Developing “The Learner’s Toolkit” With Students

"After decades of research, we know nothing equals book access, choice and time for engaging children with reading."  

Nancie Atwell

The first month of our new school's existence has flown by and students are feeling pretty comfortable with their teachers, the temporary classroom arrangements, taking learning outdoors daily, their new peers and the intriguing work we have been engaging in around design thinking - including the first two weeks of school when we participated in the 'Beakerhead' investigations :) Now that we are in month two, it is clear that our teachers know their students very well as learners and as amazing human beings! The conversations, shared reading and writing experiences, investigations in the coulee and surrounding community, creations, art projects and multiple opportunities to engage in social interactions have cemented firm foundational relationships that will underpin the exciting and demanding work ahead for all of us!

As we move into October, the learning students engage in daily will begin to sort itself more clearly into two definitive strands - developing the skills, strategies and tools students will need as part of their 'Learner's Toolkit', and the 'Wonder' experiences that will capture their attention and invite them to put their toolkit skills to work through investigation, observation, reflection and documenting the evidence of their learning. For this blog entry, I am going to focus on the development of the Learner's Toolkit - that foundational set of literacy, mathematics and critical thinking skills that will ground students' growth as learners throughout school.

Many of the foundational pieces critical to developing effective, useful skills and strategies for learners are already clearly evident in classrooms - daily reading and writing activities that span a wide variety of genres and perspectives, mathematical problem solving, developing and acting upon the multitude of questions students ask every day.  As this school year progresses, students will be assessed and supported in their growth towards both language and mathematical literacy based on their particular needs, previous knowledge and the 'next best' learning needs teachers identify for each student.

Support in literacy, for example, will often be presented through small groups - or one-to-one sessions - with teachers and support staff who are experienced and well-trained to provide guided reading or levelled reading support, as well as multiple opportunities for engaging in a wide variety of writing tasks that are scaffolded to reflect student need and the purposes students identify as valuable to them. While Alberta Education provides guiding documents that underpin all our teaching practice, they are flexible enough to accommodate the varying needs of the children to ensure they build strong foundations that will lead to enhanced future success as learners of the world. Writing will also encompass 'word work' - the developmental approach to learning how to spell, punctuate, paragraph and order writing (there is a good article about this to be found at http://www.cultofpedagogy.com/spelling-mistakes/).  Included in these writing and reading opportunities are consistently embedded opportunities to improve speaking, listening, viewing and representing ideas. Some of this work is accessed through technology while other learning grows from social interactions within the classroom experiences.

Mathematical literacy will develop similarly with students across all grades using multiple manipulatives and hands-on interactions with mathematical problems to develop deep understandings of mathematical thinking (here are a couple of good math-related items that introduce concepts related to applying math rather than learning math by rote https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaWGGHgGBWw&app=desktop http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2016/05/23/how-a-strengths-based-approach-to-math-redefines-who-is-smart/) that will encourage our students to think of themselves as mathematicians and thinkers rather than being perceived as 'good' or 'poor' at math. Our goal in developing mathematical literacy with students is to ensure they view the world as a place where their understanding of math is fundamentally strong and not related to the ability to recite facts or complete math questions quickly, based on sound, long-term research indicating all human brains have the potential to understand mathematics.

As the year progresses, parents will have numerous opportunities through the class blogs, open house opportunities, sharing student work at home through home reading and through student projects shared on Iris, report cards and interviews to appreciate the hard work children are engaged in every day as they develop and hone the skills, strategies and approaches to learning in their 'Learner's Toolkits'.  Most importantly, parents will find these multiple opportunities will demonstrate clearly how effectively children are able to apply these tools to the 'wonders' emerging from their interactions with the world - and that is the true test of how successful learning framed as 'toolkit' instruction has been for students.

Teachers consistently adjust instruction and opportunity to ensure students are always scaffolded with appropriate next steps rather than attempting work beyond - or below - their personal abilities at any given point in time - this requires confident, mutual sharing of child-knowledge between parents and school.  To achieve this mutual sharing of child-knowledge, we encourage parents and students alike to share observations, ideas and questions with teachers and school staff whenever appropriate - together we will ensure the development of our students 'learner toolkits' are strong, well-defined and effectively support day-to-day learning both in school and in the world.

Lorraine Kinsman, Principal
Eric Harvie School