Reply To: FOSIL in Primary School
Welcome, Clare, and I also look forward to Mary-Rose’s reply. I will also be very interested in how you go.
We have been at Blanchelande College for a year now. Blanchelande is a PK-12 school (age 2½ – 18), with five phases:
- Infants (PK-1 / Reception-Year 2)
- Juniors (Grade 2-5 / Year 3-6)
- Lower Seniors (Grade 6-8 / Year 7-9)
- Upper Seniors (Grade 9-10 / Year 10-11)
- Sixth Form (Grade 11-12 / Year 12-13)
Our goal for this year is to establish at least one Signature Work* in each phase, with the Signature Work in Year 9-10 bridging Lower and Upper Seniors. This gives us an opportunity to begin establishing FOSIL priority skills in each phase (see below / download as high resolution PNG), which is crucial for the systematic and progressive development of these skills.
Of interest to us here is how Signature Work will manifest in Infants, and I will update as soon as I have met with the Head of Infants.
Also of interest to us here is the year-long interdisciplinary Signature Work in Grade 5, which is already underway. I have a meeting on Thursday afternoon with all colleagues who will be involved, and I have created a topic for this – see Year 6 Interdisciplinary Inquiry.
Finally, I am pleased to share our implementation of the FOSIL Inquiry Cycle that was developed specifically for use in primary schools (see this post above), and which now appears in every teaching and learning space in the entire school:
* A Signature Work is an age-appropriate inquiry-based exploration of a significant issue, problem or question that the individual student identifies and defines, that is conducted over the course of at least one semester, and that involves substantial writing and reflection – based on the AAC&U‘s definition in What Liberal Education Looks Like: What It Is, Who It’s For and Where It Happens (2020). Signature Work is a defining feature of a liberal education.
