It has been over a year since my last post on this blog largely because the QMMACC blog took over my writing/posting time. I had a fabulous year teaching the Queen Mary Multi-Age Cluster Class with a delightful, talented group of grade 6/7 students. The year, the school, the students and the parents were so amazing that I decided to end the formal teaching part of my life on a high note. In August I retired from the Vancouver School Board.
Now is a new and exciting chapter of my life and once again this blog is going to switch gears as I emerge from the cocoon of the treadmill that is middle life: the job, the family/”soccer mom” role, and all that keeps on our on-track-blinders. I was particularly struck last week by Christy Clark’s comment about BC having a thriving middle class that wouldn’t be too interested in the occupy movement. (See “Occupy Vancouver protest won’t be a big deal says BC Premier, CKNW News Talk 980) and have decided that it is definitely time to make sure that my actions are in step with my thinking and my beliefs. Please join me in this.
My last post to this blog may have oversimplified what is to come.
This afternoon I was updating my Linked-In profile, forgetting that my status there also gets posted to my Facebook account via Plaxo. This isn’t normally a problem as I don’t update my status on Linked-In very often. For me Linked-In is more of a professional network, whereas my Facebook account tends to be a more friendly mix of family, former students, former parents and teacher friends from over the years.
Imagine then my surprise when moments later I started getting those Facebook emails saying that comments had been posted in response to my status update.
And there they were, a number of comments from teacher friends and former students cheering me on and saying how lucky the students were.
Truth be told, I am going back to the classroom. I’m going back to a Multi-Age Cluster Class, a very specialized program for academically gifted students. I’ve taught in it before and I know that I’ll love the work. And yes, I’ll have a Smartboard in my classroom, and I’m very excited about that. After working with so much technology, especially with access to Smartboards during my stint at SFU, I can’t imagine not having tech tools to teach with.
The real issue here though is that over my last few years while I’ve been out of the classroom, I’ve moved the bar for what I expect from myself to a very high level because of all that I have learned from the really amazing teachers with whom I’ve had the privilege of working.
To name a few:
First there is Jen, a grade 4/5 teacher who writes so thoughtfully in her blog In Pursuit of Purpose. Here is a teacher who thinks so deeply about what she is doing. She engages with children in the most honestly authentic, meaningful ways. For example, her latest blog post, Imparting Values: Is it our job as Educators? states “I never would have guessed that any teachers could think that their teaching is disconnected with their values. How is this possible?” The depth and thoughtfulness of Jen’s writing is mindboggling and from her I’m learning a lot about how to enhance and deepen the classroom experience. Jen brings a global focus into her grade 4/5 classroom through her global thinking approach, bringing in statistics about literacy from around the world to work with in math, having her students learn about microlending through Kiva, and involving them in collaborative projects through My Hero and iEarn. Jen writes too about Problem based learning and how she struggles to help her students make connections from the exploring and playing stages, to really being able to articulate their discovery of concepts.
Then there is Sonya, a new young teacher whom I was introduced to initially through her rather brilliant electronic portfolio, something she’d made specifically for her Teacher Education program even though she barely knew how to use computers at the time. Even as a new teacher she was already being asked to present workshops for other, more seasoned teachers. What Sonya had to offer was a complete openness and willingness to find ways to use the technology that the students were coming to school with to enhance student learning in the classroom. While experienced teachers were busy banning cell phones and confiscating stray ipods, Sonya was inventing ways to get the same POD (personally owned devices) out of the students’ pockets and into the lessons. Dave Truss has posted a series of YouTube interview with Sonya. Here is the first:
And then there is Susan, a more experienced teacher-librarian in PoCo who lives and breathes peace education. From my time with Susan I’ve learned to listen to my own language. Do I encourage students to “take a shot at it” when encouraging them to give something a try, or to “blow them away” with whatever leadership activity they are about to take on? I’ve been amazed at how much the language of war is embedded in so much of even my own speech, let alone those around me. Susan teaches full-time, is a mother and still has time to be the President of the British Columbia Peace and Global Educators (PAGE BC) and of War-Toys-To-Peace-Art. This summer she has been away in Africa with Teachers without Borders.
Cindy is another outstanding teacher who really lives by the environmental stance that she brings with her into the classroom. Her own interest in sustainable community gardening inspired her to have her grade 4 students get involved in a neighbourhood garden project. At the same time she was exploring the Mindfulness Education Program and specific forms of problem solving and collaboration which come out of the restorative justice work. Like Susan, Cindy lives by what she brings into the classroom.
I could go on and on, highlighting the teachers who are inspiring me to go back into the classroom with a renewed interest in educating for compassion, peace, justice, and sustainability. I have watched so many such dedicated teachers pour their energy into making their classrooms be vibrant, fun, caring centers where the children are doing amazing things. I’ve seen creative and unique uses of technology that have sparked creativity and problem solving even in kindergarten children. Betty had her 5 year old students developing oral language skills as they performed and filmed their puppet shows. Sharon had me invite one of her grade 7 students in to demonstrate to 40 teachers in our “summer school” how he’d created an interactive white board out of a highlighter pen! Later that fall this same 12 year old organized a workshop for 6 of the adults so we could each try making our own. Yes, I’ve had the privilege of working with, Karen, Greg, Laura, Jen, Natalie, Kathleen, Demetra, Elaan, Clark, Rick, Carol, Phil, Eric, Sarah, Tim, Shannon, and many, many more (I’m sorry I’m leaving so many of you out!) Each has their own stories of strengths that bring quality to the profession. I’ve learned so much from each one of the them. So my real dilemma now going back into the classroom is how to consolidate all that I’ve learned both from my travels and from my work.
In the end my response to the comments on Facebook lays out the challenge I face:
I’m back from a year away with no plans to change back the name of my blog. I’ve decided that I like the idea of keeping it as a Time Out space, a chance to step away and review what is happening around me as I head back into the classroom. I’ve had a three and a half year hiatus, a chance to learned so much about technology, learning, teaching and myself. I’ve been traveling extensively, volunteering abroad, learning a new language and just prior to that, working in the teacher education arena for three years. My goal now is to really put what I’ve been learning and “preaching” into practice, particularly the reflective practice part here on this Time Out blog. I’m truly pumped about the chance to gently remodel my own teaching in ways that I’ve watched so many brilliant, fascinating, energetic teachers do over the past few years.
From Kathy Cassidy at http://bit.ly/aaW4qk
To start, I’ve accepted a position in a classroom with a mounted Smartboard. Today I received an email from one of my former adult students about his upcoming research into the pedagogy behind the use of such technology. He wonders if they all about bells and whistles or is there really a benefit to pedagogic practice? From my conversation with him I’ve taken on a challenge to myself: How can I effectively use the Smartboard in a way that is learner-centered, in a manner that isn’t simply about the teacher transmitting information?
Personally I believe that there is a huge value to the use of the interactive white board. Initially the motivation and engagement of the students alone is worthwhile, but clearly the novelty wears off quickly, particularly if students are simply watching the teacher “play” with the “toy.” To be useful over any length of time, the tool needs to be a tool for the students to use. To this point, working always with adult learners, I’ve almost never touched the Smartboard myself. When I would visit classrooms where I offered to demonstrate the IWB’s use for the teacher, I always attempted to do the whole lesson without ever touching the board myself. Usually, other than sorting out initial glitches in the connection I could manage. However, on one-off situations such as that, always a novelty, my hand’s off approach was easy to do. So the question will be, can I really teach with a Smartboard as a tool for the students over the course of the school year?
(I would like to thank my colleague and mentor Dave Truss for bringing it to my attention.)
This is the world I’m from, where our children are rarely seen without their ipods or cell phones. Our world is wired and connected. Our schools need to get with it and our teachers need to be curious, to be keen learners themselves and to keep up. I agree with the message in the video and in fact, the last few years of my career have been about exactly that, helping to educate teachers who are eager to learn.
But now I’m here living temporarily in Akumal, Mexico in a very different world. Yes, the people, though mostly not the children, still have cell phones. There is a layer of a wired world around me, particularly the tourists and the businesses. But the connectedness has not permeated the culture and certainly not the school.
The public schools in the pueblo here are behind gates and, unlike the perhaps beautiful, but certainly ostentatious resort hotels up and down the highway in either direction from Akumal, those that many of us Canadians have come to know intimately, the schools here are not pretty places. I am fairly certain that they don’t have internet at all. Many of the students struggle just with the requirement that they buy their own paper and pencils. When they can’t afford to attend they simply stop showing up. At the age when our children at home are choosing their grade school courses, many of the teenagers in Akumal are too often beginning to look for work. Staying in school here is not an easy option.
I’ve been to the Kindergarten or “kinder”. Kindergarten in the state of Quintana Roo is compulsory from age 3 to age 5 but attendance is not enforced. In the local public school here the pueblo of Akumal there are three classrooms, one for three year olds, one for four year olds and one for five year olds. The last time I attended there were 26 children present in the five year old class which is the largest group, about 12 of those students were girls, all with one teacher. There are no aides or special needs workers. There are more children than books. Supplies are very limited. There are certainly not computers, but then this is kinder.
So I struggle with one foot in my world from home that I watch only virtually and the other in this real world here where the children are truly struggling to learn in a more conventional manner, in a world where they are surrounded by so much but yet have so little themselves. And I wonder how does technology fit here? How would it change the learning? How might it help the teachers? Could it help to bridge the gap between the very, very rich and the very, very poor?
Most mornings the waves pound in on the rocks here where my family and I have temporarily relocated in Akumal, Mexico. Most mornings the waves are a steady reminder to me of their power and their continuity. As each wave rolls in so close that I can almost feel it crashing on to the shore, it brings a cool relief from the heat, from the relentless humidity and from the mosquitoes that fill the jungle only just across the road. Each wave makes this a beautiful place to be. And wave after wave, each one loud and thundering, demands that I pay attention.
I love the waves but at the same time I am frightened and awed by them; And in the same way, I marvel at the power and force of the continuous waves of change in our world though they too command my respect. The change has let me do so much. Yet, have I done enough? Do I keep up? Do I know enough? Am I outdated? Is it all moving too fast? Am I being carried by the current in directions I don’t want to go? Can I see where these waves are taking me?
This morning’s calm is providing me a pause in the urgency in the same way that this time-out year, this space away from the rapid waves of change in our society, is giving me time to think.
Our time in Spain before this was a transition and a true break in the waves, but now here in Mexico as our trip away wears on, the waves are starting up again as surely as the waves in the ocean will pick up as this day too wears on. It won’t stay calm. All around me I’m seeing the impact of change. Being Canadian, coming here to Mexico I am often aware that I am riding high on the waves. I’m in a very privileged spot. I should have a clear view. But the time spent here is starting to let me see the lows as well as the highs. Change here has a power and force all its own. It has a current that we can’t control. Change brings money and tourists but at the same time it brings poverty and an odd twist in the state of happiness. The change that put this beautiful place here for me to stay and enjoy meant others were moved off to make room for me.
Akumal, Mexico is a beautiful tourist “town.” There are two gorgeous sandy beaches within a short walking distance of our rented ocean side property. One of the beaches has a strip of condos on the water side, the other, three hotels and a bit of a “town” with two dive shops, a couple of small but expensive grocery stores, a handful of art and souvenir stores, the obligatory silver store, four or five restaurants, a bakery, a “gringo” gym and yoga studio as well as hotel offices. I believe there is even a hostel back behind the basketball court and the outdoor stage. Behind that, in the jungle across the highway is a small pueblo.
The “pueblo” of Akumal is easy to spot on Google Earth if you follow the single highway straight south from Cancun to a small carved out grid away from the water side, just 4 blocks long, by 8 blocks wide. The pueblo was created in the late 1990′s to move the “locals” out of the beach area, not all bad apparently but in that 32 square block area, over 3,000 “locals” live. The gap in the differences between tourist life and local life here is constantly evident, like the peaks and valleys of the waves on the shore. And as with the waves, there is tension too. There are quieter days when the water is calmer but the waves always come pounding back.
Walking into the pueblo
As for me, I’m here with a purpose. Naive as it may be, I’m trying to involve myself in the local community. I’m trying to find real ways to help with education and to learn what I can about the people here. I’m trying to find out how with limited (but improving) spanish and all my technical wizardry, my fancy teaching experience, my cutting-edge knowledge of teaching methodology, how I might possibly have something to offer that is of value to the people here. I’m trying, with my sixteen year old daughter, and my husband to not just tour the area for the five months that we’re here, but to sort out what in this constantly changing world we’ve catapulted from, is of value in what we know and can do, that might make a difference and be of real use to this community. I’m trying to learn about the waves here, when and how to dive in to swim without being completely carried away.
It has been over a year since my last post on this blog largely because the QMMACC blog took over my writing/posting time. I had a fabulous year teaching the Queen Mary Multi-Age Cluster Class with a delightful, talented group of grade 6/7 students. The year, the school, the students and the parents were so amazing that I decided to end the formal teaching part of my life on a high note. In August I retired from the Vancouver School Board.
