Category Archives: classroom teachers

The Power of Introverts

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“In a gentle way, you can shake the world.” – Gandhi

Introverted-Thinkers

At a professional development session I (Pooja) attended this week, I joined a conversation about the power of introverts. The conversation was framed around Susan Cain’s book entitled Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking. We live in a society where extroverts are the ideal; we value personality over character. This presentation, given by some of my quieter colleagues, was  powerful because it forced me to reflect on ways I engage and include introverts in the classroom. The presenters explained that introversion and extraversion is not a black or white matter; rather we all fall somewhere along the continuum depending on the situation we find ourselves in. I also learned that introversion is not to be confused with shyness- a mistake many people (including myself) make when speaking about introverts.

images

I mostly identify as an extrovert. Knowing this is important because it can influence how I design my  course to be more inclusive for all my students. As a more extroverted person, I walked out of the session with practices to consider revising in my classroom. Here are a few of the things I’ve been thinking about:

  • Mindful of airtime- I often become uncomfortable in silence, and so I will fill in silent moments with talking or engaging only the most vocal members of the class in discussion. Silence can be a powerful thing; these are the moments where reflection occurs.
  • Independent Work vs. Group Work- I try and put my students into pairs and/or groups every chance I get. I now am beginning to realize this is not the optimal working condition for all. I need to find a balance of group work and independent work.

Learn more about the power of the introverts here:

http://www.thepowerofintroverts.com

 

Multimodal Valentines

classroom teachers, literacy, Teacher education, teacher educators, , , , , ,

I (Cathy) love special occasions.  Just give me a theme and I suddenly have an opportunity to be creative.  Lately, my outlet is a three dimensional mode of expression- cupcakes!  I can experiment with my designs using colour, texture, size, shape, and taste.  For my Valentine’s cupcakes, aside from the cake and icing choices, there were a multitude of affordances (decorative toppings) to choose from. For this dozen, I decided on a range of tastes and textures:  cinnamon heart candies, red and white jube jubes, tiny snowflake hearts, red sugar sprinkles, silver balls and message hearts.  Remember those tart tasting message hearts?  They say things like “hug me”, “I love you”, “kiss me”, and now there is one that says “text me”- so new literacies!  This is truly a multimodal sensory experience for me (the designer) and everyone that gets one (the receiver of my communication). I see this as a perfect example of my Western culture influences channeling through me to create a social semiotic representation of my caring.  But I won’t tell that to my husband.  All he will see a pretty cupcake that is “Mmmmm, delicious!”  And that’s fine too.  I am not sure if this is what Gunther Kress had in mind when he created the Centre for Multimodal Research, but it works for me.   Happy Valentine’s Day all!photo

Teachers’ Broad Conception of Their Role after Several Years

classroom teachers, curriculum; teachers, education, literacy, , , ,

I (Clive) have been working with Clare and Elizabeth on a paper on teacher identity, based on our longitudinal study of teachers. One thing we’ve noticed over the years is how broadly our teachers view their role.
Elizabeth has just developed a table showing what the teachers give priority to in their teaching. In spring 2012 (year 8 for cohort 1 and year 5 for cohort 2) we asked 39 of the teachers:
·      What do you think are the most important aspects of your role?
·      What are your main goals for your students?
The top 8 priorities in each case were as follows:
Most Important Aspects of My Role

Provide engaging lessons

18

Build a community, and a caring and safe environment

16

Develop a relationship with students

15

Be a role model

6

Involve parents

 

4

Teacher reflection and ongoing learning

 

4

Advocate for student needs

3

Foster strong literacy abilities in students

2

Most Important Goals for My Students

Social development

 

 

18

Love of learning

 

 

11

Development of self

 

 

11

Sense of community

 

 

10

Problem solving and critical thinking

 

 

6

Progress in learning

 

 

6

Literacy

 

 

6

Curiosity

 

 

4

Having such a broad role may appear burdensome for teachers. However, based on the teachers’ comments and our reading of authors such as Mary Kennedy and Nel Noddings, we argue that approaching teaching broadly is in fact more feasible and satisfying. Students are more engaged, understand more deeply, and develop across many aspects of their lives. And teachers are also enriched and find the daily interaction with students more enjoyable.

Reflecting on Our Strengths and Weaknesses

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I (Cathy) was reading a literacy newsletter yesterday and was intrigued by an article by literacy educator, Clare Landrigan.  She reminisced about a saying her father used to share with her, “Everyone’s greatest strength is their greatest weakness and their greatest weakness is their greatest strength.” I have heard this before and tend to agree with it.  I have referred to it often while exploring Brookfield’s critical incidences with my student teachers.  We would reflect on the possibility of how our greatest strength could be holding us from recognizing our own literacy assumptions.

What intrigued me about Landrigan’s article was the educational perspective she introduced that I simply had not entertained before.  She asked her readers to look at the weaknesses of her students and try to see them as their greatest strength.  For example, the student who cannot sit still . . . has the potential to be incredibly productive and he student who takes forever to do something . . . is attentive and thoughtful.   What a wonderfully productive way to look at the students we teach, regardless of age.  It also might help us recognize positive aspects in ourselves when we are feeling particularly critical.  What is your greatest weakness?

Professional Identity

classroom teachers, education, Teacher education, , , , ,

Today I (Clive) was teaching my School and Society (social foundations) course in the preservice program. Our topic was professional identity. What a class we had! We discussed:

·      Teachers’ perception of their role

·      Motivation and satisfaction

·      Challenges of teaching

·      Work-life balance

·      Confidence

·      Stance in relation to system mandates

I selected a number of quotes from our chapter on professional identity from our upcoming text: Growing as a Teacher (Sense Publishers). The students took turns reading these quotes aloud which proved to be very powerful. We brought the “voices” of the teachers into the class. Here are a few of the quotes we read:

Classroom teachers have an enormously challenging job; I didn’t realize that when I first started teaching, but now I do. And that hasn’t made me any less effective, if anything it’s made me somewhat more; because now I’m kinder to myself. I see that basically the teacher sets the atmosphere of the classroom, and if you’re constantly stressed out and trying to attain the impossible you become a frustrated and burnt out person. (Felicity, eighth year teacher)

The most important aspects of my role are ensuring that my students develop a positive sense of self; that they acquire a love of learning; and that they develop a world perspective, with compassion and understanding for other people. Embedded in that are social skills; but it’s bigger than that, because I want them to see beyond their own life and community. This view of my role is broader than it used to be. If you’d asked me when I started teaching I would have said the world citizenship component was important, but it didn’t play into my daily practice to the extent it does now. (Tanya, eighth year teacher)

Coming out of my inner-city pre-service program, where the emphasis was on being a change-maker and inspiring every kid, I had to learn that it can often be slow going and I have to not feel defeated if I fail to accomplish everything I hoped for. Because…you really, really need to enjoy teaching to last in the profession, and it’s draining and can get frustrating. I’ve always worked in inner-city schools, so I’m mentally prepared for it…[but] I’ve had to learn not to take things personally. Otherwise you go home and things rest in your mind and you get physically sick.  (Jessica, fifth year teacher)

Basing my teaching on where the students are and where they need to be [according to the standards-based approach], I found I ended up teaching to the test; and the whole fun and love of learning went out the door. So I changed my process, and asked: What am I teaching? What skills need to be taught? How can I get that across to them in a way that they’ll enjoy? And then after reflecting on it, and seeing where it didn’t work so well, I asked: What should I change?   (Lucy, fifth year teacher)

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

Informal Teacher Learning. Teachers as Experts.

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This past week we’ve been writing a paper on ongoing teacher learning, based on our 9-year longitudinal study of 42 teachers. What has struck me is the amount teachers learn after their initial preparation, mainly through experience in their own classroom and other informal means (e.g., chatting with colleagues, professional reading, searching the internet). As Marisa said at the end of her sixth year:

 When I started teaching, I soon realized there was so much I didn’t know. The first couple of years I struggled, and had to work really hard on my programming. But over time I’ve become more confident…I try new things, work with other teachers, and use what I learn to improve my program.

External input by formal means is potentially very important, but at present not much happens. And if and when we finally get around to it, it has to be done in dialogue with teachers, building on the approach they have already developed. Teachers are truly key experts, perhaps the main experts, on teaching. Clive

 

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