Confessions of a PYP Teacher: Recent Episodes

Lu Gerlach

This podcast is for any teacher who is seeking for ways to enrich the learning in their classroom without breaking the bank. We will explore the simple steps on how to turn the traditional learning experience into one founded on practices of the PYP in 10 to 20 minute episodes. The PYP is part of the International Baccalaureate program, which focuses on developing the whole child by allowing students to create their own meaning from learning. If you’re not a PYP teacher, don’t worry. We’ll be sharing ideas that can be applied to your learning setting, because good practice can be used anywhere. https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/podcast

Welcome to the fourth episode of our specialist and supporting teachers series.

We are continuing our journey with agency through the lens of the specialist teacher, in particular the librarian. All other specialist and supporting teachers should be able to find ways to modify the strategies over the two episodes to help their practice. It's about look at practices and our content through a different lens.

This episode is dedicated to Kerry Darby, a passionate librarian at the Lawrence School. I met Kerry a year ago and shared my vision of a learner-driven library that promotes agency. Without a clear vision of what it would look like, she volunteered to beta test the process. She is that librarian…one that has a growth mindset. Everytime I chat with Denise, she always mentions Kerry’s passion to redesign the library space to reflect more learner agency. My kind of people.

Before we move forward, I want to clarify that these ideas are my personal opinion and not necessarily of the IB. You need to confirm everything with your IB consultant and/or IB world school manager. The ideas I am about to share are based on my experiences and observations. Now let’s get to it!

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.com

Thanks for listening! Please find us on X @thinkchat2020, LinkedIn @lugerlach, and Instagram @thinkchat2020.

Join our Confessions of a PYP Teacher Facebook Group! We are going to launch some webinars and extra challenges in early 2024. Let's have some fun!

Welcome to the third episode in our specialist and supporting teachers series. If you haven’t listened to the series so far, consider going back to the beginning, because we are getting into the nitty gritty about your roles in each part of the PYP.

Agency is a huge push in the PYP, but I rarely hear it being discussed in the role of the specialist and supporting teacher role. It may have to do with your hectic schedule from 30-60 minutes per week to incorporate meaningful experiences. This can be quite a pressure. On the other hand, if we don’t allow agency to happen in our practice, then our learners will struggle to make independent decisions.

In this episode, we will explore a method to bring about more agency in your role as a specialist and supporting teacher.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.com

Thanks for listening! Please find us on X @thinkchat2020, LinkedIn @lugerlach, and Instagram @thinkchat2020.

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Welcome to the second episode of my new series to support specialist and supporting teachers. I just want to let you know that in this space you are so valued. The work you do makes the rest of the school more complete. Never forget this my friends as you try to navigate your role within the PYP framework.

Before we begin, I want to honor the contributions of my friend Yuni Santosa who gave me so many ideas for this series. She is a fabulous educator who is so passionate about the PYP and creating meaningful learning. Yuni works as a PYP teacher at the International School Ruhr and is also an IBEN member and concept-based trainer. Yuni provides many contributions online through Toddle App and beyond and I’m so thankful to have her in my professional network.

Before we move forward, I want to clarify that these ideas are my personal opinion and not necessarily of the IB. You need to confirm everything with your IB consultant and/or IB world school manager. The ideas I am about to share are based on my experiences and observations. Now let’s get to it!

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

Thanks for listening! Please find us on X @thinkchat2020, LinkedIn @lugerlach, and Instagram @thinkchat2020.

Join our Confessions of a PYP Teacher Facebook Group! We are going to launch some webinars and extra challenges in early 2024. Let's have some fun!

Welcome to our new series about specialist and supporting teachers. I have been thinking a lot about this series over the past couple months, especially during a visit to Le Jardin Academy in Kailua, Oahu, Hawaii. I had a candid chat with the specialist team and it made me think that other specialist and supporting teachers might appreciate the same guidance.

This episode, we will review some of the common misconceptions about the role of the specialist and supporting teachers within our schools. We will begin to discuss how we might support their roles, so they feel more part of the planning and teaching process.

I want to clarify that these ideas are my personal opinion and not necessarily of the IB. You need to confirm everything with your IB consultant and IB world school manager. This is based on my experiences alone.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

Thanks for listening! Please find us on X @thinkchat2020, LinkedIn @lugerlach, and Instagram @thinkchat2020.

Join our Confessions of a PYP Teacher Facebook Group! We are going to launch some webinars and extra challenges in early 2024. Let's have some fun!

This is the final week of our exploration of Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain. We will explore how to build more intellective capacity with Zaretta Hammond. At my age, I feel like this capacity is waning, so I hope to pick up some tips!

The chapter begins with a quote by Benjamin R. Barber, a political theorist. He states, “I don’t divide the world into the weak and the strong, or the successes and the failures, those who make it or those who don’t. I divide the world into learners and non-learners.”

As I read this quote, I thought about how many people view success in life based on financial status, fame, and acquisition of stuff. The more that they have, the more successful that they feel. We don’t often think of the person that has repeatedly failed as a winner. Yet, the experiences and understanding they have gained by losing is probably worth more than all of the accolades from their peers.

I connect this to success in school. The accolades that schools often seek from learners are grades. If they fail, it means the school was a failure too. Since many schools are funded by the government or private investors, it’s difficult to justify that failure is a good thing.

If we look at every success story of every genius that walked the earth, they often talk about all of the failures they had. These experiences spurred them on to finding the correct solution or inventing a tool that would better mankind. Embracing failure is vital in this process. This is what independent learners do.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

Thanks for listening! Please find us on X @thinkchat2020, LinkedIn @lugerlach, and Instagram @thinkchat2020.

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I can’t believe that we are almost done with Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain by Zaretta Hammond. This book has reaffirmed that some things I am doing are reflective of cultural responsiveness and that there are many ways that I can still grow. As we talked about in the last episode, it’s all about having a balanced academic mindset. We know that tasks may be challenging, but with time and practice, we still attempt them with a belief that we can do it. This is a game changer for those tough times.

Join us for this episode as we explore how to support a positive academic mindset and how to support struggling learners. This is a super-packed episode. The longest one ever!

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

Thanks for listening! Please find us on X @thinkchat2020, LinkedIn @lugerlach, and Instagram @thinkchat2020.

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Welcome back my friends to another episode of Confessions of a PYP Teacher. This episode speaks directly to my heart and I hope it will resonate with you too. Zaretta Hammond focuses on building deep alliances with our learners in chapter 6 of Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain. We will uncover some parts, but it’s not possible to unpack all of the ideas. Have fun reading and finding your own nuggets of wisdom.

The chapter begins with a quote by Rita Pierson, “Every child deserves a champion, an adult who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection and insists they become the best they can possibly be.”

This sets the stage for ways to support our learners by building a strong alliance, so learners can build an academic mindset over learned helplessness.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

Thanks for listening! Please find us on X @thinkchat2020, LinkedIn @lugerlach, and Instagram @thinkchat2020.

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Something I’ve been thinking about has been learner relationships and why they are not the primary focus in many elementary classrooms. Usually within the first month of school, teachers are building systems and routines of how the classroom will operate, but do they really take the time to get to know their learners personally? Zaretta Hammond points out, “Too often though, we ignore the quality of our interactions with students and instead focus primarily on the curriculum.”

In this episode, we will explore how to build more authentic relationships that help us to affirm and validate our learners.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

Thanks for listening! Please find us on X @thinkchat2020, LinkedIn @lugerlach, and Instagram @thinkchat2020.

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In the past episode, we discussed our own role as a culturally responsive teacher and how it shapes our frame of reference when teaching a classroom full of learners from a wide variety of cultural backgrounds, let alone language acquisition, disabilities, and gender identity needs. This was compared to our understanding of surface, shallow, and deep cultural beliefs and ways we may trigger amygdala hijack without knowing it.

I don’t know about you, but my brain exploded. This is completely normal, when we peel back the layers of our own cultural frames of reference and compare them with our learners. Zaretta Hammond references a three part process for widening our own lens called description, interpretation, and evaluation.

I introduced it in the last episode to get you thinking, but this time, we are unpacking it to the fullest. Are you ready for description, interpretation and evaluation? I’m ready to get vulnerable and make changes in my practice.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

Thanks for listening! Please find us on X @thinkchat2020, LinkedIn @lugerlach, and Instagram @thinkchat2020.

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Welcome to another deep dive into the fabulous book, Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain by Zaretta Hammond. This week will be full of insights about ourselves. Are you ready to go deep into your practice? To be honest, this chapter left me with a feeling of being exposed, but that is the process of recognizing how our beliefs and behaviors shape cultural responsiveness or not. Yikes, we went there already, but this is all part of our growth into becoming more aware educators while honoring the things we are doing well.

This episode will explore how culture has shaped our view of our learners. Hammond asks some deep questions that have sparked my reflection and hopefully yours.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

Thanks for listening! Please find us on X @thinkchat2020, LinkedIn @lugerlach, and Instagram @thinkchat2020.

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Welcome back to another episode of Confessions of a PYP Teacher and our exploration of Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brian by Zaretta Hammond.

I’m not going to lie, this next part of the book makes me feel like a numpty. Zaretta Hammond begins the chapter by stating, “If we want to use culturally responsive teaching to support the cognitive development of dependent learners, we have to know how the brain uses culture to make sense of the world. When we know this, we can easily piggyback on the brain’s natural systems to activate its unique ability to grow itself.” I don’t know about you, but this sounds really beyond my pay grade, but I’m going to do my best.

Join me as I attempt to unpack the connection of culture on the brain.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

Thanks for listening! Please find us on X @thinkchat2020, LinkedIn @lugerlach, and Instagram @thinkchat2020.

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Welcome back to another episode of Confessions of a PYP Teacher. We are continuing our exploration of Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain by Zaretta Hammond. This week, we will examine the influence of culture and shine light on our need for awareness.

Zaretta Hammond states, “Building background knowledge begins with becoming knowledgeable about the dimensions of culture as well as knowledgeable about the larger social, political, and economic conditions that create inequitable education outcomes…teachers also have to be aware of their beliefs regarding equity and culture.”

What are some of the ideas that pop to your mind? Listen to this episode to find out more.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

Thanks for listening! Please find us on X @thinkchat2020, LinkedIn @lugerlach, and Instagram @thinkchat2020.

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Welcome back to our book study of Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain (CRT) by Zaretta Hammond. As I reviewed my notes for the last episode, I discovered that I missed two key significant ideas that I want to explore before moving forward.

Hammond refers to the school-to-prison pipeline, which is something that is quite prevalent within the United States. This pipeline consists of learning systems that withhold rigorous instruction to children of color, particularly black and latino boys. The repetitive instruction sparks behavior issues, which increases learners from being removed from the learning setting. The decrease in instruction widens the gap for developing young people who can critically and creatively think.

The pipeline can largely be attributed to the pedagogy of poverty. Hammond describes this as, “setting up students up to leave high school with outdated skills and shallow knowledge. They are able to regurgitate facts and concepts but have difficulty applying this knowledge to new and practical ways.” Unfortunately, you often see this at the elementary/primary level in poorer schools. Having worked in these conditions, I’ve seen the pedagogy of poverty used repeatedly by teachers who came from a similar background. They are often perpetuating the same low-level instruction to the next generation without knowing it.

Listen to this episode to find out how we can address the school-to-prison pipeline and the pedagogy of poverty through Hammond's Ready for Rigor framework.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

Thanks for listening! Please find us on X @thinkchat2020, LinkedIn @lugerlach, and Instagram @thinkchat2020.

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Welcome my friends to a new book study. I have wrestled with what to talk about next within my podcast series and I kept circling back to Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain: Promoting Authentic Engagement and Rigor Among Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students by Zaretta Hammond. This book changed me this past year and I couldn’t wait any longer. There will be insights from Zaretta’s book, my thoughts, and my meanderings. If you’ve been listening at all, you know I tend to get off track a bit, but I believe these are the times that I make the most ahas. I hope you do too.

Let me start off by saying that, Zaretta Hammond is the first person in a long time that made me excited, weep, and find hope in a short span of time. This book made me excited to see all of the possibilities that are available to learners from diverse backgrounds if we just focus on building rigor instead of watering down curriculum. She made me weep, because I think of all the learners I wasn’t able to reach during my teaching career, because I didn’t have this book to guide me. Zaretta made me hope that if more people read this book, then we will have less learners falling through the cracks of the education system. I choose to focus on hope.

My hope is that you find nuggets along this ready journey that stay with you and help you think differently about our role as educators. Be sure to check out Zaretta's keynote address at Toddle TIES 2023. Here is the link to watch the presentation: https://www.toddleapp.com/ties/speakers/For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

Thanks for listening! Please find us on X @thinkchat2020, LinkedIn @lugerlach, and Instagram @thinkchat2020.

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Hello, dear educators, and welcome to the final episode of our application series. I'm Lu Gerlach, your host and fellow advocate for empowering young minds through thinkchat. Today, we're embarking on a thrilling journey, exploring how to craft a classroom that truly tickles our learners' brains and igniting a fiery passion for learning. It's all about creating a learner-driven haven that celebrates agency, choice, and ownership. So, let's dive right in!

We are engaging in the ultimate reflective practice. As we go back through all of the elements of a PYP classroom success criteria, what is on your list? Here is a recap of the big ideas we have discussed. Get ready to apply!

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

Thanks for listening! Please find us on X @thinkchat2020, LinkedIn @lugerlach, and Instagram @thinkchat2020.

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Hidee Ho Neighbor, my name is Lu Gerlach and I’m from thinkchat. Welcome to confession #126! In this episode, we'll be exploring some of the big ideas presented in the inspiring book, 'The Expert Effect' by Zach Rondot and Grayson McKinney. Get ready to join me on a journey of reflection and growth as we uncover the transformative power of allowing our learners to become the experts. So, grab your favorite cup of tea, find a cozy corner, and let's reflect back on how to allow your learners to become an expert in their learning.

This episode, we will only have one application challenge, because I have been quite intense the past two episodes. I can’t help it, I get excited about this stuff and have to share it with you!

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

Thanks for listening! Please find us on X @thinkchat2020, LinkedIn @lugerlach, and Instagram @thinkchat2020.

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Welcome back my Lu Crew. I’m Lu Gerlach from thinkchat, just in case you forgot my name. This is confession #125! We are going to sit for a moment and reflect on how to make local and global inquiry happen within our context. This seems like quite an abstract concept to many people, because we tend to overthink it. Let’s take a deep breath and break it down into manageable parts that you can apply.

Disclaimer, there are two possible ways to apply local and global inquiry to your context. You can choose to complete both or only one, based on where you are on your inquiry journey. I like to have choices, so I don’t feel hemmed into a process, especially when talking about this topic. The primary goal is to have fun with local and global inquiry.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

Thanks for listening! Please find us on X @thinkchat2020, LinkedIn @lugerlach, and Instagram @thinkchat2020.

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Good day to my fabulous thinkchat family. It’s me again, Lu Gerlach, your host, and welcome to confession #124, where we will explore how to use personal inquiry in our practice. Every time that we loop back with an application series, it has helped me to grow as a practitioner and consider my own actions.

For this episode, we are returning to Kath Murdoch’s book, Getting Personal with Inquiry Learning.

This episode will be a three-part process to stretch us, since it’s been a while since exploring the book.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

Thanks for listening! Please find us on X @thinkchat2020, LinkedIn @lugerlach, and Instagram @thinkchat2020.

Join our Confessions of a PYP Teacher Facebook Group! We are going to launch some webinars and extra challenges in early 2024. Let's have some fun!

Good afternoon to my favorite people, I’ll just call you my Lu Crew. If you haven’t guessed, I’m your host, Lu Gerlach from thinkchat, and I am having fun with today’s episode. As we end 2023, I want us to think about where technology has greatly exploded this past year and where it is rapidly going in the years to come. We cannot pretend that it won’t change our roles as educators. Of course it will. At the same time, we need to look at AI as a partner in getting information more quickly and sometimes more accurately.

We have known for quite some that the internet is the depository of information and we are the facilitators of meaning making. Our role will require us to know how to engage with the technology to gain the maximum output. With this in mind, we are going to explore our new relationship with ChatGPT in this episode and challenge ourselves to start using it tomorrow.

Before we begin, I want to be clear that our goal is meaning making. More is not more. For ChatGPT to be effective in our practice, we need to know how to engage it successfully. Here is my attempt in modeling the process while making some mistakes along the way. I will present my prompt, ChatGPT responses, and my commentary of the answers.

Let’s get started!

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

Thanks for listening! Please find us on X @thinkchat2020, LinkedIn @lugerlach, and Instagram @thinkchat2020.

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Hey there, wonderful people! It's your host, Lu Gerlach from thinkchat, and I am beyond excited for today's episode.

We're going deep into the heart of the PYP philosophy exploring how learners visually represent their unit of inquiry journey. So, buckle up for Confession #122, where we'll dig into the nitty-gritty of shifting from showcasing finished products to emphasizing the process and giving every student a chance in the spotlight. This will be the final episode of our PYP classroom success criteria series.

A big thank you to Siba Shekhar, the PYP Coordinator at the GEMS Modern Academy Kochi for providing the inspiration for this episode. Let's close out our series with a bang!

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

Thanks for listening! Please find us on X @thinkchat2020, LinkedIn @lugerlach, and Instagram @thinkchat2020.

Join our Confessions of a PYP Teacher Facebook Group! We are going to launch some webinars and extra challenges in early 2024. Let's have some fun!

In this episode, we are going to explore two questions posed by my Twitter friend, Donna Mathew.

To what extent can we differentiate an inquiry classroom?
What are the different ways of doing it?

We will answer these questions through the wisdom of Lynn Erickson, Lois Lanning, and Carol Ann Tomlinson.

Let's have some fun!

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

Thanks for listening! Please find us on X @thinkchat2020, LinkedIn @lugerlach, and Instagram @thinkchat2020.

Join our Confessions of a PYP Teacher Facebook Group! We are going to launch some webinars and extra challenges in early 2024. Let's have some fun!

Welcome back to another episode of Confessions of a PYP teacher. I have taken a bit of a hiatus from this podcast due to personal health issues and work schedule. This is my ultimate passion project. When I’m not sharing with you, it means I’m off-balance and need to calibrate again.

I’m super pumped to continue our series of creating a PYP classroom success criteria. It’s more than just the walls, but the feeling within the classroom itself. This can be demonstrated in so many ways from choices you provide to the materials being used.

The key question for this episode: How are we celebrating student voice through agency?As always, I am interested to learn how you celebrate student voice through agency. Please share your ideas on Twitter @thinkchat2020 and LinkedIn @lugerlach.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

In this episode, I was provoked by ideas and questions by Yuni Santosa and Shailja Datt.

Yuni asked, ”Hmmm... is this the criteria based on the visible aspects (see and hear)? This made me think about how we are balancing what we put onto the walls into our daily practice that can be evidenced by learner behavior and thinking.

Shailja suggested, "Key concepts begin with and & then whether they are relevant, challenging and significant or not."

This provoked me to ask the question, "How do we make key and related concepts engaging, challenging, relevant, and significant for our learners?"In this episode we will explore how to use the inquiry thinking strategies to apply the meaning of the key and related concepts to the content.

Get ready for a big cerebral experience!

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

Greetings friends! Welcome to another week of our PYP Classroom Success Criteria podcast series! We are going to have a lot of fun exploring interactive walls that are transdisciplinary.

More talk about the walls? Yep. They are the most underutilized teaching tool that we have at our disposal, so let’s talk about ways that we can use them better.

This episode was sparked by a question by our old friend, Shailja Datt, the PYP Coordinator at the Horizon Japan International School in Kanagawa.

Shailja asked: Are the walls interactive?

A couple episodes ago, we talked about interactive bulletin boards as a teaching tool. But this time, we are going to examine how we can use them to build deeper connections.

Meanwhile, our friend Nirali Parikh, a transitional kindergarten teacher, at the Creation Village World School in Celebration, Florida posed a simple question.

Nirali asked: Is it transdisciplinary?

The bigger question should be, how do we create walls that are interactive and transdisciplinary?

This episode will focus on answering this big question! Join us!

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

This episode came from a question that was posed by Nirali Parikh, a transitional kindergarten teacher, originally from India that works at the Creation Village World School in Celebration, Florida. I’ve had the pleasure to work with Nirali on several occasions and she makes me think differently about the capabilities of an early years child. If you haven’t already, consider following Nirali on Twitter @NiraliParikh7.

Here is Nirali’s question: What are the expectations of a school?

This simple question spreads its tentacles into every aspect of the school building. How are the expectations seen throughout the campus? One way I believe a school has clear expectations is that its practices align with the PYP transdisciplinary approach to learning and teaching. It’s visible as you walk through the campus within and beyond the classrooms.

We will explore this question and another by Emmanouil Zerai: @E_zerai, a PYP homeroom teacher at the International School of the Stockholm Region (ISSR).

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

Welcome to our new series on a PYP classroom success criteria. I am so excited for this series, because I feel like it’s been so timely with things I have learned recently from the Pop-Up Studio Edu-Retreat in Brussels with Misty Paterson. In this workshop, Misty took items around the school to create a welcoming gathering place that was flexible and driven by learner use. This made think about this question post by Shailja Datt, the PYP Coordinator at the Horizon Japan International School in Kanagawa:

How do we help in tickling the student’s brain?

What a wonderful way to think about learning, which is more centered on curiosity, wonder, and awe. This episode, we are going to examine how we can tickle our learner’s brains through our school day and within our walls.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

In the past six months, I have visited a lot of schools through official IB workshops, independent workshops, and curriculum development. One repeating theme that came from these encounters is this simple question:

What does a PYP classroom look and feel like in practice?

On the surface it seems like an easy question to answer. But, as you unravel the layers, you discover that there are many parts to making a PYP classroom come to life. Here are the two main parts that I have identified: the physical space and the independent space.

Join me on this new series as we explore different aspects of a PYP classroom and how we can make them more learner-driven.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

In this episode, we conclude our journey with The Expert Effect by exploring selective perfectionism, major takeaways from the book club experience, an excerpt from the companion book The Expert Expedition, and some reflections about our podcast experience. Be sure to join us for this action packed episode.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

In this episode, we unpack the big ideas from this section of the book with authors Grayson McKinney and Zach Rondot of the Expert Effect. During this dynamic conversation, we explored our own personal learning experiences, setting the conditions for learner agency to thrive, and leveraging technology as a teaching tool. There are so many aha moments in this episode.

If you would like to watch the #CITLreads book chat with Grayson and Zach, click here.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

Welcome to the third episode in our series about the Expert Effect. I apologize for such a delay, but sometimes our personal life takes time away from our passion projects. I hope to get back on track with this fabulous book in hopes to help you get connected with the expert effect.

In this episode, we will talk about people who have influenced our understanding as teacher learners and how to prepare our learners for meeting with experts. Let's get ready to have some fun with the Expert Effect.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

Welcome to the second episode exploring the book, The Expert Effect by Grayson McKinney and Zach Rondot. It has been an absolute pleasure to read this book and learn how to set the conditions for engaging with experts. Now that we have started with our WHY, we can move forward with engaging with experts.

In this episode, we will explore:

Finding local resources to enrich units
Expert success criteria
Strategies that bring about local and global connections
Reflect using: Unveiling Stories

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

Welcome to the #CITLreads Book Club for The Expert Effect by Grayson McKinney and Zach Rondot. I am so excited to explore this book through my podcast and appreciate the authors for indulging my connections and reflections.

In this episode, we will explore:

Pick a new book club role based on the approaches to learning
Discover our "WHY"
Define an expert
Make essential agreements
Reflect using: Name- Describe- Act

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

As I finish this series on local and global inquiry, I couldn’t forget my early years friends. Oftentimes, there are many strategies presented that are beyond the scope of what our little people can do. I wanted to honor your special role in making learning come alive too.

In connection to the Crafting Inquiry conference, I was inspired by the ideas of Kimberly Mitchell about asking deeper questions with our learners. She posed this question that made me think.

Wondering: What gets in the way of students (and teachers) from asking questions?

Kimberly gave some concrete reasons for why educators do not ask a wider range of questions. I’d like to explore further and apply them to making local and global connections.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

In this episode, we will look at local and global inquiry through the lens of the specialist and supporting teachers. I see you my friends. I know many times you don't feel included in the planning process, because the ideas don't apply to your roles. This episode is an attempt to make local and global inquiry occur in your practice. It's not perfect, but it's a start.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

As I mentioned in my last episode, I was able to interact with many of my eduheroes last week, including Stephanie Harvey. What a firecracker! She is not only quite intelligent and articulate, but she has a fire within the language development for all learners. Something that stayed with me was Writeacide; to die a death of writing worksheets.

How do we get learners to write authentically from their hearts? It’s certainly not from worksheets. Steph shares that inquiry in literature comes from curiosity, comprehension, collaboration, and content. Isn’t that just beautiful? She continues to state that “Inquiry is not always about a final product at the end..it is living in a way that all questions matter…because the more you learn, the more you wonder…and our role is to fan the flame of curiosity.”

Let's learn how to fan the flame of curiosity together!

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

Let's take a moment to discuss ways to shape the story of local and global inquiry. What does this mean? Take a look at these questions to get a flavor of this week's episodes.

Why do stories matter when exploring various content areas?
How can storytelling help us to make deeper connections to ideas?
How do stories humanize the experiences being faced in this world?
What stories do you have to tell that you have kept to yourself?
How will your stories reshape our thinking?

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

In the last episode, we talked about going from a local issue to more globally minded. I used the PZ visible thinking routine, Projecting Across Distance as an example. As I went through this past week, I realized that this may be a bit advanced for some people, so I scoured my files to find something that might be an easier starting point.

A tool that I really like is Investigate, Organize, Generalize by Rachel French. It helps to scaffold the process of going from a local issue to a more global focus. To begin the process, think of a big idea that you will be exploring in your unit. For mine, I chose culture, since this is a universal concept in Who We Are and How We Express Ourselves.

Let’s take a look at this strategy in action to bring about more local and global inquiry in your context.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

Wahoo! The moment has finally come. We get to merge the local inquiry with a global context. I’m physically and metaphorically rubbing my hands together with glee. I can’t wait to put these ideas together to create something meaningful.

When I think of the relationship between the local and global inquiry, the first thing that pops into my mind is the PZ visible thinking routine, Projecting Across Distance. This amazing thinking routine helps learners to stretch their understanding about local or isolated content and make relevant and significant connections. It has become one of my favorite routines to use to explore more complex issues that humanity is universally experiencing at the same time. In some small way, it makes it easier to realize that you are not the only one.

Now that we have stretched our learning to think a bit deeper about our standards, let’s think about how we are going to leverage the local community and beyond to add value to the learning and teaching. There are many people within our local community that want to give back, but don’t know how to do it. They are a valuable resource to adding a richness to the learning and teaching.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

In the last episode, we ended with the idea of connecting our local issue to our curriculum and standards. So, I’d like to dedicate this episode to examining possible ways to explore this. I am providing some tips, but you and your team must decide what best fits for your school and learners. I love challenging myself in creating curriculum connections that are not so blatant or that we haven’t seen. Isn’t this the purpose of inquiry? See, you are making deeper connections already!

Oftentimes, we create curriculum that is segmented by subject areas, even if we are not intentional about it. It just happens. Here’s something to consider when looking at your curriculum. We will examine one content standard, so you can truly examine how it’s being explored deeper and where you can connect to other content that you must teach.

Let's get started!

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

Welcome to our new series on local and global inquiry. After the book club on “Getting Personal with Inquiry Learning” by Kath Murdoch, I wanted to extend my thinking towards making local and global connections to our inquiry. This seemed like the natural next step.

When I think of local inquiry, my mind immediately shifts towards place-based learning. There are numerous definitions of what it is. I have two favorites from Edutopia and University of Liggett School: Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning.

Let's enjoy this experience of exploring the properties of local inquiry.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

We all have something that we are wanting to invest in ourselves that we have put off, because we are too busy, too tired, or overworked. Take the time to invest in yourself. There is only one you.

In this episode, I'm getting more personal than I have ever been to set my goal and hold myself accountable.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

After this book study, I decided to try something different. Instead of picking random goals for my action plan, I pulled quotes from each week and partnered them with the enhanced PYP types of action: participation, advocacy, social justice, social entrepreneurship, and lifestyle choices. I chose 3 or sometimes more quotes that resonated with me and placed them in a column. At the end, I created a menu of options. My next task is to choose ONE goal from each column to work on this school year.

Now, let’s go through the process together and you choose which one resonates with you. To be honest, it might be easier to read the blog post for this one, but we’re still gonna try it out! I’d have paper and pencil ready too.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

Welcome to our final session of our club for Getting Personal with Inquiry Learning by Kath Murdoch. This session leads out with a bang by looking at resources that make personal inquiry manageable.

A big thanks to Bhavna Mathew for being our moderator. As usual, she posed some deep questions for us to ponder and we used a visible thinking routine to synthesize our ideas. What a great way to end our book club!

Most authors leave the back of the book for the bibliography, endless templates, and genuinely a menagerie of goodies that seem overwhelming. Not Kath, she provided us with some purpose and reminders when curating our material.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

Welcome to Week 7 of our Getting Personal with Inquiry Learning book club. This fabulous book by Kath Murdoch has stretched our capability of thinking about personal inquiry learning. This episode, we will explore how to document, reflect, assess, and share our process, so we are able to take meaningful action, which are sections 3.6 - 3.7 of the book.

We have to give a big thank to Ragini who moderated our session this week and helped us to dive into this section. She is a true delight and we are so grateful that she shared her insight and talents with us. She was the ultimate risk-taker this week by moderating, when she usually enjoys observing and discussing ideas. Ragini, we couldn’t have done this week without you!

Also, a big thanks to Kath for joining our book club after a full day of teaching and travel. She contributed to our conversations and we appreciate her dedication to our club.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

Welcome back for another session of our book club on Getting Personal with Inquiry Learning by Kath Murdoch. We are focusing on sections 3.4 - 3.5 in this episode to learn how to confer and sustain the inquiry process.

Before we begin, we need to give a big shout to Nisha Vahi, our moderator for this session. Nisha helped us to explore new reflection tools: Root, Bark, Branch from Shifting Schools and Triangle-Square-Circle from Harry & Rosemary Wong in The Classroom Instruction Book. Now, we have new tools to help our learners stretch their thinking!

Join this session as we look at the process of really conferring with our learners and leaving the power of the learning with them.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

This is the section we have been waiting for! It’s at the heart of how to get started with a personal inquiry, how and what to document, and tons of reflection prompts. If I were you, I would have my notebook ready to jot down some notes.

I can't wait to get started using the templates provided in this section.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

This week, we are going to look at various scaffolds that will support and assess our use of inquiry within our practice. For newer teachers, we will explore some systems that may help you get started. For others, we will examine ways to deepen our practice so learners take more agency.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

In this episode, we will read sections 2.1-2.5 of Kath Murdoch's book, Getting Personal with Inquiry Learning. In this section, we will examine the factors that shape school culture and how we can determine if we are ready to move forward with a culture of personal inquiry. Join this thought-provoking discussion to identify where you can improve in your practice.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

Just a reminder my friends, this new series will take an intense dive into the book, “Getting Personal with Inquiry Learning” by Kath Murdoch. This episode will focus on sections 1.4 - 1.6 of the book, so stay tuned to be inspired by Kath!

This episode will examine the common issues that educators have about inquiry-based learning, common programs that limit inquiry, and how to making your own personal inquiry goal. Let's have some fun!

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

I am excited to co-lead with Aga Chojnacka-Al Atat and Kirti Kale a book club for Kath Murdoch’s latest title, Getting Personal with Inquiry Learning. I am already several sections into the book and I’ve found a treasure trove of little gems that resonate deeply to my teaching philosophy.

Each week, our book club will focus on two to three sections and apply them to our practice. This podcast will serve as a reflection tool and also tap into parts of the book that resonated with me.

This week, we will focus on sections 1.1., 1.2, and 1.3. Let’s get started!

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

As we look at playing with the ATLs, I’m reminded of my friend Vidhya. She is a passionate PYP educator from India. If you are on Twitter in the education community, you have probably run across her many tweets. Ever since last summer, she has opened my eyes to so many possibilities in seeing learning and teaching.

In a recent chat, Vidhya and I were discussing this challenge and the role of the ATLs. She will share some of the personal connections her learners made with the ATLs.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

Let’s continue on with this theme about learning space design and how it impacts play. From an organizational standpoint, what makes your space so special?

When you look around your special spot in your home, what are some special things and tools you use that inspire you to play? In this episode, we will examine how the environment layout, decor, materials, and storage impact play.

Des Taylor (DesPop) art

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

Welcome to another application series, where we are going to take ideas we have explored before and apply them into a new context. I absolutely love this part, because it helps to look at old things again…the process of anew (4A’s by Misty Paterson).

Since our last application series, you’ve had a chance to participate in the Transdisciplinary and Design Thinking challenges. They helped you to take content and apply it to your individual context. Now, we are going to do a minor version for learning environment, play, and the approaches to learning (ATLs).

Let’s have some fun with this application challenge. Be sure to post your new thinking on social media with #thinkchat2020. I can’t wait to see your ideas!

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

Learning transfer is our greatest gift. It helps us to better understand ideas that we are toying with during our learning. What better way to transfer all of these ideas in our design thinking challenge, but to teach them to our learners? Agency at its finest.

Now, let’s circle back to the big ideas from Pop-Up Studio: Responsive Teaching for Today’s Learners that resonate and guide our thinking. Think about how you will model them for your learners and make them a vital part of your planning process. Remember, their purpose is to add depth and complexity to your learner’s thinking and understanding. Isn’t this what we want for all of our learners?

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

Pop-Up Studio: Responsive Teaching for Today's Learners by Misty Paterson
Paper Book
Ebook

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

I’m so excited to record this episode on the 2nd birthday of this podcast! What a journey. I never thought I would ever record a podcast, let alone 86 episodes of my meandering thoughts about the PYP. It has been truly a passion project as I share with you my love of learning and I hope it’s helped you as well.

As we have gone through this Design Thinking Challenge together, it has been my pleasure to connect to two books that have really touched my practice this year. The Four Agreements and Pop-Up Studio: Responsive Teaching for Today's Learners have left the greatest imprint on how I think and craft my workshops for others.

At the close of this challenge, I consider the POWR of connecting thinking as we try to evolve as educators and learners. Let's unpack it together and apply it to our practice.

Pop-Up Studio: Responsive Teaching for Today's Learners by Misty Paterson
Paper Book
Ebook

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

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The meaning of evolve is to develop gradually. This captures the heart of our PYP journey. We are developing gradually into educators that we want to be, so we can help to shape young humans into how they want to be. When you take a step back and pause, it truly is a beautiful thing. Evolution means that even with our past mistakes, we can continue to develop gradually into who we want to become.

In this episode, let's examine what it truly means to evolve in our teaching, our planning, and building strong relationships with our learners.

Pop-Up Studio: Responsive Teaching for Today's Learners by Misty Paterson
Paper Book
Ebook

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

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As I was considering this challenge, I reflected on the CME model from Pop-Up Studio: Responsive Teaching for Today’s Learners by Misty Paterson. This has been my latest book club read, but more importantly my aha text. Going through the book club experience with this text opened up so many possibilities of how to use these ideas in a variety of ways. Isn’t that the purpose of a prototype? It’s a tool we use to try out our ideas, so we can evolve our practice.

The CME model was designed with “see me” in mind, so “we intentionally see the person within the learning engagement…We can see personal interests, understandings, wonderings, creativity, thinking, and agency surface.” (Paterson, 2021)

So what exactly is the CME model? It’s a construct that helps learners to look at the interplay of using concepts to connect learning experiences with materials. That sounds very simple, but it’s quite powerful.

In this episode, we will explore how to create a prototype with the CME model with in our unit of inquiry.

Pop-Up Studio: Responsive Teaching for Today's Learners by Misty Paterson
Paper Book
Ebook

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

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A prototype is a model of something that we want to test or try out. In the PYP, our prototype is our unit of inquiry planner. We create a planning tool that ties all of the elements together with the singular purpose to connect to the transdisciplinary theme, central idea, and lines of inquiry. The other elements and content provide context for exploration.

To make this come to life, we model various processes for our learners and our peers. This can come in the form of a think aloud using the Approaches to Learning (ATLs) and the MYP Command Terms.

Join this episode to learn more about how to create a prototype through the design thinking process.

Pop-Up Studio: Responsive Teaching for Today's Learners by Misty Paterson
Paper Book
Ebook

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

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In our last episode, we defined what it means to ideate and stretched our thinking with the Question Formulation Technique (QFT). This lays the foundation of asking a variety of questions to and with our learners, so they are able to generate, revise, prioritize, and plan with their questions in mind. As we create this culture of thinking, we are ready to think more outside of the box to ideate real solutions to issues within our organization.

As previously mentioned, we must do this process entirely with empathy. We are asking others to change their viewpoints and alter their ways of operating within the organization. It’s huge, so tread carefully and kindly.

Over the past five weeks, I’ve been participating in the #CITLreads book club on Misty Paterson’s book, Pop-Up Studio: Responsive Teaching for Today’s Learners. While going through this five week process, my eyes were opened to new strategies on how to leverage inquiry and conceptual connections with our learners and peers.

In particular, the 4A’s Guiding Principles stood out as a scaffold in the inquiry process. After all, isn’t coming up with new and innovative ideas part of the inquiry process? Misty Paterson came up with a simple system to help you take a look at your curriculum in a fresh new viewpoint. We will apply this concept to problem-solving. You can use one or all of all of the 4A’s to spark your ideation process. We will have a challenge for each to help you stretch and grow.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

In the design thinking process, we recognize that the issue we have defined has not been previously dealt with correctly. We may have tried to solve the problem by examining the superficial symptoms, rather than getting to the root issue. When we ideate, we have to think out-of-the-box, so we can find alternative solutions that may seem farfetched in order to move our organization forward.

In this episode, we will explore how to ideate and slay some sacred cows along the way. It's not easy to go against the status quo, but it's how we begin to evolve as an organization.

Here are some links mentioned in this week's episode

The Question Formulation Technique (QFT)
Pop-Up Studio: Responsive Teaching for Today’s Learners.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

Albert Einstein once said, “If I had an hour to solve a problem I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and five minutes thinking about solutions.”

One of the hardest things to do is to define the problem we want to solve. This requires us to dig deep into the underlying root causes, not the symptoms, which can open us to vulnerability. Most organizations don’t like to admit there is a problem, even if it is staring them in the face. No one likes to have to admit they are wrong or part of a system that is malfunctioning. It’s our nature as human beings to strive for perfection, whatever that may be.

At the root of every problem is a cause. Do you know what is the cause of your problem? Many do not. They often think the symptom is the root, but you need to dig deeper to discover it. Once you do, the organization must acknowledge that it exists. From there, they can decide which instructional strategies to employ, organize the necessary resources, and develop the staff so they feel confident. All of this takes time, but it’s imperative if we want to move forward.

To help us define our root problem, we will use the Four Agreements. Consider which agreement lies at the root of an issue at your campus and create a possible solution to present to school leadership. This is bold, but oftentimes the leadership team doesn’t have all the answers. They value specific, targeted feedback with possible next steps towards a resolution. Even still, there are no guarantees that your ideas will be accepted, but you did your best to advocate for sustainable change. This is taking ownership of your own learning process and taking meaningful action.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

Welcome to the design thinking challenge!

I am excited to explore the design thinking challenge through different lenses that you may have not considered before. This is how my brain works. I make connections between unrelated texts and somehow it works. Let’s do this!

The Four Agreements
Recently, I stumbled on a video on LinkedIn about Cognitive Behavioral Theory by Joe Amabile, a seasoned IB educator. This video highlighted the idea that everyone responds to things that happen in the world based on their beliefs and identity. This demonstrated the connection between our reactions during a typical school day to our deep rooted beliefs and identity that has been developed over a lifetime.

After watching Joe’s video, my friend Mondrea Mitchell recommended The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz,. In reading this book, I found practical ways to implement cognitive behavioral theory into my life. These agreements are simple to understand, but they require intentional thought and reflection. You will soon find yourself stopping your thought process and stating to yourself, "Stop taking that personally" and "Don't make assumptions about this situation." I am doing it throughout the day, which means I'm on the way to creating a new set of beliefs about my identity.

This challenge will examine the Four Agreements and how they help us to build empathy, which is the first phase of the design thinking process.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom (A Toltec Wisdom Book)

Empathy 101

This episode will focus on building empathy. If you feel like you have a solid understanding of what this looks and feels like in the school context, consider popping over to episode 79 to participate in the empathy challenge.

To empathize means different things to different people. It’s not a one size fits all, which is a huge lesson I learned being a PYP Coordinator. The things that resonated with me did not for the majority of my staff due to cultural differences, learning experiences, and background knowledge. So how do we build a culture of empathy within our schools, so we can move the work forward?

Here are some resources to support empathy development

How to Build Empathy and Strengthen Your School Community
Think about Inquiry

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

As I think of the power of the conceptual lesson cycle, I naturally connect to the Design Thinking Process, which looks at conceptual ideas from the big picture. If you haven’t heard about it, no worries, I didn’t until a year ago. For those who have been engaging with design thinking for some time, we are going to explore some possibilities that will strengthen your usage of it. I’m as giddy as an early years child on their first time bringing in a show and tell artifact.

For those rubbing their hands together thinking this series is about design, I’m sad to tell you it's not the case. We will not be going through the process to create prototypes in the traditional sense. For those ideas, consider listening to Design Cast: A Podcast about Design and Steam Education by Jason Reagin. He’s super talented and passionate about all things Design and STEAM. He has a lot of guests that are just as nerdy as he is about design and I always walk about with new perspectives.

We are taking a journey on the Design Thinking Process. It’s the same process of design, but applying it towards organizational structures. What does that mean? Well, it means we are going to look at Design Thinking from the lens of education and how it impacts lasting change within our school system. I know it’s quite deep, but we need this type of thinking as we emerge into a new educational landscape post pandemic. Now is the time to make lasting changes, rather than sliding back into how it’s always been. We are not the same educators that we were two years ago, so why should we teach the same way? Why should our learners be forced to learn in the old model?

Tim Brown Ted Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAinLaT42xY

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

Ever since the last episode, I have struggled with a gnawing feeling that I was not quite right in my ideas. As I have unraveled the concept of play, I must admit that my friend Mondrea Mitchell was correct.

What I consider play to be in the older years, is actually a form of playfulness. What is the difference? Play is truly an open-ended construction of meaning and making sense of the world. While Playfulness is using the concept of play to bring about more opportunities for learners to explore concepts deeper. There is a foundational difference.

In this episode, we will explore some ideas based on the following authors:

The Importance of Making Connections
Defining Playfulness

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

Play in elementary school is a debated idea. Does it only happen in early years? What do we define as play? How does it look and is it authentic when learners are able to manipulate and inquire on their own?

In this episode, I will share my thoughts on these questions and how we can incorporate more play through a conceptual lesson cycle. Come play with me!

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

Play is central to early years. We know this. If you are an early years teacher, this is what you do all day long. This episode focuses on the role of play in the early years within the PYP. There are many facets that we think about naturally with this age, but there are some teachers that are confined by their school systems to make it happen. This episode will refer heavily to the PYP documentation, so you can advocate for yourself and your learners. For the rest of us, it's a gentle reminder that we are on the right track. We all need that, especially during these times.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

Since the PYP enhancements in 2018, there has been a lot of talk of play. It has always existed in early years, because that is how a young learner creates meaning. In any given learning situation, a young child is presented with open-ended materials for them to build sensory awareness, make predictions, and experiment with on their own. As they build connections, they work with others to test out their theories to determine any misconceptions. Individual and group conferences with the teacher expands the thinking and this often initiates new inquiries and wonderings. Isn’t this a magical way to think and learn?

Come take a listen to this episode to discover why play is so important to our practice.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

As I think of the relationship between the learning environment and play, it reminds of the chicken and the egg argument. Which one came first? Do we need a well thought out learning space design to bring about play? Does play shape the way the learning space is designed? Hmm…which way do you look at it?

In this episode, we are going to look at different learning space designs and how they encourage or stop meaningful play from happening.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

This week, I’m excited to report to you from New London, CT. It’s a beautiful seaside town with a lot of history in its six square miles. I’m here working with a PYP school to restructure their library according to the six transdisciplinary themes, as well as genrefying their novels, creating a lower primary section, and a place for the learner profile and key concepts to come to life. This has been such a fun project, because I’m creating a space where learners will become readers. Isn’t this the best part of teaching?

This process has sparked an internal debate that led to a singular question. When thinking about learning space design, do we consider other spaces besides the homeroom class? I would venture to say, most of us don’t, which is something I want to examine in this podcast episode.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

The practices we have shared in the past two episodes apply to all learners. Some will be overstimulated, while others will be underwhelmed. No child fits into one specific category, which was part of my apprehension in separating the students into designation groups.

At the same time, I believe there are some things we can put into place that will support a student with disabilities. As we know, there is not one size fits all, because there are varying degrees of needs that a student might have.

How does your learning environment support the needs of your learners with disabilities? Are you giving them equal access to the curriculum?

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

Now that we’ve designed the learning environment for the language learner, let’s talk about the gifted learner. I don’t like this designation, because I believe that all children are gifted in their own unique way and the PYP allows it to shine. I know everyone who is listening totally agrees with my summation.

We can picture specific learners in our class who are eager to learn everyday. They are always present at school and voracious to learn. They hunger to acquire knowledge and are naturally curious about the world. Doesn’t this sound like every student you have? Of course. The difference is gifted learners regularly go above and beyond what is “required” for themselves and they are usually seeking ways to improve.

How are you arranging the environment to bring about the capabilities of your gifted learners, so they are not forgotten while you support other learners?

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

How does our learning space design reflect the needs of your language learners?

In this episode, we will explore how the learning environment supports or is an obstacle to language acquisition for your language learners. We will explore some simple ways to make language more accessible and rich in order to make all of your learners feel included in the environment.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

Welcome to our new series on the importance of the learning environment and play to support inquiry. This has been a labor of love over the past few months as I’ve experienced my own a-ha moments about the importance of learning space design. It sounds so intuitive, yet, it’s one of the hardest things for educators to give up.

In this episode, we will explore different strategies that we can easily employ to make students more engaged in the learning space design and promote learner agency.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

As we focus on learning environment design and building learning relationships, we must first consider a simple practice that bonds a community together. Pronouncing the names of our learners correctly.

What’s in a name? It’s the first gift your parent’s give you when you are born. It shapes your identity, reminds you of your family heritage, and is a lasting legacy that you matter on this planet.

As we begin this new school year in the Northern Hemisphere, let us be mindful of the power of a name. When we engage with our learners, let’s take care in learning each and individual name, because it represents someone’s identity.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

Once you have a solid understanding and use of split-screen teaching, you will be prepared to turn the ownership to your learners. Our ultimate goal with the PYP and a part of good teaching practice is developing learner independence. We can use split-screen teaching to support this process by having learners create their own goals by using the ATL sub-skills as their success criteria.

A success criteria is a set of goals we want learners to engage with that will lead toward achievement and mastery. Some success criteria can focus on year long goals, while others can be for a unit of inquiry. This is up to you and your learners.

For this episode, I will focus on how to make learning goals while using the ATLs as a success criteria for a single unit. This will be easier to do at first, then you can lengthen your goals accordingly.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

You’ve chosen your ATLs and now comes the part of breaking them down into bite-size pieces, so your learners can apply them on a daily basis. I’m not going to lie, I used to struggle so much with this part, because these skills often felt insurmountable. When that happens, we tend to bury them like a stinky fish in the back of a closet. Over time, the fish will decay and the stench becomes so extreme that we have to pull it out and deal with it.

What would you say if I could take your ATL stinky fish and make it a simple meal that was delectable and easy to make? Would you try it?

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

Now we have gone over in-depth how to use the Approaches to Learning (ATLs), how will we select them for our units of inquiry. This does not just apply to homeroom teachers, because all specialists and supporting teachings need to be part of the discussion. If we expect these teachers to be a part of the teaching, they need to be part of the selection process.

How can we consider everyone’s needs? Quite simply. The ATLs are universal skills that all learners need to acquire, so they are purposefully broad and applicable to any subject area. How they are used is up to the teacher, which is the magical part.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

As a child advances in age, it’s assumed that they know how to manage themselves, because they are quiet, sit still, and complete assignments. There is so much more to self-management than that.

When I think of self-management, I compare it to ownership as part of learner agency. Both of them are more difficult to define, because it’s part of our being of who we are. We can’t do a quick strategy to develop self-management skills, which means they must be done over again through a duration of time. For those who want it one and done, this is going to be a growth area for you as you delve further into making it a vital part of your daily process.

In this episode, we will look at ways to increase learner self-management, so they can build up resilience through life’s toughest challenges. All of these ideas will be applicable for grades 1-6 homeroom, specialist, and supporting teachers.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

I believe self-management is one of the hardest ATLs to “teach” in the PYP. It’s at the root of who you are as a learner, similar to ownership in agency. There are things you can do to support self-management development, but it requires the learner to do most of the heavy lifting.

As you enter any early years classroom on the first day of school, you see a lot of curiosity, talking, and bonding. You also see a lot of students who are learning to self-manage their social skills, so all voices are being heard. It can be overwhelming for a new teacher. Yet, there is satisfaction in laying the groundwork of self-management skills that will help learners to channel their enthusiasm and curiosity to achieve tasks and overcome obstacles within themselves.

Self-management skills require young learners to look deep within their beliefs and actions to determine why and how they do certain things and how to take corrective measures. In this episode, we will examine how self-management provides freedom to take risks and make mistakes in order to become more well-rounded learners.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

Social skills are so pertinent in the specialist and supporting classes. They reinforce what is being done in the rest of the school, so we need to find some consistency in modeling them to our students.

In this episode, we are trying to examine the social skills that learners need in order to operate within the world. We will be using the same social skills as the grades 1-6, but apply them to our unique roles.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

In this episode, we are trying to examine the social skills that learners need in order to operate in the elementary classroom.

As you enter the elementary age, there seems to be a trend that I have noticed in nearly two decades of education. The older the learner, the quieter they become in a traditional learning environment. This should not be the case in a PYP classroom, since learners should be posing wonderings, collaborating ideas with others, researching, testing out ideas, and forming conclusions. So, how is it that we are still seeing quiet students in the upper grades?

Our learners quickly understand that to be considered a “bright” and “good” student, they know when to speak and when to remain silent. This is part of developing social skills. In some cases, learners are afraid to speak their minds to avoid ramifications from the teacher. So, how do we fix this situation, so all learners are actively engaged in refining their social skill development while demonstrating agency?

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

In this episode, we are trying to examine the social skills that early learners need in order to operate within the world.

Every time I enter an early years classroom, I feel the same energy. The room is full of young people trying to figure out the correct social cues and behaviors to properly participate in the classroom and school. They make mistakes, they make others cry, they cry, and the cycle repeats itself until self-awareness sets in. This is the magical part of being an early years teacher. You get to watch all of this self-awareness take place and you get to see these young people take more ownership through social skill development. It’s part of creating good humans.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

In our last episodes, we were talking about the ATL Communication Skills. Communication is about finding our voice and helping others to get more informed about the world around them. Sometimes, we have to discuss difficult and uncomfortable subjects, to help our learners better understand the systems of inequity, justice, and accountability.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

Communication is a complex process, so how do we capture it in a specialist classroom or while receiving additional help with supporting teachers? Just like a homeroom teacher, it requires continual practice in new ways, so students can have those aha moments. This process will take years to develop, so it requires us to constantly chip away at it.

When thinking of a specialist class, it’s about making the vocabulary come to life in your context through visuals and experiences. What does it mean to have form in PE, Music, or Visual Arts? This will look completely different, but exploring the variables that affect form over again will help to reinforce this concept.

As a supporting teacher, it’s about getting students to use the language of learning at their level and slowly growing the learner’s capacity and access. Your work is repetitive. We appreciate this work, because it’s during the small group sessions with you that students are able to make connections in their communication development.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

In this episode, I am going against the norm and choosing a different ATL than the early years. It spoke more to me as an upper elementary teacher. One of the things I struggled the most with my students was getting them to analyze and interpret information and connect to their own lives. This is a difficult thing for most adults to do, so imagine being an eight year old trying to tackle it.

When I think of communication skills, I naturally see learners trying to make meaning of what is being presented to them. At this age, they are trying to determine if the message is clear and usually there are many misconceptions along the way. This is why learning how to communicate and deciphering the message of communication is so important.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

When I think of communication skills, I can’t help but think of you early years teachers. Our youngest learners are so curious about the world around them that they want to continuously ask questions, add comments to the learning topic, and make connections to their everyday lives. At times, it can be overwhelming the sheer amount of questions that early learners ask, but isn’t it beautiful at the same time? They have such interest in the world around them and they don’t have problems voicing their ideas or opinions.

In this episode, we are going to examine the communication skills that our young learners need to be able to harness their message and provide ideas in a logical manner.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

In this episode, we will look at elements of traditional research skills and adapt them to our needs as a specialist or supporting teacher. The process takes intentional planning, but the results are well worth it.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

In this episode, we will explore the ways we make research come to life with our elementary/ primary aged learners. We will delve into our part in setting stage for authentic research to happen and how we can unlock opportunities for students to analyze information authentically.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

In this episode, we are looking at the unique ways that early years learners research the world around them through play. It's an exciting time to be alive in this stage and we want to help our earliest learners to create generalizations of the world around them. Join me as we explore the things we can do to set the stage for this magic to happen.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

Hello to my friends who work with learners in the entire school. You have such a special role in touching many, if not all, of the students in your school. With that, comes a unique challenge to get learners to better understand the learning in your classes and give them the tools to become more independent thinkers.

Welcome to this episode my friends that has been crafted just for our specialist and supporting teachers. Ever since the transdisciplinary challenge, I’ve been seeking ways to include you more in the process. In the past, we have been talking about a lot of topics that can be applied to any grade level and situation. As we get into the approaches to learning and teaching, we need to start to diversify to meet your needs.

When I think of the ATLs, you naturally come to mind. You can easily apply the ATLs to your discipline or role, because your aim is to grow the level of independence within your learners. For specialists, you need to start thinking of how to wrap the skill development with your content focus. For supporting teachers, you need to start thinking about the learning objectives you have for your learners and how to pair them with the ATLs.

In this episode, we are going to examine the ATL thinking skills from your viewpoint. We will refer to PYP From Principles into Practice: Learning and Teaching from pages 26-38, since these are the more advanced learning situations you will encounter.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

Welcome to this episode my friends who teach primary/elementary aged students. We are going to take a deep dive today into the thinking skills to help you broaden your understanding and help to unpack one completely. My aim is to get you to start thinking differently about the ATLs; not as an add-on to the program.

In this episode, we are going to examine the ATL thinking skills from your viewpoint. We will refer to PYP From Principles into Practice: Learning and Teaching from pages 26-38.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

Welcome to this episode my early years friends. I’ve long thought about how to create for you my early years teachers. I think going forward, we are going to need to adapt the learning for you, since we are getting past some of the ideas that are applicable to any age level.

As a PYP Coordinator, I’ve come to truly appreciate the amazing things you accomplish in the early years. It’s quite remarkable. You lay the foundation so all other understanding can happen and many people don’t realize the scale of impact you truly create.

In this episode, we are going to examine the ATL thinking skills from your viewpoint. We will refer to PYP From Principles into Practice: The Learner from pages 15-19.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

For this episode, I thought I would do a deeper dive into the IB documentation to get a better gauge of the ATL structure. To be honest, I’m still developing my understanding of these valuable tools. Prior to 2018, I was selecting one of the ATL categories (thinking, research, communication, social, and self-management) as the focus in the unit with little plan on how to execute it. I struggled as a teacher to make them come alive and find practical ways to make them accessible for students. Then, the enhancements happened and a light bulb went on in my head. The IB decided to provide specific ways to teach each of the categories and my eyes became hungry for ways to use them more authentically.

We will explore the different categories, sub-skills, and sub-skill criteria for each ATL and how to use them with our content standards.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

Welcome to our new series on the approaches to learning. My brain is a bit toasty after the transdisciplinary challenge, but don’t you feel pumped? I really enjoyed going through that experience, because it really helped me think differently about transdisciplinary learning. I hope it helped you too.

Now, we are giving our brains a slight reprieve. I shouldn’t say that, because you may think our next series is going to be easy peasy. You should know better by now that my easy is usually someone else’s medium hot!

I'm excited to explore the approaches to learning or ATL more in depth. This episode will provide an overview of our role in making the ATLs come to life in our classroom.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

In this episode, we will wrap up our transdisciplinary challenge and provide suggestions on how to plan for next steps in this school year and beyond.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

Welcome to the fifth and final transdisciplinary challenge! Wahoo, you made it!

Evaluating Transdisciplinarity
Every process becomes better when we regularly evaluate its effectiveness and areas of growth. Through continual feedback, we are able to see clearly the path towards the next steps. This has always been the goal of assessment. Now, we will apply this to your transdisciplinary program of inquiry.

In this week’s challenge, you will perform a SWOT Analysis to examine the effectiveness of transdisciplinary learning at your campus. This process emerged from the business sector to examine the effectiveness of an organization in sales, market share, and productivity. Since education is our business and our niche is transdisciplinary learning, I found it only fitting that we should apply the SWOT analysis to our final process.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

In this final transdisciplinary challenge, we will focus on evaluating our practice even deeper.

To prepare for that experience, we are going to explore simple steps to evaluate your daily practice. If you are not ready to complete an entire school or grade level evaluation, these may be easier steps you can take to reach your goal.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

Welcome to the fourth transdisciplinary challenge! Only one more to go!

When we are trying to make transdisciplinary connections, we often leave out the specialist (Art, PE, etc.) and support (EAL, Special Needs) teachers from the process. Since transdisciplinary means across all disciplines, we should be incorporating everyone into the process, not just our content from the homeroom classroom perspectives. How can we do this authentically?

In this week’s challenge, we are going to dig deeper into your program by zooming at a single unit of inquiry. I would choose one that your team agrees needs to be changed, so you receive less resistance when presenting proposed changes. Thinking smarter, not harder.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

Welcome to the fourth transdisciplinary challenge overview!

We can’t chat about transdisciplinary learning without connecting to the specialist (PE, Art, ICT) and support (EAL, Special education, etc.) teachers. Transdisciplinary learning is all about learning across disciplines, so why are our specialist and support teachers often left out in the process? Aren’t they also another discipline?

In my experience, specialist and support teachers are often on a lonely island on their own, since most homeroom teachers plan while their students are with their teammates. When planning with the specialist and support teachers does occur, it’s often framed on how they can support the homeroom teacher, when it really should be a 50-50 relationship. So how do we move forward to a better way?

Let’s take a few minutes to look at ways to strengthen transdisciplinary connections with specialist and support teachers.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

Welcome to the third transdisciplinary challenge!

In this challenge, we are going to further examine how to make connections with our standards or guidelines by transforming them from subjects to categories. This is one of the biggest challenges so far, so be sure to join us!

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

Welcome to the third transdisciplinary challenge introduction.

One of the greatest challenges as a PYP educator and coordinator has been making transdisciplinary connections using our standards. Whatever school situation, it has felt like a tug of war between the standards vs. the PYP. What many people don’t realize is that the standards drive the learning in the PYP, but we look at their relationship differently.

We will explore content learning in a traditional and transdisciplinary classroom.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

Welcome to the second transdisciplinary challenge!

In this challenge, we are going to examine the connection between the themes with your program of inquiry (POI). We will do this by analyzing how our content standards are connected with the concept families in the theme descriptors.

This challenge will have a differentiated task based on where you are on your PYP journey. Are you ready to dive into this challenge?

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

In this challenge, we are going to explore understanding and unpacking the transdisciplinary theme descriptors. It took me a long time to realize the importance of them, because my teams never talked about them. We didn’t make the themes a part of our unit planning, so they never got taught.

About my 10th year in the PYP, I wondered what would happen if I taught the students the meaning of the descriptors, so they could understand the bigger picture of the unit, Then, I began digging into the descriptors themselves and realized that they were families of concepts that were separated by semicolons.

Stay with us to learn about how to unpack the themes to get the most out of them.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

Welcome to the first transdisciplinary challenge. We are delving into what transdisciplinary looks and feels like in our classrooms through the use of PicCollage. Join us!

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

Welcome to our new series on transdisciplinary learning!

Now that we’ve had a chance to look back and apply our thinking, it’s time to challenge ourselves again. You heard me...we are returning to where we started and creating a five session challenge! These episodes will help us to sharpen our skill set and reflect on how we can improve our transdisciplinary practice.

The challenge will have two parts to differentiate based on where you are on your PYP journey.

Part A: we will review the big ideas of each part of transdisciplinary learning, so everyone is on the same page. If you already have a solid understanding of that part of transdisciplinary learning, then feel free to skip it and go straight to the challenge.

Part B: we will complete a challenge and post it in on Twitter @thinkchat2020 or Linkedin @Lu Gerlach https://www.linkedin.com/in/lu-gerlach-9721991a8/

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

Welcome to the third and final episode of our application series. If you haven’t had a chance to apply your learning of the learner profile and international mindedness, I’d suggest you do so before moving forward. It’s a great chance for you to synthesize and apply your understanding of the big ideas to your school/ unit context. This is our ultimate goal with any professional development to make meaningful application to what we are already doing.

As we know, agency and action take up a lot of space in our practice within the PYP. They shape everything we do, so we need to take time to apply their role into our practice.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

It's time to apply our learning!

In this episode, we will look at our practice of building international mindedness in our classroom and schools and make tangible goals to make the practice come to life in our learning setting!

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

Welcome to our application series! What is the application series? It’s a time to reflect on all of the learning we have shared so far, reflect on our practice, and make concrete goals for the future.

Application and reflection are at the heart of the PYP. They help us to see where we’ve come and where we need to still go on our journey. It’s important for us to own our truth and not compare our journey to someone else’s. We don’t see their challenges, just their successes. Remember that as you apply your learning.

Our first few episodes began with an inquiry challenge that focused on our role and needs as an educator. This was a fun way to evaluate our journey so far and set the stage for new learning ahead. This helped to lay the foundation to learn about agency, action, the learner profile attributes, and international mindedness.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

This episode, we are going to discuss the deeper connections we make when building relationships founded on international mindedness.

When we think about building relationships that lead to international mindedness, we naturally connect to building school culture. They support each other in building lasting relationships of trust where understanding happens. It’s difficult to lay a strong culture when community members lack trust in each other.

We will explore how to break down the barriers with other community members that think differently than ourselves.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

In this episode, we will explore the power of a school mission statement in creating culture and shaping the learning and teaching. We will examine the IB mission statement and craft or tweak our own using simple scaffolded steps. There will be an unorthodox example shared to help you think broader about your mission statement.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

Now that we’ve received some ways to incorporate international mindedness into our daily practice, how will we use them? Let’s go back to our agency continuum to gauge where we are in the process.

As a reminder, the agency continuum has four phases:

Teacher-driven: teacher is doing all the work and thinking
Modeled: teacher provides all of the activities and the students do it
Guided: the teacher provides the topic and the students design the process and product
Learner-driven: the learner chooses the topic and decides on the process and product

In this episode, we will take a few moments to think where we are and where we'd like to be with international mindedness. We will examine different ways we can demonstrate agency when developing international mindedness and make goals for the next phase of the school year.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

The second layer of the foundation in our PYP house is international mindedness. It helps to cement our school culture with building relationships with each other and others around the world. How do we do this in a practical way on a daily basis? I believe it is about how you lay out the physical space and intentionally planning international mindedness into our unit. Here are some examples of how to do this.

using multilingual and multicultural texts
bringing families into the unit of inquiry
reflecting regularly with scenarios

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

Building international mindedness in ourselves and in our learners takes time, because it is a process that can't be rushed. Through multiple years of exposure, students begin to better understand cultural differences, ways of doing things, and belief systems. They may not always agree with varying viewpoints, but they are able to demonstrate respect.

In this episode, we will examine personal experiences with international mindedness and how we can further build it with the help of the learner profile attributes. We will use the attributes to support learnind and understanding with the six transdisciplinary themes.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

The number one mistake I made as a new coordinator was building the curriculum framework first. If you are a coordinator, please heed the call. Do not follow in my footsteps, because it cost me at least six months and polarized my staff. Here’s what I’d do instead.

If I had to do it all over again, I would ignore the pressure from my school leadership to begin building the curriculum framework and focus on building a new school culture. Remember, the foundation of our PYP house is the learner profile.

I would focus instead on creating a shared...

culture
vision
language

Join this episode to learn how to establish these foundational practices in your school program.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

There is no magical tool to stop undesired behavior, just love for your students. When you don’t like your students, they know.

This episode, we will examine ways to guide behavior using the learner profile attributes. We will explore:

How to build relationships with our students that are meaningful and real, so they will share more ownership of the learning experience.
How to create learner profile driven behavior goals to get students back on the right track.
How to reflect on our behavior in order to own our past mistakes and make next steps in alignment with the learner profile.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

Now that we’ve established the learner profile in our school community, we can take the next step of explicitly teaching it in our units of inquiry. Let’s take a look at how we can wrap the attributes around the content areas to make it more meaningful.

Attributes in literacy
Attributes in science and social studies
Attributes in math

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family and friends. For many Canadians and Americans around the world, today is a special day we celebrate to honor our past and reflect on our many blessings. Canadians celebrate their holiday on the 2nd Monday in October and Americans on the last Thursday in November. I would be remiss on this particular Thanksgiving to take a moment to share my gratitude for my relationships and plentiful opportunities to grow in the PYP. You can too!

You’ve unpacked the learner profile attributes, now what? Do you just use them whenever time permits or can you plan with them in mind? In my personal observation over the past twelve years, I’ve noticed that most PYP teachers use them as behavior attributes. So our challenge is to look at the learner profile in a new light and try to consider them as a teaching tool. Here are some examples in relation to learning spaces.

learning spaces
library spaces
communal spaces

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

The learner profile attributes are one of the tools you can use to get students to make transdisciplinary connections with your content. In this episode, we will look at the ways to maximize the attributes in your daily practice.

Unpack the attributes by connecting the attribute descriptor with the concepts in the transdisciplinary theme and content.
Use the wall of fame to frame practical understanding of individuals who emulate the attribute of focus.
Create learning goals based on the attributes and allow students to drive this process.
Reflect regularly on learning through the lens of the attributes.

There are endless ways to use the learner profile attributes in your daily teaching practice. For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

The learner profile attributes are sometimes overlooked or misunderstood in our units of inquiry. Some people look at them as a list of character traits to be a better human. This is partially true, but they are more than that. They are thought processes that lead to deeper action.

In this episode, we will examine the relationship between the learner profile attributes and action within/ action beyond.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

The PYP curriculum framework can be compared to the structure of a house. There are many different layers that make it withstand the test of time.

The layers:

the foundation, floor,
vertical beams and walls
different levels/floors
roof and attic

Together, this house holds of up the PYP program together to create learning that is dynamic and real.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

Some people can't imagine assessing agency and action, since they are driven by internal motivation. Yet, how can students move forward with to their next milestone without goals and success criteria?

This episode, we will explore the agency and action success criterias that we can use to set learning goals. Then, we will apply them to a real learning situation with content standards. The goal is for you to apply this process into your classroom right away.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

Taking authentic action is difficult and requires a lot of of dialogue with our students. To help you with this process, this episode is scaling it back between the relationship of level 1 and 2 actions. We will explore how to broaden our actions based now our quesiton.

When we ask students, "What action can we do?" This limits their thinking to doing and saying action, which are action beyond.

What about actions within? How can we make valid actions within ourselves through thinking, feeling, knowing, and being? To include these actions, we need to rephraise our original question to, "What types of actions can you take?"

We will explore a common situation and explore the implications of each question and how you can broaden the action being taken right now in your classroom with one simple change.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

Here's my attempt to make action easier, which means its about (MEDIUM) on the easy to hard scale. I try to break it down, but I tend to get excited and my ideas run away with me.

In this podcast, we are trying to put all three levels of action together, so they work seamlessly to build up the level of action rigor. We will use the Golden Circle as our scaffolding tool to answer these questions.

WHY - What level 3 action wil you focus on: participation, advocacy, social justice, social entreprenuership, and lifestyle choices.?

HOW - What level 2 action will you focus on: saying, doing, being, feeling, thinking, and knowing

WHAT - What are the level 1 actions will you complete to show as evidence of thinking at the 2 and 3 levels?

If you're thinking, this is too much for me, then skip it and go to episode 17. How my brain works, I try to process the big picture and work backwards. I can't forsee how it's going to lay out until I'm creating.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

Action has gone through a major upcycle since the days of saving the whales and owning a piece of the rainforest. Now, it requires us to take a part of the process and put it in our hearts.

A reminder, that the highest level of action includes:

Participation
Advocacy
Social Justice
Social Entreprenuership
Lifestyle Choices

We will examine how these steps can work together to create something special.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

The road between agency and action requires collaboration between the teacher, student, and school community. The student takes the wheel of navigating the learning, while the teacher guides from the side. The school community cheers from the sidelines to lend support and remove possible obstacles.

Action has gone through its own journey in the PYP. This episode, we will examine the three different levels of action and the benefits of each.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

Now that we've explored agency in-depth, it can be difficult to know where to start. This episode, we will look at five simple steps on how to begin building agentic thinking. We will discuss the importance of structure, relationships, collaboration, resources, and environment. As you try to begin implementing agency into your daily practice, take it one step at a time.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

In this episode, we will explore how to bring the three parts of agency (voice, choice, and ownership) together to create a deeper research project. We will go step-by-step in how to allow for voice in choosing a topic, enabling a choice when selecting a UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs) as a lens, and supporting ownership of the process and product. We will walk through this process and find alternatives to scaffold the learning.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

In this episode, we will break down the complexity of taking ownership in our minds and our hearts. We will unpack the various stages on the Ownership Continuum, which support student engagement and buy-in to the learning process. You will walk away with five possible strategies on how to make ownership apart of your virtual, hybrid, physically distanced learning situation.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

In this episode, we will examine the dynamic relationship between VOICE and CHOICE in student learning and how it creates independent thinkers. Additionally, we will explore the stages of the Choice Continuum and how to make choice practical in any classroom.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

Voice is the the means in which students express their ideas, passions, and wonderings. In this episode, we will explore the different ways that students engage with learning, the power of student voice, and making goals using a voice continuum.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

Agency and Action are so intertwined that it's difficult to determine where one begins and ends. This podcast will examine this unique relationship and look at the three elements of agency. We will self-assess the level of agency in our classrooms and discover easy ways to make it applicable with our students.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

In this episode, we will discuss multiple considerations when implementing inquiry-based learning in your classroom. We have created Inquiry Snack videos to support your understanding of the Inquiry Thinking Strategies shared in Confession #2. We know that teacher right now is hard, but let's be better each day by implementing inquiry.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

As we are looking to assess student understanding, are we considering the entire journey and not just content objectives? Things to consider when looking back:

Do students understand the WHY of the unit and how is this demonstrated?
Did they engage in a variety of inquiry thinking?
Have we addressed the questions in our A-Z planner?
Do students know how to ask a variety of questions?
Have they gone through different stages of inquiry to stretch their thinking?

To authentically assess a child, we need to see the big picture of student ability. This is especially important with inquiry-based learning, since it tends to be more hands-on in nature. How do we assess inquiry? How do we find a balance between collecting data on a child and evidence of student growth. Do we know the difference?

According to the IB, there are four dimensions of assessment that need to be considered when evaluating a child. This provides a broader and more richer evaluation of student progress. The four dimensions include:

monitoring - collecting evidence of student progress to make goals
documenting - collecting and displaying the process of learning
measuring - capturing student understanding at one point in time
reporting - sharing and celebrating student growth throughout the year

The four dimensions of assessment help to balance the purpose of collecting data and evidence with student goal-setting.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

As we gain more understanding of the inquiry and how to ask quesitons, we can then examine the various stages of inquiry. These are important for self-reflection and making goals for the school year. The stages include:

Teacher-driven inquiry
Modeled inquiry
Shared inquiry
Student-driven inquiry

We will explore the structure and benefit of each stage of inquiry and how to deliver more student-driven inquiry

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

The types of questions we ask will determine how deep the thinking goes in your classroom. Oftentimes, teachers as low-level comprehension questions to assess student understanding of a text. This is not enough if we want students to pose and answer questions critically.

Weiderhold (1991) Question Matrix poses different question stems that yield different types of reponses. This is in alignment with Dr. H. Lynn Erickson's leveled questioning: factual, conceptual, and debatable. We will explore these three types of questions using the Weiderhold Question Matrix in hopes we feel comfortable making our own.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

Now that we have engaged with inquiry thinking through engaging, challenging, relevant, and signficant, it helps us to think about planning on a deeper level. We will create our unit plan thinking through these questions:

How will students create goals based on success criteria?
How is the classroom arranged to invite inquiry? Who is making these decisions?
What materials are being used? Is there a balance across all the content areas?
What questions are being posed? Is there a balance between open and closed questions?
What strategies are being modeled, so students can become more independent?
How are student inquiries celebrated?
How will students self and peer assess their understanding of the big ideas?

Once you've planned with these questions in mind, you will have a more inquiry-driven learning happening in your classroom. Students will be contributors to the learning experience, because the setting has been prepared for their ideas and explorations.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

In our last episode, we spoke about how to find our focus as teachers, especially when we encounter uncertain times. One of the things that centers me is the Golden CIrcle by Simon Sinek. As we look towards making our WHY happen in our teaching, what are some practical things we can implement now to see a difference?

One of the best tools I created while still in the classroom revolves around the terms: engaging, challenging, relevant, and significant. The PYP refers to these terms when thinking about inquiry and developing inquiry-based lessons.

Like most teachers, I thought of them as isolated terms until one day my students asked to assess my lessons. At the time, I thought this was a bit cheeky for my students to ask to assess my brilliance, but these terms came to my mind instantly. Here is a brief definition:

Engaging

To engage is more than having fun, it awakens the mind to think and connect

Challenging

To challenge is confronting misconceptions and stretching ideas to a place of discomfort

Relevant

To find relevance is reflecting on prior and current experiences and delving into their implications

Significant

To find significance is bridging issues from our local experience and finding the commonality of the human experience around the world

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/

Welcome to our first confession of a PYP teacher. in this podcast, we will explore the power of the Golden Circle by Simon Sinek. Here is the link to his Ted Talk https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action?language=en

The Golden Circle helped me to redefine my purpose as an educator with three simple questions:

WHY - what do you believe? What is your goal?
HOW - how are you achieving your WHY?
WHAT - what do you do? What is your proof?

For a written blog post and other resources, visit: https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/