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
I’m not sure why I’m compelled to blog OUTSIDE of my daily blog of learning. Before taking on the challenge of “the daily blog of learning,” I would blog at moments of inspiration. Well, here I am. I’m inspired. When you think about it… my daily blog of learning should be 365 entries per year. Learning happens everyday. That said, I can appreciate the break from daily blogging as well. Unfortunately, I’m inspired to write tonight and… I will post THIS blog entry on my Facebook Page. BOLD, I know.
You don’t realize you’re in the change until you realize something different. Aside from the obvious things like I’m living in Prince George and my little family still lives in Sechelt, that I’m teaching full-time at the University of Northern British Columbia instead of being a sessional instructor at Simon Fraser, and I am engaged in as many learning opportunities as possible like going to the Prince George Mini Maker Faire and connecting with folks from my PLN… what I notice is, I’m NOT CAMPAIGNING. What do I mean by that?
When I drive up the hill from my apartment to the university, I see various campaign signs posted up the road… ranging from mayor, councillor, to school trustee. I see that my colleague Sheryl Warrington is running again. I saw her sign the other day. I see Tim Bennett‘s sponsored post on Facebook. They are both Prince George school trustees. I see many other posts on Facebook of others announcing their nomination and promoting their campaigns. I say colleagues because I am still a school trustee until October 20th.
As much as I am supportive of those who are campaigning and putting their name forward to serve their communities and school districts, I am not saddened by not running. This is a true indication that this was a good time for me to leave public life and move forward into a different direction in the field of education to enhance the learning experiences of students. I continue to FIND MY PLACE and looking for my ALIGNMENT. What I am realizing is, that’s always changing as I learn more. I’m the kind of learner that has to get out there and experience what I need to learn and understand. This is not to say that I am meant to work with my hands, like those participating in Maker Faire.
I made this Maker Faire pin today… by soldering parts together so that it would blink with a battery. Certainly I’m willing to try… STRESSED the whole time making it… while receiving many prompts from the workshop facilitator. I confirm to self that working with my hands is NOT my strength but I was happy to connect with some of my UNBC students, members of my PLN, and Maker Vendors. For me, it was like going to Circle Craft in Vancouver. I loved talking to the vendors and listening to their passions and what motivates them to do what they do. Listening to their stories, asking them questions, and watching them engage in their craft… FILLS MY CUP. That is my passion… their JAM.
I continue on my PEDAGOGICAL JOURNEY… I’m on the next chapter and it’s going well so far. I’m enjoying the work at UNBC, the students, and the staff/faculty. As I am learning my rhythm of work at UNBC, I love what I am learning and who I am meeting. I am also feeling very fortunate for the doors opening. By closing one door, like school trusteeship, I have opened a door on higher education and some opportunities on this path. For example, I’ve just become a member of the CIRCE Academic Council and of the Education Canada Magazine Editorial Board. I am super honoured and excited to be part of these learning and leading opportunities in education, in addition to meeting and working with people across Canada and around the world. Moreover, I continue working with BCAMT.
Although I am spending time here to blog to you tonight, I do need to get back to the research-mindset (and not take myself too seriously). That nasty “teacher ego” often gets in the way. I hope that I am able, over time, to partake in the research process to connect practice to research and vice versa so that both practice and research serves each other. It does to some extent, but I find that (for me, at least) one works at a different pace than the other. Maybe that’s me taking myself too seriously again… but I hope to understand deeply the vulnerability, objectivity, and flow of research in higher education… in addition to finding my NICHE… as I work closely with the K-12 education system.
I wish all those who are campaigning now for the 2018 municipal election in BC the best of luck. I would also like to say CONGRATULATIONS to those who were acclaimed. I am grateful to all those who I have met during my time as school trustee. I am thankful to everything that I have learned during my time serving locally and provincially as an elected official. I am honoured to have been elected by the residents of the District of Sechelt and had the opportunity to represent the students and learning community of the Sunshine Coast. That said, change is good for me… and change is good for the school district and those it represents and serves. Thank you School District No.46 (Sunshine Coast). As of October 21st, this will be my first day after 24 years not being a part of SD46… but, I’m a mom. I guess, our relationship will continue for a few more years. 🙂
Written by Christine Ho Younghusband, September 22nd, 2018 | Comments Off on Not Campaigning
As I am learning about my rhythm at work and living alone in Prince George, I am realizing that I will have high moments and low moments. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays are high moments… with one late nighter for sure on Tuesdays. What I am learning is, Fridays are low moments. Today on the floor, it was really quiet. Classes were held on the other side of the floor and I would admit that today was VERY QUIET. I needed this time. I cannot believe how the little things quickly accumulate over time. I had a tonne of things to do… emailing, posting on Blackboard, and “getting organized.” I have a tonne of reading to do… planning and prepping to do… and well, I’d like to do some research too. I cannot believe it’s September 21st. Where did the time go?
As quiet as it was on the floor, I did have a few visitors. Yay for students. This was reassuring because I was getting a little spooked about how quiet it was on the floor. Yay students!!! I did talk to a few colleagues too today on the floor (but, photo not available… lol). I love having my door open so that people can visit and say HI, but also I like to know that someone is around. This must be an extrovert trait. Silence, admittedly, makes me uneasy. What I also love is the kind of energy these students have to CREATE COMMUNITY. We are starting an EDUCATION CLUB at UNBC and going on Social Media… We’ve decided on our handle (@UNBCed) and hashtag (#UNBCed), but 50/50 with platform (e.g. Twitter and Facebook). I’m not sure how viable Facebook is to creating a PLN that is accessible and organic. You can hear my leanings, but I am super excited to get #UNBCed “out there” locally and globally. Once again, I am pretty stoked.
Well… I put in an 8-hour day… had a yummy veggie samosa for lunch… and my backpack is FULL with more stuff to do. My days are full and I am enjoying the work and the people I’m meeting at UNBC. It’s been soooooo much fun so far and I am learning a tonne about myself, my practice, and my profession. I feel very lucky to have an active learning community here in Prince George and I love meeting new people and making new connections. My goal is to make the most of this school year. What I do know for sure is, everything that I am doing is focused on enhancing the learning experiences of students. What more can I say? I am ALIGNED to my purpose. I am CREATING something new.
Written by Christine Ho Younghusband, September 21st, 2018 | Comments Off on Catch Up Day
Wow. What an impressive crew… Secondary Year 1 at UNBC School of Education. This is my EDUC 360 class. I see these guys most often and I am really enjoying teaching this course, “Curriculum and Instruction: Introduction.” What we are working through is BC’s New Curriculum… but WORKING BACKWARDS. We started the course talking about curriculum development and theory then complimented this reading with the Heart of a Teacher. Parallel to this learning, along with the other coursework they are also engaged in, we are learning about BC’s New Curriculum and learning how to lesson/unit plan.
The class was sub-divided into self-identified subject specialities: Social Studies (top photo), English Language Arts (middle photo), and Science (bottom photos). Each group was asked to think of a learning activity they remembered from their K-12 learning experience to develop a lesson plan… WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE. Once the groups mutually agreed upon a lesson plan, they were asked to describe this learning activity. The first group did theirs on the Columbian Exchange, the second group did slam poetry, and the third group did light. A diverse set of topics to personalize their learning.
The class was then asked to refer to the BC’s New Curriculum and make a connection with their IMAGINED LESSON PLAN to a grade level and course. Funnily, it turned out to be Social Studies 8, English Language Arts 8, and Science 8. ALL GRADE 8!!! Interesting but not a TSN Turning Point. Once each group identified the grade level and course, they had to WORK BACKWARDS and identify the CONTENT and CURRICULAR COMPETENCIES that relate to their imagined lesson plan, the BIG IDEA(S), and the CORE COMPETENCIES (e.g. thinking, communication, and personal/social). Finally, they were asked to determine how these students would be evaluated (aka. the SUMMATIVE assessment).
This collaborative learning activity took time from few classes. Sense-making takes time. I like that students took the time to work together to dig into BC’s New Curriculum and collectively figure out each part of the curriculum in the context of their memory of learning in their subject specialty as K-12 students. I am so obsessed with the idea of deeper learning and how to achieve that. TIME is definitely one variable required, but I also believe dialogue, resources, and shared expertise helps too. We walked though BC’s Curriculum for the first time as a cohort. I loved that we were in subject speciality groups (except for Science, which was a HUGE group of 7… I’m letting that go… lol). It’s one way for these students to dig deep and co-construct knowledge with their subject matter.
Once the learning activity was complete… each group presented their lesson/unit plan to the class by first describing the IMAGINED LESSON PLAN and then how it related to parts of BC’s New Curriculum. I was so impressed with what these students accomplished as their first attempt with BC’s New Curriculum by WORKING BACKWARDS from what they know as K-12 students and transforming that thinking into pre-service teachers. As diverse as each topic was, what they had identified and described was appropriate to their imagined lesson plan within the framework of BC’s New Curriculum.
We walked away with a few aha’s like the lesson plans chosen were ones they remembered and enjoyed as learners, each course curriculum is unique to the discipline, and we were all able to connect what we had learned as students to BC’s New Curriculum as teachers. BINGO!!! Of course, we have work to do. This is our first step in the scaffolding process, but this reminded me the power of learning with others versus learning in isolation. They collectively exceeded my expectations and I loved observing each group to see what roles each student takes in terms of contribution. At some level, I would say it was “equal” but each person took leadership that best reflected their strengths. It was a natural process, yet another way to personalize learning.
It was an awesome segway to discuss formative assessment strategies (e.g. Assessment As Learning and Assessment For Learning) and summative assessment opportunities (e.g. Assessment Of Learning). As we move forward learning about Curriculum and Instruction in the context of BC Education, we will also continue to learn more about assessment and evaluation. What I am enjoying about this course is facilitating learning based on Kolb’s (1984) Experiential Learning Cycle and learning by doing. The META MOMENT here is we are learning in EDUC 360 as students could/would/should within BC’s New Curriculum.
I love treating this course like a learning lab. Let’s apply what we know. Not only did this learning activity help me to identify what areas we need to work on next to clarify concepts and content as part of the scaffolding process, but also students were able to make connections with what we are doing with their other courses. For example, students realized that they were applying what they had learned in their INCLUSION CLASS to their lesson planning process in the context of summative and formative assessment strategies. Each group identified different opportunities for students to demonstrate their learning, how they would incorporate peer and self-assessment, and offering choice. WINNING!!!
PS. I also loved that we used all parts of the room today. The front of the room is relative.
Written by Christine Ho Younghusband, September 20th, 2018 | Comments Off on Sense-Making Takes Time
I will admit… today’s daily blog of learning will be short. I’m pooped. My bed is calling my name. The day started and ended talking about practicum for the Year 2 Elementary Cohort at UNBC School of Education. Enough said. It’s about laying the ground work for the upcoming 4-week practicum and it was an opportunity to discuss with the Teacher Candidates, Coaching Teachers, and Practicum Mentors with what’s happening in the next few weeks, months, and vision for future. I love the framework of LEARNING at the heart of what we are doing and I feel that things got off to a good start. I’m pretty stoked.
Year 2 Elementary Practicum for EDUC490 was not the highlight of my day today… it was my EDUC360 class with the Year 1 Secondary Cohort. Student facilitated learning as a couple of my students summarized one of my favourite articles, “The Heart of a Teacher,” which comes from one of my favourite books, “The Courage to Teach” by Parker Palmer (1997). The two students opted to collaborate and first summarized the article with a PowerPoint. It was a nice summary that highlighted points that they had identified about the importance of identity and integrity in teaching… and that WE TEACH WHO WE ARE.
The two students unpacked this idea by “being vulnerable” and used their passion, DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS to demonstrate some of the big ideas from the article. They self-identified as GEEKS and developed a game for the class to participate in. This learning was scaffolded with us forming groups of 3-4 and filling out a form, which asked us the following: What is your superhero name? What are your passionate about? What do you think your strength is in teaching? (name 3) And, what are your weakness in teaching? (name 2) I liked that activity already as it got us to think about our passion and strengths. It’s not easy to do, yet many of us struggled with the superhero name (lol).
We shared what we had developed with our team and the class… then we rolled a die to see who would go first in the Dungeons and Dragons Challenge (i.e. warding off ZOMBIES on campus at UNBC). They had cute graphics identifying the Zombies at different areas of campus with different scenarios. As a team, we were each posed a challenge to win back these Zombies back to learning/education using our STRENGTHS. I’ll admit, role play is not my strength but the class proceeded with volunteer Zombies and each superhero team using their strength with transform these Zombies into active learners. I loved how the 2 student facilitators were able to take what we have created for ourselves (i.e. strengths) to transform Zombie behaviour and make connections to teaching and learning. Personally, I enjoyed the colour commentary. Lots of laughs. Lots of engagement. Lots of joy. This is exactly what the article was all about. Brilliant.
There might be a games night in the near future… heads up. I love the idea of using gamification as part of pedagogy because Dungeons and Dragons (or board games) is a passion and somehow they were able to depict and demonstrate the underpinnings of the article that was personalized, experiential, and memorable. Thank you Kris and Devon.
Written by Christine Ho Younghusband, September 19th, 2018 | Comments Off on Dungeons and Dragons
Oh my goodness… it’s already tomorrow. 12:12am. And yes, I am committed to writing my daily blog of learning before I do anything else. Tuesdays are going to be long days. I have a night class. Wednesdays are teaching days. I thought I had this figured out. I planned and prepped last week for my classes… and I’m glad I did for my Tuesday night class because when I’m on campus, my day gets filled up with connecting with people on the floor. I love those moments and I love our conversations and collaboration.
Take a look at the photo above. I am so stoked about this. This is how my day started. I had an online face-to-face conversation with a group of people from around the world meeting. It was incredible. We were connecting with Dr. Gillian Judson (Twitter: @perfinker), the Executive Director of CIRCE at Simon Fraser University. We are part of the Academic Council at CIRCE and this was our inaugural meeting with some of the crew. I love this context of what CIRCE has to offer and what it intends to do. This is going to be THE BEST professional learning community and opportunity for me and I can’t wait. We are starting anew and I look forward to the journey with Gillian to make CIRCE flourish and succeed. Check out the website at http://www.circesfu.ca/ and subscribe to get your free IE (imaginative education) Took kit. There are lots more things to come.
I was pretty stoked about this morning’s online meeting, which was then topped off with the completion of our UNBC-EDUC Template for e-Portfolios. It’s another exciting endeavour happening at UNBC School of Education where we intend to pilot e-Portfolios for the Practicum Component for Teacher Education, but also have it eventually become a 2-year documentation of the Teacher Candidate’s learning experience, which may also include coursework, exemplars of learning, and ongoing formative assessment. I am optimistic and excited of this initiative and how it can collaborate with the current EdTech courses offered to second year Teacher Candidates. Not only does it allow for our Teacher Candidates to understand the complexities of Communicating Student Learning as a learner, it also serves as a CAPSTONE for when they successfully completed Teacher Education at UNBC and venture forward into a career in teaching or related vocations.
Today started super great that I was riding this wave of excitement for the rest of the day. I was chatted with one colleague, then another. We went to get a bagel… which quickly transformed into going to the UNBC Farmer’s Market where I got BUTTER CHICKEN and a SAMOSA. Yup. Great things happen in three’s. BOOM. I was so stoked to go to the Farmer’s Market and a comforting carb-eriffic lunch sealed the deal. From one meeting to another… then chatting with another colleague… I was able to make it to my night class in time to have the day conclude with an evening of social and academic engagement. Can it get any better than this? We’ll soon shall see. Now it’s time to re-prep for tomorrow.
Written by Christine Ho Younghusband, September 19th, 2018 | 2 Comments »
