Teaching Thinking (and Other Critical Skills)!

Teaching Thinking!  Is this an impossible task?

Clearly the work of teachers and parents is to help students become better thinkers, problem solvers, and communicators.  We want students to become more creative and critical in their thinking.  It is challenging work.  How do you support students in becoming true inquirers who are curious, interested, and capable of asking probing questions?  How do we support students as they engage with their own thinking?  How do we help students develop resilience?

True Resilience!

True Resilience!  (www.jscottfitness.com)

Below is a “story” that I’ve held onto for years. I remember hearing this story when my own children were young boys.  I found a source of the story online as a letter to the editor to the New York Times.

The following letter to the editor appeared in the New York Times on January 18, 1988

‘Izzy, Did You Ask a Good Question Today?’

Isidor I. Rabi, the Nobel laureate in physics who died Jan. 11 (1988), was once asked, ”Why did you become a scientist, rather than a doctor or lawyer or businessman, like the other immigrant kids in your neighborhood?”

His answer has served as an inspiration for me as an educator, as a credo for my son during his schooling and should be framed on the walls of all the pedagogues, power brokers and politicians who purport to run our society.

The question was posed to Dr. Rabi by his friend and mine, Arthur Sackler, himself a multitalented genius, who, sadly, also passed away recently. Dr. Rabi’s answer, as reported by Dr. Sackler, was profound: ”My mother made me a scientist without ever intending it. Every other Jewish mother in Brooklyn would ask her child after school: ‘So? Did you learn Continue reading

A “Bubble” Called School

Our students live in a bubble called school.  They are sheltered, protected, and innocent.  While our IB MYP and bubblesDiploma Program strive to develop internationalism in our students and strengthen their learner profile attributes, our students are sheltered from so many realities of the world.  I am worried.

There is a war against ISIS, a war against the Taliban in Afghanistan, Boko Haram steals “our girls” in Nigeria, Egypt is struggling as democracy has slipped away, the intractable Israeli/Palestinian problem persists, Ebola devastates parts of West Africa, climate change threatens the globe.  Wars, beheadings, kidnappings, disease, and natural disasters: where do you start with generating understanding?  It struck me the other day that there are probably students of mine who are viewing some of the graphic videos posted on youtube coming out of the middle east.  How do they make sense of this violence?  I am worried.

What do our students know (and care) about these challenges in the world?  As we develop and nurture our students as critical thinkers, problem solvers, and inquirers who are compassionate and empathetic, how are we helping them learn about and make sense of current events, current news stories, and the state of the world?

My hunch is that some of our students have an idea about the events around the world.  However, most middle and high school students are so caught up in their own worlds of social engagement with peers that dismissing the news is easy to do.  Most are probably innocently naïve about events in the world.  Frankly, and in my Continue reading

Student Engagement: Are They or Aren’t They Engaged?

How do you know when students are truly engaged?  How do you know when a school community is truly engaged?  Partly you “just know” intuitively. When I walk into classrooms it’s pretty evident when students are truly engaged.  Leaning in, asking questions, participating, excited, lost in the dialogue and the give and take of the moments.  It’s always pretty clear.  There’s a sense of purposefulness to what is happening.  The art of teaching is truly evident when a teacher orchestrates those moments of full engagement.  It’s really special to see, and more importantly, to feel.  Engagement is felt.  To the contrary, boredom and non-engagement can also be felt.  And it’s deadly. I’m lucky.  I have many opportunities to visit classrooms.  Students at LCS are most often engaged. Sometimes the engagement is about compliance but many times it’s engagement with enthusiasm, with a sense of purpose and excitement.  This is high level and with strong meaning.  I was watching Grade 11 student presentations the other day in a Global Politics class.  They were so knowledgeable, articulate, and confident in their presentations.  I was impressed, and the audience of students were equally impressed.  It was purposeful and challenging.  

But what is the link between engagement and learning?  There is some ambiguity around engagement.  Students can look completely engaged but is the task really worthy of the intense engagement? Are students merely complying?  Continue reading

Leading Adult Learning – 6 Reflections!

There have been many days as an educator when I’ve lamented the culture of compliance we foster in schools.  Yes, we aspire towards a culture of curiosity and creativity but, in reality, we also perpetuate a culture of

imagescompliance with our learners.   Is it inevitable?  If there is an inevitability about such a culture with students, is the same to be said for teachers as learners?  Do we build a system in which the default for adult learners is compliance?  If we want kids to become enquirers and creative problem solvers, and independent learners, shouldn’t the same be true for teachers?  In reality if teachers aren’t learning, then students aren’t learning.

Ken Robinson says that “curiosity is the engine of achievement”.  Therefore, if we foster curiosity, motivation, and independent thinking, achievement will follow.  This is true for students and adults.

How do we get the best learning out of the adults in our schools?

A few ideas to remember as a leader and facilitator of adult learning in schools include:

  1. Serve as a role model for learning.  Demonstrating enthusiasm and role modeling as a learner is critical.  Sharing articles, insights, and generating excitement around learning is contagious.  Passionate and committed learners become learning leaders and role models for others!
  2. Accept that the continuum for adult learning is variable. Adults, as kids, are in various stages of development.  Adults early in their professional lives may bring different skills and approaches to learning as opposed to a highly experienced professional.  Differentiating opportunities and accepting the wide range of differences is important.  Avoiding judgments is vital.  We all learn at different rates and with different comfort levels.
  3. Recognize that some days (weeks, months) are better than others for learning.  Teaching is stressful and some parts of a school year are better than others.  The stress of responsibilities for grading, report writing, parent conference preparation, unit planning, holiday concerts, etc.  There are certain dead zones when focused adult learning just isn’t really possible! But, there are other Continue reading

Maintain Focus on Instruction!

I believe that focusing attention on  high leverage instructional practices impacts learning, adult

LCS Faculty dialogue - Instructional Principles for English Language Learners

LCS Faculty dialogue – Instructional Principles for English Language Learners

learning and student learning.  That is my intent and this is influencing recent topics at faculty professional learning meetings.

What are those instructional practices that we are exploring?

Earlier this year, I asked  faculty to set two professional goals related to the following areas. These areas were identified as potential high leverage practices related to research from John Hattie.

 

 

Identifying Learning GoalsSetting clear learning expectations

Appropriate level of challenge for students

Clear success criteria (exemplars, rubrics, etc)

Feedback processes 

Clear exemplars

Clear and specific feedback

Use of formative assessment

 

Questioning techniquesTeacher talk & Thinking time

High level questioning and discourse within classroom

Classroom positioning and classroom discourse

 

Simply put, if teachers do these things well, students learning will improve!

 

Great teaching is hard. It requires intense thought, planning, and instinct. We are trying to maintain a focus in the Secondary School on several specific areas that, if done well, are definite elements of great teaching!

  • Clear learning goals & targets.
  • Clear language goals & targets (“all teachers are teachers of language”)
  • Goals & targets for students that are appropriately challenging.
  • Scaffolded instruction to support students in meeting targets
  • Differentiated opportunities to support students (“differentiation is a mindset”)
  • Formative assessment that provides clear and specific feedback
  • Minimizing teacher talk and maximizing classroom discourse

If we work hard to become even better at our craft and expand our understanding, knowledge, and skills in these areas, we will be better teachers and student learning improves.  This is my belief.

I think finding and maintaining a focus around instructional strategies and best practices is incredibly challenging.  If teachers can really try to find those few areas to focus upon, latch onto, dig into their professional learning, and experiment with then adult learning will take place.  If adults learn and expand professionally, student learning expands.

Leaning Forward with Technology at LCS

Technology is integral to learning at LCS.  Students have regular access to technology at school while developing competent users of, and learners with, technology is a high priority.  We strive to support students as they develop their digital citizenship and learn how to manage the multitude of technology tools at their disposal. It is an essential aspect of learning at LCS.

Elementary students regularly access the computer lab through scheduled classes and during specific projects.  All elementary classrooms have a desktop computer to share and a SmartBoard for students and teachers to use.  In addition, a classroom set of laptops and I-pads are available and shared amongst elementary classrooms for additional learning experiences.

In the secondary school each scheduled block of the day (4 blocks in total) sees the collection of 60 laptops in the library borrowed by students for classroom work.  Our laptops are checked out from the library and each block they are fully utilized. In addition, students learn with technology through various classes.  For example, science labs utilize science probes (in conjunction with laptops), Film Art classes use editing software, and Art classes exploit our classroom set of I-pads.   Technology is in demand.

Many secondary students bring their own laptops or I-pads to school on a daily basis.  Over 80% of our secondary students own a laptop and over 60% bring them to school daily.  More older students bring personal laptops than younger students.  If students take care of their belongings at school, then their belongings, no matter how valuable, are safe.  We have had very little theft this year and two cases of disappearing laptops have occurred in the middle school and were the result of students leaving their items unattended overnight.

All students and parents (Grades 4-12) are required to acknowledge and sign our Responsible User Policy.  This document details expectations around use of technology at LCS.  Students in Grade 6-12 also sign a Laptop Borrowing agreement which Continue reading