By: Donna Klockars
Dear Reader,
I am bubbly with
excitement about the new partnership between Nanaimo Aboriginal Centre, the
Boys and Girls Club, the Mid Island Metis Nation and Vancouver Island West
School District! I worked side by side with
the staff and administration at the Boys and Girls Club this Spring and I am a
member of the “Working Curriculum Committee” for the Nanaimo Aboriginal
Learning Centre and I think this partnership is a marriage made in heaven! I see exciting opportunities for our youth
and their families.
I am tempted to unleash a
flood of comments about the Working Committee’s vision for a publicly funded
school, where aboriginal ways of being and knowing are woven throughout the
curriculum.
However, I will channel my tendency to be somewhat “wordy”, and focus on a single topic dear to my heart:
“The Educator
as the Chief Learner in the Classroom”.
I want to chat about this topic because the literature is clear
about the importance of the educator as the most important change agent when it
comes to improving academic success for all students.
My challenge, Dear Reader,
is to back up this statement with so much vim and vigor that you too, become a
champion for the educator. (And by educator,
I mean anyone interacting with our children in every setting......daycare,
pre-school, elementary, and secondary classrooms)
If I can convince you of
this fundamental premise,-that the classroom teacher should be the chief
learner in the classroom -we will become fast friends who will change the
world, one educator and one student at a time.
I might have mentioned in
one of the previous blog entries that I am in the process of moving into a
smaller abode and struggling to deal with the ridiculous mountains of
“teacher-stuff” I have hoarded over the thirty plus years.
I mention this because I
had an “ah haa moment” when I was knee deep in my “Precious, Treasured,
Literacy Leadership, Workshop notes and Best of the Best Lesson Plans” (aka PTLLWNBLP).
There was a theme in the
quotes that guided my workshop presentations and my teaching practice, but one quote, made it on to almost every
planning page, year after year. Here it is:
The
chief learner in the classroom should be the educator.
The
chief learner in the school should be the principal.
The
chief learner in the district should be the
superintendent.
(2002 National Reading Panel “Identifying
key skills central to reading achievement”)
I love this quote because it speaks to the
concept that schools should strive to be a community of learners. The quote infers
the adults’ learning is as important
as the students’ learning.
When a classroom is a
place where everyone feels like they are in this “learning thing” together and
there is a real sense of community. Everyone
cares and supports each other in their learning journeys. I think that real
learning takes place in a loving caring classroom where kids feel safe because
their teacher is taking risks along- side and with them.
I
believe the educator in the learning centre holds the power to change lives and
create a learning community; where
not only kids learn but they love to
learn. Real learning comes from a place of relationship and personal growth
in a caring community of learners. The
classroom is a place where the adults demonstrate their conviction that all young people can learn and achieve.
(I
know Dear Reader, now I am now redundant, but if we really embrace educators’
learning as the biggest ticket item of all time, then it changes our mindset
completely!)
The
idea of nurturing and celebrating a community
of life-long learning is foundational. It means we routinely have conversations
about our practice.
I
propose that this BIG IDEA should guide the Nanaimo Aboriginal Centre and our
partners.
What
might this look like?...Well,professional learning opportunities would be
driven by the educators’ particular learning needs and wishes. If mentoring and coaching is requested, it
should be provided. If the educator
presents an inquiry question about cognitive learning strategies, then we must support
the educator in every way possible. If the teacher feels supported as a
learner, students will benefit. Students
will see their teacher modeling the inquiry process. He/she asks big questions
and takes risks to learn new and challenging concepts.
An
educator who engages in life-long learning is a powerful educator indeed! A
powerful educator results in powerful student learning.
The
recurring themes: collegiality (teamwork), collaboration (sharing ideas about
teaching), on-going inquiry (asking big and important questions about what matters)
matter!
However,
the idea of a “community of learners” is rhetoric until the educator’s learning
is just as important as the student’s learning.
I
know I am not the first to suggest that the Educator as a Learner is key to student success. It seems obvious
that the minute to minute decisions a teacher makes, impacts student learning.
Unless the educators’ learning is supported; achieving a community of learners
remains rhetoric. My mission now is to focus on moving the rhetoric into
reality.
The
Nanaimo Aboriginal Centre and our wonderful partners are capable of making it
all happen. Like I said, I am bubbly
with excitement!
Thank you, Dear Reader,
for listening to me bubble.
In friendship,
Donna Klockars, aka The Literacy Lady
Oh and Happy
Aboriginal Day.
Just
in case you are interested in my top thirteen quotes, I have included them in
tiny print so this blog doesn’t look so wordy.
1. If you are not “up for it-Get up”…The kids
deserve your best… every single moment of the day. DK
2.
Educators, let’s teach, talk and reflect together, but if you blame the kids, I
won’t play with you.D.K.
3.
As the classroom teacher, the decisions you make, minute to minute are what
really matters to your students’ learning and loving it. D.K’s take on all of Allington’s work.
Note to self …All Richard Allington ‘s stuff is very quote worthy.
4.
Children’s chances for learning are significantly increased with excellent
teachers. Children from marginalized
populations, who often fail, will have the opportunity for success when their
teachers are exemplary.
President’s
message by Leslie M. Morrow, IRA President September 2003 Note to self: I don’t
like the term marginalized populations because I have yet to meet a marginalized
individual, nor have I ever met a family
that didn’t want the very best for their beautiful children.
5.
Kids get better at reading by READING…so create an envelope of rich language and
a bath of easy ,multi-genre, multi-leveled texts for them to read. Your kids should
bump into and embrace easy level reading everywhere they turn.DK
5.
Don’t forget that kids want to read about real things so load up with fab
non-fiction. Always show the cover of the snake book.(snake is eating a small
gazelle …This shows teachers what engagement is all about.)
(Everything Faye Brownlie
says about engagement is quote-worthy. P.S. actually everything Faye says is
quote worthy!)
6. Sixty minutes a day, that’s the minimum-not the maximum for “eye-ball to
print, no faking it reading”.
Use the same words but change writing for reading.
You
are the boss of creating the structures of the day so make sure these two songs
are sung all day, every day. DK
7.
Tell the kids about your life and your own learning and your favourite reading
choices. Confess that you felt like an idiot at Book Club last night because
you completely missed the gist of the story.
Tell
them that you follow the advice of Gary Paulson….”Read like a wolf eats. Read
what they tell you not to read.”
8.
There are no mistakes, only “learning opportunities.”
So let’s take risks and learn
together. (Dear friend and colleague Jan Bruce 1999)
9.
Assessment has a powerful effect on learning so here is my mantra I start the
day with:
What can they do?
What do I wish they would do?
What do I need to do?
Did what I do to make a difference?
What do I need to do now?
See
teaching is just a whole lot of thoughtful DOING. This ditty came to
me after Leyton Schnellert’s session on assessment for learning. Everything
Leyton says is also tres quote worthy!
10. Plan for multiple ways
to hook and engage, plan multiple ways of learning and connecting new content
with prior learning and plan for offering
multiple ways students can “show what you know”.
So good teaching is also a whole
lot of multiplying.
(Note the before, during after sequence
tucked into this UDL gem?)
11.
If we are going to use the term community meaningfully, we must restrict
it to a group of individuals who have learned how to communicate honestly with
each other, whose relationships go deeper and who have developed some
significant commitment to rejoice together, mourn together, delight in each
other and make others’ condition our own.
(Peck 1987 p.59)These well- ordered words reflect my belief, that if you
don’t love your students, they can’t really learn or experience the joy of
learning. So if you don’t love one of your students, find someone who does.
12.
Quality reading instruction…is the single best defense against reading failure,
overcoming even the effects of poverty. (Snow, Burns & Griffin 1998)
13.
We have found that persistent work on combining intense purpose, a focus on
deep learning, informed evidence-seeking, genuine inquiry-mindedness, and
thoughtfully designed professional learning in the context of respectful and
trusting relationships, benefits the school as a whole and the young people in
it-especially those who have traditionally been underserved and less than
successful. (Linda Kaser and Judy
Halbert: Leadership Mindsets)
(I
love Judy and Linda because they are as wordy as I am…but much smarter!)
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