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 »
Where did the time go today? YIKES. Is this how’s it’s going to be? Every moment matters. It’s Monday and I arrived to work with a basket, 3 small pictures, some miscellaneous items, and a plug-in kettle to complete my journey of decorating my office. That’s it. I’m done. I’m pretty happy how my office looks and feels and I have plenty of room to spread all of my stuff on my desk as a clear indicator to me of the things I’ve got to do. YAY.
I unpacked my stuff and made myself a cup of tea… Tea given to me from one of my students. It tasted delicious, but it took me all day to drink it. As soon as I felt that I was somewhat settled down… it was one meeting, then an informal conversation, some photocopying, organizing my desk, another meeting, then another meeting… back to my office, a phone call conference, and yes… another meeting. The day ends with several other informal conversations and then it’s back home. Who needs that envelope? I just drove straight home. I thought about KFC. The envelope can wait for tomorrow.
Home by 6pm… inspired to make DINNER FOR ONE and I think that I have mastered my mom’s “Vi Guy” (aka. soy sauce chicken stir fry). Tonight’s dinner with brown rice just hit the spot for me to become grounded in my work and who I am. It’s also comforting. With another big cup of tea, I settled down in front of my computer to engage in another edu-chat on Twitter (aka. a personal goal for this year). The day will conclude to a HOT BATH and yes… homework. I hope to figure out the time to return back to my research. I am so grateful for the connections I have made so far since being here in Prince George. I look forward to the work ahead and stoked for the next few days (aka. teaching classes).
Thank you BUDDA’s BLEND tea. I’m enjoying my pedagogical journey so far here at UNBC in Prince George. It’s complex, diverse, and intrinsically rewarding. I hope to achieve what I hope to achieve. I am hopeful and optimistic. I hope to make a difference in some way and contribute to the profession, practice, and discipline. As challenging as things may seem, there is always light at the end of the tunnel. BELIEVE. Anything is possible.
Written by Christine Ho Younghusband, September 17th, 2018 | Comments Off on Budda’s Blend
Seriously. Not one picture from today. I must be losing it. I even had an awesome yummy lunch at the UNBC pub – The Thirsty Moose with my colleagues… and no food pic of my delicious bacon cheeseburger and fries. This is very unlike me. It must show my level of engagement… or I am actually heading into my EARLY HIBERNATION, as mentioned from my last blog entry. Not sure, but I’m getting suspicious. So here’s a pic of an article to depict the kind of reading I will be doing this weekend in addition to e-Portfolios.
As predicted, I stayed up late to get some work done. I was so happy to “catch up” with my course planning and prepping. I’m learning more about Blackboard and communicating with students electronically with PDFs and “announcements.” It’s continues to be really fun to figure things out and to see what works. I enjoy the learning curve and problem solving. With a late night, I went to the university a little later in the morning. No classes for me to teach on Fridays but it’s a day when one of my colleagues teaches, otherwise she teaches remotely online. This is always the best time to collaborate, hence lunch out to the Thirsty Moose. That said, it’s also an opportunity to explore the campus. UNBC is a beautiful campus, but I haven’t seen any moose yet.
I love taking the time to collaborate with my colleagues and to talk about how things are going. I am also building my capacity one day at a time but also learning more about my role, the school, and what we are trying to achieve. This is the exciting part. I love problem solving and finding ways to move forward. I am always fascinated by the complexities of systems. I felt this way when I was teaching secondary math, governing as a school trustee, and advocating for my mom when she was in the hospital. Systems organize people and dictates certain behaviours and actions. People are interconnected. With one shift, there’s a domino effect (or not). Systems always make me curious.
The day concludes with meeting with my master student to move forward with her study but also get our Ps and Qs organized so that she can complete her final project before the end of the school year. I loved where we met. STARBUCKS. And can you believe… NO SELFIE. I am losing it. Or, once again, an indicator of my level of engagement. We had an awesome conversation and we are an excellent match in terms of our personalities and work ethic. This supervision will be super fun. It’s going well so far. To treat myself from a VERY ENGAGING day, I wanted to get Chinese food from the food fair at the mall… but there isn’t one. What??? I considered a Costco hotdog, but in the end, I returned to my apartment and made dinner. The night concludes with laundry. WOOHOO. What a day!!!
Written by Christine Ho Younghusband, September 14th, 2018 | Comments Off on Not One Pic
OK… It’s the end of my “full week” of work. Of course I’m going into work tomorrow to connect with colleagues and GET THINGS DONE, but I don’t teach on Fridays. Anyway, I woke up this morning to SUB-ZERO temperatures. Blue sky but what’s up with the -8 degrees??? This coastal-girl has some adjustments to make. The learning curve is HUGE. It snowed a bit yesterday and I turned on my seat-warmer in my car going to work… and yet, I wore my CROCS and NorthFace anyway. Take that!!! BTW: denial runs deep.
It was great coming to work today. Checked in with my colleague Deb K to say hello and she gave me these cute handmade mittens with a hole for the finger tips as a gesture of kindness and WELCOME to the cold weather. Sheesh. I love them… and that was exactly what I was thinking when I was walking from my car to the university. I need gloves!!! And, voila. It was a very serendipitous moment. I very much enjoyed my EDUC360 class today. This is a great class. Secondary, first year, teacher candidates. Today, we finally completed our course SIGN-UPS and started to talk about BC’s New Curriculum.
I think about what makes me tick and I am still driven by ENHANCING THE LEARNING EXPERIENCES OF STUDENTS. It truly is my purpose. I just love trying to figure out, now in higher education, how students can sense-make through complex content in a dialogical and collaborative way. I love social engagement as part of the learning process. Within 110 minutes, we finished our class SIGN-UPs, discuss again what the course framework and momentum would look like, watched Shelley Moore’s TEDxLangleyED Under the Table, discussed curriculum as policy, introduced students to the BC’s New Curriculum website, First Peoples Principles of Learning, and the Educated Citizen.
To make sense of BC’s New Curriculum, we started a learning activity where students got into subject speciality groups, co-imagined a learning activity in their subject areas (as learners), and worked BACKWARDS through BC’s New Curriculum from finding the course and grade level, identifying the content and related curricular competencies, then next class identify which BIG IDEAS their learning activity captures, start composing “I can” statements as they relate to the Core Competencies, and make connections to the First Peoples Principles of Learning. Whew. This does not include personalized learning, interdisciplinary learning, and assessment and evaluation. This is complex. I love it.
After this class, I zoomed down the hill to meet with one of the EDtech sessional instructors. This was so wonderful to meet another person from the School of Education and SD57. We chatted about e-Portfolios and how it will work for his class and our vision for practicum courses. We worked out a plan for this year and discussed what next year could look like. I also realized that I have to connect with another EDtech sessional instructor to see what this person thinks as well. This journey of collaboration to include and incorporate ides and needs of the students and faculty is all about compromise and finding the best fit for all. It’s been a fun process so far and this vision is definitely emerging. I will keep you posted but I am excited about the potential e-Portfolios can bring to the School of Education to make student learning cohesive and visible.
With all this excitement… all that I want to do is NAP. I am so tired this week. The one late night of course prep and a jammed packed Wednesday proved to me that I’m not the undergrad from the 80’s who used to do all nighters to get things done. I have NEVER BEEN an early to bed, early to rise person. I will get up in the morning, but it’s likely I went to be late. That’s just how it is. I am very happy that my classes start later in the day at UNBC and I have plenty of time to work done. But my Tuesdays, Wednesday, and Thursdays are jammed packed. Yay for Friday!!! Personally, I like to believe that it’s the COLD weather that is making me sleepy. EARLY HIBERNATION. It’s mid-September and it’s snowing and below zero. What? I’m going to bed. I may not wake until the spring.
Written by Christine Ho Younghusband, September 13th, 2018 | 1 Comment »
Today is a new day… it was a HUGE day… first, I overbooked myself. I am so grateful that I have colleagues who are willing to flex their time and reappointment to another time. After last nights class, I stayed up late… to blog… but also prep for my classes today. I am just pooped. That said, nothing picks up your day better than meeting members of your Twitter PLN face-to-face. I know Monica (@MBerra) from Twitter and Noelle (@noelle_pepin) knows me from Twitter. All in all, this morning was pretty much an one-hour love in. I did not want it to end. I love what they are doing at the SD57 District Learning Centre and I can’t wait to have Noelle come guest speak to one of my classes… and Monica work with my other class with the SD57 Education Kits during practicum.
This was a good start to my day… as I race back to the university to teach my two classes back to back… these classes went super well as well. This made me super happy. JUST BE YOURSELF. You teach who you are. Be the person you want to see… Classic… the Golden Rule at its finest. I had fun in both my classes, but the 10 minute transition from one class to another makes it a marathon of instruction. I just met my first class, the elementary practicum group, for the first time. Because I met so many of these students during orientation, it did not feel like a “syllabus day.” It was so great to OVER PLAN and go with the flow. Goodbye PLOW mindset. I wanted thisclass to get a good sense of who I am and what I am all about. With my second class, it was our second class together. Again… I was going with the flow and over planned this class too. I had stuff to pull from but also was was able to give space for students to co-create knowledge and collectively sense-make. I was a super fun class. We had our FIRST student led presentation too… using MEMES. How timely, because #bcedchat kicked off the school year with memes.
The day concludes with me chatting with a student after class, cancelling a meeting, putting aside some work for tomorrow… and racing home to attend the SD46 Board of Education meetings via phone. Yup. It was a full day. I even got an email from one of my students from last night indicating that he had enjoyed last night’s class. So cray, cray.
Written by Christine Ho Younghusband, September 12th, 2018 | Comments Off on Meeting My PLN
Oh my goodness… what a day. Not only am I writing my “second” daily blog of learning today, I clocked in more than 12-hours on campus… teaching, learning, and leading. No complaints. I loved it. I truly enjoy having my DOOR OPEN, as mentioned in my last blog entry, and having students and staff drop in to say hello, discuss course work, or share ideas. It’s an ideal workplace situation. I am totally stoked about starting and e-Portfolio with our Teacher Candidates and learning-by-doing what it means to facilitate this shift in teaching and learning. The best part is knowing that someone on campus has a collaborative expertise on this. This was a perfect storm. I will let you know how this goes. In the meantime, I was prepping for my night course EDUC 601 – Educational Research and Design. Well… all I can say is REDO please. I can do better.
I don’t want to be my toughest critic but I think I am. The students seemed OK, but they don’t know any different. I walked away from tonight’s class and thought… Why am I doing all of the blabbing? What do I know? How can I facilitate learning to help them know (without me dumping MY THOUGHTS on research)? We have a book… and what are their thoughts? I will admit, we were trying to get two weeks worth of “content” done tonight because we did not have class last week. UNBC’s classes officially started last Wednesday (and we’re a Tuesday night course). It was a “sit and deliver” on the course syllabus and Chapters 1 and 2. The students thrived when I just gave them the space to figure our their research problem and discuss with others. I so bummed that when push comes to shove that I would resort to what I know… HABITUAL PEDAGOGY.
A PowerPoint, my vague summary of the chapters, and me speaking about the BIG IDEAS of the chapters these students have pre-read before my class… Can this get anymore disappointing? OK. I’m doing my job… but not well. I know I can do better. I want a new HABITUAL PEDAGOGY that is student centred and student led… in higher education. I want students to be sense-making… collaboratively and cooperatively. I want to create a learning community that thrives on growth, experiential learning, and play. I am being a bit rough on myself. I’m not sure what I expect from my first class of any course in higher education. The syllabus run-down is really just me sharing my vision and expectations for the course. Nothing too exciting. But I could have done better on my chapter summaries.
That said, I was encouraged by how students from my previous classes are already talking to me about what they are planning to do in our class in the next coming days… to collaborate and bounce ideas. I love that. I was heartened by how quickly my night class gelled and gracefully engaged in small group discussion to talk about research and their research problem. We’ll see how this goes. No one was scathed and I am judging pretty early in the term (i.e. after the first class). In hindsight, my first class of other courses I taught at SFU had a “slow start” and would only gain momentum by Week 6. We are only in Week 2. I should be kinder to myself, but I do understand why it would be difficult to adopt BC’s New Curriculum with HABITUAL PEDAGOGY. I am a huge supporter of BC’s New Curriculum and 21st Century Learning… and here I am defaulting to “lecturing” (even though that’s my job title). I am learning as I am doing. Can’t wait for tomorrow.
Written by Christine Ho Younghusband, September 12th, 2018 | Comments Off on Habitual Pedagogy
I am slowly but surely flooding my office at UNBC with “stuff.” There is no way that I will handily fill 5 BOOK SHELVES within the school year, but I am prepared for the challenge. I am also slowly but surely catching onto this DAILY BLOG on days of learning. Yes, I am learning. And yes, I am one day behind, as anticipated because it takes time to form new habits. That said, I had no classes on Monday but I like to go to the university to work and meet new people. All that I have to do is LEAVE MY DOOR OPEN. This is nice. Personally, as an extrovert, I like the door open. But having my door open provides an invitation to others to walk by and say HELLO or have a seat to have a chat. I liked that. I met more faculty (new to me), connected to familiar faces, and chatted with some students one-to-one. What I am appreciating most about teaching and learning at UNBC is that I can be myself. I feel authentic to my practice and to those I work, teach, and learn with. This is a nice feeling. I like being in a state of change, personally and professionally, which helps me to gain a deep understanding of the change process and how RELATIONSHIPS are at the core of what we are trying to do and achieve.
Today will not be a super long blog reflection on learning. I’m anticipating to write another blog entry tonight on today’s day of learning. I’m teaching tonight too. Anyway, I love that I continue to make connections with other people to broaden and deepen my understanding of teaching and learning. I am diversifying my understanding being in a different place with different people and I love the opportunity to make myself vulnerable to the learning process with hopes that it will influence my teaching practice and thus improve or enhance the learning experiences of my students (aka. teacher candidates) and their students to be. This is a good place to be and I hope to continue building relationships so that we can move forward together towards a common goal. Don’t get me wrong… as much as I am excited to lunge forwards 3 steps… I do step back one or two because it’s the right thing to do. This is the thing about relationships. It’s a give and take process. There are no winners. It’s opportunities for teaching and learning. In the end… realizing this after a brief conversation with another student this morning… it’s not about what you teach that students remember, it’s the relationship that you have created and nourished… and how you made them feel in that relationship will last a lifetime.
Written by Christine Ho Younghusband, September 11th, 2018 | Comments Off on Building Relationships
Ah yes… my fave… a FOOD PIC. This a photo of a Smoked Salmon Eggs Benedict from “Ohh Chocolate in downtown Prince George. It was sooooooo delicious and sooooooo unexpected. First of all, there was something yummy in the hollandaise sauce that was tangy and somewhat addictive. So, goodbye potatoes dipped in hollandaise sauce. It was the first thing to go off my plate followed up by the strawberry garnish as a palate cleanser. Then I moved onto the piece of maple bacon COVERED IN CINNAMON. What the? So delicious!!! This does not speak to the main course of the meal… the Eggs Benedict. At first glance, you’d think that the HUGE piece of salmon is lying on a piece of toast, but no. With closer inspection, it was a piece of toasted croissant. Moist and tender to the knife and fork. The egg, sauce, salmon, and croissant was a winning combination and this was a LOCAL chocolate coffee house. YUMMY. Best of all… Breakfast special for the month of September… TWO breakfasts for the price of ONE. Winning!!!
This blog entry is not a food review… but really, today’s brunch AND COFFEE at Ohhh Chocolate were outstanding. It’s not even a commentary of the awesome local venues that are up and coming in Prince George, but I hope to go to more. I’m really enjoying myself. Furthermore, it’s not one of my DAILY BLOG ENTRIES to reflect on each day of learning; a challenge I have personally taken on from Ian Landy @technolandy because I think it’s absolutely crazy to blog everyday. So, I might post this blog entry onto my personal Facebook Page. Day’s like this is an opportunity for me to get out of my apartment (or university campus office) to connect with those I know who live in or near Prince George. Today, I made plans with one of my former Math 12 students from Chatelech Secondary… Deb Petula… now Deb Young… to have brunch. Ohhh Chocolate is like a modern, locally owned business with lots of yummy things to eat and drink.
Meeting up with folks like Deb (and Nicole Doran from a few weeks ago) is an opportunity for me to explore the City of Prince George through the lens of my former students but also current residents of Prince George. I am slowly but surely getting my bearings but I think this will take some time. To get anywhere that’s not College Heights, UNBC, or Winners, I have to turn on my MAPS APP on my iPhone and trust that I am going to end up where I want to be. Thank goodness for technology. Without it, I would definitely still be in my apartment wondering if I knew anyone in Prince George. That would be a sad state of affairs. Here I go… up and over the hill via the university to get to the other side of Prince George to head to an area called “The Bowl” to pick up Deb from her home. I met her husband Jack and waved hello to her two little ones who were in the house. They were super cute and still in their jammies. You knew it was Saturday morning.
It was clear to Deb that I had no idea where I was going. She had to be my human MAPS APP to get to our destination. On the way there, we chatted about how she landed in Prince George. I did not realize that she schooled at UNBC, met her husband at UNBC, and started work in Prince George soon after university graduation. She’s been in Prince George for 17 years… which means I taught Deb at least 18 years ago… now that BLOWS MY BRAIN. Has it really been that long? Must be true though… I just can’t believe time flies. We chatted all morning as if no time had few by. I liked that Deb had to tell her friend this morning that she couldn’t do coffee with her because she was going out with her MATH TEACHER. Oh ya… feels good!!! I had no idea that I was Deb’s favourite teacher and favourite math teacher. I enjoyed having her in my math class but I did not know I was a favourite. Huh. YOU CAN’T SEE YOURSELF… the title of this blog entry.
This cognitive awakening got me thinking about my research and self-assessment. How do we know what we know if we can’t see ourselves? This is metacognition at it’s finest. I’ve always believed that we all need “a mirror” to see ourselves. I don’t think SELFIES are going to cut it. That’s all orchestrated and designed for social media, but how do we really see ourselves? How do we measure ourselves? I wonder about this. I do recall not being other people’s favourite teacher, but is that really true. I loved how Deb said during brunch today… that I made math easy to understand and FUN to learn. She said that I made math too seemingly too doable that she wanted to go to university to study math and become a teacher. That was my biggest compliment I took from today. I had no idea I was achieving this with my high school math students even though it was my intent.
We had an amazing brunch… as mentioned earlier… and seen in my favourite to do FOOD PIC. We headed out to check out another area that many locals had mentioned. We went to “The Hart.” I was surprised how many people I’ve met and chatted with mentioned that they live IN THE HART where it apparently SNOWS MORE due to higher elevations. Not going to lie… I’m glad I’m not living there. I’m not handling the snow already and it’s a beautiful summer day heading into fall. Let’s not talk about this. So, we drove out to THE HART and I managed to make my way around a ROUNDABOUT. Yup. it’s the small wins that matter most. Wow. I was so glad to drive out that way. I had never been here before and can see why people live out in The Hart. It’s a bit of a distance and well… I like the convenience of where I live (for me) at College Heights. Now, I know.
En route, Deb mentioned the Northern Lights Winery. I wanted to go back there because my other friend, Kat, who taught up in Prince George with a French Cohort with SFU said it was a place to go. So let’s… It was AMAZING. A beautiful location along the Nechako River… an establishment built only 3-years ago that makes FRUIT WINES. Of course we engaged in a wine tasting and both Deb and I walked away with two bottles of wine each. From apple to huckleberries… the wine was unusual and delicious. What an awesome find in Prince George. There was a tour from France visiting the winery and it’s great to know that they too serve brunch, lunch, and dinner. I’m coming back to get two more bottles of fruit wine… but possibly closer to October when the cherry wine comes in.
Thank you Deb Young for taking me around Prince George. My mantra: One venue at a time. I loved how Nicole Doran (former Chatelech Secondary student) took me around to different places in Prince George as well as brunch at Nancy O’s. That was amazing. Next time, it will be Chicken and Waffles brunch (with a side of bacon). I will be meeting up with Melissa Darney (another former Chatelech Secondary student) on Monday morning and I met up with school trustee colleagues Trish and Tim from the SD57 Board of Education. I have also met folks from my Twitter PLN… Glen Thielmann who now teaches at UNBC and Shannon Schinkel who will be guest modding #bcedchat later this month. I was reunited with Deneen Sawchuk who teaches in SD57, but did teach in SD46 with me years ago. We went to Zoe’s Java House. YUM. My colleague Deb Koehn has been great introducing me to Prince George and UNBC. We went to Sushi 97 last week for lunch. That was good. My kid would have loved it. Now, I’m in the midst of making plans folks from Quesnel… Dot who used to curl with me in Gibsons and Gloria who served with me on the BCSTA Board of Directors and current chair of the SD28 Board of Education.
Thank goodness for people. Without them, I would be hibernating in my apartment in College Heights… blogging about what could have been. Instead, I’m blogging about what is… with gratitude, great experiences, and good conversation. I am so pleased to know so many people in the Prince George area. There are more and I will meet more. FUN!!!
Written by Christine Ho Younghusband, September 08th, 2018 | Comments Off on You Can’t See Yourself
Where did the time go today? YIKES. Is this how’s it’s going to be? Every moment matters. It’s Monday and I arrived to work with a basket, 3 small pictures, some miscellaneous items, and a plug-in kettle to complete my journey of decorating my office. That’s it. I’m done. I’m pretty happy how my office looks and feels and I have plenty of room to spread all of my stuff on my desk as a clear indicator to me of the things I’ve got to do. YAY.
