I. General Information
School Name: Hawthorne Elementary
School District: SD#37 Delta
Inquiry Team Members: Tiffany Cherry Tcherry@deltaschools.ca
Jim Hope JHope@deltaschools.ca
Inquiry Team Contact Email: Tcherry@deltaschools.ca
II. Inquiry Project Information
Type of Inquiry: NOIIE Case Study
Grade Levels Addressed Through Inquiry: Primary (K-3), Intermediate (4-7)
Curricular Areas Addressed: Other: SEL
Focus Addressed: Self-regulation, Social and emotional learning, Transitions
In one sentence, what was your focus for the year? Supporting teachers in the classroom with SEL strategies/Executive Functioning content and Decision-making processes that would allow them to better support and establish a more regulated classroom environment.
III. Spirals of Inquiry Details
Scanning:
– Due to a reduction in support this year, we decided to detour away from outdoor learning and survey staff about where they see need in regard to our students and themselves.
– At Pro-D, we used success criteria to survey staff and brainstorm about “How’s it Going…” and “Where to Next?” in several areas including literacy, numeracy, health and mental wellness, inclusion and outdoor learning.
– We reviewed and shared data as a staff.
– We noticed that the greatest need seemed to be around inclusion and teachers feeling unsupported, as well as a lack of direction due to growing demands of the diversity of student needs that we were seeing this year.
Focus: Providing support, modelling some strategies in the classroom and building connections.
Hunch: If teachers are provided with extra time to connect with smaller groups of learners, then those connections might enable teachers to better support learning needs and students to feel more settled in the classroom.
New Professional Learning:
- Classroom survey of students using Shelly Moore’s classroom profile.
- Using Ease Program and introducing teachers and students to Decision Maker Moves.
Taking Action:
- Sprint model:
– Two blocks a week for 6 weeks
– Small group pulled out with teacher while COI worked with the rest of the class
– Students participated in lessons having to do with SEL, mindfulness and regulation
Checking: Students were asked two questions: “What did you like in the lessons?” and “Did you make any connections to the lessons?”
Example responses:
“I LIKED THE DON’T THINK ABOUT PURPLE ELEPHANTS.”
“SOMETIMES I DON’T LIKE GOING TO BED BECAUSE I WORRY THE MOST THEN BECAUSE NOTHING IS HAPPENING SO NOTHING DISTRACTS ME.”
“THE POUT POUT FISH; MY SISTER IS PRETTY POUTY.”
“I DON’T FEEL SAFE BECAUSE ________AND _______BUMP INTO ME ON PURPOSE AND STUFF.”
“I LIKED THE DRAWING AND THE WRITING AND MAKING STUFF.”
“THIS HAS HELPED US REALIZE THAT WE NEED TO TRY TO RECREATE SMALL FOCUS GROUP OPPORTUNITIES FOR THESE STUDENTS…” (classroom teacher)
“THREE OF THE SMALL GROUP PARTICIPANTS ARE NOTICEABLY MORE COMMUNICATIVE WITH THE TEACHER…STILL HESITANT IN THE LARGER GROUP TO SHARE IDEAS FREQUENTLY.” (classroom teacher)
Reflections/Advice: Next steps: Once we finished term one, we thought about ways we could pivot slightly to support our upper intermediate classes:
- Conversations with teachers
- Dealing with support issues
Term 2 Focus:
- Split focus…continue sprint
- Executive functioning skills
- SEL continued support with small groups
- Using our resources
- LST supporting small groups of students (grey area) literacy support
Split Sprint Part 1:
- Feedback:
- 62% students increased knowledge
- “WE NEED TO DO THINGS STEP BY STEP, DIRECT AND CONTINUOUS INSTRUCTION IS NEEDED FOR EFFECTIVE WRITING.” (LST teacher)
Split Sprint Part 2 (supporting upper intermediate):
- We supported our upper intermediate classes in developing decision-making and executive functioning skills.