{"id":76,"date":"2017-02-19T15:31:14","date_gmt":"2017-02-19T15:31:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/danbailey\/?p=76"},"modified":"2017-02-19T15:31:14","modified_gmt":"2017-02-19T15:31:14","slug":"sight-and-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/danbailey\/2017\/02\/19\/sight-and-light\/","title":{"rendered":"Sight and Light"},"content":{"rendered":"

How might we… use a variety of strategies to engage all learners and to build creative confidence?<\/strong><\/p>\n

For now, we see through a glass, darkly…<\/em> – from an old letter<\/p>\n

While trying to address my “How might we…” question, I have been puzzling over how to capture the magic of Reggio-inspired inquiry with my Grades 6, 7, and 8 science classes and my Grade 8 Social Studies classes. I have been catching glimpses, but the way ahead has seemed dimly lit. Certain things obscure the view – my own conventionality, the learning needs of the students, the reality of team teaching (which is awesome!) and trying to plan this out amidst the hectic life of\u00a0(insert any school name here), and the hammer on the anvil call of the curriculum. What to do? Our head of Teaching Learning gave some good advice – start small with one project. Good advice – that is but one of the many, many reasons she has a chair that spins and a room with a view! As well, Cohort21 colleagues suggest that we ask our “clients” what they think. Another good idea, so that is what I did.<\/p>\n

I never cared much for moonlit skies<\/em>
\nI never wink back at fireflies<\/em>
\nBut now that the stars are in your eyes<\/em>
\nI’m beginning to see the light…<\/em> – from old song<\/p>\n

Here is what I learned from the survey (Due to the nature of my questions, my graphs were Jackson Pollock-Like squirrelly, so I did the math in my typical analog way – proving yet again that dinosaurs are not really extinct, at least one of them is alive and well and wearing glasses and a lab coat at Montcrest School)…<\/p>\n