We have just finished our unit on values and I am so excited to share our amazing journey with you! Throughout the last few weeks we have been learning about values and how they shape who we are and interact with each other.
Since I know a lot of you out there in cyber-world perhaps don't know too much about the Primary Years Program, I would love to explain how a unit of inquiry works!
Units of Inquiry are organized into six different transdisciplinary themes (transdisciplinary means across all subjects) which are spread out into approximately six week time frames across a school year. These TD (transdisciplinary) themes are organized in a way that all knowledge and skills across all subjects and grade levels will be covered. Each TD theme has a title and descriptor to help guide the teachers in the creation of their units. These units are created with careful consideration to the local standards for each grade level as well as the skills necessary for each student in each age group. For instance, 4th grade teachers in my state are required to teach about the push and pull factors of immigration. We designed our unit under the TD theme of "Where we are in place and time" to be a unit about immigration and the reasons people move. This way we are incorporating standards into a unit that is meaningful and relevant to the students.
So, that being said, our first TD theme (and it's description) of the year was:
Who We Are
An inquiry into the nature of the self; beliefs and values; personal, physical, mental, social and spiritual health; human relationships including families, friends, communities, and cultures; rights and responsibilities; what it means to be human.
From this descriptor and the standards that have been chosen to fit into this unit, the central idea and lines of inquiry are formed. For this unit our central idea (which is the overall idea of the unit, the POINT, if you will, of the whole unit!):
"Our values shape who we are and how we interact with each other."
Our lines of inquiry (the topics that we will be focusing on) were:
* Our personal values and where they come from
* How we demonstrate our values
* Ways values influence how we interact with others
The great thing about these units is that they can change! As long as all standards and skills (I'll get to what these skills are in a later post!) are being taught and assessed, the unit can be adapted to the type of class and the type of students that are in that class.
At the end of every unit is a "summative assessment". A summative assessment is "a culmination of the teaching and learning process, and gives the students opportunities to demonstrate what has been learned. It can assess several elements simultaneously: it informs and improves student learning and the teaching process; it measures understanding of the central idea, and prompts students towards action" (taken from Making the PYP Happen).
My original idea for the student's summative assessment was to have the students create a personal portfolio that would document their personal journey throughout the unit. My idea was to have them create a detailed pages that showed their understanding of the central idea and lines of inquiry.
However, the plan changed.
One thing I love about the PYP is that it allows for flexibility. I observed my students throughout the unit and saw where they were headed with their ideas! They wanted to SHARE their ideas, not create a book! They had learned about and developed so many great values and this was a "WE WANT TO SHARE" group of kids! So, I ditched the "make a private book that will take us a week to create" idea and sat down with the kids to discuss their ideas of how they could SHARE their values and understanding of the unit. We drafted a poster (using myself as an example) that included a rubric which would assess their understanding of the central idea and lines of inquiry.
AND BOY WERE THEY EXCITED!
You have never seen markers flying and smiles like these! Every single student in the class was thrilled to be able to creatively express themselves on giant poster boards (thank you dollar store for your cheap poster boards!) with big bold markers! They drew themselves with a "mind map" (a concept they had learned about during this unit) of their personal values, where they came from and how they show them! They also decided to write "personal mission statements" which seriously made my eyes tear up... Then, instead of working on a 15 page personal portfolio we spent time each day letting the students present their posters. They were so eager to get up to the front of the room and describe their values and their personal mission statement! And the rubric was amazing! Each student first assessed themselves, then had a partner assess them and then met with me to figure out their final grade. I then put all posters out in the hallway because they were so proud of them that they wanted the whole school to learn about them, their values and what they stood for!
Looking back over this unit I am very thankful that I changed it from a unit on "choices and consequences" to a unit that really looked into their values and how they demonstrate them. Three of my favorite activites that we did were:
* Researching and discussing famous historical figures that showed their values by taking action. Some of the historical figures that we inquired into were Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa and Martin Luther Knig Jr. This was the lesson that they were first introduced to mind-mapping! We mapped out the values that we saw these historical figures displaying along with examples for each. I loved this activity because the students started to take action! They started researching and finding people to add to our mind-map! Then they starting asking people (like our principal!) what their values were and how they showed them! We learned so much about values and how people spent their lives upholding them! Wow... it was awesome!
* Students were given different scenarios that would test their values. In a group they had to read the scenario and then act out an ending that would show the values being tested and the consequences of their actions. This turned out to be a very interesting activity for different reasons than I had originally intended. I had thought this would be a great way for them to think about values in difficult situations however, it was an eye-opener to all of us that... we needed to lean "social skills!" The social skills outlined in the PYP are accepting responsibility, respecting others, cooperating, resolving conflict, group decision making, and adopting a variety of group roles. We ended up stopping the project to focus on setting "group work expectations" for our class. The lessons learned in this activity were so valuable and I have seen such a difference in their social skills during group work since!
* During one of our classroom discussions on values, a student brought up that he had saw a billboard with the value "perseverance" on it over the weekend. I got on my computer/projector and pulled up the "pass it on" website that had multiple examples of values and people who demonstrated them. The students asked if we could create our own posters and I said... of course! They wanted to copy the posters on the website but I challenged them to think about people they know or people we have learned about that weren't on the website. It took some thinking time, but they came up with great ideas! Some kids even created SEVERAL posters! They wanted to put them up around the school so everyone could be inspired by them and of course I said of course! This activity was a good insight in to my thought process for changing their summative assessment!
So, now that the unit is "over" I look forward to continuing to discuss values of characters and people that we will be learning about the rest of the year. I also hope to keep check in on them to see if they have developed new values or how they have reacted if their values have been tested. You see, a unit is never really finished. Even when the summative assessment has been finished and graded, the learning will always continue.
I hope that you out there in cyber-world can take what I've learned and apply it to your own lives. I know that I have really looked into what my values are as an educator and I am going to continue to uphold those values through my personal investigations into technology and beyond!
"It's not hard to make decisions once you know what your values are." - Roy E. Disney
Since I know a lot of you out there in cyber-world perhaps don't know too much about the Primary Years Program, I would love to explain how a unit of inquiry works!
Units of Inquiry are organized into six different transdisciplinary themes (transdisciplinary means across all subjects) which are spread out into approximately six week time frames across a school year. These TD (transdisciplinary) themes are organized in a way that all knowledge and skills across all subjects and grade levels will be covered. Each TD theme has a title and descriptor to help guide the teachers in the creation of their units. These units are created with careful consideration to the local standards for each grade level as well as the skills necessary for each student in each age group. For instance, 4th grade teachers in my state are required to teach about the push and pull factors of immigration. We designed our unit under the TD theme of "Where we are in place and time" to be a unit about immigration and the reasons people move. This way we are incorporating standards into a unit that is meaningful and relevant to the students.
So, that being said, our first TD theme (and it's description) of the year was:
Who We Are
An inquiry into the nature of the self; beliefs and values; personal, physical, mental, social and spiritual health; human relationships including families, friends, communities, and cultures; rights and responsibilities; what it means to be human.
From this descriptor and the standards that have been chosen to fit into this unit, the central idea and lines of inquiry are formed. For this unit our central idea (which is the overall idea of the unit, the POINT, if you will, of the whole unit!):
"Our values shape who we are and how we interact with each other."
Our lines of inquiry (the topics that we will be focusing on) were:
* Our personal values and where they come from
* How we demonstrate our values
* Ways values influence how we interact with others
The great thing about these units is that they can change! As long as all standards and skills (I'll get to what these skills are in a later post!) are being taught and assessed, the unit can be adapted to the type of class and the type of students that are in that class.
At the end of every unit is a "summative assessment". A summative assessment is "a culmination of the teaching and learning process, and gives the students opportunities to demonstrate what has been learned. It can assess several elements simultaneously: it informs and improves student learning and the teaching process; it measures understanding of the central idea, and prompts students towards action" (taken from Making the PYP Happen).
My original idea for the student's summative assessment was to have the students create a personal portfolio that would document their personal journey throughout the unit. My idea was to have them create a detailed pages that showed their understanding of the central idea and lines of inquiry.
However, the plan changed.
One thing I love about the PYP is that it allows for flexibility. I observed my students throughout the unit and saw where they were headed with their ideas! They wanted to SHARE their ideas, not create a book! They had learned about and developed so many great values and this was a "WE WANT TO SHARE" group of kids! So, I ditched the "make a private book that will take us a week to create" idea and sat down with the kids to discuss their ideas of how they could SHARE their values and understanding of the unit. We drafted a poster (using myself as an example) that included a rubric which would assess their understanding of the central idea and lines of inquiry.
AND BOY WERE THEY EXCITED!
You have never seen markers flying and smiles like these! Every single student in the class was thrilled to be able to creatively express themselves on giant poster boards (thank you dollar store for your cheap poster boards!) with big bold markers! They drew themselves with a "mind map" (a concept they had learned about during this unit) of their personal values, where they came from and how they show them! They also decided to write "personal mission statements" which seriously made my eyes tear up... Then, instead of working on a 15 page personal portfolio we spent time each day letting the students present their posters. They were so eager to get up to the front of the room and describe their values and their personal mission statement! And the rubric was amazing! Each student first assessed themselves, then had a partner assess them and then met with me to figure out their final grade. I then put all posters out in the hallway because they were so proud of them that they wanted the whole school to learn about them, their values and what they stood for!
Looking back over this unit I am very thankful that I changed it from a unit on "choices and consequences" to a unit that really looked into their values and how they demonstrate them. Three of my favorite activites that we did were:
* Researching and discussing famous historical figures that showed their values by taking action. Some of the historical figures that we inquired into were Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa and Martin Luther Knig Jr. This was the lesson that they were first introduced to mind-mapping! We mapped out the values that we saw these historical figures displaying along with examples for each. I loved this activity because the students started to take action! They started researching and finding people to add to our mind-map! Then they starting asking people (like our principal!) what their values were and how they showed them! We learned so much about values and how people spent their lives upholding them! Wow... it was awesome!
* Students were given different scenarios that would test their values. In a group they had to read the scenario and then act out an ending that would show the values being tested and the consequences of their actions. This turned out to be a very interesting activity for different reasons than I had originally intended. I had thought this would be a great way for them to think about values in difficult situations however, it was an eye-opener to all of us that... we needed to lean "social skills!" The social skills outlined in the PYP are accepting responsibility, respecting others, cooperating, resolving conflict, group decision making, and adopting a variety of group roles. We ended up stopping the project to focus on setting "group work expectations" for our class. The lessons learned in this activity were so valuable and I have seen such a difference in their social skills during group work since!
* During one of our classroom discussions on values, a student brought up that he had saw a billboard with the value "perseverance" on it over the weekend. I got on my computer/projector and pulled up the "pass it on" website that had multiple examples of values and people who demonstrated them. The students asked if we could create our own posters and I said... of course! They wanted to copy the posters on the website but I challenged them to think about people they know or people we have learned about that weren't on the website. It took some thinking time, but they came up with great ideas! Some kids even created SEVERAL posters! They wanted to put them up around the school so everyone could be inspired by them and of course I said of course! This activity was a good insight in to my thought process for changing their summative assessment!
So, now that the unit is "over" I look forward to continuing to discuss values of characters and people that we will be learning about the rest of the year. I also hope to keep check in on them to see if they have developed new values or how they have reacted if their values have been tested. You see, a unit is never really finished. Even when the summative assessment has been finished and graded, the learning will always continue.
I hope that you out there in cyber-world can take what I've learned and apply it to your own lives. I know that I have really looked into what my values are as an educator and I am going to continue to uphold those values through my personal investigations into technology and beyond!
"It's not hard to make decisions once you know what your values are." - Roy E. Disney