C116: How do we tickle our learner’s brains through our classroom walls?

Welcome to our new series on a PYP classroom success criteria.  I am so excited for this series, because I feel like it’s been so timely with things I have learned recently from the Pop-Up Studio Edu-Retreat in Brussels with Misty Paterson.  In this workshop, Misty took items around the school to create a welcoming gathering place that was flexible and driven by learner use.

This made think about this question post by Shailja Datt, the PYP Coordinator at the Horizon Japan International School in Kanagawa: 

How do we help in tickling the student’s brain?

​What a wonderful way to think about learning, which is more centered on curiosity, wonder, and awe.  This episode, we are going to examine how we can tickle our learner’s brains through our school day and within our walls. 

I’ve had to sit with myself for a moment to think about how I tickle the brains of my learners.  It’s a lot more difficult than it sounds, because we are considering how we provoke our young people to become excited about what they are learning.  Sustaining this passion takes a lot of collaborative planning with our learners and peers, testing out practices, and reflecting on the process.  Here are some of my ideas. Please share some of yours on Twitter @thinkchat2020 and LinkedIn @lugerlach.

Teacher Provocations

Nothing massages the thinking muscles more than a wonderfully thought out teacher provocation.  They don’t happen everyday, so when they do occur it's an event and time to pay attention.  As an educator, I would regularly pose a teacher provocation to spark dialogue and assess prior knowledge.  

When I was teaching fifth grade at Al Mizhar American Academy for Girls in Dubai, I taught math and science in middle school.  One day, I came to class with a 2 liter soda bottle filled with water and two nails stuck into the bottle.  I had a bucket below the soda bottle, because I knew things would get wet.  You could have felt the electric energy in the room as I took out one nail.  I heard gasps of disbelief when nothing happened.  A nail had been removed, but the water remained in the bottle.  When I put the nail back inside the hole, I asked my learners their predictions of what would happen if I removed the second nail.  As I pulled it out, nothing happened again.  Equal amazement buzzed around the room in disbelief.  As I put the nail back, we discussed what might happen if both nails were removed.  Everyone was so confused by this point that they didn’t know how to answer.  When I removed both nails and the water gushed out of the holes, there were squeals of surprise and confusion.  This is what it means to tickle our learner’s brains with a provocation.  

​Interactive bulletin board design

​There are many ways to create a bulletin board, but if we want to tickle the brains of our learners, it’s going to have to look differently.  It needs to be designed with the learner, so they can use it as a learning tool.  A purposeful bulletin board allows for re-design, flexibility, and multiple-usage. 

Ms. Wiltz, a kindergarten teacher from my former school, created many interactive bulletin boards in her learning space.  If it could not be manipulated by learners, it wouldn't go up.  She had one for jobs, goal-setting, and learning stations.  One of my favorites was in the hallway where she created an interactive letter/sound board that allows learners to engage in different ways during differentiated center exploration.  She had picture and sound card match up games that learners could remove and use in their exploration.  It tied with her educational goal of letter sound inventory, but the target was to get learners to authentically engage with language acquisition. 

Dallas Baptist University College of Education

Talking Points between Displays

​Another idea may be co-creating talking points between displays.  What do I mean?  In between displays, have learners write reflections on how the two displays are connected together.  This allows them to make connections between subjects and big conceptual ideas.  Whoa, this might change the game in your classroom, because learners see the connection between each engagement you are teaching, instead of thinking they are “fun” or “cool”.  I don’t know about you, but this is tickling my brain with new possibilities.  I can see learners making visual and written connections, which the PYP calls learning stories. 

Learner Work

​This is the one that is the most controversial.  I am very passionate about displaying learner work, but what is the main purpose? Is it to make your walls look pretty?  Is it to show tons of “GREAT WORK”, so others can see that you are doing a great job?  Think about that one for a minute.  

Something that has been tickling my brain has been how to display learner work that is co-created in design and display.  This is more than a bulletin board, it’s about celebrating the learning journey.  As such, I think we should have examples of work in progress, so all learners can share in the journey and growth.  It’s not about being perfect or copying the teacher’s ideas to be displayed.  If I see one more reproduction about a country leader or notable person, I think I might just turn into Rumpelstilskin…hopping up and down in a rant. 

Learner work is messy, developmental, and transformative.  How are we tickling our learner’s brains to see the difference and strive for growth?  How are we showcasing the process of seed to finished product, so they can see it requires work and multiple revisions?  This to me is authentic and we need to see more of this as we display learner work in our rooms. 

Lu Gerlach 4th Grade Classroom (2016)

The Unit Wall

Here’s another question by Siba Shekhar, the PYP Coordinator at GEMS Modern Academy Kochi made me ponder:  I would like to know different ways to display the progression of the learning throughout the unit.   This made me connect to the importance of a well-planned unit of inquiry wall. 

How do you consider all of the ideas to tickle the learner's brains while creating a unit of inquiry wall display?  There are numerous possibilities, but you have to find the right way for you and your learners. 

Something I used to do is just laminate the titles: theme, central, lines of inquiry, ATL, and learner profile in English and the second language of the campus.  We would unpack the central idea in their home languages (with the parent’s help) and use the Bundling strategy by Kath Murdoch to unpack the rest of the language.  

Lu Gerlach 5th Grade Classroom (2014)

​For the Bundling strategy, I would have learners work in small groups and I would give them one word to unpack.  I tasked them to look up their word through pictures, videos, music, to get a sense of what it meant.  On an index card, they wrote down synonyms that helped them to better understand the term and draw it in action.  When the drafts were being made, I would circulate through the groups to clear up misconceptions.  Each group presented their ideas to the group and they became the “expert” for that concept and I would frequently ask for their help as we explored it further.  

As we went through the unit, we would add to our unit of inquiry wall with similar activities to help unpack the big ideas and make relevant questions.  For Siba, she may feel that her wondering has not been fully answered.  The rest of this podcast series will go into detail on how to evidence the journey of the unit of inquiry.  Just hang tight…it’s going to be a bumpy ride!

Common Misconceptions

​Part of our PYP journey is to authentically make the program come to life in our classrooms.  After visiting many schools throughout the years, there are earmarks of different types of educators. 

The LAMINATING QUEEN literally laminates everything, so they are ready for next year.  They usually have the central idea, lines of inquiry, concepts, ATL, and learner profile attributes upon a wall like beautiful wallpaper.  It’s usually typed, visually pleasing, but lacking any personality and student voice.  Many times, it’s on the smallest possible bulletin or cork board in the room, so the rest of the walls can capture the real teaching. 

After the fourth year of being a laminating queen, I gave up. Each year like clock work, something within the unit of inquiry would change and it would throw out the rest of the unit focus.  We would tweak the central idea, which meant the lines of inquiry were rewritten, which impacted the selection of everything else.  I finally realized that the unit of inquiry will change year to year, because our learner needs, interests, and curiosities change each year.  I stopped laminating everything and just stuck with the headers.  

Meanwhile, the BUSY BEE is so focused on doing a lot of activities that they fill their bulletin boards and classroom walls with a lot of work.  Usually, it is work from curriculum materials or worksheets that is artfully displayed.  When you take a step back, you realize there is no real substance or connection between the learning. It’s just a lot of isolated facts that are randomly taught at the same time.  

As a former Laminating Queen and Busy Bee, I can say that my teaching was not the deepest at times.  I hid behind all of the materials on the walls, because I was scared and didn’t know what I was doing.  If you are here, it’s okay.  This is one small step in your learning journey.  There are many more ahead.