The Best Part of Me…

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When I was younger, something I lacked was a shoulder I could trust to lean on. I carried the burden of my vulnerabilities like Atlas’ condemnation – of hurt, of trust issues, of self-hatred, of imposed solitude that tried to break me down and very nearly succeeded. But from this strain came a strength that I wish to give to my community. I will teach endurance. I will impart a sense of never giving up, holding on to hope and fighting for what my students believe in. My classroom will be a place of freedom and individuality – a place for them to learn who they are in that moment and be able to show the world, while knowing that they have the strength to withstand opposition.

My shoulders can carry the weight of my own world while softening to carry the burden of others. My students will learn compassion. While they will have strong beliefs that, at times, may conflict with the thoughts of others, I will teach them to sympathize with their peers and help when they can. In my classroom and beyond, they will know that they are to stand up for one another, for themselves, and to offer a shoulder to those in need. They will learn to feel what that person is feeling, hold it, accept it, and take some kind of action. Compassion has been proven to decrease bias toward others, decrease migraines and emotional tension, and increase grey matter in the brain. To be compassionate is to be mindful.

My shoulders can soften for the pain for others while reflecting the emotions in my community. How a student stands or sits will allow me to recognize when they are not okay. Hunched shoulders, constant shrugs and low set posture can point to insecurities and vulnerabilities. I will strive to keep them all standing tall by demonstrating how I stand tall. My students will learn empathy. They will learn to be critical thinkers, take the chance to look at situations from all angles to help choose the right path. Empathy will help me make connections with my student’s parents. To see where they are coming from when we speak about their child’s progress, to understand that there are limitations, to offer support where it is possible, to give suggestions when the struggle is present in the conversation.

My shoulders can reflect emotions while shifting and supporting to fit all needs. I will be flexible. The shoulder is a complex combination of bones and joints where many muscles act to provide the widest range of motion of any part of the body. A classroom is a complex combination of personalities, cultures, past experiences – and like my shoulders, I will need a full range of motion to work with the students of my future. A key piece to teaching, as far as I have learned, is flexibility.

My shoulders are my endurance. My shoulders are my compassion. My shoulders are my empathy. My shoulders are my flexibility. My shoulders are the best part of me.

The only time goodbye is painful is when you know you’ll never say hello again

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As I wove through the mountains on the Sea to Sky highway, singing along to the Wicked soundtrack with AC on high to cool us in the growing heat on route to Williams Lake, I was struck with the overwhelming realization – I have no school tomorrow. I will not see my Grade 7s off to high school. I will not get to listen to them talk about their summer plans, their fall plans, their anxieties and excitements about the coming changes. I will not be imparting wisdom into their spongey brains, or listen to their quiet victories as they finally understand the math I’ve been teaching them. I will not get to tell them, for the hundredth time, to stop underestimating their intelligence and perseverance, that they “got this” and can complete the assignment to the best of their abilities if they would just take it one step at a time. I will not greet them in the morning, sign their planners in the afternoon and mark their assignments all night. For a majority of them, I will most likely never see them again.

And this is only the first time this is going to happen to me.

It took a few days to let the end of practicum sink in. I didn’t think it would be such a mental transition. I thought that I would take all my stuff home, set my daybook on the dining room table with all the other junk I accumulated over the past 10 weeks, and feel the sadness that was sure to come as it does with any form of goodbye. And while I cried, especially reading over the heartfelt messages some of the students left me, it still didn’t feel real. But now, as I sit hours away from the school, I know there is no going back. At least not to the class that I’m now used to. Does it feel this way every time?

We are encouraged to cultivate relationships with our students to better the learning environment – “[t]eachers who experience close relationships with students reported that their students were less likely to avoid school, appeared more self-directed, more cooperative and more engaged in learning” (Rimm-Kaufman & Sandilos, 2016). I believe this is true, whole heartedly. While the rambunctiousness will still be there (no amount of connection with the teacher will ever abolish the natural behaviours of most children), they tend to be calmer when there is a sense of camaraderie in the class. Even if one of the comrades is the teacher. And yet, in cultivating these relationships, there is a level of attachment that is created between the teacher and the students.

One study, that I have not been able to track down, describes an account of a teacher whose class becomes such a tight knit community that they would defend each other, including the teacher, to anyone who seemed to be talking down about the class or didn’t fit in just yet. As oddly wonderful as it can seem (except for the part where the new kids were often shunned unless they fit in seamlessly), the end of the year had to have been somewhat traumatic for the students. It’s true that they would likely be carrying on into the next grade level with at least some of their classmates, but it would not be the same – it would not be that exact classroom, with that exact mix of kids and that exact teacher leading the charge. And the teacher would have a whole new group to get to know and create the community with. It had to have been difficult for all of them involved. Yet, the teacher plans to do this to some degree every year. How do you do this over and over again and not get worn down by how emotionally taxing it is?

Granted, this was my first class and we went on quite a journey together – we learned from each other, and they will always hold a special place in my heart. And I’m sure in the days to come, I’ll be busy enough to stop wondering what their doing in class, if soandso is struggling with their math and completing their work, or that one kid is still taking the longest route around the class to socialize with all their friends before getting a drink of water (the answer will always be yes to the latter. It’s just who they are.). Right now, though, as I wait to embark on the next chapter of this crazy year long journey, I worry that they’ll forget me when I know I’ll never forget them.

Bibliography

Rimm-Kaufman, S., and Sandilos, L. (2016) Improving Students’ Relationships with Teachers to Provide Essential Supports for Learning. Retrieved from: http://www.apa.org/education/k12/relationships.aspx

Parallel lines have so much in common..

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“If this day has taught me anything, it’s that I’m cut out for this teaching thing” – Me

I never thought that I could compare my Grade 7 students and a Grade 2 class and see so many similar behaviours from one to the next, but then I remember a lesson I’ve learned and keep relearning time and time again – age does not always equal behavioural change. This can be applied across a lifespan. For example, when you have a child, it doesn’t mean you suddenly become this picturesque model of adulthood. No, you will still throw your temper tantrums, and have your giddy moments of childishness. But that’s talking about decades from one age to another. In an instance that is literally only a 5 year difference, I don’t know why I thought it would be so different.

Sure, my Grade 7s are able (for the most part) to partake in independent studies, where I don’t have to circulate as much and can trust that they will get their work done… eventually if not in that exact moment. And there’s a level of camaraderie that you can have with intermediate students that can’t always be there for the primary grades (at least, that’s how it seems), where you can use sarcasm and they will recognize it as sarcasm and not a gospel truth. Of course, if you take into consideration the social aspects of their lives, there will be vast differences, but in the classroom behaviour and management? Well, as the quote above alludes, it’s not a huge difference.

Things I learned on my TOC day:

  • Be prepared to have a group of 7 and 8 year olds call you out on things – Memorize their division number, or risk offending them all.
  • Don’t call them ladies and gentlemen because they, and I quote, are ‘just boys and girls, not old’.
  • Focus on timing. They take longer to do tasks than older students because this is likely something new(ish) to them.
  • They are all very willing to help, but only some of them will actually do the work that they’ve volunteered to help with – not that this changes with age.
  • I honestly feel like teaching is what I am meant to do.

No matter the advancements in the world, humans will always have their nature.

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This was a bit of a tough weekend. I had a lot of time to self-reflect on my experience in my own elementary life and how what happened then can affect me now.

Like most people, I had a rough time in elementary school. In most of my education career, actually. I was one of the kids that got picked on by a lot of my peers, didn’t feel very supported by the admin or staff, and felt helpless a lot of the time because I didn’t really feel like I had someone I could turn to. This experience, at least in part, helped me decide to become a teacher. I thought that when I was a teacher, I would have all the answers. I’d be that advocate for the underdogs, that encouraging adult that really got to those students who needed to hear “it gets better. Trust me. I have been there”.

And then I realized that there is only so much a teacher can do. And even if you’re doing everything you can, the student isn’t always going to see how much you actually care that they make it through this. No matter what side of the conflict that they are on.

That was a bit of a shock for me. It made me reflect back on my time as the student in Grade 7, when I thought I was alone in the world with no one but my mother in my corner, and what good could she do for me at work when all the hardship happened in school? Did I have a teacher on my side, rooting for me to get through this? Was I blind and deaf to the encouragements, the little gestures of a smile or the softly spoken “how’re you doing”?

I can’t honestly give an answer to that. I only remember sitting in the principal’s office with my mother, the girl who was bullying me and her mother, being told that I was a liar, that I was making it all up and that “my daughter would never do such a thing.” I didn’t have proof. Her words didn’t bruise me. There was no digital footprint to recall as evidence in the infractions. But now there is.

Now, what you put on the internet is, more or less, there forever. Whether your intentions are innocent or not, the interpretation is up to the receiver. This also means that there is no getting way from it. At least when I was in Grade 7, I could go home and the taunting and name calling would only be in the memories that replayed in my head. Social media, texting and private messaging took the solace of home away. While there are some students who are not as submerged into the technological world, a majority have a cellphone in their pocket despite the no cellphone rule. It’s too easy to reach someone now. And it’s too easy to spread information and let it grow into something larger than yourself and that one person that you sent it to. You see, they sent that something to a couple friends, and those friends sent it to a couple of their friends who then sent it to a couple of their friends and so on. Suddenly, everyone knows your business and it’s not just the two in the original conflict. It’s you, the other person and their group of friends who are all armed to the teeth with incriminating information. I’ll state it again, whether your intentions are innocent or not, the interpretation is up to the receiver.

So what do you do as the teacher? You’re not on Facebook or Snapchat with your students. You don’t get the live feed and can’t squash this situation before it blows up. Unfortunately, it seems that the adults only get involved after everything has come to a boiling point. And that’s not what we want. We want to stop these things before they start. But we can’t. Not unless they come and talk to us and allow us to try and fix it before it gets too bad.

My reflections this weekend, all internal and deeply emotional, made me realize that a lot of your heart goes into being an educator. Like, most of it. You want what is best for your students, and when they are not getting that, you can feel like you failed them. I do everything I can, everything that is in my power, to help. But it’s up to them to ask for that help before I can give it.

I was pitched off the elevator and fell into an infographic

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Bibliography

  1. Engaging Young Learners Through Inquiry-Based Learning. Oxford Learning, September 2015. Retrieved from http://www.oxfordlearning.com/engaging-young-learners-through-inquiry-based-learning/
  2. Baxter, J., Ruzicka, A., & Blackwell, S. (2012). Inquiry Takes Time. Science & Children, 50(1), 42-47

  3. Kirschner, P.A., Sweller, J., Clark, R.E. (2006). Why Minimal Guidance During Instruction Does Not Work: An Analysis of the Failure of Constructivism, Discovery, Problem-Based, Experiential and Inquiry-Based Teaching. Educational Psychologist, 41(2), 75-86. Retrieved from http://www.cogtech.usc.edu/publications/kirschner_Sweller_Clark.pdf

Inquiry Based Learning in Special Education

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“Teachers would do well to have a clear idea of their student learning needs, so they are able to use a checklist approach to ensure the outcomes which need to be covered. Think about curriculum areas as well as individual needs such as fine motor skills, communication, interpersonal skills, body language, self expression etc. in creating content for students.”

– Anne Vize

This article looks at IBL in relation to Special Education, which was a specific topic that I had wanted to explore during my inquiry project – how do we get varied learners engaged with IBL. Anne Vize covers the advantages and disadvantages of IBL in relation to special education – as inquiry puts the onus on the students to create and implement a project, this allows them to work on their “softer skills” such as teamwork and cooperation, as well as planning, organization and creativity, all of which are skills that varied students often need to focus on and develop. It would be a challenge for the teacher. They would still be in a facilitator role, but their guidance and collaboration between home and school would be necessary, as if they were working with a students new to IBL. Vize repeats the point that IBL, with or without varied students, is more work for the teacher in that there is a lengthier marking process and that planning would have to be done far in advance, but the benefits of IBL outweigh the work, as long as a teacher is willing.

Vize, A. (2012, February). Inquiry Based Learning in Special Education [Web Log Comment]. Retrieved from http://www.brighthubeducation.com/special-ed-inclusion-strategies/17827-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-inquiry-based-learning

Educational Disadvantage and the Community of Inquiry

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“[A]n educational disadvantage is an unfavourable condition or circumstance that is responsible for educational impairment. Such conditions can be conceived of as either a deficit suffered by the disadvantaged —such as poverty, parental neglect or lack of adequate educational provision — or else as a disparity between the background culture and values that characterize the student’s out-of-school life-world and those of the school.”

– Philip Cam

In this article, Philip Cam argues against Kirschner, Sweller and Clark’s belief against minimally guided education, insisting that the “Community of Inquiry”, which includes inquiry-based learning, can be beneficial in education – more specifically, for those who are disadvantaged (see quote above on the definition of ‘disadvantaged’). His main points cover student engagement (inquiry learning gives students a level of control over their education, hands some of the responsibility to them, which in turn should influences engagement), developing the capacity to think (in inquiry, we link learning with the students ‘real-life’ experiences, their background knowledge, and interests to their education, and in doing so, allow the students a chance to investigate what might be missing in their knowledge base, and expand on their interests – we teach them how to think more deeply on subjects where as before they would have left it at a surface level), and belonging (there is an emphasis on community and collaboration in inquiry, as well as a focus on personal development – for those that are disadvantaged in a way that could affect their ability to work in a team, accept others opinions or have low self-esteem, it’s an opportunity to grow and develop a healthy state of mind).

Cam, P. (2012, February). Educational Disadvantage and the Community of Inquiry. Retrieved from http://fapsa.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Phil-Cam-Educational-Disadvantage-and-the-Community-of-Inquiry.pdf

Inquiry Learning in the 21st Century Classroom

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This is a blog made by a student studying Primary Education and the influence of inquiry learning. On her blog, she explores the what, why and how of inquiry. What attracted me to this site and has me bookmark it as a resource is that, not only does she cover the benefits and limitations of IBL, which many of my sources do, she also delves into the strategies that teachers can use in their classroom to support IBL, as well as collaboration and community within the classroom environment. Unfortunately, this site hasn’t been update in 5 years, and so it stands to reason that there are other blogs out there that will have more up-to-date information on IBL. I will keep it bookmarked, though, in case Christina does come back to update more.

Christina. (2011). Inquiry Learning in the 21st Century Classroom [Web Log Comment]. Retrieved from http://classroomil.blogspot.ca/

Why Minimal Guidance During Instruction Does Not Work: An Analysis of the Failure of Constructivism, Discovery, Problem-Based, Experiential and Inquiry-Based Teaching

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“Problem solving only becomes relatively effective when learners are sufficiently experienced so that studying a worked example, is for them, a redundant activity that increases working memory load compared to generating a known solution. This phenomenon is an example of expertise reversal effect. It emphasizes the importance of providing novices in an area with extensive guidance because they do not have sufficient knowledge in long-term memory to prevent unproductive problem-solving search. That guidance can only be relaxed with increased expertise as knowledge in long-term memory can take over from external guidance.”

– Kirschner, Sweller and Clark

I had a hard time reading this article. In my opinion, the authors lacked an open-mind when examining the “minimal guidance instruction”, but instead viewed it with an already disparaging outlook. Taking into account that it was written a decade ago, and in that decade more and more research in favour of learning environments like IBL has been published, I attempted to read it without prejudice. I still found it very difficult.

I acknowledge that Kirschner, Sweller and Clark were writing from a clinical view – their argument focuses on long-term memory and it’s role in education. What they fail to consider is the process in which IBL is introduced in a student’s education. It appears as if their assumption is that we throw them into the deep end and expect them to find the answers that we want them to find. I expect that, if they were too look at more recent works on inquiry-based learning, they would re-evaluate their assumptions. If that is not the case and they are still opposed despite the evidence of the benefits, they will simply be a part of the camp that stands by the traditional ideologies of education, like in any other ‘radical’ development.

Kirschner, P.A., Sweller, J., Clark, R.E. (2006). Why Minimal Guidance During Instruction Does Not Work: An Analysis of the Failure of Constructivism, Discovery, Problem-Based, Experiential and Inquiry-Based Teaching. Educational Psychologist, 41(2), 75-86. Retrieved from http://www.cogtech.usc.edu/publications/kirschner_Sweller_Clark.pdf

Interview with Arthur L. Costa

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“it’s that quality of teaching in which teachers ask more questions than they give answers and students have to discover for themselves. And so it’s a very ancient form of learning, starting from Socrates and getting kids to wonder and to think for themselves and to become curious and to answer their own questions rather than transmitting that knowledge.”

– Arthur L. Costa

Arthur L. Costa is the codirector of the Institute for Intelligent Behaviour in Berkley, California. He was interviewed for a workshop held by Joe Exline to obtain a different view on IBL. Costa was asked 16 questions on the subject, from the origins of inquiry-based learning (which he states goes back all the way to Socrates) and what countries use it (Singapore has an interesting way of using IBL where the students and the teachers are all searching for the solution to a problem together) to the comparison of IBL And traditional school (he states that inquiry has students look at a problem longer than traditional schooling, which allows them to have a better understanding of the solution) and the difference between IBL and constructivism (he claims there isn’t so much a difference as IBL is the methodology of constructivism). He goes somewhat into depth about the teacher’s role in IBL – they are there to guide and ask questions to support the students discovery of their answer.

Interview with Arthur L. Costa [Transcripts]. Retrieved from http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/inquiry/index_sub5.html