36 Children

A friend of mine recently lent me a book called 36 Children by Hebert Kohl... It was written in the 1960's but not published until 1988. The book itself outlines the author's trials at teaching in Harlem and dealing with the apathy of the teaching staff towards their students. Anyone who has recently been through any kind of education program has heard the well established axiom about teacher expectations and how it can have a massive impact on student outcome. Especially when it has to do with differences in Socio-Economic Status. Personally, I have no doubts what so ever that our own views and opinions of our students play a heavy role in our students' own motivation, not mention their self-esteem.

But for the sake of argument, and after a few years in the public system, my views on this matter have mellowed somewhat.

Let us begin at the beginning: As young teachers pour out of our academic institutions, filled with the notion of carrying their high expectations out into their fresh new classrooms, what is the end result? Speaking from my own personal experience, I had to drop my expectations dramatically within the first few terms for fear of getting fired! It is one thing to have high expectations in terms of your overall outcomes, like teaching students the value of critical thinking and supporting their opinions, instead of worrying about the fact that their basic literacy skills are lacking. What I'm really saying is most new teachers have to adjust their expectations of how their students may present their work, instead of focusing on the same old essays and oral presentations.

Currently, I'm in the process of correcting my students work for Term 2. Marking and evaluating is always a bit of a de-moralizing experiment at my school in the sense that only about 1/3 of my students actually hand in their work. It's easy to see how teachers could slip into such an apathetic state, similar to the students no doubt, where you wonder "why bother?" But the upside is there, within that 1/3 who actually benefit from our hard work and the nights we spend concocting new assignments. Plus, it is the bane we carry as secondary school teachers, who are only truly recognized and valued once our students have moved on...

In reality, which is where the Public System is heavily entrenched, the average students is just that...Average. My new Principal actually said it best, when she described the average High School student as someone who needs the phone calls home and who needs to be reminded on a daily basis. And if I am being honest, I've never heard another educator describe students that way before. It was a bit of an eye-opener really.

Kohl's book is a stunning account of how he begins letting his Grade 6 group start to "lead" where the class would go. This is where you start to see the beauty of truly student-centered learning, be it either in a computer lab or on the side of mountain. I find myself constantly asking my students "what do you want to do now?" Most of the time they don't really know where to go, but that's ok...We're still learning. And Kohl's book is helping me to remember that just because we're not on topic, or the kids are browsing some other site, doesn't mean they aren't learning!

So how do you muster up the mustard (ha ha!) to keep pushing? Mid-week I had two of what would be called "problem students" come to visit me. These were two girls who, although very bright, would constantly push the boundaries of my patience in class...To the point where it would sometimes deteriorate into shouting matches. But they came to visit and we laughed together about the good times and the bad times, as if we were family. It was a good moment, and I'm putting it writing (like Kohl did) to help me focus on it...

TW

Video Clip - This week my father actually sent me a video feed from one of my favorite skiers: Shane McConkey himself. Every dream of flying?




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The Uncertainty of Rejection

This post may follow a slightly personal note, so "bare" with me...Ha ha!

So far I still feel a little intimidated in writing on a Blog such as this, but I'm trying to force myself to be more reflective in my practices. The question I posted when I created this Blog was a funny one which I hadn't given much thought to as I punched it in. Nevertheless, Educational Technology was just something I fell into, as Quebec is in the midst of and educational overhaul.

To make a long story short, as a new teacher faced with minimal contracts, you take what you can get! And so that's a social science and language arts major ends up teaching a career development course based on internet research. In the end it was a good match, as the new Personal Orientation Project (or POP class - as the students call it) reflects the Ministry's ideals of "student centered exploratory learning." I could drone for hours considering the amount of educational jargon I've taken in over the last 3 years of professional days.

Yet, I had never really looked at my Outdoor Ed background as something useful for a "regular" classroom - but to my surprise, and especially in teaching POP, it helped quite a bit. Moreover, my less-than-stellar academic background led me into having some interesting employment while I was trying to find my way back into school. As a result, my experiences in the backcountry, be it BC, the Adirondacks or Europe, have given me a particular perspective on the world of work and it's relation to education. Hopefully, my students will absorb some of this wisdom.

So where do Outdoor Ed and Ed Tech really meet? It's not much of a jump at all really...Outdoor Ed is a largely relfective practice, where exploring, sharing, listening and discussing form the center of such interests. I am reminded stongly of my friend Anthony Berkers, who used to host "Pot Luck slide-shows" after one of his crazy climbing trips. And we would all gather in his basement Oooh-ing and Ahhh-ing as beautiful photos would ignite our imaginations. Simply put, most of the technology being developped under the umbrella of the Web 2.0 is based on this basic need: Share and discuss!

After a random phone call for some advice from a friend, I was asked to apply to my old CEGEP for a position in the Outdoor Education department. The only problem, is "Outdoor Ed" as a field does not exist in Quebec - Instead it is a sub-division of physical education. Unfortunately, none of my degrees are even close to Phys Ed, so I spent most of my afternoon Sunday fretting over my CV and anxiously e-mailing it to those concerned. Now I' into the Big Wait, where you nervously check your inbox for some kind of reply, with the uncertainty of rejection looming in the back of your mind.

Talk more soon,

TW

PS: This week's picture reminds me of this December 21st - After two days of -20 degree temperatures, we got a nice dump from Toronto - Which led to a very unproductive afternoon of skiing steep slopes right down to the highway.

Mini DVD's and Quomo Tablets

Last Wednesday I attended a ministry conference on "Evaluation of Learning vs. Evaluation for Learning." Although the meeting itself was very informative and I came away with a mountain of Graphic Organizers for my kids - Now I face the task of IMPLEMENTATION... Which is always the issue with getting new ideas, how to integrate them into your already established routine? Here are some of the ideas I'm wrestling with:

Matthew's Mini DVD recorder - One of my colleagues from the South Shore was telling us about using a Mini DVD camcorder to record his student's reflections. Each students gets their own mini DVD at the beginning of the year and then takes 1-2 minutes out of their lab time to record their thoughts and feelings. As I have been trying to find new ways of getting my students to present their work, this idea shows much promise.

Quomo Wireless Tablets - QIT30 - This is an interesting idea I read about on the EdTechTalk website, where Chris was discussing the use of these wireless tablets and their impact on teaching Math in the classroom. One tablet can connect to 30 different computers, it also records video, you can stop and write onto videos, and all of the problems you are working through can be uploaded later into a website for students who are absent. Although this may get better use at a higher level, 4it also sounds like an interesting new toy - perhaps an alternative to the Active/Smart Board technology that everyone is going crazy for?

Back to the skiing conditions! The laurentians are still the best place to find real snow these days, however, as it's early in the season we keep flipping between snow and rain. Hopefully, once the break has some and gone the temperatures will settle down. And one more question: Should I move my telemark bindings onto my twin tips? Tough decisions...

Getting Out There

The skiing season has begun once again, and as such, I find myself more and more distracted. However, I have been amusing myself greatly through my discovery of Google and all of it's educational functions. The greatest of which was the use of Google Reader. Now I'm tracking a handful of Blogs across North America and Europe, and every day I'm coming across new and exciting sites...Xtranormal for example came from Martin Weller in the UK. Or Jean Tower's blog K12EduBuzz - calling us out on the challenge of integrating a new technology into our classrooms.

In short, I'm enjoying myself! The only problem now is keeping up with the massive amounts of information and ideas that are flowing steadily into my classroom.

Sink or swim.

Today's pic is an old favorite, I had it set as my background for quite some time. Naturally, all of the kids would ask me: "Sir! Is that you?" To which I would invariably answer: "Yes."