Category Archives: Strengths-Based Model

Classroom Management, Cooperative Learning, Meeting Basic Needs, Neurodiversity, Optimal Learning, Pedagogy, Regulation, Self-Regulation, Social Emotional Learning, Soft Skills, Strengths-Based Model, Teacher Win, Teaching Practices

Truth for Teachers – The Swiss Cheese Model

Three posts in a row!

You may be familiar with Angela Watson’s work on her “Truth for Teachers” blog and podcast. It’s been a while since I’d checked in and I’m glad I did cause I found this.

The Swiss Cheese Model: Letting Go of “All or Nothing” Thinking (September 4, 2022)

The simple explanation of the model goes something like this: there is not one strategy that will solve a complex issue in a classroom or school. These complex issues needs to be addressed through a multifaceted approach because there is no one strategy-fits-all. We use the metaphor of a slice of swiss cheese being a single strategy. The strategy will work for some students but the holes represent how some students will slip through the hole and continue to struggle. So, we layer another slice of cheese (another strategy) which will cover some of those holes and help some of the remaining students find success. You can add a third slice and you get the idea – layers of strategies & supports to tackle complex issues.

I like this analogy as it lines up well with my messaging with school teams – it’s going to take a team approach with different strategies in action to move the student towards learning (which is what we do – develop & strengthen a student’s skill set).

The article does a much better job of explaining than I did. Give it a read and, as always, tell me how you applied it by posting a comment or two.

Neurodiversity, Optimal Learning, Pedagogy, Strengths-Based Model

6 Strategies to Help Neurodiverse Students Fully Engage in Class

Edutopia – 6 Strategies to Help Neurodiverse Students Fully Engage in Class (September 2022)

As educators, we recognize that each student in our learning space is unique. The diversity of the strengths & stretches of our students are what make each year different and they pose different challenges for us. We always plan our learning opportunities with the goal of engaging as many of our students as possible. To do this, we need to keep adding tools to our toolbox.

You know I’m a big fan of Edutopia as I find their work easy to read and implement. Give it a look and challenge yourself to try one this week. Good luck.

 

Game-Based Learning, Minecraft, Social Emotional Learning, Strengths-Based Model

Mindfulness and Minecraft

Just saw this. Haven’t listened to it yet but will hopefully update the post with reactions and reflections.

Pokemon, Strengths-Based Model, Teacher Win, Visuals

Teacher Win – Pokemon Cards for Visual Schedules

One of my children found this on their travels on the information super highway (for those of you who remember that name).

Unbeknownst to me, a student created a Pokemon card about himself and our class. I remember introducing my class to the Pokemon card generator online but never seeing this card. It was such a nice find.

This reminded me of one of the big successes I was part of this year. On a referral I was part, the school team and I were working on a visual system for a student. Off hand, I suggested creating a Pokemon-card visual system.  Simply put, the visual system would be used as a shape-of-the-day agenda co-decided between the student and the educators. To make the materials more subtle and engaging (student was intermediate and didn’t want his peers to see him using a visual), I mentioned using a Pokemon card generator.

The card would represent subjects (Ex. Social Studies, P.E.), items (Ex. binder, writing materials), and preferred activities / choices (Ex. iPad, sensory room). The cards would be put in card sleeves; the kind used for hockey cards. The pages would be kept in a binder; this would make it blend in with the school materials. As a school team, the educators decided how to set the pages to make it functional as a schedule.

I sent the link and didn’t think much more of it. A few weeks later I followed up about the student’s progress and, to my surprise, the teacher sent this:

I was speechless from amazement. The feedback from the educators was that the student was enthusiastic to use it. It was inevitable that his peers saw the binder of Pokemon cards and a lot of interest resulted about it once word got around. Eventually, he felt comfortable sharing it and it ended up being something that served as a shared interest between the student and his peers for positive interactions and friendship building opportunities.

It was so encouraging to be part of that process; seeing an idea I mentioned come to life and getting to work with educators who are so talented and motivated to support this student.

The link for the card generator I suggested is here: https://www.pokecard.net/

It’s free! Can’t go wrong with that.

Note: It also does “Magic: The Gathering” cards and “Yu-Gi-Oh” cards. Links are at the bottom of Pokecard website.

The cards can be personalized in many ways but not completely. Once you generate the card:

  1. Right-click on the card image and choose “Open Image in New Tab” from the menu.
  2. In the tab, right-click on the image and choose “Save image as.” Choose a name and directory for the image and save.

There are other generators online if this one doesn’t fit your needs. There are also other themed-card generators too (though some require payment).

This system is very time-heavy to set-up but I believe you’ll get the return from student engagement. I’m looking forward to trying this with other educators in the upcoming school year.

ADST, Coding, Science, Social Studies, Soft Skills, Strengths-Based Model

Making Space for Makerspaces

Photo by Alice Dietrich on Unsplash

If you’re a parent or educator, it probably isn’t the first time you’ve heard the word “makerspace.” You may picture robotics and computers. Some may picture pencils and sketches. Lego comes up often. Still, others may envision outdoor spaces with branches, rocks, and other natural elements. All of these are right and it speaks to the flexibility of makerspaces.

A makerspace has been described as, “… (A) collaborative work space inside a school, library or separate public/private facility for making, learning, exploring and sharing that uses high tech to no tech tools.” (Link)

Another description is, “(A) room that contains tools and components, allowing people to enter with an idea and leave with a project.” (Link)

Yet another describes it as, “(N)ot solely a science lab, woodshop, computer lab or art room, but it may contain elements found in all of these familiar spaces. Therefore, it must be designed to accommodate a wide range of activities, tools and materials. Diversity and cross-pollination of activities are critical to the design, making and exploration process, and they are what set makerspaces and STEAM labs apart from single-use spaces.” (Link)

It’s clear that there is no single, consensus definition of what a makerspace is and I’d argue it doesn’t need one. In fact, that’s what makes them so valuable in providing learning opportunities (both in schools and out).

Makerspaces are creative spaces. They are invitations to possibility. They allow students to be creative, to design, and ultimately, to express themselves. They allow for expression of ideas and feelings.

Photo by Kevin Jarrett on Unsplash

Typically, a makerspace is a designated space in a school (usually in a library or tech room) where students create a product. The set-up looks different from school-to-school, teacher-to-teacher, and year-to-year. Makerspaces are mentioned often in conjuction with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math), STEAM (Same acronym with A for Arts), and STREAM (Same acronym with R for Reading). Yet, the design studio and product creation aspects are essential to any makerspace model.

My interest comes from my work in special education; particularly strategies and programs that are adaptable for student learning.  As educators, we should look beyond subjects and content to instruction models and learning opportunities. We need to look past the lack of funding, materials, and spaces; easier said than done but it’s not impossible. It’s more of a mind shift to focus on the potential and the possible.

I suggest we start looking at our students’ strengths. That we start looking at the materials  we have and the spaces we have; in the school building, outside of it, and in student homes. That we look at the potential gain instead of the perceived potential loss.

Makerspaces do not have to be limited to computers and tech-related topics.  Here is a brief list of instruction models, topics, and locations where makerspaces have been used in:

  • Outdoor education
  • Montessori
  • Visual Arts
  • Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
  • Tiered interventions for supporting inclusion and behaviour practices
  • Gardening
  • Cooking
  • Science
  • Social Studies

I am NOT an expert with makerspaces. With this blog, I’m hoping to explore strategies and models that can support ALL students to be successful. We can find new ways to engage students and provide them with opportunities to demonstrate their learning beyond pencil and paper.  I’m hoping to provide some detailed examples and suggestions on the blog in the future. There are many rich opportunities for using makerspaces to support learning.

ADST, Coding, Game-Based Learning, Minecraft, Science, Social Studies, Soft Skills, Strengths-Based Model

Minecraft

Minecraft debuted in May 2009 and quickly became one of the biggest online games of recent memory.  As a sandbox game, “(Y)ou’re given free rein in a world where there is little or no plot to drive gameplay; the gameplay emerges from the tools and the world you’re in… the entire world is generated from scratch, and all you start with are your own two hands.” (TechCrunch, 2011) Microsoft released Education Edition in November 2016.

I had this on my radar as a tool to implement in my classroom learning opportunities. Many elementary students still play Minecraft and come with a strong knowledge base on crafting in this creative outlet. For me, I wanted to set up many of my students for success using their strengths and interests. I found it was so much easier to teach when my learning opportunities came from  strengths-based model.

I recognize the challenges many teachers would have in exploring and implementing this for classroom learning opportunities. If you’re interested in dipping your toe in, visit code.org (link below) to explore their online Minecraft coding games (no installation required). These games do not replicate the actual experience of playing Minecraft but it gives any adult whose unfamiliar with it a small glimpse into the game.

Would it be easy for an educator to make this happen without prior experience in game-based learning? No… but that doesn’t mean educators shouldn’t consider how the benefits to students would often outweigh the challenges (Ex. implementation).

Consider this: I’m pretty sure you could find students in your classroom who could help create lessons (Yes – help you create lessons. I said it!) and co-facilitate by modelling what to do and providing one-to-one support to peers. I’m confident that same of the students who would engage, and benefit the most from those opportunities to create lessons with you and co-facilitate, are the same ones labelled as disengaged or academically low or “struggle.” Consider that the goal of using Minecraft is to build soft skills like leadership and communication skills rather than coding.

Minecraft could be used for Social Studies (Ex. creating a neighbourhood to discuss what is needed in one to meet basic needs and wants [micro-focus] to a large scale ancient civilization where students create it based on a limited amount of tools / resources available to them [macro-focus]. For Science, students can build roller coasters to explore physics (True story – my kid did it last week).

There are some steps (and cost) to license the program for school-wide use but, as a teacher with an Office 365 account, I was able to download it and try it out. Otherwise, there’s this online “classic” version of Minecraft here. No installation required.

Microsoft has recently made more free education content available on the Education platform. For further information, please scroll down and click on the links below.

Common Sense Education describes its education value as such:

“Minecraft: Education Edition builds on the creative potential of the original game to help enhance the learning process in virtually any subject area. From math (area and perimeter) to science (human anatomy) to history (the Roman Colosseum) and ELA (storytelling), the game empowers students to discover, create, experiment, and make mistakes through trial and error. The mix of the open-world game with added teacher controls opens up the door to a greater level of engagement when demonstrating higher order thinking; students are able to demonstrate what they know and can collaborate in a familiar, open setting, where they feel comfortable taking risks.”

If those of you who may be interested, there are Youtube videos of people recreating parts of Vancouver in Minecraft. I’ve also seen a reasonably-priced book at Dollarama which shows different world-famous buildings and locations recreated in the game. You can also find several detailed books for coding with Minecraft on Amazon and through Scholastic.

Links:

Minecraft: Education Edition – Download the program.

Youtube: Minecraft Education Edition Channel – Helpful videos

2019 Recap of Minecraft Education Edition – the amazing work done through the game from around the world.

2019 Classroom Experience Updates

code.org: Minecraft – No downloading required. Not part of Education Edition but it does offering very beginning coding games for students. Great place to start and experiment with coding.

code.org: Star Wars – Yes. Same idea as Minecraft but Star Wars themed.

Make Code: Minecraft – making code for Minecraft Education Edition.

Common Sense Education – Minecraft Education Edition Review – I really enjoy and trust the work done by Common Sense Media (and Education).

Washington Post – Minecraft offers free education content for students stuck home due to coronavirus (Gene Park) (March 24, 2020).