CASSA STEAM Keynote Address

Written by Allen Davidson, Superintendent of Employee Services

From CASSA – Conference July 2-4 Montreal, QC

Theme:  SCIENCE • TECHNOLOGY • ENGINEERING • ARTS • MATH (S.T.E.A.M.)

The conference kicked off with keynote speaker Natalie Panek.  Panek’s passion for science and exploration have lead this Calgarian to become a Mission Systems Engineer (Rocket Scientist and Explorer) at MDA Space Missions after internships with NASA. Follow Natalie on Twitter @nmpanek. 

During her inspirational message Natalie touched on the key learning opportunities and competencies that she sees as integral for engaged learning. First she highlighted the need for Perseverance as she recounted 4 rejections from the NASA space exploration internship program. After her 4^th rejection she decided to pick up the phone and call NASA herself. It only took two minutes on the phone before she was offered an internship! Natalie reminded us we as educators must encourage the young people in our lives develop perseverance and resiliency accept failure and learn to pursue our goals relentlessly. Next she discussed the concept of Peak Moments and ensuring our young people are able to recognize and pursue these in their own lives. She discussed her important Peak Moments as those times where she was engaged in a project or undertaking where she was full of life including her work on the U of C Solar Car Project and her NASA internship teams. In Foothills we know this as ‘Flow’ where students are intellectually engaged in authentic tasks provide appropriate challenge for the skills and competencies that students have. The takeaway here is that as educators we can help our students identify what the conditions for peak moments are and how to evaluate if students are moving toward or away from those conditions and how to pursue those Peak Moment conditions.

Panek then addressed Teamwork and the skills necessary to be part of successful teams where she has achieved her own advances and breakthroughs in S.T.E.A.M. She emphasized our obligation to develop the skills and competencies required to be part of an effective team including dealing with frustrations through self-awareness and self-regulation. Communication was a competency that Panek has come to understand is important for her work on teams but also helping others understand the importance of the work she is leading. By example, she discussed Science Communication and how essential clear communication is to gain support for fostering research in robotics technology to advance sustainable space exploration through recycling and re-purposing of abandoned satellite technologies. Relatedly, Panek outlined the importance of Multidisciplinary Understanding throughout all the research and design projects she has been a part of. She recounted the rich history of the arts throughout NASA’s history. Further, she discussed how it has become imperative for her to have perspectives from multiple disciplines as she considers the broader social and ethical impact of her work in environments beyond the earth.

Finally, Natalie Panek left us with the need to ensure our young people have innovators and pioneers in S.T.E.A.M. for Mentorship opportunities. She reminded us that societal obsession with reality TV personalities like Kim Kardashian was overshadowing our awareness of significant female leaders and role models like Ziya Tong and Jessi Combs.

Re-examining PLCs through a Cultural and Structural Lens

Written by Loriann Salmon, Director of Inclusive Education

I had the opportunity to attend the Leadership Now Conference and listen to names such as Dufour, Williams, Warrick, Reeves, and Cruz. A common theme resonated throughout – that of the power of PLCs. While the concept is certainly not new, I was challenged by the speakers to critically examine the essential conditions of our current PLCs both through a cultural and structural lens. 

Warrick noted five factors of high reliability schools, with the first three being foundational.  A safe

collaborative culture, he contended is best met by committing individual teachers into better performance through the traditional classroom observation and evaluation process” (Dufour and Marzano, Leaders of Learning: How District, School and Classroom Leaders Improve Student Achievement, 2011).   Warrick challenged us as leaders to question how have we built capacity to work in these collaborative teams?   Effective collaboration doesn’t occur just because you put a group of educators together; we must take the time to build capacity for effective collaboration. 

Prior to building capacity conditions of safety must be met first and foremost.  Reeves noted part of developing a safe and collaborative culture means that members of the PLC must feel safe to admit failures.  Taking risks within PLCs supports creativity:  The process of experimentation, evaluation and follow through that leads to a significant discovery, insight or contribution.  A zero error environment is a zero learning environment.  Teachers, like students, need to make mistakes, takes risks and learn from them.  This supports both creativity and resiliency.  Encourage risk free zones where it’s ok to try new ideas, give feedback and try again.  Have confidence in the value of failure including public displays of “I used to think…and now I think” (Elmore, 2011).  Leaders have the responsibility to model this and develop that culture.

Williams also argued for another foundational piece before effective PLCs could take hold; all of our behaviors must be tied to a moral imperative.  Our values and beliefs must be identified and clarified.  Only then will can our behaviors be tied to those values.  Our work needs to continually embody these values and purposes in everything we do.  Williams gave the example if we believe all kids can learn what are we doing about it?   What behaviors are we engaging in that are in line with that belief?  Not only is tying our behaviors to purpose essential for those purpose driven people, but is essential in keeping us motivated and driven when the work gets more difficult.  The why of the work and the work itself need to be interwoven; the culture of the school will always influence what is thought, said and done.

The work then involves building the structures and supports that allow people to function in ways that are consistent with theses beliefs.  This should involve, according to Warrick, building the capacity of collaborating.   In doing so, Warrick’s leading indicators support us in making the success criteria of PLCs visible.  As I was reflecting on these essential conditions of PLCs the connection to our Foothills School Division vision became apparent.

Developing Understanding of Curricula & Designing for Understanding:  Dufour noted the work within PLCs must ensure a guaranteed and viable curriculum, also considered to be one of the three foundational factors of high reliability schools according to Warrick.  There must be clarity with regards to what students must learn. The school curriculum must be focused enough – essential outcomes and essential vocabulary are determined first and foremost in answering, “What do we want students to learn?” In determining what is essential we must consider endurance (is it needed beyond the single test date), leverage (is it needed across disciplines) and is the knowledge or skill required for the next level.  Every PLC should begin with these questions.  A leading indicator in developing a guaranteed and viable curriculum is that all students must have the opportunity to learn the critical content.  Have we identified this critical content throughout the continuum in supporting all students?

Embedding Assessment of and for Learning:  The second essential question of PLCs focuses on, “How will we know if they know it?” All students have access to it with clear and measurable goals directly tied to those outcomes and data is continually monitored in assessing progress towards those goals.  We must ensure again that this is considered across the continuum in supporting all students.   Are we carefully monitoring student achievement across the continuum, analyzing the data carefully and providing next steps based on that data?  It is essential that we not only examine the data carefully but are responsive to it.

TPAC:  According to Dufour, now we move into pedagogical practice and strategies.   This, according to Warrick, is considered the third foundational factor of highly reliable schools - effective teaching in every classroom.  He suggests clearly laying out what effective teaching looks like and clearly defining this to the teachers.  This instructional model must be clearly visible and understood to all teachers.  In Dufour’s words, “Clarity precedes competence.”  Warrick noted the school leader communicates a clear vision as to how instruction should be addressed in the school.  We won’t move schools by focusing on everything.  These are things we expect instructionally.  Make it clear - don’t leave it to chance.  Warrick suggests using a chart below to make those essential instructional practices visible and known to all.  Our lagging indicator will be our walkthrough data that shows teachers clearly understand and are practicing what has been identified as essential in the school’s instructional framework.

Response to Intervention:  Finally, our PLCs must answer “What do we do for those who get it and those who don’t?”  Interventions must be systematic – not dependent on whose class the student is in. Making these interventions visible to all on a continuum of supports will help provide systematic interventions throughout the school.  Every teacher in every class needs to know of and be able to implement these interventions.  Every school must have in place a continuum of supports that will ensure interventions are research based, timely, targeted, systematic, directive, administered by a trained professional. 

I was challenged to critically reflect on our PLCs:  are we meeting the essential components of PLCs for all students or are we creating the illusion of effective collaboration?  The longer we do PLCs with endurance and fidelity around the PLC questions the better our work will get.   The more we intentionally focus on these questions throughout the continuum the more likely will we ensure success for ALL students.

Group Knowledge Building - Making Inquiry Work Part 2

Written by Lindsay Brooks, Instructional Coach at Percy Pegler

After a hands on experience, group knowledge building supports the idea we can build knowledge as a collective group.  “It serves to identify shared problems and gaps in understanding and to advance the understanding beyond the level of the most knowledgeable individual” (Scardamalia, 2002, p.12).  Group knowledge building can be applied K to 12.

Learners come together with the collective goal of idea improvement.   They share, pose questions, negotiate and refine their ideas.

You can build group knowledge by following the three stages:

Chiarotto, L. (2011). Natural Curiosity: A Resource for Teachers: Building Children's Understanding of the World Through Environmental Inquiry. Laboratory School at the Dr. Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto.

Circles are a great way to eliminate hierarchy as all students can have an equal place in a circle and no one student takes precedence over another. The teacher is also viewed as a co-learner in the circle.  Knowledge building circles foster respect for all, which is a life skill.  Posing questions can help to clarify multiple points of view and respect the diverse contributions of individuals in a collaborative group session.

References

Chiarotto, L. (2011). Natural Curiosity: A Resource for Teachers: Building Children's Understanding of the World Through Environmental Inquiry. Laboratory School at the Dr. Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto.

Kozak, S., & Elliott, S. (2011). Connecting the Dots. Learning for a Sustainable Future.

Scardamalia, M (2002). Collective Cognitive responsibility for the advancement of knowledge. In B. Smith (Ed). Liberal Education in a Knowledge Society (pp.67-98). Chicago, IL: Open Court