Hanging around in between my two son’s basketball games, not really sure where to place myself, a close friend of a friend walks past. I know this woman, we chat briefly, she asks what I am doing, I explain that I have an hour and a bit to kill – her response ‘come sit with […]
Unleashing Learning #2
Everything we believe about learning starts with a strong positive image of the child, as competent and capable, with the capacity to own, reflect on and drive their own learning. Our ongoing goal over the years has been a shift away from teacher centred learning towards starting from the child, inquiry as a stance, learner agency, […]
A successful provocation
The ‘Beyond Ourselves’ 2018 Conference is over. The invitation to the Sharing the Planet unit is shared. Our hope is that it has sparked an interest and that children would have had the opportunity to broaden their understanding of the Sustainable Development Goals and of how each person’s contribution makes a difference in the world. […]
The Power of the Provocation
Do we need to know it all? This is a short story of how I learnt to learn together with my students. Year 4 UOI: How The World Works Central Idea: Scientific investigation helps us understand the ‘magic’ of the physical world. My initial reaction at the start of our level planning session: “Oh no […]
Building a culture of creativity
What is creativity? Perhaps more importantly, why does it matter? These are questions that have fallen into my head over the last little while, and it has me thinking about what we do as educators that allows for learner creativity. According to the IB, ‘we believe every person has the ability, and the right, to be creative’. […]
Home learning- a delight or a chore?
How to allow for learner freedom and encourage learner agency has always been a question for me. In my inquiry journey into learner agency, I have always prided myself in the fact that I gave my students freedom, invested in i-time and considered the classroom environment, but found it really challenging to take it into […]
Beyond Studio Time
Starting studio time has been been like throwing a pebble in a pond. If the pebble is studio time, the ripples are what has happened outside studio time. It’s been the catalyst for starting to reflect in a different way about how I think of learning and about how the students think of themselves as […]
Swim a bit deeper
How do we ensure that each learner is getting the most from their inquiries? For one student in my class, that is his inquiry. “How do I inquire into something that will keep me engaged for a long time?” It’s a decent question, right? Critics of learner-driven inquiry who demand answers to this question are […]
Reflection during not after
Experimenting with a new planning document for our latest UOI opened so many doors for us. The one that opened widest was that of authentic reflection DURING a unit, not static reflection AFTER a unit. Too often we would reflect when a unit was over as this was what was required. How often did we […]
Thank you, Dear Teacher …
Dear Teacher, Thank you for taking the time to get to know me. For considering who I am. Where I come from and why I seek attention. Thank you for giving me the extra time I need to think before you call on someone else to answer your questions. Thank you for stopping people from […]