I. General Information
School Name: Brooklyn Elementary School
School District: SD#71 Comox Valley
Inquiry Team Members: Naomi Radawiec: naomi.radawiec@sd71.bc.ca
Mentors: Deborah Koehn: dkoehn@sd91.bc.ca, Kimberley MacNeil: kimberley.macneil@ubc.ca
Inquiry Team Contact Email: nradawiec22@gmail.com
II. Inquiry Project Information
Type of Inquiry: SRL Case Study
Grade Levels Addressed Through Inquiry: Intermediate (4-7)
Curricular Areas Addressed: Career Education, Language Arts – Literacy, Language Arts – Oral Language, Language Arts – Writing, Mathematics / Numeracy, Social Studies
Focus Addressed: Core competencies (for example, critical thinking, communication, problem solving), Self-regulation
In one sentence, what was your focus for the year? We focused on self regulation, specifically the core competency critical thinking.
III. Spirals of Inquiry Details
Scanning: In the beginning of the year, we noticed that students were not able to ask deep thinking questions, and struggled to think critically. When we asked them what critical thinking is, they had very limited responses, and many couldn’t answer the question at all. We noticed they were keen to learn, to please the teacher, to follow expectations and complete tasks, but they struggled to engage in deep thinking.
Focus: Our focus was on the cognitive domain of self regulation. We hoped to help students develop their ability to engage in critical thinking.
Hunch: For teachers, it is easy to talk too much and too often. When students are passive listeners and are not encouraged to think critically, they become disengaged and check-out. Teaching practices such as calling on students with their hands up, may lead to students feeling like they don’t need to be responsible for thinking deeply. We began taking a closer look at our teaching practices that encourage thinking or stop thinking.
New Professional Learning: Naomi: I meet online with Deb Kohen and Kimberly MacNeil several times to learn from their mentorship and talk through ideas and key learning. I also met with our NOIIE self regulation inquiry group online and in person at the symposium, and really appreciated being able to share and learn together. Last year, I read Peter Liljedhal’s (LIL-yed-hall) book “Building thinking classrooms in Mathematics” and that book impacted not only our math learning, but also my teaching practice – I learned to talk less, get students engaged in thinking the right away, keep them engaged, and work collaboratively in groups. This year, we’ve been building a thinking classroom by using a variety of tasks and strategies. I read the book Hacking Questions by Connie Hamilton and learned a lot from her book. I read parts of the book “Developing Self-Regulating Learners” by Nancy Perry and Leyton Schnellert which helped deepen my understanding of self regulation.
Taking Action: Naomi: I’ve been making sure that all students are engaged and responsible for thinking, rather than calling on a few students who often raise their hands. For example, The All Hands Up strategy, The Turn and Ask strategy, Popcorn Sharing, Put Yourself on a Line, Sticky Notes, vertical whiteboards on the walls, mini whiteboards, small groups, community circle and more. We have our desks in pods, and I often ask them to stand in the Rainbow Zone (U shape) for 3-5 minutes for quick instructions or when I’m introducing a thinking task. I try to model thinking aloud and metacognition.
We also learned about why students may say “I don’t know” when asked to think and respond, and discussed different strategies for responding, like allowing the student to “consult with a friend” before sharing their final answer. This lesson focused on empowering students to think deeply, take risks, and share their thinking with others. We’ve also been learning the language of being a risk taker. I encourage them to say things like, “right now I’m thinking..” or “I’m not 100% sure, but I think that…”
As a teacher, I’ve become much more aware of whether or not the questions I’m asking, and the tasks I’m asking students to do, encourage thinking or stop thinking.
Celebrating thinking “not right” answers and celebrating mistakes:
In our class we celebrate thinking versus correct answers, and support the belief that mistakes and challenges help us learn and grow. My students seem more open to sharing their thinking because they feel it is safe to share, and they know that I value their thoughts.
One of the most important changes I’ve made as a teacher is that I’m learning not to help too much. (I’m learning to become invisible). I became a teacher because I love learning and I love helping others learn. It’s easy for me to fall into helping too much and spoon feeding the answers. Lately I’ve been trying to pause, wait, and ask myself…do they really need me right now? I give fewer hints and help less so that students are able to take the time to work through their thinking. If I help too much, the thinking stops, the learning is not deep and not transferable to the next task. I’m working on becoming more invisible and letting students think for themselves, gain ownership, and build resiliency. For example, when we do stand up math and the students are working in groups of three, I may give them small hints if needed or explain the question, but then I become invisible, walk away and let them work to solve problems together without me. Developing thinking skills is much like developing perseverance. It takes time, space, and often a struggle.
Checking: Naomi: One of our weekly inquiry questions recently was “What is critical thinking and why is it important?” Their responses showed that they now have a much deeper understanding of critical thinking. Through this inquiry, one thing we’ve noticed is that students are beginning to shift the way they view themselves. In the beginning of the year we noticed they were keen to learn, to please the teacher, to follow expectations and complete tasks. Now they are beginning to view themselves as thinkers. We are creating a community of learners that think critically, and they are beginning to take more ownership over challenging themselves to take their thinking to the next level, as well as talking and reflecting on their thinking and learning (metacognition).
Identity: This has impacted their sense of self and identity. Giving them time and space to struggle, and overcome challenges, has helped build their confidence and allowed them to take ownership over their learning. When I allow them to hold onto the cognitive baton, this shows them that I believe in them…that they are smart and capable.
Personal life and working through frustrations to build resilience: This learning has impacted my personal life too. My 3 year old asks questions all the time and I love watching him persevere through something that’s hard for him. Watching someone struggle can be tough sometimes for people like me who like to help and make others happy. When my son is doing risky play, like climbing a tree or riding his push bike down a hill, if I help him too much, and keep helping him every time, that would stop him from learning how to do it himself. Risk taking in a classroom is similar, by taking risks in their thinking, doing the thinking themselves and not receiving too much help, this builds independent resilient learners. I love witnessing the deep learning, aha moment, when they figure something out for themselves.
Student Quotes:
Grade 5 student: “All hands up” feels better because you get to add your ideas to your class and think harder about it. You get feedback on your learning. I’m responsible for sharing my learning and thinking because not one person is always talking so we are learning from everyone. Not just the teacher or just one student.
Grade 6 student: Everyone is responsible for doing the thinking. You are responsible for thinking and not distracting anyone and trying your hardest to learn. It feels good that the students are teaching too. It makes sense that the teacher is there to help you learn but not to do the thinking for you. When I’m given the chance to think it’s giving me a chance to learn. If the teacher just gave me the answers, that won’t help me grow in my learning.
Grade 5 student: Without critical thinking, learning can be boring and not fun. To have your teacher tell you the answer to something and make you memorize it…You are not using your thinking and the point of school is for you to be the one thinking and sharing your ideas and thoughts with your classmates.
Grade 5 student: Being in our class has been different from other classes in such a good way! Because in other classes they might have just given you a sheet of paper with questions that you didn’t know a thing about so they would give you a book and say write the answers from the book and bring it home to study. Or they would just tell you the answers and say bring it home to study it. But in our class you do stand-up math so you can ask other people if you are stuck or we do mini whiteboards. Then after we do one of those things we might do an exit slip or show what you know on paper. This means we are doing more critical thinking to get the answer than someone just telling you how to do it. We also think critically for the weekly question because we have to write the answer in our words, not just look on the internet or say exactly what your parents say. My teacher believes I can think deeply, and that makes me feel smart. I can teach other people. It makes me feel like I know what I’m doing. We get to learn more from our ideas. Other people also get to learn from your ideas too, not just the teachers.
Reflections/Advice: By creating an environment where students view themselves as thinkers, where we celebrate mistakes, where students take ownership over their learning, we are cultivating independence and resilience. Prioritizing critical thinking and becoming the invisible teacher allows students to navigate challenges confidently in school and in their lives outside the classroom.
Next year I plan to go deeper in my learning about how to facilitate experiences where students are challenged to think. I learned numerous strategies and thinking tasks this year and used several of them in our class. Next year I want to try out some of the strategies that I haven’t tried yet. I want to continue helping students to gain ownership over their learning and thinking, and I hope to be even more transparent about our purpose for thinking tasks and how I value their thoughts.