inclusion Archive - Mathematics and Science in SD#38 (Richmond)

Archive for the ‘inclusion’ Category

April thinking together: communicate mathematical thinking in many ways

Posted on: April 30th, 2019 by jnovakowski

This month’s curricular competency focus is communicate mathematical thinking in many ways. This curricular competency is the same across grades K-9 and is included in the Grades 10-12 courses as “explain and justify mathematical ideas and decisions in many ways“.

This competency falls under the organizer of “Communicating and Representing” which includes the following related competencies:

Elaborations are suggestions for educators to consider as they plan for developing this curricular competency:

communicate using concrete, pictorial and symbolic forms
use spoken or written language to express, describe, explain, justify and apply mathematical ideas
use technology for communication purposes such as screencasting and digital photography and videography

There are clear connections between the Core Competency of Communication with this grouping of curricular competencies. A one-page table showing the language of both types of competencies can be downloaded here:

SD38 K-5 Math Communication_Avenir

An important part of communicating mathematical thinking in many ways is to be able to use different forms such as concrete (materials or math manipulatives), pictorial (drawings, diagrams, tallies) or symbolic forms (numerals and symbols).

An example from primary classrooms of how students may move from concrete to symbolic notations is with the use of materials such as base ten blocks. Students may communicate their understanding of numbers by creating that number with materials and then recording the symbolic notation. The following are some examples from a grades 2&3 classroom at Cook Elementary that show how children used concrete, pictorial and symbolic forms to help them solve and communicate their solutions for mathematical problems.

As students begin to understand a concept, such as multiplication, they usually construct a representation with materials to build understanding. These representation may then be recorded pictorially and then labels are added using symbolic notation. This fluency between forms is important and the connections between representations is essential to conceptual understanding. A student may be presented with a symbolic form (such as an equation) and asked to show a concrete form or pictorial form that “matches”. The following are examples from a grades 2&3 classroom at Tomsett Elementary.

For our intermediate and secondary students, it is still important to be using concrete materials, especially when students are developing their understanding of a new concept such as fractions, decimals, or integers. The following are examples from a grades 4&5 classroom at Homma Elementary

and also more fraction investigations with a grades 4&5 class at Steves.

In our curriculum, the terms “concrete, pictorial and symbolic” are used in ways for students to think about concepts but also to communicate and represent their thinking. In some other jurisdictions around the world, the term CRA is used to reference an instructional approach to concept development, standing for Concrete, Representational and Abstract. More information can be found HERE. There is some overlap between the the CRA framework and how our curriculum focuses on concrete, pictorial and symbolic communication of mathematical thinking and understanding.

Another area of focus in our district is using iPad technology for students to communicate their thinking and learning. One of the most common uses of the devices in math is to use screen casting apps such as doceri, ShowMe, Explain Everything or 30Hands. When students screencast, they can take a photograph or video of what they are doing and then annotate with arrows, words etc and then orally describe their problem-solving process or thinking. For example, in a grade 8 class at Hugh Boyd Secondary, students took images of number balances they used to develop their understanding of equivalence in algebraic equations and then communicated their thinking by orally explaining their understanding.

Some questions to consider as you plan for learning opportunities to develop the competency of communicating mathematical thinking in many ways:

How is the core competency of communication noticed, named and nurtured during the teaching and learning of mathematics?

What different materials are students learning to use, think through and represent with? What materials are mathematically structured and what other types of materials might we offer to students?

What opportunities are we providing for students to share their thinking in different ways? Are students provided with choices and is there a balance in the different ways students can communicate their mathematical thinking?

How might technology provide access for students or transform the way they are able to communicate their mathematical thinking?

~Janice

March thinking together: engage in problem-solving experiences connected with place, story and cultural practices and perspectives

Posted on: March 14th, 2019 by jnovakowski

This month’s curricular competency focus is engage in problem-solving experiences that are connected to place, story, cultural practices and perspectives relevant to local First Peoples communities, the local community, and other other cultures. This curricular competency is the same across grades K-12 and courses and falls under the organizer of “Understanding and Solving” which suggest the focus of using contextual and meaningful experiences to support mathematical understanding.

Elaborations are suggestions for educators to consider as they plan for developing this curricular competency:

in daily activities, local and traditional practices, the environment, popular media and news events cross-curricular integration
have students pose and solve problems or ask questions connected to place, stories and cultural practices

The focus and thinking behind this curricular competency are the ideas of authenticity, meaningfulness, engagement and connectedness. Not all mathematics learning needs be contextualized or connected to “real life” but for many students who may see math as something that they do at school between 9 and 10am and don’t yet see the relevance of the math they are learning, providing tasks and problems that connect to place, community and culture may support their mathematical thinking and learning and broaden their understanding and appreciation for what math is and how it can be experienced. Experiential and holistic learning are foundational to the First Peoples Principles of Learning and these are considerations for all learners. The First Peoples Principles of Learning also remind of us of the importance of connecting learning through place and story, working with others and developing a self of self, family, community and culture. This curricular competency is aligned with the Personal and Social Core Competency – positive personal and cultural identity, personal awareness and responsibility and social responsibility.

Some resources to consider:

Messy Maths by Juliet Robertson (elementary resource for taking math learning outdoors)

Tluuwaay ‘Waadluxan Mathematical Adventures edited by Dr. Cynthia Nicol and Joanne Yovanovich (mathematical adventures from Haida Gwaii developed by community members, elders and educators)

BC Numeracy Network – Connecting Community, Culture and Place

First Peoples Mathematics 8&9 developed by FNESC – this teacher-created resource is being revised to reflect the current BC mathematics curriculum and provide more learning experiences across grades and disciplines.

Blog posts from this site with related information:

Place-Based Mathematics

Place-Based Mathematical Inquiry

Primary Study Group 2018-2019 – Outdoors Math

Indigenous Content and Perspectives in Math

Some questions to consider as you plan for learning opportunities to develop the competency of engaging in problem-solving experiences connected to place, story and cultural practices and perspectives:

How does place/land/environment inspire mathematical thinking? What potential numeracy or problem-solving tasks emerge when we think about local land-based contexts?

What problems or issues are facing the local community? How might mathematics help us to think about and understand these problems or issues? What information or data might be collected and shared? How can we use different tools to communicate mathematical information to create an opportunity for discussion and engaging in a problem-solving process?

How does Indigenous knowledge connect, intersect and support the curricular competencies and content in our mathematics curriculum? Who is a knowledge holder in your local First Nations community that you could learn from and with?

What are authentic resources? What stories and cultural practices are public and able to be shared? What doe it mean to use authentic resources, stories, and elements of culture in our mathematics teaching? How are resources specific to a local context? Who can we go to to find out more information and learn about local protocols?

What cultural practices in your community have mathematics embedded in them? How might we use the structure of “notice, name and nurture” to expand awareness of what mathematics is and how it can be experienced?

How can stories help us think about the passage of time, relationships, connections and mathematical structures, actions and models?

~Janice

February thinking together: How can we rehumanize mathematics?

Posted on: March 1st, 2018 by jnovakowski

For February, let’s consider how can we rehumanize mathematics?

I was able to attend and present at the NCTM Regional Conference in Chicago this past November/December.

Words that came up over and over again throughout the conference were: EQUITY, ACCESS, EMPOWERMENT, POWER, AUTHORITY, PRIVILEGE, IDENTITY and AGENCY.

These may not be the words you may initially think of when you think about major themes at a mathematics education conference but there is a definite shift in how the role of mathematics within a society is viewed, and who is being included and what voices are being heard.

The conference opened with a panel of speakers addressing issues of access, equity and empowerment.

The link to the archived Facebook live video form the opening session of the NCTM Regional Conference in Chicago on November 29 2017 is HERE

Kassia Omohundro Wedekind shared her thoughts on “hands down, speak out” practices, disrupting the traditional practice of having students putting their hands up to respond to questions, which in classrooms often reflects the inequities in society at large. She encourages teachers to create conversation maps of the mathematical discourse in their classrooms and to encourage all students to see themselves as mathematicians and contributors to the discourse.

Dr. Tyrone Howard discussed the issues of inequity in classrooms with regards to race. He affirmed the importance of context and that students’ issues of identity need to be addressed.

Annie Perkins shared practices from her own secondary classroom that support all her students in seeing themselves as mathematicians. She developed “The Mathematicians Project” with a focus on introducing students to mathematicians that are “not just white dudes”.

Dr. Rochelle Gutierrez is a well recognized researcher and author in the area of equity in mathematics. Over the last few years, her papers and presentations have focused on the idea of re-humanizing mathematics. Photos of some of her slides provide a beginning glimpse into her work. What stands out for you? What are curious about learning more about?

Another presentation from Dr. Rochelle Gutierrez that might be of interest and would be great to share with during a pro-d day to open up discussion around equity, access and culturally responsive pedagogies for all students:

NCTM 2016 ShadowCon: Stand up for Students

Dina Williams closed the opening panel with stories from her classroom and her version of a powerful song – A Change is Gonna Come.

Change has been a long time coming.

So to think about…

Do all of your students see themselves as mathematicians?

What mathematicians do you talk about in your class? Do you provide “mirrors and windows” for your students to see themselves in the curriculum and in others?

What types of mathematics do we privilege?

What is culturally responsive pedagogy in mathematics education?

How is mathematics necessary for engaging with ideas of social justice?

How can we broaden our understanding of math to de-center what is typically viewed as “school mathematics”?

How do we create mathematics experiences in our schools that are inclusive for all learners?

~Janice

September thinking together: What is math?

Posted on: September 19th, 2017 by jnovakowski

This year I am going to share a monthly focus as a way for educators in our district (and beyond, of course!) to think together, collaborate and share ideas around K-12 mathematics education. On the list are number sense, estimation, reasoning, spatial awareness…it is a list in progress so suggestions are welcome.

My intentions are to begin each month with a blog post highlighting the focus area in our BC mathematics curriculum and connecting it to the broader field of mathematics education. I plan to share links to websites and resources, share books that I have found helpful and provide examples of mathematical tasks from Richmond classrooms. During each month, I will also tweet out related links, ideas, blog posts and photographs from classrooms.

For September, I thought we’d start with What is math?

I am fortunate to have opportunities to sit around tables with educators from many contexts – elementary, secondary, post-secondary as well as working with parents and students. What I have found over many years of having the conversation around What is math? is that there is much diversity in definitions and responses. Some views are quite narrow and focus on number, computation and operations while other views are much broader in topics but also involve what it means to be a mathematician.

Mathematicians such as Fields medallists Maryam Mirzakhani and Cédric Villani have said that mathematics is a creative, collaborative endeavour. Other mathematicians emphasize that mathematics is more about justification and proof than getting the “right answer”. One thing that pretty consistently comes up from those who engage in mathematics is that it takes time – sometimes a problem or proof takes days, weeks, years.

How do these ideas about mathematics resonate with you? with your mathematical story?

As a classroom teacher and when working with pre-service teachers at UBC, I began the year with an individual brainstorm or web around “What is math?” – and these responses were added to a collective chart or web. For the pre-service teachers I worked with, I also asked them to tell me a little a bit about their background and experience with mathematics. These short narratives and webs usually gave me quite a bit of insight and where we needed to begin as a class.

What assumptions, conceptions and understandings about mathematics do students carry with them into our classroom communities? What feelings and beliefs do they hold?

This week a grades 2 and 3 class visited The Studio at Grauer and we began by talking about what is math? I then invited them to explore the materials, images and books in the studio space and to investigate something that piqued their interest.

As we gathered back together, the students added to our original list. Interestingly, there additions were much more focused on mathematical experiences, different from naming mathematical content.

What do our classroom environments say about what mathematics is? Do the images, books and materials we offer inspire our students and nurture connections? Do all students see openings to engage in mathematics?

Ideas to nudge students’ thinking about what mathematics is:

What is math?

Create a class chart or math graffiti wall that can be added to as the school year progresses. Students can add images, diagrams, words, phrases, etc. Students can also use materials to create representations of what math is. The following is “math sun” created by a kindergarten student at Grauer last year – when I asked her what made it a math sun, her reply was that it was “full of math”.

Where do we see math? What math lives here?

Encourage students to think about math beyond the classroom and school. Where do they experience and see math outdoors? in the community? at home? Create an area in the classroom to add photographs and materials found in the local environment that might inspire mathematical thinking and connections.

A grade 4&5 class I worked with in The Studio at Grauer shared some of the math they experienced over the summer and then the grade 2&3 class added to their list this week:

Many elementary classrooms have “wonder windows” to encourage students to observe and wonder the local environment. This year, we have added a math window to The Studio.

I facilitated a K-7 place-based mathematics project at Byng a few years ago and one of the tasks classes engaged in was math walks around the school and in the community. Sometimes a specific focus was selected such as What shapes can we see? but we mostly looked for math to world connections. One class created a photo book while others created math problem posters (sharing problems the students posed inspired by their photographs) or concept panels.

For the last three summers I have participated in a Twitter challenge with mathy types from around the world. Each week a math concept is posted and the challenge it to take photographs of the world around us that connect to that concept. Concepts such as estimation, tessellation and scale were explored this year. You can find this year’s posts on Twitter by searching #mathphoto17 – and here is a photo book I created of my photos and tweets from this year’s challenge:

I will be launching a district-based K-12 math photo challenge on Twitter soon – hashtag #mathphoto38 (the 38 for school district 38) with plans to document and share the photos over the school year. We will begin with photos that respond to the question: What is math?

Make mathematics visible in your classroom and school

I also try and make different ideas about what math is visible to students, to parents and to colleagues. The following panel was created with images of the representations created by Kindergarten students as they responded to the question, What is math?

A middle school teacher created an interactive bulletin board based on the instructional routine Which One Doesn’t Belong? to engage the whole school population in mathematical reasoning and communication – important mathematical work and this idea builds mathematical community in a school.

source: Twitter

source: Twitter

And for high schools – I think this is inspiring and helps to expand students’ notions of what math is. High school math teacher, Sara VanDerWerf, from Minnesota, has created a play table space in her classroom to engage students in thinking and playing with mathematics in different ways. She shares photos on twitter HERE and shared a blog post about play tables in high school classrooms HERE. Is there a secondary math classroom in Richmond that would like to set up a play table? I’d be happy to help.

Think about how mathematics is experienced across cultures, across the world and across time.

Mathematics is a human construct and is often narrowly define through a Western or European lens. There is much evidence that mathematics as it is typically defined, existed in Asia long before it was “discovered” by Europeans. There is a long history of cultural practices across cultures from all over the world that we would now label as mathematics. Alan Bishop has done considerable research in this area and describes six mathematical practices or activities that exist in all known cultures – counting, locating, measuring, designing, playing and explaining. I have found students find it interesting to learn about different number systems or how measurement is often contextual to a culture and environment. Some examples of these cultural practices are included in the elaborations for the learning standards in our BC math curriculum.

Seeing and experiencing mathematics as a creative endeavour

For the past three years, Dr. Jo Boaler and her “youcubians” have launched a week of inspirational math to begin the school year. There are a variety of videos and open mathematical tasks available for grade bands from K-12. The focus is developing a mathematic mindset with messages such as: we can all learn math and we learn from mistakes. Resources can be found HERE.

There are many videos available that show mathematics as creative and inspiring but a particularly interesting youtube channel is created by self-defined mathemusician Vi Hart, daughter of acclaimed mathematical sculptor George Hart. I think her videos are particularly great for students in grades 5-12. Her channel is HERE.

There are lots of ways to nurture the creative thinking core competency (BC curriculum) while engaged in mathematics.

The three facets of the competency are: novelty and value, generating ideas and developing ideas. I see these facets enacted when children engage in number talks and consider different strategies for solving mental math questions, when children engage in a rich open task or problem or when they apply mathematics to create or design something.

What is math?

How will you investigate this idea yourself and how will you investigate and extend your students’ thinking about this over this school year?

~Janice

References

A Mathematician’s Lament by Paul Lockhart (with new books Measurement and Arithmetic)

Mathematician Keith Devlin’s blog: Devlin’s Angle

Becoming the Math Teacher You Wish You’d Had: Ideas and Strategies from Vibrant Classrooms by Tracy Zager

The Crest of the Peacock: Non-European Roots of Mathematics by George Gheverghese Joseph

Bishop’s six universal cultural activities

Mathematical Mindsets by Jo Boaler

what does it mean to be a “low” math student?

Posted on: November 23rd, 2016 by jnovakowski 2 Comments

So typically on this blog I share stories of what is happening in Richmond classrooms and about professional learning experiences for Richmond educators. This post takes a different tone…one that I hope will provoke thinking and discussions about the intersection of language and students and math.

Here goes…

I am often engaged in conversations about mathematics teaching and learning where I hear from teachers, “I have so many low students,” and it makes me wonder what is meant by “low”. I am sure I have used the term myself in the past but I have been increasingly more aware of the impact of labels and language on not just the professional conversations we have but also on how this impacts our relationships with our students. I have begun to challenge teachers on their use of this term and stop them as they say it…”What exactly do you mean when you say ‘low’?” I don’t mean to put teachers on the spot or to to make them feel uncomfortable in our conversations but I think the language we use in conversations about students is really important and we need to be mindful about this.

My prickliness about how we talk about children was amplified when I had my own children, both of whom have their own personal strengths and stretches. I can’t imagine how I would feel, or how my sons would feel, if they were ever described as “low”. What impact does this language of “low” have on our students as learners and on ourselves in our role of teacher? How does this thinking affect our mindset about learning?

So what does it mean to be a “low” math student…

Does it mean that the student does not have an understanding of foundational concepts in mathematics? Did the student not have access to teaching at his or her just right level? Was the student absent from school or ill for extended periods of time? Was the student not assessed thoroughly to inform instruction? How can the student be supported to gain foundational concepts and confidence in mathematics? What structures are in place in your class and in your school to support core foundational understanding in mathematics?

Does it mean that the student has difficulty learning math because of memory, health, attention, behaviour or learning difficulties? When in class, does the student have difficulty paying attention, focusing, sitting? Does the student seem unable to retain information the way it is being provided? Does the student have behaviours that are affecting his or her learning and engagement? What practices, materials and structures are in place in your classroom or school that provide choices and adaptations in time/pacing, materials, place/learning environment, quantity of work output expected and depth of content knowledge?

Does it mean that the student has a different story than his or her classmates? Has the student had breakfast? slept? Is the student living in a safe home environment? Does the student have to care for siblings or parents? Does the student need to work to add to the family income? Does the student have regular absences? Why is that? What might be affecting his or her image of self as a learner and as community member in your classroom? As teachers, are we acknowledging and checking our place of privilege and power and how this might be affecting our students? What is the student’s story and how might this be affecting his or her learning of mathematics? What supports does this student in your classroom and school need to be successful?

Does it mean that the student does not have access to resources to support learning and success at school? Does the student have the tools and resources (human and physical) he or she needs at home to support learning? Are assignments and studying accessible and equitable for all students regardless of their home or financial situations? What supports can the teacher and school provide so all students have equitable access to the resources needed to support their learning? Afterschool homework clubs or peer tutoring? Choices in assignment and homework formats?

Does it mean that the student’s written work, homework and quiz and test scores do not indicate achievement of learning standards? Is written work or practice not completed during class time? Are homework assignments not turned in or completed, or attempted? Does the student seem to understand the mathematics during performance tasks and class discussions but is not successful on quizzes and tests? What different opportunities are students provided to communicate their thinking and learning? (It does not have to be written down to “count”!)

In all of the above scenarios, it may seem that I suggest that it is the teachers’ and schools’ responsibility to ensure student success in mathematics. Well, it mostly is – that is our job. Of course we need to have students and parents as part of this story, but when they may not seem to be, we, as a system, need to think about how to bring them alongside instead of using fixed terms such as “low” as an excuse, and explanation or a dismissal of responsibility.

How can we re-frame how we talk about our students and how we talk about learning mathematics? There is a strong movement in mathematics education coming from various voices including Dr. Jo Boaler of Stanford University. This movement is based on the belief and conviction that ALL children can learn mathematics. Dr. Boaler’s work around mathematical mindsets is shifting how educators, parents and students think about the learning of mathematics. More information can be found here.

I attended a Learning Forward dinner event at the end of April and one of the question prompts the secondary teachers from Surrey gave us to provoke discussion was:

This issue of deficit language resonates with me and I think by re-framing the language we use will re-frame how we see ourselves as educators and how we see the students in our classrooms.

Inspired by Linda Kaser and Judy Halbert and the four fundamental questions of the NOII, I wonder how many of our students feel that their math teachers believe that they can learn? We know its important that teachers convey that they care for their students and that they believe they can be successful. How does our language need to be re-framed in our classrooms so our students believe this to be true?

Instead of describing our students as “low”, what different language could we use? Learning. Developing. Growing. Competent. Full of promise and potential. How does using strength-based language shift our conversations and interactions with our students and with each other as professionals?

My hope is that we can describe our students as curious and engaged mathematical thinkers and learners – what is the story that needs to unfold in our classrooms if this is our goal?

Math matters. Language matters.

~Janice

With thanks to Faye Brownlie, Shelley Moore, Jane MacMillan, Lisa Schwartz and Sarah Loat for their feedback and contributions to my thinking for this post.

inclusive practices in mathematics for grades 6-9

Posted on: October 30th, 2016 by jnovakowski

Building on interest from an ILC (Inclusive Learning Community) project Shelley Moore and I facilitated with grade 8 teachers at Boyd Secondary, we held an after school session in October looking at inclusive practices in mathematics for grades 6-9 teachers. These practices are particularly mindful of the personal, social, intellectual and physical needs of students in the middle school age range.

Shelley began the session by sharing Richmond’s history with inclusive education and sharing some frameworks she has developed for thinking about inclusion (bowling pins, Fisher-Price stacker toy, planning pyramid, etc). She refers to inclusions lenses – personal, social and intellectual as well as places – different classrooms and places in the school as well as out of the school.

In using the planning pyramid, Shelley considers goals, tasks and questions for all students, some students and a few students, starting where ALL students can access the unit or lesson. And here’s Shelley doing the tree pose – using the analogy that everyone/all could start this yoga pose by using the wall for support!

Shelley shared the two year project with the grade 8 teachers and students at Boyd, with the first year addressing the Shape and Space curriculum and the second year examining the linear equations part of the curriculum. One example of a planning framework for an initial lesson on geometry looks like this:

We shared photographs and video from the Boyd ILC project to share how the project unfolded with the students. Blog posts about the project and be found HERE and HERE.

I shared some of the practices and structures that we considered during the ILC project at Boyd and that can be used as a guide for planning mathematics lessons and units with inclusion in mind.

Some of the choices that students were provided were what types of materials they might use. For example, during our lesson together about the volume of prisms, some students built prisms with cubes, some students used centimetre graph paper to create nets for their prisms and other drew 3D drawings that represented the measurements they were working with. Another choice was the range within the concept being addressed – for example, in the geometry lessons, identification of basic 2D shapes (faces) was an access point for all while some students investigated a range of 3D prisms. In the study of linear equations, choices of equations to investigate and represent with balances and other materials were provided, increasing in complexity or number of operations. Students were also provided with choices in how they processed or representing their thinking, for example, iPad technology was available and students could use the camera to take video or photos and then use a choice of screencasting apps to provide evidence of their understanding of the concept. Non-permanent vertical surfaces (NPVS) aka whiteboards or windows provide another choice for students who may not want to sit and work at a desk or table or use paper and pencil. The research-based practice of using NPVS has been shown to increase engagement and mathematical discourse, particularly at the middle-school age range.

I shared the idea of mathematical routines such as number talks as inclusive practices with starting points for all and a way to build an inclusive mathematical community in the classroom. These routines also focus on the nurturing and development of the curricular competencies which are the same for grades 6-9. One of the routines shared was WODB (Which One Doesn’t Belong?). This routine has become very popular in Richmond classrooms as it provides an opportunity for the clear connection between curricular competencies and content. Four items are presented and they all belong to a set/group of some sort – integers, polygons, etc but each item is unique is some way. The goal of the routine is for the students to analyze and use reasoning to justify or defend which one they think doesn’t belong in the set and why. WODBs for geometry, number, graphs, etc are available at WODB.CA – a site curated by an Ontario secondary math teacher.

Shelley has posted a pdf version of our slides from the session on her blog. They can be found HERE.

Because of interest, we will be facilitating a repeat of this session on December 6 from 3:30-5:00pm at IDC – register on our district’s event page with further follow-up sessions planned in the new year.

~Janice

Richmond’s first IGNITE event – #sd38ignite 2016

Posted on: May 10th, 2016 by jnovakowski

The Richmond School District hosted its first IGNITE event on Monday, May 9th at the Big River Brew Pub. The first IGNITE took place in Seattle in 2006 and is now a movement that is international in scope. An IGNITE talk is a five minute presentation consisting of 20 slides, auto-advancing after 15 seconds whether the speaker is ready or not. The IGNITE tagline is….”Enlighten us, but make it quick!” More information about the IGNITE movement can be found here.

Having presented a few ignite talks and experiencing the inspiration and fun that goes along with these social events, I really wanted to be able to bring this professional learning format to our district and my colleagues Rosalind Poon and Lorraine Minosky were on board and we ran with it. Chris Loat created our logo for us…

And both Chris and Lisa Schwartz agreed to be our technical support for the event. We found a site and had a meeting at the Big River Brew Pub to see where attendees would sit and how the technology and food service would play out.

We invited Richmond educators representative of primary, intermediate and secondary as well as a balance of teachers and administrators to share a story about something they are passionate about. We also invited two out of district colleagues to add to our Richmond stories.

Two weeks before the event, we hosted a rehearsal especially for educators who were new to the ignite format. It gave them a chance to meet other igniters and to practice their presentation in front of an audience. By seeing and discussing what we appreciate about others’ presentations, I think it also gave presenters some ideas for their own ignites. And its always great to have sushi…and pens.

As we were setting up on May 9th, we were all so excited to see everything fall into place. The venue was great and it was a beautiful day so the patio was open, the technology was cooperating and the tables were set with programs and sweet treats from Sinfully the Best for our guests.The burger bar was a hit and the company was great. Unfortunately two of our igniters (Neil Stephenson and Sarah Garr) had to pull out due to personal reasons.

Some of the guests…

And then the talks began! I was live streaming the talks using the Periscope app and people that weren’t able to attend the event could still watch the talks live. Between each “set” there was a 15-minute break for guests to chat about the talks, etc.

Twitter was alive with #sd38ignite…we were trending!

It was such a positive, passionate event and such a great way to build community amongst colleagues. All our igniters shared their own personal narratives within their professional narratives and these stories are what connect us and make us better together.

We will be releasing the IGNITE talks on youtube soon…watch twitter for announcements!

A HUGE thank you to our igniters…you are what made the event the success it was!

~Janice