New Skills of Self Reliance (Exit 4)

My seven strand braid, closed at either end by
ropes made by Jason S. To the right is another
braid made by JJ and Jason L.

Today's class in the garden was another good one, luckily the rain has still held off! Spending time learning a new skill and working with our hands together in such a lovely space really brought out the creativity in everyone. I particularly love the idea of relying less on the industrial world for our necessities. I'm currently imagining future me making a rope long enough for a clothes line out of material harvested from the land it will be used on. How awesome that would be! Using it would be a constant reminder of what our world could be. Thinking about how easily most of us got caught up in braiding and spinning and plying, I wonder if most kids of today would get interested with as little required of the instructor. If I implement this activity with a class of teenagers, what will they get from it? How can I get them to engage deeply with the process? Especially if they are not used to the outdoors. In another class someone told a story about a math teacher they had in high school who condensed the content down to four days of the week and spent every Friday teaching a life skill. I would love to implement something like this, maybe once a month. This way perhaps I wouldn't need to make a direct content connection. Although, a physics connection is easy! I could hold a contest to see which team or individual can make the strongest rope. Of course this would require some kind of force test. We could even test how doubling the number of strands effects the strength. Extend this to using the rope on some pulleys and you can show that it is very likely to break at the pully due to the bending of the fibers, and a smaller pulley will cause the rope to be more likely to break. Lots of awesome opportunities.

For whatever reason, the paint chip activity didn't speak to me as much. I sort of felt limited and was trying to find specific colours in nature that matched these colours I had chosen, instead of just admiring the natural colours the way they are. Maybe I could have reframed it in another way. I did still enjoy it, but so far I have found the sound activity the most engaging.

A Fundamental Change in Thinking (Entrance 3)

"Are we able to conceive yet what that fundamental change in our thinking might look like?" This is a great question and the first thing that stopped me in my tracks. I think a lot about societal change and evolution to a better future for all. Specifically, I tend to approach these issues and this question from a socialist and ecological lens. This past summer, I was working with a 19 year old man and he was very interested in discussing the brand new to him topic of socialist and Marxist ideas. I learned through these discussions how big of a fundamental change in our collective thinking needs to occur. I won't go into detail here about my opinions, but versions of this question comes up in so many discussions - can we even imagine what the a just future can look like?

"The empowerment which comes from being able to opt out of the consumer paradigm, even for one small item, creates a heightened sense of self-esteem for the skills learned." I've always tried to just avoid buying things, but people need some things. So then you can go to researching manufacturers and vetting production lines, but making is such a fundamentally different process. You get the material and use value of the item, the more abstract value of now having this skill, and the emotional value of having accomplished this task and satisfied a need independently. Beautiful! 

I feel renewed. It is so easy to feel that ecological doomsday hopelessness message deeply. But honey attracts more flies than vinegar! Seeing the good in the changes we can make, and focussing on that - love it.

I'm interested in the netting/string bag technique - it seems similar to some tree nets I've seen made, but I'm not sure how similar it really is. Very excited to try making rope tomorrow!

https://www.ptreyeslight.com/features/lagunitas-man-weaves-psychedelic-tree-nets/

Picking and Listening to the Apples (Exit 3)

Today's session in the garden brought back some very positive memories for me. I grew up on a former apple orchard out in the middle of nowhere rural Ontario. It wasn't very productive any more, and the apples were quite sour, but I have strong memories of picking apples. We would eat a few, but mostly we would throw them at the side of the garage, trees, or each other. We did also have one pear tree who produced excellent pears, however we didn't prune any of the trees so the production was hit or miss year to year.

Thinking about sound based sit spot today, I really enjoyed it compared to the previous visual based drawing activity. I think if I were to use this in my practice, I would encourage students to pick one sense, but give them the freedom to choose which sense. Maybe if I did it more than once I would get them to rely on a different sense that they aren't so comfortable with the second time. Either way, another lovely day spent in the garden!

Learning From the Garden (Entrance 2)

In our EDST 401 class, we talked today about the aims of schooling and education in general. When I decided to get into teaching, I knew I wanted to teach more than just the curriculum. I have strong beliefs about the possibility of "another world", embracing kindness and collaborative community to create a better world for everyone (including the more-than-human world). So far I've imagined accomplishing this goal through off-the-cuff anecdotes and intellectual tidbits, along with my own disposition and friendliness. Now I'm thinking more about how I could use a garden space to weave in more intentional ecological socialization and imparting of ethics. So in this way, I think it is almost obvious how I might use a teaching and learning garden in a high school. However, the specifics, and any ways to use these spaces to teach physics, is still a bit ill-defined.

"Ecosystems as co-teachers" really stands out to me, as I am currently reading Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. She speaks throughout the book about how plants, animals, and the land (ecosystems) are the first teachers. You can learn an immense number of incredibly valuable lessons by simply observing these great teachers. I can certainly imagine bringing this into a biology classroom. A simple example is to study the three sisters and show how they help each other grow and defend against predators. However, it's very easy to extend this to teach the idea that we are stronger when we support each other, and even simply open the students up to the idea that plants have lessons to teach.

Regarding physics, I think there are many opportunities to do labs or at least interactive activities in the garden. I think each unit in grade 11 for example lends itself well to garden experiments (projectile motion, forces, energy, and waves). The issue I see is that they might not really rely on the garden. I can't think of a way to inherently include the garden in all of these experiments. Wave motion for sure, shaking smaller trees you can produce standing waves without harm. But the others, I need to think more on how I can include the garden as a co-teacher for these topics.

Wow, that 6 month pinhole camera produces some really incredible images! I would absolutely love to do that activity with a class. I didn't expect the result to be so vivid and interesting.

Inquiry in the Garden (Exit 2)

Yesterday's first class in the garden was so amazing! What a lovely setting for learning. I've always felt very connected to the natural world, so being and learning in a space like that feels very natural to me. I'm reminded of how I need to try very hard to put myself in the shoes of my learners. Especially in physics, it's a subject that has always come naturally to me. I'm not sure yet exactly how I will do it, but I recognize that I need strategies to understand the point of view of someone struggling. Reflection will certainly be part of it, but I think I need to go deeper than just thinking about it myself. I will need to bring in outside voices to help me understand.

The sit spot activity was also lovely. I draw very rarely, so I'm slightly embarrassed (maybe not quite the right word) by my lack of skills. Nevertheless, it's awesome to try. Drawing is a task that I think you can't really "fail" at, although it could be perceived otherwise. I struggle to make a connection directly from this activity to a physics lesson, especially grades 11 or 12. Torque is usually not introduced until first year undergrad, but the garden would be perfect for torque! Seeing how trees and plants lean and yet hold themselves up with their roots, how awesome. I'll think more on this as I dive deeper into the BC curriculum.

Reflecting on Reflection as a Teaching Practice (Entry 1)

Overall, I find the article very relevant to me as a modern teaching candidate. There are a few main things that stood out to me:

Very early the authors state that ""rules for practice" cannot now and probably never will be easily derived from either college coursework or practical school experience" (p. 103). I haven't fully accepted this "fact" into my beliefs about teaching, nevertheless I see it as an excellent argument for being a reflective teacher. If there are truly no rules that can be applied to any classroom, what other choice do we have other than to reflect and analyse every group of children we encounter?

I think that reflection might work better with older grades. I can understand the argument that teacher's do not have time to adequately reflect, especially in a younger classroom. I think later in secondary the kids might become more predictable and thus offer teachers a smaller universe of possibilities to reflect upon.

All three of the attitudes of reflective action scream First People's Principles of Learning to me. Especially "an attitude of responsibility involves careful consideration of the consequences to which an action leads" (p. 105). This article really confirms for me that I need to look carefully at these Principles and embed them in my pedagogy in order to be the best teacher I can be.

Reflection is probably even more effective now than when this article was written. I believe the "forces of bureaucratic socialization in schools" (p. 109) is possibly less strong and efficient than it was in the 1980s. There is more willingness to go against the grain and try different approaches. I think this is a very positive development.

Probably the most impactful thing I am taking away is that we must work reflection into our practice immediately! Question everything we are currently being taught will be excellent practice in reflection. I have discussed reflection and leading a reflective life in general with my mother at length. She has told me that she became a much more reflective person in her late 20s and into her 30s. Great timing for me to develop this practice, and I feel even more galvanized in my effort after reading this article.

(I may have rambled... Sorry if this is too long!)

Frank McCourt and Teacher Inquiry (Exit Slip 1)

Frank McCourt is undeniably an interesting character. His experience getting into teacher's college without attending high school himself, paired with his unique outlook on student-teacher relationships and teacher inquiry make him an invaluable source of information and perspective for new teachers.

The most noteworthy point I took from the class discussion is regarding student-teacher relationships. Regardless of your training, locality, or history, you will always have children who are culturally and socially very different from you. Even just the simple fact that we will be from a different generation will create a massive difference. I now think it's incredibly important to try to break down these differences and see things from the perspective of your students, to try and understand their section of our society.

The other big point I am taking away is that teachers must always be learning things from their students. This actually goes hand in hand with the first point. Students will teach you how to best teach them. If they are reacting negatively to a certain piece of the curriculum, find out why. Find a way to alter the assignments to something that they can relate to and identify with. Frank described this for his English classes, what I am still wondering is how we can do this for math and physics. An exciting problem to continue to try and solve throughout our teaching journey.

Hello World!

Good morning everyone! Looking forward to working along side you all in our collective and personal inquiry. :)

Here's a photo of me this past August getting to fly in the front seat of a Bell 212 Helicopter on my way to work.