Why does this matter to me?

I think I need to start tonight’s blog off with correcting the title of my last blog….clearly I was TOO stressed to catch the mistake that I forgot to put two o’s in the TOO of TOO stressed. And the work still continues. I’m very glad that this will be the last blog: just one more thing to cross off the list and not worry about any more! To be perfectly honest though, I don’t really know what to write this final blog on. After so many posts this semester I seem to be running out of ideas. So instead of writing about what we read about in this weeks chapter (of which there wasn’t one), I am going to end these blogs posts with a few thoughts about our assignments, and how it connects to my life and the big idea that I’ve gotten out of this course.

To start off, I’m going to discuss the topic that my group chose for our genius hour, something that was a very important topic to all of us, and something that I think relates to a lot of what we’ve been learning about in the course. Actually, that’s probably all I’m going to talk about because I have so much to say about it! The major idea that I have gotten out of this class is simply about 21^st century learning; that we need to bring our classes and teachers out of the rut everyone is in and into the 21^st to make learning more relevant and effective. That’s the “big picture” that I’ve seen permeate throughout this course. However, I think that this can be interpreted in many ways besides simply creating an integrated curriculum, or bringing technology into the classroom: there are countless opportunities to make classes more applicable to students lives, and actually relevant for them to participate in.

This all comes back to what my group did for our genius hour project. Being in phys ed, there are often a lot of negative connotations around it being a joke, or a class that doesn’t matter. However, what most people don’t realise is that the goal of physical education (to create people who are lifelong movers, or “active for life”) is a very important part to creating individuals who are healthy and successful outside of school. This is something that should be permeating throughout all of the rest of school classes: healthy individuals who are active can actually better learn through other courses.  This comes back to integrating classes together; I don’t think an integrated curriculum just means that you have to teacher three subjects in one assignment per say, but if we can even bring them back to relate to each other, so students can transfer learning from class to class, each subject becomes more relatable for students.

Speaking of relatable, when people see physical education as an insignificant “easy” credit, they are missing the importance of the course. And I think this is where we need to change the way we approach the curriculum to bring it into people’s everyday lives. As we discussed in the genius hour, the “typical” education class benefits really only one type of individual: the one who is “good” at sports. These students tend to thrive in the typical curriculum/set up of a phys ed classroom, whereas those who aren’t as good at the “classic” sports get frustrated and stop taking it. This is completely against the objective of creating lifelong movers, because when they drop out of physical education, students often tend to get frustrated about movement and general. This is because in the 21^st century this old school gym class is no longer meaningful to many students, which means it is no longer effective. So, bringing classrooms into the 21^st century isn’t just about technology, especially since this isn’t necessarily an asset that can always be used. It also isn’t just about integrating the subjects. There are so many different ways that this can be accomplished, all with the goals of making physical education applicable. You could create a more global focused curriculum through bringing in different games from around the world (like sepak takraw, or bocce ball: see the article I used for my wiki contribution on different global games to bring into the classroom, Gross, M. K., & Burchanan, A.M. (2011). Integrating Global Games in the Elementary Physical Education Curriculum. Strategies, 25(1), 8-12., http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/08924562.2011.10592126). You could give daily strategies or activities that are easy to incorporate into students busy lifestyles. Instead of teaching different formal games, you could use the TGFU (teaching games for understanding) model to make the course more relevant to students who simply don’t care about knowing how to perfectly play basketball, soccer, volleyball etc. 

http://www.iphys-ed.com/inquiry-in-pe/category/tgfu 

There are so many different ways to make the class more relevant and bring phys ed into the 21^st century I’m sure these ideas hardly even touch on the opportunities that are out there. Anything that can make classes more important in the everyday lives of students (by bringing the course material into the 21^st century) can only be more beneficial to the students.

An article I found discusses the importance of making physical activity more important, as it affects so many other parts of academic life: even increasing test scores. However, far beyond the importance of test scores is something that has come up again and again in my blogs, and that is one of the main challenges facing phys ed: how grade obsessed we have become. Now I’m not saying that I have the solution to this problem, I really do not know how to combat it. But if we find a way to make phys ed relevant beyond that of simple grades, maybe we will see more students remaining active throughout their everyday lives, and continuing on with physical education classes.

http://activeforlife.com/physically-active-kids-increases-academic-scores/

With these improvements, brining physical education into the 21^st century, we can hopefully create students who are ACTIVE FOR LIFE.

As a final thought in this final blog post, I would like to leave you all with a message that could hopefully make physical activity more relevant in your lives today, despite any issues with your previous experiences through physical education. Physical education isn’t just about running circles in a gym, or going to work out, or even playing a sport. I mean hey, if that is what you enjoy go for it! But for those of you who don’t, don’t get discouraged. Being active is about so much more than these typical ideas. If you like music, dance around your house! Only have 20 minutes a day? Do an ab workout while watching TV. Take a class on a new game you've heard about, or something that interests you that maybe you saw in the Olympics. Physical activity doesn’t have to be difficult, or boring. Find something in your life that interests you, and find a way to incorporate physical activity into your daily life, so you can become ACTIVE FOR LIFE.

http://activeforlife.com/

I'm way to stressed for this....

There is so much work to do lately, I think my head might explode-so I'm going to keep this one short. For some reason this November is so full of assignments and tests and what-not; I think teachers must think that we don’t need to sleep. Or that we have clones that help us do our work. Or something along those lines. This has caused me to become a person who is a ball of stress, consistently at the verge of unravelling.

http://www.sheilapartridge.com/articles/stress-the-enemy/

Again, I think this all comes back to marks; I'm sure I wouldn't be so stressed if we weren't so focused on getting those 90’s. Recently a phrase has been popping up every so often amongst my friends in fourth year: “C’s get degrees”.  Although this is true (and it really shouldn't be marks that we’re concerned about), I for some reason can’t seem to stop myself from worrying about getting the best mark possible. And make note on this: I did not say that I was focused on doing my best, or learning the most. It’s about getting the best mark, because that is what reflects our “learning”. However I am becoming more and more frustrated because I don’t think that I'm doing anything that will actually help me. All of these theories and practices we’re learning, without the experience to back it up I just feel like another student working towards the grades, who isn't really prepared for the real world that’s out there.  And as a future educator, this is not what I want to happen to any of my students. I hope to be a teacher that actually causes them to learn, and not just care about marks.

However, this reminds me of the living contradictions that were briefly discussed in chapter 6. In this, it talks about the idea of “I used to think” versus “I now think”. This is an interesting concept where it explores the idea of what teachers think before they're teaching, compared to what it is actually like in the classroom. I think through all of our classes it’s easy to say that we have certain ideals that we plan to follow in our classroom. We talk about our power bases, or having a student-directed classroom, but when it comes down to it what we might actually do in the classroom could be completely different. We may think that we want students to actually learn, or explore their interests, but what happens when it comes down to the time crunch of including everything that the curriculum requires? More importantly is the main focus of the contradictions, which is the need to scaffold learning, while also challenging students to discover things on their own. We know from our discussions in other classes that one of the most important aspects in fostering higher level thinking processes is the opportunity to explore. However, teachers need to find a way to balance this while also fostering their learning through clear information.  And I think that as students that have always been focused on marks, as well as mostly having information given directly to us (lack of exploring), that is something that we will struggle with, as we may fall into teaching in the ways in which we were taught.

However, project-based learning, or an inquiry based approach can be a very effective way for students to actually be engaged in their learning within the classroom. Kids are naturally curious, and instead of schools killing this curiosity, we should have teaching methods that instead foster that want to learn. Below is an interesting video that I found very relatable to the idea of inquiry based learning as a whole. Instead of reverting to the ways in which we were taught, and continuing to put the emphasis on marks (and therefore stressing students out instead of causing them to be excited about learning), we need to look at new ideas to be a 21^st century teacher.

So, to circle back to the beginning of this post where I talked about my stress, I would instead like to leave everyone with something that I am interested in and excited about. Though it may not necessarily be learning that I'm excited about, at least I'm enjoying something….and have something to take my mind of the stress of getting good marks! So here it is, the excitement of the upcoming minion movie!

Moving away from the traditional classroom

When we think of the traditional classroom, we see students sitting in rows, or pairs, facing the front of the class to listen to the teacher. However, a very prevalent topic in all my education classes this semester seems to be changing the traditional approach to teaching. This has been a very teacher centred approach for learning, with the teacher being the all-knowledgeable head of the class, directing where the learning goes and how it’s done.  However, what we know is that not only are there are many types of learners, but there are many types of instruction that are far better suited to actually enabling learning. One of the problems with the traditional classroom is that it really does not foster deeper learning; through sitting and listening to a teacher, being told the one “right answer” students are just memorizing, and not actually seeing the true point behind what they are learning. However, if we give meaning to lessons, allow the students to actually explore the why instead of just the what (or facts), lessons become relevant and applicable: students actually learn something.

So what is another approach than the traditional classroom, and what type of learning does it foster? My class on higher order thinking in science and mathematics discusses this type of thinking, called HOT (higher order thinking) skills. Instead of just surface knowledge, facts that are memorized and regurgitated, it focuses on higher level skills, such as being able to problem solve, and transfer our knowledge into real world applications. And the way to foster these skills is not to simply sit and listen to what the teacher has to say; students need to be engaged and actually involved in order to come to their own conclusions. So, a different approach to the classroom is necessary, that allows students to actually involve themselves in the process and not be passive listeners; one of these options is called inquiry-based learning. In an inquiry based learning environment higher order thinking skills are fostered, as it intends to allow students to bring out their prior learning, in order to further their understanding on a topic. It allows students to ask the “why” questions, and not just take simple facts at face value. In a classroom with inquiry-based learning students are able to build on their ideas, as well as others, to come to conclusions. An important part of this type of classroom though, is that not only do they get this knowledge, but they actually further it through composing arguments and presentations to back up what they have found. This is a quite different process than the typical classroom, which in my opinion gives students a reason to want to be involved: because they are actually coming up with something, trying to prove their own knowledge.

Now, as many people would not be used to this type of instruction, it is important to know the different components that could be used in a lesson. In the article ““The Relationship of Teacher-Facilitated, Inquiry-Based Instruction to Student Higher-Order Thinking”, the steps of a good inquiry based lesson are defined. These steps are: engage (start with prior learning), explore (investigation of concept), explain (unite new and old learning), and extend (apply to new situations) (Marshall & Horton, 2011). This study further investigates the effect of time spent on each portion, as well as how the approach to each portion affects time that students spend on HOT skills. What was found was that when lessons allowed students to explore concepts before a full explanation (which they were also involved in), they were more likely to be involved in higher level thinking processes. Further, it was found that the more time that was dedicated to exploration, the more time students spent learning in the higher cognitive skills (such as verify, justify, develop and formulate), as exploration provided opportunities for them to develop their own ideas (Marshall & Horton, 2011).

Now, if you read my last blog post you already know how I feel about the school system becoming more and more dedicated simply to achieving marks. I think in a model such as inquiry-based teaching we can start to shift to a classroom that is actually more about learning, and the process of learning, than the final product. If you are allowed to explore ideas, and actually find out facts on your own, you don’t have to simply take what your teacher is saying to be the final answer; you can make your own conclusions, and have a knowledge base that is actually applicable to you. I think that this is a really important shift, especially as a common struggle of high school students is figuring out what they actually want to do once high school is over. If we become less focused on marks, and instead on the process of learning and allowing students to direct lessons based on what they feel is important, maybe the learning will mean something and students can figure out what they want to do. Now I was lucky. I knew what I wanted to do, because even though my classes were taught in the traditional sense, I knew what I liked. Not everyone is that lucky, and a school system where students aren’t actually involved doesn’t help this.

I know that this might be a difficult shift, and it’s probably more difficult to run a classroom like this than a more lecture based one, but there are options and resources. Technology keeps coming up again and again, so I’ll end this blog post with an idea to combine technology with the inquiry-based approach. There are many options out there, but an interesting one to allow students to direct their projects that I found is an app called ShowMe. In this app students can research what they would like, find videos on topics from not just their teacher, but other teachers and students from the community as well. This way, they are opening up the classroom to more than just one idea. Finally using this app, students can create a lesson, or a presentation using both voice recording and drawings to explain what they are talking about. In doing so, they become the director of their own learning. Now, this might not be the best option for every class, and it most certainly isn’t the only option out there, but I will leave you with this video I found made by a student teaching us about the water cycle. When we change the classroom to involve students in their own learning, we can see them become as knowledgeable as teachers-and be able to teach what they have learned. 

A little rant about the stupidity of marks

I never would have thought to write a blog, especially not one about education. So when I first got this project, I was clearly dreading it. Why couldn't we just do a regular project, or an essay like all my other classes. I know how to do that, I've figured out how to get through those projects well enough to get the marks I want. This, in itself, is another problem….but I’ll get to that in a minute. However, I'm actually kind of enjoying this opportunity to blog now. Since I've started in the Concurrent education program more and more questions have arisen about teaching, more so this year than the rest. And I think this project gives me an awesome opportunity to kind of just get some of the thoughts and questions I've been having out of my head. So I'm going to start off tonight’s blog with a little story of my time in high school.

As I said, I am in the concurrent physical education program. So it would make sense that I would have loved my physical education classes in high school right? Well I did….but clearly there was something else in play, as I didn't even take a gym credit in my grade 12 year. Looking back, it seems stupid that I didn't. But at the time, I seriously felt like I just didn't have space or time….I had to take those University level credits, all the maths and sciences, to make sure that I had all the credits I could possibly need for any program I might want to do. And clearly, it was the marks that mattered. And at the time, even now, it still seems to be what matters. I have figured out how to write essays down to a science; I have figured out how to do well in labs and seminars by saying what the T.A. wants to hear, or participating when they are paying the most attention. This is beyond flawed; we are teaching and learning to the test, forgetting the information as soon as we think we no longer need it. There is so much wrong with this….I’d like to say I'm still learning a lot in my education, and although I have definitely taken an interest in some of my classes, and learned some interesting facts, what I've honestly learned is how to work the system. I'm still trying my best to get as high of marks as possible, in case I want to do any more schooling after I get my degree. However, through my classes I am now starting to see this is a major problem…am I really learning anything, am I really doing what I enjoy? And as a prospective physical education specialist, do I really want my future students to stop taking phys ed classes, just because “the mark won’t count”?

                                                     http://9gag.com/gag/anXbDr0

The above picture, though slightly crude, I think is very relatable for many students. This is how the traditional classrooms have been run, because only the final mark that you get even matters. Nobody really cares about the process or what they've learned; it’s all about getting that A by finding a way to impress the teacher. This picture, to me, really represents what I see being done in school. Talking to anyone, asking if they did the readings for their class, or if they started their essay on time, will probably have answered "no" at least one time in their schooling. Because, as long as you can learn how to make stuff up that sounds like you've learned something, you don’t actually have to learn or put in the work. This picture at one point says “I used a thesaurus for every other word and referred to the first outside source that popped up on google”. The mindset behind that is, that if you can do something with the least amount of effort and still get a good mark, why would you bother putting the energy in. If you can make yourself SOUND smart, you don't actually have to know anything. It’s so easy to just follow a typical format that you know teachers will like to get a good mark instead of actually learning. We’re all just trying to get through our classes as easily as possible, but with the best result, because it’s only grades that matter.

But what do we really mean (from a more educational perspective) when we say that only grades matter? This is where the type of assessment seen in classrooms comes into play. Typically, we've seen a lot of emphasis put on the assessment OF learning. This is where we see things being assigned marks. When we use assessment OF learning, we see the importance being completely placed on the end result (and the mark given to that result), instead of on the process and the learning that gets us there. How can we know that someone actually learned anything though if we're just looking at a final product-we can't see what actually went into it. When all we do is assessment OF learning, students see that it’s the end product that matters. They start to see marks as being the most important thing in school. When this happens, we see classes that aren't necessarily as "academic" being pushed aside, because "those marks won't count towards anything", or that they don't "count" towards University. This causes people to stop learning and caring about what they actually enjoy to do and instead focus on that grade assigned at the end of the school year. But why should we be thinking about marks as counting towards something anyway! Instead, we should be thinking about how this class can actually help us learn, or better ourselves in some way.We need to switch this emphasis to the other forms of assessment. We need students to start to learn how to learn. We need to actually teach and learn things that are applicable and beneficial to our lives, instead of learning how to beat the system. When instead we look at assessment AS and FOR learning, students will start to see the importance of school. Assessment AS learning involves getting students to develop self-assessment skills, and learning how to implement instructional strategies that can be helpful for themselves. Assessment FOR learning involves getting feedback (without a mark) on an assignment so that you can know where to go from there, or what you still have to learn. I think that the important thing in both of these is that neither of them involves marks. In this case, students will be able to focus more on the process of learning instead of the end product, and instead of a final grade. It makes learning much more relevant to students. For example, if we take the picture from above and apply it to assessment FOR learning, it becomes completely irrelevant. When we’re no longer focused on the mark, but instead getting feedback on how to actually improve ourselves, making stuff up to get a mark now becomes a waste of time. Instead, putting effort into an assignment becomes much more applicable, because we can learn how to make ourselves better (hopefully in an assignment or class that we actually enjoy) without having to worry about a stupid letter on a piece of paper. If we are learning in an environment that actually prioritizes how we learn and learning to learn, we might be much more likely to not only try, but also to take a relevant class, and invest more in something that we actually enjoy.

All of these questions swirl around in my head, and make me think about what it is actually going to mean to be a teacher. Honestly, it makes me a little bit apprehensive; I have heard so many negatives and seen the fact that school has mostly become just about marks and learning how to work the system, how on earth can I possibly change that? If even I approach school this way, how can I expect my future students to be any different? To be perfectly honest, I don’t have an answer to this question. But I know what I want to do. I want to put the emphasis on learning for the sake of actually learning, and doing the courses and projects that we actually want to do. If we transition to forms of assessment that de-emphasise the importance of grades, maybe people will actually be able to take the courses that they enjoy instead of just worrying about marks. Maybe, grade 12 me would have been able to continue to take a phys ed class because it was more than grades that actually counted. 

making a change

Another September means another year of school starting, and already the projects and readings are starting to pile up. I am a fourth year concurrent education student (intermediate/senior) for physical education, with a teachable subject in biology. This year is my last year of undergrad, which is both really exciting and terrifying at the same time. I'm excited this year because my classes seem really great; the education classes seem to relate to actual practices and the direction that our teaching will be heading, and my physical education classes seem like they are going to be giving some great real life experience as well. However, it’s crazy to think that this time next year we’ll be in teachers college, getting ready for the real world of classrooms and teaching.

When it comes to education and teaching, I think it is very easy for people to get set in their ways-whether they are old teachers or new teachers. Even as a current student, it’s something we can see all the time; hearing about how education should be changing, how forms of assessment and the way we teach should be moving forward. However, we’re still taught in the same old way, lecture day in and day out, and are still taking exams in the gym with hundreds of other students. To me, that doesn't really feel like we’re moving forward-it just seems like the same old story, with the same old classrooms and practices. I'm sure as prospective teachers, we may even find ourselves sticking to the old ways of teaching, because, hey, that’s what we’re used to, that’s what worked for us. Part of the reason we all want to become teachers is because we enjoyed school and our classes, at least I know I did. However, though we may have enjoyed our classrooms the way they were run, I think it is really important that we don’t get stuck teaching that way just because that was what we were used to, or that was how we learned. We need to look at the best of this old story, and bring it forward with us into creating a new story when it comes to teaching.

There is always so much change going on in the world, which leaves the door open for countless opportunities. It’s exciting to hear about so many different examples of teachers bringing new ideas and practices into the classroom. There are many different ways to approach learning to get students engaged, and teachers are starting to use these fun and educational activities to get students more involved , using real-world assessments and projects that allow the students to take control of their own learning. One of the examples in class that was really interesting to me, even just by the name, was the “Wild And Crazy Think For Yourself” Projects (WACTFY), where students create assignments that are meaningful to themselves. I feel like this was something that would never have happened when I was younger, and I think it creates an excellent opportunity for both the students and the teachers. How can you get to know your students in the classroom if you never give them a chance to express what they are interested in? What if one of the smartest students in class is actually being held back by the typical way classrooms are taught? Projects such as this offer teachers a great opportunity to actually get to know what their students are interested in. For me, I think this is a big thing, because that can help to further direct the learning in the classroom, to actually bring their interests into future projects, or bring examples from their lives and the way they think into the classroom and what actually needs to be taught. Even now as a student if a project actually has meaning to me, or has something to do with what I'm interested in, I'm more likely to put more effort into it. I even find myself getting better marks in classes that I find enjoyable; this seems obvious, if I like something I'm going to actually want to do the work (it might not even feel like work), and I'm more likely to learn something along the way. When we advance our classes using new methods, it is more likely to be relevant to students, and make their learning more meaningful.

Clearly, teaching in the same old way does not always work, progression is good and can hopefully get students more engaged through more personalized learning strategies. In the summer I work at a camp, and one of the campers I have worked with for a few summers now was talking to me about school. Between this year and the last, he had moved from a public school, into the private school system. As a student with a learning disability, his family thought this would be more beneficial, as there were more opportunities and attention paid to individuals in the classroom. This resulted in a major change for him: he said he learned so much more because the teachers actually let him learn about what he wanted to learn. He said they had so many cool technological resources, that he actually enjoyed going to class compared to the previous year, where he spoke of frustration and a lack of learning. Clearly, our schools need a change. If such a smart kid with a thirst for learning cannot find what he needs in our public school systems, we need to advance.

This brings me to one of the major changes we see in the new story of education: technology. Technology is starting to be accepted more widely in classrooms, and this gives excellent opportunities to enhance student learning. Considering it is something they already use on a daily basis, this helps to bring what they're already interested in, into the classroom. While there is the traditional idea of technology, such as simply bringing computers or laptops into the classroom to work on, there is also more complex interactive technologies; even global opportunities can be found through the use of technology. For someone who was always interested in science, but did not always find these lessons to be engaging, I think that there are some really great examples of these technologies that can make science much more fun, giving the potential for more students to gain an interest. In another one of my course (higher level thinking in science and mathematics) we have discussed these ideas, and I think this video sums up some of the really exciting opportunities that are out there. (however, since clearly I am technologically challenged I can't actually get the video to appear, and can only get the link to work!) 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzahyTMq8u4

Though the entire video is quite long, there are some really interesting examples (such as at 7:30) where technology is being used in the classroom. If our classrooms can keep advancing and using these resources, I think that we are headed in the right direction, and perhaps more students will begin to get more out of school and their learning.