Curriculum & Pedagogy in the Pandemic

One thing this pandemic of school closures and learning at home has done is prompting a lot of thinking about pedagogy and curriculum. This was a point of a wide ranging discussion at a faculty council and department meeting recently. Such discussions are important at all levels as we move forward into these challenging times.

While parents and teachers are stressed, there are many comments on social media of kids pursuing passions, learning with families, and learning by doing. Many on various media talked about relaxing expectations a bit, assessing differently, using different tasks, and taking time to connect and slow down. Much of this was a way of coping and trying to keep stress levels for everyone manageable, but it does make us think about how we "do" education, to reflect on our pedagogy. How do we move forward? One thing that has certainly come to the fore is the use of various technologies - questions of platforms and apps and access are all important. This has highlighted the inequities in terms of access to the Internet, devices, and so on. It is important to improve connectivity across the land. This time also helps us realize the importance of humanity - the relationships, those things that really matter.

Hopefully it will help us all to take some time to contemplate the idea of curriculum - and the idea that we have to "cover" it all. I know I have already been considering my own courses and approaches (and I don't teach again until next January - sabbatical!
). While certain skills and knowledge are important, there are other things that deserve attention as well. We need to examine our conception of curriculum. As teachers at all levels struggle to enable learning without being 'together', our pedagogies are being taxed and hopefully we are reflecting on the strategies we use. When this is all over, we should take lessons learned and make positive changes to meet the challenges of the future.

New eBook on Digital Literacy/Citizenship and Sustainability - Call for Proposals!

My friend and colleague, Dr. Rennie Redekopp, have decided to try to co-edit and publish a third eBook in our series looking at educational technology in Manitoba schools. Volumes 1 and 2 of our eBook series can be downloaded FREE here!

This one will tackle the broad topics of Digital Literacy, Citizenship, and sustainability.  As with our last book, the Manitoba Association for Computing Educators (ManACE) is supporting this endeavour. 

Here is the call from the ManACE newsletter:

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Are you a Manitoba teacher who addresses digital issues, sustainability, and/or global citizenship in your classroom/school? 

Want to share the good things you are doing and be an inspiration to others?

If so, consider sharing your work by contributing a chapter to an ebook of exemplary ideas and thinking from Manitoba schools. This purpose of this ebook is to share ideas of how concepts of digital/media literacy and/or digital citizenship are addressed in Manitoba schools and classrooms. For example, do you have any favorite lessons to address these topics? Do you use social media in a way to address issues of digital literacy, citizenship, sustainability, or social justice? When you have students do research online do you have mini lessons on evaluating sources? Do you infuse these concepts into your curriculum? How? Do you have any particularly good resources you use and are willing to share? Maybe you have been doing some deep thinking about these topics and have thoughts to share?

Due date for the proposal only: asap - submissions accepted until we receive a sufficient number to move ahead  

Please send a short description of your idea for submission. 

Include your name, school, and grade level(s). Note: collaborative pieces are also accepted!

Link to call for proposals: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pW377kJuXyBL7t9jI3-r1HuQu8G_CqGOslmR0Kg50oQ/edit?usp=sharing

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If you are a Manitoba educator and you tackle any of these topics in your classroom/school/division - then consider contributing a piece - they do not have to be long! Let's share all the great things going on in Manitoba schools and help inspire others!

To err is human!

I have students in some of my courses blog and find it a great reflective tool for them - we both learn a lot. Saying that, I am not very good at blogging myself. I started strong when this blog was created for a course in my doctoral program, but have certainly not been consistent. I will post more about the blogging assignment in a later post though. I often find ideas I have had have been expressed so well by others, or some other reason, usually procrastination, keeps me from posting. I hope to change that a bit, this particular post I was going to write about one year ago. At the end of last May, ManACE (Manitoba Association for Computing Educators - a group of educators I belong to) held our annual general meeting. To add a twist we had a number of people present short narratives of times in our careers that we screwed up (read: f***ed up) and what we learned as a result. I was one of those presenters and I thought I would share that story here.

So this story goes way back, back to my first student teaching experience. I have learned a lot in my long career as an educator. If I retire when I hope to, it will be 43 years in classrooms, including grades K to 12 and post-secondary. 

35 mm film projector
Photo by Noom Peerapong on Unsplash

This lesson came early in my career, and was an important one for a not yet certified teacher. This took place in my first student teaching session, in November of 1977  (yes, 1977 - Star Wars: A New Hope Came to theatres, the Apple II just came out, the Concorde flew its first commercial flight, the space shuttle had its first test flight, Voyagers 1 and 2 launched, and Pierre Trudeau was the Prime Minister) this was a lesson I learned early that carried throughout my career. I was young - 22 years old - and pretty shy, introverted, and lacking self-confidence.

 I just finished my first term of teacher education, at that time a 1-year program, I knew how to use a 35 mm film projector and how to use an overhead projector - properly! I planned my lessons carefully, so I was set, or so I thought.

Time came for my first-ever lesson, it was grade 11 chemistry, and it went …  badly.  I was nervous beyond belief and totally f***** up, I was very embarrassed and disappointed with myself, so much so that I was ready to quit then and there.

Luckily, I had a great, caring, cooperating teacher.  He took me aside and settled me down. He offered support and encouragement, with a touch of firmness, and gave me some great advice. Don't be afraid to apologize and admit you screwed up, learn and grow from your mistakes. So I did just that. The next day, I talked to the class and apologized to my students, explaining my nervousness and suggested we just start again. The kids were very accepting, and they too were very supportive - another life lesson, ‘kids’ (teenagers) are generally great people if you treat them with respect. I restarted my lesson, which I had spent a lot of time planning with great demonstrations and so on, this time it went pretty well and I never looked back for the rest of that placement.

 So, the lessons learned:

 The main one is that teachers are human, we all make mistakes and screw up, it is important to realize this. We make the point often to our students, that we learn from mistakes and that is how we grow and learn. We try to get that message across to students, so we also need to learn to own up to our own mistakes, use them to model that it happens to everyone and it is okay to be vulnerable and admit those errors to our students, no matter their age.

 This experience also illustrates (as a teacher educator it is even more clear) the power of being a good mentor to students and beginning teachers. Without the support and guidance of that cooperating teacher long ago, I might have quit the profession and I believe that I have had a positive impact on many students as a classroom teacher, coach, school administrator, and now, as a teacher educator. So if we show patience and offer support our students may just stay on the path that makes the world a better place. 

Of course, as mentioned, over 42+ years I have made many mistakes. I have learned a lot and I've grown a lot - as a professional and as person. This lesson occurred early in my career and it's something I never forgotten. In future posts I will try to share some of the other things I have learned over my career. 

Apollo 13 ~ 50 years on

Well -  it was the 50th anniversary of Apollo 13 and tomorrow (April 17) 50 years ago the crew returned safely to Earth. Although I am feeling my age a bit, it is still cool to have lived through many great events - both tragic and inspirational (my last post - almost a year ago - umm - was about Apollo 11). Of course, the saga of Apollo 13 was both tragic - the danger and loss of one moon landing, but inspirational in how the astronauts were brought back safely to Earth due to cool heads, never give up attitude, collaborative work, and smart people (ie science!). I recall those events, I was a space nerd and followed manned - and unmanned - space flight closely, and the suspense of this mission was certainly memorable. Last weekend, I celebrated this mission by watching the fantastic Tom Hanks movie - Apollo 13, and following some sites about the event. A few great links: https://apolloinrealtime.org/13/ and the BBC podcast, 13 minutes to the moon: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w13xttx2/episodes/downloads

Here is a NASA video about the Apollo 13 mission.

50 years

50 years ago today saw the launch of Apollo 11 and arguably the most significant
achievement of the 20th century, perhaps of human history. I was very fortunate
to be around during the days of Apollo as a young teenager. I vividly remember
following all the Apollo missions as an avid space and science geek. I watched
mesmerized as Eagle landed on the moon and Armstrong and Aldrin took those first
steps. The 60s were an amazing time to be alive, rock and roll was at its height with
the Beatles, the Stones, and so many more great artists. It was also the time of civil
rights and anti-war protests. I still remember seeing smoke curling up from downtown
Detroit in the summer of 1967, as I watched on the banks of the Detroit River from
Windsor. Despite the tumultuous times, Apollo 11 reverberated around the world and
was - and still is - an amazing accomplishment. To think the computers that got us there
and back were so much less powerful than the ones we carry in our pockets today.
I remember the entire family sitting around our TV set in our basement recreation room
watching spellbound and hearing those immortal words, “Houston, Tranquility base here,
the Eagle has landed." Here we are 50 years later and I get to look back on this
exciting event and enjoy the numerous documentaries and specials reliving the event,
all with the knowledge that I actually witnessed it as it occurred. It is amazing, and yet
demoralizing, that we have accomplished so much, yet have so far to go when we
look at the hatred and narrow mindedness exhibited by so many people who have
power. I hope the next 50 years sees us attack our current problems - climate change,
racism, etc. -  and conquer them as well.

One of many videos about Apollo online.

New eBook on Coding & Maker Spaces - Call for Proposals!

My colleague and friend, Dr. Rennie Redekopp, from the University of Manitoba, suggested that we co-edit a second book (see this post to download our first eBook - its FREE!). This one will tackle the maker and coding movement in Manitoba. As with our last book, the Manitoba Association for Computing Educators (ManACE) is supporting this endeavour. The call has been out for almost a month and and proposals are due August 1st (go here to see the call - and it includes a link to a google form that can be used for a proposal). So, if you are a Manitoba teacher and you do coding or computer science or have a maker space - then consider contributing a piece - they do not have to be long! Let's share all the great things going on in Manitoba schools and help inspire others!

Reflections on the School Year That Was

Last year I was on sabbatical so it was the first time in 38 years I have not been in a classroom. This year saw a few changes in my workload, as well as picking up some of the courses I have previously taught. I enjoyed the year out of the classroom - first one in 37 years or so, but I also enjoyed being back. I also think this year proved once again that a person should be always learning, and reflecting on that learning. I have always told my students (aspiring teachers) that as a former Principal, if a teacher thinks they know all there is to know - I would not want them on my staff.

In Fall I taught my first graduate level course - Intro to Curriculum, not only that but it was online as well. I held biweekly zoom classes and Moodle in between. This was a big learning experience on many levels. I had students from 4 different countries and from across Manitoba. We had great discussions about curriculum and how it plays out in various jurisdictions. I am sure I learned as much as the students. I also will make adjustments in future grad courses from what I learned about delivery. One new thing I tried was to have the final major assignment an ignite style presentation (along with an annotated bibliography), the result was fantastic and the students agreed that they enjoyed them. I will continue to embrace different ways of presenting learning - and will include writing as part of it, but not all ;-)

Taken (by me) in July 2016 at Emerald Lake,
Yoho National Park,B.C.

In my B.Ed. courses (they were all ed tech courses) I continued to make use of blogs, as usual there was mixed reaction, but what was interesting was that some of the students giving push back, relented in their summary post and admitted the value - some even enjoyed doing them and vowed to continue the practice. I was considering giving more choice with alternatives to the blog, but I am now thinking of keeping the assignment but adding suggestions for posts for those who struggle with that. I also want to find ways to help students dig deeper in their posts and make it truly reflective. Some offer summaries of what we did - I want them to dig into topics of interest and how they may/have impacted their thinking about teaching/learning. Being reflective and thinking about practice is - to me - important in being a good teacher who grows and continues to learn, somehow I want to promote that, I think I model that - 38 years as an educator and I by no means profess to know it all and am always on the lookout for new ideas. One thing I can do better is take more time to read and write!

Another major assignment I use in my ed tech course is building (starting to) an eportfolio. I go over the why and give ideas for the how - we usually brainstorm what should be on it and I use example s(with permission) from previous years. Again I had some push back on this assignment form some, most of my students find it a useful exercise and something they can build on and use. The process also gives them some hands on creating a web site. I have been thinking though, that I should do some research and survey admin in the province to see to what extend these are useful artifacts, and what types of information they suggest is most useful for seeking employment.

One thing I do want to be sure to employ is more choice - I am a believer in giving choice
, but I want to allow more in a few major assignments ... but mostly I want to encourage and model deep and critical thinking about the use of ed tech.

One final thing, a few weeks ago I was fortunate to hear Yong Zhao speak in Winnipeg. While I am not sure his idea of entrepreneurship is the be all and end all, I really enjoyed his message and way of thinking. He is an interesting speaker and provides good evidence and prompts thinking. If you have not read his work, I encourage you to do so. While I have read and used his work before, I bought a few more of his books and am reading one now. I like his analogy of standardized testing, and standards in general - how educators are 'sausage makers' and despite all the talk and work about differences and embracing passions, we test to see how the sausages came out by comparing them to a standard. At one point, he answered a question about PISA and other standardized tests saying they might have some good aspects, but overall are destructive!

A break, some research work - and then back to planning these changes for next years' courses!