One of the richest practices in the teaching profession is the reflective observation of our peers. When I served as a Curriculum Facilitator in Okinawa, I understood that my position was designed to help teachers refine their teaching practices; what I didn't anticipate was the reciprocal benefit for my own teaching. Working with other teachers from both curricular and instructional perspectives afforded me a birds-eye view into what worked well for children.
When I was hired as an Assistant Teacher at Punahou, I was excited to serve in another position to observe great teaching. To my benefit, this happened almost immediately. I learned a tremendous amount about Punahou, second graders and second grade curriculum that year. Though I haven't observed any instruction in 2 nd -5 th grade classrooms until Cycle II, I am thankful that the evaluation process reinstated these opportunities to learn from my colleagues. It reminded me of the value in learning what's happening vertically and laterally, especially as we look to redesign grades 2-5.
OBSERVATION #1: Kris Schwengel, Grade 4 After consulting with Julie about my desire to look outside Everyday Math, she suggested I visit Kris' classroom to see his children's project-based math activities. To say I was impressed would be an understatement. I've observed a lot of classroomsmaybe a hundred or moreand his was by far the most integrated, technology-centered, creative classroom in my experience. Kris started the lesson with the instructions on an Inspire Flipchart.
After this overview and explanation, Kris sent the children to work on their airplane designs. Using Google Sketch, the students were drawing their airplane designs with exact angle measurements on their laptops. The students' graphic designs were phenomenal! From these digital plans, they were required to write specific instructions to another student explaining how to make the airplane based solely on their written directions. Because of the intricacy of the designs, I found this link to writing especially challenging yet incredibly effective.
I love how Kris integrated technology, math, writing, reading and engineering in this high-interest project. The students were completely engaged on their work. The project was also naturally differentiated because the children could design their planes to an individualized complexity. There was a great deal of choice and limited boundaries for the children. Kris provided a basic framework of the expectations, coupled with clear guidelines on how students would be assessed. I left the observation with tons of ideas, as well as inspiration to replace Everyday Math with more meaningful work.
OBSERVATION #2: Danette Kobayashi, Grade 4
My second observation was in Danette Kobayashi's room to see how her class integrated language arts and science for their overnight camping trip. Students researched different ecosystems within Camp Mokule`ia via an inquiry-based learning experience. Her project was an amazing way to incorporate classroom content, outdoor education, and reflective learning.
Danette began the unit with an introduction of the ecosystems they would see at Camp Mokule'ia: ironwood forest, ocean, shoreline, and stream. From this overview, they selected the ecosystem they were interested in designing. Danette provided the children with guidelines to move their research forward, but they generated their own guiding questions. Then they planned, designed, built and enhanced their own ecosystems.
Danette led some lessons to introduce the "big idea": all ecosystems have an energy source, a food chain and some kind of interaction between the living things, the environment and the energy source. The children's task was to uncover the energy sources, food chain and interactions for their own ecosystems.
Before building the structures, the students researched their ecosystem, discussed their plans, drew sketches and printed digital photos to share. Then they created the animals and plants for their environments. They wrote mini-descriptions about everything they built, labeling with signs to identify the food chains in their systems.
After the overnight adventure at Camp Mokule'ia, students made adjustments to their design. Their projects were no longer just intellectual visions; they were reproductions of the actual places that the children experienced. In the end, the projects let students literally construct their own learning. It was a powerful way to make the learning real, engaging, creative, open-ended, cooperative and yet individualized.
I'm so thankful I was able to observe the depth of thinking and learning of these 4 th
grade classes. My hope is that we can begin to foster more peer observation so we can better understand the current 2-5 experience as we're redesigning for the future.