​As we focus on learning environment design and building learning relationships, we must first consider a simple practice that bonds a community together.  Pronouncing the names of our learners correctly. 

What’s in a name?  It’s the first gift your parent’s give you when you are born.  It shapes your identity, reminds you of your family heritage, and is a lasting legacy that you matter on this planet.  

As we begin this new school year in the Northern Hemisphere, let us be mindful of the power of a name.  When we engage with our learners, let’s take care in learning each and individual name, because it represents someone’s identity.  

As we begin this new school year in the Northern Hemisphere, let us be mindful of the power of a name.  When we engage with our learners, let’s take care in learning each and individual name, because it represents someone’s identity.  

• Don’t go the easy route and mispronounce it, because it’s easier for you.  Our students must see multiple teachers in a week.  Imagine having to be told your name incorrectly during each of those encounters.  It’s exhausting.  As a child, I had a teacher and classmates call me Louisiana, because they couldn’t say my name correctly.  Imagine how you’d feel being named after a state and hearing other students chuckling behind your back? 

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• Don’t shorten it, so it’s easier for you.  There are so many resources to pronounce names and one is called YouTube.  In this day and age, we shouldn’t have too many issues practicing our learner’s names.  We take it slow.  We apologize, but eventually, we get it right. 

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• Don’t give them a nickname. Unless a child requests a nickname, don’t give them one.  They have probably been given one in the past to make it easier for the teacher’s to pronounce their name.  They are just being kind, but it doesn’t make it right. 

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• Don’t give them a Western sounding name.  This is probably the greatest insult we can give a child, because we are saying their name doesn’t sound correct, because it’s not “normal”.  This is a problem, because it can have lasting effects as the child grows older. 

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​Why is this so important to me?  I didn’t realize until I was an adult that both my parents mispronounced my name.  I was named after two women: Louisa Montoya and Anna Norris.  Louisa was a latina who through the progression of events had her name changed to add an o in order to sound more Caucasian.  This would be the first nor last time that immigrants tried to blend into their new surroundings by changing the spelling and sound of their names. 

As a result, my parents pronounced my name incorrectly.  My name is really Luisa.  My mother would always say my name with emphasis on the end going up.  I always thought it was weird as a child.  Why did she always sound like she was shouting when she said my name? 

My dad pronounces my name based on phonetic spelling.  Because I have the Causaian spelling, he pronounces the s with a zzz sound.  This is how you would pronounce the name of the famous author Louisa May Alcott’s name.  Very British and very posh.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m the ultimate Anglophile, so I should love it. 

My whole life, I felt my name didn’t suit me.  It didn’t represent my personality.  

This all came to a head when I moved to Cologne, Germany.  I worked in a dual language, inter-religious campus.  This was the beginning of my PYP journey.  One thing I noticed is that my German colleagues followed the British pronunciation using a ZZZ sound.  At one point, I couldn’t handle hearing my name being said, because it sounded like nails going down a chalkboard.  

Surprisingly, this all lifted at the same time when I engaged with my Spanish colleagues.  Their pronunciation of my name was light, happy, and so was I.  I felt for the first time that people saw me for who I was.  I was livelier around them, because they too were a ray of sunshine.  

When I left Germany, I decided to change my name from Louisa to Lu.  It reflected a shortened version of the Spanish spelling and was more Asian too.  I thought to myself, it can’t be so hard to spell and say my name with just two letters.  

Now, I’m battling people who spell my name Lou (like I really look like a dude) versus Lu.  Haha...you can never win!

I didn’t come to all of this realization about how my name impacted my life until a couple months ago.  It hasn’t changed who I was on the inside, but it has shaped a lot of my interactions with others. 

As we build relationships with our learners, let’s take the time to get to know their unique personalities, which all begins with their name. 

​Once you have a solid understanding and use of split-screen teaching, you will be prepared to turn the ownership to your learners.  Our ultimate goal with the PYP and a part of good teaching practice is developing learner independence. We can use split-screen teaching to support this process by having learners create their own goals by using the ATL sub-skills as their success criteria.

A success criteria is a set of goals we want learners to engage with that will lead toward achievement and mastery.  Some success criteria can focus on year long goals, while others can be for a unit of inquiry.  This is up to you and your learners. 

For this episode, I will focus on how to make learning goals while using the ATLs as a success criteria for a single unit.  This will be easier to do at first, then you can lengthen your goals accordingly. 

Just a reminder, the split-screen teaching model looks like this.
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​In our last episode, we used several ATL sub-skills to guide our thinking.  I will zoom into only one sub-skill to model this process and unpack it’s meaning, so learners have a clear understanding to make an informed choice.

Critical Thinking
Analyzing

• Show examples of how to observe carefully and how it can help us to recognize patterns and potential problems.

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• Example:  look at science safety tools and observe carefully their usage.  Decide which tool may best solve certain problems.  Look at how using the wrong tool could potentially create some problems.

• Examine a variety of materials and have learners identify potential connections

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• Example:  provide an inquiry bag of materials related to your unit of inquiry.  Have learners examine the materials for their properties.  Sort and categorize based on usage and possible meaning.

• Show models and simulations to spark learner interest.

• Example:  take a water bottle and puncture two holes with a nail.  Put the nails in the holes and fill up the water bottle.  Once in front of the learners, remove a nail and see what happens.  Ask learners, why is the water not coming out of the hole?  These types of simulations spark curiosity and help to make deeper connections

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Once the learners have experienced each ATL sub-skill, ask them to ponder which one is an area of growth.  Have them choose one to focus on for the unit of inquiry.  Then, ask them to select a learner profile attribute they think will best support the learning of the ATL.  This puts the ownership on the learner, not you.
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What I like about this particular set of sub-skills is that it speaks to different intelligence types. You have ATLs that focus on ideas, materials, processes, models, and simulations.  

Here’s a student example: ​

​​A reminder, it doesn’t matter what content they learn, the ATLs and learner profile attributes can be used over again.  I plan to use these when I work with my next set of teachers.  Will  you use them with your learners? 

This past summer, I had the pleasure of meeting fellow educator, Grayson McKinney, at the Inquiry Workshop from the Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning.  Through several conversations, I was able to draw a comparison between the PYP program and Project-based Program.  It was amazing to see so many similarities between these two ways of teaching children through an inquiry approach.  If both programs focused on a strategy, it was spread a crossed the infographic.  

Which one speaks to you? 
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You’ve chosen your ATLs and now comes the part of breaking them down into bite-size pieces, so your learners can apply them on a daily basis.  I’m not going to lie, I used to struggle so much with this part, because these skills often felt insurmountable.  When that happens, we tend to bury them like a stinky fish in the back of a closet.  Over time, the fish will decay and the stench becomes so extreme that we have to pull it out and deal with it.  

What would you say if I could take your ATL stinky fish and make it a simple meal that was delectable and easy to make?  Would you try it?  

Over the past two years, I have known about a strategy of split-screen teaching, but I didn't understand it’s potency until this past summer.  It can revolutionize how you teach the ATLs and learner profile attributes while making it easy for you and your learners.  I know there are many of you that are hesitant, because it sounds too easy.  Just trust me on this one. 

The premise of split-screen teaching is that we bring together the content which is teaching with skills and dispositions that we want learners to demonstrate.  That doesn’t sound so hard.  Here’s the structure.

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​It doesn’t matter what standards you use in the split-screen teaching, because the standards can change constantly, but the ATLs and learner profile attributes will stay the same. It’s simply magical.  

First, you leave the column of learning about blank.  We don’t care about the content right now.  Say what?  Yep, we just care about the ATL we will begin with first and build from there.  Considering this is at the beginning of the year or mid-term, I want to pick something that is easy and build up. 

Here are the ATLs from the previous episode.

Information Literacy
Formulating and planning

• Ask or design relevant questions of interest that can be researched.
• Outline a plan for finding necessary information.
• Evaluate and select appropriate information sources and/or digital tools based on the task.

Exchanging Information
Interpreting

• Interpret visual, audio and oral communication: recognizing and creating signs, interpreting and using symbols and sounds.
• Understand the ways in which images and language interact to convey ideas.
• Be aware of cultural differences when providing and interpreting communication.

Critical Thinking
Analyzing

• Observe carefully in order to recognize problems.
• Consider the meaning of materials.
• Take knowledge or ideas apart by separating them into component parts.
• Use models and simulations to explore complex systems and issues.

​Now, our job is to find the ATL that we will work on for a portion or full week. This will allow learners to get multiple experiences with the ATL and develop understanding of its purpose.  When scanning these ATLs, the ones that resonate with me are under thinking skills.  

One misconception that I may have laid from the last episode is that thinking skills can only be used in math, ICt, and PE.  This is not true.  They are the drivers in the selection process, but the ATLs can be applied to any content.

For this week, I want to select: observe carefully in order to recognize problems.  Now, I will pose a question, because it’s easier for learners to engage with than a statement.  In my question, I will use the sub-skill and the criteria together, so learners understand their connection. 

ATLs:  How can I show critical thinking by observing carefully in order to recognize problems?
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Now, I will reflect on the learner profile attributes selected for your unit.  Consider which one will best support the ATL learning.  If you don't feel they are a good fit, consider working with your team and PYP coordinator to make a change.  

Learner Profile:  How will I become more knowledgeable by carefully observing objects and ideas?

Now, let’s put it into a box, so the ideas are more organized.  I would put it into my classroom in the same way, so learners are clear about the ATL and learner profile expectations.  The learners will be charged to show you evidence by the end of the period of their understanding of the ATLs through work samples and the learner profile attributes through regular reflections. Now, you have deeper items to add to your learning portfolios for each unit.  Don’t you love it when one engagement has multiple purposes?  Work smarter, not harder!
Now, let’s plug in some of the second grade content standards from the last episode to try it out. 

As you can see, it doesn’t matter what content you use, the ATLs and the learner profile attributes stay the same.  It helps to build generalizations or connections between these skills and dispositions with multiple content.  This is powerful and helps to develop conceptual thinkers.  The thinking is shifted onto the learner to prove what they learned and how they know.  

If I were to change one thing this school year, this would be it.  We can make this change whether in a physical, hybrid, or virtual learning space.  It’s time to deepen the thinking and make the ATLs and learner profile attributes apart of our daily practice. 

Now we have gone over in-depth how to use the Approaches to Learning (ATLs), how will we select them for our units of inquiry.  This does not just apply to homeroom teachers, because all specialists and supporting teachings need to be part of the discussion.  If we expect these teachers to be a part of the teaching, they need to be part of the selection process.  

How can we consider everyone’s needs?  Quite simply.  The ATLs are universal skills that all learners need to acquire, so they are purposefully broad and applicable to any subject area.  How they are used is up to the teacher, which is the magical part. 

​Let’s take a look at some possibilities of what this planning process might look like using Second Grade/ Year 1 standards: 

Social Studies 

• Maps and globes
• Landforms and bodies of water
• Resources found in different regions and how people depend on them
• Capitals and border countries
• Settlement patterns

Science 

• Basic needs of plants and animals
• Temperature and precipitation
• Migration
• Hibernation and dormancy
• Food chains
• Interdependence of living things

Language Arts

• Genre:  poetry
• Genre:  folktales, fairy tales, and fables

Math

• Coins up to a dollar
• Symbols of money
• Fractions: examples/non-examples, comparing sizes, up to a whole

ICT

• The different points of view about online safety, netiquette, and cyber bullying.  
• The impacts of correct finger placement when keyboarding 

Music

• The point of view of different instrument families; how their shape and materials define their sound
• How beat and rhythm are created and the impact of different sounds coming together
• The causation of different voices in music

PE 

• The different points of view on safety rules
• The impact of slow and fast and non-locomotor movements in play

Now that we have all of the subjects, how will we choose ATLs that can be taught throughout? The first thing I would look at which ATL categories would best fit each subject area and choose the ones that come up the most.  

Now, we need to determine which research, thinking, and communication skills we will use to explore each of the subject areas.  To do this, we will need PYP: Principles into Practice.  Depending on the age you teach, you will need The Learner for grades PK-K and Learning and Teaching for grades 1-6. 

The next part is universal for all ATL categories.  Look at the standards for each ATL skill.  Go through the list of skills of that category and find the sub-skill criteria that best fits.  You will see a bullet point list and you select the ones that will be taught within a unit of inquiry.  Please note: you don’t need to use all of them, if they don’t apply. Here’s an example:

Information Literacy
Formulating and planning

• Ask or design relevant questions of interest that can be researched.
• Outline a plan for finding necessary information.
• Evaluate and select appropriate information sources and/or digital tools based on the task.

Exchanging Information
Interpreting

• Interpret visual, audio and oral communication: recognizing and creating signs, interpreting and using symbols and sounds.
• Understand the ways in which images and language interact to convey ideas.
• Be aware of cultural differences when providing and interpreting communication.

Critical Thinking
Analyzing

• Observe carefully in order to recognize problems.
• Consider the meaning of materials.
• Take knowledge or ideas apart by separating them into component parts.
• Use models and simulations to explore complex systems and issues.

Now, you have a purpose and connection to all of the content and big ideas you will be exploring the unit.  In the next episode, we will examine how you break these down into smaller parts and teach them on a weekly basis.  
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Are you having fun yet?  

I had fun exploring learner agency.  Ever since Click Institute, I have been taking risks with my presentations.  I decided to shape my presentation on the job of the foreman.  They manage the crew by giving clear directions and expectations, but get out of the way when the work is being done. I think this best describes agency to me. 

In my mind, learner agency is supported by our learning space design, because it helps to form identity.  If a classroom is designed with learner independence in mind, there will be greater ownership of the learning process. ​How is your learning space designed to include the needs of all your learners? 

Play is the hallmark of everything we do in the PYP and beyond.  It's how we create young people that are able to innovate through exploration.  In what ways are you allowing more play to come about in your practice? 
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Our personal connection to learning matters, because it showcases our authentic selves. How are you incorporating more inquiry into your practice?