What does it mean to innovate?

Google has opened their Google Innovator Program (formally their Google Teacher Program) and this year they want applicants to think about an Innovation for education. This prompt got me thinking, What does it mean to Innovate?

There are so many innovative people that I have met over my teaching career, from looking at what I admire in them here is what I think about innovation.

An innovator is someone who thinks outside of the box. They are always willing to push the boundaries of education in order to better the profession. An innovator is able to make connections to many varying subject matter. An innovator is energetic, enthusiastic and has a zest for learning. They themselves are as much the learner as the innovator. An innovator is someone who continues to questions and is never satisfied with one answer. They don't just do things because its always been done. An innovator doesn't have to be the loudest person in the room but is someone who let's their voice be heard. They are leaders and teachers.

However, as I am asked to think of an Innovation project I do get stuck. Is my idea good enough? Is it innovative enough? Has it been done before? However, this is the frame of mind that blocks innovation. What I do know though is that not everyone is an innovator but that everyone can be. It takes a special drive to be one but a personality that is in us all.  We all can be an innovator, just have to remember that the most dangerous phrase is that it has always been done this way.

What are you doing to be an innovator? How will you change education? Love to hear your thoughts.

P.S: Some great Innovators to follow are:

Tina Zita

Matthew Oldridge

Starr Sackstien

Brian Aspinall

Rolland Chidiac

Aviva Dunsiger

Michelle Cordy

Sandra Chow

Peter Cameron

Vision of grade 6

So as many of you know I have started a new grade this year, grade 6. It has been fun but also very tiring.

My vision for grade 6 was to have a totally inquiry run program. I wanted my students to be engaged in asking questions and being part of the design of the curriculum.  I was tired of the traditional classroom. Now I am far from being a traditional teacher but was still finding that I have held on to many traditional ways. Even though my practice had a lot of student voice there was room for more. I was tired of assessments not being read or student choice still being directed by me.

Here is my plan:

I started the year by changing the layout of my class. I got rid of traditional desks and opted for tables. I wanted the space to be creative and flow. To give my students the options depending on their needs. Now in no way is this the best situation but it has really opened up the traditional flow of a classroom. 

I also started to do a more circular curriculum. Meaning that I teach a little of the curriculum at a time and keep circling back.  It has allowed me to teach all of the curriculum in one term and making broader connections between strands and subjects. Students see the bigger picture and it has allowed them to make deeper connections.

My Math Plan

I wanted to teach predominately through Inquiry and Project based learning. Now this wasn't a stretch for me as I was doing this already but I really wanted to take this further. I wanted my students to really have direction and choice of where the projects would lead them. Now there is still the curriculum but I have let my students be a part of where they want to take the learning. This is done by setting the learning goals as the big ideas of the curriculum and then letting the students chose the avenue to present their learning. We then have a sharing session so that all of the students can hear what the others have learned.

I also have started many new things this year to incorporate as part of my vision. In other blog posts I have discussed Collaborative Problem Solving approach from Dr.Greene. I decided that part of making my students a part of the classroom was to have them talk as a classroom. We have started community circles to share our problems and frustrations. We then discuss how deal with them. I have noticed a real improvement in their behaviour and how they have matured. At the beginning of the year problems were very juvenile but they now are discussing how to make the classroom better versus who said what in the hall way. 

I have also decided to throw out grades. Now this may seem weird but I have not given a letter grade at all to any of my students all year. Instead I provide feedback that is combined with their own feedback. We talk about what curriculum they have met and how they have met it. This allows them to see what they still have to accomplish and how. At the end we do discuss a final mark for their reports but this is often a collaborative discussion. Again I have seen a dramatic improvement with their work. Probably the biggest strides in learning I have ever seen. Students are more reflective and actual read their comments and compare it to the curriculum.  My new goal is to have them write parts if not all of their reports.

So far all is going to plan. There has been some hiccups along the way but for the most part it has been really amazing. I have seen so much gains both academically and socially. My students have really matured and a lot faster than I have ever see any of the kids in the past.

What has been your vision this year? How is your year going? Any advice? Love to hear your comments.

5 favourite things

This is part of Peel 21st blog hop. The theme of this hop is our five favourite things.

1) Lost at School by Dr.Greene Ross

Though I have had a lot of favourite things this year my top one this year has to be Dr. Green's book, Lost at school. Learning about collaborative problem solving has been revolutionary; not only in my classroom management but with my personal parenting. CPS is an approach to managing all children. It is meant for those special friends we have but to be honest it works for all. Read more about this here.

2) Starr Sackstein: assessment books

If you have not read these books I highly recommend that you do. They discuss her journey as she has thrown out grades. This has been a big journey for me as I have really thought about why we need to have grades? What do they actually tell us? Do they really matter? These are the questions that I have been pursuing this year while I am attempting to not give any grades (except those mandated by the ministry). Check out the various books by Starr. The ones I refer too are: Teaching Students to Self Assess and Hack the Classroom: 10 ways to go gradeless in a traditional classroom.

3) Doctopus and Goobric

I know that many who read this blog or know me, know how much I love google. My main reason that pushes me to use it is the work flow possibilities. Doctopus and goobric allows me to push assignments to my students. It also allows me to differentiate for them by giving certain students one template and others another one. I can also attach this to goobric and give feedback right then and there within the assignments.  For more info click on this presentation I made.

4) Some of my favourite people on Twitter

This wouldn't be a favourite thing post without some amazing people to follow and share with. These people are some of the best educators that I have had the privilege to meet and talk to about everything and anything in education. There are many who I could have put here but these are just a few that I have had the privilege of interacting with. Of course there are also the amazing people in this blog hop who you should follow. All of them are amazing educators.

Matthew Oldridge (@MatthewOldridge)

Brian Aspinall (@MrAspinall)

Aviva Dunsiger (@avivaloca)

Peter Cameron (@cherandpete)

Rolland Chidiac (@Rchids)

Lisa Floyd (@LisaannFloyd)

Michelle Cordy (@cordym)

5) My Favourite Hashtags

Of course adding to following people is following amazing hashtags for learning. Here are a few of my favourite ones

#peelmathchat

#peel21st

#engagemath

#gafesummit

#sharesease

These are just a few of my favourite things. To learn about more please look at the other amazing educators in this blog hop.

Jason Richea

https://flipagram.com/f/h9rpxkqYQh

Heather Lye

http://teachinginspirations.blogspot.ca/2015/12/my-favourite-things-december-bloghop.html

Amit Mehrotra: http://mramitmehrotra.blogspot.ca/

Jason Wigmore:
https://jwigmore.wordpress.com/2015/12/15/a-few-of-my-favourite-things/

Melanie Mulcaster: http://valleyslearningcommons.blogspot.ca/2015/12/five-of-my-favourite-things.html

Jim Cash:
http://makelearn.org/2015/12/15/a-few-of-my-favourite-things/

Tina Zita:
https://misszita.wordpress.com/2015/12/16/peel21st-blog-hop-a-few-of-my-favourite-things/

Maggie Fay:  https://www.dropbox.com/s/vusno76viphg63c/My%20favourite%20things%20post%20%20for%20Peel21st.mov?dl=0

Sapna Gandhi

Matthew Forestieri

Pam Taylor:
http://mindfulauthenticity.blogspot.ca/2015/12/december-peel21st-blog-hop-few-of-my.html?spref=tw

Gina Loutrianakis

Larua Smiley

The power of a debrief

"An activity is just an activity unless you have a debrief!"

This was from a wise colleague of mine and what sparked this post.  I often hear in my many conversations about math that it is all about the kids voice and though I really agree with this statement I also disagree. I disagree because the role of a teacher is even more critical in Inquiry than any other time.

The act of inquiry, though innate in many of us, is not really that natural. Sure we wonder but often it stops at finding answers. We often need guidance to take any of our inquiries further, the same applies to our kids.

For inquiry to have a impact on our students we as teachers need to be planning thoughtful and critical questions to guide them through the learning.  This also includes a thoughtful and engaging debrief or consolidation phase.

This is the most critical part of any lesson. It is where the teacher really shines. Because you have planned and thought through kids learning, development and possible misconceptions you are able to guide the learning that you have seen in the lesson so far.

A debrief can be any length (a lot depends on kids and age). The key though is that as a teachers you are helping kids make connections to the big ideas and thoughts you planned or saw unfold in your lesson.  It is the place where you are purposefully guiding students through their tall and strategies. Students still have a voice but yours is the one that is really speaking.

Here are some of my consolidations.

I know for myself that I can tend to forget to debrief the learning but I have to remember "that an activity is just an activity without a consolidation."

Let me Google that for you

This post has been in the works for quote some time.  In fact it started with a conversation with my good friend Michelle Cordy in China on a high speed train.

We were joking about a tweet on downloading youtube clips on chrome and I tweeted that I found this on google. This was then replied with: did you just let me Google that. My reply was yes.

This is a conversation that we are having more and more as the power of technology grows. Our students have in their hands a whole universe of knowledge and this is just what they are doing. Can you blame them?

However, just googling it is so much more and this was were Michelle ' s and I conversation went. When I google I don't just let the first response dictate the information I use, I don't just keyword something and believe the information, I curate.

The funny thing is curate means to be a priest in charge (a fact I didn't know till today and yes google told me this); however, to:

curate something (especially on the Internet) to collect, select and present information or items such as pictures, video, music, etc. for people to use or enjoy, using your professional or expert knowledge.

When I search for information for friends or myself I use Google but I collect and select carefully. It isn't just any information that I use but ones that I feel are important for my research.

So how does this relate to today's classroom. Lately I have heard a lot of fear that we are raising a society that jusy google and that is not good enough. My fear isn't that I am raising kids who google but that we are raisin kids to memorize and not critically think about the facts they consume.

Information isn't like it was when we were kids, even when our parents were kids. Information is rapidly changing. In my lifetime I have used encyclopedias (book form), to digital Cds, to having it at my finger tips. Information changes so quickly that we have new phones every Six months. The information we are giving our kids will not serve them when they head into the work force. What will is being able to critically think and search for that information.

So I am fine that my students are googling, in fact they should be because my assessment and learning doesn't depend on the facts they find but how they use those facts. Googling is a tool that our kids should learn how to use. They should be curators of data and learn how to search, find, and use the data that is at their finger tips.

What do you think? Love to hear your thoughts.

The Best Learning Moment this Fall: Peel21st Blog hop

I often wonder why I do the things I do? I know it is a question that many of us teachers ask ourselves. We are often in isolation and we often never get to see the same kids twice in a row. Well today was a validation moment.

One of our teachers came told me today that he had was having a discussion with one of my former students about multiplication.

The discussion went something like this:

Teacher: "multiplication is doing repeated addition."

Students: "That is not what, Mr.So told me."

Teacher: "What do you mean?"

Student: "Multiplication is using groups and when you are doing repeated addition you are not unitizing but adding."

This was in a grade 4 classroom and I taught the student in grade 2 when she was starting to learn multiplication. I have always tried my best to show the mathematics in everything that we teach. I know that many students may not get it right then and there but I expose them to language and big ideas as much as possible. For me it will allow students to understand later on as they develop the skills.

Now as I said before I have always wondered if what I do is correct but when I see that my students retain and then prove their thinking based on what I taught two years later, it does make me feel good, as well as, validate how I teach and why.

This is just one small moment this fall. In fact it was quite hard to think of the BEST learning has this year has been a whirlwind of learning but thought this was just one of those stories that make you smile.

What has been your best moment?

This post is one of many that are participating in Peel21st blog hops. If you want to read more check out these amazing

1	Jason Richea	http://beyondangrybirds.blogspot.ca
2	Jonathan So	http://MrSoClassroom.blogspot.ca
3	Amit Mehrotra	http://MrAmitMehrotra.blogspot.ca
4	Tina Zita	http://misszita.wordpress.com
5	Jim Cash	http://makelearn.org
6	Melanie Mulcaster	http://valleyslearningcommons.blogspot.ca/
7	Heather Lye	http://teachinginspirations.blogspot.ca
8	Erica Armstrong	http://www.msarmstrong.ca
9	Matt Fletcher	https://heymrfletcher.wordpress.com/
10	Jason Wigmore	http://jwigmore.wordpress.com
11	Shivonne Lewis-Young	http://slewisyoung.wordpress.com

Are we reluctant to share?

Are we scared to share? Do we often feel like what we have to say isn't worth reading? I know that I do. But we have to remember that what may seem as silly to us is often not for others.

It reminds me of this video that I have seen numerous times: 

I was reminded of this a couple of days ago when I reluctantly posted this post on "What does it mean to be a Teacher?"

I say reluctantly because I wasn't too sure about the topic. I mean I loved the idea, it is why I decided to write but I wasn't too sure if anyone else would have cared, or even wanted to read it. It was more of a reflection or response to the comments I was hearing about our profession of teachers. However, I decided to post and the next day a good colleague David Petro posted my blog on his daily Math Reviews (on a side note if you are not following David or reading his weekly blog you are missing out). The funny thing was my post wasn't even about math but on what it means to be a teacher.  It did comment on teaching being more than telling, which I often think this is the preconceived notion of a teacher and why many think they can do our job but I digress.  The fact was that David saw something in my post and then felt the need to share it. Even though I didn't think that the ideas were decent someone else did. 

To be honest I think that as a profession of teachers we all have amazing ideas and need to share them. We only get better by reflecting and learning from one another. So if you ever feel like your ideas don't matter remember that an idea that may seem trivial to you, may not be for someone else. If you don't share that knowledge or thought than you are depriving the profession of some amazing ideas. 

So I encourage you all as teachers, readers, parents get out and blog, Share your amazing ideas and connect with amazing people. And a big thank you to David for reminding me about this.