must develop, observe, and share "purpose narratives"-examples, illustrations, and stories that reinforce the reason for and meaning of the work of empathy (Zak 2017, p. 177). It is also the principal who must guide the school community's recognition of the power of what Fullan (2007) calls a purposeful school-a place where people understand and reach for a moral calling. This provides a reason for their work that extends beyond and strengthens each person in the community and the community itself.

The principal would strive to ensure that faculty and staff learn to trust him or her, trust the work they are doing, and trust one another to be allies in that work. To that end, the principal would seek alignment between the way the school functions and what teachers seek to implement in their classrooms. The principal would also aim to be a model of empathy in all its aspects, including in what it means to translate growing understanding and insight into action. Further, the principal must help sustain the energy and productivity of faculty and staff over time, including helping colleagues derive satisfaction and joy from working with others whom they trust and with whom they share a purpose (Zak, 2017).

Central to the leadership role of the principal in the empathetic school would be working to clear the way through the incessant external demands so teachers can find time to focus and act on empathy. Leaders must resist pressures to standardize young humans and to measure the effectiveness of students, teachers, and schools with instruments that are too often shallow, restrictive, and draining. Further, the principal would play a key role in seeking out and providing, over the long term, the kind of support teachers must have to understand and develop comfort in working from a point of empathy.

In all these arenas, the principal would take care to seek the counsel of colleagues, empower other leaders to contribute to decision making that facilitates empathetic practice, and ensure consistent examination of ways in which emergent practices affect the development and achievement of students, the lives and work of teachers, and the functioning of the school as a whole.

The Payoff

There is no paint-by-number approach to developing and practicing empathy as a basis for living, working, and decision making in our varied schools. Still, there are outcomes that we might expect as focus shifts. Among other expectations, it is reasonable to assume that understanding, appreciating, and addressing people's feelings, needs, and perspectives could lead to more opportunities for teachers to share successes and concerns with colleagues and leaders; more collaborative relationships between teachers and parents; greater student voice; fewer incidences of bullying; and a curriculum and instructional style that foster a love for learning.

In a high-empathy middle school we visited, students ran a multifaceted anti-bullying initiative, which provided safe spaces where students who were bullied could find support. Students also participated in challenging conversations that examined the dynamics of bullying, specified negative outcomes, and encouraged peers to step up to the challenge of being a positive force in the lives of others.

In a high-empathy, high-poverty K-8 school we visited, there were greeters at the entrance to the school every day to speak with each student personally. In that school, older students served as "Way Finders," mentoring younger students in the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary for success. The halls were canopied with banners that pointed the way to productive thoughts and actions.

Both schools held high expectations for students and faculty alike and provided support for both. The schools offered lively and engaging classes that connected students with the world outside of school and made learning feel like a worthy investment.

Learning through Understanding

Human beings are born with the capacity for kindness and compassion; however, that capacity has to be nurtured to be fully realized. People in whom it is nurtured are better equipped to live meaningful and productive lives. Empathy is a link between self and others-a channel for experiencing and expressing kindness and compassion. Working together as teachers, leaders, and students to build an environment that embodies compassion and empathy stretches all of us. It extends our possibilities. It satisfies a profoundly fundamental need.

In a recent (2012) essay, Art Costa, Robert Garmston, and Diane Zimmerman reflected on "the deeply flawed belief"-often exhibited in the way we do school-"that teachers and students are interchangeable parts, rather than thoughtful, unique, caring, experienced, and often passionate human beings" (para. 12). The essay counseled that "we should be supporting systems that develop the essence of teachers who inspire a love of learning" in contrast to those whose aim is predominately "to get students to demonstrate mastery on achievement tests."

In a democracy, education should be "precisely concerned with equity, access, and recognition of the full humanity of everyone" (Ayres, 2010, p. 152). An empathetic school would focus on the full humanity of each member of the community. It would be energizing to work there, and it would enable educators to teach, learn, and make choices as acts of caring. It would nurture in students the desire to understand and the capacity to reach out to others with acceptance and trust.

In the end, that's much of what a life in school should do for us, individually and collectively.

References

Maslow, A. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50, 370-396.

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When we set our compass "due north" to empathy, we humanize our work in schools.

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Date: 14 June, 2023

Source:  Terborg, S. (2012). Imagine a School. https://sonyaterborg.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/imagine-a-school.pdf

This is a beautiful digital book written and illusrated by Sonya Terborg, which I find truly encapsulates my beliefs about 21st century education.
It provokes us to redefine the purpose and function of school today, to reimagine its' potential and make it different from what it is now. This can be used as a provocation to spark a conversation with colleagues in the context of collaborative professional development, and can also be used with students who in a way, know better than us what they would like their experience in school to be like and what they would like to gain from it.

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Date: 15 December, 2021

In my previous IB PYP setting, I joined a Professional Learning Community that was charged with collaboratively defining what "high quality learning" meant to us.
The definition we developed was displayed around the school, as can be seen from the photograph, and went as follows:

"High quality learning is a social and experiential practice. It sparks students' curiosity and stimulates their natural creativity. It inspires them to strive for excellent, and to take ownership of their own inquiry and research. It shapes the learner and the learning community, nurturing growth and new understandings."

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Date: June 21, 2023

Source: Mackenzie, T. & Bathurst-Hunt, R. (n.d.). Guiding Questions for Inquiry Teachers [illustration]. Trevormackenzie.com

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Using the environment to honor questions

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Using the environment to honor questions

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Date: June 21, 2023

Source: Mackenzie, T. & Bathurst-Hunt, R. (n.d.). Ways to Honour Questions in the Classroom [illustration]. Trevormackenzie.com

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Date: June 21, 2023

Source: Mackenzie, T. & Bathurst-Hunt, R. (n.d.). Nurturing the Whole Child [illustration]. Trevormackenzie.com

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Date: 20 April, 2023

This is a digital graphic as I reflected on what teaching means to me.

How do I define teaching today? As an act rooted in love, courage and inquiry, and which is geared towards enabling change and transformation.

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Date: 16 June, 2023

Source: Kesby, A. (2018). Hand signs for the PYP Key Concepts. Teacher Librarian Primary Library. https://blogs.ibo.org/sharingpyp/2022/09/29/hand-signs-for-the-seven-key-concepts/

I came across this visual as I was reading through an article from the IBO blog which argues that "An effective strategy to emphasise concepts, is to tap into the physical dimension, the kinaesthetic aspect and use hand signs."
Aside from using it for differentiation and inclusion purposes, I think it also helps students make stronger connections when they can explore and express the same concept in different ways. Plus, I am sure young children would find it fun to practice, just as they love singing action songs!

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The classroom as a land of dreams and wonders

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The classroom as a land of dreams and wonders

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Date: 19 September 2019

Source: Godin, S. (2013). Stop Stealing Dreams TEDxYouth@BFS. [video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXpbONjV1Jc&ab_channel=TEDxYouth

This video had such a big impact on me. In it, Godin confirmed almost everything I had believed about the purpose of school, the goal of teaching and learning.
School as it is today, and as I knew it myself as a student, is destroying our innate uniqueness and inborn dispositions. It is diminishing our tendency to speak out, to be curious and adventurous, to be altruistic and authentic. It is not only stealing our dreams, it is stealing our human ability to dream of and work for a better world. For me though, school is about creating a better world, filled with better people than we could ever be. Teaching is to inspiring wonder and dream within our students, and empowering them to make those dreams come true.

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STOP STEALING DREAMS: Seth Godin at TEDxYouth@BFS

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Date: 16 June, 2023

Source: Tergborg, S. (2018). The Planning Process. https://sonyaterborg.com/2018/12/12/planning-process/ (licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.)

I stumbled on this poster I really like, designed by Sonya Terborg and published on her blog.

This resource depicts the key elements of the IB PYP planning process. It will definitely be useful to have at hand when I start planning for my first units of inquiry in a Kindergarten classroom in just a few months!

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Thinking like a Mathematician Activities

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Thinking like a Mathematician Activities

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Date: 1 March, 2023

Source: Be a Mathematician! (n.d.). University of Cambride Faculty of Mathematics NRICH. https://nrich.maths.org/9085

This webpage provides activites that are grouped under different ways of mathematical thinking for both lower and upper primary grade levels.
Using these activities, I can foster a playful approach to learning about maths and help children build lifelong skills and attitudes to engage with various mathematical concepts.

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Mathematicians often know lots of mathematical facts, but, more importantly, they think about maths in different ways. These activities are grouped to help you to practise thinking like a mathematician.

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The Nrich Maths Project Cambridge,England. Mathematics resources for children,parents and teachers to enrich learning. Problems,children's solutions,interactivities,games,articles.

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Manipulatives in the Primary Classroom (pdf)

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Date: 15 January, 2021

Source: Beck, J. (2019). Manipulatives in the Primary Classroom. University of Cambridge. https://nrich.maths.org/content/id/10461/Manipulatives%20in%20the%20Primary%20Classroom.pdf

This research-based article makes a strong case for the use of manipulatives in the primary classroom to best teach young children mathematical concepts and procedures.
This source retraces the history behind these practical apparatus and offers practical classroom suggestions to help teachers develop and enhance the use of manipulatives in their practices so that children begin to see and use them as tools in their development as mathematicians.

So that is where the research is leading us; the suggestion is that manipulatives can be powerful tools to support sense making, mathematical thinking and reasoning when they are used as tools to support these processes rather than as adjuncts to blindly following a taught procedure to arrive at an answer (p.6)

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Things to consider when designing Math stations and learning centers

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Things to consider when designing Math stations and learning centers

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Date: 27 August, 2022

Source: Learning Stations Buckets. (n.d.). HCPS Mathematics. https://sites.google.com/henrico.k12.va.us/hcps-elementary-math-routines/best-practices/learning-stations

This source offers three key considerations and subsequent reflection promots for teachers when designing math learning centers/stations in the classroom, to promote best practices in the primary years:

1/ Classroom Arrangement
2/ Routines and Procedures
3/ Math Community

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Course: EDUC 5810 - Learning and Living Globally

Instructor: Dr. Harris

Date: 7 July, 2022

Source: World Savy. (n.d.). Global Competence Rubric. https://www.worldsavvy.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/FY19WSCRubric_Final.pdf

This document outlines the different dispositions and capacities of global competence and the different levels of their development.
This rubric will serve me in two ways:
- to assess how globally competent my students are and how I can further nurture the development of its' components
- to reflect on how globally competent I am myself

As stated in the document:

Educators who aspire to help students become globally competent must both develop the criteria outlined in the rubric in themselves and find ways to foster them in students. (para 1)

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Date: 7 May, 2023

Source: Ritchhart, R. (2007). The Seven R's of a Quality Curriculum. https://www.ronritchhart.com/new-page

As I was going through Ritchhart's blog and shared resources, I came across this article in which he presents the different qualities that make an activity, a unit, a curriculum something that effectively engages students in developing a deeper understanding.
The following seven criteria can serve as guidelines for the planning, enacting, and evaluating of a curriculum focused on understanding.

1. Rigorous – embody and afford the demonstration of a high level of understanding.

2. Rewarding – intrinsically motivating to the student and not just “work.”

3. Requires Independence – students make choices that shape the performance and are largely selfdirected.

4. Real – have an authentic quality in that they mirror work of adults working in the discipline.

5. Rich in Thinking – require more than memorization and replication. The types of thinking required can be identified.

6. Revealing – uncover students level of understanding as well as any misconceptions.

7. Reflective – written reflections on the process and learning often enhances the performance

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Date: 7 May, 2023

Source: Ritchhart, R. (2020). Planning Frame III. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5e7977706f259a3ea1d94af0/t/5e8405eeb176766b144ae771/1585710575220/Planning+Frame+3_2020.pdf

This is the third revision of Ritchhart's Planning Frame, a tool intended for teachers to help them plan a curricular unit in a way that is focused on promoting student understanding so as to enhance their learning.
This is a tool I haven't yet used, but would like to try out next school year, it is clear and concise enough for me to make sense of.

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Date: 16 June, 2023

Source: Barrett, T. (n.d.). SOLO Taxonomy Question Chain Example. Inspiring Inquiry. https://www.inspiringinquiry.com/learningteaching/toolsstrategies/solo-taxonomy

This is an example of a SOLO Taxonomy Question Chain.
A question chain is a series of connected question that explores a concept or subconcept.
Following each row across, we can see each question using the language and verbs associated with each the SOLO Taxonomy levels.
This model can thus help me to frame my questionning of students in a way that matches the different levels of understanding, and reveal the level of understanding of my students. What is more, this example here is meant for a Kindergarten classroom, which is exactly the class I will be teaching next school year.

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Date: 31 March, 2022

Source: Main, P. (2022). Differentiation Strategies: A Teacher's Guide. Structural Learning. https://www.structural-learning.com/post/differentiation-strategies-a-teachers-guide

This resource is a practical guide to help teachers build their differentiation repertoire and implement it in their classroom practice. It explains what differentiation means and entails, presents the four areas of differentiation (i.e. content, process, product, and learning environment) as well as popular differentiation strategies for classroom practice, and provides helpful tips to promote effective implementation.

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Differentiation strategies: a teacher’s guide

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What does differentiation in the classroom look like and how can we use this concept to make learning accessible and challenging for everyone?

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Teacher's Guide to PYP Conceptual Learning

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Teacher's Guide to PYP Conceptual Learning

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Date: 19 August, 2022

Source: Key Concepts PYP. (2022). Structural Learning. https://www.structural-learning.com/post/key-concepts-pyp

This page offers a clear overview of what conceptual learning entails in the IB PYP framework. It goes over the essential elements of this approach and ties them to other central elements of the PYP such as ATLs, transdisciplinary themes and the learner profile.
What I liked about this source is that it is simple and clear to read through and understand, despite the topic being quite complex. Finally, it contains practical advice and ideas for promoting concept-based learning in the PYP classroom.

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The Primary Years Programme (PYP) is aninquiry-based learning frameworkthat aims to develop the whole child, while identifying the importance of the educational, emotional, social, physical and cultural development of children aged between 3 and 12. The curriculum has greater grade level expectations from students as well as sets high standards. As learning information is a key part of the PYP program, more focus is given to the process of learning and students' understanding and awareness of ways to learn. As students grow into lifelong learners, they realize that learning is related to finding answers, asking conceptual questions and being curious that results in asking deeper questions.

PYP stands for Primary Years Programme, and it's the core curriculum for students who study IB Diploma (the highest level). The PYP consists of four subjects: Language and Literature, Sciences, Humanities, and Arts. Each subject is divided into three units: General Studies, Key Concepts, and Extended Essay.

Students take the PYP over the course of six years, beginning when they're seven years old. They complete the program in three phases: Pre-IB, IB Diploma, and Post-IB.

General studies cover topics such as history, geography, mathematics, science, social sciences, technology, and world languages. Key concepts include the five knowledge areas: People & Society; Natural Science; Technology & Engineering; Mathematics; and Design & Production. Finally, extended essays require students to apply their knowledge to real-world problems.

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The PYP framework includes 5 essential elements:

These elements are created through 6 themes which are applicable across all of the subjects. The themes include:

Who we are;

How we express ourselves;

Where we are in time and place;

How we organize ourselves;

How we share the planet and

How the world works.

The breadth of knowledge is investigated from global and local perspectives within a unit of inquiry. The IB standards are supported by an effective approach to teaching and follow best practices in education. Experienced educators collaborate while planning units of inquiry both as a whole faculty and as grade teachers belonging to any grade level team.

The IB retains a learner profile of particular skills that schools must build in learners at every grade of IB which has a positive effect on school culture. The IB Learner Profile strives to develop students into reflective individuals, risk-takers, thinkers, inquirers, principled, communicators, knowledgeable, balanced, caring and open-minded. The main objective of all IB programmes and PYP, as mentioned by the International Baccalaureate Organization, is to "develop globally minded persons who, identifying their mutual humanity and shared control of the planet, help to build a more peaceful and better world. Many schools strive to achieve the goal of developing lifelong students who positively contribute to society.

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The International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years Programme includes 8 PYP Key Concepts, which students need to apply to their learning to give their inquiries meaning and direction.

The concepts that drive the PYP are abstract, timeless and universal.

1. Form: The factual knowledge that everything has, form with identifiable features that can be categorized, described, observed, and identified.

2. Function: The knowledge that everything has a role, a purpose, and a way of behaviour that can be assessed.

3. Causation: The knowledge that nothing happens without any reason, causal relationships are built at work, and actions have outcomes.

4. Change: The knowledge that change is a universal and inevitable process of movement from one state to the other state.

5. Connection: The knowledge that everyone lives in an interacting systems world in which the actions of an individual element affect other elements.

6. Perspective: The knowledge that learning is moderated by perspectives; various perspectives result in different findings, interpretations and understandings. The perspectives can be cultural, group, individual or disciplinary units.

7. Responsibility: The awareness that individuals make choices on basis of their actions and understandings, and their actions occur as a result of making a difference.

8. Reflection: The knowledge that there are numerous ways of knowing and that it is crucial to reflect on our decisions, to consider our procedures of reasoning, and the reliability and the quality of the evidence people have considered.

In every unit of inquiry, these PYP Key Concepts are identified, so students can apply them to various topics. Also, they could use any one of these concepts across different contexts or topics, helping them to make engaging, incisive observations and learn beyond the regular curriculum design. For example, they might be able to make connections between concepts present in both art and mathematics (like patterns).

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The IB maintains a learner profileof specific skills that schools must develop in students at every level of IB which has a positive impact on school culture.

1. Caring: A learner must be helpful to others, thoughtful, empathetic, considerate, and knows how to act as part of a group.

2. Open-minded: A learner needs to listen to others' innovative ideas and thoughts, and understands that there is more than a single way of doing things.

3. Balanced: A learner must use his time intelligently, and take part in a range of activities.

4. Risk-taker: The learner must not be afraid of making mistakes, and needs to be prepared to try new and unfamiliar ways to do things.

5. Principled: The learner needs to be honest, responsible, make good decisions, and has a sense of justice and fairness.

6. Inquirer: The learner must not give up easily and ask a lot of useful questions and, does not give up easily.

7. Thinker: The learner must be able to use his/ her knowledge and can add to his/her own and other persons' ideas.

8. Knowledgeable: The learner must have the interest to learn more about self, other persons and the world.

9. Communicator: The learner must express thoughts and feelings about the curriculum framework.

10. Reflective: The students must think about their learning, actions and a variety of ways to do things.

The PYP key concepts have been established to be universal, abstract and timeless. They help students to engage in abstract thinking and conceptual thinking to cope-with tricky ideas.

PYP Key Concepts can help learners to deal with knowledge in transdisciplinary themes, which the IB intends to encourage. This kind of learning is not limited to factual concepts and content, helping students to engage with broader concepts that can motivate inquisitive, creative and critical thinking.

There are eight key concepts identified by the PYP. These concepts are formed to encourage an in-depth understanding of conceptual topics, opposite to a 2-dimensional facts repetition. By promoting deeper levels of engagement with learning, the PYP can assist students to acquire some crucial transferable skills to implement in all their topics and even in their professional life.

Enquiry learning process rooted in concepts can help promote proper meaning and deeper understanding while enabling learners to tackle abstract organizing ideas and topics. Conceptual learning is also crucial for encouraging an interdisciplinary approach, whereby links are made between different subjects and content. This ability to link across topics is vital in further education, as well as beyond school, so it's an important skill to encourage.

Concepts help to learn community go far beyond the basic facts, leading to a truly in-depth conceptual understanding and inquisitive approach to learning.

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The Approaches to Learning in PYP include transdisciplinary themes that are important for students learning both inside and outside the classroom. These are the tools that students use across all subject areas to develop into successful students. Students get the opportunity to practice these skills and reflect on how they apply these skills to their everyday learning.

1. Thinking

1. Acquisition of Knowledge: Gaining specific vocabulary, central idea, and facts; memorizing in a similar format.

2. Comprehension: Understand meaning from content learned; interpreting and communicating learning outcomes.

3. Analysis: Taking ideas or knowledge apart; segregating them into parts; detecting relationships; finding distinct characteristics.

4. Synthesis: Combining components to develop wholes; developing, designing, creating and innovating

5. Evaluation: Making decisions or judgments on basis of chosen conditions, standards and criteria.

6. Dialectical Thought: Understanding and thinking about 2 or more different opinions at the same time.

7. Metacognition: Analyzing an individual's and others' thinking; thinking about how to think and learn.

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2. Social

1. Accepting Responsibility: Accepting and properly completing tasks; being ready to take responsibility.

2. Respecting Others: Carefully listening to others; taking decisions on basis of equality and fairness; understanding that others' viewpoints, beliefs, ideas and religion can be different and expressing one's viewpoint without hurting others.

3. Cooperation: Working in collaboration in a group; showing courtesy to others, taking turns, sharing things.

4. Resolving Conflict: Carefully listening to others; being fair; compromise.

5. Group Decision-Making: Discussing ideas; listening to others; working for consensus, asking questions about challenging topics.

6. Adopting a range of group roles: To understand what behaviour is reasonable in any situation and perform accordingly.

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3. Communication

1. Listening: Listening to others; listening to information; listening to directions.

2. Speaking: Speaking in a clear voice, expressing ideas logically and clearly.

3. Reading: Reading a range of sources for pleasure and information, and interpreting what has been read.

4. Writing: Recording observations and information; keeping a record or journal; writing notes and paraphrasing.

5. Viewing: Analyzing and interpreting multimedia and visuals; understanding how they express ideas, beliefs and values; making informed decisions about personal viewing experiences.

6. Presenting: Developingmultimedia and classroom posters for different purposes and audiences.

7. Non-Verbal Communication: To understand the meaning of kinesthetic and visual communication.

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4. Self-Management

1. Gross Motor Skills: To develop skills using groups of large muscles.

2. Fine Motor Skills: To build skills involving precision in small muscle systems.

3. Spatial Awareness: Showing sensitivity towards the position of objects concerning oneself or each other.

4. Organization: Effectively planning current events and performing activities.

5. Time Management: Using time appropriately and effectively.

6. Safety: Engaging in behaviours that do not place oneself or others at risk.

7. Healthy Lifestyle: Making informed decisions to accomplish a balance in diet, relaxation, rest, exercise and health.

8. Codes of Behavior: To know and apply the applicable rules and procedures for groups of persons.

9. Informed Choices: Selecting the suitable behaviour or course of action on basis of fact or opinion.

5. Research

1. Formulating Questions: Recognizing what one wants to know and asking relevant and compelling questions.

2. Observing: Using senses to identify relevant details.

3. Planning: Constructing a course of action and identifying ways how to gain essential information.

4. Collecting Data: Collecting information from a range of first or second-hand teaching resources.

5. Recording Data: Defining and noting information in different ways.

6. Organizing Data: Sorting and classifying the information and organizing in reasonable formats.

7. Interpreting Data: Making conclusions from patterns and relationships that arise from data

8. Presenting Research outcomes: To communicate whatever is learned; selecting appropriate media.

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Promoting the PYP key concepts in your curriculum

How do we develop the deeper conceptual learning we all strive for? It's not just about letting students run with their own ideas through enquiry-based learning. Meaningful questions, appropriate scaffolding and connection-making activities all play an important part within concept-based teaching. Concept-driven learning requires students to take a satellite view of what they are learning and imagine the sometimes hidden implications. This type of pedagogy requires placing thinking skills higher up the agenda. Whilst remembering facts and figures is important, the emphasis of concept-driven teaching is helping students understand the bigger picture. Whether you are examining concepts of causation or concepts of perspective, students will need to see the deeper links that exist within the content. Some of the ideas that you might like to consider include:

Utilising the universal thinking framework for planning for understanding. This took it allows teachers to unpick concepts with ease. The critical thinking skills can be sequenced together to help teachers visualise what progress looks like.

Graphic organisers can be incorporated into the learning process to help students visualise the IB PYP key concepts.

If you want to take a more creative approach to embed the IB PYP key concepts into your classrooms, you might consider how the block-building methodology promotes connection-making habits of mind.

A good key question can really drive curiosity forward. The bank of meaningful questions that accompany the thinking framework allows teachers to generate 'in the moment' deep questions.

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What are the PYP Key Concepts and how can they be utilised to develop deeper conceptual understanding?

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Course: EDUC 5440 - Assessment & Evaluation

Instructor: Dr. Gerges

Date: 2 February, 2022

Source: Rethinking classroom assessment with purpose in mind. (n.d.). WNCP. https://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/assess/wncp/full_doc.pdf

This book urges us to reconsider the way we think of and practice assessment in our classrooms. It identifies three purposes of classroom assessment: assessment for learning, assessment as learning, and assessment of learning.
facets of assessment; it will make you reflect on the assessment FOR, AS, and OF learning, and it suggests strategies to be applied in the classroom.
This resource offers some common vocabulary for assessment as well as innovative ideas for teachers to reflect on, discuss, and try out in classrooms. It contains highlights from current research, descriptions of assessment processes that enhance learning, case studies from classrooms, and suggestions for professional dialogue and collaboration.

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Differentiation for Concent, Process and Product

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Differentiation for Concent, Process and Product

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Course: EDUC 5711 - Teaching for Diverse and Inclusive Classrooms

Instructor:

Date: 9 September, 2021

Source: Taylor, B.K. (2015). Content, process, and product: Modeling differentiated instruction. Kappa Delta Pi Record, 51(1), 13-17.

This article explains in great detail how teachers can differentiate “content—the “what” of instruction; process—the “how” of instruction; and product—the “evidence” of instruction. The author first explains that the prerequisite for differentiated instruction is to get to know your students, understand their learning styles, interests, needs, and readiness.

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Course:  EDUC 5220 -

Instructor: Dr.

Date: 19 February 2021

Source: UNESCO (2004). Changing teaching practices: Using curriculum differentiation to respond to students’ diversity. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0013/001365/136583e.pdf

This is a very rich document that aims to support teachers in developing and expanding their own differentiation capacities. It emphasising strategies that teachers can use with a view of providing meaningful learning experiences for all students, and highlights the importance of getting to know one’s students so as to meet and respond appropriately to their diversity.
This resource provides practical examples of how

differrentiation across the curriculum can be put into practice in ordinary classrooms. It also provides sample lessons and activities using curriculum differentiation strategies.
All in all, it makes for an inspiring and guiding resource to help me better differentiate instruction in my classroom.

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Date: 15 June, 2020

Source: Perkins, D. (2003). Making Thinking Visible. Harvard's Project Zero.  https://pz.harvard.edu/resources/making-thinking-visible-article-0

I found this short article as I first inquired into the educational project and practice of Making Thinking Visible. A colleague in my first IB PYP setting had mentionned it to me during the day and I had no idea what she was referring to! This was the first paper I read that introduced me to this innovative educational concept.

This short article lays the groundwork and foundation behind  making thinking and learning visible in our classrooms. It draws on the work of educational figures like Vygotsky as well as on current educational research to explain the benefits of creating a culture of thinking in the classroom and gives practical recommendations for classroom implementation.

I also really love the quote below which beautifully and simply explains why making thinking visible helps students to become better thinkers:

By making the dancers visible, we are making it much easier to learn to dance.
(p.2)

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Set of Practice to Make Thinking Visible

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Set of Practice to Make Thinking Visible

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Date: 13 June, 2023

Source: Ritchhart, R. (2020).  Making Thinking Visible: A goal and set of practices. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5e852dc3f5988637031688c6/t/605d58f01d9a8003bc65008d/1616730354069/MTV+Practices.pdf

This poster shows the main goal and key practices for teachers to make thinking visible in their classrooms.

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10 Principles to develop robust Cultures of Thinking

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10 Principles to develop robust Cultures of Thinking

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Date: 12 June, 2023

Source: Ritchhart, R. and the Cultures of Thinking in Action Project. (2021). The 10 Principles Gears of Cultures of Thinking in Action.  https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5e852dc3f5988637031688c6/t/60ab0e633e998f0fd94fa944/1621823077420/CoTiA+10+Principles+Gears.pdf

This visual depicts the 10 principles guiding the creation of classrooms as cultures of thinking for our students.

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Date: 12 June, 2023

Source: Ritchhart, R., Turner, T., Beltran, C., Dian, Y., and Peh, H. (2021). Making it Visible. Cultures of Thinking.org
https://www.cultures-of-thinking.org/10-making-it-visible

As I was diving deeper into my learning of creating strong cultures of thinking and making thinking (and learning) visible in our classrooms, I stumbled across this great page by Ritchhart et al. which eloquently explains why making thinking and learning visible is so important and presents its key benefits for both teachers and students:

Thinking and learning can at times seem a mysterious, opaque, and veiled processes locked in a learner’s head.  As a result, we often focus on the tests and work students produce as evidence of learning and thinking.  This may feel somewhat easier and certainly more familiar with our experience of schooling.  However, in doing so we deprive our students of opportunities to grow as learners and thinkers and as a community of learners.  Furthermore, we rob ourselves of the very information needed to enrich and guide our teaching.
(para 1)

informing instruction and better understanding learning are certainly two very important goals of making learning and thinking visible.  At the same, time research has shown a host of other benefits as well.  With respect to learners:  visibility helps to shape the type of learner a person becomes, visibility supports the development of expertise and deep learning, and visibility can lead to better learning outcomes.  Where teachers are concerned, visibility is the key to a rich formative assessment practice and visibility helps shape the culture of the classroom.
(para 2)

Further down the page, two sections provide teachers with prompts for self-reflection as well as a large sampling of ideas to help advance classroom practice.

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#10 Making It Visible — Cultures of Thinking in Action

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75 digital tools and apps teachers can use to support formative assessment in the classroom (online article)

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Date: 17 July, 2022

Source: Dyer, K. (2021). 75 digital tools and apps teachers can use to support formative assessment in the classroom. NWEA. https://www.nwea.org/blog/2021/75-digital-tools-apps-teachers-use-to-support-classroom-formative-assessment/

This article shares a wealth of digital tools to use for formative assessments to elicit evidence of learning. Some of these tools were already familiar to me.
Technology is integral to our 21st century world and it is important that we use it in our classrooms to support both learning and teaching. Furthermore, some of these digital tools are designed in a way that is engaging and fun for children, which allows for playful learning experiences and also reduces the stress of assessment.

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There is no shortage of formative assessment strategies, techniques, and tools available to teachers who use formative instructional practice in their classrooms. Here is an extensive list of 75 digital tools, apps, and platforms that can help you and your students use formative assessment to elicit evidence of learning. We didn't just add any old tool to this list. Here are the criteria we used for those that made the cut:

Supports formative instructional strategies and ways to activate learners to be resources for themselves and peers

Is free or awful close to it (under $10 per year, where possible)

Allows both students and teachers to take the activator role when possible (sometimes teachers need to get things started)

Before you dig into the tools, I encourage you to spend some time thinking about exactly what you want to accomplish with your students. "How to pick the right digital tool: Start with your learning goal" by Erin Beard can help you wrap your head around goals and guide you in choosing the best tool for the task. "27 easy formative assessment strategies for gathering evidence of student learning" can help you decide what strategies work best for you and your students.

Record audio and video

Create quizzes, polls, and surveys

1. Crowdsignal Lets you create online polls, quizzes, and questions. Students can use smartphones, tablets, and computers to provide their answers, and information can be culled for reports.

2. Edulastic Allows you to make standards-aligned assessments and get instant feedback.

3. FreeOnlineSurveys Helps you create surveys, quizzes, forms, and polls.

4. Gimkit Lets you write real-time quizzes. And it was designed by a high school student!

5. Kahoot! A game-based classroom response system that lets you create quizzes using internet content.

6. MicroPoll Helps you create polls, embed them into websites, and analyze responses.

7. Naiku Lets you write quizzes students can answer using their mobile devices.

8. Obsurvey Designed to make surveys, polls, and questionnaires.

9. Poll Everywhere Lets you create a feedback poll or ask questions and see results in real time. Allows students to respond in various ways. With open-ended questions, you can capture data and spin up tag clouds to aggregate responses.

10. Poll Maker Offers unique features, like allowing multiple answers to one question.

11. ProProfs Helps you make quizzes, polls, and surveys.

12. Quia Lets you create games, quizzes, surveys, and more. Access a database of existing quizzes from other educators.

13. Quizalize Helps you create quizzes and homework.

14. Quizizz Guides you through designing quizzes and lets you include students in the quiz-writing process.

15. Quizlet Lets you make flashcards, tests, quizzes, and study games that are mobile friendly.

16. Survey Hero Designed to build questionnaires and surveys.

17. SurveyMonkey Helpful for online polls and surveys.

18. SurveyPlanet Also helpful for online polls and surveys.

19. Triventy Lets you create quizzes students take in real time using individual devices.

20. Yacapaca Helps you write and assign quizzes.

21. Zoho Survey Allows you to make mobile-friendly surveys and see results in real time.

Brainstorm, mind map, and collaborate

Present, engage, and inspire

Generate word or tag clouds

1. EdWordle Generates word clouds from any entered text to help aggregate responses and facilitate discussion. Word clouds are pictures composed of a cloud of smaller words that form a clue to the topic.

2. Tagxedo Allows you to examine student consensus and facilitate dialogues.

3. Wordables Helps you elicit evidence of learning or determine background knowledge about a topic.

4. WordArt Includes a feature that allows the user to make each word an active link to connect to websites, including YouTube.

Get real-time feedback

Foster family communication

1. Remind Lets you text students and stay in touch with families.

2. Seesaw Helps you improve family communication and makes formative assessment easy, while students can use the platform to document their learning.

3. Voxer Lets you send recordings so families can hear how their students are doing, students can chat about their work, and you can provide feedback.

Strengthen teacher-to-student or student-to-student communication

Keep the conversation going with live chats

1. Yo Teach A backchannel site great for keeping the conversation going with students.

2. Chatzy Supports live, online chats in a private setting.

Create and store documents or assignments

1. Google Forms A Google Drive app that allows you to create documents students can collaborate on in real time using smartphones, tablets, and laptops.

2. Piazza Lets you upload lectures, assignments, and homework; pose and respond to student questions; and poll students about class content. This tool is better suited for older students as it mimics post-secondary class instructional formats.

Learn more

There are several resources for learning more about formative assessment and responsive instruction strategies. Consider our formative practices workshops, where school and district teams can gain a better understanding of the role formative practice plays in instruction and the four foundational practices to use in the classroom. Or for a quick start, download our eBook "Making it work: How formative assessment can supercharge your practice."

Jump in, try new tools and methods, and have fun!

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75 digital tools and apps teachers can use to support formative assessment in the classroom

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We've compiled an extensive list of 75 digital tools that can help teachers use formative assessment to elicit evidence of student learning.

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Course: EDUC 5271 - Advanced Practices for Teaching Elementary and Middle School Literacy

Instructor: Dr. Dorrell

Date: 3 August, 2022

Source: Eithne Kennedy, E., Dunphy, E., Dwyer, B., Hayes, G., McPhillips, T., Marsh, J., O’Connor, M., and Shiel, G. (2012). Literacy in Early Childhood and Primary Education (3-8 years). National Council for Curriculum and Assessment Research Report, 15. https://ncca.ie/media/2137/literacy_in_early_childhood_and_primary_education_3-8_years.pdf

This report focuses on teaching literacy in the early primary years. It reviews how research can inform development of an inclusive early literacy curriculum, and argues that literacy learning is developmental, constructivist and incremental in nature and is embedded within cultural and community practices. It compares and contrasts different definitions and theoretical perspective of literacy, and presents different context for teaching and assessing literacy. Research-based strategies for teaching different and specific aspects of literacy are outlined throughout.

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Date: 11 June, 2023

Source: https://learn.toddleapp.com/blog-post/learner-profile-booklist-lower-primary-collection/

This is an excellent resource that shares different books appropriate for lower primary grades and which are related to each of the different attributes of the IB Learner Profile.
In other words, using children's books and literature can helps me further nurture and develop within my young learners the 10 IB attributes and attittudes.

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Learner Profile Booklist - Lower Primary Collection

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Explore this diverse booklist for PYP students created by Maggie Hos-McGrane. Foster the Learner Profile and engage reluctant and voracious readers, alike.

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Course: EDUC 5440 - Assessment & Evaluation

Instructor: Dr. Gerges

Date: 24 February, 2022

Source: Assessment strategies: sample assessment methods. Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.queensu.ca/teachingandlearning/modules/assessments/19_s2_11_sample_assessment_methods.html

The screeshot above just had to go in my practice portfolio. It offers such a wide variety of assessment strategies that I really want to have in my teaching toolbox. Indeed, it is indispensable to use multiple and varied assessments tools that are fit for purpose and that equally fit my own needs and goals as a teacher and those of my students.

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Course: EDUC 5440 - Assessment & Evaluation

Instructor: Dr Gerges.

Date: 2 February, 2022

Source: Ronan, A. (2015). Every teacher’s guide to assessment. Edudemic. https://www.moedu-sail.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/CFA-Handouts-for-C-Assessment-Design.pdf

This is a very thorough and complete guide to assessment practices that can be used across grade levels and subject areas.
In this paper, Ronan (2015) explains what assessment is, why it’s important, and how it can be delivered in the classroom in a meaningul and purposeful manner. She then provides some valuable resources for each type of assessment—diagnostic, formative, and summative.

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Strategies & Tools for building assessment-capable students in the Early Years

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Strategies & Tools for building assessment-capable students in the Early Years

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Date: 13 June, 2023

Source: Hargraves, V. (2018). 11 strategies for developing assessment-capable students. The Education Hub. https://theeducationhub.org.nz/11-strategies-for-developing-assessment-capable-students/

This article shared strategies and tools to help teachers in the early childhood years to develop assessment capable learners. This is interesting for me, as I strive to work alongside young children and am always on the lookout for ways to empower them. It provides classroom examples and also gives cues as to "what could go wrong".

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Source: Frey, N., Fisher, D., and Hattie, J. (2018). Developing Assessment-Capable Learners. Educational Leadership, 75(5), pp.46-51. ASCD. https://asdn.org/wp-content/uploads/EL-ACVL.pdf

I found this source as I conducted research on the concept of "assessment-capable" learners, which I had heard of from Trevis Mackenzie. This paper explains that assessment capable students (p.46):
- are aware of their current level of understanding in a learning area;
- understand their learning path and are confident enough to take on the challenge;
- can select tools and resources to guide their learning
- seek feedback and recognize that errors are opportunities to learn;
- monitor their own progress and adjust course as needed, and
- recognize what they’re learning and can teach others.

"In short, assessment-capable learners enact the deep knowledge we now possess about the significant roles that motivation, goal setting, self-regulation, and feedback play in learning" (p.46)

The paper also shares teaching practices that build assessment-capable learners.

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Course: EDUC 5220- Curriculum Design

Instructor: Dr. George

Date: 5 May, 2021

Source: My written assignment for Unit 4

This is the written assignment in which I crafted and shared my own definition of curriculum, after discussing this with some of my then-colleagues. I have added it to my portfolio so that I can see how this understanding and definition of mine might evolve with time and experience.

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Course: EDUC 5220 - Curriculum Design

Instructor: Dr. George

Date: 15 May, 2021

Source: UNESCO & International Bureau of Education. (2016). What makes a quality curriculum? Current and Critical Issues in Curriculum and Learning (2), pp.1-41. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0024/002439/243975e.pdf

Supporting the SDG 4 (i.e. to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all), this paper outlines the elements needed for a Quality Curriculum in today's fast-past and fast-changing world.
It starts by providing different definitions and understandings of curriculum, before providing criteria and guidance to help educators define the quality of their curriculum at the national, local and school level.

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Date: 14 June, 2023

Source: Hos-McGrane, M. (n.d.). Your Go-to List of PYP
Related Concepts. Toddle. https://learn.toddleapp.com/resource-post/your-go-to-list-of-pyp-related-concepts/

I stumbled accross this resource as I was conducting further research on conceptual learning in the IB PYP model. This is still an area of growth for me, and I think this resource can be of great help to me in improving my practice. Indeed, I am more familiar and feel more comfortable with the key concepts than with the related concepts of the PYP.

This resource in fact a tool developed by the online international education platform Toddle that can be used during collaborative meetings, workshops, and planning sessions to come to a shared understanding of the building blocks that are these related concepts.
The resource provides:

1. Strategies to effectively map Related Concepts across Transdisciplinary Themes and National and State curriculums

2. The List of each Related Concept across all Transdisciplinary Themes and Subject areas

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Principles of planning for conceptual learning

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Principles of planning for conceptual learning

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Date: 14 June, 2023

Source: Innovative Global Education. (n.d.). Principles of Purposeful Planning. https://www.innovativeglobaled.org/free-downloads

This artefact offers eight principles to help teacher plan purposefully for units of conceptual, inquiry-based learning.
It will be useful to me when designing new units of inquiry that allow my young children to dive into big questions and ideas.

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Conceptual Understanding and Learning Transfer

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Conceptual Understanding and Learning Transfer

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Date: 27 March, 2021

Source: Stern, J. (2017). Conceptual Understanding and Learning Transfer [video]. Youtube.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdXH53EorFo&ab_channel=JulieStern

This short clip provides a very clear explanation of what conceptual learning is and how it enables students to transfer of knowledge and skills, as well as to build deeper understandings of the world. understanding. As concepts are applicable in different situations learners are able to transfer their understanding to different contexts and apply their
learning in authentic ways. Conceptual learning allows students to create a schema connecting new knowledge to exisiting knowledge, and to focus on big ideas that are meaningful to them and related to their own experiences of the world.

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Conceptual Understanding and Learning Transfer

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Making the PYP Happen: Transdisciplinary Learning

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Making the PYP Happen: Transdisciplinary Learning

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Date: May 30, 2023

Source: Dayus, C. (2020). Making the PYP Happen: Transdisciplinary Learning. [video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtkoGd37KJY&t=78s&ab_channel=CharlotteDayus

This is a short video that I found which explains in a clear and visual manner what transdisciplinary is and how we build more balanced skills and deeper understandings through transdisciplinary learning. It makes connections with the principles and practices of the PYP framework for inquiry learning, presenting each of the transdisciplinary themes.

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Making the PYP Happen: Transdisciplinary Learning

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Date: May 30, 2020

Source: Blackburn, C. (n.d.). PYP Transdisciplinary Themes. in Ketko, P. (2020). Transdisciplinary Learning. Inspiring Inquiry. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jzHDDw5BAA-ox1zSOxVPKzMsJfY55nh_/view

This source was shared with me when I first started working in an IB PYP school. It is a visual display briefly presenting each of the six themes of transdisciplinary learning developed by the IB PYP framework. This artefact can serve as a visual prompt in the classroom and has since been posted above my office at home.

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Source: Press play: Taking playful learning through primary. (n.d.).
https://www.letspressplay.co/

Date: 25 May, 2023

When I went back to my previous school context (ISP) to conduct my applied research study, several former colleagues mentionned they had joined this international and online community of educators, guided by leading play experts such as Anne Van Dam, Julie Fisher, Kath Murdoch and Liz Pemberton.
I chose to add it to my portfolio because this is something I would be interested in doing myself, whether individually or with my future colleagues and/or whole school community.
The website also provides a blog with research-based articles on play in relation to different dimensions and facets of learning and teaching.

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Kym Scott

Early Childhood Consultant

Hi I'm Kym, an established conference speaker, trainer and consultant in the field of early years education. I've been a passionate advocate of meaningful, authentic play experiences for 30 years now and have spent 20 of those years working in partnership with schools both in the UK and overseas, helping leaders grapple with effectively providing play based learning...
Keep Reading >
Becky Carlzon

Teacher, author, community creator.

Hi, I'm Becky, relentless optimistic, lead learner and brave classroom practitioner. Some cool stuff I've done are: Taught in schools and year groups across the globe, Written a "nearly-award-winning" book with Professor Guy Claxton, co-created a successful online international learning community for educators at the leading edge of their practice...
Keep Reading >

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Press Play | Taking playful learning through primary

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We are an international online community for educators committed to play-driven practice.

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7 ways to create an inclusive classroom environment.

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Course: EDUC 5711 - Teaching for Diverse and Inclusive Classrooms

Instructor: Dr. Ringer

Date: 2 September, 2021

Source: Anderson, A. (2018, January 18). 7 ways to create an inclusive classroom environment. ASCD IN Service. http://inservice.ascd.org/7-ways-to-create-an-inclusive-classroom-environment/

This educational resource reviews seven different methods and ways for educators at all levels to implement and create inclusive classroom environments. Links to further supporting documents, resources, and articles are also provided.

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Equity-focused teaching: Principles, Strategies & Resources

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Equity-focused teaching: Principles, Strategies & Resources

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Date: 14 June, 2022

Source:  Equity-Focused Teaching: Principles, Strategies, and Resources. CRLT. (n.d.). https://crlt.umich.edu/equity-focused-teaching/principles-strategies-resources

I stumbled across this piece as I was conducting my own research on teaching with empathy and a focus on equity.
It defines Equity-Focused Teaching, presents and explains the key principles, and provides strategies and resources for classroom practice.

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CRLT (Center for Research on Learning & Teaching at U-M) defines equity-focused teaching in this way:

Equity-focused Teaching is a corrective tool that allows instructors to acknowledge and disrupt historical and contemporary patterns of educational disenfranchisement that often negatively impact marginalized and minoritized students. It recognizes that systemic inequities shape all students' individual and group-based experiences of social identity and produce vastly different relationships of power in and outside of the classroom, which impact students' learning and success. The corrective work of equity-focused teaching involves deliberately cultivating a learning environment where students:

Have equal access to learning

Feel valued and supported in their learning

Experience parity in achieving positive course outcomes

Share responsibility for the equitable engagement and treatment of all in the learning community.

Equity-focused teaching is an ongoing commitment and practice that should develop across the life of a teaching career. This commitment is always in the service of achieving just experiences and outcomes for both students and teachers alike.

Principles

Additional Resources

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CRLT (Center for Research on Learning & Teaching at U-M) defines equity-focused teaching in this way: Equity-focused Teaching is a corrective tool that allows instructors to acknowledge and disrupt historical and contemporary patterns of educational disenfranchisement that often negatively impact marginalized and minoritized students.