Reflection From the Field

It has been a busy last two months as I have been building up to do my five class block. I now am teaching ELA 90 for three periods in the morning and ELA 20 for two periods in the afternoon. Now I am just about done by block and it is crazy to think that I am beginning to wind down my internship already. I have been working through some of my weaknesses and learning lots from the teachers around me. Classroom management has been something I have been working towards in all my classes, but I have learned lots from my Period 2 ELA 90 class and my afternoon Grade 11 classes. I taught Grade 9 in my pre-internship so it was something that I was naturally fairly comfortable with. I am learning many new techniques to work with students who have additional or different needs and how to help students who need additional help, while still managing the classroom. In the afternoon, working with Grade 11s is much different. My classes in the afternoons challenge me, but they also make me laugh and bring me a lot of joy. They are a very lively bunch.

Overall I think that I am feeling more and more confident each day and I am learning lots from those around me. I am very thankful to have great educators who have observed me and given feedback, advice and support. I feel very thankful to be working with such wonderful educators and I am excited to observe other teachers in the coming days. I have already arranged some observations and I am excited to arrange some more.

Beginning of Internship

We are now three weeks into my internship and I am happy with my placement. It is going well and I am excited that I am taking the steps towards finishing my degree and starting to teach either full time or part time and really getting into the classroom. I think this is a very valuable experience and it is exciting thinking about how close to being done my degree. We are working to have me finish and get my certificate at the end of the year.

Winter Semester 2019- Pre-Internship

Crazy to think it is February already and we are almost half way done the semester. This semester is the beginning of the end in a way. After this semester, I only have 1 spring class and my internship before I am officially a teacher. This is also the semester of big changes and new exciting things. I have been placed at Vanier Collegiate in Moose Jaw for my pre-internship with my peer Steen. We are excited to hear about what we will be teaching and actually get in there and teach. Heres to new and exciting things.

ECS 210 Digital Story

After a great semester it was awesome to wrap up the semester in our digital story!

Thanks Katia, Mike and of course our peers!

Briana and Drew

Biases in education-ECS 210

1. How has your upbringing/schooling shaped how you you “read the world?” What biases and lenses do you bring to the classroom? How might we unlearn / work against these biases?
2. Which “single stories” were present in your own schooling? Whose truth mattered?

 

I went to most of my schooling in Regina. I transferred to Yorkton for grades 10 to 12, but the majority of my schooling was done in the city. I think that has greatly affected how I view the world. I am not someone who has a lot of knowledge of farm life, animals or what life outside of the city is like. I know that the “city girl” lense is one that I bring with me everyday. In school I learned in a very traditional environment, so that is something that comes back to me while I am planning and thinking of education. (We also did a lot of journals, so I always want to use journals in my lessons) This is something that I am realizing affects me and that this is present in my life. As I realize this, I think it is best to challenge myself to step outside of what I already know and try something new. This can help me to unlearn some of what I learn and challenge things that might not be as correct as I thought. One specific “story” that I was told was that Canada was AMAZING! Canadians were the nicest people, we did no wrong and only wanted to help others. As I have been in University, I have realized that it is not exactly true. We have made mistakes and did some bad things on our own land. Working towards understanding this helps me unlearn and think in a new way. I think the more we realize the biases and lenses in our own lives we can work to understand it even better and work towards a more truthful idea.

Citizenship in Education- ECS 210

Please respond to the following in a blog post: What examples of citizenship education do you remember from your K-12 schooling? What types of citizenship (e.g. which of the three types mentioned in the article) were the focus? Explore what this approach to the curriculum made (im)possible in regards to citizenship.

This article has been brought up in multiple of my classes this semester, so it has given me a chance to really think about how this applies to my learning and what a “good” citizen is. The idea of creating good citizens is something that is something that we are supposed to do as teachers, or led to believe we are supposed to, but is not told a definition of what a “good” citizen is.

When I was in K-12, the type of citizen that my teachers were trying to create were participatory students. We were not pushed to do great social justice work or go out of our way to do anything amazing, but they wanted us to participate in our society. Teachers would have us donate to the food bank, thus just taking food that our parents bought not us, or volunteer for 10 hours in our community. Never were we pushed farther. But we were made to believe that we were doing what was right and doing our part in the community. The article states that “educational programs designed to support the development of participatory citizens focus on teaching students about how government and community based organizations work and about the importance of planning and participating in organized efforts to care for those in need” (p. 4). This is exactly what my teachers were aiming for with their creation of “good” citizens. Sometimes there would be a hint of personally responsible citizen creation, but for the most part, my educators were just concerned about creating students who were part of the society that we lived in.

The idea of creating “good” citizens is often heavily explored when talking about social studies education. As that is my major, I have had some great conversations about this and how it fits into the curriculum. The curriculum documents can be analyzed to show what kind of citizens the document is aiming for. This is not solely on the teacher. The curriculum documents have a clear type of citizen that they are aiming for depending on the section, grade and unit. In regards to the social studies curriculum for grades 10-12, the curriculum states that teachers may teach “some, all or none” of the curriculum. So this makes it possible for teachers to aim higher on creating students who do more, but often will lead teachers to do less. This approach to curriculum creates problems in who is deciding what kind of citizen should be focused on and then also what constitutes a “good” citizen.

Overall I have plenty to say on this topic because it is my major and something that I am passionate about, but I think that there is a lot to explore when thinking about the creation of “good” citizens and what we are teaching in schools today.

Math and Inuit ways of Knowing

When I was in school, the one phrase that I heard most in math class was “that’s not the way you are supposed to do it. Do it the way I taught you”. I had very good grades throughout school and I was good at listening to my teachers, but math was the one subject that I got the most push back in. I had the right answers, but did not have the “right” process. My teachers wanted me to do math the way that they were teaching, not the way that made the most sense to me. This caused a lot of frustration on both ends until usually my teacher gave up and just told me to at least show my work if I wasn’t going to do it their way. This frustration though was the thing that drove me away from math the most. I used to love math but being frustrated is something that I couldn’t handle and it eventually led me down a path that completely strayed from math. Now I have accepted it and I’m happy with where my path has led, but it was super upsetting at the time that math had gone from something that I enjoyed to something so upsetting. This felt slightly oppressive at the time but now as an educator I get it. I understand why they were trying to get me to do it that way.

Poirier’s article was super interesting and I had no idea about the way that Inuit peoples did math and how it differed from our ways of knowing. It truly gave me a new outlook on the ideas of math that have been so deeply ingrained in me.

1. Instead of seasons, they talk about the things happening around them. Such as when they hunt animals, when to walk on the ice, or when flowers are blooming
2. They would use parts of their body to measure when they needed to make clothes.
3. Using base 20 instead of base 10.

These are just three ways that the Inuit ways of knowing vary from eurocentric ways of knowing and allow for a interesting and new understanding. If these were introduced in a eurocentric society my guess is that people would be very confused and possibly even upset that this is what was brought up. I think that is a very interesting idea.

 

I guess what I am left still wondering is what would happen if these ways of knowing and these ideas about math were brought into Canadian society and how people would react.

Treaty Ed- ECS 210

1. What is the purpose of teaching Treaty Ed (specifically) or First Nations, Metis, and Inuit (FNMI) Content and Perspectives (generally) where there are few or no First Nations, Metis, Inuit peoples?
2. What does it mean for your understanding of curriculum that “We are all treaty people”?
3. Spend at least one paragraph making some connections to TreatyEdCamp – What did you hear/see there that might help you to enact treaty education in your future classroom?

I think that the purpose of teaching Treaty Ed and/or First Nations, Metis, and Inuit content and perspectives even if there are no or few First Nations, Metis, and Inuit peoples is because of the history between Canada and these peoples and also because these peoples are still living in Canada today. While I have been in school and around people in my life, often I have heard the phrase “Why do we need to know this? It happened so long ago, they get their money so can’t they just be happy?” This is really something that makes me upset. Many people love learning about the wars and other facts of history, but do not care about the history of the people in our own country. The Indigenous peoples of our country have a large history and it is important to recognize that history and learn about it so we aren’t ignorant. I have been in classes where there was no indigenous peoples in my class and I think that at that point, it is even more important to be learning Treaty Ed and learning about these peoples. Some communities that have no or few Indigenous peoples can be very ignorant to the Indigenous peoples. Whether or not this is their fault varies. Some communities do not have any Indigenous peoples so they are not exposed to that group and their knowledge. Some people are just outright rude and choose to be ignorant about the Indigenous peoples because they believe that they should not have not learn it or it doesn’t matter to them. So I believe that even if there are no or few Indigenous students or peoples in the community that it is very important to be teaching Treaty Ed. I lived in the city my whole life and thought that I knew a lot about the Indigenous peoples and Treaty Ed, but once at the university, I learned that I didn’t actually know as much as I thought. There is always more that you can learn. Conferences such as Treaty Ed can really help teachers realize why it is important to teach these ideas and also gives them more ideas about how to teach Treaty Ed.

In the last year, I have been introduced to the phrase “We are all Treaty People” and I have been grappling with this phrase specifically. When I first heard it, I was very on board and my first response was “YEAH!!! We ARE all Treaty People” but once I have been talking to some Indigenous and Metis peoples my ideas concerning this have shifted slightly. Since the treaties were a commitment and agreement between the First Nations peoples and the government, the Metis people were not included in the treaties. This is something that I didn’t actually realize for a while and I am glad to have realized that before I am in the classroom. Although I am grappling with the idea of us all being treaty people, I do believe that I am a treaty person. I think that because I believe that I am a treaty person, it is even more important to be teaching Treaty Ed. I think that in terms of curriculum, it means that I can relate and understand even more to these idea about Treaty Ed. I learned a lot at Treaty Ed Camp and I know that I will be able to bring that into my classroom in the future.

I found that Treaty Ed Camp was a great experience and I really enjoyed getting to go. I learned a lot from getting to volunteer as well as attending. The ideas that I gained from the camp was fantastic. I found that volunteering really allowed me to see all of the teachers and pre-service teachers that cared about Treaty Ed a lot and how they are really interested in teaching young people. I got to have a lot of really great conversations with people who were presenting and why they chose to present as I was checking them in. I also got a chance to talk with a few in classroom teachers who came. These were awesome conversations and I learned a lot from them. They are very knowledgeable and cared a lot, which was encouraging. I also got to see Keith, which was AWESOME!! I came away from the day with a lot of great information to bring into my classroom and great people that I connected with, all while having a good time. I hope that I can come back for Treaty Ed Camp in the future and also volunteer so that I can make even more connections and learn even more because Treaty Ed is very important to me.

Critical Pedagogy- ECS 210

The article suggests that a “critical pedagogy of place” aims to:

(a) identify, recover, and create material spaces and places that teach us how to live well in our total environments (reinhabitation); and (b) identify and change ways of thinking that injure and exploit other people and places (decolonization) (p.74)

1. List some of the ways that you see reinhabitation and decolonization happening throughout the narrative.
2. How might you adapt these ideas to considering place in your own subject areas and teaching?

 

Some of the ways that this article is speaking to the ideas of reinhabitation and decolonization are:

Learning the language and culture.

Having skill building workshops

By working with the youth they are able to have a more realistic narrative and work with the students to learn from them

As well as many other ways that they are working towards decolonization.

 

I think that decolonization is something that is talked about a lot in my classes because I am a social studies major. This is something that I think is important and that I am striving towards. I want to continue to learn more so I can be a more understanding educator and so I can do my part towards the truth and reconciliation. These ideas I think are great. I have a great yearning to learn more so I want to do whatever I can to learn and educate myself so I can educate others. I know that I can adapt my ideas and the ideas given to me to help create a better narrative in my classrooms and work towards being an teacher that strives for decolonization ideas to be present in my classroom.

Development of curricula

Before reading:

I believe that curriculum is developed by having a group of people from the government, teachers, specialists and other people who are invited to the renewal or development come together and work to create curriculum ideas. There is many meetings and discussions around what should be included and how. Then, once the ideas have been narrowed down, they send the information to curriculum writers to develop the formal curriculum documents. After the documents are created, it goes to pilot teachers who try it out and give feedback on how it worked or didn’t work. This may happen a few times before the curriculum is made public and mandated.

 

After reading

There is a great deal of politics involved in the creation of curriculum. Government platforms can be affected by what the public wants and that can also affect that curriculum that comes from those platforms. If the policies are not implemented as the public wants, there can be problems with the next election. The influence of government is quite great in curriculum development and therefore, because the public can influence the government, they therefore can influence curriculum to a point. There is also a lot of behind the scenes people that are influencing curriculum without most people realizing that they are. The creation of curriculum is very intertwined with the government and many other people that are changing and influencing curriculum either publicly or privately.

 

This reading provided me with a lot of new knowledge about the policy side of curriculum development. I knew the government was involved in the creation of curriculum before, but never realized just how much impact they really were. I also never really knew about how the public and non government people could affect the government people in the creation of curriculum. The policy side of curriculum was a very eye opening reading. Although it slightly surprised me to begin with, the more I thought about it, the more this reading made sense. The government influence makes sense to me and although I think it is maybe slightly concerning that they have such a impact, I think it makes sense.