Action Plan 2016: One step backwards and…

This is embarrassing. I fell off the Cohort 21 wagon and I feel terrible about myself. “Cohort21 guilt” is a real thing (no matter how self imposed!). At least for me it is. And thank you to the unending-positive enthusiasm of Derek Doucet for bringing me back!  I hope there’s still room on the wagon – with all its wonderfully inspiring passengers and its exhilarating journey along the sometimes bumpy scenic roads – because I’m excited by the challenge of another Action Plan!

I think I’ve had a hundred epiphanies since joining Cohort21 and my action plan merely grows out of my latest. And I think I knew this epiphany would spring into action because of its relative simplicity. Last year I endeavoured to inspire my students to read more – a ridiculously obvious idea for an English Teacher! (Of course, understanding what this truly means has profoundly affected my approach to and understanding of teaching and learning). In any case, when I stumbled upon the wise words of C.J.B. Macmillan and James Garrison recently while doing some grad work, I could feel a chill forming along the back of my neck (I think that’s how you know it’s an epiphany):

“Given a problematic intellectual situation, people ought to seek knowledge that will clear up their confusion and allow them to move onto new problems.”

Actually, this wasn’t quite my epiphany (that comes later). But these words do seem characterize the gradual shift that’s been occurring in my approach over the last number of years –  call it PBL, inquiry based, flipped classroom, individualized learning, design thinking, co-creation, any combination of, whatever…  The emphasis is now on the learning that emerges from the journey along the path from question and answer. What I’ve begun to realize is the extent to which I get lost in the excitement of this approach. It’s exciting to conceive of and  pose a challenge for my students that exists in that magical space just beyond what they think they’re capable of and just before what they are actually capable of. It’s exciting to consider their imaginations captured as they sketch and contemplate their path. It’s exciting to imagine how their learning might culminate, to image them conceiving of, perhaps in grand fashion, the shape of how learning might be expressed. But here –  again from Macmillan and Garrison – is the sobering truth (and I hate admitting this!!!):

“the student may not even care about the alleged predicament, preferring to ignore rather than explain it.”

This is the epiphany: all the stuff above is the easy part, and if it fails it’s because of too strongly believing in the ideal (that learning will be wholly intrinsic if posed in just the right way), which I am SO OFTEN guilty of. The hard part – you know, the teacher (guide, coach) part – is in consistently fostering the engagement of each individual student. The ideal, I’ve come to realize, comes true for some students but not nearly all.  It is truly difficult to accept the reality that “the student may not even care about the alleged predicament.” Oh no, the wagon is going backwards!

Here is my action plan metaphor: That person (which on some level might be all of us) who is continually buying the next, new, magical exercise machine/concept that is, finally, the answer to getting, and staying, “in shape”. As if the answer is found in the concept and not in the person.

I have worked hard to redirect my students’ attention from the destination to the journey. My action plan is to ensure I’m doing the same. What more can I be doing to truly place myself alongside the students so that I’m better positioned to understand, guide and assist in the shaping of their journeys? What more can I be doing to become better connected to each individual journey? I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about feedback – what it is, what it’s for and how it’s constructed. How can I better position myself and student’s to ensure it’s valued? In general, what strategies can I adopt to ensure the students are constantly engaged in a process of “explaining” the “alleged predicament” as opposed to “ignoring” it?

I have identified a few initial specific strategies/approaches/challenges that will hopefully help to characterize my Action Plan. This, however, is merely a beginning. Of course, I can’t wait to hear from many brilliant Cohort21 minds to further shape my approach (HELP ME PLEASE!).

1. Do more. As an English Teacher it can be a pretty rich exercise to read, alongside the students, a poem that none of us-not even me-have read before. It completely repositions me, the teacher, and profoundly affects the tone. I have been removed from my role of “expert”, and suddenly the students are less interested in satisfying an “answer” – less concerned about being “wrong”. There is more freedom to explore and infer and less fear about being wrong. I need to extend this approach. As I pose problems/design thinking/projects to students, I do constantly find myself saying “I should be doing this too”. Just yesterday we staged a “book trailer” battle with the Grade 9’s; why didn’t I make a trailer and battle? What are the implications of consistently placing me in the role of learner, even relying upon the students for feedback and guidance?
2. More conferencing. I’ve always intuitively known that conferencing is the best way to affect students with immediate feedback. It is, however, an ongoing struggle to create meaningful opportunities that might allow this to happen. To what extent can my approach, the culture and structures of my class, be reconfigured to allow for more consistent conferencing? How can conferencing itself be better structured to ensure feedback is efficient, clear, lasting and valuable?
3. Peer to peer feedback and personal reflection. This is another concept I believe deeply in but am still perhaps a little clumsy implementing. That is to say that I’m not sure I’ve yet fostered a clear culture where students truly understand what feedback is and looks like, how to provide and value it. Also, this year, in direct theft from The York School (thank you Justin!), we’ve provided our Grade 9’s with blogs as a place to display, keep track of, analyze and interpret learning in the larger process of understanding “self” as a learner. I feel good about the extent to which students are reflecting upon specific experiences, but I must better understand that next level. I have to use those reflections to better shape learning, to better form the kind of feedback I’m providing for individual students. I have to use the blog as feedback – a way to better know the students.

OK not a lot of tangibles here, but I suppose that’s what that Action Plan is for – discovering the tangibles. I look forward to the ride.

My goodness, this wagon is uncomfortable.