February 4th. 2022

I began reading more on what it means to self regulate and kept thinking about what needed to change in my planning and implementation. What changes could I make to help my learners self regulate? What could I do?  I used the UDL Guidelines framework to help guide my thinking about how to help my learners make good choices for themselves. Just like we teach our learners how to choose "good fit" books, we need to teach our kids how to make 'good fit' choices. To do this, they themselves have to understand who they are as learners and what they need. They also need time to reflect on their choices and if it was indeed a good choice for them. 

In the framework under checkpoint 7.1 it speaks to optimizing individual choice and autonomy.  It states " it is important to note that individuals differ in how much and what kind of choices they prefer to have. It is therefore not enough to simply provide choice. The right kind of choice and level of independence must be optimized to ensure engagement." This solidified my thinking and I knew I had to be more purposeful in the choices I was offering, but also in talking to my learners about making good choices. I also knew the importance of reflection and had to ensure this was integrated part of my class. 

PIVOT again.  Over the next few WEEKS, my focus in my classroom was on helping my learners make good choices.  We discussed how everyone is unique and learns differently, how everyone needs different things at different times. We discussed the things that make learning hard for some and easy for others, and how some people like working alone while others enjoy working together. We talked about how some days, depending on how they are feeling, or what the learning goal is, or what they need to do to achieve the learning goal, they may want to work alone, at their desk and watch a video on the topic. While another day, they may feel they need to sit and talk to a peer about their thinking. The article that Katie Novak wrote "The Lochness Monster, Yetis, Big Foot, and Learning Styles" certainly came full circle.  CONTEXT, not learning styles need to be accounted for; removing as many barriers to learning by offering choices is how to ensure success for all.  I felt my learners understood more fully the importance of making good choices in the class and it also meant they had to understand themselves better as a learner. 

Talking about doing is not enough. We now had to put this into practice. How can one get better at something if not given the opportunity  to practice what they are learning? It is here that I made sure the choices I was giving my learners was purposeful, academically appropriate and actually removed barriers to learning and not just an option because it was easy. My lessons began the same, but my 'chats' at the beginning of class focused on how they were feeling, how their day was going and how they felt about the upcoming math class. We talked more about making good choices during the class and how it was ok if we made a bad choice - making a bad choice meant we will learn something new about ourselves and we can make a better choice tomorrow. When it came time to break into our learning groups (rotations), I emphasized making good choices for themselves and then let them go. 

LET THEM GO. Three simple words, but three of the hardest words to do as a teacher. Let them go.  But I did... creating autonomy and building confidence is so important in the journey of becoming an expert learner. I believed in my learners and I knew they could do it. In the beginning, it was a little rough. Learners did not make good choices and some days, the math did not get done. Other days, the choices were good, and math got done. Some days, there were just too many in a group while other days, that group worked.  Some days, the kid that worked alone rocked the activity, other days he needed a friend. 

 But at the end of every day, we took time to reflect. This became a huge change agent in our class. Reflection. Each day, I was more mindful of the time and made sure there was at least 10 minutes before class ended to call everyone together to chat about the class. Kids are brutally honest when you ask them the right questions in the right space - a safe space. When asked if they made good choices in their grouping, work, activities, learning, they were all very quick and honest to say yes or no. It was the times that the 'no's came up that peaked more discussions. "Why?" became my favorite response when a learner said they did not make a good choice today. This little word begs for further reflection and thinking. Many times they could pin point their reasons, other times, I think they just did not want to admit the reasons. In any case, it got them thinking. 

Thinking about how their choices affect their learning.  

March 18th, 2022. 

I have been on a journey of its own when it comes to learning goals. I consider it more of a side street in my UDL journey, but important just the same. And after my latest revelation in math class around multiple means of engagement, it was even more evident on how important learning goals really are in the process toward helping students  become expert learners. 

The whole notion of learning goals came on my radar when I began work around standard based assessment. I began diving into curriculum outcomes and looking at ways to capture the big ideas and reword these expectations in student friendly language. It was these goals then that became the focus of creating success criteria rubrics where explicit expectations of that goal was written using a rubric that identified the standards for success.  I saw these learning goals as something I created, to focus my lessons and then use it to assess student learning. 

When I began on-line learning in January, creating a learning goal was the first step. Using Katie Novak's UDL Lesson Planner, this was the first step that was identified in the process. Once I figured out what learning objective (outcome) I needed to focus on, I then had to figure out how to word the goal in student friendly language.  I thought about what specifically  I wanted my learners to understand and do at the end of the lesson and then created it from there. Kind of like backward design, but simplified. This learning goal then became the focus of my lesson and as I worked through planning it, I realized it gave my lesson more purpose and direction.  I felt the more specific and direct the learning goal was, the clearer it would be for learners to understand, and for me to anticipate barriers to achieving this goal. Without me realizing it at the time, creating this learning goal at the beginning,  provided direction for both me and my learners. It might sound rather insignificant as one may think that when we design lessons and teach it, it centres  on the  goal, but this was different.  It became common practice for me to write the goal on the whiteboard, or on a tasks each day and discuss what it means. It became a conversation piece and it became something my learners knew they had to work towards and prove they had achieved it.  

Ever have a moment when something happens totally out of the blue that surprises you but then once you reflect, you realize this should not be a surprise? Well, that moment for me came after a lesson on representing decimals. At the beginning of the class, we talked about the work that we had previously done on decimals (after some pre-assessments, it was determined that students did not have a good understanding of decimals and we went back to basic work of place value, naming and connecting decimals to fractions and percentages).  This days lesson continued this work and the learning goal was "I can represent decimals in tenths and hundredths."  At the beginning of class, I wrote a question on the board "Is 0.5 and 0.05 equal?"  Learners answered the question (100% incorrect), and said they were the same number. I collected their responses and laid it on my desk. Then wrote the learning goal.  We dug in and started work on representing decimals. Thankfully, I had a double class that day and self regulation and motivation was at its best. At the end of the 2 hours, I gave the same question again "Is 0.5 and 0.05 equal?". This time, I had 100% correct. 

Then out of the blue a little voice speaks "Miss, our learning goal, we achieved it. We did it. We can really do math." 

I paused (maybe fighting back a few tears). I replied "Yes, you did achieve our goal. And yes, you can really do math."

It was a moment for all of us. I think I learned more that class than my learners. 

Creating learning goals and sharing them with the class was something  I did. In the back of my mind I knew I needed to get US to a place where we created them together where learners set goals for themselves. Without realizing  what was transpiring, the learners in my class were internalizing these learning goals and started to make them thier own. They owned them. 

It wasn't just about the AHA moment when the learner realized they have achieved  the goal, it was the fact that by stating the goal up front and setting the expectation for learning, students could see what learning looked like, and helped them realize they can do math. 

As I dive into my UDL journey further, I realize learning goals are so much more than that. While I am not where I feel I need to be with co-creating learning goals, I do however feel I am on the right side street.