Day 6: Pam Taylor, FDK Teacher (Countryside Village PS)

Pam Taylor is a FDK Teacher at Countryside Village Public School.

Reblogged from: http://mindfulauthenticity.blogspot.ca/2015/09/so.html

So…… after many months of humming and hawing, thinking of excuses and generally avoiding this, I have decided to start writing. I’m still working on the exact purpose of this blog. There are a few different reasons that I have been thinking about, in no particular order:

1) In order to stop all of these thoughts from rolling around in my head and interfering with my dreams and sleep habits, I can write them down and have them for others to ponder as well;

2) It will keep me accountable to myself and to my profession;

3) It will help me to engage in more professional dialogue with colleagues around the province and around the globe;

4) It scares the living bejeezers out of me and I am told repeatedly that I need to step out of my comfort zone.

5) My friend and colleague Tina (misszita.wordpress.com) issued a challenge entitled      “The #20hourproject” and it sounded to me like she was calling me out to try something new.

A word about the name/title of the blog – somewhere in my trolling/perusal of the Twitterverse, I came across the term “mindful authenticity”.  Those 2 words sparked something in me that had me thinking. So I looked up the definitions of both words:

Mindful – paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgementally

Authenticity – truthfulness of origins, attributions, commitments, sincerity and intentions.

I put the two definitions together and came up with this:

Mindful authenticity – Paying attention in the present moment to the truthfulness of origins, sincerity and intentions in a non-judgemental way.

This definition speaks to me and the way that I teach in my classroom. Each and every day, I want to pay attention, in the present moment, with each child, to his or her origins, sincerity and intentions in play, without judgement.  Easier said than done, I know, but not a bad goal to strive towards either. Posted in my classroom is the question,

“Why this learning, for this child, at this time, in this way?” 

I try to be cognizant of this question when I interact with my students and look at ways to help them become successful.

So, here it is. I am not guaranteeing any mind-blowing, earth shattering knowledge. I’m just writing what’s on my mind and sharing interesting things that I come across that relate to Inquiry based learning, Kindergarten, Reggio-inspired learning or things that I think are kind of neat.

Thanks for checking this out!

Mindfully yours,
Pam

Day 3: Phil Young, Teacher (Countryside Village PS)

My name is Phil Young and I am a Grade 7 teacher at Countryside Village Public School.

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What I Learned Today…

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There was excitement and nerves in the air as the year began this past Tuesday at Countryside Village.  Nerves because I was starting the year with a class unlike last year and excitement because the staff a were starting the year with the group of kids that would eventually follow us to the “Countryside” that would be built in their neighborhood.  These are the kids that would get the full experience of learning in an inquiry based school.

The inquiry based learning model is certainly not a new way of teaching however, at Countryside our vision is to see all students become involved in a process where they formulate questions, investigate to find answers, build new understandings, meanings and knowledge, and then communicate their learnings to others.

From Kindergarten to Grade 8, our students will explore various topics of interest to themselves and their classmates which are connected to curricular expectations.  I myself, am excited the led my group of 7s down the pathway of many inquiries this year as individuals, in small groups and collaboratively amongst other group within and outside our school.

 

Day 59: Susan Simons, Teacher-Librarian (Countryside Village Public School)

My name is Susan and I am currently in my fifteenth year of teaching and am dedicated to pursuing inquiry based teaching and learning techniques.

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 So, what have I learned today?

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I have learned that relationships are at the heart of everything that we do. The relationships between a school staff and their administrators set the whole tone of the building. Sharing a vision and pedagogical stance among a staff creates an amazing unity in which colleagues support each other on their individual learning journeys. The relationships that we build with the parents and our communities also support us in our teaching journeys. We learn from and with each other. Inquiry based learning is really helping me to make more connections with our community and seek experts beyond the walls of our school.

The parents of our students are vital to our success as they share their most precious resources with us every day. I am working on understanding ways that I can honour the stories that they carry with them while also sharing my vision of education in the twenty-first century. The children that are entrusted to us each day build unique relationships with each other, as well as with each teacher, administrator and adult in the school building. Creating strong relationships with the students is a key to student success. Modeling how to manage healthy relationships, providing a safe space for each child to express him/herself, and nurturing students as they build new relationships are tasks that we undertake every day.

As the teacher-librarian at a brand new school I have had an opportunity this year to work on building relationships with the entire school population.   Not only are we bringing together a whole new group of students, but also a new staff and a new vision. I have found that my most effective relationship-building tool has been George…a Cabbage Patch Kid. George is truly a part of our learning community. Every student and staff member has come to know George and his silly ways. The students in our building have quickly become united through knowing him and his quirky personality. Everyone knows his favourite colour, favourite food, and favourite shape! George is a non-threatening character that our students truly love. He offers interesting ideas to conversations as well as smiles when times are tough.

My role in all of this is to be the adult in the building who will take on the “crazy” label and play with the students through George. The results are worth it! The neediest students are the ones who seek him out most often.   He can curl up with a student and listen to a story, offer a hug or a kiss, or struggle alongside students as they learn. He can make mistakes and have a student help him to understand. He can also have good days and bad days and learn to work through his feelings just like the rest of us.

If I were to offer any piece of advice on building relationships within a classroom or a school, I would say, “Find your George” and have some fun!

Follow George on Twitter @cpkgeorge

Day 51: Pam Taylor, FDK Teacher (Countryside Village Public School)

Greetings and Salutations! My name is Pam Taylor, and I am an FDK teacher at Countryside Village Public School.

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What have I learned today?

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Too many things to mention! I learned that some students will do what others tell them to do even know they know it’s wrong. I learned that you can’t judge a book by its cover. I learned that even the nicest students have an edge to them. I’ve learned to love THAT kid and to find patience, understanding and curiosity in everything.

Patience has been something that has been pushed to its limits this school year. Our FDK team is in a unique situation by having 3 smaller classes in 1 pod which means that one class is divided in two with a DECE on one side, and the teacher on the other side. Patience has come into play when trying to work with each student and get to know each one on a personal level. Patience has been needed when working with students that need more parenting and less teaching. And patience is needed when building a new community of learners – both professionally and within the classroom walls.

With patience comes understanding. The understanding that not all days will be sunshine and roses. The understanding that a full moon can change the mood of a classroom or a change in routine can make all the difference. The understanding that everyone is at different places on their learning journey.

I’ve learned that patience and understanding are closely joined to inquiry based learning. Relatively speaking, kids are inherently curious. I don’t think I’ve ever met a kid that wasn’t curious about something! But more often than not, they haven’t figured out how to formulate big questions and how to decide what they want to know. Many times, a student will come and say, “I want to learn about _______________ (fill in random animal or inanimate object here). And that’s where patience comes in. We need to be patient that the questions and the ability to formulate questions will come. That the curiosity is there. And that we, as educators, can draw it out of them. It may not come until January. It may not come until they are 8 years old. But students have questions and we are the ones with patience and understanding to help them find out what they are curious about and how to make it relevant to them.

And that, my dear blogger friends, is what I have learned…. maybe not all in one day, but over a lifetime of being a curious learner.

Day 45: Nicole James, Teacher (McKinnon Public School)

WHAT I LEARNED TODAY!

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Hello, my name is Nicole and I am a grade 5 teacher at McKinnon Public School. This is my 7th year teaching and my first in grade 5. I’m finding it is a very exciting time to be a teacher and I am having a great time learning every day to improve my practice using inquiry and problem based learning.

Today my students will be presenting their proposals for an energy efficient home design. The project has taken longer than I intended, but not because they are off task, or finding it too difficult. It has taken a long time because they want their projects to be great! After assigning teams, explaining the expectations and co-constructing the criteria, they were off. I told them they could use any mode for their proposal, thinking most would just do Power Points. Then the boxes started arriving in my classroom. One group was even thinking about using Minecraft but decided against it because not everyone in the group knew how to use it. Groups researched real features of energy efficient homes like solar panels, or CFL light bulbs and strategic paint colours. Some even added their own inventions. Why not put water turbines in the pipes? Or use a pet’s waste for biomass energy? I didn’t get too caught up in how realistic it was as long as the energy concepts were there.

Not only has their work with the content been going well, but they are also doing an awesome job collaborating with each other within groups. They have used our class site’s newsfeed to communicate with each other after school about what materials are needed and what still needed to be done at school. They were also collaborating between groups, sharing materials and discussing ideas. I’m not sure if I have seen a class of mine this busy and still working so harmoniously.

Aside from helping with some difficult cutting, I have just been making observations and acting as a sounding board for them to talk out their ideas and explain what they have been working on.

So what have I learned? I’ve learned I can step back a bit and let the magic happen. If the trade off is a little time I’d gladly make it again to repeat this experience.​

Day 2: Jonathan So, Grade 2 Teacher (Ray Lawson Public School)

What I Learned Today.

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My name is Jonathan So and I teach Grade Two at Ray Lawson Public School.  I really enjoy mathematics and of course using technology in the classroom.

It is currently the very first day of a traditional calendar and many of you are wondering what could I possibly write about.  However, I have been teaching for five weeks and over these five weeks I have been very busy.  The topic of these blog posts are what we love.  There are two things that I want to talk about.  The first is that I love being in a balanced calendar. For those that don’t know what a balance calendar is, it is basically a school that teaches all year round.  Now we do get the month of July off (so it is not all year) but very close.  We start our school July 27th and the five weeks of August are spread out; in fact in four weeks we go back on a small vacation.  The reason why I love it is because of the balance it seems to bring.  I feel more at easy without those really long breaks.  I know many of us feel that wow, 2 months off is amazing but I myself have never sat still my whole entire life.  It has been a great five weeks and the students are amazing.  They come ready to learn and it feels like theres not a lag at all.  I also didn’t feel as anxious to start the year as I have in the past, maybe its because I have been teaching for awhile or its the balance calendar.  All I can say that it has been an amazing experience.

My second love is, inquiry.  I really do, in fact just spent this weekend talking about it in other blog posts. I have recently been thinking about this topic because I got a visit from a former student.  He told me that I was the best teacher ever! I asked him why? He said it was a lot of fun and less work.  Now I told him we did a lot of work in the classroom, we had projects, problems, etc.  He told me he knows but the work felt different, it didn’t feel like work.  I have had this story a lot of times from other students and it has made me think about how I deliver my lessons. What makes my work different than another teacher.  My only conclusion is Inquiry.  In my opinion inquiry allows me to give my students a voice in the classroom.  It is driven by their questions, their answers and their learning.  Of course it is through my planning but it is all driven by them.  In addition, it gives them a sense of independency and a love of learning.  They are invested because it is their learning, why wouldn’t you be.  From a teaching perspective inquiry allows me so many different options than traditional teaching.  I get to know my students more and with far less traditional assessments.  I know their next steps, their questions and their strengths.  When it comes to report cards its a breeze because its all individualized based on the learning that has happened.  There is a lot more but in the spirit of Inquiry I challenge you to find your own.  Try a problem, a provocation or even open up the floor to students questions, you will be surprised.

I also love the first day of school.  There is something magical about it.  There is suspense in the air both from the teachers and the students.  I often cannot sleep because I am dying with anticipation.  Thought I would share with you my first day of school this year (https://storify.com/MrSoclassroom/july-28th-2014) and I wish all of you a great first day and week of school.​

 

Day 9: Jonathan So, Teacher (Ray Lawson PS)

What I Learned Today……

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I really love my job. I know it’s a little cliche and I really didn’t learn that today, more like confirmed it. Teaching is an amazing job, even with the stress of report cards, the ever growing demands and behaviours it’s an amazing experience to be a teacher. All it takes is one small smile, one “yes, I got it” or “a quick thank-you” to make you realize that all you do makes a difference.

Let’s take today for instance. Nothing special in itself but it made me think about where my students have come from and what they have accomplished in their year so far. The day started off with math, I gave them a problem and off the went to work. There was no fighting, lots of debate over the answers and work was completed. Then students had genius hour, where they worked on any project that interested them, again independent, self guided and on task. In the afternoon students worked on their MineCraft project and PSA’s for science. Now as I said this is nothing special, but when I looked closer I was just amazed at how well these grade twos have matured into learners; it just made me smile. To see their growth from individuals learners who blankly stared at you to collaborative critical thinkers, from students who were often dependent on you for the answer, to students who now go to iPads, word walls, each other first, or to students who didn’t know how to work together without fighting, to students who can listen first is truly remarkable. Then to think about all the work as a teacher that you put into making an inclusive classroom, asking critical questions, letting them struggle (even though this hurts) and all the times you felt like pulling your hair out, this one small moment really makes it all worth it. Today wasn’t anything special but it made me think about how much we do make a difference, that even if we may not notice it we make a change in these kids lives. (here is our day: https://storify.com/MrSoclassroom/friday-june-13th-2014)

Let’s face it, it’s June and we sometimes lose site of how much joy our job can bring but if we focus on those small moments or just sit back and watch the growth that our students have taken, it can bring a big smile and a little joy.

Didn’t know how to put this in but my name is Jonathan So and I teach grade two at Ray Lawson P.S. I love mathematics and teaching through inquiry.

Day 3: Debbie Axiak, Grade 2 Teacher (Whiteoaks Public School)

What Did I Learn Today?

It would have been easier to say no.

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It would have been easier to say “no”. To say “leave it outside”. To stick to the lesson plan. To avoid the swirling wave of emotions that I knew would spread through the classroom. To avoid the questions that I knew would come & knew I would not be able to answer.  But when I saw a student beaming with pride and carrying this 6.5 cm, jumping caterpillar…

Instead of saying “no”, I said “That is SO creepy!” and the student’s smile grew even bigger and he strutted into the school and into the classroom.

We watched it jump around, looked at it with a magnifying glass to look for details and some students were brave enough to smell it. We brainstormed a great list of words to describe the caterpillar, we talked about the emotions and feelings that we were each having about this arthropod in our classroom, and we came up with a lot of questions. We compared this caterpillar to the larvae we raised and released as Painted Lady butterflies. We looked in our Bug Books to try and identify it. We sent a Tweet to @RangerRidley to ask for his opinion and he gave us some suggestions and asked us to do some research and get back to him. We had a mini-lesson on Google and effective key words for searching & we analyzed a variety of images. We argued, we used evidence to back up our ideas and then we finally agreed that it was probably a Catacola caterpillar.

And then came another recess and a different student with this new inquiry provocation

What did I learn today? It would have been easier to say “no”, but despite the fact that I’m still itchy and a little creeped out, I’m so glad I didn’t.

You can follow Debbie on Twitter @DebbieAxiak or her classroom account @MrsAxiak