The Museum Hack

 In January 2018, I enrolled in Advanced Research Methodologies at University of Victoria with professor Dr. Kathy Sanford. Kathy is a feminist and post-structural researcher in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction as well as the graduate advisor there. I learned a lot from Kathy, and perhaps one of the most interesting things she shared with us was her work in museums. Together with colleagues Dr. Darlene Clover and Dr. Nancy Taber, they developed the feminist museum hack--a pedagogical and methodological approach that encourages museum visitors to examine exhibits through a critical feminist lens. This disruptive practice challenges the museum as an authority on history and promotes the inclusion of different perspectives, diverse groups, and seldom-heard narratives. Museum hacking can also act as a form of resistance against gender oppression and injustice. Kathy took our class to the Royal BC Museum where we had the fascinating experience of "hacking" the exhibits. 

This experience stayed with me, and when I found myself teaching Social Studies Methods at Brandon University in 2020 and 2021, I wanted to expose my students to this pedagogical approach. With Daly House Museum only a short walk away, it seemed like the perfect learning experience to accomplish a number of outcomes: i) demonstrate the role of museums in the teaching of social studies; ii) strengthen my students' understanding of experiential learning approaches; iii) develop their ability to examine museum exhibits and curatorial statements; and iv) give them the knowledge and experience to hack museums with their future students as part of social studies teaching. 

To build knowledge of the approach, we connected with Dr. Sanford and asked if she would be willing to talk to our class via video call. To prepare for the call, we read one of Dr. Sanford's articles on curatorial statements (available here on p. 190) and listened to a podcast interview with Dr. Clover. I also pulled out some resources from Silvia Tolisano (2011) on how to turn a Skype call into a learning call. As it often is when teaching pre-service teachers, my purpose was two-fold. I wanted to demonstrate for them how to maximize the learning surrounding a video call so they could do this with their own students AND I wanted to make this a rich learning experience for them. We began by searching Dr. Sanford online and used Google Maps to see where she was located. We confirmed the time zone and season there. Using a shared Google Doc as a planning tool, my students assumed a variety of roles: greeting Kathy, providing a territorial acknowledgement, asking questions (added to the Google Doc before and during the call), sharing our learning via Twitter, and thanking Kathy. 

Samantha shared a Treaty 2 territorial acknowledgement. 

Cassandra welcomed Dr. Sanford to Brandon University and our class. 

Dr. Sanford shared a presentation with us for about 25 minutes, and then the students asked her many, many questions about her work and the museum hack approach. It was a fascinating 45 minutes of learning and sharing. 

Dr. Kathy Sanford presented on her work with museums and the museum hack approach. 

Take a look at some of my students' takeaways here.

Our next task was to decide how we would approach hacking the Daly House Museum. Kathy had shared a variety of ideas, such as leaving sticky-note suggestions and questions on exhibits, re-writing curatorial statements, and redesigning exhibits to make them more inclusive and representative. First of all, we wanted to look at all the exhibits and match them to Manitoba curricular outcomes for K-8 social studies. For the actual museum hack, my students came up with their own approach based on the book snaps we had created earlier in the course. They decided to photograph exhibits, then use text-over-image tools to annotate the pictures with their questions, criticisms, and suggestions to improve the exhibits. The images were then shared via Twitter using the hashtags #ssmethods and #museumhack. Take a look at the students' visit to the museum here.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Leah Obach + Devon Caldwell (@kgeducation.ca)

And check out my students' museum hacks:

This was a powerful learning experience and my students' feedback was very positive. We loved getting out of the classroom (which seems to happen rarely during COVID) and we really enjoyed examining the exhibits with a critical, contemporary lens. It made for a more engaging and relevant museum visit that had true purpose. Are you interested in trying the museum hack with your students? You can apply this strategy to in-person or virtual museum visits as well as online exhibits. Learn more here:

• listen to a podcast interview with Darlene Clover on the museum hack (also available on Apple Podcasts)
• read the Feminist Adult Educators' Guide to Aesthetic, Creative, and Disruptive Strategies in Museums and Community (edited by Clover, Dzulkifli, Gelderman, & Sanford, 2020)

Access online exhibits and virtual tours here:

• Google Arts and Culture
• 8 Virtual Tours of Canadian Museums 

Walking for Polar Bears, Part 2: The Big Day

With the fundraising well underway and a developing knowledge of climate change, it was time to plan the actual event. We had decided at the project's inception that the walk would take place at Brandon University, as I really wanted to expose my young learners to university at an early age. Also, it made more sense to bus our students to Brandon than make my big kids from BU drive out in separate vehicles. However, no project is without some bumps in the road...

Mrs. Obach and I had a big discussion about whether or not it was reasonable to bus kids to Brandon in a project designed to raise awareness about climate change. Did it make sense to put more vehicles on the road when that was the very thing we were trying to stop? We thought the best way to handle this issue was to take it to our students. Leah's Grade 1 class had an excellent debate using the "tug of war" strategy  and raised many valid points about why we should travel to Brandon. In the end, we decided it was better to take two buses than multiple cars, and the benefits far outweighed the disadvantages.

Early in the project, I had asked Dr. Duncan about using the walking track at BU's Healthy Living Centre. However, the director of the centre felt that 21 big kids, 21 kindergarten kids, and 23 Grade 1 students was just too many to accommodate. What to do? With unpredictable Manitoba weather in a busy city, was walking outside a wise or safe idea? My kindergarten class brainstormed alternative locations, and we called Shoppers Mall Brandon and Keystone Centre. However, it didn't seem like a good use of time to walk in one location then travel to BU for learning activities after. This problem was solved by my big kids at university. They proposed walking around campus, going in and out of buildings to keep warm. This also gave our students a great overview of the entire campus. Problem solved!

In the days leading up to the actual walk, the JKs partnered with my big kids to create a green screen movie using the app Do Ink. My junior kindergarten class had taken a special interest in climate change and developed the understanding that by helping the earth, we also help polar bears. This movie showcased what we can do to slow climate change.

We also participated in a fantastic video call with Mr. Andy McKiel and the Hamiota Grade 1 class. Andy had travelled to Churchill a few years ago with a Discovery Education team to get up close and personal with polar bears. His amazing pictures and interesting information about polar bears absolutely captivated our young learners. Thank you so much for sharing!

Perhaps what was most exciting was the work my big kids did at BU. I wanted these future teachers to gain first-hand knowledge of project-based learning as it is so well-suited to multi-age/multi-level classrooms. They followed the project through all its stages, and then they stepped up to plan the events at BU. We made a list of what tasks needed to be accomplished, and the students worked in groups to complete them. We looked at each task and discussed what curricular outcomes would be met and how students of diverse abilities could be accommodated. I felt it was a real "a ha" moment for a lot of my students as they realized how interdisciplinary and inclusive project-based learning is!

One group was in charge of mapping the route we would take for our polar bear walk. A PDF of the campus and a Microsoft Surface pen was a fantastic tool!

 Another group of big kids developed a schedule for the day.

 Another group was in charge of advertising and contacting the media.

 One group had the brilliant idea that we needed a photo booth! And we also decided that a polar bear mascot for the walk would be amazing!

And finally our big day arrived! It was an amazing day that couldn't have gone better--take a look at our video!

This was one of my all-time favourite projects as it was such a unique collaboration among two classrooms, Brandon University, and World Wildlife Fund Canada. Together we raised $243 for polar bears. Everyone involved saw what a difference we can make when we work together. My young students built knowledge about polar bears and climate change as well as strengthened their early literacy and numeracy skills, and my big kids developed their abilities in a project-based learning approach. 

Walking for Polar Bears, Part 1: When Little Kids and Big Kids Collaborate

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you'll know that my littles love helping animals. Before Christmas, my JK students planned and executed a fantastic Reindeer Rescue Art and Craft Sale to adopt five reindeer from World Wildlife Fund Canada. And when they returned from Christmas holidays, their interest in and desire to help polar animals hadn't faded one bit. So when I received an email from WWF Canada about an upcoming polar bear walk (founded by a 7 year-old boy a few years ago), I knew without a doubt they'd be interested. What I didn't realize was just how big this project would grow to become and all the stakeholders who would join us!

I knew that my SK students had felt a bit sad when they heard all about the JK's reindeer project from them at daycare, so I decided that both JK and SK classes would be a part of our new polar bear project. The JKs asked the SKs if they would be interested in working on a polar bear walk project, then the SKs decided to Skype Mrs. Obach's Grade 1 class and ask them if they would like to join us too. When this project began in January, I had just started teaching pre-service teachers in the Faculty of Education at Brandon University. My kindergarten students were very interested in my "big kids", so I asked them if we should invite the big kids to help with the project. My JK class made a little video that we shared with my BU students and they agreed to work with us too! My big idea surrounding the project had two components: my little ones would engage in project-based learning to develop important skills, meet curricular outcomes, and make a difference in the world. My university students would monitor the evolution of the project through weekly updates and collaborate with our classes to plan a polar bear walk, increasing their comfort level with project-based learning. It worked beautifully!

The most powerful tool we used for our collaborative project-based learning was Microsoft OneNote (a web and app-based digital binder/notebook tool). With my kindergarten learners offering suggestions for the sections, I created a notebook for us to document and share our learning and plan our polar bear walk.  We shared our OneNote with Mrs. Obach's class and both of us were able to contribute a variety of content--photographs, links to resources, videos, and text. We were able to use the pens on our SMART Boards to print information into the OneNote as well, which was great for our beginning writers. Each day we began our learning by reviewing the facts and resources in the OneNote notebook, and it was a game-changing way for us to collaborate on such a large project. At university, I regularly shared the notebook to show the big kids what was happening in the project and discuss the learning taking place. This was the perfect way to build my big kids' knowledge of project-based learning, and demonstrate how it is such an effective approach for meeting the needs of diverse learners.

As it often is, knowledge construction was a key component of the project. We needed to learn all we could about polar bears, understand what was happening in Canada's north, and find out how we could help them. We read books and watched videos, recording important facts in our OneNote. A video call with Andy McKiel and Mrs. Obach's class was especially enlightening. Mr. McKiel had spent a week in and around Churchill and had a wealth of knowledge and stunning photographs to share with us. As always, Skype was an important tool in our project-based learning. We had regular video calls with Mrs. Obach's class to share our knowledge and plan the walk.

My SK students used Duck Duck Moose's Draw and Tell app to share their emerging understandings of polar bears. Check out the sample below.

As we built understanding about polar bears and the challenges they face, our project splintered in two directions. The JK students were really interested in investigating why the ice is melting, and I was really impressed by their insights. (Why don't we just use cold water and make more ice for polar bears? If the ice is melting, it must be because it is getting hot in the Arctic. Why is it getting hot?) We did some research and learned that garbage and pollution are making "bad air" that is causing the earth to heat up. These higher temperatures are melting the ice. The JK students made the connection that helping the earth helps polar bears! They decided to make a video to encourage others to help the earth to help polar bears. Green Screen by Do Ink and Pixabay were invaluable in creating our video. We included the big kids from BU in our video as well as the SK class, and we used Do Ink to green-screen a variety of copyright-free background images from Pixabay.

The SKs decided to scale up our impact and raise more money and awareness for polar bears. Since time was of the essence, I went with their first idea--let's sell Timbits! We decided to sell two Timbits and a white ribbon pin that people could wear to show their support of polar bears for a toonie. In 20 minutes, we sold out and raised $100 to add to our polar bear walk fundraising! Although this was a quick little activity, we fit in a ton of learning.

-shared writing to draft a letter home to families

-printing signs

-surveying classrooms to find out how many students in each and recording the numerals

-cutting our notes in half, counting the correct amount for each class, and labelling them with the correct number and grade

-using non-standard measurement (cubes) to measure the length of each ribbon

-developing scissor skills as we cut 50 pieces of ribbon

-oral language skills as we worked at our sale

-counting the toonies by 2s and loonies by 1s to see how much money we raised

Throughout this process we planned our walk...which was not without a few challenges! Learn more in a future post.

Little Miss Kindergarten Goes to University

Well it's been two months since my last post, and a LOT has happened. My best friend and #1 collaborative partner, Leah Obach, and I worked with our K and Grade 2 classes to host a a fantastic Kids Who Code Code-a-thon for Hour of Code on Friday, December 12. Watch our movie here and visit Leah's classroom blog for the full report (she's definitely been the star blogger lately).

So what has been keeping me so busy lately? Well, an exciting new challenge came my way at the end of November when I was offered a position as a sessional instructor at my alma mater, Brandon University. Since completing my Master of Education degree in 2009 and hosting a number of student teachers, it's always been in the back of my mind that I would love to teach pre-service teachers at the university level. I was surprised and thrilled when I was asked to teach The Multi-Level Classroom (early years) in the Faculty of Education for the winter term! It works perfectly with my schedule, as the course is offered after school on Mondays and Wednesdays. My school staff was so supportive and presented me with these beautiful flowers (sadly the florist couldn't spell professor...)

Online research, reading potential textbooks, professional literature, and Manitoba Education documents consumed my Christmas holidays, leading to "first day of university" nightmares that rivaled my worst bad dreams before returning to kindergarten every fall! A few tools helped me to develop my course outline: Survey Monkey to assess my students' prior knowledge and prioritize their needs and Google Forms to collect their contact/social media information. After consultation with Leah and three former student teachers, I finally had a workable course outline!

And the transition to university has gone pretty smoothly (and I have an office. So excited.). Although I've done a lot of work with teachers in collaborative projects and professional learning sessions, I've never worked with a consistent group over a period of time and I definitely felt a bit nervous as my first class was about to begin. So here's what I've learned and the tools that have made a big difference in my first two weeks!

I've been surprised and happy to discover that...
-my kindergarten kids are fascinated by the fact that I teach "big kids" two days a week after school. They insisted on seeing their pictures on the SMART Board and learning all about them.
-in turn, my "big kids" always listen eagerly (or at least patiently) to my tales from kindergarten each day. I think my course has more authenticity as everything has been road-tested in a real classroom already.
-kindergarten and university complement each other nicely. My kindergarten kids actually planned the discovery learning activities for my university class on the topic (see picture below), based on their favourite ones. They expected feedback and photographs (via Twitter and Instagram) the next day to see how it went with the big kids. I'm also excited that I can open my classroom door to my university students so they can try their activities and strategies with my kindergarten learners.

-good teaching is good teaching, regardless of the age of the learner. Enthusiasm, age-appropriate humour, well-planned learning activities that incorporate student interest and real-world connections, and showing that you value every learner in your classroom are best practices across the board. Being available to your students outside of class (or their parents in a K setting) and providing timely feedback go a long way too!

Tools that make a difference:
Wikispaces for Education: I just couldn't deal with Moodle, passwords, and the fact that the information would not be available to students after the course, so a wiki seemed like a good choice.
Microsoft Educator Network: it's always my one-stop shop for great tools, connections, and professional learning. I'm strongly encouraging all my students to create accounts and access the monthly EduCast webinar series. Several already have and I was so proud of them!
Microsoft One Drive: perfect for storing all my course materials for convenient access regardless of where I am, and easily sharing and posting them online.
Skype: as I said to my university students, it's that one tool I just can't get over. It's perfect for bringing the expertise of my colleagues from around the world into my university classroom. And our first Skype call with Connie Lowe (kindergarten teacher from Winnipeg) on discovery learning was a huge success!

Today's Meet: it's a simple back channel that's super easy to use and provides a transcript at the end. For our first Skype call, we ran a back channel. Two students followed the back channel and asked everyone's questions (positioned in front of the SMART Board in the picture above) while another two students sent tweets.
Twitter: and where would we be without Twitter? I was surprised that my students weren't confident Twitter users yet--in fact, some were outright skeptics. But after participating in classroom Twitter chats, submitting and sharing assignments, and tweeting during and after the Skype call, I think the tide is turning! We have our own class hashtag #BUmlc that is really fun to follow and encourages a larger conversation with my colleagues who follow it. I've also made participation in a real Twitter chat such as #kinderchat or #mbedchat a choice asssignment; I'm a strong believer in teachers taking responsibility for their own professional learning.
Wordle: it's an oldie but a goodie, and allowed my students to present their understandings of multi-level education in an attractive visual
Remind: this app lets me send one text that reaches all my students. I sometimes worry that I'm overusing it, but it's great for sending reminders and updates about classes and guest speakers!
Haiku Deck: I used Haiku Deck to create a slide deck to introduce myself to the students. Their first assignment was to use this tool to develop a presentation all about themselves for their upcoming student teaching placement--great for building community and establishing rapport!
QR Code Scanner: my favourite apps are Qrafter and i-nigma. We use QR codes for different purposes, but on the first day of class, it allowed students to scan a QR code and easily add me to their contacts.
SMART Notebook software: I've used this software on a daily basis since 2008, and I still rely on it heavily. My students are eager to learn how I create learning experiences, so I try to show them step by step so they can replicate it in their future classrooms.

With careful preparation, leveraging some wonderful human resources (you know who you are), and terrific ICT tools to support learning, teaching university has been an energizing and exciting new experience. So stay tuned for my continuing adventures in kindergarten and the faculty of education...with my little kids AND my big ones too!

Smarter with Technology: Brandon University, November 22

I had the privilege of presenting to Brandon University's Faculty of Education students last Friday. As always it was a great day, sharing and learning from each other on how to infuse SMART Board technology and SMART Notebook software in the early years classroom!

For student feedback and participation:

Poll Everywhere

Today's Meet (back channel)

Extreme Collaboration (SMART Notebook add on)

In my kindergarten classroom:

Calendar Activities

Early Years SMART Board Activities

More SMART Board Tips and Tricks

SMART Notebook App

Other resources:

Turning a Skype Call into a Learning Call 
Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano, Around the World With Skype

Learning Activity Checklist
 Developed for the Microsoft Peer Coaching Program, now Peer-Ed

Favourite Resources