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
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
Can this photo get any more accurate? Me… at convocation… taking a selfie. What a great way to depict my YEAR IN REVIEW for 2017. The underlying theme for 2017 was DISSERTATION… and my One Word for 2017 was JOY. Seems serendipitous. I realize that my doctoral studies was integral to my state of being for many years. It was 2017 when I completed my dissertation (the many versions of it), I excelled in my oral examination, and I submitted my FINAL draft to my supervisor within a day of my oral defence. I only had a few minor changes to complete for my final FINAL draft to the SFU Library. August 17, 2017… my defence date… and convocation in October… were HIGHLIGHTS of 2017. Thank you Dr. Dan Laitsch and my examination committee. Dissertation is done!!! #yayme
Looking back at previous blogs to review the year, I can see that I have been turning the page onto the next chapter of my pedagogical journey. I started my year off with guest blogging on Gillian Judson‘s blog, Education That Inspires, about my Math 8 project, “Math Embedded: A Tribute to Susan Point.” The blog entry was shared many times on Twitter and I am so proud to have created and collaborated on this math project with my friend and colleague, Kerry Mahlman, while I was teaching at Chatelech Secondary School almost 10 years ago. I also started off 2017 going to the Abbotsford Christian Academy to see Sir Ken RobinsonLIVE and then to TEDxLangleyED. It was a strong start to 2017.
I also had the pleasure of teaching two courses at Simon Fraser University. The first was EDUC454 (Quantitative Approaches to Environmental Education) in the summer and EDUC471 (Curriculum Development: Theory and Practice) in the fall. I am also supervising a masters student at St.Mark’s College and the completion of her capstone project/paper on inquiry based learning. I wrote blog entries for both EDUC454 and EDUC471. You can find them by searching “EDUC454D100” and “EDUC471D100” on my blog page. I was committed to reflecting at the same time as my students were. I wanted to model the REFLECTIVE PRACTITIONER but also document my teaching/learning in both of these courses. I love looking back at these blog entries and pictures. Both courses modelled the principles of BC’s New Curriculum and students learned from experience. Both courses were student-led and teacher-facilitated. Teaching at SFU helped me to learn and understand the potential of BC’s New Curriculum. BTW: IT’S INCREDIBLE!!!
I had 3 outstanding opportunities to present… at (1) EDVENT 2017; (2) IGNITE 35; and (3) TEDxWestVancouverED. I was super excited to present at EDvent… “Better Than Pho” gave me an opportunity to put some of my food pics into a presentation and make connections between my favourite foods and professional learning. I loved presenting at IGNITE 35 (Mixed Tape) with my friend/colleague, to re-declare my love for professional learning with “SING.” Finally, I was able to speak at TEDxWestVancouverED to use the Russian Nesting Doll as a metaphor for the education system and find your place (aka. ALIGNMENT). What I have learned is, I love to public speak but I am not the best at MEMORIZING a script, rehearsing it, and then reiterating it within a time constraint. It’s not natural for me… thus, I spoke REALLY really fast. That said, I would like to thank Gabriel Pillay, Nick Ubels, and Craig Cantile for giving me the opportunity to speak.
This year, I also took the time to participate in TWO MOOCs (Massive Open Online Course)… The first was #IMMOOC Season 3. This was an online learning experience based on George Couros‘s Innovator’s Mindset book. It involved blogging, Twitter Chats, and interviews with educators via YouTube. It was an amazing professional learning experience. You can also find my blog reflections by searching #IMMOOC on my blog page as well. Furthermore, I had the most awesomest experience meeting George Couros in-person at the 2017 BCSSA Fall Conference. He even mentioned me (and pointed me out) during his keynote presentation. We communicated on Twitter DM and we took a selfie. The other MOOC I participated in was offered at UBC titled “Reconciliation Through Indigenous Education.” Again, another AMAZING professional learning experience. There was a tonne of information and insight offered. I was so inspired and understand the importance of land to one’s identity. I recommend this MOOC to all those in education.
It’s always a pleasure being a part of the #BCEdChat co-moderator team and serving on the SD46 (Sunshine Coast) Board of Education. I have recently rejoined the BC Association of Mathematics Teachers (BCAMT) Executive Committee and curling at the Gibsons Curling Club. Curling aside, I am grateful and proud of the opportunities I am involved with to serve and contribute to BC Education that is different from teaching secondary mathematics. I love my #bcedchat co-mod team and PLN, and I am satisfied with the work accomplished by the SD46 Board of Education. Curling is a sport I’ve played since high school but it reminds me of what I like about education and the roles I play. I love the BIG PICTURE. I am interested in systems, policy, and leadership. And, I am driven to find ways to improve the learning experiences of others in the system.
With that clarity… 2017 seemed muddled with UNCERTAINTY. I was uncertain if/when I would finish my dissertation as seen in “data denial.” I struggled with “my story” and perplexed by the “next step” and “now what” to get to “the other side.” There were several blog entries about clarifying and reconnecting to my purpose… ranging from “deep sadness” to “apply and publish” to “it doesn’t matter” to “put in my place.” I deliberately stepped away from leadership opportunities to make time (and space) to complete my dissertation. I needed to stop “living in the wake” to realize life “beyond the wake.” Here’s serendipity… during my vacation, my friend and colleague Karl Lindgren-Streicher tweeted an image of what he was reading on his vacation: PURPOSE TRUMPS PASSION. I could not agree more. A defining moment… I am passionate about teaching & learning, but my purpose is to find ways to enhance the student learning experience.
This holiday AHA was verified with my vacay reading, DRIVE, written by Daniel Pink. BTW: I also met Daniel Pink in-person at the FISA 2016 Conference in Vancouver and used his TED Talk on “The Puzzle of Motivation” several times in my SFU classes to discuss assessment and evaluation. I found his book DRIVE inspiring and validating. AUTONOMY, MASTERY, and PURPOSE… Three variables that TYPE I folks need to thrive in the 21st Century. I love autonomy (aka. freedom), “mastery is a mindset,” and our motivation is driven by a purpose that is greater than ourselves. The idea of FLOW and use of research to define/describe INTRINSIC MOTIVATION resonated with me because it reminded me of Alasdair MacIntyre’s work on excellence and achieving “goods internal to the practice.”
I have come full circle. As uncertain 2017 was, I have accomplished so much and took the time to heal from my story such that I feel that 2018 will be an awesome year. My 2018 One Word is CREATE. Right now I am revising my CV to apply for sessional, tenure, and research positions. I am preparing to present (three times) at the Hawaii International Conference on Education that’s happening on January 4-7. I found an opportunity to facilitate a research study with a school district on communicating student learning. Finally, I hope to do academic writing and publishing, in addition to moving forward with applications to acquire a post-doctoral position and/or funding to pursue further research on mathematics education, teaching & learning, and mentorship. This year has been about LETTING GO, completion, and JOY… but also realizing what’s possible. If I want to help others to realize what’s possible in teaching & learning, I have to do the same.
Thank you 2017. Many lessons learned. Much gratitude.
Written by Christine Ho Younghusband, December 30th, 2017 | Comments Off on Reflecting on 2017
Can this photo get any more accurate? Me… at convocation… taking a selfie. What a great way to depict my YEAR IN REVIEW for 2017. The underlying theme for 2017 was DISSERTATION… and my