This year, I wanted allow my learners to create all of the systems and wall displays.  Of course, I guided them somewhat, but most of the thinking and doing was their work.  They decided where the work would be placed and how it would be evidenced.

It's definitely not perfect by any means. This is not a benchmark standard.  If anything, every classroom should look differently to meet the needs of their learners.  

The one thing that I celebrated was that my learners could speak to our unit journey.  They were able to connect how learning engagements connected to different lines of inquiry.  This is the dream. ​

​Essential agreements are usually one of the first things that I implement in my classroom.  They are the "rules" that the class lives by and reflects upon on a regular basis.  

One thing I learned from Kath Murdoch is to keep them short and few in number.  Put them in language that kids will understand and be able to apply.  This is imperative. 

Then, learners vote for their favorite ones.  The top five go on my essential agreemnts list.  Because my learners created and voted for them, they are more than likely going to follow them.  When they make mistakes, they will more than likely accept the consequence.  Why?  Because they had agency in writing them. 

I heard: Rules before relationships equals rebellion.  This is a tool that helps to build the class relationship.  The learners do all of the thinking and decision-making.  I am just a facilitator of the process.  I have no voice. 

​Truly genius. 

This is my list of essential agreements from my classroom.  They are posted on my door.  

Who decides? 

This is a simple, but powerful question.  Who decides how a classroom will be designed? 

The simple answer, the learners decide and the teacher complies.

This is how my classroom looked when learners walked through the door.  

This is the first time I had the courage to do this.  What helped was a supportive school leader that trusted my vision. 

The key difference between the PYP and PBL is the learning focus.  The PYP is centered on transdisciplinary learning where we teach all subjects to create a comprehensive view on learning.  While PBL is looking at the merits of collaborative learning and how it helps learners to come up with innovative new ideas. 

Both approaches are centered on developing a learner who can see beyond the content to make real-world applications.  We do this through regular feedback of how we are doing at a moment in time, give feedforward to move toward the next steps, provide opportunities to reflect and revise the thinking. 

The PYP is now more balanced in approach to assessment.  There is less emphasis on a summative project, where PBL has a public product for each unit.  The PYP has gone away from this approach towards more frequent formative assessments and a minor summative of the central idea.

As I review these two programs, we can see that there are more similarities than differences.  The key factor is that it is learner-driven and focused on developing young people who can think beyond the required content.  

​Hey there, wonderful people! It's your host, Lu Gerlach from thinkchat, and I am beyond excited for today's episode. We're going deep into the heart of the PYP philosophy exploring how learners visually represent their unit of inquiry journey. So, buckle up for Confession #122, where we'll dig into the nitty-gritty of shifting from showcasing finished products to emphasizing the process and giving every student a chance in the spotlight.  This will be the final episode of our PYP classroom success criteria series. 

A big thank you to Siba Shekhar, the PYP Coordinator at the GEMS Modern Academy Kochi for providing the inspiration for this episode.  

“By displaying our learning to our school, we make a great impact toward changing our educational landscape” (MacKenzie, 2016).  This quote really has inspired my thinking about the unit of inquiry wall that is so highly coveted in most PYP classrooms.  

I remember focusing on a fourth grade unit on Sharing the Planet through the lens of ecosystems, our classroom walls, desks, and work areas transformed into living records of exploration. Particularly, there were sketches, mind maps, and snapshots of the process that adorned the space. The unit wall became a dynamic narrative, showcasing the collaborative teamwork, problem-solving, and critical thinking that unfolded throughout the unit. Student’s added reflections capturing a moment of initial misunderstanding and how their thought process expanded over time. It was truly wonderful to see the thinking come alive on the unit wall. 

During that time, I wondered if the thinking should leave a fixed wall space and permeate the rest of the classroom to reflect authentic thinking across the curriculum and unit of inquiry.  In short, the answer is yes.  In Confession #116, I spoke in-depth about the unit wall and how to create a dynamic display of learner work and thinking.  

In a recent chat with my PYP mentor (someone who writes courses for the IB), I discovered that the unit wall is actually a myth.  We need to have elements of the PYP in our classrooms, but it doesn’t need to be on one wall.  When we remove the constraints of a fixed wall space, we are more open to show natural connections across learning experiences.  This allows the process of thinking to be made a lot easier, because we walk away from constantly displaying works that show a finished product.  Something to consider.

Inclusivity is not just a term that we post on a wall.  It is a way of making international mindedness come alive into our classrooms.  A big part of this process is allowing for learners to demonstrate agency of what is visually represented and how it looks.  It’s allowing all learners to voice their opinions, making some choices about design, and being allowed to take ownership of the redesign process.  

Zaretta Hammond states in her book, Culturally responsive teaching and the brain: Promoting authentic engagement and rigor among culturally and linguistically diverse students,  “Think carefully about what visuals are displayed on the walls. They send a nonverbal message about what and who is valued in the classroom.  Unconsciously, we pick up clues about affirmation and validation from our surroundings” (Hammond, 2015).

This quote makes me think about the purpose of each display and has it been designed for our needs or our learners or our own?  I remember a teacher once told me that she was designing her classroom to best fit her needs.  Shouldn’t it be the other way around?  How are we curating visual displays that represent the learning journey of all of our learners and not just the gifted and talented ones?  

To be honest, I have been guilty of it in my practice.  We need to finish a unit and we filter through the pretty ones and put them up front and center. The less desirable products go on the fringe.  What message does that send unconsciously to our learners of who is valued and who is not?  Yikes!
None of us purposefully allow this practice to happen, so we need to be more conscious of our choices, so we don’t repeat it. 

In Dive into Inquiry, Trevor MacKenzie reminds us, “Public displays of learning are powerful tools in the classroom to further the connection between how student learning is meaningful and important to the world around them” (MacKenzie, 2016).  This quote resonates, because this is our goal as educators to create meaningful connections for our learners.  How are our visual displays representing the entire learning journey within a unit of inquiry and beyond? 

In 2014, I had the fortune of visiting Frankfurt International School, Wiesbaden while going through my first IBEN development.  One thing I noticed was a classroom with past unit spotlights that were referred to during the current unit.  The spotlight had the key language from the unit: theme, central idea, and key/related concepts.  The most powerful component was the reflections and interactive tools that were used to unpack the big ideas from the unit.  

This display stayed with me for nearly a decade, because the intention was to provide a means for learners to spiral back to prior learning and connect it to the present.  This is powerful, but it shows the relationship of learning over time and allows learners to transfer what they knew from the past into their current unit.  This is powerful.  

In essence, the walls of our PYP classrooms become not only visual representations but living stories of inquiry, collaboration, and growth. Embracing the PYP journey involves creating a space that reflects the program's core values – inclusivity, diversity, and a commitment to continuous inquiry. 
​
Thank you for sticking with this series with all of the breaks due to my crazy schedule.  I’m excited to go back to the beginning by completing an application series for local and global inquiry and the PYP classroom.  I hope you are ready to transfer your knowledge in a new way!

Hello friends, it’s been a long time.  I’m glad to be back to record the last three episodes of our series on a PYP classroom success criteria.  It has been quite some time since I’ve recorded an episode, which reflects the imbalance in my schedule.  Sorry for being so absent, but many wonderful things are coming, which makes me excited!

​This past week, I was fortunate to attend the IB global conference in Dublin, Ireland.  There were so many examples of education for an inclusive future, which was the theme of the conference.  When you step back to think about inclusivity, what does it mean to you? 

​As part of the global conference, I led a leadership session that explored what it means to create inclusive professional development.  Over the past two years, I’ve met with over a thousand educators in public/state, private, and international schools through IB workshops and my work as an independent consultant.  A common message from these interactions is that many teachers feel disconnected from the top-down professional development and decisions made by governing bodies that directly impact their teaching and the learning of their students.  

I took a risk to meet with school leaders, middle leaders, and teachers to openly discuss the need for inclusive professional development.  I won’t lie, but I was quite nervous and full of imposter syndrome. We explored the need for more democratic schools where everyone in the school has some say in how it is operated.  We particularly focused on discussing uncomfortable issues within our schools that are slowing down our progression and made proactive steps to unpack their causes and an action plan. 

Just about now, you are asking yourself, “How is this connected to differentiation?” If teachers have little decision-making opportunities in their school community, then it’s highly likely that the same experience will transfer to their classroom.  Learners will have less chance to make decisions in their learning due to external mandates, thus there will be very little authentic differentiation.  

Donna Mathew, a fellow PYP educator and Sketchnote Queen asked, “To what extent can we differentiate an inquiry classroom?  What are the different ways of doing it?”  I would like to focus on answering these questions for this session. 

​Let’s do this!

Let’s take a moment to define what differentiation looks and feels like in our practice.  

First, we must know our learners:  their unique background, personal experiences, how they feel about various subjects and tasks and how they learn best.  Lynn Erickson and Lois Lanning in their book, Transitioning to Concept-Based Curriculum and Instruction: How to Bring Content and Process Together state, “In order to provide appropriate differentiation, teachers must first know their students well from a variety of perspectives.” What does this mean for our practice?  We take time to first to learn our learners, before shaping their learning.  

Then, we are able to move forward with differentiating the learning.  Let’s take a moment to identify what is our role in the process.  For this, I will defer to the great and powerful Carol Ann Tomlinson.  In her book, The Differentiated Classroom, Tomlinson purports, “During planning, a teacher should generate a specific list of what students should know (facts), understand (concepts and principles), and be able to do (skills) by the time the unit ends…Activities should lead a student to understand or make sense of key concepts and principles by using key skills.”  

As I unpack this quote by Erickson and Lanning, I can’t help to think of the purpose of an authentic and agentic unit of inquiry.  It leads learners to determine their understanding and connections between the various parts of a unit.  Differentiation is HOW learners make those connections through unique processes and products. 

To begin, teachers must think differently about unit planning.  We do this by answering these questions. 

Teacher Questions

• What do I want my learners to understand by the end of the unit of inquiry? 
• What learning engagements, assessments, and skills will be required to reach learner independence?
• What is my role in the process to model and guide the learning? 
• How will I give up my need to control the learning?

These questions are deep and set the stage for more authentic decision-making on part of our learners.  There is direct teaching, modeling, and guiding on the part of the teacher.  The main difference is that learners help to decide what ideas, tools and processes will be used while they are teaching.  It becomes a true partnership. 

At this point, I think we recognize that differentiation is more than creating a choice board or various tasks in small group stations.  They definitely have their place in supporting learners, but differentiation is not a passive act.  It’s allowing learners to make decisions about their learning based on where they are on their learning journey.  

Tomlinson reminds us that “In healthy classrooms, the teacher helps students dream big.  Not all of the dreams will be alike, but each student needs to have big dreams and concrete ways to climb to them. Thus, the teacher teaches up.”  

What does this mean?  We don’t dilute the curriculum to make it more accessible.  It’s quite the opposite.  We give more opportunities for our learners to make choices and mistakes in their learning.  

We can begin this process by co-answering these questions with our learners.  If the unit planning remains a one-sided conversation of the teachers, it’s difficult to truly differentiate learning.  We need the unique perspectives and ideas of our learners, since they know how they learn best. 

Learner Questions:  these are questions teachers use with learners to create engagements

• What do I want to learn in this unit of inquiry?
• What are my strengths and opportunities for development? 
• What processes and products will I use to show my thinking?
• How can we deepen our thinking while learning new ideas? 
• How will I take risks in this unit?  How is it connected to my goal? 
• Where do I see my learning journey in the classroom?
• How will I give and receive feedback and feedforward? 

These questions transition from the teacher driving all of the thinking to the learners making choices based on their curiosities, abilities, and goal development.  Be prepared for different outcomes, because no two children will think the same way. 

Along with these processes, we are providing tools that promote independence and inquiry such as: 
​

• Graphic organizers
• Visible thinking routine templates
• Word banks
• Co-created anchor charts
• Variety of learning materials

There is a natural relationship between agency and differentiation.  It’s about relinquishing our control of the planning and teaching process, so learners can make mistakes and discover their unique learner profile.  Are you willing to let go of the control?  

Just like a well-intentioned school leader, are we going to ignore the needs of our learners while moving forward with our initiatives? 

​Welcome back to another episode of Confessions of a PYP teacher.  I have taken a bit of a hiatus from this podcast due to personal health issues and work schedule.  This is my ultimate passion project.  When I’m not sharing with you, it means I’m off-balance and need to calibrate again.  

​I’m super pumped to continue our series of creating a PYP classroom success criteria.  It’s more than just the walls, but the feeling within the classroom itself.  This can be demonstrated in so many ways from choices you provide to the materials being used. 

As in previous episodes, I have been connecting to ideas posed by others on social media to help me craft my message.  This episode is definitely no exception.  

My friend, Nirali Parikh, a transitional kindergarten teacher at the Creation Village World School in Celebration, Florida, posed the first question, “Does the student have a voice?  This simple question sparks much debate.  

As I’m thinking about the learning environment, is there a voice in how the classroom is designed and operated?  This really makes me think back to prior episodes of how the learning space is designed. Is it inclusive in nature and are all learners represented there? 

I’ve had the privilege to visit Nirali’s classroom and there is evidence of learning voice in everything she does.  The wall displays are driven by learner thinking.  The use of resources is determined by learners.  There are materials from within and beyond the classroom that are used as loose parts.  Learners are negotiating how, what, and when products are created.  It’s truly a magical space. 

Emmanouil Zerai, PYP homeroom teacher at International School of the Stockholm Region (ISSR), shared about celebrating learning and agency.  

This made me think about how we celebrate agency within the learning process.  Do we ever have learners step back and examine their work through the lens of agency?  Oftentimes, we assess based on achievement, which is necessary.  But imagine how learning would feel if we celebrated the small moments that learners took risk in their learning by demonstrating agency.  These milestone moments could help them overcome doubts and fears about their abilities, as compared to their peers.  

The next hop in my mind is how are we getting parents involved in-person and virtually to celebrate the complete learning journey?  Imagine if learning portfolios were reshaped to define the moments that I demonstrated authentic agency and the skills that were required to make it happen.  Now, we are supporting metacognitive thinking. 

Tonya Gilchrist, an independent educational consultant and #pypchat host extraordinaire, posed:  4 key questions when co-creating an agentic ecology.  I am going to do my best to answer each question as part of this episode.  

​Imagine if all spaces were designed with this question in mind.  Imagine how you would act in the space and how you would feel.  It changes the dynamics of “what” I am going to learn to “how” I feel while learning.

Everyone has their own ideas of how they act and feel in a space.  To some, it’s all about the physical space and how it makes you act and feel.  While others, it’s about the classroom culture and how the learner will act and feel within the community.  No matter your interpretation, it’s about making a space where all learners are able to feel completely free of judgment and act according to their own ideas, thoughts, and value systems. 

As a trainer, I regularly begin the workshop with redesigning the learning space that best fits the participants.  I think I might begin with this question to allow them to interpret what it means for them. 

​As learners (young and older) engage within the environment, how are they expressing the community values?  When I consider this question, I naturally go towards the language that is being used.  

In a recent encounter, I was reminded that the words we use to show our thinking has a great impact on achievement.  When we use language that is not optimal towards growth, we tend to achieve at that rate.  For example, instead of saying, “I feel tired after learning math.” change the language to, “I have used a lot of brain space today while learning math.”  This simple change tries to exemplify positivity even when tired while doing something. 

Something that is also telling is how people engage with each other.  Is the language of the learner profile attributes a poster on the wall or is it something we use daily to describe our thoughts, ideas, and values?  As I have been breaking down the definitions in workshops, it has helped me to see the various ways I can apply the attributes to my thinking and doing.  

What does your community value?  Bright displays of student work or student thinking? 

​This question really made me stop in my tracks.  The environment does speak to what the community thinks you are capable of achieving.  When we see a lot of authentic learner work, it shares the message that we value learner agency and personal inquiry.  Conversely, when we see teacher replicated work samples on a “Good Work” wall, it tells us the community wants learners to follow the guide of the teacher and to not take any risks. Having taught within both communities, it’s all about what the community expects of the educator and learner. 

What does your community expect from your learning environment?  Do you have freedom to create based on your learner needs?  Are there baseline requirements, but delivery is up to you?  This will greatly impact how you teach and how your students learn.  Something to think about. 

​Everyone has their focus that helps them to be an intentional decision-maker in their environment.  For me, it’s all about space design.  When environments are designed for learner independence (labeling with pictures, placed at learner height, like-minded materials are together, etc.) it creates a space where learners can take risks and demonstrate their authentic talents, capabilities, and curiosities.  They are free to use materials as they like to showcase their thinking at a point in time.  

Beyond space design and materials, learners are frequently positioned to make decisions through open-ended tasks where they must use critical and creative thinking skills to present possible solutions.  They collaborate with their group to examine possible options and implications.  

This process sparks personal and shared inquiries.  Learners take their ideas and shape them into potential inquiries that they would like to explore further.  They investigate possibilities, examine ideas from others, and make conclusions at a point in time, since more learning might alter present-day ideas.  This process helps learners to make decisions about certain processes, thinking, and ways of being.

Being a decision-maker puts learners into the “doing” of learning, rather than “receiving” it.  The environment supports this way of learning by providing space for alternative viewpoints and ways of doing things.  It’s not a one-size-fits-all approach that we often see in traditional learning environments, yet it meets the same curricular objectives. 

​I have been having so much fun with the current podcast series, because it makes me think so much deeper than when I do it on my own.  A big thanks to my PYP friends who have been contributing.  Here is a brief video about more ways to contribute. 

This episode came from a question that was posed by Nirali Parikh, a transitional kindergarten teacher, originally from India that works at the Creation Village World School in Celebration, Florida.  I’ve had the pleasure to work with Nirali on several occasions and she makes me think differently about the capabilities of an early years child.  If you haven’t already, consider following Nirali on Twitter @NiraliParikh7. 
​

​What are the expectations of a school? 

​
​This simple question spreads its tentacles into every aspect of the school building.  If the expectations of a school are unclear, how can the teachers deliver a purpose-driven curriculum?  The two go hand-in-hand.  When the leadership team has no vision of where the school is headed, it impacts how and what is taught.  

Let’s consider that the school has a clear vision. How are the expectations seen throughout the campus?  One way I believe a school has clear expectations is that its practices align with the PYP transdisciplinary approach to learning and teaching.  It’s visible as you walk through the campus within and beyond the classrooms. 

​At the heart of everything we do is the transdisciplinary approach to learning and teaching.  As a PYP educator, we are dedicated to teaching our subjects together in a cohesive way, so that it makes sense to our learners.  In real-life, we do not address complex issues by separating them into various subjects, rather, we look at how all of the parts work together to solve the problem or issue.  If this is the reality, why do schools still teach subjects as separate ideas, instead as factors to problem solve? 
​

The answer:  it’s hard


It takes a lot of time, effort, and collaborative planning to teach in a transdisciplinary approach.  Every teacher on the team must be unified in the same purpose and be on board to teaching in the same manner. This does not mean you can’t show your unique flair or teaching style.  You can still guide your learners based on your preferences, but the end goal is the same.  Creating young learners who can think, do, and act. Simple. 

To do this, we must approach how our classrooms look differently too. In the last episode, we talked about the importance of the unit wall.  Now, we are going to begin to unpack what does and why it matters.  

​
​Upper Elementary/ Primary
​
At the beginning of the unit, I give one word/concept from the theme descriptor and ask my learners to unpack it into kid-friendly language.  
They use devices to discover synonyms, images, and other references.  This helps them to identify the big idea, similar to the bundling exercise described in the last episode. 
Then, my learners are tasked to choose one picture from a group found on a back table.  

For the second part of this engagement, I would ask learners to describe their words using Claim, Evidence, Reasoning (CER).
​

• Claim:  What do you know?
• Evidence:  How do you know that? 
• Reasoning: Why does your evidence support your claim? 

​After they presented their CER to the group, we would evaluate if the argument was valid and if they required more evidence to prove their claim.  Once the evidence was satisfactory, we would post the CER and photo around the transdisciplinary theme descriptor, which was above my smart board.  The theme descriptors would stay up all year long, so learners could refer back to these concepts on a regular basis.  

​Lower Elementary/ Primary
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How can I do the same process with my early years learners?  One possible way is to choose only one concept from the descriptor that you will be focusing on during the unit of inquiry.  Ask learners to share what the word(s) mean to them.  Then, choose a picture that shows it in action.  Use the CER routine to help them unpack it into a real context. 

For example:  you are beginning the WHO WE ARE unit of inquiry.  Your conceptual focus from the transdisciplinary theme descriptor is beliefs and values.  

• Unpack the concepts of beliefs and values into kid-friendly terms
• Ask learners to give specific examples of how they show their beliefs and values to their community
• Provide 3-5 pictures of beliefs and values in action and ask your class to choose 2 that can be displayed with the theme descriptors.  It is important that they choose the images that represent how they think about this concept, not you. 
• Ask the learners to provide a reason this picture is the best (CLAIM).
• Have learners provide the reasons orally, while you transcribe (EVIDENCE)
• Have learners ponder if the evidence provided is enough to support that the picture is the most important (REASONING). 

​
By completing this process as a whole group, you are able to guide the process while establishing deeper conceptual connections with your learners.  It provides a focus to your learners of what they will be exploring within your unit and how they will be evaluated.

One of the ways to show expectations of the learning is to unpack the central idea with your learners.  Since the central idea shapes the understanding of the unit, it’s important that learners know it in their kid-friendly terms and that they can apply it to their own lives.  How can we make this happen easily? 

Upper Elementary/ Primary

I present the central idea to my learners and ask them what they think the individual words mean and as a whole.  We unpack each concept and verb separately into separate word banks, so they can find words that resonate to them. Here is the process that I use with upper elementary/ primary aged children. 

• We examine one related concept and verb at a time, such as WELL-BEING
• I ask learners to brainstorm a list of synonyms for well-being such as:  health, fitness, self-care, mindfulness, balance, movement, exercise, sports, etc. 
• I create a similar list of words for each concept and action verb in the central idea
• We use pictures to EITHER: capture the meaning of each individual word or as an entire sentence.  Don’t do both. 
• The learners pick words from each concept and verb to create their own central idea and share what it means to them.  

After learners re-write the central idea in their own words, I have them write it down for their portfolios.  I have them create a picture of what it means in their mind and brainstorm what types of actions people can take.  

Remember, the entire purpose of the central idea is to build a learner understanding of what the unit is about and the various ways they can take action. 

​Lower Elementary/ Primary

With the little ones, I still use conceptual language in the central idea, but I break it down into words that they know.  At my old school, Foster Elementary, the kindergarten team used the central idea:  Awareness of self drives choices. 

We knew this central idea would be too big for our learners to understand on their own.  Here’s how I helped the team to bring it down to early years

• Awareness:  we get an idea (picture of lightbulb) and we stop to think about it (child thinking deeply)

 

• Self:  a picture of a child looking at their reflection and the word: ME on a card

​

• Drives:  a picture of making and creating something

​

• Choices:  pictures of good and bad choices.

Once we unpacked the central idea together, we had them play a matching game of good and bad choices.  We had a discussion about how we know if we are making a choice or if it’s a mistake.  The difference is that we KNOW that we are making a bad choice on purpose.  

For the action, learners were asked to consider some choices that they had made that week. They were asked to think about how they could make their choices even better.  This was the summative assessment. ​

A question posed by Emmanouil Zerai: @E_zerai, a PYP homeroom teacher at the International School of the Stockholm Region (ISSR) made me think about year-long displays.  


What aspects are worth staying longer on the wall? 

​
It’s all about preference.  What do you value the most?  What do you think learners should know?  Here are some of my preferences.

Theme Descriptors
After unpacking the transdisciplinary themes, I would leave them posted above my dry erase or smart board.  I wanted them in a prominent place where my learners would see them regularly. As we proceeded through the year, I would use them as a teaching tool to revisit ideas and called on my groups that were the “experts” to remind us of their meaning in kid-friendly language. 

Miniature Unit Walls
Many years ago, I had the opportunity to attend an IBEN development at the Frankfurt International School in Wiesbaden.  I noticed that many of the classrooms put their big unit ideas on poster boards and placed them in their rooms.  This allowed learners to see the progression of the big ideas and how teaching and learning was connected throughout the year. 

Key Concept/Learner Profile Boards
Another thing that might be of value is to collect evidence of the key concepts and the learner profile attributes in action during each unit of inquiry.  Create a running display that will last all year.  As you revisit a concept or attribute, you can add more evidence of what it looks like in practice. 

I hope these ideas helped to shape the expectation of the school into practice.  Join us next time as we explore what transdisciplinary learning looks like through the lines of inquiry. 

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: 

​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.

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.  

​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. 

​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. 

​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. 

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.  

​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!

​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. 

In the past six months, I have visited a lot of schools through official IB workshops, independent workshops, and curriculum development.  One repeating theme that came from these encounters is this simple question: 

On the surface it seems like an easy question to answer.  But, as you unravel the layers, you discover that there are many parts to making a PYP classroom come to life.  Here are the two main parts that I have identified. 

When we walk into a PYP school, you can learn a lot about the culture by simply looking at the walls.  These are the questions that instantly pop into my mind. 

• What do the work samples reveal about the type of work learners are exploring on a daily basis? 
• How do the displays represent the cultures, ethnicities, and identities of all learners, young and old? 
• Where do we see language being displayed and celebrated? 
• How do learners show their identity and agency?
• How do the elements of the PYP naturally happen, instead of a laminated checklist that we put up on the wall out of compliance? 
• How old are the displays?  Are they regularly updated? 

Over the course of this podcast series, I hope to address these questions and more. The physical environment does matter.  It tells that story of what is valued and by whom. 

When I see a lot of worksheets on the wall, I know that inquiry is not happening, which means learner agency is not being modeled or guided. 

When I see a dominant culture represented around the campus, there is limited opportunity to explore a variety of voices about issues that impact all of humanity.  

Now I have a question for you:  If I were to come into your classroom tomorrow, what would your walls say about you as a teacher, counselor, EAL teacher, coordinator, and principal/head of primary to name a few? 

To answer this question, I want to self-evaluate your classroom and office walls.  Consider what the walls say about you by answering these questions.  

• Whose voice is being showcased in my displays and bulletin boards? 
• Was there any space for my learners?
• How can I invite my learners into the decision-making process? 

As an educator, I really had to ask these questions  to myself on a regular basis.  When I was tempted to control the narrative about the learning in my classroom, I would have to take a hard look at my practice.  

Let’s be clear, it’s not easy to do this process, especially when you have teammates who have Pinterest worthy learning spaces.  It can be intimidating to keep up, so you don’t look like “that classroom.”  I had to stop competing at some point and examine what was more important: a beautiful classroom or one that was busy but authentic. 

There is something magical about walking into an early years PYP classroom and young learners are self-regulating and managing their practice.  They are driving the learning by making choices, collaborating authentically with others, and making decisions on a regular basis.  Why is it that we lose this sense of wonder and awe in the upper-primary grades? 

As a teacher in public/state, private, and international schools, I’ve seen it all.  In private and international schools, we had ample freedom to operate our classrooms.  Some might say that it was too much leniency at times. While in public/state schools, the level of control can be so intense that the PYP program is barely visible.  

The question lingers, “Despite the physical space, how do we build up learner independence? 

A big part of this is building young, independent thinkers who can solve problems and resolve conflict on their own.  We’ve heard this a thousand times.  How is it done? 

​Welcome to this master class on how to establish an authentic learning environment that reflects the elements of the PYP while supporting independent thinking.  This process is filled with tried and true strategies that work.  I’ve used them many times as a teacher, coordinator, and within IB workshops. 

The ideas and strategies in this series are aligned with the PYP philosophy and approaches to teaching and learning, but they do not provide a recipe for how to be successful for a verification or evaluation visit.  They represent my personal thoughts and feelings.  Being human, I may miss some opportunities, so I’d appreciate your feedback and suggestions. 

Before beginning this series, I asked PYP fellow educators on social media what they would like to learn more about.  In response to their wonderings, each episode has been shaped to provide ideas and strategies to answer their questions.  As a result, this series has expanded in directions I had not intended, but so necessary for today’s culturally responsive classrooms. 

Let’s take a journey through creating thoughtful and meaningful walls in our PYP schools.