According to the Teacher Quality Standards (2018) "a teacher applies a current and comprehensive repertoire of effective planning, instruction and assessment practices to meet the learning needs of every student." Instructional practices are depended on a few key factors; most importantly the student, the curriculum topic and putting it all together the strengths and values of the teacher. My growth in instructional practices has come from a long career in education and non educational careers.
I've been teaching since 2003, during this time I have not always been in a typical kindergarten to grade 12 setting. These alternate settings required that I not be the original teacher I had envisioned. Honestly, I am an auditorial learner and I loved lectures, I loved discussion type teachings and being able to reflect on those lessons afterwards. I am also a planner and I like to know and being in charge of things a little, so when I started out in education I was very much a traditionalist. Thinking back on the learning curve of my first few years of teaching I am very grateful that my first few teaching positions were not typical class lecture positions. My first position was a temporary high school physical education teacher, this ensured that I spent a lot of time building relationships with my students, and I had to allow students to lead demonstrations because even though I had a minor in physical education I was not as skilled as the students in many of our activities. I had some excellent administration and colleagues that helped me with my hesitations, and feel ok with having some lessons that failed.
That was the first time my thought of what a teaching job would look like and what reality was first changed. And because I have had many different jobs that were not in schools I have been able to try different instructional practices. Lately my guru for instructional practices is Shelley Moore, her stories, her values and strategies for building inclusive planning align perfectly with my vision on what I dream for education to become.
This is a document (also linked here) that shows part of my planning but I always start my units with the guiding questions, the students then can decide how they want to solve those questions. Depending on the group of students I may control more of the direction of the process or I set back and allow them to guide me through this process. Everyone starts at the access points and even if they do not need help with the access point it does not hurt them to be apart of the group determining the roles of the group they are in.
Because our program has a curriculum based on life skills to support students after graduation that our team created we use this curriculum to help us create the individual support plans for our students. Parents have a large voice in this development and it can change much our focus in the year as we work to meet the goals of all the students.
There is some direct teaching, especially to introduce the why to a topic, but most of the teaching is done through exploration, student lead discovery and mostly structured in Project Based Learning situations. One example of our student led projects that we use in our class is the Game of Life. This was developed based on a large section of our curriculum and the students get to choose where they start, what they do and as they finish they earn spots around the board. As the teachers we help and facilitate this learning with some direct teaching in small groups as required or by helping them determine their searches to find the information they need. It is a very successful project in our classroom and the students love it!
Moore had reintroduced me to backward design and universal design for learning. In my practice I am always using universal design for learning to help reach as many students in my classroom at one time. Universal Design for learning is a system where you plan once to meet the needs of all the students in your room. It's important that you know you students and how they learn and discover their strengths and stretches. Katz (2012) has a three block model for universal design for learning which "promotes access, participation and progress in the general education curriculum for all learners." (p. 157) I have taken the ideas of Moore and her baked potato analogy and that of universal design for learning to build student driven lesson plans, I am learning with the students as we explore life skills. This has allowed me to become more constructivist in my teaching practice. I like to watch the students bring their passions out in their projects. I also feel that there is a balance between constructivist and traditionalist practices, I have to do some direct teaching but by providing the inquiry question we can often find interesting and unique solutions that we did not think about in the beginning.
As an instructional leader in a school I think it's important to balance instructional practices to reach all learners. It's important not only to know the strengths of our students when we consider teaching practices but to also consider the strengths of our teachers. There are many times when a teacher may very effectively employ traditionalist strategies and they will reach many of their students but it is because they have a great skill set in those strategies. And then other teachers may not have the same success, but give them a Project Based Learning and they are off and running. In both cases you may need to give some coaching to support the development of new teaching skills for both types of teachers. Keeping in mind that people do well if they can, and people want to do well, we can build teacher capacity by offering supprot
References
Alberta Education. (2018). Teacher Quality Standards. https://open.alberta.ca/dataset/4596e0e5-bcad- 4e93-a1fb-dad8e2b800d6/resource/75e96af5-8fad-4807-b99a-f12e26d15d9f/download/edc- alberta-education-teaching-quality-standard-2018-01-17.pdf.
Katz,J. (2013) The three block model of universal design for learning (UDL): Engaging students in inclusive education. Canadian Journal of Education 36(1). 153-194.
Moore, S. [Five Moore Minutes]. (2019, October 17). Dr. Baked Potato: How can we scaffold complexity. [video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7j0oL1CNXAs
Great post Jenn!
ReplyDeleteYour instructional methods are powerful and I enjoyed your visuals and links. Would your instructional methods change if you were teaching early elementary or upper high school? Do you ever feel crunched for time trying to fit in your curriculum using student led discovery? My worry as a high school science teacher that I wouldn't be able to fit in the entire curriculum which would punish them on a standardized test they write at the end of the semester.
Great post.
cheers
I have used these same instructional strategies when I was teaching ELA 10 and 20 so I don't know that they would change, but it is about finding the connections to the curriculum. I know that when I was teaching in middle school we did more thematic teaching which is similar.
DeleteThe benefit of my current program is I have the students for 4 years so I do not get the crunch for time since they are with me and it's not reasonable to have us reach every curriculum goal in a single year and I do not have standardized tests either.
I think I would adjust a bit if I was back in high school depending on the subject area, but I do see value in allowing students to explore curriculum on their own and to make decisions on topics they want to study. The biggest stump for me would be Math, but maybe Dan could help me with that ;)
I want to talk to you!! I want to discuss the curriculum you developed for your students and how all of that occurs. With so much of what you teach being a direct reflection of what your current, individual students need, and with having flexibility with your curriculum I would have to consciously focus on long-term planning. I fear I would spend too much time teaching a certain concept if I did not have a sense of urgency to complete the outcomes of the curriculum. Does that make sense, Jenn? I would really need to be cognisant and reflective to ensure that I kept the learning moving at a fast enough speed. I'd love to hear your thoughts on that when we walk one of these days. Thanks for making me think, Jenn.
ReplyDeleteno problem!! I'd love to discuss it with you! I think we do have a sense of urgency but ten months is very different than 5 and 4 years is very different than 1 year. Also sometimes aspects of the curriculum aren't taught to specific kids because it's not a priority for the parent.
DeleteAwesome post Jenn!
ReplyDeleteI loved your connection to Moore! I can feel your passion and care through the careful word selection which is a testament to your ability to convey your thoughts in a meaningful manner.
I wonder to what extent have you collaborated with other curriculum developers in your specialized area? With no government curriculum to follow, and no experience doing so, I would feel completely lost! What proactive and reactive approaches did you take to ensure your students are getting the best curricular educational possible?
Thanks!
Moore is probably my biggest influence, I took a course with her at the UBC and have been following her for years!!
DeleteI am not sure if other people consider themselves Curriculum developers that I have worked with, but I have reached out to those educators who work in similar programs to mine and to educators who work in full inclusive schools. As the president of the Council for Inclusive Education in Central Alberta I have met so many educators that have provided me with a lot of insight into programming for students with disabilities.
We use some initial assessments, (MIPI, Fountas and Pinnel)for functional academics and then review Level C psychological assessments and build on Individual support plans with the parents to ensure we are meeting their plan for their student. We actually send home a four year plan document (we would meet with the parents to discuss it in a normal year) and then use that form to direct our ISPs. It's been most helpful and allows for appropriate parental involvement. I would say this is proactive support.
Reactive approaches had come more from the behaviour support plans, especially in their first year or two with us, we have been working with Vicki on a behaviour modification program that uses Stuart Shanker, Ross Greene and Michelle Garcia Winner that has allowed us to be more proactive in our supports.
It really is a balance and I don't know that I have set my program up to vision I see for the students, but I was always getting closer and now I get to hand the reins over to two new teachers to continue the push to inclusive education.
Great post, Jenn! It is encouraging that you also connect with Shelley Moore’s work as I feel it has shone a light on making inclusive practices truly inclusive with placing the student’s needs and strengths at the forefront. I have a question regarding your instructional journey; what impact do you feel the diversity of your various teaching positions has on your current teaching?
ReplyDeleteI think it has had the biggest impact, I said earlier in the post that I am very good at learning during lectures, so it would make sense that I might be drawn to this teaching approach (we do what we know). So the fact that I have had multiple positions, and done work outside of teaching has allowed me the take risks and try different strategies to support the learners in front of me. It wasn't always easy, it was really stretching my stretches but now I think I have strengths and it has made me a better teacher.
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ReplyDeleteHi Jen,
Great post about instructional practices! I 100% agree with you, it is important to know our learners and their background. Universal Design for Learning is a great framework to refer back to when deciding what universal and targeted strategies to support our students with. Your view on the importance of balancing our instructional practices is interesting. It is definitely imperative to know the strengths of our teachers so that we place them in the right place. Instructional leaders must also be cognizant of fostering effective relationships with the staff in order to engage them in reflection about their instruction. Thank you for sharing your thoughts!
You are most welcome Anna!! Thanks for reading!
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