Vera C. Teschow

After spending the morning cleaning out my office, and the afternoon teaching the TCs to play Hot Cross Buns on the recorder, spent the evening celebrating w/ students and colleagues at the banquet!

A common ESL strategy in the classroom has been to have students do lots of talking to encourage them to "think aloud" before they begin a written task.  But sometimes, the other way can be just as valuable, especially for the introverted learner in your class.

In my quest to help students be more “on-task” during carpet time, I have been reading a Ministry of Ed Monograph entitled “Grand Conversations in Primary Classrooms”.  In order to prepare students for rich group dialogue, it is suggested that – in addition to time for thinking first – students are also encouraged to draw or write about texts they are reflecting on, in order to give them an opportunity to consolidate their thinking before they engage in grand conversations.

I can't help but wonder... What would the students write about, if they haven’t had time to chat with a neighbour, first?  On the other hand, what would they talk about, if they didn’t first have a chance to “ink their thinking”?  It’s a bit of a chicken/egg dilemma, it would seem.

I suppose – like so many “good” classroom strategies, flexibility and balance is the key.  Different learners will strive under both configurations, so in order to ensure the needs of all are met, a differentiated approach much be taken.

Myself, I’ve done the “talk first and then write” approach… I think I will try to integrate more of the other now, and see what happens with my verbose but often unfocused students!

It is absolutely amazing to me that with all the data we have about gender and sexual identity issues, people are still arguing against “positive spaces”  (also “Gay-Straight- Alliances”, or GSAs) in schools.

How ironic that this week, when Obama gently but publicly concluded, in well thought out tones, that committed same sex couples ought to have the right to marry, our provincial conservative politicians voted against  a Liberal government bill requiring school boards to back student requests for GSA support groups. 
What message are these leaders sending our already-disenfranchised youth? 

         Your bullies and tormentors are right, you ARE a freak,
   and not even school -- especially not school -- is a safe haven!

Interestingly, as part of some ministry training about a teacher leadership and learning project I am involved in for next year, I had an opportunity to hear a participant from previous years speak on her team’s project, OPSTA.com. This passionate, articulate and incredibly dedicated teacher shared with us a very poignent story of an auto shop teacher who set aside his intended lesson one afternoon to deal with a “that’s so gay” comment uttered in his class. 

Within hours of the end of class, he found a handwritten note from one of his students on his desk.  It read:

I am overwhelmed with the conviction that we in publically funded schools in Ontario must create safe and positive space for ALL our students and staff, including those who fall into the gender identity and/or sexual orientation minority. 

GSAs allow for the formation of a fellowship where LGBTQ and straight youth can build bridges and alliances with one another, seeking to learn from the other, and working together to create safe, positive spaces where all students can learn and grow, rather than feel threatened by homophobic and/or transphobic bullying.  The issue is not “let’s talk about sex”, the issue is “let’s talk about how we can solve our problems, and make the school a better place”.  (As a side note for my Christian friends, isn't this what Jesus modelled?  Talking with and loving those whom others cast aside?)

Alas, it seems Martin Regg Cohen, in his recent Toronto Star coverage of the PC’s unfriendliness, has a firm grasp on the opposition’s perspective:

Again I am reminded of people’s general misunderstanding of sexual orientation and gender identity issues. 

Of course these people have sex (just as do straight folks, imagine!), but to think that sex is the very essence of who they are is as prejudicial as stereotyping  young black men as drug dealers and rapists.  I know some gay people… they do laundry sometimes, write blogs, volunteer at the food bank, get their cars fixed, go grocery shopping, and even pick up their kids from school!

Well, at least the ones who weren’t harassed and bullied and tortured to the point of suicide before they had a chance to grow up into loving, contributing adult members of society.

Education Minister Laurel Broten spoke with us today before lunch.  As she put it, “it’s an uneviable position to be in, a politician between a room full of teachers and their lunch”!  But we humoured her, and only a few brave souls walked out.

She brought the prerequisite greetings from the Province, congratulated us on our hard work, wished us well with our projects.  She noted that “decades and decades of research confirms teacher effectiveness is the single most important factor in student learning”…

I can’t help by wonder – if she truly believes this research – why her government has lately launched a surprising attack on public educators in this province? 

Until recently, the Liberals and the various teacher unions in this province have worked in relative harmony; as Broten referred put it, “we’ve achieved much for students through strong partnerships between the ministry and federation”. These partnerships have resulted in considerable reduction of labour unrest over the past two terms.

Why, then, the recent attack on the collective bargaining process, and the use of media to fuel public distain for teachers? 

For example, the minister apparently called a press conference on Easter Monday, beginning said meeting by noting that she was calling the media together to talk about education, on a day when teachers were at home relaxing while other Ontarians were hard at work!!!  (Interestingly, as a federation colleague who shared this tale with me pointed out, one was unable to hit the LCBO that day for a much-needed bottle to get one through the launch of this attack, nor was one able to visit one’s bank, if one had wanted to withdraw all one’s money and flee such a province; both were closed across the province!)

To her credit, Broten did acknowledge the difficult time we are currently in, that challenges the strong partnerships forged over the past 8 years, however, she only superficially addressed the issues that so deeply frustrate teachers, focussing on wage freezes rather than the proposed class size increases and 70% cut in sick days on the table, or the unwillingness to lay out ground rules at the “extra-curricular-to-legal-collective-bagaining-process” provincial discussion table, or PDT.  (As an interesting side note, "discussion" implies decision making -- if the government were really interested in seeking to understand, the whole thing would be labled a "dialogue" table, not a "discussion" table!)

If you are a non-teacher member of the public, I encourage you to speak with teachers in your community to better understand what the government is imposing, and what it will mean for children (future voters and drivers!) who attend public schools in Ontario.  Better yet, spend a few days in various classrooms at different schools – if time permits – volunteering with teachers and children so that you can see how much more complex and education has become since you were in Grade 3.

Anne Lieberman spoke to us today about job-embedded learning.  As discovered in the 80s already, teachers create knowledge "on the job".  Similar to Gladwell's ten thousand hours, it is well documented that teachers in classrooms -- not researchers researching teaching in classrooms -- become the experts on classroom teaching!  One of the reasons the TLLP is so successful is that it honours the knowledge construction already happening in teachers’ professional lives, and builds in time to make it explicit.

As Lieberman spoke about the challenges of schools in meeting the increasingly complex needs of students in an age of globablization, I was struck by a thought I had just recently had while reading "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!" (Richard P. Feynman)

The author writes of being a university student and observing his peers using a tool in another class, and not applying their allegedly already-existent mathematical knowledge in that context:

This passage totally drives home the absolute necessity for teachers to move from rote memorization to teaching for understanding!  It’s not a new concept, this need to ensure deep learning; we’ve known for years that we need to do this, but how?  HOW?

To be treated as a professional is such an unusual experience, from a system perspective.

My colleague and I, who were recently awarded a “research grant” of sorts, are in Toronto these three days at our first official training session.  Unlike the usual Board-level one-size-fits-all “professional learning” we have grown accustomed to, where PD is just “done” to us en masse, with little or no regard for differentiated learning needs or professional goals, this instructional innovation is a model of Fullan, Hill and Crevola’s context-based professional learning.

Some guy rolled down his car window and yelled at me the other day as I was cycling home, listening to my iPod... “Get a helmet!”, he shouted angrily, before speeding away in his gas-guzzler.

I would have yelled back, “Get an education!”, but I was too busy focussing on

Forget the turtles, penguins and Canada geese!  Who cares about curriculum and classrooms?!  Let me tell you where the real action is, people:  It's at the Dog Park!!!  That’s right, folks – the leash-free park at Humber Bay is where it’s all happening! Let me tell you about my latest adventure…

So first I had to run alongside a scooter to get there – good grief, getting to the park  in this fashion was exercise enough; then she expected me to run around once there, too!  But I showed her – slurped up all the ice tea she poured me and a full bottle of water, and then I just flopped on the grass and took it real easy for a while.

Soon, though, I met up with some buddies, and after sniffing one another’s butts, and thus establishing our suitability as playmates, off we ran, across the park and around the trees.

Things got to be a bit much when a bunch of them tried to hump me later… Mind you, I guess I can’t complain too much, seeing as how it is usually me who does the humping (legs, arms, sofas, other dogs’ noses, I can’t say I’m that picky really).

In any case, after the scooter-side jog home, she finally let me rest a few hours, and other than writing this blog, I intend to stay on the cool floor here for a good several hours, recovering from my adventures!

Curriculum Mapping is all the rage these days.

We've always had "long range plans" to guide our day-to-day planning in the classroom, but curriculum mapping can be a powerful tool for connecting curriculum themes in rich and meaningful ways, and planning out one's year as a teaching team within a school or district.

It can also be a total nightmare!

That's kind of what happened to us at my school... drawn into pretty templates and big buzzwords, we tried to pack it all in at once with little time for reflection on how practical (or not!) a document we were creating.  The result was a busy, too-long, overcrowded document that many teachers rarely (if ever) referred to throughout the year. 

As any classroom teacher knows, even the most well-intentioned philosophical approach has to be translated into practical terms if it is truly going to be of value, i.e. if it is going to find its way to kids in classrooms in any meaningful way.

In our quest to create a document that was both practical and visionary, we offer the following (and yes, you have to read the explanatory notes before you get the goods, lol!)

We invite your feedback; comments and questions are welcome.

So recently, Dr. Seuss' Yertle the Turtle came under fire. 

It seems there is concern that Yertle is planting the seeds of uprising and rebellion in the innocent young minds of school children.  Interesting, when one considers the current push -- at least in our province -- to look at the curriculum through a critical lens, and to infuse issues of social justice into our school and classroom programme!

Just this past week, my colleague and I have been working -- at the request of school and board program staff -- on revising our curriculum map for the coming year to integrate the big ideas from our grade's Social Studies and Science curriculums... ideas of equity, citizenship and environmental stewardship! 

As teachers, we are encouraged to help students unpack the curriculum through a social-political lens, considering multiple viewpoints, disrupting the commonplace, and empowering even our youngest learners with calls to action.

How, then, can we be surprised if students ask hard questions about an opressed turtle?!

quips Yertle, in a developmentally-appropriate lament about being stacked, in typical Seuss-like fashion, under an enormous pile of bigger and heavier oppressors.  The story is a silly tale about make-believe turtles, but the implied message is deep, and the author is a skilled craftsman in his clever spinning of an important social lesson about standing up for one's rights, no matter where in the grander scheme of things you happen to be squished in!

I am reminded of the letter I recently recieved  from a parent; she was upset about a picture book I had read aloud to my grade threes, a sweet tale of love and family, based on a true story of two penguins at the New York Zoo who were unable to have an egg of their own, until an observant and caring zookeeper came to their rescue.  

And Tango Makes Three -- like Seuss's Yertle, is a story about animals, but the subtle themes of caring and inclusion are ones that children hopefully pick up on and integrate into the fabric of their being.  (Does it matter that the two penguins in question were both male?  Is a book clearly written for children intended to teach "about homosexuality", as was this parent's concern, or was the author hoping for a more subtle message to be transmitted to young readers:  "There's diversity in the world, and maybe that's okay"!)

One thing is certain:  It's going to be an interesting road ahead...

As we wade knee-deep into the mire of "social justice", and attempt to intentionaly and courageously make this theme more overt in our classrooms, we had better, as educators, know ourselves, know our allies, and be prepared to practise what we preach in encouraging our students to look at issues from multiple perspectives and with a view to political action.

Of Yertle, the BC arbitrator's ruling that "political materials must be kept out of . classrooms" is going to have trouble taking root in classrooms that are -- in their quest to keep up with 21 century skills instruction -- increasingly political!  Perhaps the focus ought to be not on keeping the classroom sanitized, but rather, on equipping ourselves and our students with manners and the habits of mind that will allow us and them to navigate our increasingly complex world in a polite, respectful, open-minded manner. 

Kind of like Yertle.