Just an observation

Well ... this is not an issue in teaching. Just an observation.
I was thinking today about my classmates in the early years stream, and about the strengths each one brings with her (and him, for those few who are guys). Every now and then I'm struck by how great this person or that will be in the classroom, and today it occurred to me that I've probably had that thought about every person in my class at one time or another.
Such a comfort, knowing that our future educators are such competent, dedicated people.

Long-Range Planning

The year plan. I'd heard of the need for one, but thus far, nobody had directly addressed this issue. Happily, Jackie saw fit to include it in her Professional Teacher course ...

The year plan is really quite a huge undertaking. Each of the curricular areas would have to be scrutinized, outcomes identified, themes chosen. The more that these areas are integrated together, the better. It sounds like a daunting task - though for me, it'd be more accurately described as a giant puzzle. This sounds like such fun! I really love digging into projects like this, and making it all work out. The worst of it is that I won't need to make a year plan for another year & a half, probably. )o: I suppose I could recreationally year plan in the meantime.

One huge advantage to having a coherent long-range plan is that, since you'd be teaching already knowing what's coming next, it would be easy to build into each unit, what will become the "assessment for" learning - to ensure that the kids have some sort of base, on which to build their new learning. Rather than relying on chance that the kids will have some knowledge of a new area in their schemas, you are in a position to guarantee it. And how much better would it be, when kids head into a new theme feeling confident because they already know a little bit?

There were some surprises today. I had no idea that MB Education set standards for how much of a day's time was allotted to each subject area, for instance. Reviewing their requirements, I could see that it would not be difficult to get in all the ELA time that you're ideally supposed to make happen. Some of the other areas, however, I am not so sure about.

I think this is where integration will really be advantageous. If I have only half an hour each for social studies and art, I can see feeling very limited. However - make a joint art-social studies project, and voila, one hour serves both areas, and you (and your kids) can feel so much more immersed in the subject. Integration of the various subject areas is really important, and not just from a practical standpoint. In "real world" learning, we always learn in an integrated fashion, not separating our learning into its component parts.

My hidden agenda? I'm so enamoured with the integrated arts program that my kids are fortunate enough to enjoy, I am eager to apply some of those principles when I have my own classroom. Generally I think it's really beneficial to nurture creativity in children - it encourages broader and deeper thinking, celebrates individuality, offers opportunities to learn in a social and accepting environment. It is difficult to be a linear thinker and an artist at once.

So when I look at the gargantuan task of long-range planning, I see how it offers so many opportunities to help the teacher prioritize and achieve her goals. I say, "Bring it on!"

Encourage the Heart

Perhaps strangely, I hadn’t thought of leadership in terms of  a key component of effective teaching. That is, I had thought of attributes of leadership that are critical to teaching, but I hadn’t couched it in terms of leadership per se. But now that the idea has been offered, I see how it absolutely is a key component of effective teaching, and puzzle over how I ever missed that idea.

Dr. Jackie Kirk introduced our Professional Teacher class to the Leadership Practices Inventory … a norm-referenced test to determine one’s relative strengths and weaknesses in what they’ve identified as the five exemplary practices of leadership. Each of us took this test (self-evaluated), and I found the results fascinating.

First, I’ll let you know (if you don’t already) what the five areas are:

• Modeling the way
• Inspiring a shared vision
• Challenging the process
• Enabling others to act
• Encouraging the heart

 Without formal definition of these categories, I could have rank-ordered my own strengths quite easily. I figured that my strengths would lie in modeling the way, challenging the process, and encouraging the heart. Not so great would be inspiring a shared vision, and enabling others to act. I think that I view these last two as very extroverted characteristics, which would not be my way. (Yes, I know, challenging the process is theoretically also an extroverted practice, but I know that I have that rebel in me, plus I do enjoy trying to find better ways to do things.)

But – surprise! – this is really not what my results established as my strong & weak suits. My strongest? A tie between challenging the process (no surprise there) and enabling others to act (what?!). My worst, by far, was modeling the way. That one was a real shocker. I really feel like I do as I want those around me to do (well, those within my scope of influence). So I was shocked to see it at the very low end of things (under the tenth percentile).

Jackie went on to talk about each category, and what sorts of things we do to promote each one. Modeling the way is still a mystery to me; I think that I do know what I want to model, and that my actions are aligned with my values. I will need to think on this one, and observe … maybe the reality of the situation is different from what I imagine to be true. It’ll be interesting to keep an eye on this for a while, and see if I can ultimately identify the sorts of choices I make that aren’t in keeping with this value.

Now – enabling others to act. Let me just say that I feel squeamish just even hearing these words. Maybe it’s just that – perhaps these words are not the ones I would use to describe what they are talking about.  Because when I heard what Jackie had to say about the kinds of behaviours that lead to strength in this area – making heroes and leaders of others in the classroom, embracing risk-taking, sharing power, seeing failure as simply part of learning – those are things I feel quite strongly about, and make a point of doing. So that one makes sense, in the end.

The other surprise for me was encouraging the heart. I view myself as someone who is very strong in this area. And yet, my result came out just sitting on the border between low and moderate. Huh. This, also, is one of what I would consider the “easier” ones to excel in. How hard is it to be appreciative? To send a thank you note? To celebrate achievements and successes? But somehow, I’m just not doing great here. So – another one that I’m going to be more aware of, make a conscious effort to improve upon.

I must say that I appreciate these sorts of new age-ish exercises that Jackie has us do in this class (and in the previous one, Classroom Management). It is unlikely that I would independently choose to consider the Myers-Briggs in terms of how I teach, or that I’d write a personal inventory poem, or statement of educational philosophy. Or that I’d take this leadership inventory. And yet, each of these exercises has been quite enlightening, and has raised that bar a little higher. There is a big difference between knowing things about yourself, and articulating them. The process of articulating them involves a great deal of introspection and wrestling with inconsistencies in one’s self. So for that, I thank Jackie – I think it’ll make better teachers of us all.

Techno-peril, Part 1

It seems that every time I turn around, someone else is talking about technology in education. Is it beneficial? Will kids get more out of their education if much of it comes through technology? Or do they get enough outside of school, and should we stick to traditional ways of teaching and learning?

The more I see on this topic, the more I lean toward embracing technology in the classroom. (Yes, Mike, if you are reading this, I voted yea for technology). If for no other reason, I am dedicated to making education relevant to the kids I teach, and most kids are “in their zone” in front of a computer, or using their hand-held devices. So logically, to engage students, to really have them take an interest – we should be incorporating technology into our everyday school work. I think that’s what we are seeing, for instance, when we are given the example of the school division in North Carolina whose tech-equipped student body saw a huge increase in graduation rates, and in academic proficiency. If we can assume that the changes were attributable to the technology, I would toss in another assumption: that the technology was able to provide an environment that presented students with authentic and relevant materials, and that is why their performance was boosted.

I suppose I’m not on the extreme in this matter of technology in education … although I’ve heard some say that handwriting has become irrelevant other than signing your name, I’m really not there. I think it’s still important to know some old-school skills, like writing with a pen, and reading printed words on a paper page. In fact, as with other areas of focus, I would like to offer my kids choices … write it out or word process it. Hand-draw a graph or create one on Excel. It’d be great to use technology to your kids’ advantage in terms of knowing the applications well enough that they can take a look at the project, and know roughly what the advantages and disadvantages are doing it old-style or doing it on the computer. Flexibility from project to project, and student to student, should yield the best results because it allows each child to do what works best for him.

There are social justice issues inherent in the move toward technology. As school boards embrace the idea of using student-owned devices for in-class work, they are also providing school-supplied technology for those who do not have what is needed. Isn’t this just destined to become a have/have-not situation, in which the socio-economically struggling child will be using the outdated, broken-down school equipment? And isn’t this just a stepping stone to requiring students to own that equipment? I think it is. And I think that technology absolutely will highlight differences in wealth. When you combine those issues with the more practical issues such as security of personal devices, and responsibility for lost, stolen, and broken devices – I really think that it is best if we move ahead with changes in how we approach technology only as swiftly as we can afford to outfit ourselves (as school divisions). And incidentally, if done division by division, the same issues will arise, only on a school division scale rather than a student scale. The have/have-not divisions will result in significant variation in education from place to place within the same province.

There are so many issues tied to technology in education – I’m sure I could blog about an issue every day, for years, without running out of things to talk about. So clearly, I’m not going to address much here – just a few, hand-picked aspects...

Techno-peril, part 2

Ahhh, the perils of technology...

The final question I would like to consider is that of public versus private. I am thinking primarily of classroom blogs, and whether or not it is alright to have video or pictures of kids on the classroom website. I like to tread lightly in this area. The argument was made in class today: “Where is the danger? Do you think that little Johnny is actually endangered by having his face and voice on the site? How would that play out?” I see where this is coming from. Odds are that no evil person will target one child from a classroom website alone, then stalk him in real life. (Odds are, but of course, it is possible). The more likely danger is in dysfunctional families, where a child is in foster care or with one parent, and another parent poses a threat of some kind.

However, despite that, I’m still wishing to address the predator problem. A few years ago, I was a member of an online community of like-minded parents. Several of us ran online businesses related to this (e.g., cloth diaper-makers), and lots of moms were on that online community just for social networking. It happened that several moms were contacted via their online businesses, because in a child pornography arrest, in which the man had something like 12,000 images of children, several pictures were lifted from these cloth diapering sites. Now – did the pedophile actually reach these children? No. Was there some physical threat to the kids? Probably not. Did these mothers mind that images of their children were used as sexual objects for this pedophile? Absolutely! Aside from the (remote) possibility that interest could turn into obsession, and the threat could become real-world, even just knowing that your child has been the object of a pedophile’s desire is an abhorrent thought. And it happens.

Our world has shrunk, since the inception of the internet. It can be a wonderful thing … we can keep in touch with friends and relatives on the other side of the world without expense or delay; we can share professional ideas with colleagues whether or not we know them; even medical consultations can occur without the patient actually going anywhere. But by the same token, threats which were once very isolated and localized, are now sprung wide open. When, in my childhood, the town may have had a dozen known pedophiles, in order to be victimized by one of them, you still had to actually come into contact with him. He needed to walk by your yard, or stop you on your way home, or take advantage of his relationship of trust with you. Now, that barrier is gone. Any pedophile has instant access to images of millions of children. Social networking sites, blogs, email … all provide easy access directly to one particular child, if that’s what the pedophile wants. It has become much more difficult to protect kids from certain threats.

No doubt you see where this is going. I do love the idea of the classroom blog, in general, but I am very concerned about the potential danger the children are exposed to as a result. I struggle with this quite a bit. I have kids who use the internet. The balance needs to be struck, between threats and freedom. I have had a family blog before. My solution was, since I was going to include photos, to not make reference to their names. (The thinking being that if the virtual threat ever became real, the predator could have so much information about the family via the blog, and if he had names as well, it would be far too easy to dupe a child). That would not work for a classroom blog, because by its very nature, the viewer knows where the school is, and probably the grade, and almost certainly the teacher’s name – any child in that class can be pinpointed easily. I believe I would use a password system, and perhaps change the password every month or so, lest it wind up in the wrong hands.

I think that technology belongs in the classroom. I just also think that just as we would enter a new swimming hole with caution, it’s vital that we consider how we make the transition toward technology infusion; we don’t want to dive head-first, and end up with irreversible consequences.

PS: Must add this bit - since writing this post 2 days ago, I now know about kidblog.org ... which really makes for a safe online experience for kids. I don't think I'd have any problem using this platform in the classroom - ahhhh. Relief!

A Question of Equity

In Manitoba, our public schools are funded from a combination of sources, with almost all coming from two sources: from the local level via property taxes, and from the provincial government, via an annual operating grant. This funding scheme is intended to ensure equity from division to division, and (in conjunction with the work that the local school board does), school to school.

But is equity achieved? Even the casual observer can readily see that it is not. Schools in wealthier areas are visibly better equipped.

There are two primary reasons for this: one at the division level, and one at the school level.

From division to division, there will be inequities due to the “property tax effect,” which is a simple matter of there being pockets of wealth. If the total amount required to run the school division is acquired via property taxes, there is no need for a provincial top-up. On the surface, that sounds desirable – except that in these cases, often, the amount required to run the division is exceeded by property taxation, resulting in higher funding per student than in neighbouring districts.

Within one school division, regardless of what ratio of funding comes from a provincial or a municipal source, there will also be built-in inequity. Fundraising initiatives that take place for a wide range of purposes – playground equipment, field trips, even classroom supplies and library materials – naturally have better success in wealthy neighbourhoods than in impoverished ones. The end result? Students in wealthier schools will have more and better field trips, better equipment, more supplies. Their learning environment and experience will be enriched by all of these extras. Their education will be better.

I'm confident that a statistician somewhere could develop a formula which could consider funds raised through parental and community contributions and the like, and redistribute some of that additional wealth to the needier schools – a clawback of sorts. Or, the school division could create a fundraising pool, from which every school would receive a portion based on their number of students. Or perhaps a formula could be struck which allots government funding “boosters” to those schools incapable of raising adequate funds in the community.

But being capable of doing that, and actually trying to enact that change, are two different matters. The privileged in our communities enjoy their privileged status. They want a better education for their children. They think it is fair.

This is intended not as a slam against Manitoba's wealthier demographic, but simply an observation about our society in general. In fact, our capitalist system is based on this desire for bigger and better. It is not by accident that the wealthier people live in these wealthy areas ... it is by making acquisition of wealth a priority that one typically winds up being among the privileged few. Had each of these individuals been of the opinion that society should be equitable, they simply would not find themselves living that lifestyle.

So. How does one reconcile these two positions?

Personally, I would be in favour of a clawback ... or some means of effecting true equity, or at least something closer to it than we have. But I cannot see it happening. I think that when it comes right down to it, the people whose voice is heard will be those who are not uncomfortable with inequity. I think that is why we still have such variations today.

I don't anticipate seeing real equity in my lifetime, but will certainly support any movement towards it. Maybe some day...

Power for Power's Sake

"I am not interested in power for power's sake, 

but I'm interested in power that is moral, that is right and that is good." 

~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

...if only everyone felt that way.

A recent in-class overview of governance of education in Canada has me pondering the role of provincial government in education. Typically, I think it is desirable for the power structure to be bottom-heavy, since the closer to the actual educating that you are, the more you will understand the dynamics of your local situation. However, I really think that the provincial government has a responsibility to act as a safety net against the kinds of local politics and in-fighting that can make for poor decisions.

What brought this to life for me is the issue currently being faced by my hometown community, surrounding a decision to close my old high school.

You see, the Board had been looking at closing one of the city’s five high schools, citing declining enrolment as the rationale. That’s reasonable enough on the surface. Except that the process, as it turns out, was riddled with error, faulty logic, procedural flaws, and breaks with policy. There are provincial acts and municipal bylaws being breached by this particular school being closed, and the members who voted against the closure (in a vote which was supposed to be unanimous to pass, but was not) signed a minority report stating that the process was flawed.

Still, the Board stands firm on its decision to close the school.

The City Council is supportive of the massive public outcry against the closure, and has requested intervention from the Province. The Education Minister did send a facilitator to hear the concerns, and she was overwhelmed with fifty speakers, in a meeting which, although scheduled for two hours, ran for five. But the facilitator has made it clear that she is not there to judge the decision, but to investigate possible breaches of policy. And in any case, the Education Minister is powerless to overturn the Board’s decision, even in the event of policy breaches – the best that she can do is recommend that the board reflect on its decision.

Meanwhile, public support to keep PCVS open gains strength every day. Teachers in the Division have apparently been advised to remain silent on the subject or risk censure, but students, alumni, parents, community members, local politicians – people from a wide range of perspectives within the community – are rallying to protest the closure. One of the speakers at the public review was even a medical doctor, who cited PCVS as the exceptional school which offers an accepting and bullying-free environment, and to which medical professionals refer students who are suffering at other schools.

Apart from its proud history as one of the longest-standing high schools in Canada, founded in 1827, and with alumni such as Prime Minster Lester B. Pearson, RIM co-founder Jim Balsillie, high court judge Michael Moldaver, comedian Sean Cullen, and many others – there are a whole host of reasons that PCVS makes a poor choice for closure. It has the highest enrolment rate, at 90% of capacity, and the lowest decline in enrolment of all five schools. It hosts a celebrated integrated arts program. Its building is second-best in the city, with lowest maintenance and capital costs. Lowest busing costs. I could go on and on.

Still, the Board does not budge.

The media attention that the potential closure has attracted has been enormous. Protests in Ottawa, grassroots media (e.g., YouTube) explosions, commentary on CBC by Rick Mercer, coverage by the Globe and Mail … it is hard to fathom a stronger reaction, a more volatile climate. The coffers for an anticipated legal action grow steadily.

And yet the Board stands firm.

This kind of thing really makes me question how on earth we don’t have safeguards in place. Yes, these people were elected. No, you can bet they won’t be elected again – but the damage may be done by then. Boards acting in ways which don’t reflect the electorate’s wishes does, unfortunately, happen from time to time. I think that there really needs to be a safety net to protect against this. I can scarcely imagine that the Minister of Education has not got the legal capacity to strike down a decision like this. Perhaps not to make a different decision on their behalf, but for goodness’ sake at least to go back to status quo, and start fresh.

Other factors may be at play here as well. When I was a student at PCVS (yes, that was in the age of the dinosaur), the school board oversaw the schools in the city. Maybe the county - but it was those same five high schools, and the elementary schools (of which there are fewer now ...). But several years ago, in an effort to reduce the number of school boards across the province, zones were re-written, and now huge areas are covered by one school board. In the case of this one, the borders now extend down to Lake Ontario ... well, take a look at the map. Imagine the difference between just the immediate area, versus the new borders. The result is that the board is made up from throughout this huge area, and members are simply not as in touch with the local scene as actual residents of the area are. I don't think this decision would have taken place, had the school district not been overextended like this.

If you are wanting to see more information about PCVS, you can certainly come up with plenty by simply googling it. To get the full picture, I recommend visiting the Peterborough Needs PCVS blog here: http://peterboroughneedspcvs.com/.