This week, we are diving further into the book "Why Don't Students Like School?" by Daniel Willingham. Specifically, we are exploring ideas of critical thinking, memory, and the importance of background knowledge in remembering key ideas and concepts. 

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**For detailed show notes, please visit our website at https://edugals.com/113**

• Why Don't Students Like School by Daniel Willingham
• How To Get Students Thinking - E110
• Chapter 2 key ideas:
  • Thinking skills depend on factual knowledge (intertwined and need to be practiced in parallel)
  • Working memory capacity is limited - chunking can "expand" it
  • Knowledge gaps continue to grow steadily unless we focus on closing the gaps
  • Thinking like a scientist needs background knowledge - unexplained results require expectations
• Chapter 3 key ideas:
  • Memory is the residue of thought
  • What is in your memory? What do you always need to review?
  • What you are ACTUALLY thinking about is what is going to stick in your memory
  • Lessons - what do we want students to focus on and think about? Need purposeful goals and design
  • Hooks - what will students be focusing on? The flashy part or the concept?
  • Knowledge needs to first go into working memory before going into long-term memory
  • Effective teachers - nice (connections) and organized (interesting to learn, easy to understand)
  • Four types of connections - jokes, empathy/caring, storyteller, show person
  • Storytelling is important for memory
  • 4 C's: Causality, Conflict, Complications, and Character
  • Lessons can be structured using the 4 C's
  • Storyworthy by Matthew Dicks
  • Flipping perspectives can be interesting (from character and conflict)
  • Mnemonics are great for memorizing concepts without meaning - cues the brain
  • Sometimes rote memorization needs to happen and that's ok!
• Classroom Implications:
  • Critical lens to lesson plans - where is the focus of thinking?
  • Use discovery learning with care
  • Organize a lesson plan around the conflict
  • Be careful with attention grabbers

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This week, we are chatting all about change with mastery learning in our classrooms! Specifically, we'll reflect on where we are at in our implementation journey as well as what changes we are going to make moving forward into the new semester. 

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**For detailed show notes, please visit our website at https://edugals.com/112**

• Semester turnaround! Fresh starts are awesome
• Lofty goals! Stress less about videos, more on differentiation
• Implementing Mastery Learning by Thomas Guskey
• Modern Classrooms Project
• Initial instruction can be anything - live is likely better than using someone else's video
• Specific corrective activities before re-assessment
• Formally define re-assessment policies
• Get a handle on mastery learning first before layering self-pacing and blended instruction
• Mastery learning can fit within traditional teaching
• Seating charts for self-pacing time, based on lessons (similar to station-based learning) and pull small groups right away
• Thinking Classrooms by Peter Liljedahl - incorporate daily whole class activities
• More UnGrading!
• Revamping grade 9 skills-based mastery rubrics to 4 levels from 3 levels with checklist criteria with percentage mastered
• Still loving Specifications Grading!
• Individual trackers with suggested due dates - paper and digital available
• "This Week" slide/agenda for each week
• Finding more time/support for struggling students
• Randomized groupings/seating plans - stick with it... it takes time!
• Nothing will be perfect - we're always growing and learning
• Change implementation takes a long time (about 3 years!)

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This week, we are exploring the sustaining effort and persistence aspect of the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework. We'll go over the four key checkpoints within effort and persistence as well as explain how you can start to implement some ideas in your classroom.

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**For detailed show notes, please visit our website at https://edugals.com/111**

• CAST.org - Universal Design for Learning framework
• How to get students thinking - E110
• Sparking Excitement and Curiosity for Learning - E108
• Four checkpoints:
  • Heighten salience of goals and objectives
  • Vary demands and resources to optimize challenge
  • Foster collaboration and community
  • Increase mastery-oriented feedback
• Goals and Objectives:
  • I can statements are a great start, have students re-state objectives in their own words
  • Big picture to small objectives - what steps can we take?
  • Use planner documents, scaffolds
  • Engage learners in assessment discussions, rubric creation, review of exemplars
• Vary Demands and Resources:
  • Knowing that learners vary in abilities and skills
  • Knowing your learners, background knowledge, learned experiences
  • Differentiation!
  • Implementing Mastery Learning by Thomas Guskey
  • Lots of parallels with mastery-based learning - all students can succeed
  • Lesson classifications - Modern Classrooms Project
• Collaboration & Community:
  • Feeling safe in the classroom = engagement
  • Self-pacing and ungrading helps!
  • Peer interactions and support
  • Provide prompts for asking questions, using ask 3 before me and other structures
  • Group work norms - great 1st week activity
  • School-wide programs that are differentiated?
• Mastery Feedback:
  • Constructive, timely, specific, focus on learning and improvement
  • Focus on the skills you want students to improve on
  • Build strategies for future success
  • Specifications Grading - E107
  • Our Favourite Formative Assessment Tools - E101
  • Descriptive Feedback to Boost Student Learning - E091

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This week, we are starting a new book talk series! We are chatting about our learning and reflections on chapter 1 from Daniel Willingham's book, Why Don't Students Like School? There are lots of great brain-based and scientifically-backed ideas for your classroom in this book! 

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**For detailed show notes, please visit our website at https://edugals.com/110**

• Why Don't Students Like School by Daniel Willingham
• More Info about Daniel Willingham (cognitive scientist)
• Chapter 1: Why Don't Students Like School
• Guiding principle: "people are naturally curious, but we are not naturally good thinkers; unless the cognitive conditions are right, we will avoid thinking"
• We mostly do things on auto-pilot and relies on our memory; very little is true thinking
• What is thinking? It is taking information from the environment and long-term memory (facts and procedures) and bringing them together into working memory to combine the ideas in new ways
• Thinking tasks need to be challenging enough to engage but not so challenging that it causes frustration
• Connections to Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics by Peter Liljedahl
• Differentiation, mastery-based learning = engagement!
• Gaps in background knowledge (facts and procedures) can limit engagement in thinking tasks
• Background knowledge is key - Googling takes way too long and distracts from the problem-solving process
• Implications for the classroom:
  • Be sure that there are problems to be solved
  • Respect students' cognitive limits
  • Clarifying the problems to be solved
  • Reconsider when to puzzle students
  • Accept and act on variation in student preparation
  • Change the pace
  • Keep a diary

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This week, we are back and reflecting on the 2022 year. We'll chat about what we've struggled with and what we've learned as well as what our goals are  for the new year. 

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**For detailed show notes, please visit our website at https://edugals.com/109**

• We're back to our weekly schedule!
• 2022 has been a challenging year - personally and professionally
• Lots of change and transitions - admin changes, role changes
• Change can be mentally and physically exhausting
• Saying no and asking for help, when needed
• Work-life balance is important
• Checking email and notifications - switch off after work hours!
• It's just a job
• New iPad app: Freeform (similar to Jamboard)
• What we're reading
• Ride to Conquer Cancer
• Goals for EduGals - consistency, sharing our learning, book club episodes, hit 150 episodes
• Successes - 100 episodes, joining the Education Podcast Network, presenting at ISTE
• Modern Classrooms Project Podcast - E116 with Rachel
• Some favourite past episodes - mastery-based learning, ungrading

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This week, we are diving deeper into the UDL (Universal Design for Learning) framework by exploring multiple means of engagement in the classroom. Specifically, we are focusing our discussion on how to spark excitement and curiosity in the classroom.

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**For detailed show notes, please visit our website at https://edugals.com/108**

• UDL Guidelines from CAST.org
• Providing multiples means of engagement pillar (the WHY of learning):
  • Recruiting Interest
    • Providing options, different modalities
    • information that you have, that your learners are not, engaged with or interested in is actually information that's inaccessible to them
  • Sustaining effort and persistence
  • Self-regulation

Recruiting Interest:

• Optimize individual choice and autonomy
  • Curriculum is not a choice but we can build in opportunities for choice elsewhere
  • Skills-based courses can provide more choice in terms of student interests
  • Choice in how information is obtained
  • Doesn't need to be a lot of choices
  • Involve students in success criteria, themes, resources in projects
  • Involve learners in setting their own goals
  • Point-less by Sarah Zerwin book
• Optimize relevance, value and authenticity
  • CRRP
  • Resources that are socially relevant, age and ability appropriate, first languages
  • Instructional videos on YouTube for auto-translated captioning
  • Google Translate is useful too
  • Active participation and participation - hands-on activities, whiteboards
  • Authentic tasks
• Minimize threats and distractions
  • Creating a safe learning space for students
  • Maslow's hierarchy
  • Language as a threat - shutdown, fear can happen
  • Too much sensory stimulation can be a threat/distraction - minimize the fluff, use the same templates, routine is great for student learning
  • Self-pacing with Modern Classrooms
  • Whole class discussions - think about your extraverts and introverts, use backchannel tools (padlet, google chat), video presentations

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In this episode, we are exploring the ways that you can leverage technology to support the English language learners in your classroom. We'll cover tech tools such as Google Read&Write and Mote, as well as some general tips and strategies for designing an inclusive and safe learning environment for your students.

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**For detailed show notes, please visit our website at https://edugals.com/55**

Common Acronyms:

• ELL - English Language Learner
• ESL - English as a Second Language
• EAL - English as an Additional Language
• STEP - Steps to English Proficiency
• OLB - Observable Language Behaviours
• OLLB - Observable Language and Literacy Behaviours

Overall Tips and Strategies:

• Use first languages (these are a strength and asset for learning)
• Integrate culture where possible and use lived experiences when designing resources
• Understand the difference between conversational and academic language
• Just because speaking is strong, it doesn’t mean reading/writing are the same - survival 
• Don't make assumptions! Not all multilingual learners can read/write in their first language or have that specific knowledge in their first language
• Learn how to pronounce student names properly (use tech tools to support your learning)
• Use images and student-friendly definitions to reduce cognitive load
• Differentiation is needed! Check out the Modern Classrooms Project framework
• Scaffolding using sentence stems and frames

Resources Mentioned:

• Ontario STEP Framework
• OLB and OLLB Continua
• Modern Classrooms Project
• E051 with Jake Miller

Recommended Tech Tools:

• Google Read&Write by TextHelp (Dictionaries, Translations, Voice-to-Text, Highlighters)
• Google Translate (Extension or Website)
• Word Reference (virtual dual-language dictionary - multilingual)
• Translate using formulae in Google Sheets (see Jake Miller's Translate in Sheets EduGIF for more details)
• Mote

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This week, we are chatting all about specifications (or specs) grading. This is an alternative grading strategy that focuses on mastery of learning by defining specific requirements for what students need to meet. 

If you like what you hear, we would love it if you could share this episode with a colleague or friend. And make sure you subscribe so that you don’t miss out on any new content! And consider supporting the show by buying us a coffee or two!

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**For detailed show notes, please visit our website at https://edugals.com/107**

• Specifications (specs) grading works well with mastery-based learning
• Create specifications for what students need to demonstrate mastery
• Divide up the course into small modules and each module is passed by scoring 80% (mastery) or better
• Final grades are determined by how many of these modules are mastered
• One possible way to do this is to create essential outcomes (absolutely must pass) and general outcomes (grade modifiers)
• Example - IB Chemistry Year 1 grade conversion chart
• Students need multiple opportunities to master the outcomes - create multiple versions (think larger mastery check) for each outcome
• Each week, students can attempt outcomes
• Students appreciate this model - focus on learning, less stress
• Linda Nilson - Specifications Grading Book
• Popular in post-secondary, not sure who else is doing this K-12?
• Benefits - students are not getting left behind, experiencing success, working hard
• General outcomes - can become your focus of the final exam for one extra attempt!
• Tokens - can trade them in for handing in an assignment late, getting another attempt, etc
• Sharing with colleagues - some curiosity and some pushback
• Practice for standardized tests - can happen outside of this and doesn't need to be high stakes
• Webinar on Specs Grading in Chemistry
• Labs are also included - passing each lab will have specific requirements
• Another benefit - giving a test back is way less stressful and no grade grubbing! Tests are seen as learning opportunities
• Can be used in any course area (works well with single point rubrics too)

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This week, we are reflecting on our experiences with de-streaming in our classrooms so far in this school year.  We will share our progress, our wins and challenges, and, most importantly, resources to help guide you along with this journey!

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Featured Content
**For detailed show notes, please visit our website at https://edugals.com/106**

• Ontario is de-streaming or academic strand in grade 9 this year
• New Ontario grade 9 science curriculum
• Mastery-based learning using Modern Classrooms Project framework
• Thinking Classrooms (Book)
• Design Thinking
• Ungrading (FAQ doc from Jesse Stommel)
• Project Zero - Visible Thinking (Thinking Routines Toolbox)
• CRRP (Culturally Responsive and Relevant Pedagogy)
• UDL (Universal Design for Learning)
• Grade 9 De-streamed Science Facebook Group
• Progress over perfection
• Try, Fail, Learn

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This week, we are chatting about learner variability in the context of Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Learner variability is not just simply learning styles; we'll define what learner variability is as well as the various strategies that we can use in the classroom to support all of our learners.

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**For detailed show notes, please visit our website at https://edugals.com/105**

• Learner variability is not the same thing as learning styles!
• Learner variability is holistic and flexible to meet the needs of our students as their needs ebb and flow
• Learner Variability Navigator by Digital Promise
• Four key factors for learner variability: content, cognition, social-emotional learning, and student background
• UDL framework principles:
  • Variability is the rule, not the exception
  • All students can work towards the same firm goals and grade level standards when provided with conditions of nurture and adequate support
  • All learners can become expert learners if barriers are removed
• UDL and CRRP go together! 
• UDL Rising to Equity Initiative
• Factors are all interconnected, research-based, lots of strategies provided with each one
• Advice for getting started:
  • Get to know your students to learn their strengths and needs
  • Focus on one pillar or area of need
  • Try some of the instructional strategies
  • Be flexible - students needs will ebb and flow depending on many other factors
  • Start small, try 1 strategy and see how it goes
  • Focus on developing your mindset

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