TEACHER, TRAVELER, AND LIFELONG LEARNER
Michael Milne
Teaching and Learning
Literacy
M. takes some time to write a story inspired by the setting at the Lingering Garden.
R. uses digital feedback to help improve her poetry.
Students read print-out of portfolio posts and reflect on what worked and didn't work.
Student authors fill up our class bookshelves with information texts from our writer's workshop.
Post-its are always at hand so students can record connections they make with texts.
Thinking about why authors write stories and what they might be trying to tell us.
As most of my career has been international, I have spent most of my teaching life working with diverse communities of students with highly differing experiences with English. As such, differentiation is at the heart of my literacy instruction. Using the principles of Universal Design, I study the students I work with and make data-driven decisions to support them in their individualized literacy learning goals.
I have experiencing implementing the Teacher's College Reading and Writing Project, as well as developing genre-based and non-genre based literacy units in a variety of international contexts.
Using partners to develop precision in recording numerals.
Translating repeating patterns through garage band.
Trying to explore what half and quarter looks like in liquid.
L. and A. are creating a track to program their Beebot through and will record their directions for others.
L. moves around the shapes several times to draw how they look different depending on where he is.
Choosing the best tool to measure the mass of an object.
I strive to ensure that all of my students see themselves as mathematicians, as people who can "do" math. As such it is important to me that mathematics is driven by inquiry, questioning, and fun. Math inquiries with my students are noisy, thoughtful, careful, wild, and spill out into the halls and the yard of the school.
While developing the mathematics vertical articulation at SSIS and as a Math Team Leader at ZIS, I utilized International Benchmarks and a variety of national curricula to design math planning and assessment while supporting colleagues in mathematics. I have many years of experience working with Common Core State Standards for math, and in supporting students, colleagues, and families to understand the growth and trajectory of math skills across years of learning.
Mathematics
The lights go off and students use flashlights to compare opaque and transparent materials.
Students inquire into the properties of different materials.
R. is considering different ways artists and storytellers are sharing the story of Little Red Riding Hood.
Investigating the needs of different plants through the creation of a hydroponic garden.
Students attending an expo stop to enjoy an iMovie created to share learning.
A. and L. paint the habitats they have been researching.
Inquiry
Whether dressing up as one of the Three Little Pigs just fallen out of a story book, or leading students on an archaeological dig through a transformed section of the school basement, wonder and awe are a huge part of how I teach inquiry. As an inquiry teacher I want students to seize upon their own natural curiosity about the world around them and let it drive them to new discoveries. As Kath Murdoch says, I try to see inquiry as a "stance" through which to approach many different domains of learning. Questioning and curiosity drive my passions and my pedagogy.