In a year of many firsts, both good and bad, the Learning Lab faced a lot of unique challenges. This immersive year-long action-research-based protocol found ways to adjust to remote learning just like the rest of us, but they also found more. The group determined that the pandemic would only make them stronger, and more determined to be there for their students. It’s Learning Lab lessons learned.
In this hourlong livestream, Learning Lab director Bill Rich talks with participants Kyle Chadburn and Sarah Marcus about how they used the Learning Lab experience to help weather an unprecendented storm.
Guests: Kyle Chadburn, Sarah Marcus
Facilitator: Bill Rich
This livestream was presented by the UVM Tarrant Institute for Innovative Education, with support from Susan Hennessey
In the past few months, we’ve been meeting with groups of students from six Vermont schools, asking them about their experience this year. What might next year look like if they had a say? Inspired by the Imagining September Project–the MIT Teaching Systems Lab & Harvard’s Graduate School of Education that gathers student input to imagine what school might be like in September–we set out to conduct our own mini September Project.
We have access to students who are accustomed to talking with their teachers and each other about what’s working and what needs work in their particular setting. As co-facilitators of the Learning Lab–a network of educators conducting classroom research in partnership with their students and each other–we connect educators and students in a community committed to frank conversations that honor, and help improve, teaching and learning now and throughout the school year.
Most recently, we’ve met with students in three contexts:
Has the pandemic caused you to realize that there are parts of school that you were taking for granted that you now have a new appreciation for? What are the parts of school you’ve grown to appreciate?
Are there silver linings to the pandemic, new ways of living and learning in the world that you would like to see continue and evolve next year? What might those parts be?
Looking back over this last year, what are you most proud of?
Single teachers who were curious to learn:
What’s working for you as a learner? What can I do to improve your experience?
Middle School Team & Principal who wanted to know:
What are some of the things that you do in school that you enjoy or that are helpful for you when you’re learning?
With Them
Something unexpected happened with each group we listened to. Toward the end of each conversation, we asked if there was anything else they wanted to share. To our delight, individuals in each group conveyed a deep gratitude for us asking these questions and listening intently to their answers. We’re not talking about a casual end-of-conversation “thanks”, but an effusive outpouring of appreciation. Most importantly, when they learned that we planned on sharing these findings with a wider audience of educators, they were blown away.
We shouldn’t have been so surprised. Throughout the year-long Learning Lab experience, students provide formative feedback to their teachers to help them improve. Some students even join a Site-Based Sounding Board team, who occasionally meet with their teacher to make sense of recent data. We’ve witnessed first-hand the enthusiasm of listened-to learners.
Their enthusiasm, in part, stems from the novelty of the experience. Most students, be they adults or youngsters, are not part of an ongoing conversation with their teacher and their classmates about how things are going and what might make them better. They might be asked to complete an end-of-course evaluation, after the ship has sailed and ended its journey. As John Hattie puts it, “Assessment is something we have done to students rather than with them.”
Their Ideas
Thayer, a student at Orleans Elementary School, puts it a little differently. As educators consider how to move forward next year, he advises that they aim for balance. “Balance is key, a mix of what students want to do and teachers need to do in a great structure fixes problems.”
Our most recent round of conversations with students kept returning to this idea, that there needs to be more give and take for learners to experience the kind of agency that keeps humans engaged. And this affirms one of the most important findings we’ve taken from five years of Learning Lab. Doing assessment to learners, rather than with them, poisons even the most well-designed learning well. But making the shift from doing assessment “to them” to doing assessment “with them” makes a profound, positive impact on learning. Making assessment an ongoing conversation, it turns out, improves the quality of the learning well.
Here are three patterns identified across all of our recent conversations with students:
New appreciations for this thing we call school
One student shared he took for granted “having the ability to go to different places for different classes.” Another surprised himself with an awareness of how much he appreciated being in school 5 days a week. One student shared her appreciation for her teachers’ ability to create engaged and authentic learning experiences despite the constraints. “Our teachers do 3 different things in humanities that teach us real world problems and work toward changing our school’s environment.” While another saw teachers’ supports in a new light. “I appreciate the mini-lesson and the teacher support we have in person.” And some mentioned the collective efforts to keep each other healthy and safe. “People are more considerate and aware about how what they were doing could affect other people.” “Better hygiene!”
Pride in their growth in terms of time management and self direction skills
“I feel like I’ve gotten to figure out what learning environments work best for me, and I’ve gotten better at time management” For some following this thread they pointed to teachers’ efforts to publish work in advance. That made it “easier to catch up on missing school work because everything is available online.” While many of us are zoomed out, some students found technology to be useful. “I like using more technology to do more things. It feels more efficient. Sharing our work visually on the computer has been cool.”
Breaks, breaks, and more breaks
One group all agreed that Brain Breaks were a key to their ability to engage and stay focused. “Brain breaks are very helpful when you want to chill. Or to have some time to breathe without a mask.” “We need more breaks. School limits them now to snack, lunch, and a brain break at end of day.”
How to strike the right balance between on-task time and breaks? One student offered his perception that “school can only do so much in the way you want it to go. It’s a place for learning even though we want breaks some time.” But teachers might consider “a break day every third Friday: with no work. I’m not sure if we are allowed to have no work.” Imagine the informal learning that takes place during these breaks! Time for consolidating learning and engaging in relationship building. We think they’re onto something here.
Courageous Conversations
It can be scary to invite students into an ongoing conversation about how their learning is going and what adjustments we and they can make to make things better. It takes courage to listen and really hear feedback that challenges us to change.
But when we walk this walk with our learners, the journey improves. We are relieved of the crushing load of doing all of the planning, teaching, assessing, and reporting. And students are more engaged and doing more, achieving the kind of balance that Thayer and so many of his peers described.
Learn more about how to make assessment an ongoing conversation. Check out the resources we’ve included below. And if you’re interested in joining a network of educators committed to this approach to teaching and learning, learn more here.
This seven minute mini-lesson/screencast describes the assessment rut we can easily fall into. It offers a few ideas and resources for heading for higher ground.
Assidere/Adsidere
Share with your students the latin derivation for assessment (to sit beside / to sit with in counsel or office). Propose to your learners a plan for moving away from grading / scoring everything. Rather, aim towards an ongoing conversation about what’s working and what needs work–in their work and ours.
Students Own Their Progress – watch 6th grade students track their strengths and challenges as they analyze their own data.
A fantastic resource brought to you by the remarkable Cult of Pedagogy, Jennifer Gonzales’ website. She curates resources that support “crazy good teaching.’
Daniel Pink’s compelling exploration of what motivates humans. The counterintuitive findings explain why a compensation approach to assessment leads to low-level compliance rather than deep engagement.
Drew Kutcher, an art teacher in her first year teaching at Proctor High School has built Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) and mindfulness into her practice. She recognized early on that her 7th grade students were struggling with the transition into the high school. They could benefit with her guidance ways to find calm and stay centered in this tumultuous year.
So, she started building intentional Social Emotional Learning (SEL) mindfulness practices into her classroom routines. And the results spread.
It all started with a curious question
Drew participated in Learning Lab, a year-long networked practicum.
A key component of Learning Lab is forming a compelling inquiry question. A question that feels important to answer in collaboration with students.
From Drew:
“My inquiry question is about mental health and incorporating mental health techniques into my teaching practice. More specifically I’m focusing on how we can stay happy, calm, creative, and connected this year.
I’m feeling good about this question. This is something I care about.
We don’t incorporate enough social emotional learning techniques at the secondary level. I’m happy to see that this is changing but I want to do my part to put that at the forefront of my practice, especially this year.
Currently I’m working with my 7th grade class to try out different techniques with them. Mondays are spent practicing mindfulness deliberately for the first 10 minutes of class.”
“We have done different writing prompts, I have sent out google forms, and also asked them to make different drawings related to their emotions. The data I have collected derives from those exercises.”
What do we mean when we talk about social emotional learning?
Drew drew upon CASEL’s definition of social emotional learning to inform her work:
“Social and emotional learning (SEL) is the process through which children and adults acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.” –CASEL
Students at the center
“A huge bright spot for me is that as a group we have come together to support each other with any anxieties we are feeling or troubles we are having in our daily lives. One of my students runs a ‘mental check’ every day (this was her idea) where she asks questions at the beginning of class like:
Are you feeling nervous or anxious today?
Have you told someone you loved them today?
Have you drank water?
Did you eat breakfast?
This is something that happened naturally.
But now if she forgets to do it the other students are like :
“Hey what about the mental check-in?”
I think they look forward to it now which is great!
Plus, I always participate myself because I like to be open with them about my own emotions and how I process things. It’s important to model a healthy relationship with your emotions for the kids.”
From classroom practice to school-wide impact
Drew was concerned. Her social emotional focus was working. Yet it was still separate from the art projects themselves, and she wanted to tie the two together.
But as she worked on that, word spread.
Drew’s administration was eager to learn more and asked Drew to present her work at a faculty meeting recognizing teachers’ social emotional needs as well as outcomes from her own practice and results from a school-wide student survey.
Next steps to keep up the momentum
Drew shared some classroom activities to encourage other Proctor educators to continue focusing on social emotional learning:
In addition, she joined her district’s recovery team with a focus on social emotional learning:
“I am now working to implement a summer program that combines art making with a focus on mental and physical wellness that is a part of our district recovery plan. I am also on the district task force for SEL Recovery and have made several surveys that have gone out to all of the middle school students in the district as well as all of the parents in the district for data collection so that we can get feedback from our communities on what they need in terms of SEL recovery. The SEL committee which consists of myself plus a few other staff at Proctor have created SEL focused programming for the whole school, we are hoping to really ramp up our programming for next year but we are starting small this year with just Mindfulness Monday’s.”
“All of these things started with Learning Lab, I had an interest in mental wellness before but participating in Learning Lab gave me the space to fully explore this interest and bounce ideas off of other more experienced teachers and I think it has really helped me grow as a person and a teacher. I don’t think I would have taken on the leadership roles that I have if I hadn’t participated in LL.”
What can you do?
How can you incorporate SEL into your daily curriculum and lesson planning? What did other teachers in your school district do to meet the social emotional needs of their students and colleagues this year?
And more than that:
Are you interested in getting support pursuing a yearlong action research project with your practice? Interested in joining a network of like-minded educators committed to participatory action research? Now accepting applications for the 2021-2022 Learning Lab cohort.
Deirdre Beaupre, a 7th grade math teacher at Lamoille Union Middle School took a deep dive into proficiency work. And she invited her students to join her along the journey. Deirdre participated in Learning Lab VT last year to explore how best to change her practice in a proficiency-based and personalized learning environment. How to change assessment and grading practices?
As an instructional coach, I want to push myself on the fact that I rarely take the time to celebrate “bright spots”. I’m definitely the type that can find a flaw in the midst of the brightest 10 carat diamond and once I see it my eyes and attention are stuck. So this post is all about celebration!
And at it’s core is a project that we built from the ground up. In collaboration with our CCS 5th grade humanities teacher extraordinaire Katie Fraser.
As a fan of lists, I went to bed Monday night mulling over my top 10 list of why snow days and school closings are a miraculous gift (to most of us)! High on the list is negotiating with my 17-year-old daughters on times to wake them. Glad to say option three worked for all of us Tuesday: no need to wake anyone. And yes, sleeping in made it pretty high on my top ten list.
#2. Talking with my 17-year-old daughters
#3. Sleeping in (after talking with my daughters)
#4. Writing blogposts
#5. Thinking about inquiry questions for action research
When educators apply for Learning Lab VT, they identify the most pressing question on their minds about best ways to implement personalized and proficiency-based learning. The one they’d like to spend a full year answering with their students
An inquiry question forms the backbone of action research in the classroom. It guides the full shape of the research to come, and forms a foundation for the educator and students to build ongoing research. Learning Lab VT is a program with action research at its heart — action research being performed daily, and with the help of visiting educators and students.
#6. Planning my next visit to a Learning Lab VT site
How inquiry questions work in Learning Lab VT
Learning Lab VT is a statewide learning community of educators curious about personalized learning. Participating Vermont educators and leaders open their classrooms and schools to those interested in seeing what’s working when implementing personalized learning. They spend a full year pursuing an action research project, and meeting at intervals — both online and in-person. They commit to performing their action research with an open door for visitors and with complete transparency to their students. So choosing a powerful inquiry question is key.
#7. Reflecting my own inquiry question as one of the coordinators of Learning Lab VT
When educators apply for Learning Lab VT, they identify the most pressing question on their minds about best ways to implement personalized and proficiency-based learning. The one they’d like to spend a full year answering with their students related to the Learning Lab’s program questions:
Why personalization?
What, exactly, are teachers and students doing in settings that are becoming increasingly personalized? And to what end?
How might our findings be helpful to each other, our colleagues, and the field of education in general?
Learning Lab VT 3.0 questions
“How can students drive the learning in the classroom, in a way that is equitable to all learners? How does the democratic curriculum process work, and what level of release does it take?” — Robin Bebo-Long
“How can we empower student voice and facilitate student-centered learning while exploring themes of social justice and equity?” —Andrea Gratton & Kyle Chadburn
“How can goal setting happen in a way that inspires students and helps them own their learning?” — Cassie Santo
“How can a student-negotiated curriculum model provide the opportunity for personalization for students at all levels and allow them to take ownership over their own learning?” — Evy Gray
“How can a project based unit designed to address the UN Sustainable Development Goals foster student engagement and increase personalization for students?” — Amanda Laberge & Kevin Pioli-Hunt
“How does personalization and project based learning help children connect and engage in their local community?” —Chrissy Park
#8. Curling up on my couch just enjoying the company of my cats.
#9. Making hot toddies
What’s your inquiry question? What question have you been exploring in your classroom this year?
And what’s your top 10 ways to spend a snow day? Let us know in the comments below.
#10. Being grateful for the #vted community of learners and educators.
Now that you understand the why of proficiency-based and personalized learning, are you ready to see the how? Learning Lab VT throws open the doors of classrooms around Vermont, so you and other educators like you can see personalized learning in action, up close and personal. Your hosts are educators just like you, who, along with their students, are willing to model how they’re trying to get personalized learning right. And visits for the 2019-2020 season are now open!
Here’s a quick reminder of my focus question for this year’s Learning Lab:
How can social justice be a lens for personalized, student-designed curriculum?
Here’s how — at this moment anyway — I would adjust the wording of my focus question:
How can students use social justice as a lens for designing curriculum?
This is nit-picky, but having the word “personalized” is redundant in this context. Anyone who’s worked with students to design curriculum knows that there are myriad layers of personalization when it’s students who are steering the ship.
Not-shockingly, students working at the curriculum design table use their own experience and perspective to develop activities and outcomes that lean into creativity, flexibility, and exploration. You know, the things represented by this idea of teachers providing student voice and choice in learning. They want want to build, dig into projects, and work toward complicated solutions, rather than monochromatic, binary finish lines.
And it makes things so darn fun for everyone involved.
It took some time to find an on-ramp for bringing social justice to the design table with students. I’d broached the subject a few times early in the year, but we collectively decided that looking at issues within our community (that of Shelburne, or Vermont in general) seemed like a great time to get started with using social justice as our lens. This brought us to the unit we’re currently wrapping up, the one I’ve very generically been referring to as our “Community” unit.
Here’s a broad overview:
Our original goal was to engage 8th grade students by digging into issues within our community connected to social justice. While doing so, we’ve been simultaneously working to connect and collaborate with the Science Leadership Academy Middle School (SLAMS), a pilot school in inner-city Philadelphia. After meeting the entire faculty at this past June’s Middle Grades Institute, a connection with one of their teachers, Hilary Hamilton, sparked an idea. First, have our students explore issues within their respective communities. From there, connect our students with a goal for them to determine what defines both the similarities and differences of our communities.
Cool stuff. And we’re off and running.
Not only that, but it was a crew of 8th grade student leaders — all of them members our twice-weekly student planning committee (SPC) — that just brought the house down at the Middle Grades Conference on Saturday, January 12th. Included is the Slides presentation that they used (yes “they”; I would estimate that in our 25 minute presentation I probably spoke for about six minutes total), as well as some Twitter hype from the day.
What are the bright spots?
The biggest thing I’ve been really happy about is the fact that our work regarding social justice — something that is of course relevant but can also be uncomfortable and is far-too-often underrepresented in curriculum — has felt meaningful to students.
I think this is largely due to the amount of choice and freedom to explore issues we’ve provided. But one of my biggest worries going into this year was that any content connected to social justice (in particular, topics centered on injustices or inequalities regarding race, gender, sexuality, etc.) would feel “preachy”, handed-down, or like a teacher mandate. Per student feedback, it hasn’t. Awesome.
It builds on the work, and allows for a second year, of a former student — Heidi — to come into the classroom and teach. This also paired beautifully with students using “social identifiers/identities” and breaking down what they mean, whether they’re “fixed or fluid”, and which lead to privilege, discrimination or both.
To wrap this up, students then applied each of the social identifiers to their own lives.
Difficult work, and sometimes with unexpected results. A great example: most middle level students have little to no clue what their socioeconomic status would be considered. This leads to really interesting conversations about their role as household dependents while moving closer and closer toward independent adulthood. Love it.
Another fun and originally unplanned activity involved a movie.
After using a short clip from the film Crazy Rich Asians as a conversation-starter for social identities, students were really interested in watching the rest of the movie. We ended up doing so, but with a bonus task. Students were challenged to use “Social Identifiers Bingo” to match when particular social identifiers showed up in the film. It was a small, but engaging activity that, I think, ultimately enriched the viewing experience. It’s also a really funny and largely poignant movie. Well worth a watch.
Finally, I’m really excited about the project that students are currently engaged in. Using the Design-Thinking framework as a “playlist”, each student group (formed by students filling out an inventory on social identifiers they’re interested in pursuing), students are working on tangible products.
These products must work as a response to a driving question that, in the “Define” stage of Design-Thinking, students crafted to capture an issue within our community. The learning has been project-driven and hands-on. For the past two weeks I’ve done very little “teaching”, but have instead been roving between groups working to put out fires while asking questions to spark creative thinking or problem solving.
So fun. My favorite type of work as an educator.
What are the belly flops?
I like wrapping up this blog post with a focus on the not-so-great. I recently had the chance to read Daniel Coyle’s The Culture Code(shout-out to Bill Rich and Jeanie Phillips for their deep discussion via podcast on the book). In it, one section centers on the nearly incomprehensible success of NBA coach Gregg Popovich.
One thing I was struck by was the description of how he gives feedback to his players. Before, during, and directly after games the feedback he provides is all positive; celebrating and reinforcing the good. It’s not until later, in one-on-one discussions, after he’s confirmed with a player that they are ready for dissecting the not-good, does he go into constructive criticism.
I love the idea.
Coyle explains how it goes along with why the “sandwich feedback” format isn’t the most effective way to deliver constructive criticism. To have meaningful advice about means of improvement surrounded by praise leaves the recipient with a confusing takeaway. Rather, crush the positives regularly, and when it’s the appropriate time for both members of the discussion, dissect the negatives.
Also worth noting: this section of The Culture Code also highlights that, at times, Popovich has been cited for giving very direct, unvarnished feedback to players. Some might call it intense. However, this in-your-face feedback is also a product of the relationship-building that Popovich values and cultivates with his players. It may be raw, but it’s built on honesty and trust.
Love it. So here are my negatives. My belly flops.
Represented as a simple, bulleted list:
Figuring out when to present social justice to the student planning committee. I broached the subject a few times early in the year and it wasn’t well received. In hindsight, I’m okay with that because this unit on community has clearly been an effective on-ramp for using social justice as a curricular design lens;
Realizing that the “Social Justice Framework” I’d created during the summer is pretty obsolete and limited in focus;
The way we included our transferable skills during phase 1 of this unit (the research and conceptual phase) was pretty convoluted in nature;
Even the process of students getting their independent work in and providing feedback in a timely fashion was pretty ineffective (one of the challenges of a full 6-8th grade unit; we’d suddenly have 80 sets of notes to try and provide feedback on…);
Group/project burn-out. We’re feeling it a bit, which is typical for a longer-termed project. Always something we’re trying to improve on; how do you balance engagement, collaboration, timeliness, and deadlines to keep group members focused, civil, and optimistic?
Where are we going?
I’ll turn to the Slides presentation from the Middle Grades Conference one last time for a glimpse at where we’re going. I think this “Road Ahead…” slide captures what we’re thinking and where we’re hoping to go:
One final note: as I worked with the student presenters for some final tune-up prepping, they saw this slide and we started talking about where we’re going with our curriculum. It was a brief chat, but meaningful. It was only five students, but they represented an array of ideas, hopes, and means of creating engaging and enriching curriculum. I wrote down as much as I could, knowing that we’d continue the discussion with the rest of the SPC this week.
That quick chat where the students showed such strong agency and ownership of the learning process was a microcosm; one representing not just the power, but the necessity to always have students at the table for curriculum design.
Something that will, indeed, be firmly in place as we continue to move ahead.
When educators sign up to host Learning Lab visits, this necessarily involves and impacts their students. We all want Vermont’s students to have and use their voices, and we hope that open classrooms give students more audience for those voices. You well know how much you depend on feedback from your own students to gauge the effectiveness of personalized learning. Now imagine how much more you could learn from hearing from other students.
Melissa Williams, a Learning Lab VT host from Crossett Brook, visited Orleans Middle School and had a chance to hear from middle school students there.
Students as hosts
When you arrive at a Learning Lab VT host school, prepare to meet not just amazing educators, but capable, on-point students, ready to share. As part of their prep, Learning Lab VT hosts work with their students and students’ families, to ensure visitors are a welcome addition to the classroom, not an interruption.
Possible other roles students may play include:
Feedback Providers & Problem Solvers: serve as asounding board as teams work together to make sense of the inquiry question findings
Moderators: help facilitate discussions with peers about how things are going / what could work better.
Archivists: Take pictures, shoot video, and document the story of the Learning Lab progress
Students as embedded journalists
Marley Evans teaches 7th & 8th grade humanities at Charlotte Central School, in Charlotte VT. As part of her inquiry with the Learning Lab, she wants visitors to be blunt. She wants them to watch her students at work.
And Marley wants her students to provide feedback to her about their learning. She intentionally designs more choice in her humanities classroom. Students are jazzed about getting a say in what they learn and how they spend their time each week. And Marley is keen on learning from them to adjust her practice.
Visitors to Marley’s classroom are welcome throughout the week (book a visit online, please, be kind) but Friday afternoon visitors can spend time with students working on their Personal Interest projects.
Students continuing the work of Learning Lab VT
At each site, students take part in Learning Lab VT even while you’re not there. We know! It seems impossible, yet here we are.
Heidi Ringer, a 6th grade teacher at Warren Elementary School, Warren VT convenes her Learning Lab Site-Based Team every Tuesday at lunch. The group provides on-going feedback about their project based learning in an effort to make it more “kid-led.” Schedule a visit to learn more about their progress in personalizing project-based learning.
Proctor Elementary School teachers Corey Smith and Courtney Elliot share these Site-Based Team Learning Lab Roles with their 3rd and 4th grade students.
Engage all stakeholders
We believe a central tenet of personalized learning is engaging all stakeholders in co-construction of the learning environment. Zmuda and Kallick in The Four Personalized Learning Attributes speak to this:
Students have grown accustomed to being told what to do; what to read, what to think, etc. In personalized learning, every student is seen as a respected and valued participant. Empowerment comes from an environment in which students recognize the power of their own ideas and recognize the shift that can happen by being exposed to others’ ideas.
So grab a group of colleagues, and perhaps some of your own students, and hit the road. Powerful learning is happening all over Vermont. Join a Learning Lab VT team and explore the bright spots and belly flops of personalized learning in action.
How else could you envision students sharing personalized learning in action?
Without question a big #highfive goes out to the opening of classroom and school doors through visiting other schools and having other schools visit Crossett Brook and Team Quest. Professional isolation in the education profession is real and is really limiting, and having a system in place to visit and be visited is great.
Another offshoot #highfive goes out to the thinking that has come from these visits, along with the brainstorming from readings/videos/conversations.
“What is truly the best environment for learning?”
remains an unanswered question since the first public school opened in 1635. …384 years! For me, that is both a big point of frustration and a major motivator.
Maybe we can be the ones to figure it out!
Towards that end, I would apply a big ‘ole #bellyflop to being further along in answering that question of the best learning environment.
Personalization and student-centered is what I have been most focused on, and Team Quest is forging ahead in shaping this environment with their 45 sixth graders. The environment in their classrooms is alive and vibrant in so many ways.
But can I say with conviction that this is the “best environment for learning”, and that all classrooms should look like those on Team Quest? I cannot as of now, and that remains a point of frustration for me.
Ever wonder whether you’re really up to the task of meeting your learners’ needs? We have.
Our learners — Vermont middle and high school educators — are in the midst of a monumental transition that, done well, will ensure that Vermont’s public schools deliver on their mission of excellence and equity for all our learners. (No pressure.)
The change is complex; the climb steep. The realization a few years ago that we might be stumbling at our jobs — making sure educators have the support they need to meet the challenges they face — made us wonder. What kind of professional learning experience could prepare educators to meet the expectations of Vermont’s Act 77 and the Education Quality Standards? What would it look like, and how would it work?
The Dream
Right away we knew the experience would have to model the very principles and practices Vermont educators are being expected to apply with their learners. With that in mind:
We wanted Learning Lab VT to be:
Personalized. To meet the specific needs of each and every educator.
Proficiency-based. To ensure all educators practice and develop the fundamental skills and mindsets expected of them.
A trusting learning community. Inspiring educators to open their classrooms, minds, and hearts to each other.
Blended. With just the right mix of in-person and asynchronous learning opportunities so teachers can work at times and places of their choosing.
Student-centered. Placing our educators’ students’ learning at the center of the experience, inviting them to take on a vital part of the experience.
Contributing. To systemic capacity building underway in our schools and across all of Vermont.
A few years later (and a few hairs grayer), Learning Lab VT is our very best attempt to design and implement the opportunity we imagined. The results? Have exceeded our wildest dreams.
The Design
Learning Lab VT is a year-long experience that provides a cohort of educators support to partner with their students and each other. Together, they conduct and share action research answering the questions: What is personalization? What, exactly, are teachers and students doing in settings that are becoming increasingly personalized? What are the best ways to develop systemic capacity to get personalization right?
Learning Lab VT is:
Personalized to meet the specific needs of each and every educator. Educators identify and pursue their own inquiry questions.
Proficiency-based to ensure all educators practice and develop the fundamental mindsets and skills of student-centered learning. Educators use our learning scales to guide and track their learning.
Committed to a creating a trusting learning community so educators are game for opening their classrooms, minds, and hearts to each other and their students. Educators use a variety of technology (Flipgrid, Slack, Google Hangouts, website, blogs) to get to know each other and publish their inquiry questions and request and make visits to each other’s classrooms. Blended with the just-right mix of in-person and asynchronous learning opportunities so teachers can work at times and places that work for them. This scope and sequence gives a good sense of the rhythm of the year and how we work when we’re together and apart.
Involve our educators’ students so they have a seat at the table.Each educator establishes a site-based Learning Lab team of students who play a range of roles.
Connected with and contributing to the systemic capacity building underway across all our schools and the state of Vermont. All of our learners make Bright Spots & Belly Flops blogposts to formatively tell the story of their findings, and all of our learners choose contribute to systemic capacity from our Choice Board
Learning Lab VT educators are:
Noah Hurlburt, Rutland Town School. Exploring digital badges!
Melissa Rice, Bennington-Rutland Supervisory Union. How can personalizing teacher PD help teachers personalize learning for students?
Charlie Herzog, Flood Brook School. Studying how students talk about their experiences with project-based learning.
Jon Brown, Lamoille Union Middle School. “Can project-based math yield the results we we want to see on testing?”
Jen Roth, Charlotte Central School. Exploring the power of principals to effect personalized learning at the school level.
(l to r): Deirdre Beaupre, Heidi Ringer, and Kyle Chadburn & Andrea Gratton. All are current Learning Lab hosts, with visits to their classrooms available.
The Now
Now, it’s about YOU. We want you to become part of Learning Lab VT. And here’s how.
And those educators want to show you what they’re up to. Face-to-face, and in person. We invite you to spend some time getting to know these remarkable Vermont educators, through their inquiry questions. Through their reflection videos and blogposts. Look at the places their work overlaps with — or inspires — yours. Then book a visit to their classroom.
We’re super excited for the work ahead. We’re finding our stride — though we’ve been reminded just how hard it is to teach well. We’re inspired by the courageous educators with whom we work. Educators who graciously open their classrooms to the world and, along with their students, who continue to share their stories in ways that remind us that all of us do better in places that where we belong and contribute.
I am a stickler for a plan. Type A. Enneagram Type 3. Call it what you will. My closet is color-coded and sleeve-organized. I leave the house every morning with beds made and dishes washed. I never get behind on laundry.
My son blames all of this on my birthplace. “Oh, mom,” he whines, “You just think you have to always do the right thing because you are southern.” And while he is partly right, some of it is just how I was born. I like order, not chaos. I like rules; they make me feel safe.
If I’m honest, I really just want my classroom to look like my closet or my bookshelves. I want everything where it should be, every student at their desk, no loud noises, every surface clean and organized. Does classroom disorder spark joy? Nope…throw it out! But, at the same time, I want to be a good teacher, responsive to student needs, on top of current research about what works best in the classroom. I want to say yes, when I can and as often as I can.
And to top it all off, I can be hyper-sensitive to teachers around me. Are they judging me because students are silent reading on a couch? What do they think about the volume in my classroom. And will I get in trouble for letting kids use their phones to listen to music in class?
How do I do all of this without needing anti-anxiety meds?
My overarching question this year is about personalization.
The Personal Interest Projects (or PIP’s) that we started last year ARE engaging students. I just gave a survey late this fall, and almost ¾ of students are enjoying PIP’s. Students are enjoying getting a say in what they learn and how they spend their time each week
This year, my fellow teachers even immediately suggested putting aside time specifically for PIP’s! So now that I’m getting favorable results and seeing teacher buy-in, I’m turning my attention to other aspects of my teaching. When the Learning Lab first met together in August, I was blown away by what other teachers were doing, how they were working personalization into not just a separate time but their everyday classroom time. I then refined my inquiry question, asking, “How can I give students a completely independent learning experience through PIP’s and then have students use those same skills to give them personalized learning in the humanities classroom?”
To think about it in another way, where can I say yes?
Where can I take away some pre existing boundaries or rules in order to allow students to have choice and hopefully be more engaged?
I started with silent reading time. I received a PTO grant to buy new books and some camp chairs, so students could spread out with choice books. I have let students listen to music on their phones while they read. Overall, it’s going well. My students beg for silent reading, because it’s a cozy time, a normal routine. The music helps them focus, and students love getting that privilege and choice. I’ve even allowed students to start listening to music and spreading out while they work on writing as well.
Just this week, a student who cried last year during silent reading time (because she “hated reading”) came into my room, beaming, because she had just finished a book on her own! Another student can’t stop reading books I recommend…he’s tearing through them!
So basically, it’s all a bright spot.
Oh but wait, then my kids started Snapchatting during silent reading. That’s right…BELLY FLOP TIME!
Listen, if you already feel like you are fighting an uphill battle letting students listen to their own music in your room, if you already feel like you are having to defend your teaching choices to your teammates, then throwing the social-media-use-in-school-monkey-wrench into the mix does not help your morale or your case.
Honestly, at first I was mad. I wanted to just cry, “Uncle,” wave the right flag, never allow phones or music in my classroom. You can’t resist snapchat during silent reading? Fine, then you’re stuck with my late 90’s, early 2000’s indie music mix!
But, no, I quickly reminded myself. This school year is the year of Yes. It’s the year of me letting go of rules that serve no purpose, choosing student’s engagement and voice over my own OCD comfort.
And so the phones stay. And the music stays. I remind myself of the Developmental Design strategy, “Assume nothing, teach everything,” and go over phone and music expectations. I reiterate the expectations every class. I take away the use of phones and music from students that aren’t following the rules.
Students in Courtney Elliott’s class work on a Mystery Skype with a class in Wisconsin to demonstrate communication skills and content knowledge of the U.S regions.
Inquiry question about personalized learning: How might personalization through self-reflection, self-assessment, and flexible grouping and scheduling across grades 3 and 4 at Proctor Elementary School positively impact student engagement and achievement?
Bright Spot: Some days I feel like I am a rock star educator; other days I feel like a complete mess. And through this journey I am learning that it is not only possible but okay to be both.
This journey over the last three years to a student-centered, fully differentiated classroom has been quite the ride. It started with project based learning and a creative group of 4th and 5th graders and has led to here, where we are now with a group of fourth graders who are learning so many life skills through this model.
This leads us to the bright spots… those days when I feel like a rockstar educator. These moments come from my students and their ability to work in ways that I could never have dreamed of when they first walked through that fourth grade door in September. This year we have focused on helping our third and fourth graders to make choices about what they need to be successful in their learning through helping them to evaluate where they are and what they need.
This model ties in well with the idea of universal design: the idea that all children can be successful in the general education classroom by providing access points for every child’s entry into the grade level curriculum no matter where they are. Simply stated, meeting each child where he or she is at this point in their learning.
Last year, my class was visited by representatives from an inclusive classroom program. Turns out we were selected with two other schools in Vermont to serve as an inclusion model. This fall, my classroom was chosen as a model for inclusive design. This has been my passion since I started teaching and this was a bright spot in my journey. That this student-centered model, where third and fourth grade share students based on need and proficiency skills, has helped to foster and create an inclusive classroom for all students.
Belly Flop: Now for that belly flop or that dilemma that I feel like I am facing moving forward…those days I feel like a hot mess educator. Those days I go home wondering if in the long run I am failing my students.
What happens when eventually these students are placed in classrooms that fit the more traditional boxes?
What happens when the only access point for them in the classroom is a one size fits all curriculum for all students?
I worry about if what I am doing is best preparing my students. I worry that if having them work at their own level at the skill and not teaching to a program will hurt them in the long run. For example, will allowing students to make choices to guide their own learning affect them in a traditional classroom setting because they will not be able to be at their pace?Yes, on their benchmark assessments they may move from a first grade math level to a third grade math level but what happens when they are expected to complete a fifth grade math curriculum? I worry about if by allowing them to make choices in the classroom based on need they are not learning what they will need to prepare for future endeavors in education.
So in conclusion, I feel like I am in a place of limbo with my classroom environment and pedagogy. I know in my heart that this learning is right for my kids. I see the progress in the benchmark data and their joy and engagement with learning on a daily basis. For example, Corey and I have had several conversations with students around their learning and what helps them learn best.
The data collected from these meetings or check ins is that they enjoy choice and setting goals. They feel comfortable working at their own pace and seeing where they are in their learning of the skill through the use of checklists and rubrics. They like to feel empowered and like they are in charge.
Corey and I hope to create a student engagement survey after break to further highlight what the students have said in these classroom discussions. Still, I have those days where I just wonder that once they leave my classroom and continue on their educational journey that I have made the road harder for them in some way. It’s a lot to think about, but aIl I know is my heart tells me that I am doing the right thing. I just need to remember that.
Inquiry Question:How might personalization through self-reflection, self-assessment, and flexible grouping and scheduling across grades 3 and 4 at Proctor Elementary School positively impact student engagement and achievement?
After our overnight retreat with my Learning Lab colleagues and some discussion about the fear of sharing our work when it doesn’t produce the results we hoped for, I did a lot of reflecting. I started thinking about my own practice with my students and how I spend the first six weeks the whole year preaching to them about growth mindset. I started wondering, how many of us talk to our students, or dare I suggest lecture them, on the importance of those moments of mistake or failure? How many of use make sure our students know that without those mistakes, learning would never happen? How many of us ask our students to share with the class the mistakes they have made because those mistakes are so incredibly awesome that the entire class benefits from them?
If you are anything like me, you are excitedly waving your hand in the air, perhaps bouncing out of your seat because you do all of that and perhaps more. Why do we do this? Because our students’ mistakes are often the most important part of their learning. Mistakes in my classroom are what run our lessons and drive conversations and collaboration. Now, how many of us, as educators, put our mistakes out there for other educators to learn from? If you are anything like me, you have quickly put your hand down and are avoiding any and all eye contact with other people.
I think the consensus around the school building is that I have it all figured out. From the outside looking in, my classroom looks great. I am constantly researching and finding new ideas and my students are always willing to jump in and try it out. I get to go to some great conferences that focus on all those buzzwords in education right now. I am presenting at district in-services and conferences around the state with my amazing 4th grade partner. Like I said, it looks great.
The reality is much different, though not a bad different. It takes an incredible amount of work for it to look like my students and I have it all figured out. The truth is, I have failed so many times in what I have done before I have found one thing that works. And sometimes, it never works. So why do my colleagues have this false picture of what goes on in my room? I think the answer is because I, like all of us, want to put my best work out there for the world to see. I want people to see my successes, my breakthroughs, my ‘aha’ moments.
I don’t fully put myself out there, but I think that needs to change. The world needs to see the messy, the oops moments, the moment I have my head in my hands wondering where it all went wrong because it happens. Boy, does it happen.
Belly FlopsEpic Fails
We call them epic fails in 3rd and 4th grade. Why? Because our failures are what drive our learning. Learning can’t happen without them. And of course, any time you decide something is epic, it is just that much more awesome and important. I want my students to know that their failures are something to be proud of because they will learn from them.
I changed the setup to my Ss self assessment and self reflection rubric in math thinking it would be easier for them and make more sense. It just confused them and I had to tell them where to place themselves on the rubric #bellyflopfriday
My journey of student-centered learning and personalization started last year before I joined Learning Lab. Throughout this journey, I have epically failed so many times, I can’t count. It would not be uncommon for you to walk into my classroom and find my class sitting in a circle problem solving where we went wrong. I will tell you though, that 3rd graders are incredible problem solvers and our epic fails usually lead to some sort of amazing breakthrough.
My goal this year has been to create a system that allows my students to self assess, self reflect, and then drive their instruction through Choice Menus based on their assessment and reflection. The problem is that 3rd graders don’t know how to reflect. No problem. I created incredibly clear and specific rubrics for them to use while reflecting on their assessments. Most of the students are able to successfully use the rubrics, but when it comes time to choose their level of learning for their Choice Menu, they have no idea if they are a Seeker (beginning), Explorer (approaching), Trailblazer (meeting), or Guide (exceeding).
There seems to be this disconnect between assessments, reflection, and driving their learning. I have wondered if I am expecting too much of them. They are 3rd graders after all and I am expecting them to do what middle school teachers expect?
3rd grade student completing a self assessment on multi-digit addition.
Bright Spots
I decided that I was not expecting too much of my students. They are 3rd graders after all and they are capable of so many incredible things.
The first half of the year was spent trying to figure out where I went wrong with the assessments, the reflections, and the Choice Boards. And okay, it turns out I was expecting too much of them because I expected them to fill out their self reflection and REMEMBER from day to day what level they were performing at. Honestly, I am not sure I could remember if I was in their shoes.
I needed to find a way to help them connect their assessments and reflections to the actual work that they needed to do to progress through their learning. It turns out that the solution was simple. I created badges for my students, tangible badges that they could proudly display and remind them of where they are working.
Seeker (beginning) badge that students can attach to their pencil pouch so they know what they should be working to accomplish.
This has probably been the most positive and engaging thing I have introduced to my students this year. They are excited about the badges. When working on rounding skills, students were on task during independent time because they wanted to trade their Seeker badge in for an Explorer badge. Students were starting to request assessments more frequently and their self reflections were an accurate representation of where they were working. One small success but it feels momentous.
Epic Fails
My first attempt at a self assessment and self reflection rubric. It needed a bit of work!
Back to the failures. One small success does not mean the year is over and I am done. So where to now? While the badging is a great way to help students connect assessments, reflection, and independent work, I cannot keep up with them. Creating this system for rounding was easy because it is a small concept in a year where so much is expected of them. I worry that I will not be able to keep up the pace of creating enough assessments for them to continually check their learning. I worry that I will not be able to find enough resources for the Choice Menus to allow them to be independent. I worry that because I am creating such a tailored experience for them, that I am not covering all the material presented in the canned program that we use, and it will affect them in the long run, especially as they get ready to take SBACs for the first time.
I also feel like I am at a stand still with our Learning Lab team. We were all gungho at the start of the year but it has since died down. Our students are not engaged in what we are doing and that bothers me. I am hoping that after the winter break, Courtney and I will be able to sit down and redesign our Tuesday lunches with our Learning Lab team and involve the students more.
Bright spots, belly flops, epic fails. Regardless of which category my work has fallen into this year, it has been beneficial for both myself and my students. I am excited to see where the year goes from here.
To be honest, there has been an even split of successes and failures to date. Let’s take a look shall we?
So, reflection time. Trying to avoid the TLDR (too long, didn’t read) moment, sooooo, to change it up a little, I’ll let the images set the stage.
I had an idea! Digital Badging for Transferable Skills! You know, microcredentialing similar to IBM, Microsoft, Harvard, Northwestern, NC State, and numerous other businesses.
The reaction and agency I was hoping for.
What actually happened.
Bright spots:
I tend to be pretty ambitious when it comes to matters of education and student success, so I knew that systemic change would not be overnight. With that understanding, I let my advisory take the lead.
They helped brainstorm and design where and how transferable skills may be identified.
Each worked on classroom visuals and provided feedback on the application process.
We had 100 percent advisory participation for at least two badges incorporated into Personalized Learning Plans for the Fall Student Led Conferences.
Two students have earned Summit Badges for earning every badge in a category. (Ex. Collaboration has four sub badges. Once each has been applied for and granted, a summit badge is earned.) Two of my students can also now review applications and hand out badges to students in their Summit Category.
We still continue, as an advisory, to take at least one day a week to apply for badges, talk about progress, and identify ways in which they show transferable skills. Often, recognition is the difficult part.
Now for the flops.
Lack of team buy-in has been the most frustrating part of this project. Each meeting includes a lot of “Good idea.” and “Oh cool.” followed by a retreat to their rooms to continue business as usual. I understand that this is not their idea, not their project. As my Dad would say “Not my circus. Not my monkey.”
Understandably, educators have plenty to do on a daily basis, but we are required to assess transferable skills for lessons and unit of study anyway. So, I did not feel that asking team members to speak the same language was going to be met with such resistance.
Meetings with administrators, student groups, and other coordinators have happened. Change can not be forced, so a change in focus seemed necessary.
My new tactic is to request a meeting with the fifth and sixth grade team. Possibly finding inroads earlier on will help students gain a greater understanding of transferable skills and their importance. Badging in younger grades will require different procedures, but may gain some traction as a practice for the future.
Pity party over….time to put my game face back on and keep working for my kids.
As much as I love division with fractions, and think it makes perfect sense, no matter how much time we spend and how many different approaches I take, student understanding is always incredibly fragile. Like baby hummingbird fragile.
Taking the advice of a cohort member, instead of pulling out my hair after several weeks of modeling and connecting different mathematical representations as explicitly as I could, only to find that the majority of students could barely hold onto their understanding from one day to the next, I put the learning in their hands. Really in their hands. I assigned each student a teammate and a specific fraction problem. Their job was to create a teaching tool that would allow anyone to learn how to solve problems similar to one that had been assigned.
Cue student groaning. “Ms. Grey, I don’t even know how to solve this problem!” “Why can’t you just teach them?” and many more comments I pretended not to hear. I provided them with an explicit checklist, a list of resources to help them understand how to solve the problem themselves and whatever technology they needed.
Completing this project was not a straight line for most students. First, they had to understand what they knew and didn’t know about solving their problem. Then they had to try to explain it. Next, they had to admit that they either knew way less than they were letting on, or quite a bit more. Finally, they had to come up with a product that wasn’t just fun and funny, but something that someone could actually use to learn.
I collected all of their finished products on a Padlet site, then set them up to use each others’ products to study for a summative assessment.
Even after feedback from me throughout the process of creating these products, some students didn’t create a usable learning tool despite knowing the material themselves. However, when a peer would complain that they needed to know how to complete the problem, and that the poster/video/slideshow wasn’t helpful, suddenly there was a rush to edit.
This project was no magic wand that made all of my students hit the targets. However, it did help a lot of students take more ownership over their learning, forcing them to come to terms with the fact that they didn’t know the material, and they needed to, and that they had the power to learn it themselves. Not the brightest spot, but also not a complete bellyflop. If nothing else, I got to see llamas incorporated into fraction division.
How can I get students to use these resources during our work times to engage in the learn, assess and relearn cycle? There seems to be a chronic desire for me to spoon-feed them information.
Bright Spots:
Students were forced to confront the fact that they may not know this material as well as they thought
Students had the chance to work collaboratively with partners working at the same level of understanding, as well as those with a different level of understanding
Students saw how the quality of their work mattered- it could affect others’ learning as well as their own
Students had to actually use their resources (online resources, anchor charts, notes, peers and teachers) to learn deeply
Many students had fun- writing and solving problems about their interests, working creatively, and working on their own time frame
Some students really learned the material (FINALLY!)
Belly Flops:
Some students needed an adult with them throughout the project to stay on task and to maintain accuracy in their work
The project was clunky- it needed a lot of adult management throughout, and didn’t always result in accurate or helpful end products
It took a lot of time
Classic group work problem: It was difficult to maintain the intended collaborative nature of the project, as some students fell into the trap of trying to ride on the coattails of others
Technology easily became a big distraction for some students
Questions Moving Forward:
How do I consistently provide opportunities like this (where students can continue to work on a topic we have already studied, creating a product that is meaningful to them that shows their increased knowledge- all while continuing to move forward in our learning?)
How can I make sure that ALL students are doing the work of learning and creating, while still having them work in groups?
How can I help students independently recognize what they know and don’t know, and more importantly, foster a sense of agency which drives them to use our available resources to do the learning?
When asked “what is your working definition of personalized learning?” Charlie Herzog, an educator at Flood Brook replied:
“Relevancy is the essence of personalized learning. It’s about giving students voice & choice regarding content, and offering multiple pathways to explore/learn the chosen content. It’s about students reflecting on their learning journeys; considering where they’ve come from, and where they desire to take their learning next.”
We think this definition works equally well for the adult learners doing the hard work of designing and orchestrating personalized learning. Once Herzog launched this year’s crew at Flood Brook School with the intention of putting his working definition into practice, he too found time to reflect on his learning journey and consider where to take his learning next. Here’s Herzog’s candid and courageous reflection, which reminds us how vulnerable and thrilling this journey can be.
–Susan Hennessey & Bill Rich
But There Will Be Graphic Organizers
I never-endingly wrestle with our integrated studies endeavor at Flood Brook. We integrate science and social studies around compelling questions while employing a “project-based” approach, in multiage fashion, grades 6-8.
Among the students the reviews are mixed. If we offered them a thumbs up or down poll I fear the results. What then? In the name of personalization do we end it? If they don’t want it, and what they want is science and social studies completely separate, why not do it? Hell, it would be easier for me to end it.
No, I’m not ready to end it. The reason is I haven’t done project-based learning right. I haven’t personalized it enough.
I trapped myself. Under the burden of urgency I fell into the comfortable: deliver content, provide graphic organizers, require Cornell note-taking, check all the boxes…and now start the project and be excited about it. Sure, be excited by it after I sucked all the air out of it. I understand why students might feel integrated studies is a slog.
I was about to do it again. Oh, the content is always delivered with a certain flair. It wouldn’t have been boring, but there would be graphic organizers to fill out.
My partner, Joey Blane, snapped me out of it. Turns out, her spirit for integrated studies needed a jump start too. Weren’t the kids supposed to like this? Weren’t we?
We changed the entire plan we wrote at MGI. Now we’re going to build a monument that’s going to address, “Why should we care about human rights?” We have zero idea what it’s going to look like because the kids are going to design and build the whole thing.
This is really scary. What if it’s a disaster? It’s beyond my comfort zone. But doesn’t project-based learning push all teachers beyond their comfort zone?
The root of our problem with integrated studies is we haven’t personalized it enough. Yes, we offer a slew of project options. Yes, we give students choice of compelling questions to pursue. Yes, we give students a voice in the planning of the units. But we haven’t put the project at the front of the experience.
This New Tech Network image graphically represents what I’m getting at here.
Despite our hard work, our excitement, and our best intentions for our students, we haven’t given kids reason to care. In my mind I hear, Even if I did care, even a little about it at the start, you’ve tortured the content to such an extent that any motivation I had to start the project is dead.
So, I’m going to spend quite some time learning about engineering monuments, human rights issues, activism, symbolism, physical sciences, etc. I don’t know what the monument is going to look like. I don’t know how to build it. Beyond the Holocaust, I have no idea what human rights issues we’ll be investigating, nor do I have any idea what form of activism the students will take.
I’m scared. I’m really nervous, but I’m excited, and I haven’t been this excited in a while.
Herzog’s updated inquiry question now reads “How might putting the project at the front of a project-based learning experience increase personalization for students?”
Watch the video below and consider visiting his class to learn more about his journey. Schedule a visit here!
When asked “what is your working definition of personalized learning?” Charlie Herzog, an educator at Flood Brook replied:
“Relevancy is the essence of personalized learning. It’s about giving students voice & choice regarding content, and offering multiple pathways to explore/learn the chosen content. It’s about students reflecting on their learning journeys; considering where they’ve come from, and where they desire to take their learning next.”
We think this definition works equally well for the adult learners doing the hard work of designing and orchestrating personalized learning. Once Herzog launched this year’s crew at Flood Brook School with the intention of putting his working definition into practice, he too found time to reflect on his learning journey and consider where to take his learning next. Here’s Herzog’s candid and courageous reflection, which reminds us how vulnerable and thrilling this journey can be.
–Susan Hennessey & Bill Rich
But There Will Be Graphic Organizers
I never-endingly wrestle with our integrated studies endeavor at Flood Brook. We integrate science and social studies around compelling questions while employing a “project-based” approach, in multiage fashion, grades 6-8.
Among the students the reviews are mixed. If we offered them a thumbs up or down poll I fear the results. What then? In the name of personalization do we end it? If they don’t want it, and what they want is science and social studies completely separate, why not do it? Hell, it would be easier for me to end it.
No, I’m not ready to end it. The reason is I haven’t done project-based learning right. I haven’t personalized it enough.
I trapped myself. Under the burden of urgency I fell into the comfortable: deliver content, provide graphic organizers, require Cornell note-taking, check all the boxes…and now start the project and be excited about it. Sure, be excited by it after I sucked all the air out of it. I understand why students might feel integrated studies is a slog.
I was about to do it again. Oh, the content is always delivered with a certain flair. It wouldn’t have been boring, but there would be graphic organizers to fill out.
My partner, Joey Blane, snapped me out of it. Turns out, her spirit for integrated studies needed a jump start too. Weren’t the kids supposed to like this? Weren’t we?
We changed the entire plan we wrote at MGI. Now we’re going to build a monument that’s going to address, “Why should we care about human rights?” We have zero idea what it’s going to look like because the kids are going to design and build the whole thing.
This is really scary. What if it’s a disaster? It’s beyond my comfort zone. But doesn’t project-based learning push all teachers beyond their comfort zone?
The root of our problem with integrated studies is we haven’t personalized it enough. Yes, we offer a slew of project options. Yes, we give students choice of compelling questions to pursue. Yes, we give students a voice in the planning of the units. But we haven’t put the project at the front of the experience.
This New Tech Network image graphically represents what I’m getting at here.
Despite our hard work, our excitement, and our best intentions for our students, we haven’t given kids reason to care. In my mind I hear, Even if I did care, even a little about it at the start, you’ve tortured the content to such an extent that any motivation I had to start the project is dead.
So, I’m going to spend quite some time learning about engineering monuments, human rights issues, activism, symbolism, physical sciences, etc. I don’t know what the monument is going to look like. I don’t know how to build it. Beyond the Holocaust, I have no idea what human rights issues we’ll be investigating, nor do I have any idea what form of activism the students will take.
I’m scared. I’m really nervous, but I’m excited, and I haven’t been this excited in a while.
Herzog’s updated inquiry question now reads “How might putting the project at the front of a project-based learning experience increase personalization for students?”
Watch the video below and consider visiting his class to learn more about his journey. Schedule a visit here!
