Ms Courtney's Class

Growth Mindset We began to delve into our first unit for the year this week. We started with a challenge for the students to make a folded piece of paper the same as mine. They were allowed to look at the paper from any angle, but could not touch the paper. While they were trying to make it I recorded some of the comments that I heard the students say. After 10 minutes we looked at the list of comments on the board and wondered if these would help us to complete the task. This activity led us into a discussion on Growth Mindset. If you have a growth mindset, you believe that with  work, practice, and perseverance,  you can improve – whether it’s your academic performance, or any other skill. (Those with the opposite, a fixed mindset, believe that our intelligence and talents are predisposed, and either you were born with it or not.) Thanks to the great work of Stanford’s Carol Dweck, we know that not only is the growth mindset accurate, but those who hold these be...

Today we looked at some photos from the Yann Artus Bertrand series ' Earth from Above '. First we compared two different photos and created a Venn Diagram. As a class we selected four of our favourite photos. You need to pick your favourite photo and leave a comment as to why you like it the best.

How we approach inquiry at ISPP.  There are many different approaches to inquiry based teaching and learning. At ISPP we have adopted Kath Murdoch's Inquiry Cycle. In this model students work their way back and fourth through the six different stages of the cycle as they develop their understanding of their inquiries. Students will work through the stages at different speeds, spending longer on some than others. They may also find they need to revisit an early stage of the cycle as they find misconceptions in their inquires or need more information about one aspect of their own inquiry. At the beginning of each inquiry we spend time 'tuning in' to the inquiry. Questions such as "What do I know about this topic"? and "What questions do I have now'? are asked at this time. To help engage students in the inquiry we set up provocations to enable students to reflect on what they know and to think about what they want to know. Each student will arriv...

What are your current wonderings about this unit of inquiry? Central Idea:  Personal perspective influences how we create art. Please add your wonderings to this Padlet. http://padlet.com/wall/do6tnttqhxuo