How Might Writing Workshop Support the Montessori PYP?
I recently spent a whirlwind week on behalf of Erin Kent Consulting at Qingdao Amerasia International School training and coaching teachers in best and next practices within writing workshop. All of the staff at QAIS amazed me with their passions for learning, for teaching, and for students.QAIS has many things that make it special, and one of those is that it is not only an IB World School (PYP, MYP, and DP) that embraces the workshop model, but it is also a Montessori school in the early childhood years through second grade. A major part of my mission in my time there was to support teachers in making powerful connections between the PYP, workshop, and Montessori philosophies and recognizing how they complement each other in impactful ways.At first glance, it might feel overwhelming for many to imagine bringing together these three unique and powerful frameworks. However, upon closer examination, one soon sees that these methodologies have a great deal in common—and that they are even stronger together than apart. At QAIS, we began our exploration by considering the major tenets that underpin the PYP, Montessori education, and writing workshop: inquiry, agency, and conceptual understandings.
Inquiry
All three philosophies are built upon the foundation of inquiry. Yes, when it comes to best and next practices, inquiry is at the heart of it all. We recognize the power of an inquiry approach and mindset. Research recognizes this power, too.However, when reviewing the literature, research also shows that certain instructional elements must be in place in order to provide an inquiry experience that maximizes learning. Specifically, teachers should include scaffolding activities, formative feedback loops, and powerful questioning strategies to guide the inquiry process (Friesen & Scott, 2013). A workshop classroom amplifies these elements. Minilessons are constructed to include connections, teaching, active engagement, and a link in order to provide meaningful scaffolding before learners dive into the work period. Conferring provides incredibly powerful formative feedback loops with both individual students and small groups. What's more, powerful questioning is used throughout the workshop — to introduce the inquiry in the minilesson, to provide a link to send students off into the work period, to coach students in empowering conferring conversations, and to encourage reflection during the share time at the end of the workshop. Of course, these are but a few examples.As PYP, workshop, and Montessori educators, we seek to empower our students with a curious, growth mindset and a lifelong passion for learning. We recognize that what we teach goes well beyond content. We provide inquiries and explorations that allow students to develop skills (communication, critical thinking, self-management, etc.) to approach learning for life.
Agency
What about agency? Agency is at the core of the new, enhanced PYP. Honoring agency means that we cultivate environments that allow our students to exercise choice, voice, and ownership in their learning.Agency is also a vital component of the workshop model. Throughout each part of the workshop—minilesson, work period, and share—student have countless opportunities to share their voices, make thoughtful choices, and take ownership of their learning. In fact, this is the beauty of the work period. Students have opportunities to take ownership and make informed choices about how they will spend their learning time. For example, you might see some students working with a partner to revise their piece, others might be drafting, and some might be investigating an idea with a small group of classmates and a teacher. What’s more, students have agency in the topics they choose to write about and the books they choose to read. This allows them not only to approach their learning with joy and enthusiasm, but also to form decision-making skills they can use for life.Of course, agency lives in the heart of Montessori education as well. The Montessori method is a student-centered approach that is grounded in its value of the human spirit and its desire to develop the whole child—not just cognitively, but socially and emotionally, too. As you can see from the quote on the left, Maria Montessori respected human agency and recognized the importance of empowering students with choice, voice, and ownership in their learning.
Conceptual Understandings
A final piece that glues these three philosophies together is conceptual understandings. Within PYP, Montessori, and workshop classrooms, learners understand how what’s happening in their classroom connects with the bigger picture and the larger world. Concept-driven teaching values student inquiry. It cultivates experiences in which students exercise agency and create personal meaning by making connections and transferring their learning to apply it other, perhaps unfamiliar, situations.The image below illustrates how one might marry a workshop unit of study with a Kindergarten unit of inquiry. As one can see, a workshop unit is filled with opportunities for students to inquire and to enhance their conceptual understandings, all while connecting their learning to a larger, global context.
Labsites: Inquiry-based Learning in Action
After exploring the above connections together, I worked to empower QAIS teachers to embrace conferring and leverage the power of conferences during the uninterrupted Montessori work period. We examined the structure of a conference (research, decide, compliment, teach, link) and explored how to study student work in order to form purposeful small groups.We then put all of our exploration into action in live labsites in EC and first grade classrooms. Teachers practiced their "research, decide, compliment, teach, link" moves—and phenomenal conferences with dramatic student growth ensued. It was incredible to see how writers grew within a few, short days thanks to purposeful conferring. It was also beautiful to see conferring married with Montessori manipulatives like the movable alphabet.The collaboration, reflection, and celebration during all of our debriefing sessions were rich and invigorating. We looked ahead at how teachers will continue to plan for purposeful, strategic small group and individual conferences. We also explored the beauty of conferring toolkits and how they can be a powerful resource for learners—and a true gift to your future self.I look forward to continuing this important work with the incredible teachers at QAIS. This work serves as a vital reminder that we need to honor, value, and respect the unique contexts that exist at each school. Rather than forcing rigid adoptions of programs or methodologies, we need to use the same curious, inquiring mindsets that we strive to instill in students in order to see the meaningful ways that we can meld principles and frameworks together. More often than not, we find that powerful methodologies are even stronger together than apart.