Empowering Learners: Questions to Ask Yourself and Others - TIES 2016

Approximately 30 educators from the Eden Prairie School District recently attended the 2016 TIES conference in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The conference always packs a big punch in a small amount of time.  Here is what some of our own participants had to say:

Foster a classroom of wonder where play is encouraged to promote each individual learner's curiosity. - Shelly S. EPHS Business and Marketing

Start a journey of yes! - Mark B. Eden Lake 4th Grade

Live in a constant wonder!  Embrace play more! - Patti J. Oak Point Specialist

Giving kids more choice and control of their learning empowers them! Allowing them to be creative and to play contributes to empowerment as well. Teachers need to be a model for creativity. - Nick W. Prairie View Kindergarten

It's up to us to create a work environment which is a delightful place to be and brings joy to our lives. - Michelle A. Administrative Service Center

Questions for Wonder and Play:

EPS educator takeaways truly embraced the sentiments of keynote speaker Dean Shareski. Dean authors a blog titled Ideas and Thoughts , wrote Embracing a Culture of Joy and can be found on twitter @shareski.  His message spurs educators to constantly encourage their learners to be curious, to notice and to wonder.  Afterall, asking questions is cheap and takes little extra effort.  Try adding the following to you classroom interactions:

• What do you think?
• Why do you think that?
• What evidence do you have?

Let’s work collaboratively to design schools and classrooms that are delightful places to be by creating opportunities for curiosity and wonder.  By  eliminating busywork, we can let learners explore what makes them unique and what motivates them, which in turn, instills a passion for lifelong learning.

Additional Questions to Ask of Yourself and of Others:

Many of the presenters also enforced things that we, as educators, have heard repeatedly, but may need to be reminded of or examine in our practice:

• If you believe that relationships are key:  What are you doing to listen to the realities of your students?
• If summative tests do not equate to understanding/grades: What opportunities can you provide for  learners to demonstrate their growth/knowledge?
• If we believe in the mission of each: How can we tap into passions that each of our learners have and let those passions drive their individual learning?
• If not everything has equal weight or privilege: What are we willing to selectively abandon?
• We ask our students to make themselves vulnerable every single day: What type of failure or vulnerability are we will willing to show to our learners?

Call to Action: Connect with Others

Weren’t able to attend TIES this year?  Don’t pout -- go online! A key driver for change is finding creative ways for teachers to connect with one another and share ideas.  One way to do this is to get connected on twitter.  In addition to Dean Shareski above, some of our personal recommendations for follows, and noted speakers from TIES, would include:

• Carl Hooker: @mrhooker, author, blogger of Hooked on Innovation and founder of the ipadpalooza learning festival.
• Pernille Ripp: @pernilleripp, author, blogger of Blogging Through the 4th Dimension, 7th grade educator in Oregon, Wisconsin and founder of the Global Read Aloud.
• Barbara Bray: @bbray27, author, blogger of Personalized Learning, and moderator of #plearnchat on Monday evenings at 6pm central time.
• Tony Vincent: @tonyvincent, blogger of Learning in Hand, former 5th grade teacher and self described geek (apps, stuff, and more).

Going further, you can check out all of the TIES learning by diving into the #TIES16 twitter hashtag.

Finally, as always, feel free to leave a comment about what you will commit to doing after reading this post or give a suggestion (or two) for a twitter follow.

Laurie

Instructional Excellence Coordinator

Department of Personalized Learning and Instruction

Going Primal: Building Wonder in Students Outdoors

I was fortunate enough to spend the previous weekend in Northern Minnesota walking through the Chippewa National Forest.  A light snow had dusted the area, creating a brilliant winter landscape that seemed to come from the pallet of Bob Ross.  As I began my walk, the wind howled all around me and made me wonder if being outside was the best idea.  As I entered the pine trees, there was an instant silence, the wind was gone and all I was left with were my thoughts.

As a classroom teacher, I have always loved getting my students outdoors.  Whether it was just getting outside to read book on a warm spring day or teaching students about crystal structures when looking at snowflakes, being outside trumped any day inside.  The greatest part, students wanting to be outside and the places their minds would go while being out there.  Taking a weekend up north is not the same as taking your classroom outside.  However, there can be the same rewards and wonderment.

Where to Start, Get Outside!

There are some simple strategies that you can use when going outside with your students to really get them started in how to explore the outdoors.  Sit Spots (Wilderness Awareness School and Dave Strich) are areas that students go out to connect to nature.  No lesson plans needed. Students sit quietly in nature and make observations of what is going on around them, what has changed or thoughts about what will happen next.  This simple strategy helps build wonder in our students will lead to engagement in discovering answers to the questions that they develop.  The Minnesota DNR has a great list of resources for what you should take with you outside your first time. Remember to keep it simple to start!

Going Further

Sit Spots are great, but what if you want to do more than just have students make observations? 

There are many programs and resources that are available online and in print.  Education Outside is a California based environmental science group that has designed a number of lessons for K – 5 students.  Lessons are broken down by month and topic and are designed to be done outside. 

Want to incorporate some technology into your outdoor education?

iNaturalist (iOS, Andriod) is a community based nature app that allows students to capture and identify plants, animals and insects in their community and get help identifying the species.  The identified living organisms are then linked to a Wikipedia fact page that helps students learn more about their surrounding community.  iNaturalist also contains local projects, students can create their own guides and get “Observations of the Week.”  These are just a couple of many great resources that are available online and in print.  Check with your state’s DNR to see what resources they may have available in your area.  Minnesota’s DNR has workshops and curriculum that are tailor made to Minnesota’s great outdoors!

Thanks for reading and enjoy your time outdoors,

Alex Townsend

New Year’s Resolution: Develop a “Fit” Teaching Approach

As 2016 draws to a close, market researchers will shift into overdrive to entice us to start the New Year with a determination for getting fit, or staying fit. January sales will include treadmills, elliptical machines, home gyms and ab wheels. Protein shakes will replace milkshakes, morning walks will replace morning waffles. Some will succeed in their quest for physical transformation, others may find themselves wandering the road of good intentions with a cookie in one hand, and a Diet Coke in the other. “There’s always next year”, they’ll say . . . and mean it.

We know that getting fit takes work. It requires a lifestyle change to which we carefully tend day after day, week after week, month after month. A consistent regimen of healthy eating, and daily exercise brings positive change and accelerates one’s success. Eventually, you look forward to your morning walk. It helps ground your day. You find joy in discovering ways to prepare Michelin Star meals that are both healthy and delicious. You realize it has all been worth it!

It occurred to me that it is with this attitude we should approach our craft as professional educators in our schools. In Intentional and Targeted Teacher, Doug Fisher, Nancy Frey and Stefani Hite articulate a plan for FIT teaching. Their inquiry was around the following three questions:

1. What did the most effective teachers do in order to promote successful learning?
2. How did they plan, instruct, and assess?
3. What specific practices could be isolated as making the most difference?  

(Fisher, Frey, Hite, 2016)

So, how DO we build a FIT practice?

F Step 1: Build a Framework

A framework is an instructional approach that shifts the focus from  teaching to student learning. This approach includes identifying clear targets, teacher modeling, guided instruction, collaborative learning as well as independent tasks. In other words, our CBL workshop model of instruction. These components are mixed and matched as needed for high student engagement. The order is not as important as including each component every time we teach. Modeling, for example, may occur over and over in one lesson, while collaborative group work makes up the majority of another lesson. The purposeful variety of these strategies helps to promotes successful learning, and we’re doing it!

I Step 2: Be Intentional

Teachers’ actions make a difference! Every instructional decision should be purposeful. In our district’s Model for Continuous Improvement, we know that four critical questions guide our PLC work. The first one speaks to intentionality, “What does each student need to know and be able to do?” We need to launch every lesson knowing what students need to learn, and expecting that they will. With planning around the targets, execution that evokes high student engagement, and frequent formative assessing, the rate of student success increases. For the past year, I have watched our ELA writers dedicate hundreds of collective hours to frame out our ELA targets. They have been thoughtful and thorough, working with the intention of increasing student learning. Our Math writers are doing the same. With each methodical step, these talented men and women focus on the task of clearly identifying the targets every student needs to reach.

T Step 3: Deliver Targeted Instruction

We know that our responsibility is to monitor student progress by asking ourselves, “How will I know they have learned it?, What if they don’t? What if they already know it?” When we ask these questions, and plan next steps around our classroom data, we are increasing the chances of closing the gap for our students who struggle. It also allows us to open up deeper and wider learning opportunities for those who already have mastered the grade level targets.

A recent conversation with a second grade PLC left me excited about the “FITness” level of our teaching staff. The meeting opened up with celebration stories, students making breakthroughs, teachers witnessing moments of brilliance from children who had been struggling. It was inspiring!

The most impressive part of the PLC discussion, however, was the sober contemplation about what else could be done. There was no sign of weariness, no white flag, no “there’s always next year” attitude. Instead, these skilled professionals continue to push forward in their pursuit of better ways to meet the needs of our Eden Prairie students. It was inspiring!

Taking inventory of one’s instructional practices is essential to professional health. How FIT are you? Where are you wildly successful, and where do you need to intensify your fitness routine? Your PLC partners can be your workout team, your instructional coach . . . your personal trainer. We are, after all, our communities’ instructional professionals. When we help our teammates in their quest for “fitness”, we all win!

Heidi Fitch

Multi-Tiered Support Coordinator

Eden Prairie Schools