The Seeds of Collaboration...

By Ivy Waite

Walking around CSS today was much like the other days that I have been fortunate enough to spend at this school. As a teacher new to both the profession and the school, I seem to see things through a different lens... Teaching partners working together during their regular, scheduled planning periods; teachers team teaching in the library with 50 students; a lesson study involving teachers from multiple schools; this is incredible stuff! The real power in these events is the impact that they have on student learning. In all instances of collaboration at CSS it is evident that authentic student engagement and success are the main focus.

Through my different lens, an appreciation for and curiosity about the power of collaboration has begun. Working with my teaching partner, grade, and subject team members has been challenging me daily to reflect upon my own practice. What is the real difference that collaboration can make in transforming teaching and learning? What does it really mean to collaborate? What are the most effective ways to take advantage of the amazing opportunities that a spirit of collaboration can present? How do students and teachers collaborate among themselves, and among each other?

Great Literature Inspires Great Writing: The House on Mango Street & My Name

By Ivy Waite

As a student teacher one of my mentor teachers gave me the book The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. I have since used this short, incredible piece innumerable times in my humanities classroom with students from grades seven to twelve. This book found it's way into grade nine humanities classrooms this year when I introduced it to my teaching partner Jaime...

We decided to begin our Identity unit with a lesson involving Mango Street that I have used multiple times, with great success. In the lesson My Name, students read Sandra Cisneros' exemplary vignette exploring her name from Mango Street to inspire them to consider the nature of their own names, and write their own vignettes. In the past I have simply read the story and then set students loose to "go research" their own names. This year, Jaime suggested that we use this assignment as an opportunity to review the inquiry process and have students write 10 strong inquiry questions to guide their explorations. I must admit that this step made a HUGE difference in terms of the depth that the students went to...

Listen to Sandra Cisneros tell the story behind her incredible piece, and pick up the 25th Anniversary edition with a new introduction from the author. (Hard to believe it is already nearing it's 28th anniversary!)

If you have not read "The House on Mango Street", run and read it today! The rich description, figurative language, attention to detail, and strong emotions make it an invaluable work in any humanities classroom...

Introduction to Inquiry Based Learning

At the Connect Charter School we focus on inquiry-based learning, technology-intergration,
Collaboration, Education Research, Authentic Learning Experiences and outdoor/environmental education . We believe these pillars come together to provide students with opportunities for authentic, meaningful and relevant learning.

At the core of our program is inquiry - an approach to learning and teaching (including teacher learning) that is the foundation of all we do. Our thinking around inquiry is that it is more than just 'doing projects' but is rather nurturing a dispostion toward critical thinking, reflection and idea improvement in all learners in our building. In creating and sharing these projects, we are thankful to the Galileo Educational Network for their role in shaping much of our thinking about inquiry.

On this blog you'll find a growing collection of inquiry-based projects. You can use the tag list on the right side of the blog to find ideas on specific topics, grades or subjects.

Engaging Math: The Candy Problem

by Deirdre Bailey

I mentioned the Candy Problem in a previous post in which I alluded to having provided the kids with a challenging math problem that even teachers had been taking a significant chunk of time to solve. The Candy Problem was brought to us by the Galileo Educational Network as part of a longitudinal "lesson study" approach to math PD our math teachers are participating in.

We presented the problem as part of an end-of-semester formative assessment. We had had many conversations previous to presenting them with this problem about multiples, factors, common factors, number patterns and multiplicative relationships.

Our goal was not to evaluate the kids based on whether or not they could complete the problem but to provide them with a means of generating conjectures and demonstrating their thinking process.

Community of Practice

by Amy Park

As the school year began, I was excited not only to be teaching at CSS again and teaching a new grade, but to wear the moniker "mentor." I thought, albeit naively, that I had a great deal to offer my new teaching partner, who with just one year under her belt was considered a newcomer to the profession. After nine years in the classroom, I assumed I would share all that I know about teaching and in return, she would learn. I have never made a worse assumption in all of my career. My belief about "mentoring" and what my role would be was completely outdated. From various academic journals and through countless discussions, I quickly realized how wrong I was.

This Is How Its Supposed To Feel...

by Deirdre Bailey

The start to my day today was hectic at best.

Snowy roads, a forgotten laptop and a first class full of glue and tissue paper. I asked the kids if they could do their best to be purposeful and respectful as they shredded piles of paper and painted white glue onto massive provincial cardboard cut outs. I handed a few of them some cameras and asked them to interview each other on the artistic process as I rushed around gathering materials. They generated their own questions, found their own space, and got to work. Twenty minutes before the end of class it was a disaster area. Ten minutes later it was spotless. Eight of them stayed back at recess to help wash glue cups. I hadn't asked.

Focusing on Outdoor and Environmental Education

On Nov 7-10, the Calgary Science School sent a team to the ACEE Environmental Leadership Clinic, funded by Cenovus Energy and Environment Canada's Eco-Action Community Fund. This Clinic provided our team with an opportunity to network with other Environmental Educators and stakeholders in Alberta.

As a CSS team, we focused on developing a plan to enhance and enrich the third pillar of our Charter - outdoor and environmental education. We've noticed that this blog is full of innovative and meaningful work that provides evidence of two of the three pillars of our Charter (technology and inquiry based practice) but we recognize that a greater emphasis must be placed on embedding outdoor and environmental education resources in our learning to further our Charter goals.

Engaging Math: Ice Melt Problem

As part of the math lesson study we are currently hosting, one of our grade 9 math teachers (Jon Hoyt-Hallet) recently shared his classroom with 10 teachers while students were working on the 'ice melt' problem.

Both this math problem, as well as the framework of Lesson Study we are using come to use from our PD with the Galileo Educational Network.

Hands on with Grade 6 Flight!

by Erin Couillard

The last time I taught grade 6, my colleague Lisa Nelson and I decided to try something different with the flight unit. After a collaborative planning session with another colleague with expertise in this area, we developed a project in which students would design and test ‘objects that fly’ in a wind tunnel.

The wind tunnel was quite easy to build – it simply involves a fan and plastic tunnel sitting upon a scale. This tunnel allows student to calculate the change in weight of their designs during the testing process.

The ultimate goal for the students was to create the greatest amount of lift they could with the knowledge and engineering skills they had. While we experienced success with that project (high student engagement, creative building projects), we were unsatisfied with the way in which students communicated their progress and ‘ah ha’ moments. The original project had them keeping a daily logbook. This became an unwieldy document that was difficult to assess.

Forging Connections between Science and Art

On October 5th and 6th, 2011, the Calgary Science School hosted the Forging Connections Conference.

This conference was a collaboration between teachers, art and science experts and parents with the goal of integrating art and science more authentically into the students’ learning.

This exciting two day event consisted of six, 105 minute sessions. Each was structured around a “show/tell/do” format where an artist (visual, drama/dance and music) showed a finished product; a scientist will explained the magic (science) behind it and then the students were able to make meaning of the knowledge through hands-on creation and exploration.

Create, Explore, Discover.

Sustained and Reflective PD

Last Saturday we kicked off an exciting professional development experience that's being hosted here at the Calgary Science School.

Over the last few years our math team has participated in a type of PD known as lesson study. Basically lesson study is a way to approach PD where teachers slowly examine and improve students' understanding by designing and working through rich problems together, collecting evidence of student thinking and then designing next steps together. The lesson study approach was most famously discussed in The Teaching Gap, an examination of math teaching practices in different countries.

This lesson study is facilitated by the Galileo Educational Network who have created the framework for the discussions as well as the various math problems we are using.

A Permanent State of Re-invention

by Deirdre Bailey

I turn around and look at the teacher I was in August and my perspectives have changed so dramatically that I have some difficulty remembering exactly what it felt like 'before'.

I remember sitting down to plan with Amy Park in August and being confused about how to allow for openness in learning while restricting inquiry to the curriculum topics.

I remember answering a question about 'inquiry' in our first staff PD and feeling uncomfortable with the answer.

When Kids Love Math, Teachers Love Math

One our our newer teachers is pretty excited about the math that's going on in her classroom. While student engagement is the big talk in education right now - this video captures how classroom learning that is rich and meaningful for students can also lead to teacher engagement!

Inquiry in Math

As a school that tries to develop rich, inquiry-based learning experiences, one of the questions that often emerges is how we handle inquiry and math.

Our thinking around inquiry-based teaching and learning is that it develops 'disciplined' ways of being and thinking. That is, inquiry is more than students just 'doing projects.'

Revelations

by Amy Park

Wow, we have had two days of powerful math happening in our classes. As per our last discussion, we gave each student a 100s chart. We began by asking students to colour in all of the multiples of one.

To our surprise…most kids had no idea what we were talking about. In fact, many confused looks were exchanged among the students - and us, as we realized that few kids knew where to start.

Then the magic began…students started making conjectures, they began supporting and refuting others' conjectures, they were talking about abstract concepts and began developing an in-depth understanding of the concept being discussed. The light bulbs were going off. Misconceptions were discussed and partial truths were reworded to become complete truths. We discovered new definitions and new ways of thinking.

It was powerful. We captured a great deal on video and we took several photos.


The discussion today was based on the question "what is a multiple of 2?". The first picture is the kids initial ideas, the second picture is their refined/reworded conjectures. The last 2 pictures are of students individual journals, where we asked them to define "even" and "odd". This is evidence of powerful mathematical learning happening. It was powerful for teachers, admin (who popped by) and for our students.

Although it seems rudimentary, we believe we are setting the foundation for solid mathematical reasoning, establishing conjectures, working through the conjectures to find truths, and discovering that their is not just one way of "doing" math.

Grade 4 Math Goes Abstract...

by Deirdre Bailey

I spent Sunday trying to combine the best of Mighton's mathematical understanding with Fosnot's teaching style in order to develop a way of reinforcing times tables in way that would be engaging, meaningful and memorable. I re-wrote the whole lesson about 8 times. I started with the idea of trying to teach number patterns but a conversation with my husband reinforced that these should arise as personal strategies. We all have different ways thinking through multiples of nine in our head...

I learned more about math yesterday than I think I might have in all of Elementary. It was fascinating. I was particularly intrigued by a series of "Rightbrainmath" videos by Mr. Numbers which visually demonstrated the patterns which result from multiples. I felt pretty excited about Math Conference today. We started by handing out number sheets and asking the kids to color in multiples of one. It became apparent immediately that none knew where to start, so rather than instruct we introduced the idea of "mathematical conjectures", ideas about what something might mean which might prove to be incorrect, partially true or completely correct. The kids volunteered conjectures on definitions for multiples of one. Initially, we had suggestions which included "any number with a one in it" and "every second number from one to nine".

Networking Days: You're Invited!

You're invited to come learn with us!

In the next month we are hosting 2 Professional Development Networking Days. The goal of these days is to bring together teachers of a particular subject to share ideas with time to plan projects for the year. Also, these days are a chance to broaden our PD networks and build relationships that can extend beyond the day.

Last year we tried this with two subjects, Phys Ed and Fine Arts, and both of the days went really well. This year we are hosting two more, Phys Ed and Social Studies (Grades 6, 8 & 9 only). There is no cost for either day.

The PE Networking Day is on Wednesday, September 21st. You can register here.

The Social Studies Networking Day is on Wednesday, September 28th. You can register here.

Update: After only 24 hours we have 10 signed up for each. Make sure you sign up quickly!

On both days, CSS will organize a pizza lunch for those interested. Please bring $10 cash per attendee to cover this cost. You can also feel free to bring your own lunch.

Details for the PE Day

We feel that much of our work as PE teachers is in isolated and unique situations - whether it is the actual physical building, the location of our school, the mandate/philosophy of our respective schools and so on. We also feel that each of us possesses experience and teaching resources that might be of benefit to other PE teachers. We are viewing this day as a way for our PE teachers to share what they do in their PE programs and how they do it, as well as a way for our teachers to create a professional network. The Calgary Science School will host this event; however the purpose is to allow for presentations from any attendees.

Presentations can range from particular approaches to PE units, coaching, to healthy school initiatives, etc. Or it could also be as simple as an overview of the unique situation and challenges your particular PE program faces. Teachers could also bring issues or problems they are currently facing, using this networking day as a way to receive assistance or spark discussion amongst the attendees. Again, the purpose of this day is to share elements of our practice and in return, leave the day with new resources and contacts.

Regarding the presentations, we are hoping that a number of attendees will present for 20 - 30 mins. We have facilities for both active (demonstrating a particular game or technique) as well as lecture/discussion (Powerpoint, etc) style presentations. We will provide projectors and internet access for those who require it.

You can register for the PE day here.

Details for the Social Studies Day

The networking day for Social Studies is limited to grades 6, 8 & 9 because we feel these grades share a common focus on more abstract conceptual understanding (government, democracy, worldview) as compared to the more historically focused 4, 5, and 7 curriculum. Also, we are limiting this to grade 9 because of the grade range of our school, 4-9.

The day will have two major outcomes:

1) Developing Active Citizenship. The day will start with a presentation and discussion led by one of our teachers, David Scott. Over the last few years, David has become increasingly interested in structuring his social studies classroom around active citizenship, specifically trying to connect the program of studies to current topics which provide opportunities for students to redesign or impact their world. This includes discussion on the potential of emerging technologies in fostering active citizenship in students. While David will share his thoughts and some classroom examples, but the goal is to foster discussion with participants around this topic.

2) Sharing and Collaborating. The remainder of the day will be made available for teachers to break off in small groups focused on specific grade levels. We see this time used for sharing projects, ideas, and technologies - directed toward increasing our emphasis on active and engaged citizenship for students.

You can register for the Social Studies Day here.

If you have any questions or comments, you can email Calgary Science School PD Coordinator Neil Stephenson here.

See you soon!

Making Learning Public with QR Codes

At the end of last school year, we had a few of our teachers experimenting with QR codes. We see QR codes having great potential for making student learning public - that is, using QR codes to share student work along with student self-assessments and reflections within our learning environment. You can read more about QR codes at our school here.

As an example, we have begun to use QR codes to document student learning in the fine arts. Students can create multimedia 'artist statements' such as the video example below. These students can then create exhibitions of their work within our school, accompanied by the QR code. Our goal is to increase the visibility of student learning and to make our school a dynamic site of student expression.

Building Personal Connection to History

At the end of last school year, one of our grade 5 humanities teachers, Tanya Stogre, engaged her students in a lengthy study of Canadian history designed to nurture personal connection with figures from our countries past.

Over the course of a few months, students selected and researched a figure from Canadian history who they personally identified with based on their characteristics, struggles, accomplishments, and life story.

Engaged, Informed and Passionate

As a school community, the Calgary Science School embraces the Alberta Minister's Inspiring Education Vision for developing students who are:

• Engaged Thinkers and
• Ethical Citizens with an
• Entreprenurial Spirit

We strive to embed these three characteristics into the learning experiences that we create for our students.

From our own school community, perhaps there is no better example of these three elements of Inspiring Education being lived out than the experiences of our grade 9 students during the recent Mayoral Election in Calgary.

During the lead up to the election, our grade 9s hosted a forum for youth at the school. However, rather than just inviting the candidates to our building to speak with our students, we decided to broadcast the event to any interested schools and students across the city. We welcomed questions from other schools, both before and during the event. The event was completely student-run as they took on roles as researchers, hosts, moderators and tech-crew for an event watched by over 1500 Calgary students.

After the youth forum at the Calgary Science School, the grade 9s were deeply engaged in the election. During their research they had learned that voter turn-out is typically lowest with college-aged students - a demographic they thought they could influence. On one afternoon, a few weeks before the election, 100 grade nine students descended on two local university campuses, armed with posters, campaign materials and a deep interest in the election. Their goal was to convince apathetic college students to go to the polls to vote.

Serendipitously, two great things happened that day.

First, the advance polls were open at both campuses, so our students were able to easily convince hundreds of college students to vote. They were able to see their impact on the election through the university students who changed their minds and voted because of the passion of our grade 9 students.