Causal Models Instead of Plot Graphs

Once again thanks to Nogah Kornberg for her input on this lesson.

All of our work to date on integrative and design thinking has focused on real world applications and scenarios. Today we took causal modelling in a different direction and explored how this thinking tool might be used in Language.

In the study of novels and stories,  one of the many tasks students are asked to do is construct  plot graphs.
Constructing a plot graph is a summarizing skill. Can students identify the setting, characters, the problem and the events of the story?  It represents the lowest level on The Thinking Matrix.

Instead of building a plot graph we created causal models of the Little Red Riding Hood story. Causal models prompt students to engage in rich conversation as they play with what ifs, ask questions, construct scenarios, and speculate on motivations.

Why is the grandmother sick? Why did the mom send Little Red Riding Hood on her own? Why did Red go into the woods when she knew she shouldn't? Why did Red stop and talk to the wolf? Why did the wolf not attack Red immediately and go the the grandmother's house instead? ...

Students worked in partners and had a great deal of fun as they speculated about the motivations, attitudes,backgrounds and causes of the plot.

Above are a few samples from our first shot at this. Nothing was off the table in terms of possibilities and there was a great deal of laughter as students speculated wildly on motivations. We had love triangles, negligent parenting, childhood scars, insanity, dementia, rivalries, grudges, fear, loneliness, hunger, hatred and connections to other stories entering conversation.

Things I noticed?

1. This provides a framework for learners to engage in conversations that address curriculum expectations in a non-teacher directed, let's kill  interest in reading way. The frame of the plot graph as a starting point helps keep students focused. It provides the constraint necessary for rich and sustained thinking about the topic.

2. Students can't help but develop a more complex view of story.

3. Creativity and imagination run wild.

4. It's noisy in a good way.

5. Students who struggle with teacher-directed learning are very successful and on-task.

I also see this as a beautiful framework for writing. It is often difficult for young writers to bring complexity and detail to their writing. We try by having them write character sketches and descriptive paragraphs of settings which they then include in their stories. We use story planners - which most hate to complete. We scaffold the building of their stories.  What I see in causal modelling is a way for students to develop in depth understanding of the complexity of their stories and characters before they begin to write. I suspect that this would an enjoyable task. I wonder what kind of writers this approach would produce.

Edcamp Hamilton

For the past few months a small group has been meeting and planning the inaugural Edcamp Hamilton.

I first became familiar with Edcamps three years ago when Stephen Hurley proposed on twitter that one be organized for Toronto. I didn't know much about unconferences, but had seen many tweets pass through my twitter stream celebrating edcamps in other locations. I wanted to learn more so I signed on as an organizer and discovered the power of edcamps.

Edcamps do not follow a conference model. There is no keynote speaker; there are no workshops.  The day is driven by the interests of participants. They are places for conversation and sharing and the opportunity to discuss what really matters in education. They are open to everyone: teachers, administrators, students, and parents. They are open to public schools, independent schools and home schoolers. Business and the non-profit sector are invited to participate. Our goal is to provide a space where many voices can be heard and where together we can discuss honestly, and share openly our concerns and vision for education.

There is no cost to participate, but there is participation! Attendees are asked to come with questions they have about education, questions such as:

1. How can we best prepare students for the future?
2. How can technology support learning?
3. How can we provide education that matters?
4. How can we best support students with learning challenges?
5 Why do we force students who are unable and uninterested in sitting for long periods of time, to sit?
6. Is standardized testing such as EQAO necessary?
7. How do we provide excellent education in the age of austerity?
8. In this rapidly changing world, are our schools flexible enough to adapt?
9. How do we create learning environments that engage students?
10. What is byod?
11. Is assistive technology the answer to learning disabilities?

Edcamp Hamilton will take place on Saturday May 4 at Ancaster Senior Public School. To learn more and to register please visit our site.

Causal Modelling: A Different Approach to Problem Solving

Thank you to Nogah Kornberg and Christopher Federico of Rotman School of Management who provided ideas for this lesson.

Whenever the topic of 21 Century Fluencies arises, embedded in the discussion is the need to promote critical thinking and problem solving skills.

Part of the problem about teaching students to solve problems is that the problems they are asked to solve in a school environment are generally linear and have predetermined correct answers.

A  + B = C

or

Follow this format to construct an essay.

Students may have to demonstrate some critical thinking to accomplish these tasks, but are not required to engage with their learning in a way that forces them to contend with complexity. The kinds of problems they face outside of school, however, are complex. How do we teach for complexity? How do we teach students to devise innovative solutions to complex problems. Where do we begin?

Today my grade 7s were introduced to Causal Modelling as a way to map complex problems and find innovative solutions.

We began by learning about types of problems: simple, structurally complex and wicked.

Simple: If gas costs $1.31/L  and I have a 50L tank that is 2/3s  empty, how much will it cost to fill the tank? (There is only 1 right answer)

Structurally Complex:  How do I get from Dundas Central to the Hamilton Airport (several possibilities, but not infinite possibilities)

Wicked: How do we solve traffic problems in the GTA?

Wicked problems are what students need to be working with. They are meaningful because they have application outside of the classroom; they are challenging; they have infinite possibilities for creative solutions and are fun to play with and think about.

We then reminded ourselves that when people engage in debate and problem solving, they tend to begin at the point that conclusions have already been drawn.

 Solutions cannot be found because parties have already gone up the Ladder of Inference.

Students were asked to discard assumptions, conclusions, beliefs and decisions and to frame the problem differently.

We changed the question:  "What causes gun violence?"  and then began mapping causes of gun violence.
I showed students the causal model my group had created for this problem during the I-Think day at Rotman where I was first introduced to Integrative Thinking.

Mapping causality allows problem solvers to ignore the overwhelming larger problem that is seemingly insolvable and instead find solutions to parts of the problem. In the above example, we found that dealing with mental health issues would allow us to solve part of the problem of gun violence.

Students then paired up and created causal maps for the following.

How does a book become a best seller?
How does someone become a celebrity?
How does homework not get done?
How does a student earn a Level 4?

What I noticed was intense focus and sustained conversation as students created their maps. Students were extremely positive about the experience and the approach. They loved the idea of mapping a problem in its complexity and then thinking about parts of the problem.  All but one thought it would be an extremely useful tool.

Teaching Empathy Through Integrative Thinking 2

This is a follow up to the previous post.

Students were asked to do the following:

1. Create a chart that shows the following information for each person:

a. What is salient to each person about devices in school.

b. 2 assumptions that each person has made about devices.

c. Information that each person ignores, fails to understand or does not consider salient.

I do not distribute graphic organizers for these types of activities right away. I first ask students to break apart the question and determine on their own how to organize information. This is for two reasons: 1. students can develop systems that work for them. 2. it allows me to see who needs more support with planning skills.

Today we took time to discuss how they had approached creating their charts. I then placed this organizer under the document camera to model how I would approach this kind of a question. We also discussed the differences between ignoring information, not understanding information and not considering information salient. Students then continued working.

As mentioned previously, this is preparation for working with Opposable Models. Students need to practise understanding fully someone's point of view and how that point of view is formed. They also need to be able to recognize how a p. of v. can be misinformed.

Principal

Salient: Assumptions:
Ignores:	Doesn’t Understand:	Doesn’t Consider Salient:

Empathy and Integrative Thinking

One of the challenges we face as educators is how to develop empathy in our students.  We've all sat through the "Character Ed" calendar - "This is Empathy Month", quick give me your empathy award winners so we can print out the certificates and hand them out at the assembly. It is not effective.

We also recognize that it is easy to teach empathy when studying topics such as racism, homophobia or the Holocaust. The extremes and cruelties are so obvious that no one is left untouched. It's much more difficult to promote empathy during daily interactions between members of a school community, and yet this is where that character trait is most needed. Integrative Thinking proponents suggest that one way to develop empathy is to give learners real problems to solve where the nature of the problems require learners to understand opposing points of view in order to solve the problem.

I created this activity as a precusor to working with Opposable Models. The work is to be done independently as I wish to see where students are at in their thinking after the work we have done to date. This is also an opportunity for me to monitor writing and reading comprehension skills.

What We Consider Salient Affects Our Decisions

Due Date: Thursday, March 26, 2013

Read the following and answer all questions in your Independent Learning notebook.

Principal

We usually have to deal with problems related to devices and cellphones. Teachers sometimes have to confiscate them because kids are using them inappropriately or are on them when they shouldn’t be.  Once they are confiscated I have to deal with the angry/upset students who no longer have their devices or with parents who don’t understand why their kid can’t have their devices at all times. These people don’t always see the bigger picture. It becomes an annoyance.

Every year we have several bullying issues to deal with related to social media. It starts on Facebook or Twitter or a similar site and carries on into school. This can be quite brutal. Kids can be really mean. Sometimes parents will escalate the situation. We’ve had to call police more than once because of the seriousness of the bullying. A few times we’ve had inappropriate pictures taken of kids by their ‘friends’ during school time and then posted on to Facebook later on. Kids don’t always get that they should not be taking pictures in the change room. We also have students who are not allowed to be photographed/published and this is for safety reasons. Some kids are in hiding from an abusive parent; we are trying to protect their location and identity. Other parents have not signed the consent to photograph forms. This then creates problems for the school. There are legal issues to contend with.

Kids sometimes call home to parents on their devices to make arrangements for after school. The office who is responsible for the safety of those kids, doesn’t know what is going on. It becomes a communication headache for us.

Teacher

We are stuck between the expectations of the new world where kids need access to technology and information and the reality of limited resources in our school and classrooms. Kids need access to computers. So often time is wasted because the lab is full or there are not enough devices to go around. Allowing kids to bring their own devices means that more kids can have access to tools and information.

This creates its own set of problems. We live in a community where some families have very little income and other families are wealthy. There are kids in our classrooms whose parents can’t afford a computer at home or internet access or mobile devices for their kids. Yet, the more kids have them, the easier it becomes for everyone.

Kids, however, don’t always use them appropriately. Some kids will text friends in other classes to meet them somewhere in the school. Students should be using the school phones to contact parents, but will sometimes text or call directly. It’s a hassle to always be monitoring how kids are using their devices. It’s unfortunate that there is always that group of kids who have really poor judgement or who feel they don’t have to follow the rules. All they see are their own needs, they don’t see the needs of the larger community.

That being said, learning becomes so much more engaging and interesting when we have devices in our classrooms. We can do more things. When students have a question, they can actually find answers right away rather than having to wait until later when most likely they have forgotten their questions.

Student

I use my device all the time. I keep track of my homework on it and I can contact my parents right away if I need to ask them a question or find out if I can do something with a friend after school. The office doesn’t always let us use the phone to call home when we need to or the line- up is too long. We don’t have enough computers so I use my device to research and take notes for assignments. I can take pictures of charts, math and science lessons to help me with my homework.

I don’t see why I can’t have them out during free time or in the hallways. Games are fun to play. Sometimes I want to show my friends something that I discovered online or prove a point or we’re discussing something and we’re not sure what the answer is. I should be able to use my device when I feel I need to. I don’t think teachers always understand how and why we are using our devices.

A. Create a chart that shows the following information for each person.

1. What is salient to each person about devices in school.

2. List 2 assumptions that each person has made about devices in school.

3. List Information that each person ignores or fails to understand or does not consider salient about devices.

B.

1. What policy or rules would each person have about devices at school. Explain.

2. How might the devices in school issue be resolved so that all 3 parties are satisfied?

C.

1. How does knowing what someone considers salient help you understand their point of view?

2. Have you used the Ladder of Inference to help you resolve a conflict or recognize where you’ve gone wrong in your thinking during a different subject at school?

What is Salient Now?

This week my grade 7's have been developing their understanding of salience and how what a person finds salient influences how they move up the Ladder of Inference and what they consider salient the next time they have a choice to make.

This was an example I created for  the class.

 Students then had to start with the end point and construct a Ladder of Inference that would lead to what is salient now.

The next step was to write a story using the above planner. Many students found this extremely challenging and because this approach to learning is new to me, my  inability to articulate clearly what I was looking for probably created some confusion. The ability to deal with a complex task is important though and we persisted. One on one work and small group discussions helped clarify purpose, but it was one student, Kyle, grasping the activity fully and writing a very clever and amusing story which he read to the class that caused the light bulbs to light up. Students are now busy writing and we will publish once they are finished.

Student Centered Learning

My guest post on TVO The Agenda's Learning 2030 series on the challenges of student centered learning. 

Salience

On the March Break, I spent some time with Nogah Kornberg at Rotmanfurther developing my understanding of integrative thinking strategies. I consider myself very privileged to be receiving her guidance as I try to figure out what works with Middle School learners.

One thing I learned is that I can do a better job of teaching inferencing, which until now has been very much informed by the structure of EQAO, Ontario's standardized tests that occurs in grades 3 and 6. A section from last year's test required students to read a poem about an old carousel and then respond in no more than 5 lines to this question. How do the changes to the carousel and surrounding area make the speaker feel? Use specific details from the poem to support your answer. Students must infer the feelings of the speaker as they are not stated directly in the text. This is a very linear task requiring students to narrow in on one correct answer.

Integrative Thinking approaches inferencing with greater complexity. It compels thinkers to recognize not just their inferences and why they made them, but to also consider what other inferences could have been made had they paid attention to different information. It teaches thinkers to recognize that the information they consider salient shapes their inferences and ultimately influences what information they then pay attention to (or consider salient) the next time they are required to make an inference.


This week my students will be engaging in activities that require them to recognize what information they consider salient and the chain of thinking and action that results.  I've begun creating a structure for this, but will rework the wording in the instructions.

Distinctions Between the Sciences, Humanities and Design

With the current emphasis on STEM education, it is important to remember the value in other forms of learning and their place in forming our culture.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_thinking

Nigel Cross sets out to show the differences between the humanities, the sciences, and design in his paper Designerly Ways of Knowing. He shows that:

The phenomenon of study in each culture is

• in the sciences: the natural world
• in the humanities: human experience
• in design: the artificial world

The appropriate methods in each culture are

• in the sciences: controlled experiment, classification, analysis
• in the humanities: analogy, metaphor, evaluation
• in design: modeling, pattern-forming, synthesis

The values of each culture are

• in the sciences: objectivity, rationality, neutrality, and a concern for 'truth'
• in the humanities: subjectivity, imagination, commitment, and a concern for 'justice'
• in design: practicality, ingenuity, empathy , and a concern for 'appropriateness'^[11]

"I Found Out I Was Wrong!" said with pleasure.

Last week when students presented their learning, one student in particular - the one who thought I was crazy for even attempting fully self-directed learning - had a great deal of difficulty seeing the value in what some of the other students had selected for their topics. "I don't really think that's school."

At the end of our presentations last Friday, we debriefed and discussed what constitutes learning, where the learning was in those particular projects and the constructed models of school we hold in our heads. We also discussed how the skills those students had developed link to careers.

This week, when it came time to announce topic selections, the student in question announced that he was going to attempt something creative.  He worked industriously and with intense focus for the entire week. Today I took time to interview him about why he had chosen origami.
This is what he said, "Last week after the discussion I thought over the weekend about what was said and I wanted to find out if I was wrong. " He then exclaimed with pure delight, "I was!" 

He has expanded his understanding of learning and I don't think this would have occurred unless we had approached school in an entirely new way. The tools of design and integrative thinking have provided a framework for this student to understand how and why his thinking has shifted.

"I thought you were crazy, Mrs Siwak"

One of the wonderful and unexpected results of independent learning is that we have more time for conversation. I sat down with one student to discuss his thoughts on independent learning.

"I noticed that you really wanted to tell me something about independent learning at the beginning of class."

"When you said we were going to try it. I thought you were crazy.  I thought there was NO Way our class could handle being in charge of our learning. Now I totally see that we can."

"Tell me more."

"It can't fail. Everyone learns something."

"Tell me more"

"It's different ... you take more pride in what you are doing because you chose to do something you want to do. You work harder because it's your goal. If you don't do well in something a teacher gave you to do, you don't feel as bad about it. Here you want to be good."

Note: "Tell me more" is an integrative thinking strategy. It prompts learners to think more deeply without the listener influencing the direction of their thinking. This helps them to develop clarity and helps the listener avoid making inferences and drawing conclusions too early in a conversation.

Napoleon Linoits:

Below are example's of Class 71's demonstrations of learning from our War of 1812 Inquiry.  These focus on Napoleon. Of course, what's missing are the voices of the students as they shared their work, justified their content decisions, made inferences, interpretations, and provided analysis.  The also explained the rationale for layouts and handled questions and challenges to design and content choices.

Gage:

Lucas

Sophie 

Noah

Megan

Ben K.

Victoria

Oban

Shifts in Understanding of Learning and School

This is our 2nd week of our self-directed learning inquiry. We continue to have interesting conversations about learning. One thing that surprises me is how much more time I have to work one on one with students. Because all students are busy and productive, I have time to sit down for extended periods with individuals and small groups to discuss their learning. What I'm finding is that the quality of self-assessment and descriptive feedback is better. We have time to converse about goals, challenges, road-blocks, successes and discoveries.

What I am curious about is whether students have experienced  a shift in their understanding of learning and school. I asked them to write about it.

"I have experienced a shift in my learning. I have never actually had to pick a topic before.  I was so stumped, I did not know what to pick. We had the freedom to pick anything, but I stuck with something educational (fast food). I did not do nails, cooking or art; I made a presentation on prezi, what teachers would expect. On the 2nd week I got creative, I chose The Art of Cooking. Instead of making a presentation, I got more creative so I baked fairy cakes and I talked about the art of baking. We're so used to teachers directing our learning and telling us what to do, that we lose focus on creativity and what we would like to present and how. We should get that little chance to explore on what we want to learn."

"I think school is more comfortable now that we are doing i.i. because I feel I'm learning more about what I want to learn instead of writing about random stuff I don't want to learn about.  This is challenging me because I have to set my own goals, teach myself everything and tell myself how I'm going to do it.  I think I need to work on my organization of my time because last week I think I would have done better if I had planned my time out better."

"Yes, I believe I have experienced a shift in learning. It's been affected in a positive way, and I feel that in the future, people will be advanced learners because of this program.  Having no instruction and total freedom is really nice and it teaches us to figure out by ourselves.  This is then giving us skills we will need when we are older but giving it to us much earlier.  I feel like if this program becomes major in the future, children will learn to have skills such as time management, self-management, learning how to properly search information on the internet and much more.  These are all the things we'll need when we're older. Kids in the future will be more aware than kids today. This experience I find is a very good one and I enjoy it very much."

"I do think my understanding of school and learning has shifted because I think that I understand why independent learning is so important. It's important because if we learn to be independent then we can learn to do things by ourselves instead of always relying on other people all the time."

"Yes, I have experienced a shift in my understanding of learning and school because when I start with a topic I get to choose, a topic that I enjoy more than what a teacher would tell me to do, this learning makes me have more confidence in my skills with school and confidence for anything else that I have to do on my own.  You can see all the different personalities from different people because they are working on their own and finding new ways to learn on their own.  This is really a way of learning that takes thick skin.  In other words you have to be able to control your time and get a decent amount of work into your final product; you have to be able to research well and to have good skills with presenting to groups of people. This is personally a great way to learn because  you get to learn so much more than just what you are learning on your topic."

"I think my learning experience has been affected quite a bit. Being able to learn with no REAL boundaries and no REAL instruction has been very interesting and a great way to learn that you don't NEED a teacher to be taught. It has (in my opinion) taught me that learning things on my own is just as important as learning things OTHER people think is important. I now know skills that I may have never known or never tried to learn, and these skills may help me in the future.  I can definitely see this being the new way of learning in the future for students of all ages, with a FEW boundaries, of course. I hope this way of learning continues on for a long, long time."

"This method of learning is superior in nearly every way. It has changed the understanding I have about what school can actually be, because I now know that school can offer a lot more freedom than I previously thought.  The freedom gives students the option to learn about what they want to learn about."

"Yes, I like the type of learning better because it is more interesting.  I actually want to learn more about my topic because my topic is something I see and do every day and I want to learn how to do it better or learn what is better for me to do. Because I want to know so badly, I work harder and when I do I'll get better grades."

"Yes, I have experienced a shift in my school learning in many ways. One is that we have total freedom to do what we want, why we want and how we want. I think this gets students engaged in their work. Also, I find it is very independent and if we have a questions there is nothing anyone else can do to help you, not even the teacher and I think this develops a great sense of independent learning for us which is important in life. I think this is a very less stressful way of learning because you set the criteria, there is no certain way of the teacher grading you. I have also noticed that with this, if we find something interesting, we can check it out but with the certain criteria, there is no time to look at anything else. My old understanding of school is when you sit down and the teacher tells you what you are going to do and everything is taught in class. Now I think of it as a place to learn things that really interest me."

"I think that by experiencing this way of learning I have been affected in a few ways. One way is that by having all the freedom of using every possible resource around the school, I have been influenced to use every tool in order to help me with research. For example, before I might have used a book or a textbook, but after the independent inquiry idea, I have a wider understanding of the tools (a computer is one example) that I can use in order to learn in a way I might enjoy better.

However, I also have another point of view on learning. This is that I am just used to being taught by a teacher that has been taught that before and has a way of teaching that is not as grey and boring as being taught by reading a book that has the same information but doesn't explain it in the way the teacher (who in this case is Mrs. Siwak) does.

At the end of the day I remind myself of how I have been taught my whole life but then I realize that people aren't always going to be there to teach me these things. I have to do a hands on experience of everything eventually. To me this seems like the way children should learn because if they are taught the way that we are used to being taught, they will eventually become confused when they enter the real world and are faced with situations where they should have been taught like this. This is my opinion of independent inquiry"

This next student knew she wasn't comfortable with independent inquiry, but couldn't explain what bothered her. After discussing this with her last week, I pointed out that she needed to figure out what she values in a learning environment. This week she reached clarity.

"No, I have not experienced a shift in learning. I still think of school as a place where teachers are supposed to teach you everything, and you can always go to them and ask them a question about your work and get an answer. Not where you pick a subject and research it and share with your peers. (School is ) a place where you can go up and get a straight forward "yes" or "no" answer instead of "What do you think?" because it's your work. I liked the idea of being able to choose your own idea to research, but once I did it I realized that it wasn't the best idea. I prefer to have a project with boundaries, but you have the freedom on how to present your information like prezi, linoit or powerpoint!"

In Which My Students Realize They Don't Need My Permission to Learn

Today we used a thinking tool which involved asking many why's. The purpose of this tool is to cause learners to think backwards from a conclusion to the inference that led to the conclusion to the information they selected to make that inference and then to try to understand why they selected that data and not other information that was available.  I decided to use this method to find out why students felt they needed my permission before proceeding with learning. I wanted them to think more deeply about the structure of school and learning as it exists today.

I began with this,

" _______________, I noticed yesterday that you felt you needed permission from me to work with a partner for independent inquiry. Why?"

"Because that's what you have to do in school."

"Why?"

"So you won't get in trouble."

"Why?"

and so on until we broke down some of their ideas about school and learning.  They really began to see that their idea of school has been constructed based on their experiences and that it is possible to construct a different model. In fact, some of my students are now beginning to speak using the phrases, "in that model of learning" "in this model of learning".  Once we had this discussion, I noticed a change in tone of voice and demeanor.  Students realized they were in charge. The highlight for me was when a student said, "Mrs. Siwak I'm informing you that I will be in the computer lab." ... to which I replied, "Thanks for letting me know." What a shift!

 In our school we have a very flexible and accommodating staff. We make use of each other's classrooms and if there is a free computer available somewhere else in the school, learners are welcome. I was so pleased that this student finally recognized that if he was in charge of his own learning, it was his responsibility to figure out a work plan, to communicate this to me and then to get on with the job.

I also took time today to address the question that had come up several times, "How on earth are you going to mark this?"  I handed students a copy of the Learning Skills from our report cards.

They were asked to consider and explain in their journals, how independent learning supports the development of learning skills. It didn't take them long to realize that even though everyone is working on something different, skills are being developed.  Our next step will be to self-select areas for growth. 

Waiting for Permission to Learn

Today, we are into week 2 of self-directed learning. Please see previous posts for context.

Part I

Students entered class raring to go. What I found fascinating was the number of truly creative learning projects students are undertaking. It's as if a switch has been turned on. Once students realized they could spend a second week learning anything, the creative side, which has become sorely neglected in our current school structure, emerged. (Yes, students take art and music, but do they ever actually have time to create something out of nothing with no explicit guidelines? Where the only determiner of success is their own? Not in school. Well, not in most schools. A few schools are beginning to develop Maker programs, but the trend has not yet arrived in my board.

One student, who has a very traditional model of what constitutes school and learning has chosen to learn origami. This surprised me but I was so pleased he challenged himself with this task. He might not be aware of all the math and language expectations that are being met by selecting this topic, but I certainly am and it will be part of our conferences.

As students explained their topic selections, I began noticing a language pattern.

"Is it okay if I do ..."
"Is it okay if I work with ..."
"Is it okay I learn about ..."

and then an expectant look on their faces as they waited for me to give the ok or a no.

These kids are so used to being told what to do next, they were asking for permission to learn something they were interested in and to self-organize in order to meet their own goals. I had to keep turning the question back to them, "I don't know is it okay that you chose ...?" "Is it okay if you work with a partner this week? This is your learning, you are in charge. What do you think?"  It's not that I don't think students need boundaries and guidelines, it's just that it became so obvious how much control we continuously and unnecessarily remove from students. After the first few times students and I began to laugh as we realized what was happening.

Tomorrow we will take some time to journal on the idea of waiting for permission. We are also going to use a tool from Integrative Thinking to gain better understanding of why they think they need permission. Thank you Nogah from Rotman's for all you help and suggestions as I work my way through this.

TVO Learning 2030

I was a guest on TVO The Agenda Learning 2030 this past weekend. TVO is taking an in depth look at education over the course of this year.  The show had a great panel discussion that included Michael Fullan as well as Ron Canuel from the Canadian Education Association. The student trustee was a star! It will be broadcast Monday evening at 8 pm EST and again at 11 pm. And if you find yourself waking up early with nothing to do but think about education, at 5 a.m.

Steven Paikin and I! That's for you mom!

Students Reflect on Self-Directed Learning

On Friday my grade 7 students presented their Independent Learning. This is what it looked like.

It was a completely different experience watching students present all at the same time in small groups rather than formally in front of the class. The environment was joyful and relaxed.

We experimented with group construction.

• large group of 6
• small group of 3
• gender mixed
• gender specific
• close friends
• friendly peer - not necessarily close friends

In our post-presentation discussion, comments included:

• from the gender-specific female group - It would be nice to have a male point of view in the group
• being with all boys might ensure more interest in what others chose to learn about
• 6 was too many, by the time the last person presented we got tired of listening and that's too bad because he had done a ton of work
• it was nice to be with friends because we felt very comfortable
• having all close friends in a group wasn't good because it was distracting
• forming a group where everyone has similar interests might be better than having to listen to something you're not really interested in

When I asked students what didn't go well, a few students felt that their topics were not substantial. It took only a few minutes for them to present and then they were left with nothing to do. Other groups were still presenting at the end of 50 minutes. Several students observed that almost everyone had spent a great deal of time learning but hadn't put much thought into the sharing component. They were unsatisfied with how they presented their learning to the group. Others commented on the quality of feedback. Students were so focused on their own accomplishments but they weren't always listening carefully to others in the group nor providing useful feedback. This has now become a goal for improvement for the class.  What we are doing indirectly is constructing success criteria. 

When we go at this next week, groups will be mixed gender and have only 3 or 4 members. Close friends will be separated.  Before we start, I will give each student a copy of the Learning Skills section of the report card and they are going to take some time to reflect on how they lack or demonstrate those skills during Independent Learning. 

Three students did not really enjoy the experience. 

I rely on my teachers to show me and tell me what to do. I didn't know what I was supposed to do.  

This comment shows just how much faith and trust students place in their teachers to point them in the right direction. It also shows, however, that we have created dependency. That is somewhat unsettling.

I didn't know what was important or what to focus on. How are you going to mark this?

This shows the need for boundaries, a desire for expectations and a need to more clearly define success within this model.

It was ok, I guess, but I just didn't really like it. This student couldn't articulate why nor what bothered her about this approach. She knew she didn't like it, but needs time to develop clarity and the capacity to articulate what she values in a learning environment.

Our post- presentation discussion took 30 minutes and we by no means exhausted all that needed to be said nor everything that happened over the course of the week.  I do wish I had recorded it, as their insights about learning, school and what constitutes learning and school were highly revealing.  What I wasn't anticipating was such an obvious revelation of model clash and an entry point into developing integrative thinking skills in my students.

From the discussion, it became very apparent that students have constructed in their minds very clear models of "school" and what constitutes "real learning". These models are rigid and they vary from learner to learner. It became obvious that every child in the class has a slightly different understanding of the purpose of school and learning.  

"I think the goal here was to learn about what we might want to do in the future."

"No, the goal was to have fun and the freedom to learn anything you want."

"No offense, but I don't think some of the topics or what people chose to learn were appropriate for school. What does building a ______________ have to do with real learning? It might be fun, but it's not going to get you anywhere!"

"Learning shouldn't just be about fun. It has to be something academic."

"This is school and you should be spending time getting ready for your future."

"The whole point was that we got to be creative and do something we never get to do!"

"We had the chance to learn anything we wanted to! That was the point. It didn't matter what we chose. Everyone learned SOMETHING! You can't say that those people didn't learn from what they did,"

"What I chose to learn did have a purpose. If I want to be a set designer these are the kinds of skills I need."

"Teachers are supposed to be showing and telling what's important. We can't decide these things on our own. How do we know what's important? What we should focus on?'

Many had a great deal of difficulty understanding why other students selected certain topics.  They placed value on certain kinds of demonstrations of learning and devalued others. They have constructed models about school in their heads. They've shot up their ladders of inference, made assumptions based on limited sets of data, drawn conclusions and are now taking actions with regard to how they approach learning. Empathy is, in many cases, lacking.

My job is to use the tools of integrative thinking to help them identify their models, understand each other's models and then build a better model. Integrative Thinking as an approach to problem-solving and innovation is new to me. I am so excited but what I am discovering. What I've found are the tools students can use to develop better solutions to the problems they encounter.