Book Review: Dive Into Inquiry by Trevor MacKenzie

When I was at ISTE this past year, I had the pleasure of meeting fellow Canadian (and UVic alum!) Trevor MacKenzie when we were both volunteering and presenting at the EdTech Team booth. I had seen his books around beforehand and was interested in reading them, but I developed a new sense of urgency after listening to him speak about he personalizes the learning for his students. I was amazed and wanted to find out more, so I got myself a copy of his first book: Dive Into Inquiry and had a read.

In the book, MacKenzie outlines not only several reasons for changing the way we teach, but also gives a very comprehensive guide on how you could do so. This way of thinking is something extremely relevant with Matua Ngaru School planning on using a lot of inquiry in our collective practice when we open in 2019.

The book begins with discussing how we can co-construct learning with our students and how that leads to the redefinition of the role of a teacher. By allowing learners to co-construct their learning they have a greater buy-in to the process and more authentic learning naturally comes. This also necessitates a change what we do, to support this. We are not the expert that dispenses knowledge. We are also the "coach, facilitator, networker and shoulder-to-lean-on." MacKenzie describes several qualities that we educators need to have and helps those not so far along in the journey think about how they can support their learners in a different manner.

After a discussion on how to assess inquiry, the book goes on to discuss the four types of student inquiry: Structured Inquiry, Controlled Inquiry, Guided Inquiry & Free Inquiry, all of which are displayed below in this wonderful sketchnote by Trevor himself.

All too often, schools hear about Inquiry and jump into the deep end, not allowing the children to learn the necessary skills to complete a successful inquiry (though, again, the book does discuss the idea that a successful inquiry doesn't necessarily mean having a polished creation at the end of it - sometimes failure and challenge is a better indication of learning).

MacKenzie then spends the remainder of the book looking in-depth into Inquiry, and specifically Free Inquiry. He uses lots of sketchnotes to help show the process and key ideas. All of his inquiry projects start with the Four Pillars of Inquiry, illustrated below:

These are basically a guide as to how a learner can approach an inquiry. It should fit into at least one of the pillars for the inquiry to be meaningful. The next steps of the inquiry are outlined in the following sketchnote: 

I could go on and on about the details that are presented, but my advice to you is to get a copy of the book and read it yourself. There are tons of great ideas to facilitate each of these steps, as well as anecdotes and links to projects that have been completed. Many educators have probably had some experience with this way of teaching, and no doubt there are many similarities. This does not mean that this is the ONLY way of doing inquiry. You've got to do what works for your learners and for you in your specific context. But this book will definitely make you think and will inspire you as well. I personally can't wait to read his next book, Inquiry Mindset (yeah, I know, I'm a bit behind the times...)

If you're interested in finding out more about what Trevor has done and is doing check out his website at https://www.trevormackenzie.com/.

Book Review: A Learner's Paradise by Richard Wells

Recently I took some time to read A Learner's Paradise, Richard Wells' praise of the New Zealand education system. He makes a compelling case that New Zealand is the best place to be a learner in the world. His main arguments are that we have a system set up to be responsive to learner needs because we have a very open-ended curriculum and we have several other structures set in place to allow educators to adapt their practice to the children they see each day.

I agree with much of what he says, up to a point. Certainly our curriculum is one of the best to work with if you are a teacher. There are many broad ideas, rather than specifics. We don't have a set plan that's the same for every child. There's no one telling teachers that you have to teach fractions at a certain time of the year and in a predetermined way. We have Key Competencies that are overarching for our curriculum, which help us as educators mould our learners into citizens who engage with society and try to better it.

Schools also have a great deal of autonomy in New Zealand. We are essentially self-governed and are able to determine what and how we teach. Teachers here have the opportunity to grow and learn. Our standards are based upon growth, not competency. Every three years a teacher needs to show work towards developing their capabilities rather than just ticking boxes. The way this appraisal process work is determined by schools and in many cases by the educators themselves.

Schools in New Zealand are free to interpret all of these documents as they wish (within reason of course). And through that interpretation, we have had some amazing things come to be: KidsEdChatNZ, The Mind Lab, CORE education and others. New Zealand teachers have it pretty good, and so do New Zealand learners.

The book also delves into some amazing practices that are happening in New Zealand schools. Two of my favourite were Kids Domain Kindergarten and Breen's Intermediate School. Wells told a story of children at Kids Domain going to visit a parking garage and then returning to class and coming up with designs to make a better parking garage in an example of Design Thinking being used with very young children. Breen's Intermediate has different spaces designated for different modes of learning (see the picture below) paired with the ability of learners to design their own school days to make an extremely innovative and learner centred approach. Those and the other examples (and many others not in the book) prove just how amazing a school in New Zealand could become.

All of that sounds rosy and amazing. However, I don't feel as though many schools take advantage of these amazing opportunities. I've seen many schools in the few years I've been here and most of them still spend 75% or more of their day on reading, writing and maths, with no opportunity for learners to have any input into their education. I see teachers working themselves silly trying to make sure they see four reading groups, three writing groups and four maths groups every day. More than ever, some schools are treating education like an industrial process, putting children on an endless conveyor belt towards the teacher. 

I wish every educator in New Zealand could read this book and see what is actually possible in this amazing system. There is so much innovation and amazing things being done, it sometimes saddens me to still see children trudging through their school days just getting through a school day or worse, feeling disengaged and powerless in their lives. We've lost sight of what is possible and what success really means in our schools. Richard Wells has done a great and necessary job in reminded all of us what we actually have and offers glimpses of what's possible.

If you are an educator anywhere, try to find the time to read this amazing book and share it with your colleagues. Surely it will open your eyes!

Book Review: Rosie Revere, Engineer

For a while I've been eying several books that would help support STEAM or Maker activities in the classroom. Rosie Revere, Engineer has been one that I've wanted to get for a while, so a few weeks ago, I ordered it off of The Book Depository. The story itself is a very nice tale of a shy girl who used to create a lot of creative and different inventions, but has been silenced because of the reaction of a family member. She learns later, from a family member that it's not about getting things perfect on the first go. This fits in perfectly with both the idea of Growth Mindset and the Design Thinking process.

There is a lot of potential for this book to lead into many different learning opportunities and ideas. It would be a great way to start a project where children build or create something.

But that's not all. There is also a companion book, Rosie Revere's Big Project Book for Bold Engineers, which gives an incredible amount of ideas to build upon the first book. You can find it at The Book Depository as well.

Though the book is primarily meant for individual children (it has many places for a child to draw or write) it can easily be adapted for a whole class to get them thinking in new and creative ways. As an adult, I was personally excited about the things in this book and potentially trying some of them on my own.

In the book there is a good deal of supporting information about engineers and engineering, as well as some advice about organizing your own "treasure" so that you can make your own inventions. There are also some step-by-step instructions to make a few different creative things (a small catapult and a solar oven).

The genius of this book does not end there though. There are also many real world challenges where the book asks readers to try to solve a specific problem in their own creative way. It also highlights the importance of "flops" and making mistakes.

At 94 pages this definitely is a recommended purchase for any classroom trying to bring out the creativity in children. It not only encourages children to build and invent things, but it gives them a few different methods and tons of inspiration.

There are a few other books in this series, so perhaps look for the reviews of those in the near future.

Book Review: Code in Every Class

When I went to Sydney last year for the Innovator Academy, we were all given books. I was lucky enough to be given a book that related exactly to my project: Code in Every Class by Kevin Brookhouser and Ria Megnin. I only recently got around to reading it, which is unfortunate for me, as it has proven quite useful when it comes to wrapping my head around certain things.

The book aims to be a help to all educators, regardless of their skill level when it comes to coding and computational thinking. A beginning will take away a lot from it, but so, too, will an educator experienced in teaching these concepts.

The bulk of the first few chapters deals with the rationale behind teaching coding in class and how teaching coding to everyone is something that we must pursue - even if those learners will never code another line in their lives. The arguments and ideas set forth are extremely helpful in persuading those who would put barriers in front of those of us who want to teach coding.

The authors explain how coding can and should be integrated across the curriculum (hey, doesn't that sound familiar - at least I know I'm on the right track) and it gives a lot of foundation information that will help any beginning get a foothold. And what they don't give (or don't have time and space to give) can be found in the many links shared throughout the book.

The last section of the book has a large number of activities that can be done, ranging from beginning lessons to quite complicated ones. Again, there are many links shared so that the reader can get more information.

I would definitely recommend this book to any and all educators, even if you already are using coding (or more accurately, computational thinking) in your practice. It will help you spread the word and more likely than not, give you many ideas to begin or transform the way you teach coding in your classroom or with your learners.

It can be found on Book Depository and Amazon.

Punk Learning

So I just finished an amazing book: Punk Learning by Tait Coles. This book has both inspired me to change my practice AND embolden me to realize that perhaps I am on the right track, despite what others may say about or to me. The premise of the book is that we should give control back to students (and teachers!) so that they can own their learning. That's a very simplistic summary, but I'll try to do the ideas justice when explaining some of the key thoughts.

At only 163 pages (and short ones, at that) this is a very quick read, but filled with a lot of thought provoking ideas. Long story short: if you're truly interested in doing good by your students, READ THIS BOOK! It's not a recipe for success, but it is definitely a code that you can live by.

I've broken my thoughts down into the mini-chapters from the book (only to help organize the thoughts in my head).

Choice (DIY culture), Mindset
Even before I read this book, I have wanted to give my students more choice and control of their own learning. Perhaps that's why I read the book in the first place. Remember, our jobs are to serve our students - to prepare them for the life they want. Check that. It's to help them become learners and find wonder in the world. It doesn't have to be in the future. It should be now. Punk learning is all about choice and DIY learning. We (adults and children alike) make meaning by asking our own questions (more on that later) and finding the answers. Punk learning is about a mindset, not just going against the grain, just because (which some people seem to think I am doing). You will be amazed by what students can do if you only give them the chance (and the tools!) to be the amazing people that they are inside.

The book suggests that we need to change our perceptions of anarchy. It's a good thing. An anarchist "offers a critique of the existing order." We should all strive for this. A saying I like to remind myself of often is: Adapt or Die. I'm not sure who or where to credit that as it's been so long since I've first heard it. But it's spot on. If you don't change you become irrelevant. Lately, I've been doing a lot of this (partly because of reading this book, but also because I feel that change is necessary for us to move forward). If you want to know all the things that are suggested to create anarchy in your classroom, I suggest you buy the book, but the one thing I will say is that make sure you ask yourself: "What am I doing this?" Nothing should ever be sacred when we're talking about the minds of children.

Famous Punks
A whole chapter is also devoted to discussing famous punks in history. Not just punk rockers (which are quoted extensively throughout the book), but those people who did things their own way and had an amazing impact on millions of others and, in some cases, across centuries. Coles suggests that we teach our students about these people - something I plan on doing (perhaps a weekly "spotlight" - though the caveat here would be to make sure it's not all white men). Among the punk learners mentioned there are: George Orwell, Charles Darwin and Jessie J. I believe there is tremendous value in this - not just discussing the famous people, but by showing that they became famous and amazing by breaking the rules, not by following them blindly.

Punk Learning Manifesto
Included is a Punk Learning Manifesto, which basically states that students should be valued and have control. That's a very simplistic interpretation, but the list given in the book is worth the cost, I'd say. Plus, the whole idea is to adapt and make it your own. So there really is no set manifesto. It should be what your students want it to be. That's something I can get behind. As Obi-Wan Kenobi once said: "Only a Sith deals in absolutes!" (I do know where that one comes from).

Questioning
After a lot of theorizing and grand ideas, the book then gets down to a lot of very practical ideas The first is having students learn how to come up with some really good questions.  It is vital to students' learning that they ask good questions. We (should) all know that children are really good at asking questions. They have a natural curiosity that seems endless - until we school it out of them. So we need to leverage this tendency rather than squash it. Our best bet is to teach students to improve their questions and figure out which ones are the best to ask.

So three steps are suggested: 1) Get students to ask questions based on some sort of stimulus (video, article, etc), 2) Get students to analyze, critique and improve their questions, 3) Get students to decide which questions are the most important (for them) to ask.

See how all of those things start with the students doing and thinking?

SOLO Taxonomy

Before this year I had only heard of SOLO taxonomy. I had watched a few videos but wasn't really sure about it. My new school this year is very big on SOLO and I have started trying to use it in class. So it was nice to see that Punk Learning talked a lot about SOLO. To put it simply, SOLO is a great tool to use with students that can be adapted for any type of learning. It outlines the different levels of understanding of ideas or concepts from Prestructural (I have no idea) to Extended Abstract (I understand fully and can use the idea to create new ideas). I'm not going to go into explaining all the levels and ideas around SOLO (one, because I don't have the time or space, but 2, I don't actually know everything... yet).  If you're not using it, I would suggest you look it up. It's definitely a useful tool.

There were some practical applications here that I hadn't even thought of. One suggestion is to have stations around the room on a certain topic, for example (from the book: forces.  Again, I won't go into details, but each station was designed so that it would help students move from one stage to the next. The brilliant part of the idea is that students choose which station to go to.  This gives students a way to access the material at their own levels (differentiation, anyone?). And students can easily make their own decisions about whether or not they should be at a particular station or not. This is because each station should have a list of success criteria for students to check. I'd like to try this, perhaps for our upcoming science inquiry (though again, that might depend on student choice).

The chapter on SOLO actually started with a comparison to Bloom's Taxonomy. I have, for a long time, been a big fan of Bloom's. I like that there are different kinds of questions, though I have always wondered why some of them were above each other. This book is pretty unimpressed with Bloom's, and gives good reasons. I don't think it's worth abandoning it, but I do think that SOLO is a good place to start. I still use different Bloom's questions (specifically Create questions) but then compare them to SOLO levels as well.

Zeitgeist (or the Spirit of the Times)

The next mini-chapter discussed zeitgeist and how we can embrace the idea in our classrooms. As many teachers will know, there are numerous things in which we are told we HAVE to do or have in our classrooms - non-negotiables, if you will. Many of these things may be rooted in something that was once a great idea, but over time they have been distorted and people do them just because (That's What We've Always Done, or TWWAD). We rarely question the reasons behind this and when we do, often we find that it's because we've been told to do them.

While there are many suggestions as to how to improve in this area, I think the main idea is simply this: ask yourself why you're doing something. We don't do this enough. If it helps the students and their learning, keep doing it. If it doesn't, stop.

Critiquing

One of the most powerful things I took out of this book was the idea of critiquing. We all know feedback is one of the most important factors for students when it comes to learning, and often that is interpreted as marking books (see above section regarding TWWAD). This is much more than that. If you want to find out more, buy the book (seriously, why haven't you already?), but the gist is Be Kind, Be Specific, Be Helpful (and Be Harsh if necessary). Students need to know what is good about what they've done and what they need to do to improve it. They need time to actually make the improvements and they can benefit from sharing their critiques. With a growth mindset, children will learn the value of getting this feedback and be able to improve on their own more readily.

Learning vs. Progress

And this brings me to the next point. What is really important at school and why do we measure what we measure? There is a huge trend today to look at data and report on data and compare students to a set of (arbitrary) standards. How has this happened and why do we need to keep doing it? My theory behind this whole thing is that the focus on standards has actually lowered them because students aren't learning the important things. But I digress. The whole point is that we measure progress (what level are you on?) through a set of standards, but we miss a lot of the important learning. We know when learning is going on, we know when students are engaged. What do we gain by putting a number or letter or whatever next to a student in a very specific subject?

Bookwork vs Writing/Recording for a Purpose

This section is actually very close to me these days as we've just had our books checked to see if they are up to standard. What's the point of books? Why do we focus on students writing in books when we never do (I bet someone out there will say they just love to write by hand, but they are the exception, NOT the rule)? Why do books have to be so neat? Personally, I think there is some value in using books (journals), but if we record it needs to be for a purpose. We shouldn't just fill up books so that we can send them home at the end of the year and say: "Look, we're teaching your children - see how much they did!" It's about quality, not quantity. It's about recording things when and how they need to be recorded. It's about brainstorming and being messy (learning is messy). I don't see how making your book neat makes you a good learner. I've started trying to emulate these ideas lately and have several big pieces of paper up in my class with brainstorms we've done (and we share a lot online through GAFE). I like the idea and am not really fond of the "rainbow vomit" (quoted from a former colleague) that many classrooms have up on the walls.

Levels, Numbers for Assessment - Using Rubrics Instead (eg SOLO)

I touched on this idea above, and to be honest, there is not much that can be done about this on a country-wide level (at least not by me alone) anytime soon. The idea is simply this: How do levels (1A, Stage 2, Turquoise for reading) explain how or what a student is learning? Who decided that reading, writing and math are the skils that are most important and that the way we measure them is the best way to measure them.

Again, it is suggested that SOLO can be quite useful here. Because SOLO is such a general tool, it can be applied to many situations, and students can assess their own understanding of ideas, using the levels - even without the aid of a rubric. When you do add a rubric, however, it can become a powerful tool to help students identify what they know and what they need to improve upon. We've already started using rubrics on our writing projects (and in fact, writing in NZ is assessed using a rubric, but rarely is that shared with students - in my class it is though). While numbers that go up may look really good for a school in the eyes of a politician who has never spent a day teaching, they don't really tell the whole story.

How do you know if you're a punk learner?

Ask yourself this: are you doing something because you've been told to, or are you doing things so that the children can learn what they want and how they want? Do you get bogged down in what you have to do? Are you trying to impress someone so that they think you're a great teacher?

Showing creativity in ALL subject areas

Creativity is often given its place in schools: art, drama, music, etc (which is kind of ironic because most of those subjects aren't creative at all). We, as teachers, need to see that students can be creative in any endeavour. Creativity can come out of a simple problem of how to keep the class tidy, or how to sort out who gets the milk (two problems my class has had). Students need to be given the opportunity and time to mull over problems and to find innovative solutions to them. This isn't just students doing what they want - it is just letting students exercise their brains to deal with real world issues.

Chaos vs Control w.r.t. Student vs Teacher Centred learning

Ask yourself: what's better for learning: a room where all student actions are controlled by a teacher or one where students are chaotically doing their own learning? We, as teachers need to cede some control over to our students. This may look like chaos, but out of that chaos comes real, authentic learning. When we allow students to have control over what they learn then it becomes more meaningful to them. If we control them, then many students will become disengaged. This may look messy, but learning is messy.

Girl Power in Schools

The more I write, the more I realize how long this post is becoming (crazy, but it's just a testament to how great this book is!). One of the last chapters discussed girls in education. As I've mentioned in a few posts previously, I do think there are many issues facing girls in school (and sport). One important thing to remember is there is no such thing as a "boy book" or a "girl subject." Somehow society has put labels on things as being for boys or for girls. And this especially can cause girls to not do things they would otherwise want to do. One big takeaway from this is to expose children (both boys and girls) to famous women who have done the "boy" things and been successful (also, encouraging girls to try these things).

Keep on the Bus

One of the final messages of the book was that education can often be like a bus station (I actually had to return the book to the library so I don't have a copy to remind myself of it at the moment - but it was so good, I'll be buying a copy shortly). When you start out you're at the station and you get on a bus with lots of other people and you go the same way as them. But you want to be different, so you say, "OK, I'll go back and try again." So you go back to the bus station and get on a different bus, with new people. Then after a while you realize that you're just like them so you go back and start again. And again. Over and over. We should be staying on the bus though. Eventually, we'll find our own niche and our own way that works for us and our students. Punk learning isn't about following a formula. One punk teacher will be different from all the other punk teachers. It takes time, though. You won't wake up one morning and be a different teacher. It comes in slow steps over time.

My Conclusions
This book struck a massive chord in me. Many things I'm doing but have been marginalized because of them. This just strengthens my resolve to try even more to be better. And by better I mean better at producing competent students who can learn on their own and are empowered. I feel that in the short time that I've read this book, I've been able to take many of the tools I've learned from it and applied them in my classroom (it's taken me a good two weeks to write this post). My advice to anyone else: do what's best for your students. Teach them how to ask questions and teach them how to find their own, meaningful answers. Don't listen to the people who tell you that this is how it has to be done. Have conversations. Get better. Never settle. Always questions why you're doing things.

And go read this book. It will change your perspective.