Category Archives: education

Truly Engaging Students and Meeting Their Needs: Reconciling Our Ideals with Their Realities

curriculum; teachers, education, , , ,

 

John LoughranAs our team continues its research and writing on teaching, I (Clive) have been re-reading John Loughran’s wonderful book What Expert Teachers Do (Routledge, 2010). http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415579674/
This week I came across a section that reports a common gap between teacher and student views of good teaching (pp. 210-11). For example:
Teacher view:
Students should have opportunities to be active and think about their learning experiences
Student view:
Learning is associated with gaining right answers, and thinking and personal understanding are just different and often frustrating ways of achieving required outcomes
Teacher view:
Linking experiences from both within and outside school greatly assists learning
Student view:
The final grade is the critical outcome and the basis by which progress is judged

Loughran’s colleague Jeff Northfield, on whose teaching experiences these findings were based, was able to bridge the gap to a degree, but only by “listening carefully to his students [and] capitalising on opportunities as they arose.”Cover of What Expert Teachers Do
This helped me see that in developing ideas about good teaching (and good teacher education) we must work closely with our students, listening to them as they describe the realities of their world. Together we must come up with a pedagogy they understand and accept, one that both meets their immediate needs and ensures deeper gains for the long-term. We need to reconcile broader ideals with hard realities.
I think this can be done; but we must actually do it. Part of what is involved is practicing with our students the constructivism and dialogical teaching we believe in, and that really does work.  Clive

International Baccalaureate symbol

IB schooling in Mumbai

curriculum; teachers, education, Reflections, Social Justice, , , ,

While in Mumbai, I (Pooja) had some candid conversations with my cousins (who now have school-aged children) about schooling. The International Baccalaureate (IB) has quickly become the new standard. My cousins spoke highly about the IB curriculum, noting that it encouraged students to view themselves as “global citizens.”  The curriculum, they commented, deviated away from that of traditional schooling in India. The skills were now focused on: critical thinking; intercultural awareness; independent learning; evaluating and constructing arguments; and independent learning.

The pressures to get their children into an International Baccalaureate (IB) program were high. My cousins already had aspirations of sending their young children to top-performing universities outside of India (mostly in the U.S., Canada, and U.K.).   A major concern I heard was that if they did not get into an IB program, how would they compete in this highly globalized world? I understood this to mean that in order to be competitive one had to be complete their formal education outside of India. This  was concerning  because competition aside, IB schools are extremely expensive, and so, not available to the vast majority of families in India. While very few are privileged to apply and possibly attend IB schools in India, most school children in India still attend public school. I am interested in learning more about the public school curriculum in Mumbai? How are public schools currently preparing their students to be  “global citizens?” or is this a notion that is still intangible for most? Pooja

Unsung: Behind the Glee: A MUST Watch Video

education, Reflections, Social Justice, , , , , ,

There is an amazing documentary, Unsung: Behind the Glee, which chronicles the journey of two rival Toronto high school glee clubs as they gear up for a musical showdown at the annual Show Choir Canada National Championship.Musical Notes

http://ww3.tvo.org/video/196690/unsung-behind-glee

 This documentary is fascinating because
·      it has incredible music and dance;
·      shows the value of the arts in the lives of some adolescents;
·      and clearly demonstrates the commitment of teachers.
Yes it is a competition (and many of the students are elite singers/dancers) but it is an inside look at the work and enthusiasm of teachers and students alike. For some students their involvement in music and dance literally “saved” them. For some of the teachers, their music/dance groups are like their family (they scold, praise, encourage, laugh, cry). There are powerful stories of kids overcoming huge adversity through their involvement in these musical groups.
Clive and I watched it last night and I was moved to tears. It is only available until January 27th so give yourself an hour (stop preparing for class or marking or doing housework ….) and watch it.
For those of you not in the arts (like me) it was very informative. For those of you in the arts you will probably relate to the stories and unfolding events. Whether students are elite or just enjoy music and dance (for appreciation), the arts have a very important place in the curriculum and should be well funded. The arts are not a frill but are part of the basics of life.
Clare

Telling Stories in Pre-Service

education, literacy, Teacher education, Uncategorized, , , ,

I (Cathy) instruct part-time at Brock University. Many of my mid-term evaluations from my pre-service students read, “Please, tell more stories”. It made me laugh, but it made a point. We all love stories, no matter what our age: family stories; folktales from another culture; scary stories… it doesn’t matter. So today, in our first classes for 2014 I focused on storytelling, but turned the tables somewhat and encouraged my student teachers to be the tellers. They were asked to share personal stories about their teaching practicum, which they had completed just before the winter break. I started us off by sharing a story about a disastrous placement I experienced many years ago when I was a student teacher. The flood gates were opened. My, oh my, such stories! Hilarious stories about indignant kindergardeners; touching stories about tough grade eight boys weeping because they thought they had hurt the student teacher’s feelings; frightening stories about overly demanding associate teachers; and joyous stories about building up deflated ELL students. The passion in the room was palpable; it glowed in their eyes, exuded in their hand gestures and spilled about the room with the rise in the decibel levels. Clearly, they loved working with the kids, the learning (good and bad) and the chance to make a difference. They loved teaching, and even in this climate of little prospects of obtaining a teaching position for a few years, they were exactly where they belonged. And so was I.  Cathy

Winter Clothing is a Basic

classroom teachers, curriculum; teachers, education, Social Justice, , ,

thermometer with snowflakesMany of us in North America are enduring the coldest weather in decades. This morning it is -39 Celsius (= -40 F). Bone chilling does not even begin to describe the experience of being out in this weather. Whenever we have frigid weather like this I recall my time as a classroom teacher. I taught in very high needs schools and when winter roared in, many of the children suffered terribly because they did not have adequate winter clothing. Last night on Chris Matthews’ show, Hardball, on MSNBC http://www.msnbc.com/hardball/watch/the-need-to-sustain-the-social-safety-net-108521539760
there was talk about the American Congress wanting to end welfare benefits. All those politicians who vote to end or reduce welfare benefits they should visit an urban school in the depths of winter and tell some children that they do not deserve a winter coat and mittens.

When I was a teacher, every year I would go to children’s clothing stores and beg for winter gear (coats, mittens, boots) for my students who were so inadequately dressed. Never once did I leave a store empty-handed. Many of the teachers on staff engaged in similar missions and many who were moms or dads would bring in winter clothes that their own children had out-grown. So those politicians who want to micro-manage teachers and impose an array of  standards should accompany those teachers to children’s stores to beg for donations. I am sure this reality-check would have a real influence because they would learn what teaching is all about. Their view that teachers need to be told what to do and should be penalized for not focusing solely on the “basics” might change. Aren’t winter clothes a basic? I think so. Stay warm! Clare

New Business Model for Education: Respecting Teachers

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There is a great article in the New York Times magazine today, A Ready-To-Assemble Business Plan Adam Davidson

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/05/magazine/thinking-outside-the-big-box.html?ref=magazine&_r=0

It reports on studies done on “how to make low-paid work more rewarding for employees and employers alike.” Zeynep Ton argues that “Even the most coldhearted, money-hungry capitalists ought to realize that increasing their work force, and paying them and treating them better, will often yield happier customers, more engaged works, and – surprisingly – larger corporate profits.” Although the article is about workers in big box stores, we think that there is relevance for the way we treat teachers. If we treated teachers with more respect (as they do in countries like Finland), have more fully-staffed schools,  and pay teachers a decent (competitive) salary rather than trying to “teacher proof” the curriculum and impose draconian measures on them (pay raises linked to student achievement on standardized test) we may actually improve education! Perhaps, it is time to flip the approach from controlling teachers to respecting  and supporting them. Let’s try this experiment in 2014! Clive and Clare

Teaching in a Digital Age

Curriculum Resources, curriculum; teachers, education, literacy, , , , ,

Facebook Logo As an instructor of literacy methods courses in preservice teacher education, one of the challenges is remaining current. I feel that I must have current knowledge of research on literacy and literacy development, current knowledge of curriculum resources and government initiatives, and be current with ever-changing social media trends. The last point is one that is often overlooked but equally important. To prepare my student teachers to be effective literacy teachers, I need to know them and this entails knowing the social media they are using. If I do not have some working knowledge of their communication patterns they might view me as a dinosaur which in turn can create a barrier to me understanding where they are coming from. Also, both student teachers and I need to know what pupils are using if we want to connect home and school literacy practices. Not having a teenager makes it difficult to stay current – many adolescents are far more in tune than me. So what to do? I found this website http://www.commonsensemedia.org/educators/blog which is helpful. I am not sure who sponsors it but there is a treasure trove of info for those of us trying to figure out what adolescents and young adults are using. One page that was very useful lists11 sites that kids go to after Facebook http://www.commonsensemedia.org/educators/blog/11-sites-and-apps-kids-are-heading-to-after-facebook . I liked the thumbnail sketches of each site and the pros and cons of each site.
Another page identified top digital citizenship bloggers.
http://www.commonsensemedia.org/educators/blog/our-favorite-digital-citizenship-bloggers-to-follow-in-2014
These bloggers identify issues that are often invisible to me.
Knowing popular culture I feel is essential to being a literacy professor. Clare

Philomena

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philomena-movie-banner-new

I saw the movie Philomena and was blown away by it. The story is powerful, the acting strong, and the direction very subtle. In the movie the main character, Philomena, is sent to a home for unwed mothers run by Catholic nuns who arrange for her son to be adopted by an American family.  50 years later she decides to search for her son. Having gone to Catholic elementary and secondary school, I was quite interested in the “Catholic aspect” of the movie That aside, I felt that the movie addressed so many issues which I think that we should be addressing in schools. As Clive noted in an earlier blog post about relevance, including popular culture in our curriculum can allow for discussion of issues which students face. This movie raises questions about power (institutional power), societal norms, religion, and relationships. When do we forgive and forget? When do condemn and expose? When should we question the power of religion? When should we keep a secret? Who has the right to decide what is “right”? After the movie my book club  and I had a spirited discussion of some of the dilemmas that Philomena faced, the decisions that the nuns made (in whose interests were they made), and the relationship between Philomena and the journalist who helped her.  I highly recommend the movie (it requires two hankies) and would love to hear your views of the movie. Should a movie like this be included in our secondary school curriculum? Clare

Classroom Teachers and Critical Literacy

classroom teachers, critical literacy, education, literacy, literacy, Literacy teacher educators, research, team members

Yiola CleovoulouI am fascinated with classroom teachers’ pedagogy. In particular, how elementary school teachers teach critical literacy to young children.  How teachers plan, what materials they choose and the discussions they facilitate in the classroom were some of the areas I asked classroom teachers in relation to their efforts to build critically literate students. My research team spent half of the  school year observing classroom teachers` daily practices with a special focus on  critical literacy. We also interviewed the teachers to gain an understanding of their thinking about their practice. One interesting finding is the close connection between content (often driven by narrative texts) and pedagogy. That is, teachers (in the early primary grades) focused heavily on narrative texts to relay information about critical social issues and designed learning opportunities (discussions, extensions) based on the texts. This process resulted in children sharing their own stories and understandings of the critical social issues (i.e. identity and exclusion,  inequitable distribution of resources, class).  Understanding teachers` classroom practices is connected to phase two of our study on literacy teacher educators.  I want to know how the two sets of pedagogical practices connect: how does the pedagogy of literacy teacher educators who have a critical stance transfer to classroom teachers’ practices?

By: Yiola Cleovoulou

Anita, Math Teaching, and the System

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I had coffee today with Anita, one of the year 10 teachers in our longitudinal study. She was in my School & Society course (foundations course) in initial teacher education and I have observed and interviewed her each year since. She is a very strong teacher in every way, but has just moved to a new school and is facing some challenges. She said about 40% of her grade 4/5 class have very low SES backgrounds and the government is reducing special education support, ostensibly to promote inclusion but actually to save money. One thing she talked about relates to how difficult it is to teach math skills and concepts without concerted system direction and teacher training (as noted in my previous posting about the PISA results). She said it will probably take most of the year to teach her class how to do a 3-part math lesson (direct instruction/group work/whole-class discussion), whereas if the whole school was doing it and all the teachers had been trained in it she could have used this approach immediately. We also talked about how the principal needs to provide leadership in getting all the teachers pulling together around such pedagogy, but principals aren’t being trained in this role or receiving a consistent message that it’s a major part of their job. Anita, then, has to fine-tune and prioritize her teaching activities largely on her own (there are effectively 2 PD days a year), hoping to survive and thrive as a teacher and be there for her students. Clive