Sketchnoting:
Show what you know more than one way
Up your note taking skills by being visual. Learn this invaluable method for recording, showcasing understanding, and deepening comprehension.
We will meet and greet, norm, touch on research, play with words and word art, discuss tools, practice, participate in a feedback look, and close by setting a micro-goal.
Here’s my sketch note of the plan:
We watched Simon Sinek’s TED talk to practice live sketch noting.
We will continue to use the Visible Thinking Routine Sentence-Phrase-Word to notice and note important, thought-provoking ideas. This routine aims to illuminate what the reader finds important and worthwhile.
Sentence-Phrase-Word helps learners to engage with and make meaning from text with a particular focus on capturing the essence of the text or “what speaks to you.” It fosters enhanced discussion while drawing attention to the power of language. (Ritchhart, 207 pag.)
However, the power and promise of this routine lies in the discussion of why a particular word, a single phrase, and a sentence stood out for each individual in the group as the catalyst for rich discussion . It is in these discussions that learners must justify their choices and explain what it was that spoke to them in each of their choices. (Ritchhart, 208 pag.)
When we share what resonates with us, we offer others our perspective. What if we engage in conversation to learn and share from multiple points of view?
We know high-functioning teams have great impact on student learning. How might we grow in our strategic teaming to commit to the good, hard work it takes to meet the needs of our learners?
Today, we asked each team to review and discuss the 3 Big Ideas high-functioning teams embrace along with the 4 key questions these same teams routinely ask themselves.
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As we grow in our leadership, teaming, and collaboration, how might we learn more?
I hope our teams will return to the talk to watch what we skipped. The big takeaways for me are
…spreading sunshine and lightness in the world.
…authenticity…standing in your own truth.
…what would the world be likeif we were creating sound consciouslyand consuming sound consciouslyand designing all our environmentsconsciously for sound?That would be a world that does sound beautiful,and one where understanding would be the norm,and that is an idea worth spreading.
Strong teams regularly self-assess how well they function within their norms – the hopes and dreams for how they are when together.
Each team had a quick open discussion of their work, successes, and struggles with last year’s norms. We strive to strengthen our teaming by setting new norms.We turned to another expert and provocateur by watching the first 5:45 of The Myth of Average: Todd Rose at TEDxSonomaCounty.
How might we dramatically expand our talent pool?
Each team worked to update their norms and discuss tools they might use to hold to these norms and provide feedback when necessary.
As Marsha Harris and I closed this Pre-Planning session, we wanted to connect to Tuesday’s Division Meetings.
We hope to model the connectedness, commitment, and collaboration we seek in our teaching teams. Maryellen Berry and Rhonda Mitchell both closed their faculty meetings by showing Android: Monotone as a metaphor and message.
One fear we encounter while forwarding the tenets of professional learning communities is the perceived loss of autonomy. We wanted to send the message
Be together; not the same.
To reinforce and support Maryellen and Rhonda’s message, Marsha and I showed Android: The Making of “MonoTune.” In the above video, Ji makes it look easy. It’s not.
When we are in harmony and in unison but we are all distinctly different, that’s when magic happens in the world.
How do we learn and grow when we are apart? We workshop, plan, play, rest, and read to name just a few of our actions and strategies.
We make a commitment to read and learn every summer. This year, we take a slightly broader approach to our Summer Reading Learning menu by adding two streams of TED talks, Voices of Diversity and SAIS.
Below is the Summer Learning flyer announcing the choices for this summer.
We will use the Visible Thinking Routine Sentence-Phrase-Word to notice and note important, thought-provoking ideas. This routine aims to illuminate what the reader finds important and worthwhile.
Sentence-Phrase-Word helps learners to engage with and make meaning from text with a particular focus on capturing the essence of the text or “what speaks to you.” It fosters enhanced discussion while drawing attention to the power of language. (Ritchhart, 207 pag.)
However, the power and promise of this routine lies in the discussion of why a particular word, a single phrase, and a sentence stood out for each individual in the group as the catalyst for rich discussion . It is in these discussions that learners must justify their choices and explain what it was that spoke to them in each of their choices. (Ritchhart, 208 pag.)
We have the opportunity to model how to incorporate reading strategies into all classrooms. Think about teaching young learners to read a section of their book and jot down a sentence, phrase, and word that has meaning to them. Great formative assessment as the lesson begins!
When we share what resonates with us, we offer others our perspective. What if we engage in conversation to learn and share from multiple points of view?
Alanna Shaikh: How I’m preparing to get Alzheimer’s
There’s about 35 million people globally living with some kind of dementia,and by 2030 they’re expecting that to double to 70 million.That’s a lot of people.
Kenneth Shinozuka: My simple invention, designed to keep my grandfather safe
… I was looking after my grandfather and I saw him stepping out of the bed.The moment his foot landed on the floor,I thought, why don’t I put a pressure sensor on the heel of his foot?Once he stepped onto the floor and out of the bed,the pressure sensor would detect an increase in pressure caused by body weightand then wirelessly send an audible alert to the caregiver’s smartphone.
Geoff Mulgan: A short intro to the Studio School
What kind of school would have the teenagers fighting to get in,not fighting to stay out?And after hundreds of conversationswith teenagers and teachers and parentsand employers and schoolsfrom Paraguay to Australia,and looking at some of the academic research,which showed the importanceof what’s now called non-cognitive skills —the skills of motivation, resilience —and that these are as importantas the cognitive skills — formal academic skills —we came up with an answer, a very simple answer in a way,which we called the Studio School.And we called it a studio schoolto go back to the original idea of a studio in the Renaissancewhere work and learning are integrated.You work by learning,and you learn by working.
Conrad Wolfram: Teaching kids real math with computers
We can engage so many more students with this,and they can have a better time doing it.And let’s understand:this is not an incremental sort of change.We’re trying to cross the chasm herebetween school math and the real-world math.
Dan Meyer: Math class needs a makeover
Math makes sense of the world.Math is the vocabularyfor your own intuition.
How might we teach and learn more about perseverance? I wish we could rephrase the first Standard for Mathematical Practice to the following:
I can make sense of tasks and persevere in solving them.
Just the simple exchange from problems to tasks make this process standard a little more global for learners. What if we encourage and expect productive struggle?
Some struggle in learning is good, but there is a key distinction to be made between productive struggle and destructive struggle. Productive struggle allows students the space to grapple with information and come up with the solution for themselves. It develops resilience and persistence and helps students refine their own strategies for learning. In productive struggle, there is a light at the end of the tunnel; learning goals not only are clear but also seem achievable. Although students face difficulty, they grasp the point of the obstacles they face and believe that they will overcome these obstacles in the end.(Jackson and Lambert, 53 pag.)
How might we make a slight change during the learning process to challenge our learners, to promote productive struggle, to persevere, and to learn, through experience, critical reasoning?
But many people are petrified of bad ideas. Ideas that make us look stupid or waste time or money or create some sort of backlash. The problem is that you can’t have good ideas unless you’re willing to generate a lot of bad ones. Painters, musicians, entrepreneurs, writers, chiropractors, accountants–we all fail far more than we succeed. (Godin, n. pag.)
What if we reframe “failure” as productive struggle and perseverance?
Level 4:
I can find a second or third solution and describe how the pathways to these solutions relate.
Level 3: I can make sense of tasks and persevere in solving them.
Level 2:
I can ask questions to clarify the problem, and I can keep working when things aren’t going well and try again.
Level 1:
I can show at least one attempt to investigate or solve the task.
We cannot emphasize enough the power of feedback. Given the right kind of feedback, struggling students can gauge how they are doing and determine what they need to do to get to mastery. It can help students quickly correct their mistakes, select a more effective learning strategy, and experience success before frustration sets in. (Jackson and Lambert, 68 pag.)
How might we highlight many paths to success? What if we make paths to success visible enough for learners to try, risk, question, and learn?
When people believe their basic qualities can be developed, failures may still hurt, but failures don’t define them. And if abilities can be expanded – if change and growth are possible – then there are still many paths to success.” (Dweck, 39 pag.)
Jackson, Robyn R. (2010-07-27). How to Support Struggling Students (Mastering the Principles of Great Teaching series). Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development. Kindle Edition.
What if they can’t yet? Really, what if they say “I can’t yet…” at the end of the unit?
From Erin Paynter:
“I find this one word to be a powerful tool to open a dialogue and to pause for reflection – on best instructional practices, on motivation, on student and parent engagement, and on teacher professional development plans. It begins to wipe the slate clean so that we can work collaboratively on ways to engage our students in their learning by using more effective tools and strategies. It opens the dialogue to why and how – why aren’t they reaching their goals, and how can we get them there?”
Isn’t the answer now obvious? We try again. We collaborate to investigate other techniques, strategies, and opportunities. We take action. We send the message that “you can…” and we are going to work on it together until you can. Learning is the constant; time is a variable.
From Peyten in an open letter to parents and students explaining her grading policy:
1) Letting a kid fail is not in my job description. I am supposed to teach, not judge. If it takes Johnny 17 times to understand where to put a comma between independent clauses, then so be it. I want him to learn commas, not learn that he can’t do them.
“I can…” instead of “I can’t…” is teaching for learning.
How might we foster growth mindset in ourselves and others?
We turned to another expert and provocateur by watching the first 5:45 of 
