Here we go again...

I am a pile of goo.

I am no longer existing in a solid state. My brain, and all associated faculties have turned to mush.

Welcome to Stage 1, 2016.

I have forgotten how exhausting teaching is. How?! How could this happen in a mere 5 weeks?!

WHY DID I NOT SLEEP MORE???? WHY DID I SPEND TIME CLEANING AND WEDDING PLANNING WHEN I COULD HAVE SPENT TIME SLEEPING!!!???

Me. At 3pm today.

               
Now don't get my wrong. My class - BEAUTIFUL. They were fantastic. Settled, attentive, focused - we got through most of the day's activities in the morning session. I was blown away.

Oh god I hope I didn't just jinx it.  *does complicated anti-jinxing manoeuvre*

I've just forgotten what it's like to get a bunch of brand new little munchkins with very short attention spans. I regret wearing a dress to work today. So much floor work.

Anyway.

I took a big break from the blogosphere last year due to some personal issues and this year I'm going to make a consistent effort to be reflecting and writing in blog form, while bringing you much laughs and much happy from 1/2Superstars.

Today, our happy moment? The hugs from kids that I had only met 6 hours earlier, while telling me they were excited to come back tomorrow.  Makes it all worth it.
                                             

Find me online!

Twitter: @bswain1

email: missswain24@gmail.com

pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/bswain14

or comment below!

A whole new world - and not the Aladdin kind.

If you're Australian, its more than likely you've just finished the hard slog that is the first 3 weeks of Term 1.

3 down, 7 to go!

It's tough. They don't know you, you don't know them. You can't help but compare them to last year's bunch and reflect on just how much work you have to do. It's a balance of highs and lows, and you slide into home at the end of the week in a crashing heap ready to do it all over again on Monday.

In my case, I'm balancing this with a feeling of absolute bewilderment.

You see, being a cocky 3rd year out teacher, this is a summary of my thought process in Term 4 last year:

Oh yeah. I'm pretty decent at this whole Stage 3 thing. I've got some great learning happening, we've got this mutual respect thing going on and I can manage challenging behaviour. Teaching Year 1 and Year 2 will be a breeze!

You said it Jean-Luc.

I know.

I KNOW.

WHAT THE #@!* WAS I THINKING?!

I've entered Stage 1 - a mythical magical land of phonemic awareness (what's that again?), 8 minute attention spans (on a good day) and a whole lot more bodily fluids and touching.

Seriously, little X. Hands out of your nose/mouth/pants. And don't touch me. Please.

We sing songs without being sarcastic. We dance without being ashamed of our lack of rhythm. EVERYTHING IS FUN. 

HEY GUYS. WE'RE ABOUT TO DO SOME HANDWRITING!

My class:

Pretty much every kid in my class is Buddy the Elf. All the time.

I'm in a whole new world. It's a very happy place, but also one that really REALLY tests your patience. And your voice box. AND your gag reflex.

So, for your amusement and a big dose of schadenfreude, here's a list of 10 things I have learnt so far:

1. Never tie a child's shoelaces. Especially a boy's. Aiming is not a talent for them.
2. Hand sanitiser is a handy investment. You'll use it multiple times a day.
3. Don't try to get your bottom reading group to read independently for 20 minutes. They'll have a pillow fight after 2 minutes and subsequently disturb the whole Guided Reading session.
4. Wobbly teeth are a constant occurrence, and I had no idea how truly creepy Ifound them until I had six kids showing me their teeth at once. *shudders*
5. You will find sandwiches/discarded fruit everywhere, and they won't pick it up, subsequently leaving grapes permanently cemented into your carpet.
6. CHILDREN EAT THEIR OWN BOOGERS.
7. AND ANYTHING THEY FIND LYING ON THE FLOOR. Seriously, X, get the masking tape marking my floor area out of your mouth. I've already asked you twice today.
8. Don't get annoyed when they tell you they forgot how to spell 'the'. You're going to be asked 5 more times in the next 10 minutes.
9. You will get random gifts. Some of which (food, tissues, things from their bags) should go straight into that 'special box for later' (aka the bin).
10. But....little kids love you. Wholeheartedly. Nothing you do will change that. Even if you get frustrated and keep them in half of lunch because they can't stand in two lines, they still come running back with big smiles. 

Find me online!

twitter: @bswain1

email:missswain24@gmail.com

pintrest:https://www.pinterest.com/bswain14

or comment below!

Claiming back time

So, this Making Thinking Visible stuff sounds brilliant right? Something that makes explicit what we hope we are teaching by osmosis.

But how do we put that thinking stuff into place, in our time-poor, curriculum driven classrooms?

We all have deadlines to meet, outcomes to check off, programs to write - I know, I'm in the same boat. We are already trying to put too much stuffing into the bloated chicken that is teaching, and just when you think you've done it all, someone tells you to throw a fancy Masterchef style garnish on top too.

This is where the mindset shift for us as teachers is essential - by making thinking visible to ourselves and our students, we gain time in our classrooms.

Big call, I know. So, let's take a quick dip into the ocean that is Visible Thinking and make the thinking behind that statement visible, by using a Thinking Routine (a thinking strategy to encourage understanding - the basis of the teacher's toolkit of Visible Thinking).  

This is called Claim-Support-Question - a routine designed to consider all aspects of a statement (and a great one for encouraging critical thinking!).

So, the claim is: Making Thinking Visible allows teachers to gain time in classrooms.

What can we use to support this claim?

• By using thinking routines, we are able to gain information about student thinking patterns, allowing for on the spot formative assessment 
• Creating a Culture of Thinking encourages students to share their thinking and ideas, facilitating collaboration between peers and allowing for students to teach each other rather than direct teacher instruction
• By making the thinking behind ideas visible, teachers explicitly teach students easy strategies to analyse concepts in depth, developing a deep knowledge and understanding of topics rather than a surface understanding that can be applied across disciplines.

Ok, sounds great right? But there is two sides to every story, and using this routine allows us to consider all aspects instead of blindly accepting the claim - a skill that we often wish to cultivate in our students.

What questions could we pose about this claim?

• How about the time it takes to get started? Surely there is time that must be put into setting up these routines and cultivating the thinking needed?
• What about the time needed to up skill staff in developing the language associated around routines? Who will do it and how?
• What if my school already has a 'big idea' its pursuing? How can I fit Visible Thinking into previously established structures?

I'm sure there are others we can ask to pose against the claim. The short answer to all these? Time spent well is time gained. If we invest a teeny tiny bit of our time now in figuring out how to create a culture of thinking in our classrooms, we can be paid back ten fold in the time we gain from the collaborative and constructive environment Visible Thinking creates. 

The skills that we want students to develop as 21st Century learners - critical and creative thinking, questioning, risk taking, persevering, communicating, reflecting (this is starting to sound like the IB Learner Profile...) - are facilitated by deep thinking and become naturally embedded in our teaching through the use of the Routines. They are a teaching tool, not an extra activity.

Now that is brilliant. 

Find me online!

twitter: @bswain1

email:missswain24@gmail.com

pintrest:https://www.pinterest.com/bswain14

or comment below!

That 'thinking' stuff

"My students are too young/too low/too busy. There is no way they can do this 'thinking' stuff"

In my class we have a rule when faced with a problem - RTQ x 2 (Read the Question Twice). So go on, read that above statement again.

Now, cut off the first part of that statement and focus on the second part.

"There is no way they can do this 'thinking' stuff"

Taken in isolation, that statement is a little bit ridiculous. Unless you're teaching a class of rocks, every single one of them is doing this 'thinking' stuff every minute of every day. ( Although, I'm sure your rock class might be doing it too - maybe you have the G&T rocks).

I'm the first to admit that when I came in contact with Visible Thinking, I saw the Thinking Routines as an activity that I could easily slide into my program, and then VOILA my students would be visible thinkers. I think this is an experience that is commonly shared by those first bitten by the VT bug. It's new, it's exciting, and we think it will be a bandaid that will cover all the 'thinking stuff' in our classroom.

If there's one thing (or one seashell) that I took away from Project Zero Classroom, it's that there is absolutely no point 'doing' Thinking Routines and then saying "Look! My student's thinking is visible, now let's move on." The process of Making Thinking Visible in learning is not something that  can be easily changed overnight, or just done once then moved on from. 

Making Thinking Visible in your classroom requires a mindset shift from you too.

Lev Vygotsky, advocate for constructivist-based pedagogy, is often quoted as saying:

 "Children grow into the intellectual life of those around them". 

In other words, the intellectual world we model for our students is what shapes their own perceptions of the value of thinking. If you don't value deep thinking, then your students won't either!

So, how do we start showing students that developing more than a surface understanding of concepts is vital to nurturing intellectual development? By creating a Culture of Thinking in our classrooms.

A concept coined by Ron Ritchhart, key researcher of the Making Thinking Visible project at Project Zero (Click here to learn more about Ron and MTV), a Culture of Thinking is a place where thinking is visible, valued and actively promoted for all members.

Let's break that down further.

In order to create a Culture of Thinking - an environment where children understand the importance of deep understanding and intellectual fluency, we need to consider the three concepts in isolation.

Thinking is Visible - Assessing understanding of abstract concepts, or things that can't be measured through a test score is tricky. So how the %$!* do we assess thinking? By making thinking visible, the process of developing understanding is made accessible to both teacher and students, as well as parties outside the classroom. Teachers are able to garner the thinking process students are undergoing (which is great for formative assessment!) and students are able to reflect on their process of understanding.  Most importantly, all parties get insight into how the learning is occurring.

Thinking is Valued - Why do your students not put up their hands when you know they have a pretty good idea of the  answer? Well, number one, you might be asking the wrong kind of question, but, in addition, is students do not feel their thinking is valued, they aren't going to put their necks out to risk humiliation. A Culture of Thinking in a classroom values the process and effort of developing understanding, and encourages students to share their thinking practices with others, even if their thinking is not yet fully developed. It encourages students to share their steps towards developing a full understanding, and encourages the idea that mistakes are just stepping stones in thinking.

Thinking is Actively Promoted - There is no such thing as no time for thinking. Every interaction, every discussion, every question is an opportunity to promote and encourage  students to share their thinking. Talking about thinking, sharing thinking, reflecting on thinking - we encourage this naturally through our teaching, but we need to do it consciously and purposefully and, more importantly, we need to make it visible to our students.

I know right. It makes a lot of sense. It's ok. Take a second to push those brains back inside your skull and regroup. I know I needed too when the VT bus first hit me. Head on collision. Brains everywhere.

So the next big question is how. How do we create a Culture of Thinking in our learning environments? (whether it be classrooms, schools, districts, homes or other educational settings) Lucky, Ron hasn't left us in the lurch. He and his partner in crime Mark Church have teamed up to give us a whole lot of resources to help us make thinking visible, which I'll run through over my next few posts.

Now, as all great members of my class do, RTQ x 2. Go back and read that again so you can start thinking about your thinking, and how valued, visible and actively promoted thinking is in your learning environment. 

As always, feel free to comment, email me (missswain24@gmail.com) or tweet me (@bswain1) with questions, queries or comments. :)

Beyond Appian Way?

I'm currently sitting collapsed on my couch in the lounge room, after approximately 36 hours of travel getting from Boston, MA to Sydney, NSW. I have a warm, fluffy, slightly overweight cat sitting on my lap and a cup of caffeine beside me, as my body tries to figure out what time zone I'm in. 
(For the record, I think I'm floating somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.)

So, in my attempts to somehow stay awake until a socially acceptable bedtime, I'm doing some reflecting on the events of the last week that have gotten me into this very unattractive, sleep-deprived state.

I've just come back from a week at Harvard Graduate School of Education, attending Project Zero Classroom - an annual summer institute that invites participants from all over the globe to share insights and understandings into the various ventures of the Project Zero researchers. 

I'm still getting a little thrill saying that I studied at Harvard.

Oh what's this? Why yes, It's my HARVARD ID.

I spent the week working 10 hour days, learning from some of the most incredible educational researchers and minds of this era. It was exhausting but absolutely exhilarating. I felt empowered, engaged and ready to take on the world - that was the atmosphere created by the forward-thinking group of participants who gathered for this conference. 

Oh look - I was in a lecture with HOWARD GARDNER! :O

Even in our most stressful moments, the positive energy created and facilitated by the attendees pulsated throughout campus, lifting us up and reassuring us that we are doing something amazing, not only for our students, but for our own development as teachers. This was achieved through our plethora of activities to make our thinking visible, including art assignments, thinking routines and a surprising amount of interpretive dance. You can check out some of our zany antics (and some truly stunning pictures of me) on our Smore here.

You heard it here first - Tissue paper is in this summer.

Sounds incredible, right?

It was.

So now, as my cat's fat rolls slowly envelop my legs and I drink caffeine to prevent any keyboard drooling, I'm starting to think formatively about my situation. What is the next piece of learning for me? Where should I go next?

As teachers, we know the best way to figure out our next stepping stone is to look back at where we have already walked. So this week, I'm going to be bringing to you my adventures at HGSE - the highlights of my foray into the depths that is Making Thinking Visible, and my reflections on how it can be used in a public school classroom. 

And, as per usual, feel free to languish in my wit and generally incredible humour.

In addition, I'm hoping to start up a 'study group' of sorts for interested parties, so that anyone who is interested in learning more about MTV, or just want to give it a go, can take part. If this tickles your fancy, feel free to tweet me @bswain1, or email me at brianna.swain1@det.nsw.edu.au

A little unhinged

No, this is not a hilarious reference to my mental state at the moment. I'm more like this:

Actually, I'm lucky to be participating in a Teacher Learning Community (TLC) this year - a group of teachers all reflecting upon our pedagogy and researching current trends associated with formative assessment (or Assessment for Learning).

A TLC is based in the research of the wonderful Dylan Wiliam, who maintains that formative assessment and feedback are tools for learning that have a massive impact on student achievement; a sentiment supported by John Hattie, who notes a 0.72 effect size on achievement. 

(For those not in the know, thats MASSIVE. An effect size of 0.4 is equal to 1 years academic growth. Feedback has an effect size of almost double that!)

Hattie's Barometer of effect sizes

In our TLC, we share success and failures, celebrate achievement and are constantly looking to improve our practice so to engage students in their learning. We bravely go where no teacher (at our school) has gone before - trying out new techniques and working collaboratively on seamless integration of content into previous programming.

My area of focus at the moment? Hinge questions!

Hinge questions are a tool that can be used about halfway through a lesson to gauge student understanding. Usually presented in a multiple choice format, they act as a reflection point for students, but also a pedagogical road map for the teacher to direct future learning.

BUT....these are no regular questions!

Hinge questions not only assist in determining whether students understand the content, but also allow a teacher to consider a student's cognitive decision making process, and the thought patterns behind selecting a certain response. It's not about getting the only answer, its about determining which answer is most correct, and justifying why.

Awesome, right?

Taylor Swift really loves a good hinge question.

So as I began my hinge question quest, I started by doing some research into what makes a real cracker of a hinge question - because if I was going to do this, I wanted to do it right.

I found they were a little more complicated that I initially thought - in fact the 'hinge' questions I had been posing to my students were a little unhinged - they weren't really giving me the feedback I needed for my teaching.

I stumbled across this post by Sally Heldsinger on Assessment Community that really broke down what a great hinge question should entail. She notes that hinge questions should show a student's developing understanding of a concept, so by considering their answers, we can see the depth of understanding the student has about a given topic.

She also had this lovely quote from Margaret Heritage (2010), that I really think encapsulates the importance of feedback:

'...Assessment is not unidirectional, but rather involves both teachers and students in a reciprocal activity to move learning forward within a community of practice. This reciprocal activity is characterised by teachers and students engaged in responding to evidence about learning, minute-by-minute, day-by-day, through the provision of scaffolding, self-monitoring, and self regulation on the part of the students'

I love the idea of assessment being a symbiotic relationship - it is an activity that benefits both parties, and enriches our understanding of the other's purpose in the teaching-learning relationship. Unfortunately, I think this ideal is somewhat lost  in the typical 'assessment for assessment's sake' ideology that is all too present in schools currently. 

I know it sounds all butterflies and unicorn farts - too idealistic, overly optimistic for your everyday school - but if we can do it in classes we've fondly nicknamed 'The Behaviour Unit', then I think it's possible anywhere.

I'm still on a journey of discovery with hinge questions, so if you have any insights, discoveries or burning questions, share below!

Apples don't fall far from the tree

Prepare for a short rant.

Last Sunday, there was a violent altercation between two men who are considered very prominent in Australian society. These men were not under the influence of alcohol or narcotics, and in fact, this conflict occurred on a sunny afternoon in plain sight.

Sydney has just undergone a complete overhaul of laws and punishments for 'one-punch' violence in areas of the city. If this fight had gone differently - if one of those punches had landed in the wrong place, one of these men could have been seriously injured or killed. 

Yet, plastered across the front of every newspaper, featured prominently on news webpages, mercilessly mocked by radio presenters and in drawn out segments in the nightly news, these two men have been made cannon fodder, with this violent and pointless disagreement dissected minutely by every media outlet in the country.

What is our fascination with the downfall of others? This need to pull others down, cruelly mock them when they misstep, 'tear them a new one' if you will.  The Germans have a word for it. Schadenfreude - taking enjoyment out of other's pain. We feed on it - the hungry masses devouring this news of the mighty that have fallen.

And we wonder why kids are so cruel.

On a daily basis, we break up punch ups in the playground, chastise children for insulting each other's mothers, and listen to language used by 10 year olds that would make a sailor blush.

'Where do they get it from?!' we moan. 'Why do they solve everything with violence?!'

Well, perhaps its because Australian media THRIVES on it. We love violence. It's a no-no, so therefore it's cool and it's sexy. We smell blood and scream for more - why else would the media so readily cover any violent altercation over perhaps more meaningful and vital news?

I'm tuning out this week. I don't want to see two neanderthals in track pants solving an issue in a primitive and immature matter. There is so many more important things happening out there. Such as the 300 young Nigerian women who were kidnapped for seeking an education. Or perhaps that there was a large earthquake off the coast of PNG causing a tsunami warning. Or that this young man was murdered in Argentina in a botched robbery.

I want my students to be critical thinkers, who question what they see and read,  who think beyond the byline and see the real motive behind a story. Apples don't fall from the tree, so this week I'm going to lead by example. 

I urge you to do the same - question what our media considers 'news' this week.