So far, I have not had a lot of engagement on my two posts, I was hoping for a retweet but so far, I have not got anything. I have however, found a couple more interesting Twitter’s to follow.

I really liked 10 Minute Teachers with Vikki Davis @coolcatteacher

The website http://www.coolcatteacher.com/podcast/ but it’s also available through Apple Podcast App as well.

I also want to give a little shout out to ‘Boarded Teachers’ this is more of a fun Facebook page, but a lot of the posts are very relatable, and they put a smile on my face more often than not. I think often as teachers we get bogged down sometimes in our own heads, and the stresses of the profession, so it’s good to take a step back and remember that we are not alone, there are so many others out there with us. It also gives the warm fuzzies.

https://www.facebook.com/boredteachers/?hc_ref=ARTy7bH9Djr-dv9OFtYRNtfIap1R3sMmTJttCgitsGTD_cO589RvMSG3BnlCP8-m9Zw&fref=nf

I have had, what I would term, great success with my sharing of the podcast post day before last. With 30 likes, and comments on the post, I have seen a surprising amount of engagement, podcasts I have noticed has been gaining a lot of traction within the education community. Probably because so many teachers like to learn but they also like to multitask.

So, I had a lot of success in my little experiment, within 10min of posting the article I had multiple comments, and my phone continued to light up all night. The discussion got very heated, and there was a lot of arguments going on, infighting, and ultimately, I ended up with 85 comments in less than 24 hours.

My final thoughts on my interactions within the professional communities I participated in.

Through both the readings, and my engagement on the learning communities, I have noticed that the current trends in educational philosophies align most closely with progressivism. There is an emphasis on having an active, interesting classroom, where students are challenged with real life problems (Ornstein, 1991, p.105).

In a recent article, I read by Yuvai Noah Harari (2018), On what the year 2050 has in store for humankind, he argues that pedagogical experts are advocating that school should be teaching ‘the four C’s’- critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity. “More broadly, schools should downplay technical skills and emphasize general-purpose like skills (Harari, 2018). An idea that falls in line with progressivism, focus needs to be on the learner, the teacher is a facilitator, and students have a voice in the class (Ornstein, 1991, p.105).

Of all the educational philosophies, I find that I too agree with progressivism, and much of what I see coming from the postings and interactions within the professional community reflect this as the current trend in education. However, there is constant change and innovation when it comes to education and its philosophies, putting the focus on the student can only help improve.

As I noted before in my earlier posts, the majority of the engagement form the participants on the boards centers around subject centered design theory. Which seems to be fairly common at the secondary level, as they are most often centered around a specific course. Reflecting on my own practice, I remember being a new teacher, nervous and unsure, so I relied on the textbook as the end all be all, and that was how the course was run. I would argue, that now with almost a decade of teaching behind me, I don’t feel as if I am falling in line with this curriculum concept anymore.

Many of the resources I’ve been seeing pop up in these professional communities, are leaning more towards learner-centered designs, which are more popular in the elementary, but I feel there is a shift as well for learner-centered designs at the secondary level. I think that both learner-centered designs, as well as problem centered designs are being pushed at the secondary level.

Evidence of this can be seen with the STEM curriculum, which is close to problem centered design. In STEM students are challenged to solve real life problems. Their designs are meant to integrate across all the sciences, but also to help solve an issue, and have an impact on society. Where then do I find my own practice?

My school has just adopted this STEM+A curricula, and as a history teacher I find myself being pulled in different directions. Social sciences are part of the OSSD mandate, they do not fit neatly in the ‘STEM’ philosophy. Which is why I find myself somewhat torn by my school’s expectations; I am being forced into a subject centered curriculum design as a social science teacher, while STEM calls for a problem centered approach, and as a teacher at an international school my students are calling for a more learner centered design.

I am still working towards finding my balance.

There seems to be no end the resources and materials within the community for planning, instruction, and evaluation based on a subject centered design. While the Ontario government sets out what I need to achieve before the end of the course, what to do and how to get there are completely up to me.

I do like seeing what’s new though within the communities in evaluation methods, anyway I can better track and keep anecdotal notes is very helpful. Technology is great, but I still find myself often hand writing notes on pieces of lined paper.

I also like hearing what other teachers are up to in their classes, what their goals are for the year, or big projects that they are hoping to implement. I like the innovation and creativity that comes from teachers collaborating together inspiring and pushing each other forward. I l also like to hear that other teachers struggle somewhat too; whether it’s in planning for a subject, the instruction of a lesson, or even the best way to evaluate something. Teaching is about taking risks.

Sources

Harari, Y. N. (2018, August 10). Yuval Noah Harari on what the year 2050 has in store for humankind. Retrieved from https://www.wired.co.uk/article/yuval-noah-harari-extract-21-lessons-for-the-21st-century

Ornstein, A. C. (1990/1991). Philosophy as a basis for curriculum decisions. The High School Journal, 74, 102-109.

Ornstein, A., & Hunkins, F. (2014). Chapter 6 Curriculum Design. In Curriculum: Foundations, principles, and issues(6th ed., pp. 149-173). Boston, MA: Pearson.

Prior to this course I had never really taken a moment to discern my philosophy towards education, nor my ideas and beliefs about curriculum design. I think when you are a new teacher, there is a blank slate. We learned the pedagogies and the theories but until we are in an actual class with actual students it doesn’t mean much of anything. Now, almost a decade of teaching under my belt I find I have a lot more confidence in what I feel education should be, as well as my own ideas and beliefs when it comes to my planning and instruction, and that it something that only comes with experience.

When this course started, I knew very little about curriculum design, I understood my own practice to a degree, but having finished this course I can now put a name to what I am doing. I also have a deeper appreciation and understanding of what I am doing when I plan my courses.

In this course, and though the professional communities I participated in I have been able to reinforce that fundamental truth of teachers; we need collaboration to survive. Teaching is a team sport, it’s not an individual one, and sometimes as teachers we need to be reminded of that.

In my own practice, I want to be more cognizant of my planning and instruction. I want to move away from being so subject centered, I recently read an article about ‘teaching against the text’ and I really liked the idea. While I may be somewhat stuck in the middle as a history teacher in a STEM school, I think I can start questioning myself when it comes to my instruction. Move away from lectures, and standard assignments, to challenge myself and my students to inspire a love of history.

September is coming, and I have a new course I’ve never taught, and two that I have, but do not feel as if I was as successful as I could have been there is so much more I can do. I am over halfway through my PME program and I already feel I have grown a tremendous amount in my practice. I am happy to take the lessons I have learned from this course and apply them to my practice going forward.

Thank you everyone for an enjoyable experience, and all the collaboration we were able to do.