Of Peter Pan, Ponzi schemes, and public education

Of Peter Pan, Ponzi schemes, and public education

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There goes my first teacher advisory class, otherwise known as HYPE.  What is this about?  How will it impact school culture and more importantly my teaching?  Why do we have to do this every week?  Where will this advisory class fit in when regular classes begin?  Am I going to hear from their parents?  All legitimate questions that will be answered in due time.  For now, I am going to enjoy the handing out of paperwork, discussion of student expectations, and questions about timetables.  I've attached some interesting research on teacher advisory programs.

http://oemanagement.com/data/_files/HSadvisory.pdf

August 31, 2011 - Another year begins

This is my 11th year of teaching and my 6th year at Forest Lawn High School.  This will be my 10th school start up, days that are filled with anxiety, unease, feigned illness, and lost people wandering hallways.  And I'm only speaking of the teachers at this point.  The experience for both the teacher and the student is markedly similar as a new school year approaches.  Both are excited to see friends after months away, yet both are anxious about the activities of their peers.  Both have made personal commitments to make changes over the previous school year, yet many will fall into habitual behaviours.  While students often take the summer to renovate their identity and look, teachers also attempt the same in their own professional and personal development.  So, all that said, here are the top ten things to remember as the school year begins.
10.  Hallway walking rules are the same as the road.  Keep right except to pass.
9.  Even though they will be obsolete in a generation, it is still necessary to bring your book to class.
8.  If your earbuds are in your ears, almost all adults, including teachers will assume you are not paying attention. 
7. Swearing has a time and place. 8:00 in the morning at school is not it.
6.  Wash your hands after every class.
5.  Record due dates and complete assignments.
4.  Ask questions.  It makes the time pass.
3.  Eat Breakfast! (Note: no where is a slurpee considered breakfast)
2.  Plan your route's between classes.  (Note: If you are dating and need to walk with this person to class, consider joint timetables.
1.  Don't be late.  Promptness is a valued personal trait.

Have a great school year.

When they just want the information - Processing Skills

An interesting development in my grade 11 classes. As groups they have very distinct learning styles. Where one class has extroverts, the other introverts, where one class falls over one another to participate and answer questions, the other resembles Ben Stein's class in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" (Anyone.... Anyone.... Anyone.... ). Needless to say this is causing havoc in my planning and pacing. This got me thinking about classes and students who "just want the information."

Admittedly these students have largely been the focus of public education systems since their inception. Current students are no more responsible for that than current teachers are responsible for past pedagogical practices. So it occurs to me that in addition to the inclusive, cooperative, and innovative education there must be some level of focus on adjusting all learners to the new educational paradigm. In my opinion, it is not just providing the students with more "entertaining" entrance points into the curriculum, but providing a structure to class and planning that is dependable and allows all types of learners to have a realistic expectation of what is going to happen in class. Not just what we are going to learn, but how, why, and to what extent.

Quick post today, any thoughts on these comments?

Day 3 - There's no other country like Canada, is there?

The main topic of Grade 11 Social Studies in Alberta is Nationalism, more precisely, to what extent should we embrace nationalism. In the course of this discussion a very adept student, piped up with the title of this post (There's no other country like Canada, is there?) Further exploration of the question revealed that in his opinion, no other country promoted the individual national and cultural identities of all its citizens to the same extent as Canada. This is not to say that other nation-states aren't multi-cultural, but perhaps they do not allow for the same amount of pluralism as seen in Canada, especially its' urban centers. This got me thinking of some other ways that Canada is unlike other nation-states and nations.

1. Canada has no revolution in its' founding story - Unlike most modern nation-states that have been formed out of unrest, war, and violence, Canada was created by an act of the British Parliament. Even those who opposed confederation rarely did so through force of arms, but through the press or other democratic entities. From it's very origin, Canada has been based on the "Rule of Law", rather than the lawlessness of revolution and war.

2. Canada does not have an agreed upon history - Mainly due to the existence of 10+ education systems in a country of 33 million, Canada has not developed an agreed upon view of major historical events. Rather, provincial perspectives have been allowed to dominate. This has created a disjointed view of Canadian history where like people can have fundamental differences of opinion on these historical events.

3. Canada is an amalgam of cultures and religions - Few nations are able to balance the competing needs of multiple cultures and religions as effectively as Canada. Despite the tensions that exist globally between religions, incidences of carry over into Canadian society are exceedingly rare. At least up to this point.

Each of these differences create a situation where Canada does not have the same natural supports for its' nation as do other nation-states. There is no agreed upon Canadian ethnicity, language, religion, or even culture. As such, the polticial and legal basis of the Canadian nation becomes it's most important pillar and requires that Canadians, regardless of their language, culture, religion, or ethnicity participate in the process to ensure that this pluralism and open society are promoted and encourage.

Tomorrow - The Weekend

Day 2 - Into the Curriculum

I hate to say it, but already, I'm struggling with topics. The straight reflection on the day will have to suffice. In Grade 11 today, I had to resort to the standard stand and deliver for a good portion of the activities. Though I was able to squeeze in some time for the students to get some clarification on the their introductory essays; "To what extent should Canada be considered a nation?" As it turns out when we look at the academic characteristics of a nation, Canada does not seem to meet the criteria. This can provide a difficulty for Canadian students as the one nation they are all aware of, is the anomoly, not the rule. That said, Canada's pluralism is on fine display in my classroom and this provides an entry point to the discussion of a nation of nations. A lively discussion also developed around the current political strife in Egypt, to the point that it was worthwhile to spend 20 minutes streaming CBC's coverage of the events.

My grade 12 group got started on developing their own ideologies or recognizing the aspects of their beliefs and values that influence their ideologies. We practiced this skill by looking at a variety of t-shirts (some are seen in this post) and discussing the ideology, obvious or hidden the person follows. In summary they are making their own (paper) t-shirt design that hopefully illustrates their ideology. This along with an introductory essay where I can get a sense of their ability to write need to be complete for Monday.

Day 1

That was a thoroughly enjoyable start to the semester. Aside from the typical worries about having enough desks, or students in the wrong room (the room number is beside RM, not beside the course), it has been a successful first day.

I spoke in yesterday's blog about setting some personal and professional goals for the semester, beyond the basic classroom goals. Further reflection on this has illustrated another large benefit to goal setting. Not only is focus provided on those things that we as professional educators and human beings find important, but also allow for refocus when our attention wanes, or has been forced to go another place. For years, educators have been known as excellent multi-taskers as they navigate a crowded classroom, delivering a lesson, and keeping of regular classroom management (along with dozens of other tasks that need to be completed in our world of accountability.) This ability is/was also highly valued in the workplace. A worker who can do two tasks is that much more valuable than a worker capable of only one. As such, educators for generations now had become multi-"task" masters. Write notes and listen to me while watching this PowerPoint being the most obvious example. When we look at the information generation it's not just the task, but the processing that must happen on multiple levels at the same time. There is an evolution at work from multi-tasking to the ability to multi-refocus (my term).

As more an more information is available from more and more places, the students focus on the industrial model of education is bound to wane since it bares little resemblance to the information world of the 21st century. Where else in their daily lives, even the workplace, are they asked to focus their attention on only one activity? As I stated to my students today, my issue is not with their ability to multitask (listen to music, text, and do homework) as much as it is with their inability to focus on one task for a limited time and then return to the focus at hand. It's not the distraction of technology that is the issue, it is the students inability to be distracted and then reengage. This indicates to me that one of my jobs in lesson planning is to provide opportunities throughout a lesson for those who have become distracted can reenter the focus of the class.

The importance of this skill (multi-refocus), is shown again in the "real" world. The issue with distracted driving is the all encompassing nature of the distraction. It removes a person from the context of a moving vehicle, as such, by choice or otherwise, two "tasks" that both require complete focus, can rarely be accomplished effectively at the same time. For our students, it is as if they have done the right thing by pulling the car over to speak on the phone (when they get a text in class), but then forget how to drive (after reading or responding). Today's workplace is replete with examples of this skill of multi-refocus. In the information age, where so much can take our focus, how do we learn to quickly refocus. I think as educators, we are ideally placed to both model and develop this skill.

Tomorrow: About those personal and professional goals........

Semester 2

Despite the inherent flaws in the semester system in terms of student learning, it is nice to have a little restart and refresh mid-year. I'm looking forward to meeting my new students, seeing those I've taught before and working with my new colleagues. With the new semester comes many challenges and opportunities. As I was waiting for the copier to finish my course outlines (A piece of paper that the students quickly shuffle away in their binder never to be seen again), I decided to quickly jot down my semester goals. Here they are:

1. Blog daily - It has been a grand total of one day, but I've clearly attained this goal :>

2. Use my SMART Board in each lesson. The note below this goal reads, "as more than a projection screen." Ideally, I'd like to see a situation where we have some students interacting with the board on a regular basis. One idea that came up yesterday during a Professional Development seminar was the elementary technique of using the SMART board as one of several work/resource stations. I hope to explore this idea further.

3. Use larger summative assessment and assignments to increase my use of Feedback Loops and to make learning as visible as possible to my students. Yes, there is the reality of diploma testing, especially for my grade 12 Social Studies 30-2 class, but even in this there is an opportunity to use some peer editing and student self-assessment with rubrics to enhance learning. A step in this direction I hope to expand on is the students making their own Canadian Heritage Minutes.

The one thing missing from this list are my personal professional and wellness goals. Naturally, the personal will have to wait for a later time. In truth, I just want to leave something to be able to talk about tomorrow.

Tomorrow - Personal and professional goals.