Memorable unit

We have consistently conducted this inquiry for two academic years now. For a couple of reasons, this year’s has been a memorable one for  my teaching Assistant and I. Inquiry based teaching and learning has always taught us the need to reflect on our learning journey from time to time in order to improve and grow. Comparatively, when I reflect on my previous inquiries and the current one, I have seen a noticeable improvement. There has been a marked improvement in our current method of inquiry in comparison with the old; planning, lesson delivery, instructional strategies etc.

‘Technology has the tendency to change the way people access information and connect with each other’ is the central idea of my memorable unit.

We  live in a world where almost everything we do, be it work, studies, entertainment, recreation etc. takes place on one form of a screen or another i.e. some type of tablet or smart phone; searching for information, playing games and connecting with family and friends around the world etc. has become seamless courtesy of the wonders of technology. The use of modern technology in education is the future. Therefore we must urge and guide our learners to fully embrace it but that can only happen when we as facilitators are open about the use of it too. This gives me a greater motivation to effectively integrate the use of technology in my teaching and learning. One of my plans this year is to try and integrate technology in my lessons as much as I can. We commenced the use of Seesaw and there was no better time to make it an integral part of our lessons. Also, our learners were assigned email addresses by the school which automatically qualified them to access Google Classroom. We explored how to send emails, use Google docs, Google forms and use Google classroom effectively. Google Docs has made our online collaboration easier and convenient and Google Classroom has extended our classroom as we chat, question, assign work, share links etc.

Over the long break, I extensively browsed Alice Keeler’s website and I was able to identify a couple of templates and add-on resources that would be useful in class. I found more than I would ever need but the one thing that particularly caught my attention was her rubric tab – we used it to instantly assess the learners’ work, giving feedback and we later e-mailed their rubrics to their school-created mails.

Alice Keeler’s rubric template

Also, If there was one thing that made the unit of inquiry memorable, was the fact that the learners  were, and have become, digitally-responsible citizens and they embarked on a one-on-one school campaign to educate other learners about the opportunities and dangers of using social media as well as making posters to be distributed around the school as part of our reflection and taking action.

And the icing on the cake; at the end of every unit, we embark a Unit-U turn (a session where the entire PYP team visits each other’s class and the teacher goes through the whole inquiry as facilitated by him or her). That’s a great way of peer assessing our colleagues as well as reflecting on our inquiry process — something we constantly try to incorporate in our learners. Using the simple majority rule, our class was adjudged the best by virtue of our method of inquiry. We were hugely humbled by the award but we have, at the same time, taken it as a challenge to maintain even higher teaching and learning standards. Our PYPC presented with a certificate and were given a treat as well.

 

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This is my 3rd year as a homeroom teacher at Al-Rayan International School.  Truth be told, I have been blessed to work with a great team of colleagues who continue to inspire and guide me in my career led by my PYP coordinator, primary head and our principal. It would not have been the same without you; your feedback, helping hand, suggestions etc.  were hugely beneficial.

@n_dowuona

 

Technology

Technology has the tendency to change the way people access information and connect with each other was our first central idea of six this academic year.

After six weeks of learning, we have been able to make remarkable progress in the use of technological devices especially for some of the learners who had mostly used the devices for playing games other than academic work. The learners used their devices to access information, present their findings as well as extend our class virtually. During our initial discussion, most of the learners were able express their opinion about how people accessed information in the past; tying a note to a bird’s leg , writing letters, playing drums and ‘smoke  message’ (people searched to identify the source of a smoke) are some of the ways they imagined people accessed information in the past.

Making our theme board

Making our theme board

I also told the learners about the experience in Ghana in the ’90s of mobile telephone services. In the late 90s, people had to book a week’s appointment to be able to call their relatives abroad at the Central Post Office locate at the heart of the city, Accra. There were long winding queues of people from all walks of life converging on daily basis to make a maximum of about 5 minutes call which would cost you a fortune. The introduction of mobile telephone services did not come cheap initially; a sim card was sold at ₵1.5 million (approximately $37 today). Thanks to technology, smart phones are accessible by millions now  and the proliferation of mobile telecommunication operators has made things cheaper and convenient now; sim cards are virtually free of charge and call rates are relatively cheaper.

As part of our tuning in learning engagements, we used the I see, I think, I wonder teaching strategy after the learners have seen pictures of technological devices used from the past. This led us into a hearty discussion about sophisticated instruments in general with the view that someone may use the word ‘technology’. I then asked the question ‘how do we get to watch live football matches in Ghana?’ (More than half of our learners are football enthusiasts). Before I could close say a word, a chorus answer echoed from the center of the class ‘technology!’ After that, we used the Think, Puzzle, Explore teaching strategy to assess the learners’ prior knowledge of ‘technology’. Most of the learners demonstrated very good knowledge of technology by either giving some good examples of devices they use at home or one that they have watched a documentary or read about.

In addition, we tasked the learners to guess the central idea using a couple of key words- technology, change, access, information, connect. The following week, the learners worked in groups to conduct a survey in the school. They stomped through the corridors of the school soliciting and capturing images of things that uses technology. Each group had about 2-3 camera/iPad/tablet to capture the images and they later sent us the images via email. The learners also researched about computer, telephone, television, cars and airplane with the aid of a checklist: the inventor, uses, popular brands, . One group of the learners created a model of their research topic; television. After the presentation, their colleagues asked them few questions with regard to their research.

Conducting a survey

Asking questions

Learners conducting a survey

A learner conducting a survey

We created a virtual classroom on Google classroom. Our virtual classroom has been of immerse assistance in communicating with the learners as well as posting video or links as a way of consolidating a lesson, differentiating etc. We explored the basic uses of the both our emails and Google Classroom so the learners would be able to maximize the uses of these online tools.

At the sorting out stage, the learners drew timelines of the various technological devices other than the ones they researched about. We also used the De Bono’s six thinking hats to analyze the word ‘technology’.

using the six thinking hats

Sample of a group work

Work in progress

Work in progress

This enabled the learners to have a holistic view of technology and as part of literacy lesson, the learners wrote about ‘A day without technology; how would it be like?’. It was quite interesting, reading some of the things the learners wrote about.

English integration

English integration

Technology would have been nothing without the people behind the invention or pioneers of the various devices so the learners studied about 10 people who have impacted technology positively

Nathaniel Borenstein

Ken Thompson

Additionally, we organized a debate ‘Should computers replace teachers?’ The debate was the learners’ first experiences but I must confess it was very heated at a point especially at the rebuttal rounds with each group making good contributions.

Collaboration and planning

Speaking for the motion

Discussing debate points

At the end of the unit, the learners created posters to raise awareness about online safety and our responsibility on the internet.

Posters

 

Gallery

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Art Competition

The academic year has started in earnest and it’s already buzzing with great events and lots of learning. After about a week of intense campaign to create students’ awareness, the much anticipated Art Competition came off. Our learners were so excited to engage in the competition with each student carrying their needed resources . The topics for the art competition was ‘Technology in today’s life’ and ‘One world one family’. The learners were particularly excited with the former because it has a link with our current unit of inquiry, technology has the tendency to change the way people access information and connect with each other. After the competition, they shared some of their reasons and the meaning of their art piece.

I like IPad so I drew it. Drawing an Ipad is challenging but I took the risk to draw it.

I drew it because I think it would be very easy and for it to look nice, I coloured the background.

I drew my iPad because I like technology and our unit of inquiry is about technology so I chose to draw my iPad. It was easy and amazing to draw.

I drew a TV. I drew it for fun and also to remind people of technology.

I drew something on ‘one family, one world’ because we are all one family in one world. Being global means living together.

It is the earth and I want to show people that we are all one people, one God created us, created the earth for us to stay and gave us air to breathe. He also gave us life and energy so we have to thank God whether we are rich or poor. Also, we need appreciate what we have and remember that we are all one people.

A family walking together. I drew it because walking with my family is good. I did not draw anything about ‘Technology in today’s life’ because drawing a family is easier and nicer.

I drew it because our unit of inquiry is about technology so I drew the latest technology.

I drew it because it is part of our unit of inquiry and I want to experience how I can draw technological devices. I also think the ‘Technology in today’s life’ is easier than ‘One world, one family’ so I drew an iPad, tablet and phone.

I drew it because I love technology and it makes learning fun.

Work in progress….

I drew a TV. I drew it for fun and also to remind people of technology.

I drew a phone and a TV because I wanted to express myself and also our unit of inquiry is about technology. In addition, I cannot imagine how these things would look like in future.

I found drawing something about ‘One world, one family’ easier compared to ‘Technology in today’s life’.

I drew this because to live with one family in one world is so important and the family is the best place to live.

I drew two phones, a tablet and a computer because these are the the most common technological devices around us.

As we wait patiently for the winners of the competition to be announced, we can only appreciate the creativity in the our school, aris.edu.gh

 

Where we are in Place and Time:Exploration

Welcome to our 5^th unit of inquiry of the academic year; Exploration leads to discoveries, opportunities and new understanding. A historically exciting, informative and knowledge based 6 weeks of learning.

Theme board

 

Where do they come from?

Our ‘Tuning in’ started with a treasure hunt learning engagement. The learners were provided with a map of the school, a list of clues of where the treasure could be found and also each group had a teacher to assist them. It was heart-warming to see learners running to every nook and cranny of the school with the help of the map and clues to find the hidden treasures. In addition to this, all the teams showed great teamwork, enthusiasm and cooperation in finding the treasure.Even though only one group was able to find one out of the three treasures, they really enjoyed it. “Can we have another treasure hunt?” Razziyah, a student, asked. After that, we engaged the learners in a discussion about the reasons for the treasure hunt learning engagement and it was there that a learner, Jad, used the word ‘explore’. This then lead to student provocations after the introduction of the central idea. The following are some of the teacher-student questions provocations;

1. What comes to your mind when you hear the word “exploration?”
2. Why do people explore?
3. What is the impact of exploration?
4. How does exploration help people to understand the world better?
5. What do you think is the next biggest exploration to happen or ongoing?
6. Do you know any famous explorer? Etc.

 

treasure hunt.

Reading the clues.

Teamwork!

The race for the treasure.

 

In addition, the learners used the web cluster strategy to write their first thought of the word “exploration” and used either a learner profile or attitude to describe the actions of explorers.

What comes to mind when you hear “exploration”

Next was the finding out stage. The finding out stage offered the learners the opportunity to research and present two explorers of the top 10 famous explorers in the world in groups of two.

Secondly, the learners presented their findings using either PowerPoint or poster on ‘The Age of Exploration’ showing trade route of early explorers such as Ferdinand Magellan, Vasco Da Gama, Sir Francis Drake, Christopher Columbus etc., their reasons for exploring and the challenges they encountered on their various journeys. Also, we embarked on a trip to the largest slave dungeon and the first castle to be built on the coast of West Africa by the Portuguese in 1482, the Elmina castle, about 6 km west of Cape Coast. It is worth mentioning that Madam Saandeepa Chavan, our PYP cordinator, volunteered as a guest lecturer and talked about the “Age of exploration”.

Returning from ‘the gate of no-return’

 

Time to explore the Elmina castle.

Group picture

After that, we sorted all the information from the finding out stage here; sorting out. We used the PNI (Positives, negatives and interesting) learning strategy where the learners wrote about the positives, negatives and interesting things about exploration. The learner went on to use the six thinking hats to analyse a chosen explorer as well as assigning the explorers to a group e.g. the same date of birth, place of exploration, year of exploration etc.

Analysing Sir Edmund Hillary.

Analysing Christopher Columbus.

The positives, negatives and interesting things about exploration.

Analysing Christopher Columbus.

Analysing Neil Armstrong

Making connections was our next stop. Here, the learners used the Venn diagram to compare and contrast two chosen explorers based on their own categories (date of birth, findings, tools used, strategies, crew, technology, nationality, impacts, etc.).

Comparing Neil Armstrong and Christopher Columbus

Comparing Christopher Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci.

During Going further stage, the learners read about maps and its features, they decided to create their fictional maps with suitable legends/keys. In addition, we watched a YouTube video about the ever stellar solar system.

A fictional map

A fictional map

 

Finally, the learners had to reflect on their six-week long learning experience and write about ‘If I was an explorer………’ at the ‘Reflection and taking action stage’. It was exhilarating reading some of the wonderful pieces penned down by the learners.

What inspiring young ones we have?!

See you soon,

Nazeer.

 

 

 

 

Who we are: Beliefs and values

We open-mindedly started our second inquiry of the academic year- “Who we are”. We set out to explore the central idea: “Systems that define beliefs and values offer explanations about the world around us and what it means to be human”, specifically setting our focus on:

• Similarities and differences between belief systems (secular and faith-based).
• How beliefs and values contribute to the formation and actions of communities.
• The impact of spiritual traditions on societies.

We started our unit by making the learners write what they ‘believed in’ also known as “I believe statement” as a Tuning in learning engagement. It was an interesting learning engagement for Teachers and pupils alike. Most of the learners were excited to share their faith and what they believed in. A cocktail of Muslims, Christians and an atheist was a great way of starting a sensitive, fun and learning filled 5 weeks unit of inquiry lessons. Also, we provoked the minds of the learners with the following scenario:
“Imagine you are on an island with all your basic needs: food, shelter, clothing etc. what 5 other things would you like to take with you?” and “their daily routines”
Our learners were able to list a few things but the one thing that ran through their work was the need to take a prayer mat, Bible or Quran, phone/iPad, cars etc. As part of putting up our theme board, we printed common symbols of the world’s top 11 religions. We observed that most of our learners had knowledge of just a few of such symbols so we encouraged them to find out more about other symbols and the religions they represented.

“I believe statements”

As part of our investigation, we asked them a couple of questions—“Do you believe in God?” and “Do you think religion is important?”
The curiosity of our learners set them on a journey around the school to conduct a survey as well as collect data about the number people who belonged to the top 11 world religions. Our learners were taken aback when a teacher mentioned that she is agnostic.

Survey about different religions in ARIS.

We were privileged to have four guest speakers; Madam Majida, Mr Emmanuel and Madam Simran in our school to talk to us about their faiths; Islam, Christianity and Sikhism respectively. Also, there was a presentation by a parent, an atheist, about why she does not believe in God. This created room for more questions than answers because most of the learners had lots of questions brewing in their heads. Most of us did have fair knowledge of both Christianity and Islam so much of the stuff that was presented to us wasn’t new. We did, however, pick up a new thing or two about these religions but the presentation on Sikhism by Madam Simran was particularly insightful and interesting as well. Even though the presentation was a short one, it provided vital information for pupils and teachers alike. She made mention of “the ten Gurus”, with particular reference to Guru Gobind Singh in Sikhism and continued to talk about some practices, place of worship and shared a number of Sikh beliefs.

Guest speaker on Islam.

Guest speaker on Christianity.

Guest speaker on Sikhism.

Also, we made stops at the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Adabraka, a Mosque at Dzorwulu, and a Gurudwara at Tudu in Accra.
On arrival at the Holy Trinity Cathedral, our learners beamed with smiles as they disembarked the bus to be taken round the Holy Trinity Cathedral premises. We walked into the main church auditorium as quietly as we possibly could as they were minutes away from starting a mid-week service. That presented an opportunity for the children to know how Roman Catholics, a denomination of Christians, worship. A few of the Roman Catholic routines triggered lots of questions from the learners. Our tour guide explained a number of Christian beliefs and took time to answer the learners’ questions as well. Several lit candles adorned the statue of Jesus and Mary. Participants of the service knelt down to worship their deity. Others lowered their lit candle and eventually pitched it on a virtually exhausted concrete mantelpiece. The learners continued asking meaningful questions and paid close attention to every snippet of information fed them.

Trip to the church

Trip to the church

After about an hour and a half at the church premises, we left for the Sikh temple, Gurudwara. There was particularly heavy vehicular traffic on the road to Accra central, which was where the Gurudwara was located. The learners were very much excited to see the hustle and bustle of the central business district. Several hawkers on the street frequently waved at the pupils (I suspect this was due to the skin colour of the pupils – they were undoubtedly presumed to be foreigners) at times when our vehicle was caught in traffic. By and large, Ghanaians are a very warm, welcoming and hospitable people and this courtesy is particularly extended to people believed to be from outside this country.
Finally, we arrived at the Gurudwara. The learners anxiously climbed upstairs to be shown around because for most of us that represented a first visit to a Sikh temple. As an omen of acknowledgement of the sanctity of the temple, we took off our shoes as was required of us before making entry through a narrow but nicely decorated door that led to the temple. An elderly man in a long white robe and with an amazingly long white beard was patiently waiting at the main entrance of the temple to assist us learn how to tie a turban. Some smooth pleasant music greeted us on our way in. We entered the temple quietly to see three men passionately playing three different instruments while singing. We sat on a red and yellow themed woolen floor carpet with our legs crossed. The songs these men sang were quite similar to hymns sung at Church or Quran recitals at the Mosque. The priest led us through a short prayer after which a special meal was served.

At the Sikh temple,Gurudwara.

At the Sikh temple,Gurudwara.

Soon, it was time for questions and the learners took turns, seated in a semi-circular fashion, to ask questions they had prepared and on any other matter that boggled their minds. The priests were patient enough to discuss quite a number of Sikh beliefs and at the same time highlighted some physical characteristics of Sikhs. All too soon, it was time to leave already. We had one more place to visit and with the traffic situation in Accra, it would have represented poor time management on our part had we stayed any longer.

Much to our surprise, in much less time than we had anticipated, we arrived at a huge and beautiful dome-shaped edifice, the mosque located south of Dzorwulu.Most of our learners were impatiently waiting to get off the bus to say the afternoon prayers. Unfortunately, the Imam had taken a time out. Madam Majida, a RE teacher, and a Muslim herself, took the trouble of taking us through the process of offering a prayer and some of the learners who had never had this experience seized the opportunity to perform a prayer. I must say that most of the learners walked on air after the exercise possibly because it was their first experience.

A trip to the moque.

A trip to the moque.

The ‘Going Further’ stage was undoubtedly the ‘aha moment’ of the unit. The movie, PK by Amir Khan, perfectly suited the unit. PK as summarized by Jagdish Keshav–
“PK the alien being, a gentle one who encounters the other side of God and religion on earth, in India. He comes across as a simpleton, an innocent being who represents his kind from a distant planet. He meets Jaggu, Anushka Sharma, and the plot unravels soon of how the contemporary society has been taken over dogmatic preachers from all major religions. Of how the universal message of God is forgotten and of how people are manipulated by the so-called religious leaders, aptly called as Managers by PK. The movie is symbolic of how convoluted our belief system is, be it Hinduism, Islam or Christianity”- Jagdish Keshav
The learners really enjoyed the movie and most importantly it highlighted the necessary elements that hinged on the tenets of the unit of inquiry. It is my hope that the producers and IB would strike an agreement so the movies can be used as an authorized unit resource.

The movie, PK.

The movie, PK.

 

Furthermore, we learned about some people who have contributed immensely to world peace despite their different religions; Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi and Abraham Lincoln, Muhammad Ali among others. These legends made massive contributions from politics to slave abolition and racial equality. Also, we compared the popular story of “the Prodigal son” by Gautama Buddha and Jesus Christ- a parable whose different accounts by the aforementioned men shared a number of similarities and at the same time had some differences. We integrated our English lesson by making each learner write a poem on religion.

The next stage was the ‘Making Connection stage’. It was another fascinating stage of the unit; we learned about some Ghanaian beliefs. I must confess that I personally found some of the beliefs to be ridiculous and incredible, for instance, it is popularly believed that ‘if one whistles at night one would see a ghost’. Another equally ridiculous one has it that “having itchy palm means one would become wealthy”. Another interesting one claims that if one sings while taking their bath, it would lead to the death of one’s mother. In addition, the learners randomly chose two religions and compared and contrasted them which in a way served as a formative assessment.

Finally, it was time for reflection and taking action stage. The learners adopted beliefs from another religion apart from theirs that stood out for them and eventually created their own set of beliefs as well as writing poems about the various faiths. The learners cooperated well in most of the learning engagements and they really showed a high sense of respect for each other’s faith. I must confess that for the first time in my life I observed learners particularly at this age who share different faiths harmoniously respected one’s belief in all the activities we carried out.

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Poem on religion.

Poem on religion.

Poem on religion.

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