Christine Ho Younghusband

Feeling Ignited – Week 7

Wow. We are over the half-way mark in our Educ 471 course at SFU. Where has the time gone? I cannot believe what these students have accomplished and what they desire to know and learn. I am so impressed with this class and I am reminded of my purpose. We are imagining what’s possible. How can one not feel ignited?

It’s Week 7… we had our first round of IGNITE presentations. 5 students stepped up to be the FIRST presenters. Hats off to all those who are willing to pave the way for others by being FIRST. I much enjoyed the 5 presentations. I have yet to give feedback. Each student spoke with passion and personalized the BIG IDEAS.

Once again, the students exceeded my expectations. You know when things have turned in your class when you find yourself chasing the students versus your students chasing you. It’s an incredible feeling. These students have embraced the uncertainty of this course and became leaders of their own learning.

These students IGNITED the room. 20-slides, 5 minutes. The class is tasked to identify the BIG IDEAS while I was evaluating the students on the “curricular competencies” they designed and choose to be evaluated on. They are either “meeting expectations” or “not meeting expectations” with formative feedback provided via email.

I am bewildered by the whole notion of GRADING. I know that it is something that we have done for a long time… well, at least my lifetime… and I wonder if we are really supporting students and their learning. Is it possible that everyone can be a winner? With formative feedback, students have an opportunity to be better.

Choosing to improve or bridge the gap should be every students’ right. Not everything can be measured or behaviourally managed with a test, quiz, or bonus mark. Are we motivating students from the outside or the inside? Do we want students to love learning and learning about learning or test for content?

Not every “met expectations” on all 6 curricular competencies. My job is to follow up with those students and give them the opportunity to bridge that gap. In the end, the grade will be assigned. The student and the teacher have a choice. My choice as a teacher is to provide formative feedback to help students learn. Students will either choose to follow through and bridge the gap or not. This is a choice.

The summative assessment or assessment at the end of the course will be final and will be graded. Although I cannot help my students post final assignment, I can certainly help them during the weeks before to ensure that they are on track. This is a choice. I get it. Summative assessment signifies “the end of the learning process.”

I am looking forward to the next 6 IGNITE presenters and what wisdom they have to impart on us. I love that the students have taken leadership in this course, ask good questions, and collectively contribute to the quality of the course. I am proud of the work these students are doing. The second half of the course will be awesome.

Student Leadership – Week 6

There is nothing I love more than students taking leadership of their own learning. On the one hand, it’s a little unnerving for me… as the teacher… not completely in control of student learning. On the other hand, I am in control and I am facilitating (or as a colleague said to me, ACTIVATING) student learning. Yes… that makes sense to me.

Students lead activities (aka. micro curricula), students participate willingly, students lead group discussions, students ask questions, students advocate for their own learning, students provide direction, students are accountable… STUDENTS ROCK!!! This week, we delved into BC’s New Curriculum started to design and develop our own curricular competencies for our upcoming IGNITE presentations on curriculum.

We also discussed and differentiated formative and summative assessment. The crazy part is, assessment has everything to do with how successful a curriculum is implemented, but has nothing to do with how curriculum is developed. Developing curriculum is focused on the WHAT and the WHY. The HOW is up to the teacher.

In our class… we are developing our curriculum in light of BC’s New Curriculum. Our IGNITE assignment is about personalizing their learning with the BIG IDEAS and content area of curriculum, curriculum development, and curriculum theory. Our commonality amongst all students are the curricular competencies. What are students expected to demonstrate and how will this be assessed?

We looked all all three core competency areas of thinking, communicating, and personal/social. At first, I asked each discussion group which core competency they wished to explore as we embarked on developing curricular competencies for our upcoming assignment. Worth mentioning, ALL of the groups wanted to look at the PERSONAL/SOCIAL core competency. So interesting… but not possible.

We looked at all three core competencies and developed DRAFT curricular competencies with our discussion groups. The students taught me about “collaborations” on CANVAS and we collated all of our group work on a live document. From this, we narrowed down the DRAFT curricular competencies to 12. Now, here is DEMOCRACY at its finest… we’re voting for 5. The vote is happening online and students will mutually on decide the curricular competencies.

The online vote ends tomorrow to give our first cohort of IGNITERS some time to prepare for Tuesday’s class. There will be at least one curricular competency per core competency. I can’t wait to see what the students decide. Furthermore, we will provide formative feedback to the presenter by identifying the BIG IDEA(s) at the end of the presentation. We’ll see how this goes. I am very excited to see how all of this unfolds. I hope they are excited too. #buildingtheplaneinthesky

Restorative Action – Week 5

I’m already falling behind on my journal reflections. My bad. I have the deepest respect for those who are attending school and balancing their life, work, and learning. I find myself doing the same and I want to honour the work of my Educ 471 by doing the same… journal reflections from the instructor’s perspective.

I love this photo… I’m sure the Christine in the photo would really hate this photo but it captures the kind of work my students are accomplishing in my class. It’s been a META project, if you will, where we are trying to best exemplify the ideals of BC’s New Curriculum in this class as we are learning about curriculum development ourselves.

What you see here is are the 3 core competencies… communication, thinking, and personal/social. I love that the students are seeing personal relevance in this course in addition to being active contributors to the course. I am proud that these students have embraced some of the ‘unusualities’ (made that word up) of this course.

I also took the opportunity this week to say sorry to my students (re: Twitter fiasco), acknowledge my strength as a teacher practitioner, and this course is being designed with BC’s New Curriculum in mind but it’s transforming as we are doing. I am taking a risk and what I am doing may not be the norm to any other Educ 471 course.

To see what is possible is to attempt to see what is possible… to nourish students as creative and critical thinker, to create space for students to collaborate and communicate during class as sense-makers, and to enable students to define and personalize their learning within the context of the course. I am learning with them.

Thank you Educ 471 students for being part of my teaching and learning experience. Coincidently, this week I had multiple moments of gratitude for past students I remain connected to (via social media) who share their gratitude, passion, and expertise with me… it’s way to cool for words to describe. Feeling restored.

Bubble Bursted – Week 4

I am not going to lie… this will be a difficult reflection. What can I say? Twitter Troll. I know… it’s not a very nice thing to say. Some would consider me a Twitter Troll at times. I get it. Passion gets in the way of reason. I respect a person’s desire to “fix,” inform, or persuade people on social media but there’s a moment when you just have to let go. It was self-regulation at it’s finest. For me, I had to block this person.

Before class started… I was catching up on some with with my Saint Mark’s College students. I was so inspired with their work that I left Starbucks on campus towards my Educ 471 class at SFU with a skip and jump in my stride. Here’s some irony… today’s theme was STRENGTH BASED LEARNING (SBL). Today could have been a better day. I tweeted out during the break a few photos of our small group discussions (aka. to celebrate student learning). Apparently, my tweet provoked someone online who insisted I provide empirical evidence for SBL.

Well… I didn’t and tried to clarify few times the intent of the tweet. Nonetheless, no satisfaction by this Twitter renegade and she persisted. I called it quits but I continued to receive multiple tweets after class and through the night. This person also tagged my employers and recruited another researcher to fight a good fight. I was not responding. Then, I was accused of shaming, avoiding, and bullying. By 2 am, I blocked both of them. My energy and spirit was completely depleted.

As mentioned, I get it. I’ve been blocked too. Forget about SBL and let’s think about EMBEDDING FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT (Dylan Wiliam, 2011). This person wants citations. For me, my number one concern is STUDENT LEARNING. When I receive tweets like that, make it a learning opportunity. I can see how students feel when the teacher tells them they’re wrong over and over again. You don’t want to take a risk to be wrong again. I got that sense from the twitter convo. I get it… I’m wrong.

The Twitter Troll tried to supplement their point of view with links to blogs and articles. They too were of opinion. What’s the empirical evidence that says otherwise? What is the measurable craze in education? This is the inquiry. What I care about is, does it provoke people to think about what they do. It’s metacognition. My education course is not a content-dump onto students. We are thinking. We are communicating. We are making personal and social connections. #bccurric #corecompetencies

So, I apologize to my students… I was not my best self during the second half of our class. I want to thank my students for reaffirming to me that they understand what I am trying to achieve with them in class in the context of curriculum development. I am thankful to SFU and Saint Mark’s College for their patience, kindness, and willingness to take a chance. And, I am thankful to my daughter and edu-buddy for keeping me in check and saying, “it only matters if you make it matter.”

Exceeding Expectations – Week 3

It’s already the fourth week at SFU… labelled WEEK 3 for those in Educ 471 (the first week didn’t count… aka. WEEK 0). We are on our way… moving from grading and assessment to 21st Century Learning. It was YONG ZHAO day in our class. We read his article, watched a brief plug on his book “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Dragon?,” and watched his TEDxAmsterdamED video on “Everyone is a Rudolf.”

We had a full slate of student participation… 2 reflective readers, one warm-up activity, and one Wild Card activity. I should also mention that we also had someone do an online summary of the article as well as record the “unfolding” of the class. They are living their “dream school”… choice, freedom, and personalization.

The Wild Card activity was so unexpected, timely, and entertaining. The warm-up activity was engaging and interactive. And the two reading reflections just WOWWED me. I did not expect these student to make connections with previous readings or videos. Surprisingly, they were very similar in terms of what each of them quoted and cited. I loved how each of the reading reflections concluded with their own thoughts and a thought-provoking question. What more can I say?

Oh yes… the group discussions were amazing. What is your dream school? They hit it. What they genuinely want is exactly what BC’s New Curriculum is intending… and what we’re doing in Educ 471. Most of the class was student led… facilitated and orchestrated by me (the teacher). The class concludes with a self-reflection journal on What’s your definition of personalized learning? Key words from both the group discussion and journal reflection were shared on the white wash board… participation to contribute key words was voluntary. What a collection of words!!!

I am so proud of this class. We put assessment and evaluation aside to focus on learning. I am resistant to tell them exactly what I am looking for because they are exceeding my expectations every time, every week. The class concludes with a half-hour discussion about WHAT’S THE ANSWER with a few students after 8:20pm… the end of class. Full engagement and the irony to realize that deeper learning, intrinsic motivation, and inquiry happens when there is no multiple choice test at the end of their journey. This is what I know for sure… anything is possible!!!

Assessment Again – Week 2

Even though the blog is labelled “week 2″… it’s really our third week together. We are talking about ASSESSMENT AGAIN. The course is about curriculum development: theory and practice yet we need to clarify what is expected, discuss what needs to be done, and establish when things are due. I appreciate the meta-conversations as we discover one of many factors that influence curriculum implementation.

What you see in the photo is the class figuring out a rubric for the 5 participation activities. The work was collaborative, exploratory, and student led. 8 groups of four challenged with what a rubric would be to assess a student’s demonstration of their understanding. Students have choice in what activity they want to be evaluated for and choice on how they facilitate the activity. What would the rubric look like?

Eight groups led to 8 different rubrics. Different sub-divisions, different criteria, and different rationales why they had constructed the rubrics they did. Furthermore, I loved the creative and collaborative aspect of producing a rubric using NON-PERMANENT VERTICAL SURFACES. I knew NPVS works in high school mathematics, why not Education 471? It worked like a charm. We saw diversity and subjectivity.

What a wonderful teaching/learning opportunity to show that something that is seemingly objective really isn’t. We also discussed Assessment AS Learning, Assessment OF Learning, and Assessment FOR Learning in the context of curriculum and student learning. This tied nicely last week’s article on curriculum theory with this week’s topic of “The Heart of a Teacher.” I love Chapter 1 by Parker Palmer.

Identity and Integrity. I am reminded why I am a teacher and why I am in education. This class is a part of me restoring my broken heart and stoking my fire for the love of teaching/learning. I also love that this class has quickly become a family… a community of learners… where we are focussed on the divergent and personalized nature of learning versus the potential narrowness of testing and grading.

THANK YOU Education 471 E200 students!!! You make me whole. I love your leadership, your thoughtfulness, and your vulnerability to ask questions, have voice, and share ideas. You have embraced the direction of this course and I look forward to what’s to come in the next few weeks. It’s been an awesome 3 weeks and I appreciate your willingness to engage in student choice and student voice. I am learning.

You’re Different – Week 1

Fulfilling my commitment (and catching up). Here is the OFFICIAL Week 1 of my reflective journals for EDUC 471. Today was a full house. Yay! 32 students is the official count. It was so nice to see more students in the classroom. The class vibrates at a higher frequency. I love the buzz. It was great seeing new faces in the room.

Today, we had our FIRST warm-up activity. It was so nice. We all got into 4 groups, counted off by the student-facilitator. We were challenged by naming occupations, places, and food from A to Z. It was like survivor. The winning word was xynthan gum. Who would of thought? Well… I thought it… kinda said it… second guessed it. DOH.

The class started with many questions… about assessment… in this course. I am reminded that not all of these students have taken an education course before and many are accustomed to the major essay or final exam mindset. Throughout the class I was clarifying and fielding more questions. One the one hand, I love that students feel safe to ask. On the other hand, it was clear to me that I was not being clear with them. Their questions heightens my awareness of my audience, their prior experience, and their expectations of me. This is a good thing. I invite the questions.

After warm up, no other students had signed up for an activity, except for the class recorder. It was me who was left to summarize this week’s article… an oversight on my part regarding sign up. Furthermore, it provided me with some insight about my class. After our first week together, no one wanted to go first… not the the first week, first name on the list, or first to embark on facilitating a WILD CARD activity.

We had come to terms as a class that our academic risk taking level out of a scale of 1 to 10 was about a 3 or 4. We have much work to do and I hope that this will improve over time. That said, it was Week 0. I am confident things will change over time. What I do know is the STRENGTH in group discussion. Wow. The summaries that come from our group discussions are AMAZING. The groups are self-selected. Each member of the group has a role to fulfill. And, many of the groups report out much of what I had hoped for, while others give me something to think about.

As expected, what I imagined we would cover in a 4-hour time period, I’m a couple slides too many on my PowerPoint. I guess it is better to be over prepared than under, but I also like to be guided by the students and what they are learning and contributing to the course. In saying that, there must be a balance between teacher direction and student input. The class has to be meaningful and purposeful to both of us. I wonder about RIGOUR in this course. I believe there is some rigour, but it may not be as INTENSE as maybe a 400-level economics course. I have no idea.

What I do know for sure is, this class gets me thinking. I am now cognizant of the Chinese-student perspective and being an international student. I am also aware that many of the students know and understand curriculum development in a tacit way. And, many of the students find structure (and solace) from the syllabus, assessment, and due dates. Can I get away with one final assignment? When I taught Math 8-12, the final exam was worth 100% but 100% of my time was invested in Assessment for Learning. This makes me wonder about how I’m assessing in EDUC 471… and why.

Anyway, the class ends with an abbreviated ending (to be continued next class) and a few more questions from students about assessment. I love that students are willing to stay after class to seek clarification about what’s expected from them, but also challenges me to be more clear about what I’m expecting without being too prescriptive. As I was cleaning up, a student says to me, “You’re Different.” I believe this was a compliment, but my inner voice says, “why aren’t I like everyone else?” I shake my head because I am intentionally designing the course to be different.

After 2 weeks, I am madly in love with the student engagement, student input, and student voice in the course so far. I am learning as they are learning. I feel so privileged to do so and honoured that this class is allowing me to do so. We are learning and teaching together. For example, I love how I am trying to figure out how to post PDFs on CANVAS and I ask a student via email if she can see what was online. In no time, she confirmed that we had achieved success. It was 11pm!!! #nice

Learning Curve – Week 0

Well… I am embarking on a new edu-adventure. I started teaching my first class at SFU. I am teaching EDUC 471 – Curriculum Development: Theory and Practice. I had promised tonight (one week after my first day of teaching EDUC 471) that I would also participate in a “reflective journal” via blog. Many of my students opted to complete their reflective journals in Word or by pen & paper even though they were invited to blog or use Google Docs. Nonetheless, we are all doing reflective journals.

I have to admit… this is a learning curve. I did not know what to expect nor did I even know where my classroom was. Although I had completed my master degree at SFU (via Sunshine Coast) and EdD course work at SFU (Surrey), I had no idea where SECB 1011 was located. I was just going to have to learn-by-doing. After driving from Sechelt to Langdale Terminal, taking the ferry to Horseshoe Bay, the 250 bus to Vancouver, SkyTrain to Commercial then another SkyTrain to Production Way, then finally the bus up to SFU mountain… I found my classroom. Hooray!!! Success.

When the class started, the class seemed almost 2/3 or 1/2 capacity. I was expecting more students. Not that I was disappointed or anything, but my class list indicated 35 students enrolled and there were about 20 in the classroom. I was not taking it personally didn’t understand why I had few students. I ventured forward. I spent many hours contemplating how to start the first class and assumed that it was all about course expectations. Students confirmed this. My class goes from 4:30 pm to 8:20 pm. How was I going to talk about course expectations for almost 4-hours?

We introduced ourselves, I did a quick overview on course expectations (that needed some more explanation today during our second class), and we engaged in some learning activities such as group discussion and reflective journalling. Did you know that I have students in the Faculty of Education and not in the Faculty of Education (mainly economics). Some students are taking this course as an elective, while others are taking it as a required course for their Education Minor. I did not know you could have an education minor in your undergraduate studies. In the end, we successfully consumed the 4-hours and spring boarded some interest in assessment & evaluation in the context of curriculum development. This is cool. I was so stoked.

What I learned today is (a week after my first class), maybe I didn’t have to go through the entire 4-hours of class to talk about course expectations. Maybe I over extended myself (and the students) by jumping into some learning on the first day of classes. Maybe this could be the reason why some students don’t attend the first week of school knowing this. Hmm… I did not know. Now, I know. FYI: In doing this reflective journal, I am also committing to keeping this a free-write (as best as I can). This is what I am asking for from my students. At the end of the course, students will look back on their reflections and write about THE BIG IDEAS of EDUC 471. I cannot wait.

Family Fondness

Family… like branches on a tree, we all grow in different directions yet our roots remain as one.

What an incredible summer… I’ve been super busy with preparing and facilitating summer institute workshops on BC’s New Curriculum on the one hand… and travelling to different places to visit and connect with family on the other hand.

After teaching two BC’s New Curriculum workshops at St. Mark’s College and presenting research at the Canadian School Board Association Congress 2016 in Winnipeg, I had the privilege and opportunity to travel to New Jersey and New York City to reunite with three generations of the Ho-Family (my dad’s side of the family). All 44 of us (and one of my aunts from my mom’s side) gathered together for 5-days to engage in activities ranging from family photos, talent show, and Master Chef to backyard olympics, mariachi band madness, and Zumba. We had a tonne of fun. From friendly competition to eating lots of yummy food, I learned more about my family and myself. Thank you Uncle Tom & Aunt Mabel for your hospitality… and, thank you to my brother & Ho-Minions for making the reunion memorable.

Travel highlights to New York City included eating NY style pizza, climbing up the Statue of Liberty, catching Pokemon in Central Park, tipping ‘strangers’ in Times Square, and visiting the 911-Memorial & Museum. In such a short time, my little family experienced so much. We must return back to NYC again. After the reunion, my little family took the train to Montreal, QC. We stayed at the Gingerbread Manor B&B in the Plateau for a few days and visited McGill University, toured around Old Town, and ate the BEST smoked meat sandwich at Schwartz. In the midst of our Montreal visit, we connected up with my cousin on my mom’s side, Rhetta, and her little family.

My husband loved Montreal for the lifestyle and prominent cycling community. My kid found some joy chasing squirrels in the park and catching Pokemon with the available free-wifi. I loved the food. Wow. The food in Montreal is absolutely delicious. We went to several restaurants ranging from vegetarian to Korean. Yum, yum, yum. We left Montreal on a bus to Quebec City. We did not visit any family but watched the changing of the guards at the Citadelle of Quebec, ate escargot and maple syrup on a stick, and watched live performers on the streets. We ended our vacation with another bus trip to Ottawa, ON. We toured the Parliament Building (in French), visited the Canadian Mint, and cruised through the War Museum. We stayed at my aunt & uncle’s place (Rhetta’s parents). It was another opportunity to connect up with family (and food). We had a wonderful time visiting with Aunt Lillian & Uncle Dave.

The best part about vacationing is the greater appreciation for the comforts of home. After our plane, train, and bus trip, we returned home. Wow. I love living on the Sunshine Coast… and that very moment when you drive past the gorgeous ocean view of Davis Bay. I am quickly reminded why I love living on the west coast in British Columbia. Super nice. It was nice to settle back in, pick fruit from our trees, and reconnect with my little dog, Sally. It’s good to be home. Unfortunately, my husband left soon after drove up to Prince Rupert to visit his dad. My kid and I also went up a week later to Prince Rupert. We flew to Terrace and met up with my husband who drove us back to my hometown of Prince Rupert. It was an interesting few days.

We visited places in Terrace and Prince Rupert to reminisce. We went to Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), Mr. Mike’s, and Smile’s Cafe. Yes… FOOD… again. We stayed and my husband’s mom’s house. It was nice to visit Heather & Jim. It was also nice to connect up with Tim, my husband’s brother, and Ellen, my husband’s aunt. However, our primary objective was to visit my husband’s dad (as seen below). We had an awesome visit. We took the opportunity to get to know each other a little bit better but also provide some love and support. It’s also nice to return to my hometown to see where I come from and understand where I am. My kid and I had such a great visit with Randy Sr.. We were so glad that we took the time to see him. My kid and I flew back home from Terrace and my husband stayed for a few more days.

Now that I am back home… I have meetings and I am prepping for a summer institute in Kelowna and two university courses I am teaching in the fall. I am so lucky to do what I do and I am so fortunate to see family throughout the summer. I learned more about my family and learned more about myself. Thank you family. I love you all.

Preparing For the Unknown

On the one hand, this is a wonderful metaphor. On the other hand, it’s exactly what’s happening. I am so stoked to be presenting at the Central Okanagan Teachers’ Association (COTA) Summer Institute for 3-full days on BC’s New Curriculum in Mathematics. What an incredible opportunity and I am deeply honoured. I am also second billing to SD38/UBC PhD Candidate Shelley Moore. She is incredible and I feel that she is only at the beginning of her edu-awesomeness. I am so “jelly” of those who get to see her speak. I won’t be able to see her speak as we are teaching the same 3-full days. That said, I am super excited for the educators in SD23 and their professional learning experience. There is an awesome slate of speakers/educators coming to COTA on August 30th, 31st, and September 1st.

I am totally preparing for the unknown. I took for granted the gift I had as a practicing secondary mathematics teacher and the relationships I developed with my students. You get to know about their strengths and weaknesses in mathematics, you learn about their interests and dislikes, and you build an unwavering connection with them so that we can engage in learning. When teaching workshops for teachers, there is little or no time to build a relationship in a deep and meaningful way. You do connect with some of them, but you have no idea who your audience is. It is challenging to prepare for an audience without knowing their prior knowledge or experience.

I was asked to present three workshops on the new curriculum with a focus on math:

• Math Embedded – Aboriginal Education and Mathematics (August 30th)
• Transforming Pedagogy with BC’s New Curriculum (August 31st)
• Math 10-12 and BC’s New Curriculum (September 1st)

The best I can do is to organize my thoughts and knowledge in the best way I can with hopes of satisfying the professional learning needs of this unknown audience. I suspect that they are mathematics teachers or generalists who teach mathematics, but I don’t know their years of experience, pedagogical alignment with the new curriculum, or familiarity with the new curriculum. It’s a challenge and I love it. As uncertain it is, the more engaging it becomes. I love honing my practice. Creating three workshops is like completing three 1000-piece jigsaw puzzles. Two are complete and one more to go. Even with an early prep, I will likely make last minute changes for each day and wield the workshop on-the-fly to meet the demands of the unknown audience. I will learn about my audience. Can you say fun? It’s super fun!!!

I am so excited to be teaching again. It’s like coming home. I look back and I believe that everything was meant to happen as it should. I wouldn’t be here today without having doing what I have done. Sometimes I think about WHAT IF… What if I stayed in the classroom? What would my career be like? I could do that, but I don’t. Ultimately, I would not have been working on the curriculum had stayed in the classroom. As weird as that sounds, serendipity took control of my pedagogical journey. I am not sure if I would have met the people I have met, have the opportunities that I had, or learn what I am learning had I not taken this meandering path to see my light.

Watch out COTA!!! Here I come!!! #happylearning #bccurric #mathisfun