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The average attention span of “centennials” (those born between 2000-2020) is eight seconds, compared to twelve seconds in 2000. II During a rodeo event, a bullrider attempts to stay mounted for eight seconds in order for it to be qualified as a successful ride. The reason for the timing is that after eight seconds the bull loses adrenaline and, along with fatigue, their bucking ability decreases. III Recently, I overheard a colleague tell her student teacher that teachers nowadays need to be more interesting than a child’s favorite app. IV Mr. Rogers delivered a college commencement speech in 2001, where he said: “... from the time you were very little, you've had people who have smiled you into smiling, people who have talked you into talking, sung you into singing, loved you into loving.” V As an educator, I’d rather sing someone into singing than win an eight-second ride any day.
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So, perhaps “learn-try-do” sounds a little like the Gradual Release Model (I do - we do - you do) to you. Maybe, but not really. With that model, we jump straight to the doing part. Is that okay? Of course! (I mean, seriously … how could I compare to such great educators as Fisher & Frey!) But what about the times that teachers have “winged it’ or teach things that we ourselves haven’t tried? For example, do you require your students to read every night at home? Have you tried doing that yourself? Or do we teach a lesson on writing poetry and then ask our students to engage in that without trying to write one ourselves? It’s not easy. I think if we did, we’d have more empathy and allow for more student choice.
Let’s start gradually releasing our ways of doing things at school in 2019! Let’s take a deeper look at how learn-try-do might work. Say you want to learn how to snowboard - you might watch a few YouTube videos and sign up for some lessons. Then, you’d have to actually go out to the ski hill, rent some equipment, and try it. You haven’t fully committed yet and that’s fine. You might decide that it’s not for you. At this point, you might feel like you’ve failed but that’s not so. You learned something new and you tried it. Two out of three … awesome!
Consider this scenario though. You have a dream of publishing a children’s book. You subscribe to Writer’s Digest magazine for inspiration, and you read a lot so you know the market and are familiar with various forms. Not only that, you teach writing … every day. But do you write every day? Do you share or submit your own writing? Do you carve out time to work on making your dream a reality? Sometimes we get stuck in the learning but never actually do what we want to be doing. In this case, it’s imperative that we get to the doing part of it. Throughout this month, I’ll be explaining how we might use “learn-try-do” in our teaching practice. After all, teaching is only talking or demonstrating if learning isn’t involved and practice is nothing more than trying. Let’s do this! This year, I’m going to learn something new.
This year, I’m going to try something different. This year, I’m going to do something about it. Pretty much all of our New Year’s resolutions can fit into one of the statements above. But why not think this way every day? Or achieve two out of three in a month. As an experiment, I’ve decided to shape my own life around this, including my blogging and teaching career. I’ve tinkered with this blog since July 2017, but my last post was in June 2018. Pretty diligent for a year but then … crickets chirping for the last six months. What I’ve learned is that it’s tough to write long posts that are informative and inspiring and include appealing photos. I’ve also learned from reading Seth Godin’s blog (almost every day) that it might be better to write a few meaty paragraphs a day and post those without pictures. And I’ve learned from conversations with my friend, Angela Stockman, that there might be some interest in #makereading too. I don’t know, but that’s what I’m going to try. We’ll see how I do. When kids get a “boo-boo,” many parents stop the tears with a kiss to make it better. Nowadays, most adults experience a “too, too” life - too busy, too tired, too stressed. That’s been my story lately anyway, which has kept me away from blogging and making. If you’d like to erase those “too’s” as well, here are some summer projects to make it better: 1. Make a clean sweep of what isn’t working for you. Let go of the book you’ve been trying to read all year but never got into, of the messy desk, of the pressure to have a Pinterest classroom ... 2. Make peace with your mistakes and those of others. Maybe there were some low points during this school year. As the quote goes, “To err is human; to blame it on someone else is even more human!” Let the summer sun melt those negative feelings away, and show yourself and others some forgiveness. 3. Make a better life for yourself. Get some rest and a whole lotta belly laughs this summer! Refill the vessel and be more intentional about what you will give of yourself, your money, and time to next year.  4. Make a head start. Make a plan to learn something new or master a skill by taking an online course, reading a book, or growing your professional learning network (#PLN) on Twitter or a Facebook group. There are lots of people outside your city limits that can help, inspire, and encourage you. 5. Make a go of it. Whether you’re learning new writing strategies or how to make macarons, take some time for yourself and dig deeper. Use the same advice that you normally give to students. (Hint: practice + time = improvement + gratification) 6. Make way for new experiences. You know those large signs on the back of slow moving or oversized vehicles? They caution us to make way for them on the roads. Be on the lookout for larger-than-life experiences this summer but instead of swerving to the right, meet them head on. Try ziplining or eating some exotic delicacy. Stepping outside of our own comfort zones helps us to relate to our students when they feel afraid to try or want to give up.  7. Make space for unexpected surprises. There may be unexplained “coincidences” that align with where we’re headed or, alternately, roadblocks and detours along our learning journey. Either way, take notice and follow the path that feels right.
8. Make a beeline for what you’re passionate about. Go for it! Want to try a new teaching framework or resource next year? Just do it! Don’t look for ways to talk yourself out of it. 9. Make do with what you’ve got. Can’t afford all the bells and whistles? No worries. Working within our constraints forces our minds to come up with creative solutions. 10. Make a comeback in September! If Abba and The Eagles can do it, so can you! Wishing you a great summer of making margaritas, memories, and a renewed mojo! A few nights ago, I took part in a Twitter chat. Another participant posted a photo of a class project to show her learning around literacy instructional strategies. There were books everywhere, engaged and smiling children, anchor charts that students had created, small group instruction, and flexible seating. And this was only what was visible from a single photograph! It was the words that she added though that caused me to sit up, take notice, and respond. She wrote, “Sorry that my classroom is such a mess.” Why would such a hard-working, involved teacher feel the need to apologize? My response was “Real learning IS messy!” However, I must admit that I had similar feelings just before Spring Break. I looked around my room and sighed. After seven months of teacher inquiry into literacy-based makerspace, my room was a mess (to my standards) and I still wondered if I was heading in the right direction. It reminded me of an image I’ve seen on social media with two drawings side-by-side. The first drawing is a straight arrow at an angle with an upwards trajectory and the caption states “What I planned.” The second is a tangled squiggle and the caption states “What happened.” This really captures how I was feeling about my teaching and learning this year.  But then as I was cleaning up, I really started noticing. The items that I put away or recycled brought back memories. Here was the faded green paper chain that was Jack’s beanstalk and I began reading the words on it. The kids had written plot details, character descriptions, questions, and key words on each link. I remembered them talking and smiling while making it as well as planning how and where to put it up. I put away the graphic novels and fractured fairy tales back in the book bins; and I thought about how that opened an interest into a new genre for one boy in particular. I picked the sticky tack off the CDs and markers. I’d forgotten about their spinbot doodle art and poems. That seems so long ago. I just saw the mess that still had to be cleaned up. Making spinbots and doodlebots was our first foray into tinkering with text and it gave us a ton of inquiry questions to add to our wonder wall.  I began this blog experimenting with different frameworks. First, I wanted to investigate the intersection of literacy and makerspace. Then I saw it as more of an infinity loop. Further iterations produced a model which showed it as a weaving, and a teacher in my Twitter PLN asked if it might be likened to a bridge.
None of these early models ever proposed that it would be linear and progressing in one direction. So why would I expect that of myself only seven months into it? Why would I question it when all my qualitative and quantitative data showed that the children had learned? Why doubt it simply because my room doesn’t always look like a Pinterest photograph? Nonsense! REAL learning is messy! The Full Meal Deal When we were young, it was a big deal for our family to go out for dinner at a hotel that had a buffet, which we used to call a smorgasbord. Of course, kids notoriously have eyes larger than their stomachs and we were no different. We piled our plates high with anything and everything; and my three brothers would make the all-you-can-eat price worth it. Nowadays, I weigh my food choices more carefully. Will it agree with my stomach … my heart … my thighs? And unless you're on a cruise, this gastronomic and sensory overload is thankfully out of style. It's much cooler to go to a restaurant with brick walls, live edge tables, and an assortment of quality morsels served on a plank.  Shiny Things When we start anything new, we think we need all the latest and greatest gear. It’s common to see new school makerspaces chock full of Ozobots, Makey-Makey, and shiny carts with bins. But does it all get used? The same applies to loose parts. We collect all kinds of interesting things and display them in tinker trays, tins, or trolleys. The kids’ eyes pop out at all these objects and they want to touch them all. It’s akin to the smorgasbord - sensory overload and a bit overwhelming. When the students are invited to participate in loose parts play, a guided imagery exercise, or a design challenge, it can take forever for the students to choose their materials due to too many choices.  #5x5 strategy - 5 types of loose parts & 5 of each - create something while you think about what you want to say for your book talk #5x5strategy This is where we as educators may wish to place constraints on their choices. Lately, I’ve been exploring the “5x5 strategy.” (Search Twitter with the hashtag #5x5strategy to find examples.) This is where the teacher selects a set amount of loose parts (say, 6-10) and arranges them on a table or in trays. They may choose 5 loose parts from 5 categories for a total of 25 items. You can add another five or 10 (i.e. 5x5x5 or 5x5x10) to let the students know how many minutes they have to select their parts. We’ve also done “5+5 strategy” and “5+(4+1)+5 strategy” hacks. Our “5+5” hack was using 5 loose parts to dip in paint using the 5 Olympic flag colours and stamp them on paper to make a design or pattern. Next steps are to write about what their picture represents or what it looks like to them (think, Rorschach images). Some of the prints didn’t work out too well; so those students will be cutting their paper into shapes or letters to create images or words and then writing about that. They may move back and forth between the making, writing, editing, and reading.  #5x5 strategy - 5 loose parts & 5 Olympic flag colours (paint) to stamp a design We All Work with Constraints The “5+(4+1)+5” hack was for older students who are learning to sketchnote. Their task was to research an Olympic sport and find 5 facts (new to them) about that sport. They write the fact on a sticky note and move them around on their paper to plan the layout before beginning their sketchnote. Their challenge is to include 5 facts surrounded by 5 frames, 4 connectors in between and 1 banner (4+1) above, and 5 relevant drawings. This project is still in process. (Note: Search the internet for some “how-to’s’ on sketchnoting and let the students play with the process and familiarize themselves with the components before doing an actual project.) Some may say that no constraints should be put in place for the child … to let them explore. I agree, but not in all circumstances. Constraints are a normal part of life. When making dinner, we look in the fridge and cupboards to see what we have and then be creative with those ingredients. Many teachers do not have a “fully stocked” classroom; but we make the best of what we have and need to be innovative thinkers to create learning environments and experiences based on our situation.  #5x5 strategy - 5 LEGO blocks in 5 different colours - "a mobile playground that can fly from the park to school to your backyard" Something to Consider In regards to constraints, Angela Stockman (author of Make Writing) wrote this on Twitter: “I'm not sure there is one ‘right’ way to use constraints when designing challenges like these. I tend to play and test in order to see how changing variables changes learning.” She added: “For me, it's always about elevating the writing or adding complexity. So, I will use 2x2 or 3x3 or different variances. ‘Given these three materials and three mins, build me your counterclaim…’” From time to time, try implementing constraints in the loose parts play, makerspace creations, or design challenges in your classroom and notice how your students respond. You may agree that a few well-selected morsels are more “delicious” than the grand buffet. I’ll be honest - the first time I heard the term “loose parts,” I thought, “What the …?” It’s not the kind of thing you like to think or talk about as a middle-aged woman, especially not in mixed company. It brings to mind all the jiggly bits that we struggle to get rid of, even though it’s just a war against time and gravity. Even now, I still chuckle inwardly or cringe just a little when someone mentions it. What are loose parts? However, in the field of education, it means something quite wonderful. As explained in this article, loose parts are “open-ended materials that can be combined, transported, and transformed.” They can be re-purposed, found or acquired objects. These objects can be used as a springboard for inquiry or makerspace and are a staple in Reggio or Montessori classrooms. Although loose parts have typically been incorporated with Early Childhood Education, literacy lessons, or outdoor education, there’s really no reason not to use them across the curriculum and across the grades.  Connecting to the core competencies At the beginning of this term, I delved into Laura Fleming’s latest book, The Kickstart Guide to Making Great Makerspaces. The book includes a planning map. At first, I was going to use it as a poster in my classroom but then I thought, “No, use it.” So I set to work and added sticky notes with notes that were relevant to my practice, place, and students. All good design begins with empathy. The first section I tackled was called, “Understand your learners.” I’m a reading intervention teacher based in an elementary school. Almost all of my students have a learning disability (LD) in reading and/or writing or have an LD profile. Some also deal with anxiety, ADD, lack of self-confidence, or speech/ hearing/ behaviour/ social issues.  So I took a look at the BC Core Competencies and decided that I really wanted/ needed to dig deep into these competencies with my students:
Next steps The next steps are what I’ve used as my framework throughout this inquiry process and what I’ve explained since the inception of this blog.
 We devoured these books through read-alouds, read-to-self, shared reading, and book talks. We examined these books as mentor texts and used favorite or repeating lines to help us shape our own writing. We wrote journal entries and “I statements.” We drew, we read some more, we wrote some more, we talked lots. And in the midst of all of this, we used loose parts to explore what we thought, felt, heard, learned, understood, and questioned.  Captions:
Loose parts allow students to “mess about,” set the imagination free, and create visual representations of their learning. Tinkering with text allows children to grow as readers, writers, and compassionate learners who believe that love and kindness is all around them. Moving sucks. It's exhausting. There are endless trips to the thrift store or recycling depot to get rid of stuff, and to U-Haul or the grocery or liquor store for more boxes. You also need an arsenal of bubble wrap, packing paper and tape, and cleaning supplies. Of course, there is a pot of gold at the end of this rainbow ... a new place that you love, furniture shopping, settling in and making this house your home. However, no one actually likes all the packing, cleaning, and paying thousands of dollars to real estate agents, lawyers, and movers. Moving sucks.  For some, learning to read is kind of like moving. It's hard work and you're wondering how you'll ever get there. You're tired of living in a mess. For some, the act of reading is constantly being in this state and never getting to the "new place." Check out this paragraph about someone who struggles with dyslexia. Then click on the red link on that page or this one to experience how a person with a learning disability may see text. Eye opening, isn't it? Let's get back to my moving experience for a minute. Imagine that I would receive report card comments for my "moving skills" (a task that I don't enjoy and am frustrated with) that are similar to the ones we regularly give to struggling readers and writers.
I'm not trying to be facetious or cavalier about this at all. My point is that some activities are really hard work and much harder for some than others. So, when a student says "reading sucks," believe them and empathize. The bookshelves in our classrooms may be their equivalent of the mountain of boxes in the corner of my living room. I love this quote by Maya Angelou: "Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” (italics mine) Granted, sometimes it is misquoted and used in the wrong way, but let's just take a minute to absorb the enormity of that statement.  In my first year as a teacher, my Dad gave me similar advice. It wasn't going well and after one tearful phone conversation, he told me to hold my head up high and tell myself, "I'm doing the best I can, and I'm going to get better." (Wow! Growth mindset in the 80's!) I've tried to live by that advice ever since. This year, I ventured into the world of literacy-based makerspace within my reading intervention program. There's been hills and valleys, for sure. Now, as I wrap up the term and do my assessment and reporting, I've had to take a hard look at how I've done this in the past. In essence, I did the best I could but now I know better. I still have to do assessments as a requirement for my job, but I do have a choice in how I relay that information to parents. Do they really need to hear or see how far behind their child is yet again? This way of reporting, that includes charts full of percentiles and pre/post test scores and pages of commentary, doesn't fit within my educational philosophy anymore. It doesn't fit me.  And so, while I have known better for a while now, I've decided to also do better. I've designed this new reporting template and have integrated the Core Competencies, First Peoples Principles of Learning, and Digital Literacy. I've also tried to build it around my theme of "tinkering with text." In a sense, I'm tinkering with my own words as I seek be to more empathic in my reporting. I'm thankful that I live in this province and am teaching at a time where this flexibility in reporting is not only acceptable but encouraged. If you are a specialist teacher (LAT, Resource, ELL, RTI, etc.) and do not have to use a specific district or ministry report template, feel free to download my template (below) and make it your own. Make it fit your pedagogical beliefs and practices, reflect your community, and serve your students and parents in the best way possible. 
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Vicki Den Ouden is an Elementary Reading Intervention Teacher from BC, Canada. She loves to dream, learn, teach, and create. 
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