CBE 182
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#CBE182 Day 136: Stephanie Bartlett, Specialist, Education Centre

4/25/2017

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Our Early Learning Network designed a learning series “Designing for Artful Play” to evolve the idea of play-based programs. We wanted to immerse educators in an authentic setting with experts, we designed this series to work within the disciplines of visual arts, drama, dance, music and also Indigenous ways of knowing on the land. Educators arrived for our first session at ACAD and were immediately invited in the room to explore a visually appealing collection of art materials.
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In a knowledge building circle, we reflected on being asked to play with art materials.  This circle of educators was as diverse as a community of learners as we shared.

“I want to dig in and get messy.”
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“I am hesitant. I need protocols and structure.”
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“Going in to create was overwhelming to me but once I got exploring, it was so calming.”
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“I am that kid who did not want to clean up. I kept going!”
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We used the student-claimed stairwell at ACAD to think about the idea of graffitti as a form of student voice and expression, asking questions such as:

How might we use a shared space to show a growing understanding of curriculum and represent knowledge of numeracy, literacy, line, shape, colour, texture, pattern through art?
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Throughout these experiences were rich pedagogical conversations about knowing the curriculum, space, materials, skill vs engagement, diverse learners and documentation. These discussions and reflections the tone for the rest of our sessions, reinforcing the importance and often seriousness of learning through play.


Stephanie Bartlett (@sj_bartlett)
, learner, teacher as designer, CBE Specialist...always working towards outcome unknown.
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#CBE182 Day 129: Dan Pye, Learning Leader, All Boys Program

4/12/2017

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Our grade 3 and 4 students are using Twitter to help investigate how human impact on Alberta’s natural regions changes the land and communities. As part of their exploration, students were asked to form an opinion, based on facts, about the impact oil sands have on our province. Using their fact-based opinions as a foundation students will be writing a persuasive letter to an expert in the oil industry, government or regulating bodies that monitor the oil sands.

Using Twitter, students are able to make direct contact with individuals and to follow up with new questions when they receive responses.  By using social media their learning is alive, relevant and rooted in current events.

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The question of who to follow arose quickly when we started looking at Twitter. Through classroom discussion and exploration students identified how to tell if an account was verified, how to navigate a profile page to find the user’s biography and website and how to navigate tweets the user sent. Students then derived a set of five questions they applied to each user they wanted to follow.
  1. What is this person’s/group’s job?
  2. Does this person/group have an interest in the oil sands?
  3. Is this person/group an expert in their field?
  4. Does this person/group tweet about the oil sands?
  5. Does this person/group use verifiable facts?

Once vetted by these questions students voted to follow the user or not and then began tweeting their questions using #oilsandsquestions to help organize the responses they received.
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By using social media such as Twitter, our grade 3 and 4 students are learning how to navigate the digital world in a safe and controlled environment and how to use social media as a tool to interact with, engage in and experience their world as global citizens.


Dan Pye (@dcpye) is a Learning Leader at the All Boys Program. He’s passionate about empowering his students to create and collaborate through the use of technology, maker space and design thinking.
   
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#CBE182 Day 127: Colleen Gainor, Learning Leader, Tuscany School

4/10/2017

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Did you know, all over the world, women and girls set out early to walk for water?
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On World Water Day, students at Tuscany School participated in a school wide “Walk for Water”.  Our Kindergarten students began by exploring “Why Water is Important”.  They created posters to share their findings and promote our walk.  An informational video was created and shared with the whole school to develop empathy for all the people in the world who work hard for their drinking water.
Empathy is…
Seeing with the eyes of another
Listening with the ears of another

And feeling with the heart of another
Tuscany students were then invited to engage in a Design Thinking Water Challenge: ​

How might you design an instrument to carry water around the field?

Using the Design Thinking Process, students ideated, created prototypes, and tested their designs.
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On March 22, 2017, students walked around the school ground with their water instrument for 30 minutes.

Through this process, students got to experience what it might be like to have to travel distances to gather water for their family.  
Staff and students at Tuscany School have been incorporating the Design Thinking Process and developing the Design Thinking Mindsets throughout the year.  During one of our Professional Development Days, teachers engaged in the Design Thinking Process in a Balloon Busting Challenge.  Teachers worked collaboratively experiencing first hand the process and engaged in feedback and assessment. The staff and students look forward to tackling their next Design Thinking Challenge.


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Colleen (@cgainor) is currently participating in the professional learning institute Design the Shift #cbeshift
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#CBE182 Day 123: Tasha Roa-Yaremkowycz, Teacher, University School

4/4/2017

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What did I learn today? or better yet, what did I learn from blogging everyday in the month of March?

In the month of March I joined teachers from around the world for the Slice of Life month long reflective writing challenge from Two Writing Teachers. I took the time to gather my jumbled ideas into one coherent blog post per day. As a teacher of writing across the disciplines I hoped that this daily reflection would remind me what it is to be a writer as well as allow me to experiment with my own writing in order to find my own voice, and better yet be an asset to my students writing lives. I took this writing challenge to give me the opportunity to live an authentic writing life. To give myself the time to reflect, muse, vent, plan, and create. Often as teachers we are so busy with the everyday mundane tasks that we don't give space to things that will make us better teachers, colleagues, friends, human beings. I hoped that in my muddled mind I could find some clarity. Clarity in my practice as a teacher, as a learner, as a writer and as a passionate lover of life.

Wow, what an experience. Some of my impressions were that I am a procrastinator, 90% of my posts were posted just before going to bed. Likewise, I mainly wrote in a reflective journal format with ideas ranging from classroom experiences, having a student teacher, the arts, and being in a reading rut. I did write a few poems but did not really go outside of my comfort zone as a writer to write any fiction. My biggest takeaway from this experience will be to include my students in the process for next year's student challenge. I am also going to continue to blog with this group weekly on Tuesdays. Likewise, I am going to continue to give my students ample opportunity to develop themselves as authentic writers.
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Tasha Roa-Yaremkowycz is a grade 3 & 4 teacher at University Elementary, an outdoor enthusiast and passionate change maker. You can follow me @tasharoa on twitter and follow my new to me weekly blog http://tasharoa.weebly.com/
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#CBE182 Day 122: Daniel Polsky, Teacher, Fish Creek School

4/3/2017

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As a teacher, it can be hard to give up control of the classroom and invite in “chaos”. Last year though, students and staff at Fish Creek took on our first Innovation Week and did just that. It was a huge success and everyone involved learned an immense amount. It was time for us to do it all again. So, in mid February, the Grade 5s (@FamousFCS5s) & Grade 6s (@InquiringFCS6s) met to plan this years Innovation Week.
 
Taking in the lessons from last year, we chose to focus on a theme of “How can we reduce waste at FCS?” while compressing the experience to one week (5 school days). With a deep breath, we introduced the week to eager students and then watched as they exploded in a frenzied fever of creativity, iteration and problem solving. It was an exhausting week but one of the greatest weeks of the entire year. It was an incredible experience.  
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“It let me push myself to see what I could actually do.
“It was really fun. I was never so frustrated, but I wish it could have lasted longer. I’m REALLY REALLY proud of my project and I was super super focused and I was able to get a lot done. It was really easy to write a lot about this because so much happened and I really wanted to share it.”
​“I loved Innovation Week because it got me out of my comfort zone. I built a robot that cleans and before this week I would have never thought I could have built it.”
I firmly believe that finding solutions to problems while navigating restrictions or limits allows for an authentic environment that fosters critical thinking, creativity, and innovation in our learners. With an imposed limit of 5 days (4 days of ‘building’ and 1 for sharing), the nature of this experience challenged students to be creative and imaginative from the outset. I genuinely believe the time constraint boosted creativity as it pushed students to focus on ways to deliver on their hypotheses. I wasn’t disappointed – every day myself and the other teachers would debrief how impressed we were with the growth, progress and confidence. It reminded me time and time again of the scene in Apollo 11 where they must engineer a square filter into a round whole.
 
It’s hard to compress the passion, creativity and breadth of projects into a short response here but in summary, it was amazing to the see.
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Daniel Polsky (@mr_polsky) is a Grade 5 Teacher & Learning Leader at Fish Creek School. Teach. Eat. Sports. Repeat. Website: bit.ly/PolskyDotCom

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