As long as I know how to teach, I know I’ll stay alive

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We all know the old adage “pull the rug out from under” – Its when someone takes away the much needed support from a person, and it’s sudden. It’s not a pleasant feeling. It’s often followed by panic and floundering, sometimes even a complete breakdown if the person is in dire straits. It’s not always done maliciously, sometimes it’s caused by laziness, or the desire to test boundaries. And sometimes there’s even warning signs; gut feelings or past experiences warranting a weary reaction.

I had the rug pulled out from under me. I was left with minimal support. I walked in, and was faced with having to pull on past experiences to figure out how I would handle the day. Now, I had warning. I knew that there was going to be a change in the day. It was discussed that I would take over science, as well as my routine duties. Instead, I was handed all the work and told to go forth. To teach. By myself. All day.

“You know the students better…”
True…

“They will respond better to you.”
I mean, I guess.

I survived. In fact, I shed a lot of anxiety after that day. I no longer feel as if I’m not ready. I am. I am so ready to have a class of my own, to teach the whole day. I mean, I’m still unsure about a lot of things, and need to practice so much (Remember the meme, Vicki. Remember the meme.), but if I were faced with the same situation again… I’d be fine. I don’t know if it was because the students do know me, or because I was upset about the situation that I had maximum teacher voice going on, but there was no blood shed, and everyone left relatively happy.

Okay, so I had to have them all stay after class for misbehaving at the end of the day, but they left all in one piece and that’s a win in my books.

Just a Small Reflection…

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An ongoing trend in my observations of the students and my personal experience in school has been change, both gradual and instant.

When you work with a group long enough, you find yourself falling into a familiar pattern. People get used to having others around in one capacity or another, and everything becomes a little predictable. Until someone throws a stick in the spokes and things become a lot different.

Two separate events, both positive, have caused my class to shrink by 3. With the ongoing flu that seems to plague the education community at least once a year, the class numbers fluctuate day to day. The changing attendance causes the overall feeling of the class to alter in ways that are both subtle and drastic depending on the missing piece. It’s not to say that certain students have influence over the mood of others, at least not intentionally, but there is a level of normalcy that comes with a group that you see for a better part of the year and that you grow with. When you’re lacking a part, small or large, you don’t run the same.

I guess it comes down to the community that you start building on that first day of school when you, as the teacher, stand in front of this small group of students who may or may not have been in each other’s classes since Kindergarten. If you’re in my classroom, rules are set from day one that are created as a group, not dictated by the teacher, pushing all of us in the direction of forming a bond that will hopefully foster a healthy learning environment. In this environment, you become comfortable. It’s not always the most peaceful, as we are still slave to human nature and sometimes conflicts happen, but it’s what we’ve made it. It’s our own. So when it changes, we feel it. When things are off, when people aren’t present in conversations, are withdrawn or are just completely missing from the classroom in general, the whole dynamic can get thrown.

How ‘Genius’ Is This?

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What is Genius Hour?

Genius hour is a movement that allows students to explore their own passions and encourages creativity in the classroom.  It provides students a choice in what they learn during a set period of time during school.

Kesler, 2013

My class has embarked on the adventure of the Genius Hour. Some of my students had been involved with it last year, but a majority had never had the chance to explore an interest and create a project around it. I was surprised how many students chose topics that were either too broad or not broad enough. For example, a student wanted to choose the topic of a species of animal – with the limitations of time to both work on the project and present it, such a broad topic would not allow the student to truly explore and discover new information on their interest. Another student wanted to find the steps on how to fix something, and leave it at that. Through conversation and coaxing, the ideas morphed into presentation ideas – a presentation on a specific aspect of the animal species and a demonstration/lesson on how to fix the thing.

The downfall of a program like Genius Hour is that it only happens once a year, and for a short period of time. As is stated on the Genius Hour website, “[a]llow people to work on something that interests them, and productivity will go up” (Kesler, 2013). This information was gleamed from one of the origin stories of the program – Google, the massive tech company, allowed their workers the time to embark on passion projects, and in turn, more work got done. And some of the best programs and features of Google were discovered, including Gmail (Kesler, 2013). In a classroom, that could mean more student engagement which is a crucial key (at least in my opinion) to education. If Genius Hour was featured in the school year as part of the curriculum instead of a one off, two to three week project, could it create a better learning environment? And if you are going to give more priority to something like Genius Hour, what do you need to change and possibly let go to allow the students time to work on their projects?

That being said, is inquiry-based learning is truly meant to encompass all students or just the few who already have the innate curiosity to explore the things around them? It stands to reason that had they been introduced to the model of inquiry-based learning from the very start of their schooling (I won’t use the term education for reasons I will discuss in another blog post), they would be able to navigate their own path through the process. But even the current state of education does not work for every student. I am certain there is no right answer to the questions I have posed, only more avenues to explore and discover. And since it is my belief that education is something fluid, something ever changing and progressing, I wouldn’t want to stifle myself with a question that could so easily be answered within a year.

Bibliography

Kesler, C. (2013, March 29). What is Genius Hour? [Web log comment]. Retrieved from http://www.geniushour.com/what-is-genius-hour/

Beyond #Thunderdomeducation: A reflection on Ronald A. Beghetto’s “Does Assessment Kill Student Creativity?”

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Like in the Mad Max movie “Beyond Thunderdome”, two subjects are entering an arena – assessment and creativity. Is it to be believed that one cannot exist with the other? How can you be assessed on how creative you can be when creativity is somewhat skewed by biases (or social contexts)? Is there a way to assess and still allow the students the autonomy of creativity?

Two subjects enter… 

Before I read Does assessment kill student creativity?, my initial thoughts are that the subject is going to be on the restrictions that assessment can lay on the creativity of the project – when too much is pre-determined by rubrics and the “right answer”, it limits some students in the amount of work, or type of work they are interested in exploring. In my experience as a student, I’ve had the opportunity to see both sides of the spectrum. In the classes that I have had full rubrics, I found it easy to fill in the prescribed learning to obtain the grade that I wanted. For those classes where I was challenged to essentially create my own projects and then self-reflect on the work that I’ve done, I became more aware of some aspects of myself that I hadn’t had a chance to really explore.

My second thought on the subject had to do with the FSAs and how they can be limiting the chances of gaining knowledge. Due to mandatory government tests and the restrictive nature of some institutions, students are forced into prescribed learning which isn’t a fostering environment for creativity.

As I read the article, I found I wasn’t that far off…

“It seems that the best answer to the question of “does assessment kill creativity” is: it depends.” (p. 255)

  • I find that there are a lot of conversations around questions, not just in education but in many important subjects, that are best answered with “it depends.” There are so many factors in the world that can affect the outcome to any problem – the individual could be the linchpin or the final straw, the factor that creates harmony or destruction, in any given subject. So these big questions, despite my desire of a “right answer”, seem to be unanswerable.

“Creativity is the interaction among aptitude, process, and environment by which an individual or group produces a perceptible product that is both novel and useful as defined within a social context.” (p.255)

“The judgement of creativity depends on the context (e.g., a language arts classroom, an after-school poetry club, an international poetry concert) and the stakeholders in that context (e.g., the classroom teachers, a group of fellow poets, a panel of international poetry experts).” (p.255)

“We want our students to be able and willing to solve problems, create products, and contribute ideas that are novel and useful in any given situation.” (p. 255)

  • This “pedestrian or everyday creativity” (p. 255) moves students towards one of the end goals of education – creating functions members of society.

  • In the creative process, the article talks about the divergent stage and the convergent stage (p. 256). I know these stages well from working on anything from school work and recreational projects. It’s almost surprising to me that there is an actual label for the brick wall I hit when I’m working on recreational things. The examples given, “comparisons to others, concerns about how they might be evaluated by the teacher, or whether they have found the best solution to a problem” (p. 256) are all too familiar to me. The convergent stage is the one I associate with school work the most, since my completion of tasks is directly linked to me passing my courses. I still make hit brick walls when it comes to these tasks, but I find my way through them or over them with the extrinsic motivation of grades. If I applied self-imposed “grades” on my recreational work, would I be more inclined to finish it or would it lose its appeal?

  • As I read the section on the “performance goal structure” (p. 258), I am reminded of the first few weeks in the education program. Walking into a classroom where you either passed or failed, there was no real in between, was a culture shock.  For most of my schooling, everything was based on grades. Even if the teacher wasn’t the one to initiate comparisons, the students would find out their peers achievements and then put their own up against it. In some of my classes, my favourite moments were when my student number and percentage were put on the board as the highest in the class. It meant I was better than everyone else in that room, and for someone who has spent a portion of their life not feeling like they were worth much, it was a huge achievement. And it wasn’t all that lasting. The next assignment would come, and I would put my mental health through the ringer, trying to churn out the best product I could and not really focusing much on what I was learning. Even now, I find it difficult to ask for help and can admit that there is some self-sabotaging that likes to slip in when I’m not looking.

“…a master goal structure is represented by goal-related messages that focus on self-improvement, skill development, creativity and understanding. [The assessment practices] provide students with useful information and feedback on how they are progressing relative to their own prior achievement.” (p. 258)

  • This is what all students need. FreshGrade or See-Saw (the program my nephew and niece’s school uses) is the perfect tool for this. Not only do you get to show the student’s their progress, but you open up the opportunity for parents as well. I believe whole-heartedly in this kind of assessment. When they see how well they’ve done, how much they’ve learned and grown from their first day in class, it can change their whole perspective of themselves. It’s not to say that this is for everyone, though. As the article states, “not all students experience the classroom environment in the same way” (p. 258). Take, for instance, my best friend and I. We’ve known each other for most of our lives, have gone to the same schools, been in most of the same classes, and have a lot of similar interests. The way we learn is vastly different. She is more inclined to the performance goal structure – she needs to have that concrete letter grade that shows her progress – where as I thrive in mastery goal structure. I want to know that I’ve improved upon myself, not others.

  • So, it’s student perception of assessment? Say a teacher has two classes that they are working with simultaneously. In one classroom, Class A,  they are performance goal structured – they want to see everyone’s grades posted, so that they can compare to each other and see who is on top. In the other, Class B, each student is given a demonstration of their own personal growth. The assumption is that Class B will have more creativity in their environment than Class A. Who is to say that Class B won’t then compare letter grades once they have had a chance to see it for themselves? And couldn’t some of Class A be comparing their previous grades to the ones they more recently received? Is it really on the students? Or is it on the teachers? Is it what we assign, the tests that we give, part of the cause of these anxieties or the creativity?

“… though win-lose competitions seem to undermine creativity, evidence has shown that competition can have a positive effect for some individuals and work teams.” (p. 260)

  • There is a movement out there where competition is taken out of a lot of activities. Apparently, it is meant to motivate the children involved, to allow them to all celebrate their achievements and participation. But what happens to these children when they are put into an environment where competition is a part of every day life? And does it always undermine creativity? I have seen people come up with very creative ways to gain the upperhand.

I don’t feel its so much the assessment that kill creativity as it is the classroom environment. As it has been stated in the article, not every student learns in the same way, so to state a question that pits assessment and creativity against one another is to lead the reader into believing that there is an answer when, as is also stated in the article, there is not. It all comes down to assuring a safe environment, a sense of community, within the classroom. Whether a student is intrinsically or extrinsically motivated, the classroom needs to be a place where they feel that their opinion, their preference is welcome. While not all needs can be met (we cannot give students information on their peers), with each students, we can find a happy medium that will allow them to feel safe.

“Time counts and keeps countin’, and we knows now finding the trick of what’s been and lost ain’t no easy ride. But that’s our trek, we gotta’ travel it. And there ain’t nobody knows where it’s gonna’ lead.”

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, 1985

Bibliography

Beghetto, R.A. (2005). Does Assessment Kill Student Creativity?. The Educational Forum, 60(3), 254-263.

Miller, G. (Producer/Director), & Ogilvie, G. (Director). (1985). Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome [Motion picture]. Australia: Warner Bros.

I moustache myself a question…

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Step 1, ask the question.

How can inquiry-based learning be scaffolded in such a way that all learners, including varied learners, can find success?

Hmm… bit broad. Let’s see if we can’t narrow it down a touch and introduce a couple of sub-questions.

How can we encompass the entire curriculum in an inquiry-based setting?                    How do we provide support for all students with different learning styles?

Could still use some work, but for now, let’s role with it. On to…

Step 2, hope you can find some information out there that supports your idea.

Unsurprisingly, there is a lot of information out there about inquiry. While I haven’t read everything, my observation so far is that the idea of inquiry-based learning is often used in the sciences as it closely resembles the scientific method (and by ‘closely’, I mean that it pretty much is the scientific method). Take, for instance, Inquiry Takes Time by Julia Baxter, Angie Ruzicka and Sharon Blackwell. In the article’s introduction, they provide this insight;

The challenge for teachers is to find a balance between “cookbook” science investigations in which students dutifully march through specified steps of an investigation to reach the “correct” answer, and open-ended investigations that young students lack the resources and skills to conduct.

Their solution was to implement a year long framework in which they can teach their students (Grade 3) how to successfully create and solve an inquiry project. My initial hesitance with this article was due to the fact that they have stuck with using science as the subject. Upon reflection, I realize that it would be the easiest way to teach the students as there is already a method implemented in the curriculum that is quite similar to inquiry (the aforementioned scientific one). I briefly wondered if there was a way to introduce the idea of inquiry in the early primary years, but filed that question away for later reflection so I could delve into the article.

The authors divided the article up using the terms and this framework:

  • Structured inquiry: Students investigate a prescribed question using a method provided by the teacher
  • Guided inquiry: Students investigate a prescribed question using methods that they have designed
  • Open inquiry: Students investigate questions that they have posed using methods that they have designed.

The year is already divided up to provide a way to implement this into the curriculum. The fall term would have the teachers encourage the development of observational and recording skills, to move them towards structured inquiry. In the winter, they would then start predicting and posing questions that would take them into guided inquiry. Before the end of the Winter term, and after they completed a number of units in science, they would then be encouraged to pose questions and test ideas of their own, not of the teachers, that would then move them towards open inquiry. By the spring, they would be immersed in open inquiry, where they could explore their final unit being fuelled by their own curiosity on the matter. And all of it fit in, if not exceeded, the standards set out by the curriculum. They succeeded in doing this by recognizing this fact;

Science inquiry is complex, requiring content knowledge, procedural knowledge, attention to detail, and creativity. Thus, we assert that a variety of activities—activities that engage students in conducting a variety of inquiry investigations—are needed to help young children develop the skills and dispositions to explore the world around them.

While this article is the first in a long list that I will have to read for this project, it helped me overcome my initial resistance to focus solely on science. I have come to realize that it likely the best subject to provide the base knowledge needed for students to be successful in implementing inquiry in their school career.

Bibliography

Baxter, J., Ruzicka, A., & Blackwell, S. (2012). Inquiry Takes Time. Science & Children, 50(1), 42-47.

Frightening Conclusions; Redefining Moments

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I’m going to start this with a quote that I found in my SA’s filing cabinet that definitely helps define the experience of the two week practicum:

“I have come to a frightening conclusion. I am the decisive element of the classroom. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous. I can humiliate or humour, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated, a child humanized or de-humanized”

Between Child and Teacher by Haim Ginott, 1976

Ginott, H. G. (1965). Between parent and child. New York: Macmillan.

For all that we’ve been prepared for in class and in past experiences, to be the teacher is a heavy role. But an enjoyable one. Over the two week practicum, I’ve watched the push and pull relationships between the teacher and their students and the difference between the regular teacher versus a teacher coming in for an hour or two. I can’t say my experience is conclusive to all classroom environments. There might be similarities here and there, but like any situation where humans are involved, every classroom is going to be different.

I could write my inquiry of the power of a teacher’s presence on a class and what happens when that presence is a different one, but I’m sure there are already papers on this. But I digress, because it still baffles me. My class, for instance, goes into a hyperactive mode the moment my school advisor (SA) steps down from the official teacher position (not when she leaves the room, but when she hands the reins over to someone else).

The first time I was faced with this, I was blown away by how loud the class got almost instantly. My SA had a meeting, and a teacher on call (TOC) that’s in the school frequently came into the class to lead Fine Arts before I would take over for their daily physical activity (DPA). Even with a percentage of the students out of the class for band, the classroom was unusually loud from what I’d witnessed before. Once the class was all-together and we were headed out for DPA, the noise level and the disobedience got worse. I still managed to get attention and attempt to teach them a new game – it was for naught. They fell apart within seconds and had nothing but complaints, so I allowed them to start playing a different game they new well and off they went (still with complaints). I was discouraged, near tears, but the TOC turned to me and said, “They are running around, aren’t they? Then you’ve done your job. Don’t worry about it.”

The next time I was more prepared for this reaction. My SA was going to be in the classroom with me, so I don’t know if it was more her presence than my preparedness that kept the chaos to a smaller amount, but things went better because I was ready and more confident in my plan. I stood up in front of the class, commanded their attention, and began to teach once I had it. It’s true, there are many things I have to work on with my teaching abilities (like waiting… always waiting…), but I felt like I had better control of the moment than the previous lesson.

It wouldn’t be until a week (and a number of lessons, good and bad) later that I would find that quote and have an ‘aha’ moment. “I am the decisive element.” I decide how the class is going to go with how I approach it. If I’m apprehensive like I was with the DPA lesson, I am going to have less control. If any experience taught me that, it was a Remembrance Day lesson I attempted, when I was not at all prepared. If I walk in like a teacher, like someone who has this knowledge, and is passionate about teaching it, I will have more control over how that lesson will go. If I go in, and I say to myself “you’ve got this, they can do this”, I might have a better chance at maintaining control. I have faith that those students can sit there, and can be engaged, because I’ve seen it. I know they can. I just have to remember that.

Mini-Inquiry Oct 6: My rock is gneiss, don’t take it for granite.

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My sketches and rockI decided to bring in a rock from the courtyard of my apartment building for my mini-inquiry. Yes, I know it sounds like I picked it up on my way to the bus stop before class, but there’s more to it than that. When we were told to bring in something from nature, the first thing that came to mind was a rock. Why? To this day, I’m still finding leftover remnants of my childhood rock collection in amongst my things.

For as far back as I can remember, I was the living embodiment of ‘I Collect Rocks’ by Al Simmons. I would come home from school with my pockets weighed down by all the little stones and pebbles I thought were interesting enough to warrant a place in my vast collection that filled the drawers and many surfaces of my bedroom. It didn’t matter if I had a hundred rocks that looked similar, something about each called to me in a way. So did teaching. When I would be making my plans for the future, listing the jobs I would pursue and weighing the validity of my choices, teaching was always one of the first off the list (due mostly to self-doubts that I have since worked past). I dabbled in the worlds of hairstylists, medical office assistants and graphic designers, staying in one career a lot longer than the others, trying to find where I fit. Alas, they were the mud-caked gravel I would find on the way home, the ones that would entertain me for a while, that might kick along my path to the corner just beyond my driveway, but never bring through the front door.

The second reason I chose the rock was for where I found it – I, in my 30 years of life, have always been relatively dependant on other people. I had spurts of living away from home when I moved to Slave Lake and travelled Europe, but for the most part, I’ve been a homebody. But now, for the foreseeable future, I am more or less on my own. Yes, I have a roommate (who happens to be my sister, who texts me when she hasn’t heard from me in over 24 hours, and sends her boyfriend to check hospitals and morgues if I don’t respond promptly), but I am alone a lot more than I have ever been. And that’s definitely new. So this rock is a representation of my newfound independence and the new chapter of my life. Like any rock, it began as a part of a bigger whole and broke away to find it’s new life. It’s been shaped, smoothed, cracked and forever changed by it’s experiences, but it’s very core (like my core values) has stayed the same.