Monthly Archives: February 2014

Inquiry Blog 3: Supporting Teachers’ ICT Curriculum and Pedagogy: On-going Professional Development

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Sharing Out

We educators and Teacher-Librarians can share what we’ve learned with our wider blog_creattivacommunities of practices through both face to face and social media mediums. Obviously, blogging, tweeting, maintaining a website, participating in Google Plus communities and so on are a means of dissimulating information. As well, formal forums such as professional development workshops, conferences and networks are options as are informal hallway chats, staff / department head / committee meeting share outs, school inquiry clubs, etc.

Personalizing Learning

However, we can best respond to the needs of our staff, in their wide spectrum of fingerprintsabilities and experiences, with the most appropriate and useful professional development by being responsive to their needs. One thing I have learned is that, as professionals, we are all at different places in our practice and our needs are highly individualized. A blanket approach is not effective. Just because I’m excited about something does not mean others are or should be. The most effective professional development is relevant to a professional’s personal learning goals and plan.

For example, in my role as a district curriculum coordinator, my team mate and I found the following tools and strategies successful (although we are still learning and revising!).

Tools & Strategies

A district hosted blog: We use this blog for regular updates on hot topics and learning toolsopportunities. As well, teachers can access information on district, provincial and global resources and better understand our coordinator role and how they can make use of us.

A resource wiki: As common questions and interests emerge, Dawn and I create a wiki page on our resource wiki. Each wiki page offers a brief definition in layman’s terms, a short instructional video and a resource area anyone can contribute to. This way, not only is this information now available to all, but it allows teachers to choose and access information and resources that are relevant to them when it best suits them from any location (anywhere, anytime, anyplace). As well, teachers can share resources directly with each other.

“Book Us” Mondays: Teachers can book Dawn and I through a wiki to come into their school on a Monday afternoon to work with them on anything they wish. Aaron, this sounds exactly like your “sandbox” approach. We provide release time for two teachers, encourage the principal to match this funding for two more and are welcoming of any teachers free to join (non-enrolling, on prep, etc.). When we arrive, we first co-create an agenda 100% based on the teachers’ needs and interests and work through the items as a team.

Pay It Forward: Teachers can apply for an afternoon of release anytime to collaborate with a colleague or colleagues. Dawn and I share a 1.0 FTE coordinator role which, I can promise you, is not enough to meet the diverse ITC needs of all the teachers (K to 12 / all subjects) in our district. In addition, we are not experts on every technology, past, present and emerging. Consequently, we have found it effective to match teachers with mentor teachers according to interest and request. For example, a grade 3 teacher who has been exploring how to use iPods on visual wilderness scavenger hunts (i.e. take pictures, return and investigate) knows more about this than I, as a secondary teacher, do and will be much more helpful to an elementary teacher interested in doing the same. All we ask is that any resources be shared on the Resource Wiki so other teachers can use them and that the mentee be open to mentoring someone themselves should the opportunity arise (with release time provided of course).

Technology Taste Tester: Dawn and I often hear from teachers that they feel they don’t know enough of the technology options available to be able to make an informed choice as to what to pursue for their own professional development. We have found it useful to first survey teachers through Fluid Survey and school wide networks in May or June  to better understand what teachers are interested in. In October, we then offer a series of mini introductory sessions based on the prior information for up to 8 topics in one day. Similar to a mini Tapestry, teachers could sign up for up to 4 mini sessions in the day or just attend one or two, according to their needs and interests. From this point, teachers can make a more informed choice as to what they wish to focus on in their practice for the school year.

To Conclude . . .

I think what is most important is that professional learning opportunities be responsive Many Arrows of Opportunityto teachers’ needs and that there be many ways for teachers to access resources and support. Different people will be interested in different things at different times. As well, everyone has a different learning style which demands diversity in potential learning experiences: online, small group, one-on-one, large group, video, book, etc. We know all learners are unique. To support teacher learning, we must first honor them as learners. I’m excited to see teacher inquiry mirror what we know about student inquiry.

Inquiry Blog 2: Developing your own ICT Skills and Pedagogy

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My biggest challenge . . .

The biggest challenge I face is the overwhelming amount of ‘stuff’ available. By this I mean conferences, professional learning opportunities, networks, social media, and so stresson. This bombardment began about two years ago when I became a part time district technology curriculum coordinator. I advocated for part time for two reasons: (1) I felt completely leaving the classroom would limit my ability to fully explore technology integration in the field (and I love teaching) and (2) accepting the job part time gave me a teammate to collaborate with. However, with this posting, came numerous learning opportunities. In the last two years, I have attended the following (while teaching .5 FTE):

INQUIRY

2014: Technology for Inquiry Conference / Centre for Educational Leadership and busyPolicy (CSELP), Vancouver, BC

2013-2014: Quality Teaching and Learning (QTL) Inquiry Cohort

2013: Creating and Leading Cultures of Inquiry, Bruce Wellman

2013: Technology for Inquiry Conference / Centre for Educational Leadership and Policy (CSELP), Vancouver, BC

Leadership & Mentorship

2013: Large Project Management / UVic Digital Humanities Institute (Dr. Lynne Siemens-two day workshop)

2013: Mentoring Matters: Learning Focused Relationships (Bruce Wellman – two day workshop)

21st Century / Personalized Learning

2013: International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Conference, San Antonio, Texas (five day conference)

2013: IT4K12 Conference on “Technology Enabling Innovation & Learning” / Educational Resource Acquisition Consortium (ERAC), Vancouver, BC, (two day conference)

2013: ConnectEd Canada at the Calgary Science School, Calgary, AB (three day conference)

2013: “Enacting 21st Century School and University Research Partnerships” UVic Personalized Learning 21 (PL21) Working Group, Victoria, BC

2013: K-12 Transformation and Curriculum Directions (Maureen Dockendorf & Rod Allen)

2012: Computer Using Educators of BC (CUE BC) Conference, Vancouver, BC

2012: International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Conference, San Diego, California (five day conference)

2012: Dialogue 2012: A joint initiative of UVic’s Faculty of Education, BC’s Ministry of Education, School Districts 61, 62, 63, & 64 and John Abbott. Victoria, BC

Diversity

2012: Kurzweil 3000 (two sessions)

Restitution

2012: Restitution I (Judy Anderson-one day workshop)

2012: Restitution III (Diane Gossen-one day workshop)

Curriculum & Instruction

2013: British Columbia Teachers of English Language Arts (BCTELA) Conference (2 days)

2012-2013: Canadian Literature for Social Justice Inquiry Project (UVic)

Overwhelmed . . .

In addition, I finished my Masters (with a focus on Digital Literacy) and now have embarked on my Teacher-Librarianship Diploma. There is so much to learn my brain brainfeels as if it’s bleeding half the time and just when I think I have grasped a concept it evolves, expands or even completely morphs into something else!

So, as mentioned, I struggle with feeling overwhelmed. My latest strategy is to attempt to slow down and accept I cannot learn everything at once, that I need to focus on specific goals, such as incorporating inquiry into my class. Then, I actually have to give myself the time and space to learn, mess up and reflect that I try so hard to give my students. I’ve come to realize how unforgiving I can be with myself as a learner. As well, I am beginning to accept that I cannot participate in all the opportunities that come my way (at least not well) and that I will need to say no (which still kills me).

What to do . . .

In addition to all the resources available around me (as outlined in the above list), my collabmain resource is my teammate Dawn Anderson and my colleagues. Nothing motivates, inspires and sustains me more than being able to collaborate with fellow teachers experimenting in similar areas. The stories, humor, successes and muck ups remind me that I’m a learner too and that there is always support to be had.

Social media networks are a challenge for me as it seems every conference or workshop I go to attempts to create PLN that they want to sustain beyond the session. Although an admirable goal, when you attend as many of these as I do, participating sustainably in so main networks is unrealistic. Again, this brings me to having only one or two main objectives that would then allow me to choose one or two networks that supported these objectives.

Educators and professionals are connecting and sharing their learning through conferences, district initiatives, informally in schools and, of course, through social media. A specific network that is just emerging is the BC EdTech Mentorship Network which I hope will provide a “one stop shop” or portal if you will for the busy teacher looking for support around technology integration. For example, the network provides “how to” videos on incorporating new technology:

The main thing I think I can do during this class and after it is over to maintain my focusconnections and networks and to further develop my knowledge, experience and skills would be to slow down, focus on a few specific goals and to choose networks, resources and learning opportunities that serve those specific objectives rather than my current scatter gun approach. I believe I’ve accomplished breadth; now I aim for depth.

Inquiry Blog 1: Fostering Reading Cultures in Schools

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Our school has several unique challenges when it comes to fostering a reading culture. We are an alternative public high school with over 3000 students, 3 campuses and day, readingnight, online and paper based classes for students aged 14 to 90. We run multiple specialty programs such as our multi-generational First Nations Graduation program, young adult Fast Forward Program, Adult Grad Program and teenage Futures Program. Consequently, the school often lacks a cohesive approach to anything as our basic philosophy is to differentiate everything according to student need. Our success lies in the ability of our different parts to tailor for specific groups in a responsive and timely manner. Add to this, no library (concrete or digital) and what you have is many different people fostering reading cultures in many different ways at all times.

 

Of interest, however, was our new principal’s attempt to foster a collaborative reading culture by distributing a novel he is passionate about to the staff and requesting a book club. However, three things were missing: (1) staff interest (book choice/topic did not originate from staff), (2) options (over 40 teachers were given the same book), and (3) its-your-choicecollaboration options (when and how teachers would meet).  Our curriculum support teacher met with our principal and suggested the following: (1) a survey of staff to see if staff book clubs were of interest to them and, if so, what topics they interested in, (2) a minimum of three options, one of which should be a video, and (3) a minimum of three options of when and how to meet. This situation highlighted the importance of relevance, interest, choice and differentiation for all readers, student or teacher.

 

I think the most important strategy would be time carved out for reading during school time. This could be at different times but would need to be a minimum of 20 minutes at least every second day. As well, all adults in the building would need to visibly reading1participate and relevance, interest, choice and differentiation would need to be emphasized and modeled. Finally, access to diverse reading material (likely digital) would be crucial. We are currently investigating a digital library as space is an issue at all campuses.

 

Modeling a passion for reading, respect for all types and genres of literature and respect for student choice has worked for me as a classroom teacher. What has not worked is: inconsistency, too short of time, no adult modeling and one novel fits all. I think a next step to build on the strategy above (school wide reading) would be digital book club forums where students and staff could blog about what they are reading, comment on each other’s’ posts and even create discussion groups if reading the same text.

Reading Review: Part C

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Research Synopsis

Due to the recent interest in inquiry, there are multiple sources to be found. However, finding relevant Canadian resources was the challenge. As well, my approach was three fold: (1) student inquiry, (2) how to design inquiry learning experiences, and (3) teacher inquiry. In short, my inquiry into inquiry had layers. Consequently, I required research2resources that addressed my three prong approach.

How do I design an inquiry learning experience?

Alberta Learning’s (2004) “Focus on inquiry: A teacher’s guide to implementing inquiry-based learning” provided a very detailed inquiry model and specific instructions on how to scaffold an inquiry learning experience. The Galileo Educational Network’s (2014) “Discipline-based inquiry rubric” provided an easy to navigate rubric through which to evaluate whether my inquiry designs are beginning, developing or accomplished. Unsurprisingly, I find myself hovering between beginning and developing.

What is student inquiry?

The British Columbia Teacher-Librarians’ Association’s (2011) “The points of inquiry: A framework for information literacy and the 21st century learner” provides detailed and grade specific inquiry learning outcomes for students. These are clear, researched and very useable. My only concern are (1) the sheer number of learning outcomes (especially with the opposite move in the new curriculum) and (2) the assumption students will have been scaffolded in the inquiry process throughout their academic career. As inquiry is new to my students and a large number of outcomes would deter engagement, I will need to select and/or condense the outcomes before we use them in the class.

The video “Learning to Inquire: Innovations for Deeper Teaching and Learning” (2012) by the Canadian Education Association was very useful in that it provided an example of what inquiry can look like. Like many teachers, I’m thirsty for ‘seeing’ what these concepts actually look like in the field. However, the video also spoke to the crucial role of leadership in effective implementation of inquiry based learning. A common understanding and language around inquiry at the school and district level would be so helpful!

What is teacher inquiry?

Finally, if a learner is a learner, it would be hypocritical not to consider how my own learning and teaching can be inquiry based. This class (LIBE 477) is proving ideal as, in addition to working towards my diploma, I have not only a vehicle to develop my understanding of inquiry but also the opportunity to engage in inquiry based learning myself.

Halbert & Kaser’s (2013) Spirals of inquiry: For equity and quality also provide an easy to understand inquiry model for teachers that blends what we already know about action research and diagnostic and formative assessment. Their “spirals of inquiry” helped me draw connections between what I know and do as a teacher with the new concept of inquiry. As well, it helped me be more understanding of my own learning process and its recursive nature.

 Key Learnings

The key learning that I have generated through this deeper exploration into my topic is research2that inquiry requires a great deal of thought, design and scaffolding on the part of the teacher. Learners must have the following in order to engage in effective inquiry:

  • basic inquiry concepts and vocabulary
  • enough prior knowledge about a topic to develop good questions
  • basic inquiry skills and strategies

I have also come to understand that educators’ understanding of inquiry range from a very structured research model (Alberta Learning) to an open exploratory model with guiding criteria (Galileo Educational Network).

As well, I have learned that I need to start inquiry in my classroom and allow for myself to make mistakes and learn as I go. I believe that I will start with a small inquiry opportunity for students so that we can all practice the above prerequisite skills and get a sense for the emotions that accompany inquiry (anticipation, frustration, etc.). After group reflection and revision of our understandings and approaches, I will offer a large inquiry opportunity for students that will allow them to meet a large number of the course’s learning outcomes. My next steps are to develop a mini-inquiry as our practice run.