W.E. Kinvig Elementary 22-23
OUR CONTEXT
WE Kinvig resides in the heart of Newton in Surrey, BC. Our student population of nearly 400 boasts a culturally and linguistically diverse group of learners. We celebrate diversity throughout the school year during annual occurrences like Black History Month, Asian Heritage Month and National Indigenous History Month, to name a few. At WE Kinvig, it is important that we take the time to highlight and learn about the historical legacy of marginalized groups in our country and beyond, in the hopes of reconciling past injustice and fostering a more equitable world for all.
OUR LEARNERS
At W.E. Kinvig we understand the importance of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) as a fundamental aspect of student learning. SEL is a process that supports adults, youth, and children in developing skills that are necessary for school, work, and life. This includes self-awareness, self-management, responsible decision-making, relationships skills, and social awareness. These skills are embedded in all subject areas in BC's curriculum. Below, we celebrate our learners' successes and strengths in the areas of Responsible Decision-Making.
Responsible Decision-Making encompasses the abilities to make caring choices about personal behaviour and social interactions across diverse situations. This includes the capacities to consider ethical standards and safety concerns, and to evaluate the benefits and consequences of various actions for personal, social, and collective well-being.
It is important that our students develop in the capacities to;
- demonstrate curiousity and open-mindedness
- learn how to make a reasoned judgement after examining the facts
- identify solutions to personal and social problems
- anticipate the consequences of one’s actions
RESPONSIBLE DECISION MAKING
Our learners can transform ideas and information to create original texts
WE Kinvig is a WITS (Walk away, Ignore, Talk it out, Seek help) school. The WITS programs work in schools to teach children strategies that promote kindness and effectively teach a means to make responsible choices when confronted with a variety of problems. In a whole-community approach, WITS and its counterparts involve schools, families and community members. As proficiency using WITS is developed, children progress to LEADS (Look & Listen, Explore Points of View, Act, Did it work?, Seek Help). LEADS, an extension of WITS, provides students with strategies that empower them to resolve conflicts and model good behaviour. Like WITS, LEADS is a literature based program with dynamic activities that may be integrated throughout a variety of subject areas. See below for details.
In the following Language Arts and SEL examples, our learners are developing their capacities to take the ideas and information delivered to them in the WITS/LEADS programs and create original texts. Learners throughout the school brainstormed ideas on ways to engage the school in a WITS themed product to be shared at a school assembly. One group sketched the outline for a script and circulated throughout the school to ascertain student comprehension levels on all aspects of WITS. After filming these interactions, a final product was edited and shared with the school community. See below.
As an extension of the Language Arts and SEL example above, several of our intermediate ELL students set out to do the same thing, but their intention was to deliver the message of WITS to a segment of our student population that speak a language other than English at home. These students translated "WITS" into Arabic and discussed previous misconceptions they had about what WITS actually meant. For example, for the WITS strategy, "talk it out," many students in the group had assumed that meant to keep your voices down in class as opposed to talking out your problems in the hopes to appreciate one another's point of view.
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Below is their final product that was also the product of brainstorming, explicit teaching, filming and editing and was shared with the school community.
OUR FOCUS
Every day, our learners are presented with opportunities to practice and demonstrate their Social and Emotional Learning skills and capabilities. Our team of educators provide our learners with these essential skills to set them up for success in today's rapidly changing world. To identify students’ overall strengths and areas for growth, we tracked Responsible Decision-Making in three cohorts of learners across subject areas (Language Arts, Careers Education and Science) and grade levels (Grades 1-6). These cohorts include a diverse set of learners that are representative of our school’s population.
Our students’ curricular learning goals are grounded in the principles of responsible decision-making and include;
- Exchanging ideas and viewpoints to build shared understanding and extend thinking (Language Arts)
- Demonstrating safe behaviours in an online environment. (Careers Education)
- Recognizing the intersection of personal and public digital identities (digital presence/footprint, word choice online, representing self and communities) and the potential for both positive and negative consequences. (Careers Education)
- Considering environmental consequences of their actions (Science)
Below are examples of our students’ classroom experiences as they relate to responsible decision making.
Exchanging ideas and viewpoints to build shared understanding and extend thinking (Language Arts)
WE Kinvig is a school that boasts a culturally diverse population. This diversity presents rich opportunities to listen and learn from one another. Through discussions in a talking circle, our teachers have provided students with a safe space to share their ideas and unique points of view on of variety of topics that resonate with children at their age level. This cohort of students, which I will refer to as the "WITS group", was made up of 8 intermediate students. They met with staff members and learned about the sacredness of the talking circle and established norms that would serve as guidelines for how discussions would take place. Students were prompted by questions in response to a variety of picture books that all portrayed characters in a variety of situations that would have them use their "WITS" to solve problems. Students shared their responses orally or in writing with one another in the hopes of extending their own understandings and thoughts on the concepts within the text.
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Demonstrating safe behaviours in an online environment (Careers Education)
Recognizing the intersection of personal and public digital identities (digital presence/footprint, word choice online, representing self and communities) and the potential for both positive and negative consequences (Careers Education)
Every day our world increasingly bifurcates into two parts; a physical world, where we engage with one another face to face, and a digital world, where we interact with one another online. The latter is of particular interest as we ask students to interact using digital platforms on a regular basis while satisfying curricular requirements at an ever increasing rate. Navigating the digital world can be complicated for anyone, but especially for our young learners. We live in a world where the effects of cyberbullying impact the lives of students in our schools. Outside of school, children are interacting with social media and gaming platforms with other known and unknown individuals making the protection of personal information an imperative. We want children to be able to make responsible decisions online in ways that protect their identity and also ways that make the digital world a safe space for students, free from cyberbullying. A cohort of intermediate students are learning all about digital citizenship and how they can go about making good choices online. They took part in several online and "unplugged" activities in their class to go about achieving this goal.
Learning how to interact in a digital space by writing respectful comments on peer video posts using Flip. |
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We are learning that when post personal information online, we are sharing parts of our identity with the world. This can have both positive and negative consequences. | We are learning about how to be good digital citizens and make responsible decisions online using Play Interland. |
Considering environmental consequences of their actions (Science)
A primary cohort of students have been exploring the Cedar Tree and looking at how our community and how the Coast Salish Community each use this tree. At the beginning of our learning, we first looked at these communities and compared them. We learned that the Coast Salish Community used the Cedar tree to live and for their cultural celebrations. During the time of Earth Week, we talked about ways we can celebrate the Cedar Tree and be mindful of how we use it. We engaged in rich classroom discussions about how we need to share with our community the ways that we can care for these magnificent trees and how we can help to protect them for the future.
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| We are learning that trees are living things | We are learning about ways the Coast Salish People have traditionally used the Cedar Tree | We are learning how Cedar Trees are used for transportation. |
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| We are learning how Cedar Trees are used for shelter. | We recorded our learning and shared it with the school. | We are learning the importance of making responsible environmental decisions to preserve the life of the Cedar Tree. |
OUR NEXT STEPS
In the focus area of Responsible Decision Making, students demonstrated growth in the following curricular areas;
1) Exchanging ideas and viewpoints to build shared understanding and extend thinking (Language Arts)
2) Demonstrating safe behaviours in an online environment (Careers Education)
3) Recognizing the intersection of personal and public digital identities (digital presence/footprint, word choice online, representing self and communities) and the potential for both positive and negative consequences (Careers Education)
4) Considering environmental consequences of their actions (Science)
Exchanging ideas and viewpoints to build shared understanding and extend thinking
The intermediate students in our WITS cohort have spent a good portion of the school learning ways in which they can share their unique points of view to learn from one another while engaging in group discussions. We wanted this cohort of students to develop their capacity for leadership and to spread the responsible decision-making strategies of WITS to our primary students. Our discussion formats were modelled on the Indigenous tradition of a Talking Circle. Students learned the art of listening while others shared their points of view.
The WITS group met weekly, read and discussed picture books that had featured a problem that was solved using a WITS strategy and applied them to the everyday issues they observed taking place on the playground at our school. The WITS group exchanged their understandings and shared ideas found in the books to extend their thinking and learn from one another. Students shared their ideas through discussions in a Talking Circle and through journal reflections which gave them time to collect their thoughts before speaking.
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| WITS Group Meeting |
The teachers observed a significant growth in the students’ ability to engage in this type of learning. Throughout the course of the groups’ meetings, teachers observed consistent verbal participation from 75% of its members. Teachers observed further growth when students shared their thinking through journaling and allowed teachers to share their responses on their behalf.
Examples that articulate these findings can be demonstrated through a discussion about the book “The Invisible Boy,” by Trudy Ludwig.
I think you should try and be partners with someone who think is always left out and looks kind. Don’t judge people by their religion or their culture.
I have learned that all people matter even though they are different. Imagine no one saw you for who you were… you would feel so sad that no one paid attention to you.
Sometimes groups of three can be hard because two people always end up being closer and learning the third person in the group left out. That can make it difficult in friend groups.
It can be challenging to see all forms of bullying. Sometimes it can be really obvious like when someone is making fun of someone, but other times it is more subtle like when someone is being ignored.
One of the more powerful moments of learning came out of a discussion of the book, “The Proudest Blue,” by Ibtithaj Muhammad and S.K. Ali. A few students shared their personal connections to being teased for wearing their hijab. Another student had an emotional response and connected this type of bullying to something she had experienced in school where several of her peers had made fun of her name.
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The teacher observed the following reflection in their notes after this discussion;
The learning that took place during today’s meeting was transformative. The students are learning to be brave and vulnerable and share their thoughts with the group. They are identifying ways that the characters in these books could be solving their problems using WITS strategies. Moreover, they are sharing personal connections to these stories which is having a deeper impact among the group. They are developing empathy for one another which was clearly evident when a student shared her own struggles with ongoing bullying linked to her name. One student had the idea to celebrate their names and come to the group next week to share what their names meant.
Demonstrating safe behaviours in an online environment (Careers Education)
Recognizing the intersection of personal and public digital identities (digital presence/footprint, word choice online, representing self and communities) and the potential for both positive and negative consequences (Careers Education)
Our Intermediate cohort has been exploring responsible decision making as it relates to online activities. We used the curricular areas noted above in an exploration of what it means to be a good digital citizen. Being a good digital citizen encompasses being conscious of safety while online, making sound decisions and understanding that what we choose to share about ourselves online can have positive, negative and more broadly speaking, unintended consequences.
At the beginning of our learning, the class discussed what It meant to be a good digital citizen. Responses were limited to topics that related to bullying. For example, students shared that you should not fight with others online, you should not bully people online and that you shouldn’t write things that are racist or that makes others feel bad.”
We tailored lessons from sources such as Common-Sense Media and Google’s, Play Interland – ‘Be Internet Awesome,’ in the hopes of deepening our students’ understanding of digital citizenship and making responsible decisions online. The learning demonstrated by this cohort was incredible with well over 70% of students showing a more thorough understanding of what it means to be a good digital citizen. We practiced in class on plugged-in (like, writing positive comments to each other’s’ Flip video posts) and unplugged activities (like, writing paper tweets on each other’s physical Twitter accounts). Google’s, Be Internet Awesome, is teaching us how to be Smart, Alert, Strong, Kind and Brave online.
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| "Unplugged" Twitter accounts. |
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Below are some journal excerpts taken from students in this cohort when asked to reflect on their learning.
Make sure you block people who try to steal your information or your parents’ credit card information. Don’t trust anyone online that you do not know.
Be kind to all players who you are playing with when you are gaming and promise that you will not share things like your passwords or your home address.
Good digital citizens use positive language in chats, make good choices by not going on bad websites. They are always being kind in the comments or in Minecraft chats or other online games. They would also never give a random person your address
You can’t tell anyone your passwords because what if they log in and they send bad stuff to your friends through your own accounts like Snapchat, and they think it is from you? I only ever add friends and family to my accounts and I never say rude stuff because that is cyberbullying.
I am a good digital citizen by giving compliments to other people’s creativity and their work. I also help other people on Teams if they ask for help online.”
Considering environmental consequences of their actions (Science)
Our primary cohort explored ways they can make responsible decisions towards nature within their own communities. We focused our attention on the importance of the Cedar Tree. Students began their learning with an awareness of what a cedar tree was but could not articulate its significance for themselves and for the local Coast Salish communities.
This cohort of students met regularly throughout the year to build upon their understanding of the Cedar Tree through curricular areas of science. We explored how the tree was a living thing and how all living things could support our quality of life. All students developed a proficient understanding of the concept of living things, how to identify them, understanding the circle of life and the similarities and difference between of the offspring of living things. Learning about how Coast Salish communities made special use of the Cedar Tree raised the stakes for this cohort in understanding the need to act in an environmentally responsible way to protect this living resource.
All students were able to identify a personal connection of how they might use wood in their communities and homes, but the learning of how the Coast Salish Community uses Cedar shifted their perspectives of this natural resource. Students shared how the community uses the Cedar for clothing, celebrations, medicine, arts, carving, transportation, and housing.
At the beginning of their learning, this cohort understood that furniture can be made from Cedar. After our learning of how the Coast Salish Community uses Cedar, 90% of the class could share at least three ways the community uses cedar in their everyday life through pictures or verbally. 81% of students were able to share how the importance of the Cedar was to the Coast Salish community.
Statements from students:
The trees are so important because they (Coast Salish People) need it to live and we want to make sure the trees remain healthy for everyone.
"They use it to survive and share about themselves so we have to make sure that we protect these trees."
This cohort were in awe of how responsible the Coast Salish people were about harvesting and using the cedar. We learned about how the community only took what they needed and very wasted the tree. We learned about how they thanked the resource in hopes to show their appreciation of it.
Through the students' exploration of how the Coast Salish make responsible decisions with the cedar tree, their learning of how to care for the nature on their land showed substantial growth throughout the course of the year. Through discussion relevant picture books, a review of student journal entries, one-on-one conferencing and several in-class activities throughout the year, it is evident that 76% of this cohort were able to identify at least one thing they could share with others on how they can be responsible with the cedar trees and other living things in nature. This learning demonstrates an exploration and development in our school of how to make responsible decisions towards different elements in our environment.
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MOVING FORWARD
We are proud of the accomplishments and growth that we have observed within our cohorts in the area of Responsible Decision-Making. As we look ahead to the future, our plan is to;
- continue to explore pertinent local and global environmental issues and how our individual actions have the power to make a difference for the future of our planet.
- use our school wide WITS (Walk Away, Ignore, Talk it Out, Seek Help) program as a means to resolve problems
- create more learning opportunities to explore an aspect of responsible-decision making that teaches us that actions have consequences - both positive and negative.
- integrate the SEL competency of Social Awareness to explore making responsible decisions to foster an understanding and celebration of the cultural diversity at W.E. Kinvig.
- explore the BC curriculum for other cross-curricular opportunities to integrate SEL competencies in other areas.
Surrey Schools
Formed in 1906, the Surrey School District currently has the largest student enrolment in British Columbia and is one of the few growing districts in the province. It is governed by a publicly elected board of seven trustees.
The district serves the cities of Surrey and White Rock and the rural area of Barnston Island.
