The Transfer

Well, here we are! We are approaching our “final destination” for the year. It is hard to believe that it is already April!

Here, now, I find myself reflecting on my Cohort 21 Action Plan. When reflecting of this task, my initial feeling is that of concern. Concern that I didn’t accomplish anything relevant and/or significant. Concern that I won’t be able to clearly articulate myself during our final Face2Face session. Digging a little bit deeper, reflecting on my plan and what I have accomplished, alas, pixels being to emerge and combine in my mind. While the path on which I have travelled here has been anything but direct, I have arrived.

My Action Plan centred on the central HMW statement: How might we preserve ownership for students over their learning experiences in Music, so as to enhance overall engagement and authenticity in learning? Upon sharing this question with my Grade 11/12 class, the responses that developed were very much in line with my expectations. When asked about “ownership” in an educational context, many students cited “choice,” “experiential excursions,” and “independent study” as important elements in the process of preserving ownership. I wasn’t satisfied with this. I felt that I already knew that these experiences were essential for authentic ownership in learning. With this, I knew that this was as about as deep in this sort of reflection that these students were willing to go during this particular session. So, I let it be.

Fast forward to late March and there I was reflecting again on the developments of my Action Plan. There it was, a new development that had emerged gradually, right “under my nose.” Over the course of this year, I have really struggled with overall engagement and motivation in my Grade 9 class. Whether it can be simply attributed to their unique age group, combination of personalities or cohort, the fact was that they very rarely displayed any enthusiasm for music, even when I worked to design innovated, self-directed projects that ( I thought) would be completely engaging. And then, after a long week of rehearsing a two pieces for our spring concert, a new realization emerged.

Profile: Student A – I taught her last year in Social Studies. She was always a very motivated students with the ability to excel in various subject areas when she worked to ignore the social pressures and influence that can often surface in Grade 8 & 9. Her motivation throughout the year this year had been gradually decreasing, to the point where a phone call home in January was needed. From there, no matter what I tried to use as a means of engaging her was met with an apathetic *sigh.* Feeling completely defeated, during the March Break, I embraced the role of “keyboard crusader,” on a mission to design a project that would, at the very least, satisfy the essential “ownership” criteria that my Grade 11/12’s outlined earlier in the year (e.g. choice, experiential opportunities, etc.) I decided to design a project where the girls would create a “How To” Instructional Video that addressed specific technical and theoretical elements in our selected pieces with the intention of having the girls adopt the role of teacher/facilitator  in their video. While my expectations for this project were quite low based on previous experience, this turned out to be a valuable positive checkpoint in my action plan, allowing me to expand my understanding of what contributes to “ownership” in learning for students: the ability to develop proficiency as a means of teaching/sharing their knowledge and understandings with others.

Upon further reflection, it seems that, very much in the same way, we strive for ownership in our own practice as teachers, students endeavour to “own” what they learn when they prepare to share specific techniques and concepts to one another. They own what they learn, so as to teach. Connecting back to my “sales” analogy” in a previous blog post, in order to authentically “sell” a product to someone, you are expected to have the knowledge and understanding of the product as an owner would. Reflecting on my own practice as a teacher, the significance of the performative aspect of our profession carries a lot of weight here. Realistically, when we are expected to perform for others, the stakes become higher. We need to prepare thoroughly as a means of meeting both our own expectations and those of our audience. And at the risk identifying fear as a primary motivating factor here, the pursuit of excellence in performance is quite important here. So, this begs the question: what is “excellence in performance” for a teacher? And, does this equate directly with authenticity in learning and ownership?

A simple statement from Student A was what prompted this development. A statement that we all hope to hear from time to time, especially from those students who have struggled to engage: “I’m really looking forward to starting this project.” To me, this statement, while simple, is a valuable indicator in the process of unpacking student “ownership” and authenticity in learning. While completely acknowledging my bias as an Arts teacher, I feel that this stems directly from excitement for and an eagerness to prepare for performance.

Anxiety & Performance: The Processing Efficiency Theory https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02699939208409696 “Anxiety characteristically impairs efficiency more than effectiveness.”

And so, the journey continues…

My Cohort 21 Slide Deck

Buyers & Sellers

Happy New Year, everyone! Well, the fall term seems to have slowly evaporated into winter. I’m looking forward to our next Face 2 Face session this month. Seeing as winter is a great time for reflection and thinking, I thought I would take this opportunity to consider the ways in which my thinking has evolved surrounding my #cohort21 #actionplan since our last meeting.

From my perspective, the term “ownership” is one of those concepts that exists in a completely ubiquitous sense in our day to day lives. We own things, we own thoughts, we own emotions, etc. Ownership can also be equated with “power” and the ways in which we build and maintain control in our lives. When I purchase a tangible item, I exert my power over that item and experience a sense of satisfaction, as this product is, after all, “all mine.” I feel that in our visually saturated and commercialized world, it is this process of “achieving power through ownership” that subliminally occupies the minds of many; even if we don’t actually consciously realize it in the moment. So why not exploit this sense of ownership for the betterment of education and the enjoyment of learning?

How can we promote enhanced ownership for students in their learning process and OF their learning itself (I can’t help but question whether these are one in the same)? How can we, as educators, foster the same sense of satisfaction that we experience when purchasing a new pair of shoes when facilitating our students progress through an inquiry-based unit?

Where I have arrived is that they need to “buy in” and it is our responsibility to “sell” it to them. Very much in the same way that advertisers “package” products to consumers through the study of demographics, assessing metrics and designing advertisements aimed at “hooking” an audiences attention, I feel that these processes can be paralleled in our curriculum design and delivery. While our “profit” is not rooted in any sort of financial “bottom line,” we are in the business of maximizing the number of “buyers” in our classrooms. Our dividends, rather than being quantifiable on a balance sheet, are more qualitative in the sense that success can be measured by HOW students USE our products and where they take them long after they have left our classrooms.

So where do we start? Well, it is time to study your demographic. Or, in other, more “curriculumized” terms: “assessment FOR learning.” Student-teacher conferences. Discussions. Observations. Conversations. However, rather than simply noting/documenting these as a means of “satisfying” pre-established expectations, we should be USING this valuable data as a means of informing our curriculum design and pedagogical practice. One of my favourite questions to include in my course introduction Pear Deck is “what should I know about how you prefer to learn?” Here I often receive honest, practical information from students that is so very applicable to my day to day teaching practice. I feel that this process, the process of “studying our demographic” as a means of actually informing our teaching is the first step towards providing “ownership” for students in our classrooms.

Thoughts? More from me soon.

A Plan to Action!

Thanks to everyone for Saturday’s most recent Face2Face session! Some excellent conversations developing in both the gym and @edaigle‘s “breakout room” surrounding innovation, the uses of technology and authentic ways of engaging students in the “process” of their learning. I also really appreciated the genuine interest and enthusiasm that many fellow “Cohorters” shared i

 

 

 

 

 

In response to my plan. While I’m still working it out, the feedback, tough questions and constructive criticism pushed me to think more thoroughly about my ideas. Shout out to @lwest for her insight and support during our small group discussion!

Here is a DRAFT version of my action plan/HMW statement in its infancy. I’m looking forward to further discussion and feedback. Discourse 4 life!

HOW MIGHT WE PRESERVE “OWNERSHIP” FOR STUDENTS OVER THEIR OWN UNIQUE LEARNING PROCESS IN MUSIC, SO AS TO ENHANCE OVERALL ENGAGEMENT AND AUTHENTICITY IN LEARNING?

Can you see your reflection?

“What’s the point of this reflection?” “Why do we have to do this?” Common questions that I’m sure that many teachers hear on a daily basis. One term that was reoccurring in my mind following last week’s session was that of “reflection.” Interestingly, I ended up having a conversation with one of my Grade 11 students this week about the “purpose/value” of reflection and how it relates to authentic learning. As a Visual Arts teacher, I have always used reflective pieces/artist statements, etc. as a means of gathering additional insight into a student’s journey using The Creative Process. In Photography in particular, I feel that by having students reflect on, justify, explain their creative decisions/motivations/reasoning, I can obtain additional data when evaluating their work. However, this week, when asked by a student “why do we reflect?,” I had to take a minute before I delivered my answer.

I wanted to bring this back to the C21 hive brain. Why do learners need to reflect? What is the benefit of proposing “next steps?” Why should we hypothesize as to “what we would have done differently?” Truthfully, I found that throughout last weekend’s face to face session, I spent a lot of time reflecting on similar questions. And coincidentally, following the session, I felt energized, fulfilled and confident that I had actually learned something along the way. While my response to my student centred around the fact that “reflecting is a core component in the process of learning,” this interaction prompted me to think more about what actually happens in our brains when reflecting on what we do/are doing. I’ve attached a quotation that resurfaced from my days teaching philosophy. 

Happy Saturday, everyone!

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C21 – Better Together

Such an inspiring experience on Saturday being a part of C21 Season 7. I don’t know why it has taken me so long to get involved here. As I prepare to begin this journey, I’m not entirely sure where to start. With this, I know that I will start. I think the biggest obstacle that I have encountered throughout the course of my career is owning my ideas and developing the confidence to share them in the raw state from which they develop. I have a few ideas of how I am going to approach this year and am looking forward to sharing them with all of you. I’m also super keen to see and hear about what everyone else is doing. One of my biggest “take aways” from Saturday’s session was the authentic overlap between my own feelings/sentiments towards education and those who I spoke with. It was so refreshing to speak to other passionate educators who simply want to be better. We are better together. Much love.

Welcome to Cohort 21

c21_logo_mediumWelcome to Cohort 21. This is the first post on your new blog. This journal is an integral part of your Cohort 21 experience. Here you will reflect, share and collaborate as you move through the C21 learning cycle towards your action plan.

Cohort 21 is a unique professional development opportunity open to CIS Ontario teachers and school leaders who are seeking to explore  what it means to a teacher in the 21st century.