Welcome back to Flipping the Focus. Leading up to the Mid-Atlantic Conference for Professional Learning, March 13-15, in Atlantic City, this marks the first in a series of posts devoted to pedagogical practices and frameworks that educators can leverage in their collaborative efforts to respectfully and equitably honour student voice. 1. Introduction Imagine a learning environment where students are engaged to interact in profound and meaningful ways. This state of engagement, resulting from the dynamic relationship between challenge and skill development, is called flow (Liljedahl, 2016). |
Having explored a Thinking Classroom, as a part of my own pedagogical practice, transformed both my teaching and student learning.
As you continue with this post, consider framing your thinking against these, sample goals:
- (Teacher-focus) To deepen my understanding of practices that engage students with differences in backgrounds, learning strengths, needs and interests.
- (Leadership-focus) To inform next best moves to supporting the growth of individual and collective teacher learning and practice.
practice, transformed both my teaching and student learning."
This is an active area of research for Dr. Peter Liljedahl (Simon Fraser University, British Columbia).
Thinking classrooms are defined as spaces“...not [only] conducive to thinking but [that] also [occasion] thinking...a space inhabited by thinking individuals as well as individuals thinking collectively, learning together, and constructing knowledge and understanding through activity and discussion” (Liljedahl, 2017).
These types of spaces exhibit 14, important elements. The elements can be thought of as pedagogical strategies--strategies contributing to the ongoing development of teacher and student mindsets of how to navigate guided inquiry in the mathematics classroom.
As teachers and students engage the elements, while negotiating and building mathematical meaning, they are building relationships with one another and a classroom community that honours student voice and empowers students to being agents (or leaders) of their own learning.
The elements are typically spread across 4 stages. Ultimately, teachers will find themselves continuously deepening their practice by flexibly moving within and across the stages over time. Typical day-to-day practice will involve worthwhile tasks, structuring the classroom environment, and formative assessment--that is assessment for learning and assessment as learning.
These activities comprise the first, three stages. The final, fourth stage is characterized by practices that bring both teacher and students closer to an assessment of learning.
Let’s take a closer look at the 4 stages and the elements within them (Fig. 1; right). Stage 1 implementation typically involves the use of worthwhile/rich mathematical tasks, vertical non-permanent surfaces (VNPS; vertical whiteboards), and visibly random groups (VRG). Stage 2 is comprised of giving verbal instructions, de-fronting of the classroom, answering students only with keep-thinking questions, students creating meaningful notes, and building student autonomy.
Stage 3 involves the use of hints and extensions to manage flow (or state of optimal learning), leveling to the bottom, and students completing check your understanding questions. |
- Hints and extensions are provided to maintain students’ engagement to continue thinking.
- Leveling to the bottom represents the selection and sequencing of VNPS work and students’ discussions that are to be featured and collaboratively threaded together by a teacher-facilitated consolidation (or lesson). In this case, the “bottom” is the threshold example at which all students were able to engage in solving the task.
- Following consolidation, students are assigned a few tasks that they can use for self-assessment purposes. During this time, students work independently or in groups--either at VNPSs or on other surfaces (e.g., desks).
- Note that evaluating brings us closer to giving an assessment of a student’s learning.
- When it comes to value, thinking classrooms focus more on process over product and combine both group and individual work.
- As per reporting out on data, the philosophy is to holistically analyze a student’s data--that is, in a dis-aggregated manner. Doing so, as opposed to counting points (or aggregating marks), gives both the student and teacher a better, valid assessment of what the student has learned and next steps for improvement.
In Eastern Ontario, there are a number of educators journeying into building Thinking Classrooms. If we consider a continuum of implementation, some teachers might periodically have students working on tasks in vertical spaces; in others, students might be frequently working and requesting to work in these spaces on a near-daily basis.
Pedagogically-speaking, there is no one way to solve student empowerment challenges; rather, a confluence of approaches and reflection on these approaches with students is required. In a recent conversation I had with educator, Rola Tibshirani (@rolat; Ottawa Catholic School Board, OCSB), providing experiences for and encouraging students into leadership opportunities is related to how well students are able to self-regulate--a Global Competency. Based on the experiences like Erin Doak (@MrsDoaksClass, OCSB) and Jaime Depippo (@MrsDepippo, OCSB), a Thinking Classroom is a vehicle for helping students develop some of these competencies. This requires careful attention to reflecting the competencies through learning goals, co-creating and unpacking success criteria with students, all while managing the elements of this type of learning environment. Ultimately, "[communicating] where a student is and where they are going" (graphic, above), alongside #assessment AS learning, moves student learning forward.
Interview: Q & A
Question 1: How does a thinking classroom in English vary (if it does) relative to one in Mathematics? (I.e., Youʼre currently teaching both subjects in secondary school.)
Answer:
- There is only one difference and that difference is what defines the rich task being put in front of students.
- In Math, we typically assign ‘problems’; whereas in English, we might be more inclined to assign ‘tasks’.
- The essential difference is that rich tasks can touch upon a variety of strands in English and can be completed/stretched over longer periods of time.
- Generally, the task is controversial so that there is no one answer...leaving lots of room for disagreement and defending one’s point of view.
- As per resources of rich tasks, it’s recommended that teachers look to some online communities, like Twitter, to see what’s possible.
- A place to start would be to consider how you’re currently using your resources. If you were to take, for example, a novel study, consider how a shift in your teaching would help you redress your approach to novel study.
- In Math, we typically assign ‘problems’; whereas in English, we might be more inclined to assign ‘tasks’.
How are students responding to this type of learning environment at your school? What have you been noticing over time?
Answer:
- At St Mother Teresa HS, I've had the opportunity to follow a cohort of students from Grade 8 to Grade 10.
- In this time, I've seen the culture of student learning, through Thinking Classrooms, change. Largely, I've seen students developing and expressing Global Competencies, as well as successfully demonstrating more autonomy in their learning. In part, their autonomy is being expressed through the meaningful notes and conversations we're having.
Answer:
- I tie in global competencies through our lessons (e.g., as a part of our learning goals and discussions)
- Students are aware; it’s not the content that's of primary importance, but students will have the habits to help them navigate lifeʼs challenges.
Answer:
- I use a gradual release model with my students in Applied English and Mathematics.
- A template, that provides some constraints--largely, the space provided for creating notes (i.e., not taking notes)--is shared with students towards the end of a period of learning.
- Students are encouraged to take notes when they need to.
- On a day-to-day basis, exit tickets are used to provide students with feedback.
- Using exit tickets allows me to provide suggestions for next steps. Students can map the next steps into the ‘what’ that they could be writing down in their notes.
- Students are not bound to making meaningful notes only at specific times in their learning.
- I accomplish this by spiralling the curriculum. Through interleaving the content, students have multiple opportunities to revisit and bring greater depth and meaning to their notes.
your pedagogical practice?"
As you reflect, how are you seeking to co-create conditions that can give life to equity in the teaching and learning you do with students and your colleagues each and every day?
Might you consider incorporating a Thinking Classroom into your pedagogical practice?
In closing, I can't help but to think of the conversations that can be inspired when we take collective action to improving student learning. As this blog is a means for readers to network and gradually change the context for how they teach and learn, we all benefit by drawing nearer to the perspectives shared here and shared beyond with our professional learning networks.
I am more than happy to collaborate with you and make our learning visible, here, in this blog and across Flipping the Focus' social media platforms, as well as your own. If at any time, you have questions or comments, please feel free to reach out to me at Flipping the Focus.
Sincerely,
Chris Stewart
Education Leader, Flipping the Focus (c) 2019
Global Competencies: An Interview with Rola Tibshirani [Online interview]. (2019, January 21).
Government of Ontario. (2016). EduGAINS: About Innovation in Learning in Ontario. Retrieved
from http://www.edugains.ca/newsite/21stCenturyLearning/about_learning_in_ontario.html
Liljedahl, P. (2017, October 17). Building a Thinking Classroom in Math. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/article/building-thinking-classroom-math
Liljedahl, P. (2016). Flow: A Framework for Discussing Teaching. Proceedings of the 40th Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (Vol. 3, pp. 203-210). Retrieved from http://www.peterliljedahl.com/wp-content/uploads/PME-2016-Flow-and-Teaching-1.pdf
Thinking Classrooms: An Interview with Jaime Depippo [Online interview]. (2019, January 23).