Personalized Learning

My deepest apologies to any regular Edu-Blog readers that I have not been writing frequently enough to call this a “daily blog.”  I mentioned in earlier blogs that it might evolve into an “every other day blog” but it seems like it could be a weekly blog.  Bottom line: It’s been busy.

Well, I’m back talking about PERSONALIZED LEARNING.  The BC Education Plan, as proposed by the Ministry of Education, is the newest educational initiative from the Provincial government.  There are several components of the BC Education Plan to address 21st Century Learning.  Personalized learning is one area that resonates with me as an advocate for Assessment for Learning (AFL).

What is personalized learning?  Some may tease apart the notions of individualized learning, differentiated instruction, and personalized learning.  Others may use the terms interchangeably.  The ultimate challenge is trying to figure out what was intended by the policy when it was created in order to implement it appropriately.  Interpretations will vary from school to school, from district to district, or from town to city.  If policy is too difficult to translate or implement, it is often ignored.

Over lattes, a friend and colleague of mine were chatting about education, policy, and teaching practices.  The conversation led to a wonderful story she shared with me about a recent teaching experience.  To glean over what she had told me… although she a an experienced teacher, she was new to the school and assigned to teach a course new to her in her subject specialty.  The class was exceptional, meaning “challenging,” and she was beginning to realize that her students were starting to disengage and under perform.  This is a cross-roads for any teacher.  One could PLOW through and cover the learning outcomes as intended. Or, one could INQUIRE to ask the students what’s happening and how it could be better.  The latter approach screams AFL.

My friend chose to latter route.  She asked for feedback from her students and listened.  As a result, she catered the course to her students’ requests.  A course that could have been assignment/test driven transformed into a course that was project/presentation driven.  Students were more engaged and found the course personally relevant.  I apologize for skimming through the story, but only my friend and her students know the details of the story.  What I gathered from her story was that she took risks, was willing to change, and took the students’ strengths and interests into consideration so that her students can be successful.  I asked her to “journal” this story.  It’s inspirational.

What she did, in my mind, was personalized learning.  She didn’t put her students on computers to learn the subject area independently from others.  She didn’t ask the student to self-direct their learning into 30 different directions or at 30 different rates.  She didn’t force the students to learn the content in one way or the highway to regurgitate the content on a written response test.  She used her content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge to formulate a learning situation that engaged and motivated her students to achieve.  Now that’s personalized learning.  There is no need to be modest or shy.  Share your story and pedagogical learning experiences.  This is teaching.

Educational Leadership

What a broad term… EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP.  A good chunk of my teaching career, I believed that educational leadership meant school administration.  For many years, I strived to become a school administrator but conflicted by my role as union/teacher leader.  The two worlds did not seem to blend.  It felt like I had to choose a side to belong to… union or management.  It was a strange dichotomous existence for me to function within.  Admittedly, I was confused.  Am I union or am I management?  In the end, I left the teaching practice disillusioned by educational leadership and what it truly meant.  Could this be one of the reasons why I am enrolled into a doctoral program in Educational Leadership?  Maybe.  But, by removing myself from the system and exploring different educational opportunities awakened me to the definition of Educational Leadership.  

I have taken many courses and read many articles on Educational Leadership in my doctoral course work three years ago.  There are lots of definitions, directions, and perspectives on educational leadership.  There is servant leadership, transformative leadership, or transactional leadership… blended in with power, influence, and politics… embedded in policy, practice, and the institution.  That aside, what is educational leadership?  This has been a burning question of me for many years.  Although school administrators may be educational leaders, positional leadership does not necessarily equate to educational leadership.  For the past few days I’ve been meaning to write about educational leadership.  Since my intention, I’ve been seeing it everyday and enlightened.  

What I realize today is that educational leadership means so much more than “school administration.”  I see it in PAC (parent advisory council) parents at PAC meetings.  I see it in the sessional instructor at SFU I am working with as a Site Assistant.  I see it in the practicing teachers enrolled in the MEd cohort.  I see it in my colleagues.  I see it in school trustees.  I see it in parents advocating for their child’s learning.  I see it in senior management at the Board Office.  The truth is, if you are a person who is an advocate for student learning, student success, and student achievement… you are an educational leader.  The list is infinite.  One of my EdD professors said to my cohort a few years ago, “A measure of good leadership is the number of leaders you leave behind.”  What are your thoughts on educational leadership?  Are you an educational leader?

Always Learning

Remote blogging again on Skytrain en route to Burnaby to visit my Mom before heading out to SFU-Surrey to work with the Ed Leadership MEd Cohort in their policy course.  My edu-aha is that I’m always learning.  This would be true for others but learning happens best when you are willing.  Yesterday I learned that there is a 5am bus that goes down Norwest Bay Road and another one at 515am going down Mason Road in West Sechelt.  Where I was standing for both buses I would have missed the bus to catch the 615am ferry to Horseshoe Bay.  The only reason I managed to catch the bus/ferry was because I saw it out of the corner of my eye and ran out in the middle of the street in the pitch dark waving my hands like a crazy Chinese woman with great hopes that the bus driver would see me and stop. As it turns out, he saw me and stopped.  From our brief conversation, I now know where to stand to catch either bus in West Sechelt at 5am.  This is a good thing.  Today, my husband drove me to the ferry terminal in Langdale and I caught the 1020am ferry.  1030 is a more reasonable time to commute and it’s a beautiful sunny day.  To the next commute…

Life’s Whispers

It funny when my husband says, “Do you hear that?  It’s life whispering to you.”  OK.  He is making fun of Oprah’s Life Class but I go back to the idea that everything happens for a reason.  Maybe… my husband mocks Oprah to remind me of Life’s Whispers.  Life’s whispers are subtle hints or clues as to what’s happening, what direction to take, or what needs to be re-evaluated.  In terms of my academic/professional realm of my life, I’ve been fielding life’s whispers here and there.  The question is… when life is whispering, what do you do?  You can ignore them or acknowledge them.  Not knowingly, I have ignored many “nods” in my past life.  Looking back, I had several “nods” from administrators to move forward.  At the time, I didn’t get it so I never moved forwards.  Don’t ask.  I need to be told face-to-face.  This would defeat the purpose of the “nod.”  That’s another blog entry…

For the past few days, I have been “Fielding Compliments.”  I wrote about this in a blog entry a few days ago and I am still curious.  I don’t want my head to superficially inflate but I wonder if I am suppose to receive a life’s whisper to move forwards.  Obviously I’m not getting the message… “compliments” continue to persist.  For example, a colleague told me the other day over coffee that she thought I was a “master teacher.”  Another example, a parent of one of my tutoring clientele after our first session called me a “student whisperer.”  Let’s take it further, a client today commented to a community member looking for math tutoring during our session that I was “pretty great.”  All three compliments shocked me.  I was taken aback.  This is only a sample of what I have experienced over the past few days.  It is apparent to me that people in my community respect my ability to teach mathematics.  It feels great!  But, what are all these compliments or “whispers” trying to tell me?  Once again, I am not sure.  I could easily second guess my life choices and “should” myself to have maintained the status quo of “not knowing.”  Or, I could be thankful to hear these “compliments,” be aware of potential “nods,” and maybe I’ll recognize them to move forwards.  We’ll soon see.

Thick Skinned

Learning by reading… this is my dissertation journey.  There are many books out there to help guide the ABD (all but dissertation) student to completion.  Currently, I’m in my second read of “The Education Dissertation” by Dan Butin.  I first learned about this book, and many others, last year in Education 809 at SFU.  Although the dissertation process is meant to be a vehicle for academic research, I am learning more about my learning and obstacles I face.  As much as I want to complete my dissertation and move on with life, there are several demons, shall I say, that need to be addressed.  In Butin’s book, I appreciate his candidness and honesty with the education dissertation process.  The section that resonated with me recently is “Structuring Your Life as a Doctoral Student.” It was as if Butin was writing the book for me.  Butin identifies two key areas to address:  Learning How to Say No… and Developing a Thicker Skin.  Yup.  That just says it all.  First, he claims that because I am a person who is engaged in the dissertation process and currently ABD I must be unable to say NO.  Noted.  I am the person who likes to be on every committee, meet new people, and try net things.  The irony is, to be able to complete a dissertation I must begin by Learning How to Say No.  Honestly, this will be a personal challenge.  I have diverse interests in education and I am an opportunist. With that said, I understand the importance of staying focused and completing the dissertation in a timely manner to move forward with new learning opportunities and adventures.  Second point, Butin suggests that Developing a Thicker Skin is a necessary in the world of academia.  I see that now.  As much as a crave feedback from my supervisors as a graduate student, once I get feedback, it takes me months to recover and get back on my feet.  As a public school educator, I developed a thick-skin for parental or student feedback, but rarely would I receive constructive feedback from a colleague or school administrator about the quality of my work.  When supervisors give you feedback, Butin claims, it’s not to say that “you’re dumb” but it’s to help you to become better at your thinking and writing.  (Deep Breath)  Makes sense… in hindsight, I would give constructive feedback to my students as a secondary mathematics teacher with intentions of making them better at learning mathematics.  Anyway, this blog entry is to say… AH-HA… I am learning.

Fielding Compliments

Things happen at the right place and at the right time.  The people you meet happen at the right place and at the right time.  Life lessons learned happen at the right place and at the right time.  It’s all about timing and it’s never wrong.

Thinking about karma in this way spooks me out, but I’m beginning to believe that it’s true.  I create what I see.  Recently I was reflecting reassessing my life’s journey.

Admittedly, I am getting a bit derailed.  How do I know?  Life around me tells me so.  I’m a little out of focus.  Recognizing that things could be different, it’s a fight or flight situation.

Getting back on track will take some work.  What am I doing?  What am I looking for?  Where do I want be in 5 years?  Classic life questions… Some people call this goal-setting, others may call it over-thinking.  Either way, I’m doing it.  What I need to acknowledge is what I observe or experience are telling me the answers to my questions.  The tricky part is deciphering what I see or feel.

Let’s go with the notion that good things come in three… First, I am completely booked to tutor mathematics for the upcoming semester.  I can certainly accept one or two additional clientele at extraordinary times, but I am completely booked before the new term starts.  This is a good sign.  Second, I receive unsolicited Facebook messages and emails to book times, give thanks, or ask for advice.  I love when former students attending university ask me math questions online.  Finally, I continue to field compliments from former students.  Today, a student called out my name in the mall, “Ms. Younghusband.”  I walked over to say hello.  The student said that she missed my teaching because she claimed that she learned a lot in my class.  Now, that’s a compliment.  I had only taught her for a couple of months before I left the teaching profession to pursue other possibilities. 

My awakening is… I did not leave the teaching profession because I did not like teaching.  I love teaching.  I left teaching in public schools because I wanted to contribute to public education in a different way.  Although I may have positively affected many students during my teaching career, what if I positively affect many teachers?  The outcome is exponential.  This is my journey.

Sallerific

This is Sally… or I like to call her Sallerific.  It’s been strange two weeks.  I’ve been stuck on what to write about in my “daily” blog because I’ve been consumed by my dog.  DING.  Why not write about my dog?  This is a picture of Sally after being groomed a couple of months ago.  Here she is, sitting in front of the fireplace.  She like the heat, much like her owner.  Sallerific is super dog but she has not been herself since this photo.  A month ago she had “hot spots” and now she has “intestinal problems.”  She has been in and out at the Sechelt Animal Hospital for the past couple of weeks.  Although we have not arrived to an exact diagnosis, she has undergone many tests to strike off what it could be.  Some of her symptoms continue to persist.  After spending a few nights at the vet, Sally has returned home.  She is on a fibre diet and scheduled to return to the vet for a check up.  I think Sally is glad to be back home, even though she is half as zippy as she was when this photo was taken.  We went for two walks today and she loved them.  She loved going out for walks at the vet too.  That’s about the only thing that has remained consistent in her behaviour, in addition to greeting people at the door.  Sally is the hostess with the most-est.  I love that about her.  Regardless of pain, she continues to welcome people into our home.  Right now she is curled up in a ball in her bed by the fireplace.  It’s super cute and super sad.  She seems to value her rest and I respect that.  Thank you Sechelt Animal Hospital and everyone else for sending your kind words and healing energy Sally’s way.  It is greatly appreciated.  Onwards and upwards to a speedy recovery Sallerific… you’re the best-est.

Education Standing Committee

Who’s the chair?  I’m the chair.  What an honour to be elected by the trustee committee members to chair the Education Standing Committee.  I have chaired a staff committee once and attended many, many meetings that follow Robert’s Rules at some capacity.  Today, I chaired my first Education Standing Committee with School District No.46 (Sunshine Coast).  I thank all of today’s attendees for their patience and participation.  We had some discussion on several topics as seen on the agenda.  With each topic, those present at today’s meeting seemed to mutually agree.  Three recommendations will be coming forward from the Education Committee to the SD46 Board of Education in February.  This excites me.  The Education Committee amongst the Policy Committee and Finance/Facilities/Transportation Committee are public meetings.  If you have something to bring forward for discussion, let the Board Chair or Superintendent know to inform the Agenda Committee.

FYI:  SD46 Education Standing Committee Meetings, 1:00pm, 4th Wednesday at the Board Office.

The DPAC is Back!

Today has been a busy day for Trustee Younghusband.  The day has not ended, but I thought I should take a moment to reflect on the day.  A day in the life of a school trustee…

Had two meetings today… the working committee of the Board of Education and the District Parent Advisory Committee (DPAC)…  In between, I was a “swim-mom” commuting my daughter to and from the swimming pool.  The day begins with a carpool to the board office.  Two other trustees were picked up en route… an excellent opportunity to go green.

The working committee meeting is a continuation of trustee orientation discussing the role of steering committees, the district’s strategic plan, and work in progress.  I found the 4-hour meeting informative and I appreciated the strength of each board member brings to the table.  We have a phenomenal Board of Education and senior administration.  I am convinced of this more with each meeting we have together.  I am optimistic of this leadership team in School District No.46 (Sunshine Coast).

One step in the right direction was tonight’s DPAC meeting.  The DPAC has been maintained for the past 5 years by one parent/district employee.  Because this amazing parent volunteer is a district employee, she could not assume the DPAC chair position.  She remained loyal to the DPAC as secretary.  Trustee Pratt (@loriannpratt) committed herself to revive the DPAC and DPAC executive.  It’s official.  The DPAC is back!  The executive was officially elected… Chair, vice-chair, secretary, and treasurer.  Thank you parents for your commitment and willingness to lead the SD46 DPAC.

As Trustee Younghusband, I was pleased to see the superintendent, assistant superintendent, and secretary-treasurer attending tonight’s meeting, in addition to several school principals and parents interested in DPAC.  The meeting kicked off with an excellent presentation about Early Learning in SD46 and concluded with a report from a district principal regarding emergency preparedness.  I have learned more about SD46 as a school trustee and DPAC participant.  Much gratitude.

Living My Dissertation

I have been reading several books about the “Dissertation Journey” or “Destination Dissertation” or “The Education Dissertation.”  It doesn’t matter what the title is… they all seem to say the say thing.  ABD (All but dissertation) is a choice… a way of being… so, get over it.  In fact, being ABD is common for doctoral students.  This does not make the process any easier.  Although on paper, I have made little progress.  In my mind, my revisions, and my conversations… I feel like I am moving… but maybe not forwards.  I am like the hamster in the wheel who has not figured out how to stop spinning in circles.  There is no question in my mind… I have a good research topic.  As it seems, there are many entry points to the topic and it’s a matter of choosing how I would approach “the topic.”  I have moved forward a couple of times and got spooked by my feedback.  This is not a bad thing… it’s confidence building… learning to accept the standards and expectations of gradate studies as prescribed by the Community of Practice.  With many Google experiences, article downloading, and reading books, I realize that the proposal is critical in the dissertation process.  A straightforward proposal equates to a straight forward dissertation.  No pressure.  Now, I am over thinking.  Over the past year, I have disembedded myself from the workplace and created for myself an academic learning community.  I am living my dissertation.  The dissertation is not just a document, but it also involves the learning and intentions that are interconnected to the dissertation process.  I understand that my friends and family may be a bit frustrated at my “rate of progress”… as much as I am… but I have taken a full-circle.  What I am writing about is running parallel with what I am learning and experiencing with the dissertation process.  Moving forward.  Keep It Simple Sally.