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5th April
I've just had a conversation with Michael about trying to develop some relationship with the local forester. It's beginning to look hopeful. However, Michael also told me something else (as our chat meandered.) He told me about a shark and about how important the shark is to the world. Apparently, sharks are killed in some numbers just to provide the fins for the soup of the same name. Who cares right, I mean....would I feel **//less//** happy about the ocean if I knew there were no sharks in it? However, it seems that where sharks have been killed - coral reefs have died in direct association - coral reefs produce a significant amount of the earth's oxygen....now I'm listening. But my question is how do we get the children to listen - care - respond? We have one particular transdisciplinary theme that should do just this. The challenge seems to be though, how to bring the world into our local experience. So we don't see the shark (don't want to) but we should see the impact that mankind has on other living things and ultimately on the whole planet. Perhaps our students just need to notice something like "The butterflies didn't come back this year." ....perhaps we could consider how to get them back. What did we change in our environment to lose them - what could we change to bring them back? As we engage the children in their learning we need also to have them experience genuine responsibility (as with the Primary garden) - to realize the impact of their actions - to connect with the wider global issues. The sharks made sense to me because I know about the butterflies. Are our children developing these conceptual foundations?

27th March
One final session at the IT conference today. I listened to //Rebooting Schools// with Johnson K. Jacob. This really was a great way to conclude the conference. Very much enjoyed. I suppose if I had to summarize the session in one "take-away" it would be that we need to steer our captivated gaze //away// from the technology - the sparkle of new applications, the cloud, the ipads and social networks - and maintain our attention on the learning. Modern technologies are only inspiring because they are opening up new corridors of communication, of collaboration, of finding out...of learning. Our motivations and excitement need to be about "What can/must students do to make best use of the opportunities in this rapidly changing world?"

26th March
Saturday Tech conference today - looking forward to one last injection in the morning. The various workshops have impacted me in many and equally varied ways. For one, it's so nice to hear reputable speakers reinforcing our thinking of recent months. I paraphrase: //We are preparing children for a world we do not know or hope to understand.........Key objectives for teaching and learning will involve attitudes and thinking skills as well as an increased emphasis on creativity.......We need to realise that we are spending too much time teaching children how to use paper!// David Warlick has had the greatest resonance with me - not least for suggesting that we need to "Cultivate our learning gardens." I thought I was well-informed before the conference - I knew I was on a learning "journey" - he reiterated the need to consider this journey as life-long and naturally somewhat arduous. I'm left thinking about plans for myself and plans for our school //and// plans for my family ("We can't shield them any longer") The top of my thinking list right now is the need for us to embrace technology, not as a tool for productivity but for developing thinking and communication and research skills etc......our 21 Century-transdisciplinary list. I'm mostly looking forward to teaching 6th grade and inviting the children to discuss ideas in a chat space during the "chalk n' talk" bits.... www.knitterchat.com I'm really intrigued to see how that goes with 12 year olds. Today however, I began at home. I came straight back to my own children. I showed my daughter the "Dove Evolution" video and talked to her about being a critical consumer of media advertising and developing a realistic view of body image and beauty. I downloaded "Scratch" (an animation application) for my son - and spent some time putting text about Nintendo's Mario into Worldle (beautiful word clouds - below).



He also very much enjoyed searching for images using Tag Galaxy www.taggalaxy.de. This one really impressed me with a balance on unique invitation and purposeful sorting criteria...



My final thought on the subject though is that, although the widgets and gizzmo's are fun and engaging, it is a climate of inquiry/comfort with tech/exploration and risk-taking/innovation that we need to be developing. These "toys" are great for today but the key is developing the skills and attitudes to embrace the future as even these seemingly advanced tools become the Pongs and Space Invaders of yesterday. Our children, who are natives in this world, will "invent." What is the world they might create for themselves? All we know is that IT's all about learning.

5th March
I talked about the "How" of teaching and learning last time (17th Feb) No amount of reviewing the paperwork is giving me a complete feel for how teaching and learning is happening in the classroom. I'm also not getting to learn quickly enough about different grade levels and approaches by walking around and randomly "popping into" classrooms. I need a strategic and timely plan to spend significant amounts of time in one classroom. Instead of five minutes in four classrooms. This time would be of most benefit if I make prior arrangements to be in class and to actually engage myself in the learning in that space - perhaps work with a small group or talk with individual children. So this is what I intend to do at this point in my learning. My hope is that I might also be invited to give friendly feedback to teachers on specific areas of pedagogical or curriculum interest as they identify their own goals for continuous improvement. = = =17th Feb= I'm getting to know Rubicon very well :-) A thought matured for me today. As a school, we have made incredible progress in terms of defining and articulating the "what" of our curriculum. Sure, a long way to go still but great steps have been taken. The thought though - Have we surrendered some of our focus on the "how?"

When we consider our mission and that of the PYP, we clearly promote the development of our students in terms of personal attributes and attitudes. For a child to become a risk-taker, we need to create safe and encouraging environments within which it is the norm to try new things, offer unique ideas, and to extend our actions and thinking beyond our personal norms. For a child to become a carer, we have to model those caring attitudes, demonstrating that "we" care about our environment, our relationships, the quality of our work. For a child to become a thinker, we need to present demanding opportunities to explore thinking - pose open-ended questions, provide meaningful problems in a variety of diverse contexts. For a child to become open-minded, we need to create tensions and present multiple perspectives that must be considered and evaluated rather than simple, one option accounts. The list could continue, and time and time again the demand would be for more attention to the how's of our relationships, groupings, activities, resources and interactions. **How** children learn the things they learn determine the ways in which they respond to, value and act on those learnings.

My thought? We can't fully understand, promote and develop our ultimate success simply by looking at what knowledge, skills and concepts are taught through our teaching activities. We need to regain our focus on the attitudes, attributes and actions of our students. We need to see how learning is taking place in our classrooms //and// in the public spaces around our school. Perhaps we need to re-consider just how much is being learned on the playground and in the hallways. The implications of which might be to pay as much attention to the spaces between "lessons" as the activities of the lessons....Do we become who we are in response to the content or our lessons alone....or do our aside conversations, relationships and playgrounds contribute more to the development of the life-long learner?



=11 Feb= = Reports... = went out today. I picture children at home and families discussing their achievements/progress. I'll be doing the same with my own children. It's always a strange time for me. As a teacher writing reports, I have tried hard to capture the essence of academic learning in our classroom. I try to report accurately on specific achievement against specific objectives but I'm aware of a need for so much more information. As a parent, I want to hear that my children speak enthusiastically about a much broader experience. I hope for some indication that my "whole child" is becoming the person I hope them to be. This is where I look to the wider elements of the PYP. When reading about transdisciplinary skills, conceptual development and attitudes, I am able to see "how" my child responds to the content of learning. I hear a teacher who knows my child-not just the things my child has done.Learning styles, connections, and signs of internalised meaning expressed through day-to-day action help me to understand my child as a learner...as a growing person. Subject specific knowledge and skills are so very important but I'm also very glad that we work hard to develop so much more through a comittment to the Primary Years Programme.



01 Jan 2011
So - to start the ball rolling - here is my definition of inquiry. I wonder how I might change these few sentences as time goes by.....

Inquiry teaching is.....

When a teacher guides learners through meaningful and relevant learning opportunities, and when learners and teachers are fully engaged in this learning journey. Purpose and desired outcomes are negotiated, together they set their sights on an intended destination, but collaborative charting of the potential adventure could exceed all expectations. Inquiry is happening when the learners stop "doing" art or mathematics or dance or geography, and when they start to discover how they can enjoy the learning opportunities in these domains. The students do not ask "Why do we have to do this?" but "May we......" and when all is said and done in the classroom, the result of this "ignition" continues at home and springboards life-long connections.

18th Jan
During a "running" lap around the school today, I noticed something that made me think. I've been pondering the question, "What does inquiry look like - where/how do we see it?" My conclusion for today is that it is visible in hands and eyes. If eyes are the window to the soul then hands engage in the activity of the heart. It seems to me that when children are truly engaged-inspired-thinking-enjoying learning, you can see it in their hands and their eyes. Just thinking out loud.

Our Shared Wiki
Finally took our Wiki out of the cupboard today. I have great hopes for the way this thinking space might help us to communicate some of our feelings/experiences/understandings. I love the opportunity that I now have to share some textss and videos with our wider audience. I look forward to reading/hearing/seeing contributions "from" our wider audience. What is immediately clear is our united drive to move from good to great in all that we do at ISW...FIS :-)