I do spend a lot of time in classrooms.  What I have noticed in recent years, it is often the same classrooms in the same schools.  And often it is just a really quick walk through as part of a tour.  I wanted to do something different this fall.  So here is part the email I sent to every teacher in our district:

I am hoping to be more purposeful with getting into classrooms this fall.  I know to make the best decisions for our district, and to be the best advocate for our students and staff, I should better understand the modern classroom – I have been in district office in West Vancouver for 12 years, and it is easy to lose touch with the changes in classrooms.  Thus, I am hoping some of you will invite me into your classes.  I find I visit many of the same classes over and over, and I am hoping this request will get me into a number of different classrooms.

I would love to come to your class – whether it is to observe something you are teaching and students are learning, act as a resource, co-teach, or otherwise engage with you and your students. It could be for 10 minutes or a full lesson.  Email me directly your thoughts and we can look to set something up.

Of course, I am not sure if 2, 20 or 200 of you will take me up on this offer – but hopefully I will get back to you quickly, even if we cannot set it up until later in the fall.

I know we have amazing things happening in our classrooms and I want to better understand these connections we are making with our learners.

The uptake has been awesome.  I have dozens of classes set over the next several months – performing various roles from observer, to field trip chaperone, to co-teacher, to subject expert, to lead teacher.  Already I have been in about ten classrooms – covering almost all the grades across a number of schools.  Here are a few of my quick takes of things that have stood out as I have spent time with these classes:

Learning is happening outdoors.  Two of the experiences I have been part of have been completely outdoors (and both times in the rain).  No longer is outdoor learning reserved for just PE – in the classes I was part of, students were doing science, math and social studies outside.

Students (at least at elementary)are regularly given breaks to get some exercise.  It might be jumping jacks or doing a lap of the school in-between lessons.  There is a real appreciation that students can only spend so long sitting in one spot.

Cell phones are not distracting.  I know this goes against the conventional wisdom out there.  In the various high school classes I have been in so far, I have not really noticed them.  It may be because of the expectations created in the classes or schools, or because of the high level of engagement in the lesson but I have not seen students on their mobile devices.

Google Classroom just is. I am so impressed with how seamlessly teachers move from their digital spaces to the face-to-face.  And students (at least those in upper intermediate and high school) have all had devices and they are managing their various class spaces.  In three different classes I have seen students co-creating online with shared documents in class.

There is a great sense of independence and guidance.  I have seen a number of classes where teachers have set the learning goals and then students are working at their own pace.  It is true differentiation in class with students at different places and working at different speeds and the teacher acting as a resource when needed.

Students are wrestling with big issues.  Whether it is power and authority as it relates to the History of Residential Schools for intermediate students or math students collectively tackling real world problems, students are getting time to unpack big, hard questions and work through them with other students.

Grade 9 is still grade 9.  I have been with three different groups of grade 9 students so far.  And there have been some awesome things in each of the classes.  There have also been examples of students pretending to work when the teacher comes over, boys responding to a teacher prompt with a joke in an attempt to impress their friends, and a variety of other 14-year-old behaviour.  It is good to know that some things don’t really change.

Self-regulation strategies are everywhere.  I am always interested in what, if anything, is on the walls in classrooms.  In every elementary classroom so far there have been some sort of cues around self-regulation – whether it is reminders of breathing exercises or the zones of regulation, there are visual reminders for students about how to get in the zone for learning.

These are early days, and a side benefit of these visits is probably a lot of blog posts topics to keep me busy this year.  I am so impressed with the confidence of our students and the passion of our teachers.  It is very reaffirming.