Pictures Pack A Punch

02/26/2015 Sonya terBorg

If you are ever in the market for an infographic for kids, go to Pinterest and do a search for “infographics” “kids”. Find one to use was no easy task – there were so many great ones to choose from!

I am a little one-track minded at the moment with the PYP Exhibition about to start at our school. With that in mind, I decided to pick out a few infographics to support the Exhibition – but for different reasons.

1.To showcase what might be going on with our students

The exhibition can be stressful for us as teachers, but also for kids. I liked this infographic because it identifies potential stressors, offers kid-tested solutions for resolving the stress (and reminding teachers to integrate opportunities for things such as movement, music, and time outside during the school day), and it gives parents some tips on supporting their child. It is fairly accessible, graphically, although still contains a lot of text which could be challenging for those without English as a first language.

2. To show how infographics can be created in “real life”:

Infographics-In-Real-Life-1-620x460 — Image Credit

This is from a Portuguese website in which ‘real life’ photographs are taken and edited to become infographics. I really like this idea of mixing the concrete materials with the data visualisation. This is accessible for kids and a great way for them to showcase statistics that they have gathered over the course of their inquiries.

3. To show how two things can be compared

Many times, the students will end up comparing two different things. I really liked this infographic that uses direct comparison and photography to showcase the data. Again, I think that the ideas in this infographic are ones that could be replicated by our students in order to share their own data. I liked that for this example (owning a cat or a dog) it was an idea that was accessible to the kids at their level while still be sophisticated in design and depth of information shared.

4. To show how to use everyday objects to visualize data

I really like this idea of taking something like Lego or other toys and using them to convey a message. The possibilities for arranging legos and photographing them (or just displaying them during the exhibition) are endless. This is definitely something that I think if you shared this picture with kids, they would very quickly and very easily make up their own designs with the information they have from their research. And they look cool too!

5. To show the key points of Infographic design in an infographic.

This little set wouldn’t be complete if there wasn’t a ‘how to’ infographic! I like this one for the clear and simple way that it outlines the key features of a good infographic and gives a few pointers about fonts and colors. I also like that it references adding the sources from where you got your information. This isn’t perhaps the MOST kid-friendly but I think it does a good job of outlining some of the key points – until you get one of your expert infographic groups to make their own Infographic on Infographics!

Inquiry, PYP

PYP Exhibition – Video Inspiration to take Action Six Different Ways

03/20/201403/21/2014 Sonya terBorg

The following information is a direct cut and paste from my classroom blog. The blog is used as a communication tool between home and school. I also post homework, ideas, polls, and all things related to life in 4D. Over the course of the year, we have gone from “What is a blog?” to “Can you please put it on the blog?” and now “I wrote my first blog post last night!” as we start our own journey into blogging in our Exhibition groups.

In the process of unpacking our Central Idea, I shared a number of videos that opened up amazing discussions. Some were oldies but goodies, some were hot off the internet, all of them were inspiring. If you are looking for a longer list than the five I am sharing below, take a look at the playlists created by Terri Eichholz of Engage Their Minds. They are for students and teachers via Pinterest (which, thankfully is unblocked at my school now!) and I plan on sharing the link with my students to peruse the library of inspiration!

“Taking Action” is a big part of the PYP and also a big part in our Exhibition. Before we even began, I was hearing the deafening roar of, “We are going to hold a sale…”. In reading the idea behind action as a key component of the PYP, I wasn’t getting the connection to the selling of stuff. I reached out to my friend Marina who put me in touch with the work of Richard Black, whom I had visited (virtually) before. He had a great way of explaining a much more fleshed out picture of what action was. I turned his words into cute cards, but they are all his thinking. We have them up as a permanent visual that in reality, we are taking action at all times which I actually think is freeing the kids up from the ‘bake sale’ idea and potentially (I will keep you posted) opening them up to a more diverse path of action.

What inspires your kids?

How do you encourage authentic action?

On to the class blog post….

Today we looked at the central idea for our Exhibition unit:

We discussed as a class what this meant:

We then watched some videos to support our understanding of the central idea and the Exhibition process:

Follow the Frog – This video is all about what the Exhibition is NOT about. It is not about going over the top with wild, crazy expectations. It is about inquiring into topics that you are passionate about and finding out what action you can take to make an impact. Take a BIG issue and think about taking action on a SMALL scale. It doesn’t have to stop there, however it is often the smallest of actions that can make the biggest impact.

Kindness Boomerang – This video highlights how one small action can make an impact that can grow exponentially. You might not ever know the impact of your actions and one action is never too small in the eyes of the person it impacts.

Emily’s Hair – Some people say “but I’m just a kid, what can I do to make an impact?”…those people need to hear 3 year old Emily’s story. She shows that through the simple action of cutting her hair, she is making an impact. It doesn’t matter how old you are, it matters how much you care.

The Race – The Exhibition is like this race. We have been ‘training’ for it all through our years in the Junior School. We are prepared. We can do it! BUT….we might fall. It doesn’t matter when, where, why, or how hard we fall, what matters is what we do AFTER we fall. That will be a determining factor in the success of our Exhibition journey.

Sarah’s Softball Story – This is one of my favorite stories. To me, it highlights what life is all about – helping others to achieve greatness, doing the right thing, paying it forward, and always choosing kind. The students who helps Sarah, Mallory and Liz embody what it means to a PYP student and to be an inspirational human.

Tomorrow we will be digging deeper into what it means to take action. Today we looked briefly at six different ways of taking action (with thanks to Richard Black, PYP teacher in Canberra, Australia – his words, my layout):

Inquiry

Concept-Question Cards

02/19/201403/19/2018 Sonya terBorg

UPDATED: The cards have been updated here to include related concepts!

Last year, I wrote a post about Questioning Conceptually. The basic premise of this post was a look at how teachers and students could use the PYP concepts to deepen their inquiries through the generation of a wider range of questions. The post goes on to help narrow the focus of the inquiry into an area of interest that one is really passionate about, that you care about, and that is worthwhile spending time on.

I followed this up with another post about the same topic: More Conceptual Questions.

Both of these posts make reference to a set of Concept-Question Cards. These cards have one side with a PYP concept, guiding question, and explanation and another side with sample questions from different subject areas.

I have had sets of these cards in my ‘toolbox’ for some time now. They are great.

To download a PDF set of cards, click here.

Let me know what you use them for!

PYP, Teaching

Rising Above

03/16/2013 Sonya terBorg

On Friday morning, I met with about half of my class parents to share with them about the upcoming PYP exhibition, to answer their questions, and to get a feel for where they were at in their understanding of the work ahead. I shared the following slideshow with them:

For detailed notes about each slide, take a look at the post on my class blog.

In addition, I shared a number of documents with my parents: an eight week tentative plan, single subject integration, language arts integration, exhibition rubric, weekly reflection criteria, and student contract. I also gave everyone a copy of the 16 Rules that I posted about earlier in the week.

After the meeting, I went back to my classroom and when my kids came in from recess, I told them that they would be working on the tasks we had discussed the previous afternoon, focused on our exhibition. This is what “work” looks like in my classroom:

I was asked a lot of questions from my parents about final products, accountability, level of involvement, and how to “know” if kids are working and/or learning anything. Here is what I know to be true:

if you set high expectations, kids will rise to meet them (and then exceed them)

kids are inspired by kids and will feed off each other (in a good way!)

kids know when they are working hard and when they are hardly working

kids don’t want to waste their time any more than we want them wasting their time

what looks like “wasting time” to us, is often a valuable learning experience for kids

kids have a way of viewing the world that often exceeds our world view

I think we all have kids in our class who struggle. Their struggles may be with confidence, time-management, organization, academic skills, social interactions….the list goes on. Undertaking a unit of inquiry of the magnitude of the exhibition is a real challenge – for any 10 or 11 year old. But does that mean that because it is hard, we shouldn’t do it? No. Because:

Source: seesawdesigns.blogspot.com via Sonya on Pinterest

When I asked my kids “Who is ultimately responsible for your Exhibition journey?” I got a resounding and unanimous “We are!!” from my kids. And I trust them, so I trust that this is true. They know they have the support of their teachers, mentors, parents and myself, and now they just have to trust in their own abilities. It is really hard to let go of some of that control. To sit back and to watch where the journey takes each child without constantly wanting to move the rudder and steer them where we think they should go.

I am learning that the Exhibition is a great learning ground for students: it is a chance for them to shine, to showcase their skills, to develop new skills, to become independent, and to experience hard work, failure, success and learning. As adults, it is also a great learning ground for us: a chance for us to trust we have prepared them well, to take a bigger step back, to guide without overshadowing, and to trust in the process and the journey.

What I know to be true is that I am seeing, already, kids rising. Rising to the challenge. Rising above my expectations.

More than ever, I believe that children learn best when personally invested in what they are learning about. And it is a pretty awesome thing to watch.

Creativity, Design, Innovation, PYP

It’s All In Your Attitude

09/24/2012 Sonya terBorg

Last week, I flew to the Netherlands for a meeting. I travelled with United. Somewhat notoriously known for poor or lack of service, I had very low expectations for my flights. Both there and back, my expectations were wildly exceeded. I wasn’t upgraded, the food was no better, the seats no wider or delivering more legroom – everything was ‘standard’ for the class of service I was flying. The thing that was different, was the attitude of the flight attendants. Friendly, chatty, attentive, thoughtful, humorous, kind, inquisitive, helpful. They were all fantastic. So much so that I told them personally and sent a little shout-out to the group via the United contact page – I hope they were recognized by their supervisors!

It is amazing what a difference an attitude can make. I think this is part of the reason why the attitudes are a part of a PYP Curriculum.

As teachers, we see a lot of attitude in our classrooms – some great, some less than stellar, but all interesting and pointing us toward a better understanding of our children. Today, my kids explored Lego Education Simple and Motorized Mechanisms set. For some, this was like entering the promised land. It was Christmas, Easter, Birthdays – all rolled into one. I saw kids bursting with appreciation that they had been given this fabulous opportunity to explore and create. They were committed to pitching in and challenging themselves to succeed. There was courage, cooperation, creativity, curiosity, empath, enthusiasm, independence, integrity, respect and tolerance all sandwiched in between a Lego-Palooza!

In addition to the curriculum skills in math, science and technology, I was loving seeing the development of the social skills and attitudes that went along with successful Lego construction. Some kids struggled. Some kids flourished. Some wandered in between the two. For some kids, this was their moment. A chance for them to become the expert, the teacher, the go-to-genius, the one who only needed to look at the Lego and have it jump into formation! For some kids, this was their nemesis. The pieces wouldn’t fit, the instructions didn’t work, the whole thing was a hot mess.

So what did I do? I observed. I guided. I looked for ways to invite students to help students. And I loved seeing the kids who find their challenges elsewhere, have a chance to shine and showcase their talents. This is what I love about my job. I spend a lot of time researching the best “this” or the lastest “that” and I know some people might consider it all too much, not worthwhile. To me, finding a balance in my classroom and opening up avenues of success to all students so that everyone gets a chance to be the superhero, is my job. I know I haven’t done that for all of my kids yet – but I’m working on it!

How do you encourage an attitude of enthusiasm within your classroom? How do you look for ways to serve the needs of all students?

Creativity, Design, Inspiration, Internet

Become an Enabler….of Creativity!

05/24/201205/24/2012 Sonya terBorg

I have read a couple of articles recently which advocate for the development of creativity in children.

Tinkerers Unite! How Parents Enable Kids’ Creativity

This WSJ article is in favor of kids making and creating without the use of directions. Trial and error are favored over “getting it right” and parents who support their child developing their tinkering skills, are doing them a huge favor. One parent interviewed describes mistakes as “part of the learning process”. Awesome. Tinkering is encouraged as it develops spatial and mental rotation abilities which are integral to geometry and engineering. One particularly interesting piece of information:

Jim Danielson, of Arlington Heights, Ill., fell into tinkering after his mother said he couldn’t have a TV set in his bedroom. “If I build my own TV, can I have it in my room?” he asked. “They probably didn’t think I could do it, so they said yes,” he recalls.

He built a projector system for his room during his high school sophomore year, and he and his friends used it to play Nintendo 64 games. His mother didn’t let him take the creation to college, though, concerned it might be dangerous in a small dorm room.

No matter. Mr. Danielson, now 21, dropped out of college last year to accept a Thiel Fellowship—an unusual program started by Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal—which pays young innovators $100,000 to stay out of college and spend two years tinkering instead.

Our first unit next year is about Solar Energy. Based on this information, I want to make sure I have lots of tools and materials that will lend themselves to tinkering with less emphasis on ‘package’ solar energy kits and more on guided discoveries through tinkering. This made me think back to developmental time in New Zealand schools where children are given the option to tinker to their hearts content. In light of the recent visit of Sal Khan to Boise, I would like to see our school move toward science/math oriented guided tinkering sessions that cross grade levels. This could also be extended into Family Math and Science nights where teachers, parents, kids all gather together to tinker. Sound fun to me!

Encouraging passionate learners … even when it’s not your thing

This post was written by Amanda Morgan of Not Just Cute. The premise of the article is that passion and creativity should be encouraged and supported even when the same passion is not matched by the parent or teacher. Kids who love worms, toads, dirt….whatever, should be encouraged in the following ways in order to promote self-directed, engaged learning – the opposite of which may be educational apathy:

give attention: listen to your child or find someone (aunty, grandpa, friend) who will

give supplies: buckets, magnifying glasses, collection containers, art supplies…anything that supports their passion

give space: an area for writing, collections, wiggly ‘friends’ or art works

When I think back to our recent Exhibition unit, and I think about how engaged our students were when they were paired with mentors or found community members that shared their passion, I know this to be true. Seeing first-hand how kids respond when they have someone who really is genuinely interested in what they are passionate about is integral to the learning process.

I then found this website that would support the sharing of the creative process:

DIY – A Website to Share Your Creative Tinkering!

DIY is an online community for kids. We give kids tools to collect everything they make as they grow up and a place to share it.

We’ve all seen how kids can be like little MacGyvers. They’re able to take anything apart, recycle what you’ve thrown away — or if they’re Caine, build their own cardboard arcade. This is play, but it’s also creativity and it’s a valuable skill.

Our idea is to encourage it by giving kids a place online to show it off, so family, friends and grandparents can see it and easily respond. Recognition makes a kid feel great, and motivates them to keep going. We want them to keep making, and by doing so learn new skills, use technology constructively, begin a lifelong adventure of curiosity, and hopefully spend time offline, too.

– DIY Blog

This looks like a very cool place for kids to share ideas with kids and be inspired by each other. Again, despite the somewhat ‘childish’ looking forum, I would really like to use this as a forum for my little solar tinkerers to share their work, get feedback and be inspired to create more. What do you think? Take a look at the user interface and the feedback the site has already received:

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