Science behind Getting Out of the Box

One of the things I am enjoying most about my recent exposure to Twitter is how almost every single day I follow a link that has some piece of research or academic type study to support why the experience of a site based learning situation is so successful for all kinds of learners.

Today, a tweet from Annie Murphy Paul sent me to her The Brilliant Blog which in turn sent me to find out about the research Angela Leung has done on creativity outside a box (literally) and guess what she found out – yes, “Each person completed a test widely used to testcreativity; those who were outside did the test better than people who wereinside the box.”

One of the elements I enjoyed the most about my ICE School days was the fact that we spend very little of our time in a conventional classroom setting. Each day of the week a group was with me, the teacher, class, volunteers and I were out and about, travelling around the 167 acres of learning that comprise Northlands.

While I always felt any walking was worth it for the exercise factor alone, what became clear week over week, was how student conversations while they walked and looked at what ever caught their attention tended to be so connected to what the teacher and I were hoping they might learn. Then when I had the opportunity to read what they had written in their journals about things they found interesting, were wondering more about or wanted to record so they would not forget or the little details they choose to web or sketch I was often amazed to discover they GOT some connection with hardly a word from me.

Just this week Edna Sackson’s blog Who Controls the Learning had a cartoon of a teacher drawing and then opening a window to the outside world. I printed it and now it is taped to the cover of my journal.

One of my Beliefs about Learning

Just the other day, Edna Sackson asked me (well, not just me but anyone reading or following her blog) what my beliefs were about learning. This morning, as my husband and I learned about how a preadmission clinic works (lots of sitting and waiting for 10 minute spurts with different experts on what will happen), I wrote this blog. When I came home to type it up I went to my trusty on-line Oxford English Dictionary (I fell in love with the OED after reading Simon Winchester’s The Professor and the Madman, a great example of how truth can be ever so much more fascinating than fiction) and discovered that apart from the definition of learning 1(a): “the action of receiving instruction or acquiring knowledge”; its root was in an old Germanic word that meant teaching.

I am spending a lot of time these days with my toddler grand-daughter who reminds me more than once every day about the basics of learning: touching, smelling, listening, looking at and tasting new things until you know them. I noticed in one of Edna’s old blogs she feels there is a lot to find out about learning from children.

One of my strongest beliefs about learning is that human brains are hard-wired to learn and doing just that, constantly.

I believe the sensory processes that allow the in-put of data, the exotic synapse system that lays down hundreds of connections for later reference and a complex neural network to facilitate response occur much of the time without the human actually trying to learn. I am sure I am not the only educator who often lost track of these brain facts while trying to push my particular agenda of what I wanted a child to learn.

When I was in my last year of high school, my Chemistry teacher gave us copies of the last 5 years’ worth of “Provincial Departmental” multiple choice exams. The score on a similar exam that we would write at course end would provide 80% of our final mark. Unlike my first 2 years of high school chemistry, which were full of experiments (I had filled 5 loose leaf pages with observations of a candle burning) there would be no experiments. My close-to-retirement chemistry educator could put me to sleep inside 15 minutes and after one week of 90 minute classes, I quit attending and spend the rest of the semester in the lunch room working my way through the exams. I scored 97%. Sadly, when I attended my first Chemistry 200 class at the University of Alberta in a lecture theatre with 250 other students, I discovered I had arrived in Greece – at least it sounded like the lecturers were speaking Greek. One experience in the lab made it clear we would be marked on the achievement of the “right results” and convinced me I had not learned enough or maybe any chemistry to this point and I dropped Chemistry 200.

Some might say I learned nothing.

I felt I had learned a lot from my chemistry experience. It allowed me to approach the rest of my teacher training with a new concept of what learning was all about.

So unlike Edna’s daughter, my ability to recall any of the periodic tables (which I must have been able to recall at one time) is limited to the phrase “Little Betty Boron” and yet, like Edna’s daughter, I owe one of my greatest educator insights to the teacher who tried to get that darn table into my brain. Go figure.  

Patrick Goes to Kindergarten (using his powers for good)

My friend, Patrick went to Lauderdale School the other day and taught a kindergarten class. Patrick is not trained as an early childhood educator but he has demonstrated to me many times his willingness to talk person to person to kids. At the heart of inquiry and learning, are grown-ups willing to listen to children’s questions and respond to them.

The god-mother of the Edmonton Public School Board’sFoundation is Sandra Woitas. Sandra and I share a first name and a history of passion for education in the inner city. She is currently working hard to facilitate the delivery of early learning and full-day kindergarten experiences at schools with students considered  Edmonton's most socially vulnerable citizens. Because government funding does not cover the full cost of these programs, she finds sponsors. 

One of those sponsors is the excellent Edmonton Oilers Community Foundation. Sandra convinced Patrick LaForge, EOCF board member, President and COO of the Edmonton Oilers hockey team that to understand the great good the money was facilitating, he should come and spend a morning as the kindergarten teacher. 

There was a lot of professional support in the room but I can tell from the video footage that Patrick took to it like a duck to water. When I sent him an email note of congratulations he wrote back:

Just loved the experience with the children at Lauderdale School. The teacher (Terry Odegard) and the Foundation (Sandra Woitas) absolutely made me feel comfortable with my test at being a teacher for 90 minutes. Because, after having watched the movie “Kindergarten Cop” maybe 20 times with my own family, I have to say I was more than a little bit nervous when I was walking into the classroom with 24 little people this morning. However, my anxiety disappeared pretty soon, as the kids were telling me the routine for starting class as they performed their duties while directing my every move. After the kids went through their attendance process using the SmartBoard, the cutest little angel looked up at me and said “ Hey Mister, now you sit in that chair and read us a book!” How good is that?

Patrick LaForge, one of my heroes, using his powers for good.

The Power of a Horse Experience

If you read my blog because you already know me you can skip the next paragraph. I have been made aware of the fact the folks who have never met me are reading this so I feel I need to declare all my “biases”.

I love horses. I grew up in the heart of Alberta ranchland, Pincher Creek, and have cousins and grand-cousins, who “ride out” to work many days. I have a collection of horse sculpture and art. My husband and I bought our first racehorse 32 years ago this summer and we have recently taken delight in showing our grand-daughter the changes in family and friends in our collection of winners’ circle pictures reaching back 3 decades. I have a sister who showed a champion paint horse and participates even in the face of a debilitating neurological disease in horse experiences as often as possible with the help of a circle of people who know the power of a horse experience. John and I have visited many interesting places in the world and had horses featured in most trip itineraries. Just this past December we watched races in Hong Kong (Sha Tin racetrack is a masterpiece as a physical plant holding 65,000 race fans without feeling overwhelmingly crowded) and Mumbai’s Mahalaxmi Race Course where we also toured the stables of the Amateur Riding Club and heard about their Hippotherapy Program.

Friday in the early afternoon at the Northlands Farm and Ranch Show I learned about a program I wish I had thought of, the Arabian Horse Literacy Program. I love the pure simplicity at the heart of the concept and the fact it uses many of the educational elements I have championed for so many years. That it changes kids’ lives and is successful at promoting reading is no surprise to me.

Horses and ideas about the educational use of horse themes will continue to show up in this blog. I just never imagined it would begin this way. In the mean time, I send you to look a few of the beautiful and well written horse books I know are available at the Teacher’s Book Depository or through our Edmonton Public Library. The great thing about the topic of horses is the wealth of fact and fiction at all reading levels to capture a child’s imagination.

Briggs, Karen; Crazy for Horses (Scholastic series)

Byars, Betsy Cromer; Little Horse

Chen, Jiang Hong; The Magic Horse of Han Gan

Clutton-Brock, Juliet; Horse (Eyewitness Books series)

Goble, Paul; Mystic Horse and  The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses

Hutton, Warwick; The Trojan Horse

Little Wolf, Linda; Great Spirit Horse

Lewin, Ted; Horse Song (The Naadam of Mongolia)

Lowell, Susan; Cindy Ellen, A Wild West Cinderella

McCull, Emily Arnold; Wonder Horse (the True Story of the World’s Smartest Horse)

Sharp, Thelma; Saturday Appaloosa Georgia Graham illustrator

Schwartz, Betty Ann (editor); My Kingdom for a Horse: Anthology of Poems About Horses

Simon, Seymour; Horses

Ulmer, Mike; H is for Horse

Van Camp, Richard; What’s the Most Beautiful Thing You Know about Horses?

Williams, Ursula Moray; The Adventures of a Little Wooden Horse

Yolen, Jane; Pegasus, the Flying Horse

Who Will Put the Culture in Agriculture?

One of the balls I have in the air is developing a primary research experience for urban kids at the very rural connected event called Farmfair held every fall in Edmonton in conjunction with Canadian Finals Rodeo. It is my firm belief that the majority of people living in cities are far removed from any understanding of who/what/where/how and when food arrives on their tables.

This blog will not be a finger pointing exercise. It is just an observation about how it is that in a place where a 40 minute drive in any direction can still put you on the spot where pieces of the human being food chain grow, there are many who have not seen a real, live cow or smelled for themselves the clean, fresh fragrance of flowering canola. This is a rich mystery and fertile ground for all kinds of inquiry – even by me.

I grew up in Alberta in a time when almost everyone had a farm somewhere in their family, even if they themselves lived in the city. But I am, by my own admission, old, and those times and demographic trends long gone. And here I am learning all about the power of technology to teach and reach in many ways I never imagined.

I know in my heart, though, and based on many years of teaching experience, that you just cannot make many connections to some ideas if a human being does not have a real-life sensory experience to build on.

This past Thursday evening, one made memorable by another spring dump of snow that turned the Edmonton streets into a driving obstacle course (cue Ian Tyson’s Spring Time in Alberta) I attended Who Put the Culture in Agriculture? an enthusiastic production of the U of A class of Animal Science 200. I smiled, laughed, tapped my toe and even sang a few lines of choruses along with the family and friends of the students as they explored some of the people who have had an impact on our food and lives. It was clear from the video presentations they had gone out and done some hands-on learning (if only to catch some memorable video footage) and interviewed experts to get the low down on the person or concept their group was exploring.

To be honest their audience was a group of insiders who got most of the jokes. A trio of senior class presenters were wrestling with the question of how to make consumers more knowledgeable about their food.

I am confident I have one answer – it is to start with kids and we need to make all the ways that food gets from the farm to the fork real, through concrete experience and the opportunity to ask questions from experts of all kinds.

So that is one of the balls I am working to move high into the air. There will be more about it here as the fall draws near.

If you want a see-it-with-your-own-eyes experience you might consider checking out the Farm and Ranch Show at Northlands, March 29-31. It is a consumer show here in the city for the rancher and farmer where you could learn about the pieces of business they need to invest in to bring food to your fork. Go do some primary research of your own.

Applications, Big Ideas and the Art of Connections

What I am writing about today is my take on how you can use the Inquiring Minds application process to get your brain moving in a way that will help your plan for next year whether or not you get a site school week or (God forbid or maybe Halleluiah) you are asked to change grades or decide to move schools.

Consider mulling over some of the questions you need to answer in your application proposal as an opportunity for personal reflection on how you like to teach and begin to play with an interesting theme, organizing idea or key concept. Start rolling one around in your brain. For inspiration check out Edna Sackson’s Feb 2010 blog on Big Ideas at What Ed Said. Edna herself teaches primary IB (PYP in Australia) and her blog inspires me every time I click on it. Google “big ideas key concepts” and read from some of the diverse results to inspire yourself. Look at Table 1 (pg 3) in Focus on Inquiry (Australia). Look at this poster of Research Summary from Oxford University Press.

Do you personally journal in any way, shape or form? Do you read your students’ writing regularly and respond? Do you have a passion? If so, try making a web about one/all of these experiences and consider using it as illustration.

If you used to journal or never have, get busy. Try writing for 10 min everyday for the next 2 weeks (perhaps while you have your class doing it as well) on your thoughts connecting your class, next year planning and anticipating making this application. Let it inform your teaching practice. The site based experience is as much about how it opens you as a teacher to making all kinds of connections as it is for the development of that ability in your students.

Inquiring Minds of Edmonton

Wed. March 7 was the information meeting for applications to the 10 week-long, site based programs in the Edmonton area. I went with my new blog (one post-worth) to show off, see old friends and to talk about inquiry learning. Of course, the teachers who show up are generally the “converted”. Gillian Kydd, godmother to this learning movement, and I have often joked about all the times I use “religious” metaphors when I talk about this experience that we here in Alberta call site-based programming, but I just can’t help it.

Anyone: program coordinator, teacher, parent volunteer or presenter, who has ever witnessed the power of these week long field experiences NOT FIELD TRIPS (I owe this phrase to my Wed chat with master teacher, Maxine Sprague) knows that they become “believers” in the simple but hard to explain magic.

A blank journal to fill with observations, reflections, sketches, diagrams and jot notes is the basic tool of the week. To many this journal becomes a life long treasure. Time to sit or stand and watch, listen, smell and feel proves to be unstoppable as a student engagement technique. Opportunities to pose questions of all kinds to the site experts are primary research tools beyond compare.


I promised those who stopped by that a few TIPS to the art of applications in the quest of a precious week would be in this blog. Thanks to the work of Lorna Zucchet (Zoo School program coordinator) over the years, the application form seems to be very self-explanatory.


The first tip is APPLY – it is impossible to get a week if you don’t submit an application. And don’t be late; the deadline is April 13 at 4 pm. Find a form at the Inquiring Minds site. 


If you have made a successful application before (I know you master teachers are worriers)
• RELAX, read through the form and answer with your heart. 


If you have never done this before (all sites seriously consider first timers, sites share a missionary zeal about spreading around the opportunities)
• READ through the whole form – nothing kills a program coordinator’s interest in your application faster than blanks or 7 page applications when the form says the proposal should not exceed 3 pages.


• Consider visiting the site with a mindset of using it as a classroom, not a field trip.


• Although you are applying for a week, this experience will become a touchstone for you and your class’s whole year. Think about that and comment on it. It is the answer to the first question of proposal and a key concept.


• Contact the coordinator by email early if you have questions, but don’t become a pest.


• Absolutely consider saying yes to the waiting list and listing second choices. 


• Treat the program coordinator with open honesty. The application process is the hardest part of the job. Give as much information as you can and follow-up several days after you submit, to be sure it was received.


• If things do not work out this year, please try again next year. That is why there is a question that asks if you have applied and NOT been accepted. If at first, you don’t succeed, TRY, TRY again.