If you love the blog post, then you will enjoy listening to the podcast even more.  The blog is the script that I have written, but the golden nuggets are in my ramblings on the podcast.  

As you might have guessed, I am a rambler and will remain so for the rest of my my days. 

This really brings forward the question of what stories are you sharing?  Are you doing it through strictly facts?  Do you add some personal touches?  Do you ramble like me?  

The stories that we share make a huge impact on young learners.  What stories are not being told, because of our bias or cultural lens?  This is not a bad thing, but we have to realize that there is more to our limited viewpoint. 

If you have a differing story, what is it?  How does it reflect who you are and your place within the world?  

These questions will be explored in the current podcast episode.  Just click over to the podcast link on this webpage for a free listen. 

​One thing I’ve been hearing over again by everyone that inspires me is that learning is intentional.  How are you being intentional with international mindedness as a specialist and supporting teacher?  Remember, we are trying in to look at the curriculum through a different lens to get the maximum amount of potential from our learners. 

Storytelling is one of the ways that we can really get our learners hooked into our content.  It makes the ideas more relatable, because they are required to feel with their hearts, instead of think with their heads.  It’s not so hard, but it requires practice. ​

If we don't share the unique stories, learners might find ones of their own that are not as well-crafted or misleading. 

Let’s learn how to storytell through PZ visible thinking routine: Stories.  

Stories
Consider how accounts of issues, events, people, society, etc. are presented; what has been left out, and how you might want to present the account. 
​

• What is the story that is presented? What is the account that is told? 
• What is the untold story? What is left out in the account? What other angles are missing in the account? 
• What is your story? What is the account that you think should be the one told?

​What is the story that is presented? What is the account that is told? 

Let’s engage with an image, video, or piece of music. Ask learners to share that story that is presented from their point of view. 

Then, share the account that is told from the perspective of the artist and the time they were living.  Since artists often respond to social conditions, it should be relatively easy to determine the muse.  
​

What is the untold story?  What is left out in the account? What other angles are missing in the account?

Have learners examine the text again and try to determine the hidden story of the text and what it is trying to tell us based on stylistic choices, the lighting, focal point, etc. 

Learners try to interpret the piece of art based on their prior understanding and connect it to issues at the time. They can also connect it with present-day issues and how it reflects the patterns in society.  

To deepen the thinking, they can share what they think is missing from the story.  

• What is not being shared?  
• How does this impact the meaning of the text? 
• What should they add to make it more true to the actual events? 

What is your story? What is the account that you think should be the one told?

Thinking about the text being used, how can we connect it to the story of our learners?  Ask your learners to find connections to their everyday lives.  Find a story that they are willing and feel safe to share with the class. 

Having been in a similar situation with learners, it’s amazing how it just opens up the group and builds bonds.  Allowing learners to share their stories really helps them to see that they are the focus of the curriculum and not an end product of it. 

Reflect back:  when was the last time that you used storytelling in your teaching?  No matter the content area, bringing about connections through stories is a powerful tool that learners respond to easily.  It’s about choosing the right hook and the right story. 

As I am pondering the use of the Stories routine, I am finding several connections to other specialist and supporting roles. 

ICT/ Computer Lab
As learners begin keyboarding the first time, share your personal experience with typing.  For me, it would have been on an electronic typewriter.  My typing teacher would not allow us to use correct film, so we had to perfect the typing assignments. What lesson did this teach me?  How does it impact my life today?  

For one thing, I am able to type regularly without looking at the keyboard.  I can type about 50 words per minute with some errors.  In a world of talk to text features, this is something to celebrate.  What is something that you are learning in a computer lab that is difficult, but you believe it will help you in the end?  How are you feeling about completing it? 

Music
When we explore various genres of music, we can uncover how the blues got its name.  What about this music brings about a sense of melancholy and the desire for the past.  What is our personal connection to music that makes us feel blue.  What genre makes us feel this way?  Any particular song that gets us at the heart? 

Science Lab  
Let’s look at the fifth state of matter and how a young Albert Einstein was ridiculed by his peers so badly that he rescinded his findings all together.  Only 20 years later, there was another team that replicated his procedure and proved that his theory was in fact correct. How might this connect to our world today?  How would you feel if you were mocked on social media for your ideas and everyone in your school knew about it.  How would you deal with this situation?  Would you hide like Albert or would you fight?  What might be the hidden message in this story? 

PE
The stories of team sports and how it brings a group of people together to achieve one goal.  What is the goal of each learner as they play team games?  What is the story that is being shared, hidden, and our personal connection. 

Now that you can see how it is used, consider how it might be adjusted for your next week’s lessons.  What will you change to make it more open-ended? 

Although this is opening ourselves to the world, this is not authentic international mindedness. 

Instead, we are talking about opening our minds to different experiences that bring about intercultural connections of understanding.  This is going to mean something different for every person based on their unique backgrounds and exposure to other people’s ideas.  I guess that is the point.  Are we open enough to listen to other people’s ideas and be willing to change our own.  This is much deeper than trying a plate of paella while holidaying in Spain. ​

When I think of the specialist and supporting roles, the easiest thing for me to do is make connections to the local and global issues that matter.  In each of your roles, you are going to be exploring how to do something whether it be hand-eye coordination, keyboarding, sketching, or sequencing pictures to create a story.  

One of my favorites is making local and global connections.  It’s a lot easier than it looks, but that’s from my perspective.  So bear with me as I try to make this mental image. 

Here are two examples...

1.  For the Science Lab Teacher

As you are trying to connect to climate patterns, have them look at trends around the world. Try to determine the climate of certain areas based on their location to the equator.  Usually, the more northern you are, the colder the weather and more severe precipitation.  While the south is usually warmer with more balmy weather with mild winters.  This trend is usually happening at the same latitude.  

Then, examine areas that defy the climate patterns and assess the reasoning.  Below is a picture of the United States last week.  Notice how the most southern parts received snow storms, including my home in Houston, Texas.  This weather pattern is defying what we usually see during this time of year in the southern part of the United States.  

This type of investigation my pose these questions:

• Why is the weather deviating from the normal climate pattern?
• What is this weather trying to tell us about climate change?
• Is this weather pattern happening at other places around the world at the same latitude? 

Why study these patterns?  It helps learners to identify trends that impact the human experience.  This is the entire reason that we learn in school. We are trying to determine the rules and see where they apply to all, many, and a few. When the rules change, we are seeking to determine the cause, so we can be prepared in the future. 
​

2.  For the PE Teacher

My brain naturally went to PE.  I think the PE teacher is the most left alone in the school.  This can be good and bad.  You are given the autonomy to teach however you want, but you also have to create everything on your own.  

Oftentimes, I hear PE teachers tell me that they struggle to authentically connect with the PYP.  I get it, your curriculum is so different that it’s hard to connect.  BUT, there are ways that you might have not considered.  

One possibility is through local and global connections.  What do I mean by this?  Imagine you are talking about team sports and why it’s important that everyone has their role.  You go through several types of sports that play with their feet and compare and contrast their features.  

Something you can do next is survey your learners to discover the most played sport or game at recess.  Depending on the region, it might be football or what we Americans call soccer.  This makes sense, because it requires very little equipment.  You can show images and videos of different places around the world and the conditions they play in.  This can help to shape the idea that no matter where you come from, you still have the opportunity to play the game. 

Next, you can chat about games that have similar features, but don’t necessarily follow the same outcome, such as baseball and cricket.  I’m not going to break down all of the features, but this would be an interesting exploration for learners to go through.  

​By exploring different ways that people play with similar equipment, we get learners to compare and contrast between regions to discover why they are the same or so different.  

This is the type of thinking that we want learners to go through as they connect between two similar sports, exercises, or experiences. 

How can you take what you are doing and apply it with your content or curricular focus? 

If you have listened to my podcast, you will know that I am obsessed with Projecting Across Distance, a visible thinking routine by Project Zero.  Just pop over to my website: thinkchat2020.com and complete a search.  I’m sure you will see it in several posts, because I absolutely love it.  

In preparing for this episode, I decided that I needed to branch out and find another visible thinking routine that would allow for local and global exploration without it being the same routine.  Variety is the spice of life or so I’m told. 

You can imagine my surprise when I discovered Projecting Across Time.  I instantly became fascinated and eager to get my hands dirty.  

Let’s unpack this visible thinking routine and see how it might look in practice. 

Pick a topic . Then, consider it using the following prompts:

• Map what you think or already know. What do you know about the topic?
• Reach back in time. How has the topic played out in different forms / contexts / places over the last
• 10 years? The last 100 years? The last 1000 years?
• Reach forward in time. How do you think the topic will play out 10 years into the future? 100 years? 1000 years?
• Map how your thinking about the topic has changed. How do you view the topic now?​

​

​What do we know about bullying already?
It is a power imbalance between someone stronger/weaker; not always physical
There is fear involved by the weaker party
Demands are usually placed that can be uncomfortable or dangerous
The person being bullied can feel isolated and alone in dealing with the issue

10 years ago
We had bullying in school, but the kids were a bit more physical and not quite so emotional.  It was usually in search of lunch money, snacks, favors, etc.  Now, it’s about friendship groups, mean girls thinking, and isolating people.  It feels more psychological. 

100 years ago
When I did some research, because I don’t know off the top of my head, bullying in the 1920s was generally physical (or verbal) harassment that usually related to a death, strong isolation, or extortion in school children.  Yikes, it feels like the bullying of today is much lighter compared to death threats.  I’m glad I didn’t live back then. 

1000 years ago
In medieval times,  people mostly lived in small villages and farmed the land. There were only a few big cities, so everyone knew the comings and goings within the community.  There was only one way to live, which was usually directed by the ruling lord and the church.  If anyone was mysterious, strange, or unconventional, they were often labeled by society either through outcasting or putting them to death.  

10 years from now
We will see the surge of cyber bullying with the full power of AI technology ruling our lives and governing how we live.  There will be much more surveillance by our comings and goings by the government.  There will be little or no secrets in our public life, similar to 1000 years ago. Bullying will be even greater with people having access to technology where they can simulate events into photos and videos that never existed. 

100 years from now
People will have full integration between AI, robotics, and human life.  There will be no hiding in the world.  Everything will be up for scrutiny.  Bullying will come in the form of societal conformity and the lack of personal identity.  Society will judge how we act, think, and feel.  

1000 years from now
I have no clue.  I’m just glad that I grew up in the 1980s to remember when life was unplugged and bullying was emotional or physical. Should I be glad for this? 

I know I went deep on this issue, but you can see how this might challenge your learners to think deeper about content.  Get them to make predictions based on the trends in the present day.  There are so many possibilities. 

How might you adapt these two ways to your practice?  How might this stretch the learning in your classes?  

​​I’m just tired of people using the learner profile attributes as character traits.  They are SKILLS required to create a DISPOSITION.  More than ever, we need young people who know how to think, feel, and act.  The only way that we will get them there is by using the language of the learner profile in our practice everyday.  You heard me, every single day. 

Since owning my practice issues, I have been reflecting on how I am more intentionally planning with the learner profile in mind.  Here is how I break down the language so it is quite accessible for me. 

I break up the learner profile descriptor from a paragraph to bullet point sentences. 

Instead of risk-taker being this: 

We approach uncertainty with forethought and determination; We work independently and cooperatively to explore new ideas and innovative strategies.  We are resourceful and resilient in the face of challenges and change.

I do this:

• We approach uncertainty with forethought and determination
• We work independently and cooperatively to explore new ideas and innovative strategies  
• We are resourceful and resilient in the face of challenges and change

As a systems thinker, the minor change has a major impact.  Now I am not overridden by a massive paragraph of words that have no meaning to me.  Instead, I now have a choice menu of options on HOW I might explore what it means to be a risk-taker.  Such a difference. 

Look at your content standards and find a learner profile bullet point that speaks to the skill development that you want mastered.  

I go through the list of bullet points and think of the long-term goal of teaching my content and choose one statement to get me there.  Because there are six units of inquiry and only ten attributes, we will repeat attributes in the year.  Now, I won’t have to repeat teaching the same focus.  Instead, now I have a couple other options of HOW I will explore the attribute with my content.  

Poof…my mind was blown when I figured out this simple hack.  It’s not revolutionary, but about changing something that is clunky and turning it into a product that works for you.  We all have the possibility, especially specialist and supporting teachers. 

Put the list of learner profile attributes and bullet points in ABC order.  

This sounds logical I know, but you would be surprised how many people begin with knowledge.  I did at first.  By putting the list in ABC order, it’s easier to navigate the descriptor options and you can keep track of the bullet points you have already used much easier.  

Once again, I am a systems person, so putting things in order makes sense to my brain.  I need small chunks that are organized and easy to use.  This works for me.  In fact, I was just using my list today as I was planning for my next unit that begins next week.  I followed the same process that I described, which helped to bring all of the ideas together.  

I fell in love with the process all over again. 

If you are nice, I just might pop my list into my blog post about this episode at thinkchat2020.com.  

​What did you come up with in the last challenge? 

I know your brain works in a different way, which is equally valid.  I’m sure your way will greatly enrich your practice and make it easier to use the learner profile attributes in a more meaningful way. 

You can also listen to the podcast version of this blog post on this website too.  Enjoy listening!

​​Welcome to the eighth episode of our specialist and supporting teachers series.

​​We are going to spend our time unpacking the learner profile in a new way.  Oftentimes, the learner profile attributes are reduced as a way to connect with behavior and they are much more than that.   

As specialist and supporting teachers you have a possibility to use the learner profile as a set of skills that create a learning disposition in your classes. It won’t take too much planning, but it requires you to have them in your mind while you plan.  I hope that makes sense.  

​The first thing, let’s broach the subject of what the learner profile is called. It’s quite simple. 

• Correct way:  learner profile attributes

​

• Incorrect way:  learner profiles, learner profile traits

Why does this matter?  Whole school language is so important to learning transfer.  The learner profile are so much more than a bunch of character traits.  They are dispositions of an internationally minded learner.  As such, we need to look at them differently in our practice. 

Here is mental image that completely changed my idea about the learner profile attributes.  In the age prior to photography, an artist would often place a person behind a screen with a lit candle.  This would create a side profile of what the person might look like and the artist would cut out their profile and it would be framed in the home.  

A learner in our school also has a profile of who they are and how they learn best.  Although each learner is different, we use common language to describe the skills and dispositions to describe the learning experience.  We want them to use this language to describe themselves, their peers, and the learning happening around them.  By giving such rich language, we raise the bar of expectation and rigor of our thinking. 

​I haven’t been the most consistent with my learners this year with regards to the learner profile attributes.  My class of learners went through a lot of change in second grade, so I spent most of the first term establishing routines and systems for their success.  Now that we have this in place, I can be a bit more consistent with the learner profile in their use. 

Why do I share this?  We all have moments when we just can’t do everything, even when you are highly experienced.  The needs of our learners are great and we try to work with them where they are at.  This takes energy and gobbles up times. 

Now that I feel our systems are working, I am going to be more experimental and consistent in the second half of the year reflecting through the lens of the learner profile. Let’s take a moment to understand how to use the attributes in our practice, so we can modify them to our learners' needs. 

In my eighth year of the PYP, I realized that I truly did not understand them.  It was teacher appreciation week and our fabulous PTO provided lunch for a week. One day, I was lined up waiting my turn when I read the learner profile attributes definitions on a poster in the teacher’s lounge.  In particular, I zoomed into what it means to be a risk-taker in the world.

Up to that point, I related being a risk-taker as being open to others, trying new things, and taking risks like jumping out of an airplane.  The actual descriptor is: 

We approach uncertainty with forethought and determination; We work independently and cooperatively to explore new ideas and innovative strategies.  We are resourceful and resilient in the face of challenges and change.

When I read this descriptor, I realized that my personal opinion of being a risk-taker was overriding the IB’s interpretation.  This was largely due to the poster set that I downloaded from Teachers Pay Teachers for $1.99.  They were cute and kid-friendly, but completely misaligned to the actual definition. 

This really began to bother me.  How could I have misunderstood the attributes for so long?  How did I miss something that is clearly on page 5 of every IB document?  It’s very simple. I was busy and I couldn’t see what was right in front of me.  This happens to everyone, but I knew I had to change my practice. This is what we are going to focus on together. 

​Take a look at the learner profile descriptors on page 5 of any IB document.  What do you notice?  Personally, I see a lot of writing on one page and it kind of gives me the hives.  I’m a type of learner that gets easily overwhelmed by too much print.  I need white space between each idea and each descriptor is chock full of 2-3 ideas each. 

How can we remedy this?  This is going to be your challenge.  How do you take a paragraph descriptor for each learner profile attribute and make meaning of it?  Will you make a mind map, bullet points, visuals, etc.?  This is completely up to you. 

I’ve deviated from the normal thing, because this can be done by specialist and supporting teachers.  I can’t wait to see what you come up with and I’ll share my process in the next episode.  It's an inquiry in action!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Let’s take some time to evaluate our practice. 
​

• Do I control everything?  
• Do my learners control everything?  
• Is there a half-way point where we share the decision-making? 
• Who is doing the talking, thinking, and doing?  Is it me or my learners?

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

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

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

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

Welcome back to our specialist and supporting teachers series! This is our sixth episode leaning into inquiry for our supporting teachers, particularly the inclusion specialist.  In specified roles that support learning and behavioral development, the challenge is there isn’t a set curriculum you are following.  This is how the PYP can help you the most, because it’s full of approaches to help bring about the best in the learners that you support. 

When you ask the PYP community about the inquiry leaders, you might get the response of Kath Murdoch, Kimberly Mitchell, and Trevor MacKenzie.  They provide varying approaches to bringing about inquiry into practice.  Consider reading some of their books for general strategies that you can apply to your unique role. 

In Dive into Inquiry, Trevor MacKenzie states, “I see inquiry as the strongest method to create personalized learning pathways for all learners, a method that brings the curriculum of life into the curriculum of school.  My approach is a scaffolded one that proposes a gradual shift - from the teacher to the learner - in control over learning.”

Everytime I read this quote, I am reminded of the power of consistency.  Inquiry can only authentically occur when teachers are consistent with approaches to teaching and learning.  Teaching is the vehicle for unpacking WHY a strategy is important, HOW it impacts processes, and WHAT must be done to make it happen.  

We can’t teach inquiry as a subject, because it’s a process of understanding and applying ideas to the self.

In her book, Getting Personal with Inquiry Learning, Kath Murdoch states that “An inquiry is generally driven by questions and these questions may arise from a need, a problem, a puzzle, or an interest” (Murdoch, 2022, pg.18).

As you teach and support your learners, how are you crafting it through a question that drives a need, problem, puzzle, or interest?  This might be the simplest way to bring about more curiosity and wonder into your teaching. 

This is not the only way to approach inquiry.  In Experiencing Inquiry, Kimberly Mitchel states, “An inquiry is teaching in such a way that the students are doing most of the work.  They are asking questions.  They are researching complex problems.  They are formulating opinions.  They are even at times teaching and offering feedback.  Inquiry works at every grade level in every subject area (Mitchell, 2019, pg.1).

Once again, inquiry brings about the natural exploration of ideas and agency of learners.  The learner is taking on most of the thinking and you are there to provide the questions.  I know this sounds so easy and silly at times.  Looping back to the last episode, I thought so too in the beginning.  I wondered how questions would change my practice. I can only speak to my experiences, but they have changed everything about how content is delivered.  I provide the provocations and they respond.  
​
Let’s take a moment to apply this to the role of the inclusion specialist. 

I love inclusion specialists!  I’ve had the pleasure of being part of an inclusion team and as a self-contained special education teacher for learners with learning and emotional disabilities.  Our goal is to provide opportunities for our learners to return as quickly to the general education setting with support and strategies. 

I know you are doing your best to make modifications to existing processes and products, so your neurodivergent learners can access the overarching content.  This can definitely be a challenge with additional language acquisition and usage issues.  

One of the challenges you face is serving a wide population based on your limited materials and timing.  For this reason, inquiry might aid in helping your learners to make meaning at a quicker rate.  

I will use the same protocol from the last episode: think, chat, create. This time, we will use a different guiding question to explore the process.  Here is a recap of the process. 

THINK:  to authentically think, we have to be put into a situation where we are challenged critically and creatively to solve complex problems that are being faced within our world today.  They must resonate with learners as being important.  I ask myself…

• How am I getting my learners to be provoked in their thinking?  
• Where are they actively problem-solving?  
• How are they developing their creative and critical thinking skills?

CHAT:  to engage in meaningful chats, we explore a wide range of issues that interest us and come up with alternative solutions that may not have been explored.  We recognize that not all of them are doable, but we dream big with others. I ask myself…

• Where are there opportunities for my learners to engage with each other through storytelling?  
• How are they internalizing the content into their everyday lives?  
• How are they sharing how they feel about it? 

CREATE:  to create thoughtfully, we consider the big ideas of the exploration and decide what is worthy of being captured.  We cannot create everything, so we must decide what is worthy of being remembered and how it is connected to other ideas. 

• How do my learners show their thinking in a variety of ways?  
• What scaffolds are in place for authentic reflection and action?  
• What products or processes are learners using to show their understanding? 

You are an inclusion specialist working with learners inside the general education classroom.  The homeroom teacher is exploring story elements, but many students are struggling with the language of character traits, setting, and plot elements.  You see that many learners are confused about how they work together, so you suggest co-leading a session with the homeroom teacher.   

To address this issue, you will use a strategy called Probable Passage from Kylene Beers book called When Kids Can’t Read, What Teachers Can Do.  I was introduced to it when I began my teaching career and I’ve used the strategies ever since.  They were designed with middle school learners in mind, but they can be scaffolded down.  

I am currently completing this process right now with my third-grade learners using the book Three Samurai Cats by Eric Kimmel.  I am setting up the experience using the thinkchat lesson cycle presented in confession #140. 

Where are they actively problem-solving?  

Problem-solving begins with a great question.  I like to use images, books, videos, and experiments to get my learners to ask questions about what they are experiencing.  Asking questions can be challenging for some learners who don’t yet feel confident in their abilities.  Here is one way that I model the process for them.  

I share a picture of a tree with some special blossoms on it that is specific to a region.  I simply ask, where in the world can we find this tree? Based on their prior experience, learners make quick predictions of where they can find the tree.  Low risk, but it gets them curious. 

Next, I show a picture of three men in armor.  I ask them these questions one at a time based on the Think Puzzle Explore visible thinking routine.  The groups are simply answering the questions and sharing.

• Think:  What do you think about this picture?
• Puzzle:  What questions do you have?
• Explore:  What do you want to know more about? 

This thinking routine is an extension of See Think Wonder.  I usually teach it first and show how Think Puzzle Explore is the next step of the same process, so it decreases their stress. 

To extend the thinking “How are the two pictures connected together?  Can you figure out where this story is going to take place now?” What is the job of the three men?  How are they different? 

What scaffolds are in place for authentic reflection and action? 

Scaffolds come in all different forms.  Some like to use note-taking sheets while others like bubble maps.  For me, I use a wide range to gather information and then we use it to reflect and move forward.  For this session, we will use Probable Passage.  

We will need one piece of paper, a marker or pencil, and 8-10 vocabulary words that you want to frontload from the text.  As we know, a big part of being an inclusion specialist is providing scaffolds for language acquisition.  I love this tool to help this process. 

We take a piece of paper and fold it into thirds in portrait mode.  I draw lines on the fold lines, so learners can see the three sections.  On the first row, I break it up into three sections and label them characters, setting, and problem. The second row, I label it GIST statement.  The third row, I break it into two sections and label them as: solution and unknown words. 

Once the template is made, I present 8-10 words from the text that guide to an understanding of the text.  Learners review the list of 8-10 words and place them in the categories: characters, setting, problem, solution, and unknown words.  They can only place three words in each box to stop learners from placing most of the words in the unknown category. 

Once the words are placed, they use them to create a GIST statement, or a main idea of what they think the story is about.  They specifically use characters, setting, the problem, and outcome to describe the story arc. 

This process is of high interest, but non-threatening to neurodivergent learners.  The purpose is to make a best guess and most of the class will guess incorrectly.  This is because of their prior knowledge, life experiences, and cultural heritage, which shapes the narrative.  We explore this idea together to make it as non-threatening of an experience when sharing the GIST. 

After reading the Three Samurai Cats, we compare our GIST statements to the story and find areas of similarities and differences. This is a chance for learners to share their ideas with each other and calibrate if they are close to their peers to clear up misconceptions.  This reflection part is so crucial, because learners get to share their ideas and regulate themselves.  Sometimes, everyone has a different answer, which is also part of the experience.  

How are they internalizing the content into their everyday lives?  

As we go through this experience, the learners are beginning to recognize their ability to make predictions, frame out a story, and find meaning based on their personal experiences.  To create further contextualization, we reflect on our history and find similarities to the story of the samurai in our own cultures.  

In the United States, the Spanish missions followed the same structure as the Daimyo and Shrine relationship.  The Catholic priests would establish missions around the southern part of the country.  Each mission was surrounded by a fort that would protect the priest at all costs.  There were varying levels of soldiers like the samurai to protect the ruler. 

In speaking with my class, they compared the samurai to the military of today.  The soldiers are there to protect their fellow citizens.  Just like the samurai, there are rankings based on education, time in the military, and ability levels.  The most specialized enter a special team to protect world leaders.  

These relevant connections help to launch the discussion about human-made systems that are in place to protect the ruling power.  This can launch into present-day ideas about advertising, social media, rules, regulations, and power.  So many potential possibilities for exploration. 

As an inclusion specialist, you are probably thinking, that was a lot to process.  It is.  The key is breaking down the process into bite-size chunks that your learners will understand.  Make it over 3-4 sessions, so they see a complete story arc. Here are possible ways I scaffold the learning to this experience. 

• Use a simple story, image, or video to introduce Think, Puzzle, Explore.  Complete it 2-3 times, so learners feel comfortable with the visible thinking routine.  

• Provide the Probable Passage several times with predictable texts, so learners feel that they can use it successfully before using it with the Three Samurai Cats.  We want success, before the productive struggle. 

• Begin introducing historical context to stories along the way.  Help your learners to see the importance of connecting the past to the present.  Repeat this several times, so they can identify the relationship.

​

• One of the hardest things is for them to connect the past to the present.  Consider going backwards.  Find something from today that we do everyday and show how they might have done it in the past.  Ask students to decide which one is better for them and why.  This will help them to access it a bit easier.

I hope some of these ideas work for your small group lessons.  It’s about elevating our neurodivergent learners up and not watering the learning down. 

​When I think about inquiry, I consider the evolution of learning. 

In the beginning of my PYP career, I thought inquiry was about asking questions.  Whenever I asked a veteran teacher for practical tips on how to make inquiry happen in my classroom, they would tell me to use a variety of questions within my practice.  This sounded logical as this was the beginning process of any investigation.  

As I advanced in my career, I realized that inquiry was a way to learn.  It involved students asking questions, which was the physical part, but it was more than that.  It required learners to make careful observations in the world that sparked questions in their mind.  Our early learners do this naturally, because they want to know how the world works through play. ​

Evolving from logical thinking to a fluid way of being. 

​This summer, I watched my 31/2 year old niece listen to Paw Patrol while playing with her sand table and toys.  She was absolutely absorbed with dump trucks and other construction tools, because of her favorite character, Rubble, who works in construction. She replicated what she saw, at the same time, she made it her own.  When it didn’t work out as planned, I may have heard a cry or two, but she picked up the pieces and tried again. This process is inquiry.  

Inquiry doesn’t take a lot of prep work.  In fact, it’s quite the opposite.  There is less prep work involved, because the learners decide how to use the materials.  They are given the freedom to put ideas together through individual or small group decision-making.  They see an idea or process and want to test it out.  They make decisions about what they want to do and execute it through experimentation.  There will be mistakes made along the way, because inquiry is not formulaic.  Your learners will fumble, but this is how they know they are on the right track or need to make a new plan. 

​The beauty of inquiry is that learners are provoked to think beyond the curriculum and see how it applied to their personal lives.  Most of the greatest learning moments are those that allow learners to see themselves in the curriculum.  The learning reflects their beliefs, fears, assumptions, experiences, and voice. 

​Let’s take a moment to think about how inquiry impacts and reflects your role as a specialist and supporting teacher.  

As a learner, your classes were my lifeline.  They were the one part of my day where I could just breathe and be me.  The language and actions were simplistic enough to follow along without feeling like a fool. Yet complex enough to make me think and connect to other parts of my learning. 

Growing up, I was quite scared to show my personality with my peers and teachers.  It was partially due to my painful shyness that bordered on selective mutism and my lack of confidence in my language abilities.  I kept to myself, so people would not discover the secret that I lacked the skills to communicate and ask for the things I needed as a learner.  

In seventh grade, I chose home economics as an elective.  During this time, I learned to cook my own meals, sew aprons, and watched a lot of after-school specials.  This was a time where I could apply my skills from school into practice, such as symmetry, precision, temperature, proportions, and so much more.  

By the time I entered tenth grade, I was able to work up the courage to join the high school choir.  I had a passable singing voice and sometimes sang in our church choir.  I wanted to learn more about myself and my talents.  What I discovered were a variety of people from different family backgrounds, school social status, and cultures.  It was my first time learning about alternative perspectives that touched my heart.  I literally found my voice. 

As you listen to my stories, how many students come to mind that have a similar experience in your class?  You are the haven for the othered…the learners who don’t quite fit in. 

Don’t feel the pressure to deliver your content in the traditional way, because this will make learning so much harder for these learners.  They need experiences that make their hearts explode with excitement, hands-on experimentation where they can challenge their thinking, and quiet time to reflect and revise their process, so they can become better.  This is your superpower. 

​When you have access to your learners 1-2 times a week, how can you allow for inquiry to happen in your practice?  This is something that many specialist and supporting teachers have struggled with for some time, which I totally understand.  I am going to challenge you once again to think about your time differently.

Ever since I became a teacher, researchers have been talking about teaching the “whole child” for decades.  It’s not merely filling a child’s head with new ideas, but getting them to engage with their entire being.  When I set up my consultancy, I wondered how this might look in practice.  This is how I came up with my name, because I wanted learners to think, chat, and create. 

THINK:  to authentically think, we have to be put into a situation where we are challenged critically and creatively to solve complex problems that are being faced within our world today.  They must resonate with learners as being important.  I ask myself…

• How am I getting my learners to be provoked in their thinking?  
• Where are they actively problem-solving?  
• How are they developing their creative and critical thinking skills?

CHAT:  to engage in meaningful chats, we explore a wide range of issues that interest us and come up with alternative solutions that may not have been explored.  We recognize that not all of them are doable, but we dream big with others. I ask myself…

• Where are there opportunities for my learners to engage with each other through storytelling?  
• How are they internalizing the content into their everyday lives?  
• How are they sharing how they feel about it? 

CREATE:  to create thoughtfully, we consider the big ideas of the exploration and decide what is worthy of being captured.  We cannot create everything, so we must decide what is worthy of being remembered and how it is connected to other ideas. 
​

• How do my learners show their thinking in a variety of ways?  
• What scaffolds are in place for authentic reflection and action?  
• What products or processes are learners using to show their understanding? 

I know what you are thinking, this is just one more theory about how we teach.  Actually, it embodies all of the elements of the PYP through agency, inquiry, skill and character development, and conceptual understanding.  With this said, how do I make it happen in my daily practice?  I’m so glad you asked, because we are going to explore this next. 

A big part of inquiry is making connections to the local and global community.  This is an important part of being an IB learner.   The PE class can be a wonderful place where these connections can come alive and be applied to practice.  

Setting the Stage
In PE, we are learning about team sports and how they bring about collaboration.  Each role has a unique function and the players work together to reach their goal.  When one player tries to control the game, the team will always perform lower than normal.  I am zooming into one of the guiding questions to bring about more inquiry. 

Think
How am I getting my learners to be provoked in their thinking? 

The purpose of this part is to engage in a provocation (experience, media, movement, etc.) to get them thinking.  Talking will naturally happen here as a response.  Let it naturally occur. 

• Show a video of a team sport where a player is constantly hogging the ball.  Make sure the behavior is quite obvious, especially to younger learners, but is not addressed in the video. 
• Ask this question:  What patterns do you see?  Explain that a pattern is something that keeps happening over again. 
• Allow learners to turn and talk about what they see with an elbow partner.  
• Share out a couple of ideas to the whole group. 

Chat
Where are there opportunities for my learners to engage with each other through storytelling?  

The purpose of this part is to take the ideas further and to reflect on the provocation through a personal lens. It’s an extension of the think. 

Ask learners to reflect on their own experiences by asking these questions. 

• When was the last time you had to deal with a ball hog? 
• How did you feel when it happened to you?  
• How did you solve the problem, so everyone had a turn? 

Create
How do my learners show their thinking in a variety of ways?  

The purpose of this part is to create something that helps learners to process their ideas while helping others to make connections.  It’s about building up the learning community.  The learners will create a product in groups of 5-6, so you have less products to display.  They can be put outside of the PE area (hallways, doors, windows, etc.), so as not to stop the playing from happening. 
​

• What can you create that will help younger learners not be a ball hog?  
• Will you create a video, poster, picture, cartoon?  
• Where shall we post these so everyone can see them and learn together? 

​If you don’t want 1,000 posters of being a ball hog, consider breaking up the curriculum from K-1, 2-3, and 4-5 with different topics that are more age specific.  This will help the younger learners to become more aware of the ideas that are coming up in the next grade level.  

By providing more agency, you might find that display items are less, because learners are creating more video content, which can go on the school’s website and internal system.  It’s all about getting learners to take action on their learning and this is one way to plan to make it happen. 

Just have fun with it.  This is another way to plan like the thinkchat lesson cycle that will help you to build more agency and inquiry into your practice. 

One major shift, you are there to ask a lot of questions and have the learners answer them in their unique way.  You might learn some things too and see connections that you had not made.  It happens all the time in my class.  

That’s it folks!  Join me for the next episode as I try to unpack this process for the supporting teacher through the lens of the inclusion specialist. 

Welcome to the fourth episode of our specialist and supporting teachers series.  

Last night, I was talking with my friend Denise Kraft, the PYP Coordinator at the Lawrence School in Middletown Public Schools.  We were chatting about her recent experiences hosting the second Igniting Inquiry Conference with Trevor MacKenzie, Jessica Vance, and Amy Chang.  It all began, because she demonstrated her agency by asking Kath Murdoch to come to her school for a PD session.  It quickly ballooned into a conference that included Kath and Misty Paterson.  I was fortunate to be part of the staff at the inaugural event. 

Quickly, our conversation pivoted towards how to leverage next year’s conference to provide more  access to specialist and supporting teachers.  This topic circled back to the impact of learner agency and how to support everyone’s needs.  In the last episode, we only presented ideas for an EAL teacher using the thinkchat lesson cycle.  In this episode, I want to continue to provide more examples of how agency can occur in the library. 

I chose the role of the librarian, because you are usually forgotten in the specialist/supporting teacher rotation cycle.  Sometimes you are part of the rotation and other times you are left to your own devices.  Here are some ideas to get you kick started.  For the rest of you, I hope the examples help you to adapt it to your specialist and supporting role.  Don’t worry, your turn is coming!

​
​Before we move forward, I want to clarify that these ideas are my personal opinion and not necessarily of the IB.  You need to confirm everything with your IB consultant and/or IB world school manager.  The ideas I am about to share are based on my experiences and observations.  Now let’s get to it!

​This is a question I’ve recently begun asking at the beginning of my workshops.  I think intentionality is huge with agency. Are we trying to create choice boards?  OR are we trying to teach learners to make their own choices to become more independent?  If our intention is to create more independence, we may need choice boards to scaffold the process in the beginning, but it’s not where we reside for long. 

I’ve been reading “Think Again” by Adam Grant and this passage really resonated with me.  “A bit of knowledge can be a dangerous thing.  In too many domains of our lives, we never gain enough expertise to question our opinions or discover what we don’t know.  We have just enough information to feel self-assured about making pronouncements and passing judgment, failing to realize that we’ve climbed to Mount Stupid without making it over to the other side.” 
This recently happened to me.  I thought there was a certain process within curating an IB workshop.  Someone brought it to my attention that I misunderstood and it was a quick fix.  Sometimes, this happens and in times like these, we have to ask ourselves, “What was the bigger lesson that I needed to learn here?”

So how does this apply to agency?  Many of us might have a partial understanding of what agency looks and feels like in practice.  When I am in doubt, I always return to the source, PYP: From Principles into Practice.  This time, we are zooming into the Agency section.  PYP: From principles into practice/The learner/Agency.

The IB refers to the work of Bandura and how social cognitive theory supports the learner.  “Conceptualised by Bandura in social cognitive theory, agency “enable(s) people to play a part in their self-development, adaptation, and self-renewal with changing times” (Bandura, 2001).

PYP students with agency use their own initiative and will, and take responsibility and ownership of their learning. They direct their learning with a strong sense of identity and self-belief, and in conjunction with others, thereby building a sense of community and awareness of the opinions, values and needs of others. 

As I read both quotes, these are the physical and personal things that are happening to show that agency is happening in a classroom.  Before we categorize them, we need to make one thing clear.  Teachers DO NOT GIVE AGENCY to their learners.  We were all born with agency.  Instead, we CREATE THE CONDITIONS for agency to thrive in our classrooms.  What does this mean?  We create learning experiences that are so compelling that learners want to engage with their own ideas and inquiries.  As the specialist and supporting teacher, you are allowing moments of freedom for them to demonstrate voice, choice, and ownership in their work.  In some cases, your classes are the only place where the opportunity exists, so let’s make it happen. 
​
Now, let’s go back to the Principles into Practice quotes.  I have categorized them into three groups: self, community, and both. Let’s take a peek. 

​As an educator, I can see the benefits of allowing agency to happen more in my practice, but what are the potential costs?
​

• Time
• Control
• Direct-teaching

These elements are going to be sacrificed, because the focus shifts from the TEACHING to the LEARNING. This is why we began talking about our use of time and our relationship with time.  When we begin to design with the learner in mind, we use our time wiser by giving up some of the control by decreasing our direct teaching time. 

We are going to apply all of this back to our practice by using the thinkchat lesson cycle with the table we just explored.  I’m going to use the table as a self-assessment tool to see if I planned with the lens of developing self and community.  Let’s have some fun with it. 

Library Application
Below, we will explore a way that we can make the library experience come to life while exploring the approaches to learning (ATL).  I chose the ATL, because they are skills that we teach that bring about learner independence.  Also, our role as a teacher librarian has expanded to a media specialist, which supports research skills. 

This task can be used and modified for the entire school.  For early years, it would require situational prompt cards to get them discussing ideas.  You don’t have to create different lessons for each grade level, if they are founded on skills, inquiry, and conceptual understanding. If you don’t know what these are, don’t worry.  You will by the time we are done with this series. 

The focus of the lesson:  ATL Research Skill/Formulating and Planning/ Ask or design relevant questions of interest that can be researched.

Pose a question:  In small groups, all learners discuss this question:  What are the different jobs of a question? 

Warm-up activity:  Provide some laminated question cards that are factual, conceptual, and debatable in nature, but they have not been previously taught to learners.  In small groups, ask them to sort them by what they think is their job.  There should be a clear idea of how they are different.  Have groups perform a gallery walk to see the similarities and differences between the groupings. 

New information:  As a whole group, reflect on the process of sorting the questions and discuss the challenges, ahas, and new ideas during the gallery walk.  Share with learners that there are three types of questions that can be explored based on the work of H. Lynn Erickson.  All of them are necessary in our research. 

• Factual question:  these are closed questions that will provide short and quick answers about a particular topic.  What is force and motion?  

​

• Conceptual question: these are open-ended questions that can be explored in many ways.  They take some time to answer and are made up of concepts.  How does force and motion impact my everyday life? 

​

• Debatable question:  these are open-ended questions that are really deep and can really blow the mind.  They take time and space to answer, so often they are fewer in number.  Why might forces bring about change? 

If you are still scratching your head, there are more examples of these types of questions in my Plan for Inquiry on my website. 

Play with ideas:  In small groups, have learners use the Weiderhold Question Matrix, also in Plan for Inquiry, as a prompt for learners to create their own factual, conceptual, and debatable questions.  Have them play with these different question types and peer assess if they are being used correctly. 

Reflection:  Learners share in a whole group/small group/partner setting to discuss how learning about these different types of questions expanded their understanding of their purpose.  

• How has exploring the different types of questions changed how you use them in your own writing and research? 
• What more do you need to learn? 

The conditions for agency to happen can come in numerous forms.  I just wanted to share an example of the same tool with a specialist and supporting teacher role.  Here are some others that are often used in classrooms.
​

• Choice boards
• Choice of materials
• Choice of products
• Choice of process

Noticing a trend?  Choice is huge in agency and it’s an easy starting point for specialist and supporting teachers.  

When you want to dig a bit deeper, consider downloading my guide, Using Agency Daily on my website.  This might help you to look at a variety of ways you can bring about more agency in your daily practice.  

Next time, we are going to explore my old friend named inquiry.  She is really magical and not too complicated. See you next time!

​Here’s an example from my real life.  I live in a region of the United States where it is extremely hot.  Right now, it is 94F/34C. My air conditioner has not been running properly and I called a technician to come out to fix the problem.  After their first visit, I noticed that the temperature fell dramatically and I was fixed to the sofa in front of a box fan.  

The following day, I called the technician’s office and the office manager asked me to go to the unit.  In two minutes, we discovered that the connector was left on top of the unit, so nothing had worked until the previous evening.  

My agency connection:  I should have inspected the A/C unit when the air started to decrease in my home to investigate the possible problem.  Instead, all of the cool air within the home was removed and it took all day to reinstate it with a faulty machine.  The temperature is not back to where it was, but at least I have my trusty box fan to get me through. 

Similar to a box fan, what are we giving our learners to cool down their frustration with learning?  What tools and structures are in place, so they can recalibrate and find some balance? 

One of the first things I am going to challenge your thinking is your relationship with time.  I know you don’t have a lot of it.  This is undisputed.  But, it’s how you use the time you have with learners that will greatly enhance the outcome.  

I’ve been researching schedules for quite some time, no pun intended.  I recently explored the concept of time tables while re-reading and podcasting about the book, Culturally Responsive Teaching & The Brain: Promoting Authentic Engagement and Rigor Among Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Learners by Zaretta Hammond.  

Hammond continues,”When we don’t practice or use new dendrites (the neural pathways) shortly after a learning episode, our brain prunes them by starving them and then reabsorbing them.  It assumes you didn’t revisit the activity that grew the dendrites that information wasn’t important to keep.”

This reminds me of things I’ve learned in the past that children need exposure within 24-48 hours to an idea or it’s lost forever.  I’ve also heard that we need to revisit an idea 4-5 times before it permanently stays in our long-term memory.  This makes sense based on what Hammond has proposed based on neural activity. you didn’t revisit the activity that grew the dendrites that information wasn’t important to keep.

​As specialist and supporting teachers, you have such limited time with your learners within a given week.  Creating the neural pathways in your learners is more essential in role, because of the massive time delay between sessions.  For learners to truly remember and build on prior understanding, we need to examine how we are teaching and how it supports long-term memory development. 

We know that short-term memory is short.  It can only process information for 30-45 seconds at a time.  Every time I try to remember my seat number on a plane and fail, I blame it on my short-term memory.  Your memory is also working and trying to process the information, so it can be sorted towards long-term memory where a physical change to the neurons occurs.  

This is not enough.  We need our learners to go through a process of transferring the information.  This requires a repetition of ideas and skill development on a regular basis, so it’s able to remain in long-term memory.  

Learning transfer happens when teachers are intentional with their time.  They know that there is a finite window for knowledge acquisition and skill development.  The problem is if we are delivering content in the traditional model.  This can’t happen in a PYP school, because our ultimate goal is to make transdisciplinary connections.  How can this happen if you as the specialist or supporting teacher guide your lessons through traditional models?  The two don’t meet. 

This is where we need to look at our own time management.  Are we maximizing our time so learner agency can thrive?  Are we a block from agency happening in our classrooms?  This is a bold question, but let’s explore how we might better use our time, so agency can grow. 
The thinkchat lesson cycle has been designed to reflect best practice around the balanced literacy approach, which has been mirrored in many reading, writing, and math workshop models.  If it can work for a homeroom teacher, why not us?  It’s about using the model to best meet our purpose. 

Pose a question (1-2 mins):  pose a question about the topic you are about to explore that provokes thinking and gets learners talking. 

Warm-up activity (3-5 mins): give an open-ended task that learners must solve that extends the thinking from the question you have posed. 

While learners are engaged in this thinking, you are monitoring their thinking and jotting down misconceptions, aha moments, and ideas that need to be clarified. For supporting teachers with smaller groups, you are guiding this process, but still allowing the learners to come up with the ideas while you jot down notes.  

New information (10-15 mins):  in the first two steps, you are gathering prior knowledge and building on it through the new information.  You want to discuss your findings openly with your learners from your notes and present possible alternatives for exploration in the new information mini-lesson. 

Play with ideas (20 mins):  present another open-ended task where learners are actively testing out the new information and applying it back to their prior knowledge.  This is where they create their own process and product to reflect their understanding up to that point. 

Reflect (5 mins):  learners reflect as a whole group, small group, partners, or individually through discussions, drawings, written ideas, and so forth.  It can be quite informal, but reflection is focused on:  new connections, prior misconceptions, growth, aha moments, and/or next steps. 

Unlike homeroom teachers, you may need 1-3 sessions to implement the thinkchat cycle with depth.  This is completely normal.  The purpose is to give up the control of the learning, so the learners can make sense of the ideas and apply them back to their practice.  Don’t worry how long it takes, we are more focused on the process you use. ​

It’s always nice to see something that is presented in an example that makes sense.  I’m not a specialist or supporting teacher, so I will do my best.  I will try to give you a practical example of what this might look like and you will need to apply it to your practice. 

EAL Application
For most EAL support teachers, they are providing intervention of basic language acquisition and application to the learner’s primary language.  This can come in many forms of push-in and pull-out models.  I’m going to focus on an inclusive model, where the EAL teacher supports a small group of similar ability learners, including those that are on their caseload. This group has been pre-determined by the EAL and homeroom teacher. 

The focus of the lesson is to write a paragraph about water conservation.  

Before the beginning of the lesson, have learners take a notecard (blank or lined side) and draw a line in the middle for note-taking. 

Pose a question:  What does it mean to conserve water?  Have some picture cards that show various ways to conserve water at home and in the community.  Ask learners to choose and share their connection in their primary or target language. After discussion, use pictures or words to capture their ideas on the left side of the notecard. 

Warm-up activity:  Provide additional picture cards of potential problems.  Have learners pair the conservation and problem cards together and discuss their connection in their primary or target language.  Afterwards, choose a pair that would solve a problem in their home or community.  Use pictures and words to describe how it might help in three ways on the right side of the notecard. 

New information:  Reflect on the unique ideas of how to conserve water and the potential problems that arise.  To communicate our ideas effectively, we must put them in order that makes most sense for our audience. The EAL teacher will show some sentences from a paragraph and model which one goes in the right order and why.  They will show how the order impacts the meaning of the paragraph. 

Play with ideas:  In small groups, learners will take a look at their notecards and decide how they will write a paragraph together.  They will choose one person’s idea and supplement them from other people’s work, as needed.  Together, they will write a paragraph that is logical and speaks to the importance of water conservation.  Learners will share ideas in their primary or target language, which can be translated for the group, so they feel part of the experience. Each group will share their paragraph with the class. 

Reflection:  Learners will talk in small groups to answer these questions and choose which ones they will share back to the whole group. 
​

• What part of the lesson was stressful for you? How did you overcome it? What are your current struggles? 
• How do you feel now as a writer?  How would you rate your paragraph writing skills?  What do you still need to learn? 
• What is something new you learned about water conservation?  What more do you want to learn? 

​Now that we have seen it in practice, I wonder how we can apply the structure back to our role.  This takes some time and a lot of practice.  You will fumble and make mistakes.  

One thing I do know, I noticed my learners demonstrating more authentic thinking as I implemented this lesson cycle into my practice.  It has been my game changer and I hope it does the same for you. 

Next up, we will discuss the unique role of inquiry and how it supports agency.  

​Welcome to the second episode of my new series to support specialist and supporting teachers.  

​Yuni works as a PYP teacher at the International School Ruhr and is also an IBEN member and concept-based trainer.   Yuni provides many contributions online through Toddle App and beyond and I’m so thankful to have her in my professional network. 

​Before we move forward, I want to clarify that these ideas are my personal opinion and not necessarily of the IB.  You need to confirm everything with your IB consultant and/or IB world school manager.  The ideas I am about to share are based on my experiences and observations.  Now let’s get to it!

​For many learners, the specialist classes are the only place where learners can just breathe and be themselves.  This is a bold statement.  I’ve seen hundreds of different school systems through my own personal experiences, leading workshops, and consulting.  Even within the IB PYP system, I’ve seen many schools that are so focused on content delivery that they forget to think of the learner in the process.  

This means that we absolutely need you to better understand your unique role and the power you have to change young people’s lives.  I recently heard Ethan Hawke, famed actor, speak about the power of the arts.  He purports that people don't consider the arts in everyday life until a crisis enters their lives.  Then, they turn to the arts to sort out their thoughts and emotions to make sense of what is happening.  

​I would extend this movement and understanding our bodies.  In my lifetime, I saw this the greatest during the pandemic.  People soon became interested in bike riding, lifting weights, and using a variety of home-based equipment.  Since access to public spaces was limited, people had to become creative in their homes.  

During this time, the supporting teacher was needed more than ever.  As we leveraged online teaching at home, especially for at-risk learners, they leaned into the additional supports.  It was the time that parents realized that their child had special learning needs and the power of the role of the teacher.  

Specialist and supporting teachers help learners to make connections to ideas being explored in a new way.  This is power.  When a EAL support teacher using the language of the learner profile as a way to describe how a child is learning, this is powerful.  When an ICT/computer teacher guides learners to consider how they will use images to help them to make unusual connections, it is powerful. 

​To make learning more connected, we need to honor common planning time for the specialist and supporting teachers.  This can come in two ways:  common planning time within the team and with the homeroom teachers. 

Common planning time as a team helps to bridge the gap between specialist and supporting teachers to the homeroom.  They can bounce around ideas with each other about how they will approach teaching the key and related concepts, ATL, and learner profile attributes.  We don’t need to know each other’s content to bring HOW we will all approach teaching the skills and big ideas of the unit.  This is often lost when there is no common team planning time. 

Where can we get the time?  Staff meetings.  There are so many ideas that are shared in a staff meeting that only pertains to the homeroom teacher like progress monitoring, response to intervention, testing, etc.  Look at the agenda items and plan the whole group first and then allow specialist and supporting teachers to go off to plan together.  Consider how the coordinator will lead the first session, so they can share some pedagogical ideas and model best practice. 

During the second portion of the staff meeting, the coordinator and the specialist and supporting teachers can break off into their planning session.  The coordinator can set a learning target and the group can co-create a success criteria.  The group divides and begins to plan through the unit focus(es).  The coordinator can circulate to answer questions and clear up misconceptions. 

Did I just hear you sigh out of happiness?  We just need to manage our time differently.  As humans, we are inherently driven to connect and make connections.  It’s unfair that specialist and supporting teachers don’t have equal amounts of time to collaborate.  It establishes a hierarchy of importance when there is an imbalance.

Of course, there is always shared preparation time to reinforce the planning, but we can’t always rely upon it.  I’ve seen so many specialist teachers lose their planning time to cover homeroom teachers who were out.  Not good, Once again, it establishes that the specialist and supporting teachers are not as important and don’t deserve their planning time. Yikes!

Your role as a specialist and supporting teacher is different.  You have unique professional learning needs.  I think it is wonderful to get a baseline of the PYP programme by taking a category 1 workshop.  You get a big picture of how the programme operates and how it might drive your role.  Oftentimes, the learning ends here, although there are so many different options.   

The category 2 and 3 workshops begin to delve into specifics about different parts of the programme, such as inquiry and learning for conceptual understanding.  Equally, there are specific workshops that lean into learning, diversity, and inclusion, the role of the arts, the role of subjects, just to name a few. 

When you are ready to make deeper connections, consider taking the What is an IB education series.  These workshops help us to deeply understand how to leverage the approaches to learning (ATL) across the programme, how to investigate through the lens of inquiry, and so forth.  

Advocate for your role through professional development.  Continually seek ways to embed the program into your practice, instead of the other way around.  It’s not as separated as you might think. 

​One of the biggest questions for many specialists is how do I plan authentically?  We are going to break apart different parts of the unit planner and plan them through your unique roles.  I will give you examples in various roles, so you have a clearer picture.  

I have already completed this process in my ATL series.  

​Welcome to our new series about specialist and supporting teachers.

.​I have worked with many teachers over the past three years as an independent consultant leading many official IB workshops.  I have unraveled many misconceptions about how you might feel in your role.  Let’s take a moment to clarify the big picture of your roles.

Myth 1:  You are an add-on to the program

When I get to chat with a group of specialist and supporting teachers, they often feel like an add-on to the program, rather than a vital part of extending the learning. This usually comes about, because there is not enough planning time between homeroom and specialist and supporting teachers.  

Most of the schools I have worked with have the same obstacle: the homeroom teachers plan the units when specialist and supporting teachers have their students..  This is a universal problem.  I have seen this schedule in a range of private,international, and public/state schools.  

Having been a coordinator, I had the same schedule in my school.  I didn’t like it, but it was the only option for homeroom teachers to plan regularly.  But the situation had me think differently of how our collaboration might look.

Myth 2:  You have to request access unit planning documents  

All of the PYP planning documents are available to all teachers  in the school.  This sounds like a given, but I have met many specialist and supporting teachers who have to request access for the documents, oftentimes from the homeroom teacher.  This creates an imbalance of power, as specialist and supporting teachers are made to feel like they are not part of the planning process. 

Having access to the planning documents part of the IB Programme Standards and Practices, which the rubric that schools follow for authorization and evaluation.   Our goal is to make authentic and meaningful transdisciplinary connections between all the subjects, so document access crucial to the process. 

Myth 3:  Shared planning sessions

Most schools will complete a speed dating every quarter or half of year to see where their content will connect with the homeroom.  We need more systematic and regular planning sessions between the specialist and supporting team with the homeroom teachers.  This can happen at staff meetings and professional development days as well. 

When we speak of transdisciplinary learning, most teachers think it’s across their homeroom content.  The definition is across all disciplines, which includes specialist and supporting teachers.  

Planning sessions must include your unique content focus when writing central ideas, lines of inquiry, concepts, ATL, and learner profile attributes. If you are not part of the planning process from the beginning, it makes it more difficult to connect when handed curriculum documents.  Oftentimes, the big ideas do not connect as well as could have been part of the conversation from the beginning. 

Myth 4:  Content Coverage
​
The role of the specialist teacher is NOT to teach the homeroom curriculum.  Instead, the specialist classes extend the learning and provide an additional way to explore the conceptual central idea, lines of inquiry, concepts, ATL, and learner profile attributes.  Imagine a learner going through their specialist classes and seeing examples of the same ideas as their homeroom.  It’s a wonderful way to bring the learning and provide a wider lens of how the big idea can be explored in all parts of learning, not just the academic. 

Supporting teachers have a different role, because most of the time you are providing remediation for learners who are not able to access the grade level curriculum.  Oftentimes, this comes in prescribed programs that must be taught in order.  There is still room to connect with the concepts, ATL, and learner profile attributes.  It’s about using them frugally, but repeatedly, so learners make connections between their practice and the big ideas. 

​This podcast series will address these issues and more as we navigate how to make your roles more connected to the unit of inquiry planning process.  There will be other issues that arise as we get into the flow of ideas.  

My friend, Yuni Santosa, provided many ideas to consider as we move through this podcast series that I will address as well.  More ideas the merrier.  Every week, I will create a post looking for your ideas that I can embed into the next episode.  I want this to be quite interactive and based on your current needs.

Let's get ready to support our teachers that meet with all the learners within a school.  This requires us to see things through a different lens, which is why my avatar is wearing special glasses.  It's not out of confusion, but the challenge of meeting the needs of multiple learners at a given time.  It can be a lot, yet so rewarding.  

I have felt like some of the ideas in my podcast were not designed with you in mind, so this is my chance to make up for it. I'm super excited to get started!

I'm about to start a podcast series for specialist and supporting teachers in the PYP and I have a lot of questions from the lens of a PYP coordinator and independent consultant.  

• What does your programme look like?  
• Do you feel supported?  What can we do to help you?
• What are parts of the program that are confusing to you?
• What are some suggestions that you have already posed?

Let's work together to make this happen.  Watch this space for an imperfect podcast about every topic under the sun.