Yesterday we tackled a few stories that helped us to understand the factors that we consider to be part of a "good life". I was amazed by the list my students created. Yes, money was definitely on there but my students were able to dig so much deeper into this topic. I've attached the picture below. We then read two stories: Jose - who lives in a developing country, and Emma - who lives in a developed country. We then wrote down our assumptions about developing and developed countries and used evidence, from the stories, to support these assumptions. We talked about how these were not universal to all developing and developed countries but were generalizations. From there we looked again at the factors of a good life and tried to determine if we could say that youth in developed countries have a 'good life' or if youth in developing countries have a 'good life'. Our thoughts were mixed and we could not, with certainty, say that either had more elements of a 'good life'. Road map for today: 1. remind ourselves about Jose's and Emma's stories 2. Tease out the positive and negative factors in each of their lives 3. Work in small groups to explore the lives of Fernando, Gopi and James and look for evidence that the factor of a 'good life' is either present or missing 4. If we move quickly with this we may start watching the film Erin Brockovich
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We didn't get to all of the things on our roadmap on Tuesday. So we have a little back-tracking to do.
Our road map for our first 'double block': First: watch this funny video 1. introduce portfolios and handout 7 core assumptions printable. watch an amazing video on how we are all connected found here 2. discuss the via character survey - was the information that you got true? helpful? What would you change? 3. put strengths on profile somehow (Student choice) 4. begin to discuss the course outline (maybe) 5. talk about The Rights of a Child (link in button below) and begin to create our classroom charter of rights. 6. If there's time left in our double block perhaps we can go for a walk downtown to grab a coffee and pop into our office and art supply store to get some journals....we'll see. Here we go! I want to be as clear, forthcoming and vulnerable as I can on this blog. Maybe someone will read it, maybe not, and that's ok. Perhaps this will turn out to be my own reflective journal of my pedagogy. Maybe someone will be inspired by this and want to try some daring teaching themselves. I like the metaphor of the roadmap to help us 'stay on course' with our daily learning. Like a map it comes in a variety of mediums (paper, google, map quest-does map quest still exist?), that creates accessibility for all, and with a variety of scales (1cm=1km, or 1cm=100km) which allows us to zoom in or out depending on our navigational needs. Maps also need someone who can read them, a co-pilot who helps the driver to navigate the twists and turns. I will need my students to help me navigate to start. In the end I hope I'm co-piloting (or just enjoying the view from the passengers seat) and they are the ones who are truly driving their own learning. Here's our roadmap for today: -intro circle -what is social justice -7 core assumptions group work -via character survey *what are your values and strengths* -give out portfolios -roadmap for rest of the week Links and resources: www.viacharacter.org *Circle Forward by Carolyn Boyes-Watson and Kay Pranis*
I think I've got the units narrowed down to the following 4 essential questions:
1. How can a better understanding of the definitions and frameworks of social justice change my worldview? (I might edit this to say "impact my worldview") 2. What is the relationship between patriarchy, privilege and feminism? (I might add the word power in here too) 3. How does historical discrimination against LGBTQ+ people continue to impact current communities globally? 4. How have your ideas about disability and ableism changed through your learning? (I might tweak this one a bit more. I don't know if it truly captures what we are getting at). For all of these "units" we are rallying folkx with lived experience and expertise in these areas. We are speaking to those who can help us to refine and adapt our essential questions. I plan on doing very little 'sage onstage' teaching and we are using the Evidence Journal from Human Restoration project which can be found here: docs.google.com/document/d/1MebK8XMQCbKyrxPKT4yGEzQpxcJ1ux0l4BGSn6sy2IE/edit This document is incredible and fully editable to suit your needs. There's even an amazing youtube tutorial that pairs with it which explains how to use this. I am a certified restorative justice teacher. I completed this certification through Simon Fraser University and I highly recommend this program to anyone considering using RJ methods. You can find more information about the program here: www.sfu.ca/continuing-studies/programs/certificate-in-restorative-justice/why-this-program.html Another resource we are going to be using a lot is the Circle Forward handbook which can be found here: www.livingjusticepress.org/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC=%7B33EC0E83-CD69-4255-BCD5-298AD3846FF6%7D More to come on how we are going to lay out our first 2 weeks of our time together as well as how I work with my Accredited Facility Dog, Brushy, to facilitate deeper learning. I'm getting down to the guts of actually teaching this. I'm currently laying out what a week looks like here @ RSS and how much time we will have together. Here's how it's looking: Monday - 80 min Tuesday - 80 min Wednesday or Thursday: this are rotating double blocks for us so 160 min Friday - 80 min So if I do the math that's 400 min a week i will have the opportunity to work with my kidlets. Through the semester that's 8400 minutes. Now, take away 640 minutes (8 days) for pre-planned professional development days or Stat holidays. That's approximately 7760 minutes, 129 hours. Questions I'm working through: 1. 129 HOURS!?!? Is that enough time? Maybe that's too much time? 2. How will I help students to shift to self-pacing/assessment/awareness so that I am not the one who is tracking all of this? In precisely 2 weeks, my students and I will embark on an adventure. We, together will learn more about Social Justice and the impacts of social justice history in our lives. I'm terrified. Without a doubt, I will stumble in my teaching of this. I am going to make so many mistakes, and I am hopeful that my 25 students will greet these mistakes with empathy. I know I will understand the true definition of humility by June 30. This is going to get messy. I began the planning of this course by using the HRP Evidence Journal as a way to layout the 'units' of study for this course. As I worked through this document I discovered that this was precisely what I was looking for. To quote, this document "is one tool to pair traditional assessment and standards with progressive pedagogy. In essence, it provides a layout for self-assessment, un-grading, and multiple modes of demonstrating learning". It's brilliant and I highly encourage you to check it out at the link below. Useful links to find out more: Human Restoration Project: www.humanrestorationproject.org BC reporting order: www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/education-training/k-12/administration/legislation-policy/public-schools/student-reporting Here's a little glimpse into some planning processes with the Evidence Journal |
Dana ReaumeEducational Disrupter, dog person, tattoos are therapy Archives
May 2020
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