Great Quotes About Learning & Change

Found in Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/groups/858082@N25/pool/show/

Pfffffft! The Pitfalls of Presenting at Pro-D

I don’t know about you, but I really look forward to Professional Days. They are worth way more than simply “a day without kids” (which really IS valuable). Often in the school year, we are so busy trying to get through the day, week, month, that time for generating new ideas and collaborating with colleagues is limited.

Like many, I learn best visually and when engaged with others. Even having a conversation with my own staff helps me think my way out of the box. The instant feedback of others is often necessary for me to be challenged and experience growth. It works wonders for problem solving, creating choices, engendering support and inspiring change. One would think that Professional Days would have the same kinds of effects.

The fact that many sessions at Pro-D are inspirational is without debate. It is exciting to hear about the amazing things that other educators are doing with their practice - and I feel honoured that they give up their time to come and share with us at Pro-D. They give us license and encouragement to try something new, take some risks, and hopefully effect vast amounts of improvement in our own practice.

However, I have often left a conference, workshop, or keynote speech feeling a bit demoralized and debilitated - probably pretty much the opposite of what the presenter would have expected. For a time, I just kept my mouth shut about it and said nothing. But as my years of teaching experience grew, so did my willingness to be frank about what I saw as my own “shortcomings.” I was both happy and dismayed to discover that many others had similar experiences at Pro-D - indeed, some of whom are professionals that I highly respect.

Don’t get me wrong, these sessions are inspirational. But the other half of the equation is the reality that seems to set in during the session or after it is over. Some thought processes might reflect something similar to this:

Guilt/Shame - “I haven’t been doing that” / “I’ve been doing it wrong”

Often the presenter will identify some antiquated ways of doing things, or even go so far as to say they are wrong. Wanting the best for our kids, it tends to feel like we aren’t doing the best we can for them, and in some cases are even being a detriment.

Fear/Uncertainty - “I don’t know how to do that”

Sometimes the presenter introduces something that is foreign or complicated and it instills fear about the unknown.

Overwhelmed - “How do I even begin?” / “It’s too much”

Of course it makes sense to show us all the end product – we want to be wowed, and the process to get there might be lengthy and mundane. But without a map to get there we can feel lost and the task too great to undertake.

Shut Down/Defeat - “I can’t” / “I’m not good enough”

All of this can result in not very much change: It’s easier to stick with what we know—we’ll do it later—there isn’t enough time to “figure it out”—obviously we don’t have the skills that the person presenting does—etc.

Any time I have been asked to present at a Pro-D, I have done it. As a nervous public speaker, I am not the most confident about my abilities to deliver a useful, riveting workshop. But I do it because I have no hesitation sharing what I have with anyone - and I want to give back to my professional community. What do I try to keep in mind when presenting so that people don’t leave with any of the aforementioned feelings? Here are some suggestions (and I’d love to hear more):

**Relate to your audience by telling them the kinds of things you were doing before you changed your practice with your new method/strategy.

“I also used to teach PowerPoint every day before I discovered the impact of this Media Literacy program”

**Validate some common practices, and then talk about how your new method/strategy could improve them.

“Teaching this lesson out of the Math textbook works ok, but using Lego-Dacta manipulatives totally improved how my kids could visualize the problem solving questions”

**Identify the parts of your method/strategy that may seem foreign or complicated to others.

“When I first started using the online program with my class, I thought it was strange that the menus were located on the side – but I got used to it pretty quickly”

**Give the audience your email or your Twitter ID and encourage them to contact you if they have questions or hit roadblocks. Give a sample activity to try with their class, and tell them to email you with feedback afterwards.

**Near the end of the presentation, review some starting points for teachers. Give a handout or send an email with step-by-step instructions on how to get started. Or give a “Top 5” list of the most important points you covered.

**Emphasize that these major changes will take some time, and that teachers shouldn’t expect themselves to accomplish all of it at once. Suggest biting off small chunks and making goals, like trying something new each week or each month and developing change slowly. Teachers are more likely to shut down if there is too much to change all at once.

A Twitter colleague (@bengrey) asked a question the other day:

“A very high percentage of what many presenters demonstrate at conferences, isn’t happening in their own district. Why?”

I think it’s because of many of the reasons I’ve stated here. There is amazing & inspiring work going on around the world, in your own country and in your own district. It is important to not only make it accessible, but also realistic and digestible for teachers. When we support growth amongst ourselves as professionals, we are better prepared to nurture growth for our students – because after all, we are all students in this journey together!


(This post was originally published here)

Notes from the Teachers' Congress

Teachers’ Congress – Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue, Asia Pacific Hall
November 28th, 2008

Minister of Education Shirley Bond
- welcome, overview & introductory remarks

Dr. Martha Piper – Keynote
- times have changed
- world of challenge leads the way to a world of hope
- confront global issues with hope rather than fear
- education rids us of fear and equips us with hope
- global citizenship is imperative
- we each dwell in two communities: local community of our birth, and the global community
- each of us needs to do our part
- Lester Pearson in 1946, foresaw the dangers of a rapidly changing world: “there is no refuge in remoteness” – no protection to be gained by distance
- we must seek mutual understanding through education
- three areas of educational focus as designated by Mr. Lee, president of Singapore: 1) language 2) scientific/computer technology 3) understanding of world cultures & religions
- five possible approaches to introducing global citizenship:

o How many schools have adequate language departments? How do we expose children to foreign language?
o How do we integrate what it means to be human into curriculum? How do we emphasize humanity?
o We must embed the messages of global citizenship within every class and every class, every year. Socio-political implications need to be introduced into our curriculum. Global issues need to be interwoven into teaching.
o Community Service Learning. Volunteering, giving, and service to others.
o Teach tolerance, respect & citizenship. Be a role model and demonstrate through your own actions. Students need to be secure enough to explore their own curiosity. Celebrate diversity.

- students need ownership of their own thoughts and speech
- the need for free citizens with free minds has never been greater
- African sentiment – ubuntu – “I am, because you are”

Focus groups – Developing Global Citizens
- discussions with groups of people around us
Thoughts:
- mandated curriculum and provincial exams severely limit our ability to create global citizenship because of the need to teach to a test
- teachers need to expand beyond provincial curriculum
- also a need to teach appreciation of what we have
- in order to teach languages and cultural literature, we need to stop underfunding libraries, closing libraries
- how to implement language education when the ESL program is underfunded and has little support
- “tyranny of coverage” – if you take a breath, you miss something. There is so much curriculum that it does not allow for the tangents that so often contain the best teaching moments
- reconciling the noble ideal with reality – we are struggling to keep our heads above water
- creativity costs money and it costs time
- teachers are overwhelmed, overworked, overtired
- we need to give hope to the teachers as well as the students
- teachers need to feel inspiration in order to be inspirational

Daniella Salazar, Todd Bethune, Lauren Bone & Brent Greenless – Sharing the Dream Webcasting Series – Student Led Initiative and Overview of 2010 Educational Resources
- webcasts coordinated between highschool students from Prince George and Coquitlam (Heritage Woods)
- the leadership program at College Heights Secondary, Prince George involved many initiatives outside of school
- reflections about interview with Carol Huynh – overcoming obstacles is about learning at every possible opportunity
- http://www.sharingthedream.gov.bc.ca/
- Next webcast is February 20th, 2009

Don Black, Director, Education Programs for the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games
- teachers can access online bilingual resources, events and activities to be integrated into curriculum
- teachers are integral to the program development
- teacher forum is hosted by UBC faculty of Education
- teachers can showcase lessons and student work on the website
o http://www.vancouver2010.com/en/culture-and-education/education/feature-programs/-/34032/33978/11dl109/sharing-the-dream-webcast-seri.html

Kathryn Graham, Amber Church & Matthew Carroll – Youth Climate Leadership Alliance – Integrating Sustainability into the Classroom
- engage and encourage youth to take action for the environment
- Idle-Free Ambassadors – work to reduce instances of idling
- Climate Action Facilitators are located all over BC – there are 2 for Metro Vancouver
- Key concept – CARE: Complexity, Aesthetic Appreciation, Responsibility, Ethics
- Students come to understand how their actions affect both local and global environments
- Websites/programs/initiatives that are available:
o http://www.treesfortomorrow.gov.bc.ca/
o http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/environment_ed/
o http://www.greenlearning.ca/
o http://www.hastebc.org/
o http://www.bcgreengames.ca/

Ian Grbavec & Cheryl Woods - Healthy Schools Network and Draft Healthy Living Performance Standards- healthy living is an umbrella topic that permeates all other learning outcomes
- direct links to: PE, HCE, Planning, Grad Transitions, Home Ec
- Emerging/Developing/Acquired/Accomplished – change to use positive language instead of the old performance standards
- Comprised of 4 aspect areas: Healthy Eating, Active Living, Healthy Relationships and Healthy Practices
- 6 big strategies:
o thoughtful feedback
o criteria for success
o teaching/learning
o etc.
- integrating DPA into curriculum
- Canadian Medical Association praises DPA but says it’s not enough

Minister of Education Shirley Bond – General Discussion
- mental health issues are prevalent as well as physical
- issue of too many IEP kids in provincially examinable classes
- comprehensive provincial plan for suicide prevention
- brain-drain of top BC students to out-of-province universities
- struggling families are not being addressed – they are in survival mode – students have specific learning needs that are not being addressed
- the issues that students bring to school today are often very different than the issues that were brought forward 20 years ago
- school counselors would like to come to the table to discuss issues with the government/ministry
- with staff shortages and class size increases, how can you ensure an increase in student (specifically aboriginal students) graduation rates
- DPA: who, what, when, where & how
- moving away from universal FSA’s to random selection with no identifiers
- the need to invest in social services, mental health, etc.
- 6-8 IEP kids in a class – added initiatives just further stress and overwhelm the teacher
- premier spending thousands of $ on newspaper advertisements instead of investing in education
- less than 20% of students choosing to write the provincial exams in courses where it is optional – will they be cancelled?
- what can teachers do to prevent burnout – and keep ourselves healthy and happy
- parental leave for fathers/harmonization of benefits
- gifted and advanced learners deserve to have their needs met as well
- help schools that score low on the FSA’s by investing in them – if you are going to persist in giving the FSA’s then do something positive with the results
- money was “de-targeted” from gifted programs, but stayed in the system – boards made decisions about how to allot the money
- teacher education courses should include ESL training since there are ESL kids in every classroom
- teaching practitioners need to inform policy more than any other partner
- ranking schools and then allowing parents to choose which school they send their kid to

Marc Kielburger – “Me to We” – Approaches to Fostering Student Engagement – Free the Children
- http://www.freethechildren.com/
- parents endure major sacrifices to ensure that their children have access to education
- student achievement = student engagement
- sign up for Monday column in Vancouver Sun that have lessons/ideas/suggestions for global issues
- make gratitude a regular part of their lives
- every child can be a philanthropist
- become a responsible shopper
- lead by example
- reach out through empathy
- don’t shelter young people from the issues
- celebrate heroes and people that make the world a better place
- teaching compassion
- www.metowe.org
- “do small things with great love” – Mother Theresa

John Dewey: Democracy in Education

In response to John Dewey's Democracy in Education

Throughout his historical recounting of the examination of education, Dewey seems to criticize either the means or the aims with which society has attempted to find primary value in the educational process. Either the creative and unique nature of the individual is stifled in order to serve an economic or nationalistic purpose, or the societal framework is insufficient to support the kind of development needed to be in harmony with nature and “truth”.

Dewey leaves us with a challenge to reconcile our own aims and means. He promotes an open communication amongst all peoples and a dialogue that transcends borders and politics. Dewey also supports a system that will allow individuals to flourish and capitalize on their own strengths, which in turn would naturally support societal growth, change and progress:

“Accomplishment of this end demands not only adequate administrative provision of school facilities, and such supplementation of family resources as will enable youth to take advantage of them, but also such modification of traditional ideals of culture, traditional subjects of study and traditional methods of teaching and discipline as will retain all the youth under educational influences until they are equipped to be masters of their own economic and social careers.” (p. 11)

Rant - During the Teacher's Strike

Well isn't it funny -- today I got called and asked to answer a survey about my post-secondary exploits. And one of the questions they asked me was what I do in my job as a TEACHER.

Like, holy crow, as if anyone can do that in one sentence:
- create and develop curriculum, unit & lesson plans for all subject areas
- teach all subject areas, including: Math, Science, English, French, Social Studies, Drama, Art, CAPP and Physical Education
- integrate learning activities to address tactile, auditory, visual and billion other types of learners
- do a zillion hours of marking every week (one of my my least favourite parts)
- use authentic assessment activities from a variety of sources; provide feedback to students and myself
- run an integrated Advisory program
- address all of my students' academic, social, and behavioural needs
- develop adapted and modified learning plans for students that are: Learning Disabled, ESL, Gifted, Emotionally Challenged, Physically Challenged, Behaviourally Challenged, Special Needs
- deal with conflict, racism, bullying, hormones, drug use, sexual actvity, child abuse & neglect
- communicate effectively with all parents regularly via email, telephone, interviews, formal and informal reports
- evaluate student performance in all academic, social & behavioural areas
- sit on several commitees that promote the academic, behavioural, or social development of students
- attend mandatory workshops on Professional Days to develop and improve my own skills
- give up lunch hours, break times, and after school time to volunteer to coach sports teams throughout the year, and sponsor clubs
- participate in the Intramurals program
- offer extra help and tutorials before and after school, as often as possible
- develop meaningful connections with students (that's my most favourite part actually)
- attend and coordinate school events and other functions that happen outside of regular school time
- act as a parent, counselor, arbitrator, mediator, disciplinarian, judge, jury, confidante, advocate.

I'm going to stop here. Making a list like this is frustrating because putting some of these items in point form, doesn't do justice to their scope. And if you're not a teacher, you might see similarities among points when in fact they don't overlap in the slightest. There's SO much involved with teaching that doing this job for a week wouldn't really give an accurate picture of what the school year is like.

It's the most difficult, challenging, at times demoralizing, frustrating, sad and scary job I have ever done. But it's also meaningful, inspiring, rewarding, joy-filled, pride-filled and the best experience I have ever had. I love going to school. I love working with kids, getting to know them as people and helping them succeed in even the smallest endeavors (which may or may not be academic).

Let's keep in mind though, that I have only been teaching for 5 years. Is it any wonder why teachers have a super high burn-out rate? Is it any wonder why so many new teachers leave the profession within the first 5 years? If you care enough about what you do, you put 200% into everything -- and the responsibilities never end, and there's always more you could be doing.

Yes, teachers are underpaid. I know we aren't the only ones. But nobody gets into teaching for the money. I don't really care that I spent 7 years in university, have worked 5 years in my chosen field, and only make 45 grand a year. I wish it was more, so that I didn't have to carry the huge debtload that I incurred after university. At the moment I am doing coursework to improve my position on the payscale. Yes, MORE education on top of my job. This is my first semester -- we'll see how it goes, hopefully I can avoid dropping out, quitting my job, or having a nervous breakdown.

But my working conditions? The students' learning conditions? That is just going too far. I don't give a flying fig about a pay raise if you put 10 more kids in my class. Having 30 teenagers in one room is more than enough for one person to handle, thankyouverymuch. There's only one of me!! The more students there are, the less I am able to help them. And they all need their own particular brand of help.

Plus, the more kids I get with special needs or learning disabilities, the more time I spend on them. Which would be great if I was TRAINED to help those kids. I'm not. I'm a generalist -- kinda like a jack of all trades. Master of none? I'd like to be Master of some, anyways. Other kids that need a little extra help can't get it if all my time is taken up dealing with a Special Needs student, explaining to an ESL student, or calming down a Severe Behavioural student. All those kids need to have support in order to succeed in the classroom! One teacher can't do it all!

Anyways, there's enough stress in the job of teaching that it's hard not to feel beaten down. Then, throw the media in there and a few ignorant people that make you feel like crap. Then, have the government try to take away everything you've fought for in order to make the best learning environment for kids, and a somewhat pleasant place to work.

And here we are today. A little part of me wants to quit, because this whole thing is such a kick in the teeth. But then I shake my head, and remember what we are fighting for. The best job I've ever had! I'm not settling for less than what we deserve -- we, as in the teachers, and the students.