We are finally at Week 6. Truth. I can’t believe that we are already at Week 6. We are approaching the halfway mark of EDUC454 this summer term. We finally had our FIRST class with all student-led learning activities within the time frame as intended, but we would surely appreciated another hour or two to get to the deep learning that could be achieved and experienced. This is definitely one of my biggest takeaways from this course… MORE TIME. If we want to go beyond surface learning, we need to minimize the breath of knowledge and trade it for depth of knowledge.
Although each student-led learning activity, whether it would be group facilitation, reading summary, or warm-up activity, we could have used more time to explore the learning further. That said, I have some learning activities I would like to share but I am almost coming to terms with the idea that I might have to let go of what I have to share. What students are sharing in the context of Quantitative Approaches to Environmental Education is AMAZING. We are truly gaining a breadth of knowledge because students are asked to personalize their learning and share what’s important and interesting to them within the context of the course. Students are leading this course.
Admittedly, I am reporting these student-led learning activities out of order in this blog… and I hope that’s OK. The first few pictures depict the warm-up activity. Two students spoke to the class, assembled in a circle, about acknowledging the unceeded territory where SFU is situated. We talked about our level of comfort and why it’s important to acknowledge the land and the history. Students, in pairs, were asked to pick one piece of paper that briefly describes an event that happened on the territory at SFU. They were then asked to use their devices to research information about the event they had chosen. From this collaboration, students were asked to stand out in the hall, talk with one another about their chosen event, and form a timeline. A discussion ensued after this formation and one pair walked around the top floor of SFU Surrey. That was bewildering, yet meaningful. I liked how these students used SFU as place and time as a quantitative approach to deepen their understanding of Indigenous history and the land.
The next two photos show the oral presentations of the weekly reading summary. We are reading Gillian Judson’s “A Walking Curriculum” (part one). I loved how each presentation was not a reiteration of what they had read… as one of the student’s said, “I’m not going to list of the activities, you can read it yourself.” I liked how they were able to personalize the information, pick quotes from the book that triggered them in a meaningful way, and took the liberty to be creative and learn “beside the book.” What do I mean by that? One of the presenters, took photos of her place… her community… and created a automated slideshow during her presentation. As she spoke about what she had learned from the book, she went meta and showed the class what she noticed in her environment with photos (which was perfectly timed at 10 minutes).
Another student summarized the first four sections of the book and the importance of follow-up activities. She also reflected on Gillian’s visit to our class and brought up the first activity of remembering an important place that we had a personal connection to and that the book stated that you can’t make an emotional connection to place unless you step foot on it. She picked Crescent Beach as her place and she’s a runner… a competitive long distance runner. She was awestruck with this concept because she couldn’t imagine the number of steps she took running on this beach. She realized after reading Gillian’s book why this place was so important to her and how she was emotionally connected.
The next few photos represent the group facilitation learning activity from 4 students (aka. Group 3) that happened at the beginning of class. Although we did not go outside, this group was able to utilize a half a dozen teaching strategies to facilitate interdisciplinary learning that involved English, Social Studies, Environmental Education, and quantitative approaches. The group facilitation was about being Orwellian and George Orwell’s 1984. We talked about what it means to be Orwellian and “Big Brother is watching” then asked about our comfort level with social media on a scale of 1-10. Most of the class hovered around 3. I was in the minority standing around 9. We had a quick discussion about our positions then challenged with the next task of going in groups of 2-3 and scouting through the mall for examples of “big brother is watching.” This was a nice tie in to Gillian Judson’s book and NOTICING what’s in our environment.
We returned back to discuss with others what we had found and we were encouraged to be as creative and critical with what we had found and hypothesized. It was very interesting what we had thought and wonder what high school students would have noticed doing a similar activity. What I noticed was, there were many messages telling me that I can achieve the perfect life… just buy here. We then transitioned into our next activity where we were divided into groups of 4 and we were asked to review and article about a current event that related to the idea of Orwell. We were asked to discern if what we read was Orwellian and discuss a few follow up questions. My group read about Amazon’s Alexa and the recent event of the device being asked to record and send a couple’s conversation. There were 4 other current event topics that each group had to summarize and share findings. In the end, that activity was about how decisions are made based on data collected and how it can also be used to manipulate your thinking.
Well… I was blown away as to how complex these student led activities can be. The class concludes with our closing activity that addressed another local current event: Kinder Morgan. This student indicated to the class why this topic was of importance to her and asked the class to participate in a simulator activity of activists and lobbyists. The class exercised all three-core competencies even though she focused on the personal/social core competency of social justice. Students did not know of the number of lobbyists were in the crowd but the objective of the game is to find and connect with other environmentalists and not have the group be infiltrated with a lobbyist. What an excellent activity this would be for students to deepen their understanding of the pipeline via role-play and gamification. Roles were randomly assigned. After 10 minutes, the lobbyists had to self-identify. 3 groups had formed and one person opted to standalone. All 3 groups were infiltrated. The lone person won the game. This activity modelled a current event where lobbyists were immersed into a crowd of protesters to influence and assess them.
Weekly Journal Questions
In what ways does the practice and underlying philosophy of The Walking Curriculum align with the BC curriculum?
See above.
How can imagination- and inquiry-driven outdoor explorations support your teaching?
See above.
How are you doing on your inquiry project? What help do you need? How did you get started? Have you changed your mind?
For my inquiry project, I have to carve out time to read THE 100 MILE DIET. I also have to make time to go to the Farmer’s Market on Saturdays in Sechelt. I am curious about the variety of food I can get from local markets, the cost of food, and convenience of obtaining food. I am also drawn to PLASTIC CONSUMPTION when food shopping. I bring my own bags and try not to use any additional plastic bags in produce, for example, but there is A LOT of food wrapped in plastic. I was awakened by this phenomenon. Furthermore, much of this plastic wrap has to be recycled separately because it is soft.
I love how this class has parked the grade aside, for a moment, to focus on what’s possible in the classroom… the core competencies, interdisciplinary learning, and quantitative approaches to environmental education. The definition is broad and we implement ongoing formative assessment to achieve outcomes greater than expected. Learning is fun, engaging, and empowering. I think that we are achieving that and feel safe to delve deep, play, and explore what is possible. This is much like, in many ways, what Trevor MacKenzie writes about… letting go of power for inquiry. I’m not the expert in the class. We are all experts and we are all learners. We’re having too much fun!!!
Written by Christine Ho Younghusband, June 20th, 2018 | Comments Off on Student Led Learning
As mentioned in my previous blog, this EDUC454 class is engaging and dialogical. I like how we are able to delve into conversation to establish a deeper understanding of what we are learning about. That said, we are quickly running out of time. It’s a crazy idea to think that I might be over prepping. I think that I am just prepping and the students are carrying the torch with their teaching and learning. It’s one of many things I am exploring in my practice. How do we shift teaching and learning from student ENGAGEMENT to EMPOWERMENT. This idea comes from George Couros and the #InnovatorsMindset.
One of the things that I am working on in my teaching practice is transforming my role from “teacher” (aka. bearer of all knowledge) to “facilitator” of learning (aka. designing the class in such a way so that the students co-construct their knowledge together). I love the idea of building a learning community amongst ourselves. I am always surprised and grateful for what students have to contribute… particularly pre-service teachers. It’s also a time for them to PLAY and try new ideas in context to this course (Quantitative Approaches to Environmental Education). At the same time, I am trying to model BC’s New Curriculum with personalized learning, formative feedback, and student-led learning.
My job is to create the framework, guide their learning, provide feedback, and ultimately evaluate their understanding/learning from the course. Their job is to learn what they want to learn within the context of the course, teach others what they have learned, and reflect upon what they have learned and how it would apply to their future careers as BC educators. As a result, the EDUC454 students are deeply engaged in what they are doing, prepping learning activities, and participating in what their peers have prepared for them. I also appreciated our guest speakers, Dave Barnum and Dr. Gillian Judson, who spoke to our class about place and space. They too took an experiential approach to learning.
The first 5 photos of this blog attempt to capture our first GROUP FACILITATION learning activity where groups of 3-4 students facilitate a learning activity that captures Quantitative Environmental Approaches to Environmental Education in a subject area or areas of choice. It’s an application of what this could be and their job it to teach what they have learned in an interactive class oriented way. Three students facilitated the first of three segments of their “Citizen Science” Unit Plan called SENSORY OBSERVATION. Citizen science means that anybody can collect and contribute data. The data collected can form a sense of knowing or understanding. It has an excellent exemplar of Indigenous ways of knowing, as discussed in the group facilitation activity.
GROUP 2 started the group facilitation learning activity by reading us a book called the “The Snowy Day.” A short discussion ensued after about why was this story book selected for today’s group facilitation. The resounding answer was EXPERIENTIAL EDUCATION. We talked about our 5 senses and the group asked the class to find a place in Holland Park and focus on the sense of HEARING. We were asked to take a moment to listen to our surroundings, then report back what we had heard. This was amazing. Many of us closed our eyes so that we could listen. As mentioned in my last blog… IT’S LOUD. There was no road construction this week, but I heard planes, vehicles, leaves, basketball bouncing, and birds. I was also able to briefly experience Gillian Judson’s ACTIVENESS. I was engaged with my surroundings and my sense of space via my body. We then repeated the activity being aware of our kinesthetic sense. That was a bit tougher. The group facilitation concluded with what is CITIZEN SCIENCE and how this could be applied in science.
Thank you GROUP 2 for getting our class started on group facilitation learning activities OUTSIDE, for taking the time to collaborate and plan together, and to demonstrate for us how you can share your learning with us is an interactive and participatory way. I loved our post-chat and how we could have done one more sense like touch, I loved how one student was prepared to give a concrete example of Citizen Science with her passion for bees and POLLINATORS, and I loved how student input exceeded your expectations in such a way that it turned out better than you had hoped or planned. That was amazing!!!
I was so happy to have our first group facilitation activity situated outside. It was a nice continuation of what we had experienced with Gillian Judson the week before, but also Dave Barnum’s presentation on place and space. I also appreciated how Gillian’s talk from last week transferred into our learning this week with our group facilitation and the number of students who referred to that learning experience. However, this week was “catch up” week. Because of our enthusiasm and collective engagement, we postponed a few of our student-led presentations to the following week… for a couple of weeks. Thus making THIS WEEK the week to catch up on what we had intended in our schedule.
After the break, and returning back to our classroom (on the 5th floor), we resumed with the weekly reading summaries oral presentations. We had 2 presentations from Week 4 and 2 presentations for Week 5. Normally, I would ask the students to compose an oral summary and have 2 questions to pose to the class for discussion. This week, the students were limited to no more than 10 minutes to present and present 1-2 questions for the weekly journal for students to respond to. A slight adaptation to what was intended but these students were up for the challenge. What was interesting to me was, with each pair of presenters for each week, one would summarize the assigned reading and the other took a personal account or personal experience to depict or model what they had read. I could not have planned it out more perfectly. I’m not sure if the students had planned it that way, but it was brilliant. I also believe that we had more that 8 questions for students to choose from and reflect on for the weekly journal. Well done!!!
After very swift transitions between each oral presenter for the weekly reading summaries, we managed to take the time to discuss the reading as a class. I think were were afforded this luxury of time because the group facilitation activity ended 20 minutes early. This was awesome because it gave the class the opportunity to grapple with the ideas of Trevor MacKenzie’s “Jump Into Inquiry” and discuss what they would do in class and why. I loved the class conversation about teaching and inquiry-based learning. It’s something that we are all wrestling with and taking the moment to examine and imagine what it would look like in our future teaching practice. Soon after the class discussion (anyway), we swiftly transitioned to our three remaining warm-up activities… one from Week 4 and two for Week 5. The adaptation for these learning activities was NOT to discuss the Core Competencies, but keep them in mind, and limited to 20 minutes.
One activity got student to go out into the mall and FIND MATH on their phones and compare with other groups. POINTS were given out to the most original pictures. The second group got the class to make pinwheels and focus on deep breathing and mindfulness. The final person, Liam (aka. the closer) got us all to sit in a circle and figure out who was tapped on the shoulder and take a moment to figure out “who’s the liar.” Deductive reasoning. Non-verbal cues. LISTENING again… and nice follow up to our class from the group facilitation earlier on the senses. It turned out, of course, the liar was him… so think about your inquiry projects??? It was a fun way to end our class ON-TIME.
Weekly Journal Questions:
What are some strengths of applying inquiry to a classroom? What are some struggles?
Inquiry can give students some personal freedom and autonomy of their learning. They have choice. They can delve deeper into a topic of interest or passion. They can find learning more meaningful. Some struggles would be differentiating learning (not all students operating at the same level of independence). Another struggle would be assessment and evaluation. When all projects are not aiming towards the same goal (of sameness), it can be challenging to evaluate. For example, if the product is a paper versus a video blog as a demonstration of learning, how can you tell the difference? Grading must be based on a set of curricular competencies to be found in all projects.
Is it true inquiry if the students are not come up with their own essential questions or topics?
Inquiry, in my mind, is to be curious. If the student does not come up with their own essential question, but the teacher did, then the inquiry is guided. That’s OK. There can be varying levels of inquiry, as mentioned in Trevor MacKenzie’s book. It does not need to be FREE INQUIRY all of the time. I do suggest that the student has to have some choice in the project so that they can be agents of their own learning. Offering a specific set of choices versus unlimited is OK. It just can’t all be about compliance and conforming.
How could you see yourself working with your teacher librarian?
If I was back in the K-12 classroom, I would be all over the teacher librarian… particularly now that most are being restored in schools. They are experts in “library” and research. They have the skills and knowledge to helps students (and me) on what’s available, how to find useful information, and how to discern through information that goes beyond Google. I’m a math and science teacher, so having the teacher library provide a social science approach to compliment my teaching and learning practice PLUS the opportunity to collaborate with another teacher in the school in a different space is a WIN!!!
How you been inspired to being planning something based on MacKenzie’s book?
I liked how Trevor MacKenzie reflects about his practice in his book. That inspired me to use his book as one of the required readings for EDUC454 this term. Last term, I had only used articles about nature-based education, environmental education, and experiential education to be my required readings. This term, I decided to look at Inquiry-Based Learning from Trevor Mackenzie and A Walking Curriculum by Dr. Gillian Judson instead of some readings. Dave Barnum did bring back some of the readings I would have assigned into his presentation. Assigning this book was my first step into inquiry and I was curious if it would help my students with their inquiry projects for this course. We soon shall see.
I want to thank my students who were present this week for making this happen… taking on the challenge of TIME CONSTRAINTS and catching us up for Week 6. I still have things I would like to accomplish, but I am happy that we are back on track and class will resume as intended this week. I am looking forward to using Gillian Judson’s book to formulate a “field trip” for my class on Week 13. I am embracing this challenge to see how this resource applies in higher education and particularly in EDUC454, and because my students want to end the course with a class “party” (during an evening course at Surrey Campus) has now it’s become a LEARNING PARTY of Quantitative Approaches to Environmental Education via A Walking Curriculum. Let’s see how this goes. SURPRISE!!!
Written by Christine Ho Younghusband, June 14th, 2018 | Comments Off on Time Constraints
Thank you Dr. Gillian Judson from SFU IERG #imaginED for visiting our EDUC454 class last Thursday night to discuss a #walkingcurriculum. We were learning outside with purpose. #GetOutside. This was the first time that our EDUC454 class got outside. For the first few weeks, we interpreted “outside” as outside of the classroom and roamed the Surrey Central Mall as place. I was so happy that Gillian took a moment to sell her book “A Walking Curriculum: Evoking Wonder and Developing a Sense of Space K-12” at the beginning of our class and took us on a thoughtful walking field trip to Holland Park. Security locked the classroom. We went down 4 floors. Walked through the parking lot. We went down the parkade stairs, around the Brick, and crossed the street to the park.
As you can see, it was a gorgeous day. I love the idea of being productive while walking to our destination. On our walk to Holland Park, Gillian asked us to think about a place that we cherish and love such that we would be devastated if a Walmart parking lot was built upon it. Our work was to think about this place and DESCRIBE it to someone else en route to Holland Park. Once we arrived, we formed a circle (so that we can see and hear one another). In this circle, Gillian talked about her doctoral research that brought her to this place of ecological imaginative education and her current work with the Walking Curriculum and Imaginative Education. At the end of her introduction, we had the opportunity to NAME our place. My place was my hometown of Prince Rupert, BC.
Gillian’s presentation was a beautiful introduction to her book (our future course reading). She spoke about three components that make learning meaningful for students. First point was FEELINGS. Students have to feel and make a connection to what they are learning with feelings. The second point was ACTIVENESS. Students need to be moving and have a sense of self in a state of being. This was a big idea for me. I took this point as being physically engaged with their learning. The last point was PLACE. Students need to have a sense of place and “getting outside” is one way of doing so. I loved being outside, but what I did notice was the NOISE. Yikes. Coming from the Sunshine Coast and teaching outside at Surrey Central was a clear demonstration of the importance of place. The metro area revealed some challenges. Although I was very appreciative be in green space, there was active road construction happening next to Holland Park. It was loud.
Nonetheless, we proceeded and had the opportunity to break up into pairs and look at one of 60 Sample walks as seen in her book, A Walking Curriculum. The task was to randomly choose a walk, do the walk, and talk what was learned and experienced to a learning opportunity in our classrooms. Students had to record this curricular opportunity on an index card and hand them off to Gillian after 20 minutes of roaming through Holland Park. I am confident that students had a lot of conversations as to what they were experiencing and what is possible for the K-12 classroom. At the end of Gillian’s session, we met at the waterfall and students had the opportunity to ask Gillian questions. I appreciated what my student-teachers asked and I am curious how many of us will #getoutside with our classes in the new school year. I’m hoping we will in EDUC454.
WEEKLY REFLECTION QUESTIONS
How can going outside (with your class) fit into your teaching practice?
I love going outside, particularly with EDUC454. It makes sense to me. Our course is Quantitative Approaches to Environmental Education. We need to get outside. Admittedly, it’s been challenging this term being at Surrey Campus as a night course. That said, here we are. We’re OUTSIDE. I love how it feels and I love how Gillian said… THIS IS ON TIME. Absolutely. If I was back in the K-12 classroom, I would like to be outside as often as I could. How would I do that as a secondary math teacher… well, I would have to take the time to figure that out. For science it seems a bit “easier” but I like going outside with a purposeful learning intention. Last year, my EDUC454 class went outside 12 out of 13 weeks. The one week that we stayed inside was memorable because I had huge regret after that class by not going outside. As a consequence, it was a positive reminder that going outside is important to student learning but also student wellness. I just love it.
Where is your place? (i.e. topic of discussion with Gillian Judson)
The place I was describing to a student en route to Holland Park was of the Prince Rupert waterfront. As a youth and young adult, I loved walking to the Rupert waterfront to listen to the waves, look at the view, and enjoy the quietness of my surroundings. It was a place I would go to find solace. What was weird, when I was describing MY PLACE, I felt like I could have been describing the Davis Bay waterfront or Sechelt waterfront from where I live on the Sunshine Coast near Sechelt. I love living near the ocean. I’m one of those people. I love being near the water (even though I don’t know how to swim).
How do you (or would you) use feelings, activeness, and place in your teaching and learning to educate for ecological understanding?
I would love to make a connection between learning mathematics and being outdoors. It’s like journalling or reading outdoors, but doing math. What would make learning math enjoyable, activated, and meaningful? I was remembering when my high school math students used to ask me to go outside to learn math. I would always say NO. I just made the assumption that it would be OFF TIME when really it was an opportunity for me to make going outside during math class ON TIME. Why not experience some joy in the sun and in the forest (or on the field) doing math. It’s more than just finding math in nature, but having nature (and walking) as part of the math learning process. It’s definitely got my creative juices going. It can be very exciting for me and my K-12 math students.
We conclude our EDUC454 with student led learning activities. The first student presenter was very enthusiastic about Gapminder and Dollar Street. I loved this activity. The room was divided up into A, B, C, and D (multiple choice options). Students are asked to get up and move to answer the question. The content of each question related to social studies. Students are asked why they had chosen their answers (aka. prior knowledge). The class was then asked to watch data change over time, which was correlated to place and related to the question (i.e. birth rate, death rates, education of women, etc.). After watching data change over 100 years, for example, students are asked if they would change their mind on how they first answered and move accordingly. Great discussion and answers revealed. I loved the meta data collection by Stephen who was collecting data on how students answered the questions correctly initially and how it changed given the data trends. All I can say is, what felt like a 20 minute facilitation was actually 60 minutes. Yup, it was an exemplar of student and teacher engagement.
The class ends with ONE of three reading reflections. Thank you for leading us through our first oral summary of Trevor MacKenzie’s book on Dive Into Inquiry. I loved the Prezi presentation and how you’ve embedded the class discussion questions into your presentation. It was greatly appreciated. I love how students are taking the lead in this course. Something that would have normally took 6 weeks, took only three… and now we’re behind schedule. No worries. I made those decisions and postponed three student presentations for next week. What I appreciate is the level of engagement students have in this course, but also our next challenge for next week, which is TIME. That said, we will be GOING OUTSIDE for our first group facilitation in Week 5. It’s only getting better. Thank you EDUC454E100 Summer 2018. Let’s keep this learning momentum going!!!
Written by Christine Ho Younghusband, June 06th, 2018 | Comments Off on #GetOutside
What an incredible class and it’s only Week 3. We were so lucky to have guest speaker Dave Barnum (@DavidBarnum) from SFU Graduate Diploma Programs talked about Place-Based Education. He brought samples of journals and definitions of what place-based, community education is and could look like. Students had the opportunity to grapple with these definitions and discuss what it means to them in their future (and current) practice as teachers. There was thoughtful discussion and ideas shared. What struck me was the conversation about the barriers of place-based education and how it can be perceived as utopian considering the workplace conditions of secondary teaching (i.e. permission forms, liability, and administrative approval). These are all real constraints but I believe they can overcome them if they really want to. The new curriculum is a policy document that encourages and enables teaching strategies such as place-based learning.
Understanding by Design… or work backwards with your planning. To orchestrate place-based learning with our current 20th century structures and 21st century curriculum, work with the end in mind. If going to the aquarium, going camping, or walking outside can bridge the gap, enlighten, or inspire student learning, then design your unit, lesson, or class routine to include that and find ways to make it happen. If it’s worthwhile, do it. As a friend and colleague of mine would say, there are a million reasons why not to and only one reason why to. Let’s focus on that one reason. In listening to and talking to Dave Barnum, I realized that place-based learning can reveal interdisciplinary learning, provoke imagination further by bringing students to place rather than just talking about it, and that place-based education can be anything that situates the learner for deeper learning.
We needed to hear about place-based education as a class for this class (EDUC454), but also for our future practice as teachers. Sometimes it’s difficult or less meaningful to only learn from a textbook. A textbook, for example, has limitations. Going out into the environment, finding a sense of place, or going to a place that would enhance the student learning experience are integral to deeper learning in addition to all of the opportunities to engage in and practice the core competencies in real-life situations. I appreciated the activity Dave facilitated with the students. He asked them to IMAGINE… if they were asked to choose a curricular area and grade level from BC’s New Curriculum and from this lens if they were given 2-days with their class in this place (SFU Surrey – Surrey Central), what resources could they find, how can this space and place teach students, and how does place address the Learning Standards. Students went out individually or in small groups to take notes, JOURNAL, and imagine what would be possible. I was amazed by what the students shared with the class. Place-based education has a place in education.
THANK YOU again Dave Barnum for visiting my class of EDUC454 and thank you for spending extra time after your presentation during the dinner break to talk to students individually and for them to look at the journals as exemplars of ways to demonstrate and record student learning. I believe that my students were inspired and took away many ideas about place-based education for their teaching practice and future lesson planning.
Back to class business… and onto discussing their Inquiry Project and participating in student-led warm up activities. I love it when student-teachers are engage in teaching and learning in my classes at SFU. It’s an opportunity for them to create and facilitate a short activity with the class that connects Quantitative Approaches to Environmental Education to student learning. Furthermore, we also want to use these activities to acknowledge the Core Competencies, develop “I can…” statements, and self-evaluate with a single-point rubric scale (meeting/not meeting OR approaching/exceeding). Developing our Core Competencies as we learn how to teach students about the Core Competencies is my main objective with the student-led warm up activities. I love the level of student engagement but I also love how we are learning by doing (aka. experiential learning). This “mingle, mingle, mingle” student-led warm up activity nicely framed the 3 core competencies with 3 distinct activities, as seen in these photos. Students were engaged.
As we move forward with our student-led warm-up activities, students are becoming more comfortable as us as a LEARNING COMMUNITY, but also it’s a time to play, experiment, and have fun. We are getting better at identifying our “I can… ” statements as a way to reflect on the activity and Core Competencies. I appreciated how the second warm-up activity (no pictures because half the class “died” and the rest of us confused) used NON-VERBAL CUES as a means of communication of who you are and identified the class and person as place-based learning. The “murder game” required strategy (i.e. critical and creative thinking) and there was an underpinning of social responsibility for the “police” to find the “murderers.” It’s fun (for me) and I hope the students to identify the Core Competencies in everything that they do as educators and that students can self-identify and self-assess their core competencies in light of their learning. With student engagement and the constraints of time, we had to postpone our oral presentation of the reading summary for next week.
Weekly Journal Questions
What is place-based education?
Using place as part of the learning experience. The classroom is a place and has it’s place, but also learning can be enhanced if we consider other places to help students realize possibilities, complexities, and realities of what they are learning and find deeper meaning. I am struck by this notion and wonder if taking photos of my class and including them in my blog entries is a form of evidence of student learning. I feel that it enhances my blog and what I am trying to describe, but also it helps me realize that learning happens in place. I love the idea that place-based learning can intuitively demonstrate interdisciplinary learning and help students make connections to the real world.
How could place-based education influence your pedagogy?
Each term I teach at SFU, I am struck by the reality of place-based education and even more so this term with EDUC454 being situated as an evening course at Surrey Campus. Where we teach (i.e. facilities and location) influences how I teach. Last term, I had a small room with almost 40 students with only 2-blackboards at the front of the class behind the screen of the overhead projector. That was a challenge. We had to use poster paper or use technology more to collaborate ideas. My first year teaching at SFU we were in portables. It was another evening class but we had lots of room to work with and lots of whitewash boards to place with an collaborate. Last year, I taught EDUC454 in the morning at Burnaby Campus. We were learning outside every week. This year, we have not been “outside” yet, but we have a huge classroom, whitewash boards to use, and our newly defined OUTSIDE that is the mall. I have to plan my course around place.
What are some strategies you can take to overcome some of the barriers to implementing place-based education into your classroom?
Work with what you’ve got. Make the most of what you have. And, plan carefully if you’d like to take your class off-site to engage in a place-based learning experience. Yes, the class has voted on having a field trip and class party on Week 13, our last day of classes. This decision alone has reconstructed our course outline to have an endurance test of IGNITE on Week 12 (maybe this could be an outing too) and now I am faced with the challenge of finding a field trip experience connected to Quantitive Approaches to Environmental Education that can be facilitated on a Thursday night (possibly in Surrey). It can be done, but it does take time, patience, and creativity to make things happen.
What would you like your EDUC454 inquiry project to be about?
I mentioned to my class that I would be reading the 100 Mile Diet book that I got from the Sechelt Library for $2.00. A super awesome deal… but also serendipitous. I am also considering the @BCSCTA tweet and video I posted on sustainability to reduce the carbon foot print with what we eat (i.e. eat less meat). I might combine the two ideas together. Buy locally (i.e. farmers market) and eat less meat. I want to do a before and after comparison and look at money spent, convenience, and how I feel from eating locally. I also have my husband and daughter that I am recruiting into this little experiment. I will need to plan wisely, but also take into account that my family may not be fully compliant.
Written by Christine Ho Younghusband, May 26th, 2018 | Comments Off on Place-Based Education
We are jumping into EDUC454 with our first student-led warm-up activity. Two students brought nature to us. I much enjoyed this activity. They had prepared about 8 bags filled with natural materials. The class sub-divided themselves into groups of 2-3 and grabbed a bag. The goal was to make patterns with the materials inside the bag. Each bag had different materials. We repeated the activity 3 times and with each round, the class adapted to what was expected, took less time, and got more creative. I loved that the room smelled like the outdoors. I also appreciated our student facilitators for preparing a lesson plan to share, facilitating the activity so nimbly, and being early adopters. It’s not easy going first and they did GREAT. They set the stage for the rest of the class. Furthermore, we modelled formative feedback on the fly. We were working on creating “I can…” statements based on our learning experience from the student-led warm-up activity and self-assessing ourselves with a one-point scale rubric. We made our first steps.
The class continued with a teacher-led activity where we used iPhones to take photos of the environment around us. The learning objective was take picture of MATH. Where do you see math in your environment? Students did an excellent job taking photos of architecture, lottery and locker combinations, and people roaming around Surrey Central. What interested me was only one group of 7 went outside of the building to take photos. Another indicator that we are in a different place from Burnaby Campus where we are defining our environment, knowingly or unknowingly, as the classroom, the building, and maybe outside. We also had a very engaging and thought provoking dialogue on use of technology in the classroom. Points of view ranged from not having them to using them but let’s be aware of the self-regulation required for responsible and purposeful usage in addition to quality of teaching and student engagement. Thank you for participating.
We ended the class with our first reading summaries. The 1-2 page written summary was submitted a few days before and posted on Canvas for classmates to read. The oral summaries happen during class time and questions are created by these students and posed to our class for discussion. I loved the summaries. One student was unable to come to class due to illness. She was sooooooo responsible, that she video recorded her oral summary and emailed that to me along with her discussion questions. It was so well done and very timely with the use of technology in the classroom discussion. Students were engaged with her video clip, which was followed by our second presenter who endured some technology issues with his PowerPoint (which I managed to figure out… kind of). Nonetheless, another thoughtful oral presentation of the reading. The written summary reports out what was read and the oral summary, students can put their own spin on what was read and ask thought provoking questions. A great discussion and wonderful moment of reporting out; a nice representation of the diversity of our class.
It strange to think that I am “over planning” for my EDUC454 class but you never know how things will unfold and I like to guide my instruction based on student input and participation. We were so engaged in class discussion and our warm-up activity, for example, it’s easy for me to adapt my lesson to go with with the flow of the class without losing focus on what we are trying to achieve. That said, I missed asking the class… “What do you expect to learn from this course?” Well, I did ask that question as part of the WEEK 1 Journal, but didn’t ask for me to learn. I guess I will keep that a surprise (to me and the rest of the class) until the end of the course when student submit their weekly journal and one-page summary. Mentioning that I go with the flow, my questions about their perceived math efficacy. As seen in our last week’s journal, many of us clustered to one end of the continuum indicating that math may not be their thing.
Weekly Journal Response – Week 2
What is your perceived level of math efficacy?
I think I’m OK at math. I would put myself with the few on the continuum who were also science people. I majored in Chemistry and minored in Mathematics. I got an A/B in high school math, failed Math 100 (which totally offset my undergraduate career), and managed to get the grades I needed in my minor and required courses to get into the Faculty of Education at UBC to teach math. I like math. I enjoyed data analysis during my dissertation… a nice application of math… but I also loved teaching high school math.
What is your math story?
It started when I dropped high school calculus in my Grade 12 year. That was a BIG mistake. I come from a small town… Prince Rupert, BC… (and just celebrated my 30th reunion). Going down to UBC to do first year science was OVERWHELMING to say the least. I even remembered not being able to find the math building for my first math class. I walked across the entire campus to realize that the building was right outside my dorms. Sad. Anyway, I had a professor who made us purchase his unpublished book and about 2/3 of the class dropped out or transferred. I endured and yes… failed. It was a bit of a stab to the ego… but I did take Math 100 again as a night course and got an A.
How does math fit into your pedagogy?
Math completely fits into my pedagogy as a high school math, science, and chemistry teacher… but also as a sessional instructor at SFU teaching EDUC471 (Curriculum Development: Theory and Practice) and EDUC454 (Quantitative Approaches to Environmental Education). Teaching math has taught me so much about how students learn. Feedback is immediate. Results are visible. And, teaching math created the foundation for my career in education and educational research. Math is FUN.
I conclude my weekly journal with some excitement and joy. I can’t wait for tomorrow and next week. I have two guest speakers coming to talk about place-based learning and the walking curriculum. Dave Barnum from SFU’s Graduate Diploma Program and Dr. Gillian Judson from Imagination Education are coming… I can’t wait. It’s going to make our learning experience in EDUC454 more rich and diverse. Welcome to our class!!!
Written by Christine Ho Younghusband, May 23rd, 2018 | Comments Off on Bringing Nature To Us
Welcome everyone to EDUC454 on Surrey Campus. The title of the blog is bit of an over exaggeration. The class went well. I was somewhat disoriented teaching EDUC454 at Surrey versus Burnaby Campus. The experience is redefining my sense of space. My students had to witness this shift in mindset and transitioning into a new space and place to facilitate this course. That said, the room is bright and sunny. We’re on the 5th floor and there is lots of space. Love my students and we’ve just recruited a few more since our first class. I spent a good portion of the class describing to the class “how it was” on Burnaby Campus and “how it will be” this summer session. After the class ended, I felt revitalized, excited, and optimistic thinking about what is possible for EDUC454.
I like spending the first class going over the detailed syllabus and reviewing class expectations and routines. As much as I learned from teaching last year’s class and incorporated some of their feedback from course student evaluations into this year’s class, I was awakened by what this class has to offer. We started the class getting used to our space and getting to know each other better so that I can cater the course to meet their learning needs. What I did learn is, this Q-course is taken by non-math majors. About half the class class are English subject specialists, a third have Social Studies, a few with science, one with French, one PE, and one in elementary education. This picture reveals our continuum activity and their perceived level of math efficacy. I love their honesty. I also love how these pre-service teachers are willing to share and give formative feedback.
I am already learning about them as we composed a closed-ended survey questionnaire about ourselves as well as feedback on my detailed syllabus. And, writing this blog reflection reminds me that I will have to compose that survey questionnaire on Survey Monkey to model one quantitative approach to environmental education and for us to gather data to analyze. I like to do what I ask my students to do. First, my students are asked to write a weekly journal entry. They are posed questions and asked to free-write weekly for 10-weeks and reflect on their learning but also respond to question prompts provided. I too will be journalling weekly as well, but our class is tomorrow, so here is my week’s reflection. See my responses below. Second, students will engage in an inquiry project. I too will engage in an course related inquiry and I just picked my topic.
Who are you and why are you here?
I have recently graduated from SFU doctoral program in Educational Leadership. I have taught at SFU as a sessional instructor for the last two years. I have taught EDUC454 and EDUC471. I am building my experience and expertise as an educator in higher education and learning how to continue to post-doctoral experiences and research as a sessional. I am continuing to write and hope to publish in the meantime. I am super stoked about teaching EDUC454 for a second time. This is my first time teaching at Surrey Campus.
Why are you taking EDUC454?
As a sessional instructor, you apply for courses that you’d like to teach and then you are assigned with what’s available. It is my deepest pleasure to teach EDUC454. I have a background in secondary math education and I use that expertise and my doctoral research experience to facilitate learning in EDUC454. I also like to play and experiment with BC’s New Curriculum and incorporate findings from my dissertation that emphasizes the importance of experiential education, self-assessment, and deliberate practice.
Why are you in the teacher education program?
I am honoured to teach a course with students in the SFU PDP or PLP program. This year, I am also teaching someone from UFV. This is kind of fun. I am really enjoying teaching pre-service teachers. I taught in BC public schools for 16 years and worked independently as an educational consultant for 8 years. During that time, I was also a school trustee and doctoral student. It’s been an amazing career so far in education and I look forward to what’s next. The joy of learning and relationships make the field of education rewarding.
What do you hope to learn in this course?
What I hope to learn in this course is to be nimble and navigate through change with ease and an open mind. I am very excited to teach EDUC454 this term and look forward to co-creating and making this course our own. I am also curious about my inquiry project (to be announced soon) and I always wonder about leadership (and policy) and its effect on student learning and achievement. I also want to immerse myself in ongoing formative feedback and create a dialogical, fun-loving EDUC454 learning community this term.
Written by Christine Ho Younghusband, May 16th, 2018 | Comments Off on Chaos at Best
What a nice way to celebrate #TeacherAppreciationDay… planning for my EDUC454 (Quantitative Approaches to Environmental Education) class that starts this Thursday at SFU. As mentioned in a previous blog, planning for EDUC454 this year will be so different from planning for this course last year. First of all, last year I had never taught EDUC454 before so that year was about learning how to teach EDUC454, a Q-course or “quantitative” course, that included some math. This year, I have the pleasure and privilege of teaching this course again. I have some prior knowledge and experience, but also feedback from the Student Evaluations that could make this course better. I wonder if my students this year will notice. Second, I taught this course in the morning at Burnaby campus last year. This year, I am teaching it as a night course at Surrey campus. I am amazed how the facility, location, and time of day can change the whole scope of the course. Finally, I am soooooo happy to be a connected educator. I am blessed to have two members of my PLN, who work at SFU, to come guest speak at my class about place-based learning and environmental education. I will discuss that further in future blogs.
I have already submitted my course description a few months ago to be posted on the SFU website. Last week, I had completed the Detailed Syllabus and framework for the 13-weeks of this course to put onto CANVAS for my students to preview but also plan for my guest speakers and possible final field trip. Now, I am planning for my first class. This process of planning and prepping for a university undergraduate course is so much different from teaching in K-12. In higher education, I am creating the course based on a brief description found in the university calendar. In K-12, the curriculum is prescribed so your job is to find ways to teach/learn the competencies and content. I am doing that too in higher education, even more so when this course is intended for pre-service teachers.
What I find challenging but also invigorating about teaching undergraduate courses is, you have no idea who is in your classroom. I guess I have their names but I don’t know anything more about them. Last year, to my surprise, I had a class filled with secondary teachers who were non-mathematics specialists. They were so in my wheelhouse and knowing that from them on the first day dictated how the course went. That class still has a great influence on my planning and prepping as I took many of their recommendations to heart and made some revisions to the course. Their learning experiences taught me what was possible, what needed improvement, and create possible ways to make the course better. What I do find fascinating about teaching at the university is, I have 13-weeks to learn about who these students, build relationships, figure out what they need and would like to learn, design and facilitate the course accordingly, and then evaluate them. At this point in time, I can only imagine my class and wonder who they are.
I am looking forward to teaching at Surrey campus. This will be a new experience for me. My doctorate program was held at Surrey campus, so I am familiar with the university hovering over a mall. I quite like that idea. This is the first time I will be teaching on campus. I need to get a pass and familiarize myself with the facility, location, and time of day to make the most of this course so that my students feel inspired to embed quantitative approaches to environmental education into their teaching practice. Stay tuned to weekly blogs about my EDUC454 E100 class. I like to blog in real time as my students do to model what it means to be a reflective practitioner. Reflection is part of the learning process. I hope that you join us online this summer. It’s going to be FUN.
Written by Christine Ho Younghusband, May 09th, 2018 | 2 Comments »
Here I am… walking side-by-side with my dad. I love this image. It makes me hopeful. We are walking forward together. It can’t get any better than this. 2018 has been a year of change… and anticipating more. Every moment is a learning experience. I am getting a lot of clarity, that leads to my alignment and my 2018 One-Word: CREATE. Last week, I engaged in a couple of learning experiences that fuelled my fire for education. First, I went to a parent meeting with Yong Zhao in School District No. 38 (Richmond) and second, I went to the BC Teacher Education Roundtable at Simon Fraser University (SFU).
Professional learning is both formal and informal. I appreciated how Yong Zhao catered his message about the paradigm shift in education and 21st century learning to parents. At the #SFUroundtable18, we discussed the DUTY TO ACCOMMODATE in the context of student teachers. My eyes were wide open to this topic and how we need to be inclusive to all students. Whereas, my informal learning included meeting new people, reconnecting to those in my PLN, and RE-meeting people. From these interactions, I was reminded of my why… TO ENHANCE THE LEARNING EXPERIENCES OF STUDENTS. There are many ways to fulfill my purpose. What feels right at one moment might change in another.
I’ve been thinking about this slide (see below) of Dr. Reiss’s 16 basic human motivators from Yong Zhao’s presentation. What motivator resonated with me the most was CURIOSITY. My object of desire is knowledge. This makes sense. I always thought that I wanted to influence, but I am not motivated by power. I have tried several times to be the #1 position… but failed. It’s not my role and I’m not sad about it. Now, I understand why. My role is to contribute knowledge. I am driven to learn something new. I felt that way at the #SFUroundtable18. I was having serendipitous conversations. I was meeting the right people at the right time. I loved listening to their stories and asking them questions.
What I am most proud about is asking for and receiving formative feedback from experts in the field. I will provide not context here, but accepting formative feedback from others and doing something about it is humbling, enlightening, and integral to my learning. Right now, I am in the midst of rebranding and re-envisioning. I am an educator at heart and I can’t wait to teach EDUC454: Quantitative Approaches to Environmental Education this summer at SFU. I am stoked about teaching this course again. Last year, I taught EDUC454 at Burnaby campus as a morning course. This year, I am at the Surrey campus as an evening course. I love the challenge and creativity required to make this course meaningful, purposeful, and fun. Look forward to weekly blogs starting this week.
I’m excited about what’s next. I create what I see. I look forward to continuing my post-doctoral experience as an affiliated scholar at the Centre for the Study of Educational Leadership and Policy. I am in the middle of publishing a couple of papers with my research partner (and former senior supervisor) Dan Laitsch, and I am in the middle of writing a book about my mom. I love that I stay connected with BC educators as one of the #bcedchat co-moderators on Twitter and I would love to pursue teaching and research at the university, but also pursue teaching and learning at the K-12 level if the opportunity arises. In the end, it’s all about student learning and finding ways to make their learning experiences better so they can thrive. I want to be part of that story.
Written by Christine Ho Younghusband, May 07th, 2018 | Comments Off on Rebranding and Re-envisioning
The day after… the BCSTA AGM… and I am feeling great. I have no regrets running for president and I am so proud of SD46 for passing 3 motions on student voice. What should I be disappointed about? Nothing.
Putting my name forward as BCSTA president was one of the best things I have done for myself. First, it was unfinished work from last year. Second, I wanted to be what I wanted to see. Third, I had something to learn.
The assembly had spoken. A clear majority voted for the incumbent and I can understand that. It keeps continuity, he’s done the job as expected, and the directors to be elected were subject to change. I am led by the assembly. That said, I was not willing to put my name forward for VP or director as part of a strategy. The assembly made a decision about leadership and I wanted them to make a decision. I knew the outcome of the election well before the vote when trustees asked me to put my name forward as VP throughout the AGM. Thank you for your confidence of having my voice on the board.
To follow through with my campaign was a test of my character but also a test for others. I appreciated the authentic connections I had with trustees throughout the weekend who supported my campaign, gave me tips and suggestions for my campaign, and connected with me as a person. I loved that. Running for election is not personal. It was interesting to observe others who were not willing to chat with me or give eye contact. I got plenty of courtesy hello’s or smiles. I was awakened. But, I did appreciate the post-election compliments for my campaign and speech. This is politics. The best part of the campaign experience was the unconditional respect and support I got from others. It was the best I could do and I could not have performed as well without their formative feedback.
I don’t feel that I have failed. I feel like I have won. I am satisfied. I am confident that this board of directors will lead the BCSTA as best as they can, that is guided by the membership. The leadership team of the P/VP remained the same and 3 new directors joined the board. This will be the fresh voice the board of directors need and will benefit from. For me, running for president was about modelling what I want to see for BCSTA. Put your name forward, have your voice, and let the assembly choose. I wanted to offer choice for leadership, but also challenge the assembly to make a decision and feel good about it. My work is done and I am filled with gratitude. Now, I am set onto a different direction. I am finding my place and the outcome of the BCSTA election was a gift.
I am driven by three principles:
You never know unless you try. (take a risk, don’t assume)
You can’t tell a drunk they are a drunk. (self-actualization)
You don’t know what you don’t know. (be open to learning)
I know that Principle 2 needs revision. It’s not the best saying, but it’s meaning resonates with me. I have satisfied all three principles, hence my satisfaction. Thank you members of the BCSTA. Continue to do the great work that you do. An extra special thank you to those who are choosing to not to run in the upcoming municipal election as school trustee. And best of luck to those who are planning to run. Make this role attractive to others. Boards of Education do make a difference to BC public education and student learning. Don’t forget that. You are change agents. You are Educational Leaders!!!
Written by Christine Ho Younghusband, April 29th, 2018 | Comments Off on No Regrets
Yes… I am having one of those days. I LOVE PEOPLE. Do you ever get those kind of days? I do. The feeling overwhelms me. Sometimes it fills me up with joy, while other times I am filled of gratitude. This time, it was the latter. I feel so fortunate that I have people in my life who I can lean on but also help me rise.
There is not one incident or person that made me feel the way I do. As much as I would love to point my finger at one cause or event, there were a few things on the go that needed addressing. And, that’s ok. I started to believe that things were not working out, like it’s a sign from the universe and I couldn’t quite figure out the message… so it relents.
I almost felt like that hamster running in a wheel. Run faster or run slower… It didn’t matter. I felt like I was running in a circle and going nowhere. Although I may be exaggerating at bit, I started to think… “Really? Is this a test?” Life is based on what you focus on. I had to make decisions, take a stand, and commit. For a long while, I was focused the “wrong” things. Ok… they weren’t “wrong”… hence the quotation marks… but I was entranced by what was happening and avoiding particular outcomes versus thinking about what I could do. As a result, I could not see an end to my perceived misery.
Again, as vague as my blog is (on purpose)… what was happening overall was mind boggling. I had a choice… wallow in the struggle or reach out for help. With one conversation, one text message, and one email… I started to see my situation from a different point of view. All of a sudden, I was looking at something that was completely transformed into an opportunity for empowerment, choices, and possibilities. I am so grateful to those in my tribe who are there for me unconditionally to lend me a hand, listen, and enlighten me with their wisdom, kindness, and love. It feels good to know that someone has my back. The least I can do is have your back too. Thank you!!!
Written by Christine Ho Younghusband, April 18th, 2018 | Comments Off on Having My Back
