We have narrowed our Focus!

  Our first meeting in September was a success! We started off leading by example with discussing our thoughts and highlights of the first couple of weeks in an informal community circle, as we do in our classrooms. We had many stories to share especially the success of the 5 in 10 school wide initiative. This initiate is explained more in another post .

  What we accomplished from this meeting was a lengthy discussion about our large topic, Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and how it connects to Deep Learning (DL). Below you can see the visual (spiral) we as a team derived based on all the important aspects we were going to focus on such as collaboration (one of the 6 C's), our community (staff and students), self-regulation learning skill, partnerships, leveraging digital and classroom environments.
  We knew that SEL is the foundation of our project and it should be the foundation for any students' journey into deep learning. This is why it is at the centre, the core of our spiral. Through SEL, a student is able to self-regulate appropriately in order for deep learning to happen. However there are other conditions that have to be met along the way. As a team, we are going to focus on and collect data about collaboration as one of the 6C's of the global competencies. We understand that having most or all the 6C's is necessary to achieve deep learning. While most C's will be achieved through many of our classroom or school-wide activities, projects, units etc. Only collaboration will be getting a closer look through the New Pedagogies for Deep Learning progression chart.
  There are three dimensions within the progression chart that we believe are an integral part of connecting SEL and DL. This is why it belongs within the spiral. Leveraging digital (technology - innovative practices), partnerships (students, teachers, parents) and environments (classroom, school, digital) are factors that will influence how students learn. Each of us will be looking at these "dimensions" and apply them within our classrooms to enhance and foster SEL so that students can learn on a deeper level.

~Yolanta