journeythrougheduc260

[journeythrougheduc260]

A Teacher's Drive for Passion and Empathy

“The child must do these things for the sake of something else he is to do ... [and] as a result they do not become a part of the life experience of the child and so are not truly educative” Dewey, 1897/1998 (as cited in Jagger, 2019)

In close relation to the thoughts of John Dewey, our class came to the conclusion that the end goal of participating in education to eventually participate in democracy and gain monetary/social capital is limiting. We are constantly thinking about “what’s the next step” or “what do I need to fit the description” in life vs “what do I care about” or “what am I passionate about” in life? The competitiveness of individualism in a democratic society can also create a lack of overall empathy in a community as well. The documentary What is Democracy also points our attention to the consequences of what a lack of passion and empathy can do to people in the working field. The children in schools feel that they are not being taken care of or heard due to a lack of passion from the perspective of the teacher. All that children come to know from teachers who lack passion and empathy is that they are there to make money and go on without regard for whether or not students succeed or fail. Children are faced with tough decisions to make without proper guidance when there is no empathy for them in the first place. 

This is where I would like to see a change of perspective in regards to the traditional view of schooling. School should not simply be a place to acquire skills in math, science, and English but also about meaningful socialization. That sense of school also being a safe space socially is crucial in terms of school providing a more balanced lifestyle for students to live with skills and habits that are beyond what will allow them to acquire the traditional academic basics of math, science, or English. School should also be about forming interpersonal relationships with classmates, students, colleagues, and teachers as there is more to life than just 1+1=2.  Students and teachers need guidance when there are tough decisions or situations to go through and achieve. There is a limit to where individualism and competition can take you when there are people who can make the experience more useful and worthwhile when some work can be done in collaboration. Restating Jacques Laroche's idea from the What is Democracy documentary, only when we listen to and understand the problems of people in our community will we be able to piece together our story of the experience and progressively make change for what we strive for. 

21st-century schooling requires more than traditional academics but also space for socialization, empathy, and passion. A space where a variety of voices are heard and considered.

[journeythrougheduc260]

Should The Arts Be Included In The Educational System?

This entry is dedicated to the debate we had in class today. Specifically in regards to whether or not the arts should be included in the educational system and overall society. To be upfront about this debate already, I am definitely in support of the arts in the educational system for the reason that personally, the arts have provided me with positive mental health experiences and risk taking opportunities throughout my academic career. In my future pedagogy, I would definitely let students engage in what is considered the arts (visual arts, performance arts, music, etc.) because I know that the arts can offer the same kind of experience I had to some of my future students due to their subjective and evolving nature. Being assigned to oppose the arts in the educational system and society was hard because of how much the arts have been incorporated in my academic and personal life. 

Below are key points from the debate: 

(points that are bolded are points made against the arts and points that are italicized are points made for the arts) 

People who are in STEM are actually accomplishing achievements vs people in the liberal arts are always trying to accomplish achievements 

Not all kids enjoy art; it can be very fictional, forced upon them, expensive, and an unecessary amount of time consumption

STEM has opened the doors for us to be able to form relationships through technology 

Traditional academic subjects are more useful then arts 

STEM does not allow for as much interpersonal connection as the liberal arts does 

The Liberal arts are subjective and support human interaction 

STEM does not always allow diversity 

Not all kids enjoy Math and Science

STEM is more if not equally as expensive as the arts 

Two points made in support of both STEM and the Liberal arts (shoutout to my classmate Elvie on these) 

Creation breeds innovation 

STEM companies have ethics boards made by people in the liberal arts, therefore both STEM and liberal arts are needed to have a successful and well balanced company. 

So based on the points made from both sides you can obviously tell which one makes most sense. It comes to Option C where Elvie makes it a point that you need the balance of both the liberal arts and STEM to be well balanced as an individual or collectively. A quote to kind of connect to Elvie’s first point in regards to creation breeding innovation is the following…

“Create what you wish existed”

This is a quote I would use in my future pedagogy with my students because it doesn’t just advocate for one side of the liberal arts vs STEM dichotomy. In fact, there isn’t much of a dichotomy between STEM and arts anymore because of how much technology is incorporated into the lives of this generation of students and professionals alike. No matter if a student is interested in music or science, they’ll be able to find their opportunities to create what they hope to see in their ideal world through their subjective passion for the subjects they engage in.

[journeythrougheduc260]

Nature-Based learning in an Urban Context

By being prompted with the question of how can nature-based learning be implemented in an urban context. I was really brought back to my own experience with nature. I was lucky enough to have grown up in Canada, specifically the Montreal suburbs where it wasn’t hard to be more in touch with nature since my neck of the woods is very abundant with large nature parks and forests to explore and come across on the daily. However, there was also another half of my life where I lived in Singapore. Oftentimes it is rare to get to explore nature on the daily when living in Singapore considering how small the country is and just how much more city-like it is as compared to a city like Montreal. In Singapore my day simply consisted of time in my apartment, time on public transport, time at school, maybe time at the mall, and not much time at all to go to a park or explore nature as much as I would’ve in Canada. In this entry, I would actually like to shift my focus to Singapore and how more nature-based learning should be implemented in that urban context. The closest I got to nature being implemented at my school in Singapore was our earth day gardening initiative during my senior year. In collaboration with Singapore’s botanic garden, my biology teacher successfully planned out an earth day initiative in which our biology classes and our school gardening club would all collaboratively plant a variety of exotic plants in our school yard. As it was all new at the time and I had practically been graduating at this point, I, unfortunately, did not get to experience all the potential benefits it was able to bring to my school community. The initiative still however brings hope to me for present and future students at the school. I was really able to bond with my friends while first planting the variety of flowers and bushes we had received from the botanic garden. I even still keep in touch with friends who are still currently students watching the plants grow. So in that sense, I was able to form a sense of community around the gardening we began together at the school. This sense of community is especially important in urban school settings. Especially for expat students who are away from home and who may benefit from a sense of community that they may be lacking in a new environment they are settling into. In this gardening community, students are able to learn about nature together and maintain gardening together as well. To improve, I do think this gardening initiative can be implemented in science curriculums or early childhood curriculums at the school to have more of an educational output for students' nature-based learning. (pictures provided are in a pink filter the plants were actually green).

[journeythrougheduc260]

Critical Race Theory in Trolls: World Tour

Something that I found quite significant from the documentary What is Democracy was a way of thinking talked about by an individual named Jacques Laroche who touches upon critical race theory. 

The stories of minorities in American society (POC, Women, indigenous peoples, immigrants, people with disabilities, and the LGBTQ+ community) should be viewed in the analogy of a puzzle. If collectively there is ignorance and no empathy towards the stories of these minorities in a democratic nation, we’ll never truly understand one another and piece together our pieces of the American experience to truly live harmoniously. What comes to my mind as a future educator again is how can this complex information be taught to children in a language they’ll be able to understand and reflect on in an age-appropriate manner? 

What came to my mind right away was a scene from a children’s film that I had seen not too long ago with my siblings. Trolls: World Tour takes on a child friendly approach to critical race theory (specifically racial colorblindness) by using differentiating music genres in a nation as an allegory for different races/cultures in a nation as portrayed in the following clip. The relevant characters to pay attention to are the Funk music trolls (specifically the king and queen) as well as Queen Poppy (the leader of the pop music trolls.) 

To break down this scene, I would also like to simultaneously compare parts of it to the 4 objectives of critical race theory as specified by educator Gloria Ladson-Billings, as cited in chapter 10 of the Jagger textbook. 

1)Attention to the normalization of racism in society 

After the history lesson provided by the funk trolls in song form, the funk trolls bring it to queen poppy’s attention that pop music trolls (like herself) have always been trying to be in a position of superiority compared to the other music genre of trolls pointing out that they as funk trolls would be left as minorities in the shadow of pop music trolls because of how different their sounds were. This story is ultimately an allegory for white supremacy in society compared to other minority cultures/races who are outcasted in many cases.   

2) Storytelling as a counter-narrative to white dominance 

3) The critique of liberalism, where systems of racism and racialization are silenced 

The funk trolls’ hip-hop history song and dialogue with Queen Poppy serve as a storytelling method that counters what she may have as normalized knowledge of a pop troll and the pop music genre/culture.  Ultimately, the song serves as an allegory storytelling method from the point of view of minorities (the funk trolls) to a person of power (the queen of pop) societal and racial/culture wise. 

4)The emphasis on race realism

As quoted by the king of funk trolls in the scene, “denying our differences, is denying the truth of who we are”. This line in itself is a direct way of asking the pop queen troll to notice that they are different despite both being trolls. They are different culturally. 

Although this is all portrayed through this allegorical lens. Children can be intuitive to develop and reflect on how they can apply these stories and messages to their own lives.

To truly live in harmony by the film's end, there had to be an acknowledgment of differences in their nation. Specifically, there had to be an acknowledgment of differing music genre opinions which correlates similarly to what Laroche says about real-life America. To truly live in harmony and democratically in American society, there has to be a mutual consensus that America is diverse racially and culturally. Which can also evidently work in the Canadian context as well.

#Youtube

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But Where Are You Really From? Tell me Your Story

#Youtube

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Teaching Early Childhood Agency

This entry focuses on the importance of teaching children about their agency, more specifically children’s rights that are advocated by the United Nations in its various declarations and conventions including the United Nations Convention on the rights of the child (UNCRC) and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). As discussed amongst my peers in class and in chapter 8 of the Jagger textbook, there was a mutual consensus that children at the age of 18 and younger should be educated about these rights that they have as laid out in these UN declarations and conventions. The area of focus and challenge for my role as a teacher comes to how this can be put into action effectively. 

What first came to my mind when reflecting about the UN and it’s work towards advocating for people’s rights was the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). When I was in grade 8 my individuals & societies teacher in Singapore created a whole unit themed around agency and the UDHR. What I remember distinctly about this lesson plan my teacher put together to teach us about these topics was it’s tie in to pop culture. A lot of students in our classroom were able to make connections to this reference since Captain America: Civil War had also happened to be one of the most popular movies at the time. My teacher used this to her advantage since the film significantly touched upon agency and the advocacy of people’s rights through the fictional Sokovia accords. Attached below is the clip she broke down with us as a class. 

The main connections made from the film to the real world context of the UN was their method and strategy to create and advocate for people’s rights. In the film, the Sokovia accords were created to protect the innocent people of the world after experiencing various attrocities left behind by the fights the Avengers would take part in. Similarly to the film, the UDHR was also created to protect the innocent people of the world after the various attrocities that had occurred globally during World War II. Therefore, from a historical point of view, students kind of get a gist of how the UN finds ways to outline their declarations and improve human life by learning from the consequences of world conflicts. 

Another aspect I remember distinctly about this lesson plan was how she asked us to read out the articles of the declaration in two languages that we are able to read in. This was especially effective for all students because in a multicultural school setting, she was aware that not all student’s mother tongue was English. She made sure that all students took the time out to fully understand the rights we as humans are permitted to as citizens of this planet which is essentially the goals meant to be met in the UDHR and UNCRC as quoted below. 

“Governments have an obligation to “make the principles and provisions of the convention widely known, by appropriate and active means to adults and children alike” 

UN General assembly, 1989, Article 42 (as cited in Jagger et. al, 2019) 

This has always been one of my favorite lesson plans I’ve had the opportunity to participate in. However, from the early childhood and elementary school educator's point of view, this lesson plan is more on the upper elementary/high school level. Younger children may have difficulties making connections to movies they probably have not all seen. Therefore, it is beneficial to show younger students more age-appropriate content that will help them get an idea of their own agency. As I had also mentioned, this was a lesson plan that was implemented at my school in Singapore. I had never been exposed to this sort of UN content in the Canadian elementary school system here in Quebec. Therefore, if the ministry of education here were to take the time to implement more UNCRC content into the elementary curriculum then students can truly understand their agency as citizens of this country and the world.

#Youtube

[journeythrougheduc260]

"The Cream at the Top" and "The Rest" (The public school-private school Dichotomy)

“When they [parents] hear how public schools have problems with everything from mould to student behaviour and crowded classrooms, they want to make sure that their own children get a good education. Private, publicly-funded schools do not have these horror stories. They do not have violence within their walls, they do not have students with behavioural problems because, you know what, they don't take them. They refuse them," Legault says. 

"They take the cream at the top, and they leave the rest to the public system."

-Josée Legault, 2017 as cited in CBC Radio 2017 https://www.cbc.ca/radio/sunday/the-sunday-edition-october-29-2017-1.4374949/are-quebec-s-private-high-schools-creating-a-segregated-society-1.4374965

As a granddaughter of immigrants to Canada, it isn’t particularly comforting/reassuring to have potentially been labeled as “the rest”. Minority or not, there is still our economic/cultural contribution to Quebec and Canadian society to consider. It is disappointing to consider that potential Simu Lius or Rupi Kaurs amongst Quebec public school students are considered “the rest” due to a lack of particular socioeconomic status, or cultural capital. It is also disappointing to consider that potential Hellen Kellers or Stephen Hawkins amongst Quebec public school students are considered “the rest” due to ableism. The hegemony in Quebec and Canada remains in the hands of our politicians including provincial education ministers and the country’s prime minister who have or continue to contribute subsidizing to the private school sector. The increase of multiculturalism in this province will not continue to grow with the increase of french language bills such as bill 96 that continue to stunt this growth. The increase of ableism in Quebec society will continue to thrive while alienating those with disabilities. The public school-private school dichotomy continuously grows in Quebec with these kinds of bills and other systemic divides in consideration. If the opposing criteria continuously increase amongst this classist created education spectrum then students will continue to be separated by wealth, culture, race, and special abilities in Quebec’s education system. The idea of wealthy non-disabled Canadian students being “the cream at the top” and the nonwealthy, (potentially) disabled, immigrant students being “the rest” will always be the norm if inclusiveness and equality are not advocated for at the provincial level and to students from the perspective of teachers. Open-mindedness and empathy towards others regardless of differences will and should always be advocated for amongst youth and our political leaders for change in the public and private school education systems to begin in Quebec society

[journeythrougheduc260]

Benefits of the Outdoors

On May 12th 2022, our class was held outdoors in the big field in front of the Canadian Center for Architecture (CCA). Provided below are some photos.

As some of the photos indicate, the highlights consist of city exploration, in person social interactions with classmates, and enjoying nature. In the moment of this experience, I can truly say that I was able to get to know people I have not particularly spoken to in the previous semesters I have been in the university. I realised that day just how much I have in common with some of my classmates as well. I feel as if this can also be the case at the early childhood/elementary age when students are put into a space outside of the classroom to get to know their classmates at lunch, recess, or even on a field trip outdoors. Social interaction becomes different when it is in a strict academic environment rather than a more freeplay based environment. Children are also relatively more active in freeplay outside rather than organized adult led sports which is a benefit to student’s physical health needs.

As a teacher, it may also become more evident as to what kind of approach individual students may take to play when put outside (ie; solitary play, cooperative play, parallel play, etc.). This can make it easier for teachers to understand the development of their students better. By being able to observe and analyze a child’s regular type of play, this may be useful to be able to support the child’s development further and with more complexities/experiences to consider. Overall, there could be an increase in nature play too if children have access to particular items from nature (ie leaves, sticks, pinecones, flowers etc.). There was not much of these items in the field of the CCA for children to engage with, therefore to expand the horizons and allow for nature play to occur, I would probably select an outdoor setting that has more items of nature present that will benefit and be safe for children to engage in nature play.

Putting children in social/collaborative situations can particularly benefit their social skills and mental health as there is known to be a recent lack of empathy and self esteem in the current generation of youth. It might be nice to expand on lessons practicing empathy and self esteem/self love to students outside as doing lessons outdoors does not give the same competitive energy that a strict indoor academic classroom setting might give. This kind of lesson may give students the opportunity to practice mindfulness and feel at ease from relatively strict academic criteria to follow. Organized movement breaks in particular are especially helpful for students to practice healthy physical and mental health when outdoors. This can vary from yoga or to a group game of catch with a ball. From a teaching perspective, movement breaks can even work as a way to teach specific lessons to students to a certain extent through play and movement. This strategy can be quite useful for younger students who prefer to move around. The CCA’s large field would be the perfect spot to attempt these kinds of activities amongst a class of elementary students.

[journeythrougheduc260]

21st Century Hegemony

As defined in the Gramsci article, “Hegemony is a social condition in which all aspects of social reality are dominated by or supportive of a single class.” As Gramsci was a man who lived in fascist Italy in the 20th century, it can be said that we have a slightly different kind of hegemony at this present time and century. So when it came time for me to think of images that might define this decade’s hegemony, it wasn’t as simple as I thought when looking around at physical items in my house. However, this weekend in particular, the following images and interviews popped up as headliners in news articles and social media posts that really clicked as to what I thought could be 21st century hegemony material. 

The beloved Kardashian/Jenner family at the 2022 Met Gala in New York City this year. The current dictionary definition of 21st century created hegemony. To address my belief as to why I think why this family is the current dictionary definition of 21st century created hegemony, I think it is crucial to highlight that they are pretty much living the eminent American dream in the limelight of the media. The American dream being that anyone can achieve personal success and happiness regardless of social class or even the opinions of others, primarily through materialistic means. These sisters are primarily known for their high class/reputable household/family life, their natural (sometimes unnatural) beauty standards, their successful businesses to each of their names, and their own television show. With Kim Kardashian at 311 million followers, Khloe Kardashian at 243 million followers, Kourtney Kardashian at 177 million followers, Kylie Jenner at 338 million followers, and Kendall Jenner at 237 million followers on Instagram respectively as well, it is not hard to assume why or how they have achieved the American dream. They have set the current standard for the materialistic American dream with their bold self identities. Below is a video of Kim Kardashian at this years Met Gala setting that standard in particular with the very prominent American dress she wore. 

To be particularly of her influence, it’s easy for me to take Kim Kardashian as an example. What I would like to address specifically from this interview is Kim Kardashian’s extreme dedication to fitting in Marilyn Monroe’s dress and dieting. Even with Kim Kardashian being a critical influencer in the pop culture game, her extreme dieting lengths to fit in Monroe’s famous dress has been a choice she has been heavily criticized and praised for due to the health risks she had put herself through in the name of fashion and pop culture. These are the lengths that are gone to to be able to be the influencer that Kim Kardashian is in the pop culture and social media world. With this behaviour being described as just the typical way social media influencers are.  

It’s interesting to also think about the Kardashians being the average day influencer in the exosystem of the average individual. Influencers now even fit into the microsystem category of Brofenbrenner’s ecological systems theory when considering that even the average day individual’s peers in school or at work could also be small scale influencers due to the extent of power and accessibility that social media influence has on this generation.

[journeythrougheduc260]

A Teacher Should Remain Neutral

When I am asked to discuss the prompt “A teacher should remain neutral”, a lot of things rush to my mind. At first, I start thinking of the people in closest proximity to me in the moment, myself and my fellow classmates in Concordia’s ECEE program. Particularly, those of us who are most likely the first in the room to be told to remain neutral given our future profession in the field of education and our faith. To be clear, I speak of being muslim or of any other particular faith in a predominantly catholic province of Canada that requires us to hide this part of our identities on the job. Quebec’s Bill 21 is an exemplary example of how the provincial government seeks to neutralize the average school teacher into a one size fits all description. It has already made its mark in Quebec in recent events such as the Fatemeh Anvari case (linked below). 

https://montrealgazette.com/news/quebec/teacher-removed-from-post-in-quebec-elementary-school-for-wearing-a-hijab 

As a future educator, this is not at all encouraging for me to want to teach in Quebec. In the field of education, there is already a prominence for cancel culture (that making one wrong move can get you out of a job). For instance when dealing with parental concerns/sensitivity or dealing with misbehaviour amongst students. To be judged or “cancelled” based on my religious beliefs feels especially targeted at people such as myself and my fellow colleagues in this profession. 

It is also important to consider Canada’s overall increase of immigrants, expats, and refugees in the classroom. Bill 21 works against multicultural representation that our future generation of students will need to become accustomed and open minded to. I have been taught that as an educator, the biggest gift one can give their students is themselves. I feel that this cannot apply to me as an educator when a major part of me is censored by government mandates. I know that I am supported in this thinking with the recent release of Elizabeth Elbourne’s research on the impact of Bill 21 on Quebec students in education and law (linked below).

https://www.concordia.ca/content/dam/concordia/now/docs/The-Impact-of-Law-21-on-Quebec-Students-in-Law-and-Education-Executive-Summary.pdf 

73.8% of current students in education are already considering to teach outside of Quebec due to bill 21. These numbers are also indicative of contributing to the teaching shortage in Quebec which is tremendously damaging to the students in this province. Students are not getting the proper and consistent support they need in the classroom from experts. Particularly, those in need of assistance from childcare workers (CCWs) who specialize in assisting students with disabilities and their individualized education plans (IEPs).

Quebec is in serious need of reconsideration of bill 21 if this is to remain a province up to speed with growth and acceptance of multiculturalism.