Concept Driven Curriculum with Lynn Erickson

I am so excited to tell you about the amazing experience I had yesterday. I had the privilege of attending the Ecolint Educational Conference in Geneva Switzerland.  It was my second year attending and I was so thrilled to go again because this year I would get a chance to hear Lynn Erickson speak.

If you don’t know Dr. Erickson’s work then I encourage you to Google her and read her books. She is a leader in concept-based curriculum and instruction.

Now, let me digress for a minute, I was first introduced to conceptually based teaching while working on my masters degree. In fact, we had to use Understanding by Design to plan all of our lessons. I remember being told that UbD was “backward” planning, that we wanted to start with the intended student outcome and plan our lessons to guide students in that direction. Along the way they would acquire skills and facts and make connections. I started using this design and found it rather difficult to wrap my head around the “big idea”, “understandings” and “essential questions”.

As I started my first year as a pyp teacher I had to get used to the IB unit planner. Similarly to UbD we start with the “Central Idea” and again work towards the skills and knowledge that we want the students to gain (or this is how I understood it should be done). One area that started making more sense to me was the use of key concepts. In the PYP program we have seven concepts that are to be addressed, studied, woven through the six units of inquiry.

These concepts are:

I have used these concepts to try and direct our inquiry into specific topics. I have not, however, used them to really guide my planning process.

So, back to yesterday where I was sitting in my seat eagerly waiting to be transformed. And would you know…I was!

Lynn explained what she calls the structure of knowledge. She uses the following diagram to illustrate just how this structure is formed.

She shared with us the difference between the two dimensional curriculum model which is topic-based and the three dimensional model that is concept-based.

The difference as you can see from the illustration is that in the three dimensional model we add concepts and principles to simple factual content and skills. In a two dimensional model the facts are taught but very superficially. There is not real depth of understanding or analysis of why it is relevant. The facts that are learned are not transferable but rather, are locked in time, place or situation.

The three dimensional model,  on the other hand, is idea-centered. This means that the ideas provide the foundation to understand conceptual and transferable ideas. Through the use of a conceptual lens the students gain an intellectual depth in thinking and understanding.  WOW! Don’t we all want that?

Here are a few other key points that really resonated with me:

1.        Concepts are not an afterthought in planning but are the groundwork that everything else is built upon.

2.         A conceptual lens mustn’t only include one or two concepts but can utilize many related concepts as well.

3.        Teaching with conceptual understanding and teaching for conceptual understanding is possibly more important than making sure a child understands the Central Idea or our units.

4.        It might be a good idea to keep our lines of inquiry hidden from the students and to see where their conceptual lenses take them.

Amazing right? So I will be taking all of this back to the classroom with me and hoping to re-work the next unit I plan to really start with the concepts first.

I guess I really get it or at least starting to get it.

Thanks Lynn!

So happy to be back to school and classroom photos.

Back to School!

What a fantastic first week.  I love my students already and am so excited for the challenge they will bring me this year. 

My focus this first week was to find out how my new bunch does with directions and how independent they are. As I use both guided reading and guided math it is essential that my students be able to work independently or with small groups.

I started the year with an activity the very first day. The students were given written directions and a check list of stations they had to visit inside the classroom.  They had an activity to complete at each station. It was a great way for me to observe how independent and capable my third graders are.

Here are a few of the stations:

Students picked two pencils and sharpened them for our classroom set.

Say Cheese! Great way to get a picture of each student in class. 

We can't wait to see how much they grow by the end of third grade. 

Estimating is part of our Maths curriculum in 3rd grade. This helped me see who understands that concept. And who doesn't love peanut m&m's. =0)

I asked students to sign there name to our anchor chart. 

At this station students wrote their birthday next to their name. Of course this gave me some insights into who understands how to write a date in dd.mm.yy format.

The kids had such a great time with this activity. It took less than 30 minutes and I was able to see strengths an ears of needed improvement in my students. And of course the m&m activity was LOVED!!

The winner of the estimation was off by only 6 and received his own little goodie bag of m&m's as a prize.

I've also included pictures of my completed classroom. I should say completed for now. It changes all the time as most learning spaces do.  I am not big into classroom themes. I think they can shift the focus from student centered environment to a teacher's decoration project.  Having said that, I do choose a simple color theme each year. This year I chose primary colors and I like how bright the classroom is looking.  
Enjoy the pictures and see you soon!

IB Thursday - What Inquiry cycle do you use?

I've been slacking a little with my IB Thursday posts but am happy to find myself back on track tonight.  I've had some opportunities in the past few weeks to really think about the process of inquiry in the classroom.  I know that for those of you who teach in a standards based curriculum the thought of inquiry might seem a bit ridiculous, especially if you have to stick to a scripted program.  I say that because that's how I felt teaching from subscribed programs like Treasures and Everyday Math.
What I didn't know then is that inquiry is the foundation upon which learning is based.  If we don't access our student's interests, if we don't prompt their curiosity then the learning which does happen is superficial.

This is exactly what John Dewey's child-centered learning was about.  His model started with concrete experience.  This is the interaction between the student and his or her environment, subject or teacher.
The cycle moves on to reflective observation.  This is where the action is considered through observation or discussion. The next step according to Dewey is the abstract conceptualization. Basically this is when the student derives some meaning or knowing from the experience. The last step in this cycle is the active experimentation. This is where the student takes his or her new knowledge and applies it to new experiences.

Dewey believed that reflection is an integral part of the learning that takes place from experience. He believed that reflective thought started when students had an experience that created some form of conflict or dilemma within them. Dewey felt that this conflict stirred the learner into asking further questions and asking what is really going on.  From there the learner experiments with possible solutions either literally or in thought, and lastly he or she will determine if the solution was effective.  This entire process, according to Dewey is how all concrete learning happens.

There have been many inquiry cycles developed since Dewey's time.  Here are some of my favorites and lastly I'll show you the one I use in my class.

This model based on Dewey is commonly used in classrooms today.  

This model by Kathy Short really helped me to better understand the inquiry cycle.  She starts with Invitation.  It is this invitation that starts the learner on the journey to something new.  It is on this path that the tension or the conflict is discovered.  From there the students goes on to investigate, demonstrate, re-vise, represent and take action.

A standard inquiry model for the IB PYP is this:

This is the model that I use in my class.  While it is a wheel and connects from one phase to the next I like to think of it as fluid.  No matter what part of the cycle you are in you can always go back, start over or skip ahead.  

I can tell you from personal experience that the process of inquiry works.  It works because it is based on connecting a child's experiences to his or her knowledge.  When working at my school last year we often said that we were working with our hands tied behind our backs.  We thought this because our student population came with so little experience to build on that they were ill prepared to understand texts and topics in our state mandated texts.  

What I realize now, that I didn't then is that Tuning In and creating Tension happen because we present our students with that opportunity.  The first week or even two should be spent immersing the students in experiences.  Hands on learning and exploration are key. The difference between last year and this year is not that my students come with more experience, all be it they do, but that we (my students and I) take the time to discover and investigate new concepts before we ever learn about the facts.  This is what makes the learning personal. This is what makes it stick!!

So...which model of inquiry do you use when designing your lessons?  I'd love to know and have you share with me.  Please leave me a comment and tell me what you think about inquiry and Dewey.

Miss Pam

Unpacking Text

I have been working with my students to really digest and comprehend text that they read, especially, non-fiction informative text. As we continue to work on our current unit in technology I had the kids split into partner groups and work with highlighters to extract important information from texts.  I was impressed with what they thought was important and even more surprised by their ability to share out with the rest of the class when they were finished. 

I gave each one of the partners a different color highlighter so I could see who marked what passages. I then wondered around the room and listened carefully to their conversations. What I can tell you is this.  The moment my kids had those highlighters in their hands the name of the game changed. They suddenly had a different hat on. They were truly “unpacking” the text. I just wish I could have them highlight everything they read! 

I encourage you to try it. See if it turns your kiddos into critical readers as well.  

I do, We do, You do

I do

We do

You do

Are you familiar with this teaching technique? Have you used it?  I have and I absolutely love it!

It’s really simple and most of us are probably doing it already.  It is a wonderful scaffolded approach to teaching any subject and I find that just by adding the thought to my lesson plans I make sure I follow through.

It’s very basic.  If I’m teaching my students how to graph a set of data for example, I do it first.  In other words I model the task and explain it as I do.  Next, we do another example together.  I work on the board and they work on their own little dry erase boards.  Then they do!  I know it sounds really simple but it can be easy to skip one of the steps especially when we are in a hurry to fit things into our day. 

I take a quick moment to check my entire lesson plans for the day to make sure I have all three steps planned out.  I will say that there is times when I skip the first step and have them try to solve a problem or brainstorm a solution on their own.  I will, however, come right back to the beginning after we have made the connection that I was looking for. 

This can also be applied more macro than micro (if that makes sense).  Let me explain. You know I use centers for my literacy instruction.  I do mini lessons with my class on different aspects of reading and writing and they practice in their centers.  So I do is the whole group instruction (mini lesson), We do is done during guided reading in small groups and You do is their individual work in their daily centers. 

I would love to know how you use this teaching strategy in your classroom!