My students inspire me!

It has been a while since I have shared my learning experiences, The students inspire me and I owe them to share the process of  integrative thinking. I was just reading their reflections about the competencies which motivated me to pursue sharing our experiences.

As an educator the drive and the motivation for learning is developing on a daily basis through reflections and next steps. If the classroom learning is based on thinking and complex curiosities for creative purposes then I have to embrace the unexpected. It is not an organization of activities rather a transformation of values when learning through conversations, knowledge building, analyzing, reflecting and sharing. Reflection is the most important cause for the success, it is not an event! It takes place while observing students during the tasks, conversing with them and continuing to give students autonomy by questioning.

The  learning with me and the students unfolds together in an extraordinary situation through mistakes that are overcome by learning and growth. It is an experience of the unknown you just have to persist and follow through as it is student lead. Being wrong is a useful skill when trying, persisting than just failing. The learning for me is from the enthusiasm and engagement of the students. We travel together through the unexpected zones of the process. As educators  we should not be afraid of the unlearning, it is a trust of discoveries of  problem solving, valuing the learning through compassionate conversations that lead to more inquiries,

Thinking is not an organisation of activities. It is a process that is driven by the students' complex curiosities of problem solving. It is definitely messy and non linear learning.

Through Integrative thinking the competencies are unpacked and woven through, communication, collaboration, critical thinking, creativity, character and citizenship. As an educator I need to guide the students evidence of the 6 C's during the process by scaffolding reflections and bringing awareness of these competencies.

Here is an example of the 6c's from a team that collaborated, communicated and  focused on the critical thinking for knowledge building.

The student reflection focused on why they are accelerating in the progression of the dimension of Critical thinking and knowledge building. How during the Prop Pro model (Rotman I-Think) not only they were problem solving, analyzing and researching to confirm and learn new facts. They also pursued by adding a causal model to further the thinking of colonizing Venus and Mars.








A short video capturing the process

 A video of  conversations demonstrates the 6c's during team collaboration

Pictures about the integrative process and students' collaboration during team work after reflecting and persevering to develop their thinking.  the 1st picture indicates the initial research and the second picture further analysis. Pro Pro model (Rotman I-Think) of why colonize Venus and Mars or why not colonize Venus and Mars?

The initial integrative model followed by further analysis.

          
                














This reflection also refers by using the Pro Pro integrative thinking that the team collaborated with. The team was able to also analyze all facts, give examples and compare the reasons. This reflection shows how the team was leveraging technology through reliable sources.

The students deserve the right of growth. As educators we need to embrace learning as a life of a project.  There is no size in learning, there is lots of growth by enriching a process of competencies and thinking skills that is also self-directed learning.

Here are questions to make us think of learning and growing:

• What situations am I creating for students not to learn individually?
• How are students collaborating and orchestrating their learning?
• How are students valuing and trusting all ideas? 
• How am I integrating competencies during the learning process?

Creative Complexities!

Giving students learning opportunities to grow and experiment with the learning process of complex ideas is the architecture of the why and how of problem solving. Our thinking is always provoked through current events from scientific inventions, social entrepreneurial to international, national and local political issues,

 Many events from September began unveiling from the United Nations Global Goals to world issues and national elections. I continue to explore and learn with my students by applying the thinking models from the Rotman School I think Initiative.: the Ladder of Inference, Visual Alphabet, Open Ended Conversations, Pro- Pro model, System Thinking and Causal Model. Keeping in mind the academic commitments to all curriculum concepts, we engage through cross disciplinary and many tools, we began exploring the thinking process through the causal model.

The students and I began exploring the causal model by referring to our classroom experiences of speaking French; Grade 6 students are motivated to be bilingual...

We continue to learn together and experiment. Thanks to Nogah Kornberg (from Rotman School) who has been my learning partner after school and even late nights for consulting about the thinking process since September. We also had an opportunity of working with Nogah live through Google Hangout on the causal model with a group of students.

Below are samples of the causal model on terrorism:

The focus of the Grade 6 Social Studies is Canada's Interactions with the Global Community. The concept of  disciplinary thinking across subjects are causes and consequences of politics. The students began their inquiry by using the arts to search and learn more about their chosen global goal UN Sustainable Global Goals. We were fortunate to follow the development on twitter and had a chance to speak online with the COP21 Youth delegation about indigenous representation of Canada.  

Through the arts, the thinking process was to focus on visual literacy to portray the facts and communicate the purpose of the goal: to see, to describe, to analyze and to interpret through the elements and the principles of visual arts. The visual literacy enabled students to research and understand the facts in relation to the developed and developing countries. 

Students individually built a causal model to continue exploring the causes of their goal from developing and developed countries.  

To construct knowledge of the Global Goals students combined the goals while creating team causal models. Each causal began with a statement: the consumption of resources, problems of poverty from around the world, living in poverty, to stop poverty by 2030. 

I tried capturing some students' conversations during the causal model discussions of the Global Goals. 

This architecture of learning through the causal model developed the critical thinking and communication skills of the students.

Critical thinking: interpreting, analyzing, synthesizing and evaluating information while making meaningful connections to the issues and the facts of the goals, and collaborative meaningful knowledge construction. 

The students' communication skills were also developing during the discussions by connecting the facts of the goals during the group causal model: explaining clearly, considering multiple and diverse thinking, communicating in detail in order to understand contexts. While communicating the students were analyzing, synthesizing their thinking together building on what they know and new meaning together through these discussions. The process of communication was not based on judgement of each others perspectives, rather it was based on unpacking thinking from each other.

Below are some audios captured by students connecting the causes of their goals. As we continue exploring with the causal model we will be recording the conversations during the designing process of the model. 

Coding was part of the process by using Scratch to create the targets for sustainability by 2030 .

The students also implemented green screen to capture the full process about the sustainability of each goal.

Technology integration is used to amplify the thinking process and demonstrate learning in multiple ways, valuing and empowering the pedagogical process.

Through designing thinking, students' motivation is authentic in breaking down the thinking process. The students are advocating, innovating and problem solving throughout the causal model. They take ownership of scaffolding complex skills. The 6 C's of New Pedagogy for Deep Learning Competencies are amplified throughout the process: Communication, Critical Thinking, Collaboration, Character, Creativity and Citizenship,

I should have blogged while we unpacked the learning together. The students have reflected and documented the process that I will be sharing with their permission in the New Year. Since we already know that learning is messy and embracing the process by reflecting and iterating with the students then we don't shy away from complexity and maximize our learning together.

As we learn we continue to reflect on the process of learning,we ask ourselves:

• Are students creating their own questions for the passion of learning?
• Are students focusing on thinking?
• Are students taking control of their thinking?
• How are students reasoning complex problems?

Making is a Thinking Process!

 I continue learning with my students by applying designing thinking strategies and the thinking process of the 6 Cs . We keep on evolving with the process where the students become the specialists as they apply and reflect on their thinking progressions. As we unfold the process through designing and making, the students embrace the development of skills and perseverance along their daily explorations.

Students are experiencing multiple steps during their learning from digital tools to collaboration with each other and the community while exploring design elements and habits of learning.

From a previous post  on integrative thinking using open ended conversations, integrative thinking models for valuing of ideas, combining designs and interpersonal skills for knowledge building on the concepts of electricity.

Following up on the process of thinking skills from the last blog post; the students were able to use technology to capture the thinking process of iterating from visualizing their combined ideas to the prototypes of the cardboard games.  

This video represents the revision history of the students' design and iteration of ideas while producing the prototype. The students used google drawing to update the drawing while constructing the cardboard game. I asked a couple of students to produce an English version of their process since all of their learning is in French. 

Students also explained the materials used during the process.

From the Kevin Brookhouser presentation at Ottawa GAFEsummit we applied the life of a project into our version and students reflected on the life of their project that required iteration and problem solving skills along the way.

This is the bilingual students language version of a life of a project. 

The evidence of a life of a project when designing and reflecting on the prototype.

Throughout the process students also reflected on their progressions of collaborative, character and  creative thinking skills. 

Making is so much more than the space it is:

• About the engagement phases and capturing the learning journey. 
• Building students' skills on collaboration, Character, Communication and Creativity. 
• A journey focusing on problem solving, metacognition by reflecting throughout the process on  skill building.  
• It is knowledge building of new concepts that are valued among the classroom and school community. 
• Generating ideas about the experiences, sharing them and synthesizing.
• It is about the thinking and rethinking during the process at every step. 
• It is student centered focusing on questioning, iterating when inventing and making. 
• When students are immersed in risk taking with perseverance and problem solving at every step by improving and changing ideas along the journey. 
• It is about building a community of seeking feedback and giving feedback.
• It is a journey of problem solving and creating with a collaborative mindset for innovation.

Making  is about embracing the process where students love their learning and discover the relationship of the thinking concepts of science, technology, engineering, math and the arts. It also is more than STEAM, it is about building partnership of collaborative thinking skills and motivation for learning.

I continue to reflect on:
What skills and concepts are the students acquiring, experiencing and reflecting on during their learning journey?
Are the students leading their learning through problem solving, reflecting on the process and sharing collectively their learning?
Are the students focusing beyond the content on citizenship, creativity and interdependence?
Are students aware of their own criteria through thinking habits?

Learning Opportunities #GAFESummit

 Two days of focus about the purpose of technology supporting pedagogy and thinking skills. It was a gathering of a shift towards the applications of thinking skills rather than just tools. Summit Schedule

 The Keynote speakers Jaime Casap and Kevin Brookhouser had me reflect about the importance of learning as a society of partnership with our students and community.

• The future of education as a model of thinking about learning.
• Giving the power for students to become problem solvers.
• Focusing on students' innovation and iteration of learning without an end point.
• Preparing students for the future through global learning.
• Building the passion for learning through innovation for the transformation of the future that never stops.
• The school becoming a model of partnership with parents and the community.
• Persevering with the mindset and breaking free from the functional fixedness.
• Students would endorse real world problems and there are no bad ideas.
• Students to be risk takers, problem solvers and design to create ideas with a passion.
• Students share knowledge for making a change and celebrating risk taking.
• Celebrating learning through many stages.

• Students realizing the importance of passion when learning.

It was great to see so many colleagues from across Ontario and Canada and meeting new ones from the United States. 

It is always a great opportunity to be among so many educators, learners and leaders sharing the passion of risk taking to take back and apply with our students.

Learning is always a shift of risk taking. On Saturday with my colleague Patricia Fiorino we presented Learning By Doing documenting the process of the makers mindset with Kindergarten and Grade 6.

Thank you for the participants who took time to stay for the last session and go over time sharing students' learning. The presentation was about analyzing and thinking using a variety of tools.

If we need our students to have the desire to learn then we need to provide them with time and support to pursue innovation, passion and interest in learning. What skills and talents will we allow to emerge from our students?

Creativity and Students' Thinking!

How do you get students to think for themselves?

As I continue to explore integrative thinking strategies through problem solving, the students are continuously reapplying thinking strategies while learning new ones.

The Grade 6 team and the students are pursuing Free The Children campaigns of We Scare Hunger and We create Change.

The students have incorporated Scratch to describe their commitments to the 4 campaigns. From the Imagination Foundation, we signed up to incorporate Caine's Arcade games with our passion and empathy project to science.  Our #cardbaordchallenge will take place on the week of 19th to the 23rd, due to the Thanksgiving long weekend. We will be holding a day for the school and another day for the neighborhood community.

As mentioned in the previous blog on provoking students' drive to be passionate innovators and introducing them to tools to think not to do the thinking for them. The focus is on integrative thinking and  NPDL competencies that are character, collaboration and creativity. We are reflecting on some of the dimensions in each competency and relating it to the integrative thinking strategies.

Starting with online unique and creative products from young students, we co-constructed the criteria of what is creativity as described in former post.

This blog post focuses on how students examine two designs and combine designs to come up with one. We are combining the individually designed cardboard games and combining both creative ideas to come up with one game.

We began by experimental thinking strategies by exploring the value of a creative and unique idea and the logic with two creative products competing models.

I presented the students with this image of both cups models that we are already familiar with.

This video details the process

During the process students reapplied and reinforced the thinking strategy of  open ended conversations. The purpose of this process was to apply the thinking into action:

• To identify two different ideas or creative products
• To define the benefits of each product
• To analyze the possibilities of combining these models  
• To apply the benefits of both models
• To create an new product combining both models 

Each student has already designed on Google drawing their own vision of their arcade game based on the concept of circuits and switches that they have been exploring in science. Before the students applied the thinking integrative process of combining their own individual game in one, We further shared possibilities of circuits and switches, pressure switch, pull switch and open and closed switches using copper tape, and conductive thread.

Before the students sat together to apply open ended conversation, we focused on these possibilities:

• Making connections between the 2 options
• The points of tension between the conversations
• How could one game be created from 2 ideas?
• The benefits of the 2 games to generate one game.

These Drawing are examples of combining both ideas to create one game

This week students will continue to create the prototype of the combined ideas that was generated benefitting both. They will reflect and transfer the knowledge of problem solving and understanding of the application of the knowledge to a structure/game.

The students will also reflect on this transformation of integrative thinking and monitor their progress by focusing on the dimension of the competencies of collaboration, creativity and character from NPDL.

This shared ownership will be transformed into action by also inviting an export an electrical engineer for feedback.

As I continue learning with my students I also need to focus on: 

• How do I develop a mindset of thinking that suits  the specific task and the stages of learning? 
• Which skills sets or competencies and tools that help develop the thinking process? 
• Am I giving students opportunities to translate their thinking into actions? 
• How do students become divergent thinkers through the curriculum?

So What Is Creativity?

I am still pushing my thinking forward when students are in the role of designers. As educators we read a lot, we connect online and face to face. I need to learn and move forward with my students' thinking and their ability to decipher the process through them than just through what I know. I needed to question more and listen more as well as reflect with them. My students are my partners in moving my learning forward!

As we continue to unpack the process of the skills through daily applications of learning tasks, We consolidate and reflect for determining next steps about what is making through: coding, 3D printing, robotics, designing, of course including concepts from science, the arts and math when designing. This blog will reflect on our present learning process.

As I embark on this journey with my former students.  This is important, when we are unpacking strategies we are not only referring to the present, we are also reflecting on last year's experiences. We are connecting what we are already know and unpacking the thinking.

The students already highlighted that creativity:

• Is designing with tools like craft materials and tech tools
• It takes perseverance and growth mindset (Grit)
• Imagination
• Suggestions
• Causes
• Brainstorming and using strategies with colleagues for unpacking ideas
• It is critical thinking as problem solving
• Ideas
• Collaboration
• Communication
• Repeat, improve and retry

The students are excited about printing objects with the 3D printer this year. We are beginning to reflect on the causes and passion projects for the use of the printer and how can we be empathetic with the tools and make a change to someone else not just for ourselves?

All Grade 6 students will participate with the cardboard challenge and will apply the concept of circuits to their games and coding, also fundraising for Play For Change for Free The children.

I have shared with the students the following image to reflect about the process and the journey of the process. 

We reviewed some examples from last year about empathy and creativity as well as some new ones:

11 Year old makes an unbreakable spill proof cup for her ailing grandfather

A makerspace in a hospital

Ipad Keyguard shared by Nancy Khalil

Wheelchair Stroller

This is our second week at unpacking the process of creativity with empathy. We are starting our passion project with our school community. From our resource teachers for our special needs students, one class is designing sequenced puzzle pieces that could be reused and the other class is designing sequenced numbers grooved puzzles. Of course the students began with their own visual and continue to apply communication skills, solving problem strategies including mathematics with the prototype and designing on Tinkercad for 3D printing. 

The key to guiding our learning is our daily consolidations of unpacking the thinking process, reflecting on misconceptions, new learning and determining our next steps. 

New learning guiding questions: : 

• Am I capable of finding or suggesting a solution? This was a huge learning with opposing ideas and finding a solution
• How am I building on to existing solution?
• How am I  applying creative thinking strategies?
• How am I taking the responsibility or my part of the project?
• How am I dealing with opposing views?
• How might I ...?
• Am I applying open ended conversation in order to  understand my colleague's suggestion? 
• How are we gathering our ideas?

These are the reflective questions that we are presently focusing on to be explicit with our thinking towards our creative thinking process and building experiences for our learning.  

As we continue to explore and reflect many circumstances are occurring throughout our process. This is a critical shift in educators' learning in combining projects with skills, concrete procedural knowledge and having students to think for themselves. 

This is not a tidy process or a lesson plan, it is a transformation of learning and understanding. How are we giving the opportunity for our students to be creative problem solvers? How are we encouraging students to think critically about ideas and situations?

The following example of designing with a purpose for Kindergarten students to record themselves without having to touch the laptop. 

Why A Relationship?

I have few unpublished posts from the summer regarding how the classroom might be changed for this academic year. I have decided to wait for the students to be part of this process that I was designing and imagining. Yes, it was just a visualization of many changes that I wanted to pursue and apply this year. I have always focused on ownership and visible thinking with the students.

This summer I was lucky to take part in many community events of learning. From the University of Ottawa art engineering with Little Bit to the makerspace and connecting with the makermobile engineering and designing staff. With professor Hanan Anis whom I have connected with by deciding to learn together in combining university students to work with the Grade 6 students on designing thinking prototyping learning. Also attending ISTE this past July has confirmed many learning opportunities with makerspace. Reading "Invent To Learn" By Sylvia Libow Martinez and Dr. Gary Stager has also confirmed students' ownership through making.

This blog focuses on my new learning journey of makerspace in the classroom. My colleague Patricia Fiorino and I are working on TLLP (Teacher Learning and Leadership Program)of a Makerspace in the classroom.  My new learning focuses more on students' decision making with strategic thinking of designing and integrative thinking.I enrolled this last spring with I-think Rotman school Educators Institute on Integrative Thinking in the Classroom. I also embraced the process of sketchnoting that helped me reflect on the process of learning and thinking through visualizing.

My blogging journey for this year begins with this post.

As always at the beginning of the new academic year, building the classroom relationship is and has been the focus. We have in the past applied the cups and the elastic team building task by towering the cups when collaboratively only using the elastics. Another activity is the tower of marshmallow with spaghetti as well as building a structure with few tools and leaving step by step instructions for other groups. Last year's highlight was the scribble bots for team relationship activities. The focus has always been the collaboration with conversations among team members. We co-constructed the criteria of conversation and collaboration.

I am so lucky this year that I have my previous students form last year and only ten new students of two Grade 6 French Immersion. I am working this year with my partners Carolyn Bramble and Jennifer king whom we connect our learning and students' learning. The students are so eager and we are all excited to embrace this year and continue with past year experiences of Free The Children and entrepreneurial projects and new ventures. Since we have unpacked many skills( 6C's)last year my purpose this year is how can we take our thinking further and apply more thinking skills and strategies or routines.

New learning:  Through the activity of making a clay sculpture or symbol representing each student We added the six word story describing the choice of the design. The purpose was to reconnect together while sharing the six word stories in teams. In turn each team member had to present their colleague. We aimed at authenticity and not perfections when presenting each other. Through the conversations students made connections and continued the conversation by asking Tell me more....

New learning more than just a conversation, non judgmental conversations by just listening and connecting.




Collaborative conversations were also unpacked through chak talk strategy of adding on to each other's ideas without judging. We started with the topic of why school? We provoked our thinking by looking at schools from around the world. First students presented their own ideas of what they know. Each member writes his or her own idea on a sticky, then students within the team read and add on to other team members' ideas. The process is written conversations of analyzing and adding on. All voices are presented and the team would come up with a conclusion or a summary. Video 2 has the sample of Chalk Talk.

New learning of written conversations, all voices are included without judging and building knowledge with evidence of all voices.

New learning of open ended conversations  students sharing their favourite objects based on Tell me more... letting their thinking or story be shared without judging and only adding the five w's about the object and how it made them feel.

The students also unpacked more collaborative skills by figuring out how to make stick bombs and catapults. The students revisited the collaborative skills by focusing on the interpersonal and interdependent skills, on perseverance, tenacity and resilience as well as learning partnership and the learning environment.

This video highlights the six word stories and sharing for building relationships, chalk talk and collaborative tasks of stick bombs and catapults.



This video highlights the process of chalk talk and reflecting about the process.



This video covers the open ended conversations and how we are applying the thinking strategies to unpack electricity.

Reflecting on learning is the key to the success of our learning process. The students have always practiced reflections on a daily basis. The students need to be given the chance to take ownership and a purpose of the application of their learning process. These are some students' reflections about the chalk talk and open ended conversations.

New Learning The Visual Alphabet application for visualizing our ideas. We began unpacking the the process by having every student draw a visual of a house using the alphabet. After representing their ideas visually every student was to reflect on their drawing before sharing with their team, what would they like to keep of the drawing and what will they change.

While sharing the students applied open ended conversation by listening first to the self reflections of the visual before adding on tell me more..., asking further questions without judging and offering suggestions on the visual 

The visual alphabet is already being applied for the designing prototype project for 3D printing. I will be blogging about this process soon by also exploring designing with a passion and empathy for 3D printing.  

Through visual thinking each class decided on a class team name.

New learning the "ladder of inference" for uncovering explicit thinking. My colleague Jennifer King who also attended the I-Think Rotman school with me began applying it to Terry Fox. We did the same in our class. It was interesting to listen to students' conversations of identifying the difference between author's opinion and the actual data.





Our new learning journey is just beginning and I need to discipline myself to blog weekly for my reflections.

As educators, we are bound in the relation and the trust we have with our students. We need to build this trust not only with the students but with us as well. Not only saying we believe in them and having the trust and the faith in them but actually building this relationship of the community.  This community should always start with the co-construction of criteria on collaboration conversation and feedback based on criteria without the feeling about being judged. It is so important to give students time to have room to prototype and unpack what is a collaboration and positive relationship. Also giving students time to have room to apply their thinking and be motivated to learn to take actions, and risks without being judged. This is the beginning of our learning journey as we take risks in new learning of deeper thinking of skills and tools for the makespace and our thinking routines that support our prototype of empathy and passion for learning.

Questions to reflect on for this year:

1. How intentional will my teaching be to design learning that engages students intellectually and academically?
2. Will the learning tasks be worthy of students' time and will they be personally relevant to the world they live in? 
3. Will the interdependent relationships in the classroom promote learning and a culture of learning?