Christine Ho Younghusband

Almost 30 teachers and school administrators attended my workshop.  The workshop was optional.  Professional development is self-directed, meaning the teacher defines what is important to learn to improve his/her teaching practice.  The majority of this teaching staff and all three administrators identified another workshop on Assessment for Learning (AFL) would be worthwhile.

All I can say is, the workshop was amazing from beginning to end.  Doughnuts… Dialogue… Discussion.  I had so much fun delivering a workshop I am truly passionate about.  AFL MATTERS.  The  teachers and administrators were engaged.  The group activities worked.  The conversations were authentic.  They asked great questions and they had an opportunity to talk freely with colleagues about their practice and AFL.  It was an awesome learning and teaching experience.

Aside from a wonderful professional development workshop with the teachers and school administrators of Howe Sound Secondary, I was treated to a yummy lunch with the workshop organizer and a couple other colleagues.  We had continued our professional development day with more discussions about assessment, math education, and student learning over a plate of wings and artichoke dip.  Am I living the dream?  Yes I am.

I am passionate about AFL and had come to learn more about it during my last few years in public education.  Bottom line, AFL helps kids learn about their learning, learn in a fear-free environment, and learn how to realize their academic potential.

In return, AFL helps teachers understand how well their students are learning the content, assess student prior knowledge and what needs more work, and provide descriptive feedback to students to help them comprehend the course content.

AFL does not work in isolation.  How teachers assess students is closely tied with grading practices and instructional strategies.  Teachers do implement AFL at various degrees… depending on what grade they teach, what subject area they specialize in, level of understanding of AFL, and years of experience.

What I would like to address in this NEW workshop offered by Younghusband Consulting is effective grading practices.  Grading practices reflect student achievement.  In the end, teachers use their professional judgment to assign grades or percentage to students that reflect their level of understanding of the prescribed learning outcomes.

The ultimate goal is for teachers to report out a grade that best reflects student achievement.  Within this premise, there are NO bonus marks, NO zeros, and NO participation marks in the grading process.  Bonus marks reward students for going beyond the curriculum.  Zeros punish students for poor work habits.  And, participation marks tokenizes student engagement.

Effective grading practices should authentically “measure” student understanding.  AFL is instrumental to how teachers evaluate student achievement.  What counts for marks?  Anything that allows students to demonstrate their understanding of what they have learned.  What shouldn’t count?  Anything that helps students learn the course content.

I was born and raised in a small town, Prince Rupert to be exact.  I lived on Prince Rupert Boulevard and went to Prince Rupert Senior Secondary.  Need I say more?  Oh ya, my parents immigrated to Canada in the late 60’s, so the English language was not a strength of theirs either.  Bottom line, I read only one novel to completion during my high school career and pleasantly surprised to pass English 12.

Back to UBC… also, back in the day… all UBC students had to pass the ECT, the English Competency Test to graduate.  The ECT was UBC’s version of the LPI (Language Proficiency Index).  All that I know is that I failed the ECT twice, along with English 100.  It was a hat trick of failure.  Yes, I managed to return back to UBC for my second year, but I was also back to English 100… and the ECT.

I love the old wives tales that loomed around campus regarding the ECT.  A commonly told story was that you passed the ECT if your paper landed face-up from the clock tower.  Some people would say you couldn’t get into third year and others were worried about graduation.  I had to pass the ECT.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, I registered for a continuing education course called “How to Pass the ECT.”  That was a selling title… SIGN ME UP.  I rode my bike there, in the snow, up hill both ways… It was the best $80 I had ever spent.

The most memorable moment was the first class.  There were a couple of dozen people sitting at tables formed into a horseshoe.  The instructor was an English graduate student.  OK.  I was ready to learn.  The class began with introductions.  We shared our names around the horseshoe.  Curious, the instructor asked us to go around the horseshoe again to answer the following questions:  (1) What country do you come from?  (2) How long have you been in Canada?  (3)  What is your first language?    

My answers:  (1) Canada  (2) All of my life.  (3)  English.

Everyone else responded with (1) Any other country but Canada.  (2) Less than one year.  (3) Any other language but English.  This class was an ESL class.

English as a Second Language… but English is my first language… next to slang.  The instructor pulled me aside to ask me if I wanted to change sections, but I wanted to stay.  Can you hear the song from Sesame Street?  “One of these things is not like the other…”  If I really knew how to write, I would have passed English 100 and the ECT.

The 10-week course was the best English course I ever took.  I started to see patterns in the grammar  and sentence construction.  I’ve always hated what my former teachers would say to me about editing my essays… “read it out loud and you can hear it.”  When your parents are ESL, you hear nothing.  Anyway, I was a star in this class… and loved it.

Happy ending… I passed the ECT on my third try, I passed English 100 with 56%, and graduated from UBC.  You do what you’ve got to do to get where you want to be.

This weekend I was reminded of my good work as a teacher.  First, I saw a parent on the ferry who thanked me for teaching both of her kids math and said that she felt lucky.  We chatted a bit longer about her kids and what they were up to.  I miss that about my job.  In fact, knowing what my former students are doing today as adults is rewarding.  I was grateful for her kind words.  Second, my family and I went a surprise birthday party for my husband’s aunt last night.  She was surprised and all 40 of us had a wonderful time at the restaurant celebrating her birthday.  The funny thing is that the birthday girl asked me if I would be willing to teach her niece math, as an adult student, with her living with us for a few months to upgrade her math in preparation for university.  I said, YES.  Third, to conclude the hat trick of compliments was a meeting I attended morning.  I was recruited to be a member of the BC Association of Math Teachers Executive committee.  My name was forwarded and approved with open arms… reassured that I would be an “asset” to the committee.  All I can say is… thanks… YIPPEE… and back contributing to public education, math education, and assessment for learning.  BEST 5-hour meeting ever!

Well, all I have to say is… if you love your teacher… show your appreciation.

Justin Bieber is living his dream.  His autobiography reminds me of Malcolm Gladwell and “The Tipping Point” or “The Outlier.”  Justin came from humble beginnings with a genuine love for music.  From YouTube to worldwide iconic notoriety seems unreal.  Was it an accident or totally aligned?  Watch the movie and you be the judge.  It goes back to the Law of Attraction.  He has a passion.  He has a gift.  He practiced for hours.  He took risks.  He believed in himself.  And, he had people around him who believed in him and his dream.  With much love, care, and good intent, he is living the dream.

Are you living your dream?  What is your passion?  Do you believe in yourself?  Are you surrounded by people who believe in you?  Do you feel good?  Are you grateful?

I ask myself these questions all of the time… followed up with “What in the hell are you doing?” Self-doubt, bad feelings, and fear can derail anyone from their dream.  You don’t have to be a superstar.  However, you have to believe in yourself.  When you believe, people can see this and want to help.  One compliment, one helping hand, one opportunity… all of a sudden things begin to happen.  Be thankful… and Gladwell’s Tipping Point is realized and you can not help but live your dream.

BELIEVE… that’s what it is all about.  What do you really want?  If you know what you are passionate about, then go for it.  Live the dream.  Do what it takes to live your dream and surround yourself by people who will help you attain it.  Do not underestimate your abilities.  In my workshops and math classroom, my bottom line is BELIEVING.  Do you believe you can make a difference in a student’s learning experience?  Do you believe that you can do math and love it?  YES YOU CAN.  This is exciting.  Believing is the secret to one’s happiness, success, and living the dream.  Do you believe?

I had a wonderful time at this workshop with good conversation and lots of fun.  We even had the opportunity to play Math Olympiks – A Summative Review Game.  I owe my deepest gratitude to Rose Pillay, the secondary CISVA educational consultant, who made this event and other memorable experiences happen for me… and BIG THANK YOU to the math teachers who attended my BCAMT workshop in the fall and gave me rave reviews and recommendation.  What an opportunity to inspire and influence practicing teachers to improve their practice and help kids learn.  VERY REWARDING.  What was more rewarding were the compliments, inquiries, and genuine interest expressed by the participants.  UNREAL.  Pedagogical dialogue… AWESOME!

Overall review of the day from my feedback forms was a lot of 3’s and 4’s on a 4-point scale.  That’s pretty good, including comments saying thank you… come to our school… and I’m ready to make changes in my classroom.  FANTASTIC.  Schools like York House and Vancouver Tech have expressed an interest in having a workshop come to their school about math instruction and AFL to entire staffs.  That is the greatest compliment of all… Knowing what you are saying is relevent, doable, and worthy of implementation.  THANK YOU CISVA for being a part of my pedagogical journey.

What an amazing realization… it dawned on me when a friend of mine mentioned that my confidence seemed rather low.  Remember, I’m living a life as an introvert… and I’m an EXTROVERT.  Any human communication I have access to results in me yapping for a good solid 10 minutes before I take a breath, giving the other person a brief moment to say something.  In this case, I was talking to one of the moms about my dissertation and thoughts about editing Chapter 2.  I am deeply grateful for this person’s patience and kindness to listen to my EXTROVERTED THINKING.  With her feedback, I did not realize that I was experiencing self-doubt in my writing… a low sense of self-efficacy.

This was an awakening.  I realized that I am currently experiencing what non-math specialist teachers do when they are learning how to teach math.  You are guessing half the time, you try, but it is frustrating at times if you work in isolation.  My intentions are good, however it is really difficult to realize what it means to excel in what you are doing with nobody around.  LEARNING IS DIALOGICAL… that’s one of my favorite sayings… Charles Taylor (1991).  I am trying to dialogue… with my Blog… my friends… my kid.  I asked Zoe a methodology question today after swimming lessons.  I was thinking out loud.  She said to me, “You’re like a detective.”  I smiled.  I guess I am.

After spending many hours prepping the power point and handout, I went to bed last night at midnight.  Up at 4:30 am to catch the 6:20 ferry, and the organizer generously offered to give me a ride to Squamish due to the probable snow warnings. We had a nice chat on the way to Don Ross Secondary.  His passion for education is admirable and commendable.

The Sea-to-Sky Teachers’ Association professional development day started with Dr. Art Hister as the key note.  He was phenomenal.  A very humorous and cleaver… a tough one to follow.  Overall, my presentation went well and I think I fulfilled what the organizer requested from me.  He asked for a similar workshop as the one I delivered at the BCAMT, the provincial math teachers conference, in October 2010.  However, there will always be attendees who are expecting something else. 

About 2/3 of the attendees filled out my feedback form and most of them gave rave reviews.  The remaining feedback forms gave mediocre reviews.  Of those, they each gave a common report:  Gimme the Meat & Potatoes.  Ultimately, they wanted something tangible to do on Monday morning… the “tool kit” or “bag of tricks” if you will.  Admittedly, I was more worried not going enough stories to tell, but in the end, I had too many.

The one piece of advice a “math guru” gave me for the BCAMT conference was… Give them something for Monday.  Now, I am rudely reminded.  Another mentor told me to “be myself.”  I think I was and it appealed to the majority.  I tried to give some potatoes near at the end of the workshop, but maybe it should have been top heavy.  The good part is… I did give out some business cards to those who are interested in bringing me back again to a different audience… I’m looking forward.

On February 18, 2011, I will be heading out towards Squamish and Whistler to Don Ross Secondary School to deliver a workshop on Assessment for Learning to Secondary Math Teachers.  This school district has been implementing AFL for the past few years in addition to the New Math Curriculum.  I have big names to follow:  Rob Sidley, Linda Kaser, and Judy Halbert.  These names may not mean much to you, but they are influential people in the realm of education and assessment.

Rick Smith from SD 48 (Sea-to-Sky) is a district math coordinator who saw my AFL workshop at the BC Association Math Teachers (BCAMT) provincial conference in October 2010.  He was inspired and applied for a grant from the BCAMT to support math teachers in his district to implement AFL successfully.  Rick, in collaboration with his colleague who also attended the workshop, mutually agreed that my workshop would best fit their needs and current understanding of AFL.  I’m the clean up guy!

Let’s be clear… I don’t mean that “I’m the clean up guy” to imply that the school district is a mess with AFL; what I am saying is that I am the SKIP on this assessment team and I’m throwing the last rock of the end.  Yes, I have made a curling analogy.  I am cool.  No pressure, of course, but I believe my role tomorrow is to act as a spring board and share my “pedagogical journey” with AFL to Sea-to-Sky math teachers.  What I love most is I’m realizing much of this workshop directly relates to my dissertation.

This blog-break is a moment away from my 10 hours of prepping for this workshop.  I had a Power Point from the BCAMT conference and believed that it could take a few hours to brush up the presentation.  A big misconception on my part… and the presentation took a big overhaul.  From what I’ve learned from the Catholic Educators’ Conference as a participant and observer, I did not want to give a workshop that someone walks out on.  I want to inspire, provoke, and motivate.  If I accomplish one of three of these areas, then my job is done.  Ultimately, if teachers makes a shift in their practice, that’s the best feedback of all.