“Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” – Winston Churchill

My journey this year started with a passion for change in the physical environment that our students were learning within. An image of classrooms over time and how they have (not) changed seemed to spark something inside of me. Classrooms have traditionally been designed in a way that encourages individual success and relies on one individual (teacher) to share their own knowledge.  Why?

Is that what the world needs now? Adults that have been trained to sit alone, learn alone, be alone.

Employees are looking for adults who know how to collaborate, cooperate, be creative, problem solve, and understand themselves and their strengths, allowing them to make a difference and contribute.

My initial plan was to redesign the classroom, I thought a classroom that was built to be flexible in order to accommodate different needs, at different times, for different subjects, would create the changes that are necessary. I wanted wall-to- wall whiteboards and opportunities for students to be creative and share their ideas with one another.

Throughout my “action plan” design thinking experience and the conversations I had with some of the other Cohort21 members, I realized that all the changes I wanted had more to do with:

• breaking down physical barriers to allow students access to one another; more voices in the room
• allowing for the classroom to easily change based on what was happening and what the students needed in their learning journey that day
• more movement for the students

Ultimately it was about improving student engagement.

 

So now what….

 

I made a plan:

1. Track student engagement
2. Create a bulletin board seeking out the advice and thoughts of others regarding engagement (see side for image – unfortunately, I left it up too long and some of the value was lost)
3. Ask the opinions of others on student engagement  (see below for notes: “Feedback from others”)
4. Run a PLC about classroom design and engagement ( 21st Century Classroom Design PLC conversation notes)
5. Engage with a colleague and collaborate to design and lesson together (empathy and the equation of a line – blog written about this)
6. Engage with the TDSB with regards to engagement and bettering the physical environment, as a means to break down physical barriers that are associated with a more “traditional” classroom (to be done still)

 

Feedback from others:

Administrator:

• overt signs like hands raised, willingness to participate by answering questions or being obviously on task; taking notes; in topic comments or chats
• subtle signs typically in somewhat more introverted boys can look like thinking about the topic, eyes focused, brows furrowed and just plain looking like they’re paying attention.
• in active parts of a lesson, I look for boys being on task with their body language and by listening to what is being said. Noise isn’t always an indicator of engagement because they can be talking about unrelated stuff so I try and pay closer attention to what’s being said.
• detecting disengaged boys is a tough one; easy to say that they look like they’re daydreaming or not paying attention but that isn’t always the case.
• the obviously disengaged boys are easier to spot but I have to observe carefully and look for sustained disengaged behaviors over periods of time. The easy ones are boys on laptops when laptops are not needed; those  who truly look disinterested; the ones disrupting others; the ones who ask questions that are unrelated to what’s going on in the lesson; the ones doing other work or stuff; the ones who may not be able to answer questions asked by the teacher. Sometimes, I just flat out whisper a question to a boy about being engaged.

Department Head (teacher)

• Being physically engaged
• Talking, writing, pointing
• Kids are not being quiet
• Allowing kids to call out and yell or chat
• Is lecturing the lowest form of engagement?
  • Not if it is engaging and fluid or dynamic. Needs to be conversation based
• Engage with the audience let kids question and guide the lesson

Students:

• When students are engaged in a lesson, in can sound quite or noisy. Personally, I learn best when the lesson is in the form of a discussion. I feel most engaged when everyone has a chance to talk. In other cases, it can be good when it is quiet because that means everyone is focused. Overall I am more engaged when lessons are in a discussion format, meaning it can sometimes be loud.
• it sounds like the students are having more fun because they get to talk to their peers. It also looks like the class is better and closer together when you see the whole class talking to each other and sharing ideas.

 

From here I am planning to do the following:

1. Continue to engage with my own PLC on twitter specifically engage with others regarding the book “Innovators Mindset”
2. Continue to run PLC at my school regarding space, engagement, purpose, scheduling etc…
3. Continue to collaborate with colleagues in order to create our BEST practices that build equality in our program
4. Keeping trying new things!

 

And

“just keep swimming…. just keep swimming…” Dory the Blue Tang fish