“CAN I DO IT ON SLIDES?”

“CAN I RECORD MYSELF?”

“CAN I DO AN INTERPRETATIVE DANCE?”

If this does not sound familiar, do you even work in a school? I even find myself asking these questions when completing tasks for Dr. Mitzmacher and Ms Gordon…”Do I need to complete my report cards in sheets, can I use google docs?”

Ownership and autonomy over our learning and work is closely linked with how much effort and what mindset we then proceed to complete the task in. As our journey through Grade 4 continues and students continue to evolve, it makes sense to begin to look into different learning styles and what works best for each person. I am very much a kinaesthetic learner who learns through doing but I also need to take notes and enjoy creating visual sections in my work… One never fully falls into one style, most people have a dominant style and then other ways can compliment. Understanding your learning style can really switch up your mindset and attitude towards learning! For educators, understanding your student’s learning styles can make it easier to create, modify, and develop more efficient curriculum and educational programs. For students, understanding their learning style can completely change their view on school. Here is a great resource to find out more about learning style and multiple intelligences.

Students completed a simplistic learning style quiz this week and began to build a study plan of strategies that works best for them. At the OJCS, we OWN our OWN learning…

Hello Grade 4 and Grade 4 families,

Learning skills may or may not be a phrase that you are familiar with. You may have heard from your child that I mention learning skills A LOT during class time… Learning skills include areas such as perseverance, problem solving initiative, collaboration, creativity, organisation. These  skills are practised in all subject areas of your child’s learning and due to this, are not always explicitly named and taught.

I believe the development of these skills is just as important (if not slightly more important!) that the curriculum content itself! During our time when learning from home, studies have shown these skills have taken the largest hit. It is no one’s fault and no one is to blame but a larger focus needs to be paid to explicitly teach and remind children that ‘YES, this is hard. YES, you might fail BUT …it is OK if you fail! We can problem solve together on how it may work better next time.’

With this in mind for the month of December, I will be setting learning skills homework tasks alongside some academic tasks. Your child will be coming home with a booklet and plan. I am asking that you are as hands off as you can be! If your child needs help, please ask them to be specific with what they need (For example;  I don’t know and I can’t do it – isn’t as question. Try to re-direct to the task and ask them to re-read the question and then say ‘what part are you unsure?’)

If this causes a meltdown at home (an absolutely natural reaction when perseverance and problem solving skills are being developed due to these skills requiring your child to REALLY think, make a plan and do!) just put the task away and  have a conversation about why they felt it was hard. Encourage your child to email me then I can continue the conversation in class and make suggestions about how they can continue to work on their task independently.

Thank you all so much for your continued support!