Oh my goodness… I am so tired. I feel like I’ve been running on 5th gear for the last few days. It was nice to have a quiet day at work on WORLD TEACHERS DAY. Hello Friday. No classes to teach and quality time spent in my office to get things done. I am very thankful. Today was also an opportunity to connect with colleagues, students, and friends. I went out out for lunch with a couple colleagues from the floor, coffee out with my grad student, and out for dinner with my PLN buddy. My grad student got me this plant. So unexpected. Can it get any better? Yes it can. This might be my shortest blog. Tired.
Written by Christine Ho Younghusband, October 05th, 2018 | Comments Off on Hello Friday
I only have GRATITUDE today. I feel so lucky to know that I have people in my life who help me RISE. From an early morning phone call… to another morning meeting call… to an online F2F call… to an AWESOME class… to getting a cookie… to completing some paperwork… to buying some books FOR ME at the bookstore… to dropping into a class… to dropping into another class… to a chat in the hallway… to a Twitter DM… another DM… a hello in my office… a text message… a SnapChat… to another chat in the hallway, in the staffroom, at my office… to an afternoon F2F meeting… to another office hello… to cleaning my office… to receiving and sending emails… to a 30 minute #bcedchat… to making myself a big plate a spaghetti for dinner… and now drinking this cup of coffee.
OK. I did not intend to recite all of the things I’ve done today… but it’s my way to convey that it’s all the LITTLE THINGS that made a difference to me… to LIFT me up… and remind me of the joy of what I do. I am also filled with so much GRATITUDE for all of those who are in my life. I am so thankful. How appropriate as we approach THANKSGIVING WEEKEND. Nothing is perfect and I am so glad to have those who are able to reframe a situation, give me a smile, or just be there for me just because. What I love about this is that the feeling is mutual. RIGHT BACK AT TO YOU ALL. The highlight of my day was the teaching and learning during my class and in other people’s classes on THE FLOOR at UNBC. We are doing great stuff and I can only get super excited for our students and their students. Today was a good day. THANK YOU EVERYONE!!!
Written by Christine Ho Younghusband, October 04th, 2018 | Comments Off on Fills My Cup
Hello Hat-Trick of Daily Blogs of Learning… Yes, I’m almost caught up. For the past handful of days, I’ve been really reflecting on my practice and the kind of educator I want to be. I’ve been in the field of education for almost 25-years and I am always learning. To learn is to be humbled. As great and wonderful things have been going, I should have expected a downside to offset all of the amazing things that have been happening to me. I respect the opportunity to be grounded and be struck by reality. It’s a good thing, in hindsight. With all learning, it’s not the mistake or error that matters, it’s what you do with that knowledge that matters. I’m thankful to have friends who help me to reframe.
First… I removed all names and photos from my summer class. Based on feedback from the course review, it was clear that I overstepped my boundaries and it was not appreciated. All of those weekly blogs have been updated and revised. Although I am disappointed that we were not able to share our learning in a way that I had hoped, it was not about me and I should have sought consent. I was trying to model what I hoped to see, but I was not aware how much it upset my students. I think that upset me the most… was not knowing. FORMATIVE FEEDBACK goes both ways, but I did not make the connection that my students were so disgruntled until after the fact. That said, I knew that they had struggled with some concepts that I was trying to model in light of BC’s New Curriculum, but it was perceived as defiance and lack of direct instruction.
Second… in deleting those names and pictures, I am conscious of mentioning names in my PROFESSIONAL BLOG and what pictures I post. Since my feedback, I’ve been asking permission to use student photos or know that retweeting photos is OK. I’m even hesitating with names I’ve mentioned my last two blogs in fear of negative feedback. I mentioned them because they are AMAZING and want to acknowledge them. I need to rethink how I teach, learn, and lead in higher education. WE ARE NOT THERE YET… is a mantra I hear on a regular basis. When will we be there? I think about my edu-hero Dr. Geoff Madoc-Jones. How did he do it? He must have felt alone… yet, I know that everything he did was to implement change and help students rise. He was AMAZING.
Third… I end my hat-trick of edu-blogging tonight by acknowledging my classes today. No names mentioned… no pictures of them revealed… but they were absolutely AMAZING today. Yes, I dropped the ball on bringing my own birthday cake to one class (LOL), but my other class started the class by singing HAPPY BIRTHDAY to me. I will cherish this day. I will continue to work on relationships and being my authentic self. My first class today re-brainstormed a bunch of MUST-HAVE words for good teaching… professional, competent, caring, flexible, engaging, reflective, passionate, student-centred, inclusive, motivator, collaborator, and learner… to name a few. These words resonate with me.
When you know better you do better – Maya Angelou
Written by Christine Ho Younghusband, October 03rd, 2018 | Comments Off on Being the Change
My mom would have hated this… me posting a picture of her on social media. But this is a picture of a picture… and she smiling with two cakes sitting in front of her. I never seen this photo before, but my bother has made a collage of photos of my mom at the condo and I just loved this photo of her. He said it was the only photo he could find with just her… smiling. It’s amazing. I noticed it on my birthday. It’s the best gift ever. I miss her greatly and I felt she was with me this morning celebrating my birthday with some cake. Seemed serendipitous. Happy birthday to me and my twin brother Mark. Thanks mom.
I feel grateful to have spent a couple of days on the Sunshine Coast with my little family. It was like “normal” meaning it felt like I just came home after a conference. We were just into our regular routines, but I had the chance to give my dog several doggy hugs before heading out to the Lower Mainland. We spent Sunday standing in the rain watching my kid play rugby and then we headed off to the condo where my sister made an early turkey dinner for my little family, her little family, my brother, and my dad. It was also our early birthday dinner gathering too. It was an excellent way to getter all done.
I stayed at the condo to work the next couple of days on the FNESC Math 8/9 TRG revisions in Richmond, then it was off onto a plane back to Prince George to teach my night class. Not only was working on with FNESC was a huge gift and privilege, working up at UNBC is as well. I feel very lucky on my 48th birthday. Yes, I’m almost 50 and my career in higher education has just begun. I am also very grateful for my colleagues. My plane was delayed almost 3-hours and I am so grateful for my friend and colleague for chatting with my class while I was trying to get to campus 30 minutes late. Thank you Deb. You are amazing!!! And thank you night class… it was an awesome birthday.
Written by Christine Ho Younghusband, October 03rd, 2018 | Comments Off on Happy Birthday
First of all… Can you believe it’s October? Second, I cannot believe that I have the opportunity to work with the First Nations Education Steering Committee (FNESC) to revise the Math 8/9 Teacher Resource Guide (TRG). Finally, I am three daily blogs of learning behind. Yes, I am challenged tonight to get 3 blog entries done. It’s one of my #firstworldproblem edu-nightmares, but it’s an opportunity to harness the concept of a SHORT BLOG. Capture the BIG IDEA instead of a play-by-play of the day. I can do this.
What an incredible opportunity to work with Jo Chrona (@luudisk) and my good friend Desiree Marshall-Peer (@educatalyst_dmp) from UBC Okanagan. I also had the opportunity to meet and work with Cam Hill from SD52 in Hartley Bay and Bernard Gobin from FNESC. I love this work. Teaching Mathematics in a First Peoples Context Grades 8 and 9 is an amazing document that was almost a perfect fit to the Integrated Resource Package (IRP), the previous BC Curriculum. Now that we are immersed in BC’s New Curriculum, it’s time to modernize this Teacher Resource Guide in response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), 21st Century Learning, and Indigenous Education.
With this project, I am so driven by my feelings and my love for story, Indigenous Worldview, and mathematics. Instead of leading with mathematics and the rigour of mathematics, let’s dig in deep into the story. It might be a traditional story, a narrative of a lived experience, or something that best captures the themes found in the resource that hooks the learner into mathematics in an Indigenous context. Des was one of the original writers of this document and I look to her direction for her expertise, but also Cam’s. I appreciate Jo’s leadership and Bernard’s willingness to make things happen. Today reminded me of curriculum development on BC’s New Curriculum Math K-9. That’s where I first met Des. She is the best. Thank you for inviting me on this journey. I’m loving every minute of it and looking forward to our work together and the final product to support teachers and learners in BC. We made excellent progress. Lots of work ahead.
Written by Christine Ho Younghusband, October 03rd, 2018 | 2 Comments »
I’m back home in Sechelt… even though I think this is a photo from Prince George. It’s been a crazy day so far… ranging from super awesome to super awful. I guess it’s ok to have one of those days. I am glad to be back home and to be with my family. Today, I am riddled with conflict. Mixed messages, really. On the one hand, I am offered many compliments by those in the field. It almost frightens me how nice the comments are such that it sets the bar of expectations too high. I was offered a continuing position at the university and I eagerly accepted it. I was also offered to be a part of several edu-opportunities that I am honoured and humbled to be a part of. I can’t help but be excited.
Although today was not an instructional day for me, I had the opportunity to talk to several folks in the field today via phone and face-to-face. It’s so nice to talk to people about education, to share information, and to learn something new. I feel very lucky to have people like this in my Professional Learning Community (PLC). I chatted with a couple of students via Google Hangout to clarify an assignment (and I hope I did) and yes… I got my course evaluations from SFU this afternoon. My ratings ranged from VERY GOOD to VERY POOR and “this instructor should never teach again.” Wow. That’s rough. I guess they were very clear by the end of our course that this evaluation was SUMMATIVE.
The irony is, I think this was one of the best courses I’ve taught and this is probably the worst ratings I’ve received. I am lead to a place of deep reflection, fear, and wonder. It’s so strange that one of the comments I received that I did not give any feedback yet this group disliked receiving “low marks” for each assignment they received in other classes. What I wonder about is, if they weren’t receiving any feedback, neither was I. Based on this feedback, this class wanted a rigorous Q-course, less student led learning, and more direct instruction. I did not know that at all. The formative feedback in this course was definitely not two-way. This course helped me to understand BC’s New Curriculum in a deeper way, but that learning was not reciprocated with this group of new teachers.
One comments said, “I don’t even know what environmental education is?” My response today is, Google it. The course was more than that. Some students were so beside themselves that I posted their pictures and talked about our class in my personal (aka. it’s my professional) blog. It was in my course syllabus that I would be blogging about our course and answering the same questions as they did during the course as part of being a reflective practitioner. They were welcome to do the same. I heard no complaints or concerns about that until the final evaluation. Well… I am going to take the time to remove their photos from online. This is disappointing. They are adults. Student teachers. Modelling their learning to the world. They were awesome. Their learning activities exceeded my expectations. They were living and doing environmental education that was personalized (and I had hoped more meaningful than me lecturing to them). I guess this was not the case. There were expecting something different and the formative feedback that I received during the course did not align to those in the final course evaluations.
Written by Christine Ho Younghusband, September 28th, 2018 | Comments Off on Mixed Messages
I’m already a day behind my daily blog of learning. That’s ok. I was advised today to keep by daily blog of reflections short and focus on the BIG IDEA of the day. I appreciate the challenge. It’s not easy, but this is an opportunity to practice what I preach. I am learning all of the time and I am open to feedback. The day begins and ends with my EDUC 360 class. I want to go with the flow and be led by student learning versus teacher pulling. I guess that’s what I could do. I have done that for years and I guess at some level, students expect that. On the other hand, how to you maintain student led learning?
I was asked today in class to post the PowerPoint on Blackboard before the class so that students could pre-read what would happen in class. I said no… because I was led by their learning and wanted to go with the pace of the class as we moved forward. I have not adhered to the exact PowerPoint based on what we have learned or covered that day. I saw some nods of heads believing that my students understood what I was saying. I have no idea if they do or even if they are telling me the truth. In higher education, you create a course syllabus anticipating what the class would know and would be like. Sometimes it’s a hit and sometimes it’s a miss. I’m torn. Do you just plow through what you your syllabus regardless of the students in front of you? My thinking is disrupted.
Students are so accustomed to the teacher telling them what’s up or down. You can’t create on the fly because there is an expectation of what should be versus of what could be. I guess I have to be ok with the student’s need for certainty. They want the tables in the same place, seating plan to remain unchanged, and I guess the teacher telling them what to know whether if they like it or not. Is it like Buckley’s the cough medicine? It tastes awful but it works? Truth. We did not get to where I had wanted to be in my course syllabus at this point in time. I wanted students to take the time during class to make sense of the Core Competencies before we headed into lesson planning. Maybe I just should have “told them” what it is to “getter done” so we could move on…
What I know for sure is, you have no idea who will be in your class, what they are going to know, and what they are going to want to know. Moreover, you have no idea how they would like to learn it. So how does one ever know if the course is too redundant, too easy, or too hard? We work in our own classes. SILOS. The only one’s who know is the student. I will ponder this idea. I’m heading back to Vancouver and the Sunshine Coast. Time with family. Time to reflect. Time to meet with others to lead and learn. I will continue to ponder about this… teaching & learning. It’s more complex than I imagined.
Written by Christine Ho Younghusband, September 28th, 2018 | Comments Off on Flying Home
What another incredible day. It’s WEDNESDAY. Hump day… and I mean that. As mentioned in previous blogs, I have learned that Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday is the PEAK of my teaching week. I’m in the middle of it. Oh my goodness… After being in a trance from yesterday and last night’s course, I spent many hours after midnight planning and prepping for my two classes today. I think that the only reason I’m awake right now is because I am doing my laundry in preparation of going back to my other home on the Sunshine Coast to see my family… and work with FNESC on Monday and Tuesday.
The planning and prepping paid off. We had a great class in EDUC490. We are looking at some changes to the program and I am looking at this cohort to be the innovators, the leaders, the early adopters. It’s a big deal to be THE FIRST. Although it may seem “scary” or uncertain, it’s also an opportunity for growth, improvement, and excellence. We are looking at strategies and tools to create cohesion and closure on their learning experience at UNBC. This is a BIG DEAL. It’s not easy to put your two-years of post baccalaureate professional program. It’s more than just learning “how to do learning”… It’s about learning about learning… learning about learners… and learning about teaching as learner.” These are BIG IDEAS to self-actualize but I am hopeful we will succeed.
So… I feel like we are BUILDING MOMENTUM in EDUC 490 as we approach the 4-week practicum. I love that we had the chance to discuss FORMATIVE and SUMMATIVE assessment via CASE STUDY. I want us to learn how to look at and collectively problem solve situations found in teaching and learning via case study so that “it’s not personal” or too specific. These problems are worthwhile problems… but let’s focus on the problem versus the people or politics of the situation. It’s our pedagogy and educational philosophy that matters in addition to establishing a clear understanding of complex concepts such as assessment and evaluation. We had a great discussion today.
My next class… EDUC360… always humours me. We were discussing the BCEd Plan to place some context of BC’s New Curriculum as we continue to look at Curriculum and Instruction and move towards lesson planning… as our second iteration. During my lesson, I was compelled to get them to move their tables from the U-shape into PODS. I’m a pod teacher… for sure… and I used this as an opportunity to demonstrate PERSONALIZED LEARNING as we discussed key elements of the BCEd Plan. Wow… moving tables was a journey… self-selecting groups… and assigning roles for group discussion. We are learning about what we can do as teachers as learners. It’s super fun. I love this META experience. We had a tonne of fun and a lots of laughs too.
But go figure… you give students CHOICE so that they feel that they are active participants in their learning. It’s about ownership and agency. So I gave my EDUC360 class a set of criteria to problem solve before we started small group discussion. Move two tables to make a SQUARE and have 4 people per square. As joyful as I was to see the U-shape dismantled, there are 16-students. You do the math… there should be 4-squares. After all that was said and done… they made 6-squares!!! Yup. And they quickly reflected on the situation and quickly judged themselves appropriately. You can’t help but giggle. I loved it. Students moving. Students choosing. Students SENSE-MAKING together. What is PERSONALIZED LEARNING? And, what do “teachers” have to RETHINK about?
The day concludes with an evening with Secondary Years Coaching Teachers and Teacher Candidates to facilitate the Inservice session for EDUC490 in preparation for the 4-week practicum. I loved having the students at this event. They bring an energy to the room that’s exciting and optimistic. With my colleagues, we welcomed all those who attended, spoke about upcoming changes to the practicum program, and had a yummy dinner together. I love how FOOD brings people together. We had small group discussions and members of the NEW EDUCATION CLUB are already planning for an EDUCATION CONFERENCE for the summer. LOVE IT. Student leadership. Service learning. Student engagement. I am so proud of the students at UNBC. I look forward to the next coming weeks. I can’t believe it’s already been a month into the Fall Term. I can’t wait for more.
Written by Christine Ho Younghusband, September 26th, 2018 | Comments Off on Building Momentum
This photo came up in a Facebook memory today… THE WAKE. This photo was taken from a trip going from the Sunshine Coast to Vancouver Island via Powell River. When I look at this photo… I am just awestruck by the water, mountains, and sky. It’s one of my favourite images. I’m such a Coastal Girl. The wake also reminded me of looking in the past. Sometimes I felt like I was living in the past or pined for the days of the past. Reposting this photo on Facebook this morning felt almost ironic. Ever since joining the UNBC Team, I’ve only been looking forward… with a hint of self-reflection… like this.
And when you are looking forward, you have no time to look back. There is so much to do and so much to accomplish, I have no time to dwell to think about how things were. That said, I spent this morning on the phone attending school board committee meetings. I am still is school trustee. In some way, that’s part of my past… but had a very good meeting. With some more time at home, I opted to get work done like creating a single point rubric for practicum students to self-reflect on their performance as competencies. I also spent that time prepping for my night course and writing emails (of course) to get work done. What more can I say, it was a busy morning and afternoon. I was getting stuff done, but headed up to campus to attend a WELCOME TO NEW FACULTY event at the university.
No pictures… AGAIN… I must have been too occupied with meeting new people and my “things to do.” Everything was happening at once. Not only was I focused on trying to get things done for work, but also I was “parenting by text” and networking at this event. One person at this event is a graduate student of mine, one is my boss (aka. the Dean)… I met the HR person, the Provost, and the university president. I also met new faculty too… with hopes of getting a tour of the new UNBC Wood Engineering facility in downtown Vancouver. It was a nice to meet so many nice people at UNBC during this welcome… but there are a lot of nice people in Prince George, in general. Bu what was really on my mind was a renewal of my contract at UNBC. It was a surprise to me. I opened the yellow envelope from under my office door and I had to re-read the letter few times to understand what it was saying. Of course I signed on the dotted line.
Holy… I was super stoked from about 3pm to 9pm. During that time, I had a night class… I think they might have thought I was more stunned than stoked. I really didn’t share the news too widely. A text message to my little family, to my siblings and dad, and to my best friend… that’s it. Well, I brief mention here (obviously) and subtle changes to my social media. I am really happy and never thought it would happen… at least within 5-years. Now that it’s AGAIN in the middle of the night… and I’m thinking about how my night class could be better… and planning and prepping for tomorrow’s classes with an evening inservice event for teachers… it’s that classic mid-week overextension combined with sheer excitement that I think it’s time to make a cup of coffee and GET TO WORK.
Written by Christine Ho Younghusband, September 26th, 2018 | Comments Off on Forget the Wake
Whew… what a day!!! HELLO MONDAY!!! What can I say about today’s daily blog of learning is… I LOVE PEOPLE!!! It’s been an incredible day. First, I would like to say that I am very grateful that I can start my day at a later time. As mentioned in earlier blog entries… and likely in future blog entries… I’m an late to bed and late to rise kinda gal. For example, I much enjoyed reading a few articles before bed last night. Gets me thinking in my REM sleep. So, I took a slow start this morning knowing that I would be busy once a get to my office and I had a few meetings scheduled for this afternoon.
My time spent on “the floor” at UNBC this afternoon went by in a blur. I arrived. Got settled down and started to get organized. I unpacked my bag, got my laptop set up, and started to put stuff away. I also started working on my bulletin board outside of my office. I would like to keep my bulletin board dynamic and information based. Hopefully, it will be focussed on PROFESSIONAL LEARNING once it picks up its rhythm. Last week I took a “poster poll” about putting the UNBC School of Education on social media. My plan was to have that set up today before this afternoon’s meeting. This week, I have UNBC’s Orange Shirt on display along with information about MakerSpace and SD57’s Learning Commons.
Before I could get my bulletin board redesigned for this week, I had numerous conversations with faculty, staff, and students. Did I mention that I love having my door open? I love asking for help, sharing ideas, and listening to inspiration. Having my door open helps me to get to know “people on the floor” so much better and organically. I love connecting with everyone… face-to-face and online. I was emailing too… and yes, trying to get UNBC Education on Twitter, at least. Before I knew it, 3.5-hours had passed and I had to race down the hill to meet one of the UNBC Education EdTech Instructors at Prince George Secondary School. Yup. A great time for a selfie (see above). You’re welcome.
Not only did I leave “the floor” inspired… I left PGSS inspired as well. I love meeting new people and what I loved more is bringing people onto the team. This is incredible collaboration and the meeting of the minds. I love the direction that we are heading and I love how those I have met and collaborated with are open and equally excited about next steps and working together to CREATE a cohesive and coherent teaching and learning environment. We chatted about e-Portfolios, practicum, ongoing self-assessment tools, peer feedback, and competencies. The hour meeting only felt like 20-minutes… and, this guy is from the north end of the Sunshine Coast. I LOVE MAKING CONNECTIONS. Can you see why I chose today’s blog title? This is only the beginning of my day.
On my way back to UNBC… and learning how NOT to use my GPS around Prince George. That’s another learning journey I am on. I bumped into another person en route to the Teaching and Learning Centre who I just met the other day. I loved talking to her. Why? She’s a math person and her passion is math education. Hello? Are you in my tribe? YES YOU ARE. Moving forward… and walked into the building. Before heading up, I grab a coffee at “Degrees Coffee.” They were close to closing down, so no drip coffee available. No worries. Grab an Americano… and a great conversation with the barista. Wow. She made my day… or at least added to it… along with my bag of chips, of course.
Off to my next meeting… yes… you guessed it. THE EDUCATION CLUB MEETING. We are starting it and and it’s 100% student driven…. and I support this club 100%. Seems like a winning combination. A pretty good turn out… temporary governance figured out with fair representation and a mutual agreement to have a by-election in January. Moreover, the students decided to have their first event NEXT WEEK on October 1st. A PIZZA PARTY. Although I’m out of town… sniff, sniff (poor me)… the students are stoked. Best of all, the Dean and Chair, Shannon, was at our meeting and offered to support The Club’s first two events. AWESOME!!! I am grateful for this support. Furthermore, I am proud of our students for getting this started and brainstorming ideas to connect, inspire, and share.
Written by Christine Ho Younghusband, September 24th, 2018 | Comments Off on I Love People
