PME 811 - Innovation in Teaching & Learning

 When I think back to my schooling years, I remember having a lot of positives, definitely some negatives but I remember early on what kind of a learner I was. I remember I appreciated when we did not have to have tests all the time, and would work extra hard when we had a project or something other than tests. I would look at the course syllabus and see how much of my grade would be weighted on tests. I did not like tests because I could never retain the information. I remember saying to myself, "why do I need to know this", "when am I going to use this?", or "I'm not going to remember half of this when I am done".  I knew the value in remembering information but I knew that through a test, I would not really grasp it for long.  There are three different types of assessment: as, of and for learning.  Assessment of learning:  - heavily factual -tests were the common assessment used - Recalling facts and basic concepts Assessment for learning: - it is f...

 I currently am taking two courses at Queens University: Integrated Planning & Assessment and Innovation & Teaching. I am writing these blogs for Innovation & Teaching however, am seeing lots of connection in taking this course with the Integrated Planning & Assessment course. I am enjoying taking both courses at the same time and find it beneficial as both are influencing my own perceptions on curriculum.  Today, I am writing about curriculum influences. As previously written in my last blog, I touch on how philosophies have influenced curriculum and the three biggest are: subject, learner and society.  In this last week I have learned about foreign influences.  Tomkins (1981) writes about the foreign influences on curriculum and curriculum policy making. It was confirmed that Canada is heavily influenced on American, British and France (Quebec). Canada today is still heavily influenced based on American policy.  So, thus far the biggest takeawa...

 Until recently, I never realized how much curriculum was influenced by philosophers such as Rousseau, Plat, Dewey and more. It's very interesting to learn how each philosopher had their own perspective on education and curriculum.  There are three overarching foundations: Society, Learner and Subject.  I would classify Subject as - High-School or College level, where each is taught by teachers who specialize in the subject area and students are to learn each subject, whether they like it or not. I know if I did not have to take math in High School, I would not have. If I could have taken PE all day long, that is what I would have loved. Then there is society, which I have talked about lots in my blog. Society influences curriculum as does the government. BC curriculum has been influenced by the needs of society, through the core competencies. The core competencies are not explicitly taught, rather more like implicit. They focus on communication, critical and creative thi...

 I just recently completed reading "There's too much to teach: Cultural Wealth in an Age of Scarcity" by Jane Roland Martin.  The title of the article intrigued me. As I read, there were things I agreed with and others I thought were a little "old school" so to speak; however, I see the correlation of this article with curriculum because how can schools do it all? What struck me most was how much the article talked about society, culture and wealth. The article suggests that schools do not teach about wealth as suggested " To say that this nation needs to give school responsibility for wealth it once disdained is not to say that school should try to transmit all our culture's wealth by itself" (p. 6). It started by talking about the three R's and how culture and family knowledge was passed down, especially during the time when women stayed home. Culture, care, family were abundant and taught at home. However, as times have changed and both pare...

 Going on my fifth year of teaching, I sit back and ponder all the teachers I have worked with, how they teach, what they teach, why they teach. I have come to realize that not all teach for the same reasons (no judgment); it just never occurred to me that I may be teaching because I love working with kids and want to impact them in some sort of way. I have always loved the sports movies where the players overcome adversity like Miracle, Remember the Titans, Friday Night Lights, We are Marshall to name a few. I find these to be very inspiring and whenever I watch them over again for the tenth time, I get re-inspired.  Curriculum & assessment can be inspiring, it can also be daunting. I can see how easily influenced teachers can be. I never realized how much control the government has over teachers until probably my third year of teaching.  I always new there was a curriculum. I have to say I am a big fan of BC's current curriculum, I cannot imagine having to teach to ...

Is reflection a way of life? If so, how does one reflect? I stop and think about his while I am at my computer typing this out. A friend of mine this morning called me and she brought up the new business and some things she was worried about. (It's important to note that I am not directly involved or have say but my parents have shares in the business). She said she was up all night and couldn't sleep because she was worried about where a boat would go in the marina. I said "why"? For me, this is not a big deal, it will get sorted out and is out of our control. The people coming in will figure it out, it is a small marina and every slip is taken except for where the boat will go. So it's pretty self explanatory for me. I walked away because her phone rang and the conversation stopped. Right away I was reflecting on the conversation. As I was reflecting, many thoughts came to my mind.  1.) Maybe I was in the wrong in stating what was on my mind 2.) I learned in a c...