This week I am writing my blog on the Teacher Leadership article. Although it may not necessarily be a new learning, I believe it was an important reminder that as a teacher, no matter how much experience you may have, you will not get any promotions. If you are looking to step up in your professional career, you will have to assume an administrative position. I found it quite shocking that those in administrative positions typically only remain in these positions for 3-4 years. For my personal experience, the administrators in the schools I have attended have been working in these positions for much longer than 3 years. I was also unaware that there are two roles of teacher leaders; formal and informal. The two roles of teacher leaders are quite different from one another in many ways. As I was reading through this section of the article, I was trying to figure out where I would place myself in these two roles. I truthfully was unsure which role I would fit best.

The first connection I made within this reading was to how teacher leaders can contribute beyond the school. Most of the work that teachers do within the school is what gets noticed, but there is so much that teachers do to educate themselves, and to encourage other teachers to do the same. I connected to this because I have personally gone to PD days within a school division for my job as an educational assistant. Another connection that I made was to one of the conditions of promoting teacher leadership. The condition is “administrators who encourage teacher leaders,” I feel as though this condition is true for us as education students. The professors that I have had thus far have always encouraged me to be a leader.

One question I have after this weeks reading is how can we as teachers foster environments to create student leaders?

This week I decided to write my blog post in relation to the article “Why are schools brainwashing our children?” by Cynthia Reynolds. There was quite a bit of new information in this article for me, as I haven’t been keeping up with the news. The first thing was how children in a grade three class were protesting the laying of a pipeline in Western Canada. This was unbelievably shocking to me, as I do not believe that these young children came to oppose the pipeline on their own. This thought was likely forced on the children by their teachers. In the article it is also mentioned that fourth graders were to decide which people should survive if there were to be an explosion, based on race. I found this very frustrating as these children are being taught that they can base their opinions of others on their race alone. It is mentioned that teachers are including social justice into their classrooms and what they are teaching their students. I believe, however, that there is a much more constructive and positive way to do so.

I was able to connect to a few things in this article. The first being when Reynolds talks about how the terms wife or husband are being replaced with the term spouse. This has been an ongoing topic for years, and I am impressed that schools are finally taking the opportunity to change wherever and however they can. Another thing I could connect to was trying to understand where the teacher’s role stops and where the parent’s role begins. For instance, there are topics, such as death, that the teacher may leave for the parents to teach their children about. At the same time, teachers are supposed to be educating their students on difficult social justice issues.

This brings me to my question: how do we as teachers know what is out of scope to be teaching our younger students? Some topics may be difficult but need to be understood, and others may be just as difficult but can maybe be held off until the students are older.

My learnings this week were quite simple, they were about the history of education in Canada. I honestly hated history in high school and did not pay attention, so reading through the history reading provided me with lots of new information. The first thing I learned was that a century ago, people rarely got a formal education. Those who did get an education often became teachers. My second learning was that he earliest formal schooling was developed by missionaries and religious orders, used mainly as a replacement of indigenous lifestyles and knowledge; this was slightly shocking to me, but we have also been educated lots on the effects of residential schools and how colonization had effected the lives of many. My third learning was about the growth of the “welfare state” and how it increased interest in formal education. By getting a formal education, people were able to get the credentials needed for entry into specific occupations in the 1940’s to 1970’s.

I was able to make connections to the information on industrial schools, as I learned lots of information on this topic in a previous class I have taken. Another connection I was able to make was to the agriculture component of education. Living in a small farming community, I was able to experience agriculture and the outdoors first hand throughout my schooling. I also believe that this needs to continue to be taught in schools as outdoor ed seems to be a dying field. I am in the joint education and kinesiology degree program so I am getting educated on the importance of outdoor education in our schools today. I am a very strong believer in keeping our children active and present in the outdoors. It is important to understand nature and how truly important our environment is in our every day lives.

My question this week is where would our world be without teachers? In the history reading, it is mentioned that basically the only people that got a formal education over a hundred years ago, were those that wanted to become teachers. These teachers have had to grow and expand their knowledge substantially to prepare others for the occupations they choose.

This weeks chapter was on culture and diversity. Truthfully, most of the content on culture was a review for me, as I have learned about it in previous classes. I found the information on sexual identity and gender-role identity to be rather interesting. I believe it is important for teachers to understand the varying sexual identities and how typical gender-specific roles can impact a student. The biggest learning I think I had was reading through the suggestions of how to reach out to a student struggling with sexual identity. I like how it is broken down into a five step plan that can be easily followed, even by someone who may not be educated on the topic. I also found the statistics of how many males and females engage in same sex activities, or find the same sex attractive. It was shocking to me that the number of males engaging in these activities decreased, while the number of females increased. I believe that this is mainly due to societal norms; many people view gay as being ‘wrong’, while being a lesbian may not be such a big deal.
The first connection is had came when I was reading the section about socioeconomic status. I have a friend who is currently volunteering in at a school North Central and they tell me that its truly like a completely different world. Majority of the students have so much going on at home that coming to school either seems like a break from the chaos, or it makes things worse. Another connection I made was when the text talked about knowing your students, respecting your students, and teaching your students. I believe that my high school teachers did all of those things for their students. I come from a small town, with very small class sizes and close relationships within the community which made all students, no matter what their culture, feel included.
My question this week is how stereotyping can be avoided completely, or if it even can be? It is stated that even positive stereotypes can negatively impact someone.

In the readings this week there were many new things that I learned, but I would like to touch of the three that influenced me the most. The first being that children suffer the most from the statistics telling them its not okay to be who they are. I believe this is a struggle for every child, not only Indigenous children, as the media can play a huge impact on a child. These statistics also result in more emotional and psychological issues. This is alarming as a becoming teacher, as our country is always becoming more diverse with many other cultures moving in. Although this article is talking about aboriginal people, I believe it can be related to other cultures as well. This brings me to my second learning, that children are now taught Not to trust aboriginal knowledge, but rather rely on science and technology. Aboriginal knowledge is not just a way of learning, but rather a way of life for many and it blows my mind that children and young adults are being told that their ways of living is incorrect. The third thing I learned is that childhood educators are now beginning to challenge European American ways and are increasingly involved in power and privilege.
The first connection I had is when the reading mentioned having a hunger and thirst for learning. I can easily relate to this statement and I believe that I have always had a hunger for learning as well, and I have always been interested in learning new things and continuing to grow. Another connection that I had to these readings was when Marie Battiste began talking about learning spirits, as I have previously learned about this in highschool. I love the idea behind learning spirits as it encourages students to fulfil their purpose in life and express themselves through their learning.
The one question that came to mind while doing these reading was that it is mentioned that aboriginal people are often compared to others whose skills, experiences, histories, and cultures are different – is this not the same for other cultures?

In the reading this week I learned about the five outcomes of observational learning in teaching. This includes how students use their observations of others to make decisions of what they are going to do or how they are going to act, based on what they have seen around them, in combination with their own experiences. It is also mentioned that teachers don’t want to assign their students assignments that are too difficult or that may lead to frustration, based on the research that says students are most motivated and have the most academic success from activities that are challenging but not overwhelming. Although this research does make sense and I was not aware of it before, I sort of disagree with the idea of never overwhelming students in grade school, as being able to deal with overwhelming or stressful events is a great life skill. The third thing that I learned from this reading is that there is not one best approach or theory to learning. All of the theories that have been talked about will work in combination to provide a good learning experience.

The first connection I had with this chapter was with Albert Bandura, as we are currently talking about him and learning about him in another class I am taking. Another connection I had to this chapter was actually on the very first page when the question was asked of what we could do as teachers to help students develop organizational skills. I remember when I was in elementary school, our teachers typically had us colour coordinate all of our classes, and this is still a skill that I use to this day.

One question that I have after reading this chapter is how can we as teachers notice when our students are either comfortable with an assignment, being challenged, or when they are overwhelmed?

Through reading this chapter, one thing that I learned is that children of different cultures respond better to different types of parenting. Although this may seem like it has nothing to do with schooling, I believe that it is important to understand that each of our students will have a different preference on how you teach. I also learned that there are five different types of child maltreatment, and as a becoming teacher it is vital to know the laws in the province you may be teaching in. I also found it extremely important to know that you do not need proof to report suspicions of a child being abused. The third thing I learned through this reading is about Kohlberg’s theories of moral development and how moral reasoning of children and adults was tested by having them make difficult decisions.
Early in the chapter, the textbook discusses the physical development of children. I have previously learned about this in KIN 180 – Lifespan Growth and Motor Development. I could easily relate the new information in the textbook back to what I learned in that class. Another connection I made to this chapter was to the challenges in physical development. I often volunteered at the elementary school that I attended, and it was not hard to tell that every student was at a different stage developmentally. These different developmental stages often drive the child to be successful with certain activities or it may hinder their ability to complete a task.
One question I have after reading this chapter is how to accommodate for the varying developmental stages of our students. As a physical education major, we are taught about how to create lessons to include all students at different stages of development, but how do we accommodate for this in a classroom setting as well?

I learned about Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development and how humans make sense of their world by “gathering and organizing information”(Piaget, 1954,1963,1970a,1970b). Although as adults certain ways of thinking come easily to us, our students may have great difficulty understanding these concepts. I was unaware of the four stages of cognitive development before reading the textbook this week. I found it very interesting that each of the four stages has a fairly distinct range of ages in which children are in the category. For example, the preoperational stage being from when a child begins talking, to the age of seven. The reason I find this interesting is because as a physical education major, we are always taught that all students in a certain grade level will not be at the same developmental stage. I was also unaware of Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Perspective, which I found to be very interesting. He believed that our thoughts and processes are shaped largely through our cultures and those we interact with (pg49).

My first connection came when the book was talking about teaching children something that is simple to us as adults. My niece kept asking me what the time was one day, so I had the thought that I should teach her how to tell me what time it is. This was a much more difficult task than I had imagined, and was explained to me through Piaget’s theory. Another connection I had was in the beginning of the chapter when the anatomy of the brain was being explained. I learned about the regions of the brain, neurons, and the major functions of the different regions when I took anatomy in first year.

It is mentioned in Educational Psychology by Woolfolk, Winne & Perry (2016) that stressors in the classroom can create even more difficulty for students and how they perform (pg33). This leads me to my question, I am wondering what would be a better strategy to use instead of bringing students up to the board?