After my post yesterday, I received a lovely message from Barbara Bray.  Apparently, the Crosswalk for Learners has been updated, since the release of her book, How to Personalize Learning.  I must have missed this update, so I am sharing it with you now. 

The Crosswalk for Learners now reflects voice, choice, engagement, ownership, and motivation.  Below is a picture of the new learning tool.  You can find your copy here. 

In addtion to the Crosswalk for Learners, you will find individual posters for each, which I have used and adapted in my practice.  Barbara is very giving of her time and resources, which is one thing I love about her. 

​Please check them out and let me know what you think. 

​As I was reflecting on learner agency for specialist and supporting teachers, I came across an interesting document by Barbara Bray and Kathleen McClaskey.  I regularly follow the work of Barbara, because she has so many interesting ideas about learning, particularly regarding agency.  

In reading the post, I was suprised to find seven elements of agency, since most only refer to voice, choice, and ownership.  The broader range of elements really delves into what learners need in order to feel comfortable to show independent thinking and doing.  The seven elements are in alphabetical order: 

• choice
• engagement
• motivation
• ownership
• purpose
• self-efficacy
• voice

As you look at this list, which area(s) do you think is the easiest to implement in your practice?  Which one(s) will take the longest?  

Barbara and Kathleen created Crosswalk of the Elements of Learner Agency across the Stages of Personalized Learning Environments, which examines the seven elements of agency and how they support the development of a personalized learning environment.  It is a wonderful success criteria that helps teachers to examine where they are currently (teacher-driven, learner-centered, or learner-driven) and where they want to go next. 

Additionally, you can find resources about personalized learning on their website.  To access the website, scan the QR code. 

Something to consider as we enter in 2025. 

I believe that agency is a huge part of getting learners to read on their own.  Not everyone is going to want to read about cats, fairies, and monster trucks.  We need to provide a variety of reading materials, because everyone has different preferences.  The important thing is to get learners reading on their own and doing it as much as they can. 

This year, I've seen my learners turn the corner from being reluctant to avid readers who explore various topics.  This is the power of agency. 

I am striving to build a bit of balance into my life, I say this as I am blogging on Christmas Eve.  :)  

One of the things that gives me absolute pleasure is European Christmas markets.  I began my obsession with them during the four years I lived in Koeln, Germany beginning in 2009.  What a place to get introduced to markets!  

Now that I live in Europe again, I had to continue my quest to visit more markets and see beyond Koeln.  To be honest, they will always remain my favorite, because of four beautiful, difficult, and growing years.  They are part of the fabric of my life's journey. 

Did I make Traveling Teacher videos?  No.  I was so enthralled by the experience that I completely forgot. This must be what it means to enter your second childhood. 

I was fortunate to visit three markets in Belgium: Bruges, Gent, and Brussels.  Some people might want to compare the Beligan markets to German, but there is no point.  They are two different countries with constrasting cultures.  The things that I found were the same: good food, glühwein, and handicrafts.  

In Germany, I was able to go back to Köln, but it was jam-packed.  I could barely walk in Heumarkt and Neumarkt.  It was not fun.  I realized that when I lived in Germany, I would avoid the weekends, which made it so much fun. 

On the flipside, I was also able to visit Aachen, München, and Garmisch-Partenkirchen.  I was fortunate to find lesser populated spots in each of these markets and really enjoy the environment.  There is something magical of being cold, drinking a hot beverage, and being amongst people.  

Seven markets in total is amazing.  Next year, I plan to visit Stuttgart, Weimar, Strasbourg, and Vienna.  I can so do this!

For those who don't celebrate Christmas, these markets are still fun.  There are non-alcohol and veggie options.  It's about being together, celebrating happiness, and enjoying the season.  

More the merrier, I always say!  Join me next year for more market mayhem. 

As a child, I remember singing I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day with my grandparents at their Sunday service.  This particular hymn struck me, because of these two verses.

I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play
And mild and sweet their songs repeat
Of peace on Earth, good will to men

And in despair I bowed my head
"There is no peace on Earth, " I said
For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on Earth, good will to men

As I say goodbye to 2024, I have two choices.  Do I focus on the sweet songs that lift me up or look towards the hate that mocks my happiness?  Either choice will determine how I progress into the next year. 

For me, I want to remember the sweet songs that repeat in my ear of peace on earth and good will to men.  There have been many challenges in my life during this year that I will never forget.  But, there were many small moments of sweetness that helped me move forward.  
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As an eternal optimist, I believe that good prevails in the world and there is still more good to be done.  This world is not perfect, but every good act helps lift up someone else. Let us find the joy as we finish out 2024 and look brightly towards the uncertain future. 

One thing we don't talk about is Holiday Blues.  It's an unwritten rule that people must be jolly during the Christmas season.  What if you aren't feeling jolly?  How are you supposed to act during the happiest time of the year? 

I'm a pretty jolly person, because some years it can be really tough for me.  I lost my mum six years ago and the last time I really spent time with her was at Christmas.  The holiday was a big deal in our home.  Even the bathrooms were fully decorated.  Nothing made my mum happier than being able to spread Christmas cheer to her friends and neighbors. 

Some years, I just want to be a humbug.  I want to curl up and watch nonstop Hallmark movies, eat lots of unhealthy snacks, and lock out the world.  Once you've experienced years of magical Christmases, it's really difficult to go back to mediocre. 

How do we help the humbugs in this world?  We give them space to breathe and work through their emotions.  We let them know that we are nearby should they need a shoulder to cry on.  Sometimes, this is the only thing we can do. 

Here's to a holiday season of grace, kindness, and friendship. 

In follow up to Day #9, I have been thinking about what I want my walls to look like.  Naturally, they are going to be reflective of our learners needs and desires.  This is number one.  But how do I make this happen? 

When I was a full-time trainer, I came up with the idea of an inquiry tool wall.  I wanted a place where I could place all of the mind maps and thinking routines that we explored together.  WIth time and practice, I wanted my learners to self-select the various tools they would use to answer complex problems on their own, leading to personal inquiries.

When discussing this idea with my third-graders, they were eager to get started with this process.  They shared that the tools helped them to solve problems easier, but they were still quite challenging at times.  What I heard...we are in productive struggle when we use these tools.  Win-win. 

My first wall was the mind maps.  These were easier to use, because my learners were already familiar with them.  The next step, we discussed their purpose, which is to organize ideas, so we can make meaning.  This was a huge concept that many of my learners had not considered before.  It's been wonderful to see them use the mind maps with the purpose of organizing for meaning.  

We are still growing in our practice of mind maps.  By the end of the year, I hope to have six to eight different mind maps in use that are regularly used to think, chat, and create. 

The next area that we have been working on is thinking routines.  This has taken a bit longer, because they've never used them before.  By the end of the year, I plan to introduce six to eight different routines.  We have been using See Think Wonder and See Wonder Think.  It's been quite magical to see my learners get so connected with these tools.

With time, I want my learners to mix and match between the mind maps and thinking routines, so that it's a fluid process.  In my opinion, this is what it means to support agentic thinking.  

Watch this space for the evolution of my walls. 

For a long time, I felt the pressure to make a pretty classroom.  I remember veteran teachers advising me to create a space that is comfortable, since I spend most of my time there.  Make it my home away from home.

In some campuses, there was an internal competition to see who could create the most asthetically pleasing classroom.  I admit it, at times I felt the pressure to conform.  It's real.  Schools want pretty looking classrooms that they can showcase to prospective parents. This made me frequently ask this question.

WHOM is the classroom designed for? The teacher or the learners?

This classroom below represents a trend for teachers to create a classroom that reflects a theme, in this case it's all about creating a farmhouse motif.  I don't have a problem with a theme, but it's about the design. Notice all of the pre-printed materials that can easily be put up with little or no reflection of the actual learning happening in the classroom.  This is what makes it difficult for me. There is little or no reflection of the learners in the learning space design.

Some of you are probably thinking this classroom looks extreme, but I have passed many that have looked this way.  All I see...this is the teacher's classroom and the learners are welcome to visit, but they will not have a say in how it is designed. 

Here is a more realistic display within an elementary/primary classroom.  There is a bright display with a shared calendar and a center of organized materials. I love the organized materials part, because it allows for learner independence, but these questions still keep popping up in my mind.

• Who decided the display design?  What is it's overall purpose?
• Who chose these materials?  Why them and not others?
• What is the goal of this space?  

On a positive note, I do see some learner-created artwork to the right, which means they have some creativity in the day.  The thing I am focused on is this, how responsive is the learning environment in meeting the needs of the learners? How do the walls speak about their learning journey, rather than the teaching journey?  

This is a continual struggle as we pivot from teacher to learner-driven experiences.  

I get to visit many schools as I present IB workshops and each of them leave a different impression on my heart. At Shu Ren International School, I felt like I was meeting long lost family again.  These educators were so full of passion and love of learning, which was evident in their level of enthusiasm for the PYP programme.  It's been 18 months since I've had the chance to meet them, yet they still manage to shape the corners of my mind.  

Take a peek at this video to learn more about this fabulous school in Berkeley, California. 
​

Levi Allison, a friend of mine, challenged a group of us to ask ChatGPT to create an image that reflected the prompts we have used so far.  Can it create an image that reflects the essence of who we are and what we value.  Here is mine.  

I never knew that I was a latina.  ChatGPT must know something that I don't.  :)  I do agree that I love to share my voice through my podcast.  

What does ChatGPT say about you? 

​As I've been traveling the world, I've had to face many obstacles along the way.  In September 2023, I was headed to Brussels to spend the fall working in Europe and Africa.  My first leg to JFK was massively delayed and I ended up missing my connection to Brussels.  Thankfully, Delta Airlines was so accommodating and booked me on the same flight the following evening. 

As a result of the interrupted flight, I had to quickly find a place to stay in the nearby area.  Due to the heavy storms, all of the airport area hotels were booked.  I had to go farther afield to Long Beach, NY.  

What seemed like a terrible disaster at first became a new adventure.  I stayed in a marvelous room in a lovely hotel.  The staff were so welcoming and accomodating.  I spent the next day walking up the beach board walk and eating lovely seafood. 

In this situation, I had two choices: complain about my situation or turn it into an opportunity.  When we turn it into an opportunity, we become resilient.  We learn to manage our obstacles and setbacks with grace and see the bigger picture. 

Did I complain in the beginning?  Of course, I am only human.  But, I quickly realized that the situation could have been much worse, like sleeping in the airport for 24 hours without a warm bed or shower.  

How are we teaching our learners about the importance of resilience in managing the difficult moments?  Where are there opportunities within our curriculum to discuss times when things do go our way.  

Something to think about when planning your next unit or lesson plan for the week. 

One of my connections on LInkedIn posted their year in review and it made me curious about what AI would say about me.  Here is what it summed up after a year of posting my thoughts, dreams, and hopes for education. ​

I found it interesting that this quote was the one that resonated with people the most.  I know that I am very aware of my humanity and consider every day how I might leave this world a brighter place. 

What does your LinkedIn Rewind say about you? 

The beautiful thing about inquiry is that it's different for every person.  There are common threads that join inquiry-rich experiences, but people can use a wide variety of strategies and tools to get there.  

How do we know that we are doing it correctly? 

​In my personal opinion, I don't think there is a correct way to use inquiry in your classroom.  There are many models, strategies, and tools available, but it's up to teachers to decide with their learners what is the best fit. 

I believe inquiry is happening when learners are engaged in their own thinking and are able to share their ideas with others.  They pose questions, make predictions, experiment, give examples, and reflect on their experiences.  The learners are doing the thinking, planning, and preparing, not the teacher. 

Because inquiry is not one simple task or pathway, it can be intimidating for many teachers.  I understand this whole-heartedly.  It was difficult for me to let go of control in the beginning.  I was worried if I was "covering" all of the content by the end of the year.  What I didn't realize is that learners acquire more understanding when they apply the things they are learning in their own way. 

How can I begin? 

This year, I've struggled with my neurodivergent learners to create a scaffold that helps them understand the big ideas of what they are learning.  One of the ways I've attempted to address it is through a shared inquiry process. 

My class thought three skills started off the inquiry process: observe, question, and play.  Some learners observed something, which would bring about a question that needed to be tested.  While others played with materials, which sparked a curiousity through observations. Althought they were happening simultaneously, different skills emerged for each learner based on how they process information. 

Just like the onset of an inquiry, we decided that planning and predictions were open for interpretation.  Some learners need to make a detailed plan of how they will explore the question or observation.  This process helped them to come up with a prediction of what might happen in their inquiry.  While others made predictions on prior knowledge and then made their plan.  

Similarly, we created analysis and conclusions in the same way. 

Where Next? 

Inquiry is still a process for my learners.  They are still becoming comfortable with leading their own learning, because it's a new experience for them.  This is quite understandable.  

By the end of the year, I want them to experiment with the process and create their own unique pathway.  I'm going to present some shared inquiries with a conclusion from prior learning and determine how we might move forward by creating a plan or prediction.  Then, consider what types of questions will they ask, observations they will make, and things they will do to come to a deeper understanding.  I literally will flip the process on its head. 

Why would I want to do this?  I want my learners to realize that it doesn't matter what order they use, but it's the connections that matter more than anything.  We want to inquire out of curiousity and not to a particular order of a cycle or system.  

Welcome to our seventh episode in our series for specialist and supporting teachers.  This has been a passion project that has been frequently delayed with my return to the classroom, a school-wide adventure camp, International day, the IB global conference, a trip to London (my favorite city in the world like so many others), and a workshop in Dubin, Ireland with the Nord Anglia school.  As I go through this list, I am excited, yet invigorated at the same time. 

One of the things that surprised me within the past few months is the connectivity this podcast has given some people.  I met several people at the global conference who mentioned how much this podcast has meant to them.  Thank you for sharing.  This has always been a passion project to help others and it truly warms my heart when I hear your stories. 

These interactions made me curious about the reach of the podcast today and I was quite surprised by the results. Here are the top five cities within its reach of all time.

• Melbourne, Australia
• Sydney, Australia
• Singapore
• Mumbai, India
• Dubai, UAE

As I looked through these locations, it really warmed my heart.  Melbourne is where I learned to find my voice as an adult.  The place where I discovered my unique self and found mates who I will forever cherish like Kelly Thong, Angel Trudgeon, and Greg Woodford.  Singapore was my main stopover for many years and I came to love their Dr Scholl’s massage parlor and day trips into the city.  India is where I learned about the beauty of color and the continual celebration of life through gratitude.  Dubai is where I found the educator within me.  It’s the safe place that helped me to grow and try out new things, even if I made mistakes.  I dusted myself off and tried again.  Thank you lovely listeners.  Your cultures truly helped me on my life’s journey and I can’t wait to return to create new memories. 

Next school year, I would like to return to the region to share ideas with fellow educators.  If you are interested in participating or hosting, please contact me via my website www.thinkchat2020.com.

​As we finish going through this series, I would like to weave in some tidbits that I’ve learned along the way and apply it back to your role as a specialist or supporting role educator. 

This episode, we are going to take a moment to pause and reflect on what we have explored so far and take it a step deeper.  This challenge will focus on what we know about agency and inquiry in the specialist and supporting role.  

As I’ve returned to teaching, I have been on the constant search for ways to bring about more agency in my classroom.  It’s difficult when we live in a world with so many pre-printed materials and lesson plan ideas that make teaching more interesting with very little planning on our parts.  I don’t know about you, but this is difficult to resist resources on Teacher pay Teachers that look engaging and they are ready to go. 

As you consider your practice, how much of the learning is driven by your learners and not by you? Take a moment to examine a recent week of teaching and/or supporting learning
​

• What materials did you use?
• Were there opportunities for your learners to use a wide-variety of materials?
• How flexible were the learning processes and products? 
• Are there opportunities to change the process and product?

Something that has been continuously on my mind as I prepare my units of inquiry and lesson plans is control.  Control can be a drug to some teachers.  It’s the power to shape young minds of tomorrow.  That is a heavy burden that has been placed on our shoulders.  At the same time, if we do not share this burden with our learners, it will not adequately prepare them for their future, which is quite uncertain at this point.  

To aid in the process, we need to reflect our need to be the sage on the stage, the keeper of knowledge, and the creator of dreams.  Instead, we are a provocateur, we set the stage for learners to discover the world in their own way and on their terms.  This is where learning becomes truly powerful. 

Let’s take some time to evaluate our practice. 
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• Do I control everything?  
• Do my learners control everything?  
• Is there a half-way point where we share the decision-making? 
• Who is doing the talking, thinking, and doing?  Is it me or my learners?

These questions matter, because they determine what the learning will look like in practice. 

When we consider the learning in our classrooms and roles, what is the primary purpose?  This may seem quite simplistic, but the goal of the learning is just as important as what is being explored.  The goal will determine if the teacher is being the expert or the learners are gaining expertise in various skills and ideas. Here are questions I ask myself. 
​

• What are my learners doing to connect to the prior knowledge?
• How am I using this information to guide my lesson and unit planning?
• What questions am I using to provoke, deepen thinking, and bring about reflection?
• How do my learning engagements incorporate the approaches to learning and learner profile attributes? 
• What are different ways that learners are inquiring into their ideas? 
• How have I modeled different products and processes? 

Take a moment in this challenge to reflect on agency and inquiry in your context.  This is the foundation for the next steps and we need to consider how they uniquely weave in our practice.  

​Every culure has certain traditions that they love.  Mine is Secret Santa.  What is that you ask, it's where we select a name of a colleague and we buy them several little gifts that reflect who they are.  We have to inquire about their likes, dislikes, and passions.  This takes effort.

Pictured below are socks my secret santa bought for me.  They are so me, which is why I'm willing to show my feel.  

What is one of your favorite holiday traditions?  Why is it so special to you? 

As I was reviewing pictures from the beginning of the year, I realized that I had completely thought about what my process what before setting up my essential agreements and unpacking the central idea.  When we are stuck in the work, it's difficult to think beyond, especially if you are reflecting backwards.  Here's my attempt to recreate those early moments. 

I decided from early on that I was not going to set up my classroom on my own.  If I truly wanted to have an agentic classroom, I would need my learners to help me make design decisions. I decided to push the desks and chairs to one corner of the room until the first day of school.  Nothing was on the walls, even for parent open house.  I made it clear that I wanted to create a space where the learners felt empowered to make decisions about the environment and their learning. 

At the same time, I knew I need to get my materials together, so they aligned with the big ideas from my units of inquiry.  My school purchased the Fountas & Pinnell classroom library kits and I wanted to use them intentionally.  I matched the genres, purposes for reading/writing, and the central ideas of the units of inquiry to choose my titles.  

For instance, we are currently learning about the transition between narrative fiction to realistic fiction as a bridge to nonfiction.  The books available in this series include biographies, relatable realistic fiction stories, and expository texts.  This range of titles has helped my learners to see how we go from facts to fictionalized stories.  This has been powerful. 

Here is an example of how the texts are displayed in my classroom.  I brought titles from home that are just for fun.  Learners have a range of titles to read when they are looking for something beyond Raz-Kids or Epic Books. 

One thing that has changed for me is involving the learners in every design decision, not just about learning.  We are constantly in dialogue about what is working within our learning environment and how it can be improved.  

It's still a work in progress, which is why I am attending the responsive learning environment workshop with Sean Walker and Anne van Dam in January 2025.  I don't want to be good, but I want to be better. 

One thing that made my heart burst one day was seeing how well my learners were able to self-manage without me being present.  These small moments are what you hold onto when it feels like nothing is working out.  My kiddos were struggling with organizing their materials, but they finally figured it out. 

In many countries in Europe, young children receive their Christmas presents on Dec 6th or better known as St. Nicholas Day.  This is the day that St. Nicholas brings good girls and boys presents to reward them for being good all year long.  Commonly, chidren are given little presents and sweets to eat.  

The Essential Agreements are explored in every IB workshop to set the intention of the expeirence.  They help to set the expectation of participants and workshop leader and hold them accountable. 

When doing this with young learners, it can sometimes be challenging. Here are questions that have frequently circled through my mind in response to essential agreements.

• How do we begin? 
• What is the intention? 
• How do we make it practical?  

I've reflected on the essential agreements used through the years.  The fan favorite is, "Treat others the way you want to be treated."  The problem with this one, there are so many variables of what this might look like based on personal experiences, cultural background, and school culture. 

In 2017, I had the priviledge of attending at a workshop with Kath Murdoch in Houston, Texas at the British School  In this one-day workshop, she spoke about the power of making essential agreements that were practical, in kid-friendly language, and short in number.  She encouraged participants to engage in an exercise of how to create more meaningful agreements.  

I went back to my classroom and immediately used it with my learners.  They listed all the agreements that were of interest to them.  I transcribed them onto individual sheets and had learners put stickers on every agreement that resonated with them, as pictured here. 

After voting on their favorite agreements, I gathered them together to identify the top five that were most preferred by my learners.  This allowed for more agency in the process, because they came up with the list and chose the ones that best fit their needs.  They were written in a way that was easy to undertand and follow. 

Since 2017, I have been using this model to create essential agreements with my learners, young and old.  ​Here is my current set in my classroom.  They might change based on the learning needs. 

In the past, I have used our essential agreements as a reflective thread.  Was ist das?  A reflective thread is a set of prompts that you ask over again.  The first time they answer it, they are trying to understand the prompt.  The subsequent times, they are learning how to manipulate the thread for the new learning situation.  I use my list of essential agreements as a reflective thread.  Here's how.

I ask my learners: 

• How have you showed friendship during our learning today?
• When were moments of fun for you?
• What is something new you learned today?  How has it changed your thinking?
• How were you kind to someone today?
• When did you use a quiet voice? 

I am still struggling to use this consistently, but something tells me I will work on it this week!  I know that the repeated practice will make the essential agreements part of the disposition of the class, rather than a list of rules to follow.  

Let me know how you make your essential agreements come to life.  I love to learn from others!

As we delve further into play in the early years, Sean Walker poses that there are different types of stories that we want learners to engage with.  In the beginning, learners will be interested in predictable stories with repeating patterns, familiar words, and story flow.  There is no real mystery about what is going to happen and the outcome.   For some reason, the book There was an Old Woman who Swallowed a ... came to my mind.  We all know the format of the text and we just need different items to change it from a Halloween to a Valentine's Day story.  

Predictable stories do get a bad rap for being boring.  But it's through the repetition that learners become more skilled in identifying patterns and replicate them in future reading and writing experiences. 

When thinking about predictable stories with play, this can come with the usage of the same materials, spaces, and routines.  Learners love predictability when they are about to make changes.  They know they can count on something to be the same, so they can take a risk.  

Other times, they are ready to take a risk by engaging with an invitation.  Below is a playful invitation where learners are using a variety of materials to create a story.  How the story plays out is strictly up to the young learner.  Isn't that exciting in itself? 

Once learners feel comfortable with predictable stories, they can engage with a wider range of patterns, characters settings, and plot twists.  Learners are willing to take risks to shape a new storyline that they have yet to explore.  This is all about using the materials, spaces, and places in a new way.  

The exciting stories are equally important in play.  They allow learners to become more experimental in their approach and see beyond what is in front of them. 

Personally, I love the analogy of play being like a story.  I've always struggled with play versus playfulness, but this example helps me to break it down into its unique parts and purposes.  

A big thanks to Sean Walker for capturing our attention through play about play.  I can't wait to learn more on Saturday, January 18, 2025 with Sean and Anne van Dam this in Berlin.  If you want to join, here is the link.  

My learning goal this year is to create a more responsive learning space and this workshop is perfect for me.  Even as a third-grade teacher, I want the classroom to shape the story for my learners.  

​This afternoon, I had the chance to participate in an IB Exchange webinar with Sean Walker on the topic of Play in the Early Years.  It will soon be published on the IB exchange for your enjoyment.  

During the webinar, Sean gave us permission to take some screenshots and post them on social media.  Here are some of my big ideas and how I interpreted his ideas. I wouldn't be me if I didn't get cerebral on someone else's aha moments. :)

One of the first ideas that caught my attention was this slide about the central features of a story and how they apply to early years learning.  Just like every story, there is a plot that weaves through the experience.  Our young learners are deciding what is the story that they are creating.   

The plot is driven by a setting that is designed for exploration. There are a wide range of materials available for learners to tinker, create, and connect.  

Meanwhile, the characters are the members of the learning community.  Learners drive what, how, and why certain things happen in their story.  They rely upon minor characters, such as the teacher, for some guidance as needed.  

As elements of the early learning is being woven together, we can see certain themes emerge that help learners to make generalizations about the world.  This happens through meaningful play. 

Sean overlayed the story elements with the central features of early years learning in the PYP.  I found this part quite fascinating.  Play is how learners create certain themes or big ideas.  This makes sense, because it is through play where learners make meaningful connections.  

Relationships are central to connecting characters together to make meaning of the experience.  Collaboration brings about opportunities to build solid relationships with others within and beyond the school community. 

Meanwhile, the setting reflects intentional learning spaces.  They are spaces that support learner independence through purposeful design, label, and universal access for all. 

Lastly, the plot allows learners to engage with symbolic exploration and expression.  The point of play is to allow learners to decide what the plot means for them and what choices they will make to move it forward.  

Together, play helps young learners to discover their unique story of who they are, how the world works, and their unique place within it  Such a powerful tool.  A big thanks to Sean Walker for bringing these elements together. 

My goal this year is to build a more responsive learning environment to allow for more playful moments in my third grade classroom.  This webinar has helped me to think about the story that my learning space is sharing with the world.