Growth Mindset Archives | LINC: The Learning Innovation Catalyst

Social Emotional Learning Matters in Middle and High School

25 August 2021

No comments

Categories: Blended Learning, Blog, Growth Mindset, Instructional Strategies, Professional Learning Communities

Over the past year, being aware of our emotions and feelings was highly socialized as a way to remain healthy during the pandemic. Our students were vulnerable as well. According to a survey conducted by researchers from the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and the Yale Child Study Center, high school students reported feeling stressed 80% of the time. This feeling impacts students both academically and personally. It also suggests that an integral part of supporting students is to help them build their social-emotional skills to effectively navigate the world and allow them to better understand themselves and how to be successful.

Social-emotional learning (SEL) is defined by the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) as the process through which all young people and adults acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions and achieve personal and collective goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions. CASEL also suggests that nurturing social-emotional learning helps to address inequity and empowers young people to co-create with adults, creating thriving schools and just communities.

A 2018 survey conducted by Civic with Hart Research Associates, suggested that high school students don’t believe their schools have prepared them socially and emotionally for life. The survey also stated that 49% of high school students reported being afraid of making mistakes and taking risks. Our students in middle and high school are still learning to understand their emotions and articulate their feelings. The prefrontal cortex of their brains is still developing its ability to support them in making rational decisions, good choices, and assessing risks. They are naturally using their communication skills to establish relationships. But are they communicating with a degree of self-awareness to be effective? In our culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms, students are learning alongside others that are different from them. Do they have strong relationship skills to ensure these interactions are free of stereotypes and negative mental models? Students may be attempting to name their own emotions when there are disagreements, but do they have the self-management skills to regulate those emotions productively and in a way that honors everyone’s feelings including their own? Finally, are our students building their self-awareness skills by spending time reflecting on the “why” behind their emotions?

When research points to high school students feeling lonely at school, SEL in middle and high school matters. It matters because our students are struggling with anxiety, depression, self-doubt, and a host of other negative emotions. We can not make the cognitive leap that our students are well because they are not sharing their feelings. We have to provide them with the spaces to examine their feelings and build empathy for others. When we begin to build students up from the inside, we create emotionally brave human beings on the outside. When young people see their peers being brave and sharing their emotions, it inspires and provides an opening for them to navigate the rocky waters of their own emotions. Where can we embed these opportunities in our classrooms?

Leveraging the science behind digital tools such as the Mood Meter can help support students in the development self-awareness and self-regulation skills by beginning to define their emotions. Check-out this resource from Pathway 2 Success chalked full of ideas of how to integrate SEL into your daily curriculum and routines with middle school students, including having SEL chats. For your high school students, Greater Good in Education offers great lesson planning resources that can be adapted for online learning. Finally, you can access emotional well-being resources for middle and high school students from WideOpenSchools powered by Common Sense to continue to explore ways of embedding SEL more intentionally across subject areas. Let’s begin to give our middle and high school students the tools they need to help themselves because we are never too old to continue building our social-emotional learning muscle.

I would love to know how you use these or other SEL strategies for your middle and high school students. How might you differentiate these strategies for males, females, or with your culturally and linguistically diverse students? Connect with me on Twitter @CCThaddies or via email at cassondrathaddies@linclearning.com.

Leveraging the PAACC to Build Meaningful Relationships

24 August 2021

Jennifer Bernier

No comments

Categories: Blended Learning, Blog, Growth Mindset, Instructional Strategies, Professional Learning Communities

This past year, teachers have gained new skills, tried various strategies, and aimed to create more equitable classrooms. Educators and students alike grew together and took risks in their classrooms during these challenging times. Virtually, we saw a community of educators form as the popular hashtag #bettertogether circulated social media channels with highlights of teachers getting creative in their use of tech, while helping to keep students engaged. Here is one of my favorites from Alabama principal, Dr. Quentin J. Lee.

I recently attended my cousin’s 5th-grade “car parade” graduation. In the parking lot, her teacher waved in excitement, clanged symbols, and played music while she congratulated each student by name. This year showed the world more than ever that teachers are indeed innovative, caring, empathetic, risk-takers who solve challenges to further grow in meeting the social-emotional and learning needs of each student. As a coach supporting teachers, I was filled by what I saw and found myself thinking deeply about a reimagined classroom– one that brings together skills that were gained this past year as we now aim to deepen the impact of teaching and learning. I narrowed my reflection down to one question. How can the power of meaningful relationships bring classrooms alive where students are able to show up as themselves and grow to their full potential? To start, I thought about the interconnectedness of the learning process and taking a student-centered approach both in mindset and practice– thinking not about what we do for our students but rather why we do it. Meaningful relationships progress and help students learn and grow, and last far beyond the classroom in preparing students with future-ready skills.

Below are a few key components that go into fostering meaningful relationships in the classroom that put students in the driver’s seat. These components are laid out through the PAACC framework. PAACC stands for Personalization, Agency, Authenticity, Connectivity, and Creativity. This framework can serve as a guide for how to create more meaningful relationships by interconnecting you and your students, your students and who they are, your students and their peers, your students and the real world, and your students and the content. Here are my suggestions:

Social Emotional Learning Matters in Middle and High School 4

Personalization. Create lessons that provide unique learning pathways for your students that meet them where they are, and support them as they move to the next learning experience. Create a culture where there are opportunities for 1:1 teacher time. During this time work on giving your student your full attention and listen to the value they bring to the conversation. Always start with a check-in. A simple “how are you feeling” goes a long way and tells a lot. Use this dedicated time to co-plan learning experiences with your students by finding out what interests them and how they want to learn the content and skills.

Agency. Learning is a process and mistakes will be made, but mistakes can be excellent learning opportunities. Be confident in your students and provide them with choice in their learning. This will create trusting relationships and encourage students to try new skills on their own with the mindset that mistakes are opportunities for growth, learning, and development. Be willing to shift and allow students space to play an active role when learning. Seek their feedback in key decisions that affect and involve them. A great starting point is to collaborate on expectations for the classroom. When asking students a question, be sure that you are able to hear all voices. Take a multimodal approach so that students have different ways to share their voice. Consider providing students with a single point rubric and personalized learning log to allow them to self assess. Then try letting them lead the conversation during the 1:1 time.

Authenticity. In planning learning experiences for your students, include ways that they can share their learning with others. To connect your students’ learning experience to the real world, try engaging an audience outside of school and in the community based on the project or task they are working on. Here you can leverage tech tools such as Flipgrid, Google Blogger and various video meeting platforms to engage your students, while also helping them to develop their skills and connect with the world around them.

Connectivity. Add connectivity and collaboration when learning to allow your students to build meaningful relationships with their peers. Creating this collaborative culture will help students think deeply as they hear and learn from others’ perspectives. You can start adding connectivity to your lessons by having students participate in online discussions, collaborate on projects or invite experts and peers within the community to engage in student discussions.

Creativity. The real world calls for creativity and innovation. In designing lessons, allow for students to show and tell us their learning journey. Create lessons that identify real-world problems and then encourage students to create solutions to those problems. Use design thinking strategies in your lessons to support students as they ideate and innovate around a problem.

Throughout the PAACC, formative data is used to drive decisions and create more personalized learning experiences for students. For more on how you can leverage the PAACC framework to build meaningful relationships with your students click here to download the free PAACC e-book.

I’d love to hear how you might leverage the PAACC to build meaningful relationships with your students. Please reach out to me at jenniferbernier@linclearning.com or connect with me on Twitter @Bernier_Jenn.

Increasing Empathy: Focus on Restorative Practices as Students Return to the Classroom

24 August 2021

Carolyn Hanser

No comments

Categories: Blended Learning, Blog, Growth Mindset, Instructional Strategies, Professional Learning Communities

Our return to brick and mortar schooling is upon us and like any back-to-school season, we are filled with anticipation, hope, and curiosity. To finally have our classrooms filled with children is a gift that we have longed for over this past challenging year. With all this excitement, we need to ensure we are planning with our students in mind. Specifically, prioritizing their social and emotional health. It’s no secret that our world faced incredible trauma during the pandemic. As educators, it’s important that we increase our empathy and focus on the tools and practices that will support awareness and expression of emotions and dialogue, rather than focus on punishment-oriented outcomes. I’m not suggesting that we should conduct therapy sessions, as that is not in our training and we have school psychologists to collaborate with in those situations. One of the main things we can commit to doing is increasing empathy in our classrooms. We can employ restorative practices, a social science that studies how to build classroom community and strengthen relationships. The idea is that when we feel part of a supportive community where we belong, we respect those around us and become accountable for our actions. It’s about building community and using authentic dialog when responding to challenging behavior in an effort to “make things right.” When these practices are put in place, teachers and students can work together to foster safe learning environments through community building and constructive conflict resolution.

Have you considered bringing restorative practices into your classroom? It is crucial for educators to plan for opportunities to create and sustain a culture where all learners are accepted, embraced, and heard. When developing restorative practices in your classroom, you should first establish a culture of trust and respect. A good starting point is to identify the current issue/s in your class, identify the root causes, and then create an activity where you can facilitate restorative practices. There are many ways to begin implementation. For those of you who think restorative practice may add value to your classroom, here are two activities that can help get you started:

Restorative Circles provide an opportunity to have all students share, and listen truthfully in a way that allows the members in the circle to be seen, heard, and respected. Use this opportunity for students to collaboratively approach conflict within the classroom community and find a resolution.
Affective Language gives us the ability to identify our emotions and express them to others verbally. By using Affective Language, you can model ways of expressing our feelings and needs. There are four parts to an affective statement.
1. Observation: Free of labels and opinions. Makes the student feel seen and recognized by using statements such as, “I notice…” and “I hear…”.
2. Feelings: Express your feelings, honestly by using phrases such as, “I feel frustrated…” or “I am worried…”.
3. Needs: Express your needs and values by stating, “I need a safe classroom…” or “I need your help in…”.
4. Plans/Requests: Frame what it is that you want. For example, “Would you be ok with…” and “Next time…”.

When implementing restorative practices, it is important to take the time to conduct thoughtful preparation, and a shift in the adult mindset which requires the allocation of sufficient resources and dedication to implement new practices with consistency and sustainability. As you begin planning for this work in your classroom, remember to take on each situation with a calm mind, questions to seek student perspective, and time to allow for students to drive the discussion. Take these opportunities as learning moments for all community members and to open space for student voice. Below I’ve included a planning template that can support you in transforming your classroom as you lead with empathy.

Here at LINC, we begin all of our planning with the PAACC. The image you see above is our PAACC, aligned to restorative practices. This resource will support you in keeping the “why” in mind as you plan and identify student outcomes based on the restorative practices activity you choose. Click here for our free tinker template to put your planning into action.

I’d love to hear your thoughts and reflections on how we can continue to increase empathy in our classrooms as we focus on creating restorative practice activities as students return to the classroom. If you’re looking for a thought partner, connect with me via Twitter: @CarolynHanser or email: carolynhanser@linclearning.com.

Developing a Next Generation Approach to PD for Agency, Innovation, and Future-forward Classrooms

28 July 2021

Kate Schuster

No comments

Categories: Blended Learning, Blog, Growth Mindset, Instructional Strategies, Professional Learning Communities

For the past year, I have worked with a group of bold and brave administrators to revolutionize how they support their staff as they work towards reimagining learning environments. Our objective was to personalize professional development with a focus on agency and culture in order to make that happen. The work we are doing together always brings me back to a quote by Antoine De Saint-Exupery, “If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders…Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.”

What I’ve consistently seen working with school leaders across the country is that leaders who build a staff that “yearns for the vast and endless sea” fare far better during a “disruptive moment” in education. Those leaders use moments like these to pave the foundation for an even stronger culture and future.

In our last session of the year together, I presented the below graphic to this group of administrators. I explained that trust is the foundation for risk-taking and innovation, which then leads to long-term, sustained change in classrooms. Therefore, it’s imperative that we approach our leadership from the lens of building trust.

Trust is empowering, improves overall motivation, encourages collaboration, productivity, and most of all creates a strong culture. But what are the real structures that you and your leadership team can put into place to develop trust?

Below are tangible structures that I’ve coached school leaders to use with their teams that have helped to shift and sustain teams towards an empowered culture, including during one of the most challenging culture years we’ve all experienced. You can implement these same structures this school year as you formulate a plan on how to best support your staff.

1. Shift conversations from deficit thinking to a pedagogical problem-solver approach

At LINC we define a pedagogical problem solver as a teacher who is a reflective practitioner, nurtures student voice, studies student needs, employs various strategies, and continuously adjusts to meet learner needs. How can using this definition of teaching change how you coach your teachers? First, you may need to ask teachers to reflect on these questions:

What is a problem of practice that I see inmy classroomaround supporting better outcomes for students?
What blockers prevent that from existing in my classroom?

Be aware. Are the teacher named problems “kid centered” vs. “teacher centered”? For example, “students don’t want to talk in my class” is a kid centered problem. To reframe that problem, you might coach the teacher and ask, “what are the conditions that need to exist in your classroom for students to collaborate?”

2. Build intentional collaboration

Problems of practice should be examined through an inquiry lens. To do that, I suggest creating intentional collaboration structures. Here are a few examples:

Create a problem of practice digital toolbox to determine what common problems of practice your teachers are dealing with.
- Create a shareable Google slide deck where teachers can show evidence of how they are addressing that common problem of practice (lesson plans, student examples, tech tools or other resources they are using, etc.).
- Use that toolbox to celebrate innovation and coach for further development.
Shared reflection – use inter-classroom visitation protocols to create structures for shared reflection. The goal with shared reflection protocols is to bring teaching practices from individual classrooms into the school community.
1. Set up aPineapple Chart system where teachers can indicate the class period when they are trying something new or showcasing a skill they have developed so that other teachers can come in to observe.
2. Create “Innovator in Action” badges that teachers can put up on their classroom door. These badges allow teachers to showcase pedagogical practices or tech tools they are using. For example, if Mr. Morales is using Station Rotation in his Social Studies class, he would place a “Station Rotation” Innovator in Action badge outside his door. Putting up that badge lets other teachers know that he is someone who uses Station Rotation and can support other teachers in implementing that blended model.

3. Collect data about your culture and then follow through to take action

Do you have a real pulse of the culture in your school building? If not, here is something you can do at the start of the school year to better understand the culture in your school community.

Conduct stay interviews – We’ve heard of exit interviews, but there’s incredible culture building power in one-on-one conversations around why staff members have decided to stay. Some example “stay interview” questions are:
- “What do you look forward to each day when you commute to work?”
- “Why do you stay here?”
- “What can I do to make your job better for you?”
- “What motivates (demotivates) you?”

At the beginning of the school year, it will be worth it to invest time in having these conversations with your staff. Not only does it give you valuable information about what drives each of your staff members, but it communicates your commitment to listening to and supporting your team.

After facilitating those conversations, make sure you have a plan to take action on the feedback: provide leadership or mentoring opportunities for your staff, celebrate your staff and “shout out” when staff are being innovative, taking risks, or supporting each other. I encourage you to be transparent about your decisions by calling out when you are making a change, explain the why, and name challenges.

As a leader, you can choose to implement all or some of these structures, but remember that your staff are the customers of your leadership. Please take a moment to reflect on your leadership: Are you transparent about your decisions? Do you model and celebrate a fail forward environment? Do you encourage your staff to take risks? Do you have structures in place to allow teachers to intentionally reflect and collaborate on their practice.

Let’s be leaders that provide the right supports for our staff to “yearn for the vast and endless sea” toward innovative future-forward classrooms. I would love to hear your thoughts and reflections on how we can continue to build a trusting and supportive culture in our schools. What’s working for you? Connect with me on Twitter @KateTechCoach or via email at

kateschuster@linclearning.com

Acceleration, Not Retention? The Case for Leveraging New Blended Learning Skills to Keep Students Moving Forward

22 June 2021

Rohiatou Siby

No comments

Categories: Blended Learning, Blog, Equity, Growth Mindset, Instructional Strategies, Resources, Resources for Administrators, Resources for Teachers

During a recent car ride to New York, I sat in the passenger’s seat while the driver kicked the speed up several notches out of my comfort zone, to better accommodate our time schedule. After initially bracing myself for the speed, I realized how exhilarating it was to travel so quickly. We didn’t drive fast the entire trip, just long enough to get back on schedule safely. Afterwards, we returned to a normal pace enjoying the scenery and breeze.

There are many factors that contribute to learners falling behind the proverbial schedule, some of which have little to do with ability. Global crises such as the health upheaval experienced in 2020 only increased skill gaps that have long existed. Systemic inequities, under-resourced and underfunded schools, as well as interrupted education also contributed to students falling behind. Our job as educators is to help students get where they need to be on time. Just how do we accomplish this? We put our foot on the gas, kick it up a notch, and accelerate.

There is a misguided understanding in education when it comes to traditional remediation and promotion criteria that students must master all previous concepts prior to learning new content. This often results in countless hours of skill and drill teaching as learning gaps widen, and students lose both their motivation and excitement to learn. Additionally, remediation practices do not build strong learning practices, student’s self-perception or a sense of agency, all of which are necessary to academic success. A better approach is to employ acceleration practices, including rigorous instruction and opportunities for productive struggle. While remediation seeks to rescue students from challenges, acceleration strategies train students to persist in the face of challenge. Productive struggle provides students with rigorous activities and assignments, as well as time to reflect on what and how they learn, which are necessary for a healthy sense of agency. Blended learning practices are the perfect tools for providing the type of learning environment where students feel supported and challenged at the same time, and are a great strategy for operationalizing acceleration in the classroom.

There are many forms of blended learning to consider using to support learner acceleration:

The flipped classroom is uniquely fitted to support learner acceleration:

Learners can access content prior to face-to-face instruction.
Content instruction can be paused and rewinded as many times as the learner needs.
Flipping instruction frees the teacher up to support students with hands-on, higher level Bloom’s tasks such as analyzing or creating during face-to-face instruction.

Stations are a great strategy to support learner acceleration. A teacher led station can be leveraged for:

Re-teaching to promote student learning and motivation.
Providing just in time supports where knowledge gaps can be filled prior to introducing new content.
Teacher check-ins and conferencing.
Providing feedback and next steps.

The collaborative station in a station rotation can be leveraged to support learner acceleration by:

Reinforcing new learnings in a group setting where peers can support each other.
Introducing collaborative problem solving to improve upon skills.
Reviewing vocabulary and key concepts together.

In addition to these blended learning strategies teachers should also consider:

Identifying and addressing any unfinished learning needs so students can be successful with new content.
Making connections between content and students’ lived experiences. When content is relevant to students, their engagement increases. Students need to be engaged to learn and relevance is a huge factor in engagement.
Providing “just in time” scaffolds. This requires that teachers anticipate the skills students will need to understand to learn new content. This can be as simple as creating bookmarks with graphics or bullets of prior content.
Immersing students in new content using a mulit-modal approach. If students are learning new vocabulary and concepts, create opportunities for them to read, watch short videos, or podcasts.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on ways you’ve begun to shift your practice or strategies you’ve brought into your classroom to accelerate learning. You can email me at rohiatousiby@linclearning.com or find me on Twitter @Siby_Rohiatou. Be sure to check back here for some great upcoming blogs and resources from more of our LINC coaches.

Additional Resources
Learning in the Fast Lane by Suzy Pepper Rollins

7 Instructional Strategies for Accelerating Student Learning by Meg Bowen

Planning for Acceleration in the 2020-2021 School Year TNTP, Reimagine Teaching

Building Student Agency in Hybrid and Remote Classrooms

20 October 2020

Kate Schuster

No comments

Categories: Blog, Growth Mindset, Instructional Strategies, Resources, Student Agency

“I want my students to be more independent” and “I want my students to develop more intrinsic motivation.” These are comments I’m hearing from teachers across the country regardless of the model of instruction they are working in. Most teachers I work with initially believe that the first step to developing student agency is to offer classroom structures like more student choice or “early finisher work”. And yet even with those structures in place, we still have students, including high-performing students, who come to us and say “Ms. Schuster, tell me what to do next?” For teachers who have been trying to develop student agency, a comment like this is always a blow to the gut. But why does it keep it happening? I believe the key to solving this challenge is to focus on classroom culture, not just structures.

When I talk to teachers about this dilemma, one that has become a more urgent need during remote and hybrid instruction, I ask them about what culture they have developed around student self-efficacy and collaboration. Are they explicitly having conversations with their students about why self-efficacy as a student is important? Are they explaining to students how they can practice those skills? And, are they highlighting best practices when students are taking more ownership in their classrooms? This is where I see a lightbulb go off and they say “Hmm, I don’t know if I’ve done that.”

Peter Drucker, a business author and consultant, once said, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast” – meaning that if your culture is not in place, whatever strategy you are trying to implement in your organization, group or classroom, will not be successful. If our hope is to further develop student agency, to truly have self-directed, collaborative learners (our strategy), we can’t just think about systems and routines, we need to develop the culture in our classrooms first.

At LINC, we define classroom culture as “the way of thinking, behaving, and working that exists in a classroom” or more simply put, student mindset.

As educators, we are leading “mini-companies” where we first have to develop our “company” culture before we can get down to our business strategy. Here’s how I coach teachers to do this:

Talk About The Changing Role of the Student: Explicitly have conversations and lessons with your students about the importance of student agency, and how you’ll collaboratively build their capacity. LINC’s Student Mindset Playlist offers resources, including videos and articles for any age, to use with your students as you engage in those lessons and conversations. From there, have students identify the behaviors or skills (for example, being a problem solver, being able to collaborate effectively, etc.) that they need to practice in your classroom to be more self-directed learners. Finally, highlight and have students practice these shared behaviors throughout the school year. For example, if a student says “this is too hard for me,” you might reply, “remember our shared behavior of being problem solvers? This is your chance to flex your problem solving muscle!” You can then brainstorm with the student about how they can work through the problem. You can coach them to consider how they could get additional support from others in their classroom or through research on the internet or in the library. Finally, celebrate and highlight to your students when you see students exhibiting these behaviors on their own. For example, if you see a student supporting another student, you might say “Spotlight! I want to point out how Jen stepped up to support Juan when Juan asked his group mates for assistance. Juan, tell us how Jen supported you through understanding that concept.”
- Hybrid/Remote Implementation Tip: You should explicitly teach these “changing role of the student” lessons with your students during your synchronous teaching time. Students can engage in their collaborative work to identify behavior or skills that they want to develop as students via Padlet, FlipGrid, Jamboard, Google Slides, etc. In addition, you can celebrate your students when they exhibit these shared behaviors both during synchronous time and on a Padlet or FlipGrid so that students can share in the celebration!

Playlists: The playlist model, where students have a set of learning activities to progress through, is a great way for students to flex their agency muscles. These playlists usually contain some “must do” and “choice” activities, as a mix of online, offline, independent, and collaborative options. With the playlist model, students can progress at their own pace and see the learning pathway ahead for the next week or even for the entire unit. This helps them understand where their learning is going and why (I always wonder “why do we keep the lesson or unit plan a secret from our students?” Shouldn’t they also be allowed to see the learning path?). Further, you can build in individual and small group check ins with students throughout the playlist. The best part about a playlist is that it frees the teacher up to meet with students individually or in small groups in order to differentiate further. See a playlist model in action here to see how students are able to move through a unit with more independence: The Learning Accelerator: Playlists in Action
- Hybrid/Remote Implementation Tip: Create a playlist in a Google Doc, a Google Slides Deck, or Bitmoji classroom (see our playlist templates for all ages here: bit.ly/LINCplaylists) and deploy the playlist via your Learning Management System like Google Classroom, Seesaw, or Schoology so that students can always access their work and easily post their progress on all of the playlist activities. In addition, add your direct instruction into your playlist by creating screencasts of your Slides presentation, do a read-aloud with a book from GetEpic.com or demonstrate a science simulation on Phet Simulations.
Individual Goal Setting: A teacher in Illinois who is teaching in a hybrid model using playlists told me that a way she works to develop student agency is through goal setting. Every Monday she has 10-minute meetings with small groups of students where each student sets their goal for the work they need to complete for the week. Not only does this ensure that students are self-monitoring their work, but it also helps to ensure that students are taking on shared responsibility for the unit, and are developing their capacity to communicate about their progress (an important skill to develop for the workforce). This also fosters relationship building/connection between her and her students.
- Hybrid/Remote Implementation Tip: Complete goal setting during your synchronous instruction either in-person or via video conference. As students get more adept at setting their weekly goals, you can ask them to post their weekly goals in a discussion on Google Classroom or Schoology, on Padlet or FlipGrid so that everyone in the class can see each other’s weekly goals!

There is no “silver bullet” for developing student agency. It takes time and planning and is something you need to choose to implement in your classroom with both culture setting and structures. In reflecting on your specific set of learners, what strategies will you put into place to begin to foster more self-efficacy? How will you weave student agency into the fabric of what it means to be a student in your class? What is your plan to stick with it, even when a student inevitably says, “Just tell me what to do next?”

In your work to develop this new type of classroom culture, when it will sometimes feel easier to just “tell students what to do,” remember that our ultimate goal is not only to develop more student agency in our own classroom for this one school year, but to build a child’s capacity for self-efficacy and self-advocacy for their lifetime.

——————

I hope the reflection questions and concrete examples listed above support you in developing student agency in your classroom. I’d love to hear your thoughts and reflections on how we can build students who are more independent and empowered students. Connect with me via Twitter: @KateTechCoach or email: kateschuster@linclearning.com.

From Blockbuster to Netflix: Educators Soar and Grow

11 June 2020

Kate Schuster

No comments

Categories: Blog, Generativity, Growth Mindset, Innovation, Resources

The world was different just three months ago. As educators, we did what we always do: we stepped up and met the challenges in front of us to meet the needs of our students. It wasn’t easy and many of us were thrust way past our comfort zones. Fortunately, being out of our comfort zones also meant that we got to reimagine teaching and try out new teaching models and ways to work with our students – including ways that I’m sure many of us did not think was even possible.

This shift required many of us to learn new skills like how to engage students in virtual meetings, how to shift assessments to an online-only format, how to conduct read alouds using a screencasting tool, how to use new tech tools that you never knew existed, and the list goes on and on. You were ready and willing to do this in service of your students, especially because you understood that with so much in flux and changing, that there was one thing which could stay constant: you! You were there for your students to ensure continuity of learning. This ability of yours to learn and take action is the beauty of a growth mindset – something that we as teachers try to imbue in our students the minute they walk through our doors: that we are all possible of growth, change, and development or more simply put, that we all possess the power of human potential.

As a coach alongside your school and district leaders, we were able to support and coach you through this exploration and implementation of your “magic” space, reaching your human potential for growth. But it was you who you did the hard work of actually creating those new imagined spaces in your own classrooms.

This monumental and rapid shift that we experienced as educators is truly education’s “Netflix or Blockbuster” moment. When this school year ends and we eventually return to some version of in-person, brick and mortar teaching, we’ll need to decide if we want to go back to being Blockbuster- a one size fits all model- or instead push towards being Netflix as we continue to innovate towards a more personalized, student-centered approach.

We know that a more personalized, student-centered approach will be needed to address learning losses and gaps. We can build on the skills that you have already learned during remote teaching and apply it in the in-person context and ask yourselves these questions:

How do we continue to have increased student collaboration?
How can we continue to use our Learning Management Systems like Google Classroom, Seesaw, or Schoology to assign differentiated work to our students and provide real time formative assessment feedback?
How can we use tools like screencasting to deliver mini lessons which allow students to control the pace and place of their learning?
How can we continue to foster creativity and imagination in our students to demonstrate their understanding of content?
How can we continue to more effectively communicate with families?

As we eventually return to our school buildings, these are the types of questions that we should reflect and continue to take action on. During the summer, take time to recharge and also reflect on the possibility of seizing this “Netflix” moment to innovate even further beyond what you have already put into your practice in the past three months.

As an educator and coach, whenever I am in moments of flux and change in my practice, I return to this quote by educator and activist Paolo Freire on how to be a pedagogical problem solver. He wrote that as educators we must practice “action and reflection […] upon their world in order to transform it.” This cyclical reflection and action process is how we continue to shift to meet new challenges and opportunities in our teaching practices – this is what you did with the change to remote learning and this is how you will rise to the challenge when we return in the fall.

Have a great summer!

The Potential of Equitable Classrooms: Moving Beyond Tranquilized Obviousness

27 January 2020

Cassondra Corbin-Thaddies

No comments

Categories: Blog, Growth Mindset

I recently conducted training with a group of principals focused on equity in classrooms. The principals were quite interested in learning how to make equity a reality in their schools and were committed to the goal of equity for all students. During our discussion, a question arose, “Are we talking about all students or just some students?” Great question! Were we willing to bravely admit that the students we were really talking about were black and brown students? Yes, we were, and we affectionately referred to these students as students in the “gap.” You know these students, the ones we are actually referring to when we say there’s an achievement gap, opportunity gap, or a learning gap. It is important to mention that, while not the focus of this piece, my strong belief is that these gaps are due to inequitable systems, policies, and practices, not student deficiencies. If we want to truly move the needle for these students, we must move out of our own “tranquilized obviousness.”

Tranquilized obviousness means we have become complacent with the way we think and show up in life, therefore our state of being is on autopilot. This tranquilized obviousness is continuous with every one of us. (If you are saying, “not me,” you just proved my point.) We take it to work with us, we live it in our personal relationships, and we drag it along with us day-to-day as we show up in the world. If you have ever declared that you “stay in your lane” in most areas of your life, you are effortlessly living in tranquilized obviousness. This repetition of behavior can cause us to continue the same behavior and thinking when it is no longer the most effective or appropriate way of acting for ourselves or others.

How does tranquilized obviousness show up in classrooms where “students in the gap” exist? Often, it is seen in educators who have high expectations for certain students and low expectations for others. It is these automatic judgments based on past experiences that keep us from recognizing and nurturing the potential of these students. Being willing to activate self-awareness is a critical first step in moving beyond automatic judgment to create equitable possibilities for all students. Use this checklist to conduct a self-assessment and school environment assessment. This will help you determine where tranquilized obviousness creates blind spots in instructional practices and the learning environment for students who are in the “gap” at your school. If you dare, consciously use the checklist to start a conversation with colleagues and your leadership team about the possibility of implementing one powerful next step to move the proverbial needle on equity as a team.

We often don’t realize how tranquilized obviousness causes us to unintentionally lower our expectations of students. According to the American Psychological Association, teachers encourage less, demand less, and accept less from students in the gap because teachers systematically underestimate the talents and abilities of these students. Take another look with new eyes and push past the fog to set high expectations for students in the gap with no excuses and no exceptions! Be intentional and ask students what they need to make progress. Then begin to co-create a plan to help them reach their learning goals. Setting high expectations, along with providing personalized resources, tools, strategies, and supports can significantly increase equity in your school. Additionally, hold these students equally accountable to others and instill a sense of accountability to themselves, their families and their community. This helps to build their character, confidence, and their consciousness about who they are and how they want to show up in this world.

Finally, check your internal dialog and your breakroom conversations about these students. Are there themes that continue to perpetuate a single narrative about students in the gap? These biases interfere with our practices and bias how we provide equitable student learning opportunities. Challenge yourself and your colleagues to have an atypical conversation about students in the gap. Consider starting the conversation from an asset-based perspective and envision how you can empower students to use their voices to write their own narrative and practice positive self-expression. There’s immense power in the story of students. You can use these narratives to help change the perceptions within your learning community and truly start to transform your classrooms into equitable spaces that provide engaging learning experiences for all of your students.

Overcoming Initiative Overload: How to become an Action Researcher (Part 2)

21 January 2020

Jason Green

No comments

Categories: Blog, Generativity, Growth Mindset, Innovation

I was sitting with a teacher engaged in a three-way dueling initiative war between project-based learning, equity, and blended learning. The teacher was supposed to integrate a tech tool into a lesson, try to do a project, and simultaneously ensure that the classroom was somehow equitable. In earnest, the teacher decided to use Kahoot for tech, came up with a project for the students to do, and then tried to do the best she could to give a “hey” to the students who were simply not engaged.

Essentially, the classroom became a hodge-podge of strategies and attempts for the teacher to be initiative compliant but it lacked a coherent instructional approach to engage students and meet all of their needs. The teacher knew that something was missing but couldn’t quite put her finger on it. After all, she was in fact “doing” all the important things.

I asked the teacher to reflect on her experience through the lens of her students’ learning needs.

Let’s take another look at what happened in this classroom. This was a teacher that was so focused on applying strategies, that she didn’t think about the actual needs of the learners. This is the plight of the overwhelmed, initiative-laden teacher.

Q: Did the students like the project?

A: Well, I guess some were ok with it.

Q: Were you able to reach students that are harder to reach?

A: Not really.

Q: Did you find that the students enjoyed being on technology?

A: I think they enjoyed that.

Q: Do you feel like they met their learning goals for the day?

A: Not really.

In part 1, we discussed the mindset of the pedagogical problem solver. If this teacher had seen herself as a pedagogical problem solver, her approach would have been reversed. Instead of starting with strategy, she would have started with her students.

What do I need to learn about my students?
What do my students need?
What are their interests?
What kind of instruction do they respond to?
How can I best support each student in learning this standard?

Based on her reflections, she could then identify the appropriate strategies, projects, and effective technology tools. The pedagogical problem solver employs a range of strategies at different times based upon the students’ needs.

So how does a teacher become a pedagogical problem solver? It starts with action research. At LINC, we believe that teachers are at their best when they are continuously engaged in action research in their classrooms. Our action research process is:

Reflect – Find students in your class that perplex you. Reflect on when this tends to happen and where they experience challenges. Seek opportunities to engage with them to learn who they are, what works, and what doesn’t in learning. Actually research your students and reflect upon what may need to shift.

Tinker – Try things in your practice based on what you’ve learned from your students. As you try different things, know that some may work and most may not. This practice too becomes part of your research. Consider involving your students in planning for a new strategy to increase engagement.

Grow – Make adjustments, seeking feedback from students. Continue to check-in and gauge the efficacy of your strategies. This is not beholden to a specific initiative as much as it is driven by the student’s needs.

Research and action are constants. At every phase, the teacher is researching and acting based on the needs of the learner. There is rarely a right answer or even a right strategy – there is just learning. The most amazing part of this process is that it naturally draws students more into the role of agents and active participants in their learning. They begin to see that their presence and voice actually matter. This is when a classroom becomes generative. This is what creates meaningful change in classrooms. This is what we’re doing at LINC.

Overcoming Initiative Overload: How to turn stress into strategy (Part 1)

13 January 2020

Jason Green

No comments

Categories: Blog, Generativity, Growth Mindset, Instructional Strategies

I sometimes get asked the question, “What are you guys really up to at LINC?” I sometimes ask the question back, curiously, “Well, what are you up to at your school?” It is at that point that I often hear about the litany of initiatives that a school or district is up to at any given time. Usually, there are at least 3 to 5 competing initiatives that teachers and leaders are wading through. It sounds something like this: “Well, social emotional learning is a big thing for us, and we just launched an equity initiative, but we are still working on personalized learning, and we have a cohort of teachers that are testing out competency based learning. Oh, and we need to get our scores up, and…”

While listening, I put myself in the shoes of the teacher that is trying his or her best to navigate all of this. What this looks like is overwhelm and confusion and just trying to get through the day. It also looks like a teacher that has been told to implement a variety of strategies that may or may not be relevant or needed for his students.

This is the plight of many educators across America’s schools and districts. Sadly, we are on a treadmill that never stops and initiative overload has simply become the mode of operations. At this point, I get back to what we are up to at LINC. “Well, we believe that more important than any specific initiative or strategy is that teachers are at their best when they are pedagogical problem solvers.” This term comes from our research with Dr. Arnetha Ball of Stanford University who developed the Model of Generative Change. She describes a pedagogical problem solver as a teacher who is:

Continuously reflective
Nurtures and receives student voice
Knows her students and their needs
Adjusts practice regularly to meet student needs

It is the pedagogical problem solver that is able to leverage appropriate strategies at his disposal to effectively reach students. It is a shift from being overwhelmed by initiatives to using initiatives and strategies with intention as they are needed.

What we are up to at LINC is developing pedagogical problem solvers. Pedagogical problem-solving includes both a mindset and a toolkit of relevant strategies that can be developed. Most professional development completely misses this mark, instead opting for a drive-by spraying of indiscriminate how-to’s that may or may not ever meet that teacher’s or her students’ needs. The actual pathway to developing this mindset is through the skill of action-research. A teacher that becomes an action-researcher in the classroom is a pedagogical problem solver who drives her own professional learning as she’s looking for ways to meet the needs of learners.

Check out Part 2 for more about becoming an action-researcher.

5 Reasons Spring is a Great Innovation Season

2 May 2019

Tiffany Wycoff

No comments

Categories: Blended Learning, Blog, Growth Mindset

by Tiffany Wycoff

In many of my LINC Cloud Coaching^TM sessions last week, one or more teachers made the statement, “I haven’t tried this yet because I’m going to wait until I can start it fresh next year.” We were discussing strategies for blended learning innovation with the goal of creating more pathways for student agency and personalization. In all cases, teachers were on board with trying something new like station rotation or a playlist, but they were reluctant to start now.

Having spent several spring seasons in the classroom, I can understand why. In some places, spring brings showers and flowers, in other places warmer waters to surf, but universally spring ushers in the period of breaking up with the school year and a longing for summer break. It’s an extremely stressful time to teach as testing is upon us, students allow their brains to run ahead of them to vacation, and it takes all our teacher superpowers to keep the focus on learning in the midst of numerous end of year events.

So I get it. In the sunset of the year, it’s a hard sell to try something new. And yet, I would argue it is the best time to do so. If you are engaged in professional learning but reluctant to give it a go for this year, here are five reasons to toss the “next year, new start” story for innovation now.

#1: Engagement

We try so many things to keep kids engaged for the close of the year. From field trips to project-based learning, whatever it takes. But over and over I’ve seen the best way to drive up engagement, even in the lowest engagement months, is student agency. One of the primary goals of innovation in the classroom is increased agency through choice, voice, and individualized pathways. When we try a strategy like a blended playlist, we put students in the driver’s seat of their learning. We also build stamina and capacity for them to manage their workflow independently and keep the focus on learning when they have choice in their learning pathways. When we enlist students in co-creating these playlists, we take this agency and resulting engagement to a whole new level. What if we solicit playlist activities at the end of each week via Google form for the following week’s playlist? What if we put a “sponsored by _____ student” as a tag next to the activity with the most votes that made the playlist for the week?

#2: Trust

When we innovate at the end of the year, we are not only bringing a fresh strategy to engage learners, but we also have the opportunity to engage them as stakeholders in a different way. Instead of trying to build trust alongside trying something new, we can build off a foundation of existing trust. We can say to our class, “I have this new strategy I’d like to try, and instead of trying it for the first time with new students, I would really like to try it with you since we already have shared expectations of how we work together. Can you collaborate with me on designing this?” Now is the time for taking trust to a new level, putting into the hands of the students who have been on the year’s journey with us an opportunity to help us learn and grow as teachers.

#3: Low Stakes Feedback

The relationship we have with students now can make trying new strategies lower stakes. If there are bumps along the way (which there likely will be) we can solicit feedback from our students to iterate. This is much easier to do when we are not trying to set expectations and class norms alongside trying something completely new. While both are possible, spring innovation allows us to separate those a bit, to rely on existing norms to drive the innovative practices. The cycle of engaging students in co-planning the new strategy, trying it together, and sending a survey or other means of obtaining feedback is a powerful one to help us start the new year with a more polished model.

#4: Modeling Always Learning, Always Growing

It is hard to demand continued peak learning in our students when we are not modeling it ourselves. When we innovate at the end of the year, we are sending a message to our students that now is always the best time for learning. We counter their drop in learning energy with an increase in our own energy and commitment to learning. When we share this with students authentically, it is even more powerful. What would happen tomorrow if you walked into class and said, “I know now is a hard time of year and that summer is starting to pull your focus. So I thought it might be a good time to refresh by trying something less conventional together. Are you in?”

#5: Triple Urgency of Innovation Now

When we work with teachers to support 21st century classroom transformation, we start with the critical “why” factors.

The Real Future: We are no longer preparing students for a fairly predictable future but rather for one in which 85% of jobs in 2030 haven’t even been created yet and almost half of existing jobs may be gone by the time they enter the workforce. We must put 21C skills at the forefront of every teaching opportunity or we are failing to teach.
Connection: Every day a student is disengaged in school is one in which the majority of their day is spent in disconnection. We are in the midst of a social-emotional crisis with 25% of children between 13 and 18 years old experiencing anxiety disorders and a rise in serious depression and suicide amongst teens. When we implement models like station rotation or whole-group rotation with pull-out, we gain time for small group connection and 1-1 conferencing. We also increase engagement and connection on the whole for students when we increase agency and connectivity.
Teacher Agency: If we as educators do not take the reigns as the agents of 21C learning transformation, we will be the objects of it. We are standing at the crossroads of our profession; it will change — digital adoption will continue, new models of learning mandated, new grading policies made the norm. We have the unique opportunity to be the leaders of this change. If we pass on that opportunity, we must pause in serious consideration of who will lead it.

Depending on the calendar, there are at least 24 days, 156 hours, and 9360 minutes to recognize this urgency and make a connection that matters with a student this year. Sounds more like 9360 reasons to innovate this spring season!

Need support getting started? Learn more about how LINC, the Learning Innovation Catalyst, helps empower educators as agents of 21st century learning transformation. www.lincspring.com