Lenses & Driving Questions

Tuesday was an edu-cool day.  I had a chance to articulate and build on the mess of ideas that constantly roll around in my busy brain. I found a group of likeminded educators who want to change things up like I do ...so we met and started to reimagine our curriculum. Four teachers (one of whom is our tech TOSA) met for three hours to brainstorm ideas on how to retool social studies. We have committed to working with other colleagues in other schools and districts to reimagine social studies and humanities. This was a grass roots idea built on conversations at school and twitter connections I’ve been fortunate to make. A few of us will get a bit of summer work money, but this is a gathering of the minds to make the student experience better. This was only the first day.

Like my colleagues in our motley PLN, I have been constantly frustrated and outright bored with the traditional model of teaching social studies - chapter by chapter, coverage over true knowledge. As a director of and trainer at the Oak Park Inquiry Institute, I am well versed in the process of inquiry (or what many call project or problem-based learning). As much as I have helped others revamp their curriculum and instructional strategies, and as much as I have improved my own curriculum in language arts and social studies, I am still dissatisfied. I am simply too traditional for my own taste and not true enough to the process of inquiry. Oh yeah, and I’m bored stiff...imagine how the kids must feel?

In attending the Teaching the HSS Framework conference in April, I was pleased to learn the updated framework advocates for inquiry as a primary focus, which includes helping students ask big, deep, broad questions about history and its connection to today. Teaching through driving questions is something I have been doing for years, but I’m still “delivering” content mainly through presentations and lecture. Nevertheless, it was validating that the state was catching up to my PLN!

What pushed my decision to abandon the old stodgy way of chapter by chapter teaching was that the updated framework gave me permission to (like I needed that for some reason…) 1. not cover everything and 2. to teach using a case study method.

A case study method means that for each driving question, you use only a few examples to approach in depth. For instance, take a look at the brainstorm below:

Not only was this conference-inspired massive concept map rolling around in my head for almost two months, but it is organized not around the ancient civilizations I am required to teach in 6th grade, but around themes - especially themes of history: geography (and its own themes), political systems, culture, economics, and history. This is a work in progress…

The idea is to approach history - and in my case ancient history - by asking for example:

What is the impact of geography on the development of civilization?

or

What is our relationship to the environment?

Through one or both of these driving questions, we can start the year using the case studies of early man and the beginning of village life in Mesopotamia to examine the impact of geography - especially the impact of rivers - on the development of civilization. Or, using several civilizations/empires such as the Persians, Chinese, and Egyptians, we can can examine the same impact of geography but then explore the increasingly complex relationship between humans relying on their environment to humans manipulating their environment to prosper. Notice, this not teaching Ch. 4, 5, and 8 as our textbook would dictate. With a case study approach to viewing history through lenses, we can study several civilizations at once and by year’s end, the kids will have gotten to know them all .... but deeply.


Besides organizing and viewing history through lenses, I want to change how we approach the thinking about history (see pix).  I tend to think of everything through driving questions. I want students to research and examine how civilizations, structures, and belief systems are created - What are the root causes of _____________?

What is the context in which certain events happen and how does that context impact _________? To study events without understanding the context, or cultural/political/economic environment in which they happen is foolhardy at best, and teaching in isolation at worst.

What connections do ____________ have with ____________? The new HSS Framework emphasize points of contact and sites of encounter between peoples. This emphasis really solved a main problem we were having with the chapter-by-chapter approach. Focusing on how cultures/societies interacted and changed each other over time, allows for a more integrated approach to history.

How did ______________ contribute to _________________? What were the impacts of those contributions? To follow on the points of encounter, we have golden ages and renaissances throughout cultures, and we often look at those contributions during these time periods of great ‘output’, but do we really spend enough time on how those contributions impact us today? And I don’t mean the two additional pages in our textbook; I mean the real impact of yesterday’s technology and achievements, good and bad. What are the cost-benefits of these contributions - for example, the Chinese invention of gunpowder? Did it change warfare then and now? How does a simple invention like this influence personal power nowadays? Think street violence and the prevalence of handguns.

And to end for now, here are some other driving questions that were rolling around my busy brain:

Disrupting Humanities

Just finished Disrupting Thinking by Beers & Probst (2017). I took a quick break from my usual reads on Inquiry to work on my language arts needs. But no sooner had I reached the bottom of the second page of text, did the authors’ words bring me back to Inquiry - and my summer plans … for social studies!:

“Disruptions start with a thought that something needs to be better. (p.7)

After years of continually moving my curriculum towards true humanities (integrated language arts & social studies) and towards more and more inquiry based across the board, I decided enough pussy-footing around - this summer I'm doing it, going whole hog - I'm redoing my curriculum from start to finish… and getting a group together to re-do it with!

After Beers’s and Probst’s idea of disrupting thinking to initiate doing, they ask two questions that I've often asked myself:

1. What needs to change?
2. What assumptions make that change hard?

I knew SS had to be reconfigured from a chapter-by-chapter, seemingly isolated civilization followed by another seemingly isolated civilization to something else, something deeper and bigger. The kids think only one society exists at a time and lack the context of time and place to understand his one civilization connects to another. And it was not due lack of my teaching ability - it was how I was ‘doing’ history.

I know my curriculum has to change  - it has to be more responsive to kids’ needs for critical thinking and critical understanding of key concepts. Content must be taught and learned in more engaging and memorable ways - I know this way is through inquiry.

For me, I am not sure what assumptions make that hard to change what has always been. Time? I teach middle school so there is never enough time. We have 50 minute periods. I could create a 90 minute block if I didn’t share one of the cores or there were no students pulled out for services. But honestly, I think that is the only real obstacle to creating change. I do not have administration breathing down my neck to follow their agenda of compliance. I am trusted to make sound curricular decisions in the best interest of the students. I am lucky.

So all I have to do is start changing it up.

Looking beyond ourselves: Service learning in a suburban school district

By Vanessa Heller: Educator at Oak Park Unified and trainer at Oak Park Inquiry Institute

Who we are

Oak Park Unified is becoming a district focused on inquiry based teaching and learning. This focus also includes a growing dedication to service learning. Because we are always moving forward as a district, our question is:

How might we move from service learning opportunities to true civic action?

I have taught about 10 of my 19 years in this small yet progressive-minded school district in suburban Southern California. Our district and its schools have always stood out as different from other districts - we are small, a district of choice where 40% of our students come from outside our boundaries, and we are known for high achievement and high expectations. Our teachers have much autonomy in their curricular and instructional decisions because we are trusted as professionals. We do not teach to the test, yet we outperform other districts consistently. Our professional development is seldom mandated but self-selected. These factors lay the foundation for our foray into inquiry and its outcome, service learning. It is our goal to one day move towards true civic action as our impact expands ever outward.

Setting the stage for inquiry and civic action

“American society’s intense focus on individual achievement and well-being tends to eclipse community needs and efforts.” Zemelman in From Inquiry to Action

Several years ago, we revamped our mission, one aspect being that each student “Will Become a Compassionate and Creative Global Citizen”. This goal is supported by the following objectives:

• By recognizing, celebrating and embracing diversity, inclusiveness and personal beliefs

• By fostering character development, acceptance, ethical and compassionate behavior, social responsibility, community service and global stewardship

This is a lofty goal goal indeed, but four years ago, a grassroots effort by many teachers helped make this ideal of a global citizenry a reality. This reality would be realized through inquiry and our additional goal of engaging in sustained civic action.

Like a few teachers before me, I attended a multi-session professional development on inquiry at UCLA’s Critical Thinking Institute (CTI - now defunct) at the university’s Lab School. This school is inquiry-based. I had never heard nor seen of such a thing...I was hooked. This was the teaching model I never knew I wanted and was everything I believed about teaching - hands-on, high level thinking, student centered, and based on asking and honoring critical questions from students about content and its application to the word outside of the classroom. I also knew that many of my colleagues felt the same way about teaching as I did - they had to see this method in action!

If you know anything about public education, the standard reply when you ask to attend a workshop, conference, etc. is,  “We’d love to send you, but there is no money.” Since I am not one to take no for an answer - which my administrators do know about me - I sat myself down in the assistant superintendent's office and said, “So, I have this idea….” (This is not recommended in a larger district by the way, but we all know each other in OPUSD). And so I proposed that CTI come to us for professional development in a more effective and cost efficient way to teach our staff, whom I felt sure would be receptive to this new-fangled idea of “inquiry”.

After a three year partnership with CTI, over 70 teachers from our elementary schools through our high school have experienced CTI’s inquiry training. This fourth year, OPUSD has established its own Oak Park Inquiry Institute (OPII). Our agreement with CTI was to train a few of our teachers to carry-on inquiry training in-house and in a way that best fit our district's needs. I am happy to be the lead trainer and help OPII spread its wings. OPII is now training its first cohort/ CTI fourth cohort in inquiry.

What is Inquiry-Based Learning?

As Larmer & Mergendoller of the Buck Institute for Education discuss in their article on project based learning (PBL) and in our own model of inquiry we teach at OPII, in real inquiry, students begin with their own driving questions or pose real-world problems, then search for resources to discover possible answers or solutions. This process leads students to generate new driving questions, research and test ideas, and draw their own conclusions. With authentic inquiry comes creativity, engagement, collaboration, and new ideas and ways of thinking –  perhaps a new answer to a driving question, a new product, or a new solution to a problem.

OPII was created to help fellow educators teach through inquiry, or what is also known as problem/project-based learning. The emphasis with inquiry is on authentic, meaningful real-world experiences for students. Teaching through inquiry allows us to ask driving questions about all issues, especially those pertaining to social justice. Inquiry units that OPII teachers have designed have action and advocacy integrated.  For us at OPII and our OPUSD teachers, we value going beyond a classroom project to making an impact either locally - at school and in our community - and/or globally through charity work and awareness of real issues.

For example, in my 6th grade humanities classes, one unit includes water conservation efforts as students ask, "What is the impact of water on the development of civilization?" A driving question such as this takes students far beyond the textbook into the real world where they advocate for change locally by recycling and globally by donating money to charities such as Heifer International and Charity Water. We actively recycle, have petitioned the school board to ban the sales of plastic water bottles, donated monies towards the installation of hydration stations on campus, and successfully implemented the distribution of eco-friendlier reusable water bottles at every school in our district - 6th graders did this! Our content may be social studies, but what we learn is not only how ancient civilizations depended on water for survival and success, but how we as Southern Californians depend on a vital resource that, in our region and in other regions around the globe, is less and less accessible.

Through OPII and inquiry, we help our students learn that as Americans, and as students living in and around Oak Park, we are privileged. Others are not so fortunate. It is our duty to help others - this is what social justice is about. There is no common core standard stating this. We are compelled to ask important and perhaps uncomfortable questions, then take steps to make a big impact. This is the essence of service learning and ultimately taking civic action.

What have we accomplished so far?

Our service learning accomplishments both trickle up and trickle down. At the district level, we are a Green Ribbon School District - we have been moving towards a more eco-friendly and sustainable design in our habits (sorting trash, composting, drainage, and Meatless Mondays) and even our architecture (solar panels and new construction). Our cafeteria programs even earned a Golden Seed Award from the California Farm to School Network. Senator Fran Pavley awarded OPUSD the Sustainability Award for our pest management system! Two examples of district-wide efforts are our annual Super Saturday Sustainability Fair and Recycling Event and Big Sunday, a community-wide service learning event. Schools host events such as disability fairs, campus clean-ups, etc. A big push at the elementary and middle school level are school gardens where fresh produce is grown for use in our cafeterias. At the middle school, the garden is also a research opportunity for science classes and clubs. In a 7th grade science class, students were given a design challenge to create garden box covers.

At each school, you will find service learning in action. Students learn various ways to appreciate those less fortunate and to give back to the community. From volunteering and donations at MyStuffBags, Heifer International, Charity Water, and Water for South Sudan to name only a few. We skype with charities we donate to and even have guest speakers from the charities we support.

What’s most important is that we choose our content to support service learning endeavors (while still meeting standards).  For instance, in 6th grade, students read A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park about the struggles for clean water, education, and safety in war torn Sudan to compliment our study of how water impacts the development of civilizations. One student was inspired by ALWTW so much that he carried around a jug of water all day to experience the many trips a typical young Sudanese girl must take to fetch water for her family - just as one of the main characters had done!

In 7th, students read I Am Malala as they study ancient Islam and current events in the Muslim world today. Many students join together to support the Malala Fund by setting up lunch clubs where they increase awareness and host fundraisers for the charity. At the elementary level, the service learning bug is spreading so much so that at one school, 4th graders are teach 5th graders how to be of service.

Of their own accord, students fundraise for class-selected charities in ways that kids know best - lemonade and hot cocoa stands, donating old clothes, and recycling! We have found that the more we do as far as service learning, the more volunteers we attract. OPUSD is definitely civic minded and many many classes and individual students engage in service learning. But we still ask, how might we do even more?

#oneword2017  by Vanessa Heller  @Hell2Teach

I can choose to think of the concept of time in various ways:

• Take your time
• You’re outta time
• There’s no time like the present
• Time is on my side
• Time flies when you’re having fun
• Lost time
• Have a good time
• Be on time

Once I decided that ‘time’ would be my #oneword2017, I began to sing Pink Floyd’s Time - not a positive portrayal of time, I admit. I do run and run to catch up with the sun, but it is indeed sinking. There is never enough time - especially as a teacher and parent. Time is a teacher’s worst enemy; for those progressive educators who are hustling and bustling to create innovative and engaging curriculum and implement best practices, there is simply never enough time to do so.

But then The Rolling Stones pop in my head to tell me “Time is on my side”. A teacher’s best friend is time management. I want to accomplish so much for students and colleagues that if I do not prioritize my time and tasks properly, nothing will get accomplished well - or at all. I have a busy brain - so I take notes, jot down ideas, collaborate and commiserate with my PLC and my new PLN, and constantly create new and modify existing curricula. I manage and make time for these pursuits. I spend time on twitter talking about best practice with my PLN “tweeps” and I spend time spontaneously collaborating with colleagues at work - we run into each others’ classrooms to ask questions, to panic, to share ideas.  And I find time to read about the art and craft of teaching and leadership. Luckily sleep isn’t that important!

So for this year I will contemplate and act like time is on my side - though I acknowledge that time can be fleeting, so I will treat time well. I will be more conscious of my time and the time of others. I want to continue to teach my students well and expand my journey into #inquiry for students and colleagues. I want to read more, do more, be more. This takes time well spent.

As the Pink Floyd song goes, thought I’d something more to say…..

• Vanessa