St. Francis of Assisi's College (SFAC)
Nov 25, 2022
St. Francis of Assisi's College (SFAC)
Nov 25, 2022
Embedded Files
Nov 25, 2022
About SFAC
About SFAC
Saint Francis of Assisi's College is one of the aided secondary schools under the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong. It was founded in 1977 on Nam Cheong Street, Shek Kip Me in Kowloon. In 1993, it moved to its current location in Fanling. The college aims to introduce students to the Gospel of Christ, and foster their growth.
This academic year started with five classes in each grade in Form 1 to Form 5, and four classes in Form 6. To help Form 1 and Form 2 students adapt to secondary school life more comfortably, the two grades were reallocated to six classes per grade. We believe that every student has different strengths; through various activities, students can unleash their potential, discover their strengths, and develop confidence.
Participating in the Envisioning Innovation in Education project, led by Harvard Graduate School of Education's Project Zero and supported by the CATALYST Education Lab, is in line with our belief in the concept of "teaching benefits both teachers and students". Through the program, the teacher team can learn new pedagogies to help students better equip themselves, face the ever-changing world with confidence, and create their own future. The support of the research team allows teachers to experiment, make thinking and learning visible, and improve classroom effectiveness. We hope that students can master thinking methods and become active learners - not only to improve their academic performance, but also help them face future challenges.
Introduction & Inquiry Focus
Introduction & Inquiry Focus
Our Open House centred on the inquiry focus, “How to Promote a Culture of Thinking?”. Inspired by the first principle of Cultures of Thinking in Action, “For classrooms to be cultures of thinking for students, schools must be Cultures of Thinking for teachers”, we leveraged the event to further explore this topic. On the day, EIE participants joined our colleagues in the Staff PD Session and engaged in experiential activities together. We also shared practices on thinking routines & documentation. This was followed by an exchange with SFAC students, and an open discussion with all EIE members.
What did we do/hear/feel on the day?
What did we do/hear/feel on the day?
Artifact Share
EIE guests joined SFAC colleagues in small groups to share and discuss with one another the artifacts that represent their journeys as teachers or principals.
See-Think-Wonder Activity & Gallery Walk
Cultivating a thinking culture begins with teachers. Hence, guests and colleagues had a taste of the See-Think-Wonder thinking routine together.
We were very curious looking at the different unique household items, and raised many wonders about what we saw and what we thought.
We also experienced visible thinking by writing on post-it notes, and engaged in a gallery walk to view other groups’ items & responses.
The atmosphere was fun, relaxed and curious, with many laughter & puzzles heard.
Teacher Cohort Sharing - STW application and reflection + experience in documentation
Our team shared practices that we have tried with students over the past 2 years, related to the use of thinking routines, documentation and the Pedagogy of Play framework.
We also shared insights and learnings about the new practices, and we found that these innovative moves are
connected to the Generic Skills promoted by the Education Bureau (EDB);
effective in promoting students’ interest and engagement in class, academic performance, and making thinking visible;
scaffolding convergent and divergent thinking (e.g. by using see-think-wonder);
providing new perspectives for teachers to understand students’ learning through documentation;
enabling students to demonstrate their understanding in school (i.e. in classroom) and out of school (i.e. participation in inter-school competitions). Documentation helps capture and exhibit the learning process, and supports teaching and learning;
cultivating a growth mindset, expanding teachers’ & students’ way of thinking.
Campus Tour - Gallery Walk
Students share their work
We invited our students to showcase artifacts that they have created for inter-school competitions (e.g. chopstick holders; portable fan for construction workers; wood-made robots; Minecraft model with sustainable urban design)
Fireside Chat
In the end, we exchanged views with EIE guests about different approaches to scale the application of thinking routines. We also discussed the challenges of designing cross-disciplinary maker activities for students.
Visitor Learnings & Reflections
(What’s our learning as visitors?)
Visitor Learnings & Reflections
(What’s our learning as visitors?)
Fun and experiential PD creates an engaging environment for educators to share and co-learn.
In order to promote “Culture of Thinking” in school, we should not just focus on introducing new practices to students, we should also work with colleagues (from the same school or other schools) to develop a “share” culture, actively exchange our thinking and experience the process of making thinking visible together (e.g. through experiencing thinking routines together).
Host Learnings & Reflections
(What’s the learning of the host & possible next steps?)
Host Learnings & Reflections
(What’s the learning of the host & possible next steps?)
Mr. Sheung
這個Open House event準備的過程，是一個設計解難活動。我們在設計期間，考慮了各持份者的反應、活動的目的和希望達到的氣氛。就這些進行了方方面面的討論。在繁忙的教學日裏要擠出數小時來討論實在不容易，最後我們也做到了，也收獲到意料之外的效果，而且相當享受。所經歷的，希望在日後的教學準備上實踐，為學生帶來更佳的學習體驗。
The preparation for the Open House event was itself a problem-solving design activity. During the design process, we took into account the potential responses from various stakeholders, the aim of the activities, and the atmosphere we wanted to create. We had detailed and thorough discussions as a team. Although it was difficult to set aside a few hours from our busy teaching schedule, we managed to make it happen. The results were unexpected and enjoyable. I hope that we can apply what we have learned in future teaching preparations, leading to improved learning experiences for our students.
Virginia
透過兩年參與Project Zero 的體驗，我認為自己和學生多體驗所學的Thinking Routines 是重要的，而且學到應多作分享。故當大家討論Open House 的日子，亦期望於本學年和同事分享我們在Project Zero 所學以及我們本年innovation project 方向，所以就決定以教師發展日作為Open House。
SFAC Team 各組員雖然都工作忙碌，大家盡量抽空商討及構思活動內容。以往教師發展日，大多做講座形式，是次希望分享如我們在project zero所學習到，讓老師參與，讓他們有經歷才有體會，亦要考慮作爲Open House 的"Host" 和 "Guest" 的期望。活動效果不錯，同事們都投入，願意參與活動，也感興趣，亦讓他們體驗thinking routines。這讓我更相信多分享和讓老師有親身體驗是有助推動學生學習。而且有EIE 老師一同參與活動，同事能和外校老師交流，有豐富的得著。期望往後可邀請同事一同嘗試採用thinking routines。
對我來說Open House 是一次難忘的體驗，也是有趣的經歷，享受過程，感恩各組員分工合作，互相幫助及補位，活動才能順利完成。EIE 學校老師的參與及寶貴的意見對我們很有幫助的。最後，我們於同一空間存起所做的內容，讓我們把是次活動內容及片段儲存起來，繼續存放往後故事的經歷。
Through engagement with Project Zero over the past 2 years, I believe it’s important to share my learnings from the project, and experience thinking routines with students. During Open House planning discussions, our team expressed the desire to share our learnings and innovation focus with colleagues this academic year. As a result, we decided to make use of our staff development day for the EIE Open House.
Despite busy schedules, the SFAC team members made time for discussions and planning for the event. Unlike past staff development days, which were lecture-style, we wanted this Open House to provide hands-on experiences similar to what we have learned from Project Zero. We also took into account the roles of "Host" and "Guest" when planning the event. The outcome was successful, with colleagues participating actively in activities and feeling interested and engaged in the thinking routines. This reinforces my belief that sharing and providing first-hand experiences among teachers can greatly benefit students' learning. Our colleagues also gained valuable insights from interacting with EIE guests from other schools. We hope to encourage more colleagues to try out different thinking routines in the future.
The Open House was a memorable and enjoyable experience for me. I appreciated the cooperation and coordination of our team, who divided the work and supported each other, leading to the event's success. The participation and insights of teachers from EIE schools were very valuable. We have documented the event in a shared drive to preserve the content and memories. We will continue to document our experiences in the future.
Fan Sir
準備Open House的過程中，SFAC Team有很多豐富的點子。而我自己最在意的部分有二，一是同事的反應，二是時間控制。而這兩方面，牽涉到核心問題—SFAC Team想同事接收甚麼訊息？
經過多次反覆討論後，我們決定將”See Think Wonder”推廣給同事，而且用較生動活潑的方式。我們摒棄了單向的演講方式，而採用了輕鬆的環節予同事參與，而這些環節都是取經自過去的Project Zero大型活動。
雖然SFAC Team仔細和用心設計活動，但我仍擔心出現「冷場」和時間控制不好。幸好，過程十分順利，同事的反應熱烈程度超乎我想像，就連小休時間都留在活動場地中繼續討論和欣賞其他組別的成果。
總的來說，是次活動效果比我預期中更佳，使我往後更有信心的把EIE學到的創新意念推廣及同事及應用在課堂中。
In preparation for the Open House, the SFAC team generated many ideas. I was concerned with two main areas: 1) colleagues' responses, and 2) time management. This led to the core question: What message does our team want to deliver to our colleagues?
After several rounds of discussion, we decided to promote "See, Think, Wonder" to our colleagues using a lively approach. Instead of using the one-way lecture format, we were inspired by past Project Zero events and designed interactive elements to engage our colleagues in a relaxing manner.
Although we carefully planned the event, I was still worried about the potential for "awkward silences" and timing issues. Fortunately, the event went smoothly, and the enthusiastic responses from my colleagues exceeded my expectations. They even stayed during breaks to continue discussions and observe other groups’ work and documentation.
In conclusion, the outcome of the event was better than I had anticipated. I now have more confidence in promoting innovative ideas that I have learned from EIE to my colleagues and in their application in the classroom.
Lau Sir
這次的open house，由於同時是教職員會議，故需要考慮更多的因素。其中之一就是同事們的反應，我們希望同事能積極參與活動，這樣才能達到宣傳thinking routines的效果，因此我們嘗試加入一些互動的元素，其中之一就是"see think wonder"的活動。這個活動跟以往的講座很不同，我們也怕會出現冷場的情況，慶幸當日同事的反應都很好。得到這次的經驗，我覺得以後也可舉辦類似的活動。
Because the Open House was integrated with the staff meeting, we had to take more considerations into account. One of the factors was anticipating our colleagues' response - we hoped they would actively engage in the activity to achieve our goal of promoting thinking routines. Therefore, we introduced interactive elements, such as the "See, Think, Wonder" activity. The event was different from the past lecture format; we were also worried about awkward silences, but colleagues responded very positively on the day. Based on this successful experience, I think we can organize similar events in the near future.
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