June 2022

SCHOOL WIDE PEDAGOGY NEWSLETTER JUNE EDITION 2022

Making Thinking Visible: Jagged Harmonies and Courageous Futures Dr Bruce Addison, Deputy Principal (Academic) The phrase ‘making thinking visible’ must surely be one of the greatest gifts to our profession emanating from the work of Cultures of Thinking . Our commitment to Cultures of Thinking as the core component of our School Wide Pedagogy model, is a testament to the importance our School places on embedding visible thinking into the very DNA of our teaching and learning. Embracing this concept enriches both school and classroom culture—providing a solid foundation for deep learning, and in the process, making our 21st century concept of a broad-based liberal education, dynamic, contemporary, and relevant. It must also be acknowledged, that this requires much of our classrooms. Dr Peter Ellerton (2017) of The University of Queensland’s ‘Critical Thinking Project’ acknowledges:

The classroom cannot simply be seen as a medium for the smooth transition of knowledge, from teacher to student. Classrooms, in which things are ‘settled and clearer’ imply an absence of doubt, hence an absence of inquiry, hence an absence of opportunities to engage in reflective thinking and hence an absence of opportunities to improve thinking (p. 6). Such a truism must be kept to the fore in an environment in which state-based proceduralism is increasingly encroaching on how we expect students to answer questions. We must remain vigilant so that we organise our learning intentions and lesson designs, to give our students the opportunity to grow, and to understand the difference between information and knowledge as a lived experience. Our young people have access to a plethora of information other generations could not conceive. If our classrooms are genuinely engaging, founded on a criticality on which visible thinking is both treasured and expected, it is little wonder that activist questioning has become more common place.

Creating a culture of questioning is confronting for those who would prefer to silence and, or, limit dissent. It must be remembered that dissonance, whilst often unsettling, can create a harmonic tone-scape that is both jagged and extremely engaging. Empowering our young people with the skills, as well as the courage, to disagree as well as to agree, is a way in which to ensure our social compacts continue to evolve and develop. We have a duty to develop the agility of the young minds in our care, as well as a solemn responsibility to ensure that they have the knowledge, skill, and courage to contribute to the ongoing development of our civil society. Even if a culture of questioning creates an emergent harmony that is jagged, let us foster courageously a learning culture where considered thought is valued robustly. Then we all can learn together in ways that pull us together, rather than push us apart. In the spirit of genuine inquiry, I commend this ‘making thinking visible’ edition of our School Wide Pedagogy Newsletter, to your attention.

Source Ellerton, P. (2017). On Critical Thinking and Collaborative Inquiry, Occasional Paper Series, New South Wales Department of Education.

Making Learning Visible Can Become (the) New ‘Normal’ Ms Amy Penberthy and Mrs Kayley Williamson, Health and Physical Education (HPE) Teachers

The title of this article is one of the headlines our Making Learning Visible (MLV) group created to summarise our thoughts on the content we learned through participating in Harvard University’s Project Zero Online course— Making Learning Visible . Working together with other faculty members, Ms Jane Martel and Mr Elliot McGarry, we explored the MLV framework and discovered the benefits of incorporating documentation and group learning practices into our lessons. Furthermore, completing this course as a collegial group added depth to our professional conversations, and provided an opportunity to give each other feedback and strengthen our learning activities. Through classroom observation, evidence collection (artefacts), interpretation, and information sharing, our group explored the following questions: • How do we know what and how our students are learning? • What evidence do we point to? • Does it reflect the cognitive, social, and emotional experiences of our learners? • How can this evidence inform us (and students) in ways that deepen and sustain our learning? Creating a culture of thinking has become integral to the pedagogical practices within our classrooms at Brisbane Girls

Grammar School. We often reflect on our teaching practice, whether that be through self reflection, discussions with other teachers, or sharing our lessons with family members. Constantly, and through reflection, we ask ourselves, ‘was learning visible in my classroom today?’ Making learning visible is imperative within any classroom—however, often the only representation of learning that is evident is through exam results, grades, and rankings. Such numbers are not always the best indicators of depth, variety, and complexity of learning. Throughout the Project Zero Online course, we were prompted to think about how we could utilise documentation to make learning visible. This resulted in many new concepts and ideas that could be used within classrooms. In particular, the Five Principles of Learning that we explored across the course helped to identify ways we could make learning more visible in our classrooms. ‘Learning is purposeful’ and ‘Learning is empowering’ were two of the five principles that connected the most with our faculty group. Classrooms that make learning visible, like many other effective classrooms, are organised around understanding, knowledge, and skills that are purposeful—relevant to the learner, the discipline, and often the larger community. Purposeful learning is also shaped by the passions and interests of the teacher, and entails making learning relevant to the world beyond the classroom.

Student work sample of visible thinking and learning

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Brisbane Girls Grammar School

From this, the question that underpinned our online project was ‘how can I create connections to the real world and make learning purposeful in my classroom?’ This concept was explored and implemented within our Year 8 HPE unit—‘Health in the Australian Community’. We tried various ways to document student learning, including asking students to write their thoughts on the board, and visually displaying quotes that we heard students say in group work, and set tasks that provided an artefact to represent the students learning. Together, these actions contributed to empowering students by helping them feel heard, as well as achieving purposeful learning by noticing and naming their learning throughout the unit. During the course, we were prompted to share and discuss our artefacts with our MLV group (HPE colleagues), and many insights and even more questions resulted from this. We found the Ladder of Feedback protocol to be powerful in sharing our artefacts, and that we all found great benefit from the Offer suggestions for the presenter to consider section of the protocol. We wondered if providing time and space at faculty meetings to discuss MLV by sharing our documentation, could become part of our new ‘normal’.

To conclude, using the Thinking Routine ‘I used to think …, now I think …’ , we have noted our reflections of the course: I used to think that MLV involved teachers simply showcasing student learning and work. Now I think that MLV is a process involving observation, recording, interpretation, and sharing. Students and teachers can be involved in each stage, as well as other classes and colleagues. It gives us an opportunity to reflect on learning with other School staff, to redirect and improve our practice, as well as to share with different social actors such as family. Additionally, it is now evident that documentation should also inform future learning and should be referred to often. We can make it part of our ‘normal’ classroom practice.

Source M Krechevsky., B Mardell, M Rivard, & D Wilson. (2013). Visible Learners - Creating Reggio Inspired Approaches in All Schools . Jossey-Bass.

The Ladder of Feedback

PZ PROJECT ZERO pz.harvard.edu

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Thinking Made Visible Through Design By Mr Shane Skillen, Head of Learning Innovation and Design

As I reflect on Technologies as a teaching area, I cannot help but think how fortunate we have been on the School Wide Pedagogy journey. The concept of ‘making thinking visible’ has been explicit in our learning criteria and dimensions across our various junior and senior electives. The now discontinued Information Technology Systems (ITS) and the Junior Year 9 elective Innovative Design (ID) used Design, Develop and Evaluate , our current subject Design uses Exploring, Devising, Synthesis and Evaluation and Representing and Communicating . More than just a list of cognitive verbs, these dimensions require students to capture, collate and communicate the raw process of what each of these dimensions entails, rather than an abstracted, polished end product, reliant on both itself and drafting to ascertain depth, complexity of thought, and adherence to methodologies. These tasks provide the opportunity for students to develop confidence, and become comfortable with submitting work that is not polished, or in its final form. It is inherently raw, and emphasis is placed on them synthesising their ideas and justifying further development through critical evaluation as demonstrated in these snippets of Year 12 student work.

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Brisbane Girls Grammar School

Cultivating Global Thinking Dispositions in International Studies Ms Cathy Lu, Director of International Studies

‘Language is the centre of human life … through language we plan our lives and remember our past; we exchange ideas and experiences; we form our social and individual identities.’ Cook (2001, p. 1) The COVID pandemic, lockdowns, isolation, and remote learning have certainly provided us with renewed perspectives on Professor Geoffrey Blainey’s classic book, The Tyranny of Distance . Through the lens of distance, Professor Blainey shared timeless insights on Australia’s heritage, the diverse aspects of Australia’s culture, as well as the ever-changing nature of our world. Reflecting on Australia’s global connections from a unique perspective of distance, many questions remain on the minds of today’s languages educators: how do we prepare our students to be globally competent and thrive in a future where inexorable economic, cultural and political forces are affecting every individual and making us increasingly interdependent? How do we continue to foster a global mindset while navigating in a time of uncertainty and change? How do we make ‘thinking visible’ while promoting curiosity, empathy, open-mindedness, and intercultural perspective taking? Since embarking on a journey to foster Cultures of Thinking while leading the International Studies Faculty at the School, I have been fascinated by the deep connection between Cultures of Thinking and global thinking dispositions. As languages teachers, we are inherently drawn to the beauty of communication and divergent thinking, as well as the rich tapestry of cultures from all over the world. As a passionate language teacher, I often reflect on the legacy of some of the most enduring characteristics of a quality languages education beyond rote learning and language conventions. Global competence and global thinking dispositions come to mind. Global competence is the capacity and disposition to understand and act on issues of global significance (Boix Mansilla & Jackson, 2011). In 2018, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), through its Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) provided the following definition for global competence: Global competence is the capacity to examine local, global and intercultural issues, to understand and appreciate the perspectives and world views of others, to engage in open, appropriate and effective interactions with people from different cultures, and to act for collective wellbeing and sustainable development.

As students enter International Studies classrooms they are surrounded by a carefully curated learning environment that provokes curiosity and celebrates cultural diversity. Beautiful displays including colourful posters of world-famous landmarks, traditional costumes, and artefacts all spark their sense of wonder. Butchers paper from group learning activities capture their collaborative efforts to document their thinking and learning about content in languages. Discussions in the classroom are guided by thinking routines and protocols. Students are also encouraged to challenge stereotypes and biases as they explore different languages and cultures. Academic games and friendly debates transform our classrooms into dynamic spaces with different languages and multiple viewpoints, where our similarities are shared, and our differences are celebrated. Students are also guided to utilise the many opportunities in languages to investigate the world, appreciate different perspectives and engage in open and effective communication with their peers. For example, the Affiliate School Pen Pal Project with our sister School in Shanghai, China, empowers girls to connect with their buddies through meaningful interactions in an authentic context. Students are learning to be culturally sensitive as they communicate and exchange ideas on topics of mutual interest. They develop empathy and gain new perspectives while utilising their knowledge and skills in languages. This builds a strong foundation for future success when they test their knowledge in real-world situations, as more local and global opportunities arise. When we attend to the eight cultural forces that Harvard Project Zero has identified as being present in every group learning situation—and foster classroom environments where global thinking dispositions are visibly valued and practiced—we are helping our students develop their global competence. Through documentation, questioning, listening, and global thinking routines such as ‘Circles of Action’, ‘Step in, Step out, Step back’, or ‘Beauty and Truth’, we are building students’ capacity to enquire about the world, and appreciate the perspectives and world views of others. Through meaningful engagement and instructional approaches such as structured debates, classroom discussions on current events, collaborative group work, project-based learning, and service learning, we are promoting a culture that values independent thinking, cultural diversity, and empathy. Learning in the current educational landscape is multifaceted and there are no ‘magic solutions’ or ‘quick fixes’. This is a lifelong process. With ongoing efforts, we will continue to cultivate global thinking dispositions to help Grammar girls venture confidently into the world with wisdom, curiosity, and a global mindset. Sources Asia Society/OECD (2018), Teaching for Global Competence in a Rapidly Changing World, OECD Publishing, Paris/Asia Society, New York, https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264289024-en. Boix Mansilla, V. & Jackson A. (2011). Educating for Global Competence: Preparing our Youth to Engage the World. CCSSO-Asia Society. Available at: http://www.pz.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/book globalcompetence.pdf Cook, V. (2001). Second language learning and teaching. (3rd Ed.) London: Arnold Publishers. OECD (2018). Preparing Our Youth for an Inclusive and Sustainable World: The OECD PISA Global Competence Framework. http://www.oecd. org/pisa/Handbook-PISA-2018-Global-Competence.pdf Ritchhart, R. Church M. Morrison K. (2011). Making Thinking Visible: How to Promote Engagement, Understanding, and Independence for All Learners. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass & Pfeiffer Imprints, Wiley. Ritchhart, R. (2015). Creating Cultures of Thinking: the 8 forces we must master to truly transform our schools. Jossey-Bass.

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Inquiry Action Projects: Another Step Towards Making Learning Visible Ms Susan Garson, Director of the Centre for School Wide Pedagogy

Cultures of Thinking Inquiry Action projects are one means for teachers to make their thinking about their teaching and learning visible . Indeed, Inquiry Action projects are founded on the belief that ‘paying close attention to the design of the learning culture we are creating for teachers’ is a very important step towards building a culture of thinking in a school (Patterson, 2022, p. 8). Classroom inquiry, or action research, is typically qualitative, involving teachers interpreting and ‘making judgements about how to improve their own practices’ (Kemmis et al., 2014, p. 11). Small steps taken to address a focus question of the teacher’s choice, offers an opportunity to delve into a self directed style of project that is relevant to the participant, and therefore often has longer-term consequences for the quality of teaching and learning in the classroom (Kemmis et al., 2014). Inquiry Action projects and parallel study groups at the School, offer a great opportunity for teachers to tell their own stories of practice, have time to learn from others, and to develop reciprocal relationships grounded in a shared passion for a quality education for our girls. Inquiry Action projects were suggested by our Cultures of Thinking expert consultants, Mr Simon Brooks and Mr Ryan Gill, who have both seen first-hand the benefits of folding in such an approach. These consultants trained a core group of Brisbane Girls Grammar School educators in the art of facilitation. The core qualities of a facilitator include being curious, a good listener, recognising what is powerful, believing others can learn, and being willing to be disturbed. At the same time, facilitators of Inquiry Action projects and study groups promote participation, ensure equity, and build trust amongst teachers. Facilitators encourage visible thinking—

the premise remains that inviting a culture of thinking in our professional learning for teachers provides an avenue for ongoing improvement in practice. Once trained in a range of questioning methods, as well as Thinking Routines and Protocols to structure and guide conversations, facilitators gather interested teachers in cross-faculty groups of up to six people for one-hour long meetings twice per term. Inquiry Action study groups invite teachers to drive their own inquiry and select a question, or a work in progress, in their teaching practice to anchor the conversation and become a launch pad for group discussion and actions. This guides new insights and ideas. The benefit of learning in study groups is that it is never about fixing the presenting teacher, but rather about growing our collective practice by listening to, and learning from, others. The emphasis is therefore very practical and encourages teachers to make small but meaningful changes in their own classrooms (Kemmis et al., 2014). The traditional model of action research follows a ‘look-think-act’ (Stringer, 2008) model where data is gathered, analysed, and solutions sought. However, this Inquiry Action model prioritises the more complex research spiral (Kemmis & McTaggart, 2000) that involves an ongoing cycle of planning, action, and reflection across an academic year. This is, by definition, continuous—the solution might not be found by a certain time, if at all. In this scenario, teachers do more ‘problem posing than problem solving’ (Patterson, 2022, p. 35). However, participating teachers have an opportunity to make their thinking visible, press one another’s thinking, and constantly investigate puzzles of practice in a safe and supportive context.

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Brisbane Girls Grammar School

Inquiry Action projects have been a component of professional learning at the School since 2018. Celebrations of learning also form part of the process. Participants create a poster and make their thinking visible in relation to the focus question they choose. The posters are designed on butchers paper and are not supposed to be a polished artefact, rather, they show the participant’s journey, messy thinking, as well as their challenges and successes in pursuit of their question. Poster creation is guided by these prompts: My Inquiry Action question is … Some actions I took were … The payoffs were … What is next?

Each year, educators at BGGS take part in a Gallery Walk of their colleagues’ posters. The debrief has traditionally involved a noticing phase, a questioning phase, and connections to teaching practice. This has been a lovely way for teachers to value the thinking and actions of others and has prompted thinking about connections, challenges, and changes in their own practice. The benefits of involvement in Inquiry Action are many. Developing a community of practice amongst teachers where the important moments of teaching are explored and discussion about teaching, learning, and thinking is valued, says a great deal about our School culture. Inquiry Action projects at BGGS have no doubt been a factor in shifting culture, increasing collaboration, and transforming classroom learning. We can see the value of such a project in the words of a recent participant, Ms Belinda Lindsay, who was investigating how to encourage her students to take more artistic risks in Drama: I am ‘flipping the focus from being about outcomes, to being more about process’. I focused on ‘incrementally allowing opportunities for students to build up to showing and sharing’.

I have learned about modelling my own thinking to students— ‘I started to say things like it’s ok to get it wrong, please ask questions, I don’t know the answer to that, what I might try is this …’ ‘I liked being able to come together with other teachers from all different teaching areas and share ideas, and … it was surprising to take things from what somebody was doing in French … I can apply that in my discipline’. I have pivoted my practice and was inspired by ‘sparking curiosity and encouraging students to ask their own questions’. Getting students to ‘value the questioning phase … prioritising, thinking more deeply, critically’. I will continue to ‘show students I am learning too, trying new things, but in a way that inspires students … I use “What makes you say that?” all the time’. Inquiry Action and study groups are a key part of teacher growth at BGGS. Sharing cross-faculty conversations and teacher observations about student work and interactions, provide a big picture of practice. Offering Inquiry Action projects and study group facilitation each year, shows how highly we value stories of planning, action, and reflection. Inquiry Action participation can inspire the transformation of practice.

Sources Stringer, E. (2008). Action Research in Education. Pearson Education. Kemmis, S., & McTaggart, R. (2000). Participatory Action Research. In N. Denzin & Y. Lincoln (Eds.). Handbook of Qualitative Research. Sage: 567-606. Kemmis., S., McTaggart., R. & Nixon, R. (2014). The Action Research Planner. Springer. Patterson., C. (2022). Creating Cultures of Thinking. Churchill Fellowship Study Project 2019: 1-44. Ritchhart, R. (2015). Creating Cultures of Thinking: the 8 forces we must master to truly transform our schools. Jossey-Bass.

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