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Connect: Every student is a capable learner and I can use the environment as a third teacher where kids can independently access the materials and feel confident about taking risks.
Extend: Asking kids open ended questions using higher order thinking based on Bloom's Taxonomy. This will give kids an opportunity to think deeper about the inquiry they are engaged in.
Challenge: Following the standards and the district testing along with inquiry based teaching and learning

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Connect: students make class posters that define the learner profile and approaches to learning to be on display in the classroom. These can be revisited throughout the year as students’ gain knowledge around each attribute/approach.
extend: having students play an active role in setting up the classroom- deciding what goes where and what tools will be needed for a successful classroom setup. They can do this before each inquiry as well: what will be needed to be successful? Develop success criteria with the whole class.
Challenge: time and constraints of public school curriculum

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Empowering Students: The Journey of Inquiring Kids. Susan Trindade-Cohen

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Empowering Students: The Journey of Inquiring Kids. Susan Trindade-Cohen

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- Relationship/partnership between students and teachers.
-Fostering curiosity: Empowering students to take ownership of their learning.
-Group decision and shared responsibilities.
-More engaging and effective learning environment.

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Connect: Students have the autonomy to make choices and decisions about what we are learning in class. As a teacher, my role is to support learner agency by providing information and guidance to my students. My goal is to empower them to take control of their learning.
Extend: Finding ways to adapt and support learner agency. I also love the idea of encouraging students to provide feedback to one another.
Challenge: Managing time can be quite challenging and I also wonder what is the most effective way to apply all of this.

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I know that my job is not just to provide the learning for students. In order for it to really stick and to become meaningful, I need to design lessons that allow students to explore and create their own meaning. Feedback is essential for growth to happen so focusing on that to help students develop their own learning will be a priority for us this year. What I find tricky: time. I know that best practice and the science of reading tells us that explicit instruction is vital for all students but also for our most vulnerable and marginalized students. So finding the balance between those two is what can be difficult. I also think that in order for students to be successful in inquiry, instruction is needed to give them the background they need - like back and forth between the two.

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Connect:
Students should take a more active role in their learning community from how the classroom looks, functions, and occurs.  I try very hard to make my space a flexible learning environment where students have spaces to work collaboratively and independently and to allow students to think about how they learn best in different learning environments.  We look at Maslow's hierarchy of needs and talk a lot about the essential agreements that can create a safe and secure environment.

Extend:  I have been taking many classes this summer on personalized learning which fits so nicely with the IB dispositions of learning.  I want to focus on using well designed rubrics for students to evaluate not only their learning targets but things like self-directed learning, collaboration and critical thinking.  I am attaching a copy of the student facing rubric I modified from the Buck Institute this summer.  I think the next steps will be to add approaches to learning language to the rubric to really align the work with IB.

Challenge: I need to build time into every interaction with the students to reflect on the learning of the day AND on a bite sized next step on the dispositions for the learning. I know time can be a challenge for me but if we really invest in this process in the beginning of the year, I know it will pay off

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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What does music mean to you? Melissa Grundy

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What does music mean to you? Melissa Grundy

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-building partnerships between students and teacher
- Open ended questioning that still guides towards final results.
- having students engaged in the planning process, goal setting and reflection

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Connect: Having each class create essential agreements in the first week of school then having each class (25 classes) select the final agreements for the music room in a collaborative type of way... Allowing students to vote/ have a say about how the  space should be used and divided including SEL spaces.

Extend - I want each class to have connections to the music room and feel that they are the most important group. Giving them choice and using tech to help allow inquiry that is potentially independent of each class.

Challenge: Keeping track of 25 classes and not getting overwhelmed by the data/ needs of each class. Allowing each class to steer their own journey with in the music standards and performing expectations. Remembering the journey is as if not more important as the final result.

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- a smile on my face when my students walk into the room every morning can and will dictate how the day goes and how they see themselves.
-  Students lifting each other up and supporting each other through collaboration and feedback makes for a safe and respectful learning environment.
- communication with families about how their children are using their voices and choices in a positive way will build relationships outside of the school walls.

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Connect:  Student agency is how we set up our rituals and routines in order for students to feel safe and ownership of the space they will be in for the year.  Flexible seating options also give my students choice so that they are where they can learn best and can choose who they sit next or even by themselves.  One routine that fosters reflection is when my students get to choose a glow and a grow for themselves or even for a peer's work.  What is something you did well? and What is something you can improve upon?
Extend:  Really becoming a partner with my students is something that would enhance my practice and the relationships I have with my students.  I feel like I get to know them fairly well but I want to help build their confidence so that they know I believe in them and that they can speak up for themselves and what they need when it comes to their own learning.
Challenge: Time and planning. With our curriculum, planning for concept based learning will be key. Allowing for the time it might take for students to learn the concept is what I know is best for students but there are always other things on our plates.

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A Collaborative Classroom - Carrie Hartman

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A Collaborative Classroom - Carrie Hartman

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- The foundations of a collaborative classroom - creating a culturally responsive space
- Modeling inquiry and reflection
- Helpful Feedback

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Connect: Not having the whole classroom set up at the beginning of the year  - allowing student created posters and rules to exist.
Extend: Having students reflect on their learning more frequently and record those reflections in their IB Binders.
Challenge: Time

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Students co-create their learning experiences by: Marie Zettek

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Students co-create their learning experiences by: Marie Zettek

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-Students have a clear understanding of what the learning goals
-Students choose the learning journey path that best suits their needs to make progress toward their goals
-Students are aware of the progress they are making and make adjustments accordingly

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Connect: Learner agency connects to what we do together at the beginning of every school year in our class- co-creating our shared essential agreements and having students share their opinions, wonderings, and perspectives regularly across all that we do. The next step for me is Extend: I haven't really often moved to getting to know students' aspirations about their learning as a regular practice throughout the year. I would like to focus more on this, as well as allowing students to explore their own interests more and giving more open-ended tasks. This would extend student thinking and action and increase their sense of self-efficacy. I hadn't thought about the link between agency and efficacy before and now I see how great the impact of these two ideas are. Challenge: Finding the time to allow more student choice and open-ended tasks to engage in personal interests and aspirations. How do we ensure time for this while meeting all of the other competing priorities?

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-Planning for and facilitating open-ended tasks and questioning where students get to plan out their own investigation/research
-Students and teachers regularly reflecting and discussing together
-being open-minded to different perspectives and being risk takers

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Connect: fostering a space for curiosity leading to each learner feeling valued and having a place to be safe. Students can move around the room to work and have choice in independence, partners, or groups.
Extend: using a progression of skills/mindsets to provide students with the best next step feedback for being more independent and making the best learning choices for where they are. Daily reflections of growth.
Using the goal of International Mindedness as a way of being, thinking, and acting to set up our classroom agreements together and going deeper with our understanding of the learner profile attributes so that we can name them when we see them in our classroom. (loved the collage idea)
Challenge: Getting to know my new class of learners so I can plan accordingly. Go slow to go deep.

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-Partnerships between teacher and students
-Guided reflection and questioning promotes student agency
-Planning for when, where, and how student agency can be built into classroom routines

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Breaking News: Students actually know how they are performing on tasks!  - Sara Lewis 

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Breaking News: Students actually know how they are performing on tasks!  - Sara Lewis 

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- self assessment leads to self efficacy
- students and teachers are partners in the learning journey
- Agency “enables people to play a part in their self-development, adaptation, and self-renewal with changing times”. ‘Social cognitive theory: An agentic perspective’. Annual Review of Psychology. Vol 52, number 1. pp 1-26. (Bandura, A. 2001)

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Connect:  I will continue to try flexible seating this year.  Seating has looked different in my classroom almost every year for 14 years!  It completely depends on the needs of the students, but I intend to begin with flexible seating.

Extend: I love student self assessments and have a plan to try a daily self assessment system using highlighters!  Students will have a multi color highlighter at their desks and by the turn in bin and will highlight their name with a color that corresponds with how they feel they did on the lesson on a 1-4 scale (1= I need more support, 4= I can teach someone else).  This will be a tiny step toward my goal of consistently asking students to self assess with the intention of setting goals around these self assessments.

Challenge: Time and standardized testing. Being a teacher in a testing grade is a challenge when considering asking students to create their own learning tasks. Will I have enough time to provide these opportunities while still meeting the obligations set by the district?

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Connect: This year I will set up "choices" for literacy activities where students can choose an activity after partnering with me and determining what they want/need to work on.
Extend: How will I provide an effective system to collaborate with students? Can I have them collaborate with me to create choices?
Challenge: TIME!!

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How Students are Responsible for Their Own Learning!- Kate Van Bemmel

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How Students are Responsible for Their Own Learning!- Kate Van Bemmel

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- Students are aware of how they are progressing towards their goals through self reflection and co created rubrics
- Students can drive their own learning through choice
- Students can use the learning environment and resources to best support themselves

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Supporting Student Agency & Self Efficacy-Amanda Jaquette

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Supporting Student Agency & Self Efficacy-Amanda Jaquette

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-reflect on the students’ existing capabilities, needs and interests in order to personalize learning
-consider students’ opinions, wonderings, perspectives and aspirations to extend student thinking and action

-provide open-ended tasks that allow for student choice
-promote creativity
-respond to student activities by extending their thinking

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Connect: This year I would like to create a learning environment where students can set their own learning goals and success criteria, and monitor and adjust their learning against them. I can do this through student's ALP goals and progress monitoring.
Extend: I would like to think of a systematic way to engage students in driving their learning, setting goals, providing feedback to one another, and then reflecting on this process.
Challenge: Training students on how to do this, how to stick with a topic, and how to push their thinking beyond what they already know. Another challenge is...time for it all.

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Who said students can have their own thoughts? By: Kayla Zimmerman

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Who said students can have their own thoughts? By: Kayla Zimmerman

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As we shift the historical pedagogy around teaching to be more student centered, I would like to focus on:
- Space for all voices
- Being multitaskers in the learning environment
- Ownership of our work and understanding of each other's roles in the learning environment (shift in teacher and student roles)

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Student-Teacher Partnerships in Learning-- Lindsay Edge

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Student-Teacher Partnerships in Learning-- Lindsay Edge

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- teacher as facilitator and guide to form questions that will help inquiry to be successful
- Students negotiate and support each other in their learning and challenges
- Encouraging students (and myself) to stick with it, even when it's hard or the answers aren't readily obvious.

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Connect: Students are empowered and have buy-in when they feel agency over their learning.
Extend: How to set up provocations so agency isn't something students do only after they've learned the content.
Challenge: Systemically, how are we ensuring all voices are heard and valued? Are some students' voices and choices seen as "less than" or "troublesome" when they buck the status quo?

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Connect: Creating classroom essential agreements together. We do this at the beginning of every school year and then have regular class meetings to discuss our learning environment and students can suggest/discuss any changes that need to be made. They have the agency and ownership over the procedures of our classroom.
Extend: After seeing my results for the Student Agency Chart, I would like to extend the opportunities for students to self-assess themselves and set goals. Currently, my students will help me create rubrics based on the projects, but having them be more involved in the assessment aspect of their work.
Challenging: Thinking of a provocation that would provide students with a direction for their questions. I know that Kath Murdoch said that the questions you ask are so important for helping guide your students' questions and their learning. Also, more time, always more time!

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-the role of the student in teaching and learning
-the role of the teacher in teaching and learning
-the role of the environment

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Connect: I am setting up my room with flexible seating this year.
Extend: Consider how systems and structures that provide students with opportunities for goal setting and providing peer peer feedback.
Challenge: Time is always the challenge. Part of hearing perspectives is taking time for the voices to be heard.
Challenge: How

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-taking ownership of my learning
-flexibility in using the classroom physical space
-being open minded to accept and think about the teacher's feedback
-reflecting on my own learning and seeing if something needs to be changed

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Connect: Cocreating essential agreements at the beginning of the year and what students think is important in our classroom community.
Extend: I want students to be able to have more choice in how they want to explore the topics we are learning about. Co collaborators in how they would like to learn more and have hands on learning experiences to meet their learning journey.
Challenging: Time in the day. Balancing including more student agency with school/district timelines on when curricula needs to be taught.

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Use your Connect Extend Challenge notes and the understandings you have developed through discussions, create a newspaper headline that encapsulates the essence of what you have just explored.

Imagine your group were to write the article for your newspaper headline. What would be the 3 - 5 big inquiries you would need to explore in order to write the article. List these under your headline.

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What is the visible thinking strategy, Headlines?

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What is the visible thinking strategy, Headlines?

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How is learner agency connected to something you know about?
What new ideas or impressions do you have that extended your thinking about learner agency in new directions?
What is challenging or confusing about learner agency? What do you wonder about?

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Learner agency is like the glue to learning. When students take ownership of their learning, more things will stick. Allowing the space for students to make choices that support their learning is what authentic learning is all about. One thing that extended my thinking today around learner agency is that there can be two types of inquiry- one guided for the whole class and one that is more specific and personalized for each child. One thing that I found challenging was the shift in my practice, where I need to get out of the way. Giving myself permission to let my students discover and learn more at their own paces feels tricky but I am excited to try it out.

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What is the visible thinking strategy, Connect- Extend-Challenge?

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What is the visible thinking strategy, Connect- Extend-Challenge?

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Melodee Brinster
-I can learn about things that matter to me
-I can use what I learn to make a meaningful difference in the world
-I know that my actions matter and impact the outcomes of my day/week/life
-I can use my positive mindset to change how I see myself when things are hard
-I have resources to use when I need help. I am not alone in my struggles.
-I can solve problems by making a plan!