In anticipation of this post, I decided to tour the school over a few weeks and take a look and listen to what students were learning in their classrooms. While this is a pretty regular part of my work day, it’s always a bit different when you go on a mission searching for something in particular. My mission was to find student responses to the question What Did I Learn Today? However, a funny thing happened along the way…

While I was on my mission the students I was able to spend time with were taking in the experience for completely different reasons. Here is a sample of some of the exchanges:

Kindergarten – students were taking a body break and dancing energetically.
Me: “Hey guys, do you like body breaks? How do you think they help you learn?”
Student 1: “Hey Mr. Fero, check out my dance moves. Why don’t you dance with us?”
Student 2: “Nice dance moves Mr. Fero”

Grade One – students were reading during a morning literacy period.
Me: “Hi, what books are you reading? How did you choose those books?”
Student: “Mr. Fero, can you read with me?”

Grade Six – students were in the hallway testing gliders.
Me: “So, you guys testing your gliders? What are you noticing?”
Student: “Mr. Fero, I can’t figure out how to make mine fly straight. Do you think I can make it work if I fix the elevator?”

So what did I find out? I learned that all of my students were very much engaged in what their particular learning activity was, but moreover, I learned that my students just really wanted to opportunity to engage with me. In those moments MY mission was less important than THEIR mission. Mine was to find data, and theirs was to hang with the principal. Student mission accomplished.


Ian Fero loves his job. He is the principal at Fish Creek School and has some pretty solid dance moves. When off the dance floor you can find him through Twitter (@principalfero) or his blog (www.principalfero.weebly.com)

The Grade Fives I work alongside at West Ridge School have been testing out formative assessment strategies to increase student engagement and participation in whole-class discussions. One strategy that has been particularly well-received is No Hands Up, Except to Ask a Question. Championed by Dylan Wiliam and detailed in his book, Embedding Formative Assessment (2015), No Hands Up is exactly what it sounds like - students do not raise their hands to signal their desire to offer a solution or participate. Instead, students are selected entirely at random by the teacher.

​We started by using tongue depressors with student’s names that were randomly pulled from a jar, but that was not random enough (according to the students), so we upgraded to a digital randomizer. All students in class already had an assigned number, based on their alphabetical order, so it was easy to transition from names to numbers. During our first tries of not raising hands, students were excited to see if their name would be pulled and engaged with the novelty of the strategy. Gradually students began to focus less on the strategy itself and more on the learning task at hand. As this shift occurred, it quickly became apparent that more students were engaged in learning – there was less off-task discussion, less movement and shifting around, more eyes on the SMART Board, and more focus on whoever was speaking. Not only that, but students who rarely participated in discussion were offering lucid responses and making their thinking visible.

On Wednesday March 22nd, Louis Riel School took part in a school-wide activity to celebrate World Water Day. The activity was organized by the Louis Riel Eco Club, which consists of students who are passionate about the environment. The activity stemmed from the purpose of World Water Day, which is to bring awareness to the world water crisis. Even though water is a basic human right, not everyone in the world has equal access to it. The Eco Club wanted to create an activity that would help raise awareness of the world water crisis and give the entire school community a shared experience.

On World Water Day, there were only two water fountains in operation. All other water fountains were covered up with garbage bags. This meant that for both students and staff to get water from the fountains, they would have to walk further than they normally would have to. This action of having to walk further to a water fountain simulated what many communities must do daily to access clean water. Teachers were encouraged to use this activity as a platform for classroom discussions around World Water Day, the world water crisis and equality.

With my own grade 7 classes, we discussed how the water crisis impacts communities in our own country. As an entire school community, Louis Riel Elementary and Junior High worked together to demonstrate a high standard of global and local citizenship on World Water Day this year.


Teri Ryan is an avid rock climber and climbing instructor. She teaches Humanities 7 and Physical Education at Louis Riel School.