Making Authentic Inquiry Work - New Carlisle QC October 29-30, 2018

Judy Halpern and Nathalie Lauriault

Institute Analysis Notes

Getting to the location was half the battle! We had issues with cancelled flights (apparently, flights cancel often to Gaspe) therefore we would recommend that if facilitators return in any season (except the summer) I suggest travel to Montreal and then overnight train to Campbellton, NB followed by a 2-hour drive to New Carlisle. The overnight train was wonderful!! Flight was cancelled again on the way home...

Some other participants didn’t make it to the institute as flights (and ferry boats) were cancelled for days at a time.

Facilities

• The room was a fitness centre (attached to the school which is a K-10 school)
• It was suitable for the 24 participants, nice lighting and very handy to getting outside
• The immediate outdoor space was a grassy lawn, there is a cemetary very nearby and the beach is a 10-minute walk
• There were no real break-out spaces
• Participants came from far and wide, they are used to traveling for PD

Food

• There was no food until lunch but there was coffee and tea first thing in the morning
• The food seemed to be catered locally (perhaps even within the school), and lunch on both days was hearty but there were no vegetarian options on day 1. There were egg sandwiches on day 2.
• The food was good quality and seemed homemade
• All dishes were china, which was greatly appreciated.

What elements, practices, activities used were verified as relevant to our “walk the talk” and our principles of professional inquiry?

• One thing that stood out for us was that participants began to use the term LSF as a noun, describing a way of teaching through inquiry and the outdoors. I thought this was a very positive thing.
• Participants participated in a professional inquiry
• There was a balance between indoors and out, activity and sitting, listening to the presenters and discussion, sharing in large, small groups and with a partner
• Outdoor activities were well-received, we had the weather on our side!
• The KBC started slow but then grew into a very rich conversation; feedback was that many would be willing to use this strategy in their classrooms
• Respectful, professional sharing among participants - a professional inquiry
• We had 4 reflection opportunities - first reflection: participants shared how they felt about what had experienced and what they needed from this institute; second reflection: at the end of day 1 participants shared what they had taken away from day 1 and what they needed addressed in day 2; third reflection participants described how they felt (most were inspired and excited, a couple were overwhelmed but happy, one was “confused”. The fourth reflection was the post-institute survey
• Common theme of frustration was around how to get parents to buy into this way of teaching as they are very marked focused.  
  • Another frustration involved the divide between the anglophone and francophone communities. This is an English school board and French is taught as a second language. They seem to have resources because, being English in this area, they are in the minority.
• We spent a good amount of time with DOTS, each group explored a strategy and then shared (on chart paper) how this strategy could be used in a classroom setting or in a global leadership setting
• We introduced the framework of NC and discussed how the branches were explored through an indigenous lens; then they explored a teacher’s story from NC, identifying which DOTS strategies were evident
• Many brought in resources to share, we spent about 30-40 minutes hearing from participants
• We introduced the Question Formulation Technique from the Right Question Institute and they tried the exercise as a group
• Finally, they had about 1 hour and 15 minutes to work on planning with other participants
• We went outside frequently and concluded “you have the last word” on the beach.

Errors -Omissions -Changes -describe

• Participants wanted to explore other areas such as assessment, curriculum-specific ideas, transition from elementary to high school, especially for students at risk.
• To do this we would have needed one more day

Final Thoughts

•  They are piloting what they call "LSF teaching" in classes with students at risk. This teacher had a lot to share. They also have teachers, at the board level, who focus on health and wellness.
•  Many students in the board are Mi'kmaq. They would like to bring more of an indigenous lens to their entire curriculum.

Peterborough Institute May 2018

This institute was 'Inquiry through an Indigenous lens' in collaboration with NC with Hopi Martin representing NC and the Indigenous Community. Most participants were from the Peterborough area and therefore seemed more connected to the need for an indigenous lens, given their proximity to Curve Lake. Four of the participants actually teach at Curve Lake. We drew on some of their experience and their perspective as indigenous people.

We decided to focus on inquiry as a traditional indigenous community would....no power point, lots of outdoor experience to draw from, and the necessity to 'know' as part of the way of life.For the most participants this was a successful strategy with the following drawbacks:

• There were a lot of basic indigenous teachings upfront to set the context. This resulted in a lot of  'sitting' for participants. This flies in the face of good teaching practices as we represent them at LSF. We would have to find a different way.
• Inexperienced teachers had some anxiety surrounding the format. As one stated to me after the first day, "But I need help with my inquiry classes now. I'm not just looking for long term help." She wanted a 'quick fix' for her inquiry anxiety. We need to be more sensitive to the needs of all participants.
•  Even for experienced educators, they felt like their lifeline to conventional teaching practices was cut before we had time to successfully woo them away from relying on them.

To assuage these worries I would be much more transparent about the process next time and lean more toward the familiar, perhaps even reinstating the power point on Day 2.

This process did serve to show me just how far removed we, as educators, are from truly understanding a traditional indigenous lens. But it did renew my commitment to looking more closely at evolving this type of institute and not simply whitewashing it with a couple of smudging ceremonies etc done by a non indigenous person. 

As Stan said, "As non indigenous educators we can ask the questions but can't presume to answer them." But, with having an indigenous educator as part of the facilitation team, we can evolve and learn and begin to see what 'an indigenous lens' could look like.

Superior Greenstone - 2 day Climate Change Institute - April 12 & 13

I just read Stan's entry on his experience facilitating in Edmonton. I just had what seems like a somewhat similar experience. This group was a mix of new and experienced teachers and administrators. Before we even began this group was keen in every way... as a group of like-minded teachers they rarely get to see each other partly due to the geographically distances between them and the excitement to collaborate, network, and grow their practice was contagious!

I also noticed that on day 2 of the institute I stepped back a lot more and let the small working groups who were planning inquiry units, and PBLs go longer than I normally would. They were so engaged and the conversations were so rich that there was no reason to move them along. It is such a different energy when that planning time that is allocated to them in PD is seized and acted upon! With this group, there focus and energy came through with their participation in the Supportive Circle of Friends exercise. Again this is a place that with other groups some participants by day 2 afternoon have checked out but everyone was thoroughly engaged.

Innovations:

- This is the second time that I have had a group review their inquiry questions, and add another layer of sticky notes (a different colour is preferred) and this layer is called "directions". These are directions for the inquiry question that have come through the institute. This process gives participants and facilitator to reflect on what has been covered and what still remains.  This was incredibly generative with this group.

At the end of the day, this group started planning for how they would stay in touch, advocate for a fall planning day to continue their professional inquiry, and potentially develop an environmental steering committee to push the school board to draft a stronger environmental board policy.  Having 5 administrators in the room really helped push these processes along.

This is a group that I would love to continue to work with as they already have a foundation of transformative practice, are willing to take risks, and have a collegial supportive culture. This is very exciting for students in Superior Greenstone schools!

Drawbacks:
Many did not receive the survey link. Did it go to their junk mail? And I forgot to add it to the drive folder so they could just access that way. I collected emails and emailed those who didn't receive it and fingers crossed they fill out the survey.  This ice storm in Toronto is delaying my flight home...I do home I get home tonight!his is

Edmonton Inquiry

Sometimes things all come together and align as you as facilitator hopes.  What does that mean and what are the indicators?  For me it is achieving with participating educators what you hope they will achieve with their learners -a greater sense of individual and group agency. It's having a sense that as a result of the work you have put into facilitating, the individuals and group no longer need you. They are taking their learning into their own hands and doing it in the context of a transformative world view.

One little indicator of this was the forming of a follow up group with members adding their names to a google doc they created, and members of staff from a school actively planning on how they were going to carry this leaning forward back at their school.

Earlier in the institute I experienced one of the better responses to the after day 1 lunch challenge -how are you gong to go about learning to address these questions (as compared to the normal response of just starting to answer them).  Small groups chose a question fo interest and worked through the V heuristic to step 4.

Innovations
-took the time to have small groups tease apart the tentative strategies of transformative leanring.

Each group took one strategy and then addressed
-expand it further
-identify contrasting views
-implications for classroom practice
-implications for professional leaning

taking the time to do this gets them to attend to this important element -these principles are what we can base decisions on.  They are so opposite of conventional learning but rarely are people actively cognizant of them.

Other indicators of facilitation success

-the longer we are into the institute the less the facilitator finds the need to talk -because the experiences are being drawn from the groups and leadership in the group is being identified and brought forth.

The right people were in the room

this groups of about 25 had a core of 5 or 6 educators strongly into inquiry and transformative practice and hence there was a good sense of the possibilities of transformative learning to draw out and share

Megan is certainly one who should be called upon to prep one or more blog postings based on her experience last year.

We had 4 who were secondary oriented and for the section on dissecting an inquiry I had them use the KARS video and the diagram on page 71/72 of DOTS.  this worked well since NC only has stories up to grade 6.

Really worked to make day 2 learning activities responsive to the questions generated and the insights provided in the pre session survey.    Again -they experienced transformation learning by the facilitator walking the talk.

Still grappling with what we call all this.  Folks call it environmental inquiry, natural curiosity, while I try to capture a bigger picture by calling it transformative learning.

I will get this group together for a zoom sharing in 2 weeks so let's see what that brings.

Nice to go out on a high.

CC Youth Forum Belleville ON April 3, 2018

This being a Youth Forum changed the make up of the teachers who attended the PD session. These were teachers (of students from grade 2-8) who were highly motivated and already working on eco teams and with colleagues and students. I followed a similar format to that of the Youth Forum we did in Milton for the morning session.

We began the day with our circle up activity outdoors. We discovered that collectively we had over 250 years of experience in the group. This suggestion, of counting the years of experience that the group brings, supports the idea that the wisdom shared during the day will be that of the collective group. (Thanks Pamela for this idea.)  I introduced the work of Zoe Weil and the idea of "educating a generation of solutionaries". Here is a link to Zoe's blog and her video called You Are What You Teach.

I kept the same provocation as we previously used but followed up with a discussion of the new CC provocation (one personal action in response to CC, one personal action that contributes to CC, what keeps you up at night). Then, I showed Arjun Wal's video. This led into the KBC where the discussion moved from what teachers are doing to teach about CC in the curriculum presently to what it takes to ignite change in your school (colleagues, administration and custodial staff). After the KBC the group decided to stay in the circle formation for the rest of the time (thanks again to Pamela for this suggestion).

I also wanted to expand the idea of the 21st century learner to incorporate the Modern Learner (from Peel). I searched the HPEDSB's website to find that they too have mandate to educate the "Globally-Minded Learner and Leader". We used this idea to get into the transformational practices of teaching and learning. Because they all knew the [impossibly cluttered] graphic they could relate some of the ways and situations where moving to a more transformational practice was appropriate for their individual situations. We watched the Felix Finkbeiner video to see these ideas in action.

This led us into the DOTS document. I had each group (they grouped themselves by school first, then by division) summarize on the chalkboard, one of the DOTS strategies and to present this to the group (similar to what we did in Grismby with Ellen). They found the DOTS document to be very help and the examples very concrete. This group, being mainly junior teachers (one grade 2, one grade 3, about 12 teachers of grades 5/6 and 2 grade 7/8) were very concrete; however they seemed more willing to learn (from each other, from their students, and from their colleagues). There was little academic talk or thinking, they were more practical (not shallow but practical) than deep thinkers. Many made reference to other workshops that they've attended - the one that sounded the most interesting was on critical thinking. Sorry I didn't get more information about this workshop.

The exit card at lunch gave me direction for the afternoon. They loved the R4R demo and after another short outdoor activity we explored a sample activity from Green Teacher's new document (coming out later this month) called Climate Change for Kids. (The activity I shared was called "Weathering Climate Change Confusion.) This was the impetus for a conversation on entry points into teaching 'climate change'. I also shared Paul Hawken's top 10 most effective responses to turn around climate change from Drawdown (the first 2.25 minutes of this video) and this led us into a discussion on HOPE.

I actually ran out of time as we rushed to split into 3 groups. One group explored R4R, another gave input into community partners and the third group worked in their eco teams to plan next steps. 2:30 comes quickly after lunch... after the survey they had to rush off. I actually didn't even get to do a closing activity, which I regretted.

I would like to see someone do the concept mapping and now, I'd like to see Ellen's graffiti board. I have not planned a follow up with this group and am not sure I was supposed to do that. I was inspired when I saw the follow up from the Guelph high school institute that Stan ran.

The teachers seemed happy, the evaluations were positive... I think I could have done more in hindsight...

TDSB - two day institute - March 28th & 29th

The numbers for this institute were low; however, the teacher participants made up for it in with how keen they are. In the end, there were 8 who attended the institute.

The morning followed the same structure as other two-day cc institutes. The questions for the introduction activity worked well. The question for the KBC also brought up some of the complex questions around student engagement and the student experience for addressing cc in schools. Pam Miller played an integral role in bringing the group back to the KBC question and providing insightful TDSB context. It is so important that organizers fully engage in the PD.

This group showed its intellectual and in depth engagement with cc learning when it came time to direct our learning with inquiry questions. The questions were not the regular, we want resources but considered process of knowledge formation and student experience. Grouping these questions on the fly caught me off-guard.

Concept mapping was also well-received and we had groups add comments to the other group's concept map to help direct the learning. This is something we should continue to do. The walk outside should also always be facilitated to show how many possible starting points for cc learning there are right outside our doors.

We also did the graffiti activity with the group brainstorming: 1) local sources of cc data 2) unconventional cc field trips 3) audiences to share cc learning  4) local cc community partners. This was very generative - although it ideally would be analyzed further and refined.

Innovations:

On day 2, I asked teachers to draw a spectrum from shallow to deep cc learning and then to locate their course on that spectrum. They could work on their own or in groups to then reflect on how they could push the course along the spectrum towards deep cc learning. They then made a list of opportunities/actions.

I followed Stan's innovation from Durham to brainstorm a meta-reflection list of tools/strategies. This helped bring to the forefront for teachers the tools/strategies and created a list that they can go back to.

I then had teachers revisit their "inquiry questions" and post blue sticky notes (which had not been previously used) to indicate directions that had come up through the institute and that addressed the question. I think this is an important step for participants so that they have an opportunity to consolidate responses, directions, ideas that connect to the inquiry questions. It also provides a visual of which questions may not have been addressed within the institute. We did a gallery walk after everyone had added their directions to the questions.

Since this group had a low turn-out, Pam Miller indicated that she was interested in having an ongoing professional community of learners and had some left-over monies for release time. Teachers were keen to continue their learning and so I followed the previous activity with a KBC on directing their professional learning.  The sequence of the meta-reflection, revisiting our questions, and then the KBC provided a logical reflection sequence so that teachers could see what they had learned and had the space to voice where they wanted to take their learning.

As a community partner, I had Transform TO zoom in and this was a great connection. They are just about to launch an emissions model that maps Toronto by neighbourhood. The data is not live but updates very regularly. Transform TO is open to piloting a couple of class partnerships where they would come into the class and help the teacher and students understand the emissions data for the neighbourhood surrounding the school. They also agreed to facilitate future-envisioning activities with classes to help them imagine their school/neighbourhood in 2050 with zero emissions. Transform TO expects that the class will create an action plan and implement it in exchange. I would highly recommend having Transform TO be a part of future TDSB cc institutes.

Overall, it was a great group and I am quite confident that the survey responses will reflect what a rich learning experience it was for all.

Winnipeg Youth Forum, March 05, 2018.

 This forum had an Our Canada Youth Action Project focus. The secondary participants included 4 repeat customers from last year...very unusual for secondary. Right away I knew something was different! Indeed it was. Compared with the Ottawa group 2 weeks ago these teachers were more open, less cynical and more relaxed and forthcoming. We again sat in a circle where they engaged actively with each other and appreciated the time to discuss with colleagues what mattered to them. I kept emphasizing that they were the support group for each other and they got that. They were open to exploring alternatives to the single subject, timetable driven approach found in most high schools. Present that day was a MET secondary school principal Nancy Janelle -who also came last year. She was a great advocate for change and 'what could happen'. She called her school a 'Big Picture School' and described the community based project approach to learning that teachers are encouraged to take. We need to keep in touch with her. She travels to see other programs and could be a great voice for change in secondary.

Because of a snowstorm and subsequent 'no bus day' our numbers were small. With 12 teachers in the room, Nancy's strong voice for change, and little push back, the conversations were rich and meaningful. Being in a circle once again pushed forward the concepts of active participation and shared responsibility for learning on the part of participants. It works! At no time are participants left to believe they are simply receiving information from me. I also repeated a number of times that this was a professional inquiry and what that meant. They got it. No longer were they looking to me to entertain them with information transfer.

The surveys showed that they were satisfied with the day. The only problem being that it was SHORT! 9 00 am to 2 00 pm (with a late start because of snow) really impacted the day.
Introducing and having teachers experience the practices of getting out into the community, using overarching questions to get at curriculum, and sharing responsibility with students (moving them toward citizenship) is about as far as you can go with one short day. I would continue to focus on these three.

One day CC Institute - Grand Erie - Feb. 27th

This was a great group of 23 teachers from across the Grand Erie Board to work with. They all had selected to attend the one day institute. The reviews that have come through reflect their readiness to engage in cc learning.

The morning followed a similar process as other cc institutes; however, I think we are getting down to some specific questions which we may want to keep trying to see if we get the same results.

I used the same introduction questions as Stan did in Guelph and found that it helped teachers engage in the topic on a personal level and with an action mindset when they consider a young person who they care about.  As an additional piece, we watched the Arjen Wals video clip where he talks about the importance of student engagement in schools on the big wicked problems that we face. The image of the student bored stiff in a class seems to always getting a chuckle indicating familiarity. We then went into the KBC and again used the same question that Stan crafted for Guelph: What should students experience through school to prepare them for the choices and challenges that climate change presents? I encouraged them to think about the big picture and not to get stuck in the "yeah, buts" on what's possible - I also said we will get to those later in the day. I think the invitation stopped them from self-reporting of what they are already doing in terms of ecoschools, etc. but to think a bit bigger....although by the end of the KBC we started to get some of that self-reporting.

The concept mapping was well received. We did a gallery walk of the concept maps with sticky notes. I encouraged teachers to place sticky-notes on the concept maps that would could prompt further directions for learning or ask clarifying questions about any misconceptions. They seemed very hesitant at first as I think I emphasized the misconceptions more but once I modelled a couple then others started. The questions on the sticky's often requested for more clarity of the relationship between two concepts or for more specificity in the concept itself. I think this step is important for teachers to see how they might further direct students and not just jump in and say "HEY WHAT A MINUTE"

Innovations

Since every group so far has acknowledged the difficulty in finding student-friendly and local data, I set-up a graffiti activity with three stations: 1) resources for student-friendly and local data  2) Local & unconventional field trips (several teachers brought this up in the KBC), and Community Partners. Teachers were divided into three groups and had two minutes at each chart paper spot. They came up with long lists for all three. For the resources for student-friendly and local data,  many were surprised by how many potential sources they had collectively thought of. I then suggested that in preparation for our second-meeting, we would divide up the list of resources and see if we could drill down into each resource and try and categorize, locate, and assess the usability of the data, as well as provide specific URLs for where to find it. They are all very keen to leverage the power of the group to do this so hopefully there is follow through. I have to make a basic template that they can fill out to help coordinate this and collate the results of their brainstorming into google docs. (I could have had them do it in google docs from the get-go but I wanted them to have the face-to-face interaction and therefore more engaged brainstorming).

It was a great day and a great group to work with :)

Guelph one day cc ed

evolved the day considerably learning from our collective experiences.

see the items here 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=19NchpMPc-F1TE_ndwF6G3-SmQaC39e9B

-time crunch -had to give small group choice at end of day to address concept mapping, lesson modelling, authentic inquiry and Project based learning

and as a result did not really do any of these well.  I am now solidly of the view that the one day cc session is not functionally doable?

What  came home with this group is how hard it is for them to evolve their practice.  These folks saw big picture ways for addressing cc in their KBC but as they day wore on they got back into the conventional teaching weeds and lost sight of what they had identified in the morning as important.

I don't think we are gong to see much learning innovation coming from this group but I would love to be wrong.

As for the challenge of supporting learning innovation -action -what we do i PD  -does not mean results -what happens at the school level.   What other approaches might we consider?  The task is big and complex -like climate change!

Below is the follow up email I sent to this group.

Cheers,

 Stan

***********************

Hi all,

First off thanks for stepping up to attend the CC PD session we had last Friday.  You are the leaders.

Thank you to the folks that took notes and posted them in our google drive.  You walked the collaborative learning talk!

Now for the all important next step -taking something from this session and applying it in your practice (see the list below).

Follow up items

1. Online post session gettogether -please mark your calendars for Tuesday April 3 at 3:45 p.m.  You will get an invite a week in advance .
2. Our google drive folder -everything from the session is now posted and organized here.  What can you add and share relevant to our collective  learning?   https://drive.google.com/open?id=19NchpMPc-F1TE_ndwF6G3-SmQaC39e9B
3. Documentation slide -to create one copy the slide here, add your content (photo and description) and save it the file. https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/13z8NIeGuFYxf6x_oSfWq9g1ouOCstKIuUAPJHHFw2wM/edit#slide=id.p
4. What will you incorporate into your practice  -some steps to transformative learning

-take a resource on Climate change from the R4R database or learning activity in the Teaching Teens Climate Change Green Techer publication

-apply the Knowledge building circle protocol as a way of hearing what students bring and where they want to go with their learning (page 91 DOTS)

-concept mapping as a tool that helps address complexity (page 30 and 31 DOTS)

-the Problem based learning 6 step organizational framework (page 29 DOTS)

-subjecting students to a CC provocation and then have them generate the questions they need to have answered

-shifting any unit’s curriculum expectations to questions as a first step to applying inquiry (page 64 DOTS)

-finding an audience for student learning products beyond the classroom (page 48 DOTS)

-framing learning using the elements of authentic inquiry (page 71 and 72 DOTS)

-finding meaningful learning opportunities within walking distance of your school (Learning Locally and Real World Connections  chapters DOTS)

-partnering with a local organization to enhance student learning and the community at the same time.  There is so much capacity to address climate change through this pedagogical strategy.

5. Facilitator’s reflections

It is so important to keep the big picture in our sights as we plan and facilitate learning experiences to help students address climate change.  Note how as a group you identified elements of that big picture in our Knowledge Building Circle (hope, citizenship, group agency, critical thinking, empowerment).  How do we do that when it is so easy to get pulled into the weeds of daily teaching practice?   How can we support each other to keep those big picture transformative learning goals up front and in so doing create learning experiences that we want for the individual children we identified in our opening sharing?

Looking forward to connecting in early April to share insights and experiences.  If I can help in anyway between now and then let me know.  I am particularly interested in working with any of you that might apply the community partner strategy.

Cheers,

Stan

Stan R. Kozak

Learning Innovation Consultant

Policy, Professional Development and Programs

Learning for a Sustainable Future/L’education au service de la Terre

T 519 826-0408

E skozak@sentex.ca

W http://www.lsf-lst.ca/

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire."

—Poet and playwright William Butler Yeats