Team Super Awesome

Team Members

Jaime

Katie

Sofia

Manpreet

Critical Incident: Intermediate Classroom

The teacher is unsure how to assess a student who refuses to speak at school at all. Two years ago, he was fine with talking to others, but now he doesn't say a word to anyone. The student has no learning impairment designation. The parents say that the student speaks at home and will not acknowledge that there is anything wrong.

Magolda's Model (1992)

Stage 1 (dualist):

The student must speak to pass work with an oral component. If he doesn't, the teacher will fail him.

Stage 2 (transitional):

The teacher is unsure what to do in this situation and asks the counsellor or principal for help.

Stage 3 (independent):

If the student doesn’t want to speak, then it is his choice. The teacher will adapt lessons for his needs.

Stage 4 (contextual):

The teacher realizes that the student has been through a tough situation that has caused him to withdraw from others around the school. The teacher can bring in the counsellor to assess the student in case of any psychological issues that the student may be facing. Other methods of assessment can be used for formal evaluation; the oral component is not the only necessary method.

Engaging Aboriginal families to support student and community learning - Chodkiewicz et al. (2008)

Question 1: What issues did the authors identify as a problem related to Aboriginal education?

Lack of connection between aboriginal community and education community.
Lack of parental involvement in school community.

Theoretical Explanations:

Difference- children have different language practices
Structural inequality- schools actively reproduce social inequalities in school
Resistance theory- certain groups of students actively resist white middle class schooling values.

Question 2: How did they analyze this problem? (e.g. What has created this problem? Why does it need to be solved?)

Need to refocus on engagement rather than content of program.
Way that aboriginal families had experienced colonization was very diverse so this was a way to analyse the problem.
Solved it by identifying that challenge lies in working to engage parents in aboriginal communities.
Also, schools have to address imbalance in the power control and resources between schools and families.

Question 3: What was their ‘solution’? (What needs to change and why?)

Strengthening the school links with parents and community by carrying out a more detailed mapping of school community.
Developing a network of local human services and community organizations in the school community.
Exploring ways of engaging aboriginal parents by asking parents about their views.

Question 4: How did they implement their solution? (How did they envisage change to happen?)

Mapping key organizations and people in the local community and involving stakeholders.
Setting up focused learning partnerships with key local aboriginal community organizations to support school curriculum in being more culturally relevant.
Offering courses in local aboriginal languages and organizing projects that record aboriginal families and stories.
Working with trusted advocates to assist parents in their contact with the school.
School commitment of resources to support aboriginal parents around learning.

Group 2

Group Members

Curtis
Janis
Laura
Peter (not shown)

Critical Incident

Our group discussed, at length, that with the exception of Janis, we did not have any critical incidents occurring in our classroom. As a result, we felt it best to focus in-depth on Janis' response which highlighted many of the tensions that are sure to develop in classrooms with so many various ethnic groups.

An Incident:

One of my students is an early English language learner (ELL). His language skills are slowly developing but at times speaks his own language with some of the other same language speaking students in the classroom. I love hearing other languages spoken in the classroom and learn as much as I can interacting with students and their own languages when given the chance. My S.A. however, insists on English being spoken in the classroom, and really “snuffs” out other languages when they hear it being spoken. At the beginning of the year, classroom rules were setup and one of them just happened to be that English or French were the languages that were okay to be spoken in the classroom. Routinly though the student speaking their language is singled out by the teacher and told to speak English in a rather unpleasant tone.

I differ greatly in opinion with my S.A. when it comes to tolerating other languages in the classroom. I embrace other spoken languages in my own classroom, yet my S.A. does not in their classroom. I look at this difference, not as a barrier, but a teachable moment, where we can make connections and understand each other in a much better way.

A Critical Question:

I teach a grade four class therefore studying indigenous culture is part of our curriculum. Since our social studies themes are under an indigenous umbrella many of our projects are also centred around studying the history of Canada's first nation's people. Whilst reviewing how Indigenous people make canoes I had one student ask me why we were studying this material. She didn't understand how first nations's were part of Canada's history because normally they only hear about colonization. I tried to explain how every culture and nation has important parts of history and that the first nation's were integral to the shaping of Canada's identity. I also tried to explain it by asking her about her own Chinese history and how that's important too.

I'll be honest that the question flustered me because I didn't want to offend her but it's also really difficult to explain why studying indigenous culture is important. My SA was not in the room so I was unable deflect the question and had to come up with an answer myself. Perhaps the activity we were engaged in was not prefaced with an explicit objective and that may be a proactive solution for student understanding.

==

1. What issue did the authors identify as a problem related to Aboriginal Education?

The authors identified: racism, oppression , socio-economic disadvantage, discrimination, disconnect between school and family and the disconnect between the adults own literacy abilities. (language and numeracy)

Communities themselves could also be fragmented and not one socially comprehensive unit, through different family and other social networks.

2. How did they analyze this problem? (eg. What has created this problem? Why does it need to be solved?)

Looking at it through critical pedagogy, this aims to empower learners by asking critical questions that frame their dialogue and their agency. It questions the legitimacy and history of power relations.

Popular Education Theory - having people come to know themselves and understand their stories

Socio-cultural Responsive Theory

3. What was their "solution" (What needs to be changed and why?)

The school-family relationship needed to change. Because students were not getting the support they needed at home, the parents needed to develop their own language literacy and numeracy literacy in order to help their children develop their own literacies.

Give voice to the language and cultural in their community. Not just the dominant language (English)

The school thought to accept "Aboriginal English" as a dialect instead of a deficiet because they didn't know proper English. So reframing the language. Holistic socio-cultural model. Teachers also needed to develop a literacy in Aboriginal English to be able to understand the students.

Literacy as a social practice.

School had to rebuild the relationship with the community.

Detailed mapping of the community. developing a network of human social services. Asking the parents about their views.

Survey and aboriginal school forums.

Working with a laison for 2-3 years.

Working with trusted Aboriginal advocates in the community.

4. How did they implement their solution? (How did they envisage change to happen)

Consultation with community members, school and critical review throughout the project..

Survey and aboriginal school forums.

Working with a laison for 2-3 years.

Working with trusted Aboriginal advocates in the community.

The accommodating group aka The A Team

Group Members

Teala (Editor Extraordinaire)
Joe (The Questioner)
Soraiya (Group Leader)
Carolyn (The Ideas woman)

There is no Plan B

Situation 1:

A boy in my class who has had behavioural problems in the past opened his lunch kit and only had in it a honey fritter and an apple. After seeing this lunch and being concerned, I asked if that was all the boy had, and it was. I then asked him what he had for breakfast ; he responded with, " a piece sod pie and a donut from Tim Hortons". Since I was concerned I discussed this situation with the teacher to see what could be done.

Stage 1: Assume neglect and conclude that he has terrible parents

Stage 2: Ask for additional support from the teacher, the principle or a social worker

Stage 3: Conclude that it is their right to eat what they want and they parent has every right to feed the child what they want to

Stage 4: Question the reasons and context

A) What kind of pie?

B) Why might he be eating unhealthy food?

C) Maybe all he will eat is junk?

D) Maybe the parent doesn't know any better?

Answering questions regarding: "Engaging Aboriginal Families to Support Student and Community Learning"

Question 1: What issues did the authors identify as a problem related to aboriginal education?

History of oppression, discrimination, and ongoing socioeconomic disadvantage

Question 2: How did they analyze this problem?

"Highlight the possibilities and some strategies for engaging some aboriginal families and communities in working collaboratively with schools to improve the educational experience and outcomes"

Question 3: What was their solution?

Drawing on a popular education framework, critical pedagogy, and a social practice theory of literacy, the authors develop insights about how strengthening family and community relations with schools can help all parties through developing practical approaches to family engagement and addressing disengagement and resistance to engagement with schools and learning.

Question 4: How did they implement their solution?

Mapping the key organizations and people in the local community and involving the stakeholders in community consultative mechanisms, such as community forums or ongoing consultative groups.

•Setting up focused learning partnerships with key local Aboriginal community organizations to support making the school curriculum more culturally and experimentally relevant, offering courses in local Aboriginal languages, and organizing projects that record Aboriginal family histories and stories.

•Working with trusted advocates drawn from the local Aboriginal community or key organizations to assist parents in their contact with a school about learning issues.

•School commitment of resources and personnel to support discussions with Aboriginal parents around learning, such as employing a dedicated parent and community liaison person for at least a 2- or 3-year period.

The Intelligentsia

Group Members

Meagan Treasurer Angela Vice President, and Taryn President

Critical Incident

Two Korean EAL students in Grade 5 are currently feuding because one student caused the other to lose face during a game at recess. The students' parents became involved in the issue because losing face is of great significance to the Korean culture. The parents had words with each other and asked the school to become involved in settling the issue. When the parent of one child had angry words with one of the students on school property this critical incident became an issue that the school had to help the two families work through.

Magolda's Model 1992

Stage 1: (dualist or absolute knowing) - That's now how we think in Canada. You should not go and belittle another student.
Stage 2: (transitional) - Teacher is confused, doesn't know what to do.
Stage 3: (independent) - Let the parents/families work it out.
Stage 4: (contextual) - Ask for assistance from principal and interpreter to work collectively with the families to resolve conflict.

Engaging Aboriginal families to support student and community learning - Chodkiewicz et al. (2008)

Question 1: What issues did the authors identify as a problem related to Aboriginal education?

Lack of connection between aboriginal community and education community.
Lack of parental involvement in school community.

Theoretical Explanations:

Difference- children have different language practices
Structural inequality- schools actively reproduce social inequalities in school
Resistance theory- certain groups of students actively resist white middle class schooling values.

Question 2: How did they analyze this problem? (e.g. What has created this problem? Why does it need to be solved?)

Need to refocus on engagement rather than content of program.
Way that aboriginal families had experienced colonization was very diverse so this was a way to analyse the problem.
Solved it by identifying that challenge lies in working to engage parents in aboriginal communities.
Also, schools have to address imbalance in the power control and resources between schools and families.

Question 3: What was their ‘solution’? (What needs to change and why?)

Strengthening the school links with parents and community by carrying out a more detailed mapping of school community.
Developing a network of local human services and community organizations in the school community.
Exploring ways of engaging aboriginal parents by asking parents about their views.

Question 4: How did they implement their solution? (How did they envisage change to happen?)

Mapping key organizations and people in the local community and involving stakeholders.
Setting up focused learning partnerships with key local aboriginal community organizations to support school curriculum in being more culturally relevant.
Offering courses in local aboriginal languages and organizing projects that record aboriginal families and stories.
Working with trusted advocates to assist parents in their contact with the school.
School commitment of resources to support aboriginal parents around learning.

Group 5

Group Members

Add name
Add name
Add name
Add name
Add name

Edit This Heading

Add your text

Edit This Heading

Add your text

Edit This Heading

Add your text

Edit This Heading

Add your text