Supposition (based on pedagogcial documentation):
When Students Freely Make Choices For Their Learning, They Take Ownership & Are Engaged. #OwnsershipOfLearning #StudentVoice
PERSONALIZED LEARNING:
What does it really mean?
As a high school student I attended a self directed learning program, that stressed the freedom of choice. My education seemed limitless - apart from the odd test that I didn't have enough time to retake, I always felt like each assignment I was given had the potential to be amazing. I believed in myself, my work, and my education because I was directly involved in the construction of my own assignments - if I chose to be. As a teacher, I carry this around with me, it influences every decision I make in the classroom in relation to my students and their learning. I believe it is important to provide students with an opportunity to be involved in their learning - that is, in all parts of their learning (design, development, proposals, marking & beyond).
As a student, I have always felt that the only time "personalized learning" that is learning the way that suited me, was only possible when I was given the opportunity to make decisions, dream up ideas, and put them into action - the less limits/ road blocks the better! My favourite course was always Visual Art mainly because it had the least amount of road blocks (instructions, rules, requirements). Ironically, I felt my mind was most active and engaged in art class - it is where I took time to work with the information that was confronted with in other courses. In art class I learned to draw and paint, but it is also where I took my school work that interested me, where I investigated it and made sense of it all. Art was where I had the freedom to work with material in order to apply meaning and develop it into knowledge.
My Art teacher, along with a handful of others at Mary Ward pushed me to be original, to stand out in whatever way I could, to develop my own knowledge and understanding in the face of copious amounts of course content. This has altered my mindset as a teacher, I find myself driven to generate student work samples that are reflections of a diverse classroom of scholars.
As a student, I have always felt that the only time "personalized learning" that is learning the way that suited me, was only possible when I was given the opportunity to make decisions, dream up ideas, and put them into action - the less limits/ road blocks the better! My favourite course was always Visual Art mainly because it had the least amount of road blocks (instructions, rules, requirements). Ironically, I felt my mind was most active and engaged in art class - it is where I took time to work with the information that was confronted with in other courses. In art class I learned to draw and paint, but it is also where I took my school work that interested me, where I investigated it and made sense of it all. Art was where I had the freedom to work with material in order to apply meaning and develop it into knowledge.
My Art teacher, along with a handful of others at Mary Ward pushed me to be original, to stand out in whatever way I could, to develop my own knowledge and understanding in the face of copious amounts of course content. This has altered my mindset as a teacher, I find myself driven to generate student work samples that are reflections of a diverse classroom of scholars.
***************************1st Placement (Fall-Winter)******************************
*******************Supposition Based on Thinking & Wondering*********************
If I were to develop a supposition in relation to how we can engage students in their learning I would sum up a variety of experiences by saying:
Students become engaged in their learning when you provide: Freedom From Fear, Freedom of Choice, and Freedom to Grow. - Meredith Ann Poole
Finalized Supposition: When Students Freely Make Choices For Their Learning, They Take Ownership & Are Engaged.
Freedom From Fear
I have witnessed a freedom from fear establish itself through attempts to involve students in their learning.
Literacy Bonfire: Teacher, Self, & Peer Assessment FOR Learning
Developing The Bonfire Excercise:
Unpacking Freedom of Choice in Relation to Diversity & Critical Thinking
In Teaching Fairly in an Unfair World Lundy places an emphasis on the importance of developing a critical awareness of the privilege that some cultures possess over others. Lundy states that "to do this we need to investigate what that privilege means for the people who are not as priveledged." (52). She describes how drama can be used as a valuable tool that allows students to "listen to the silenced talk with the powerless, see beneath the stereotype and hear beyond the rhetoric" (53.) I value this point that she makes in relation to drama because it points out how drama can be used as a tool to not only to effectively highlight the diversity through perspective, but also place a value on it, and use it to enhance student thinking. She begins to unpack this more by stating "The capacity to experience something from another persons perspective is directly linked to critical thinking and emotional literacy"(53). When I first read this, I began to think beyond Lundys description of how just drama could be used to drive critical thinking, and began to wonder how I could harness the characteristics that allow perspective to be so easily communicated in drama - and focus on bringing those components into other courses that I teach. After a lot of brainstorming, observing work in my classroom, and sharing information with my fellow TC's, family members...dog ;) (metacognative) - I started to notice that 1st of all, diversity was only evident in the classroom when students had the freedom to be themselves, and take part in their learning/ assignment development (see discussion of rubric building above). Secondly, I noticed that all of this beautiful diverse thinking that their assignments had highlighted wasn't valuable unless it was shared. Students did not have an opportunity to, as Lundy says "experience something from another persons perspective" if it was just simply submitted to the evaluator and not unpacked,edited, or critiqued by the community. I think drama can be powerful because it demands attention, when I designed this literacy bonfire lesson, I wanted to make sure each an every student had their stories (which were all completely different in style and form) were heard & valued. I wanted all of my students to have the opportunity to ask the authors, or artists (in the gallery walk) questions about their work, and their perspective in order to expand their own minds. I think diversity in the classroom especially in relation to perspective is lost if their is no effort to share work. Therefore:
1. students must have the freedom of choice in order to personalize their own learning, and make their work truly authentic
2. Diversity needs to be valued & shared if students are to expand their minds.
Ultimately if all students are doing is personalizing their own learning and sharing it with their teacher, they are learning nothing beyond their own perspectives. This is when self, peer, and teacher review sessions/ consultations can be extremely valuable.
1. students must have the freedom of choice in order to personalize their own learning, and make their work truly authentic
2. Diversity needs to be valued & shared if students are to expand their minds.
Ultimately if all students are doing is personalizing their own learning and sharing it with their teacher, they are learning nothing beyond their own perspectives. This is when self, peer, and teacher review sessions/ consultations can be extremely valuable.
***************************2nd Placement (Winter-Spring)**************************
Each week my mentor teacher and I ask any student who would like to participate (the entire class) to choose a number from 0-100, the 12 students who guess numbers closest to the number we selected gets to pick what job they would like to do - closest to the number gets to choose first. The jobs we put up for grabs are things such as "tech group" - two students who set up the smart board and assist with hooking up any tech in the classroom if need be. "Homework board"- two students to record all the homework assigned on the board throughout the day. "Prayer leaders" - two students who take it upon themselves to introduce new and exciting prayers each week & lead the class in prayer in the morning, lunch, and at the end of the day. "Attendance" - A student to take attendance first thing in the morning and after lunch, and so on. The students get extremely creative with these jobs, they constantly are looking for ways to push the limits and impress their peers. An example is the common "SOUND OFF!" we do regularly first thing in the morning instead of calling names for attendance. Each student knows their number and yells it proudly before sitting down after announcements, when their is a silence we know a student is missing. We do the sound off in french and in english alternating. The student that introduced this to our classroom learned this at camp. It brings a really energetic and positive energy to the classroom!
Prayer is always extremely exciting for the students & serves as a team building activity. Peers are always excited to see what prayers the prayer leaders will introduce each day. The students take pride in choosing prayers that reflect who they are as well as how they see and relate to the world. I think this expands the minds of all in the room, and brings an energy to the classroom that a teacher alone could not establish by praying the same prayers each morning and afternoon. These jobs give students the freedom to contribute to how the class is run which ultimately allows us to co-construct an incredibly positive and rich learning environment.
Prayer is always extremely exciting for the students & serves as a team building activity. Peers are always excited to see what prayers the prayer leaders will introduce each day. The students take pride in choosing prayers that reflect who they are as well as how they see and relate to the world. I think this expands the minds of all in the room, and brings an energy to the classroom that a teacher alone could not establish by praying the same prayers each morning and afternoon. These jobs give students the freedom to contribute to how the class is run which ultimately allows us to co-construct an incredibly positive and rich learning environment.
Tackling Math Without Fear
Empowering Students with Lego Math Lessons:
Nothing Engages Students Like Lego!
Lego can be used as a math manipulative that excites and empowers students. Especially those that know from experience that a lot is possible with lego!
"Students learn math best when they approach the subject as something they enjoy" - Clifton B Parker from Learn Math Without Fear
The greatest way for students to know math facts is by using them regularly & developing an understanding of numerical relations. Therefore, rather than teaching students to memorize ways to multiply and divide fractions, or memorize times tables - we should allow them more time to explore with material, and teach them to open their minds up to how things such as Lego can serve to express values. This expands minds rather than narrowing them by teaching them to focus on memorizing steps.
I have used Lego in the classroom for a variety of purposes, including team building, and to ignite/ develop collaborative learning skills. Students learn to work as a team while building different structures, or explore math problems in groups - all of their efforts materialize right in front of them in a fun/ hands on experience. From experience I can say that bringing Lego into the classroom will give reason to go home and talk passionately/ positively about their learning.
Lego can be used as a math manipulative that excites and empowers students. Especially those that know from experience that a lot is possible with lego!
"Students learn math best when they approach the subject as something they enjoy" - Clifton B Parker from Learn Math Without Fear
The greatest way for students to know math facts is by using them regularly & developing an understanding of numerical relations. Therefore, rather than teaching students to memorize ways to multiply and divide fractions, or memorize times tables - we should allow them more time to explore with material, and teach them to open their minds up to how things such as Lego can serve to express values. This expands minds rather than narrowing them by teaching them to focus on memorizing steps.
I have used Lego in the classroom for a variety of purposes, including team building, and to ignite/ develop collaborative learning skills. Students learn to work as a team while building different structures, or explore math problems in groups - all of their efforts materialize right in front of them in a fun/ hands on experience. From experience I can say that bringing Lego into the classroom will give reason to go home and talk passionately/ positively about their learning.
Freedom of Choice
***********************************Speakers Corner!*******************************
Showing and Interest in Student Voice. Let them know their voice matters, & impacts the classroom!
A book called Flash Forward really helped me to unpack what personalized education is all about - what it really is, and how I could use it to lift up, and engage students in the classroom. Personalized education for me seems to keep coming back to pedagogical documentation. It seems to be the basis for absolutely all my thoughts and ideas in relation to my action plans. I use it to gain knowledge of my students, learn what they value, what their thinking is in relation to course material, the lessons, classroom environment. Flash Forward places an emphasis on the power of the student voice, and warns about the dangers of over-scaffolding a child in an effort to support and personalize learning. It inspired me to implement "Speakers Corner" in my classroom at St. Agnes, which helped to highlight student voice, value freedom of choice, and engage students. Initially it consisted of written samples (students writing their thoughts about my lectures, or assignments, or ideas for classroom involvement and activities.) It later branched out into classroom discussions around things like success criteria, rubrics, field trip ideas, charity pitches, etc.
I noticed the more the students saw changes in the classroom the more engaged they were, the more powerful they felt. Speakers Corner now consists of video interviews, because the students love to be interviewed. Students are always asking "can I be interviewed?"." Miss I have some suggestions!" It's really great to see how much they want to be involved in the classroom. When I do give them an opportunity to be interviewed, they take it very seriously (as can be seen below) and honestly, they have better ideas than I do. Since I started interviewing my students and giving them a chance to share their creative ideas we have built a class website together, experimented with Padlet, preformed dramatic representations of the story of Moses, displayed how the seasons change using the students as earths rotating around the sun, played games in math (lego, and battleship) & invented our own math games! All of which were ideas that we came up with collaboratively (which is mind boggling to me considering I am only with them two days a week apart from my blocks).
I noticed the more the students saw changes in the classroom the more engaged they were, the more powerful they felt. Speakers Corner now consists of video interviews, because the students love to be interviewed. Students are always asking "can I be interviewed?"." Miss I have some suggestions!" It's really great to see how much they want to be involved in the classroom. When I do give them an opportunity to be interviewed, they take it very seriously (as can be seen below) and honestly, they have better ideas than I do. Since I started interviewing my students and giving them a chance to share their creative ideas we have built a class website together, experimented with Padlet, preformed dramatic representations of the story of Moses, displayed how the seasons change using the students as earths rotating around the sun, played games in math (lego, and battleship) & invented our own math games! All of which were ideas that we came up with collaboratively (which is mind boggling to me considering I am only with them two days a week apart from my blocks).
Harnessing Student Voice: |
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Student Biography Assignments:
Students are great at taking turns sharing ideas and perspectives when in comes to in class activities. I've found if students do not all agree on things like dividing the groups in class, a simple vote can solve it. However, when it comes to an assignment or bigger activity, students really need the freedom to come up with completely different mediums, presentation formats, and topics (depending on the project and success criteria obviously). Below is a perfect example of how I worked to develop a project that met the demands of the curriculum, but allowed students the freedom of choice (when and where possible) to allow them to take ownership over their learning. Similar to the 3D art projects that I developed in my first placement, I built the rubric for my grade 6's biography assignments with them (after a series of lectures on things like authentic voice, and other things characteristic of biographies). Similar to our 3D art project rubric, the success criteria, and rubric were specific but did not entrench on the students freedom to form unique perspectives, ideas, and get creative. For example we decided as a class that one component in the rubric would need to be based on how much the presenter or writer knows about the subject. Also, is the information organized in a way that is easy to access? I believe that when I address the curriculum expectations, throughout my lesson planning the students can co-construct success criteria and rubrics with me that are specific yet basic enough that they can decide how to investigate topics in a way that they find empowering.
In Flash Forward the author poses the question, "When are we doing too much" in relation to personalized learning (support). I grappled with this question for a long time, but have been able to uncover through discussions with my Mentor Teacher, fellow Teacher Candidates, Course Director,and students, that we can never "do too much" in relation to personalizing learning, and extending the freedom of choice. What we can do "too much of" is over scaffold and placing limits on learning which in my perspective is "doing nothing at all". Below are some samples of my students biography assignments. Many of them did both oral presentations, paintings, games, apart from written biographies simply because they were inspired by the different ways their peers were sharing information with us. The presentations and written reports were collected over the course of two weeks, all were graded with a single rubric. We were able to obtain both oral and written summative evaluations from these assignments once all students had an opportunity to have multiple consultations with both my Mentor Teacher and I, as well as their peers. All of these students chose different individuals to study for completely different reasons. Additionally, following their sharing their classmates began to think critically about the points raised in relation to character traits and inspirational moments in history that I did not even stress to prompt.
In Flash Forward the author poses the question, "When are we doing too much" in relation to personalized learning (support). I grappled with this question for a long time, but have been able to uncover through discussions with my Mentor Teacher, fellow Teacher Candidates, Course Director,and students, that we can never "do too much" in relation to personalizing learning, and extending the freedom of choice. What we can do "too much of" is over scaffold and placing limits on learning which in my perspective is "doing nothing at all". Below are some samples of my students biography assignments. Many of them did both oral presentations, paintings, games, apart from written biographies simply because they were inspired by the different ways their peers were sharing information with us. The presentations and written reports were collected over the course of two weeks, all were graded with a single rubric. We were able to obtain both oral and written summative evaluations from these assignments once all students had an opportunity to have multiple consultations with both my Mentor Teacher and I, as well as their peers. All of these students chose different individuals to study for completely different reasons. Additionally, following their sharing their classmates began to think critically about the points raised in relation to character traits and inspirational moments in history that I did not even stress to prompt.
- My students are incredibly unique, intelligent, curious, engaged, and passionate when I give them the freedom of choice - place a value on their diversity - and allow them the freedom to share and converse with their peers over their unique perspectives.
- Therefore I strive to continue to extend the freedom of choice to students when and where possible. Because, *when students freely make choices for their learning, they take ownership and are engaged.