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365 Lessons: #34 A Great Partnership Can Make Complex Challenges Seem Less Complex

365 Lessons

(Critical Thinking About What The World Is Teaching Me Every Day)

#34 A Great Partnership Can Make Complex Challenges Seem Less Complex

[Lesson Break Down]

Life ain’t easy.  In fact, as wonderful as it can be, it’s downright complex and intensely challenging at times.  The right partnerships can make that complexity and those challenges easier to manage.

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I’ve been trying to get over a lingering head cold for the past few weeks.  It’s the type of thing that wakes me up with sore throats and stuffy sinuses just enough so that I don’t get the sleep I need to shake it.  I feel better during the day and fade fast at night.  My wife is pregnant with our third child.  The first two keep us pretty busy and now that she’s going on thirty weeks the countdown is at hand.  Two nights ago as I sat in the bathroom with hot shower steam clearing my 2-year-old’s croupy lungs at two o’clock in the morning while my wife retrieved and set up a humidifier in his bedroom I thought, “Wow…we have a great partnership going here!”

This past weekend was filled with surprises.  Yesterday I was home sick with both of the boys.  Even when everyone in our house is healthy our lives are a wonderful whirlwind of constant motion.  We love it and we wouldn’t want it any other way, but it is relatively challenging.  I’ve spoken to parents who think that parenting is easy.  Once, I even heard a father refer to his child as “pet rock” with a shrug of his shoulders.  My children are more like pet rock stars!  They wrestle, they shout, they run in circles for what seems like impossible amounts of time, they can turn a perfectly intact room completely upside down in a matter of minutes…boys!

I have tons of respect for single parents.  I honestly don’t know how they do it!  Like parenting, other complex things are made easier and better when the right partnerships are formed and nurtured.  Today I had cause to make the connection between my marriage as an incredible partnership and the incredible partnerships that have served to enhance learning for my students, my colleagues, and me over the years.  The more I learn the more I realize that not nearly enough can be said about effective collaboration as the only option for maximizing growth and achievement.  There’s a reason why clichés are clichés – two heads ARE better than one!

365 Lessons: #3 Artifacts Inspire Critical Thinking And Action

365 Lessons:  #3 Artifacts Inspire Critical Thinking And Action

 

Lesson #3 Break Down 

Artifacts and Objects + Curiosity = Critical Thinking

Critical Thinking + Exploration = Synthesis and Discovery

…Using content related artifacts and objects to stimulate questions, thoughts, and discussion is a great way to get students started on an inquiry project.

  

Dictionary.com defines an artifact as, “any object made by human beings, especially with a view to subsequent use,” and an object as, “a thing, person, or matter to which thought or action is directed.”  I’ve been working to develop a deepened understanding of Project Based Learning with Inquiry and Authentic Social Action in mind.  I’m repeatedly coming across the challenge of encouraging critical thinking and inspiring the desire to take action.  The best results I’ve seen in my own work and the work of my incredible colleagues in BPS is perpetuated by genuine student interest.  When the kids come up with the ideas, the direction, and the plan, they tend to generate and extend an amazing amount of energy for any given project.  Student excitement can become infectious, which often times leads to extended, passionate, and relevant learning.

I was looking thorough the wonderful book Inquiry Circles in Action by Stephanie Harvey and Harvey Daniels yesterday.  I came across a section called “Objects and Artifacts” on page 83 in which Harvey and Daniels assert, “Bringing intriguing objects and artifacts into the room adds to our kids’ engagement, teaches them to think, and builds content knowledge.”  It makes sense.  I started to think about artifacts that would get 1st and 2nd graders thinking critically about composting because the amazing Deb Prinde is introducing an inquiry unit to her multiage class next week and she’s invited me to collaborate.

We’ll be doing a lesson on key word searches to kick things off, so I started my exploration with the most obvious key word: “compost.”  That led me to this page http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/education/photos.htm#photos which has some links to a bunch of great art that’s free for educational use.  I wasn’t thrilled with the pictures for our purposes so I grabbed an article about composting and scoured it for some other key words.  If you know anything about composting you might have imagined that I found the greatest word imaginable for engaging 1st grade students.  That word of course is “WORM!”  It’s not an artifact but it is an object.  I think I’m going to bring in some worms to begin with.  Maybe I’ll bring a different object each day for the first week and see if the students can start to make connections.

I’m hoping that even if our explorers don’t initially come to the conclusion that worms help in the composting process, seeing, drawing, writing, and talking about worms in conjunction with four related objects (and artifacts) should set the wheels in motion for quality generation and revision of relevant driving questions and synthesis as information flows in throughout the project.  I’m excited to discover how effective the use of artifacts and objects are going to be in affecting student achievement and attitudes toward learning!

Making Authentic Connections: A Culture of Comprehension

Happy Tuesday Everyone!

Planning and implementing great project based instruction in your classroom can be easy and fun.  Projects can be short or long, simple or complex, and they can address any content area or set of skills by using all or some of the elements of effective project based learning design.  Check out the following Teacher Feature video illustrating parts of  a short project that Candi Gorski (Harlan 2nd grade) used to perpetuate her instruction in reading comprehension.

Teacher Feature Link:  http://tinyurl.com/d8ydsak

In the span of a week she…

…read a great book about Native American culture to her students.

  • Played traditional Native American music softly while reading
  • Set the stage by making some connections to Native American culture and generating a thoughtful mood in her classroom
  • Transported the group through space and time with her voice and energy

…followed up with a collaborative workshop in which her second grade students created Dream Catchers with their fifth grade learning buddies.

  • Collaboration
  • Communication
  • Authentic purpose and connections to content

…Incorporated Native American cultural artifacts in classroom communication across the curriculum.

  • More music
  • Other literature
  • Photographs

…facilitated ongoing comprehension conversations, revisiting content, skills, and strategies repeatedly.

Again, the critical content driving this project was reading comprehension; specifically making connections for enhance comprehension.

Thanks for your great work Candi…and thanks for sharing!

Stayed tuned and/or contact your Ignite Facilitator, Media Specialist, or other interested colleagues for more information about planning for project based learning in your classroom.

Have a great week and let me know how I can support your exploration!

Seth

High Expectations & A Presumption of Competency

I was at a great event tonight.  Friends of Different Learners (an incredible organization associated with the Birmingham School District) held their annual Appreciation Awards Ceremony.  I was repeatedly moved as the evening unfolded with performances, awards presentations, and information about the organization’s philosophy and efforts.  A feeling of pure awe overwhelmed me as  I watched a video montage of parents holding signs with phrases like, “I believe my child will change the world” and “I believe my child can achieve his goals” and “My child spreads hope and  joy.”  Among the most impactful take-aways was the sentiment that parents and educators alike must look at all learners with high expectations and a presumption of competency.  I am so fortunate to work in a community that promotes and perpetuates that view.  Teachers are charged by periodic situations and events that reinforce their passion for student achievement, learning, and growth…this night was one of those events for me.

One Thing (or two things)

I realized exactly how long it had been since my last (first) post when I had no idea what my login password was.  I knew it had been way too long when I had to use the e-mail option because I couldn’t even remember my username.  Finally, I called myself out as a no good, procrastinating, non-blogger when I had no idea which e-mail address I registered this thing under.  Suffice it to say I made it here and I’m dusting off the cobwebs (or the blog-webs as it were).  I know there’s hope for me yet.  Bad writing is better than no writing – or so I’m told.  

Two things I recently heard/read that made an impact on me:

1.  We should be “eating the elephant one bite at a time.”  The discussion was about Reader’s Workshop as it relates to the Common Core Standards.  How can the workshop model influence critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, etc.?  And, how can we influence teachers to explore/implement the model?  The suggestion was that we do it one step at a time.  Growth is a long-term endeavor – slow and steady really can win the race.

2.  Stephen Covey wrote, “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.” I love how he makes it sound so simple and how he convinces me that it can be.  I’m working on it:)

Wide Eyed

Testing…testing…is this thing on?

This is one of the goofiest things I’ve ever experienced.

Here I am sitting in my local coffee shop fulfilling a longtime goal…I’m blogging!

The goofy part is that I’m nervous.

I’m acutely aware that no one’s watching.

I understand that unless I get the word out (and unless the word is meaningful) no one may ever know or care what goes on here at the old Berg’s Eye View Blog, but still, I’m nervous.

I’m nervous like a high school kid deciding to call a girl for the first time.  He looks at the phone number.  He sets it by the phone and paces back and forth practicing his lead…his delivery.

“Hello,” too formal.

“Hey!”  Corney.

“What’s up?”  I’m doomed!

I’ve Googled “Edublogs” before, read through some information and even gone to the sign up page.

This time I pulled the trigger.

You are experiencing my leap of faith into the bloggisphere!

Please note:  Like an awkward kid learning how to socialize – I’ll get better at this.

I’m feeling better already.

I’m wide eyed, ready to learn, ready to share, and ready to explore…stay tuned!