It All Boils Down To Purpose

The courses that I took for my masters degree were not the most innovative. Yet there was one idea that stuck with me: When reflecting on their practice, teachers should always take into consideration two systems: their system in the classroom and the school-wide system. Back then, I knew that the system in my classroom played a central role in my students learning, yet I disregarded the second system, my rationale being that good teachers can always close their classroom door and make the magic happen irrespectively of the nature of the school they're in. I can now see how presumptuous and naive I was. 

The last years have taught me an important lesson. No matter what I do in the classroom I'm always dependent on the system in which I work. 

This was indeed the rationale behind the creation of my blog. Like the astronomers who had spent fruitless hours trying to wrap their heads around the constellations relying on a flawed theory, geocentrism, I feared that I was missing the right paradigm.  And the more I reflected, the more insecure I felt about my own practice. I started asking existential questions about my role in education and what was the best system that would allow students to learn purposefully.  It was at this time that I started to read more literature about innovation in education and it all seemed to point into one direction: High Tech High. 

Literature portrays HTH as a utopia, the promised land of project-based learning and innovation. The place that, while maintaining an nearly spotless rate of college acceptances amongst its demographically-diverse student body, it has managed to stick to its roots and not teach to a test.  

Last week my colleague and I had the opportunity to visit HTH and see with our own eyes. I genuinely did not know what to expect but I was certainly thrilled to learn about their transdisciplinary projects. I've taught the IB Middle Years Programme for several years and even though interdisciplinary learning is at the heart of the programme, its implementation seemed to be elusive, a holy grail so to speak. I've tried to implement interdisciplinary units in the past but have always been forced and contrived. In fact this has been one of the leitmotifs of this blog.   

Click here to read about the difference between interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary learning.

As the director of HTH Media Arts, Robert Kuhl explained, HTH aims to instil in students a growth mindset and there lies the purpose of the school: HTH strives to awaken in students an eagerness towards learning through the creation of real-world transdisciplinary projects that push them to develop their intangibles such as collaboration and perseverance which are conducive to success both at college and in the real world.  

Bearing this purpose in mind, the founders of the school have set up a schedule that is simpler and more malleable. 

Sample Grade 11 Bell Schedule 

The purpose of schedules is to serve; however, we often become slaves to our own schedule our needs because of its complex and inflexible design. As a result, schedules are often an obstacle rather than a catalyst for learning. Traditional school systems often offer a wide variety of subjects in their timetable. They want students to maximize from learning by exposing them to a wide variety of content. Sadly, the subjects become isolated in an ambiguous collage courses, so transdisciplinary learning becomes an impossible feat. 

At HTH, however, schedules are simple. Students usually take Humanities, a Science or Engineering class and a Math class apart from homeroom and one period of exploratory class. Teachers are therefore able to move time slots around to make them fit students' learning needs. This allows teachers to collaborate more with one another, organize field trips, and allocate enough time for projects. 

At one point the Science teacher referred to his Humanities colleague as his planning buddy. And here lies one of the greatest differences between HTH and traditional secondary schools.  In traditional secondary schools he would have been referring to his fellow Science colleagues not a Humanities teacher. This goes to highlight teacher modus operandi  at HTH. Indeed, by creating a simple and malleable schedule the founders set into motion a virtuous cycle.  

Having less "subjects" allows for more in depth work and students are not overwhelmed by multiple deadlines.  Moreover, the transdisciplinary nature of the projects breaks down all boundaries between subjects so it's hard to tell one course from the other. At times, students will be working on the artistic portion of their project during their Math class. This is priceless because as the focus shifts from the individual subjects to the project, students can truly delve into their work without having to juggle seven projects at a time. 

During the first day of our visit, something clearly stood out: the teachers and students did not seem stressed. While students looked engaged they were not particularly overwhelmed. Yet every wall displayed student work every ranging from works of art to engineering feats. One would think that students would have a sense of urgency to create complex products, but instead they enjoy each different stage  because they have the time to let the experience sink in.  

Moreover, teachers at HTH focus on the process. Students are given several deadlines within the various stages of a project to reflect on and critique each other's drafts and blue prints.  Like any other skill, this skill needs a lot of practice and teachers do a great job at promoting it by holding students accountable for the critiques that they provide. As we talked to students, it was clear that they are fully cognizant of the purpose for critiquing and seem to take it very seriously. Once again, they have the time to do this well.  

Having flexible schedules and a good chunk of time to complete projects isn't what makes HTH noteworthy, however. HTH is outstanding because it has a clear purpose. Simon Sinek states that many businesses usually know what to they do and how they do it, but they lack a clear purpose. Schools are no different. Many schools foolishly believe that their purpose is for students to get high test scores, but this is merely an outcome. The founders of HTH made a clear distinction between these two. In fact their school is based on four principles: personalization, adult world connection, and common intellectual mission, teacher as designer.

The school is in no way perfect. It still needs to work on creating a clear framework for its subjects and like many other schools it has teachers that work harder than others. Yet one thing stands out: With a clear purpose you are going to have teachers and students who know your mission and will embrace it. 

From my side, I feel bolstered by this experience and look forward to the next step that lies ahead. As of July, I will be teaching in the Innovation Academy at Colegio Roosevelt. I've chosen to take on this unfamiliar challenge because I believe it will provide the best system to ofoster real world, relevant outcomes.  I think I've found my heliocentric model at last.    

Rewind. Play. Stop. Reflect

28 Millimetres: Portrait of a Generation by JR

JR's provocative image epitomizes my sense of uneasiness when aimed at with a video camera. JR obviously wanted to convey a strong social message that goes beyond what I'm trying to describe in this post; however, this image sends a clear message: video cameras can be indeed intimidating when aimed at you!

Video Cameras are unforgiving; nothing will slip past them. The notion that every single hand gesture I make (I am after all Mediterranean), every slight movement and every word I say in my funny accent will be captured on tape is to say the least daunting.  

Watching myself on camera has allowed me to appreciate how dizzying my lunatic hand movement can be, but it has also given me a great reality check on my teaching. Micro-teaching can indeed be agonizing! There again, this is the whole idea behind it.

The notion of micro-teaching or videotaping yourself while you teach and then watching the post-mortem (I stole that one from Wikipedia) has been around for quite some time, yet I had never been exposed to the idea. In fact, I only decided to video tape one of my lessons after reading about it on the Global Achievement Gap.

The lesson that I videotaped was an introduction to the new investigation assessment for the Grade 8 Humanities class. Watching the tape allowed me to see my self... teach. I know, I have a knack for stating the obvious, but this lesson was indeed a monologue! Even though students seemed attentive, there was no clear evidence that learning was happening. Once again, I certainly did not feel flattered by what I saw on the screen, but the feedback I got was priceless as I was able to see the lesson from the students' perspective.

So, following the High Tech High's Collegial Protocol, I asked my assistant principal, Cynthia Wissman to be my critical friend. After having watched the lesson, Cynthia sat down with me and we did a video taped "post-mortem". The conversation we had was flowing and frank. After all, I had already seen myself on tape prior to the meeting and now, with Cynthia's help, I was able to clearly identify the areas that needed improvement. In a nutshell, instead of providing students with a 30-minute introductory monologue, I should have facilitated a group activity where students could unpack a sample investigation and recognize the steps required to obtain successful outcomes.

The videos were then shared with the other members of my department and we were able to have a meaningful discussion. Moreover, another teacher wanted to try this out and I played the critical friend role. Once again, this led to some fruitful reflection.

These were the benefits that I could draw from these exercises:

*Unlike classroom observations this experience is more genuine. In my case, Cynthia was not the evaluator who pointed out the strengths and the weaknesses. Instead seeing myself on tape allowed me to come up with a more honest analysis on the lesson. Cynthia's role was non-threatening and as a result I felt more comfortable bouncing off ideas

*When I started teaching ten years ago it seemed that classroom observations had to be a dog and pony show. Those observations were a missed opportunity for self-improvement. And that is what makes micro-teaching relevant. When lessons that videotaped at random, there is a bigger chance of recognizing the areas that you need to work on.

*The tone of this exercise was lighter than formal observations. If videotaping became a regular protocol at our school, I believe that the process would be more formative and less evaluative.

*Most importantly, there were some concrete take-aways from this exercise. By empathizing more with my students (I made myself watch my whole 30-minute monologue....twice) I was able to make modifications to my other lessons.

Still not convinced about micro-teaching?

Website: Visible Learning 

In his extensive 15-year research, Hattie looked at difference practices and their degree of influence on student learning. Needless to say, micro-teaching ranked fourth. I rest my case.

Ask and you shall Recieve

Planning curriculum is by far the most inspiring aspect of teaching. It is the autonomy and mastery in curriculum planning that gives us teachers an identity and is the central piece of the elaborate mosaic.   After all, my years in education have taught me that when learning is purposeful, all the other aspects of teaching (that we sometimes invest too much time and energy on like classroom management) do fall into place. However, we should make no mistake; units that are purposeful and relevant don't come easy. Like chemists we find ourselves mixing together the ingredients: the student autonomy and choice,  teacher- directed instruction and delivery, the identification of a real problem,  and the creating of a real authentic product. All these elements have to blend together and their dosage differs from one unit to another and is subject to various trials and errors.

For instance, for these last two years I've been seeking the magic formula for a unit about water scarcity for my Grade 9 Humanities class. Lima is the second largest city in a desert after Cairo and its water resources are quickly dwindling. In fact, in the last thirty years the Peruvian mountain glaciers alone have experienced a 21% shrinkage. On top of this, 40% of the freshwater supplies that reach Lima are wasted either due to leaking pipes or water mismanagement. Moreover, fresh water in the Rimac has been contaminated with mining residue. All these issue added up to the rapid population growth resulting from a high influx of migrants from the poorer regions in Peru, make this complex.

When I planned this unit, last year, I felt that is was way too contrived since the lessons were mostly teacher-driven and discussed a wide range of topics related to water scarcity. With all my good intentions, I realized that I needed to give up control.

So this year, in an attempt to revamp this unit, I reached out to my colleagues and Sonja Bleeker who works for a local NGO, Aguafondo. Together we devised a skeleton for a unit that would require students to address Lima's water scarcity by:

          *Identifying one specific contributor factor to water scarcity in Lima
          *Identifying and evaluating a solution that can address the problem

Solutions brainstormed by students

For their summative assessment, students would write an online article that raises awareness about the difference causes of water scarcity in Lima and sheds light on the viability of their chosen solution. The best articles would be published on Peru This Week.

Obviously, one of the biggest challenges was finding data. Unfortunately, the community in Lima seems to be quite unaware of the magnitude of this problem and there is not so much information out there. So students would be required to use their inference skills by looking at different data from other countries and applying that knowledge to Lima. However, it was clear that in order to get a good grasp of the real costs and the benefits of complex solutions we would need the help from experts.

So we reached out for help and sure enough the experts came to our rescue. Sonja and her colleague, Oscar Nunez from Aquafondo came to school and provided essential data to help us articulate the problems that students had identified.

Moreover, students evaluating complex solutions had the possibility to Skype with Julien Noel, one of the creators of the water billboard and meet with Eduardo Gold, the award winning inventor of glacier painting. We also had parents lend a helping hand: Ernesto Cordova who works in a private desalination plant helped students make estimates on the cost of the implementation and the maintenance of such on a local scale.

Most of these interactions took place last week and I was glad to witness a high level of engagement from the student's side. After all, they are trying to tackle complex issues, the same issues that the experts who visited them are trying to address. Hence, it's relevant.

Yesterday, after the meeting with Jaime Del Solar, Fernando, one of my students, said something that resonated with me. "Both costs and benefits are very valid. This is stressful because I don't which side to take. This is really complicated." Indeed, Fernando, came to the realization that when dealing with complexity there are a lot of gray areas. The answers cannot be found on a textbook and the best thing one can do is to use his/her ingenuity to best address the problem at hand with all its implications.

It is this type of experiential learning that breaks down the barriers between the classroom and the real world...and real world problems require real world experts.

"You can't do that if you're standing all Alone" (Lee Ving)

Problem-solving, collaboration and creativity are ubiquitous in 21st century educational lingo. These skills have by no means become important only now; they have been essential ever since the time of hunters and gatherers. Unfortunately, we educators don't always do a great job in championing such qualities. 

This year, I attended a workshop let by my colleague and buddy Corey Topf. In his presentation, Corey was explaining how, very often in the IB Diploma, teachers focus on grades at the expense of process. This approach inevitably stifles creativity. The teachers attending seemed to nod in agreement. Midway into his workshop, Corey separated us in groups of four and asked us to prepare a 3 minute video explaining how the IB fosters creativity and what can be done to implement more creative tasks in the programme. 

The purpose of this 45 minute exercise was to model authentic assessments and have teachers creating engaging videos using the 3 skills. It was at this point that the atmosphere in the room took a shocking downturn. While some teachers seemed pumped about the activity, others were visibly perplexed. The same participants who only a few minutes before seemed radiant, all of a sudden started to emanate a somber vibe. And I was left in a quandary; had I missed anything?

It did turn out that some teachers did not feel comfortable appearing on camera while they "criticized" the IB Diploma. Fair enough. However, that did not seem to be the full story.  As my group was working on the video, one of the members said that she did not feel comfortable doing this activity because she thought "that we were only going to have a discussion" implying that she did not expect to have to do any work. This comment was an eye-opener: this teacher was seriously expecting to merely attend a workshop and not be required to produce any product. Unfortunately she was not the only one who had deserted the workshop. One could easily sense a certain uneasiness of some teachers to create videos.

Apart, from highlighting the low expectations some have of professional development, this example sadly emphasizes the discomfort some teachers have (I also find myself guilty of this at times) collaborating with peers especially when the task includes a certain amount of unfamiliarity. Indeed, the task had some important challenges such as having to work collaboratively with strangers under a time constraint and talking in front of a video camera. Many were not experts at this, but isn't that the point? Would these same teachers accept such kind of working ethic from their students?

I believe that we teachers are way too self-conscious about making mistakes. We can get so scared of failing that we shut down and resist learning new things just because the fear freezes us. As a result we just close the doors and do our thing hoping for the best.

Yesterday, I watched an inspiring documentary called Sound City. I always wondered what made rock music seem so hip. Yes, the leather pants, the long hair and the electric guitars certainly help create an appeal, but there's more behind the myth. As I watched this documentary, I couldn't help but be in awe at how organic songwriting is . Creating music usually happens collaboratively and it's intensely genuine. There's the notion of a group of individuals coming together to create something from scratch.  

The Sound Board From Sound City

Sound City, used to be a hip recording studio that has witnessed the creation of some stellar albums such as Fleetwood Mac's Rumours and Nevermind by Nirvana, just to mention a couple.  In the last part of this documentary some of the biggest names in music come together to record Real to Reel using the legendary console from the recording studio that had been used to create many masterpieces in the past. And this is when the documentary hit a chord. These musicians were deeply immersed creating works of art collaboratively. Their eyes were lit up as they took pride in doing something that they believe in, that they are passionate about.  (On a side note, it is interesting how when creating works of art musicians are not separated according to the different instruments or disciplines. They come together to create one unique sound. People are not wondering if it is possible to blend the sound of a cello with that of an electric guitar, they just make it happen. This is yet another important argument for transdisciplinarity in education) 

I wonder what would happen if you threw a bunch of passionate educators (ad not) to "jam" together strumming learning experiences. There is something that is so rock n'roll about curriculum design. Like artists, we are required to create something from scratch. Designing learning experiences, as Corey calls it,  should be a matter of deepest pride for us teachers because it transforms the students' educational journey. We spend way too much time worrying about classroom management, lesson delivery, and student motivation. Those aspects would all fall into place with a kick ass learning experience. (In my first years of teaching I wasted my days focusing on obedience because I failed to see the big picture). 

Time is indeed a factor and we often find ourselves running running short of it. But sometimes we use this as an excuse and we settle for less. We should not limit ourselves to create cover versions and delve more into "jamming". 

At one point as Dave and Paul jammed together,  there was an intense flow of energy. They were totally absorbed doing what they loved most and knew very well that they were up to something. No matter how hard I try, my writing cannot do any justice to the solemnity of this scene. As they discovered sounds and melodies, it was clear that there was a feel, which as Lars Ulrich from Metallica defines is "a chemistry, something that happens between people. And in this exact moment of chemistry Dave Grohl turns towards takes a sigh and asks "why can it always be this easy?" to which Paul Mc Cartney promptly replies "It is." Priceless!

Finally, this quote by Mick Fleetwood epitomizes the notion behind collaboration:

"I think the downside, these days, is thinking that "I can do this all on my own." Yes you can do this on your own, but you will be a much happier human being to do it with other human beings, and I can guarantee you that."

Clueless

Last week, one of the stories that hit the social media was the iPad debacle encountered in California. The iPads that had been handed out to students had to be recalled because they had managed to hack their devices to play games and access social networking sites. This has led many to question the effectiveness of this programme.  People, however, seem to be questioning more the hasty distribution of these iPads rather than the imposed  restrictions. I believe the latter is the one that ought to be questioned.

Imposing filters on gadgets that had been distributed to meet the needs of 21st century education is indeed counterintuitive. I do agree that students struggle to find a balance healthy balance between leisure and duty, but the imposition of filters will only send mixed messages to students. On one hand students are being given a majestic tool that could be used for different purposes yet they are not being allowed to use it in a "real world" context.  In the real world people iPads are multipurpose; they are used to access Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and games sites. Students have to be trained to be disciplined and responsible for their learning while taking advantage of such tools. Filtering websites does not address this issue at all, if anything it continues to alienate kids from education.  This is yet another example of how the people who should be driving education are usually the ones who are the most oblivious to it.

Implementation of technology in education is a must; however, this has to come with a vision.  Last year, during the national elections in my beloved Malta, the two competing political parties pledged that they'd give out iPads to primary school students if elected. Indeed, the implementation of technology that transforms learning should be celebrated irrespective of the political motive behind it. Nevertheless, if Maltese students end up doing repetitive Math problems and answering comprehension questions on online textbooks, then all that investment would have been one pathetic blunder.

Many people who are in education unwittingly mistake the use of innovative technology in the classroom as THE innovation in education. Little do they understand that technology without a sound pedagogy is a car without a driver. If we truly believe that the use of technology alone will solve all the issues in education then we are setting our children up for failure.  As a result, when big undertakings fall flat due to their shortsightedness, they fuel the noxious skepticism of those who are  still stuck in the 20th century and refute a much needed change in education.

In his SAMR model, Dr. Puentedura makes a clear distinction of the different purposes of technology in education, the most effective one being for the redefinition of learning. iPads can be used for students to contact experts using Skype and Twitter, they can upload videos using Youtube, and create websites and blogs. These tools would indeed transform and contextualize learning making it applicable to the real world.  Ironically, these same tools are deemed as a hindrance and are being filtered from children.  

It's NOT just a matter of Semantics

In the last years, my school has worked hard to embody the principles of the IB Middle Years Programme not only on paper, but in spirit too.   So far we have done a good job at implementing objectives, embracing a concept-based approach to teaching and planning units using the backward design. This is definitely a great start. However, the one area, which we still seem to stumble upon is the MYP's holy grail,  interdisciplinary learning. No matter how hard we work to solidify our single disciplines, we are still lacking interdisciplinary links.  It could be argued that for these to take place one needs time. Plenty of it. However, I believe that there's more to it. 

As I searched for more information about this topic on the IB's Online Curriculum Centre, I ran into an interesting article called “Curriculum integration in the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme: Literature review.” One of this document's main goals is to define the terms that are used interchangeably, incorrectly. While the terms multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary might sound similar, they are actually different. This metaphor epitomizes the distinct features of these terms:

“To explain the differences and relationship between the terms and their application to teaching and learning, Choi and Pak (2006) stated that “multidisciplinarity is like a salad bowl, interdisciplinarity is like a melting pot, and transdisciplinarity is like a cake, in which the ingredients are no longer distinguishable, and the final product is of a different kind from the initial ingredients”” (3)

Transdisciplinary learning is indeed a very interesting integration model since it is hinting at the breaking down of disciplinary barriers for a more organic approach to teaching centered around the concepts and the real world concepts. This is also the curriculum integration model, which is currently being used at the Roosevelt Innovation Academy. The IA was established as to offer students an alternative to IB Diploma  (Check this link for more information). 

In this post, however, I will be looking closely at the charactertistics of interdisciplinary learning and   discuss the misconceptions and constraints that hinder its implementation.

First and foremost one needs to clearly understand what isn't interdisciplinary. Currently, in the lower grades where MYP is being taught,  we have managed to make connections that are mostly multidisciplinary. “Multidisciplinarity is unique from the other two terms because it draws on comprehension and information from many disciplines, yet it stays within its discipline’s boundaries” (3)

There are indeed conceptual links happening across subjects and this once again speaks volumes of the strides made in the implementation of the MYP. For instance students, in Humanities, study infectious diseases. Indeed they learn terms and concepts that are of a scientific nature. As they tackle this unit, students are able to make some connections between disciplines; however, it would be erroneous to coin this as interdisciplinary because these connections are not deep enough. 

The document, MYP: From Principles to Practice states that: 

 "...students demonstrate interdisciplinary understanding of a particular topic when they can bring together concepts, methods, or forms of communication from two or more disciplines or established areas of expertise to explain a phenomenon, solve a problem, create a product, or raise a new question in ways that would have been unlikely through single disciplinary means"  (67).

This quote tells us a lot about the textured nature of interdisciplinary learning. Its implementation has to be well thought-out; the deep connections between the disciplines involved play a central role in interdisciplinary planning. Hence, it is clear that final product relies on the interdependence on the different disciplines combined.    

The years in this profession have truly shaped my approach on learning. Kids respond best to real world problems. If they know that their work has purpose they will be much more likely to want to tackle it in a proactive and engaged manner. However, the more I try to create units that are project-based and address a real audience, the more I'm faced with the limitations of single disciplines because as one tries to address a real world problem he/she must inevitably tackle it from different disciplinary angles. For instance, the Humanities department is looking into creating a hands-on unit were students explore the different causes of water scarcity in Lima and create a solutiona that can range from the evaluation of privatization of water to the construction of a model water filter. For this real world problems to be addressed and tackled, we must bring in Science and Design Technology, but we are faced with constraints. 

If there is one thing that I learned during my masters course is this: When reflecting upon the learning that is happening your classroom you always must factor two systems: The classroom system and the overall school system. I believe that the latter is currently impeding true interdisciplinary learning. 

The MYP has the right framework for interdisciplinary learning, but we are not capitalizing from this programme as we should because of the logistical constraints that we set. There are way too many teachers teaching in a grade level and this alone discourages interdisciplinary planning.  Moreover, the schedule is way too rigid to make any meaningful adjustments to facilitate its implementation.  I believe that we have to rethink the the schedule's role and reshape it to better meet the needs of 21st century learning. Must we continue to categorize students according to age and separate them in different disciplines?   

As much as I applaud the MYP for its forward thinking, we must continue to innovate education. Currently, my students are way too overwhelmed with too many assessments all happening simultaneously. By revamping the schedule to facilitate interdisciplinary learning, we would be hitting two birds with one stone.  Students would be able to address a problem using the different disciplines as toolkits AND would also have more time to delve into their assessments. We would be giving up the quantity, but we would be certainly gaining in quality. 

www.tedwardwines.com 

On Saturday, I attended a wine and cheese tasting session at a wine exposition organized by a local supermarket chain. Having been rightfully called a wine philistine in the past, I knew that this session would be beneficial yet I didn't expect it to be so inspiring. I've always abhorred dessert wines. The smell of sweet wine alone makes me cringe.  As I sniffed the Alcyone from Uruguay my reaction was no different. However, when we dipped the dried apricot into the honey, tasted it and then took a sip of the wine, something marvelous happened. Corey Topf described it best: "Each individual flavour made all of them come to life."  

It is clear that when one combines the right ingredients the result will be extraordinary.  

Works Cited 

Daley, Kimberley, Dr. Curriculum integration in the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme: Literature review. Cardiff: International Baccalaureate Organization, 2012. Online Curriculum Centre. Web. 30 Sept. 2013. <http://occ.ibo.org/ibis/documents/general/g_0_iboxx_amo_1209_1b_e.pdf>.

MYP: From principles into practice. Cardiff, Wales: International Baccalaureate Organization, 2008. Digital file.