Our
session provided me with lots to think about as usual. One particular idea that
I continue to come back to is the idea around assumptions. During our session
we spent some time talking about this and all I could keep thinking about was
how our assumptions effect our expectations, which then leads to making/giving
excuses, causing lowered expectations and inaction. I sadly see this regularly
at school and with only being back in the classroom for 1 month after 3 years,
I am seeming to have little tolerance for those whose first response to any
idea is “Well that’s not going to work in our community because…..”. I
understand that all communities are varied and therefore engage in school
related activities differently, but there are so many amazing opportunities out
there that we really should not settle for assuming something about a group of
people and then making sweeping decisions based around this belief. This
thinking is a huge disservice to our students.
Another
topic that some of our group discussed was how there is a frustration that the
same topics that were being written about in our articles from the 70’s and
80’s are still being discussed now. For example, the idea around the difficulty
of breaking the cycle of poverty. While the standards/level of what equals
poverty might have changed, it seems like we are no closer to actually ending
it. Also, the ideas around class, exclusion, being literate, assumptions, a
failing school system, power, status quo, school systems based on conformity
and labeling are still very much present in our current discussions. I
understand that we have likely made gains, but why is it that we are still
asking ourselves these questions and not being able to figure out a solution or
a better way of doing something? This also brings me back to our
readings/discussion on Foucault. The ideas of governmentality and power seem to
be connected through all of these articles I read for this session and the
interest of the government to maintain the status quo. The ideas of what is
knowledge and therefore what does it mean to be literate seem so closely
controlled by the powers in charge, I wonder some days if any real effort is
being put into causing real change, as if that might actually occur, would the
power then shift dramatically causing a shift of who was in power and what type
of knowledge was then seen as important?
Finally
I am feeling really excited and motivated to try out many of the ideas and
discussions we have had over the past year. Now that I am back in the classroom
I feel I am able to apply much of what we learned and see what happens. I am
centering an entire unit on Rules, Relationships and Responsibilities on the
idea of artifacts and will be having the students engage in many of the similar
activities that we did at the summer institute. I have also bought several
digital cameras for the students to take home to take photos of their life and
we will then take part in various activities around personal narratives. I plan
on taking advantage of Voice Thread for this, as well as some other software
(Pixie 3) at our school for students to both record their thoughts orally and
in written format. I am also hoping to run a more inquiry based learning
program this year once I get a better handle on how to do this. At the moment I
am starting with a guided inquiry on snails. We currently have 9 snails in our
room (in a makeshift habitat) and I am going to be working with my students on
anything and everything related to snails. As I am part of a group of 10
teachers in our board who are doing this investigation, I am also engaging in a
blog and going to attempt a podcast using audacity with my students. I am very
excited and can’t wait to see where this goes. My hope is that with some guided
inquiry, my grade 1 class will be able to take part in more independent or at
least less guided inquiry within a short period of time that allows and
encourages students to be curious, ask questions, think critically, become
engaged and know ways in which they can find information to answer these
questions. I truly believe that this will lead to students feeling empowered
and really believe that school and education will support them and be
purposeful and meaningful. I am also really excited to finally get to try out
the activities related to critical discourse analysis using various sources,
such as birthday cards, advertisements (both print and video) and books. We
were recently discussing at what age we thought we could start doing this, and
someone mentioned grade 3. I strongly believe that with enough guidance and
discussion that my grade 1 students will also be able to make meaningful
connections and share their own personal ideas and beliefs regarding these
various text forms and such issues as equality, gender norms/roles and social
pressures/ideas that exist. I know that my students will be able to begin to analyze
what messages are underneath the cards/books/pictures, etc., ask the bigger
questions and look for ways to cause change and be aware of the impact that
these mediums have on them.
I
am really looking forward to the rest of this year and seeing what other ideas
I can begin to use in my classroom that encourage critical literacy and
integrate technology and a multi-modal approach to literacy learning.
