Wickaninnish Community School SD#70 Pacific Rim

I. General Information

School Name: Wickaninnish Community School

School District: SD#70 Pacific Rim

Inquiry Team Members: Dani Stone dstone@sd70.bc.ca
Morgan Johnston mjohnston@sd70.bc.ca

Inquiry Team Contact Email: ecomtois@sd70.bc.ca

II. Inquiry Project Information

Type of Inquiry: NOIIE Case Study

Grade Levels Addressed Through Inquiry: Intermediate (4-7)

Curricular Areas Addressed: Language Arts – Literacy, Language Arts – Writing, Science

Focus Addressed: Local Indigenous Knowledges, Literacy, Core competencies (for example, thinking, communication, personal and social), Formative assessment, Land, Nature or Place-based learning

In one sentence, what was your focus for the year? Does having intentional, shared, place-based experiences and intentional audiences have a positive impact on students’ engagement in, and quality of, writing.

III. Spirals of Inquiry Details

Scanning:

• Higher engagement when connected to tangible, relevant content; hands on learning; & student interests
• Higher writing stamina & vocabulary use when connected to Raincoast trips
• Pride when given choice of writing to share with others

Focus:

• Looked at increasing writing through shared experiences in nature, to engage and increase the quality of students’ written work

Hunch:

• Thought that with genuine audiences and having shared experiences that students would have more to write about, as well as higher engagement and interest in writing and sharing their ideas
• Many were reluctant writers and said things like “I don’t know what to write about”

New Professional Learning:

• UDL
• High yield engagement writing tasks
• Partnerships with community
• Building connections over multiple grades/community partners and each other
• Worked with local knowledge-holders and Elders

Taking Action:

• Took students on many activities as listed below, and had students engage in writing about the activities after
• Gave voice and choice on what they felt was their best work and what they wanted feedback on

Term 1

Land Acknowledgements *
Unique, personal but very low writing stamina
Role Model *
High engagement, disorganized writing
4-Day Raincoast Burst
Low attendance, lots of prompting, good engagement
Animal Research & Descriptive Write
Low stamina, VERY inconsistent attendance, liked choosing the animal they researched
Santa Letters with Little Buddies *
Writing to a younger audience was a great motivator! Multiple drafts & envelope creations, creative voice

Fall Assessment Choice
Most chose Raincoast Burst or Role Model write
Sharing Circle *
“Goose Nuts” series

Checking:

Land Acknowledgements *
Role Model
4 Day Raincoast Burst
Animal Research & Descriptive Write
Santa Letters with Little Buddies *

Fall Assessment Choice
Sharing Circle *

PP culmination of writing pieces (PIVOT)
Favourite place in Tofino
Cultural introduction recording
“Who am I?” poem*
Someone Important to Me*

Dock Fishing with Mr. Jackson’s LBL class from USS*

Ukee Hatchery, Redd Fish, Raincoast
PIVOT: Build-A-Whale

Choice of Assessment

Whale Watching & Creative Story Write*
Simple Machine Science Explanation

PIVOT from no year-end Meares Island trip with Ukee class

Choice of Assessment
2 writing check-in questions

Upcoming – SS Write (government systems)
Upcoming – Graffiti Project Write Up (Lit Circles)

Term 2

PP culmination of writing pieces
Place, intro, poem, someone important*
Some great Who Am I? poems*
Big attendance gaps
Dragged on too long; could just do poem in depth (record)
PIVOT from Ukee class to family – less by in from family than from a potential peer class

Dock Fishing with Mr. Jackson’s LBL class from USS*
Great engagement! 2 reflections
Keeping the topic broad vs explaining certain elements of fishing/salmon helped writing engagement but made it difficult to hone in on specific writing skills (scientific explanations, research, reports,..)

Ukee Hatchery, Redd Fish, Raincoast
Uncontrollable factors, PIVOT to Build-A-Whale

Choice of Assessment
Most chose Someone Important to Me or Salmon Write

Term 3

Whale Watching & Creative Story Write *
Lots of freedom, 3 week deadline before S.L. conferences
Attendance, very different paces
Good engagement for most, not at all for some
Simple Machine Science Explanation
Explanations ok, access to all their notes, very little to no analysis, could’ve used a more specific topic?
Poor attendance

PIVOT from no year-end Meares Island trip with Ukee class

Choice of Assessment
Mostly science write, some LBL/creative story
2 writing check-in questions
How’s your writing going & what’s positively impacted it?

Upcoming – SS Write (government systems)
Upcoming – Graffiti Project Write Up (persuasion)