06/24/16

Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art – Week 3

“My (Re)conciliation is… a public art dialogue” was opened on the eve of National Aboriginal Day. It’s on the boarding of the church on West Georgia st. (between Burrard and Hornby). It is a very courageous and great idea to have a public dialogue about this sensitive subject. Reconciliation needs to happen on both sides. Great design and people do generally write genuine thoughts about reconciliation and dialogue on there. Every day we go outside and monitor the writings to make sure nothing inappropriate gets written (which it always does). However, the majority seem to be genuine comments and remarks.

On National Aboriginal Day itself, the Gallery was the backdrop for a special Canadian Citizenship Ceremony. 30 new Canadians took the oath in this beautiful location. It made this special ceremony even more special in my opinion. I was so happy to be a part of this during my CFE. For me, having the Canadian Citizenship ceremony at the Gallery in the midst of the Northwest Coast artwork raised questions about the difficult relationship between First Nations and European settlers that is part of our mutual history and reconciliation. I think it shows that both parties are ready to work on improving the relationship while not denying the difficult past.

Since the Gallery was free to the public because of National Aboriginal Day, I didn’t write on my program, but helped out in the Gallery instead. I had a great discussion with one of the people working in the shop about their personal history, reconciliation and how it is such a long and difficult process to come to terms with. She also said it is such a personal process and that it is still taboo for some people, which makes it harder for the younger generation to get their parents or grandparents to talk about it. (This reminded me of the topic of WW II in Europe; my grandfather never spoke a word about what happened to him while he was forced to work in Germany during that time).

We had another school group come in on Thursday morning; a Grade 6 Late French Immersion. They participated in the Cedar Education Program. I was assisting as the group came in and put away their jackets and backpacks and had the chance to facilitate an activity. We had decided to try the Know-Wonder-Learn strategy in the Gallery. Before exploring the artwork, students were asked to think about what they already knew about Northwest Coast art and Bill Reid. Since the group consisted of 30 students, we had them talk to a partner first and raise their hand to provide ideas in the group after. They had some great ideas. Then, I asked them to think about some questions: what did they wonder? What would they like to know? Again, they had a minute to talk to a friend first before providing questions to be written down. They tried really hard to speak French despite the difficult vocabulary; by repeating what they said and correcting the French, we managed to write down the questions together. For me, the best part was when they came back to the list after the tour and were able to answer their questions and give many more details of what they had learned in this short time. It was great to see them realize how much they had learned during this Program. I think it might be a useful activity to include in the Program. I have included it as a possible pre-visit activity and as a possible activity to start off the Program in the Gallery.

On Thursday and Friday, I finished writing my Program. I’ve written it in English, which is kind of funny, because so far all my units have been in French. However, I’ve added handouts and references in French to provide resources for French Immersion teachers. This way, even if the facilitator at the Gallery doesn’t speak French, students can still use the handouts and the graphic organizers in French. I hope my activities will come in useful during school visits to the Gallery.

My Program is designed in such a way that teachers can use it as an as-is unit to use in the classroom and make the visit to the Gallery part of their unit, and that facilitators at the Gallery can select appropriate activities depending on how much prior knowledge the group has. It allows for a lot of flexibility and choice on the part of the educator and even the students. Several activities can be used at different stages of the unit and can even be added to over the course of the unit, so it allows students to monitor their learning. I have provided three possible performance tasks to check for understanding and transfer at the end of the unit. Being in the Gallery has allowed me to design authentic tasks, such as developing a new logo for the Gallery based on one of the pieces of art. Students would have to make mock-ups of the logo, a poster and/ or a postcard using the new logo, and have to include a letter to the Board explaining their choice of artifact and provide convincing arguments and examples to sway the Board to decide in favour of their proposal.

06/19/16

Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art – Week 2

Some difficulties and doubts arose in me about my role in writing an Education Program on the expression of identity in Northwest Coast art at the gallery: who am I to do this? I felt uncomfortable speaking for First Nations and writing a program from this position of (non-existent) authority. I have included Aboriginal Education in many of my lessons during my extended practicum, but didn’t feel this much pressure ‘to get it right’. Fortunately, while rereading my notes from EDUC 440, I found Brad Baker’s phrase and it really resonates with me: “Go forward with courage”. I decided that I will do my best to write this program and respect Aboriginal identities as best as I can. I am also very fortunate to have great Community Partners that encourage asking questions and exploring the subject.

I’m continuing to enjoy the luxury of time to explore and work with Understanding by Design, Making Thinking Visible, and Barrie Bennett (Beyond Monet & Graphic Intelligence) to create meaningful and engaging program. The goal of my Program is to allow the intermediate grades to explore the Bill Reid Gallery in alignment with the Big Ideas of the B.C. Arts Education curriculum.  I’d like to create a unit that allows students’ interests and questions to guide the learning activities while exploring the concept of identity in artwork. It allows for inclusion of some Core Competencies as well: Positive Personal and Cultural Identity, Communication, and Creative Thinking.

Ideally, I would have a unit with multiple entry points, depending on where the visit to the BRG takes place within the unit. The field trip could be the hook for the unit, it could take place in the middle after some scaffolding and before the culminating performance task, and it could even be a closing activity for the unit. The field trip as hook is the most likely, as this happens to be the case more than 50% of the time. Different activities will be planned to be presented during the visit, depending on the size and energy of the group and the preference of the teacher.

On Wednesday morning, I was able to help with a group of Grade 3 students visiting the BRG. Since there were 2 classes coming, we split the group in 2 and while one group toured the gallery, I read a story (The flight of the hummingbird by Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas) to the other group. I was able to read from my own copy in French because the group was from a francophone school. Teachers and students were (pleasantly) surprised. I couldn’t have asked for a better setting. The author’s work happens to be the temporary exhibit in the BRG, so it was great to read “Le vol du colibri” in the gallery while pointing at other works of the artist.

This school visit allowed me to work on my questioning before, during, and after reading and asking “What makes you say that?” to get students to elaborate and explain predictions and ideas. The tour of the first group ran a bit longer, so I used an improvised extension activity of drawing the ending/ resolution of the problem since students seemed a bit ruffled by the fact that the story wasn’t neatly wrapped-up and finished. There is some inherent difficulty in having school groups in at the same time as general audience, but it seemed to work this morning. I’m thinking of ways to include movement in my activities while being respectful of other visitors. In any case, I think it is important to go over expectations at the start of the visit: what can’t we do, but what can we do?; what does that look like, and what does that sound like?

06/14/16

Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art- Week 1

It is my privilege to have the opportunity to experience pedagogy from another perspective in creating curriculum for the Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art in the heart of Downtown Vancouver, BC. I’m hoping these three weeks will provide me with the chance to create a meaningful and relevant Education Program for students visiting the Gallery.

It is my intention to plan and write a Program integrating Aboriginal Education in the daily curriculum, as well as to provide pre- and post-visit activities to activate knowledge and reflect on the visit. Being a Teacher Candidate in the French Elementary cohort, I will be able to provide a valuable resource for French Immersion field trips. I will create the Program and English and in French in order to help the Gallery provide French resources with the Programs they provide.

My activities this week

This week I have familiarized myself with the Gallery, the collection, and the expectations of the Program to be written. I have carte blanche for the theme to be explored in the Program, which is both a blessing and a curse: the possibilities are endless. I often go down to the Gallery to explore the collection and make mind maps of themes/ concepts I would like to explore in writing my school program.

In order to prepare myself for the creation of the Program, I have read the existing content created by the Gallery staff and previous CFE students. (I included research on the new B.C. curriculum and integrating Aboriginal Education in our daily practice). I have selected the Big Ideas, Curricular Competencies, and Content to focus on in the creation of the Program for intermediate students visiting the Gallery.

I feel a bit overwhelmed with the task ahead as the possibilities seem endless and it easy to fall into the trap to want to do too much in these few weeks. I should also keep in mind that the Program students will follow while visiting the Gallery is only about an hour. I have to limit my scope and start writing the Program so I can add worksheets and relevant material only.

My plan(s) for next week

Next week, I will be leading a school tour (Storytelling in the Gallery) and I hope that will allow me to see the Gallery and the collection from a new perspective and use that to fine-tune my program during the last week. My goal is to provide teachers with pre-activities that will activate prior knowledge and curiosity before the visit, a relevant, meaningful and engaging Program during the visit, and post-visit activities which will allow students to reflect on the visit and their learning once they’re back in the classroom. There are also some other activities coming up during the last week that sound very exciting, but also a bit intimidating. Since June 21st is National Aboriginal Day, there will be a Citizenship Ceremony held at the Gallery on that day.

My practicum experience and the pro-D series I have attended during my extended practicum will allow me to design a relevant and engaging unit for the Gallery using the new B.C. curriculum. While organizing a field trip for my practicum class, I kept running into the lack of French resources at the sites, and having to translate them myself. I think having the documents in French might open up possibilities for French Immersion classes to attend the Gallery in larger numbers.

I feel very privileged to have the opportunity not only to write a unit in a period of three weeks rather than in a shorter time as was the case during practicum. I’m looking forward to approaching learning from another perspective and utilizing my skills as a teacher to create an Education Program. It is an immense pleasure to work in such an inspiring environment as the Gallery. However, copyright and respect for the artist may limit my possibilities to post pictures and videos of my experience on my blog.