At our last staff meeting, we were challenged to think about high high we could count on ten fingers. This discussion was interesting and lead to new discoveries: one that the digits can be divided into three parts, and what about the creases on the palms? What about the thumb with two creases? How do we utilize the thumb in counting?
We received an exit card with a challenge to come up with a goal or two, a cornerstone that we could see daily. I have chosen to read Elementary and Middle School Mathematics by Van de Walle, , Karp, Bay-Williams and McGarvey. Chapter One and Two already have me reflecting on my mathematics experiences as a student. I recall passing grade 12 math by buying my teacher chocolate pudding pops with a friend as we truly struggled to learn, let alone understand the content. I wonder about what I have truly applied from my mathematics learning in my life... Why do I have very little memory about mathematics in elementary school? Interesting learning from Chapter 1 and 2: One Up and One Down 7+7 =14 8+6=14 Start and Jump Numbers start at 3 and jump by 5s to 130 look for patterns Do you see alternating patterns? Odd/even pattern? Do patterns change once one reaches 100? What do you notice about the number in the 10s place?
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Prophetic Stories of Freedom
I am currently reading Freire's (1998) Pedagogy of Freedom: Ethics, Democracy, and Civic Courage. Freire (1998,p.19) states "the foundation stone of the whole educational process is human curiosity. The curiosity leads us to question, know, act, ask again, and recognize." So hip hop and rap has always irritated my ears. One of my teenage daughters listened to it for some time and it annoyed me to no end. All I could think was it promotes violence, misogyny and all things I don't want my teenager to do! So when I watched the Prophetic Stories of Freedom Ted talk, I was forced to question my mental model about race and music. In the talk, Whiteman discusses how she uses the pedagogy of hip hop to motivate Black and African American students. What is so intriguing is her sharing of poetic lyrics and how they speak to chasing one's dreams, sacrificing for one's dreams, and finding the art that speaks to one's life. Through listening to talk, I have reflected and again asked myself why I don't like hip hop. In myself, I recognize my negative mental model of race that needs more reflection. As I approach the end of my learning journey at OISE, I am experimenting with the pedagogy that I have been exposed to over the past three and a half years. Looping, taught in Joe Flessa's class social policy class caught my attention. I wondered if this indeed could be applied to elementary school students to help build connections and deeper learning. In the development of the social justice curriculum, I have included two loopers each week. The grade six students are excited and nervous about this role. Loopers connect what has been taught in the previous week to their journal entry. On Friday, we connected their looping ideas, questions, and wonderings on a connection board. I was amazed and surprised as to where their thinking is going. We have read two newspaper articles so far. One was on the relationship that occurred between rescuers and a humpback whale and the other was about junk collectors that pick through city garbage and recycling to earn an income. At the end of the discussion, one student explained that although we, as humans can help animals by recycling and taking care of the amount of garbage we produce, that animals have greater lessons to teach us about our emotions. The student supported this though with reference to the San Francisco Chronicle . She shared that the humpback whale helped the humans. I have pulled the quote that inspired this thought,
"When I was cutting the line going through the mouth, its eye was there winking at me, watching me," Moskito said. "It was an epic moment of my life." When the whale realized it was free, it began swimming around in circles, according to the rescuers. Moskito said it swam to each diver, nuzzled him and then swam to the next one. The social justice group has me wondering about the impact that nature can have on humans; all this in the face of technology, bombardment of social media and images that, at times prevent us from looking up and appreciating nature. I am currently reading her book, Releasing the Imagination (1995). Some might think the book is out of date, that research has changed significantly since its printing. On the contrary, her thoughts about students and teachers using their imaginations holds truth to today's world!
Maxine's Youtube video, just prior to her death, sends a strong message to new teachers. She speaks to the importance of beginnings. She describes teachers as perpetual beginners. I feel this way right now as I embark on the closeness to the end of a new September. A new one every year. Greene asks teachers "to think about what they are doing and use their imaginations as they keep in mind what might be, what ought to be." (Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_raVMnP57w) She stresses the importance to break of repetitive behaviours and patterns. This is not unlike the words of Katz who's phrase "intentional interruption" is all the buzz at our school board right now. Imagination..... hmm. How is it that teachers have lost their imagination? I cannot stop thinking about an article in the SF Chronicle about the saving of a humpback whale caught in crab traps and lines. I am currently taking my last course at OISE. The course is a social justice titled Social Justice and the Community SJE1951 HF. The week 1 posting asks me to post about my definition of community. So I have pondered this question and the whale story has me thinking ...
The whale is caught in yards of line rope wrapped around her body - this leads me to think about the TRC in Canada at the present time. The government is responsible for the harm done to Indigenous peoples at residential schools. A fisherman radioed an environmental group to help - it takes just one person to speak up for an injustice to start action One slap of the whale's tail could kill the rescuers - it is risky to speak up and act against injustices When the whale was free, she nudged the rescuers and swam in joyous circles; the rescuers say it was the most beautiful experience of a lifetime - as humans, we gain emotional connection by acting for the betterment of all The man who cut rope out of her mouth says her eye was following him the whole time and he will never be the same - relationship building and helping others impacts us immeasurably Community for me is the development of relationships, whether it be repairing damaged ones, creating new ones, respecting existing ones, or changing the nature of our relationships. It requires humility, new mental models, and hardwork. "Failing scores prompt province to study if creativity and critical thinking more important today"
(Hamilton Spectator, Andrea Gordon, September 6, 2017). I often wonder if schools are measuring what should be measured? I also wonder if what we measures affects the mental health and well-being of students. Today's article in the Spectator reveals that Ontario will review how students are tested. The provincial government will consider updating the scope of what is measured and revealed on a report card. People for Education and their call for broader measures of success was introduced to me a few years ago and I can't get it out of my mind. In addition to literacy and mathematics, the organization suggests measuring mental and physical health (together, I might add), creativity and innovation, social-emotional development, democracy and citizenship, and school climate and quality learning environments. This has be thinking about how to measure creativity.... Broader Measures of Success gives one metric used in Europe where students can recall and reflect on pieces of art they have seen in gallery visits. I wonder about our TLLP proposal and if we should steer it toward students and educators assessing their own creativity. Today, we meet, as a team with the Centre3 education and outreach coordinators. I look forward to building a community relationship with them and learning more about art and artists in Hamilton. Perhaps, they have some suggestions on how to measure creativity! Today, at work, we met to discuss a start up action plan for a student with challenging behaviours. Prior to the beginning, one team member from the school board suggested that as we talk in the meeting, we think of the student as being front and centre and in the middle of the table. As a learning resource teacher and parent, I put myself in the parent's shoes and think about what I would say and do if this was my child, if I was the parent. This visualization tip helped me to bring humanity to the conversation as we collaboratively discussed and problem solved.
Throughout the summer, I have met five times with two colleagues to develop an application for the TLLP. The timing feels right and the process is slow and truly collaborative. I have thought about this for the past two years. In the past, collaboration for me, mostly has consisted of the division of tasks. There have been a few times at my workplace that I have felt like a meeting or staff learning session is collaborative. I often wonder why it is that we are not so collaborative? What gets in the way of sharing, collaboration and reflection?
Tonight I am going through all the readings that I have collected over the past nine courses at OISE. Social justice and mental health continue to be interests that interest me. I went back to the 1978 paper by Thomas B. Greenfield and happened upon a quote that seems timeless...
"What is needed in organizational studies of school are explorations that tell us more about the hidden injuries of learning, teaching and being an administrator." (Greenfield, 1978. p.20). Wow... look at the date and how relevant the quote is today. During this journey, I have witnessed Harper say sorry to Canada's Indigenous people, the process and the release of the Truth and Reconciliation Report, Senator Beyak's comments, Canada's 150th, and not a day without awareness of Canada's relationships with Indigenous people. The fact that the media continues to report on Indigenous and government relationships gives me hope that inclusion is happening with small but significant steps forward. Click here to read a six week course on decolonization for educators that I co-created with two students from CTL5011
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