Privilege on a Continuum

           A few weeks ago in class we were introduced to the idea of privilege being on a continuum. The continuum of privilege is the idea that individuals experience various levels of privilege according to your place within society. This is because different spaces, places and times in society allow for a different privilege to be demonstrated. What puts one at an advantage and serves them to be privileged in one setting may work to put them at a disadvantage in another. Being privileged to something in a setting gives you what you want in that situation with less hassle, worry or work than those who do not have privilege in that area.

            In one context an individual may be at an advantage due to their privilege in that situation and in another they may reverse rolls and be at a disadvantage. For example looking at gender, a man is at an advantage typically in a corporate setting for reasons such as the glass ceiling phenomena, but in a female dominated field they would be at a disadvantage potentially receiving unkind remarks and being labeled or seen through a stereotypes lens.

           An interesting activity I have taken part in to teach students about different levels of privilege is to scatter them around the classroom each with a ball of paper and get them to toss it into a bin at the front. This shows students how privilege through being in different positions and places within society puts them at advantages and disadvantages while attempting to do the same task. 

          This can be a difficult topic for students to grasp, especially if it is attempting them to understand why they may be at an advantage because or something such as race or the family they are from. In order for one to address the subject of privilege they must be aware of where they stand and be critical of society to understand invisible aspects of privilege. The topic must be approached in such a way such as the paper ball activity or another that gets students to first understand the difference between being in different places in society and then focus on the specific factors that can perpetrate this. The following image is one way to try and be aware and learn about what may act as a privilege to you. 

           This is a subject future teachers and current teachers need to be aware of in the classroom, so they can understand where they stand, as well as see what students/families may be at a disadvantage and try to be mindful of that and work to educate society on acknowledging this.

Topic Based Education

Canada’s education system currently has a large focus on change, aiming to raise math and literacy scores. A fully integrated curriculum would address all subjects at once, and this I feel is the way we need to be going as a country. Less focus needs to be put on math tests and math lessons vs. spelling tests. Our current system is not working for all and in order to take a new perspective on these core subjects I think we need to incorporate them together in various lessons.

The idea of a schooling system that focuses on topics rather than subjects is something that greatly intrigues me. The following video gives a great overview of Finland's education system, which takes this topic based approach and demonstrates how it works. 

I strongly believe the North American education system altogether should be working towards this approach. We have the resources and we are already trying to change the system for the better, I think this is the right direction. Being able to create an integrative curriculum where one lesson connects to multiple subjects would give children more applicable and transferable knowledge, for example from not just a math scenario within the classroom but to a science and art lesson in the classroom and potentially demonstrating further use of the transferability to real-life contexts outside the classroom.

This transdisciplinary educational approach allows the schooling system to use various subjects in one lesson to address and teach one phenomenon. Students need to see how these subjects overlap, personally I think we should already be at this point because rarely in life does one face the subject of one subject alone, where they are not required to have skills in another. If a child is brought up seeing the overlap and use for certain subjects, they will have a better understanding and be more interested through this authentic type of learning.

This is a step I think we need to take working towards a more progressive education system.

Literacy in the 21st-Century

         I am currently taking in a child and youth program, at Brock University and last week I began a course called 21st-Century Literacy Across PR/JR Curriculum. To me at first I thought 'oh maybe it is going to focus on teaching us how to teach children to read and write in this 21^st century using technology etc. However, I was hugely mistaken. 

            

Taken from msddoesmath.weebly.com

            After sitting through the first lecture I quickly realized the literacy we were going to be learning about was much more than just being able to read and write. We were learning about being literate about areas of ones' life and world in this 21^st century, such as financial, media, environmental and moral. Being literate in these areas means being able to understand and be critical towards what you are being told, shown or doing in these areas. It takes the learner from being a passive individual, or just a recipient of information who will just repeat the process they learn to being their own informed being. Individuals who become literate in an area, for example moral literacy think about actions, the outcomes and do not fall victim to stereotypes or routines/common practices. They are informed and educated enough to make decisions taking various factors into account for the better of the community/society. It is teaching individuals to be ‘smarter’ in these aspects of life and be critical to push further. These various types of literacies help shape students into those active, critical citizens they need to be, by providing them how and providing them with the information to be informed enough to do so. To me being literate in any subject matter or area of life will help bring about the positive change society needs. This provides learners with practical skills to apply to their lives outside of the classroom and within the community. I think we need more focus on this throughout schooling starting at a younger age, no matter the stream the student ends up in. Learning how to be literate in these areas provides individuals with the ability to consider the other perspective(s) , and to be unique individuals in this ever-changing society we live in.

References 

 (n.d.). Literacy [Image]. Retrieved from  msddoesmath.weebly.com

Motivation Within the Classroom

        According to Merriam-Webster's online dictionary motivation is "the act or process of giving someone a reason for doing something: the act or process of motivating someone: the condition of being eager to act or work: the condition of being motivated: a force or influence that causes someone to do something" (2015).

27 Strategies to Motivate Students in Class

Having motivation creates a goal for individuals, causing them to make decisions based upon achieving that goal. It increases the level of effort, and energy one invests in tasks where motivation is present. Being motivated to complete a task is what will help a student work through obstacles they come across and not just give up and move on or hand it in. Cognitive processing is also increased when a student is motivated because they are more likely to pay attention and retain the information they are learning about. 

There are two main types of motivation, intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic is sparked from within and is about doing something for yourself, it's about learning for the sake of learning and mastery/understanding of that subject matter. Extrinsic motivation is about what you get out of it, externally, for example rewards/praise or grades. Extrinsic types of motivators work best for younger students, but tend to plateau and are not a practical way to stay motivated because that external motivator may not always be present or attainable.

            To measure ones' level of motivation or determine if they are motivated, four factors can be examined. Firstly, if they had a choice in the task, they would choose something that interested them or they enjoy. Therefore, they have chosen to do a task they are more motivated to complete. Secondly, the level of effort invested demonstrates motivation, for example if one puts a lot of effort behind something and works very hard on that task they were motivated to do so. Thirdly, level of persistence is an indicator of motivation, because if one spends a lot of time on a task and hasn't given up even after facing obstacles then they were motivated enough to overcome obstacles and complete the task. Lastly, the level of achievement is an indicator and can be determined looking at all three of those indicators together. This is the largest indicator of achievement. The higher any of these indicators are regarding a task, the more motivated the individual likely is and therefore the more likely the task will be completed.

Within your classroom there are many ways you can work to motivate your students. For example praising students for work well done or good behaviour can help to motivate them to keep it up.Through your teaching methods you can also spread the excitement and enthusiasm for subjects and certain materials, as well as try different types of instruction methods to give them more options and reach various types of intelligences. To help increase motivation. Also, showing students their important and having that tracked will motivate students to keep improving. The following video is a great example of how important the presence of motivation is within the classroom, through a case study example. 

Authentic Assessment

Authentic assessment is “a form of assessment in which students are asked to perform real-world tasks that demonstrate meaningful application of essential knowledge and skills” -- Jon Mueller (2014). This type of assessment allows for teaching to be more student-centered and focused on providing students with the proper knowledge, experiences and resources to be able to complete such real life tasks. It shifts from the teacher having all the right answers and trying to fill students heads with knowledge to 'pass the test', to gaining real life experience.

Retrieved from CartoonStock

Students are able to show they know the information, skills and strategies to succeed in given real life task(s). These tasks look at not just assessing the final product, but also the process and they tend to give students more choice and voice in the tasks. These tasks should also be engaging and fun which can be seen as a potential motivator for students. In my grade 10 food and nutrition class in high school we did an authentic performance assessment. Throughout the year we learned proper cooking techniques and skills and our way around the kitchen, as well as some recipe ideas and helpful hints. We practiced cooking certain foods once a week and by the end of the year had the opportunity to prove our ability on our own. We chose a meal we wanted to make and were assessed throughout the process. Our teacher walked around and watched that we followed all the kitchen rules and examined what techniques/skills we used, she also asked us questions about what we were making or why we were doing certain things specific ways (allowing for further inquiry). This task was great because it was a hands on way to work with the material we learned about all year and demonstrate our knowledge of the kitchen and materials. We were not only marked on the food itself but how we were able to use the material we learned throughout the year in this real life scenario. The assessment allowed for variation and allowed us to put our own spin on things such as the presentation of the food.

In the following video a teacher candidate speaks about her experiences with, and knowledge of authentic assessment within the classroom, while also providing ideas on how to incorporate this type of assessment into your own teaching.

Retrieved from Michelle Chelvanayagam's Channel

The idea of authentic assessment relates greatly to John Dewey’s idea of progressive education. It demonstrates a shift from the set, traditional, standardized teaching and assessment of children to a more modern and flexible method. Students are more active and apart of authentic assessment, just as they are supposed to be in progressive education. Also according to Dewey students are the problem solvers who are actively engaging, experimenting and planning with materials just as in these assessments. More and more schools are shifting away from the tradition standardized testing and assessments which I think is great! It gives students the opportunity to put a unique spin on their work, which will help motivate them and keep them interested to learn more. I think more authentic assessments should be done with students of all ages because it’s more relevant to their lives, giving them an opportunity to demonstrate what they can really do and it can take off some potential stress and anxiety associated with being evaluated through the typical ways of testing knowledge. In this assessment teachers are guiding children with the knowledge they will need to be able to use this information in real world situations, outside the classroom.

Retrieved from Lifehack Quotes-John Dewey

Education should not be about ensuring children have memorized the information we have set out as 'need to know', but rather we should ensure they are able to use this knowledge in real life situations, which is what authentic assessment aims to do. For some ideas on what tools you can use to create authentic assessments visit education to save the world's webpage.

References

7 Tools for Authentic Assessments. (2013, May 8). Retrieved October 4, 2015, from http://edtosavetheworld.com/2013/05/08/7-tools-for-authentic-assessments/    

John Dewey Quote [Online Image]. Retrieved from http://quotes.lifehack.org/quote/john-dewey/education-is-not-preparation-for-life-education/

McGookin, M. (Artist). (n.d.). Pouring knowledge into kids [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/f/flip_top.asp

Mueller, J. (2014). What is Authentic Assessment? (Authentic Assessment Toolbox). Retrieved October 5, 2015, from http://jfmueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/toolbox/whatisit.htm

Novack, G. (1960). John Dewey’s Theories of Education. Retrieved October 5, 2015, from https://www.marxists.org/archive/novack/works/1960/x03.htm

Chelvanayagam, M. (2014, May 26). Authentic Assessment [Video] retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlHUqHTxgLc

What Is Authentic Assessment? (1997). Retrieved October 4, 2015, from http://www.eduplace.com/rdg/res/litass/auth.html