Category: ECS 203 (Page 1 of 2)

I think the way we learn mathematics in school is very focused on 1 method and perspective, which is the traditional way we all know of memorization, copying and repetition. The teacher teaches a lesson, writes out some problems on the board, you practice a few in class and a few on your own while doing the same at home. This approach to math does not take into account the many different types of learners that there are or the many students who may have learning disabilities which would impact their success. I think its oppressive for those students who are not your neurotypical ones, for example those who might have issues with memorization but may excel at more interactive learning. With all the knowledge we have now about how students learn, and how different it can be for many of them than I believe it would be ideal for education as a whole to take a different approach to teaching math. Or at the very least open up that option for those who would like to explore it.

One way the Inuit people up north challenged Eurocentric views on math is by using math as a way of communication as well, developing a precise vocabulary when talking about spatial relations, distance and sense of space. They also used their surroundings, culture and environment to relate to what they were learning in math, therefore making it easier to pick up.

I think we as future teachers can help multilingual student be engaged by getting them to share their unique stories and perspectives. That way they can feel heard by their peers and teachers and then the other students can gain new, different perspectives that perhaps they have never heard of before. Also allowing room in the classroom for multiple languages, never telling kids that they must only speak english or whatever the language of instruction might  be. We can also take the stigma away from them speaking other languages and make it a norm in the classroom rather than an outlier or an exception.

It would go a long way to integrating multilingual instructional strategies if we as teachers invite students to share words from their home languages with their classmates and explain wwhat it means. Over time, students and teachers learn a new collection of words in different languages. Or perhaps teachers can display words in other languages in the classroom, making the environment more inclusive in general for multilanguage speakers. Inviting teachers and community members to share stories orally and written would also be a good step forward.

I think we can begin to tackle the systemic oppression felt by LGBTQ+ students by first acknowledging that it happens in all schools and communities. It is not a topic that we can sweep under the rug or ignore simply cause it makes some uncomfortable to talk about or because they think its not relevant to them.  As much as some people may think that these topics are not appropriate to discuss in schools or are not relevant to their kids, the fact is that LGBTQ+ students are everywhere and are experiencing discrimination and oppression with alarming consistency. Clearly things need to change in our schools systems if the same issues being faced by these students 10 years ago are generally the same issues that are still hurting them today. After clearly acknowledging the issues, policies and rules need to be developed to support and protect LGBTQ+ students in the education system so they no longer feel marginalized and like their teachers do not understand them at all.

As we discussed in class, getting input from LGBTQ+ students and their parents on topics and issues that pertain to them is crucial for the community to feel included and equal. We as future teachers must also ensure that these students feel safe and secure in the classroom settings, always remembering that for LGBTQ+ students their needs extend farther than sexuality or gender. They also face the same problems that all other students navigate through as they grow up.

I think in our future, culturally relevant pedagogy will have to take into account the diverse groups of students that we will be teaching as well as their families and what they’re expectations are of the education system. While you can not cater to everyone at all times, you have to expand your perspective as society evolves to include new groups, views, and needs.

In my future as a teacher, I hope to be as inclusive as possible to all students and be able to adapt and evolve as needed with the ever changing student population. I also think that making connections with parents that are more than superficial can go a long way into making the transition easier for those who come from different cultures and backgrounds.

Citizenship means that you are part of the political process of a nation and actively participate in it. It means that you have certain rights and freedoms in your home that come with civic and social duties that are expected of each member of the society.  It involves being a member of your community, doing your part by giving back, having a job, paying bills, and so on.  Citizenship means that you get to be a part in forming the society and communities that you want.

How can we relate treaty education to citizenship?

It is our jobs as educators to establish Treaty Education into our education curriculums as much as possible so we can move away from an education system deeply rooted in colonialism. We must make room for further education and acceptance by incorporating more aspects of Treaty Education into the curriculum which will ideally get future generations invested  in the importance pf Indigenous languages and culture. The hope being that this helps make it possible for Indigenous views and traditions to live on into the future. As future teachers it is up to us to help our students live in a future that is not rooted and based in colonization.

In Levin’s article he explains that curriculum is developed through public policy, politics and the opinion/demands of the public. The curriculum is part of public policy because it involves the interest of the voters(general public). Curriculum is shaped largely by – political ideology, personal values, issues in the public domain and public interests. Curriculum decisions are often part of the larger question/topic of public good but with this we must also remember that politics/politicians are driven by interests and particularly the most vocal interest from their voter base.

Some new information I learned about curriculum from this article was the whole expert factor that goes into the building of school curriculums. I now in university we as students experience being taught by professors with PHD’s who are experts on a subject but perhaps aren’t very good at teaching it. It seems like this idea is what’s going on in the background of curriculum development with expertise being valued more than teaching knowledge. Then you add in more possibility for confusion and uncertainty with representatives from corporations or industries to throw in their 2 cents. Seems like we need a lot more representation from education people!

Some tensions that may have arose during the development of the Treaty education curriculum could have been: The interpretation of what treaties meant to each side (Indigenous and Europeans), the language and phrases used like “treaties are sacred covenants between sovereign nations“, how each side upheld or didn’t uphold the treaties and how important the input of Indigenous people would be for this curriculum and how much of it made it into the curriculum.

According to the norms or the commonsense that most people adhere too, a good student is an individual who fits precisely into their role in society. They are good students by sitting and listening quietly and by fitting into a mold that does not ruffle any feathers to those around them. By taking in the content, learning the methods and producing good results in their evaluations. Commonsense tells us that a good student learns in school what’s necessary to be able to positively contribute in their future roles as workers, it tell us that this is what the education system and the person themselves should be striving for.

This way of thinking gives an advantage to students who are more “traditional” learners, students who come from backgrounds with more support and resources, students who have lived in the nation their whole life and speak the language. It disadvantages those who learn in different ways, new comers/new speakers of the language and those with tumultuous home and family lives. These students may not have someone to help with homework, the finances to get all they require for their education or may not have time to focus on their schoolwork because they work to support their family financially. The idea of the good student can only be detrimental because it is really impossible to fit people into one or two molds when research and personal experience shows us that people are incredibly unique and learn in many different ways.

The idea of the “good student” is rooted in historical stereotypes and ideas. The perception of the public has been historically that a student should learn in one certain way and that a teacher should teach in one certain way. Deviating from these standards or commonsense is often met with negative responses and hesitation. In “A History of Education,” they describe young student as helpless without a formal education, that they require assistance and direction for their physical and mental growths in order to achieve a worthy destiny. In order to be civilized and build character, a person must proceed successfully through the education system and if they don’t it is seen as a personal failure. These standards and ideals for education and students have been set since the beginning of our society; they remain strong in our society today although they may now be hidden or more subtle in how they are implemented.

Poetry and Patriotism (article)

In this article Maxine Greene Speaks about her experience at a slam poetry session with various urban teenage poets. She finds their performances and works intensely passionate and profound with the topics of the poetry ranging from outrage against discrimination to the war in Iraq. She asks us the reader, “Should schools be teaching these students to recite the Pledge of Allegiance? – And allegiance to what? To the United States of America? To the President and his cronies?” She believed that it is up to the young people to change the world; that in order to get people to act and work towards improving society, we first need to get them out of their zones of complacency. At the end of the article Maxine states that such views may be part of an “emancipatory curriculum”, where the approach to education goes beyond the transfer of knowledge, encouraging the challenging of the dominant socio-economic and political norms/relations.

I also chose a few quotes that I found from Maxine that I felt got across a strong message in a few words or sentences. One of the quotes was one I believe we were shown in class as well, “The arts, it has been said, cannot change the world, but they may change human beings who might change the world.” This quote is one that stood out to me the most as I feel it shows how strongly she believes in the things she has faith in. Maxine Greene was known for her love of aesthetic education, confident that the arts could help foster the want for change in young people. For her, even if art isn’t the fix for all problems, it could lead those who were looking for direction down the right path to change. Another quote that I found interesting was, “Part of teaching is helping people create themselves,” and I interpreted that to mean that being a teacher isn’t just showing kids how to do addition, or write complete sentences or learning the periodic table. Being a teacher also means showing children how to be social/interact, how to critically think, how to distinguish from right and wrong and how to become confident, independent decision makers. As future teachers, we will have a big influence on youth during the years in their lives when they are finding out who they are.

For my first assignment, I plan on using Maxine Greene as one of my scholars and finding two other theorist who both agree and disagree with her stances. I have narrowed down my choices to a handful of articles by Maxine and her ideas on education. With these articles, I will address the similarities and differences in the arguments presented and how they connect with one another.

Greene, M. (2006). Poetry and Patriotism. Phi Delta Kappan, 87(8), 596–596. https://doi.org/10.1177/003172170608700814

https://www.igi-global.com/dictionary/emancipatory-education/72862

Throughout my time in the education system here in Saskatchewan I would say the majority of it has been spent experiencing the traditional idea of a curriculum or Tyler rationale. In elementary school especially, I remember classrooms, activities and events all felt very cookie cutter, sort of part of a bigger picture so everything had to be done in a certain way so nothing else in this “big picture” would be disturbed or thrown off. And most often the biggest emphasis was put on your evaluations and tests, to the point where students began to learn how to become masters at memorization and copying instead of critically thinking about and understanding a subject because that is what got them good results in their evaluations. I would say it wasn’t until I entered high school that I experienced what I could now recognize as a different type of curriculum approach being implemented (or attempted to be).

In my opinion some of the major limitations of the Tyler rationale are that it is too rigid and structured to be applied to all people. With education being something that is considered a basic human right and need we want to be able to deliver it to everyone, or as many people as possible. This is very difficult to do with a scientific, systematic approach to curriculum which values neutrality above other things. As it is stated in the article, this model places a lot of weight on measurability and assumes behavior can be objectively measured.  With such a massive variety of learners and educators with different behavior’s, how can we expect that one approach can work in all contexts from the perspective of the students or teachers?

On the other side, some of the benefits from this model could be its uniformity and the structure it can bring to a classroom. By making things more uniform and simple, this approach could prove to be useful in many different settings, being implemented fairly easily with different teachers and students. The success of this model has been partly attributed to its similarities to industrial management in how it is rational, efficient and orderly. The Tyler rationale also provides behavioral objectives that give a clear notion of outcomes so evaluation is clear and the same for everyone.