School District: SD#68 Nanaimo-Ladysmith

Inquiry Team Members: Susan Gueulette
Jodie Fulton

Inquiry Team Contact Email: sgueulette@sd68.bc.ca

Type of Inquiry: NOIIE

Grade Levels: Primary (K-3)

Curricular Area(s): Applied Design, skills & Technology

Focus Addressed: Indigenous understandings (for example, Traditional Knowledge, oral history, reconciliation)

In one sentence, what was your focus for the year? Life skills: sewing a plant pouch and gathering Aboriginal plants from our neighbourhood.

Scanning: Our scanning process started with a direct question about the level of skills the learners and teachers needed in order to complete the project successfully. The question was directed to the learners and teachers; have you done any hand sewing with anyone before? And, would you be interested in learning hand sewing skills to complete a plant pouch. This was an oral discussion for the whole class of 20 learners. The learners wanted to learn sewing skills.

Focus: We selected applied design because we wanted the students to have an opportunity to learn basic sewing skills, and learn that sewing is an important skill to have for themselves as well as First Nations Peoples who lived thousands years ago. We were also hoping that sewing a plant pouch taught them how difficult it is to sew but a necessity for plants or herbs to be gathered for the people just like we do today when we go shopping in the grocery store.

Hunch: We had a hunch that our learners had little experience with sewing skills, sewing words, and importance of it. Once the learners discussed how much experience they had with hand sewing, this gave teachers direction on what skills were needed.

New Professional Learning: Teachers had to learn sewing skills before modelling it to the learners. We used the internet and watched “how to sew” videos. We practiced sewing on felt at home. Tina Moore, Aboriginal Teacher of the school taught us the blanket stitch. We purchased needles from Amazon and good quality felt from the Dollar store.

Taking Action: Our team decided it would be a good strategy to learn a few plant names in Hul’q’umin’um, the language of the Snuneymuxw. We used a website called First Voices, that translates English to Hul’q’umin’um with the correct pronunciation.

Checking: Our baseline was about 4 out of 20 learners, who had done a little bit of hand sewing with family members. After practicing blanket stitch a few times, the learners were able to sew a felt pouch that collected plants. That makes 20 learners compared to 4 in a class who have successfully sewn and now have had that experience. We gave the learners a questionnaire on if they liked sewing and if they liked the experience. Hundred percent yes, and would sew again. Hundred percent of learners said they liked sewing a pouch and gathering some Snuneymuxw plants on a nature walk.

Reflections/Advice: I learned a lot from this inquiry; sewing skills as well as some new Hul’q’umin’um words. The learners loved it because it was hands-on, and the learners loved the social aspect of sewing together. I noticed that a lot of learners felt proud in completing a sewing project on their own. They also realized sewing is not easy. Lastly, they can’t wait to sew again. Some learners say they want to sew blankets, scarves or hats. I recommend a sewing project like this would be good for grades 2 to 4.

School District: SD#37 Delta

Inquiry Team Members: Marie Bunce: mbunce@deltalearns.ca, Nathan Wilson: nwilson@deltalearns.ca, Tashi Kirincic: tkirincic@deltalearns.ca, Tim Vuorela: tvuorela@deltalearns.ca, Karen Gadowsky: kgadowsky@deltalearns.ca, Bryarley Gillis: bgillis@deltalearns.ca, Tammy Veltkamp: tveltkamp@deltalearns.ca

Inquiry Team Contact Email: dhuff@deltalearns.ca

Type of Inquiry: NOIIE

Focus Addressed: One of our inquiries was focused on “Learning and Modelling Reconciliation in a Meaningful Way,” and the other was focused on “Student Anxiety”.

Inquiry Story: Check out our inquiry story powerpoint presentation here!

School District: SD#38 Richmond

Inquiry Team Members: Jessica Eguia: jeguia@sd38.bc.ca, Leanne McColl: lmccoll@sd38.bc.ca

Inquiry Team Contact Email: jeguia@sd38.bc.ca

Type of Inquiry: NOIIE

Grade Levels: Primary (K-3), Intermediate (4-7), Secondary (8-12)

Curricular Area(s): Applied Design, skills & Technology, Arts Education, Career Education, Language Arts – Literacy, Language Arts – Oral Language, Language Arts – Reading, Language Arts – Writing, Mathematics / Numeracy, Physical & Health Education, Science, Social Studies

Focus Addressed: Indigenous understandings (for example, Traditional Knowledge, oral history, reconciliation), First Peoples Principles of Learning, Indigenous pedagogy, Land, Nature or Place-based learning

In one sentence, what was your focus for the year? To promote a greater awareness and appreciation of the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language and culture amongst our school district staff and students.

Scanning: With the support of the Musqueam Language Department, we seek to promote a greater awareness of the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language and culture amongst our school district staff and students. Our staff has been engaging with the teaching kit called “Musqueam: Giving information about our teachings” and are developing a deeper sense of the local First Peoples on whose traditional land we live. Nevertheless, we continue to seek ways to learn and integrate the wisdom and world views of the Musqueam people.

During the scanning process, a few Richmond students were asked the four key questions. Many were able to name two people in their setting that believed in them, from teacher librarians, classroom teachers to educational assistants. When asked what they were learning, students named traditional areas of learning, such as math, reading, and writing. Many said this learning was important because it would lead them to a job. When asked how it was going with their learning, many said, “good” or “ok.” The scan proved to be tricky, as we were not sure which teachers would be participating in this professional learning series.

We hoped that with this inquiry and professional learning opportunity, the learners and educators in our school district would continue to develop a humble understanding of, and respect for, Indigenous ways of knowing and being, as well as Indigenous Worldviews.

Focus: This inquiry is a continuation of last year’s spiral of inquiry around localized Indigenous language appreciation. After our submitted case study last year, we realized that our group had just begun our journey and we could continue to partake in meaningful work in consultation with the Musqueam Language Department. We also continue to be inspired by UNDRIP, which was highlighted by our province in the fall of 2019. In particular, Article 13 states that Indigenous peoples around the world are continuously working to revitalize, use, develop and transmit to future generations their histories, languages, oral traditions, philosophies, writing systems and literatures. We wonder what this can mean for our local context. Moreover, we continue to be inspired by the language revitalization work occurring in other districts within the province.

Hunch: Students and teachers in our district continue to develop humble awareness of the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language, histories and contemporary realities of the Musqueam via the Musqueam teaching kit “Musqueam: Giving information about our teachings.” Both educators and students are making their way along the learning continuum of including Indigenous content across the curriculum in an appreciative and respectful way. Some educators are wanting to be more respectful when working with the language present in the Musqueam teaching kit. In undertaking this inquiry, our hunch was that through learning from Musqueam facilitators, educators could learn more about language appreciation and local protocols, and deepen their connection with local Indigenous ways of knowing and being.

New Professional Learning: In collaboration with Musqueam voice, we created a language appreciation workshop for staff, and in collaboration with Musqueam community members, we respectfully carried out the work. We are so thankful to those with whom we worked in collaboration, as they allowed us to deepen our learning and offered us and our colleagues a unique opportunity to participate in truth and reconciliation in our educational settings.

Taking Action: We were honoured to provide a hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language appreciation session for Richmond teachers, facilitated by Vanessa Campbell from the Musqueam Language and Culture Department, along with Mack Paul and Courtenay Gibson. In this session, in order to frame our learning, teachers were first directed to the teaching kit called “Musqueam: Giving information about our teachings”, to become familiar with if they were not already, to the teaching resources within the kit. We explored the Delta Animation video in order to better understand the significance of land acknowledgements, and then explored the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, particularly as to how it relates to Indigenous languages and how its adoption in BC may inform BC government legislation and relationships with Indigenous Peoples. The hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ alphabet was then used as a provocation to surface teachers wonderings about the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language, Indigenous language revitalization, and local Indigenous peoples. Vanessa Campbell led us through a sharing of the story of the origin of the name Musqueam in hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓. We then explored questions from teachers, many of which came from their experiences working with hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language in their classrooms.

Checking: At the end of the session, participants were asked to reflect about their biggest takeaways, their wonderings, and what supports might be helpful in order to implement their learnings. Teachers shared that they appreciated hearing the local language from Musqueam speakers, and were glad to have access to Musqueam created resources online. Teachers also were glad to learn more about language protocols, and how to respect them. Teachers gained new understandings about how to teach about the importance of language, rather than teaching the language itself. Overall, teachers expressed hope for reconciliation through their role in language appreciation and revitalization in schools. Teachers are looking for the district team to assist them in working with teaching about Musqueam language in tangible ways, such as working alongside Richmond teacher and Musqueam community member, Nora Stogan, on QR codes with audioclips of hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language in school gardens.

Reflections/Advice: Our journey into hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language appreciation has been valuable to us in continuing our relationship with Musqueam community members and language leaders. We have learned much from our Musqueam facilitators in terms of language and protocols. We have been inspired to provide tangible next steps for teachers. For next year, we plan to continue our hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language appreciation with connections to our district primary study group, and in collaboration with other district teacher consultants around language.

School District: SD#68 Nanaimo-Ladysmith

Inquiry Team Members: Andrea Davidson: Andrea.Davidson@sd68.bc.ca
Dawn Holdom: DHoldom@sd68.bc.ca
Brian Lennox: blennox@sd68.bc.ca
Tina Pedersen: tpedersen@sd68.bc.ca

Inquiry Team Contact Email: dholdom@sd68.bc.ca

Type of Inquiry: NOIIE

Grade Levels: Secondary (8-12)

Curricular Area(s): Applied Design, skills & Technology, Science, Social Studies

Focus Addressed: Indigenous understandings (for example, Traditional Knowledge, oral history, reconciliation), Community-based learning, Land, Nature or Place-based learning

In one sentence, what was your focus for the year? Focus is on how traditional ecological knowledge can offer all students opportunities to further their connections with land and their sense of place within the community.

Scanning: Students were surveyed, and results suggested that some students do not feel connected to the school community. Could a sense of place be developed through opportunities to learn about the land?

Focus: The First Peoples Principles of Learning supports the well-being of the self and the land, and is embedded in memory, history and story. Therefore, understanding the history of the land from an Indigenous perspective and making personal connections to the land and experiencing it, will help foster a sense of responsibility towards the land and lead to the creation of new stories and a feeling of connectedness and sense of place.

It is hoped that students will continue to develop their sense of place and connection within their environment through opportunities to learn from others in the community. It is also hoped that shared understandings will provide students with an opportunity to develop social and environmental responsibility.

Hunch: Teachers are continuing to learn how to teach Indigenous understandings and how to implement/interpret the overarching goals of the new curriculum and current method of assessment. Presentations by specialists where teachers can learn alongside students about some of the local First Nations understandings and/or how First Peoples Principles of Learning can be modelled, may benefit both students and staff.

New Professional Learning: Do students feel more connected (have a greater sense of place) when they deepen their understanding of their local environment and how it can be, or should be, cared for from an Indigenous perspective?

Does a sense of pride in, and responsibility for, the land contribute in a positive way to how students feel about themselves?

Would a presentation (Archaeology and Clam Gardens) given by a presenter who is an expert in the field of archaeology and who works closely with several First Nations on Vancouver Island, be beneficial for staff and students?

Taking Action: Nicole Smith, MA, Archaeologist & Educator, gave a presentation, “Archaeology and Clam Gardens,” to two science 9 classes, one grade 11 Science for Citizens class, and one Geography 12 class. Following the presentation, students reflected on topics they found interesting, new learning, and new perspectives of coastal B.C.

Checking: Based on three survey questions students were asked following the presentation, evidence suggests that most students enjoyed the presentation and almost all the students learned something about Vancouver Island that they did not know before. For example, several students said they would look at local beaches and forests from a different perspective. Staff reported that the presentation fit with the curriculum of their classes and one staff member said the presentation made him feel good and reminded him of his childhood. It appears that some changes may have been made and the presentation was a good first step.

Reflections/Advice: In hindsight, it may have been more beneficial to have students reflect on the presentation in small mixed-grade, mixed-subject groups rather than having students reflect individually once back in their classrooms.

The next step will be to seek support and guidance from local community members who can deepen student and staff understanding about the environment and First Peoples knowledge through hands-on, outdoor learning opportunities. This could be done through activities such as shellfish data recording at Departure Bay, as organized by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans; learning about local plants and animals as a source of medicine or food; or learning from the Clam Gardens Network how to help protect and restore historical clam gardens around Vancouver Island.

School District: SD#69 Qualicum

Inquiry Team Members: Trish Cathrine: tcathrine@sd69.bc.ca
Ballenas Staff Members (whole staff collaboration)

Inquiry Team Contact Email: tcathrine@sd69.bc.ca

Type of Inquiry: NOIIE

Grade Levels: Secondary (8-12)

Curricular Area(s): Other: This was a whole staff focus for collaborative learning; teachers then applied this learning to their own curricular areas.

Focus Addressed: Differentiated instruction, Flexible learning, Inclusion and inclusive instructional strategies, Inquiry-based learning, Universal design for learning

In one sentence, what was your focus for the year? How do we bridge the knowing/doing gap – “knowing” about inclusion to “doing” and our understanding and use of inclusive practices? The what is “inclusion” and the “how” of inclusive practices?

Scanning: Many are aware of what inclusion is, and have different levels of understanding. Using the work of leaders in our province (Moore, Schnellert, Brownlie and others), we knew that we want to incorporate MORE inclusive practices, frameworks, and planning structures, but that we needed time and space for conversation about this and gentle support to move forward in this (teacher collaboration time with intentional focus on diverse learners and structures to support learning for ALL).

Focus: This has been a topic of conversation for the past few years within our learning services department. More diversity in classrooms has also been a discussion amongst teaching staff here at Ballenas. We are wanting to bring the two together and work on, 1) knowing our learners, 2) designing powerful learning based on big ideas with layering levels of complexity and lots of option (baked potato bar), and 3) structures as supports (and so much more).

We were hoping that our learners continue to feel included, seen, and heard in their classes, and that they experience success through the intentional use and focus on learning design, based on goals – not activities. What is the goal? How will I get there? Who can help? Where to next?

Hunch: Many are aware of what inclusion is, and have different levels of understanding. We were wanting our learning services teachers to be able to provide support in terms of planning, and really resonate with the words of Shelley Moore in regards to retro-fit supports and learning (taking things off that are already planned, instead of planning with the groups and learners and background design in mind). Our hunch was that we needed to make a shift in how we approach this, and provide time and opportunity to look at how this is done and how it impacts learning here within our community.

New Professional Learning: Using the work of leaders in our province (Moore, Schnellert, Brownlie and others), we knew that we want to incorporate MORE examples of inclusive practices and planning frameworks into our teaching and learning – we structured teacher collaboration time with this specific intention, provided background resources and support, and provided plenty of time for teachers to collaborate with the goal of planning for ALL in mind.

Resources that were helpful in this investigation included the work of Shelley Moore, class profile templates from Schnellert and Brownie, planning templates from Moore, and UDL support from Katie Novak and Jennifer Katz.

Taking Action:
1) Whole staff collaboration
– UDL vs. Differentiation
– Offering the “buffet”
– Working with the curriculum: What are the big ideas? What is essential?
– Class profiles – KNOWING your learners: strength based teaching and learning
– Whole staff brainstorming and discussion about: expression, representation, and engagement – creation of “the Ballenas buffet”
– Time for colleagues to talk and discuss UDL and design in curricular and cross curricular areas
– Sharing from colleagues about wonders, challenges, success stories …

Checking: Example 1: PE teacher teaching a variety of skills to entire class, then lets students choose based on goal/strength/area of interest to further develop. Goal(s): everyone would learn basic skills of basketball, everyone will be physically active, but students can choose: play, referee, score keep/stats and support. ALL students were active and participating. ALL students were physically active. ALL students were able to choose a particular aspect they wanted to focus on more deeply. Feeling of cohesion and inclusivity within class – everyone worked together in an area they wanted to focus on going deeper in. Repeated again with a focus on volleyball. Positive feedback from learners who felt and experienced success.

Reflections/Advice: We have only just begin to go deeper in this area.
We know that:
– Knowing our learners
– Starting with strengths
– Supporting learners through goals, not activities
– Differentiation vs. UDL
– Layering on choice, goals, options
… are all inclusive practices. We need to continue to explore these approaches and collaborate as colleagues. We would like to continue this focus and continue to share real stories of this in action. We know that teacher collaboration is essential and will continue to make this happen.

School District: SD#39 Vancouver

Inquiry Team Members: Mike Aird: maird@vsb.bc.ca
Shannon Boyland: sboyland@vsb.bc.ca
Caroline Cho: cwcho@vsb.bc.ca
Rosa Fazio: rfazio@vsb.bc.ca
Paul Hughes: pdhughes@vsb.bc.ca
Ken Kilback

Inquiry Team Contact Email: rfazio@vsb.bc.ca

Type of Inquiry: NOIIE

Grade Levels: Primary (K-3), Intermediate (4-7)

Curricular Area(s): Other: SEL

Focus Addressed: Indigenous understandings (for example, Traditional Knowledge, oral history, reconciliation), Community-based learning, Core competencies (for example, critical thinking, communication, problem solving), Growth mindset, Self-regulation, Social and emotional learning, Other: circle of courage, goal setting, collective efficacy, learning communities

In one sentence, what was your focus for the year? Through our collective efforts, how can we provide students with a self-regulation toolkit while honouring Indigenous ways?

Scanning: The 3 big-picture questions helped staff realize that there was an increase in excessive discipline issues, global unkind teasing behaviour, and students ill prepared to deal with emotions and unable to focus nor critically self-reflect. For two years, the school had explored the Seven Grandfather Teachings and Character Traits to contribute to helping students become well-balanced contributing members of the community. However, the transference of traits did not make a noticeable difference. The OECD principles of learning were not unpacked during the scanning phase, yet the SEL team noted a strong overlays with the FPPL and SEL.

Focus: The focus was for Fleming students and staff to work together to create a safe, caring and creative space for students to improve their social-emotional skills. Developing a school wide toolkit of strategies for students, with common language used K to 7 for consistency and continuity, was the original focus.

Hunch: Since there was no common practice, we proposed that if we use common language and strategies school wide, we will build greater capacity for success.

New Professional Learning: We explored Stuart Shanker and the Mehrit Centre Self-Regulation Toolkit for schools; Indigenous ways of being and the importance of belonging; the Circle of Courage framework, research and strategies; Growth Mindset; the Tribes resource for community building; Zones of Regulation; Core Competencies, and more.

As integrating Indigenous ways was important for staff, and the Circle of Courage resonated with us, we created a Google Doc to store links in the four spirits with two team members taking a lead with each spirit — belonging (I am loved); mastery (I can succeed); independence (I have the power to make decisions); and generosity (I have a purpose for my life). This Google Doc reflected our learning (with extensive links) and we are happy to share with anyone who wants to contact us. We brought our learning to a preliminary staff meeting where we shared the four spirits with some suggested resources to explore, and then held two subsequent staff meetings to determine an action plan.

As a staff, we chose one primary resource that everyone would commit to using, allowing people to use the supplemental resources as they saw fit. For the spirit of belonging, we created 5 teams (learning communities) for staff to belong to and explore the learning. Reaching All by Creating Tribes Learning Communities was the primary chosen resource, and a resident expert on the SEL team shared some learnings with staff around community circles, greetings at the door, and spirit buddies. For independence, the staff agreed on using the Zones of Regulation and another SEL team member led ProD for staff. Key visuals were also chosen by each team, printed and laminated for each community. For the 2019-20 school year, we were only able to tackle belonging and independence. Mastery and generosity will be introduced in 2020-21. Since Fleming Wolves (who we are) HOWL (what we do), we represented the WOLVES acronym through the core competencies through the creative genius of another SEL team member.

Taking Action: A community celebration assembly introduced the Circle of Courage to students, and our Indigenous Enhancement Worker shared her story. With the spirit of belonging, the teachers extended themselves to build a sense of belonging through community circles, welcoming students at the door, establishing team names, etc.

In March, grade 1/2 and grade 7 students did a musical performance on the theme of “Belonging and Being Yourself,” incorporating the entire school in a dance finale with a message of “you belong” and “we are a team.” The school was also introduced to the Cherokee legend of the two wolves living within us (the good wolf and the bad wolf) and how our actions feed the good wolf.

With the spirit of independence, staff began using the Zones of Regulation program. Our Community School Team staff who work with our students after school, also received training and the same set of posters (mindful breathing, size of problems, etc) to use within their programs.

To start the 2020-21 school year, we purchased a growth mindset resource and also incorporated goal setting for the Grade K-2 teams, Gr. 3-5 teams and Gr. 6-7 team. We will then extend into the spirit of generosity.

Checking: A Circle of Courage Student Survey was administered to our 225 grade 4 to 7 students using a Likert scale. This is to act as our baseline data as we will be administering the survey again February 2020. We also administered the four questions to one grade 5 class before schools went into Covid mode. Our essential question for belonging is: Can you name two adults at school who believe in you and think you can be successful? We look forward to continuing to gather some baseline data.

Reflections/Advice: This inquiry, through the lens of the Spiral, has allowed our school to embark on a deep learning experience. To begin with, we are all working towards a collective vision which is incredibly powerful. We are in the midst of learning what we need to do more of, and less of, for our students. The importance of various levels of data collection are fundamental to making any notable difference for learners.

We would recommend setting up a learning communities (pod) structure in your school, in order for one member of each team to be on the SEL team. This structure allows for committee members to gather input from pod members which incorporates voice and a richer discussion at the committee level. The success of the SEL team has prompted us to set up three other similar committees next year with the same format. One of our committees will be the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Team (EDIT) and we are excited to see where that inquiry leads that team and how it may contribute to our SEL inquiry.

We believe that through collective efficacy, we can indeed make a difference to the social and emotional well-being of the students (which ultimately results in the well-being of staff). We look forward to continuing this inquiry next year.

School District: SD#71 Comox Valley

Inquiry Team Members: Heidi Jungwirth: heidi.jungwirth@sd71.bc.ca, Leah Baron: leah.baron@sd71.bc.ca, Meghan Hagar: meghan.hagar@sd71.bc.ca, Haley Taylor: haley.taylor@sd71.bc.ca, Katie Collinge : katie.collinge@sd71.bc.ca, Margot Janz: margot.janz@sd71.bc.ca

Inquiry Team Contact Email: heidi.jungwirth@sd71.bc.ca

Type of Inquiry: NOIIE

Grade Levels: Primary (K-3), Intermediate (4-7), Secondary (8-12)

Curricular Area(s): Other: All curricular areas, including core competencies, because we are looking at effective ways to teach all subjects to complex learners.

Focus Addressed: Other: see above explanation. If we look at teaching as having a hierarchy of skills, these skills would form the base of what teachers need to be successful.

In one sentence, what was your focus for the year? Developing a system/network for encouraging and supporting teachers who are working with complex learners.

Scanning: As teachers and learners in the Comox Valley School District, we strive everyday to create classroom environments where equity and inclusion make it possible for every student to have dignity and acceptance. These diverse, inclusive environments are ideal nurturing ground to empower all learners.

After asking the 4 questions, we confirmed our observations that, increasingly, these complex classrooms are places where some students (and teachers) struggle to feel safe and connected to their learning. When we consider the OECD Principles of Learning, we keep coming up against barriers that prevent teachers from effectively using these principles. Our hunch is that (to use the OECD language) the gatekeeper of learning, the social-emotional well being of students, is often so compromised that learning becomes challenging, if not at times impossible. Looking at the First People’s Principles of Learning, we recognized that many of these were directions to take our relationships with students.

We then asked ourselves this question, “how can we make our classrooms better environments for all learners to grow and thrive?”

Focus: What we want is that everyone can have a positive, challenging, and empowering experience as a learner in our school district. We want the topic of complex students and classroom environments to be a springboard for all educators to work together for the good of complex learners and all learners. These are ambitious goals. Teachers who have inquired about such topics have seen incredible change within their classrooms, and we want to bring this knowledge to the whole school district. We want to create a place of support for teachers who are interested in pursuing such change.

Hunch: Our hunch is that it is a very difficult thing to acknowledge that complex classrooms need more support than can be easily given. There are talented, experienced and knowledgeable teachers who have found themselves in unteachable situations due to the complex nature of the class. This is a difficult topic to talk about, and can be accompanied by denial of the problem, or blaming the teacher or the system.

We want to take a solutions oriented approach to inquiring about this topic, and in doing so, provide a safe place to have courageous conversations about the challenges that students and teachers face.

Our hunch is that exploring existing supports and resources within our district and community will empower our group members to create more inclusive and supportive classroom environments. We also have the hunch that there are supports and resources in use in other school districts that we are not yet accessing. We hope to learn from these other school districts and bring their ideas back to SD71.

New Professional Learning: Each group member chose a topic under the umbrella of the question, “Through the vehicle of ‘Courageous Conversations’ how can we, a diverse group of educators K-12, support each other and our learners to grow and thrive in our increasingly complex classrooms and world?”

This process was always meant to be a multi-year one, and we have only met 6 times. Individuals are still in the process of figuring out which professional learning direction they want to pursue.

The topics being explored are:

Margot: Interested in a multi-disciplinary approach with community service providers working together with the schools.

Tonia: Interested in Brené Brown. Daring Classrooms.

Heidi: Interested in supporting teachers. Wants to interview teachers who have complex classrooms or are working with complex students. Eventual goal is some sort of a “support group?”

Katie: Reading Ross Greene’s books, Lost and Found and Lost at School. The current use of non-traditional discipline is having implementation challenges.

Meghan: The invisible population, looking at classroom complexity. School wide approaches to supporting the kids who fade into the background because they aren’t acting out. Stuart Shanker self-regulation.

Haley: Learning in Safe Schools by Faye Brownley and Judith King. Interested in RTI model. Resources from the community and the school.

Taking Action: After sending out an initial email to see about the interest in our school district for a “Courageous Conversations ” group, I was quite shocked to receive over 30 answers from people who were interested! Of course, most of these people were over committed, and our initial meeting had 9 people come. Lots of these people weren’t able to commit to the group at this time, and in the first months, more people dropped out. I think that this is the usual way things go with teachers! People want to do too much, and there isn’t enough time. We ended up with 6 people who kept on coming to the meetings and one person asked to join, but we have put it on hold because of Covid.

We decided to meet every 3 weeks, and kept that schedule up for 5 meetings. Things began to get to be too much about the end of February, and then completely stopped because of Covid. I did reach out to people during the Covid time, but everyone was too overwhelmed to have a meeting online.

As for how things worked out, we are still planning to continue in some format next year, so this all remains to be seen.

Checking: Due to the long term nature of the design of our group, these questions are difficult to answer. I would say the initial learning done by each member was exciting and inspiring. The rest remains to be seen. Covid certainly ground things to a halt, but the learning will continue next year.

I will share one story (from me, not the group). The idea of conversations and the benefit of having them helped me come up with the idea of the intermediate team from our school (which is only 4 teachers) having daily check-in conversations while we were working from home. The other teachers agreed, and almost without exception we had a 9:00 meeting where we shared our plans for the day, our insecurities, and the fun ideas we had come up with. These meetings were my anchor during the time we were working isolated from home.

Again on the topic of conversations, at the end of June, our staff talked a lot about the successes we had during the period of online schooling. This was great, but I felt like there was a conversation that we weren’t having: what were the challenges about online schooling and what did you do to overcome them. Instead of waiting for administration to organize this conversation, I decided to ask any interested teachers to come to my classroom and share their stories. I was surprised/pleased that every single teacher came to this meeting. We shared challenges and how we overcame them, and recorded (and shared) this so that we can refer to it when and if we go back to online schooling. It was also interesting to see that many of the things that teachers learned from doing online schooling can be also used in regular, in-class learning. Many teachers have changed their practice as a result of what they learned during Covid time.

Reflections/Advice: My main learning is that teachers having (courageous, non-judgemental) conversations is fundamental to improving things for learners. I am really looking forward to further developing the ideas that we explored at a preliminary level during our time together this year. I plan to lead this group into a second year, and I anticipate that the benefits of us having courageous conversations will continue to grow.

School District: SD#71 Comox Valley

Inquiry Team Members: Brenda MacPherson: brenda.macpherson@sd71.bc.ca
Tony Dickson: tony.dickson@sd71.bc.ca
Anne Jenkins: anne.jenkins@viu.ca

Inquiry Team Contact Email: brenda.macpherson@sd71.bc.ca

Type of Inquiry: NOIIE

Grade Levels: Secondary (8-12), Post-secondary

Curricular Area(s): Language Arts – Writing, Social Studies

Focus Addressed: Core competencies (for example, critical thinking, communication, problem solving), Formative assessment, Universal design for learning

In one sentence, what was your focus for the year? This inquiry focused on: (1) Gr. 8 students’ writing skills in note making and using their own words, as well as (2) teacher candidates’ skills in (a) providing written feedback to learners, (b) applying a proficiency scale and (c) analyzing the development of one specific formative assessment.

Scanning: The instructional team developed an assessment for learning to help students connect English Language Arts and Social Studies concepts. During the scan, Grade 8 students’ abilities to connect concepts in English Language Arts (ELA) to Social Studies (SS) were unclear. They were newly enrolled in their secondary school and not yet well-connected to staff, but were open to telling their Humanities teachers where they were struggling.

Teacher candidates reported that they did not understand how to give feedback to students for written responses or meaningfully apply the proficiency scale in assessments with varied formats. They were enrolled in a B.Ed. program, well-connected to individual instructors, as well as one another. They were not confident in initiating and designing assessments, noting that they had been raised within a sorting education system, based on percentages, even though that seldom occurred in their education program.

The inquiry was guided by the following OECD principles and First Peoples Principles of Learning:
– Learners at the centre: every decision was based on students’ needs.
– Recognizing individual differences in learners: the key focus for designing personalized descriptive feedback.
– Assessment for learning: the assessment design and question development were key areas of focus.
– Building horizontal connections: high school and university students were linked through their exchanges.
– Learning involves generational roles and responsibilities: teacher candidates assumed new roles as feedback coaches in this atypical exchange.
– Learning is embedded in memory, history, and story: learners linked reading and writing with descriptive historical passages.
– Learning involves patience and time: for Grade 8 students to persevere through the assessment; teacher candidates to polish their feedback skills; and teachers to engage in deep dialogue about their perspectives, biases, and intentions in a shared formative assessment sequence.

Focus: We wanted teacher candidates to provide feedback to high school students about their written responses on a teacher-designed Humanities assessment, so that both groups would gain skills from the process (Gr. 8 students to receive advice about their writing, and teacher candidates to practice their feedback development skills and analysis skills for assessment development). We hoped for improved Gr. 8 responses in the January assessment and refinement of feedback from the teacher candidates.

Hunch: We suspected that the Grade 8 students had limited experience linking their writing skills to non-fiction content. They reported that specific practice using written literary skills to record and interpret factual global events was limited.
Teacher candidates indicated that they had minimal exposure to actual student writing, to learn how to provide feedback. As well, they had no experience developing an assessment for a broad group of learners beyond simple factual tests, matching, or true/false tasks.

In the September phase of the assessment, two teachers provided instructions for their respective Gr. 8 students, with some differences about how to approach the questions. This may have influenced students’ responses. In the January phase of the assessment, the instructions were more aligned with a unified focus on guiding students’ approach to answering questions. This difference may have accounted for some variation in students’ responses.

New Professional Learning:
Professional Learning: The Gr. 8 teachers engaged in professional conversations about (1) the assessment design and question structure, and (2) its application with learners and combined assessment exchanges, focusing on reasoning of the teachers’ assessments and inferences of each. Dialogues about the assessment tool construction and assessment logistics were held with a Teacher Education instructor to provide a different perspective.

Helpful resources:
BC Performance Standard Quick Scale – Reading of Information for Gr. 8 with the application of the BC Proficiency Scale as column descriptors.
Instruction about the development of feedback responses and how to use a quick scale was provided by the university instructor to the teacher candidates.

Taking Action: A Gr. 8 teacher designed an assessment structured like the D.A.R.T. (District Assessment of Reading Team), based on ELA8 and SS8 curricula. The D.A.R.T. was selected as a model because the students were familiar with the format from elementary assessments. Students needed specific feedback about their skills in note taking, as well as writing using their own words to demonstrate their learning in Humanities (ELA and SS). Questions emerged: How can students’ progress be best communicated, and by whom? Who else can benefit from our shared work? What will students perceive as valuable in their spring Core Competency (Communication) self-assessment? The two Humanities teachers utilizing the assessment were curious about using feedback in formative assessment within the context of a teacher-designed assessment tool that is scaffolded and Humanities-focused. Teacher candidates were invited into the inquiry to learn about how to assess and develop feedback. Humanities teachers distributed the assessment to their students, and in follow-up discussed the results that emerged. This led to deep conversations about the intentions of questions and assessment tools, as well as the formulation of instructions for learners. The teacher candidates learned that writing descriptive feedback based solely on written responses was difficult, and they recognized the deep value of knowing learners before assessing their products. They also began to realize the complex skills associated with developing an assessment and a consistent routine for its interpretation. The Gr. 8 teachers recognized the value of these assessments for next year when the learners will be in Gr. 9 Humanities with the same teachers, contributing to a historical baseline for each student. The vocabulary portion of the assessment was removed for the January assessment, as Gr. 8 students and the teacher candidates felt it added no value to their writing focus (and felt like a guessing game).

Checking: Gr. 8 students were given feedback on their learning, and the Humanities teachers got feedback from students about the level of difficulty of the assessment (or its parts) in order to make changes for 2020-2021. Hearing teacher candidates’ feedback was valuable because it reminded the Humanities teachers that they need to explicitly articulate each aspect of assessment (when serving as sponsor teachers), so that each new teacher’s entry to the profession is more a mentoring practice, than a recycling of old practices.

Two applications of the assessment were beneficial for the Gr. 8 students as they were based on the same style, but refined for the second application. Their ability to write responses using their own words increased. Students’ note making skills did not improve significantly with the two assessments, so the team is considering whether the instructions, or the practice sessions, target the best skills for students.

This year, students spoke with their teachers in greater frequency about their writing concerns than previous students. They could see improvements in their writing between the two applications of the assessment, and were thoughtful about what they had learned, using the Quick Scales as a baseline to stretch their skills.

The inquiry also opened a strong dialogue connection between the Humanities teachers about their assessment practices and designs. They devoted time for collective collaborative assessment, as they felt the investment was essential to open dialogue. The teacher candidates experienced significant growth in their feedback writing skills, while deepening their understanding of quality assessment designs.

Reflections/Advice: We learned that question design is an essential yet complex skill that requires partnership and dialogue to refine, over time.

If classes can resume in September 2020 – the teachers plan to reuse assessment tool after reducing the ambiguity within questions and determining how to adjust the questions so that they connect to specific strands on the Quick Scale, eliminating overlap during the assessment task. As well, conversational dialogue will be used to fine tune the essence of the questions so that learners have an experience that is directly linked to their writing task. The questions will be adjusted to ensure that they are mining the essence of the communications competency, instead of mining for a less-complex content-based answer. We will return to the question: How can we help students learn how to make notes that demonstrate their learning about higher order thinking instead of rote memory/surface learning?

Advice for schools with similar interests: Begin the discussions as early as possible. Plan well in advance for its application and assessment. Find one colleague with whom to set a joint direction with each teacher being clear about intentions, benefits for students, and partnership(s) with the other adults. Contact a teacher education program to include teacher candidates in the mix. Determine how to best ensure that the teachers interact with the teacher candidates outside of a practicum placement.
We anticipate continued learning from Grade 8 to 9 as the students transition through their early high school years with the same team of Humanities teachers.

School District: SD#39 Vancouver

Inquiry Team Members: Lorena Duran: lduran@setbc.org
Adam Rattray: arattray@setbc.org
Nona Navin :nnavin@setbc.org
Lillian Quon: lquon@setbc.org
Carly Herman: cherman@vsb.bc.ca
Kamelia Dousti: kdousti@setbc.org
Monica Lee: mlee@setbc.org

Inquiry Team Contact Email: lduran@setbc.org

Type of Inquiry: NOIIE

Grade Levels: Primary (K-3), Intermediate (4-7), Secondary (8-12)

Curricular Area(s): Other: Inclusive education

Focus Addressed: Other: consultation, collaboration, leadership.

In one sentence, what was your focus for the year? Developing standards and a framework for successful collaboration and consultation, in order to enhance our inclusion supports to schools.

Scanning: Next year, SET-BC will reorganize its delivery model for supporting students with complex learning needs across the province. This shift means working more collaboratively as a staff than was done previously. As we scan, we wonder the ways in which we can transition to a new model, bringing the best of previous practice, while also forging a new path through stronger collaboration. We also wonder how we will know we are having success in our collaboration efforts. In which ways does stronger collaboration benefit students with complex learning needs?

Question: What is successful collaboration? What do collaborative teams look, sound, and feel like?

Focus: We wanted to improve our collaborative capacity, both in the ways we collaborate as a staff and also how we collaborate with our school teams. While the benefits of a collaborative culture would seem self-evident, collaboration is actually quite challenging given the relatively short time frame of our interaction with teams, typically only one school year. If we want to enhance the collaboration and consultation process, we need to be intentional in our goals for collaboration. This intentionality and understanding of collaboration will benefit our learners.

Hunch: Our hunch is that establishing productive collaboration amongst ourselves shares the burden of improving learning for all the students in the province. While we recognize that every member of our team has a unique skillset and strength, we have not formalized processes that allow teams to work effectively during collaboration. We have a hunch that in order to improve student learning, we need to refine the skills required for successful conversation, collaboration and consultation.

New Professional Learning: We enlisted Bruce Beairsto, a former Superintendent and professor at SFU, to facilitate structured cross-tier conversations about our goals of improved collaboration and consultation. Often in education, the demands of the day-to-day lead to us working primarily as individuals. At SET-BC we are uniquely positioned to work collaboratively, and to model for teams what this could look like in their context. To this end, the notion of social capital really resonates – how can we truly work together and leverage everyone’s strength? How can we show the teams we support that this is more impactful that working alone, and that they have strength to bring to the team? If we are truly collaborating with our teams they must also be active contributors, so how do we support this level of engagement and shift away from SET-BC educators being seen as ‘experts’, but instead as ‘collaborators’?

As a group, we came to call “Collaborative Consultation” the process that empowers us and school-based teams, by acknowledging that success is possible with committed effort and assistance. It involves doing things with, not for, our students and team, foregoing authority in favour of influence. Collaborative Consultation succeeds or fails on three fronts: Process, Relationship and Substance.

Taking Action: One of the takeaways of our inquiry has been to understand that no one person is solely responsible for a successful collaboration – distributed leadership is important and leads to success. With current Tier 1 and 2 educators working with complex students next year, they will need support from current Tier 3 educators. The value of our inquiry was to frame our own responsibilities to the collaborative framework. Establishing group norms requires fulsome participation and adherence to these as one entry point to successful collaboration. Successful collaboration will require ongoing conversations between administration and teachers to reflect on successes and respond to challenges.

While the learning sessions and discussions were very valuable, we also ended up with a project summary of our work at the end of the school year. It was important to chronicle our progress and to use it next school year as a new milepost in our journey of continuous improvement.

Checking: We think that this year is our first step to see the difference collaboration can make for student success. Our feeling is that our ability to collaborate will develop over time, as we become more comfortable with moving from three tiers to one tier. Our combined strengths amplify the quality of the consultation that we provide to our school teams, but we still need to find a mechanism to self-evaluate and confirm our hunches.

Reflections/Advice: Learning together through a facilitated process with an inquiry-like structure allowed us to lower our defenses and examine our practices. Gaining more clarity about how collaboration should look and feel like will help us to improve our support to schools and be professionally fulfilled by our work. It is valuable to examine our practices and make visible the elements that go behind collaboration. It is a vulnerable process and we are better as an organization for having taken this risk together.

School District: SD#41 Burnaby

Inquiry Team Members: Stephanie Lundrigan, Head Teacher/LSS Teacher/ILIT Teacher – stephanie.lundrigan@burnabyschools.ca
Jennie Lee, Strong Start Educator – jenny.lee@burnabyschools.ca
Vivian Norman, Gr 6/7 Teacher – vivian.norman@burnabyschools.ca
Vasso Feretos, Gr 6/7 Teacher – vasso.feretos@burnabyschools.ca
Todd Graham, Gr 6/7 Teacher – todd.graham@burnabyschools.ca
Christine Hylton, Gr 6/7 Teacher – christine.hylton@burnabyschools.ca
Stathis Marghelis, Gr 4/5 Teacher – stathis.marghelis@burnabyschools.ca
Kayla Hamer-Jackson, Gr 4/5 Teacher – jacqueline.victo@burnabyschools.ca
Stephanie Janzen, Gr 4/5 Teacher – stephanie.janzen@burnabyschools.ca
Cheryl Chan, Gr 3/4 Teacher – cheryl.chan@burnabyschools.ca
Mairi Spence, Gr 2/3 Teacher – mairi.spence@burnabyschools.ca
Jaswinder Sanghera, Gr 1/2 Teacher – jaswinder.sanghera@burnabyschools.ca
Sarah Collier, Gr 1/2 Teacher – sarah.collier@burnabyschools.ca
Roland Hinmueller, Gr 1 Teacher – roland.hinmueller@burnabyschools.ca
Caroline Thomas, Gr K Teacher – caroline.thomas@burnabyschools.ca
Susan Orologio, Gr K Teacher – susan.orologio@burnabyschools.ca
Karen Gillespie, Gr K/LSS Teacher – karen.gillespie@burnabyschools.ca
Giovanna DiFrancesco, ELL Teacher – giovanna.difrancesco@burnabyschools.ca
Karen Andersen, ELL Teacher – karen.andersen@burnabyschools.ca
Yvonne Pang, Teacher-Librarian – yvonne.pang@burnabyschools.ca

Inquiry Team Contact Email: stephanie.lundrigan@burnabyschools.ca

Type of Inquiry: NOIIE

Grade Levels: Primary (K-3), Intermediate (4-7)

Curricular Area(s): Language Arts – Literacy, Language Arts – Oral Language, Language Arts – Reading, Physical & Health Education, Science, Social Studies

Focus Addressed: Indigenous understandings (for example, Traditional Knowledge, oral history, reconciliation), Community-based learning, Core competencies (for example, critical thinking, communication, problem solving), First Peoples Principles of Learning, Growth mindset, Land, Nature or Place-based learning, Self-regulation, Social and emotional learning, Universal design for learning

In one sentence, what was your focus for the year? We are taking time to listen to the stories that the living beings in our place are telling. We will then consider how this helps us self regulate. We are also curious and exploring to find out the stories of the Indigenous people who have lived in this place.

Scanning: We began with the curriculum (English Language Arts) and its focus on ‘story’. We then looked at our school goal of self regulated learning. It felt right to include Indigenous worldviews and place-based learning; however, we are limited in our knowledge of the people who lived here. Thus, as a starting place we looked to other living beings to tell us their story and we moved on from there. Our students all love being outside in nature and can describe how it feels in their body to experience wilderness. With little to no prompting, the majority of students report feelings of peacefulness, calmness and clarity.

Focus: We have a relatively large Indigenous population; however, everyone is from some place else. We are all very curious about the Indigenous people who lived on these lands. We live in a very urban setting and most of our students live in high density housing. Many are refugees. Few have experienced having nature as part of their regular life.

Over the years, we have noticed that our urban students experience incredible joy being outside. They all become very engaged.

Our school goal, and large chunks of what we do daily, involve explicit instruction in self regulated learning.

We were hoping for the following changes for our learners:
– stronger relationships – greater connections with adults
– increased engagement – there was always part of the week to look forward to
– deepened understanding that we are all connected – natural move away from ‘othering’
– improved physical health (and possibly mental health)

All of these things increased in importance as a result of the pandemic. Our forest inquiry became more frequent and increased in priority. There was much deeper engagement from the adults as well. (Note: a limited amount of students returned to the physical school in June)

Hunch: Our students are hands on learners with lots of physical energy. Many have experienced some form of trauma in their lives, and as a result can have difficulty self regulating. Traditional (factory) models of schooling do not meet the learning needs of these children. Remaining seated within the walls of the classroom, listening to an adult talking to them without eliciting their participation was of concern. A limited understanding of who each student is as a learner was also a concern.

New Professional Learning:
– Through outdoor exploration, story and other forms of research, we developed a better understanding of the importance of the natural world we immediately live in – what it provides and how we can protect it.
– This deeper understanding gives an authentic and emotional connection from which to better understand the negative effects of colonization.
– We also hope to achieve a greater understanding of Indigenous lives before colonization. We will utilize the First Peoples’ Principles of Learning to guide our learning.

As a team, supplemented by a variety of in-class learning activities throughout the school year, we were able to more authentically and deeply incorporate Indigenous Worldviews, including the First Peoples’ Principles of Learning, into our school culture. That is to say, it was not done through a ‘one-off’ lesson or craft.

Taking Action: Our strategy was to introduce our Inquiry – similar to the information that was presented here. We began by talking about how the majority of us were all from somewhere else, indicating on a large map with a dot where we were all from. Every Friday afternoon, four classes (2 groups of 2) would journey over to the forested area with a question in mind, and we would walk and look for evidence. We would share along the way. These Friday activities were supplemented by a range of in-class activities, many focusing on story (e.g Orange Shirt Day, Literacy Week, National Indigenous Peoples’ Day…).

Please see attached school report.

Checking: The differences were significant. Not a single student ever complained about the fairly long (for elementary students) trek through the wood in all kinds of weather. We observed each season and noted the changes. The students recognized this area as their ‘place’ – there was reminiscing, comparison, looking forward….

The baseline was a bit of a blank look and statements of uncertainty. There was some questioning – “why are we doing this”, and commenting – “but it is raining…”

We did not have the opportunity to ask the majority of our learners that four questions as part of our year end close. Anecdotally, my hunch is that our learners answers are significantly richer.

Reflections/Advice: Our learners truly benefit from being out in nature. They learn about the world around them and themselves. It provides a nurturing environment from where to grow. This was highlighted during the return to school in June. The children and adults that did return were thrilled to be returning to the forest area, and to see how rich it had become during our absence. They found this reassuring and helped them recover feelings of safety and connectedness.

We plan to continue with this Inquiry. This will provide a grounding for starting the year. We plan to go deeper with our Inquiry. Incorporate more Indigenous understandings, ideally from an Elder or Knowledge Keeper. I feel at this point it is really important to hear specifically from the students how they are feeling about this Inquiry. It also feels important to find a variety of ways for them to express their feelings and understanding. I have not yet been able to arrive at a place of determining what those means of expression are.

The advice I would offer is to move forward with a plan. It feels quite simple and uncomplicated – trivial perhaps? But, the responses of the students make it very worthwhile.

Click here to check out Stride Avenue Community School’s detailed Indigenous Learning Inquiry Plan 2019/2020