ePost #6: The Life of the Spirit

This past week, a member of the Hotinonshonni nation, Darren Thomas, spoke with members of the New Media and Literacies classes. His talk was fascinating, on several fronts. As an American, I have learned a little bit about the traditions and history of the First Nations. As a student, I had a vague understanding of the group known as the Iroquois, allied with the British in what Americans call the French and Indian War. Since moving to Canada, I have grown more interested in First Nations religious practices, ironically because of my morning job as a religious studies teacher at a Jewish day school.

Of my several areas of responsibility, I am responsible for running prayer services for grade 7 and 8 students. This means that we spend part of the period praying from the Jewish liturgy, and the remainder of the period learning about prayer, whatever that means (it’s up to the teacher what to teach -- there is no standardized curriculum). As one can imagine, engaging middle school students in a topic like prayer is not necessarily a huge hit. But I welcome the challenge. I see my prayer class a site to explore personal feelings about God, spirituality, gratitude, mindfulness. I believe that dedicating time every day to check in with oneself, without pressures, in a safe and open space, is something much needed in the lives of adolescents. 

just breathe - kids being mindful

The BBC on teaching mindfulness in classrooms: https://www.facebook.com/BBCSouthToday/videos/934795656611025/ 

While I teach my class from a Jewish perspective, using mostly Jewish texts, I have sought to connect these ideas with universal needs and longings -- peace, good health, sustainable earth, compassion. 

For this reason, the teachings of First Nations resonate very much with me. Even before I heard from Darren Thomas, I felt like my students could very much benefit from hearing about the tremendously spiritual and connected ideas of the First Nations. I invited my husband’s friend--a white guy who serves as a lobbyist for First Nations-- to speak with my class about prayer and spirituality in the First Nations. It really brought many of those ideas alive for my students.

But hearing from Darren Thomas himself about these ideas took things to a whole new level. Throughout his talk, even though I took notes and pictures, I kept wishing I could have him come speak to my class. I was blown away by some of the ideas he expressed about the native way of intimate connection with the spirit of things and expressions of acknowledgment and gratitude to the creator. Although I will not be able to do his words and ideas justice in my own classroom, with the help of my notes and further inquiry I hope to transmit some of my learning to my students. 

Thomas talked about “ganikwiyo,” good mind, which forms the basis for the Hotinonshonni worldview. Ganikwiyo would dictate that even if rival groups came together for talks, they began their meeting with “ganohonyohk,” words that come before all else: a sense of wonder and gratitude for what is shared and appreciation for the bounty given to human beings. 

The profundity of these First Nations ideas really moved me, and I continue to think of ways to have my students incorporate some of these ideas in their prayer practice.

ePost #5: The Magic of Remix Culture

Remix culture possesses a creative, innovative, boundary-pushing energy that makes it an ideal vehicle for engaging students in relevant, “interest based learning” (Lessig 80). It’s a compelling model for the same reasons that teachers deliver content and structure activities that are student-based: according to Lessig, “when kids get to do work that they feel passionate about, kids (and, for that matter, adults) learn more and learn more effectively” (80).

I appreciate how Lessig complicated the issue of remix culture by addressing concerns about piracy. As teachers, it’s important that we hold ourselves to a high moral standard, not to mention that we are accountable to the school boards. Before introducing or incorporating remix culture, we have to reflect on this: if I agree with Lessig and don’t think sampling is a form of theft, but corporations and governments do, what are my limitations in the classroom? What line do I need to toe?

Regardless of some of the legal underpinnings, remix culture has some terrific applications for synthesizing student learning and encouraging independent work with high quality content and creativity combined with high engagement potential.

Remix culture can help bring content into the 21st century in my second teaching subject, Religious Studies. Religious studies might, at first glance, seem like something incompatible with something as cutting edge as remix culture. But it’s precisely because religion is often considered stale and irrelevant that doing “unorthodox” things like remixing can be even more engaging and rewarding.

For example, students will learn in Jewish history about the destruction of the two Holy Temples in Jerusalem during the classical period. One of the psalms were written about those events (“Al Naharot Bavel”), and many songs have been written using the original Hebrew text. But a very famous version from the 70s is what people often think of when we speak of the “Rivers of Babylon.” Imagine what kind of creative, interpretive working could emerge from remixing these two versions, Hebrew and contemporary, side by side? What kind of interesting parallels could be made between the Jewish and African diaspora experiences?

Hebrew Version (one of many):

Boney M version:

It isn’t only artists like Danger Mouse that can reuse, rethink and recast old favorites and give them new meaning. Remix culture represents an wide open door for students to make meaning from “texts” in their own ways.

ePost #4: 21st Century Learning in a Globalizing World

The narrator of the video entitled “21st Century Education” produced by the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) makes a strong case for the need for 21st century learning in the current classroom. We are living in a brave new world, where the push to become more creative problem solvers and better communicators is greater than ever before. Jobs qualifications and descriptions are different than they ever were before, encompassing multiple skill sets and the ability to communicate across and navigate a globalizing world. Because the definition of success has changed, education to become successful must be adapted as well.

The SAMR model outlines some of the capabilities of using technology in a 21st century classroom. The model ranges from fairly conservative measures of incorporating technology instead of using the “hard copy” equivalent (Substitution) to fundamentally rethinking a learning task through the use of technology (Redefinition).

The SAMR model is helpful because it provides teachers with concrete steps towards incorporating technology--a task that may seem overwhelming for tech savvy teachers, or downright impossible for the older generation of “digital immigrants.” Furthermore, the model offers a clarification about the purposes and possibilities within each category. Many examples in each stage can be found online, for every discipline. Finally, the model is useful because it can help a teacher reflect on where his or her own thinking and comfort level lies, and offers practical steps for growing in his or her application of technology in the classroom.

The SAMR model helped me conceptualize some of the activities I would do in my future Grade 10 history class. I considered how I would use technology to redefine a research activity into the different roles and ideas of world leaders during World War I.

In order to better understand the conflicting motivations for joining the war and how personalities shaped the course of the war and its outcome, students will choose to research a particular leader or key individual in World War I and create a fake Facebook profile for that person. Students may select significant figures such as Kaiser Wilhelm II, Otto von Bismarck, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the Mata Hari, Woodrow Wilson, Gavrilo Princip, Edith Cavell, Georges Clemenceau, Czar Nicholas II, Czarina Alexandra, or another individual of their choosing. Rather than just lecturing the class on the historical figures of the war, we will modify our lesson by creating a digital online profile on historical figures that incorporates multimedia. This will not only enhance the traditional style of teaching, but will also provide a functional change to the 21st century classroom, through the use of technology. Students will research their character online, using online websites and fill out graphic organizers to help them document and systematize their research.

This is an example of a Fakebook profile for Joseph Stalin:

Once students have gathered enough information on their character, they will create a digital “Fakebook” profile for that person. Fakebook is an educational tool that allows students to build comprehensive profiles of historical figures by researching his or her likes and dislikes, career, political opinions, friendships and alliances, as well as document links with other historical figures. An activity like Fakebook allows students to summarize and synthesize their knowledge in a creative and dynamic way, in a language that makes sense for 21st century learners.

Fakebook template for students to fill out with their data:

The goal of this exercise is for students to understand the reasons world leaders were involved in World War I and the ways in which their interests, actions and decisions impacted world events. Fakebook is an excellent medium for this type of “biographical” exercise, since it makes use of a social media avenue, already familiar to students, and allows them to recast historical figures as living, breathing individuals in a contemporary format.

ePost #3: Learning is Everywhere

Traditional text-based learning contains within it certain assumptions about privilege. Throughout history, dominant groups traditionally had access to education, places or people who taught them to read and write. This reinforced their status as the dominant group, because as a literate class, they maintained control of print media, institutional power, and inevitably history, since their records were most often the ones left to us.

Women, the poor, and other marginalized groups were often not taught to read. Assumptions were made about the utility of educating those groups, let alone their ability and intellectual capacity -- in short, their educability.

In contrast, visual literacy represents a democratization of literacy. Provided that a person is born with the gift of sight, anyone can perceive and participate in communication of ideas through visual culture. Visual literacy is inherently subversive because it bypasses the normative channels of education and status.

Privileged, educated person:

The masses:

Visual culture is all around us. According to Freedman and Stuhr, “visual culture is the totality of humanly designed images and artifacts that shape our existence” (816).  It shapes our existence because when we read and process these images, our thoughts, feelings and behaviours are affected. For this reason, when we teach through the visual arts, we are helping students gain skills for navigating the world around them. It “helps students to recognize and understand the ambiguities, conflicts, nuances, and ephemeral qualities of social experience, much of which is now configured through imagery and designed objects“ (821). Teaching through visual literacy is universal because it is accessible by all, and as such it is a key means of communication and expression of ideas in our globalized world.

To me, the work of the French photographer JR personifies this shift in emphasis to visual literacy. He repeatedly harnesses the power and universality of visual literacy through his work. His influential project, Inside Out, began when he invited people all over the world to send him photos of themselves, which he returned to them as large format, black and white, pastable posters. Regardless of language or national origin, the subjects of his posters communicated feelings and ideas because of the way they chose to represent themselves and where they chose to hang their posters. The distinction between high and low art broke down -- the former graffiti artist now graced the front hall of the New York City Ballet with his work.

 
JR arranges dancers for new york city ballet art series from designboom on Vimeo.

JR has embraced visual literacy as a main means of building a common language of protest and universality, and it’s important for teachers of the present generation to help our students grow in their visual literacy and participate in this mode of expression.  

Paul Duncum. Visual Culture Isn't Just Visual: Multiliteracy, Multimodality and Meaning. Studies in Art Education A Journal of Issues and Research 2004, 45(3), 252-264

Kerry Freedman & Patricia Stuhr Curriculum Change for the 21st Century: Visual Culture in Art Education pgs 815-828

ePost #2: Humans of Kensington Market

As a classroom teacher, the importance of understanding and employing the theory of multiliteracies cannot be stated enough. In our world, students learn through “other sign systems [that] appeal to multiple perceptual systems” (Duncum 253). the primacy of text, or visuals, no longer holds true -- learning occurs via multimodalities --language, image, sound--often simultaneously.

Like Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences, the notion of multiliteracies begins from the starting point that learning cannot be transmitted by one method alone. We all learn in different ways and that teachers must enable learners to learn in their ideal modalities. While it’s not always possible for teachers to appeal to all learning styles during one classroom lesson, when facing the reality of multiliteracies, we consistently dip into our “tool kit” to ensure that learning is taking place through different modes.

In my disciplinary field--history--multimodalities can be embedded in a variety of ways. I am currently creating a unit that explores the Jewish immigrant experience and Kensington Market. To gain a full understanding of how Jewish immigrants remade their lives using new and existing institutions, students will engage in a variety of modalities, such as photo and text analysis, videos, scavenger hunts, reflections and discussions, and other activities.

To introduce students to the topic of immigration and societies for mutual aid of immigrants, students will watch a series of videos and figure out the push and pull factors that spurred immigrants to remake their lives in foreign lands.

Student learning during next piece of the unit, the visit to the Kiever Shul and Kensington Market, will be geared towards visual literacy. Learning tasks include creating a Vine video and documenting a scavenger hunt through selfies. In Howard Gardner’s terms, visual, sensory, kinesthetic, and spacial learners will enjoy the field trip to a cultural site that has history embedded on the streets.

Once students enter the synagogue, students will think of words to describe how they feel in the the space, and we will talk a little bit about how the synagogue functioned as a religious prayer space but also a central institution for social and economic support. Students will then be paired so that at least each dyad possesses an iPhone. Their task is to create a 6 second Vine video with at least 15 images of the synagogue by the end of the visit, together with a paragraph explaining what new things they learned during their project.

During the subsequent scavenger hunt in Kensington Market, students will take selfies of themselves at the different cultural sites, with a caption for each photo and two relevant hash tags.

When teachers think along the lines of “multimodal” learning, it can open us up to some incredible ideas! 

My one lingering question -- how can we ensure that we have the right resources and technology (like iPhones) to be able to put these ideas into action equitably?

Paul Duncum. Visual Culture Isn't Just Visual: Multiliteracy, Multimodality and Meaning. Studies in Art Education A Journal of Issues and Research 2004, 45(3), 252-264

ePost #1: What We Talk About When We Talk About Teaching History

Across many of the disciplines, the skew of gender can be seen. In my discipline, teaching history, this is readily apparent. I know some teachers who introduce their subject to their students at the beginning of the year with a “cute” word play on history = his + story. I don’t think they have any idea about bias, because those same teachers often claim the study of history claims to be objective. This is not the case. Historians and students of history have over the ages focused on the lives, deeds and impact of great white men.

The source of this thinking can be understood, on some level. Historians attempt to reconstruct the past based on written records, memoirs, and other written media. Traditionally, educated men left the most behind, being literate and holding access to paper and other materials. Unfortunately, oral histories, folk tales and other informal means of transmission--preferred by minorities--have faded away, or are difficult to verify. For this reason writing women’s histories are difficult to write on their own terms. I myself encountered this writing my senior thesis in university, when I explored the role of women in the late 1600s, and was forced to uncover the lives of everyday women in the Ottoman Empire through sources written by men.

For female students or members of minority groups, learning histories like these can be alienating and disempowering. We know that we’ve existed, but the absence of historical emphasis sends the message that in the end result, those histories aren’t what matter in the end. Ultimately, traditional power brokers continue to hold power, and there really isn’t much place for us to make a difference in world events. This is unfortunate, because to me, the entire purpose of studying history is to understand the world around us and empower us to make a difference in the course of our futures.

So we know we have a problem, but what can we do about it? The answer is simple -- lots! Luckily, we live in a world where histories of underrepresented and marginal groups continue to be written, countering the dominant narrative. From the 1960s, historians like Howard Zinn have challenged the dominant narrative by telling the stories of oppressed peoples in the United States. Women’s history has exploded as a serious sub-discipline, with critical theory about power and relationships to back it. The question for teachers at the middle school and high school level is how to incorporate these academic and theoretical innovations in the study of history, which often remains woefully limited in scope and often sticks to traditional narrative lines.

We live in a world where information resides at our fingertips, on the world wide web. For the intentional practitioner, including underrepresented voices in our history classes through innovative lesson plans and resources are a search term away. One educator, Peter Kear, has created a curriculum that allows students to experience the lives of Canadians of all stripes by “walking awhile in their shoes.” His curriculum encourages students to research and understand the trajectories and impact of Canadians from varying economic, racial and gender groups.

Ultimately, what this creates is a more inclusive history and an inclusive classroom. It offers teachers the chance to shift students perspective when it comes to the relevance of learning history at all (always a struggle) and it also empowers students to see themselves as agents of history and capable of making positive change.