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SplashLearn Blog – Educational Resources for Parents, Teachers & Kids

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Learning experience means planning the curriculum with clear end goals. Using multiple teaching methods, this method ensures long-term academic success!

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Austin's Butterfly: Models, Critique, and Descriptive Feedback

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How To Get Into Inquiry-Based Learning: Part 1 – First Steps to Inquiry

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My kids participate in an amazing hands-on learning experience every summer. It's called home. It's where they write stories, paint pictures, go on expeditions, visit parks, read books, and build things with duct tape and cardboard.

For the entire summer, they own the learning process. There are no tests, no benchmarks, no curriculum maps, and no bell schedules. It is an educational anarchy, where they tear down the walls between ideas and subject areas as they make and tinker and explore and curate the learning on their own terms.

Don't get me wrong. It's not perfect. Just yesterday they were at each other's throats over "creative differences." They have had moments where they complained about boredom, only to discover, minutes later, that boredom actually leads to creative breakthroughs. They have had days where they walked away from a project in frustration and binge-watched Netflix.

And yet . . .

They are developing into life-long learners. They already view themselves as geeks who can figure out anything over time. They pursue creative work with passion. Yes, that passion sometimes leads to arguments. Our home vacillates between looking like Phineas and Ferband VH1 Behind the Music. But most of the time, it leads to a state of flow, where they are lost in their work. Most of the time, it looks more like Phineas and Ferb.

In a little over a month, they will return to school with the bell schedule and the benchmark tests and the prep packets. While I realize that schools cannot operate under the educational anarchy of summer, I can't help but wonder what it would look like to empower students with more choice and agency in their learning.

Student choice is more than simply choosing a topic. It is about empowering students through the entire learning process. This is especially true in classrooms that embrace creativity, design thinking, and project-based learning. Here are a few of the ways we can incorporate student choice:

1. Let students choose the topic. When I first had students blog, I would post a writing prompt on the projector. However, when I had students explore real blogs, they pointed out that outside of school, bloggers write about topics they care about. So, I told them to choose a topic or theme. They could create foodie blogs, sports blogs, gamer blogs, etc.

2. Let students ask the questions. I believe students should question answers as often as they answer questions. This is why inquiry is such a critical component of design thinking. Students need to move from awareness to curiosity in a way that will fuel their creative thinking.

3. Let students decide the content. I love sustained silent reading. I get it. It's old school. It won't make the list of trendy new maker space learning. However, it works. A few years ago, I taught 8th grade self-contained. The school librarian and the upper grade teachers had cultivated this love of silent reading. So, when we went to the library, it was like going to a candy store.

4. Let students pick the materials and resources. In design thinking, students work through an ideation phase and then begin building a prototype. I love the idea that they guide not only the concept of what they will create but they also figure out what materials they will use in order to build their prototype. This goes beyond physical products. In digital content, they can choose what applications they will use and what type of media they will work with. When designing an event or a service project, they can determine the venue, the materials, and the resources.

5. Let students choose the strategies. When I think of the most tedious things kids experience in school, there is a high likelihood that they don't get a chance to choose the strategies. Take close reading. The rigid approach says, "use these symbols and follow this recipe." Students focus on doing things the "right way" and they fail to make sense out of the actual text.

6. Let students choose the scaffolding. I remember requiring students to use a set of scaffolding for the research process. A handful of students loved it because they needed it. The rest of the students viewed the scaffolding like a cage. I should have treated the scaffolding as an optional resource that they could access when they found it necessary.

7. Let students choose the format. When possible, allow students to choose the format for their creative work. It might be a video, a podcast, or a blog post.

8. Let students choose the audience. When students define the audience, they are able to clarify what they are doing and how they are going to do it. This honors student agency.

9. Let students choose the groups. This is the most controversial. People will often point out that in the real world, you don't always get to choose your groups. I get that. But when you work on a cool, voluntary collaboration, you often get to choose your groups. In my experience, our most functional groups were the ones where students worked with their friends. At first, they were too social. But then the challenge and the excitement of the tasks kicked in and they were able to tap into their mutual trust and go deeper in their work. While this might not be necessary for every project, it is something teachers can try out.

10. Let students manage the projects. This was the hardest thing for me to let go of. However, I believe that project management is a powerful, transferrable skill. Students need to learn the art of project management. Over time, I have learned to allow students to own the project management and to build their own systems to monitor their progress.

For all the talk of the "guide on the side," the truth is that guides are still guides. Even in a student-centered classroom, the teacher is still the expert. There are times when limiting choices actually increases creative thinking. Students work within the constraints to find solutions that push divergent thinking. Moreover, there are times when students don't have as much prior knowledge in an area and you, as the teacher, will expose them to new ideas, approaches, and content that they might have otherwise ignored.

However, when we incorporate choice, students own the learning process. We honor their agency and empower them to become the life-long learners we want them to be. At some point, they will leave the classroom and they won't have a guide right there by their side. They will have to take charge and make decisions about their own learning. This is why student choice is so critical.

When I embraced the idea of student choice, I had a ton of questions:

What about the standards? What about the curriculum map? What about the test?

Do I have permission to do this? What will my principal think?

What are the dangers in student choice? What about the whole idea of the "paradox of choice?"

If I embrace student choice, won't things get crazy? How do I manage all of this chaos?

How do I assess the learning if students are choosing to do such different things?

Should I try something like a Genius Hour?

Over a decade later, I am still thinking through those ideas. I don't pretend to have all the answers. However, I plan to share what I've learned along the way in a series on student choice.
Here are some resources I've developed that you might find helpful:

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10 Ways to Incorporate Student Choice in Your Classroom

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My kids participate in an amazing hands-on learning experience every summer. It's called home. It's where they write stories, paint pictures, go on expeditions, visit parks, read books, and build...

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Hay McBer measures of an effective teacher

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Hay McBer measures of an effective teacher

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Hay McBer Measures of Teacher Effectiveness

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Hay McBer Measures of Teacher Effectiveness - Free download as Word Doc (.doc), PDF File (.pdf), Text File (.txt) or read online for free.

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At Myross Bush School we describe how well we understand something using the SOLO Taxonomy (Structure of Observed Learning Outcomes); a well researched and documented thinking development tool. The levels in simple terms are:

When students have demonstrated understanding at the 'Relational' level, it is recognised that they have achieved that aspect of understanding/learning.

We also use Solo Taxonomy to develop depth in the teaching of the NZ Key Competencies. See the below stages for how this is developed.

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At Myross Bush School we describe how well we understand something using the SOLO Taxonomy (Structure of Observed Learning Outcomes); a well researched and documented thinking development tool. The...

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What is an essential agreement?

In a school, every working group (teachers or students) starts off by creating an 'essential agreement'. In the classroom, this means that, rather than teachers imposing rules, everyone works collaboratively to establish anagreement of how the class will function

The wordless shows the key words from the students' original list of what helps them to learn. We believe it's important to have an essential agreement that's based on creating an environment conducive to learning, rather than rules and regulations.

What is a class contract?

A class contract is an agreement made between learners and the teacher to follow certain rules and standards. It applies to both the learners and the teacher, and is drawn up at the beginning of the course.

A class contract is an agreement made between learners and the teacher to follow certain rules and standards. It applies to both the learners and the teacher, and is drawn up at the beginning of the course.

Example

'We will hand in our homework on time' and 'I will mark and return homework quickly' are two terms often included in a class contract.

In the classroom

Aside from being an enjoyable, relevant and motivating activity a class contract can be a useful way to start a dialogue concerning how the class works and can so encourage learner autonomy.

Developing Essential Agreements

At the beginning of the year many classrooms create Essential Agreements - a class consensus that will guide the behavioral expectations throughout the year. At best these are student centered (and led) notions that are meaningful and real. At worst they are a hastily put together list of rules that a teacher expects students to abide by.

These can be an important product for a classroom. They make a statement about the sort of culture that everyone feels should be developed throughout the year. My teaching partner this year in Grade Five (along with others from previous years and schools also), and I felt that this was important enough to spend at least a week on in class. Below is the outline of what we tried this year. So far it has worked, but we might change some things for next year.
Provocation:
This is a popular video that I'm sure has been shown many times in many different classrooms, workshops and offices. Nonetheless, it contains many underlying themes and messages that can be very useful to tune into. Below are some of the answers that our students came up with (although there are many more that could also be raised). It hooked the students into thinking about the types of behaviours that the inquiry based classrooms encourage.

The Dot Game: This is a game that I played at a workshop about Group Dynamics. Everyone pulls a piece of paper out of a hat that is either blank or has a dot on it. There are less dots than non-dots. The game has a few simple rules: Non dots must tell the truth. Dots can choose whether to tell the truth or lie. The aim of the game is to form the biggest group of non-dots possible before the time is up. If a group has just one person in there that is a dot then the entire group is out of the game. Once the time runs out, each group reveals how many members they have and any dots can reveal themselves and see how many groups they managed to knock out.

The game reveals many different social lessons: establishing the truth can be difficult, whether reputations count, trust, faith, should you always believe the people that you're working with? Are there hidden agendas? Alliances/cliques, the importance of listening to other ideas, irrational exclusion, the difficulty of making decisions without the facts or data to back it up, the importance of a sense of belonging. This game is also a good platform from which to raise the important beliefs about how we should treat each other.

Freyer Model: Another task we ask the students to complete is using a Freyer Model to help define each element of the Learner Profile in order to come up with a definition that is meaningful for the students. Although its difficult to read, I've included an example from the 'Inquirer group' for this year. I've also used this organiser with Grade Three classes but haven't tried with any students younger than that. I've found that it helps the students to make stronger connections with what we're asking them to model. If students don't know what it is they're aiming for then there's little chance of them achieving it. That's also a metaphor for teaching in general, I believe.

Establishing Meaningful Essential Agreements

Essential agreements should be positive instructions, few in number, owned bythe students and applicable in a number of contexts. By including the students inthe process of deciding upon essential agreements to govern and guidebehaviour, teachers are able to do the following:

*Ensure engagement as a result of the direct relevance to students daily lives *Build empowerment by giving them ownership of the rules they need toad here to *Provide the experience of being involved in a collective decision-making process Generate evidence in the form of signed agreements, photographs andreflectionsPart One - Focus on the negative Students love to talk about negative things that have happened to them in their past experiences at school. There is nothing wrong with letting them do this. As long as you make it clear that no names are to be mentioned, no harm will be done.

1.Have a whole class discussion about things that have caused them to haven unhappy or unsuccessful time at school. Make sure you always bring them back to talk about what has caused them to be unsuccessful in their work, or stopped them from learning. Record what they say on a white boardor large chart paper

2.Send them away to write about their experiences. Make sure you really enable them to express themselves by allowing them to write in their mother tongue, or by allowing them to draw.

3.Use their work as stimulus for a more in-depth discussion, and add new information to the whiteboard or chart paper.Part Two - Making it positive

1. Explain to the students that you are all going to create a set of essential agreements that will tell people how to behave in your learning community.

2.Briefly go through the information that you have put together on thewhiteboard or chart paper.

3.Demonstrate how you can take a negative experience and write a positive instruction that will tell people how to behave. For example:

a. "People made fun of my name because it sounds like something else"

b. This can be turned into the positive instruction:

c. "Respect people's names"

4..Do several of these examples, taking suggestions from the students, untilyou feel that they understand it.

5.Put the students into groups of three or four and give each group an A3sheet like this:

6.Tell the students that they will fill their space on the sheet with the positive instructions that they think are the most important in order to make each day at school happy and successful. You can insist on silence while the students are working on filling only their area of the sheet.

7.When it is obvious that students have finished filling in their area of thesheet, explain that they will now share what they have written and start thinking about what they all agree upon. Make sure they don't write in the middle rectangle too soon.

8. Explain that they should now turn their attention to the middle rectangle. After discussing all the things that the group feels are crucial for a happy and successful time at school, tell them that they need to come to an For groups of four For groups of three agreement about what they all feel is most important. The students shouldthen write a positive instruction in order to make that happen. An examplemight be "always look and listen when someone is talking"

.9. Walk around the room and discuss the instructions with groups as they create them. Look out for the following things:

a. Reference to "the teacher" instead of including the teacher and students by using a collective word like "people" or "others".

b. Overly specific instructions like "put pencils back where they belong" instead of "take care of stationery".

c. The use of negative language instead of positive instructions - "don'tr un" instead of "always walk".

d. Where two groups are targeting the same behavior, see if you can guide one group in a different direction. If you can't, wait until the whole-group feedback session to discuss repetition.

10. When the groups have written their positive instruction in the rectangle, stick the sheets up on a whiteboard and get the students to sit so they can see them.

11.Read through each one and check that it is a positive instruction, that it could be used in a number of situations.

12. Ask students to identify with the one they believe is most fundamental.

13.Put the groups in charge of two things. The essential agreements should be clearly displayed in the classrooms and shared areas that the students work in. Each group should create posters that are eye-catching and easy to read. All students and teachers must sign the posters before displaying. Groups should then prepare a series of drama sketches or tableau's that illustrate their essential agreement.

14. Constantly refer to essential agreements every day. Get the students used to using the words and referring to them too. If needed, connect the essential agreements with some kind of behavior system. Involve the students in choosing the behavior system and the repercussions for consistently ignoring essential agreements.

15. Review the essential agreements if they are not working.

16. Review the essential agreements half way through the year to see if the students have noticed any other issues that agreements need to address.

An essential agreement for change agents...
The Teaching and Learning Team agrees to...

encourage creativity and innovation

view everything through a lens of curiosity

embrace new possibilities and actively instigate change

create joy in new ways of doing things

foster a sense of ownership and empowerment

work hard to plan for and achieve success

work collaboratively and value teamwork

ensure learning is positive, engaging and fun

model positivity and optimism

... and encourage the above in everyone with whom we work.
In a school, every class, every team, even the whole school has an essential agreement which sets the tone for collaboration and teamwork. How else would we know what the shared norms and expectations are? There are endless ways to develop such agreements

10 tips for creating a class agreement...

Do a quick google image search for 'classroom rules' and 'classroom agreements' (or 'essential agreements' as they're called ) and see if anything surprises you...

What I noticed is that, despite the heading, many classroom agreements are still lists of rules.
Do teachers value compliance above learning?
These are amongst the most common elements I found, none of which seem to relate to learning...

Work quietly.

Raise your hand to speak.

Listen carefully.

Follow instructions.

Do your best work.

Don't speak until called on.

Be punctual.

Have our students' training and experience set them up to believe that these are are the appropriate expectations for a learning environment?
Some are even more extreme and less related to learning...

Sit correctly on chairs. (big kids?)

We sit still on the carpet. (little kids)

Keep your hands to yourself.

Don't throw things.

Talk to your classmates only when the activity requires you to.

Stay in your seat unless you have permission to leave.

Does this set the tone for engaging learning?

Here are some of the more appealing inclusions I found, which are more likely to support an environment conducive to learning ... and isn't that the purpose of school?

Be prepared to make mistakes and learn from them.

Try new things even if they scare us.

Think before you act.

Respect yourself and others.

Make wise choices to support your learning.

Include people if they look excluded.

Be open-minded - Listen to, consider and value other perspectives.

Take ownership of our learning.

Dream big.

I really like this one!
10 ways to create a meaningful class agreement...

1. Don't start till you've spent some time establishing your own beliefs about learning.

2. Have the kids consider what helps them learn and what hinders their learning.

3. Begin with what the learners value or the school values.

4. Have kids unpack your school's learning principles as a starting point.

5. Base it on a common set of qualities, such as the IB Learner Profile.

6. Use a 'place mat' activity so students have time to think individually, before seeking consensus.

7. Have kids think about what learning 'looks like', sounds like' and 'feels like'.

8. Take your time. Build the agreement gradually, to ensure understanding and ownership.

9. Include photos and descriptions for younger learners, to elaborate on the words.

10. Live it, don't laminate it. Revisit the agreement often and adjust as required.

What's in your class agreement?

What helps us learn? Students' view.

I have been asked to help out by teaching another class 6 periods a week. As always in the, we started by establishing our 'essential agreement'. I decided to use the process again with this Year 6 group. I asked the students to write down, first individually, then compare with their groups, 'What helps me learn' and 'What hinders my learning'. I collated their thoughts and brought them back for their approval, before using them as a basis for the essential agreement. We all sign this agreement and constantly refer back to it if we find ourselves going off track and hindering our own or others' learning.

I was struck, yet again, by how much students understand their own learning. This is a summary of the things they are aware of :

They know that they learn best when there is co-operation and collaboration, but not too much noise.

They understand that learning requires mutual respect between students and teachers alike.

They know the difference between work and learning, so they don't value worksheets, but prefer engaging and enjoyable learning experiences.

They understand that for learning to be effective, they need to talk quietly one at a time and not call out.

They understand that people learn in different ways, each at their own pace.

They know they learn best when they feel safe and supported.

We should get students to run professional development for us teachers, really we should...

Essential agreement...

In a school, every working group (teachers or students) starts off by creating an 'essential agreement'. In the classroom, this means that, rather than teachers imposing rules, everyone works collaboratively to establish an agreement of how the class will function.

when we developed our class essential agreement. We started by asking the children to consider carefully and then write down what helps them learn and what hinders their learning.﻿ The next step was to share with a partner and find the things they had in common. Later we brought back a list of all the things they had written and, in groups, the students highlighted those they saw as most important for a class essential agreement which will maximize learning for everyone. This will be collated, brought back one more time to make sure everyone agrees and then we'll have our class essential agreement!

The wordless shows the key words from the students' original list of what helps them to learn. We believe it's important to have an essential agreement that's based on creating an environment conducive to learning, rather than rules and regulations.

I'm a teacher, a learner, an inquirer...

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"Essential Agreements Helps Educators & Learners Attain Excellence Always!!!"

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What is an essential agreement? In a school, every working group (teachers or students) starts off by creating an ' essential agreement'. In the classroom, this means that, rather than teachers imposing rules, everyone works collaboratively to establish an agreement of how the class will function Th

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One of the most important phases of designing instruction happens before activities, assessments, or even content have been chosen. It is the establishment and articulation of the desired learning goals or outcomes of the instruction. Often instructors are faced with the challenge of abundance-too many chapters to cover and too much content that is seen as indispensable-and covering such content in a small time frame.

In their book Understanding by Design (2006), authors Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins advocate a framework for educational planning that focuses on "teaching for understanding." The goal of this framework, also named "Understanding by Design," is for instructors to help students achieve a deep understanding of important ideas and concepts.

This circle image uses three rings to depict what content to target.

1. The most important is the innermost ring ("big ideas and core tasks"). These are the core ideas that students should understand and be able to apply, even long after the course is over.

2. The middle ring ("important to know and do") represents knowledge that is necessary as direct context for the innermost ring, such as prerequisite knowledge.

3. The outermost ring ("worth being familiar with") can be interpreted as the contextual knowledge, the big picture, or the broad strokes, familiarity with which forms a foundation for more targeted investigation of the concepts and understandings that reside within the innermost circle.

Big Questions to Consider

In this video, McTighe asks important questions to consider when planning a course to help achieve deeper learning.

What are the big ideas? Providing larger themes or issues helps students make sense of what can seem like disconnected content elements. Making these big ideas clear throughout the course helps to prioritize what needs to be taught.

What is worth understanding in all of the content that we could teach? The Understanding by Design framework asks questions to plan backward from the end-and the end being understanding and transfer. It is not, however, covering content, marching through textbooks, or only doing fun activities. Instead it is planning backward to teach the key concepts that lead to understanding.

How do you know students understand? McTighe also emphasizes the importance of assessing for understanding. Just because a student "knows" things does not mean that he or she understands them. Students should be able to show that they understand and be able to use the information in new situations.

Knowledge vs. Understanding

McTighe also talks about the difference between knowledge and understanding. He points out that the ultimate goal of most instruction is not memorization; instead it is understanding. Take a look at this table to compare the difference between knowledge and understanding.

There is a clear difference between "knowing" the facts (memorization) and "understanding" the facts (and what those facts mean).

For a more in-depth explanation of "understanding" and what differentiates it from "knowledge," review " Developing Goals and Objectives" from the Educational Research Service website.

Knowledge

Understanding

The facts

The meaning of the facts

A body of coherent facts

The "theory" that provides coherence and meaning to those facts

Verifiable claims

Fallible, in-process theories

Right or Wrong

A matter of degree of sophistication

"I know something to be true."

"I understand why it is, what makes it knowledge."

"I respond on cue with what I know."

"I judge when to and when not to use what I know."

Optional Resources

Video: Grant Wiggins (2013). Understanding by Design, Part 1 and Part 2.

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One of the most important phases of designing instruction happens before activities, assessments, or even content have been chosen. It is the establishment and articulation of the desired learning goals or outcomes of the instruction. Often instructors are faced with the challenge of abundance-too many chapters to cover and too much content that is seen as indispensable-and covering such content in a small time frame.