Thinking beyond ourselves – a whole school inquiry…

‘Thinking beyond ourselves empowers us to act.‘ This powerful central idea for our PYP exhibition has fostered awareness of self and others, revealed vulnerabilities and spawned a variety of meaningful student initiated action. But it’s almost the end of our school year and some of them are only just getting going…

What if we combined several of the ideas in the previous post and developed a whole school, year long inquiry, transcending the boundaries of trans disciplinary themes, explored by both teachers and students?

We start each teaching team’s planning session by revisiting our beliefs about action, considering examples of action and placing them on the iceberg.  (Try it and see the ideas that emerge). Next we reflect indivdiually and share examples of ways we contribute beyond ourselves. We break this down into contributions within the school community, the broader community and then globally. (Another provocation worth trying!)

We brainstorm possible, age appropriate ways that children might be encouraged to think beyond themselves, enabling us to create some initial, potential lines of inquiry. It’s interesting to see the beliefs and values that teachers bring to the planning… and it will be fascinating to see the student initiated inquiries and actions.  Exploring this big idea through different conceptual lenses will add further layers.

So far, in the Who We Are theme, Year 1 students will inquire into who we are as individuals within our learning community; how we build an effective learning community;  how kindness impacts our community; why and how we create an essential agreement.  

Also in Who We Are, Year 4 will inquire into how individuals contribute to our community; how we build connections within our community; and how knowledge of others influences our actions. Revisiting the big idea in Sharing the Planet, they will investigate the impact of our actions on a sustainable future.

Year 6 will explore forces that shape culture;  how our actions influence culture; the impact of thinking beyond ourselves; and how thinking beyond ourselves transforms us. This will be a year long unit spanning Who We Are and Sharing the Planet.  Inspired by the sustainable development goals, students will have opportunities to design their own lines of inquiry, depending on interests and needs, within or accross any of the concentric circles. 

I’m looking forward to planning with the other teams.  Year 3s might be inspired to explore diversity accross Who we Are and Where we are in Place and Time.  Year 5s are keen to explore values and it will be interesting to see where that might lead, across more than one theme. Thinking beyond ourselves takes on a different dimension when explored in the context of Phys Ed and team games. Our whole school focus on developing the whole child is firmly embedded, and the potential of this unit to further enhance that is exciting.

Once the Program of Inquiry is viewed flexibily, its potential expands exponentially…

Liberating the program of inquiry…

What if we develop a new whole school unit of inquiry, linked to our whole school focus?

What if teachers and learners focus on the same inquiry?

What if we critically evaluate all our units against a list of criteria generated by both teachers and learners?

What if units do not follow one after another, but rather overlap and intersect?

What if some units are year long, some short, some ongoing… depending on content, concepts, trans disciplinary possibilities and student interest?

What if we actively seek unexpected combinations of learning areas, like science and poetry?

What if one unit incorporates two trans disciplinary themes?

What if we wait to develop the lines of inquiry till we see where the learners want to take it?

What if we we have the same central idea for all the classes at one grade level, but each group of learners develop their own lines of inquiry?

What if we analyse our program of inquiry in terms of the concentric circle model and check the balance between opportunities for self discovery and thinking beyond ourselves?

What if all units focus not just on developing knowledge and understanding, but on developing human beings?

What if every grade level has at least one unit that is individual and personal, student selected and student driven?

What if we liberate ourselves from the traditional curriculum prison and explore new vistas? 

These are some of the questions we are considering as we head into the annual review of our Program of Inquiry . We have already experimented with some of these ideas.  How might we shift thinking and learning even further, for both teachers and students? What else might we explore? 

I used to think the POI review was about checking for curricular alignment and conceptual development… Now I think it’s about asking even ‘more beautiful questions’.

Listening to student voice…

Enthusiastic students from Years 4, 5 and 6 sit in a circle at the end of the day and share reflections on our Program of Inquiry. I tell them the teachers are considering which units to keep and which need changing and they are eager to have their say. As always, the children’s insightfulness delights me!

I ask them to write down what makes a unit of inquiry worthwhile.  They put their initial thoughts to one side and spend some time examining the K-6 curriculum document, expressing their opinions of the units into which they have inquired this year. Green stickers for the ones they have loved and felt they learned a lot. Red for the ones they didn’t enjoy at all. Yellow for the ones in between. (No sticker at all if you can’t even remember the unit!) They discuss the units in pairs, paste their stickers and record their reasons for these ratings. Next I ask them to think about all the units from the preceding years , share the ones they still remember well and consider why they remember those. One girl remembers a unit she explored six years ago because ‘It had  strong personal connections. I like units that are about me.’

Finally, they return to their original statements and refine them, now that they have reflected more closely on the units of inquiry. Here are their thoughts on what makes a good unit of inquiry:

A worthwhile unit of inquiry has/is…

• Lots of options so kids can choose what interests them (Mischa)
• Activities that engage you and take your freedom to another level (Brodie)
• Ways that kids can connect to the inquiry (Jesse)
• Excursions, incursions, projects, building things, freedom to learn. (Zac)
• One that students have connections to. Relevance to everyday life. (Mia)
• Fun, interactive, different materials, getting your hands dirty. (Mia)
• Freedom for students to inquire into what interests them (Tammi)
• Enough for kids to explore. Not too small. 
• Open ended, so we can figure it out for ourselves. 
• Skills and knowledge that will help for the future.
• Freedom to lead your own inquiry. Hands on experiences beyond the classroom. (Benji)
• Complex questions you can pursue without running out of material. (Yoshi)
• Enough time to go deep into your questions. (Yoshi)

Their reflections about the specific units of inquiry turn out to be less valuable than the bigger picture. Ask yourself these questions about ALL the learning in your class?

• Are there options for the learners to investigate what interests them?
• Are there possibilities for everyone to connect to the learning?
• Do the learners have freedom to explore?
• Is the learning relevant to their lives?
• Is the learning engaging and challenging?
• Are there opportunities for play?
• Is it open-ended so learners can figure things out for themselves?
• Are there opportunities for development of skills and knowledge for the future?
• Does the learning extend beyond the classroom?
• Is there enough time to for deep learning?

A (massive) collaborative curriculum review…

How (and why?!) would we involve over a hundred teachers in a curriculum review? What could we hope to achieve? Wouldn’t it be easier to have a small focus group reviewing our PYP program of inquiry?  How could we make this IB requirement into a meaningful learning exercise? How would we make it a valuable experience for all staff?

According to feedback from staff, we certainly achieved our goals last Monday, despite our reservations…

Inspiration:

Objectives:

• To gain an overview of the big picture of the whole school Program of Inquiry and see how it works.
• To interact with different people, across campuses, across disciplines, and engage in educational dialogue.
• To share observations and questions that might assist in tightening the Program of Inquiry.

Group roles: (A choice of the following)

• Facilitator – Facilitate the discussion, making sure everyone in the group has a voice.
• Recorder #1 – Record big ideas and important thinking on your group’s Google doc.
• Recorder #2 – Record questions and wonderings.
• Tweeter – Tweet key ideas as the discussion unfolds.
• Back Channeller – Share and discuss with other groups via the back channel in TodaysMeet
• Time keeper – Keep an eye on the time to make sure tasks are accomplished.
• Observer – Observe and record what you notice about the how the group collaborates.
• Spy – Visit other groups to hear their conversation and get ideas.

Tasks:

• See Think Wonder – Get a sense of the big picture of the POI.
  • What do you notice?
  • What are your initial thoughts, overall?
  • What are you wondering?

• Horizontal review – Check the units across one year level (not your own).
  • Will the unit invite student inquiry?
  • Will it be globally significant addressing the commonalities of human experience?
  • Will there be opportunities to develop understanding through multiple perspectives?
  • And several other questions from the IB guide.

• Vertical review – Check the units from K-6 through one trans-disciplinary theme
  • Are all aspects of the trans-disciplinary themes explored at some point in the programme of inquiry?
  • Will the units in this theme challenge and extend students’ understanding?
  • Is there is a balance of key concepts used throughout this trans-disciplinary theme.
  • And several other questions from the IB guide.

• Personal reflection – Add your thoughts via the Google survey.
  • Place yourself on a scale of 1-10 to represent your knowledge and understanding of the whole school program of inquiry.
  • Sum up your overall understanding of the POI in one sentence.
  • What does the POI have to do with YOU?
  • What did you notice about yourself as a learner during the session?

Comments from some of the participants:

• There is always more to learn and collaboration is crucial.
• I was able to gain more of an understanding through the discussion and asking challenging questions helped us dig deeper into the POI.
• I was part of a temporary community of learners and we went on a journey together.
• I felt supported and it felt good that my ideas were included although I know very little about PYP.
• I noticed that I’m still a learner – I was able to expand my thinking and to look at the POI from a learner’s point of view and not just from my subject area.
• It helped me feel part of a bigger thing and that I’m not alone in my line of thoughts.
• I feel more confident to express my views and listen to others in an open-minded manner.
• It was great to realise how my learning continues to grow and I could make a contribution even though my area of teaching isn’t mainstream.
• I can ask too many questions and I love critically analysing things but it can be irritating for others.
• I was able to discuss and share concerns with my colleagues and discovered that colleagues had similar concerns.
• Having a clear role to play supported my active participation.
• I noticed how valuable it is to work collaboratively with people across different teaching areas. The different perspectives were really fascinating.
• As a facilitator I noticed myself being a much better listener. I asked questions to keep the the conversation flowing and invited everyone to share their thinking.

Observations:

• Great to see the entire teaching community actively engaged in educational dialogue.
• Everyone has something to contribute. Fresh perspectives can be valuable.
• Teachers appreciate protected time for collaborative discussion, exchange of learning and airing concerns.

Conclusion:

It’s valuable to see everything as an opportunity for learning!

May as well make it a learning experience!

Implementing the new Australian Curriculum appeared to be an onerous task. English and Maths were fine on the whole, but how would we ensure ‘coverage’ of Science, History and Geography within our PYP trans-disciplinary curriculum framework?  How would we incorporate content based outcomes into our student-centred Program of Inquiry?

Despite our reservations, we approached it as a learning experience, a time for reflection and an exploration of ways to improve teaching and learning. As an IB school, as long as all areas are addressed, we are not compelled to stick to the precise grade levels for prescribed achievement standards. So…

During unit planning sessions, we investigated what aspects of the Australian Curriculum could be incorporated and how we could make them inquiry based. If approached creatively, we saw that many aspects could be integrated into specialist areas and via our kitchen garden program. We set aside an afternoon for three groups to explore respectively the Science, History and Geography curricula, to find connections with what we already do as well as possibilities for change. Then a core group worked on mapping our Program of Inquiry with the Australian Curriculum, removing less successful units to make place for stronger ones that could, at the same time, be better related to the big ideas in the Australian Curriculum.

Finally, this week, a focus group of representatives from each grade  level, as well as some specialists, met to evaluate the current draft of the planned Program of Inquiry for 2013. We collaborated in small groups to analyse all our units of inquiry and to audit the program, first horizontally (across each grade level) and then a vertically from K-6.

We asked such questions as…

Are all areas of the Australian Curriculum being adequately addressed, without losing sight of the fact that as a PYP school, our approach to learning is concept driven, trans disciplinary and inquiry based ?

Do the units invite inquiry and offer opportunities for multiple perspectives? Do they have the potential to develop conceptual understanding? Are they globally significant, addressing the commonalities of human experience?

Is there a balance of key concepts? Are all subject areas incorporated despite the trans-disciplinary nature of the program? Are we addressing all aspects of each trans- disciplinary theme? Do all units challenge and extend learners’ understanding?

The process was an engaging one, probing questions were asked and critical thinking was recorded, based on which units will later be developed by grade level teams. It has been valuable for everyone to have an overview of the whole, to know where their students have come from and where they are heading. Cross fertilization of ideas was facilitated by mixed teams from different grade levels working together. The teachers valued the opportunity to make decisions about and have ownership of the curriculum.

The current draft is now in the hands of the rest of the staff for comments, questions and feedback.

I like the way we managed to put aside our reservations, take a prescribed curriculum and make it our own…