Yesterday I spent the afternoon at the Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat as part of a think tank on thinking. I have entered the inner sanctum of curriculum in Ontario. :D News alert to frightened teachers - there are no curriculum police ready to swoop in to see that every single expectation has been met. I thought you should know that. The LNS really is filled with nice and knowledgeable people wanting to help teachers become better at what they do.
It was an odd place to find myself in given that I'm a classroom teacher with no formal position of leadership in my board - an awkward position that I'm finding myself in more and more frequently these days. I felt incredibly privileged to be sitting at that table with 25 or so other people looking at where the province is going next with thinking and inquiry. I suppose that what I and the other classroom teacher present yesterday represent are those in the trenches. We have insights about practice and the shift to inquiry that are useful to the province as it works to provide tools to support teachers. The LNS understands that teachers are struggling because they are being asked to work in ways that are often in conflict with how they see their roles and responsibilities. It is attempting to develop tools to help teachers better understand how they should be working in their classrooms. They are trying to make it simple. They also don't have all the answers. Ontario is a leader in this shift to knowledge building classrooms. The LNS, just like the rest of us. is learning as it goes.
Many topics were explored and questions asked during the meeting that helped me better understand the big picture. For that I am so grateful!
What it means to move from Instructivism to Shallow Constructivism to Deep Constructivism to Connectivism.
How can we help educators make visible, deeply understand and assess student thinking as it is revealed through the inquiry process?
The standards of critical thinking.
The stance of a teacher in a knowledge building classroom.
The role of a teacher within inquiry.
The places of Integrative and Systems Thinking, Critical and Creative Thinking. (I have to say I was thrilled to see Integrative Thinking make its way into the plan for Ontario students).
What does assessment look like in inquiry? How do we get teachers to move beyond the idea that a test is necessary?
What barriers are teachers facing in this shift? What are educators struggling with?
It was a fascinating afternoon that left me with much to think about and realizing yet again that I have only scratched the surface of what it means to be a teacher.
Ideas for projects were explored and I am looking forward to working more closely with the LNS. Film crews will return to my classroom this spring. One never knows what turns the path will take!
One final thought. I mentioned that one of the barriers to interdisciplinary inquiry is how our schools are structured and timetabled. Language is a separate discipline. Scienceis often taught in isolation. There is a rigidity to the structure of school that needs to be addressed. The response I received was, "Yes, administrators are going to have to structure their schools differently." My eyebrows shot up! Silos are not an expectation. It seems we've tied our own hands. That was interesting. So now I am wondering. Are there public schools in Ontario that have completely revamped their structure to meet the needs of learning today? How is our teacher's union working to adapt to this new reality?
It was an odd place to find myself in given that I'm a classroom teacher with no formal position of leadership in my board - an awkward position that I'm finding myself in more and more frequently these days. I felt incredibly privileged to be sitting at that table with 25 or so other people looking at where the province is going next with thinking and inquiry. I suppose that what I and the other classroom teacher present yesterday represent are those in the trenches. We have insights about practice and the shift to inquiry that are useful to the province as it works to provide tools to support teachers. The LNS understands that teachers are struggling because they are being asked to work in ways that are often in conflict with how they see their roles and responsibilities. It is attempting to develop tools to help teachers better understand how they should be working in their classrooms. They are trying to make it simple. They also don't have all the answers. Ontario is a leader in this shift to knowledge building classrooms. The LNS, just like the rest of us. is learning as it goes.
Many topics were explored and questions asked during the meeting that helped me better understand the big picture. For that I am so grateful!
EXPLORATIONS
What it means to move from Instructivism to Shallow Constructivism to Deep Constructivism to Connectivism.
How can we help educators make visible, deeply understand and assess student thinking as it is revealed through the inquiry process?
The standards of critical thinking.
The stance of a teacher in a knowledge building classroom.
The role of a teacher within inquiry.
The places of Integrative and Systems Thinking, Critical and Creative Thinking. (I have to say I was thrilled to see Integrative Thinking make its way into the plan for Ontario students).
What does assessment look like in inquiry? How do we get teachers to move beyond the idea that a test is necessary?
What barriers are teachers facing in this shift? What are educators struggling with?
It was a fascinating afternoon that left me with much to think about and realizing yet again that I have only scratched the surface of what it means to be a teacher.
Ideas for projects were explored and I am looking forward to working more closely with the LNS. Film crews will return to my classroom this spring. One never knows what turns the path will take!
One final thought. I mentioned that one of the barriers to interdisciplinary inquiry is how our schools are structured and timetabled. Language is a separate discipline. Scienceis often taught in isolation. There is a rigidity to the structure of school that needs to be addressed. The response I received was, "Yes, administrators are going to have to structure their schools differently." My eyebrows shot up! Silos are not an expectation. It seems we've tied our own hands. That was interesting. So now I am wondering. Are there public schools in Ontario that have completely revamped their structure to meet the needs of learning today? How is our teacher's union working to adapt to this new reality?
2 We are trying to move to a whole school inquiry based focus. We are not sure what that means or looks like either. We stared with eliminating as much if not all rotary k-8. We have some but more a function of prep coverage then anything. We have stared to document our journey johnaleslietdsb.blogspot.ca}
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments John. It is helpful to know how other schools are approaching this transition. Was there much pushback about rotary disappearing? It's a great idea to document the process so others can learn.
DeleteThere was not much push back at all. We discussed how important the connected curriculum is and fewer transitions being better for kids. We eliminated rotary 4 years ago now and have not had an issue. Being k-8 helps I think. Are focus now is deeper more student driven inquiry
ReplyDeleteIn our K-6 school within HWDSB, a former principal insisted that our individual classroom timetables show Science & Social Studies as part of the Literacy block. I have kept this every year since. Basic rotary (French) based on prep. Any additional rotary results from me providing music specialist instruction to 2 classes (on top of my own), two periods per five day cycle all year long.
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