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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.  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 1. Observe carefully in order to recognize problems.
2. Consider the meaning of materials.
3. Take knowledge or ideas apart
4. Use models and simulations
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. 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?
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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. 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. Research (Social Studies & Science)Information Literacy Formulating and planning
Communication (Language Arts & Music)Exchanging Information Interpreting
Thinking (Math, ICT, & PE)Critical Thinking Analyzing
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? 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
Science
Language Arts
Math
ICT
Music
PE
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: Research (Social Studies & Science)Information Literacy Formulating and planning
Communication (Language Arts & Music)Exchanging Information Interpreting
Thinking (Math, ICT, & PE)Critical Thinking
Analyzing
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. Are you having fun yet? As a child advances in age, it’s assumed that they know how to manage themselves, because they are quiet, sit still, and complete assignments. There is so much more to self-management than that. When I think of self-management, I compare it to ownership as part of learner agency. Both of them are more difficult to define, because it’s part of our being of who we are. We can’t do a quick strategy to develop self-management skills, which means they must be done over again through a duration of time. For those who want it one and done, this is going to be a growth area for you as you delve further into making it a vital part of your daily process. In this episode, we will look at ways to increase learner self-management, so they can build up resilience through life’s toughest challenges. All of these ideas will be applicable for grades 1-6 homeroom, specialist, and supporting teachers.
But first, let's look at some of the skills we as educators need to model, so our learners are able to apply it to their own practice.
The self-management sub-skills help learners to know how to appropriately interact with each other. The social skills are divided into two criteria:
When I am looking at these, my natural inclination is going towards states of mind. This is an area that is seldom explored and I want to break it down into bite-size pieces. Let’s go! States of MindStates of mind is such a huge area of focus with mindfulness, perseverance, emotional management, self-motivation, and resilience. The one that pops out to me is resilience, since it is still a growing area in my practice with learners. We will match up the ways that teachers can support learners with each sub-skill criteria. Manage setbacksA setback is something that happens that causes a delay or prevents us from continuing. There has been a lot of talk about the Millennials and how they cannot manage setbacks easily. When an obstacle gets in their way, they give up easily. The questions that naturally pops up in my mind are, “Were they taught how to manage setbacks as a child?” and “Were they allowed to fail?” It’s through the mistakes and setbacks that we learn life’s greatest lessons and build up resiliency for when it happens again. What teachers can do: Provide opportunities for students to monitor and manage their learning to make progress.
Work through adversityAdversity is a difficulty or an obstacle we must overcome. It can come in the forms of physical, mental, emotional, social, spiritual, or financial. Adversity is different from setbacks. A setback can be something that delays or stops us completely. While adversity is an obstacle that comes into our path that we must resolve in order to move forward. This helps to support our state of mind in moving and not allow adversity to stop our progress. What teachers can do: Build resilience by ensuring that learning goals co-constructed with students are challenging but achievable.
What teachers can do: Involve students in planning
 Work through disappointmentDisappointment is a sadness for not achieving something we really want. This greatly affects our state of mind, because we yearn for something that will not happen or was not meant to be. Disappointment comes in a variety of ways: loss of relationships, poor academic performance, family life, not achieving goals, etc. The hardest part about disappointment is that it can stay with us for a long time. We may not show it daily, but it sits in the back of our mind. What teachers can do: Create an atmosphere where students regard learning as a process of gradual improvement.
What teachers can do: Support students to manage distractions
Work through changeI believe self-management is one of the hardest ATLs to “teach” in the PYP. It’s at the root of who you are as a learner, similar to ownership in agency. There are things you can do to support self-management development, but it requires the learner to do most of the heavy lifting. As you enter any early years classroom on the first day of school, you see a lot of curiosity, talking, and bonding. You also see a lot of students who are learning to self-manage their social skills, so all voices are being heard. It can be overwhelming for a new teacher. Yet, there is satisfaction in laying the groundwork of self-management skills that will help learners to channel their enthusiasm and curiosity to achieve tasks and overcome obstacles within themselves. Self-management skills require young learners to look deep within their beliefs and actions to determine why and how they do certain things and how to take corrective measures. In this episode, we will examine how self-management provides freedom to take risks and make mistakes in order to become more well-rounded learners.  But first, let's look at some of the skills we as educators need to model, so our learners are able to apply it to their own practice.
The self-management sub-skills help learners to know how to appropriately interact with each other. The social skills are divided into two criteria:
When I look at the sub-skills, I’m actually torn between what is practical and what my heart wants to talk about. I believe organization is at the heart of the early years classroom. It drives what learners can do and their level of independence. Meanwhile, they must also be resilient to constant changes within their environment as they navigate social interactions with others. My head is telling me to focus on organization and I’m sure my heart will follow shortly. I’m going to follow protocol from the social skills and match up what teachers can do to each sub-skill criteria. OrganizationWhen I think of our earliest learners, organization is at the heart of everything we do. We are setting up the systems of the classroom, so they can learn how to maintain and organize them. This is a huge year-long effort on the part of the teacher and team to establish organizational practices that will lead towards independence. It’s not an easy feat, but you can definitely tell the difference in learners and how classrooms function when organization is established. Choose and complete tasks independentlyThe first way to show organization is by supporting our learning in choosing and completing tasks independently. The first thing that comes to my mind is a Reggio Emilia classroom. If you’ve not seen their classroom set-up, look for some images on Google or join their Facebook group. Their classrooms are specifically designed so learners can choose materials and complete tasks independently. Ensure sufficient time for uninterrupted play Our role is to support the learners in becoming self-sufficient young people. To do this, we can reinforce organizational skills by allowing learners uninterrupted time to play, know how to deconstruct and reconstruct materials, how to organize their learning space, and clean up after themselves. They learn at a faster rate when they are given autonomy to explore these concepts on their own and with their peers. Supporting learner agency as an intrinsic motivation for participation Agency is at the heart of getting learners to take ownership of their experiences and responsibilities. By increasing opportunities for learners to demonstrate agency, teachers are increasing student motivation to change. When thinking of organizational skills, learners need agency and time to make mistakes in a safe place. By facing obstacles, they are able learn the best way to operate for themselves in a shared learning space. Follow the directions of othersAnother way of being organized is following the directions of others. It is recognizing that teachers and other adults in the community want learners to succeed, so they provide certain directions to achieve tasks. When these directions are followed, learners can complete tasks quicker and in a more organized fashion. Provide explicit opportunities for learners to practice and develop skills Oftentimes, our learners want to follow directions, but they don’t know how or don’t see the added value. By providing practice through dramatic play and games, the concepts are easier for our youngest learners to understand and apply to their everyday learning situations. It is also a great team building activity and reduces the risk of learners feeling isolated by the teacher while learning to follow directions. Create an atmosphere where learning is viewed as a gradual process Following directions is a gradual process for our early learners. They need to be told and retold a gazillion times how to follow directions, before they are able to replicate the process on their own. It’s easy to get frustrated by the lack of regular and sustained progress. What we need to remember is that we are looking for gradual improvement over time, rather than a fixed ending point. Follow classroom routinesOne more way to demonstrate organization is supporting young learners to follow classroom routines. At this tender age, they are hungry to learn and grow, but they need certain parameters in which to operate. This is the reason that routines are so important. Share a visual timetable and use counting down reminders To make it easier for learners to follow classroom routines easily, we can provide a visual timetable to ensure smoother transitions. A visual schedule can help learners with countdown reminders, so they are focused on achieving certain tasks by the time deadline. It also reduces frustration of trying to beat the clock. Once learners are comfortable with the process of using a visual schedule, they will learn how to manage their time more effectively in order to follow classroom routines. Guide students to develop their ability to self regulate While completing classroom routines, young learners have a tendency to get side-tracked by their thoughts and the actions of others. By using routines, we are trying to get them to increase their working memory and focus. At times, they will get off-task, so how do we redirect to follow the classroom routine? Discrete reminders are my favorite way as we circulate the classroom while students are working independently or in small groups. A big part of this process is supporting the learner's understanding of how to manage their emotions while making choices. We all make mistakes, but we can redirect ourselves back onto course. Share responsibility for decision-makingProvide opportunities to meet as members of a learning group
One possible way is to allow frequent times for learners to meet in a collaborative group. This allows for learners to share the decision-making process within a small group setting, which will translate into the whole group situation. Frequent opportunities to engage with each other will raise questions, test ideas, and form a lasting foundation of conclusions. Involve learners in planning and organizing learning spaces In my opinion, the best way to get learners involved in the process of shared decision-making and allowing them to make the decisions. Sounds easy right? Many educators struggle with what this may look like and the process of making it happen. I think an easy way is having a morning circle and discussing ways to improve the learning space. Remind learners that it’s not always about the fun times, because we all have a responsibility in keeping the classroom organized. This will often take the form of cleaning up materials that you didn’t use, so the classroom community benefits. Nothing hurts the ears more than hearing, “Why do I have to clean it up? I didn’t play with it? This will help to reduce that conversation over time. That’s it for now my friends as I try to apply these ideas to grades 1-6. Social skills are so pertinent in the specialist and supporting classes. They reinforce what is being done in the rest of the school, so we need to find some consistency in modeling them to our students. In this episode, we are trying to examine the social skills that learners need in order to operate within the world. We will be using the same social skills as the grades 1-6, but apply them to our unique roles.  But first, let's look at some of the skills we as educators need to model, so our learners are able to apply it to their own practice.
The social sub-skills help learners to know how to appropriately interact with each other. The social skills are divided into two criteria:
The sub-skill that pops out to me the most is interpersonal relationships. I will only focus on the ones that resonate, but are still a growth area for me. This time, I am matching the learner's social skills with what educators can do to support their learners. We are always trying to find ways to innovate and take learning further! Interpersonal RelationshipsWhen we think about interpersonal relationships, we think of interactions where all people involved are invested in the feelings and needs of others. We will explore different ways that the IB has outlined as building interpersonal relationships. Practice empathy and care for othersEmpathy is one of the hardest things for children and adults to understand. It’s one thing to show compassion to another who is in pain, but it’s another thing to show empathy. Empathy is the ability to see a situation from another’s point of view. This is hard stuff. It requires us to truly listen, observe, and listen some more. “Empathy represents the foundation skill for all the social competencies important for work.” I love this quote by Daniel Goleman, because it highlights how empathy is the foundation of everything we do in the PYP. What teachers can do: Provide explicit opportunities for students to practise and develop these skills Say what? I have to support empathy development in my class too? Yes, siree. We want our learners to see that social skills transcend throughout the school as part of our transdisciplinary approach to learning. How can we possibly do this? Here are some possible ideas:
What teachers can do: Provide opportunities for students to reflect on their social skills. How often are we getting students to reflect on learning and social situations during the day? This is how we grow in our understanding of empathy and how to use appropriate social skills in uncertain situations.
Listen closely to others' perspectives and to instructionsI remember in teacher’s college being taught the difference between hearing and listening. Hearing is the simple act of hearing information coming at us. Listening is the active participation of receiving ideas and giving them value. Simply put, it means to be curious. How do you engage your learners to be actively engaged in listening and developing their curiosity? What teachers can do: Offer students opportunities to see that “other people, with their differences, can also be right”.
What teachers can do: Reflect and feedback on different interactions they observe.
 Advocate for one’s own rights and needs, and those of others.When we are learning social skills, we tend to bumble and violate a lot of cultural norms. This is normal, but sometimes awkward. How do we help our learned to manage these situations with grace, so they don’t repeat them very often?
One way I see a lot of bumbling is when trying to advocate for the rights of self and others. If done without careful thought, it can come off rude, disruptive, or inappropriate. What are we doing to help our learners to know what is the correct way? What teachers can do: Use the language of the learner profile in conversations and discussions, and in the development of essential agreements.
That’s it for now my friends as I try to apply these ideas to specialist and supporting teachers. As you enter the elementary age, there seems to be a trend that I have noticed in nearly two decades of education. The older the learner, the quieter they become in a traditional learning environment. This should not be the case in a PYP classroom, since learners should be posing wonderings, collaborating ideas with others, researching, testing out ideas, and forming conclusions. So, how is it that we are still seeing quiet students in the upper grades? Our learners quickly understand that to be considered a “bright” and “good” student, they know when to speak and when to remain silent. This is part of developing social skills. In some cases, learners are afraid to speak their minds to avoid ramifications from the teacher. So, how do we fix this situation, so all learners are actively engaged in refining their social skill development while demonstrating agency? In this episode, we are trying to examine the social skills that learners need in order to operate within the world.  But first, let's look at some of the skills we as educators need to model, so our learners are able to apply it to their own practice.
The social sub-skills help learners to know how to appropriately interact with each other. The social skills are divided into two criteria:
The sub-skill that pops out to me the most is interpersonal relationships. I will only focus on the ones that resonate, but are still a growth area for me. This time, I am matching the learner's social skills with what educators can do to support their learners. We are always trying to find ways to innovate and take learning further! Interpersonal RelationshipsWhen we think about interpersonal relationships, we think of interactions where all people involved are invested in the feelings and needs of others. We will explore different ways that the IB has outlined as building interpersonal relationships. Practice empathy and care for othersEmpathy is one of the hardest things for children and adults to understand. It’s one thing to show compassion to another who is in pain, but it’s another thing to show empathy. Empathy is the ability to see a situation from another’s point of view. This is hard stuff. It requires us to truly listen, observe, and listen some more. “Empathy represents the foundation skill for all the social competencies important for work.” I love this quote by Daniel Goleman, because it highlights how empathy is the foundation of everything we do in the PYP. What teachers can do: Provide explicit opportunities for students to practice and develop these skills
What teachers can do: Provide opportunities for students to reflect on their social skills.
 Listen closely to others’ perspectives and to instructionsI remember in teacher’s college being taught the difference between hearing and listening. Hearing is the simple act of hearing information coming at us. Listening is the active participation of receiving ideas and giving them value. Simply put, it means to be curious. How do you engage your learners to be actively engaged in listening and developing their curiosity? What teachers can do: Offer students opportunities to see that “other people, with their differences, can also be right”.
What teachers can do: Reflect and feedback on different interactions they observe.
Advocate for one’s own rights and needs, and those of othersWhen we are learning social skills, we tend to bumble and violate a lot of cultural norms. This is normal, but sometimes awkward. How do we help our learned to manage these situations with grace, so they don’t repeat them very often? One way I see a lot of bumbling is when trying to advocate for the rights of self and others. If done without careful thought, it can come off rude, disruptive, or inappropriate. What are we doing to help our learners to know what is the correct way? What teachers can do: Use the language of the learner profile in conversations and discussions, and in the development of essential agreements.
That’s it for now my friends as I try to apply these ideas to specialist and supporting teachers. This past week, I’ve had the experience of helping to take care of my nine month old niece. I’ve been reminded all over again of the natural tendency for young people to want to bond with others. Even without language skills, my niece shows her needs through sounds, body language, and gestures. When she doesn’t get her way, you know it through waving of hands, raised voice, and the distant disgruntled look on her face. As she grows, she will learn how to advocate herself through appropriate social skills. Every time I enter an early years classroom, I feel the same energy. The room is full of young people trying to figure out the correct social cues and behaviors to properly participate in the classroom and school. They make mistakes, they make others cry, they cry, and the cycle repeats itself until self-awareness sets in. This is the magical part of being an early years teacher. You get to watch all of this self-awareness take place and you get to see these young people take more ownership through social skill development. It’s part of creating good humans. “Social development also takes shape in these early years as children are naturally inclined to explore, to discover, to play and to make connections between self, others and their entire surroundings. Through these interactions, children form their perception of themselves and others in the world (Rushton, Juola-Rushton 2010).” PYP Principles into Practice: The Learner (2018).  In this episode, we are trying to examine the social skills that early learners need in order to operate within the world. But first, let's look at some of the skills we as educators need to model, so our learners are able to apply it to their own practice.
The social sub-skills help learners to know how to appropriately interact with each other. The social skills are divided into two criteria:
The sub-skill that pops out to me the most is social and emotional intelligence. This is one of the growing areas for most early learners, since they are just beginning to interact with others outside of their family and home community. This time, I am matching the learner's social skills with what educators can do to support their learners. We are always trying to find ways to innovate and take learning further! Social and emotional intelligenceAs we enter school, we have to learn how to engage with others respectfully, while advocating for our own needs. This process takes a lot of time, reflective practice, and communication. Let's explore some ways that the IB focuses on social and emotional intelligence. Be aware of own and others’ feelingsThis is a challenge for young learners, since they often don’t understand their own feelings and how to express them to others. What teachers can do: Provide opportunities for students to reflect on their social skills.
 Manage anger and resolve conflictFor many learners, they come to school with limited exposure to other children their own age. They have difficulties expressing their feelings, managing their anger, and resolving conflict. What teachers can do: Provide explicit opportunities for students to practice and develop these skills, including (dramatic) play and games.
Be self and socially awareAs an educator, this was always a struggle to get older students to be self and socially aware of their actions. As a coordinator, I noticed that my early years team navigated this with ease. They were able to teach their learners through routines, songs, chants, and within their units, how to be self and socially aware. What teachers can do: Reflect and provide feedback on different interactions and other moments they observe.
What teachers can do: Offer students opportunities for taking perspective.
 Be aware of own and others’ impact as a member of a group Ooh...I think this is the hardest one. Our little people don’t understand fully the impact actions have on a learning community. They are still so me-centric that their point of view is skewed.
What teachers can do: Use the language of the learner profile in conversations and discussions, and in the development of essential agreements.
What teachers can do: Model the social skills and language needed to greet, solve problems, share resources, and so on.
That’s it for now my friends as I try to apply these ideas to grades 1-6. Communication is a complex process, so how do we capture it in a specialist classroom or while receiving additional help with supporting teachers? Just like a homeroom teacher, it requires continual practice in new ways, so students can have those aha moments. This process will take years to develop, so it requires us to constantly chip away at it. When thinking of a specialist class, it’s about making the vocabulary come to life in your context through visuals and experiences. What does it mean to have form in PE, Music, or Visual Arts? This will look completely different, but exploring the variables that affect form over again will help to reinforce this concept. As a supporting teacher, it’s about getting students to use the language of learning at their level and slowly growing the learner’s capacity and access. Your work is repetitive. We appreciate this work, because it’s during the small group sessions with you that students are able to make connections in their communication development.  Just a reminder my friends that there are many things that a teacher can do to set the stage for communication to come alive in the classroom. Here are some tips:
Now, let’s zoom into one of the communication sub-skills to see how we can immediately apply it to our practice. I chose a sub-skill that can be malleable to all specialists and supporting teachers. Information and Communications Technology (ICT)When we think of communication skills, we naturally consider how to use information and technology to help us better understand our world. The IB outlines certain skills that learners need in order to leverage their ICT skills. The impact of media representations and modes of presentationIn your classes, students are eager to show what they know. The academic rigor in your learning situations is the same, but the way it’s presented can be more accessible to learners. How are we getting learners to access and understand media messages through your course lens or objective? I think this would be fascinating. For some reason, I see a video in my mind of the effects on health and weight management. It’s amazing how powerful an image or video can make to motivate and clarify misunderstandings of what is healthy. Most kids think a bag of hot chips and donuts at lunch everyday is “healthy” as long as they eat their sandwich and fruit. When they are able to have these aha moments, do they get to present them to the group somehow? In a science lab, if they learn the difference between a mixture and solution by doing media research and experiments, how can they show what they know to the rest of the class? Are we allowing students to be co-presenters of the learning experience? Make informed choices about modes of communication Communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and modalitiesAll teachers can use this as a vehicle for creating effective messages. It’s all about showing a variety of communication strategies and tools that learners can transfer to a new situation. This is always our goal. It’s about being intentional that we use multimodal strategies on a daily basis to provide repeated exposure. It’s that simple.
You would think communication is so easy, but it’s been one of the most challenging ATLs for me to uncover so far. I think it’s because communication is more than expressing one's ideas. It’s about the audience, how your message is received, and how to respond. Then, we layer on media messages, it goes into a deep place with multiple possibilities. In this episode, I am going against the norm and choosing a different ATL than the early years. It spoke more to me as an upper elementary teacher. One of the things I struggled the most with my students was getting them to analyze and interpret information and connect to their own lives. This is a difficult thing for most adults to do, so imagine being an eight year old trying to tackle it. When I think of communication skills, I naturally see learners trying to make meaning of what is being presented to them. At this age, they are trying to determine if the message is clear and usually there are many misconceptions along the way. This is why learning how to communicate and deciphering the message of communication is so important.  Just a reminder my friends that there are many things that a teacher can do to set the stage for communication to come alive in the classroom. Here are some tips:
Now, let’s zoom into one of the communication sub-skills to see how we can immediately apply it to our practice. Interpreting What does it mean to interpret information? How do we know if our interpretation is not correct? These are questions we pose to our learners to get them to think deeper about the information they are processing. Interpret visual, audio and oral communicationWhen you consider this task, it requires a lot of scaffolding on the part of the teacher to help their learners to understand the meaning and symbolism of a text and sounds. It’s about presenting the same type of information over again, in a non rote memorization way, that will help students to grasp these concepts. We usually think of beginning readers when we hear sound and symbol relationship and often focus on other areas such as fluency and comprehension. I’ve often been fascinated why a child in third grade can’t read. Could it be that they were close to understanding, but teachers deemed they were “old enough” to know how to read, so they stopped the support? I don’t know. What do you think?  Understand the ways in which images and language convey ideasI have always loved using images, audio, video, and personal experiences to convey a message to my students. I guess it’s because this is how I learn best. The beautiful thing about this process is the meaning can be different for individual students based on their life experiences and schema of the world. I find this process fascinating. By presenting visual cues, we are able to help shape meaning of language for our students. I love watching developing writers have aha moments and furiously seek the words to express what it means to them. This is how we shape our understanding of the world and recognize the importance of bias, power, and control. Recognize the meaning of kinesthetic communicationBody language is equally perplexing at times. I can recognize the typical glazed over look in the eyes when the information is too much or over heads. Crossed arms and heads down is equally recognizable. What is more difficult is understanding what is going on deep in the mind while the body is calm and collected. This is a tad bit harder. I think learners can easily recognize when their teacher or peers are disgruntled or disconnected with tasks. They struggle to understand the subtext of emotions through body language. We need to expose them to different types of body language and what it may mean, so they don’t inadvertently offend or hurt others through their lack of understanding. Be aware of cultural differences when communicatingThis is where open-mindedness comes to life. When culture enters the picture, we need to be highly aware of our differences and similarities. Culture shapes how we see the world. Naturally, we need to teach our learners how to recognize these differences and to interpret the meaning. Sometimes, we may not fully understand how others receive our message, so the only thing we can do is craft our message that reflects cultural sensitivity.
This episode really stretched me, because these are hard to do. As an adult, it can be difficult to read into the context of communication exchange. We often misread the message, which leads to a lot of confusion and mess. Imagine being a young child navigating this landscape. All we can do is consistently support this development and hope it sticks. I’m also a struggling PYP educator like everyone else trying to grasp it all. If anyone has any suggestions, please post them on my Twitter @thinkchat2020 or LinkedIn @Lu Gerlach. I would love to expand and grow in this area too. When I think of communication skills, I can’t help but think of you early years teachers. Our youngest learners are so curious about the world around them that they want to continuously ask questions, add comments to the learning topic, and make connections to their everyday lives. At times, it can be overwhelming the sheer amount of questions that early learners ask, but isn’t it beautiful at the same time? They have such interest in the world around them and they don’t have problems voicing their ideas or opinions. In this episode, we are going to examine the communication skills that our young learners need to be able to harness their message and provide ideas in a logical manner.  But first, let's look at some of the skills we as educators need to model, so our learners are able to apply it to their own practice.
The communication sub-skills help us to see a broader picture about how we can communicate in a variety of ways.
Just like last time, we will take a deeper look at the sub-skill criteria and see how we might break it down, so it’s easier for students to access. ListeningAs an early years teacher, one of the key skills we establish is listening. Our learners know how to speak about many things, but it's a bit harder to stop and truly listen to the ideas and passions of someone else. Here are so ideas on how to deepen this practice. Listen to informationThis seems like a natural thing for young humans to do. Yet, it takes a great deal of restraint on the part of our youngest learners to truly listen, not hear, each other. They are so eager to share and connect that listening is truly a skill they must require. Listening requires young learners to listen for inflection in tone and vocal pauses. They often misunderstand these parts of communication, which often results in them interrupting a conversation inadvertently. How do we get our youngest learners to listen? They must engage in skills that build their listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills to become better. This is what balanced literacy means. How do we do it? I think this is completely up to the teacher, but one thing I’d reinforce is the balanced approach to literacy in learning stations, small group work, and activity centers. The repeated chance to play with these skills will only allow our young people to become better communicators.  Listen actively and respectfully to others’ ideasI have made my fair share of mistakes when engaging with young learners. You have to be careful in how you phrase certain questions, because all of the class will be answering at once. You know what I mean. In my limited experience with these fabulous young people, they just want to be heard and seen. They need to be taught the various ways to communicate with others in whole and small group settings. I’ve seen a lot of educators assume they know how to manage themselves until chaos erupts. I think role plays make a huge difference in these situations. It allows learners to understand different social cues without being affronted personally. They are playing a part in a play about someone who is not listening and ways they can correct their behavior. I know that this strategy is old school, but I have found it works wonders. Ask for clarificationsGetting students to advocate for themselves is one of the hardest things I’ve struggled with as an educator. They would rather go to the dentist and get teeth pulled than tell you they need clarification or they don’t understand something. Thankfully, most of our early learners don’t yet have the social pressures attached to their learning. They just need support in advocating for their needs. They often don’t know how to advocate, which is the struggle.
One thing I’ve used with students is colored cards (red, yellow, and green) that represent the traffic light. I ask them to hold up the color that shows if they understand how to do something. If this is not available, I have them use their thumbs up, down, and sideways. I still struggle with getting young learners to share what they need. They don’t mind tattling on someone else, but they often won’t tell you about themselves. Well that wasn’t so bad. Join us next time as we explore some social skills. Welcome back my specialist and supporting teacher friends. Sorry for the delay the past few weeks, but I’ve been busy preparing for my school’s verification visit in less than a month. I’ve been working crazy hours, but I’m still trying to make some time for the things I love, like being here with you and sharing more ideas. When I think of research skills, it’s more than looking something up on a computer or book. It’s more about what we do with the information after we have received it. Since it can be more labor intensive and cerebral, I think many teachers just pass it off as completing a research project. Today, we are going to explore how we can take it a step further. If you are a coordinator, you will see many parts are the same, because they can apply to all teachers. We will diversify a bit as we examine the sub-skills.  When I read this list, many ideas pop into my mind. First, we need to be intentional when planning inquiries to have a research focus. That seems obvious, right? Not so much, if you are focused on getting content taught. Being mindful is key with the ATLs. How are we providing a range of tools, so students can research on their own and self-select based on the purpose of the inquiry? Yikes, this sounds huge at first, but this could simply be presenting 5-7 visible thinking routines to our students and graphic organizers and teaching them how to self-select based on purpose. Hmm...that sounds doable. The key is to have all of these processes formally and informally documented, so the student is able to talk through it with their parents at the end of the year. When we are teaching explicit research skills, we need to teach them about reliable sources and which search engines are vetted. Oftentimes, fake news is taken to be real. This is our chance to teach them how to vet these sources and accredit them through proper citations. We don’t have to do this process alone, because we have our librarian and technology specialist to lend a hand too. Now, what will the students be doing during this time? Let’s take a peek at the sub-skills they will be focusing on to become more independent researchers.
Now, let’s take a deeper look at one of the ATL sub-skills  Synthesizing and InterpretingWe like to truly understand what we are learning, which is why we like to synthesize and interpret information. If you're like me, you might do this too much. But, this process helps us to internalize information to create meaning. Sort and categorize informationThis sub-skill is more directed at our supporting teachers who work with our special populations. You may be pushing into the classroom experience and this may be something to consider as you target certain types of texts. I will try to provide examples of ways I’ve also seen some specialists use them in their practice. NarrativeHow are we teaching the form and structure of a narrative text to our students? Are we solely teaching the plot diagram and character traits? There is so much more to narrative than that. How are we examining the language used to create a mood? Can we capture events in our mind that give a sense of time and space? How are we capturing voice?
ExplanatoryAn information report can be dry and formulaic. How can we ignite passion when writing and reading these types of texts? We can use visible thinking routines to help us look at information differently. Use graphic organizers and other visuals to help us sort and categorize information. The possibilities are endless.
ProceduralWhen setting up this type of text, we can use a lot of visuals to help us sort and categorize information. We can have sequence cards to help students understand the step by step nature of this writing. But is there more? I think something that would be more powerful is having a sorting activity that goes to the heart of why procedural texts are important and how they organize our world. What that looks like will depend on you and your students.
Data HandlingThis last one can be examined by both specialist and supporting teachers, because it can be applied to any situation or topic. It’s about how we use it to get the best results from our students. Here are ways I’ve noticed specialist and supporting teachers use data handling
Use critical literacy skills to analyze and interpret informationI feel like we embedded this process into the above examples. The key is how are we going beyond the factual content and getting students to take more ownership of the thinking? How are they researching with the purpose to not only obtain new information, but understand and apply it? This can only happen through open-ended questioning, use of a variety of reflection tools and formative assessments, and specific direct instruction that creates aha moments.
Let’s try to be better at making the ATL research skills a more vibrant part of our teaching, rather than a formulaic process of gathering information. Research is not one-size fits all. Welcome back my elementary friends. Sorry for the delay the past few weeks, but I’ve been busy preparing for my school’s verification visit in less than a month. I’ve been working crazy hours, but I’m still trying to make some time for the things I love, like being here with you and sharing more ideas. When I think of research skills, it’s more than looking something up on a computer or book. It’s more about what we do with the information after we have received it. Since it can be more labor intensive and cerebral, I think many teachers just pass it off as completing a research project. Today, we are going to explore how we can take it a step further.  When we are preparing the learning space for research, we need to consider our purpose. There are several things that we can do as educators to set the stage for research to become a routine practice within our units of inquiry. We can…
When I read this list, many ideas pop into my mind. First, we need to be intentional when planning inquiries to have a research focus. That seems obvious, right? Not so much, if you are focused on getting content taught. Being mindful is key with the ATLs. How are we providing a range of tools, so students can research on their own and self-select based on the purpose of the inquiry? Yikes, this sounds huge at first, but this could simply be presenting 5-7 visible thinking routines to our students and graphic organizers and teaching them how to self-select based on purpose. Hmm...that sounds doable. The key is to have all of these processes formally and informally documented, so the student is able to talk through it with their parents at the end of the year.  When we are teaching explicit research skills, we need to teach them about reliable sources and which search engines are vetted. Oftentimes, fake news is taken to be real. This is our chance to teach them how to vet these sources and accredit them through proper citations. We don’t have to do this process alone, because we have our librarian and technology specialist to lend a hand too. Now, what will the students be doing during this time? Let’s take a peek at the sub-skills they will be focusing on to become more independent researchers.
Now, let’s take a deeper look at one of the ATL sub-skills Synthesizing and InterpretingWe like to truly understand what we are learning, which is why we like to synthesize and interpret information. If you're like me, you might do this too much. But, this process helps us to internalize information to create meaning. Sort and categorize informationThis first one is quite deep, so I’m going to try and deconstruct to the best of my ability. NarrativeHow are we teaching the form and structure of a narrative text to our students? Are we solely teaching the plot diagram and character traits? There is so much more to narrative than that. How are we examining the language used to create a mood? Can we capture events in our mind that give a sense of time and space? How are we capturing voice? ExplanatoryAn information report can be dry and formulaic. How can we ignite passion when writing and reading these types of texts? We can use visible thinking routines to help us look at information differently. Use graphic organizers and other visuals to help us sort and categorize information. The possibilities are endless. ProceduralWhen setting up this type of text, we can use a lot of visuals to help us sort and categorize information. We can have sequence cards to help students understand the step by step nature of this writing. But is there more? I think something that would be more powerful is having a sorting activity that goes to the heart of why procedural texts are important and how they organize our world. What that looks like will depend on you and your students. Data HandlingRecently, I modeled a lesson about data sets and how dot plots help us to organize and structure the information. This was an aha for the students to know that dot plots have a purpose and they aren’t just something on a test. Then, we applied our thinking to connect to a frequency table. These are the connections we want to make when using data. Use critical literacy skills to analyze and interpret informationI feel like we embedded this process into the above examples. The key is how are we going beyond the factual content and getting students to take more ownership of the thinking? How are they researching with the purpose to not only obtain new information, but understand and apply it? This can only happen through open-ended questioning, use of a variety of reflection tools and formative assessments, and specific direct instruction that creates aha moments.
Let’s try to be better at making the ATL research skills a more vibrant part of our teaching, rather than a formulaic process of gathering information. Research is not one-size fits all. Welcome back my early years friends. Sorry for the delay the past few weeks, but I’ve been busy preparing for my school’s verification visit in less than a month. I’ve been working crazy hours, but my head has still been a buzz with ideas regarding early years. When I think of our earliest learners, I naturally think of research skills. They are naturally curious about the world around them and are constantly exploring through play. By asking questions, testing out theories, and collaborating with others, they are researching how the world works. This is why early years are such a magical time in school.  As we are thinking of formal research skills, we know there are some things that teachers can do to invite this deeper thinking into the classroom. Teachers can:
When I look at this list, I think about how an early years classroom and schedule are designed. If learning “content” is the focus, then we lose out on all of the wonderings that students will answer through playful exploration. By allowing for sufficient time for uninterrupted play, our learners drive their journey through tinkering and making connections between ideas. Isn’t this how we learn best? Once learners have experienced sufficient time to tinker, they are able to formulate ideas to share with others. This is so important, so they can apply their thinking in a variety of ways to make generalizations. As educators, we enter to model the processes, challenge misconceptions, and acknowledge where ideas come from. Imagine if this was your class. Would you be excited to go to school everyday? I certainly would. But, when I entered the building, how would I know how to seek information on my own? The IB has designed the research ATLs to be the guide to this process. Let’s take a look at the various sub-skills.
Just like last time, we will take a deeper look at the sub-skill criteria and see how we might break it down, so it’s easier for students to access.  Synthesizing and interpretingWe like to truly understand what we are learning, which is why we like to synthesize and interpret information. If you're like me, you might do this too much. But, this process helps us to internalize information to create meaning. Sort and categorize information and materialsWhen I am thinking of sorting and categorizing information, a thousand ways pop into my head. Let’s take a look at a few of them that go beyond matching games or sorting into Venn diagrams. One of my kinder teachers presented a lesson where she was reviewing the needs of plants. The learners were given various parts of a plant and asked to sort them onto a paper in proper sequence. As she talked through the needs of plants, students were able to independently identify that roots were on the bottom. When I questioned their thinking, they were able to compare the roots to our mouth drinking a glass of water. This is where we know that students are able to sort and categorize information. In one of my pre-kinder classes, the students were given pan scales and were asked to make predictions based on the weight of an object. Students were given certain roles (partner A or B) and were given objects to compare. Before the second object was placed in the pan, they were asked to verbalize their predictions using a sentence stem. The teacher referred back to a prior activity where they learn about lighter and heavier objects. These engagements are an example of research skills, because students are testing their ideas based on prior knowledge, making predictions, creating a test, analyzing the results, and making conclusions on their learning. These engagements set the stage for future learning. Analyze and interpret informationMy favorite engagement that comes to mind was in a kindergarten class in Germany. The class was completing an invitation to inquiry to make predictions about the new unit. They participated in five different stations and debriefed by making connections between each station.
In one of the stations, students were blowing air through a straw and comparing the distance that objects traveled. Some objects used were feathers, cotton balls, and marbles to name a few. The fascinating part was when a learner was able to articulate that the weight of an object greatly impacts how far it would go. She could see that it took a lot of energy to move a marble and quite little to move a feather. This is a huge concept for a little child. When we are analyzing and interpreting information, we are trying to figure out how it works and why it works that way. This is the power of play in action to research and explore the world around us. I think there are endless possibilities with developing research skills through play. It’s about if we are willing to test them out and shift our view of what “research” looks like in the early years. Thanks for joining, be sure to check out our next early years session in episode 54. Hello to my friends who work with learners in the entire school. You have such a special role in touching many, if not all, of the students in your school. With that, comes a unique challenge to get learners to better understand the learning in your classes and give them the tools to become more independent thinkers.  Welcome to this episode my friends that has been crafted just for our specialist and supporting teachers. Ever since the transdisciplinary challenge, I’ve been seeking ways to include you more in the process. In the past, we have been talking about a lot of topics that can be applied to any grade level and situation. As we get into the approaches to learning and teaching, we need to start to diversify to meet your needs. When I think of the ATLs, you naturally come to mind. You can easily apply the ATLs to your discipline or role, because your aim is to grow the level of independence within your learners. For specialists, you need to start thinking of how to wrap the skill development with your content focus. For supporting teachers, you need to start thinking about the learning objectives you have for your learners and how to pair them with the ATLs. In this episode, we are going to examine the ATL thinking skills from your viewpoint. We will refer to PYP From Principles into Practice: Learning and Teaching from pages 26-38, since these are the more advanced learning situations you will encounter. As we previously discussed, you set the tone for everything that happens during your time with the various learners in your school. What teachers do to set the stage for thinking skills to thrive
When I look at this list, I can get overwhelmed by all of the requirements placed on me while getting learners to understand their role in developing thinking skills. Then, I take a step back and think about the PYP structure in our units of inquiry. We are always encouraged to only pick 2-3 to focus on with our learners for the length of our unit. Since we do this with our learners, why are we not doing it for ourselves? This list is a success criteria for us to strive to make goals to better our practice. The thinking skills that students will demonstrate come under the sub-skill of critical and creative thinking. Critical thinking has the following sub-skill criteria:
Creative thinking has the following sub-skill criteria:
Now, we’re going to take a deeper look at one of the sub-skills and how we might approach using it with our learners. I chose the same ATL sub-skill for all teachers, because it allows coordinators to see how they can be applied in different ways. Considering new perspectivesAsk “what if” questions and generate testable hypotheses
If we get learners to begin “What if”, it naturally sets the stage for more agency and inquiry in our classrooms. Students will soon be pairing two unlikely things together and testing out their hypotheses. Specialist/Supporting Teacher
Apply existing knowledge to design new products processes, media and technologies This process can be replicated by allowing your learners to innovate better ways to use existing products, processes, media, and technologies. Specialist/Supporting Teacher
Consider multiple alternatives, including those that might be unlikely or impossible Allow students to consider ideas from multiple perspectives and make connections through unlikely pairings. Specialist/Supporting Teacher
Practice flexible thinking—develop multiple opposing, contradictory and complementary arguments Learners hunger to talk things out. What a better way to get them thinking by posing contradictory and complementary arguments. This means you pose a situation and learners but either defend or oppose it. Specialist/Supporting Teacher
Practice “visible thinking” strategies and techniques Muscle memory comes to mind when I think of Harvard’s Project Zero visible thinking routines, Muscle memory is the process of conditioning the brain through regular repetition and hands-on learning that ideas get hardwired to the brain. We want our learners to re-use the routines regularly. Specialist/Supporting Teacher
Generate metaphors and analogies If you’re like me, I get metaphors, similes, and analogies mixed up. I think this example will help to clarify it in your mind.
We use this figurative language to get learners to make unlikely connections between objects and to be able to explain their thinking in a different way. Whew, my brain is done after unpacking all of these ideas. See you in episode 53 as we unpack the research skills. Hello to my friends who work with students in grades 1-6. If you don’t teach these grades, please refer to episode 48 for grades PK-K and episode 50 for specialist and supporting teachers.  Welcome to this episode my friends who teach primary/elementary aged students. We are going to take a deep dive today into the thinking skills to help you broaden your understanding and help to unpack one completely. My aim is to get you to start thinking differently about the ATLs; not as an add-on to the program. In this episode, we are going to examine the ATL thinking skills from your viewpoint. We will refer to PYP From Principles into Practice: Learning and Teaching from pages 26-38. As we previously discussed, the teacher sets the tone for everything in the classroom from agency, inquiry, and the ATLs. They must consider their role in making the ATLs come to life in their classrooms. What teachers do to set the stage for thinking skills to thrive
When I look at this list, I can get overwhelmed by all of the requirements placed on me while getting learners to understand their role in developing thinking skills. Then, I take a step back and think about the PYP structure in our units of inquiry. We are always encouraged to only pick 2-3 to focus on with our learners for the length of our unit. Since we do this with our learners, why are we not doing it for ourselves? This list is a success criteria for us to strive to make goals to better our practice. Are you breathing easier now? When I do look at this list, my main goal is to explicitly ask learners to discuss and reflect on the value and limitations of the resources used through their inquiries. This makes me take a step back, because it’s quite deep. If I’m interpreting it correctly, I think we need to get our students to reflect regularly on the steps/things that are slowing down their inquiry process. It may be technology, access to reading materials, access to experts, group dynamics, and so forth. If they are regularly reflecting, they can better identify the issue and make a correction. I still need to work on this definition, but this is a doable starting point for me. It might still be quite overwhelming for you, so begin with something else. Remember a goal is to stretch you, not kill you. The thinking skills that students will demonstrate come under the sub-skill of critical and creative thinking. Critical thinking has the following sub-skill criteria:
Creative thinking has the following sub-skill criteria:
Now, we’re going to take a deeper look at one of the sub-skills and how we might approach teaching it to our learners. I chose this same ATL sub-skill for early years and specialist and supporting teachers, because it allows coordinators to see how they can be applied in different ways. As students get older, they want to become more a part of the designing process. Consider unpacking these ATLs at the beginning of the unit after you’ve introduced the topic. Ask students to help you choose which ATLs should be used in the unit. Then, they are using them as success criteria and creating goals. Once again, we are not covering all of them, but rather using them as a choice menu. Hmm...I really like this idea. Considering new perspectivesAsk “what if” questions and generate testable hypotheses
For example: I taught my fourth graders about mixtures and solutions. To test their understanding, I gave them a random box of materials to show their thinking. By the end, students were wearing sleeping masks to better understand the difference between a mixture and solution. This all came from asking “What if” questions. Apply existing knowledge to design new products processes, media and technologies
Consider multiple alternatives, including those that might be unlikely or impossible
We want our learners to think beyond the superficial connections that exist, because this is where learning is hardwired to long-term memory. They will be able to look at any two isolated ideas and be able to make a connection between them. This is a skill that is developed over many years with repeated practice. Practice flexible thinking—develop multiple opposing, contradictory and complementary arguments
Practice “visible thinking” strategies and techniques
Generate metaphors and analogies If you’re like me, I get metaphors, similes, and analogies mixed up. I think this example will help to clarify it in your mind.
We use this figurative language to get learners to make unlikely connections between objects and to be able to explain their thinking in a different way. Hello to my early years friends who work with students in PK-K. If you don’t teach these grades, please refer to episode 49 for grades 1-6 and episode 50 for specialist and supporting teachers. Welcome to this episode my early years friends. I’ve long thought about how to create for you my early years teachers. I think going forward, we are going to need to adapt the learning for you, since we are getting past some of the ideas that are applicable to any age level.  As a PYP Coordinator, I’ve come to truly appreciate the amazing things you accomplish in the early years. It’s quite remarkable. You lay the foundation so all other understanding can happen and many people don’t realize the scale of impact you truly create. In this episode, we are going to examine the ATL thinking skills from your viewpoint. We will refer to PYP From Principles into Practice: The Learner from pages 15-19. As we previously discussed, the teacher sets the tone for everything in the classroom from agency, inquiry, and the ATLs. They must consider their role in making the ATLs come to life in their classrooms. As I look at the teacher support requirement for the thinking skills development, I see many of the same things you are doing already, but the IB put a label on it. What teachers do to set the stage for thinking skills to thrive
As I read this, I wonder how many teachers really take a moment to access how they are establishing true thinking to occur in their classrooms. I know most early years teachers are brilliant at thinking aloud, so I know they are modeling the language of thinking. I witness open-ended questioning and offer open-ended materials. The areas I think may be a growth area are providing sufficient thinking time, providing opportunities for reflection throughout inquiries, and co-creating and reflecting on individual learning goals. This takes time and more time. Take a moment to think about your schedule, are you struggling to find time to fit these in? Like everything else, they must be included on the unit planner and made a part of the learning process or they’ll be continuously put on the back burden for the next unit and the one after that. The thinking skills that students will demonstrate come under the sub-skill of critical and creative thinking. Critical thinking has the following sub-skill criteria:
Creative thinking has the following sub-skill criteria:
The thing I like about the early years ATLs, they have simplified the skills to be more age appropriate for the students you teach. Here’s a deeper dive into one of the thinking skills. Considering New Perspectives1. Seek information
Our early learners are always seeking new information. After all, their favorite question is “Why?” How do we harness their curiosity into a way to seek information? I think one way to help them is to provide a graphic that shows how we can find new information on an iPad, in a book, in the library, and other people, etc.. This allows them to know the proper channels on how to seek and obtain information on their own. 2. Consider alternative solutions, including those that might be unlikely or impossible, in play and other situations Play is the best vehicle for creating new ideas. Through social interactions with each other, it’s magical to see our early learners share their thinking and correct prior thinking independently. One of my favorite ways to get them thinking differently is through role-play. By taking on a character, they are able to see ideas through a new lens and become more open to the thinking of others. 3. Ask “what if” questions Our youngest learners come to school with tons of questions in their mind, which all begin with “Why?” They are so curious about understanding how things work and their implications, but “Why?” requires someone else to provide the connection. One variation to “Why?” is having them shift towards “What if?” Now, they are given more ownership of the learning process and are charged to figure it out on their own or with learning partners. 4. Practice some “visible thinking” routines One of the hardest things for all learners is figuring out how learning is connected. Harvard’s Project Zero visible thinking routines do just that and provide a way for learners to make unexpected connections. Notice, the IB does not recommend a list of routines that must be used, because it largely depends on the context and purpose. If you are just starting out with using visible thinking routines, I’d suggest you begin with the Core Thinking Routines found at http://www.pz.harvard.edu/thinking-routines Well my friends, this gives you some context of the thinking skills from the lens of the early years. I hope you found some food for thought and look forward to exploring research skills with you next in episode 51. For this episode, I thought I would do a deeper dive into the IB documentation to get a better gauge of the ATL structure. To be honest, I’m still developing my understanding of these valuable tools. Prior to 2018, I was selecting one of the ATL categories (thinking, research, communication, social, and self-management) as the focus in the unit with little plan on how to execute it. I struggled as a teacher to make them come alive and find practical ways to make them accessible for students. Then, the enhancements happened and a light bulb went on in my head. The IB decided to provide specific ways to teach each of the categories and my eyes became hungry for ways to use them more authentically.  I don’t know if you know this, but this is the goal of the ATLs (PYP From Principles into Practice: Learning and Teaching pg. 28) Self-regulated learners are agents of their own learning. They know how to:
Okay folks, how many of you knew that this was the goal of the ATLs? To be honest, I haven’t read the fine print before, but I like it. I think this is the goal of any PYP educator who is trying to create agentic learners. We just need to reprogram our brains that the ATLs help us to achieve this goal, instead of a separate compartment in the PYP planning process. Now, I have a picture in my brain of the ATLs as another subject in your transdisciplinary program that must be taught explicitly across the content areas. Ooh...I knew there was a reason we needed to focus on the ATLs right now. Structure of the ATLsWhen you go into the ATLs section of PYP From Principles into Practice: Learning and Teaching, you will find there are some unique characteristics of the ATLs. Category: One of the five main big categories of skills to be studied (thinking, research, communication, social, and self-management) Sub-Skills: these are the skills that are to be explored under each category. The numbers vary for each category, but there is a short description of their purpose to shape the learning objective, so you can determine which ones will best match with the content and concept objectives of the unit. Sub-Skill Criteria: these are the tangible skills that students may do to understand the sub-skill and main category. They vary in number and depth of exploration. From my understanding, you are not required to cover all of them in a unit. Just like the learner profile and concepts, you’ll have a chance to revisit them through the years. This sounds wonderful in theory, but what does this mean in my current unit of inquiry? I’m so glad you brought that up, because I want to break this down into a concrete example. Remember, context is everything when choosing the ATLs. We will not go over how to choose them for a unit right now, rather, we will focus on how to use the structure of ones that have been previously chosen. From Category to Sub-Skill CriteriaFor ease, I’m going to start with the first one in the guide. Category: Thinking Skills Sub-Skill: Critical Thinking: Analyzing and evaluating issues and ideas, and forming decisions Right here, you can see this is about really diving deep into issues and forming opinions. You want to make sure that this is the focus of your ELA content standards when choosing this one or it will be extra work on top of what you are already doing. Let’s avoid that at all cost, so we can work smarter, not harder. Sub-Skill Criteria: this is what students will do to show they understand the sub-skill of critical thinking Analyzing
The purpose of this episode is not to examine the thinking skills, rather the structure of the ATLs. We will do that shortly. So, let’s look at it from a different lens. If I’m choosing this sub-skill criteria, I want to make sure that all parts fit into the scope of my unit of inquiry and the content standards. If they work well together, you are good to go. From Choosing Sub-Skills to TeachingWe are now zooming into just ONE sub-skill criteria under ANALYZING.
Sub-Skill Criteria: Take knowledge of ideas apart by separating them into component parts I can teach this through…
Doesn’t this look like something we are already doing? Hmm...I believe it is! The most important step is to explicitly connect the sub-skill criteria with the content you are teaching, as you do with the lines of inquiry and central idea. This will help them to make generalizations. I think that is enough for now my friends. Take a peek at the ATL sub-skills in your units of inquiry and see if you have a clear plan on how you are teaching them. This is the goal for the 2021-22 with my staff. In the next topic, we will have three episodes to support early years, grades 1-5, and specialist and supporting teachers. Depending on your role, you will determine which one is the right fit for you. If you’re like me, you’ll listen to all, because you want to make sure you don’t miss out on anything. Welcome to our new series on the approaches to learning. My brain is a bit toasty after the transdisciplinary challenge, but don’t you feel pumped? I really enjoyed going through that experience, because it really helped me think differently about transdisciplinary learning. I hope it helped you too. Now, we are giving our brains a slight reprieve. I shouldn’t say that, because you may think our next series is going to be easy peasy. You should know better by now that my easy is usually someone else’s medium hot! I’m excited to explore the approaches to learning or (ATLs), because they have been historically the most undervalued part of the program. My opinion only, but, I have seen such improvement with usage since the PYP enhancements in 2018. Who are the ATLs for? Which teachers can use them? How do we use them? These questions will be explored in this episode.  Approaches to Learning 101I absolutely love the ATLs and I’m super excited to delve into them further to figure out different ways we can use them. I’m sure I’ll have to make some graphics to make the learning come alive for me, so watch this space for a guide announcement. It’s coming shortly. Just a reminder, the ATLs and the Learner Profile attributes are the two components of the IB program that follows a child from grades PK to 12. They might look differently based on the development of a child, but their purpose is universal. The primary goal of the ATLs is to create independent thinkers who are able to think, reason, and apply skills to multiple learning situations. This is a challenge, since so many children struggle to remember content and skill acquisition from prior years. How do they work?ATLs are divided into five categories: thinking, research, communication, social, and self-management skills. Within each domain, they have categories and sub-skills that target the learning. We are going to take our time to examine each domain and uncover their skills and what they mean. I’m absolutely obsessed with the revised ATLs, because they provide a clear road map to read the learning target, while providing flexibility on how to get there. Once again, we are going nice and slow to explore and play around each category. Whether you are a novice or experienced PYP educator, you should find new ideas you haven't considered. Spoiler alert: I’m going to provide some tips and tools on how to use the various sub-skills. Remember, our goal is to create independent thinkers, so the students must do the heavy lifting while acquiring the skills, so they can remember it. I’m going to practice with some tools to get you ready. Do I hear minor challenge activities for you to try out and implement in your classrooms or schools? Why, yes you do. The Early Learner (PK-K) For the early years teachers, you can find the ATLs in the guide PYP From Principles into Practice: The Learner on pages 15-19. The section highlights what teachers must do to set the stage for learning to happen. I think this part is often skipped, because we want to see the objectives for the students. A reminder that you are the most important part in making the ATLs happen in your classroom. Slow down and read the parts about you first. Here’s what teachers must do to encourage thinking skills:
This sets the stage for inquiry to naturally happen in our classroom without heavy planning. Grades 1-6For grades 1-6, we follow the same protocol. Your ATLs are found in the guide PYP From Principles into Practice: Learning and Teaching on pages 26-37. The section is set-up in the same way, but the ideas are more expanded to meet the developmental needs of the students. Regardless of age, the ATLs really help the students to dig deeper into their own learning. Here’s what teachers must do to bring about thinking skills
My mini-challengeMy mini-challenge to you this week is to take a look at the beginning part of the ATL descriptors and what teachers must do. Examine the five categories and identify 1-2 areas that are still a growth area for you. Commit to them and try to find strategies on how to accomplish them as we go through this ATL series.
I had to throw a challenge in there somehow. Once you start, you can’t stop! |
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