GPILD Our Journey So Far

GPILD
Grant proposal written by group 6-8 teachers in Spring of 2011. Group disbanded and reformed after grant was received. 20+ meetings since September 2011 attended by between 12 and 27 people. Our initial goal: To get our Grade 9 students fully ready for success in the graduation program. What have we accomplished?

Consensus decision making model using gradients of agreement

1 Endorse 2 Agree with reservation 3 Mixed feeling 4 Some concerns 5 Against

I fully support I mostly support Im not sure but it it I dont want to hold up the group

I have some issues with the proposal but Ill support the decision

I veto this proposal

Statement of Purpose
We aim to create a framework which meaningfully engages Grade 8 and 9 students in learning. We want them to master essential competencies in literacy, numeracy and critical thinking through focussed, content rich curricula. Creating relationships based on care and trust is foundational to this endeavour. In addition we want our kids to be: Confident, resilient learners and self-regulated learners in school and beyond Risk takers with a growth mind set Contributors to the greater good Willing to put forward their best effort

Guiding Principles
1. Overwhelming support- We require a very high level of support from those affected by any changes we propose. Transparent process We intend to openly communicate our processes and proposals to staff and accept responsibility for clearly communicating our plans. Supportive of meaningful relationships The framework we create must be supportive of the creating and maintenance of meaningful relationships within our school community. Sustainable The framework we create must be sustainable in the long term without putting undue stress on any part of our school community.

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Formation of Three Sub-groups

Kids Curriculum Structures

Each group has done significant research which is being crafted into recommended elements for inclusion in the final framework.

ILD THE BIG PICTURE

Immediate Curriculum Action Fewer PLOs and fewer assignments to facilitate depth Emphasis on authentic performance tasks that frame the learning (ex. Project based learning) Student voice/ choice Interdisciplinary Students have frequent opportunities to collaborate Culture of excellence (Ron Berger book) Culture of revision and serious peer critique. Kids have the opportunity to focus on a passion (to shine). Some of the authentic tasks contribute to the community. Opportunities for critical thinking across the curriculum. Teach tools to create more self-regulated learners.

Long Term Curriculum Elements Teachers (and SEAs/ admin) have frequent opportunities to collaborate Kids graduate from Grade 9 with portfolios which are defended like a mini-thesis. Some of the authentic tasks contribute to the community. Interdisciplinary Fewer PLOs and fewer assignments to facilitate depth

Our Current Work

Kids Group
MindUp- Implementing MindUp curriculum in some Grade 8 SESM classes and at least two Grade 9 classes. Food- Close to having some type of nutritious snack food available for every classroom for the rest of the school year

Curriculum Group
Various Teacher Inquiry Groups for Fall 2012
Project Based Inquiry: Rebecca and Tammie Getting their SESM kids to build a village and trying to meet a large percentage of their Ma, SS, Eng, Sc PLOs in the process. Genius Hour: Edmund Based on Dan Pinks idea. Edmund will try to give one class freedom about what to learn for a block (with some structure and accountability). Portfolio Assessment: Nicole and Stefan For their Hum 9 classes they have develop 6 Essential learning outcomes each of which will have (soon) a performance standard. Students will use portfolios at interim, midterm and final to show their growth with respect to these goals. No marks will be issued except at midterm and final report card. Oral Language: Neil and Chelsea - Embedding more oral language teaching into their FSL programs Class Reviews: Pat Looking at best practices in the district around how we support kids in classrooms. Re-teach and Enrich: Nicole and Stefan Will explore this for Essential Learning outcomes in English 9 this fall. For example writing a persuasive paragraph. Self-regulated Learning: Matt and Stefan Will explore the work from Stefans workshop and play around with it in their classes.

Curriculum Group
School Visits for fall 2012 Thomas Haney Johnson Heights Island Pacific School Inter A (KP) possibly just talk to all our connections.

Structures Group
Weve had one meeting to brainstorm structures that would facilitate our curriculum and kids elements. Ideas so far include: Making Grade 8 and 9 a Junior program thats seen as one entity. Having cohorts of kids in pods team taught most of their subjects in an integrated setting. Still very much a work in progress.

Professional Learning Communities at GP

Why? PLCs will help sustain our current initiatives, promote new ones and get the majority of staff involved.

What PLCs Might Work on

Exploring the question: How can we help our kids get past learned helplessness? Further exploring how to infuse critical thinking across the curriculum. Social Studies using the 6 benchmarks of historical thinking to frame our courses and the entire social studies program. Any of our current inquiry groups could turn into PLCs (assessment, re-teach and enrich, oral language, class reviews, project based learning). All of our ILD work to date has been PLC work.

PLC Schedule
Wednesday 8:20 9:00 collaboration 9:05-10:15 10:20-11:30 Break 11:30-12:10 12:15-1:20 1:25 2:30

PLO for PLC

Personal Learning Opportunities would be a wide variety of outside the timetable offerings from teachers (40 minutes each week/ teacher) Students getting extra help individually or in groups organized by departments or individual teachers. Beyond the curriculum sessions. Create spaces for our kids to collaborate potential for cross curricular, multi-age collaboration. Offer spaces for learning with supplies and food. Some would come by choice, others by special teacher invitation.

PLOs
The idea is to begin to create a new culture in which students take ownership of their learning and learn for its own sake. Much of this work is already being done by an exhausted group of staff. The PLO structure recognizes their work, gets others involved to share the burden and creates time for collaboration.

Questions for Pat

How can we make PLCs happen at GP? Could we apply under the Innovation: An Invitation to Think Differently program? Our work seems very congruent with where curriculum seems to be going in BC. How can we connect with/ benefit from/ contribute to the curriculum changes currently under way?