Christine Ho Younghusband

Little Sister

Even in our 40’s, I still feel like the little sister.  I remember as a child I had always wanted “equal status” as my siblings.  My sister is the first born, aka. #1. My twin brother is 5 minutes older than me, but also the first boy. Then, there’s me, #3. Certainly being the youngest has its perks.  I was never “burdened” or consulted with family responsibilities.  By the time it got to #3, the problem was solved.  Life was good.  I’d always knew that the path in front of me would be paved.  For this, I am grateful.  Tonight we were reunited once again.  I love our little family reunions.  What’s nice about them are, I can pose a question and both of my siblings are there to share their knowledge and expertise with me.  On the one hand, I am overwhelmed and humbled.  On the other hand, I am honoured and heart-warmed.  It is comforting to know that both my brother and sister always have my best interest in mind. #luckyme 

Wholeheartedness

“Let ourselves be seen.” – Brene Brown

What an internal struggle.  It has deeply affected my life and will continue to do so until it’s completed.  I am talking about my dissertation.  I’ve been in a holding pattern for several years and made life decisions to give myself space to think and rethink about what I am trying to accomplish.  More than a dozen revisions of my proposal and I’m back at the research question.  Humbling?  Yes.  Disheartening?  No.  I am challenged by what I really want to know and why.  Furthermore, I want to move forward with my research without “hurting” anyone… whatever that means.  I am cognizant of what I would like to address, but uncertain how to go about it.  As a result, nothing gets done.  The upside is, I am learning.  I am learning more about education but also more about myself.  I am scared to show others what I think.   I can’t control the outcome.  I can’t “be perfect” as a rookie-researcher.  I can’t hide from others.  I need to be vulnerable with my research and be open to how things will unfold.  No more pretending.  To experience the joy of research, is to also experience the heartbreak of failure.  This is the underpinning of Brene Brown’s research and wholeheartedness.  I can no longer numb the pain, fear, disappointment, and shame.  To truly succeed, I am open, vulnerable, and authentic.  This is what I’ve been striving for all along. #movingforward #feelinggood #gratitude #joy

The Intuitive

My most favorite sport is curling.  I owe much to the sport of curling.  It’s been a 30 year relationship.  The sport has taught me a lot about teamwork, leadership, and friendly competition.  Curling has also helped me to understand Alasdair MacIntyre… aka. key concepts in my dissertation.  Aside from being able to transfer ideas, I wonder why I love curling so much.  According to Myer-Briggs Type Indicator, I am an ESTJ (Extroverted, Sensing, Thinking, Judging).  E = Love hanging out with people. S = Love collecting data from my experiences.  T = Love making decisions based on what I’ve learned.  J = Love order.  Yup.  Seems like a perfect match.  This would also explain why I like hanging out with the intuitive.  These people seem magical to me.  They are able to make cognitive connections that extend beyond what they experience.  This quality makes ESTJ’s like me curious.  I feel so fortunate to be surrounded by so many intuitive people. #gratitude

Ripple Effect

The power of influence… never underestimate it. I was just thinking about the BCAMT Fall Conference 2013 and bumping into someone I met earlier this year at the UBC Aboriginal Math K-12 Symposium.  At the symposium, we met face-to-face and he asked me a question about a project that he was working on with his teacher candidates at the university he is affiliated with.  We chatted.  From our conversation, he had an “aha” moment about the project and personalized learning.  Long story made short, he presented at the Fall Conference about this very project to share with other math educators.  Isn’t that amazing?  Shocks me.  What surprises me even more is that we shook hands again at the BCAMT Fall Conference and he said, “You’ve inspired me.” Little that he knows, he did just the same for me early in my teaching career at another BCAMT Fall Conference.  Ya.  This is what I love about education.  What kind of ripple effect do you have?

All Formative

Sechelt Indian Band & District of Sechelt Fireworks 2013

Boom… it just dawned on me about FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT.  It’s a hot topic amongst educators.  What is it?  How does it differ from summative assessment?  What is the difference between descriptive feedback versus judgmental feedback?  I think the best way to think about formative assessment or “Assessment for Learning” (AFL) is tutoring.  After a 16 year teaching career, I’ve been tutoring secondary mathematics for the last 3 years while I spend time with my daughter and work on my dissertation.  Truthfully, tutoring has honed my teaching practice beyond my expectations.  Not only do I have to teach on the fly and quickly learn what the student needs, but I am constantly giving formative feedback.  It’s not evaluative.  It’s not worth marks.  It’s all about the learning.  As a tutor,  my job is to establish what is, identify what needs to be, and suggest ways to move forward.  So maybe a way to look at formative assessment is to pretend to be the students’ tutor.  #somethingtoconsider

Sechelt Innovations Ltd.

Sheer excitement… Sechelt Innovations Ltd. Launch Party on October 30, 2013 opened my eyes to all the possibilities Sechelt, my hometown, has to offer.  It is focused on viable economic development to create jobs in Sechelt.  Their motto: “Sechelt is Open for Business.”  At the launch party, standing room only at the Seaside Centre, six new businesses were introduced:

1. Sunshine Coast Winery (Selma Park)
2. Vanta Pacific (West Porpoise Bay)
3. Target Marine (Tuwanek)
4. East Porpoise Bay Hotel
5. Coast Gravity Park (nr. East Porpoise Bay)
6. Telus Fibre Optic (Sechelt & Sunshine Coast)

As I mingled around the room, seeing familiar faces, and connecting with those who are truly invested in the District of Sechelt, I was awestruck by their optimism, genuine excitement, and imagination of what Sechelt can be.  This excites me.  As someone who could be a commuter to the Lower Mainland, has commuted part-time for schooling, and often considers moving elsewhere in search for employment, Sechelt Innovations has brought a bright light to young families like mine.  Thank you to the Sechelt Innovations Ltd. volunteer board, staff, and the District of Sechelt for making this happen.  Moving forward.

Breakdown The Silos

Vancouver College, CISVA Professional Development

Unbelievable. What an incredible professional (PD) development session with CISVA at Vancouver College.  Thank you CISVA for inviting me.  I feel truly honoured and blessed to continue our edu-relationship with a common vision for our students: Assessment for Learning (AFL).  This PD session was about AFL, professional learning communities, and the new BC curriculum.  It was an excellent opportunity to be the learner, connect with like-minded people, and enhance my understanding of the new BC curriculum.  I had 3 aha’s at this session: (1) There are other people out in the field of education continuing to promote and advocate for AFL.  This warms my heart.  AFL is more than just giving formative feedback.  It’s informal, ongoing, reciprocated, non-evaluative, and informative feedback.  The uncanny part about this session is that it had the same message as the PD workshop I recently presented at the BCAMT Fall Conference titled, “Formative Assessment for Teachers.”  This is comforting.  I felt validated as a math teacher practitioner and educational consultant.  (2) The introduction to John Hattie’s research, Visible Learning, opened my eyes to effect size with respect to improving student achievement.  I saw his name hashtagged awhile ago as I scrolled through Twitter on the Provincial Professional Development Day and liked what I had read.  #hattie was brought back to my attention at this CISVA PD session.  Two things resonated with me with Hattie’s work: teacher content knowledge and finding “the story” within the data.  Best of all, I won a copy of Hattie’s book as a door prize.  Needless to say, the brief exposure to his research has profoundly influenced some of my thinking with respect to my dissertation and focus of my research.  Last point, (3) we all learn at different rates.  Although I found myself agreeing with many of the ideas presented, others in the room did not necessary share the same feelings.  For instance, some at my table continued to wrestle with differentiating formative and summative assessment.  Change is slow.  Assessment is complex.  I am completely aligned with the idea that professional learning communities are a necessary good for teachers’ sense making with respect to AFL.  Not assigning zeros and no marks for homework only scratches the surface of what AFL is and intends to achieve.  There is no question in my mind, the adoption of AFL in K-12 classrooms will require time to shift.  As mentioned in this session, AFL is a moral imperative.  It is the underpinning of how we teach and how students learn.  The presentation ends with one of the CISVA principals approaching me to say I transformed his practice 3 years ago with an AFL workshop I facilitated with CISVA secondary mathematics teachers as an educational consultant.  He kindly referred back to my workshop and said, “You were 6 years ahead of your time Christine.”  Wow.  You don’t hear that everyday.  Gratitude for CISVA is mutual.  They inspire me with their PD sessions and I inspired with my AFL workshop.  There is so much to learn and share about AFL.  I encourage BC teachers to form a professional learning community (PLC) as we move forward with Transforming BC Curriculum to establish a shared understanding of what AFL is, how it looks in the classroom, and why we are doing it.  BREAKDOWN THE SILOS.  Go visit other classrooms, schools, or districts.  We’re all in it together.  #kidsareworthit

Good Student

This is not a posed picture.  It’s a math class in BC public schools with students engaged in their learning.  Teachers create this kind of learning environment.  However, how do you know which ones are good students?  What makes a good student?  Define good.  As their math teacher, I always assumed that they were all good students, they all wanted to learn math, and they all could learn math.  With these assumptions, we learned math.  Asking critical questions, challenging the teacher, and sense-making through dialogue made a noisy classroom, but also a dynamic learning environment.  Pretending to be a good student, doing what the teacher says just because, and being just like everyone else were not valued.  Risk-taking, personal relevance, and inquiry were more important.  I’m excited about the new Math K-9 Curriculum in BC.  Less learning outcomes, cross-curricular competencies, and personalized learning make sense to me. #studentlearning 

BCAMT Fall Conference 2013

Steveston-London Secondary School

Regardless of my current occupation (or preoccupation), I am a mathematics teacher at heart.  I truly believe that everyone can learn mathematics and learning mathematics is fun.  Today, I had the privilege of presenting at this year’s BCAMT (BC Association of Mathematics Teachers) Fall Conference.  I presented an afternoon session titled, “Formative Assessment for Teachers.”  In hindsight, I should have called it “Assessment for Learning (AFL) for Teachers.”  Nor here or there, but I like the idea of learning from formative assessment.  I loved creating this learning environment for students when I was a classroom teacher.  Now, I am promoting it as a way of being for teachers with their professional learning.  As I attempted to connect AFL to my literature review from my doctoral thesis proposal and the new BC curriculum, I shared a few personal experiences that transformed my practice: (1) mentorship, (2) Instructional Skills Workshop, and (3) Twitter chats.  I much enjoyed presenting today along with connecting with other mathematics teachers and the BCAMT Executive Committee Members.  It’s nice being connected with like-minded individuals who are passionate about mathematics education.  What I love about presenting is not the delivery of the content itself or the participation of the audience as they concur with my message.  It’s the subtle thank you’s and acknowledgements.  I loved how teachers at the conference recognized me from past workshops, Twitter, or this edu-blog.  Moreover, I realized today that I have an AFL following.   During my presentation today, I saw several familiar faces in the audience (aka. keen mathematics teachers passionate about AFL and the subject area who’ve attended previous AFL workshops with me).  At the end of the session, one teacher who was a Teacher-On-Call (TOC) spoke with me to say “thank you” and that the AFL workshop I offered last school year at the BCAMT New Teachers’ Conference about AFL in Secondary Mathematics transformed her practice.  She told me that attending that session dramatically changed her practicum, changed her ways of thinking about mathematics and assessment, and she wrote her final paper based on the contents of that workshop.  Even her friend said to me, “I need that workshop too.”  Hello?  Is that not the BEST formative feedback ever?  I say, YES. #makingadifference #mathematicseducation #assessmentforlearning #newcurriculum

Try Something New

Pickled black walnuts, goat cheese, and rice crackers

I love going over to my friend’s house to mooch some food and edu-gab.  What was today’s surprise?  PICKLED BLACK WALNUTS.  Never had this before… but my friend assured me that it would be delicious.  Ugh.  It’s black and slimy.  It’s hard to believe that this could be delicious.  Furthermore, I was kind of avoiding dairy and wheat (don’t ask).  Anyway, it’s about trust, overlooking my preconceptions, and delving into the unknown.  Well, it was delicious.  Once you have one, you can’t stop.  It’s so good.  Would have been really good with a glass of wine, but it was midday.  Anyway, this reminds me of education.  When we are held back by our preconceptions, we are unlikely to try something new.  Without trying, you’ll never know.  Now I know.  It was worth taking a risk.  Worst case scenario, you don’t like it.  Best scenario, you’ll want more.  Thank you, my friend.  Loved it. #professionallearning #academicrisktaking #trysomethingnew