Looking back to look forwards

Now is the time to reflect on how I progressed against my goals.

1. To use a knowledge building approach to engage online learners

Looking back at this goal, I wonder how exactly do you measure engagement? There are all kinds of analytical tools I could use in Knowledge Forum (our online Knowledge Building environment) to measure the quantity of posts, the frequency of posts, the amount of times that a student has read a post, or edited their own. However, it is my feeling that a quantitative analysis does not necessarily answer the question of 'Does this engage learners?'. All that would tell me was that they have used the tool. 

To know whether students felt that Knowledge Building was valuable for their learning I think it is important to go to students   “If you want to know how people understand their world and their lives, why not talk with them?” (Kvale & Brinkman, 2009).

The anecdotal evidence from students was that Knowledge Building was in fact very valuable for them and a key part of coming to a higher more perceptive understanding of issues in art history. It was vital for students have dialogue with each other, as shown by these reflective statements from my students:

"-Knowledge forum provided me with insight into other peoples thinking and ideas which I

perhaps would not otherwise thought of and was also able to reflect on my own thinking.

 ... Questions such as ‘How can media impact on meanings in artworks?’ posted by XXXXXX XXXXXXXX  helped me to explore areas and thus form my ideas for this assignment while the post by XXXXXXXX XXXXXXX ‘process impacting meaning’ helped to clarify my ideas as well as being useful to refer to."

"Being able to communicate and read my classmates contributions on Knowledge Forum helped to deepen my understanding of how theories influenced the artistic style of the Renaissance. ... Having access to another perspective helped me gain an overall deeper understanding and helped me consider aspects of Humanism I hadn’t considered before."

Students considered the diversity of thinking that a knowledge building community provides as vital to their ability to come to a really considered conclusion (an important skill in art history).

I think that the achievement data I have to hand so far also helps to triangulate the validity of the knowledge building approach. The students that really dug deep into the knowledge building process saw an improvement in their results from level two art history and similar subjects, going from Achieved to endorsed with Merit and Excellence. The knowledge building process seemed to naturally provide evidence for things like 'critical thinking', 'come to an insightful conclusion'. 

 A particular success was a student who went from simply getting achieved at level 2, to achieving the majority or their internals at excellence and even sitting the scholarship exam. This student remarked that dealing with ideas the way that we did in knowledge building worked for them.


 After completing my Master's thesis, I realised that there was a need to contextualise Knowledge Building ideas and approaches for NZ.

Essentially, I discovered when reviewing literature, that where classes had principles broken down into terms or explanations that they understood, and used those principles to guide their knowledge building and reflect on their progress and success as a knowledge building community, they were much more likely to experience success than students who had been ask to knowledge build ad. hoc, with little guidance.

This led me to try to develop resources which align Knowledge Building Principles with concepts within NZ education and concepts in Te Ao Māori. This took the form of poster explaining how knowledge building can align with concepts within Te Ao Māori for teachers and a 'Knowledge Building moves' info-graphic which teachers and learners could use to guide their next Knowledge Building moves, assess their progress and determine their next steps.

These resources are definitely just prototypes with much room for improvement. I think next year I would like to explore using them with a class and get students to feedback on them. How useful are they, what else could be included, what else are they thinking about during the knowledge building process?

2. To use 'assessment for learning' to leverage engagement in junior and middle school classes.

This was an inquiry goal that I was very intentional with and that I feel a lot of progress was made within a short year. I am quite proud of this considering that I have 2 hours a week with my junior class, and 3 hours a week with my middle school class.

The hunch or reasoning behind this goal was that traditionally the feedback, next steps and general drive for the work has come from the teacher, which gets a bit unmanageable when dealing with a class of 20 - 30 students.

I really wanted to instill a sense of ownership for students over their work and for them to get to a place where they felt capable to determine their next steps.

The first step, as I have talked about in previous blog posts, was to make the learning more visible.
This involved the students creating their own visual diary online. I wanted to  keep this manageable and easy for students, so this was just a Google Slide in the folder that they share with me. Initially my aim was simply for students to record their work in progress, so that they were able to get a sense of what was happening over time with their art. This was also useful for instilling a growth mindset (which was something that was discussed in class, regularly) in students.

I found that students really enjoyed seeing their work change, and that this was not something I had to labour to make happen. 

The next step was to try to develop reflective capabilities in students. This was and is an ongoing process and needs to be quite deliberate. I found that it was necessary to schedule time for this as it really didn't happen so organically. I didn't need to put a lot of time aside, just 5 minutes at the beginning and end of most weeks for reflection and goal setting.

I discovered that while students were quite happy to go through this process, they tended to write quite generalized goals and reflections e.g. 'my goal is to draw better'. 

This prompted me to think about scaffolds. I found that when students had a prompt they wrote really great reflections and questions to themselves about their work.

 

A recent discovery in the past few weeks, which happened mostly through luck and intuition, was peer feedback. I had decided part way through a double period to break up the session with a bit of feedback. After showing and talking with students about what good quality feedback looks like ('helpful', 'supportive', 'specific'). 

I asked them to give good quality feedback to two other students using a post it note. They left work they needed feedback on, and gave them two post-its with the instructions to share the love around the whole class, not just the art works they were most wowed by. The students really got it, and interestingly it was the boys that took their time to think about what the other person needed to hear and how to frame that in a helpful and supportive way e.g. 'I like the details in this drawing, but I would like to know where the light is coming from'. I think this was a hit for a number of reasons. I was not asking for a lot of writing. It was for a purpose. And I was not asking for feedback out loud (which I had tried previously with little success) which was important because our West Coast students can get a bit whakama about standing out. 

It was so lovely to see the students really treasuring the feedback that they were given and carefully placing their feedback notes in to their art books.

Interestingly it has been the students who have asked to repeat this exercise. I had a gorgeous moment today where one of my boys asked if we could do the 'feedback on our drawings thing' as he had some work that he was really proud of. 💗

This is definitely something that I want to build on next year, how I can develop self and peer reflective capabilities. When I reflect on where I started, I have definitely seen an increase in engagement and ownership. Students are happily documenting their work, and putting it out their in a supportive environment for others input. It really feels like a learning culture is starting to develop and that ako - the learning from and teaching each other is being embodied in small ways.

NCEA review

It is sounding like the review of NCEA might result in more generalised programmes of learning. e.g. A many-faceted learning area like social sciences, which currently consists of the likes of history, geography, etcetera, would become social science. 

While this fills me with a lot of stress in terms of writing entirely new art programmes, I am also heartened. 

This opens up opportunities in terms of place-based learning and dealing with wicked problems through a knowledge building lens. It also makes a lot of sense in terms of aligning with arts pathways, with most art schools in New Zealand taking a multi-disciplinary approach and many contemporary artists working across the traditional art disciplines.

While there is still much to be worked out, I am excited about the implications for broadening learning opportunities for our rangatahi.

DLO vs. DLA

As a follow up to my post last week, I just want to add a note about some pieces that fell into place for me at last week's toolkit.

Before the 'Quality sharing on Blogs' toolkit, I was idly reading through some of the resources the presenter had linked into their slides. I noticed Woolf Fisher had mentioned DLO's vs. DLA's. I am a naturally curious person so I asked what the difference was. 

The presenter outlined it like so: A DLA is a digital learning artefact, something from a student's learning that they are proud of and want to show the world, but are not inviting further comment on. Whereas a DLO is a digital learning object, something that captures current learning and invites a conversation; or if I were to put it in knowledge building terms 'build on' the students work.

Wow. 

This is just a small titbit that may not have been of any interest to other people in the toolkit, but it has just triggered a connection for me. 

I can now see clear links between knowledge-building communities, which has been of huge interest to me in my teaching practice for the past four years, and learn-create-share which has formed the other string to my teaching inquiry.

I can see how I could leverage the affordances of blogging for knowledge building conversations with my students.

Oh, the possibilities.

DLO effects and Knowledge Building

I am participating in an online toolkit workshop tonight about 'quality sharing' in student blogs. I was reading through some of the supporting resources in my non-contact and was really intrigued to see knowledge building and the writing of Scardamalia and Bereiter referenced.

I am quite excited to hear about something that I am really passionate about and am curious to find out how this will be woven in.

Computational thinking

I had a conversation with a colleague last week that made the penny drop, in regards to computational thinking.
We were chatting after homework club, and I mentioned that I just couldn't figure out how to fit computational thinking into my subject area. She looked around the room and said "you're already doing it", and then explained that it was just a decision making pathway of how do I get from here to there, and what are the decisions I need to make to get there. I model this for my students all the time, on the walls, on the class site, in conversations.

 

After a bit more of a chat, I realised that we are also practising the next step on from computational thinking, 'iterative thinking' through the visual art creative cycle of 'generate', 'analyse', 'clarify', and 'regenerate'.

I just wish the PD contract that the school has signed up for, would help staff unpack what this might look like in their own subject area. I have gone from feeling like a dunce that just doesn't get it, to feeling inspired. I really feel like collegial conversations are the best PD sometimes.


 'Everything you were looking for was right there with you all along.' - The Wizard of Oz 

Professional discussions - Knowledge Building

In the past few weeks, I have participated in an online knowledge building group, focused on knowledge building within the NZ context. We've been looking at some of the big questions, like why knowledge building, how to support and develop it in New Zealand, and how to develop critical literacy.

It has been so energising to discuss pedagogical issues I care deeply about with likeminded colleagues. The discussion has been really expansive. In fact, we've decided to keep an ongoing discussion open about knowledge building. I invite you to join us if you are interested in learning about knowledge building or conversing with colleagues about the big ideas and problems of practice within knowledge building. Email me and I can let you know how to get connected.

Post-observation reflection

Can my students articulate what success looks like?

I recently had an observation of my middle school class. Overall the feedback was positive. My observer agreed that I was creating a positive atmosphere in my classroom, with the students energized about their learning and able to articulate the kind of feedback and feedforward they had been receiving.

However, a few were unable to articulate what the 'final destination' was with the art unit.

While I loathe for the learning to be completely linear and think it is important to maintain some flexibility and room for individualized learning plans, this made me realize that the classroom korero and student reflection in their visual diaries need to focus more on the big picture.

While the outcomes might look different for various students, it is important that they are able to articulate what success looks like.

With this in mind, I set up a google form for my junior class to capture what they thought success would look like for their art unit. This gave me insight into the overall understanding of the class. Some gave me multi-structural (Pam Hook) responses, listing art elements which we had been working within the class, and a few were able to give more relational answers making connections to the ideas and techniques of the artist model.

This made me realize that I need to review my learning design to cover the 'communicating and interpreting' strand of the visual art curriculum in more depth.

This will be a challenge though given the size of our junior classes and the short amount of time I get with them.

I am going to try a similar approach with my middle school class and see whether the extra period I get with them makes a difference in comparison with the junior cohort.

learning focused relationships & ako

We had an interesting conversation in our staff meeting this morning. There was a small presentation where the focus was on 'learning-focused relationships'. An aspect that was picked up on in discussions was how all interactions needed to center around the learning and the point you don't necessarily need to care about your students on a personal level to have learning focused relationship (source: clarity in the classroom).

A member of staff pointed out that this was in contrast with concepts like ako which look at the whole learner.

While I can see that good teaching and learning isn't necessarily permissive, from my perspective it is totally essential that I know my learners and what makes them tick. For some learners, it has been the key to unlocking any kind of engagement in learning, and in fact, it was the turning point for the student showing positive behavior in my classroom.

Also from a pedagogical point of view, my visual art classes learning operates as a form of inquiry. To be able to support my students' individual lines of inquiry well, it is really important for me to know the students, how they tick and what their passions are.

I wonder if learning-focused-relationships is a eurocentric concept and whether it is the best lens for support diverse akonga?

Learner agency - who drives the learning?

I've been thinking about learner agency and who drives the learning. My online art history class uses a knowledge building approach. For us, this looks like lots of discussion, lots of student led activity, and generally working as a bit of research team. We're always trying to delve deeper into ideas to improve everyone's understanding.

Last week we had a power cut at my school during the scheduled video conference time. I was able to email my students on my cell phone to let them know to work together online without me using the structure on the class blog as a guide. I had a response from a student (I'm paraphrasing here) letting me know that she had tried to elicit a bit of verbal korero, but the others weren't comfortable taking the lead in the VC without my guidance.

This got me to thinking, have I unconsciously made the video conferences too teacher-centric? Or is this just the kind of learners I have this year? I am conscious that I am pushing a lot of their boundaries and expectations of what learning is.

Teachers using a Knowledge Building approach what are your thoughts?

Inquiry goals - leveraging engagement

This year I have decided to keep my teaching inquiry relatively simple and streamlined with one goal relating to face to face learners and one goal relating to learners in the online class that I teach.

I have 2 goals

1. To use 'assessment for learning' to leverage engagement in junior and middle school classes
2. To use a knowledge building approach to engage online learners

With the first goal, my hunch or motivation relates to many learners coming into art with a 'fixed mindset'. They feel that it is not something they are good at and that it is not for them. I really want to shift the focus from this to a mindset where students are continually reflecting on 'how am I doing' and 'how am I improving'. My theory is that I need to look at ways of making the progress more visible to students and creating opportunities for those reflective conversations to happen.

I am trialing a 'digital visual diary' in the form of a Google Slide. I am trying to keep this as simple and user-friendly as possible. The idea is that students will update their slides at the end of a lesson with their work in progress. In terms of learning design, I am trying to center the classroom talk around progress. This is taking deliberate planning though. I am needing to carve out pockets of time for students to write goals, reflections and recording their work.

My hope is that students will develop more of a growth mindset about their learning in art and through feedback and feedforward from their teacher gradually take more and more ownership of their learning.

With the second goal, my hunch is based on prior experience of using a communal inquiry-based approach. Students who might have struggled with a traditional transactional approach coupled with the potential isolation of being an online student thrived with the knowledge building approach. They reported feeling connected to the class and a part of a community. I still remember one student who identified as not being an exam student. They went on to pass their exams and even get an endorsement! They told me later that being able to collaborate creatively with other students really helped them.

I am looking to get more deliberate and reflective with the knowledge building pedagogy. My experience and instinct tell me that it is powerful, but I want to explore 'how' and 'why' gathering evidence from my class. I want to improve my practice as a teacher and build on what works.

I am quite excited about a newly formed community of practice for knowledge building teachers in NZ, where hopefully we will be able to share our problems of practice and our expertise.

Computational thinking?

I have to admit that I am struggling to figure out how I can connect computational thinking to the Visual Arts and Art History and how I can meaningfully fit this into an already full teaching inquiry.

I had a professional development session that left me cold on computational thinking, and perhaps I started off on the wrong foot, but it didn't seem to me to encourage creativity or the higher level thinking skills that I am working to develop with my classes.

When I compare computational thinking, to a progressive inquiry-based pedagogy like knowledge building, it just seems a bit reductive.

Maybe I've missed something?

Can my colleagues in the creative fields win me over to computational thinking? I just can't currently see how it will fit with my pedagogical philosophy and the kind of thinking I am trying to foster within my classes.

Problems of practice

How can community be developed in the online space and how can authentic learning be captured?

These are the issues that I wrestle with in my teaching practice. I see community as totally pivotal to good online teaching, yet it is challenging to develop real community in a virtual environment where class members might be dispersed across the country. I see knowledge building communities as offering a relevant and innovative approach for online teachers. Knowledge Building, as I see it calls for students to work as a research team to solve authentic and emergent problems. The heart of the issue for me is how to create the space for authentic learning and inquiry, where the tail (assessment) is not wagging the dog (learning). In my view, online teaching has the potential to provide that space to step outside of the bounds of traditional school culture. This is what excites me about teaching. If this resonates with you, check out my video to find out more.

https://hail.to/nex/article/YUWWccu

Learning about Gifs

I have recently been the learner in a Manaiakalani toolkit workshop. I chose the 'fun with gifs' workshop thinking that I would have a bit of fun there and maybe come away with something to take back to the classroom.

I soon realized that I could make gifs from google slides and talltweets.com and simply set up the sequence like a stop motion. movie. So super easy.

I then noticed a student of mine talking about how the photos they had been taking of their work showed it evolving.

This sparked an idea that I could use gifs to bring the process to life and even get students to incorporate this into their blogging. 

Happy days