SAS Community Norms 
View our Statement of Community here. 

While the information may at times be circulated by our community on social media or via Whatsapp groups, questions should be clarified first and foremost by your child’s teacher. Deputy principals can assist with further information and any additional questions you may have. 

Why did we decide to go down on the flexible learning environments journey?
- Middle school admin talked to SAS parents and asked what makes a good employee. Most of them talked about the seven survival skills.
- They gave the top five skills, and content knowledge never made the list.

How do learning communities address students’ different time needs?
- More adults available to address learning needs
- Teams developing flex schedules:

• Launch an interdisciplinary unit
• Teach interdisciplinary workshops
• Host guest speakers
• Allow for student voice and choice
• Address socio-emotional needs
• Develop tech/digital citizenship skills
• Exhibit student learning

- Students are able to sign up or are gently directed to an area of need (ie: working on a creative writing assignment, reviewing a lesson, and more)
- Teachers are able to make better use of students’ time so students are able to have more time for the area of needs.
- There are a variety of seating options in the spaces (bicycle seat, soft seatings, bobble seats, and more)
- Research says a variety of seatings for students allows them to be fully engaged in what they are doing.

What a learning community is NOT...
    •    110 students in one space (there are panels or walls as well as breakout spaces)

    •    Noisy

    •    Incohesive

    •    A “free for all”

    •    Unscheduled

    •    Kids decide everything they learn


What a learning community IS...
    •    Varied, dynamic, and responsive

    •    Purposeful disciplinary connections 

    •    Flexible student groupings

    •    Learning activities dictate the space

    •    Teachers have collective responsibility


Why interdisciplinary learning?
• allows students to develop an awareness of the interconnectedness that exist among the disciplines, and between disciplines and the real-world application of knowledge.
• focuses on higher-level thinking and decision making, which encourages students to become aware of and make choices about behaviors and thought processes they will be engaged in while learning.
From: Elements of Effective Teaching Practice (www.learnalberta.ca)

Teacher Practices
• Teachers now have the opportunity to collaborate which leads to: 
- better instruction
- expanded teaching toolkit
- lesson consistency
- more inclusive method
- increased student effort
- higher teacher responsibility
• Teachers are able to self-report from these spaces. They are able to learn more from each other, and it is professionally rewarding for them.

Click here to access the slide deck. 

Resources:
Most Likely to Succeed: Preparing Our Kids for the Innovation Era by Tony Wagner and Ted Dintersmith
Groups at Work: Strategies and Structures for Professional Learning by Laura Lipton and Bruce Wellman
Dive into Inquiry: Amplify Learning and Empower Student Voice by Trevor MacKenzie
The Language of School Design: Design Patterns for 21st Century Schools by Jeffery A. Lackney, Prakash Nair, and Randall Fielding
The Power of Inquiry by Kath Murdoch
Creative Schools: The Grassroots Revolution That’s Transforming Education by Ken Robinson and Lou Aronica
Launch: Using Design Thinking to Boost Creativity and Bring Out the Maker in Every Student by John Spencer and AJ. Juliani
What School Could Be: Insights and Inspiration from Teachers across America by Ted Tindersmith
Moving the Rock: Seven Levers WE Can Press to Transform Education by Grant Lichtman
Make Learning Personal: The What, Who, WOW, Where, and Why by Barbara Bray and Kathleen McClaskey
Bold Moves for Schools: How We Create Remarkable Learning Environments by Heidi Hayes Jacobs and Marie Alcock
Radical Candor by Kim Scott