Cross Competencies in Alberta

In 2016, the Alberta Government is going to remove the "silos of learning" occurring in our schools.  No longer will only the English teachers teach literacy, and the Math teachers teach numeracy.  Here is an example of a problem that a student could face, with examples of how different grades could react to this problem.

Your community is planning to build a new recreation centre and is looking for residents of the area to share ideas.  You have the opportunity to offer your suggestions to the planning committee.  Think about the activities you would like to do at the centre.  Research what other communities offer at their recreation centres.  Considering the needs and interests of your community, select a format that will best communication your ideas to the planning committee.  Use your research to support your ideas.

Examples of how certain grades could address this task.

Grade 1- "We looked at pictures of really cool rec centres.  Then we drew pictures of things we want in our new rec centre like indoor soccer fields and rinks for learning to skate."

Grade 8- "I worked collaboratively with my skateboarding friends to create a PowerPoint presentation for the committee.  We would like a skateboarding park because we need a safe place to ride and learn new tricks."

Grade 12-"I wrote a speech advocating for a public library in the centre, recorded it as a podcast, and submitted a copy to the planning committee"

As you can see that the passions and interests of the students are just as important as the learning outcomes and content of the lesson.  Also you can see how many subject areas could be involved in this problem.  In 2016, cross-curricular competencies will be implemented.  Here is a diagram of the competencies.

How will these fit in with "Learning Outcomes" and the "Literacy and Numeracy" Benchmarks?  Here is another diagram showing the connection.

Dealing with Change

The following is from http://www.enablingchange.com.au/Summary_Diffusion_Theory.pdf

When something is changing you need to realize the following occurs.

Innovators: The adoption process begins with a tiny number of visionary, imaginative innovators. They often lavish great time, energy and creativity on developing new ideas and gadgets. And they love to talk about them. Right now, they’re the ones busily building stills to convert cooking oil into diesel fuel and making websites to tell the world about it. Unfortunately their oneeyed fixation on a new behaviour or gadget can make them seem dangerously idealistic to the pragmatic majority. Yet no change program can thrive without their energy and commitment.

How to work with innovators:
• Track them down and become their “first followers”, providing support and publicity for their ideas.
• Invite keen innovators to be partners in designing your project.

Early adopters: Once the benefits start to become apparent, early adopters leap in. They are on the lookout for a strategic leap forward in their lives or businesses and are quick to make connections between clever innovations and their personal needs.

How to work with early adopters:
• Offer strong face-to-face support for a limited number of early adopters to trial the new idea.
• Study the trials carefully to discover how to make the idea more convenient, low cost and marketable.
• Reward their egos e.g. with media coverage.
• Promote them as fashion leaders (beginning with the cultish end of the media market).
• Recruit and train some as peer educators.
• Maintain relationships with regular feedback.

Early majority: Assuming the product or behaviour leaps the chasm, it may eventually reach majority audiences. Early majorities are pragmatists, comfortable with moderately progressive ideas, but won’t act without solid proof of benefits. They are followers who are influenced by mainstream fashions and
wary of fads. They want to hear “industry standard” and “endorsed by normal, respectable folks”.

How to work with the early majority:
• Offer give-aways or competitions to stimulate buzz.
• Use mainstream advertising and media stories featuring endorsements from credible, respected, similar folks.
• Lower the entry cost and guarantee performance.
• Redesign to maximise ease and simplicity.
• Cut the red tape: simplify application forms and instructions.
• Provide strong customer service and support.

Late majority: They are conservative pragmatists who hate risk and are uncomfortable your new idea. Practically their only driver is the fear of not fitting in, hence they will follow mainstream fashions
and established standards. They are often influenced by the fears and opinions of laggards.

How to work with the late majority:
• Focus on promoting social norms rather than just product benefits: they’ll want to hear that plenty of other conservative folks like themselves think it’s normal or indispensable.
• Keep refining the product to increase convenience and reduce costs.
• Emphasise the risks of being left behind.
• Respond to criticisms from laggards.

Laggards: Meanwhile laggards hold out to the bitter end. They are people who see a high risk in adopting a particular product or behaviour. Some of them are so worried they stay awake all night, tossing and turning,
thinking up arguments against it. And don’t forget they might be right! It’s possible they are not really not laggards at all, but innovators of ideas that are so new they challenge your paradigms! In the early stages,
where you are focusing on early adopters, you can probably ignore the views of laggards, but when you come to work with late majorities you’ll need to address their criticisms, because late majorities share many of their fears.

A great video to follow this up: http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action

Curriculum Redesign in Alberta

Before you read on, I ask that you stop and think for a couple of minutes about "What should school look like?"

WHY do we need to change?

My reason comes from "WHY do I teach?":  I teach because I believe in a classroom that is structured different for each student in the class.  My "perfect class" would be focused on meeting the needs of the students not the system.  Students in my class should be thinking critically, not only learning what to learn but also how to learn.  Innovation and creativity will be at the core of all my lessons, as the focus will be creating opportunities for my students for the future and for the world outside the walls of my classroom.  Students can work at different paces, and implement various learning strategies to achieve the goals of my class.  I believe in a classroom that allows me to dig deep in various interests of students without worrying about losing time.  Personalized learning will be allowed to flourish in my classroom as the passion and interests of my students will be just as important as pencils and paper.

I don't believe that any teacher or any educational stakeholder, in Alberta, is 100% content around the current education system.  If this is true, then isn't it about time we change?

Our education system needs to prepare students to be successful in a future world that will be defined by global interaction, competition, engagement and networks. It needs to ensure Alberta’s young people will have the knowledge, skills and attitudes to be prepared for jobs that do not exist yet and in industries that are emerging or evolving.

HOW will curriculum change?

Inspiring Education involved parents, teachers, students, business, and many other educational stakeholders and listened to them around "What should change in Education?".  The comments called for more student centred, personalized, authentic learning experiences that will result in youth becoming engaged thinkers and ethical citizens, with an entrepreneurial spirit.  The vision was for an education system which is significantly different from that of yesterday and today.

The Alberta Government listened and is creating a curriculum with a different focus.  We need to invest in our students and empower them to bring out their potential.  We are emphasizing the development of key competencies in our students, cultivating engaged thinkers, ethical citizens and entrepreneurial spirits.  We’re recognizing that not all students learn the same way, and that textbooks and classrooms are just one way for them to experience education.

Lastly, so WHAT will change?

All classes will focus on core competencies, which will be integrated into the curricular outcomes.  The competencies are:

• Know how to learn
• Think Critically
• Identify and solve complex problems
• Manage information
• Innovate
• Create opportunities
• Apply multiple literacies
• Demonstrate good communication skills and the ability to work cooperatively with others
• Demonstrate global and cultural understanding
• Identify and apply career and life skills

This change will allow any classroom to become the teacher's "dream classroom".  An example of how my class has changed.

References:
http://education.alberta.ca/department/ipr/inspiringeducation.aspx
http://education.alberta.ca/department/ipr/curriculum/about/why-change.aspx

Curriculum Redesign

I currently have been to many curriculum redesign talks, symposiums, and discussions and I have never been more excited in my life around educating children in Alberta.  I am truly inspired!! Now of course not all feel this way and so I bring to you "why you should be excited."

First, David Staples from the Edmonton Journal says,

It has had a profound influence, so much so that if you have a child in school after 2016, they will get a fundamentally different education than you got.

This makes me happy.  I am not claiming I received a bad education, but I do feel that I want something better for my own daughter.  Currently we have a model where tests, which are focused on the low level of bloom's taxonomy, are being used rampant throughout our culture.  If you think this should be the norm I bring you a quote from Seth Godin,

As soon as we associate reading a book with taking a test, we've missed the point of literacy

If you are still not convinced that our curriculum needs a change, here is what Jeff Johnson, Alberta's Education Minister, says,

Our [current] packed curriculum stifles creativity in the classroom. It’s too packed. There’s too much stuff to try to get through and it doesn’t allow enough flexibility to individualize learning, which is going to be really key in the future. 

How will the new curriculum work?  Again, David Staples sums it up fairly well when he says,

Teachers will do far less direct instruction so that students can increase their knowledge base. Instead, students will focus on more group and project work. Teachers are to act as guides who assist kids as they explore areas of interest.

Finally, the goal of education will be creativity and innovation and to truly inspire students to learn more.  I think back to my math classes, which I usually finished with 95-100%, was I inspired to become a mathematician, an engineer, a scientist, or even to attend the next level of math?  From some classes yes, but this was due to the excellent teacher I had in front of me, not because of the excellent curriculum. Why did this happen? Well...just to name a few

•  Gr. 3 teachers are having a hard time inspiring students while they teach their 1352 mandated outcomes
• High School Biology teachers are having a hard time bringing in creativity when their curriculum focuses on memorization of terminology.
• Grade 12 teachers are worried around the 50% diploma and finding it hard to bring in innovation to their classrooms.

Since when we can't measure what is important we start making what we measure important.  This is what happened over the last centuries, more and more low level skills became important because that is what we can measure.  Critics, of this change, will use standardized test score data to justify that this change is not excellent for the students in our classes, and my quick response is "how do multiple choice, standardized tests, like PISA show creativity, innovation, interests, and passions of the students?".  See they can't, but they do show how well students can memorize and regurgitate; which is why these critics say these skills are important. 

What does it look like?  Well I have been changing, my own classes, already to meet the needs of the future curriculum and here is a photo which sums it up. 

You can't change the input or the process of education and not expect a different output.  Since the output is different, the way we measure this "new output" must also change.  

Lastly, I ask you...."Were you inspired while you were in school because of what (not who taught) you learned?  Did you want to attend the next level of schooling because of the number of outcomes the teacher covered?  Did you feel that your creativity and innovation was welcomed and could flourish while studying for a 50% diploma?"

If you answered yes to all of these, then maybe I have it wrong and I am simply an anomaly, however if you answered no then I ask you to join me and become inspired with the new curriculum.

References 

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/Staples+Alberta+government+plans+radical+rewrite+education+system/9550676/story.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloom's_taxonomy

Stop Stealing Dreams, Seth Godin

http://realteachingmeansreallearning.blogspot.ca/2011/03/dont-teach-that-it-is-not-on-test.html
www.education.gov.ab.ca