Mills (2009) explains transformed practice: "successful teaching and learning from this particular angle will involve either good reproduction (if that's the game) or some measure of the extent and value of creativity in the transformation" (p.207). It requires students to show their understandings from “Overt Instruction and Critical Framing in practices that help them simultaneously to apply and revise what they have learned” (The New London Group, 1996, p. 88). This has been the most challenging shift in classroom instruction. Rather than requiring students to follow explicit instructions, I provide guidance so they can design and redesign their literacy events such as mind maps and drawings (Mayer, 2004). I am transforming my practice from overtly correcting or explaining to guiding the learner because “students learn better when they interact with a pedagogical agent who guides their cognitive processing rather than when they receive direct instruction" (Mayer & Moreno, 2007, p. 315).

 

One example of this shift was a small group mind map activity the students created. Despite my modeling of an organized mind map, each group's map resembled more of a twenty-legged spider than a cluster of ideas (see below). It was a challenge, as the classroom teacher, to honor the student's creative perspective and work (Lapp et al., 2012). I was tempted to fall back to traditional practices of requiring them to improve their work according to my standards and expectations.

 

Rather than creating a new, teacher perceived, organized mind map, the

students redesigned their map by incorporating coloured pictures to support

their printed text. This redesign resulted in authentic reading and writing

comprehension as the students read the mind map so they could match the

pictures with their words. All students were motivated to write more ideas so

they could include more pictures.

 

The design of the mind map was available through Overt Instruction by

teacher modeling and then students particpatedin Transformed Practice by

redesigning and improving their mindmap with additional visual images

(Mills, 2009). They also participated in Critcal Framing as they discussed, as a

small group, and decided which images best represented their topic. My

intention of creating a "better" organized map would have limited their

product while their Transformed Practice increased their motivation and the

authenticity of this literacy event. Our struggling students demonstrated stamina in completing this activity as they enjoyed

adding visuals. This this literacy activity transformed into an exciting and positive literacy redesign! 

 

 

Situated Practice + Transformed Practice = Book Making Frenzie

Below is a picture of the grade one book frenzie. It began when a struggling student brought in a book he made from home. Several students in the class wanted to make books as well, so they were provided the time, space, and materials to create books. We transformed this practice to include coauthored books by grade ones and their grade six reading buddies.