Lordag
04/21
Meeting in Oslo - Reconnecting with the NorCan participants
All 9 schools shared what NorCan has meant to them up to this point in our learning journey:
- Assessment is a form of communication where a student can tell their teacher about what they know
- If you want to know how students feel about their learning - ask them
- The power of the “overview effect” when considering/reflecting upon our own teaching practices:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overview_effect
- Learning is messy - being comfortable with being uncomfortable
- Assessment as leaning - how moving away from grades can make assessment meaningful
- Relationship in "learning terms" means many things; learning partners, mentoring younger students, the idea of “friendship” between schools
Mandag
04/23
Molde Videregaende Skole
Today we noticed:
- The atmosphere of the school at Molde creates an idyllic environment for learning
- The school is a place of trust, students self-regulate, we loved the idea of no bells...not strict...the school seems casual
- Liked the idea of differentiated workspaces, choice in places to work, and uniqueness of places to work
- Students have high level of engagement when guiding questions allow for a sense of wonder
Our "Wonderings" after a day of learnings with our colleagues:
- How can we engage students by making math "fun"?
- Do fewer evaluations lead to better overall student performance?
Tirsdag
04/24
Molde Videregaende Skole
Today we noticed:
- Student concern about the possibility of not having math all year round
- Using visual spaces to display student learning
- Visiting other classrooms opens doors to new ideas to use in my classroom and pushes me to try new things and become a better teacher
- Self-reflection of my own pedagogy leads to better teaching practices
Our "Wonderings" after a day of learnings with our colleagues:
- How do I get my colleagues to "jump on board" when I come across something new that changes my teaching practice?
- How can I form better relationships with my colleagues so that they will become more engaged in collaborative learning?
Onsdag
04/25
Molde Videregaende Skole
Today we noticed:
With a focus on discussing how Math Councils operate at our schools we found:
- All of our councils echoed the sentiment: we don't want to listen to our teachers talk for 75-90 minutes, want to get up and move around, and work on different tasks
- Teachers noticed that providing leadership opportunities through Match Council was making math fun
- Math council is flourishing at all our schools from Norway to Alberta to Ontario
- Math Council is student driven and empowers students to share learning ideas with their teachers and with other students and teachers from around the globe
- More and more each day, our voices are being heard in class and we like this improvement!
Our "Wonderings" after a day of learnings with our colleagues:
- How do you encourage more students to join Math Council?
- Pedagogy should be a continuum of learning, rather than assigning a mark.
- Transitioning of assessment and evaluation=Beginning, developing, refining, mastering
- Everything counts, every conversation, product, observation is evidence of your learning
Torsdag
April 26, 2018
Molde - Drammen
Our "Wonderings"
- Exploring and sharing
- Teachers and students acting as mentors as coaches
- Learning to know
- Doesn't need to be graded, it's about the learning
- Openness and willingness to share in the culture of a school
- Closeness of participants
- "teachers need to dare to go slow" ie subject mastery instead of jumping to the next topic
- Building relationships between teachers and students is a critical factor creating a welcoming learning environment
Fredag
April 27, 2018
Drammen
Student reflections/presentations
- Cognitive conditioning- a chance to make mistakes, a chance to persevere
- Oral assessments: Show what you know, not what you don't know
- Want to put the focus on learning and not the marks
- Students want time to build closer relationships with their teachers
- Reduction of formality between teacher/student means that students are more comfortable in engaging with their teacher for better learning
- Feedback is great for student learning, but also equally, if not more important, for teachers to learn about their students and therefore refine their teaching practice
Final reflection on the NorCan Project
The guiding principle from the "overview effect" challenges all educators to step outside their comfort zone and ask "why"? Through this process we have discovered the profound power of student voice which is inspiring, liberating and pushes all educators to ask questions and that learning means to continually wonder. From listening to our "students voices" we heard them say we are more engaged when we:
- build meaningful relationships with all learners
- have opportunities to allow us to investigate our sense our wonder
- provide us with an environment where we can learn from our mistakes and are not penalized for them
- the culture of the school/classroom can allow for students to articulate what they need to be successful
- feel that our education needs to reflect the world we live in, which includes the physical environment of our schools
- all learn differently, we feel respected when we are provided multiple opportunities in which to learn
Ultimately, NorCan has allowed all of its participants to collaboratively step outside their comfort zones. During the process of building these friendships, we have had the opportunity to reflect on our practices, identify our commonalities, and reflect on where we are, and where we want to go. Our successes as well as our failures have inspired us to always look for ways to improve along our journey and renewed our ongoing love of learning.
NorCan was a transcendental learning opportunity in that it provided educators (and their students) time to purposely reflect on their practice and to be conscious of the points in our journey when we feel comfortable. Points of comfort should trigger an impetuous to seek out areas of discomfort so that we continually grow as life long learners.