For the past two years, I’ve been working as a lead principal in a system role. Although the role fulfilled my need for new learning and anew experience, very little of our work has been directly linked to a specific school or to student learning. In September, I’m heading back into the role of JK-8 principal. My excitement grows each day. Continue reading “My Learning ‘Needs’ for September” →

Almost a cliché, I’m sitting, coffee by my side, writing in a Paris apartment. I’m waiting while my wife sleeps off her third night of bread eating despite her gluten intolerance. 🙂

In my new role as F.S.L. Lead, I’ve read a lot in the first month about the acquisition of a second language. But while here in Paris, I have been reflecting on how I live with my first language and the implications that reflection has on how we learn, maintain and deepen language learning.

I was born 50 years ago to parents who had recently moved from the Acadian Coast to Mimico for work. As my parents interacted with me, I imagine my early thought processes, my early problem solving, my formative synaptic connections happened in French. With French as their first and only language, they would have spoken to me, comforted me and scolded me ‘en français, s’il-vous-plaît’. My English came from the neighbourhood and the T.V. I am part of the original ‘Sesame Street’ generation. I don’t ever remember not being able to speak or understand both languages, but I certainly imagine that my languages developed somewhat simultaneously.

Fast-forward four-plus decades. I have lived exclusively in English-speaking environments. My first few days in Paris highlight the non-linguistic elements of language. I can understand written and spoken French with near-native fluency. I can speak it without initially letting on that it isn’t my native tongue. But, after using a few sentences, I find myself frequently tongue-tied. I lack the cultural context. And I find myself pondering questions such as:

How should I order my coffee? What does that mean on the menu? What is the correct way to ask that question? What is the difference between café, cave à vin, brasserie, pub and restaurant? Is there a particular daily paper I should get if I want to read my news from a particular point of view? …and numerous others.

I have lived 50 years going through life as an English-using, white, Canadian male with a significant knowledge of French. My schooling, from the 2^nd grade until the end of high school, took place in a newly emerging Ontario French school system. Yet I feel my anxiety level rise as I contemplate how to manage simple daily tasks in a language that is, in reality, my first.

It causes me to reflect on what we ask our students to do in French classes every day. We want to provide authentic experiences. We approach language acquisition from an experiential as opposed to a technical starting point. That brings a practical purpose to learning. I think that’s a good thing. But are we recognizing that the cultural context, the non-French ‘vécu’ our students bring with them into our classrooms and schools might be as much a challenge to second language acquisition as the lack of vocabulary, syntax and grammar? We are trying to bring them with us on a learning journey. Are we recognizing that their starting point is going to influence how successful they are?

Those who know me well enough know that my Saturday mornings (or Sunday mornings when hockey is not in session) are often spent as ‘learning’ mornings, perusing the newspaper, websites, Twitter feeds, Pinterest pins, RSS feeds and Facebook posts for thought-provoking ‘gems’. In the past, as part of this learning process, I have shared one article, blog post, video clip, etc… that caused me to stop and think. I typically shared this with my staff internally, with brief comments, and called them FFTF or ‘Food For Thought Friday’. On rare occasion, I have also posted them publicly.

Moving forward, once per week, I am committing myself to a blog post. I will at times repost someone else’s idea with some of my own “Food for Thought” added in. At times, I will share tidbits from my own practice or ask questions about what I see or perhaps even challenge the status quo.

I often talk about the importance of visibility in learning. I actively work at this and post information to my own school’s website and Twitter feed in the hopes of sharing that learning. I need to be much better at sharing my own. I spend so much time admiring and reading the work of online mentors such as George Couros, Donna Miller Fry and Brian Harrison that I forget I can be adding to the conversation.

Here it goes…

In his recent blog post, Richard Wells (@Eduwells on Twitter – click here for the post) challenges the status quo of schools, implying that the constructs of school (schedules, routines, assessment, learning activities, professional development, etc…) are not created for student learning, but for teacher facility and convenience.  He embraces instead his definition of student-centred learning and highlights five actions schools could and should take to foster it.

A couple of questions come immediately to mind.  What would such a time(table) look like in an Ontario K-8 school?  Do we have any that have successfully played with this type of flexibility? If 20th century schooling is to blame for a fixed mindset where conformity & control in school are the norm, that’s pretty deeply-entrenched. How do we change that?

If it’s going to be ‘Food for Thought Friday’ then it needs to makes us think. If this doesn’t provide you with some food for thought… 🙂

Cheers.  Peter

In early January, our school was part of a District Support Visit.  After this visit, we were provided with a series of questions to focus on to further our journey of learning as it relates to our School Improvement Plan for Student Achievement. Staff were given an opportunity, during an activity called a ‘dot-mocracy’, to give input on where our school-wide learning focus should be. The activity revealed that staff would like to increase the amount of learning they do from each other.  Today’s PA Day was structured to allow staff to ‘share their expertise’.

The structure of the day is included here.

As my ‘reflection’ piece, I’ve chosen to narrate about where I went, what I saw and how I structured my morning.

I visited every room. And I went sequentially, starting in our tech room and ending in our Junior French classroom. There was only geography and methodology behind my thinking, walking from one classroom to another.  I’ll post a sample from all rooms on another page and include the link but, for now, and although I learned something in every room, I’ll provide some highlights.

I noticed that a blog post had already been started in Kindergarten. I noticed, and was quite inspired by, Kalin’s desire to not only post about his successes but also what he perceived as a lesson that didn’t go so well. The explanation of the start of the inquiry process gave me great initial insight into the Kindergarten learning environment. I also noticed the links to my own practice teaching Grade 7 & 8 history this year.  I have tried my hand at ‘Je vois, je pense, je songe’.

I saw what I perceived to be some ‘messy’ learning. It highlighted for me that student learning can indeed get messy. I’m also guessing that is the best kind of learning for some of our students.  The highlight of student voice and student product here highlighted that for me. Student learning seemed evident right along side teacher guidance. I could imagine myself being successful in an environment that allowed my voice some visibility.

I also appreciated process. Going through this classrooms was easy.  The process of guided instruction in both Math and Language was laid out for me as if I was a student in the classroom. As a student, I was provided with tasks that helped me practice important skills independently. The purpose of each task was explained clearly.  As the teacher, I knew what I would be doing at the guided reading table and what direct instruction for the small group of students would look like.

I could (and will) further share my learning. My intent of this blog was to provide staff with an example of what a blog post can look like. It’s purpose here is to act as both a model (to comment on freely, please), an archive of some of my learning this morning and an opportunity to share some of the expertise people can find in this building. And of course, the blog post made it a working lunch for me.  🙂

I’ll start off by saying I’m humbled and a little shell-shocked to be where I am right now. I’m in a room with 39 other Canadian principals as lucky as I am. We’re in a room that, over the next 5 days, will be filled with some of the top business and education leaders in the country. They’ll be my teachers at Rotman’s School of Management for The Learning Partnership‘s “Canada’s Outstanding PrincipalsTM” 5-day executive program. Because of a successful nomination submitted by staff member Cathy Dykstra and supported by parents, students, community members and supervisors, I get to hang out here and learn. To quote Adam Sandler, “Not too shabby.” Continue reading “My first day – #OutstandingPrincipals Learning” →

I have just completed the second week of my first course in my Masters in Educational Technology degree program via UBC. The course is on the Methodology of Educational Research. The textbook I’m (kind of) reading defines ‘educational research’ as the application of the scientific method in an educational setting.

I remember the scientific method. It was taught to me in school. I taught it to my students when I taught, likely quite poorly, Grade 7 & 8 Science. I watch it take its place inside the classrooms I visit as a principal. Except my professor stated something which I’ll paraphrase here:

She said something like, “To help frame your research question, start exploring your own practice and ask yourself questions that begin in ‘I wonder’. “

‘I wonder’ statements. In a Masters’ degree course. As a starting point for educational research. Hmmm… Not ‘Form a clearly stated purpose or question’. Not ‘Predict the outcome and form your hypothesis’. Not ‘Explore current research to help frame your question’. I was simply asked to start looking at my practice with “I wonder” statements in mind. In the same way we ask our students to look at their world with ‘I wonder’ statements in mind.

Another example of All I really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. 🙂  I think I’m really going to like this Masters’ thing. 🙂

I haven’t been nearly as prolific in my Food For Thought Friday postings or my blog postings as I should be. This is one of my goals for the new year. Part of my role as principal is to bring you some learnin’. Part of our responsibility as learners is to make our thinking visible and our learning transparent. I’m in week 2 of my Masters’ of Educational Technology studies via the University of British Columbia and exploring my own learning in other areas. This will include a commitment to more open learning from me.

I’m going to bring back the weekly post. I’m also going to continue calling it the FFTF (Food For Thought Friday) but likely ignore the date on the calendar. Sometimes it will be my own thoughts, at other times it will include the thoughts of others but it will always involve something that caused me to think about my own practice and the learning of the students and staff cI work with daily.

I came across a web site discussion on OSSEMOOC (Ontario School and System leaders Edtech Massive Open Online Course) that included excerpts from a Nov 2014 blog post from Brian Harrison, an Ontario principal colleague, who blogged a few months ago about his school’s journey in improving student achievement in math. His discussion includes some intersst ideas about ‘back to basics’ math and ‘new math’.  Interesting read and video attachment.  Totally FYI.  And I know; it’s not Friday. 🙂

http://brian-harrison.net/2014/11/14/ad-infinitum/

Cheers.

Peter