My Professional Masters of Education Learning Journey

My Ongoing Inquiry Question: How can education be re-conceptualized to include Indigenous knowledge and education and how does this new conception promote innovation in teaching and learning? What is Indigenous education? In thinking about my inquiry question, I believe it is important to establish a better understanding of Indigenous education in terms of its history and current developments. In this post I will share some of the ways in which Indigenous peoples view education as well as the traditional learning approaches employed as they compare to Western/Colonial ways of learning. “Not all societies have schools, but all human communities possess educational systems” (Miller, J.R., 1996, p.15) According to Miller, there are two aims of education. First, is to explain who they and their people are and second, how they are situated within the physical world. The author also states that “educational system seeks to train young people in the skills they will need to be successfu...

I believe that before I can move on to a deep and critical inquiry process related to my question, I first need to establish an understanding of myself and how I fit into the larger context of reconciliation.  In this blog post I would like to help situate myself through my cultural heritage and educational context. I am Canadian born, of Italian descent, putting me in a place of privilege.  I can honestly say that this reference makes me uncomfortable and continues to be the cause of personal pause and reflection. When I have been referred to as “White privilege", I feel an overwhelming sense of shame and also wonder sometimes if it is misplaced?  As I continue to move along in my journey, I am beginning to understand the true meaning of “White privilege”. My initial understanding of this label was that it referred to the material things, objects and money, in my possession but now I understand that the true meaning of white privilege relates to the opportunities and acc...

As part of an ongoing assignment for PME 811, we are asked to begin a public blog to document our reflective practice as it relates to innovation in teaching and learning.  We are asked to identify a question relating to our own professional context or personal interest that we would like to probe at depth and where possible, we should ground our thinking both philosophically and historically and connected to the course readings.  My guiding question is: How can education be re-conceptualized to include Indigenous knowledge and education and how does this new conception promote innovation in teaching and learning? Due to the recent discoveries of those children that did not come home, and in  the spirit of respect, reconciliation and recognition of Indigenous issues, my school division continues to focus on Indigenous education as one of the district wide priorities.  As a system we understand that a show of support for our Indigenous communities who may be reliving...

As noted in the reading by Watson, "The focus on student learning as the ultimate aim of the PLC is emphasised in the  literature. Vescio et al. (2008, p. 81) stress ‘clear and consistent focus on student  learning’ and reflective dialogue, which leads to ‘extensive and continuing conversations  among teachers about curriculum, instruction and student development’. Nelson  et al. (2010, p. 176) talk about the need to pursue ‘questions about learning  goals, instructional practices, and all students’ attainment" ( Watson, C., 2012, p. 21). Upon Reflection  through this past week in my online PLC, I share with you a few closing thoughts of my experience and connections to the readings that have surfaced for me: A PLC, whether online, in-person, or hybrid ,requires collaboration, active participation, risk taking and engagement by all members in order to experience true impact.  "Strong PLCs are generally acknowledged not  only as sharing new knowled...

I was so excited to see the my online PLC has a space on Twitter! Based on my current experience with Twitter and the limited engagement on the Facebook space, I thought that Twitter was going to have a more active group that I could really leverage for the module 5 assignment.  In that effort, I posted a few questions, both of our synthesis PowToon's and our instructional decision making cycle graphic. In doing so, my hope was to get more activity and open up more opportunities for dialogue with the Higher Ed Learning Collective online PLC.  Below are snapshots of my Twitter posts: I quickly realized that there has not been any activity on this Twitter space since April 1, 2020! This was discouraging so I went back to the Facebook group to see if I could get more interaction in that space. I decided to post each of our Powtoons and the visual noted above to the Higher Ed Learning Collective Facebook group. I also included the hashtags #discussion #pedagogy #inclusivelear...

Facilitating Discussion My "Output" Update from my Online PLC  So much has happened since I requested access to the Higher Ed Learning Collective . I am pleased that some members have responded to my discussion question: “ What do you believe is the purpose of education? Is it to learn subject matter, to develop student cognitive/behaviour skills, or to prepare students for living in an unstable and changing world – personal development in the context of social change?” For this very large PLC group, the moderator recommends that all participants use appropriate hashtags to help everyone organize our “online learning ideas!”. My hope was to glean an understanding for the orientation of my selected PLC as it connects to curricular conceptions and their beliefs on the purpose of education.   I used #discussion to organize my thread. The snapshots below illustrate the ongoing discussion that has resulted from my ongoing PLC discussion. It was great to see people engage w...

Gathering Data My "Output" Update "Philosophy provides [educators] with a framework for broad issues and tasks, such as determining the goals of education, subject content and its organization, the process of teaching and learning, and, in general, what experiences and activities to stress in schools and classrooms" (Ornstein, A., 1991, p. 102).  In my survey I was looking to gather information about participants' values and beliefs about the purpose of education as compared to the values and beliefs of the system within which they work.  My data shows that over 50% of respondents indicate that their systems are focused on and academic/rationalist curriculum conception with subject based designs . The focus is on subject matter.  In contrast, 0% of respondents indicate that they believe in a  Cumulative Tradition of Organized Knowledge - Subject matter is the focus. This means that none of my participants believe in subject-centered curriculum designs and yet...