When in Vancouver for a workshop, what do you do? You contact your favorite author for a visit. This is exactly what happened and I could be happier to meet Misty Paterson in-person. We could have talked for hours about pedagogy. She helped me to recognize that I am a systems thinker, which is something I had not connected to before. Almost like a diagnosis, I finally had a name to the way that I think. Life changing. Now, I connect to systems everywhere I see. This is the impact of like-minded educators meeting and leaving their imprint. I can't wait to meet up again soon!
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Educators at St. Mark's made their own connections to the PYP House. Don't you love it when you see educators resonating with your ideas and making it their own? I'm so happy to help others see how the elements of the PYP come together. 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? How is it that once a child exits kindergarten in most test-driven societies that this sense of wonder also leaves the learning process? Does this happen also within our international and private schools as a way of growing our students and making them take responsibility for their learning? I can only draw upon my own experiences within fourth and fifth grade. Depending on the school leader, I was afforded a variety of freedom to bring about play into the learning and teaching. The Purpose of PlaySo why is play vital for all children? Joseph Chilten Pearce states.”Play is the only way the highest intelligence of humankind can unfold.” This quote makes me pause and reflect on the future of children who are currently in elementary school. There has been a lot of banter about learning loss over the pandemic. Yet, I would argue that more learning has been gained as our learners have had to pivot towards a digital landscape. They have been required to play with new platforms, ways of learning, collaborate virtually, and create flipped engagements. These skills will prepare them for the digital world that will only increase exponentially over the next 20-40 years. Why do we continue to teach as if we are serving learners from the 1800’s? Misconceptions about PlayPlay is often misunderstood. Because play is a huge part of the early learner in PYP From Principles into Practice, I have met a lot of IB educators believe it is only reserved for that age level? Really? How is a child to deeply inquire if they don't’ play with the ideas first? Here’s a scenario that I like to share with new teachers with workshops. Imagine you have two children who want to play with their Fisher Price dolls. These are plastic or wooden dolls that are appropriate for 3-5 year olds. They play with these dolls and have fun pretending they are family living together. The next day, the two children decide to play with some wooden blocks. Through uninterrupted play, they get to tinker with the blocks and are encouraged to create a variety of structures that will stand on their own. They use different lengths, widths, and shapes of blocks to create structures. This is play. What educators don’t understand is that this unstructured time to tinker with materials and ideas is building the foundation for learning transfer. After playing several times with the materials, the two children will understand how to play with the dolls and the wooden blocks. They will learn how to construct several structures and uses for the same set of materials. Why is this important? This sets the stage for inquiry. Connecting Play to InquiryAn inquirer will put the two sets of play together and ask, “I wonder how I can create a structure for my dolls from the blocks? This singular question propels the learner to consider potential possibilities and launches into an investigation to find out the answer. Without the initial play, the learner will have a more difficult time creating connections in their minds, because they will have limited experience to draw upon. If you never play with materials, how will you inquire into a unique usage? That does the head in, but we ask our learners to do this all the time if we don’t incorporate more play into our practice.
Let’s also be clear, play is not only tinkering with materials, but ideas. When we give open ended tasks to our learners, we are giving them time to play with ideas. WThese tasks are usually short and focused, so learners are playing with individual ideas. Then, we set the stage for inquiry by asking learners how they can use the isolated tasks to create an inquiry. Genius right? Not really, we are just scaffolding the process, so our learners can be successful. Where I think most teachers struggle is giving up time to play. It doesn’t need to take more than 15-20 minutes in a lesson. That time is building the foundation for critical and creative thinking to come about. How might I make it come alive for older learners? Think of a typical science experiment. Are you outlining the “rules'' for the investigation? Are you providing all of the steps for your learners? The way to increase play into your learning is by giving the materials to your learners and asking them to examine them. What can they possibly be used for? Let them tinker without any guidance. Then, present a few more materials that are a bit different and do the same. Then, ask, how might you use all of the materials to create an investigation? This allows openness for learner investigation and inquiry. Afterwards, You will introduce your connections to the materials to clear up misconceptions and make unique connections that your learners may have missed. This is ensuring they are creating regular aha moments in their learning too. Isn't it magical? This is why play is so important for our learners A reminder, “Our aha moments are new knowledge to our learners.” Ron Riitchhart spoke to my heart when he said this in a course about making thinking visible. Our learners don’t process the importance of learning certain topics and objectives, because it’s not meaningful . Play provided that meaning. Isn’t it time we bring it back into our classrooms? Think about it this next week as you plan out your unit and lessons. I'm super excited to lead this session for Rice University. It's so important to know the difference between assessing, collecting data, and evidencing learning. Do you know the difference? If not, consider joining me for this virtual learning experience. by Lu Gerlach As I was beginning to write "Think about Inquiry", I had an aha moment about the process of these inquiry guides. They were all part of an inquiry golden circle. Take a look first and we will unpack these ideas together. The inquiry golden circle examines first, what is something you will inquire into? This is defined by completing a normal golden circle process. Then, how will we achieve it? We will use inquiry thinking strategies and questioning strategies found in "Think about Inquiry". Finally, what must I do to make it plan? I need to create a solid inquiry plan and use the guide, "Planning for Inquiry", which should be re-leased shortly. All of these steps make up the inquiry golden circle. Make sense now? Just like this teacher, this guide will help you explore ways to tinker with ideas on your own and make connections that are engaging, challenging, relevant, and significant.
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