Greater Customization Through Blocked Scheduling

Greenwood’s new state-of-the-art science labs not only encourage inquiry and discovery, but also give our teachers more opportunities to customize our science program.

Blocked scheduling is one way in which science teachers have been taking advantage of our new spaces. In a blocked schedule, multiple sections of a class - in this case, Grade 9 Science - meet at the same time. Some of the benefits of this approach include:

• Grouping students based on readiness
• Using space and teachers most effectively
• Incorporating student choice, both in content and learning style

What does a blocked approach look like in practice? Here’s how science teachers Evan Morrison, Julie Way, Anne Wellnhofer and Alan Kraguljac used it to help Grade 9 students investigate characteristic physical properties and evidence of chemical change over a series of three periods.

Grouping Students Based on Readiness

After assessing students' prior knowledge using a quiz, teachers determined whether
students were ready to start the labs or should complete a teacher-led warm-up.

The focus of these three periods was a multi-lab circuit. Everyone in the two Grade 9 Science sections finished the circuit having completed five mandatory labs, but how they got there was different for each student.

Before students jumped into the labs, teachers assessed their prior knowledge using a Flubaroo quiz. This quiz provided both students and teachers with instant feedback, indicating which students were ready to start the labs and which students should first complete a teacher-led warm-up activity.

Students who completed the five mandatory labs with time to spare had the option to move on to extension opportunities building on the core concepts.

Using Space and Teachers Effectively

Three teachers were on hand to help students throughout the multi-lab circuit.

Seven lab stations were set up across two different rooms, with students free to move between the rooms as needed. One teacher was stationed in each of the two rooms, while a third floated between the spaces to check in with students and answer questions. 

Incorporating Student Choice

Our new science labs provide space for several workstations.

A blocked approach provides students with significant flexibility. Grade 9 students were able to choose:

• Their pace when working through the labs
• The order in which they completed the labs
• Their preferred space for working

Students also had the option to watch online demos of some procedures.

The Results

All students finished these three periods having completed the five mandatory labs, and took away a thorough understanding of the core concepts and detailed notes. Students who wished to build on their knowledge had the opportunity to do so with extension opportunities.

“Giving the kids the flexibility to move at their own pace through the activities worked out really well,” says Julie Way.

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

Computer Literacy Skills Both Stretch and Support Student Learning

Grade 7 and 8 students at Greenwood participate in a Grade 9 course titled Information and Communication Technology in Business (informally referred to by staff and students as BTT) which gives them the opportunity to reach ahead and develop skills they will use in their other courses. BTT teacher Sarah Thornton discusses how this personalized, independent course helps students gain valuable skills in communications, technology, planning and organization.

Students complete the BTT course independently over two years (with fifty percent of the course completed in Grade 7 and the remaining fifty percent in Grade 8), which is both valuable and challenging. To scaffold this effort, there is a BTT coordinator appointed to the Grade 7 and 8 programs respectively. The coordinator oversees the BTT co-curricular periods that are supervised by each student's Adviser, marks assignments, and tracks and reports individual student credit accumulation to students, Advisers and parents. The personalized support provided by the individual Adviser and the oversight of the coordinator ensure that the students are able to set and meet clear goals so that they can achieve the credit in the most efficient and organized way possible.

The enrichment that Greenwood students gain by participating in the BTT course is twofold. Firstly, they are able to demonstrate the mastery over communication technology and online organization necessary to be successful in Greenwood's innovative technological environment. Moreover, participating in the course challenges and further develops students' executive functioning skills, as they are required to take responsibility for their work in a course that exists beyond the walls of their physical classrooms.

In this way, their participation in the course encourages perseverance. It teaches them how to implement and execute strategic plans, as they negotiate their way through the personalized assignment options. It provides an opportunity for Advisers and the BTT coordinators to coach the students on how to choose the best and most effective way to navigate an assignment or topic. Finally, the BTT course challenges students to maintain a clear organizational system that allows them to balance the homework and assignments required to complete the BTT course in a timely manner.

Grade 7 and 8 students benefit in both the long and short term by participating in a BTT course. This course prepares them to be successful throughout their high school careers, by giving them freedom of choice to personalize their schedules and perform to their best, as well as equipping them with critical technological skills. It also allows them, with the support of their Advisers and the BTT coordinators, to practice and apply executive functioning skills that will allow them to be successful in their current courses and beyond.

Personalizing in a Flexible 21st-Century Classroom

Personalized learning isn't just about the content of the lesson - it's also about the space in which students learn. Geography teacher Christine Joannou discusses how Greenwood's new flexible classroom allows students to choose the learning method that works best for them.

The flexible setup supports individual, small
group and teacher-led lessons - all in the
same room.

The Grade 9 geography class (CGC1D) is one of the most unique classes at Greenwood. Two teachers are in the classroom at all times, working within a 21st-century classroom with flexible seating arrangements. This setup has allowed us to personalize the classroom, so that students are able to choose the type of learning they want:

• Individual lessons
• Peer-to-peer or small group lessons
• Teacher-led lessons

If students choose the teacher-led option, one of the teachers will take them through the lesson, explaining concepts, asking guiding questions and pacing the lesson based on student needs.  

Students also have the option of learning in the "quiet zone". In the quiet zone, students work independently to go through the lesson on their own; a teacher is always available for questions, should students need clarification. Learners work through the lesson at their own pace, and dive deeper into certain topics if they finish the lesson early. 

The classroom setup also allows students to work in small groups around small display screens. They can still work at their own pace, but have the support of either their peers or the teacher if needed. This option fosters student collaboration throughout the learning process.

The flexible classroom setup has allowed us to cater to each student’s needs. Students who need more time to understand a concept are given that opportunity, while students who want to complete the lesson and move on to enrichment activities have this opportunity as well. 

Students have enjoyed this lesson approach, as many find the pace of a more traditional lesson does not cater to their needs. They enjoy the flexibility of this 21st-century classroom set up, which uses two teachers and blended learning tools to enable them to choose the most effective learning method for them.

Personalized Independence

This week, English teacher Jennifer Walcott explains how she encourages students to customize the what and where of our Grade 12 Writer's Craft course to suit their needs and interests.

The Grade 12 Writer’s Craft course is an English elective, usually chosen by students who enjoy creative writing. As the course is process driven rather than content driven, students have many opportunities to make choices based on their interests and to develop a work plan that suits their schedules.

The recent non-fiction unit allowed students the option of what forms of writing they wished to learn, but also gave them the option of where they would complete their assignments.

All of the course steps and requirements were outlined to students in class on the first day of the four-week unit. The readings, quizzes, tasks, and rubrics were all presented with a weekly due date for each of the four tasks for the unit. Students then had several options they could follow. They had to select two forms of non-fiction writing from a menu that included: travel, interviews, opinion, feature, sports, reviews, and obituaries.

As is the norm in this course, students:

1. Read expert guidelines for success criteria and complete two reading quizzes.
2. Find six real-world samples of the forms of writing. I offered several suggestions of sources plus samples of magazines for these, but students had to secure their own.
3. Write an analysis of how one of the samples met the criteria they had identified.
4. Write two original pieces of their own and annotate them to show where they were meeting the criteria. Students were encouraged to create one of their pieces for the school newspaper.

Students were also provided a package of exercises to improve their diction, syntax, and punctuation. These were warm up activities that they could do on their own. Two peer editing sessions were built into the schedule as students have repeatedly said they prefer face-to-face peer editing rather than online editing.

Each student was invited to a conference with me and with a weekly due date for tasks, I was able to see how students were progressing through the tasks and to call in any student who needed additional support for another conference. Students were also able to request a conference during class time if they wished. I was always available during class time, and several students chose to work in the room where it was quieter and they could be more focussed. However, some students preferred to work on Writer’s Craft tasks late at night and used our class time to complete work for other classes as needed.

Writing is a fairly solitary task. Once you know what you are trying to do, it’s a matter of drafting and revising. This personalized and blended approach allowed students to work at their own pace - a few students completed tasks ahead of time - and when and where they found most conducive to the tasks. The challenge was time management. Those who planned were successful, those who did not, were less so as they lost revision time. However, with weekly due dates, I was able to contact those who needed help in managing time and the frequent check ins meant no one fell behind in submitting work.

At the start of the unit, students were offered a challenge to work as a group to create a magazine or newspaper and build their writing around a specific target audience. Three groups selected this option, but only one actually completed it. The others found the challenge of working together too much and gradually opted to work alone.  Interestingly, the group that stayed together to produce a magazine of their articles was made up of the students with the most mature time management and organizational skills. My challenge for the future is how to teach those skills beforehand so more students can have this real world experience.

Choose Your Own Adventure: Canadian History Style

This week's post comes from Charles Jennings, History, Law and Politics Teacher.

"You mean we get to choose?!"

If you had the choice, which would you choose to learn about: Prohibition, the Women’s Movement or the Economic Boom in the 1920s? Students in Grade 10 Canadian History were surprised to learn that they had this very choice at the beginning of the Roaring '20s Unit. This is one way in which we personalize the teaching of history at Greenwood. The results of this interest-based approach showed outstanding student success, and greater student engagement and excitement.

Here is why it was so successful:

1. Student Choice: Our first unit provided built-in opportunities for students to explore themes within the broader study of World War One. This prepared students to view history through different lenses, readying them to study the Roaring '20s unit under one central theme. Students jumped at the opportunity to independently select from Prohibition, the Women’s Movement or the Economic Boom, and were grouped accordingly.                                                                                                
2. Blended Delivery: Online materials developed in-house by Greenwood history teachers provided rich content tailored to each theme. These, in combination with the work done in class, create a blended learning environment that helps students work to their interests. Navigation is easy through clear and simple organization and delivery in Moodle and Google Docs.                                                                                                                                                                                                                         
3. Self-Paced Learning: Students appreciated being able to independently work through the unit at a pace appropriate to their learning needs. This allowed for more opportunities to extend learning and access support. Assessments dispersed throughout the unit provided students with timely feedback and greater preparation for their final task, and provided teachers with immediate and concrete evidence of learning to better gauge progress.                                                                                                              
4. Greater Teacher Support: During each class, teachers worked with each theme grouping to clarify understanding, ensure progress and extend learning through engaging activities. Teachers acted as learning coaches to ensure students progressed successfully through the unit, providing one-on-one and small group support.                                                                                                                       
5. Collaborative Learning: Engaging whole-class activities challenged students to share their learning, deepen their historical understanding, and make sophisticated connections between each theme. A lively debate highlighted the importance of each theme, and brought history to life.  

It is clear that students ‘do’ history best when they are engaged with content and can find meaningful ways to connect it to themselves and the world around them, Students responded to this new approach with enthusiasm, interest and Roaring results!

Professional Practice in Media Studies

This week's post comes from Katharine Rogers, English and Geography Teacher.

Students in Grade 11 media studies participate in both the analysis and creation of many forms of media. Most recently, they have been working to develop their skills in review writing as a method of analysing television shows, documentaries, and feature films. As a number of the students in the course are interested in pursuing careers in related fields, it is important that the assessment process reflects the reality of the industry.

First drafts of written content are rarely published; as such, first drafts of written reviews in this class are not assigned a final grade. Instead, I provide the students with a temporary grade and ample feedback on their work. I then return the reviews to them, and provide them with the opportunity to revise their work up to four times. Students are required to complete at least one revision, but the others – all assessed by me for temporary grades – are optional. Students can track the improvement in their writing in a measurable way between drafts, which gives them ownership over their learning and revision process.

During the most recent revision stage, some students focused on the depth of their analysis, while others revisited the structure of written reviews. Feedback was completely personalized, and students were given up to three weeks to complete their revisions. They appreciated the opportunity to self-pace; some finished all revisions within the first week, while others used the full time allotted. In all cases, the students chose to revise their work at least three times.

Currently, media studies students are researching influential film directors, and will soon be asked to analyse and review a selection of their feature films. Students will have the opportunity to decide whether they’d like to stick with traditional review writing in order to further develop their skills in this area, or move on to the more challenging comparative review as an enrichment option. They will also have the opportunity to select their preferred method of delivery for this task; product options include written reviews, podcasts, videos, etc.

Once the students complete the first draft of their film reviews, they will move on to the second stage of development in their editing process. Now that they have been through a full editing cycle with me at the helm, they will apply the skills learned to critiquing the work of their peers. Students will work in groups of three, and will be permitted to submit their drafts for peer feedback up to four times. They will use this feedback and support to revise their work, and to determine when it is fit for final submission. This process will enable students to self-pace during the review cycle, and will help them to make mature, informed decisions about their own levels of readiness.

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

Personalization Through Writing

This year and last we have had the unique opportunity in our Grade 11 Learning Strategies classes to work with Brock University to design and implement an online writing program. Academic-Zone™ is an innovative online learning resource that takes our students through a series of modules designed to enhance their writing and research skills and prepare them for postsecondary writing.

As this is an online program, it allows students to work at their own pace and, with teacher support, personalize their experience based on readiness. There are activities associated with each of the eight modules. A student is not able to move on to the next module until they have mastered the skill found in the current module.

As the classroom teacher, I am able to support or extend as needed based on each individual student. For example, in the “Developing a Thesis Statement” module, some students require additional support beyond the program. We work individually or in small groups on breaking down a thesis even further into concrete steps. Other students who need little support in this area can continue with the module and extend into developing thesis statements for argumentative, comparative and expository writing.

I find the Grade 11 students feel empowered and challenged knowing that they are able to work at their own pace and receive support when they need it. Because they are working on a writing program that is intended to prepare them for postsecondary writing, they see value in the program and want to learn.

Jennifer Lillie
Teacher, Student Success Centre

Project-Based Learning Drives Personalized Learning

“When will I use this in real life?”

This is the infamous question that many students ask math teachers. The math department at Greenwood uses that question as motivation to change the stereotype that math is only useful for mathematicians. Our hope is that by making mathematics applicable to real life and more meaningful to each student, students will be able to answer this question themselves: math is used each and every day by everybody.

In the split-level college preparation mathematics course (MBF3C/MAP4C), we have just completed our first project-based learning unit. In this unit, students learned about scale diagrams, units of measurement, optimization and cost estimation by designing a new kitchen.
Students posed as designers for HGTV, with the task of designing and planning a kitchen renovation. They were given a floor plan and dimensions for an existing kitchen, as well as an allowable area for an optional extension. The students had to interview their client (a Greenwood teacher) to determine his preferences, taste and needs for his new kitchen.

Students then used the program Homestyler to create both 2D and 3D scale diagrams with many views of their design. Lastly, they had to present their design using a sales pitch to a panel which included the client.

Rather than completing lessons on topics and then completing a project as follow up, in this project-based unit, students:

• Had a real-life goal with a specific role and audience;
• Determined which mathematical skills they needed to learn to achieve the goal; and
• Accessed several resources to determine required information or to find inspiration for their designs. 

This project was personalized for each student. They received the necessary structures to be successful, the freedom to work at their own pace, a variety of resources to access information and complete control of the creativity of their design and sales pitch.

Erica Keaveney, a student in MAP4C, says “The project was very hands-on and realistic. I enjoyed it because I was able to be creative with my design, but also learned skills I will use in real life.”

Amanda Lester
Math Instructional Leader

Strategies for Personalization at the Intermediate Level

Last year, one of my goals was to provide more personalization within my intermediate science classes. However, personalization at the intermediate level presents a few additional challenges. How do we offer choice and individual experience to a younger group of students who also need structure and clear expectations? In addition, the study of science at this level provides an introduction to the different disciplines within science, so students are not yet ready to follow their own individual interests.

In Grade 7, my students used the blended learning model to work through part of the Heat and Energy Transfer Unit. I set up a series of online learning activities that students could complete independently, covering the concepts of conduction, convection and radiation. Once they felt that they had mastered a particular concept, they would answer an ‘entrance card’ that would allow them to begin the associated lab activity. This allowed them to personalize their experience by moving on when they felt they were ready.

At the beginning of the mini-unit, the students were arranged into two main groups with two different suggested pathways, generally alternating between a class spent learning content, and a class performing a lab activity. 

There was one day set aside partway through the unit where we all came back together to perform a series of teacher-led demonstrations, ensuring that everyone was again at the same spot in their learning journey. For students who worked through the content quickly, extension activities were available at the end of the unit allowing them to deepen their exploration of radiation.

By removing myself from the active teaching of content, I was able to spend more time in conversation with the students ensuring that they had a good understanding of the material and its applications.

The students enjoyed the feeling of a higher level of academic freedom – they felt trusted in their abilities to self-pace and to decide for themselves the best way to spend their time. By removing myself from the active teaching of content, I was able to spend more time in conversation with the students ensuring that they had a good understanding of the material and its applications. The series of entrance and exit cards allowed me to keep track of the students, and to have a good sense of their individual progress.

Using technology-rich resources, I was able to guide my Grade 7 students through a series of lessons at their own, personalized pace with reinforcement and extension if needed.

Samantha Moser
Science Teacher

Our Teachers Grow with Personalized Learning

Personalizing the classroom requires a shift in the teacher’s role. This shift can feel unnatural as traditional education aims to meet the needs of students performing at the middle of the class. At Greenwood College School, our goal is to have personalized learning occur in all of our classrooms. We recognize that meeting this goal requires teacher training, so we have dedicated a series of professional development sessions to the growth of our teachers in this area.

We want our teachers to use their classrooms as laboratories. We encourage them to test personalized learning approaches with their students. Last week during a PD session, we had the opportunity to share the many successes and obstacles encountered as we try to personalize our classrooms. I believe both the successes and obstacles are important to discuss - perhaps the obstacles more so at this stage. Discussing these challenges helps teachers grow further and pushes us to think creatively as professionals. I will outline a couple of the conversations that the teachers had in this session.

The Grade 8 Social Studies teacher is nearing the end of a water unit which combined traditional lessons and technology-based resources so that students could complete the unit at their own pace. He found that self-pacing worked well for students who are self-motivated, but many other students did not complete the unit in the time allotted. This led us to discuss the management of a self-paced personalized approach.

We saw that students need:

• firm intermediary deadlines
• to be assessed or involved in individual conferences with the teacher at regular intervals
• to be provided with a timeline indicating the slowest acceptable pace

About a quarter of the class completed the unit early. The teacher initially saw this as an obstacle, but we discussed how self-pacing will leave time for enrichment and further study for some students.

With the help of his colleagues, the teacher came up with a plan for these students. As they complete the unit, students finishing early will be given above grade-level texts on the topic and asked to run a seminar with the rest of the class.

The Grade 10 French teacher used blended learning tools to help personalize her grammar units. She began the unit with a pre-assessment and moved students into a program based on their individual needs.

Students who achieved over 80 per cent on the pre-assessment began a video lesson covering new material. The concepts learned from the video were then applied to reading, writing and oral dialogue. Some students mastered the new content very quickly.

To challenge them further, they investigated pronoun use in an authentic Francophone scenario of interest to them (article, television, movie). These students then shared their findings orally and in writing with the rest of the class.

By setting up her classroom to allow faster students to progress independently, the teacher had more time to work with students who scored below 80 per cent on the pre-assessment. She retaught and reassessed this content in various ways until each student showed a strong enough understanding of the base concepts to be able to succeed with the new content.

When this understanding was demonstrated, the student proceeded to the concept video lesson and application activities. The French teacher shared some of the things she learned through the development and implementation of this unit:

• creating a personalized experience requires a lot of front loading and pre-planning
• the pathways need to be structured and clear enough for students to easily follow
• allowing for self-pacing gave the teacher time to work with each student until she was sure that they had the foundation needed to be successful with the new material

The personalized learning PD session last week is one of the many ways that the teachers at Greenwood College School are growing to further meet the varying needs of their students.

Many teachers are still exploring what personalized learning means and how it will work in their classrooms. This session gave them a chance to ask questions and help each other push further into personalizing the classroom experience of their students.

Heather Rigby
Director of Personalized Learning

Personalized Learning in the Math Classroom

Students enter our classrooms each year with a range of skills and confidence levels. These levels are particularly pronounced in subjects that build on past skills, as is the case with mathematics.

In most math classrooms, whether it is a required Grade 9 or 10 math course or a senior calculus course, we have a spectrum of needs. For some students math concepts are intuitive and easily understood. Other students struggle on the first step of an introductory problem. Students who grasp math concepts easily get bored and become disengaged when they have to wait for classmates to catch up. Unfortunately, we tend to pace our class for the typical student and this is slower than some students want and need.

Yes, we do structure our class so that the quicker students move on to the homework when they are ready, but they need more. They need a personalized approach. They need a program that allows them to progress at their own speed. They need a program that will keep them engaged and motivated in their learning.

Let’s not forget the students on the other end of the spectrum: the students who struggle with concepts, need a confidence boost and who need additional support. These students need a voice. They need to be able to talk about their work and to ask their questions without feeling that they are holding up the rest of the class. They need a program where the teacher has time to work with them as individuals or in small groups. They need a program that is customized to their needs.

By using personalized learning in the math classroom, the needs of both groups can be satisfied simultaneously. Currently, I am piloting senior math courses that use blended learning as a tool to personalize the student experience and enable them to self-pace.

Currently, some students are working ahead by a few days; some are working so quickly that they will complete two courses instead of one; while others are using the lecture-free class time to get support and have concepts reinforced.

I will talk more about how I am personalizing these senior math courses in future blog posts, but needless to say, there is a need for personalized learning in all classrooms, mathematics being one of them!

Heather Rigby
Director of Personalized Learning