Quel Mystère! Using Authentic Assessment Tasks to Enrich Language Learning

French teacher Emma Pickard discusses how authentic interactions can enrich and personalize language learning with an example from her Grade 7-8 Enriched French.

The Grade 7-8 Enriched French class solved a murder mystery!

In December, each student was given a specific character with their own secrets, motives and alibis. The assessment involved reading the character notes, writing journal entries expressing their character's thoughts and back story, and listening and speaking to exchange information and solve the mystery.

There are many benefits to this kind of experiential assessment. In a classroom situation, it isn't always easy to find authentic tasks for the students to complete. In order for a conversation to be considered "authentic," the two participants must genuinely need to exchange information (as opposed to them already knowing the outcome before they speak). Giving the students a mystery that needs to be solved means that they do not have all the information at the beginning of the activity and they have a vested interest in uncovering clues to find out who committed the crime.

An assessment of this type is also easy to personalize, as the teacher can assign individual characters, with more or less information, in order to meet the language needs of each student. For example, a student in need of extension can be given longer and more complicated clues to investigate, requiring them to complete more conversations in the same period of time. As the students were given their character information ahead of time, those in need of support could use references or discuss information with their teacher before the assessment.

How We Show Our Learning: Personalizing Learning through Assessment

There are many approaches our teachers use to personalize the learning experience for students. One way is by giving students different ways to demonstrate their learning. Edwin Bryson, Greenwood's Vice-Principal of Teacher and Staff Development, shares an example from his Grade 10 Introduction to Business class, in which differentiated assessments were used to personalize for student readiness, interest and learning profile.

Step 1: Identify what students should know, understand and be able to do (skills)

I began by identifying what each student should know, understand and be able to do as a result of a particular chunk of learning. In this case, students needed to "demonstrate financial planning skills and produce a...personal financial plan (e.g. monthly plan, budget)."

Step 2: Identify one or more formats for the product

Next, I brainstormed all of the types of evidence that a student could use to show they have met these learning outcomes. For example, they could

• Complete a monthly budget worksheet for themselves
• Analyze a case study that requires a monthly plan
• Complete a quiz on key terms and processes
• Role-play between a financial planner and client
• Create a board game that illustrates income, expenses and savings, etc.

The goal is to determine financial planning skills, but the teacher has the flexibility to create more than one type of assessment for this skill.

Step 3: Determine expectations for quality

The third step was to clearly describe the success criteria; it should be general enough that a student can achieve the top band of achievement, regardless of their choice of activity. I did this in the form of a rubric, using the following criteria to evaluate each assessment:

• The student understands the relationship between types of income, fixed and flexible expenses.
• The student demonstrates the use of planning skills (gathering information, organizing a budget/project).
• The student uses critical/creative thinking processes (evaluation of spending and saving goals, actual versus planned budgeting).
• The student makes connections between the financial planning process and future career and life goals.

Step 4: Decide on scaffolding needed

The fourth step was to select a few assessments that would meet the different levels of student readiness, interests and learning profile.

Complete a monthly budget using a template: This option would suit students who are still gaining confidence with financial planning, liked working individually and benefited from concrete and sequential tasks rather than abstract and non-sequential tasks.

Work in pairs and create a board game: The game should demonstrate the key concepts of income, personal income tax, expenses, savings and investment. This option would suit students who had attained a conceptual understanding of financial planning, liked working collaboratively and enjoyed abstract and non-sequential thinking.

Create a role-playing game: This option was created by a few students who wanted to modify the board game assessment to create a role-playing game. Since the rubric focused on learning outcomes, rather product specifications, it was very easy to accommodate this request.

Below is a summary of the differentiation found in each assessment.

Assessment	Readiness	Interests	Learning Profile
Create a monthly budget using a template	Basic understanding of terms and concepts	Wants concrete application of learning of this topic	Works best with clear instructions, small steps and linear approach. Prefers working on own assignment
Create a board game	Strong conceptual understanding	Wants to expand and extend their learning of this topic	Is stimulated by creative challenges and conceptual thinking. Prefers working with peers.
Create a role-playing game	Strong conceptual understanding	Wants to expand and extend their learning of this topic	Is stimulated by open-ended challenges and enjoys abstract thinking. Prefers working with peers.

Regardless of which assignment was chosen, students were engaged in an authentic learning experience and making meaning by linking the concepts to their own lives. Each assignment allowed students to reach the top level of achievement and provided different approaches to suit their learning styles. The end result was increased engagement and more accurate evaluation of each student's progress toward meeting the course's learning goals.

Note: Many of the concepts discussed here are borrowed from one of the foremost authors on the subject, Carol Ann Tomlinson, in her book How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed-Ability Classrooms (2nd Edition).

Grade 8 Social Studies: Extending Students Inside and Outside the Classroom

Part of  personalizing education is creating opportunities for students to extend their learning when they are ready and able to take on more of a challenge. Teacher Cara Pennington gives some examples of extension opportunities for students in her Grade 8 Social Studies class.

Grade 8 Social Studies is a unique course that utilizes the history of Canadian Confederation and Western settlement, along with different aspects of human geography, to develop critical thinking, reading and writing skills. On many occasions, students are encouraged to think outside the box and imagine what life would be like in different time periods or in different parts of the world by taking on the roles of different people and characters throughout history.

Students receive ample choice when it comes to assignment topics. The choice allows for personalization and challenge for students who require a push. Some of the topics that students are able to select include extensions that require students to complete additional research and analysis of their topic. This allows students who are ready for more of a challenge to make deeper connections and to develop their critical thinking skills.

Furthermore, day-to-day tasks in class include extension options for students who are quickly developing an understanding of the material and content. These more in-depth questions encourage students to analyze the same material in different ways and from different angle, in order to to come to new conclusions about the topic.

 Students in Grade 8 Social Studies are also extended outside of the classroom through a field trip to Black Creek Pioneer Village. Here, the students are able to live like the pioneers they have learned about in class, both in British North America and during the settlement of the Canadian western provinces. They perform tasks reflective of the time period such as woodworking and candle-making, and are able to bring the knowledge they have learned in the classroom to life and apply their understandings in a real-world setting.

Personalized Extensions in Grade 7 and 8 Science

The core skills that science students need to develop are effective scientific inquiry and problem-solving. In Grade 7 and 8 science, we focus on helping students to build those skills. 

To ensure all students push their personal limits, they are challenged through individualized extensions. Opportunities to do so are provided on a variety of scales and embedded into the program to ensure each student is consistently and appropriately challenged.

During labs, students have extension opportunities that expand their critical thinking skills and help them connect the material to other subjects. In our Grade 8 "Systems in Action" unit, students are investigating the mechanical advantage of pulleys. Students have the opportunity to extend their learning by building increasingly complex pulley systems with various mechanical advantages. They may also link their learning to math by creating a graph comparing the actual and ideal mechanical advantages.

In Gr. 8 "Systems in Action," students can extend their learning
through integrated mathematics .

In the classroom, students can challenge themselves when completing practice problems. In the same Grade 8 "Systems in Action" unit, some students are extended by being given more difficult challenge questions to complete when determining the work and mechanical advantage of various systems. The challenge questions are designed to push the students' conceptual understanding and may require more advanced computational skills. The focus of these questions is on different practice, not more practice.

Personalized choice in projects allows students
to communicate their understanding using their
individual strengths

Science is also personalized through a choice in projects. To convey their knowledge of cell organelles and their appearance during the Grade 8 cells unit, students are given the choice to build an edible cell model or write a creative story that incorporates cell organelles. This choice between written and visual expression allows students to communicate their understanding of cell organelles using their individual strengths.

Extension opportunities are also delivered on a larger scale to ensure each student is consistently challenged. Last year, a Grade 7 student demonstrated a keen interest in science and the ability to quickly learn new concepts and scientific skills. To ensure she remained challenged, she was given the opportunity to learn Grade 8 Science that same year. A self-paced program was developed for her, in which she had reduced work for Grade 7 Science to allow her time to focus on the Grade 8 curriculum as well. This individualized approach gave her the opportunity to explore a subject she was passionate about on a deeper level, develop time management skills and foster independent learning skills.

Elysia Jellema

Teacher, Science and Mathematics

Personalized Learning and Challenge in Physical Fitness

In the Grade 10 and 11 Personal Fitness courses, we strive to offer a program that can target individual goals and interests. Health and Physical Education teacher Martha Hall discusses how this is achieved at Greenwood.

In a recent class, we utilized technology to encourage activities that are personalized to an individual's needs. Each student downloaded the Nike Training App to their mobile device. This app allowed them to personalize their workout in a variety of ways.

Firstly, students can choose the type of workout they want to do, focused on getting lean, toned or strong. Within the program, they can choose to target areas for growth, such as endurance, strength, power or abdominal muscles. They can also select beginner, intermediate or advanced levels in order to challenges themselves and work at their own level. The app also allows students to select their own music to play during their workout, which helps to motivate student participation.

Once the students start the program, the teachers monitor the students' technique by videotaping short segment of training to provide instant feedback on how to improve their form. This use of technology also enables students to analyze their own form and make any necessary corrections to ensure they are using proper technique. This is called Assessment as Learning and Assessment for Learning. Students in these courses assess themselves on a regular basis, using Assessment as Learning, in order to reflect upon their participation in class and to determine their areas of growth for future classes.

Moving forward in this class, students are given choice on a daily basis. With two teachers facilitating in the course, we are able to offer specialized classes (such as yoga or CrossFit) or visits to GoodLife or other local gyms.

Blended Learning in Media Arts

Teachers Johanna Liburd and Amy Adkins discuss how personalizing learning for their Media Arts course helps students to acquire not only technical skills but also confidence in their learning capabilities.

What is Media Arts?
Media Arts provides an avenue for students to experience new technologies and the ways in which those technologies interact with and build on the traditional arts. Students explore such areas as photography, image manipulation, sound recording and editing, video recording and editing, digital animation and web design. Students acquire communications skills that are transferable beyond the media arts classroom and develop and an understanding of responsible practices related to the creative process. Students will also develop the skills necessary to create and interpret media art works.

The Traditional Media Arts Class
There are many ways to personalize student learning in the arts. One of the more traditional methods is personalizing by student interest. This year, the course has been further developed to incorporate even greater opportunities for personalizing learning based on readiness. For instance, in each unit students are given a variety of options for how they go about learning course concepts, skills and the ways in which they express their knowledge and understanding. With a focus on choice, students are able to use their interests and strengths to navigate their own learning through each project.

When personalizing for readiness, the teachers get to know each student and create lessons and projects that build upon their unique interests, strengths, prior learning and academic needs. We identify when a student needs a push or challenge and gear their choices and projects in a more challenging direction.

How Will This New Course Benefit Student Learning?

Blended Delivery: Students will be given a variety of ways to learn material based on their specific needs and/or learning preferences. By delivering course content in a variety of ways, students will learn the same material, but in the manner that suits them best. Students will also be encouraged to consider when, and if, they need to revisit prior learning. With the guidance and support of their teacher, students will be given opportunities to push themselves and will be challenged to develop strong and effective work habits.

Greater Teacher Support: The course Groodle page will contain resources presented in a variety of formats, such as videos and written tutorials, as well as one-on-one demonstrations provided by the teacher. With a greater focus on online learning, it is our hope that students will further develop their independent learning skills. This also allows the teacher to circulate around the room and provide support based on individual need.

Student Choice: The last unit of the course is an Independent Study unit. This unit provides students with the opportunity to propose a project that revisits and expands upon prior learning in the course. After submitting a proposal, students will be challenged to further develop their independent and collaborative learning skills. Regular check-ins with their teacher will ensure that the student stays on track while exploring the topic of their choice.

Collaborative Learning: Our goal is to give students a realistic sense of what it is like to work in a creative field. To that end, we aim to create and support an environment of collaboration, teamwork and leadership. Lessons will begin with warm-up activities that energize, challenge and promote community within the class. Students will not only gain a broad set of technical skills during the year, but they will also develop their interpersonal and collaborative skills, as well as their emotional intelligence.

In conclusion, it is our hope that students are able to experience greater success in Media Arts because of blended delivery, greater teacher support, student choice and collaborative learning. We aim to increase our students' ability to learn in a self-directed manner, to build their creative thinking skills and to foster a love of the arts. As we prepare our students for the future, our focus is not only on equipping them with competitive skills, but also instilling confidence in their own ability to learn.

Personalizing Reading Assignments in the English Classroom

English teacher Heather Wright explores how students become more engaged in literature when they are able to take an active role in their reading choices.

"There is no such thing as a child who hates to read; there are only children who have not found the right book." - Frank Serafini

As an English teacher, getting students to not only read, but to enjoy their reading and reflect upon it critically is an ongoing challenge. I have found that in order for students to get the most out of the reading tasks, they need to first be reading the right book - a book that both challenges them academically and also peaks their interest. One of the ways we do this at Greenwood is by offering students choices for reading assignments.

Last spring, the Grade 12 students each read a novel as part of their unity on identity. Students were asked to develop and answer essential questions as part of their reading. Some questions that students created included:

• How does our cultural identity affect the decisions we make?
• How do others' perceptions influence how we view ourselves?
• In what ways do we assess our own worth?

In order to increase student engagement, students were offered three choices for their reading. The first choice was Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese, a Canadian novel exploring the history of Aboriginal Canadians and the residential school system. This text, while dealing with very mature themes, tells the story through accessible language, short chapters and a charismatic male protagonist. The second choice offered to students was Camilla Gibb's A Complicated Kindness. This novel, also Canadian, tells the story of a young woman living in a Mennonite community and having to deal with the practice of ex-communication. Though the story also explores the theme of identity, the writing itself is more advanced, making greater use of literary techniques. The final choice offered to students was an enrichment option to read Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis and Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, comparing how masculine identity and socioeconomic class are explored in each text. 

By providing these choices, each student was able to select a text that provided them with an appropriate academic challenge and read a story that held their interest. This resulted in some very impressive final essays and presentations from students in each of the three groups.

I have found that encouraging students to take an active role in their reading choices helps them to develop their own reading tastes and practices outside the classroom. This was evident at our recent annual Summer Reading Book Fair. It was great to see so many Greenwood students engaged in selecting the books they wished to read over the holiday and being genuinely excited to push themselves to read new and more challenging texts. Hopefully, this enthusiasm keeps up as each student begins another year of English class this month.

Here's to a great year of reading!

Minerva: The University of the Future?

Critics of contemporary North American education often claim that it’s driven by flavor-of- the-month thinking. Not surprisingly, personalized learning has been described by these same critics as the latest educational fad. As followers or occasional readers of this blog realize, we take exception to such criticism, as personalized learning is at the heart of our educational approach here at Greenwood.

Consequently, it was refreshing to read this month’s cover story in The Atlantic, “The Future of College?” and learn that other educators are not content with the preservation of the status quo. The article by Graeme Wood, a graduate of Harvard, focuses on Minerva, a small for-profit university that has established itself in San Francisco. What makes Minerva unique is its use of an online learning platform, which uses technology to re-imagine the traditional university lectures and seminar.

The strength of the online platform is that it forces students to engage actively and be accountable for their learning. By using this technology, professors can simultaneously communicate with each student. Unlike the traditional seminar, there is no opportunity to sit back and let others do the work, nor is there the typical stand-and-deliver lecture in which the professor does almost all the work. Professors use the online platform to group students to debate topics and gauge learning through pop quizzes. After experiencing one of these 45-minute seminars, which Wood describes as “good, but exhausting,” he observes that Minerva’s seminar platform “will challenge professors to stop thinking they’re using technology just because they lecture with PowerPoint.”

One other benefit of this approach is that it forces professors to think more carefully about how they teach. Rather than seeing teaching as an art and a science, the leaders of Minerva believe teaching is “a science and a science.” In other words, effective teaching is dependent upon student learning. Lesson design is rooted in research related to retention and engagement. Ongoing assessment, which is a key element of personalized learning, is used to group students effectively and to support remediation.

Though Minerva makes no claims about personalizing education, their efforts at reinventing the traditional university model bear some similarities. Rather than educating large numbers of students in a cost-effective manner (which is why lecture halls exist at universities), they instead are focused intently on individual learning. The entrepreneurs of Minerva are also leveraging technology to make this possible.

It is reassuring to know that our use of blended learning and other aspects of personalized learning at Greenwood are preparing our students to be able adapt successfully to the inevitable changes that are happening or will soon take place in the world of higher education.

Allan Hardy
Principal

Thinking Differently to Meet Students' Needs

Two years ago, I posted “Reinventing the High School Experience,” which reflected upon one educator’s claim about the need for high schools to “revolutionize” themselves. As the postings on this blog over the past two years demonstrate, Greenwood has made great strides in this direction.

Here are some of the highlights:

• 15 high school courses, ranging from Grade 9 to 12, are now delivered using a blended learning model. Using this approach has allowed students to learn at their own pace and freed up class time for more individualized and small group learning. 
• Non-blended courses continue to leverage new types of learning technology, such as Oxford Next and The Academic Zone, which enable students to customize their learning. 
• 6 Grade 7-10 subjects are now scheduled in a block format, which enables flexible grouping based on readiness or interest within a grade cohort. 
• Our Grade 7-8 Arts program has introduced a major/minor approach where students can specialize in one or two of our four arts electives. 
• 75% of our teachers now use Hapara on a regular basis. Use of this Google tool allows teachers an overall snapshot of individual student learning. 
• We have re-modeled two classrooms to create one flexible learning space, equipped with state-of-the art technology and furniture.

Ann Marie Kee, the Executive Director of the Canadian Association of Independent Schools, recently observed that independent schools are often reluctant innovators. I am proud to be leading a team of educators that have the expertise and courage to think differently about high school and how it can be improved to better meet the needs of our students.

Allan Hardy
Principal

Using Technology to Make A Midsummer Night's Dream "Run Smooth"

Building on last week's post, English teacher Laura Vlahos shares how her Grade 8 students have used Oxford Next to get the most out of Shakespeare this year.

Reading Shakespeare for the first time can be a daunting task, especially for middle school students. This year, however, the students in Grade 8 English had access to a fabulous tool to help them understand and analyze Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream – no matter what their level of readiness.

Oxford Next is a website that has previously been used in senior grades, and was piloted for use in Grade 8 this year. Oxford Next allows students to explore the text from multiple angles, including through the use of images, audio recordings, film clips, an interactive play script, and a graphic novel.

When I spoke to students to find out which section of the website they found most useful, there were almost as many different answers as there are students in the grade. One student mentioned that the graphic novel wasn’t useful at all; overhearing this, another student exclaimed “What are you talking about? It was the most useful part!” This exchange highlights the fact that a multi-faceted approach to a text truly allows each student to access the material in a manner that best suits their individual learning style, interests, and ability level.

The end result of having a variety of tools at our disposal has been that we have been able to dig much more deeply into the material than in previous years. In the past we have focused on simply understanding the plot, the characters, and a single theme. This year we have been able to delve into dozens of themes and explored the language in a much richer way. Students created seminars in which they explored many different elements in a single scene, and assisted their classmates with their understanding of the text.

We finished off our unit with some inspired performances, ranging from Lysander waxing poetic about true love, to Bottom comically mixing up his words. All in all, I think the Bard would have been proud.

Personalizing Students' Co-Op Experience

Co-op provides an ideal opportunity for personalized learning. Students explore their passions in a job setting, while learning even more about their strengths and their needs. Janelle Watson, Cooperative Education and Physical Education teacher, explains how Greenwood's program relates student placements to their specific learning goals.

Greenwood’s Cooperative Education program allows students to experience the world of work during six hours of placement experience per week, and integrates the learning they do at their placements into one classroom session every two weeks.

Students share their experiences face-to-face in the classroom, and also through blogging and our class Twitter profile: @WatsonCoop.

Teaching co-op to Grade 11 students lends itself well to personalized learning, as each student is placed within the field that most interests them in a position that best suits their ability.

Placement-Specific Projects

About halfway through the year, students begin their Placement-Specific Projects. The general template allows the teacher, students and placement supervisors to collaborate to create projects that give students more responsibility. These projects also encourage students to extend the learning they achieved in the initial phase of their placement experience.

Each project, along with the expectations for the process and the final product, is personalized for the placement and the student. Even if there are two students at the same placement location, they will complete different projects based on their strengths and interests.

The project caters to the specific learning goals of the experiences they had in the first months of their placement, and requires that an authentic final product or task that directly relates to these experiences is completed.

Examples of projects for this year are below, with some students interviews about their projects and what they liked best:

• An analysis and comparison of successful online marketing campaigns: Celia Torrey ('15)
• Concussion research and media awareness presentation: Jordyn Browne ('15)
• Drum clinic marketing: Justin Stangeland ('15)
• Grade 8 music lesson plan: Nate Daviau ('15)
• Hospital volunteer training manual: Ava O’Toole ('15)
• Menu and website planning for a catering company: Frances Howlett ('15)
• Musical casting day logistics and implementation: Mackenzie Skogland Munro ('15)
• Recreational activity coordination for retirement home residents: Erica Keaveney ('15)
• Special needs assistance: Avery Smith ('15)
• Sports writing: Ian Rotz ('15)

Personalizing for Interest: Elements of Fitness and Training Principles in Exercise Science

Students often ask, "When will I use this information in real life?" Carla DiFilippo, Health and Physical Education Instructional Leader and Director of Athletics, demonstrates how powerful it can be when students can draw clear links between what they're learning and their own experiences.

In Grade 12 Exercise Science, students work through an activity unit titled Human Performance and Skill Development.

To prepare for this activity, students first learned about the different elements of fitness and how to effectively train for each element, while keeping in mind the three metabolic energy systems and nutrition. The goal of the activity was for students to apply what they learned in the unit to their own experiences in sport. This activity was personalized for each student’s needs, and is outlined below:

• Students reflected on a sport that they played in the past. 
• As part of the reflection, students analyzed what they felt were the most important fitness attributes to compete in that sport at the highest level (cardiovascular endurance, muscular power, flexibility, etc.). 
• After some discussion (and friendly debate), students reflected on their personal fitness attributes and identified two perceived fitness-related weaknesses for their identified sport. For example, a volleyball player could have selected muscular power to increase their vertical jump, whereas a soccer player could have selected cardiovascular endurance. 

Once each student identified their two weaknesses, they used their knowledge of training principles to create a fitness program specifically designed for those weaknesses.

Students created an assignment that was specific to their interests. They used information learned in class and applied it directly to their own experiences. There was a great deal of self-assessment used in the preparatory phases of the assignment; as a result, students not only gained information about fitness and training, but were also able to reflect on their own needs as an athlete.

Supporting Student Growth with Adviser Report Cards

As students learn and grow at Greenwood, their Adviser is always there as a consistent adult contact, advocate and guide. Adviser Coordinator Garth Nichols explains how Adviser Report Cards provide an exceptionally personalized experience for students.

At Greenwood, we strive to understand, educate and develop the character of the whole student. The new Adviser Program, implemented in 2012-2013, fosters a unique and supportive relationship between student and Adviser.

Some key features of this program are:

• Students meet with Advisers at least twice a week.
• Students keep an ePortfolio to reflect on their experiences and their personal growth.
• There is ample coordination with and connection to students’ experiences in the community and school, and through outdoor education and community service.

As a result, Advisers can accurately report on a student’s individual character development and intellectual growth beyond their academic results. This is accomplished through the Adviser Report Card.

Each report is written with the express purpose of providing evidence of, and next steps for, student growth. The report itself is a 1500-character prose reflection written by the Adviser, rooted in their discussions with their advisee. It is a report about the whole child and how they are engaging in and growing from their unique Greenwood experience, whether it is through their diverse athletic, dramatic, academic or outdoor education involvement.

The new Adviser Program leverages the more frequent interaction between student and Adviser to help them personalize their overall education. The Adviser Report Card is an artifact of this. It also allows for parents to know where their child is on their journey, where their journey is taking them, and what the necessary steps will be to get there.

Personalization and the Student Success Centre

Greenwood's Student Success Centre supports students as they further develop critical learning strategies. As Success Centre teacher Bill Farbstein explains, personalization plays a large role in ensuring that students get the most out of this excellent resource.

Personalization is at the core of the Student Success Centre (SSC) at Greenwood. Interacting with students in the Learning Strategies classroom, which typically is about half the size of a regular classroom, allows the teacher to learn the specific strengths and needs of each individual student.

Last year, I taught the Grade 9 Learning Strategies course. Throughout the year, the class moved through a number of units concerning literacy and executive functioning. This allowed me to clearly identify the strengths and needs of each student beyond those formally identified in their Individual Education Plan.

I used this information to create the final unit for the course. This last unit was completely personalized for each student. Students focused on their area of greatest need (reading, writing or presenting) and addressed this skill through an interest of their own.

The unit flowed in the following way:

• The students were assigned a scaffolded active reading, writing or presentation unit. ("Scaffolding" is support given during the learning process which is tailored to student needs, and which helps the student achieve his/her learning goals.) Each student was assigned the skill most in need of improvement.

• Each of the six lessons in the unit worked through the creation process and had students integrate skills that they had worked on during the year.

• By the end of the unit, the students were left with a final product which represented an exceptional active reading, writing or presentation piece.

Personalizing the Performance Environment

This week, music teacher Ben Wright shares his experience preparing Greenwood's senior music class for the ultimate in real-world music experience: performing in a pit band.

The Junior school musical is something to look forward to each fall term. There is a lot of excitement surrounding the event, as the school shifts its focus from the dreary darkening autumn months to bright lights, costumes and the sounds of musical theatre. For the senior music class, the chance to perform as the pit orchestra for these productions provides a perfect personalized learning opportunity.

The senior music class learns upwards of 20 pieces to accompany the young singers, and also performs transition music to distract the audience during set changes. It’s a daunting task to proficiently perform so many pieces - one that requires each student to be working at their personal best.

To ensure success as an ensemble, students are assessed on their performance skills at the start of the term, and their results on these initial evaluations determine the difficulty of their first pieces. I repeat these short performance assessments multiple times throughout the term and adjust the level of difficulty to match the student’s progress. 

As the teacher, I write and arrange the music for the production. This means that as the term unfolds and I see students progress, I can push those who require enrichment by writing more difficult performance pieces, and accommodate students who aren’t progressing quite as quickly. By matching the pieces to work with the ensemble, we can ensure that an advanced tuba player is not playing whole notes for hours, and a beginning flutist is not faced with strings of notes beyond his abilities.

All of the music written for the students is used in the musical. The music is written and arranged specifically for each student, so the parts are challenging but achievable. The performance in front of hundreds of audience members provides a very accountable performance environment. This is just one of the ways that Greenwood's Arts Department makes the arts personal for every student.

Personalizing by Readiness - A Grade 9 Math Approach

Personalizing by readiness can take many forms and have many functions. During the "Solving Equations" unit in Grade 9 math, students were given a chance to self-pace through a series of two lessons. Some students grasp how to solve equations quite readily, while others take more time and practice. Allowing students to self-pace in this topic gave us the ability to stretch some and support others.

During these lessons, students in my class worked through the following learning cycle:

1. Watched a video created by Greenwood teachers and took notes as they followed the examples given. Students were able to pause and replay as desired.
2. Completed several practice problems from the textbook. 
3. Completed a Check for Understanding.
4. Showed the Check for Understanding to me for feedback. Students used this feedback to correct their work.

Next, students moved on to a second video teaching a slightly more challenging concept within the unit, and then followed the same cycle of notes, practice, and a Check for Understanding.

This whole process spanned two classes. Students who finished before the end of the two classes were given extension problems. Students who needed more time to complete the tasks were identified and supported throughout the process, allowing them to finish within the two-lesson time period.

In speaking with the students about this process, there were several common reactions. Some of the stronger students expressed how they really liked being able to race ahead and work on more challenging questions after the basics were covered. Other students expressed how they liked being able to pause and replay the videos, as well as receive more one-on-one attention from me throughout the process.

Using self-paced lessons to teach solving equations allowed me to meet the needs of individual students within my class.

Megan Clark
Teacher, Mathematics and French

235 Years Old and Still Innovating

Throughout the past several months, a number of our classroom teachers have used this personalized learning blog to share examples of Greenwood’s progressive approach to teaching and learning. There are several common threads within these examples of personalized learning:

1. Teachers use student readiness and interests to develop learning activities.
2. Technology is used as a tool to facilitate and enhance learning.
3. As much as possible, learning is linked with real-life applications.

I was pleased to read recently that the oldest and one of the most prestigious prep schools in the US—Phillips Academy Andover—has adopted a similar approach to educational innovation. Throughout its long history, Andover has spearheaded the implementation of initiatives such as Outward Bound, Advanced Placement Testing, and community outreach. More recently they have introduced Connected Learning as a way of engaging teachers in the development of new pedagogy.

As described on the Andover website, Connected Learning is a research-based model of learning that maintains successful traditional standards and introduces new ways of doing things that tap into the potential created by globalization and technology.” As in Greenwood’s introduction of blended learning, Andover also faced concerns about technology replacing teachers in the classroom and that all teaching would be done using technology.

However, John Palfrey, Head of School at Andover, believes that programs like Connected Learning will help teachers shift from the traditional role of dispensing information, to guiding students to turn information into knowledge and apply it to real-life situations. In a manner similar to that being used at Greenwood, Andover is using its year-long professional development program to have teachers work together to develop examples of Connected Learning. Andover is also exploring the online approach to learning used by the Khan Academy to see how it may influence their approach to Connected Learning.

Palfrey’s hope is that Andover will be a centre of excellence that serves as model for other educational institutions and leads the way in the transformation of education. We have similar aspirations at Greenwood and look forward to sharing more examples of personalized learning with readers in the months ahead.

Allan Hardy
Principal

Many postsecondary institutions, such as Queen's University and U of T, have also recognized the value of personalized learning - and specifically, blended learning - for enhancing student learning and engagement. An increasing number are making this approach a part of their postsecondary program. On February 4, Greenwood will host a panel discussion, featuring blended learning experts, on what this approach looks like at the postsecondary level. Click here to learn more and to RSVP.

Reading & Writing: Grade 7 Students Personalized By Readiness

Since August, the Grade 7 English teachers have worked collaboratively to ensure personalized learning is delivered in our classrooms on a regular basis. We used the first unit, a novel study, to assess our students’ reading and writing abilities and to get to know each student as a learner.

In September, the students began reading Fighting For Dontae, a novel about a young boy living in an impoverished area of southern California. Throughout the unit there were various reading comprehension quizzes and paragraph writing exercises, as well as letter writing in role. We did ongoing assessments in preparation for unit 2. Based on each student’s demonstrated skill level, we then personalized their reading comprehension abilities and written expression.

Fast forward to unit 2, which began last week. Unit 2 looks at forms of writing. Students have begun learning about narrative and expository pieces. With the information we gathered about each student in unit 1, we are now able to personalize their reading and writing tasks to suit their individual needs and readiness.

The first task was to practice writing a narrative story. Students were all given different scenarios/story starters, from our observations and assessments from unit 1. This allows students who need extra support and structure to receive it, while stretching students who are ready to move forward.

Personalized learning has helped tremendously in the Grade 7 English classroom as students are feeling confident, and working towards their potential.

Michelle Lieberman
Teacher

Students Pursue Their Passions in the Business Classroom

In the Grade 11 entrepreneurship class, students spend the year envisioning and developing a small business idea and venture plan based on their strengths and passions. Though the components of this venture plan are standard, students have the opportunity to fully personalize their plans by pursuing or creating a market to which they feel connected. Because students work within current resource and skill endowments, the project becomes real and immediate and challenges students to identify their strengths and weaknesses as well as their passions that will represent viable business ideas.

Over the course of this project students will:

• Consider their entrepreneurial skills and strengths
• Select and research an industry of interest
• Determine a form of business ownership
• Define a target market
• Develop a marketing plan
• Consider sources of financing and create budgets and financial projections
• Work to create a personalized brand and company image that reflects their core beliefs

Students tend to find this project rewarding as it relates to real life and offers many opportunities for creativity. This year, some business ideas include:

• Insane IT: An online tech business, building custom computers for gamers.
• Demeter Foods: A food truck, servicing the central business district with healthy and organic snacks.
• Riders’ Bikes: A custom-build bike shop servicing downhill riders
• Kids in the Kitchen: A business teaching young people the art of cooking at birthday parties or in a camp setting.

Some students are creating sole proprietorships, some have developed partnerships with classmates and some have learned how to incorporate their business after considering legal implications and barriers.

Through this project, students not only learn a number of key business concepts, they also learn a great deal about themselves as they are forced to consider their entrepreneurial potential and overall interest in small business ownership. Without doubt, it is both a school project and, more importantly, an opportunity for personal learning and experiment.

Elanna Robson
Instructional Leader, Business and Canada World Studies

Personalized Learning in Senior Biology

Science becomes even more exciting than usual when it speaks to the individual student’s interest. The Science Department at Greenwood offers choice in topic and/or format for many assignments. This allows students to select what intrigues them the most, and then convey this heightened level of engagement with a quality end product.

Many students were so intrigued by their study
of bacteria in Grade 11 Biology that they have
chosen to extend this activity beyond class time
for their own enrichment.

This year, we began the Grade 11 Biology course with the Diversity Unit so that we could create an overarching theme of classification for all of the units in the course. This also provided a jumping-off point for students to discuss their unique outdoor education experiences. (All Grade 11s go on a sea kayaking or hiking trip in British Columbia in the fall).

Using their own photos, students presented a researched organism native to BC during the first class back to school. We use this experience to help each student understand taxonomy before focusing on specific examples from each kingdom.  

Students then chose a source of possible contamination that could be a home for bacteria. Using petri dishes to collect and grow bacteria, students were trained to create pure plates of their selected bacteria as well as determine the identity of the bacteria. Some of the students were so intrigued by their discovery they have opted to extend this activity beyond class time for their own enrichment.

The Grade 12 Biology course includes a unit on Homeostasis (the ability of the body to maintain equilibrium). What better way to learn about the body’s innate ability to handle change than to use yourself as a test subject? Each student in this course collects data on themselves for a period of one week before developing a procedure that will promote greater self-awareness and (ultimately) a healthier lifestyle. 

This personal discovery gets documented in a formal scientific report representative of a university-quality report. With scheduled editing dates, students divide this extended lab into manageable chunks with multiple opportunities to receive timely advice on ways to develop their analytical skills.

Nancy Clarke
Science Instructional Leader