MULTI-GRADED CLASSROOMS Planning Days, June 13 and 20, 2011

Agenda  9:00 – 9:15 Welcome, introductions and purpose  9:15 – 9:45 Getting it all out there  9:45 – 10:10 Looking at the curricula and Curriculum Corner  10:10 – 10:20 Coffee break  10:20 – 11:00 Planning processes think aloud  11:00 – 11:45 Planning groups  11:45 – 12:00 Parking lot  12:00 – 12:45 Lunch  12:45 – 1:05 Assessment, Management and Inquiry clarification  1:05 – 2:00 Digging in  2:00 – 2:10 Coffee break  2:10 – 2:40 Digging in  2:40 – 3:00 Parking lot and reflection

Discuss how renewed curricula and Curriculum Corner supports our work Share planning, management, instructional and assessment strategies Work with others in specific areas Purpose of today

Today’s Support Team  Coordinators  Learning Consultants  Digital Learning  Each other

Getting it all out there!

M-U-L-T-I-G-R-A-D-E-S  Generate phrases that begin with each letter in the word “MULTIGRADES”, elaborating important dimensions of the topic being explored. MULTIGRADESMULTIGRADES

 Curricular comfort  Planning  Instruction  Assessment  Inquiry  Classroom Management

A review Looking at the curricula

Key Elements of Curricula Broad Areas of Learning (BAL) Cross-curricular Competencies (CCC) Outcomes and Indicators Active Construction of Meaning Inquiry Based Learning Deeper Understanding Higher Level Questioning Metacognition

Curricular Alignment

Broad Areas of Learning (BAL)

Cross Curricular Competencies (CCC)

Inquiry  A philosophical approach to teaching and learning  Builds on students’ inherent sense of curiosity and wonder  Draws on students’ diverse background and experiences  Provides opportunities for students to become active participants in a search for meaning

Focus on the Commonalities First

English Language Arts Goals  Compose and Create  Comprehend and Respond  Assess and Reflect Contexts  Same 5 contexts K-9  Many language learning essential questions will be the same across grade levels Strategies  All grades require B,D,As Cues and Conventions  All grades emphasize 6 Language Cues and Conventions Criteria  Compose and Create: Message, Organization, Language  Comprehend and Respond: Ideas and Information, Text Structures and Features, Responding to texts

Math Strands  Number  Patterns and Relations  Shape and Space  Statistics and Probability Goals  Number Sense  Logical Thinking  Spatial Sense  Mathematics as a Human Endeavour Outcomes  Develop on a continuum and are strongly linked, grade to grade  Essential Questions will be across grades

Science Strands  Life Science  Physical Science  Earth and Space Science Contexts  Scientific Inquiry  Technological Problem-Solving  STSE Decision-Making  Cultural Perspectives Processes and Domain Literacy  Lab work  Safety  Essential questions may be similar – especially as they relate to scientific literacy

Arts Education Goals  Cultural/ Historical  Creative/ Productive  Critical/ Responsive Strands  Dance  Drama  Music  Visual Art Outcomes  The outcomes follow a very consistent pattern and are strongly related grade to grade  Essential questions will often be similar from grade to grade

Social Studies Goals  Resources and Wealth  Interactions and Interdependence  Power and Authority  Dynamic Relationships  These goals very strongly connect the grades and can be the basis for a multi-grade exploration – topics change but essential questions remain the same

Health Goals  Understandings, Skills and Confidences  Informed Decisions  Engagement and Action Dimensions  Spiritual  Emotional  Physical  Mental Outcomes  Many outcomes are related grade-to-grade  Essential questions may be the same at different grade levels  Opportunity for shared instruction as well as independent exploration  Action plans are part of every grade level in some way or another

Physical Education Goals  Active Living  Skillful Movement  Relationships Outcome Continuum  Initiate  Extend  Apply/ Challenge  Essential questions will continue from grade to grade Developmental Progression  Explore  Progressing Towards Control  Control  Utilization Action plans  Part of all PE Curricula in some way

Core French Dimensions/ Goals  Culture  Communication Skills  Language Knowledge  General Language Strategies Outcomes  The outcomes are strongly connected, with a clear continuum from grade to grade  Essential questions will continue from grade to grade

Curriculum Corner Review

 Unpacked outcomes and assessment criteria are your best friends in this process.  Instructional tools will assist you with working with students in multiple grades.  Additional information/ supports are always welcome!!!!!!!!

ELA 3,4,5 Science 6,7 Health K,1,2 Examples and Think Aloud

With supports Digging In

Parking lot

Lunch break 12:00 – 12:45

Assessment clarification

 When both you and your students know the destination (criteria), everyone becomes empowered to be responsible for the learning journey.  You no longer have to “hold all the cards” for successful learning. It becomes a shared responsibility. Your role is to consistently reinforce and expect the required understanding.  Remember, the premise of UbD is that all planning emerges from the criteria. It provides clarity for everyone.

Some thoughts Inquiry

Inquiry… …is based on the belief that understanding is constructed in the process of people working and conversing together as they pose and solve the problems, make discoveries and rigorously test the discoveries that arise in the course of shared activity. Galileo.org website

Inquiry questions  Well-formulated inquiry questions are broad in scope and rich in possibilities.  Such questions encourage students to explore, observe, gather information, plan, analyze, interpret, synthesize, problem solve, apply critical and creative thinking, take risks, create, conclude, document, reflect on learning, and develop new questions for further inquiry.

 These broad questions will lead to more specific questions that can provide a framework, purpose, and direction for the learning activities in a lesson, or series of lessons, and help students connect what they are learning to their experiences and life beyond school.

Entry into inquiry  Develop a culture of wonder in your classroom.  Encourage students to ask questions which lead to more questions.  Write the questions down.  Create situations in which wonder and questions can grow.  Provide access to multiple resources.  Design classroom areas for stimulation, contemplation and idea generation.

More Ideas…  Use a variety of texts to cultivate curiosity.  Connect to personal artifacts and experiences.  Take students beyond their “four walls.”  Offer language frames such as I wonder…, I think…, This is what I see…, This is what it tells me…  Encourage personal responses and personal connections.  Consider before, during and after strategies in every subject.

inquiry-oriented instruction models  Project-based learning  Problem-based learning  Group investigations  Inquiry groups  Guided inquiry  Experiments  Inquiry circles  Simulations  Ideagrams  Experiential learning

Framing the unit  What is a concept or understanding significant enough to deserve in-depth treatment?  What is a more specific question that will lead to understandings gained from activities in this unit and will require students to make judgements?  What will students do at the end of the unit to answer the central unit question (Big Idea)?

clarification  Inquiry relies on problems that are of emerging relevance to students.  However, relevance does not have to be pre-existing for students.  Relevance can emerge through teacher mediation.

Management

Strategies for Managing Multi-graded Classrooms  Be sure students have a plan for getting help when you’re busy with another student or group.  Teach students to rearrange furniture.  Give your students as much responsibility for their learning as possible.  Promote on-task behavior.  Engage your students in talking about classroom procedures and group processes.  Use anchor activities.  Provide instructions both auditory and visually.

Multi-grade Opportunities  The teacher has the opportunity to get to know the students extremely well. The teacher, therefore, is in a position to plan for and monitor each student's learning and development in a continuous and more responsive fashion over a two or three year period.  Students have the opportunity to experience and participate in a much wider range of educational experiences. Opportunities are there for students to encounter academic challenges that stretch their abilities and to review and revisit work that may not have been mastered.

 All students have the opportunity to experience a variety of roles and responsibilities as they progress from being the newest members of the class to being the more senior. Among the most important of these roles is assisting other students learn and modeling desirable attitudes and values.  The class operates, in the first instance, not as separate grade groups but as a unified community of learners.

Parking lot and reflection

 I am feeling…  The most valuable thing…  From here I can…  I still wonder…