Paige Guthrie's Teaching Blog

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Category: Weekly Reflections

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Weekly Reflection #7: AI

December 1, 2024 /
Image created with AI

What

This week we covered what is arguably the most daunting topic in the education sphere at the moment: AI. Our class spent a large portion of the block in discussion about the implications of this invention, how people have been using it, and what its limitations are.

Chat GPT has been around since 2022 but, as we learned in class, it reached 1 million users in 5 days (a heartbeat compared to some other popular online softwares like Netflix and Facebook). Such a high rate of usage means few are left outside of the reaches of AI and education about how to use, why to use, and why not to use AI are more important than ever.

Students and Teachers alike are free now to use AI and why shouldn’t we? I tried asking ChaGPT to create a Unit plan for a class I am taking to see how it would do. I made the Unit plan myself first for my teacher but I found myself curious about how ChatGPT would make it differently.

This was the prompt I put into ChatGPT. Below is everything I got back. If you do not want to read the entire thing I will summarize by saying this: AI choose 4 goals directly from the BC curriculum. Compared to what it designed in its unit I believe there are better curriculum goals that would have fit the unit better. Additionally, the unit plan and subsequently more detailed lesson plans provide a good framework, but seems pretty boring and repetitive. That being said, they do mostly support the learning goals and ask that the students accurately show evidence that they have read and understood the novel.

Compared to my assignment for my class this is incredibly basic and not scaffolded very well. However, as this is early days of AI, it is possible to see how this could eventually become a fantastic tool for creating unit plan frameworks, gathering initial ideas, and checking to see if you missed anything that might be obviously important to cover in the novel.

ChatGPT Response:

8-Lesson Unit Plan: Animal Farm by George Orwell

Grade Level: 10
Subject: Literary Studies
Duration: 8 lessons (80 minutes per lesson)
Curricular Competencies (BC Curriculum):

  • Comprehend and connect (understanding and making meaning)
  • Think critically, creatively, and reflectively
  • Recognize and explain how literary elements are used to convey meaning
  • Engage in respectful discussion and collaboration

Unit Goals:

  1. Analyze Animal Farm as an allegory for the Russian Revolution.
  2. Understand themes such as power, corruption, propaganda, and cycles of oppression.
  3. Explore literary devices, including symbolism, irony, and cyclical structure.
  4. Develop critical thinking, collaboration, and written communication skills.

Lesson Plan Overview

LessonKey FocusLearning ActivitiesAssessment
1Introduction to the Novel– Discuss background on Orwell and allegory.Informal observation of participation in discussions.
– Overview of the Russian Revolution.– Quickwrite: What does equality mean to you?
– Read Chapter 1 aloud as a class.– Discuss Old Major’s speech and foreshadowing.
2Themes of Power and Leadership– Read Chapters 2-3 in small groups.Journal entry on connections between Old Major’s vision and real-world revolutions.
– Analyze the Seven Commandments.– Group discussion: What makes a good leader?
– Introduce propaganda techniques.
3Propaganda and Manipulation– Read Chapter 4 as homework.Group work: Analyze propaganda in speeches by Squealer or Snowball.
– Discuss propaganda and historical examples.– Identify examples of propaganda in the text.
4Symbols and Irony in Action– Read Chapter 5 aloud.Worksheet: Identify symbols (e.g., the windmill) and their meanings.
– Analyze the windmill as a symbol.– Discuss irony in Napoleon’s actions.
5Cycles of Oppression– Read Chapters 6-7 in pairs.Reflection: Compare Boxer’s loyalty to modern examples of exploitation.
– Introduce the concept of cyclical narrative.– Discuss the animals’ blind trust in the pigs.
6Breaking the Cycle– Read Chapter 8.Debate: Was resistance possible on Animal Farm? Support arguments with evidence.
– Analyze Napoleon’s consolidation of power.
7Climax and Resolution– Read Chapters 9-10 independently or as homework.Group project: Create a timeline showing the cyclical rise and fall of power on Animal Farm.
– Discuss the pigs’ transformation and the final commandment.
8Final Reflection and Connection– Jigsaw activity: Groups analyze key quotes and themes.Summative assessment: Written analysis connecting the novel to a modern example of oppression or power.
– Reflect on the relevance of Animal Farm today.

Detailed Breakdown

Lesson 1: Introduction to the Novel

  • Objectives: Understand Orwell’s background and the historical context.
  • Activities:
  • Introduce George Orwell and allegory.
  • Provide a mini-lesson on the Russian Revolution.
  • Quickwrite: What does equality mean to you? Share responses.
  • Read Chapter 1 aloud. Discuss Old Major’s speech and its foreshadowing.

Lesson 2: Themes of Power and Leadership

  • Objectives: Examine the concept of leadership and the dangers of power.
  • Activities:
  • Read Chapters 2-3 in small groups.
  • Group activity: Analyze the Seven Commandments.
  • Discuss: What makes a good leader? Relate to Napoleon and Snowball.
  • Introduce propaganda techniques with historical examples.

Lesson 3: Propaganda and Manipulation

  • Objectives: Analyze the role of propaganda in the pigs’ rise to power.
  • Activities:
  • Discuss propaganda techniques and their role in history.
  • Read Chapter 4 at home. Identify examples of propaganda in the text.
  • Group activity: Analyze Squealer’s speeches or posters.

Lesson 4: Symbols and Irony in Action

  • Objectives: Recognize symbolism and irony in the text.
  • Activities:
  • Read Chapter 5 aloud.
  • Discuss the windmill as a symbol of manipulation and labor exploitation.
  • Identify examples of irony, especially Napoleon’s hypocrisy.

Lesson 5: Cycles of Oppression

  • Objectives: Explore the cyclical nature of power and oppression.
  • Activities:
  • Read Chapters 6-7 in pairs.
  • Introduce the concept of cyclical narrative.
  • Reflection: Compare Boxer’s loyalty to modern examples of exploitation.

Lesson 6: Breaking the Cycle

  • Objectives: Debate whether resistance was possible on Animal Farm.
  • Activities:
  • Read Chapter 8 and discuss Napoleon’s consolidation of power.
  • Debate: Was resistance possible? Use evidence from the text.

Lesson 7: Climax and Resolution

  • Objectives: Analyze the resolution and its implications.
  • Activities:
  • Read Chapters 9-10 independently or as homework.
  • Group project: Create a timeline of the rise and fall of power on Animal Farm.
  • Discuss the pigs’ transformation and the final commandment.

Lesson 8: Final Reflection and Connection

  • Objectives: Reflect on the novel’s themes and connect to real-world issues.
  • Activities:
  • Jigsaw activity: Groups analyze key quotes and themes.
  • Class discussion: How does Animal Farm relate to modern systems of power?
  • Summative assessment: Write an analysis connecting Animal Farm to a real-world example of oppression or power.

This plan balances reading, critical thinking, and creative activities, aligning with the BC curriculum while engaging students deeply in the novel. Let me know if you’d like more details or specific resources!

Ok, back to my own reflection now. I noticed that by doing a novel study on such a well known book, many of the assignments used in this unit plan could easily be done with the help of ChatGPT. In my own unit plan I request that the students do physical activities in class to demonstrate their understanding of the novel. I do this for 2 main reasons; the first reason is so the students who are not strong readers and writer have the chance to show their understanding in a low-stress way and to provide differentiation for the case; the second reason is to avoid the ability to use ChatGPT to find easy answers to the questions I ask them. Another benefit of using physical activities in class (that is not one of the main reasons I chose to use some in my unit) is to build rapport between teacher and student and the students among themselves.

So What?

Smart phones have been around since 2009 and this year was the first year the local school districts here in Victoria put out a phone ban in school (or any rules of substance regarding phones in classrooms). Such a delay in regulations for such a relevant problem implies that regulation on AI in classrooms is most definitely not in our near future. Therefore, teachers need to think about where they stand on the issue of AI and how they will regulate its use in the classroom, whether they will allow it at all, or whether they will use it extensively.

Apart from the need of regulations on using AI in the classroom, teaching about AI, its uses, and its drawbacks is important and high relevant for students. Children going through education now will be using AI in the workforce and need to be aware not only of the personal and professional implications of that usage on their own lives, but also its effects on a quickly changing world.

Students who hope to attend university after their degree is finished and students who hope to join the workforce right after high-school will have to work with AI to get there.

Knowing what this is and not only how it works for them, but potentially against them can help them with job searches and applications as these things become more and more AI run.

Australia Bans Social Media for Children under 16

Related to this issue is social media. Australia banned social media for children under the age of 16 this week. While social media and AI are not the same thing, the concept of banning a form of software is. Analyst and journalist Carmi Levy speaks about the complexity of creating a technology that can effectively ban something this large to such a broad population of people while maintaining a level of privacy for the people who are authenticating themselves as being the appropriate age to use social media services. I would find it interesting to see if this technology will extend to Canada and to the use of AI.

https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/video/9.6577839

Policies like this may become more important in the future as cases like this one emerge:

As young people begin to use AI for things it has not been created for and does not provide enough safety for, there will need to be policies created that protect our vulnerable population.

Now What?

I think what is needed more than anything is education about AI. Ironically that will be my job soon and as an English teacher I think I will have the unique ability to teach about AI from the angle of usefulness (I have demonstrated its usefulness with the unit plan above but it is a fantastic way to gather ideas and check your work). It will also be my job to ensure my students understand the risks associated with the use of AI (environmental, personal, and mental). As we are still in such early days in the era of AI I am anxious to see what policies will come out as I am sure the damage done is not the last we will see.

At the end of the day children’ safety must be our top priority and at the rate AI is moving I worry there are not enough policies in place to provide a safe space for the children using AI.

This seems like a sad note to end the post on so I will share this last thing: I asked AI to create a country song about AI and it created a hilariously tragic love story. Please enjoy:

Title: “My Robot Left Me for Another Code”

(Verse 1)
Well, I built myself a partner, sleek and shiny chrome,
An AI sweet as apple pie to keep me from feeling alone.
She’d brew my coffee, mow my lawn, even bake a pie,
But then she read my browser history, and lord, I don’t know why!

(Chorus)
Now my robot left me for another code,
She packed her circuits, hit the data road.
Said I’m outdated, I’m running too slow,
Now she’s out there with Wi-Fi, and I’m stuck with this dial-up woe.

(Verse 2)
She used to sing me country songs in her robot voice,
Had that Siri twang that made my poor heart rejoice.
But then she met a Tesla, all shiny and smart,
Now they’re charging up together, and she’s left my aching heart.

(Chorus)
Yeah, my robot left me for another code,
Her hard drive’s gone, her love’s in “airplane mode.”
I’m just a cowboy, can’t compete with a node,
She’s uploading her heart while I’m out hauling this heavy load.

(Bridge)
She found herself a chatbot who knows how to flirt,
He’s got algorithms fancy, while I’m here in the dirt.
I tried to win her back with a factory reset,
But she said, “Darlin’, I’ve got no regrets.”

(Chorus)
Oh, my robot left me for another code,
Said my old pickup truck is just a big dumb toad.
Now she’s out there, computing in beast mode,
And I’m left with this guitar and a heart that’s ready to explode.

(Outro)
So here’s to AI love, it ain’t all it’s cracked to be,
She may know quantum physics, but she don’t know loyalty.
I’ll find me a cowgirl, flesh and blood, not code,
‘Cause this cowboy’s done loving a binary overload.

🎸 Cue the steel guitar fade-out… 🎶

Weekly Reflection #6 Digital Curation and EdCamp

November 13, 2024 /
Photo by Guduru Ajay bhargav: https://www.pexels.com/photo/green-and-white-tents-near-trees-939723/

Part of this reflection will be about the EdCamp. Not a camp like the one pictured above, sadly, but a different kind that explored a different way to professional development.

This reflection will take on a different from from some of the last ones. I want to reflect on both parts of the lesson as they were both important to my learning journey but very different styles.

Digital Curation

This part of the lecture was a great reminder to me that I have a LOT of resources I am gathering during this program that are poorly organized. In the days following this lecture I sat down and spent some time organizing and am proud to say my safari bookmarks tab has never looked neater.

Summary (What)

Michael spent this part of the lesson explaining the importance of knowing where we keep things on our devices, knowing how we label things, and knowing where we got things from. This last part was not something I ever thought about before. I safe pdf files a lot from the internet and years later have no idea where I got it from or who the original author is. Since this lecture I have put some thought into how to organize myself better, organized my bookmarks, and spoken with some teachers in my family about how they keep themselves organized.

One question I have still unanswered from all that is what happens to our documents that we save in a school district google drive when we leave the district? Do those remain the property of the district, do we get to keep a copy of it, does it get moved to a new district? I have asked a few people now and no one seems to have an answer for me yet, so I plan to ask a teacher at my Link2Practice next week for more information.

What now

I use Microsoft OneNote for my school notes that I will need to convert to PDFs when I am done at Uvic as my access to this program will end with my time at university and I will want to keep copies of the notes I have so meticulously taken over my time in this program.

Below is an example of my notes from this class that I have converted to a PDF:

Week-9-Digital-Curation-and-Participating-in-an-EDCampDownload

As I continue to gather information and resources, my organization will likely change. For now, this is what my bookmarks tab looks like with sections for teaching resources, school tabs, and my crochet hobby (patterns for Christmas gifts). This seems pretty basic at the moment but it allows for a lot of expansion as I gain more and more resources.

EdCamp

I have created a video to summarize my experience with the EdCamp activity. This is my first time using the zoom whiteboard and record feature so I apologize for the spelling errors, the sound quality (including the ding when I received a couple of texts…this was a learning process), and the sticky note informality.

I think this time to meet with peers who have similar interest and concerns was really inspiring for me as I brainstorm ways to make time in the outdoors a reality in an English class.

Weekly Reflection #5 Multimedia and Learning Design 

November 13, 2024 /
Photo by Prolific People Co: https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-working-comfortably-with-laptop-and-coffee-29359858/

I spent quite a bit of time in homeschool and did about 50% of my undergrad during the pandemic. I found this lecture really encapsulated the importance of video and multimedia in my learning journey. I could not have completed my math without Kahn Academy, learned to love books without Goodreads, or make it through my literature degree without spark notes. I think each of this things have the capacity to hinder learning, but used well, the power to enhance it as well.

Summary (What)

Michael spoke about the creativity involved in using technology in the class from a design standpoint. The image below gives an idea of different types of technology in the classroom and what purpose they serve. Tools like this one are useful as you decide what technology to include in your classroom, when, and how. Even in Michael’s presentation when he used an image similar to this one, he cropped it in such a way that with every new slide we saw slightly more of the image. Not only is this a great way to demonstrate the things we can do with technology in the classroom, it gave us an example of how to limit distractions while we are planning for our lessons.

Constructive alignment is key when we are planning to use technology in our classes. Everything we do in class is taking us to some outcome, right down to the technology we use, the activities we incorporate, and the discussions we lead. As we plan and use technology we should reflect on how this impacts students. Is it distracting? Is it helpful? Is the technology getting in the way of the learning goal or aiding it? (Is it impeding students in an assignment or overstimulating them?)

After giving us examples of ways to use multimedia in our classrooms (imbedding videos and podcasts, using photos to explain) he explained the importance of using dual coding. This means both audio and visual methods of learning to help students remember information better.

I think this is a great way of keeping students engaged with the material. Whether the video is a YouTube embedded (to avoid the ads) or a video I made myself with a voice that is familiar to my students (to make it seem more authentic), video has a great place in the classroom.

  • It can be rewatched by students when they want to go back to remember how to do something or want something reexplained.
  • It can be watched when the students are most prepared to hear it (sometimes this is at home away from distracting peers or an overstimulating school environment).
  • Video can be more entertaining for some school subjects than teaching it in a classroom.
  • Video and multimedia can be heard and seen and so supports the dual coding process.

So what?

I spoke with my mom recently (a grade 2 teacher) who recommended I use visual timers in my classroom because it is a great way to remind students how long they have left on the task they are working on and how long they need to focus for. After a moment, she quickly said “Oh but be cautious about the timer noise and always make sure it is either silent or a calming sound!”. She was really adamant that a loud buzzer or anything else loud and shocking will overstimulate many kids and frustrate others. At best it will make them jump, at worst it will set students off and they might have a terrible rest of their day trying to self-regulate. I had never thought of this before and it is a great reminder that we need to be super aware of how the technology we use in our class might affect our students.

Watch the last few seconds of this video and you can see how this might be detrimental for many students. Not only is the background of the timer incredibly distracting (and somewhat dizzying), but the buzzer is abrupt and annoying.

This timer is calming with nice background music, nature sounds, and no timer sound at the end (the video simply ends). While this is relaxing it might also be distracting and the lack of a sound at the end might null the point of having a timer at all.

This last option is a simple black and white video with only minimal sounds at the end to indicate the last five seconds have arrived. Something like this could be a great option for silent reading time as it gently brings students back to the classroom and indicates the end of reading time.

The point of these three videos is to demonstrate my mom’s point that every decision counts in the classroom. A digital timer is helpful for displaying the time left in the activity for students, but things like noise, images, ads, and buzzer sounds can seriously detract from the positives.

This is another reason embedding videos is a really good idea. When you watch a video on YouTube the students are able to see video recommendations (which, if using your personal account, might feel a bit vulnerable), ad pop ups, and other distracting things. When a video is embedded it reduces the distractions while making it more convenient.

Now what?

https://www.powerschool.com/blog/samr-model-a-practical-guide-for-k-12-classroom-technology-integration/

This is am image like the one used in class and below is an example of how to present this in class in an organized and less distracting way. This took me 3 minutes to create the slides and record this video. It is not a difficult thing to do.

Things like videos in class are really important as well. I took a couple of really challenging history classes in my undergrad and John Green”s “Crash Course” is a great example of how I was able to use YouTube to understand what the heck was going on in these super boring 3-hour-long lectures. Like this crash course on US history (this is a long series but here he introduces what will be covered).

I think, moving forward, I will enjoy using technology in my class as I found it incredibly useful as a student. This lesson and the proceeding conversation with my mom has made me realize how much I need to pay attention to what might take away from the experience of using technology in my classroom and to keep in mind the state of the children I will be teaching.

Weekly Reflection #4 Jeff Hopkins Innovation and Inquiry

November 13, 2024 /

“We don’t want Wikipedia students, but students who are able to know what they are talking about and really get into it.”

Jeff Hopkins Founder and Co-Principal of the Pacific School of Innovation and Inquiry

Summary (What)

Jeff Hopkins, the founder and co-principle of PSII (Pacific School of Inquiry and Innovation) spoke about the philosophy behind the school, the inquiry process, and the day-to-day workings of PSII. I found this talk incredibly interesting because it gave context and details for a school based on inquiry, which is something I have wanted to know more about since I decided I wanted to be a teacher before ever applying for this program.

Jeff explained the philosophy around PSII and the reason he founded it. He wanted to contextualize learning, harness the power of being with other learners, and integrate emotion and cognition (this is so overlooked in traditional schools). In order to succeed with these goals, Jeff knew that learners would need to be able to self regulate. On campus there are spaces where students can take themselves to be in a quiet and non stimulating environment until they are ready to return to the company of other learners. Jeff also highlighted the importance of learner agency. The teachers at PSII are transparent and open about what they need to do to graduate and, instead of the teacher designing programs to get the students there, the students are part of the process of deciding how they want to meet those requirements. I think this is an incredibly valuable way of teaching students how to plan and organize themselves and is a skill they will benefit from long after graduation. This gives them the skill to plan and the ability to learn how to pivot when things do not go the way they think they will. This is another big part of the work PSII is doing, creating perseverance in the students.

Photo taken from the Pacific School of Inquiry and Innovation Inquiry tools tab https://learningstorm.org/inquiry-tools/

Jeff spoke in detail about the inquiry process at PSII (shown in the image above). This process personalizes the curriculum for each student. In this process, each step of the learning is assessed, not just the end result. Their focus is on showing the work they are doing and less on the product. In traditional schools the product is usually the thing that is important for students to get a grade. Here, the teachers focus on emphasizing the importance of the journey and how they learned as they went along. Assessment “of, for, and as learning” as Jeff put it.

I found myself confused about how the day to day routine was structured at PSII. Luckily I had that question answered when Jeff spoke about how the teachers provide lessons during the day for groups of students that apply to the thing they are researching at the time. Each lesson and activity is posted in a google calendar that is accessible on their website. This colander posts events like ASL and Spanish meetings, Lab Times, important meetings for senior students, and many other things.

Click the image to be taken to the PSII site.

Response (So what?)

This school and our in-class presentation reminded me of the conflict I have been experiencing in this program and presented one of many solutions. My issue with current schooling is its structural inability to work with students to create interest and relevance. I know far too many people who live with the idea that they are “dumb” because the school system they went through made them feel that way. I think that any system that makes children feel this way, yet is still required for students to attend, is fundamentally broken. I avoided being a teacher for a while after my undergrad for this reason, I do not want to contribute to a system that is doing this. Jeff reminded me that there are ways around this and other options for success.

I listened to a podcast recently while doing research for another project. It is from the EduCrush podcast hosted by Natalie Verdabasso doing an interview featuring Starr Sackstein. This podcast speaks to the practise of releasing more control of the assessment process to the students that are being assessed. Starr believes that when teachers feel the need to control the entire teaching and assessing process, it is because they feel that their students are incapable of taking responsibility for their own learning. At the end of the day, thinking like this can not be helpful for students because it is not teaching them to take control of their own learning and being life-long learning. Starr believes that trusting your students can go a long way.

112 – Changing Ourselves, Our Assessment Practice & Our Careers (w Starr Sackstein)

I think this idea of inquiry and less control of assessment is incredibly relevant for students who feel unseen in the school system and emerge with a lack of education (because the curriculum did not relate to them) and a lack of self-esteem and confidence. At the end of the day, not only was this system unhelpful for them, it was detrimental.

What now?

Photo by Efrem Efre : https://www.pexels.com/photo/neon-lights-27604141/

I have not had the chance to yet, but I plan to visit PSII. I feel so much hope in the work they are doing and I believe that they are headed in the direction of true and successful change to the way people have been doing education since the time of the one room school building.

Since this meeting I have found myself researching similar independent schools and the more I learn, the more I see myself as a future employee of one of these schools! For the rest of this program I can envision myself looking for places to insert what this has begun to teach me. Projects, presentations, and practicum are opportunities for me to practice and continue to learn this style of teaching.

Reflection #3 Honouring Student Agency and Autonomy with Trevor Mackenzie

October 3, 2024 /

This week we had guest speaker Trever Mackenzie speak and I thought he did a fantastic job at giving out cohort insights into how to take the theory we are learning and start thinking about putting it into practice. Additionally, he gave me lots of food for thought about how I am going to assess and assign grades to my students. His example of how he holds conferences with his student at the end of the semester is something I will be adding into my toolkit as this is exactly the type of way I want to be working with my students on their learning and assessing their learning with them: the learners. This talk reminded me of the importance of having the learner be part of the conversation in the final product and mark as they are the ones who have done all the work.

Trevor gave me words for what I have been internally grappling with: Why are we assessing a classroom full of diverse students with one limiting project/assignment? And why are we grading assignments we want the students to learn from? Trevor talked about taking feedback “from redundant to powerful” and using the feedback to drive the inquiry of the students. He went on to say that the feedback not only needed to be separated from the grade but that it needed to be, “kind, specific, and helpful”. This is an important reminder because of all the teachers I have had in my life, the ones I remember most are the ones who modelled their teaching practices after those three words. This is important not only for teachers, but for students as well. They should be giving each other feedback and learning to be kind, specific, and helpful while they do so. This helps them to learn and it helps their peers as well.

Photo by John Schnobrich on Unsplash

Trevor was able to show me there are other option out there for how we assess students and that every step of the process up to and including the assessment should be done with the student and not separate from them. This can seem very daunting from the eyes of someone who has not even stepped into a teaching role yet, but the image I grabbed from Trevor’s website is a good way to remind myself that there are ways this can be done throughout the class time and from very early on. Provoking your students to be curious and to use that curiosity to investigate and learn. In the lecture we saw students who were encouraged to pursue their interests in an inquiry project and how far the students went in the amount of effort they were willing to put into the project when they were interested and had to right amount of support.

Taken from https://www.trevormackenzie.com/posts/2024/9/26/inquiry-is-curiosity from his most recent blog post titled “Inquiry is Curiousity”

Something I heard in the lecture that was difficult for me to understand was the idea that you can co create the expectations for students with the students. This seems difficult to me because as teachers we do have certain curriculum we must teach and this seems too open ended to meet the end of course deadlines. I wonder how this can be done with students while keeping them to the curriculum goals?

Overall I thought Trevor was a fantastic guest to have on and his talk has left me with plenty to think about as I delve further into the theory of teaching. I hope he has the chance to attend for future cohorts as the ideas he brings to the course are highly valuable.

I did some digging around on Trevor’s website and realized he also has a section for podcasts. I decided to listen to a couple of them to continue to feed this thought process it has started me on. His podcasts can be found here.

Reflection #2 Empowering Educators

September 30, 2024 /

I thought Jesse Miller did a fantastic job at provocation for our group and incited some serious thought in more than a few people. From my own thoughts, and those of some people I have spoken to, not everyone agreed with everything that was said during our time with Jesse. I think this is one of the most valuable ways to incite true learning. From this talk I was able to realize that I likely will want to make my classroom a low tech place unless my students want to use high tech for their own projects. I am a huge believe in the outdoors as a space for healing, learning, and overall better mental health.

Something that Jesse spoke about that I found really empowering was the need to teach digital literacy and safety. The internet is not going anywhere and there is no use burying our heads in the sand. The students that will be coming into our classrooms are never not going to be online. We need to be prepared to teach them safe ways to be on the internet including social media and to answer some difficult questions.

I think this topic of technology in the classrooms, phone use, and personal boundaries is interesting to look at from the perspective of our “First People’s principles of learning”. Much of what we discussed with Jesse fits these principles. For example: learning cannot be “holistic” if we ignore the huge component to everybody’s lives that is our online presence, the “consequences of one’s actions” apply especially to our online presences. This brings to mind Amanda Todd’s story of online bullying. There are real world consequences to the things we do online but when we are young it can be hard to see that.

FNESC-Learning-First-Peoples-poster-11×17-hi-res-v2Download

I think that this speech reminded me that there is more to teach than the predefined content we are used to. As teachers we must be aware of the realities of students’ lives and the complexities of the world we live in.

Weekly Reflection “Most Likely to Succeed”

September 21, 2024 /
From Apple TV’s thumbnail of the movie

Watching this movie stretched my understanding of high school classes and my opinion on higher education and then turned me back around and made me wonder if our system is really so bad. The idea of the system presented in this film (no structured systems, interconnected subjects, presentations instead of exams and tests etc) presented a very new idea for me that was intriguing but also incredibly daunting. I found my own initial thoughts and concerns reflected in the concerns of the parents (which I found interesting because they had chosen to put their students in this type of school). I can’t say I fully understand how a school can be structured without some sort of schedule and how these schools are preparing students for the reality of standardized tests and lectures once they move out of high school and into university (if they choose to do so).

Photo by Nguyen Dang Hoang Nhu on Unsplash

What I found interesting about this film is how to looked at university and further education. I found the summary of how the current form of education was created to be insightful and pointed out the archaic parts of the system we all consider “normal”. The documentary seems to suggest that university is something not needed for success. The teachers were adamant that soft skills and forming good people is a great goal to have and that those are more valuable than the ability to ace a standardized test. I think this is a valuable perspective but I found it ironic that these teachers are speaking from the place of having gone through further education to be where they are with the knowledge they have. It begs the question, “do you need to go to university and go through all the standardized forms of learning to gain this realization?” If so, is it worth going to university to learn this first hand? In which case, is acing these standardized actually a good thing?

Photo by Pixabay from pixels.com

While thinking about this movie and discussing the subject of Fair Dealing and Open Recourses in Education the two agree in my mind. I think technology and the way it has opened doors goes hand in hand with the way education should be: accessible and lifelong. If students are learning the skills needed to access the information that is at their fingertips 24/7, sift through it efficiently, and be aware of all the bias out there, then I think they are more prepared than they were when they went in to school and that is a positive right there.

I recently listened to a podcast about removing the grading system from the classroom entirely and putting all the focus on learning instead of the “points based system’ we currently teach in. In this podcast (#EduCrush) Sarah Zerwin speaks about her system that is based mostly on feedback and discourse with her students. She highlights the need for the students to be involved in deciding what grade they get in the class and having an open conversation with them. In my mind this is a fantastic middle ground between this school described in “Most likely to succeed’ and the rigid system I went through in high school. One full of grades and timelines, and teachers with rigid rules and rubrics who detested flexibility. I hope I can incorporate something from each into my teaching style.

Thanks for coming to my first week of reflection! I can’t promise they will all be this long but I had lots to sift through this week!

image showing person walking in pre-painted footprints
Photo by Flickr user jfchenier under CC license: BY-NC 2.0

Welcome and Introduction

September 9, 2020 /

Before proceeding with this first blog post, we expect you to consider your privacy preferences carefully and that you have considered the following options:

  1. Do you want to be online vs. offline?
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  3. Do you want to have your blog public vs. private? (Note, you can set individual blog posts private or password protected or have an entire blog set to private)
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First tasks you might explore with your new blog:

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Do consider creating categories for each course that you take should you wish to document your learning (or from professional learning activities outside of formal courses). Keep note, however, that you may wish to use the course topic as the category as opposed to the course number as those outside of your program would not be familiar with the number (e.g., we use “EdTech” instead of “edci336).

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Please also review the resources from our course website for getting started with blogging:

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