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The Meandering Path

The journey continues.
The grade 3s were very busy planning their Indigenous communities. The excitement continued            
with students bringing in rope, wood, twigs, homemade games and more! It was amazing
momentum. Then it was March break. We couldn't build prior to the break so we decided to take one period to visit the space and determine which area of shared space would be ideal for creating the community. Students used our social studies resource to reflect and discuss which area is more like the studied communities. How will we build our homes? How will we demonstrate our understanding of how the land was used for food? How will we represent transportation?

"This is like the Anishinabek community because
they lived near the water to catch fish."

"This could be where we store our hunting tools" 

Although the dialogue was rich within the forest,  student behaviours to and from the forest were unsafe and silly. I returned feeling overwhelmed by firefighting (putting out student fires everywhere) and was frustrated.  It was great to have the week off so that I could reflect and rework this plan.

BACK AT IT...
I was so fortunate to attend a session at Brickworks the Friday before March break where I was able to experience multiple teaching strategies  (all in one day) to engage and motivate students. Guess what? They kinda work. LOL
Upon our return from March break, we had a class discussion of the importance of safety and each  community group committed to four goals of what they can do to promote a more safe experience.
We reviewed  expectations and went outside to work on our routines. Our goal was to improve our teamwork skills, attend to tasks and follow listening routines.  My fox feet, eagle eyes and deer ears were out and I integrated various activities:
Walking there- A line game of Hawk & Bunny (someone shared it with me-it worked)
A field game - Seeking shelter from predators in a Beaver Dam or Rabbit Den
Hawk & Mouse game
Nature Hunt
Hawk & Bunny on return back

                      

               We found this. Can we use it for our longhouse?  

What kind of animal poo is this? I think it is a dog.
No it isn't a dog's poo. 

             

                                  Mrs. Mott, this is scat paradise right here! 

Are these seeds? Can we take it inside? 

We came back, had a meditation and then reviewed how it went. How did it feel? It. Felt. Great.

I am struggling with a few things.
I can see the excitement and engagement of our learning outside. They cannot wait to jump in and keep building, collaborating and creating. At the same time I  am thinking of the idea 'never work harder than your students'. I feel I am working tirelessly at trying to keep them focused on the way to and from and throughout group or whole class discussions. It appears that they are so stimulated outside that they just don't want to stop, wait or engage if it means stopping their body. Unfortunately, it is not a free for all.
Did I jump in too fast? Do I continue to revamp lessons and stop and work on specific and necessary skills? At the same time, I realized that I need to acquire more skills to help support our learners for outdoor learning. The workshop at Brickworks came at a perfect time.

I am so happy that we have this knowledge in our building and I enthusiasticly look forward to continuing our learning with only slight trepidation. :)

Learning Combustion...

I left our session on Tuesday feeling inspired and energized. As stated during our KBC, it is important for us to continue to nurture this 'amazing' momentum as it is easy to default to what is comfortable and predictable when supporting multiple learners and initiatives. 

Context

 I teach prep coverage for Grade 3 Science and Social Studies and have engaged in numerous discussions of how I frequently leave feeling that my 'educator' tool bag is empty of effective strategies. Yes, (surprise) I have shed some (okay many) tears of frustration as I know that we are not engaging in the learning that is impactful or inspiring. I see their faces of boredom, lack of engagement and this leaves me feeling defeated, overwhelmed and frustrated at the same time. I left my last class with them knowing something has to change and began thinking of taking them out to the forest to  learn about Indigenous communities (they came up with this and more on their own...keep reading). 

Implementation Goal 

Don't work harder than your students! This resonated with me as I feel consumed by trying to make this 'better'. I have to fix this and everything I try does not seem to work or last. 

My goals are: 

- to promote/enhance student voice;

-  to take our learning outside 

The Experience 

The Grade 3s met together and sat in a KBC. After sharing the KBC protocols,  I explained how our time together is not the type of learning that leaves me feeling happy and I am sensing that it doesn't make them feel happy either. I shared that I don't see all of their 'gifts' skills being used and I need their input.

Questions: 

1. How might we change our learning environment to help us learn? 

Some responses 

- we can have more fun, going back to the forest 

- maybe we can have talk circles before we do our work 

- we can play games 

- things to do, plays

- something to make it better, help each other to get work done and then play together 

- get work done faster then play 

- listen and not be silly 

- do partner work

- chew gum 

- do more experiments 

- maybe have stress circles to get our feelings out

- help each other when having a hard time

- not be rude to anybody

- TM- teamwork 

- move our bodies more 

- fidget tools 

- drawing our learning 

- videos to see 

- choose our own way to show learning like videos (reference to prior work with natural disasters) 

They followed all protocol as they were active listeners and waited to be called on. They were respectful and attentive. It felt phenomenal! I was busy writing with my head up and down and the circle ran on its own. 

I synthesized what I heard and shared with the group with nodding of agreement. 

- we want to do more when learning 

- we want to have talk time

- we want to have voice in what we do and how 

- we want tools that may help us control our bodies 

They shook their heads in agreement. 

Conversation - not a KBC. 

2. We are just starting to learn about different Indigenous communities to help us understand our history. How might we learn about their culture? 

- we can Skype experts or other communities 

- we can research using iPads or computers 

- we can read and do a play about it

- we can look up knowledge and traditions 

- we can search dances and traditions 

- we can make models

- we can go to the forest 

- we can go and make a community like theirs 

(AND THIS WAS THE BIRTH PLACE OF LEARNING COMBUSTION)

You could feel the excitement in the room. Alhtough it was not a KBC, they continued to be active listeners and take turns. Students began to whisper many new ideas of how to create a community. Kids were planning on making fishing tools and string games and were engaged in dialogue using the knowledge that we already know about the different communities. Each student wrote their name on a sticky and placed it on a community to research and prepare. They were asking questions to each other and of me. They were making PLANS. They were excited and engaged. At this moment, I felt overcome with pride of their enthusiasm and engagement and looked at them in wonder. It felt that it was a beginning. We ended this part of the discussion with direction of how we need to plan and do some research the next day to help us plan and understand their life. 

3. Gratitude circle. We went around and could share something we were happy about, thankful or grateful for or pass. I began by sharing how grateful I am for them taking risks and sharing their ideas and feelings. 

Here are their responses verbatim! 

- thankful that you wrote our ideas down 

- we got to pick our own groups 

- we worked together 

- so cool we REALLY get to go to the forest 

- happy no fights. Very, very excited. Can't wait to make our own place 

- grateful and happy that I thought of a plan for the forest thing 

- thankful you letting me carve a stick 

- thankful to bring in stuff from home 

- all of us saying what we want and making our social studies more fun 

- thankful no-one got in a big fight and we are focused 

IT. WAS. AMAZING. 

Wonderings

I left feeling so rejuvenated and hopeful. The next day we co-created a concept map of elements we need to consider (location, food, transportation, gender roles, housing) and then each group decided how to document their own discussion. For almost 100 minutes they planned, read  and talked. We regrouped and listened to each other. Identified similarities and differences between Indigenous communities. They asked questions of how they knew what they could eat? How did they know where to meet for trading? How did they build boats then? Can they build a boat and can we try them? It was explosive! 

We decided we need to contact an Elder to come and teach us more about their history and the relationships with our environment. This supports the social studies thinking concepts of cause and consequence, continuity and change, perspective, significance  and interrelationships. 

I see an area of need as being able to document this journey and maintain this learning engagement. We are off to a great start. I am full of excitement to see them next week and not feeling dread and defeat. I just have to keep this momentum going.