Pedagogy

In one of my university classes, a professor posed the question, “Is teaching an art or a science.”  My opinion on this question has since fluctuated over the years.  These days, I lean more towards art.

One the best and the worst things about teaching is that there is no single prescriptive method.  Our profession boasts a wonderful amount of freedom and potential for individual creativity.  The flipside is that the autonomy afforded by teaching can become sometimes daunting.

Two recent examples in my PLN reminded me that teaching is not a dogma.

Today, I read an article written by Lisa Nielsen, entitled, “21st Century Educators Don’t Say, “Hand It In.” They say, “Publish It!”

Lisa writes:

When I tweeted, “Educators who ask students to, "Hand it in" rather than, "Publish it" are stuck in the past and not preparing 21st century students.” I received a lot of kudos and retweets, but I also received a bit of push back along the lines that it’s not realistic to expect all student work to be published. My response is this. The authentic publication of student work should be a part of EVERY SINGLE UNIT OF STUDY.

Lisa’s statement shook me up. I have been asking my students to publish most of their work online, mostly on their blogs.  However, I have also been assigning them traditional worksheets, which they submit to me.  I just took it for granted that I had to temper the fun computer-based activities with serious worksheets.  I just took it for granted that worksheets were real work, and there had to be at least some real work in my classes.  To reassure the parents and anyone else who might be watching me that I am still running a real classroom: with traditional desk work and serious academics.  Worksheets were the mandatory foundation; computer work was supplementary.  The possibility never even occurred to me to abandon worksheets altogether.  Even now, I instinctively shirk from this scenario.

Tracey Rosen penned a blog post called, “On de-rubricizing.”  She writes:

For a long time now I have been sceptical of the whole rubric frenzy. Must have a rubric, must have a rubric. Why? Why should we tell kids exactly what our expectations are and in such minute detail? I call that a creativity killer. Give them some parameters. If you are expecting the result to be some kind of multimedia presentation let them know that, give them the guiding question, maybe a few resources to get them going, to raise the velcro in their brains, but then let them experiment!

Tracey is a fellow Quebecer.  In this province, we are in the infancy of an education reform, one component of which is rubrics.  Until I read Tracey’s comment, I robotically believed that rubrics were good.  I just assumed that every knowledgeable educator, like myself, adhered to the opinion that rubrics are good.  It never even dawned on me to question their merit.  As it is, I still feel that rubrics are beneficial; but, Tracey encouraged me to question an opinion that I felt was incontestable and reminded me not to project my egocentric assumptions onto my peers.

So, there you go: two nice examples of how the rules of teaching are not written in stone.  As a teacher, I should not be married to my pedagogy.

Photo by p!o.

Student Centered Curriculum

As I was preparing activities for my English course, I came across a collection of textbooks in one of the filing cabinets.  They were Writing & Literature textbooks.  The first chapter had a poem in Shakespearean English.  The textbook included lessons of writing different genres and grammar.

For a minute, I was overwhelmed by a wave of self-doubt.  I wondered, what if my syllabus is all wrong?  What if it is wrong for me to incorporate such a heavy load of internet-based activities.  What if I am doing too much fun stuff in the classroom?  What is the parents complain that I am just fooling around, and not really teaching their kids the two R’s?

For a moment, I considered dropping everything and just following the textbook that I held in my hands.  The prescribed readings, with their accompanying activities and comprehension questions were right there, enticing me.  It could be so easy.  I asked myself: but some of this material looks quite difficult; what if it is too advanced for my students?  I answered myself: well, I will just work with them to complete the assignments; if need be, I will provide them with the answers.

Hmm.

I got my groove back.

I reminded myself that a boring, prescriptive, one-size-fits-all textbook approach to educating the students was exactly what the Quebec Reform was trying to get away from.  The pedagogy advised by the textbook I held was the old paradigm.

I am lucky to be teaching in a province that is in the infancy of a reform whose tenets mirror my own.  I have been charged with the task of teaching a student-centered curriculum; it is a philosophy that in which I believe; I should try to set my doubts aside and embrace it.

Let students select their own research topics.  Let students choose their own novels.  Write their own stories.  Wherever possible, let them choose how to communicate in their own way.

Certainly, I will have doubts about my program, my activities, and my methods.  The textbook method is safe.  Student-centered classrooms are open-ended.  What can happen?  I don’t know.  I don’t need to know.  Student-centered teachers need to be confident enough to release control.  Student-centered teachers need to be secure enough to accept, nay expect, mistakes.

Photo by Dalboz17.

Portfolios

One of the most emphasized prescriptions of the Quebec Secondary English Language Arts (SELA) program is the student portfolio.  The student portfolio serves several purposes.  It facilitates reflective learning and meta-cognition.  It stimulates conversation and collaboration between the student and the teacher.  It fosters autonomy.  It is a tool for evaluation, and for demonstrating progress to parents.

The Ministry document makes the relevant point that the portfolio should contain more than just finished documents.

The integrated profile is an essential part of the student’s learning and evaluation process over the cycle.  This working collection of artefacts from all the competencies is owned by the student and is used by her/him as a learning resource. It represents a dynamic portrait of the student over time and not simply a collection of her/his finished or final products.

I would aver that student portfolios should consist of both paper and digital components.

I researched online portfolios – efolios.  I uncovered only limited resources, which led me to believe that dynamic, pivotal portfolios, as they are described by the Quebec Education Program, are relatively new educational manifestations.

I found sites such as Avenetefolio, which costs money, and Foliospaces, which is free.  However, these sites seem more geared towards business folks, not educators.  I think these sites are too complex for the needs of me and my students.  At this stage, I believe a simple blog, such as this one, will suffice as a medium for eportfolios.

Perhaps, as this new tool evolves, more accessible Web2.0 eportfolio tools will become available.

Reform

Last year, I was an elementary teacher. This September, I will be teaching secondary.

In preparation for my new assignment, I wanted to draft an outline of academic expectations. I thought this would be good for the students to receive at the beginning of the year, so they could know what their goals were and what they would be graded against. Also, I thought such a document, or checklist, would be beneficial for parents. It would also be beneficial for my superiors, to demonstrate my planning, and beneficial for myself, to guide the development of my curriculum.

I thought that the provincial Ministry of Education would provide a document for teachers outlining what needed to be taught at each grade level. However, the prescribed curriculum is not so clearly defined.

Quebec is in the infancy of an educational reform. There are new curriculum guides for the teachers. The elementary English guide has a sort of checklist enumerating expected skills for each of the three cycles.

The secondary guide is less specific. I have read through it more than once. It does not provide the same level of specific benchmarks that the elementary guide provides. The information is presented with less structure. In an attempt to extract and organize the information, I have begun creating a mindmap of the guide utilizing the website Mindomo.

SELA Cycle 1 via kwout

I had been seeking detailed instructions. But this, I suppose, is the old paradigm of education. We really are experiencing a revolution, one that is affecting not only curriculum within the classroom, but also the job description of teachers. It is no longer: tell the students this information; it is: help the students practise these skills.

Here is a nice video about today’s students, entitled, A Vision of Students Today, that I found on the website, Emerging Internet Technologies for Education.

Quebec Education Reform

I live in Quebec.

Quebec is currently in the process of reforming the education system, the Quebec Education Plan (QEP). This site explains the reform, as does this PDF. Bob's Place has pertinent documents and links.

In a nutshell:

* The new curriculum is based on 9 cross-curricular competencies. Competencies imply using knowlege as opposed to just learning knowledge. The cross-curricular competencies allow for de-compartmentalized learning, which will allow students to develop their learning toolbox. The tools are described as Intellectual, Methodological, Personal and Social, and Communication-related.

1. Uses Information
2. Solves Problems
3. Exercises Critical Judgment
4. Uses Creativity
5. Adopts Effective Work Methods
6. Uses Information and Communications Technologies
7. Makes efforts.
8. Cooperates with Others
9. Communicates Effectively


* Assessment is focused at the end of cycles and assessment is focused on measuring the development of the competencies. Evaluation is on-going and part of learning. Student portfolios are utilized.

* Grade levels are replaced by cycles. Grades 1 and 2 become Cycle 1; Grades 3 and 4 become Cycle 2; Grades 5 and 6 become Cycle 3. One year to learn, one year to consolidate.

* Repeating (failing) students is discouraged. Schools are encouraged to find alternate solutions.

* The 3 roles of school: Instruct, socialize and qualify (provide qualifications, for employment).

* Broad areas of learning: Major concerns in today's society. The broad areas of learning will be integrated in the teaching of the subject areas because the learning must be relevant to the students.

Health and Well-being
Personal and Career Planning
Environmental Awareness, Consumer Rights and Responsibilities
Media Literacy
Citizenship

* Moral Education replaces Religion.

* Project-based learning. 25% of the time will be devoted to personal learning projects and individual assistance.

* Useage of Learning And Evaluation Situations (LESs), aka. Evaluation Situations. These are unit plans designed to span a few sessions. BIM defines LESs as:

Evaluation situations are learning/evaluation tools that engage students in exploring various broad areas of learning to develop cross-curricular and subject-specific competencies through authentic problem solving.

Here are some websites that support the education reform in Quebec and host LESs:

MELS: Ministry of Education, Leisure and Sports.
SPEAQ: Society for the Promotion of the Teaching of English as a Second Language in Quebec.
LEARN: Leading English Education and Resource Network.
ESL Insight
BIM: Banque d'instruments de Mesure, which is produced by GRICS (Gestion du Réseau Informatique des Commissions Scolaires)