365 Days to Deeper Learning

For the past few years, we've focused our professional learning opportunities on what are collectively referred to as 21^st Century skills and attributes. It was part of our strategic plan in 2005, and has continued to be a part of every staff development plan since. We've explored many different models, looking for the best fit:

• 21^st Century Fluencies (Ian Jukes, 21^st Century Fluency Project)
• 4 C’s: Communication, Collaboration, Critical Thinking, Creativity (EdLeader21)
• PBL: Project-Based Learning (Buck Institute for Education)
• Authentic Intellectual Work (Center for Authentic Intellectual Work)
• Curriculum 21 (Heidi Hayes Jacobs)

While our efforts have resulted in pockets of the types of learning experiences that we know most impact student learning and best prepare them for their futures, the changes have not been systemic. Some teachers embrace the concepts and ideas and weave them into everything they do, while others view them as something to do in a single showcase unit.  But not all teachers have opted-in to the professional learning opportunities. And some have attended with the best of intentions to make changes, and then have later fallen back into instructional and assessment strategies that have worked for them historically. So, in a district that excels on standardized assessments that are publicized and lauded, how do we systemically support teachers to incorporate these strategies into their work with kids? The answer, we believe, is by embedding these dimensions into the curriculum review process in a meaningful way.

When we were at EdLeader21 in October, we were inspired by Karen Cheser’s, Chief Academic Officer of Boone County Schools (KY), IGNITE presentation, “The Power of One Year: 365<1 Lifetime.” We decided that day that we would leverage all of our assets – human and otherwise – to make this the year that we the dimensions of deeper learning are integrated into our students’ experiences.  Here’s our progress so far.

Day 1: All in! We decide to push-in to curriculum review process in a much more significant way.

Day 35: Assistant Superintendent for Instruction Eric Schneider discovers Washoe County School District Guide to Planning Instruction for 21^st Century Learners. This model inspires the team to consider how we may create a rubric that teachers could use to evaluate their curriculum, instruction, and assessments.

Day 41: Teaching and Learning team attends Curriculum Leaders of Minnesota “Leading 21^st Century Systems” conference featuring Valerie Greenhill from EdLeader21. The Input-Output-Impact exercise frames motivates us to move into action. We commit to creating the Minnetonka Deeper Learning rubric on November 26 (Day 55). 

We've already set some additional deadlines to keep us on our 365 day target. 

Day 78: Provide professional development around curriculum and assessment writing to our teacher instructional coaches (TICs) and technology teachers-on-special-assignment (tech TOSAs). Digitize rubric, embedded with links on how to move from one level to the next.

Days 98 & 104: Present first draft to district department chairs and site staff development chairs.

The 365 days are going to fly by if we don't continually make this a priority. By involving all of the Teaching and Learning team, we're sure to make the most of the 8760 hours!

Sitting is the New Smoking

Sitting is the new smoking. Dr. Dieter Breithecker, Head of the Federa Institute of Posture and Exercise and Posture, shared this provocative metaphor at the Design for Learning Showcase at Vantage Program facility on October 27. He cited these potential side-effects of sitting for more than 6 hours a day:

• ·         Obesity

• ·         Metabolic Syndrom

• ·         Mental Disorders

• ·         Auto-immune diseases

• ·         Cardiovascular Pathologies

• ·         Chronic Back Pain

• ·         Cancer

It turns out that traditional classrooms are the worst environments for our students’ bodies. A restrictive environment – one that discourages movement – has a negative impact on the brain and the body. Planned exercise – running, organized sports, dance – does not counteract the negative effects of prolonged sitting. Planned movements and organized sports simply don’t have the same effects as regular movement – the kind of movement human beings were designed to be constantly engaged in.

And if we don’t give students the movement options their bodies crave, they’re going to take them anyway! Dr. Breithecker shared a video of a classroom of young students. The students were presented with a problem. At first the students were motionless. Then, as the task required additional engagement to process the challenge, the bodies started to fidget. They rocked in their chairs, leaning back and risking toppling over, behavior that is the bane of most teachers’ existence. It turns out that mental processing and physical processing are entwined. 

Dr. Breithecker acknowledges that this behavior can be both dangerous and frustrating. The solution can be as simple as switching the traditional hard, stable chair for one that is requires students to stabilize themselves. Stools such as the Hokki stool “let students keep moving, while sitting still” (Kaplan Early Learning Company). And reframing this behavior as students’ need to process physically as well as mentally could result in teachers encouraging this “fidgety” behavior rather than restricting it.

And there are implications for adults as well. Those individuals whose work revolves around sitting at computers need to consider alternative seating and desk arrangements.

Refitting schools with movement stools and standing desks will take time and resources. In the meantime, teachers and students need to find ways to incorporate movement into their daily lives. The good news is that breaking free from sitting doesn’t require a patch or behavior modification therapy. It just requires that we embrace movement in ourselves and others.