Personal Transformations
Achievements
My personal goals were to understand and improve how to effectively allow students to drive their own learning by inquiry and co-design from start to finish. As an Elementary Educator, allowing students more responsibility initially was a challenge, however students were highly capable, here is why...
Inquiry
"Students created their own driving question and I kept the questions visible in the classroom to know what direction they are going in."
Learning design
"Learning became more purposeful by allowing students opportunities to discover based on their own interests"
Reflection, Challenges and Recommendations
"I offered students multiple opportunities to interact and build partnerships within the school and local community"
Inquiry
Shift Area for Improvement: Inquiry
Goal #1: Students drive their own learning experience through deep inquiry, with the teacher establishing routines, protocols, forums and processes to extend.
Goals and Accomplishments
Students create their own questions and research independently. Students reached this goal by creating a driving question and combined individual driving questions into one. Students researched learning strategies and applied these strategies into creating their own teaching materials
Have opportunities to teach each other. Students taught each other how to play board games and taught the Thai school kids English by creating learning materials such as, slides, videos, BINGO and board games
Learn facts from each other. Students learned different methods of learning strategies from each other, how to “hook the audience” and Thai writing
Skill acquisition students acquired skills in teaching, lesson planning, script writing, video production, digital content, persuasive letters, gamification, design, journal writing, how to write a thank you card, Thai writing, correct pronunciation and translations. Self-assessments, giving constructive feedback
Students become independent in the learning process Students created their own rules for the board games, learning content, scripts, videos, board games
Guide students continuous feedback, reflections, assessment rubrics, expert parent, high school students, interviews with ES teachers, checklists and journey wall
Give students a situation to rebuild Students experienced meeting the Thai school kids and were able to assess their abilities and provide learning content suitable for their needs.
Students search for answers Students reflected on their experiences with the Thai school students and continued to build their learning materials based on their experiences. Students were able to answer the driving question " Is it possible for Grade 4 students to teach English to Thai school kids?"
Learn from inquiry Students created and answered the driving question
Evidence
Students will share their knowledge with the class. Students presented their learning materials to the Grade 5 classes and received feedback, students created video recording lessons to teach Thai school kids English, there are multiple feedback opportunities and reflection journals that indicate what they have learned.
Use checklists and rubrics Standard assessment rubrics/ Student self-assessment, group assessment rubrics and checklists are given to students. The journey wall is up in the classroom and provides a timeline of events and indicates direction and purpose, the journey wall is created using a white board and can easily be adjusted or added to.
Document findings in folders. Students have a e portfolio and folder with all written documents. All artifacts are stored on the Google drive.
Reflect Students wrote a reflection journal and informally discussed their experiences with the class. Students reflect on their self assessments
Actions
I Created rubrics with clear expectations LA , Aero, NGSS Standard rubrics were given for assessment purposes
Provide students with immediate and regular feedback Feedback was seen from the kitchen staff, high school students, expert parents, teachers, grade 5 students. Example of effective feedback forms: Two stars and a wish, grow and glow and wow moments!.
Allow students to create their own materials Students created their own learning materials for the Thai school kids.
Learning design
Shift Area for Improvement: Learning design
Goal #2: Learning experience project is co-designed and student driven from start to finish students, complete voice and choice in products and relevant topics.
Accomplishments
Students design their own resources Students created slides, videos, flashcards, lesson plans, board games and rules
Students design their own materials Students created learning materials for the Thai school
Students voice and create their own activities Students wrote their own lesson plans, decided on their theme and executed their plan
Students decided how they will be assessed Students worked towards an achievable goal and created checklists
Learning experience impacts the project After the entry event, visiting the Thai school, visiting the KG classes, expert parent visit, high school students feedback and filming educational videos students wrote in their reflective journals about their observations, new information learned, thoughts and questions, exploring more thoughts and ideas. Students wrote if they agreed or disagreed with what was learned, as well as data collection, notes from research and further reflections that implied that they were happy to help the Thai kids develop learning materials ( see student transformations)
Co-designed and student driven from start to finish Students designed their lesson plans, interview questions, KG observation forms, learning materials and scripts and videos, delegating roles for each member.
Evidence
Students respond to material checklists Students checked off what they needed for their video lessons and games
Students complete templates Students completed I see, I think, I wonder chart, observation records, interviews, lesson plans
Self-assessments Students individually completed self-assessments, as well as group work assessments ( see student transformations)
Students create a timeline Our Journey wall is centered in the classroom
Reflections Individual reflection journals, group reflections, class reflection discussions .
Group assessment checklists Weekly checklists posted on the slides for all students to see
Answer the driving question Is possible for Grade 4 learners to teach Thai school kid English? Yes, it is.
Plan Students created lesson plans, scripts, rules for the board games
Present their ideas Students presented their ideas to Ms. Dew and Principal Mari in the PBL journey, as well as the expert parent, teacher, Grade 5 students.
Show case The Thai school students will join our Grade 4 learners in an English Language workshop on May 25, where our Grade 4 students will show the Thai government school kids a mini lesson on their chosen topic and explain how to play the educational board games. After the workshop our students will donate the 16,000 baht cheque that we made during our Market Day and give it to the Thai government school in our final ceremony.
Actions
Establish clear learning objectives and driving questions. The clear learning objectives are given each lesson and outlined on the journey wall
Feedback forms Feedback was seen from the kitchen staff, high school students, expert parents, teachers. Example: Two stars and a wish, grow and glow and wow moments!.
Self-assessments Individual self-assessment cards included prompts such as looking at my learning, I am proud of the way I....Next time I will try..... and group assessments that showed if they work was shared equally, if they helped and encouraged each other, set obtainable objectives, were respectful of each other, understood the roles, gave constructive feedback and listened to each other.
Continuous constructive criticism reflections Constructive criticism reflections were seen throughout the project verbally ( individual and group) and written after developing the board games. (See student transformations)
Collaborate with parents and teachers An expert parent helped with the lesson plans and elementary teachers helped with student interviews, design teacher with the board games and Thai teachers with translations
Formative assessments persuasive letter, journal writing, e portfolio and student booklet (see student transformations)
Presentations lessons, board games, slides, PBL journey, showcase, parent- teacher conference
Conferences one on one and group continuously everyday
Various activities to showcase their understanding and deliver new concepts and ideas Persuasive letter, observations, lesson plans, game design, journaling, thank you cards, educational videos, slide content.
Goal relevance
Students
Students will have a voice and choice in their own learning by motivating themselves
Take ownership of their own learning
Opportunities and skills that students can use further on in life
Students will not compare their performance to each other
Learning is not a competition
Students focus on their own progress
Teacher
Creating researches
Creating curious learners
Creating lifelong learners
Check students understanding and give feedback without tests
Encourage and motivate self learning
Increase the importance of soft skills like creativity or leadership
By when will this goal be accomplished?
The goal was accomplished throughout the project from the beginning to the end.
Reflection, challenges and Recommendations
Reflection of Personal Growth
I learned that by visually having a timeline/ journey wall up in the classroom all tasks are manageable and milestones are easily achieved by meeting expectations and deadlines. Students know where they are at and where they are supposed to be. Clear expectations keep students motivated and on track. Allow students to take ownership and responsibility for their own learning and actions, help drive their own learning experiences through deep inquiry. I learned that students can be trusted to be independent co-designers.
Quality of students work
I learned that the quality of work that emerges is all students responsibility, all students should care if another is failing. Create a sense of whole class pride in the quality of work, as well as a sense of peer pressure to keep up with the standards. Inform students that projects are made public and that weaknesses reflect on all students. Critique is specific and consistent. Feedback is important for student development.
Motivate students to solve real-world problems and find a need to give back to the community, as well as allow opportunities for students to communicate/ pitch an idea to please an audience outside of the school, not only a friend and/or teacher, preferably a person who is relying on the students to think critically and run the project like a business to please the clients. Teach students when they are ready to learn and prioritize social capital, apply positive pressure and give students scenarios, rounds and levels of assessment that apply to an action.
Assessments
Assessment is an ongoing process to give students ownership in the project-based experience to assess benchmarks. Develop skills for the students to self-assess and become more critical and reflective in their own learning to become more successful in critical thinking by analyzing data, problem solving and effective communication within their findings. The steps are scaffolded and students are given multiple opportunities to apply these skills. The students evaluate themselves and then the teachers evaluate them on how they need to be more successful.
Good assessment should have clear expectations, should be discussed with the students before the assessment, should include a rubric with guidance on how to effectively achieve the standards. Assessments should be mapped out with the PBL journey wall and shown visually in milestones for students to better prepare. Assessments should include individual and group, diagnostic, formative, summative and reflections. Assessments that show the students individual understanding should only be included in their grade report. Assessments should be given with an opportunity to modify their work before the final product is delivered by achievement of project objectives, development of effectiveness, efficiency and impact and sustainability And remember, if you are bored, the students are bored too.
Authentic experiences
Building partnerships impacts the students learning experiences by intrinsically motivating them to want to help the community and this showed in the Teach Me project, specifically, the need to help the Thai school kids develop their English language skills. We built a partnership with the Thai government school down the road to help develop their Language Arts curriculum. We had an expert parent come in and help the students with their lesson plans, which guided them to understand and develop their approach in teaching skills and steps.
Challenges
Students not getting along midway or disagreeing with the outcome of the final product. Ways to help overcome challenges, having a highly structured PBL, with ongoing individual assessment, reflections and feedback that includes opportunities for expert parents, teachers, students from other classes to share areas of growth. Opportunities for students to present their work to the class and allow two glows and a grow feedback, as well as confer with individual students, guide them with specific targets. Include self-assessments to promote student ownership of their work. The challenges I faced was the initial partnership with the Thai school, communicated via HR and finding the right time to meet the school after a previous school cancelled our entry event..
Recommendations
"Foster collaboration and become a designer of learning". Unpack collaboration skills for students to learn, teach collaboration skills for students to understand what successful collaboration looks like and what it means to add on to others ideas, as well as how to contribute to their group.
I believe that once students have received positive feedback and discussed their targets and conferred with the teacher, students will be able to resolve their issues within the group and work together with the solutions given from their peers, expert parent, other teachers etc. The right mentoring and direction will help solve their issues.
The recommendations for teachers in inquiry is to give the students a problem instead of all the information. Students drive the experiments and learn to question themselves. Teach students which questions are appropriate to ask. Teach students which questions would work and how to model them, teach discovery learning and empower students to love learning.
Intrinsic motivation begins by building positive relationships with our students, showing them that we care, a feeling of being safe by building meaningful connections, this is done by autonomy, competence and relatedness. There are different layers of motivation and student involvement in their own decisions on what to learn, how to learn and opportunities to help connect group members to others by becoming meaningfully involved within a broader social world. (See student transformations)
The reflection pays an important role by processing/understanding and gaining experiences from past actions. Regular feedback from various groups of people or experts help give perspective towards improvement. As teachers we meet weekly and discuss lesson plans and reflect on past experiences (what works and what doesn't work) these meetings help a lot to modify plans and help keep the kids on track. Reflecting as an educator group effectively helps each member grow and develops skills needed for our students.
Rubrics and Feedback forms.
Assessment rubrics
Feedback forms
Peer Assessment