A rising tide lifts all boats

So two things are happening this month.  Firstly I'm leading an IB workshop for school leaders where we are going to explore the roles of the designer, steward and teacher of a learning organization.  We will be thinking about team learning and about building a shared vision.  Secondly I have just received the book Finding our way: Developing a shared pedagogy by Fiona Zinn and Anne van Dam.  The book has only been launched a few days ago, and my copy arrived today.  What I want to do over the next few posts is to weave together my ideas for my IB workshop with the wisdom contained in this book, and to consider the role of a leader in bringing a team together to build a shared purpose.

There are seven huge chapters in this book, and to be honest each of them deserves a post of its own.  For now I'm going to highlight some of the ideas that jumped out at me from the introduction.  Having worked with Anne in Switzerland, I can almost hear her voice as I read about the importance of educators bringing their "rich tapestry of cultural backgrounds, professional perspectives and lived experiences" together with their beliefs about education and learning.  The challenge for a school leader is to bring these diverse perspectives together, through dialogue and collaboration, in order to co-construct a shared pedagogy.  Leaders need to be courageous, to have conversations that acknowledge differences but still seek common ground.  They need to encourage teachers to listen, reflect and inquire, and to ensure that all voices are valued.

Anne and Fiona write that a shared pedagogy emerges over time.  The role of the leader is to "create spaces in which ideas can collide, evolve, and merge into something greater than the sum of their individual parts".  They also explain that "when schools commit to this process, they create an environment in which leaders and educators move beyond working side by side to engaging in dynamic, collaborative harmony."  This ensures that the purpose of education is "collectively owned, actively enacted, and deeply lived each day".

In the IB workshop we discuss the role of the school leader as a designer, steward and teacher.  We think about questions such as what a leader does to develop a vision that is both individual and shared, and how we listen to other people's vision.  We also ask how a leader keeps the learning community's sights on the big picture - the purpose of the school.  In Finding our way, the introduction also discusses how the leader sets a thoughtful starting point and how this needs to be anchored in values such as inclusion, participation, agency or sustainability and how from this starting point the team engages in a shared journey.  Along the way there will be tension between individuals (their perspectives, experiences and approaches) but the leader is responsible for designing "a process that makes room for teachers to express their conflicting understandings and to hear others' ideas, so that they can, together, find a way forward".  I love the expression used here footsteps forge the path, so that the team moves forward together to bring about intentional change.  The team needs to listen, to cultivate a curious mindset, and to reflect on the ideas, theories and values that influence the work of teaching and learning.  Leaders need to cultivate a climate of trust where teachers can discuss the outcomes they want for their children as well as the pedagogy that will help them achieve these outcomes.  To support these conversations, where teachers may feel vulnerable, leaders need to ensure that everyone understands that the strengths of the team come from the gifts and perspectives of the individuals.  

We are all on a journey and we are reminded that "the commitment to a shared pedagogy is not about arriving at a final point but about moving forward with curiosity, purpose and a willingness to reorient when new insights emerge ... the journey itself is what shapes us all, connecting us to one another and to the endless potential of what education can be".

Image by Christelle PRIEUR from Pixabay

Supporting wellbeing in schools

Over the past few years research studies have shown the important link between wellbeing and learning outcomes.  Even before the pandemic wellbeing has been shown to impact cognitive functioning, learning engagement, focus, mood and behaviour, mental health and a more responsible and healthy lifestyle.  As I visit IB schools for evaluation visits, many of them have Programme Development Plans around wellbeing, in some cases as a response to students returning to physical schooling from online learning with issues related to fear, stress and anxiety.

Around the world, countries, schools and families dealt with the Covid pandemic in different ways.  In some countries schools did not ever go online, and in others there was online education for certain age groups and not others.  What is clear is that some countries were hit much harder than others, and measures taken were more extreme.  We know that students lost family members, teachers and school administrators which led to a heightened sense of fear of the future.  We also know that awareness about viral infections, how our bodies function and how we deal with difficult emotions has also increased, and many people have actually developed new healthy habits and behaviours as a result.  Many schools have also intentionally promoted connectedness, and open and positive dialogues about wellbeing.  In addition schools have identified that some community members have experienced more difficulty and stress and have added specialist support services to meet the needs of these members.

School closures affected over 190 countries and 1.5 billion students.  However various studies have also shown that there are strategies that can mitigate the impact of this on academic performance.  Although some students may have lost 1/3rd of expected progress in reading and maths during school closures, we also know that students did learn a lot informally during school lockdowns.  In addition questions have been raised about what the role of education is when the future is unknown and complex, and alternative ways to learn and assess learning have been explored.  There have been many positive learning experiences during online learning and schools can build new learning experiences from these.  Assisting students in setting new individual learning goals, and celebrating small achievements can build confidence and motivation at this time.

One of the biggest challenges learners faced was that of uncertainty - not just about what was going to happen in school but also in life in general.  One of the IB learner profile attributes is risk-taker, the capacity to approach uncertainty with forethought and determination ... to become resilient in the face of challenges and change", and yet not everyone is open to new experiences or can tolerate ambiguity.  A continued state of uncertainly may affect wellbeing and the giving up of school-related goals that were once seen as important and meaningful.  The world continues to change rapidly, so learning new things and dealing with unfamiliar situations is going to become increasingly important - in fact what has happened in schools can be seen as a valuable preparation for life in a changing world.  

Looking back, it is clear that no country or school had the perfect response to navigating the changes in education in recent years.  In the IB publication Why wellbeing matters during a time of crisis we are presented with the following strategies:

• Learn from the crisis - there are opportunities for significant innovation and development and it is important to reflect on past actions, what worked well, what should be kept, and what could have been done differently.
• Become confident with uncertainty - it is important to embrace the unknown and to foster the creation of new routines.  Learning about complexity, sensitive and controversial issues may help strengthen our tolerance for ambiguity and new challenges.
• Invest in wellbeing routines - such as strengthening relationships and creating a safe and trusting learning environment.  
• Re-design a wellbeing pedagogy - encourage students to set individual goals and embed wellbeing practices into the school experience.  Foster a sense of belonging.  Plan activities and workload so that all members of the community are not overwhelmed by demands.
• Dare to experiment, share and innovate - trust your capacity to make the best decisions for your specific context.

During the pandemic, schools were champions in providing wellbeing support for students, teachers and parents.  The main challenge now is to capitalise on this experience to embed wellbeing into the day to day life of a school in order to support a healthy, flourishing learning environment for all students.

Image by Healthguru on Pixabay. Free for use under the Pixabay Content License

Why IB educators are different

Over the course of the past four of five years, since leaving full-time work in a school, I've visited many IB schools in Africa, Europe and the Middle East (probably between 80 and 90 schools).  These visits have been verification visits to authorise schools, evaluation visits and making visits as a consultant to support schools in the candidacy phase.  I've also visited schools to lead in-school workshops, including some virtual visits when it has not been possible to actually travel to the school in person. Each time I learn something new - and each time I marvel at the difference an IB education makes to students, their learning, their families and the educators I meet.  

Today I was reading through a publication about adult learning, and I came across a section based on a research study of IB educators: what sets them apart is a love for teaching and learning - and of course it is easy to build on that as a workshop leader because all teachers are also lifelong learners themselves and eager to learn more and improve their practice.  

We are told that IB educators:

• teach students to think globally through examining a variety of global issues and encouraging an awareness of and respect for other cultures
• are open to new ideas, new experiences, new cultures and changing teaching approaches
• are flexible and exercise professional judgment to meet student needs and align with the iB philosophy
• use pedagogical approaches that are based on concepts and inquiry in authentic contexts.
• collaborate in planning instructional activities and sharing resources and reflections on teaching
• care for the whole student
• demonstrate love for learning and teaching

(Bergeron and Dean, 2013)

And once again, today, I have reflected on how fortunate I am to have been in the "right place at the right time" in  my own educational career, and that I was blessed to be encouraged to take on new roles by the school leaders I encountered in those international schools.  

Photo Credit:  Image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay

School visits and appreciative inquiry

Over the past 6 months or so I've done a lot of school visits - some in person but mostly still virtual visits at this point.  It's been a real learning journey for me, as we have been using the new IB 2020 Standards and Practices, and our approach to evaluation visits is now totally different from before.  Gone are the commendations and recommendations, and instead we are using appreciative inquiry.  For me (and for the schools) this has made a huge difference in the general "tone" of the visits - it is much more positive, much more of a conversation about the unique context of each school, where the school is on its journey and where it aspires to go next.  Because of this I decided I would do a little more research about appreciative inquiry and its benefits.

One term I use a lot with schools is "action research".  I think appreciative inquiry is very much like this as it promotes change.  We ask questions to help schools see some of their challenges in new and innovative ways.  At the heart of appreciative inquiry is the understanding that something works well in all school contexts and our aim is to discover what this is, what energises all stakeholders in a school, and what is it that they care about and that motivates them:  everything here is a positive assumption or affirmation as opposed to the previous approach which was more of a deficit model to find and analyse issues or problems in order to help a school move forward.

As I plan for each of the meetings on a visit I draw heavily on my skills as a cognitive coach - asking the right questions is important!  I always like to start with the successes or strengths that the school have already identified, and to acknowledge their achievements and existing good practices that have developed over the past 5 years since the previous visit.  Of course we do acknowledge the challenges they have faced as well - every single school I have visited recently has spoken about the impact of Covid and school closures on students' communication, social and self-management skills.  A focus on what they have achieved despite these difficulties creates a feeling of enthusiasm and hope, and helps people to expand their thinking into what could be possible.  

The model of appreciative inquiry has sometimes been called the 4D model:

1. Discovery - exploring "the best of what is"
2. Dream - articulating and discussing "what might be"
3. Design - working together to develop "what might be"
4. Destiny - collectively experimenting with "what can be"

Just as in cognitive coaching, appreciative inquiry focuses on what people think, not on what they do.  The idea is that change comes from discussing new ideas and collaboratively creating new knowledge.  If there are challenges that need to be discussed, then being open-minded and sensitive to different ways of seeing things will encourage people to consider possibilities that may address the problem.  In this way problems are not seen as threats:  instead the focus is on what is working well and what more needs to be done to make it even better.  

When an IB team visits a school we have just 3 days to collect a picture of the learning and teaching there so it's really important to focus on building relationships right from the start, so that there is a sense of trust and safety in all our meetings and classroom observations.   We ask curious, non-judgemental questions.  I often use sentence stems like, "Tell us a little more about ...." or "Help us to understand ..."  These questions encourage people to talk about the things that matter to them, and also to share some of their hopes.  In our meetings I also like to ensure that all voices are heard - so that all perspectives can be considered.  For example if there is a teacher who isn't saying much I might ask the question, "What does this look like in your classroom/subject/section of the school?"

At the end of our visit we have a Conclusion Meeting where we share our thoughts and give some suggestions the school might like to consider as opportunities for future development.  We stress these are considerations, not recommendations like before, as the school needs to feel agency and ownership of their own next steps.  One thing I'm always looking out for in this meeting is that the schools recognise themselves in the strengths and opportunities we are sharing.  Often people will say "You've only been here a few days but it seems like you have a real understanding of what we have been through in the last five years."  When I hear this I always feel that the school feels acknowledged and that they recognise their strength and existing good practice and now know how to build on these in order to grow and change. 

Image Credit:  Peter Durand on Flickr shared with a Creative Commons licence

Other people, with their differences, can also be right

Just thinking about the IB mission statement as I looked at this cartoon today.  

Teaching and Learning with Technology

About two and a half years ago I wrote several blog posts about the IBO's pre-publication of The Role of Technology in the IB Programmes.  Following my week at the IB office the The Hague, I've now come back to read through the publication of Teaching and learning with technology:  A guide of basic principles, that was eventually published a year later in December 2015.  I wanted to dig into this publication again in the light of the changes coming to the PYP from Principles into Practice (PiP). As we transition and upskill our educators I wanted to reflect on the role of technology in this process.

Back in the pre-publication days, I wrote a blog post about whether technology was a language, a literacy or a concept.  I like the way this is now explained:  "things and concepts work together as "technologies" to make the world easier to live in and understand:  technologies are anything that aids or extends you" (the you here refers to the entire school learning community).  Technology supports the curriculum and does not dominate it.  It is:

• evident but seamless in the curriculum
• accessible to all learners, creating classrooms that are inclusive and diverse
• adaptive to many contexts
• Supportive of intercultural understanding, global engagement and multilingualism (the things that really define what an IB school is - the things that set these schools apart from other "good" schools)
• helpful in fostering the collection, creation, design and analysis of significant content.

Of course technology is also a literacy - it needs knowledge to be acquired, applied and reflected on, and it is cognitive, being demonstrated more through thinking than simply mastering a variety of tools.  However technology literacy does encourage the development of different skills, and the ability to understand and communicate in many forms (multimodal).  As the emphasis is on the connections to the real world, technology can broaden students' experiences and prepare them for their futures in a multicultural world.  And literacy is developed by actively choosing and using multiple technologies in the classroom.

Back in the day, I also wrote a blog post about integration -v- implementation.  I've been thinking about this again today too.  One part of the document that really spoke to me was this:

Integration means developing approaches to learning that technology supports, or that are only possible by using particular technologies ... the popular definition of technology integration involves learning to use "things", but the academic definition involves learning concepts that these particular "things" support or make possible.

And in my mind this is how it relates to PD: "in order for technology use to be better connected to both pedagogy and instruction, professional development must demonstrate to educators both how and why they need to use new technologies."  Right now I'm facilitating a workshop on digital citizenship and I know that some of the new technologies introduced might be challenging to some of the participants, but hopefully we can explore these hows and whys, so that they will feel comfortable using them with their own students and sharing with others in their learning communities.

Photo credit:  I took this photo last week in Den Haag

Ongoing assessment and feedback - another IB webinar

About a week before the end of school, I took part in another IB webinar, this time on assessment. The graphic above was really helpful in focusing in on the topic of this webinar and the cycle we should be going through as IB teachers.  I really wish I'd had the time to blog immediately after the webinar, since quite a lot of what was discussed has now retreated from my mind, but thankfully I did manage to jot down a few thoughts on Twitter at the time.  Here are some of the questions that emerged from this webinar:

• Tools and strategies for assessment - are we over-relying on just one or two?  One suggestion would be to map this out to see what patterns emerge.
• Authentic summative assessment - Could students do the assessment at the beginning, before even starting the unit? And if so, how would it look like compared with summative?
• Impact of assessment on teaching and learning - are we designing assessments that support good teaching and learning?  And alongside this, is the feedback that we give students helping to reduce the gap between where they are now and where they need to go next.
• Is assessment a scrapbook or a snapshot?  We need to think about more holistic ways of viewing and assessing learning, for example combining observations and dialogue along with the products that students create.

There was a great graphic shared about the stages of assessment.  Again I really like the assess - record - report cycle indicated here.  

Assessment is a really huge topic.  It has come up several times as a topic for the #pypchats on Twitter and I know that whenever I lead a Making the PYP Happen workshop it's something that the participants want to know more about.

I really love this series of webinars as it gives me the opportunity to dig a little deeper into my understanding of various aspects of the IB programmes.  I also appreciate the opportunity to learn more about the other IB programmes that I don't actually teach.  I really hope that these webinars continue in 2017.

Meaningful learning

Since the IB webinar last week, I've been reading and thinking about learning:  not just acquiring knowledge but being able to use this knowledge in a variety of new ways and situations.  One of the articles I read was by Richard E Mayer on Bloom's Revised Taxonomy.  I was interested in this because we use Bloom's Digital Taxonomy in our tech audit when discussing student work, and I wanted to dig a bit deeper - to go beyond the 6 categories.

Obviously, two important goals of education are to promote retention and to promote transfer.  Retention simply means that students remember material that was taught to them in the past, whereas transfer indicates more meaningful learning as it's the ability to use what was learned to solve new problems or to answer new questions in the future. Teachers traditionally teach for retention, possibly because it's easier to assess, whereas transfer is more complex as students not only need to build their knowledge, but also need to build their cognitive processes in order to devise ways of achieving a goal that they have never previously achieved.

• Remembering - this is the lowest level of Bloom's yet it is essential that students can retrieve knowledge from their long-term memory in order to use it in more complex tasks.  If the goal of teaching is meaningful learning, then remembering is simply a means to an end, and not the end in itself. 
• Understanding - this is where the shift from retention to transfer starts.  In his article, Mayer argues that this is where the largest category of transfer-based educational objectives are emphasized.  Understanding involves building connections between new knowledge gained and prior experience.
• Applying - this is where students use procedures to perform exercises or solve problems.  This may be to a familiar task (for example being able to divide) or to an unfamiliar task, which is often called implementing.
• Analyzing - this is where students break material into parts and determine how the parts relate to each other.  Analyzing can also involve students being able to determine the point of view, biases or values embedded in the material.
• Evaluating - this is when students make judgements based on criteria and standards, and are able to determine how well something is working.  It can involve critiquing (critical thinking).
• Creating - this is when students can put various elements together to form a coherent and functional whole - it involves making a new pattern or structure, for example when designing an original project.  

It was good to revisit some of these definitions again and to consider the implications for teaching.  If we want to promote the transfer of learning then we really need to be designing learning engagements at the higher end of the taxonomy.  It also has implications about what and how we assess.  If we as educators want to promote transfer, then we need to design assessments that go beyond recognizing and recalling.

Photo Credit: ggrosseck Flickr via Compfight cc

Sparking learning

I took part in an IB Strengthening Programme Implementation webinar last week.  There were around 850 people participating in this webinar from across the Asia-Pacific region, and our focus for this session was on the written curriculum.  It was great to be part of this webinar, to consider the IB Mission Statement and how it frames learning in our schools and also to become more aware of a new upcoming Principles into Practice publication for the PYP, aligning it with same language as the other IB programmes, and of course ensuring that the 5 transdisciplinary skills - now referred to as Approaches to Learning (ATLs) - are common to all programmes.

As well as the Approaches to Learning, we are now talking about common Approaches to Teaching. These are:

• based on inquiry
• focused on conceptual understandings
• developed in local and global contexts
• focused on effective teamwork and collaboration
• differentiated to meet the needs of all learners
• informed by assessment (formative and summative)

We had some great discussions, including how we are not just trying to cover content, but instead we are trying to spark learning.  We talked about how the written curriculum must identify the knowledge, concepts and skills to be developed across the whole IB continuum, and the importance of having mixed teams to look at the units.  In particular the importance of starting with the concept was stressed - not just adding them into existing units.

One of the slides shared in the webinar was this one, based on the work of Lynn Erickson.  With this we started with a world map showing locations of ancient civilizations, for example around the Nile, Tigris and Eurphrates, Indus and Yellow rivers.  From that came the facts and topic about population distribution.  Identifying the concepts based in these facts and topic led to the concept of pattern, and finally to putting concepts together into a central idea:  Natural environments influence population distribution patterns.

As we focus on ensuring the learning is engaging, significant, relevant and challenging, it's important to remember that  "a good inquiry statement is unlikely to be understood by studying it once."

A large amount of reading material was sent to us along with our webinar invitations.  I've been ploughing through this - in particular all the papers about Bloom's Taxonomy - and will be blogging about this shortly.

Above all else, being part of this community and the hashtag #ibstrong on Twitter has enabled me to feel really connected to the IB programmes as they develop.

Photo Credit: The Sales Whisperer Flickr via Compfight cc

Developing a designer's mind

Back in September I attended the Presenter's Forum in Denver in order to further my goal of becoming a Cognitive Coach trainer.  I was also hoping that learning more about presenting would lead to me delivering better presentations in the future.  At the time I was working on designing an online workshop for the IB on digital citizenship, preparing for a tech integration workshop for Consilience, and preparing to lead a 3-day Making the PYP Happen workshop in Mumbai.  One of the things I really hoped to do was to develop a designer's mind so that the presentations I would eventually give would be really useful for the participants.

According to Bob Garmston, design thinkers ask 4 questions when planning a presentation:

• What do I want the participants to learn?
• How will I know they are learning it?
• What strategies or approaches will I use?
• What can I learn by designing and delivering the content and how can that inform refinements?

When I thought about it, the first 3 of these questions reminded me of the Learners Constructing Meaning model that we find in the PYP:

The Pathways to Learning Model, developed by Lipton and Wellman and referenced by Garmston in his book The Presenter's Fieldbook is similar:

When designing my recent workshops I tried to put these ideas into practice.  For example in the activating and engaging phases I tried to show my adult learners that we are all experts - we bring with us a wealth of teaching experience and we know about the context in which we work in our schools.  Often as teachers we already have a lot of prior knowledge, so the initial step is to activate this, to have the participants talk about what they know and to get this knowledge into their working memory so that new information has something that it can stick on to.  At the start of each day of the workshops I tried to have the participants actively engage with each other.  The message I was trying to get across is that adults socially construct their understanding - I expect them to be interactive, not just passive recipients of knowledge.  I explained to them that I would not be talking for more than 20% of the time - they would be expected to work together and share their knowledge with each other.  Garmston explains that using interactive strategies right from the start provides psychological safety for the social construction of meaning.

Once the participants were active and engaged, I then planned my next set of engagements, which was to have them explore and discover.  This is the point where new information can be introduced. At times I did give a short lecturette (for example a short history of the IBO), and at other times I expected the participants to read and interact with articles and publications (for example through paired reading, jigsaw or visible thinking protocols).  All these activities were designed to tap into the participants cognitive processing skills.

Finally we moved into the organize and integrate phase.  Here participants had to organize and integrate the new material to make it their own.  Again I employed various strategies such as KWL charts, diamond rankings, making visuals and so on as a way of re-ordering knowledge.  Garmston tells us that this stage is "the work of the learner, not the presenter ... it is the stage at which learners crystallize meaning for themselves."

At this point in the design process, it's important to think about the balance between content and process.  At the Presenter's Forum this was likened to chewing gum, the gum being the content and the chewing being the interactive engagements that are designed to help the participants receive, process and apply the content.  When designing a presentation it's vital to consider how much gum and how much chewing is needed:  the content has little or no value unless it has been chewed.  The following image, taken from the ASCD website, explains this in more depth:

If your aim as a presenter is simply to raise awareness or to share knowledge, possibly you want to give a lot of content, interspersed with short periods of processing.  If you want to develop skills, then more time is needed for processing.  With attitude development you will need to process at the start, and then introduce the content later.  Finally for application you might want to design a lot of content at the start and then time at the end to apply what has been learned.   I tried a combination of all of these approaches in my workshops, though often had to think on my feet.  At times things took much longer or shorter than I'd anticipated.  Sometimes I had to provide more gum.  Sometimes I had to let people chew it for a bit longer.  A couple of things I decided to leave out altogether in order to allow more chewing time.

Generally I feel I learned a lot from the Presenter's Forum that I was able to put into practice right away.  I also videoed myself presenting - I haven't yet had the opportunity to watch this video, but I'm hoping that by reflecting on it I'll be able to hone my presentation skills even more.

Photo Credit: canonsnapper Flickr via Compfight cc

Integration -v- Implementation

Many people ask me what makes technology so successful at ASB.  One of the things I think is that for many years there has been a clear division of roles.  Each campus as a Director of Educational Technology and each campus has a Director of Technology Support.  I spend my time focused on teaching and learning, supporting both teachers and students to make thoughtful decisions about how to use the technology.  I never have to worry about networks, cables, budgets, hardware, subscriptions and so on (things that I did sometimes do in previous jobs, but which I never enjoyed). We each have a clear area of focus.

I was really encouraged on reading the new IB document Teaching and Learning with Technology, that this model is one that is promoted.  This model, shown in the diagram above, is "the thinking that separates the concepts related to technology from the things we use that are technology.  Integration is about pedagogy and it is the focus on what teachers and students are doing.  Implementation is the tools and infrastructure that supports the teaching and learning.

Now if you are a regular reader of my blog, you will know that in the past I have worked in a place that was not so balanced.  Where the people involved in the implementation were seen as being much more important than the teachers and learners - and so their voice was the one that was heard when decisions were made.  The IB is very clear on this:

Without integration, implementation doesn't work.  Integration drives implementation, not the other way round.

Another model is also discussed in the recent publication:  the AID technology integration framework of technology literacy in the IB programmes:

• Agency:  ways of being - the skills and concepts related to academic honest, digital participation and internet safety that leads to being safe and responsible online.
• Information:  ways of knowing - searching, analyzing and manipulation information and the responsible use of data.
• Design:  ways of doing - ideating and creating products (design thinking, Maker, robotics and so on that connects "real world" experiences with conceptual learning)

What do you think of the new ideas that have been published by the IB?  How will your school be using them?

Teaching and Learning with Technology

The IB brought out a new publication yesterday entitled Teaching and Learning with Technology.  As I wanted to share this with our tech coaches, I read through it today and found a number of things that are worth highlighting, as well as many things that are already in place at ASB.  I like some of the definitions that have been introduced in this publication as well.  For example:

• Technological literacy - which is seen as being a combination of acquired and applied technology, reflecting on learning and making choices about which technologies to use and when to use them.
• Discernment - knowing how to apply technology effectively - this is a critical thinking skill.

I also like the way that the importance of mindsets is brought out.  The document states, "Many schools are hindered in their attempt to implement technology because of mindsets that do not encourage the effective use of technology."

I want to reproduce the following paragraph in full because I think it is vitally important:

IB technologies policies should include the following pillars that outline a school's mission and how multiple technologies support it:

• Technology aids and extends the ability to teach and learn.
• Every teacher is a "tech teacher".
• Technology literacy is integral for all learners in an IB education. 
• Every member of the school community shares a responsibility to foster technology literacy in all learners.
• School plans and policies demonstrate the alignment of technology integration and implementation (more about this in my next post)
• Schoolwide professional development enables leaders and teachers to understand how technologies support and enhance teaching and learning

Schools are encouraged to expand on these pillars and to create new ones.  Which new ones would you like you see your school add into its technology policy?

Photo Credit: Pasco Schools via Compfight cc

The best preparation for university and work

Yesterday we got some great news.  Our daughter recently applied to a grad scheme, and after a number of interviews and tests, yesterday she was offered a job as a trainee consultant for a travel company.  I found this interesting for a number of reasons:  firstly she still has more than 6 months of university to complete before she gets her MA and can start work - it is early to secure a job offer.  Secondly, we have talked many times about the importance of following her passions (history and art).  Even though last year she admitted that it might have been better to study a subject that would have led more directly into a career, I still feel that spending 4 years studying subjects that you love simply can't be beaten.  The question was, would this count against her when looking for a job?  Would art history be seen as a bit "fluffy" compared with degrees in other subjects?  Would it lead into a job that used these talents and passions, or would she have to train again in a different area?  Yesterday these questions were answered.  One branch of the travel company specialises in tailor-made cultural holidays - certainly as a consultant in this area she will be able to use her expertise in both history and the history of art, as well as her experience of living in 4 different countries in Europe and Asia.

I was thumbing through the September issue of IB World today and came across an article entitled Diploma Programme gets thumbs up.  In a nutshell, a survey of university admissions officers in Britain indicates the IB Diploma is the best preparation for university and work, when compared with other qualifications taken on leaving school, such as A levels.  The reasons for this were as follows:

• 57% stated the DP includes workplace skills
• 76% feel that it promotes self-management skills
• 72% feel it helps students to cope with pressure
• 23% believe it gives students an entrepreneurial or positive approach to risk-taking

I've written before about the great preparation the DP has given to both my children - both now will be working in good jobs in areas they are passionate about.  I think they have fulfilled the IB mission statement, developing into "inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect" - certainly things that are needed in today's world.  I feel incredibly grateful to the schools that my children have attended, to the teachers who nurtured their passions and skills, who helped them open the doors to their futures and who gave them the courage to step forward into them.

Photo Credit: Kymberly Janisch via Compfight cc

Discussing the Nondiscussables

Last week I was on a Cognitive Coaching workshop in Europe.  It was absolutely wonderful to be back in a place that I called home for 3 years, with beautiful views, fresh air and with people I had worked with who, in the dark days of being lied to and lied about, were supportive and generous with their ideas.  Next week I'm going to be facilitating a PYP collaborative planning workshop for the IB, and as always before such workshops, I prepare by going through the course materials and readings.  So today I read a article that was published 9 years ago in Educational Leadership entitled Improving Relationships Within the Schoolhouse by Roland S. Barth.  Barth maintains that the quality of a school and of student accomplishment is influenced above all else by the relationships of adults within the school.  If the relations between admin and teachers are helpful, trusting and cooperative then relations between teachers, students and parents are likely to be similar.  If, however, relationships between admin and teachers are fearful, competitive, suspicious and corrosive, then these same attitudes will hang over the entire school community.

Barth writes about what he called the nondiscussables - such factors as the leadership of the principal, or personal visions of excellence.  In fact he writes that these factors are indeed discussed - but in the car park or over a cup of coffee or glass of wine after school and never at faculty or PTA meetings - and that improvement in school culture is impossible when these nondiscussables have such power over us.  He characterises relationships at school into 4 categories:

1. Parallel play - seen in many schools where teachers work in self-contained classrooms with the doors shut.  It's also characterised by school principles who see each other's schools as "competition" and who don't communicate or share, even though they are only a short distance away.
2. Adversarial relationships - either overt or in subtle ways by withholding information or support.  In these schools teachers may summon up the courage to share important learning at faculty meetings, for example, only to be faced with the "tall poppy syndrome" where they are cut down and put back into their place.  Some schools also covertly encourage competition for resources, promotional opportunities and other recognition.  This reinforces the culture of parallel play, where teachers keep their heads down and shut their classroom doors to escape the conflicts outside.
3. Congenial relationships - these are interactive and positive, personal and friendly.  For many teachers in schools with a poor culture, it is these relationships that get them into school each day.
4. Collegial relationships - these are the hardest to establish, but flourish in schools where teachers are part of a professional learning community.

How can school leaders move their schools from parallel play with adversarial relationships to places with congenial and collegial relationships?  Barth sees this happening in the following ways:

• encouraging educators to talk together about practice
• encouraging educators to share their craft knowledge
• educators observing one another 
• educators rooting for one another's success

Stepping away from my school and being immersed in the culture of another is always a great opportunity to reflect.  This week, back at ASB, I'm feeling blessed to be in such a dynamic, supportive and collegial school, where we know that together we can make things happen.

Photo Credit: Bill Gracey via Compfight cc

Making and the Learner Profile

Over the past couple of years I've written several posts about the Maker Movement at ASB.  I attended an ISTE pre-conference workshop in 2013 on Maker with Gary Stager and Sylvia Martinez, and both Gary and Sylvia came to ASB to help us empower students through making.    We launched Maker Faires and Maker Saturdays at ASB and currently have these every month.  We have also incorporated Maker into a number of PYP units of inquiry, for example in Grade 4.  In Kindergarten we have an entire unit of making.  In their How the World Works unit, KG students explore the central idea "The way materials behave and interact can determine how people use them."  This is a PBL unit with the driving question "What do makers need to know?"  Our key concepts are form, function and change and our lines of inquiry are the behaviour and uses of materials, the changing properties of materials and manipulation of materials for specific purposes.  Students are assessed on their understanding through the creation of a Maker Studio - they explore the materials and create an end product that shows their understanding of the types of materials used and how they functions in their new state/version.

Yesterday at our faculty meeting it was time for the teachers to have a hands-on experience of Maker - our task was to design ScribbleBots.  Scot Hoffman, our R&D Coordinator, then shared several ways teachers could take this further.  The idea is not that the Re.D Studio team come into classrooms and lead Maker activities, but that they provide professional development, consultation and guidance so that teachers are supported to empower their own students to become makers.  Scot shared several other ideas (PrimeTime and the Curiosity Project which will the be subject of an upcoming blog post).  However one of the things that I found really interesting is how our Re.D Studio has looked at making together with the IB Learner Profile, making it a perfect fit for several of our PYP units of inquiry.  Here are a few examples of what teachers can look for in maker activities that support the Learner Profile:

Risk-Takers

• tries something new
• approaches uncertainty with forethought and determination
• takes intellectual risks

• transforms failure into new insights or approaches

• offers explanation(s) for a strategy, tool, or making outcome

• displays motivation or investment in learning through making

Reflective

• shares experiences and insights from making
• reflects on learning strengths and needs during making

Inquirers

• strives to understand
• persists to achieve goals
• expresses and uses curiosity
• inspired by new ideas or approaches
• inspires others with their making

Are you teaching at a PYP school?  Have you started to include Maker in any of your units of inquiry?  If so please leave me a comment as I'd love to learn more.

Click here for more posts about Maker at ASB

Photo Credit: The Bakken Museum via Compfight cc

Integration -v- implementation

I work at a school where there seems to be a good balance between integration and implementation of technology.  We have a Director of Technology Support and a Director of Educational Technology for each campus.  As I read through the IBO's pre-publication of The Role of Technology in the IB Programmes the section about integration and implementation rings very true.  This is how the IB defines it:

• Technology integration concerns the role technology plays in learning as well as how we incorporate technology literacy concepts into teaching and learning.  Technology integration is part of the role of all educators, supported by our tech integration coaches and directors of ed tech.
• Technology implementation is the process of acquiring and introducing devices and applications as well as managing systems that support technology use.  IT technicians and budget holders usually address implementation.  This is interesting to me too because again it is very typical of our structure at ASB with our directors of technology support, technicians and educational technology assistants.

There is a great diagram about these differences which I'm going to reproduce here.

I think the important thing here is that while both of these are very necessary, often these roles are confused or done by the same people wearing two hats.  It takes a lot of experience and training to distinguish between them and then to put integration first.  When I read that sentence for the first time it was like a blinding flash of light - all too often the people with the money, making the purchasing decisions and so on, are totally removed from the integration and so they put implementation first.  In almost every school I've been in that has been the case, and I have had to point out that the most important consideration in all of this is student learning.  The IBO publication points out that an approach that is dominated by implementation is device-driven.  It is focused on HOW to use the technology and not WHY to use it.  When administrators make statements about there being no evidence that technology improves learning I can guarantee they are coming from these schools - where the conversation is about devices ("We are going to put SMARTboards into every classroom", for example).  It is integration that makes the difference to student learning:  "pedagogy and instruction can and should be supported by devices, not the other way round ... technology integration requires a different kind of thinking, one that erases discussions of devices altogether, only reintroducing them after pedagogical aims have been addressed."  I couldn't agree more!

Photo Credit: Barrett.Discovery via Compfight cc

Technology: a language, a literacy, a concept?

I have been reading through the pre-publication The Role of Technology in the IB Programmes and before I give feedback I want to consider these 3 ideas about technology.  Please feel free to give me ideas as I consider the following:

• Is technology a language?  It can be a language in computer programming, and it also facilitates communication and provides the means to express one's thoughts and feelings, just as language does.
• Is technology a literacy?  It is a combination of acquired knowledge, applied knowledge and reflection on both.  And can technology literacy be achievable through ways of thinking, irrespective of the tools?
• Is technology a concept, as opposed to a thing?  

Of course in the world of education, people are always asking about the benefits of using technology in the classroom, whether technology can enhance understanding and improve learning.  I was therefore interested to read this section in the pre-publication "Research indicates that exposure to multiple kinds of media such as texts in various online formats, video and interactive content is essential to formal and informal education, and all categories of technology, in particular a balance of them, are beneficial to learning as students make determinations about when, where and how to use technology."

Last week I had a skype call about the use of technology in professional learning.  We got onto the subject of technology in our IB schools and how much guidance or direction we should be giving about how technology is used.  I was really interested to read the section in the pre-publication about the movement towards a seamless experience of technology for both students and educators.  This implies that technology is simply part of the repertoire of tools to choose from.  And here's the part that I think is really important:  "Seamlessness is only achievable with mindsets that value and accept technology use in the classroom, involve agency on the part of students and educators, provide opportunities for collecting, creating and analyzing information as part of the learning experience, and that incorporate design thinking and concepts as paths to learning."  Agreed!

Photo Credit: Street matt via Compfight cc

If you are going to walk on thin ice you might as well dance: the IB Learner Profile Risk-Taker/Courageous

Today I was reading about three great 20th century leaders who exemplify risk taking, courageousness and devotion to justice.  All of them made huge sacrifices to bring enduring change for humankind.  I'm thinking about how important it is to learn from these teachers and how these lessons can be applied in schools.

I'm also thinking about ASB's mission statement and how proud I am to work at this school.  Our mission statement also mentions courage, as well as enhancing the lives of others.

We inspire all of our students to continuous inquiry, empowering them with the skills, courage, optimism, and integrity to pursue their dreams and enhance the lives of others.

Flipped Classroom -v- Flipped Learning

In preparation for my upcoming IB workshop on flipping the classroom, I've been reading everything I can about the benefits of the flip on student learning.  One of the best arguments in favor of making the flip has been an article that appeared in the May edition of ISTE's magazine Learning and Leading with Technology by Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams.  I'm summarizing parts of this article here as I think it will provide a useful starting point for our workshop participants.

To start with Bergmann and Sams argue that the flipped classroom is not simply a new fad - teachers have always assigned reading to be done at home, followed by class periods discussing and developing the understanding of the ideas in the reading.  The flipped classroom using video or podcasts is simply an extension of this, so that the media is used as a pre-teaching tool that learners can build on in class (in other words teachers are using an old method but with a new tool that allows them to quickly create and distribute video content in a way that was not possible 10 years ago).

Bergmann and Sams argue that it is not the flipped classroom itself that is the goal, but that this is simply the path that leads to more powerful teaching and learning, which they refer to as flipped learning.  The flipped classroom is one way of getting teachers to flip learning as it moves direct instruction out of the "group learning space" (classroom) into the "individual learning space" (through teacher created videos that students can view individually).  This allows the group space to be "transformed into a dynamic, interactive learning environment where the educator guides students as they apply concepts and engage creatively in the subject matter."   Basically flipped learning means that class time is spent on richer and more meaningful learning experiences since direct instruction to a whole group is not the best use of class time, considering the variety of student learning styles.  With the flip, the classroom focus is more on learning (and less on teaching).

Bergmann and Sams write that introducing flipped learning is a first step that teachers can take towards a learning-centred classroom, that the flipped classroom is in fact a "gateway to flipped learning".  Flipping the classroom by itself doesn't change anything - a lecture in class or a lecture watched at home is still a lecture - therefore the goal of flipped learning for teachers is not simply to create and use video but to plan what is the best use of face to face class time once the direct instruction is moved to the individual space.  They argue there are 3 main elements:

• Relationships:  students who have positive relationships with teachers do better on standardized tests and get better grades.  A better use of time than preparing for standardized tests can be spent connecting meaningfully with students instead, becoming mentors and coaches of students instead of simply being the content experts.  Part of this involves seeing each learner as an individual who needs specific nurturing and guidance.
• Content:  In the flipped learning model students have the time to explore the things they are curious about when learning the key concepts and content that all students should know.  Flipped learning can allow students to inquire deeper into the content.  Many teachers spend a lot of time helping students to remember and understand, while less time has traditionally been spent on the higher order thinking skills of applying, analyzing, evaluating and creating.  Flipped learning can allow more class time to be spent on the higher levels of Blooms's Taxonomy.
• Curiosity:  Flipped learning can enable students to take their learning further and explore their passions.  Once the lower order thinking skills have been shifted to the individual, then flipped learning gives educators the flexibility to provide time for students to explore their own interests (genius hour, golden time, curiosity projects, 20% time etc.).  Project-based learning can fit well at this point too.

The article also provides insight into how the ISTE standards support flipped learning.  At ASB all teachers have set personal goals based on the NETS-T Standard 2.  Specifically Standard 2 supports the flipped learning model in the following ways:

Standard 2C:  Customize and personalize learning activities to address students' diverse learning styles, working strategies and abilities using digital tools and resources.

Standard 2D:  Provide students with multiple and varied formative and summative assessments aligned with content and technology standards and use resulting data to inform teaching and learning.

My work with the flipped classroom and flipped learning models over the past few months have given me new insight into how to personalize learning and have more student-centred classrooms.  Do you have experience of using the flipped classroom model?  I'd love to hear how are you using class time to flip learning.

Read the full article in Learning and Leading with Technology.

Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams have written a book, published by ISTE, entitled Flipped Learning:  Gateway to Student Engagement which can be pre-ordered here.

Photo Credit: jeff_golden via Compfight cc

International-mindedness

Doing online PYP courses for the International Baccalaureate is a great way of keeping my ideas about international education sharp.  Recently I have been reading a new position paper Reflections and projections on the IB learner profile by Dr George Walker, Professor Wing-On Lee and Dr Farid Panjwani,  that was published on the IB Learner Profile which deals with international mindedness.  It is defined in the following way:

International-mindedness is the motivation and the capability to study issues from different national and cultural perspectives.

I like this definition as it provides a solution to the often one-sided perspective we are presented with of the problems that occur between and within nations.  The idea is that if a person's mindset shifts from a local one to a global one, the issues can be viewed from a position of shared humanity.

The IB Learner Profile is at the heart of what it means to be internationally minded - some have likened it to a description of the ideal learner or even the ideal person.  This is expanded upon in the paper in the following way:

The ideal learner is:

• a learning being (inquirer, open-minded, knowledgeable).  Inquirers and open-minded learners are intrinsically motivated and enthusiastic about learning.
• a social being (caring, communicator) who cares about others and who shares what s/he has learned and knows
• an action being (risk taker) who applies knowledge to action and who is willing o risk uncertainties in the process of learning and action
• a wisdom seeker (thinker, reflective) who goes beyond information and knowledge to seek understanding.
• a principled being who converts all their learning and experience into principles and is unafraid of being different from others who hold different views and beliefs
• a balanced being that intellectually, physically, socially and emotionally combines the above attributes.

I like the way the attributes of the Learner Profile are linked with international mindedness.  In our #pypchat today we discussed wellbeing (both teacher and student wellbeing) and the last of these points about balance really resonates with our discussions.

Original artwork by an ASB student