Cataline Elementary

2017-2018: This year, the role of PLC Facilitator is shared by Carol Anne Dikur (who will support the Intermediate inquiry) and Rebecca Johnson (who will support the Primary inquiry).

Primary Focus: Student Ownership of Learning
Checking: One significant change we all agree on is the increased common and shared language that “Zones” gives students and staff to use. “We have a common language that students seem to grasp easily.” “I have noticed the students have been able to identify different zones that they are in, except when in the red zone”. “I have noticed the children making connections between stories that I have read and behavior regulating strategies.” “Some children noticed that Gerald (from The Gerald and Piggy Books) has poor emotional control… and that Piggy is calm and is able to regulate her emotions.” Another observable change is the increased use in classrooms of sensory, calming and cognitive strategies; with the cognitive strategies being less observable than the sensory ones.

Super flex, Zones and Successful Learner Traits posters are more visible in classrooms teaching and using the curriculum. “Basically, the class can apply ideas and show social responsibility on a daily basis.” Another common observation by the Kindergarten and grade one teachers was that ‘the Zones language is valuable to plant the “seed”, but the Fun Friends program is more age appropriate.’ While many students responded well to the lessons and could start to use the language, “connect with the self-regulation strategies taught”, “verbalize and problem-solve between peers”, we all agreed that tier three students or students in “red” zones are not able to effectively use the strategies or implement the lessons taught. We “recognize that students (especially severe behavior) need additional support/ practice outside class to realize the benefits of the program/ lessons.” “Students are using language from the 4 zones but need further support to help them understand how their actions/words/ feelings impact others.” “Change is tough especially for angry kids.” “Hopefully with consistent messaging in future years they will begin to practice the strategies in a way that is beneficial.” “Imagine what could happen if we worked on this for 20 minutes every day.” We also recognized the need for “the caring adults with a trusting relationship.”

In summary we learned that even young students can be taught the language of social-emotional regulation. Students “have been able to identify different zones that they are in.” We learned that by reframing our thinking about behavior, we could improve our agency as teachers. ‘It is also important to look at what social skills the students are “missing” and find materials/ teach intentionally towards helping them gain these skills.’ We learned to work with sensory tools and toolboxes for some students in our classes and we became sensitive to calming activities for all students to benefit from.

Reflection: Finally, “not every child is able to act on the taught strategies yet, but it is clear when they are asked to verbalize their learning, most are able to clearly state what they know.” Most primary students can’t de-escalate from a “red” zone without adult intervention, but some can from a “yellow” zone. Some of the tools had a useful stage in a classroom, and not all of the tools were effective. Some tools had to be tried and then realized as not helpful. Kids feel empowered when they have choices and it was powerful to hear students offering to teach other students “how to candle-breathe” or “I have an idea…” and trying to help their peers. Also, administration and school counsellors need to be part of this process and language building.

We continue to have concerns about our tier three kids and wondered how best to support them, even while using toolboxes to help them get back to “green”. “But to reach tier three kids…what we do about them is a big question. Part of me thinks parents/boards of education are expecting teachers to be miracle workers as well as educators.” Several teachers felt it is important to inform parents of the language and help them be aligned with the classroom practice. Our advice would be to “use elements of the zones but build and modify the approach.” Some examples of modification included: “Need accountability from student, not only articulating what ‘zone’, but understanding consequences of both behavior and making amends (conflict resolution/ restitution)” and “picture books were more manageable for younger students”. In trying new language and skills we can “expect some ups and downs.” We conclude with a quote, from one of our bathroom wall articles, by Aviva Dunsiger: “Imagine if we never thought about children as this child or that child, but just a child: each of whom needs us in different ways at different times and teaches us different things along the way.” [https://self-reg.ca/2017/09/18/reframing-that-child/].

Intermediate Focus: Student ownership of learning
Checking:
After implementing many of the above actions, and after the teachers reflected a lot on their own self and their practice, we started to see noticeable differences in both the students and the teachers. From anecdotal notes, observations, and conducting the final student survey of asking the 4 Questions or a version of the 4 Questions, teachers noted the following about their students.

Students are:

more willing to trying even when things are challenging
starting to use the language around GMS more
able to name what they are struggling with.
more confident with taking risks.
showing less anxiety.
more able to see that “they can do it!”

Reflection: Throughout this inquiry this year we have done a lot of reflecting on ourselves and our teaching practice. We discovered that to change the mindset of the children that we are working with needs to start with reflecting and changing the mindset of ourselves. Mindset can be reflected in how we respond to a question, how we think about others, and even how we plan and teach. We need to believe in the power of change and that we are all capable of being better and doing better by working hard, using feedback to help us grow, and seeing mistakes as a learning opportunity. Changing mindsets of ourselves and that of others can take time. We know that we have only just scratched the surface with our understanding around fixed mindset and growth mindset, but we will continue to use this new lens to reframe our thinking. We have made an intentional shift to implement some links to Growth Mind Set and we will continue to dig a little deeper next year in this same area.

2016-2017: Again this year, the role of PLC Facilitator is shared by Carol Anne Dikur (who will support the Intermediate inquiry) and Jen Hansen (who will support the Primary inquiry).

Primary: What would happen if we intentionally incorporate Aboriginal world views and perspectives in the classroom?

Analysis: What happened when we intentionally incorporated Aboriginal world views and perspectives in the classroom was that:
Reflection: We have tried to raise the level of exposure of a culture through books, materials, conversations etc. So while attempting to raise individual pride/identity in one's own culture, at the same time we are trying to raise the level of exposure to and provide for opportunities of inclusion of another culture as well. We are beginning to reconcile the past wrong doings by intentionally acknowledging the First Nation’s culture as forefront as our own "culture" is.

In the end, we found that we were really just getting started. It took a good portion of our time to weed through and find age appropriate and acceptable resources to read to our kids. Also, we had a lot of discussion on narrowing down whether it was the FN principles of learning or FN cultural stories that we use in our classroom. We decided that it was a bit of both. However, we felt that because the FN peoples have been culturally repressed it is going to take time and will be a slow process. We feel the work we did this year is really important and we need to have cultural exposure so over time students develop pride in their culture individually. The more exposure, the more acceptance there will be. We also feel that if there was a more school wide approach like FN presenters, classroom guests, and even signage in our hallways there would be more pride for each students’ individual culture. Another difficulty was knowing that traditional and contemporary FN culture can be quite different. It was challenging to know what part of traditional culture was still valid in today’s practices.

So what to do for next year? We will continue to be intentional as individual teachers and as a school as a whole by including a standing item on the staff meeting agenda. This might bring up areas for discussion, resource sharing and more possibilities for school wide presenters. Lastly, because the FN Principles are quite global we feel that it is appropriate to approach them at a school wide level.

Intermediate: To what extent does developing a sense of belonging improve students' well-being?

Analysis: By focusing on developing a sense of belonging with our students, we feel that it has greatly improved our students’ wellbeing. At the beginning of this process the teachers got together that discussed what really was going on for our learners. We talked about important characteristics that support a students’ learning and the importance of feeling safe and connected to the school and the community of people around them every day. The teachers felt that there was lack of empathy for self and others, lack of respect and responsibility, that they didn’t have a deep understanding of being a global citizen, and didn’t see the connections between themselves and their community and earth around them. The teachers also felt it was important to hear from the voice of the student and created a survey that we could gather some important information from how the student was feeling. We created this survey in a way so that we could understand the needs of the student. Our survey was adapted from the 4 Key Questions For Learning from the “The Spirals of Inquiry”.
Reflection: From focusing on increasing sense of belonging within our school this year, we feel like the students feel more involved and really enjoy being here at Cataline. As teachers, we’ve learned that giving students the opportunity to have a “choice” in their learning helps them they feel more connected to the school. It also shows them that we value their opinions and care about how connected they feel to the school community. Students feel more important and that they belong when they are a part of a group that they chose to be a part of. The empathy that was displayed, during this time of working collaboratively with a smaller group on an area of common interest, was overwhelming! We feel that this type of hands on learning is a valuable way of learning and meets many of the Core Competencies, Applied Skills and Designs, and First Principles of Learning.

We hope to continue with Choice’s next year because we know how much the students and teachers both enjoyed this time. We know it’s a valuable time for kids to learn in a unique setting amongst a group of people who enjoy similar activities!

2015-2016: This year, the role of PLC Facilitator will be shared by Carol Anne Dikur (who will support the Intermediate inquiry) and Jen Hansen (who will support the Primary inquiry).

The Primary teachers (Carol Anne Dikur, Jennifer Hansen, Sandra Stokes, Peta-Sue Silver, Cory Neufeld, Erin Frederick, Rya Enns, Moira Christoffersen, Lacey-Dawn Testawich) are working on these questions:

How will intentionally teaching, using anchor charts and visuals, and giving students opportunities to practice positive behaviours change behaviour?
Analysis: Intentionally teaching, using anchor charts and visuals, and giving students opportunities to practice positive behaviours had a positive impact on and lead to more positive behaviours. The data showed that from the beginning of the year to May students were more able to self-regulate in most situations. Students, with reminders and practice, were usually able to make good choices and complete their “job” or task they were working on. Holding student’s accountable for and by being clear about expected behavior improved behavior overall. However, what was also noticed is this system of anchor charts and visuals only had a small impact on the students with behavior challenges. Rewards, consequences and parent involvement were also a part of the students’ plan to improve. Still at times they struggled. We believe what we did in the classroom helped and gave these students a focus for positive behaviour expectations, however they still needed more one on one attention to assist them during times of need. With many students in the class this was a difficult task in itself and we are unclear what the answer is for these students. Possibly lots of outdoor learning opportunities and continued role playing might help.
Reflection: At the beginning of the year “it is worth it” to spend the time and “go slowly” and work to achieve the desired behaviours in the classroom. We need to decide which method of reward we want to go with and focus longer on that instead of trying too many different things. Choose one (or two) things and do them well! Teaching is not about rushing but rather about choosing to intentionally teach and working for your desired outcomes, be it behavior or curriculum based. We all want to start earlier, be intentional and achieve the desired behavior before moving on.

Things we will consider keeping:

star of the day
caught you’s
problem solving lessons
model/practice, gradual release
use more visuals, like actual pictures of kids making good choices.
anchor charts students helped to develop
building stamina charts
student self-assessments and check ins
peace makers vs peace breakers
class meetings
stop light system/ happy face system

The Intermediate teachers (Carol Anne Dikur, Jennifer Hansen, Tanis Stewart, Janet Sandberg, Chris Armstrong, Steve Dickens, Tamara Smith, Trish Fushtey, and Nicole Ulrich) are working on this question:

What differences will we notice in students' reading and abilities to respond when we confer consistently with them in purposeful, authentic, and relevant conversations?
Analysis: We used the “Whole Class Reading Assessment” to assess our students in hopes that it would pinpoint areas of strength and weakness which would then inform our teaching and guide our instruction on concepts to be taught one-on-one, small group, or whole class. This information would also help guide topics for conversation when conferring with our students.

We have noticed some differences in the students’ reading and abilities to respond when we confer consistently with them in purposeful, authentic, and relevant conversations. We have noticed improved levels of engagement during individual conferring, on task behavior during read to self and more participation by students during whole group discussions. Students are probing and going deeper with their thinking. At the beginning of the school year the students would just do a simple retelling of what they had read. Now the students are more likely to share their thoughts and opinions about their reading selections. Following the last whole class reading assessment we noticed students were able to describe in their own words what was going on with their thinking. They were better able to explain what reading strategies they were using. Even some of the weaker readers were able to explain some aspect of their reading. The students were also better able to explain word skills strategies.

We noticed changes over time in their written responses – more students were able to respond in written format. In the beginning when we provided the students with sentence starters and now the quality of their written responses have really improved. The students learned that it wasn’t just about retelling the story. It was deeper thinking and responses that were more important and they did that in their personal reflections. This enabled them to broaden their thinking.

Throughout this process the students now understand the importance of being an active and wise reader. During individual conferences we noticed that students are using more strategies. There is progress in every student and a sense of urgency and purpose to their reading.

The Whole Class Reading Assessment helped to guide our literacy instruction this year. The data we collected after each assessment helped us in planning whole class instruction. In addition, the students and the teacher started to use a shared language around reading. For the most part most teachers found this resource very useful. It provided them with a focus of instruction and helped to make their instruction very explicit. We feel that this assessment did show an improvement in their reading skills and responses. With support most were able to provide an answer to most of the questions on the assessment. The assessment rubric for each grade was very easy to use and provided a clear snapshot of the specific literacy skills the students have mastered.

Reflection: We believe the strategy of conferring is the best possible teaching practice a teacher can use to improve the reading skills of students. Using the Whole Class Reading Assessment and conferring helped teacher’s pinpoint individual students’ strengths and areas for improvement. It drives our instructional practices and helps us to stay focused! It helped us to know where to go next with our instruction. When conferring with students it makes us really listen during individual conferences to what the student is saying and wondering. We also feel that it enables us to establish a relationship with every student in our classroom. Every child deserves some special one-on-one time with their teacher. During this time, it gives the student an opportunity to have quality, uninterrupted conversations with the teacher about their reading and thinking. We are able to support each student regardless of their abilities. We believe that every student makes progress when we confer with them. We noticed that shorter conferences more often are better than longer conferences. Students need to understand that reading at “their level” shouldn’t be difficult. Weaker readers tend to pick books that are too difficult for them. They don’t seem to understand that if they pick “easier books” their reading will improve with practice. More time needs to be spent on how to choose a good fit book. Weaker readers need additional scaffolding throughout the year. They need to be exposed to different types of texts (including vocabulary, sentence length and variety) at their level. Some commitments for our teachers for next year include:

2014-2015: Cataline's PLC has been led by Teacher-Librarian and Reading Recovery teacher Carol-Anne Dikur for the past 5 years. This school has two ongoing inquiries - one each for Primary and Intermediate staff.

The Primary teachers (Carol Anne Dikur, Rae Perry, Jennifer Hansen, Sandra Stokes, Peta-Sue Silver, Wendy Bernier, Erin Frederick, Rya Enns, Moira Christoffersen, Hattie Darney, Jacqueline Brown) are working on this question:

How will teaching self-regulation strategies to students help develop their stamina for literacy and/or numeracy activities?
Analysis: Teaching self-regulation strategies has slightly improved students’ stamina in literacy. The data that we collected from the Baseline Self-Regulation Observation Checklist didn’t show us strong results of changes over time. We did this observation twice throughout our inquiry process. There may have been too many behaviours that we were focusing on and too many students at one time. There has been some improvement for some students but the higher need students are not showing a significant improvement. When looking at the anecdotal notes and overall observation of teachers, we feel that there has been an overall improvement in changes of stamina and behaviour.
Reflection: Throughout this process of teaching self-regulation strategies we felt that the things that made the biggest difference for our students was to think about the students’ needs and adjust from what’s not working them. We felt that doing oral student self-reflections was a good and quick way to check in with the students on how they felt they did. The chime for deep breathing also helped focus the students’ minds to get ready for thinking. It also helped keep the kids grounded when they needed to come down from and activity.

The teachers realized the importance of implementing self-regulation strategies from the start of the school year and to be intentionally and explicitly teaching and monitoring taught strategies throughout the year. They also felt that it was important to only choose a few strategies to focus rather than trying to teach them all. They also learned that it is important to have some physical activity and then a calming exercise to help the students focus for the next literacy activity.

Some things that the teachers introduced and learned this year about teaching self-regulation skills that they thought was helpful to continue to use next year consisted of: the use of the chime, student self-reflection, class created criteria, anchor charts, clearly stated learning intentions, breathing exercises, lessons about the brain, yoga, listening to classical music, brain breaks, and to structure their day to include more self-regulation activities.

Some things that the teachers would do differently when teaching self-regulation skills included: letting go of other parts of the curriculum that aren’t as important, reflect on what they are doing and why they are doing it. They believe that it is important to think about the needs of the students and structure their day to include brain breaks. Teachers also want to give their students more time to set goals and self-reflect. Lastly, teachers want to teach with more intention when it comes to teaching self-regulation.

The Intermediate teachers (Carol Anne Dikur, Tanis Stewart, Janet Sandberg, Chris Armstrong, Steve Dickens, Tamara Smith, Trish Fushtey, Hattie Darney) are working on these two questions:

What differences will I notice in my classroom practices and in my students’ reading when I confer daily with them in purposeful, authentic, and relevant conversations?
What differences will the students and I notice in their abilities to respond to what they have read?
Analysis: We have noticed improved levels of engagement during individual conferring, on-task behavior during read to self and more participation by students during whole group discussions. Students are probing and going deeper with their thinking. At the beginning of the school year the students would just do a simple retelling of what they had read. Now the students are more likely to share their thoughts and opinions about their reading selections. Following the last whole class reading assessment students were able to describe in their own words what was going on with their thinking. They were better able to explain what reading strategies they were using: “I was using my schema.”, “I thought about what I was reading.”, “If I didn’t understand something I would go back and reread.”, “I visualized!”, and “I wonder why……?” Even weaker readers were able to explain some aspect of their reading. The students were also better able to explain word skills strategies; “I chunked parts of the word” and “I would go back and reread and think about what would fit in there.” There were fewer responses of “I sound it out!”

We noticed changes over time in their written responses – more students were able to respond in written format. In the beginning we provided the students with sentence starters and now the quality of their written responses have really improved. The students learned that it wasn’t just about retelling the story. It was deeper thinking and responses that were more important and they did that in their personal reflections. This enabled them to broaden their thinking.

Through this process the students now understand the importance of being an active and wise reader. During individual conferences we noticed that students are using more strategies. There is progress in every student and a sense of urgency and purpose to their reading.

Reflection: One teacher said, “I believe the strategy of conferring is the best possible teaching practice a teacher can use to improve the reading skills of students.” Conferring helps teachers to pinpoint individual students’ strengths and areas for improvement. It drives our instructional practices and helps us to stay focused! It also makes us really listen during individual conferences to what the student is saying and wondering. We also feel that it enables us to establish a relationship with every student in our classroom. Every child deserves some special one-on-one time with their teacher. During this time it gives the student an opportunity to have quality, uninterrupted conversations with the teacher about their reading and thinking.

Teachers need to confer with students daily. Having 30 students in a class makes it difficult to confer with all students equally. It is important to spend time with each student. Next year we want to focus more on the metacognitive part of their thinking. We also want to explore the use of interactive reading journals.