Mr Hammerlund

Photo by Daniel Minárik on Unsplash I had what I thought was a better image for this post. It was the scene from The Simpsons when Homer gets a helper monkey. By the end of the episode, the helper monkey has turned lazy and got out of shape. It's a good episode, but I probably shouldn't use copyrighted images.  Morals foiled me again! Then I went on Unsplash to find an image I could use. I typed "confidence" into the search bar and I found this image. I didn't choose it because I agree with it, however. I chose it because while it is a nice catchphrase, I think things are not as simple as "Prove Them Wrong".  What if you are in a place where you don't have the confidence to prove them wrong?

If you had asked me to define learner agency a few years ago - I probably wouldn't have been able to give a cohearant definition. Fast forward a little bit and my definition would have had something to do with independence -- which I still believe, but now my definition is including other terms I wouldn't have thought to include.  Photo by John Schnobrich on Unsplash According to the article  What is learner agency? , learner agency is a term that is both hard to define, and one that encompasses several ingredients. Terms such as ... engagement autonomy self-regulation active learning all make up the term learner agency.  One term I would have addedm, and I don't see, is something about independence or self-efficacy.  When I think of an independent learner, I think of a student who understands the goal, is able to plan to reach the goal, and  The term, self-regulation , is defined as self-regulation , as learners need to know themselves well, to plan and monit...

If you count up all the drafts, I am a prolific blogger. Photo by Johann Walter Bantz on Unsplash I was approached with the idea of collaborating on a summative project for the MYP Grade 7 and 8 PE Boxing unit. The idea that was pitched was a grand event where students would share their movies. The image in my mind was of a PYPx or some other kind of exhibition. My role was to be the facilitator for the exhibition. The first question I had was what were the ATLs? What were the skills students were to focus on?  My next question was about adding the ATL of Information Literacy or Media Literacy as seen in the enhanced PYP ATLs . I am not up to date on the MYP ATLs , so it seemed that might be a logical starting point.  Then I wondered what could be the "hook" for the students on this project. As I understood the unit when I came out of the initial meeting, I would just be supporting the final exhibition. I assumed the students would play their movies on their laptops, so I wo...

We are in a period of online learning - again. I think this is the third or fourth time that the whole school has gone online during this pandemic. Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash When we first started teaching online, I was a homeroom teacher. My role was very straightforward. Since then I have moved to a support role as PYP Learning Support and Technology Coach. With this new role, I have more flexibility to join lessons as needed, but I find that since I am not in planning sessions with teachers (something I am pushing for) I can be called at any time to help with a lesson. When it is simply to be another adult in the room, there is not much need to go over things. But when I am being asked to co-teach a lesson, I can sometimes rush into it without fully knowing what the lesson is about.  Yeah, I get excited to help others. But today I went to a lesson and it was just an OK lesson. This was because I didn't have time to prepare and think through what I was going to be doing. I w...