Key Elements in My Vision for Teaching in the 21st Century

    When I was first asked to think of key words that shape my teaching and direction of learning, I created a word cloud. Integral words included: engagement, curiosity, inquiry, collaboration and educational balance. With this in mind, how do I move forward in my growth as an educator? What is this going to look like in my classroom? How will this look when I become a teacher-librarian?

As I transition into the final phase of this course I believe the key elements for my final project are:

1. Balancing Digital Literacy in My Classroom

2. STEAM in My Classroom and Beyond

3. Connecting ADST Curriculum With Our New Assessment Language

Balancing Digital Literacy in My Classroom

In How Curiosity, Creativity, and Student Agency Unlock Student Learning, the author Jerry Fingal states, “Unfortunately, many educators still use technology in ways that are just a substitute for analog learning, he said, citing a few examples: “We take textbooks and scan them and then we have digital textbooks. Instead of boring lectures, we have boring lectures that are recorded on video. Those are not strategic uses of technology for learning because they are passive, not active.” (ISTE, October 2022).

My goal is to move from passive use of computers and ipads to active use. This is going to be tricky in that I have very little access to our school devices. On Friday, it was my allotted time to use the computers and four teachers came into my room before the bell. One teacher pulled 6 laptops for her class, another took 2, and the others asked for 4 each. I had to justify my use of them and ask for some back so that my students could each use one.

I’ll be honest, I teach primary students and logging on is still a challenge, but they are getting more independent and capable each time we use them. Our classroom use of the devices has been mostly passive. We use the laptops to read on Epic (while I work one on one with my most struggling readers), and to post work to their Scholantis Portfolios. I still have not tried using the Spheros but will before the end of this school term. Keeping in mind that parents of my students this year have been very clear that they do not want their children online very much at school. There are lots of great resources online that focus on digital literacy skills that I can use to direct teach to the whole class on my computer projected large scale.

 

STEAM in My Classroom and Beyond

STEAM (Science. Technology. Engineering. Art. Math) in the classroom is what I am most excited about right now. I have put together a STEAM trolley (cart) with an assortment of bins with challenges and supplies. Some of the activities can be done with a whole class at once, others done in small groups or as an individual. I have included several activities that touch on each of the STEAM subject areas on the trolley. I have also tried to include activities that are low cost or use materials that are free and can be recycled.

On Friday afternoon, I challenged my students to make a marble maze from their pizza box from the hot lunch program. This STEAM challenge is not included on the cart but I will write it as a lesson and include it because our school has pizza lunch once a month and so all classes could easily do it. Building the maze was a challenging task for grade three students. I usually teach older students so I had forgotten how hard it is to cut cardboard with small scissors. Luckily I had a stash of adult size scissors they could use. It took a surprisingly long time to plan, cut and tape pieces. Although students were fully engaged the entire time, no one finished. However, the student's excitement helped them persevere through their challenges.

I am looking forward to finishing the mazes on Monday and then testing them with marbles. I am most curious to see how their reflections, self-assessment and improvements to their design develop throughout this week.

On a completely different open-ended learning task, I challenged my students to create 'monster eyes' on Halloween. What a fun activity! Student engagement was high and the creativity soared. My grade three students also helped their kindergarten buddies make 'an open-ended' paper monster. This collaborative activity was also successful. The discussions were rich with questions, problem solving and choice. The open ended nature meant that every project was successful as there was no 'right way' to make it. 

Connecting ADST Curricular Big Ideas With Our New Assessment Language

Our school district is implementing new language in assessment next year. My staff had a workshop introducing the incoming assessment structures last week. I am excited to start connecting the assessment language of ADST Big Ideas from the BC Ministry of Education, and reworking it to fit the new rubrics using the Curricular Competencies. I think this will be of great benefit to my entire staff. There are few Big Ideas in ADST for Kindergarten through Grade 7 so it is a manageable task for me to complete as part of my STEAM Trolley (which can be borrowed by teachers in the school). I do think it is important to have the curricular competencies embedded in the learning outcomes and assessment of the STEAM activities. Teachers using the kits can use the rubric language as comments on student report cards or adapt them for their own maker projects.

Kathleen McClaskey, CEO and chief learning officer of Empower the Learner and author of the book Make Learning Personal, shared seven elements of learner agency that help move educators from a teacher-centered environment to a student-centered environment and, ultimately, to a learner-driven environment. These are: voice, choice, engagement, motivation, ownership, purpose, and self-efficacy. Read more in the ISTE October 22 journal.

McClaskey writes, “Personalized learning is not what is done to the learner or about tailoring the learning. It is about helping each learner to identify and develop the skills they need to support and enhance their own learning so that agency and self-advocacy can be realized.” Maker activities or STEAM challenges are empowering for students and touch on each of the seven elements that McClaskey lists in a student-centered environment.

My Vision for Teaching in the 21st Century

My future vision extends beyond my classroom. Hopefully I will soon be in a library. I can recreate a STEAM Trolley complete with self-assessment and teacher assessment rubrics for students with the newest language. At this point, I think my final presentation will be a slide show that includes photos, videos and rational of students working through the STEAM trolley challenges. This presentation can be presented to my current staff and then my new staff when my position changes. I am hoping this bundle of student-centered activities is a helpful resource for colleagues. It is likely that my new school will have more resources and so I can include more coding activities as part of the STEAM Trolley.

 I am excited to share and help my fellow teachers.

Resources

About Us. Empower the Learner. (2021, August 29). Retrieved November 6, 2022, from https://empowerthelearner.com/about/

Curriculum. (n.d.). Retrieved November 6, 2022, from https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/

Fingal, J. (2022, October 27). How curiosity, creativity and Student Agency unlock student learning. ISTE. Retrieved November 6, 2022, from https://www.iste.org/explore/education-leadership/how-curiosity-creativity-and-student-agency-unlock-student-learning

 Sarah D. Sparks, O. 30. (2020, December 17). Make learning personal. Make Learning Personal. Retrieved November 6, 2022, from http://kathleenmcclaskey.com/