Critical Thinking Pedagogy

What a way to start the new year. I feel incredibly grateful to end 2017 with a family vacation in Puerto Vallarta and start 2018 with a conference in Hawaii. Who gets to do TWO vacations back-to-back that straddles the new year? Well, me and my family did.

This blog entry will focus on my professional learning experience at the Hawaii International Conference on Education (HICE). This is my second time attending this conference. The first time I went to HICE was with my Sunshine Coast EdD Sub-Cohort 5-years ago at the early beginnings of my dissertation. However, the day after I defended my dissertation, I applied to present at HICE2018. It was a way for me to celebrate my dissertation completion with a “conference capstone” but also I had the opportunity to present my findings. I had so much fun. Secretly, I wanted to learn how to make a research poster. Success. Presenting my dissertation as a research poster was the best experience. I presented on the last day of the conference and I loved connecting with others to discuss my research. I also presented the School Trustee Study on Information Sources, co-authored with Dr. Daniel Laitsch, and Dan’s paper on class size reduction. Presenting research is a fun way to build my CV. My time at HICE was exceptional.

One of my most favourite moments at HICE were the breakfast networking session. I met so many interesting people during breakfast. You have to meet people. I knew no one. I met people who teach in Japan. I met someone who is doing her PhD studies at SFU. I met someone who was a teacher in BC. I met other educators from the US. What I loved about the breakfast networking session was making connections, sharing our learning, and learning more about these educators FROM AROUND THE WORLD. What was even more amazing is… we shared the same learning outcome… we’re doing the same thing!!! We share a common purpose but how we got there is different. I was humbled.

I also met some amazing people at the sessions I attended and presented at. I started the conference presenting Dr. Daniel Laitsch’s paper on class size reduction. That was challenging in a few ways. I was new to Dan’s paper and this was MY FIRST TIME presenting a paper at an academic conference. It went very well. I also met a few teachers from BC too who attended the session. Then I went to a session on CRITICAL THINKING PEDAGOGY and CIVICS. This was my biggest take away from the conference. I just loved this presentation. They spoke about using critical thinking pedagogy as the underpinning of all their teaching, which in turn united subject specialty teachers. The project was implemented in Indigenous schools in Australia in partnership with a university and government. Finally, they connected with another researcher from the US to make connections between critical thinking pedagogy and civics. I felt so aligned to what was being presented that I was compelled to connect with the presenters after the session. I was so impressed by their work and what they were achieving, I wanted to learn more. Furthermore, it was aligned to what BC’s New Curriculum is trying to achieve. Sheer happenstance, these presenters are also presenting at SFU in February. They invited me to attend their workshop in Vancouver, which is fully booked. I was deeply honoured and I am looking forward to seeing and learning more from them again.

I also met some great folks at the table round session and I went “out of the box” and attended a session on learning Hawaiian without words. That was fun. I was observing but I was so amazed by the patterning and complete immersion to language acquisition and sense making. Mid-conference I presented my paper with Dr. Daniel Laitsch on BC School Trustees and Information Sources. In hindsight, I will categorize my research with “educational leadership,” not as “other.” I was sub-grouped with computer programmers. There was somewhat of a disconnect with my presentation with theirs but I appreciated our overall engagement. I LOVED THE KEYNOTE on MoonShot Labs and “making the impossible, possible.” I was so inspired by they keynote’s passion and purpose. My conference ended with a session facilitated by a SFU PhD student on Indigenous Science Education where I met some more amazing people… from Canada, BC, and SFU. It was very serendipitous to meet these people and I hope to meet them again. My conference experience ended with the LAST conference session and I presented my dissertation as a poster presentation. I loved connecting with those who were presenting with me.

I ended HICE with good feelings. I was also grateful to be in Hawaii with my family. It was fun to spend time with them post-conference, but also knowing they were having fun learning how to surf and looking at fish in a submarine. We also bumped in to a couple of my friends from the Sunshine Coast in Honolulu. Small world. We chatted over drinks before going the the LUAU with my little family. A few other highlights of my Hawaiian vacation beside the HICE conference and LUAU was meeting up with my mom & dad’s family friends to see the Dole Plantation, to drive along the North Shore to have shaved iced and BBQ chicken, and to be in the presence of this super AWESOME sea turtle (see picture above). I also went out of my way to “eat Hawaiian.” I had pineapple everyday. I just had to. Sooooo delicious. I found and had my Hawaiian Breakfast (aka. eggs, rice, and spam) at McDonalds. But I also went out of my way to eat the loco moco, spam sushi, and ahi tuna. I have to admit… I was learning in the conference and out. I much enjoyed the Hawaiian vacation. NO REGRETS. I am ready for my next international conference. But before then, I want to learn more about “critical thinking pedagogy.”