A Message from Kali...

Hey all -

Kali just wanted me to pass this message on for her:

"one thing I forgot to say that I should have said when asked that question about coaching is: although I dont think that coaching will help me with getting a job right away...I DO think that I have got some pretty awesome bonds with the girls from those teams that are really valuable. Additionally, the students in your regular classrooms see you coaching and they see you as being a more permanent member of the staff and they respect you more. Whether or not they admit that, i believe that it makes a huge difference in the classroom when they know you coach. I think that my practicum would have been easier if I didnt coach, but Im not sure it would have been as much fun."

you can also email her at wilsonkd@uvic.ca if you have any questions!

Private schools and sports academys competing

Is it fair that private schools are allowed to compete in BC school sports programs. Are the students at these academies missing out by not participating in the other sports offered or is this specialization beneficial? Private school have a different set of rules for training restrictions and catchment areas is it fair that they are allowed to compete in the public league.I'm coaching a rugby team currently and by the end of the season we will have caught up but currently the private school is fully functional and the kids are much further advanced in the game.Obviously practice has occurred during a different sport season.So if they are competing should they not play by the same rules?Anyone think including them is beneficial for public schools or are we only doing the private schools a favor?Anyone have an alternative?

Hi all! Just a reminder to post any major questions you would like to ask the practicum student panel next tuesday that you think they may like to have time to mull over... Just post them as a reply and I will pass them along! :D Thanks!

Aynsley

A Vision of 21st Century Teachers

here is a clip that is pretty neat to watch it basically shows how integrating technology in the classroom is important.

http://primarytech.globalteacher.org.au/

As technology is becoming increasingly important and we are entering into this technology centered classroom i see myself changing and adapting my social studies unit plans into power point/white board user friendly criteria. I know my two week sponsor teacher for social studies has implemented the white board into his classroom. He has also spoken to the school and they have access to laptops for the students to use for his class. so i believe that we need to realize that the classroom is not the same as when we were in school and that we need to realize that lovely concept that "one size does not fit all" and we must adapt to this new world.

how as new teachers do you plan on using technology in the classroom if you have the option???

How the iPhone Could Reboot Education

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/12/iphone-university-abilene/

A texas university hands out free iPhones to its students to help integrate technology into the classroom!

National Standards of Education??

Also, American, from the New York Times, but performance standards are a current issue in education in Canada too. So what are our influential neighbours up to?

"A panel of educators convened by the nation’s governors and state school superintendents proposed a uniform set of academic standards on Wednesday, laying out their vision for what all the nation’s public school children should learn in math and English, year by year, from kindergarten to high school graduation."

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/11/education/11educ.html

"Building a Better Teacher"

Very intersting topic (American in origin) from the New York Times.
"Building a Better Teacher" is about teacher quality and merit pay for teachers ...

"When researchers ran the numbers in dozens of different studies, every factor under a school’s control produced just a tiny impact, except for one: which teacher the student had been assigned to. Some teachers could regularly lift their students’ test scores above the average for children of the same race, class and ability level. Others’ students left with below-average results year after year. William Sanders, a statistician studying Tennessee teachers with a colleague, found that a student with a weak teacher for three straight years would score, on average, 50 percentile points behind a similar student with a strong teacher for those years. Teachers working in the same building, teaching the same grade, produced very different outcomes. And the gaps were huge. Eric Hanushek, a Stanford economist, found that while the top 5 percent of teachers were able to impart a year and a half’s worth of learning to students in one school year, as judged by standardized tests, the weakest 5 percent advanced their students only half a year of material each year."

From: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/magazine/07Teachers-t.html

Assessment

I thought I would throw this topic out there because it isn't something that any of my classes throughout the year have discussed in depth. Assessment is going to be a major part of our job and I think it is important to develop a philosophy on ones views of assessment. Throughout my life I have only really been exposed to traditional assessment through test scores or paper grades but lately I have been learning a lot of alternative assessment. I think that less traditional assessment is going to become a lot more popular especially with most provincial exams not being mandatory.

An example of this is in one of my classes everyone needs to get 76% or higher on the midterm. If students do not receive this they are given the opportunity to rewrite until they receive this mark. We are even given a sample midterm so there are no surprises when we write the test. I think that this type of grading is great because students are given the chance to redo the test until they receive that mark needed. I would like to try this type of marking in my class but I am unsure how it would work in the high school setting. The difference is that in my class you need a B+ to pass the course and to get a higher letter grade you need to do extension assignments. I don't think you would be able to demand that type of grade with a high school class but allowing students to rewrite a test seems like a great way for them to really learn their stuff.

Interdisciplinary Teaching

Can Art and Pe classes be combined? What about Home economics and Social studies? or any other combination. During the summer I taught an art camp to kids. I was isolated from the other groups at a different location. One day, I decided to join the art camp with the sports camp. We set up a giant wall with white paper, as well as the ground below it, and set up a giant art project where the kids used balloons filled with paint and got to throw the balloons at the wall, letting it explode with paint. They were able to use other splatter techniques as well. The idea was for the kids to mingle, interact, and share ideas. They got to create a piece that was both active and creative, and wasn't focused on how "good" it was. We began the project, with a brief description of abstract art, and a couple throwing games to warm up. At the end, the kids each got to take a section of their piece away.

This was meant for kids, but I thought it would have a practical application in the classroom in high school as well. Too often, the classes are completely segregated. Why not mix them? Either group could have a lot to offer to the experience. I was just wondering if any of you intended on doing some interdisciplinary teaching, or have any ideas?

"I CAN"

Another powerful TED talk.... This one is about empowering children to say "I Can" and the power that children have to change the world if we adults support and believe in them. A great idea to think about implementing in our future classrooms.

Just Imagine...

Google was named fourth best place to work in the US by Fortune Magazine and one of the worlds most powerful brands.Their moto "work should be challenging and the challenge should be fun" is monitored by a Chief Culture Officer. What can we learn from Google about challenging and inspiring our students? I would argue lots! They are in the business of creating a work place that both inspires and retains talent just as we must work to retain our students attention.

- Bicycles or scooters for efficient travel between meetings; dogs; lava lamps; massage chairs; large inflatable balls.
- Staff sharing cubes, yurts and huddle rooms – and very few solo offices.
- Laptops everywhere – standard issue for mobile coding, email on the go and note-taking.
- Foosball, pool tables, volleyball courts, assorted video games, pianos, ping pong tables, and gyms that offer yoga and dance classes.
- Grassroots employee groups for all interests, like meditation, film, wine tasting and salsa dancing.
- Healthy lunches and dinners for all staff at a variety of cafés.
-Break rooms packed with a variety of snacks and drinks to keep staff going

Just imagine if our school were designed with the same mandate... to offer challenging work in a fun, positive, collaborative atmosphere. Let me know what you guys think!

" Our intention creates our reality" Dr.Wayne Dyer

Inspirational Educational Philosopher-Nel Noddings

As I mentioned in class here is a link to an inspirational education philosopher Nel Noddings. I particularly love her work on promoting children's life long happiness through our schools. What does it mean to be happy and how does school contribute to our quality of life?

Bio:
Nel Noddings (1929- ) has made a significant contribution to our appreciation of education. In particular her explorations of the ethics of care - and their relationship to schooling, welfare, and to learning and teaching within families and local communities came at a especially apposite moment. She has been able to demonstrate the significance of caring and relationship both as an educational goal, and as a fundamental aspect of education

http://edweb.sdsu.edu/people/Dkitchen/TE652/noddings.htm

Hyper Parents & Coddled Kids

The website to this documentary I already posted on Aynsley's blog about parents involvement but I decided to put it on here as well because I think it is a big deal!!
This I think all of you should watch because it is quite shocking what parents do for their kids. These parents never want to let their kid go and they treat them like prince and princesses. It is very interesting to see how these parents raise their children and also quite sad that when the child grows up, they have no leadership and responsibility skills because their parents have done everything for them.

When we are teachers, how involved should we allow parents to get? Is there a line that we will have to draw to make sure that the students are responsible for their own actions?

This documentary is produced by CBC and it is called Hyper Parents & Coddled Kids. For those of you in 401 you have seen this already but for those of you who aren't, I suggest you watch this.
Any thoughts for those of you who have already seen this????

http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/Shows/Doc_Zone/ID=1405930535

Parental Interference...

There have been two instances of parent interference I have dealt with in the last month that I would like to share and maybe start a dialogue about dealing with/communicating with parents.

I teach swimming lessons at a pool on the navy base and have found recently that where there is a problem child there often are enabling parents. The first example occurred when I was teaching lessons to an 11 year old french-canadian boy. When the boy liked the activity he understood my instructions perfectly. However, when he was not jazzed about what we were doing he conveniently no longer spoke or understood english and would communicate only in French. Once I discovered this pattern I tried to speak with his parents about it only to find that they could speak english when I was offering praise about their child but were 100% francophone when any criticism was offered. I found the root of the problem but had no solution. Any ideas for that one?

The second incident occurred when I was teaching a private lesson to a 4 year old boy. The boy is very enthusiastic and comfortable in the water EXCEPT when his face wet, which as you can imagine happens a lot in a swimming lesson. His parents sit on the pool deck 1 m away with a towel so that anytime the boy gets water on his face he may hop out and dry it off. I have explained to them that if they don't bring a towel on deck he will learn to wipe his eyes with his hands and will get over his phobia, yet they continue to bring the towel. This boy also has a tendency to get distracted and I have to change the activity a ton to keep his interest, which is fine, I'm used to this with small children and am capable of getting them to accomplish what needs to get done. With this boy however, if he so much as turns away from me his parents scold him from the side of the pool "listen to your teacher! look at your teacher!" As you can imagine this distracts him even more and it is way harder to regain his attention. I have suggested that the parents leave the pool deck during the lesson but they are resistant.

In both cases, the lessons are over or soon will be over so there is not much I can do about the situations now. I'm wondering though if anyone has any suggestions of what to do for next time or has had a similar experience dealing with parents in the past?

How are we going to deal with these parents when we are teachers?

another excellent lecture from TED

Art Educators Resource

sorry pe people, this one is just for arted.
i found a website that you guys may or may not have already heard of called art starts and it supplies art educators with a resource for information about grants, art tours and events and what i thought would be the most useful, was finding touring artists that you can bring into your classroom. there's a search via subject matter or name, and it even includes prices and personal bios too.
check it out!

http://artstarts.com/

Creating Community through Expeditionary Learning

interesting article

Just thought I might share this with everyone.
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/blogs/martin/Kid-get-off-the-couch-85510892.html

Openness in our lives

Hey Everyone,
Is response to to some of the conversation last night, I wanted to pose a question about the facebook/privacy issue.
I have always been very open about most parts of my life. I believe that every experience I have had, good or bad, have made me the person I am and will help me be a better teacher. I have always be a huge supporter of experiential education and the value of life as "the ultimate classroom".
With that in mind, I look at my experiences in life as a pool my students can draw from, either to be inspired to follow a path of their own, or to avoid the mistakes I have made. Although I wouldn't necessarily have students on my facebook, I don't think I will actively hid my profile from them. Everything I put in the public domain (and yes Facebook is a PULBIC forum) on facebook are statements and images that I am prepared to make public and represent a life I am very proud of.
In short, I am of the mind set that if I am willing to allow the rest of the world a snapshot of my life, then why not my students? When I am posting something on facebook or on my personal website the question "is this something I can be proud of?" is always in my mind.
I recognize that this is a complicated issue and there is a whole spectrum of opinion on it, so I am interested to hear your thoughts!?!

Alternative Education

Hey This is worth checking out if anyone is interested.After you look at it the website or listen to Matt do you have a different perspective on alternate education?

Matt lives and works in East Vancouver with his partner and daughters where he directs the Purple Thistle Centre and founded Car-Free Days Vancouver.

“The Thistle” is a community arts and activism center that is run by a collective of school-aged youth. Matt acts as a facilitator by maintaining the space and writing grants, while all other education activities are run by the collective. The space is a highly functioning creative lab where youth can learn to sculpt, pain, draw, develop photographs, animate, record music, sew, write, fix bikes, and much more. The Purple Thistle is an example of how alternatives to the school system, and indeed to school itself, are within our reach. Matt freely shares his experience and energy, the driving and maintaining force behind the Thistle. His unique and developed “deschooling” philosophy represents ideals of inclusion, anti-oppression, and authentic youth empowerment. Its effectiveness can be seen on any given day at the Thistle as a crowd of diverse youth are constantly flowing in and out of the space, vibrantly interacting and expanding their creative capabilities, taking advantage of the many-fold opportunities enabled by Matt's efforts.

Matt’s books and articles have been published on all six continents, translated into ten languages and he continues to lecture globally. He holds a PhD in Urban Studies and teaches at SFU and UBC.

He will be lecturing on the various projects he has initiated and the creation of alternative school systems. You can visit his website athttp://www.mightymatthern.com.

He will also be talking about creating alternative spaces for learning in an education system that can often seem daunting and overwhelming.

Cellphones and class

Hey guys and girls,
In another class the topic of cellphones in class came up. I don't know how bad it is but if it is anything like university I'm sure everybody is bringing theirs to class. We were talking about some ways to deal with the issue and it seemed like the best idea was just to establish rules during the first week of class. To make these rules it would be best to do so as a class but then I'm sure some kids will not be very accommodating to the idea of no cell phones in class. Just wondering if anyone has already dealt with this type of situation? I feel its important for us to establish what our expectations towards cell phones are in class prior to our practicums.