Diversity in the Classroom

For my final blog I would like to review what I have learned this semester and how my perception has changed towards teaching and how I will view my teaching techniques in the future. In connection with EDUC 8P19, another course that I am taking right now (which focuses on classroom management) I find my perception changing on how I view myself as a future teacher. Practices and theories are becoming more relevant to the specific classroom setting. Upon doing my placement for EDUC 8P19 I found myself making a lot of connections to the theories learned in both EDUC 8P19 and EDUC 4P19. What struck me most was the amount of diversity within the classroom, not only in my placement but in my education classes was the importance of understanding your students and their different stories. 

http://amsetze.wikispaces.com/file/view/embracing_diversity.jpg/105880733/embracing_diversity.jpg

During genius hour, my group chose to focus on the idea of knowing your students stories, and their cultural diversity that contributes to the overall shared classroom culture.  For our project we created a “Humans of Education” blog which is based on the Humans of New York blog. Our blog displays a variety of pictures with students personal experiences in which each student gives a brief testimony about their own story. Each story described by the various students we interviewed highlights their own experience in the classroom with diversity and how their story affected their education. At the beginning of the semester Professor Drake discussed the importance of story and understanding how stories are developed and how they are continually changing. Through the genius hour project I learned in more depth the importance of story in the classroom.

Humans of Education Blog

Furthermore, through placement I also learned the importance of diversity and story within the classroom. I really enjoyed this because it opened my eyes to actually see how diverse the classroom environment is. It is one thing to read about diversity and another to experience it. The high school that I was in was located in a low to middle income area in which the students were not only ethnically diverse, but also economically diverse. Some students within each of the classrooms also have learning and behavioural issues which effects their educational story. One teacher expressed to me that she was dependent on doing vertical scans in order to understand what the students had learned prior to them entering her classroom in order to set up expectations. Once that was understood, the teacher created an individual classroom culture in which the students would understand the learning expectations based on their level of prior education. It would allow for them to bring in their own cultural stories to interpret their new classroom curriculum. Being in this classroom allowed me to understand how theory relates to practice and was very eye opening as to how crucial cultural diversity and stories are to the classroom learning environment. 

Lastly, I wanted to discuss how my own story has changed as a result of this course. Understanding my own story towards education and further challenging notions of 21st century skills has added to how I view myself as a teacher. Before entering this class I was unaware of the concept of 21st century skills but was pleased to find out that I am a product of these teaching methods. Therefore, incorporating and being aware of these skills and understanding the importance of technology in the classroom has given me the confidence to want to create a classroom environment and culture in which technology is able to bring students together regardless of their different stories. But lastly, I also want to use technology to embrace different stories and ethnicity which will allow for my students to be proud of their own story and to use this to further their own education.

Below this video discusses how teachers can become culturally diverse educators in order to understand and capitalize on the backgrounds of their students:  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uV36efjBKRU

21st Century Skills, Learning and Teaching

21st Century Skills, Learning and Teaching

A concept that we have been discussing in class this semester is the idea of 21st century learning. Before this class, I had never even heard of the concept of 21st century learning, which is kind of weird to me because aren’t I a product of this 21st century learning system? Well maybe not…. 

So how do we as students, having grown up in the 21st century educational system, and yet have not engaged in this new pedagogy of learning adjust to becoming teachings employing these methods of 21st century learning? 

Lets start with some basics. You might be asking your self what are some skills that a 21st century learner has?

Well some 21st century learning skills include:

- inquiry and research

- critical thinking

- problem solving

- organization

- collaboration

- communication

 (Drake, Kolohon, & Reid, 3-4).

So as students how can we effectively participate in 21st century learning?

Here’s some tips:

1) Participate in class.

- Even if you don’t understand in the material, make the effort to understand! Try and engage with your classmates in order to figure out what’s what.

2) Become self-motivated.

- Yes, we all have those classes that are boring or we only take because they fulfill a context credit. But try and find the positives of this class, or the positives of the classes that you do love. It will make the learning and comprehending portion of the class that much easier! 

3) Think about what you’re learning in a more holistic manner.

- For example, think about what you’re learning in class, and how it relates to the broader spectrum of life, your career and even broader themes in the course. Not only will it provide you with a better understanding of the course material but will also give you a better insight into how your education is applicable to real world situations.

4) Embrace technology.

- At this point we all have cell phones, computers, ipads, facebook and all of those fun and countless other forms of social media. So why not embrace the fact that you get to use your computer to find resources and youtube clips etc! Instead of complaining about research (which yes is painful) embrace the fact that we have SO much available at our fingertips than our parents would have ever done!

5) Be Cognitive of your learning habits or as we all know it “Metacognitive”.

- Understanding how you learn and being reflective of what you’ve learn can prove to be SO incredibly useful. It will not only allow you to understand how you learn, but help you in the future to learn better and embrace your learning methods

- Incorporating past knowledge and being aware of what you’ve learned and being cognitive of that in order to connect what you are presently learning will allow for a much better understanding of your subject material

- After all, it was our educational god, John Dewey, who suggested that the reflective practitioner is the one who is able to learn more effectively (Drake, Kolohon, & Reid, 147). 

Okay. So now we all kind of have this idea of how to embrace being a 21st century learner, but how exactly do we transfer this knowledge and adapt to becoming a 21st century teacher, who not only employs 21st century skills but capitalizes on 21st century learning methods for students?

As teachers we must be able to foster an environment that promotes not only intrinsic motivation, meaning that our students want to learn without reward, but also promote passion based learning. Once our students become passionate about learning, making it personal, then students will be able to fully capitalize on their own learning. Through employing 21st century skills we as teachers will be able to foster this positive learning environment. By being engaging as teachers and providing a variety of methods of learning, such as learning through technology via Skype sessions with professionals and other worldly connections students will become interested in the material. Being passionate as teachers about the subjects we are teaching will also help to further engage our students as well. Lastly, capitalize on group work and collaboration! Get your class to look at the bigger picture. Working through nonprofit organizations and social justice will allow for a more meaningful educational process for your students. 

SO, to you, future teachers of the 21st century skills, I pose this thought.

Be the one to engage, to challenge your notions of learning and to be the progress motivators and explorers of new ways and methods of learning. With technology and the world at our finger tips, find the best way that you as a teacher can capitalize on these amazing inventions. Your students will learn from you but be able to teach you as well. Keep and open mind and embrace modernity. Because in the great words of Emma Watson, if not now, when? and if not me, then who?

Also, if you want some more information on how to embrace 21st century learning check out this awesome video!

Drake, S. M., Kolohon, M., & Reid, J. L. (2014). Interweaving Curriculum and Classroom Assessment: Engaging the 21st-Century Learner. Don Mills, Canada: Oxford University Press. 

An Engaging Curriculum

The backward design for curriculum is based upon three different steps in which the first deals with identifying learners goals, the second is to determine the evidence for how these goals will be accomplished and the third plans the activities that will help the students to acquire the knowledge for the task (Drake, Kolohon, & Reid, 58). This curriculum design basis therefore has three or four (including the pre-step) stages in which curriculum must go through while  being designed. Each stage has its own set of complex steps that must be followed in order to maximize the curriculum that the students are being taught. 

I found that chapter 3 of the Professor’s text and the lecture this past week were very informative to actual and practical teaching methods. Up until now, most of my education classes have focused on the idea of theory. While learning about theory it is extremely evident that there is a large gap between theory and practice. However, I feel that this past week has shown that learning more about curriculum practices enables us to put the knowledge of the theory of curriculum design to practice in the real teaching world. Furthermore, I also enjoyed looking at the high school curriculum books. I was given a grade 9/10 world studies book that included geography, history and civics and my first teachable happens to be history! So examining the grade 10 history curriculum and expectations for the material that the students will learn, was really interesting. The last time I was presented this material was when I was in grade 10 history, so being exposed to the curriculum side of the lessons and the construction of themes and big questions for how history is taught is definitely eye opening. Being exposed to the curriculum made me very excited and was a reminder that I am in a field that I love! It was great to finally see practice and theory aligning themselves. 

Chapter 3 of the Professor’s text also highlighted all of the steps that it takings in planning an engaging and dynamic curriculum to suit the students needs. I guess a common misconception when you’re a student is that teachers have the easy job. I remember sitting in a high school classroom just bombarded with school work thinking to myself, “oh things will be so much easier when I’m a teacher, all you have to do is teach and grade”. BOY, was I wrong. A teacher quoted in Interweaving Curriculum and Classroom Assessment says "This is the most exhausting work I've ever done, but also the most exciting and rewarding!" (Drake, Kolohon, & Reid, 123Ten Common Myths About Teaching). The intricate process of planning curriculum seems time consuming and ever changing. One could say I definitely have a stronger appreciation for my high school teachers and everything that they did for us. 

I also think that the “Know Do Be” model is a fantastic model to get students critically thinking about the topics that they’re learning. When you get to university, professors expect the students to become critical learners, and now by fourth year we are well on our way to understanding not only our chosen majors in a critical way, but also observing the world through a critical lens as well. Upon entering university this notion of critical thinking appeared new to me, never having been addressed this notion in highschool. The Know Do Be method suggests otherwise. First a student must know the content, do the skills required, and possess the learner’s traits (be) that are required to fulfill curriculum requirements. Therefore, the do in particular pushes for not only 21st century skills, but also the awareness of what they are doing and how the curriculum relates to the bigger world. Therefore, the roots of critically thinking are established in high school as a result of the KDB model. 

Below is a link that outlines 10 misconceptions about teaching and is an interesting read !

Ten Common Misconceptions About Teaching

Drake, S. M., Kolohon, M., & Reid, J. L. (2014). Interweaving Curriculum and Classroom Assessment: Engaging the 21st-Century Learner. Don Mills, Canada: Oxford University Press. 

Traditional vs Constructivist Teaching Methods

Last week in class we discussed the material from chapter one of our textbook, Interweaving Curriculum and Classroom Assessment focusing on the ideas of a new story of curriculum, instruction and assessment. Something interesting that I learned from this chapter is that at the base of these three main components of the chapter is the base in which a teacher identifies themselves with, whether that be traditional teaching or constructivist teaching. Traditional teaching is a method that involves a teacher centred classroom environment, meaning that the  teacher plans the classroom in a way in which they establish themselves above the students in order to create control (Drake, Kolohon, & Reid, 2014). Constructivist teaching focuses more on the students. This type of teacher works interactively between themselves and the students in order to foster a classroom environment where the student not only respects the teacher but also allows for students to be the centre of education rather than the teachers authority (Drake et al., 2014). I know that in my personal experience I have had both types of teachers. Personally, traditional teachers, while they teach you important skills like obedience, listening and respect for an authority figure, they don’t always here the voices of the students. By the teacher placing the importance of their knowledge above the students, they undervalue the role of students as active agents within the classroom who are able to contribute to how the classroom operates. Constructivist teachers on the other hand, value the students opinions and understandings of not only their contribution to their school work but also to how the classroom operates which will allow for the best learning methods to occur (Drake et al., 2014). This is not to say that a constructivist teacher solely puts the onus of learning on the student but rather balances the role of the teacher and the student in the classroom allowing for an interactive relationship. Empowering students allows for them to not only want to actively learn but also actively participate in a classroom environment that they helped to establish. I’ve had constructivist teachers in the past and I would definitely agree that it allows for students to be able to engage more actively in classroom discussion and learning. The only downside of constructivist teaching is that sometimes teachers who are dealing with a classroom that is unresponsive, and is either not willing to actively engage in the classroom or are too disruptive enough to be able share a respecting relationship with the teacher. 

Personally, as a future teacher, I think I would identify with a constructivist base. Allowing for an interactive classroom environment not only allows for the students to learn from the teacher but also for the teacher to learn from the students. But I also think that giving students agency within their classroom and a firm grasp on influencing their own education allows for students to make informed decisions, further preparing them for the real world. While I think it’s important that traditional teachers teach their students respect and obedience for authority, I think the constructivist teacher gives students the opportunity to be informed democratic students who have faith in themselves to make their own decisions in the real world because of the practice they experienced in the classroom. This form of agency allows the students to feel empowered and confident in their informed decisions not only within the classroom but also within the real world context as well. 

Another topic that interested me from last week’s lecture was our up and coming assignment entitled “genius hour”. From the video that we watched that informed us on what exactly genius hour is, I think that it’s an absolutely outstanding idea! Being able to give students the opportunity and time to work on projects of their own interest, not only allows for students to become actively and positively engaged in their own learning material but also aligns with the constructivist method of teaching in which I had previously outlined. Therefore, genius hour not only provides myself as a student, the ability to engage in my own learning and pursue my own understandings of topics but further to see genius hour as an activity as a future activity that could be utilized in my classrooms in order to further promote my constructivist teaching method and student agency. 

Posted below is a youtube video that shows students opinions on genius hour and their reactions to this new approach at learning!

Also posted is an article entitle “Evolution of teaching in fast-changing world” that highlights the dichotomy between traditional and constructivist teaching methods. Expanding on these parallels the author, Nidhal Guessoum focuses on how many teachers revert back to their old methods of teaching because it is easy and what society perceives as affective. Interestingly however, the author also calls upon the need for teachers and students to be evaluative of different teaching methods and that teachers need to stay up to date with curriculum demands and furthermore, keep their students informed and actively involved.

http://gulfnews.com/opinions/columnists/evolution-of-teaching-in-fast-changing-world-1.1385419 

Drake, S. M., Kolohon, M., & Reid, J. L. (2014). Interweaving Curriculum and Classroom Assessment: Engaging the 21st-Century Learner. Don Mills, Canada: Oxford University Press. 

The Merging of Two Stories

Perspective. A word defined as "a particular attitude toward or way of regarding something; point of view". Perspective allows for people to be able to conduct intellectual conversations with others and to uphold opinions on subjects further allowing us to make intelligent decisions on particular subjects. But to what extent does perspective hinder our ability to see the full picture? If we become too entrenched in our own perspective, do we become perspective-less to other perspectives?

Upon reflecting on the lecture this past week, we discussed the importance of story through education. Story being our past story as students in the highschool system, our present story as future teachers in university and our future story being teachers in the Ontario highschool system. As education continues to progress, Professor Drake stated that "we are the age group to be able to make substantial change in the education system" and that this change will happen through technology. But as students having grown up in an education system with very limited access to technology in the classroom, does this old story hinder our perspective on accepting the future story of enabling limitless technology in the classroom in order to further our student's ability to learn? Furthermore, the perspective of education policy makers, much older than myself, also grew up in a schooling system that did not have access to technology. Therefore, will their old story and their perspective of their own education influence their decisions and their policy making for the future and the future story of integrating technology into the classroom. This essentially questions when technology reformers and on the opposite side of the spectrum, conservative policy makers, will be able to work together in order to create a story that allows for technology to become a positive attribute that will allow for the learning capabilities of students to grow in the classroom environment. 

Currently being placed in the education system myself, I generally think that I am a technologically savvy person. I have a phone, I know how to “tweet”, instagram, Facebook, and now even blog! However, that being said, this past week of lecture frankly scared me. Learning about these students in elementary and high schools now using technology frequently in order to expand their learning capacities amazes me. Some concerns that I have on this subject are firstly, how am I as a future educator supposed to learn all of these technology methods for teaching students? Is this something that as undergraduate teachers we are going to be taught, or because it is a new field, will we be self-teaching ourselves? Also, if technology is forever changing, how are we supposed to keep up in order to full capitalize on using technology in the classroom. Another matter that scares me about technology is the fact that because my students are growing up in a classroom and education that is using technology from early primary grades that for the most part my future students are going to be way more technologically savvy then myself. Although I do believe that students have information and knowledge to be able to teach the teacher new perspectives, I think that it is up to the teacher to be able to have the final say at how the students should be taught and frankly I don’t want to seem outdated by all of this technology! (Seeing as I’m aiming to be a cool and fair teacher of course). Therefore, my ultimate thought with this is how will I be able to adopt my old story as growing up with limited technology into a new story that allows for myself to be technologically savvy in order to best teach my students a progressive and interactive education and further be able to shift my perspective to understanding how technology works in all parts of the classroom? While this shift in perspective sounds like an easy change, adapting new ideas and trying to forget the old might not be easy, but as a future teacher, and with education and technology forever changing, I’m up for the challenge! 

Make sure to check out this cool article from Huffington Post on integrating technology into the classroom! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/darrell-west/five-ways-teachers-can-us_b_3228851.html