What did I learn today?

Collingwood staff came to the Future of Learning Lab to explore how they could best use this makerspace with their students. First, they explored the variety of low tech and high tech supplies, including our brand new trotec laser cutter that has been loaned to us.  We took a dive into the pedagogy behind a makerspace by moving through a Ready Set Design Challenge to experience the design thinking process.

Working with staffs is a dynamic process that, like teaching, is never the same experience twice between different schools or different classes. Similar to planning and teaching a lesson, we can plan with a potential outcome but we can’t truly know how the lesson will unfold until we are together on that day, in that particular space.

As the groups ideated solutions to their design problems, collaboration was evident in the laughter mixed with deep discussion and the body language of people leaning in to listen, nodding and smiling. “I need to just trust the process”, one educator commented as they grappled with how to solve the design challenge of creating something that makes music for somebody who doesn’t read notes.

Groups created games and models to solve real world design problems, such as creating an activity to keep students moving throughout the day. Questions that teachers were encouraged to ponder “What would this look like in my classroom?” and “If I were to try one thing in my practice, what would it be?”

​Judging by the conversation, questions and optimism in the room, Collingwood teachers left the session intrigued by possibilities about how design thinking might fit into their pedagogical tool box. I was reminded of how important it is to plan sessions based on the needs of the school but also the necessity to let the group dynamic in the space influence how the session will unfold.


Stephanie Bartlett (@sj_bartlett), learner, teacher as designer, CBE Specialist...always working towards outcome unknown.

Playing in the morning helps us learn new things. Learning while we are moving and playing helps thoughts and information stick better. It is easier to try new things, make mistakes and try to fix our mistakes while we are playing. Play helps us grow a growth mindset.

Inquiry Tubs (morning play time) are important because we can make new friends and talk with each other. It gives us a chance to make a new friend by asking if they want to play with us. When we start to talk, sometimes people have different ideas. Sometimes we have fights, so we learn to take a break, then come back to solve it because we want to play at that tub more. We talk to see how we can solve problems.

Play helps us self-regulate. There are lots of different kinds of kids in our class. Some of us come to school energized and too excited. Some of us come to school sleepy and tired. Playing soothes some of us down. Other kids perk up and get ready to learn.  Play puts us in the Green Zone.

We need to write a plan before we play. Many of us like to plan because it helps us know what to do. We need to plan so we do not just walk around. Then we reflect at the end. Reflection writing is when we explain what we did. Playing gives us the ideas and then we write about them. Some of us like to reflect because it makes us happy. Reflections help us know what we learned. Sometimes we write reflections because it helps us plan ahead to play the next day.

Playing is fun. When we play, we work to create, so then we can remember ideas in our brain. And if you like what you are doing, then you want to do it more, and then you learn more. The fun part of play makes it so we are not stressed when we work. When we are relaxed, we learn more. Sometimes the work and play are mixed together, like Monkey Math Makes 10, where the subject stuff fits into the game. Other times, playing first makes it so we can focus on the work parts. Sometimes the work and play are kind of the same, like we build then write then build then write. Sometimes they are different, but when we can play before we do the hard stuff, we feel like we have had equal amounts so it is fair to work hard.


We are 23 grade two adventures at Battalion Park School learning together. We all work hard to help each other every day @MsKristaClass

I am new at this whole teaching gig, so, please, bear with me as I reflect.  Over the years, a wide variety of themes have been thrust to the forefront of my teaching practice, and I will attempt to summarize them here.

In the back of my mind, everyday, I consistently remind myself of a teacher’s overall purpose.  To me, teaching is not merely the transfer of knowledge from one entity to another – it is infinitely more than that; after all, Google is much better at that than me.  My modus operandi in the classroom is “proof not product”, which does slightly bewilder my students, at first.  Conversations follow about the importance of proving your understanding, to yourself first and others later.  This type of thinking fosters an environment where “knowing” something is simply not enough, and that true understanding lies in analyzing why, debating views, predicting results, choosing positions, and creating different outcomes.

From day one in the classroom, teachers are challenged to make numerous split-second decisions all day, every day.  My experiences have taught me that perfection is simply not attainable, desired, or expected.  On numerous occasions, my various imperfections have come bubbling to the surface, and one thing remains constant: students do not expect perfection, they purely expect that I care about them and their learning – presence not perfection. ​

Striving towards building a community of learners, not a common learner, is always at the centre of my teaching.  The diversity in each student, whether it be in their learning or life, affords us incredible opportunities to build communities that are inclusive and respectful, the values for which all societies should strive.

I end with a passage from a remarkable book titled The Blue Sweater by Jacqueline Novogratz.  In the book, the author offers the following opinion: “People need to believe that they can participate fully in the decisions that affect their lives and have a stake in the societies in which they live.” (p. 275.) In the context of The Blue Sweater, the author proposes the above as part of the solution for eradicating poverty – that is, empowering people with the capacity to be change in their lives and societies. I relate the above recommendation to a model for education: students must feel they are vital components of their own education and schooling.


​Paulo Veronese enjoys his family, teaching, learning, and is not to be confused with the Italian Renaissance painter.

This Tuesday, the Curriculum & Pathways team hosted a Serious Play Symposium. We had an ambitious dream for this event: 200+ educators and valued community partners, an inspirational location in Telus Spark, one wise keynote speaker in Dr. David Jardine, and a carefully-crafted set of challenges designed to invite people in. We were pondering the question, “how might we recognize play as essential to learning?” This central design question emerged from increasingly frequent questions from schools about the maker movement and its place in our classrooms and schools.
 
Our team used the design thinking process to help us create our analogous research experience. Analogous research asks you to find experiences and places in the world that are good examples of the topic you are exploring. We could think of no better place to deeply understand the mechanisms and characteristics of play than the Creative Kids Museum at Telus Spark.  The design thinking process let us design our evening so it would truly allow our participants to immerse themselves in an experience that mirrored that of the students they design for.

Here’s what our team learned by using this process in the design of our professional learning event. We are aligning each of our lessons with a few of the design mindsets:

Empathy & Human-Centredness - In human-centred design, we are primarily concerned with solving problems for human beings. To understand why play might be an essential piece of learning for students, we needed to gain empathy for them by putting ourselves in their shoes. So, we played. After Spark closed to the public, squeals of delight could be heard from the Creative Kids Museum as teachers climbed, splashed, juggled, tinkered, and pretended. We learned by playing, just as we wanted our students to.

Radical Collaboration - We learned we are truly better together than we are apart. This event could not have happened without the incredible teamwork on our team. Radical collaboration means you seek perspectives outside those you normally work with. For our symposium, we invited collaborators from the maker community within Calgary, which is a phenomenal group of inspiring people, generous in their time and expertise. We also collaborated with Dr. David Jardine, retired professor of curriculum studies and educational philosophy, as our keynote speaker. David affirmed our suspicion that play is vitally important in learning, and it in itself can be a reason to learn.

Optimism & Embracing Ambiguity - Full disclosure: we had absolutely no idea what would happen when we gave groups of teachers their “Top Secret” packages containing their challenges and set them loose in the Creative Kids Museum to play and engage in pedagogical conversations. What we were sure of, though, is that because we carefully designed the experience based on empathy, we could trust the outcome would be a good one. And we were right.

We are Learning Specialists with Curriculum & Pathways (@CBECAP): Erin Quinn (@luckybydesign), Tracy Dalton (@tadalton17), Stephanie Bartlett (@sj_bartlett), and Steve Clark (@stevewclark). We love working with teachers and schools in the topics of play, maker education, design thinking, learning commons, and designing rich and meaningful learning experiences.
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