In praise of the eternal inevitability of change

In praise of
the eternal inevitability
of change
An English teacher says no to instructional strategies that worked in the 20th Century
and instead develops an inquiry-based project to boost student achievement in literacy now.
In
by Rachel Reynolds
Rachel went to university at
36 to fulfill a lifelong dream of
becoming a teacher. She has
a Bachelor of Education and
Bachelor of English from VIU
and is completing a Masters in
Educational Leadership (June
2015). A senior English teacher
at ADSS in Port Alberni for nine
years, she created this project
because of the lack of motivation
with senior students towards
writing. She can be emailed at
[email protected]
References for this article
are online at
http://www.bcpvpa.bc.ca/node/57
Percy Bysshe Shelley’s poem Mutability (1816), the speaker
encapsulates both the eternal inevitability of change and the
need for ‘mutability’ or ongoing adaptive change when he
proclaims,
“Man's yesterday may ne’er be like his morrow
Nought may endure but Mutability”
Although Shelley wrote those words almost 200 years ago, his
thoughts on the importance of acknowledging and accepting
change as a constant, cannot be disregarded, even now.
This begs the question, how do we, as effective educational
leaders, “… deliver the kind of results we now need to equip
students for today’s world – and tomorrow’s?”
What can we do, as educators, to become ‘mutable,’ to ensure that our
students are prepared for the 21st Century?
With a focus on literacy for senior students, one of the first things we can
do as educational leaders is to examine our current instructional strategies to determine their effectiveness for today’s students. “Teaching and
instructional leadership in many schools – both public and private – is often
mediocre, and this is the central problem that must be addressed if we are
to improve student achievement” (Wagner and Keegan, 2006, p.25). This
mediocrity can only be ‘fixed’ by dedicated effort. “A lot of our current instructional practices surrounding literacy were not designed to deliver the
kind of results that we now need” (Wagner and Keegan, 2006, p.1). Ron
Heifetz, in his discussion on adaptive leadership, links successful change to
biology and evolution, stating that real improvement requires adaptation.
He explains that “successful adaptation requires building on the past and
April 2015 • Adminfo • 7
There was a time when students came to school as
empty vessels to be filled with knowledge delivered
from teachers and memorized from textbooks.
observing what is expendable or extraneous as changes are made while
still recognizing the “heritage” of an
organization” (Heifetz, Linskey, and
Grashow, 2009, p.1). Relating this to
instructional improvement for literacy, it is necessary to do more than
just ‘fix’ old strategies. It is time to
accept that today’s learners require
different skills and tools for success,
and that it is up to us as educators
to use this knowledge to inform our
practices and to adapt our instructional strategies.
BC’s Education Plan (2011) states
that, “The world has changed and it
will continue to change, so the way
we educate students needs to continually adapt” (p.3). Although there
was a time when students came to
school as empty vessels to be filled
with knowledge delivered from
teachers and memorized from textbooks, this is no longer true. Today’s
students live in a knowledge-based,
information-driven society. What
this translates into is that most stu-
dents spend considerable time drifting blindly through the dark abyss
of the Internet, going nowhere, and
learning nothing. Students need to
be taught how to navigate through
this barrage of information, so they
can learn to make sense of what
is available, accurate, informative,
and important. As educators we
need to “rethink and redesign” our
instructional strategies (Wagner and
Keegan, 2006, p.1).
To be effective and to have an
impact, improvement must see a
more “flexible, dynamic, and adaptable” system that takes into consideration diverse needs and learning
abilities (BC’s Education Plan, 2011,
p.3). Students learn through different learning styles and at a different
pace: instruction, especially higher
level skill instruction, such as critical
thinking, problem-solving, self-regulation, and self-reliance, must take
this into consideration. When teaching higher level or more challenging
skills to students, these differences
among students often become more
pronounced. BC’s Education Plan emphasizes the importance of students
acquiring technological and media
literacy skills, but at the same time
stresses that all students require a firm
foundation in basic literacy skills.
Studies have shown motivation
to be an important factor towards
student success. Bruning and Horn,
in their 2000 study on motivation,
revealed that there are four clusters
integral for developing and maintaining motivation towards writing. These four clusters encompass:
nurturing students’ sense of self-efficacy; providing students with autonomy towards achievement goals;
providing students with authentic
contexts that promote value and
meaning; and, creating a climate of
positive feedback and trust. In 2007,
a study conducted by Lam and Law
echoed Bruning and Horn’s (2000)
findings, proving that “ … students
will be motivated when their teachers provide them with challenging
tasks, ensure real-life significance in
their learning activities, stimulate
their curiosity, grant them autonomy, recognize their effort, and give
them useful feedback for improve-
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April 2015 • Adminfo • 8
ment (Lam and Law, 2007, p.158).
In 2008, a study conducted by Hawthorne produced similar results,
proposing that “Interest in a topic
and the perceived relevance of the
task to the student is the main factor influencing engagement” (Hawthorne, 2008, p.30).
I suggest Inquiry Project as an
effective instructional strategy to
teach literacy for senior students.
Implementing this strategy allows
students to develop basic communication skills and use them as building
blocks to acquire higher level critical thinking and problem-solving.
The strategy also aligns with the vision of BC’s Education Plan as it provides the opportunity for students
to incorporate technology into their
everyday school work, as well as simultaneously allowing students “ …
to explore an educational path that
is best suited to their interests, their
capabilities and their chosen future”
(BC’s Education Plan, 2011, p. 2).
Specifically, the Inquiry Project
involves a semester-long process
where students complete the required course outcomes while immersed in an interest area of their
choice. During this process, students
read, analyze, take notes, write,
edit, listen, discuss, think critically,
present, and reflect; all of which
are required skills for 21st Century
learning. Inquiry Project as an instructional strategy also takes into
consideration the components proposed by Bruning and Horn (2000)
to motivate students. The Inquiry
Project offers autonomy as well as
relevancy for learners, and self-efficacy is developed as students work
independently toward achieving
their goals in a climate of positive
scaffolding and feedback. Applying
this strategy is a way for educators
to help students attain the skills they
need to be successful in school and
productive members of society.
The first step in the Inquiry Project is to have the class brainstorm
topics that they believe are interesting and meaningful to them. Next,
the students individually explore
personal lists of topics that they
believe are significant to their lives.
From here they choose a topic and
complete their first independent
work of creating a detailed web.
Completing a web offers students a
source from which they can generate an individual inquiry question.
During the entire Inquiry Project
process, the students are given three
big questions to refer to:
1. What do you already know
about your inquiry area?
2. What is interesting about
your questions and what did
you discover?
3. How can answering your
continues page 13
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continued from page 9
inquiry question help
enhance your life – now and
in the future?
The third step is when students begin researching their inquiry question. For a period of three weeks
(or longer), they are immersed in
reading and taking notes. Once this
step is completed, students compose
journal entries to help them understand and make sense of all the information that they have gathered
from their research. The journal
entry process encourages students
to analyze and critically think about
what they have discovered.
The next step is when the students
learn about writing emails and letters to enhance their communication skills. Another component in
the process is peer discussion where
the students come together as a
large group to discuss and share
their individual progress. Students
can choose how many times they
would like to meet for these discussions. From here the students take
all of their learning and compose a
formal paper. When this step is completed, they celebrate their learning
by creating a meaningful visual presentation in a format of their choice
(a physical model, a movie, artwork,
etc.). At the conclusion of the Inquiry Project process, students complete a final reflection piece of their
learning journey that refers to their
initial three big questions.
Throughout the Inquiry Project,
both student and teacher roles move
away from the traditional model.
The teacher provides guidance and
scaffolding to the students either in
the form of mini-lessons to the entire group, or individually as oneon-one support. A combination of
both formats can also be used. The
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April 2015 • Adminfo • 13
teacher also works toward building
an environment of trust while mentoring the students as they work independently in their own areas of
interest. This independence offers
the students the opportunity to learn
self-regulation, and as they achieve
their personal goals, this can help
build their sense of self-confidence.
Ongoing positive feedback that recognizes accomplishments as well as
efforts also helps to raise levels of
self-worth for the students. When
students have experienced little success in their years in the system, this
can be a critical component.
In his research on the power of
feedback, John Hattie (2007) states
that meaningful “Feedback is one
of the most powerful influences on
learning and achievement,” and
it is this meaningful and effective
feedback that is offered through
the Inquiry Project process (Hattie
and Timperly, 2007, p. 81). Hattie’s
written from teachers and peers,
and are also given the opportunity
to become an active participant in
1. Where am I going and how
their learning through two-way disam I going?
cussions and reflection.
2. What progress have I made
Implementing the adaptive intowards my goal?
structional strategy of Inquiry Proj3. Where to next? (Hattie and
ect addresses what is required for
Timperly, 2007, p.86)
students to be successful and prepared for the future. The Inquiry
Throughout the instructional pro- Project is an example of improved
cess, students receive ongoing con- instruction towards improved learnstructive feedback both verbal and ing. A community of professional
educators dedicated to continuous
improvement is what I believe we
should all strive to be (Wagner and
Keegan, 2006). Our obligation is to
implement instructional strategies
that effectively promote success for
all learners. The obligation for our
profession is to reflect on Shelley’s
famous words and accept the inevitability of societal change and how
it impacts our education system.
Instituting new strategies such as
the Inquiry Project is one path we
can explore as we practice continuous improvement, because “without
continual growth and progress, such
words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning” (Benjamin Franklin).
Gordon Li, continued from page 3
school configurations, and blended
environments that combine online
and in-person sessions. Online programs have become so innovative
that many feature synchronous delivery, parent advisory councils, and
student leadership.
I have visited districts that have
been experiencing success for our
Aboriginal learners and listened to
mentors talk about courageous leadership, inspiring leaders into action,
and empowering learners who have
been suppressed. It seems to me
that, as members of BCPVPA, we
are part of a learning network that
holds great potential to move learning practices forward and improve
the circumstances for all students in
public education. It has been a gift
to get an insight into how you know
your students. It has inspired me to a
vision of where we may grow in the
areas of leadership development, applications of our Leadership Standards,
and advocacy for the role of principals and vice-principals. I am challenged to refine our network into a
learning tool for all to use.
Dyson, continued from page 6
stats, potentially up to one-quarter
of our students have seen some domestic violence. We have intense
discussions and students have talked
around the subject but there have
been no disclosures to date.
“We touch very gently on family
dynamics, but this is an incredibly
sensitive subject. There will be some
physical abuse in some homes. It’s a
global societal issue, but this is a step
in the right direction with a message
that starts to stick: It’s not OK to
treat each other that way.”
Through conversations, games,
and activities, the boys define their
goals and how they want to be
viewed and remembered.
“They learn to look at their behav-
iours and ask themselves ‘Are they
helping me move toward my goals?’
“We talk about legacy and answer
the question “How do I want to be
remembered?’ They learn that they
are in control of their voices, their
words, and their actions.
“We haven’t advertised Mavericks,” he said, “but it is effective and
could be applied in any school. The
challenge is the logistics. It should
be taught by a male and you need
someone who can connect with the
students. And it has to fit into the
schedule. It would be difficult for a
regular teacher to pull out just the
boys for the program. It’s easier for
me as a principal.”
Charleton said she recalls being
the same age as the girls she works
with. Without knowing why, the
girls she thought were her friends at
the time suddenly wanted nothing
to do with her. The experience left
her distrustful and overthinking everyone’s motives. “I’m 30 years old
now and we hear the same stories.
“This program really has a piece
of my heart. I wish I had something
like this when I was in Grade 5, and
I have had so many adults tell me
that same thing … It’s so beautiful
to watch the students connect with
the volunteers and open up and
share and ask questions. They really
do form relationships with our Voices
mentors.”
“Tell me and I forget,
teach me and I may remember,
involve me and I learn.”
— Benjamin Franklin
model suggests effective feedback
must consider three major questions:
April 2015 • Adminfo • 14
Leslie Dyson is a regular contributor
to Adminfo. She can be reached at
[email protected]