Willow Park School is a school that encourages students to learn through the arts. In our Career Technology Foundation (CTF) class, grade nines had the 7th Annual Math and Science Speculative Arts Festival. 

When the project started, we got to hear from several speakers about their careers and how it includes art to inspire us as we were looking at topics. The project asks us students to choose any science or math concept and represent it in an art style. 

I chose the concepts of crystal systems which uses polyhedrons to show the shape of the crystal molecules. Polyhedrons are geometric 3D shapes and I created the shapes with pipe cleaners then used the borax crystal experiment which makes crystals form on the pipe cleaners. Alongside it, I did a painting which I overlapped the nets of the shapes in order to hide them in the painting.

There were also many other projects, ones which personified planets or hazard symbols. People created drama performances or dances as well. It's a good way to let students choose a science or math topic that they are interested in and expand their knowledge. Some students explored supernatural topics like ghosts and six senses. In the end, it lets students go with their strengths and interests to create cool projects. All grades came by to look at our projects and got to learn something new.

Sarah H attends Willow Park Middle School in Grade Nine. She thinks fezzes are cool and enjoys watching anime in free time.

Today, my Grade 9’s started their human sexuality unit. Standing in front of a room full of raging hormones to talk frankly about the birds and the bees is a truly joyful, and not at all awkward/terrifying/scaring experience.

We started off this unit by discussing ‘positive self-talk’, something that I have struggled with my entire life.  I tend to view the world through an overly critical lens so to teach students to recognize all the positive attributes of their ever-changing existence felt a little forced.  I could see myself in the students that were struggling to put their own perceptions of themselves into a positive light but as we started to share our lists as a class I saw tiny sparks of ‘oh yeah, me too’ in some of their eyes.  I am sure those same students saw my energy shift when the room started to fill with positive thoughts.  

I’m no hippy, but the vibe in the grade 9 hallway today was truly grooving.  All from a little bit of directed positivity injected into a world of tests, critiques, analysis, and assessments.

Phil Brayton is a former punk musician turned teacher at 12 Mile Coulee School (on a temporary contract, just saying)

One of the wonderful aspects of my job is the different types of conversations I get to have with students. The opportunity to hear their ideas, suggestions or to simply have a chat brings joy to a role in which so much time is eaten away in fulfilling managerial responsibilities. Strolling the halls and visiting classrooms, being invited into conversations or simply being asked “How was your weekend?” is not only a pleasure but it strikes me how valuable these kinds of encounters are, providing  insights and perspectives  that might otherwise be missed.

 We live in a time of accountability and data driven decision making. Is there a more authentic source of data than students’ perspective on the lived reality of their school? It never ceases to amaze me what I learn when I talk to students and what transpires from these conversations.  The most recent topic of conversation is our Grade 4 students’ perception that CTF is, “exclusionary in a Grade 4-9 middle school”.  While certain things such as interschool athletics does actually present a challenge for us with our Grade 4 students, who knew that the Grade 5-9 CTF curriculum would be seen as another source of inequity?  There is nothing quite like student voice to provide food for thought and to make you revisit and rethink your actions and assumptions.   

Elaine Demcoe enjoys travelling, skiing, golfing and reading but most of all loves spending time with her grand-daughter. She has been a principal of four CBE schools. 

On Saturday, April 26, I went to the Young Writers’ Conference. It was a big deal for me because I got to meet tons of amazing authors like Nicole Luiken, Jhan Groom, and Eric Walters. I learned so much about writing and creating different worlds and stories.

Writing has helped me so much because creating a new world, where I could escape from reality, helped me discover I wanted to be an author and what reading and writing could help me through. I love writing because writing literally helps you through everything. If you don’t have someone to talk to about your day, write it in a journal. If you are a songwriter and have some lyrics or notes to remember, write them down.

I love doing creative things like writing and drawing because, besides spelling and grammar, there aren’t any rules. You can color outside the lines if you want to, you can rewrite history if you want to.

Writing may be simple, but it’s a powerful skill that helps you to invent and create new things. Writing helps me express myself, and I think writing can do the same for so many people.

By writing, I’ve found out I want people to read my stories and see the world differently. Not just as the way it is, but by taking something, and making something new out of it. In real life, when you are talking to someone, you can’t create a new world. With writing, you can give a cup of lemonade wings, you can change the course of history. One of your stories will affect and change the future, and not just in writing, but in reality. If you write about what you want most, you just might find out how to get there.

You never have to stop writing - you don’t need a happy ending.

Because “to be continued…” is way more fun!!!   

A Universe of Possibilities! Students as Explorers, Researchers and Teachers

We can all be explorers, from our classrooms or from anywhere! Meaningful learning happens when teachers and students alike take risks in learning, and have a willingness to try new things, reflect, and repeat.

No matter where you are as a learner, research is always more than collecting facts. In our Grade 6 class, we used tools like Instagrok to engage learners so they could focus on process -  synthesizing and connecting ideas, rather than taking notes or worrying about proper citations.

And learning is more than just knowing what to do - what’s important is knowing how to learn! In this student-directed inquiry work, students considered and mapped the possibilities that could emerge from “juicy questions”, and only then, when every student had found a research connection they could deeply connect with, did we collaboratively map it back to outcomes in the curriculum.

The powerful capstone of this work was that students recognized that they were teachers, too. The true meaning of teaching and learning came out through sharing and celebrating. Some of the ways we’ve done this were:

• A student-led research symposium: Students were tasked with creating engaging research sessions around their learning. Other classes were invited to pick sessions that interested them.
  
  
• An “Emerging Learners” Wiki: Students became the Grade 6 experts on Sky Science, and built a knowledge base together using GAFE. Other classes can now learn from what they’ve built, and build off off of their ideas.
  

See more of our work, discuss, comment, revise and share through our resource in CORE.

David Cloutier (@DavidCloutier) is a student teacher from @MountRoyal4U (and a part of the @CBEILT team) team teaching with Lynne Ursenbach (@LynneUrsenbach), a Learning Leader, at Willow Park School. Both are passionate about empowering students to explore and to create together, build off the work of others, and consider the impact they can have along their learning journeys.

This story begins with a challenge: “Design a recreation centre for the youth of Tuscany.” This challenge came from a conversation with a visiting parent and set out to address a perceived need for this age group as there are currently few recreational opportunities for youth from 12-18 years of age in the community.

That’s it - that was the whole challenge. A simple sentence that led to weeks of survey construction, data collection and analysis, and careful architectural design.  A few teams felt unsure about how to proceed until one courageous and innovative group, with two students that did not view math as a personal strength, asked a simple question: “Can we use MinecraftEdu?”  

Suddenly, for some teams, everything changed. Using this tool they were able to create highly detailed plans for large and complex recreation centres. Instead of struggling with traditional procedures for creating scales and finding area/perimeter of large and unusually shaped areas, these teams could now show their ability to work through these challenges using a non-traditional method, one that is no less authentic or accurate in demonstrating their true understanding. Student leadership developed as these teams engaged in conversations around math concepts with ease and confidence, speaking clearly about the rigorous planning and careful calculations they were conducting in order to create their highly detailed designs, some of  which included functioning showers and food dispensers (and even a secret passage or two…)

So, what did WE learn? We learned that rigor takes many forms and that an understanding of math can be shown in many different ways.  We also learned that, sometimes, it takes a bit of ‘out of the box’ thinking (and your favourite video game) to create renewed passion and confidence.

Today I learned that one of our students is struggling a lot more than any of us realized before. We all know the student who is bubbly and happy to help and lend a hand to anyone who asks. Recently her classroom teacher has noticed some slightly different social behaviour and he and I met to discuss his concerns. I decided to make some phone calls and check into things a little. It turns out that this little girl is actually living under some pretty difficult circumstances at the moment. Because she comes to school every day with a smile on her face we had no idea things had gotten this serious for her. Of course this helped us to change our plan and provide more appropriate supports for her to provide the very best experience for her during the school day.

Incidents like these are why I became a teacher. I wanted to be that soft place where young people could fall when they needed to. I want to make sure that all young people feel important and cared for in all that they do. That's not to say that situations like this are not heartbreaking, they are. We often can't "fix" the root issue for these young people, we can try but it's often so much bigger than one person. Teaching is so much more than the curriculum and in many ways this is our real work; making sure that students are cared for on many levels.

Rachel (@TechmoRachel) is a middle school resource teacher who loves computers, math, quilting, cycling and her dogs.

What is the most valuable teaching tool I have adopted recently? The answer to this is tabletop white boarding! An idea inspired by the learning commons concept, these white boards are made of opaque plexiglass sheets cut into 6 pieces.

This technology has transformed my teaching practice, as well as many others’ at my school. No longer are desks arranged in in partners or rows, but rather table groups of 4-6. The white boards are pulled out as often as possible for collaboration in brainstorming, problem-solving, content organization and synthesis, and skill application. Students are engaged, leading their learning, which enables me to guide and facilitate their process.

Why do I like white boards so much?

• Students can contribute knowing that, if they make a mistake, it can be erased.
• Work is not permanent, but rather evolving. 
• White boards eliminate the need for paper copies of assignments.  Students can complete an activity and take a photograph of the finished project as an artifact for future reference. 
• White boarding lessons create a student-centered learning environment.
  
• White boarding promotes collaboration amongst students and encourages group work. 

White boards can be used by students of all ages and ability levels in active and creative ways. They are easily stored in the corner of a classroom or learning commons. I purchased mine from Industrial Paints & Plastics in Calgary.

So let’s grab some erasable white board markers and get collaborative!