TRB Standard 6Exemplar:
Erin Arrowsmith (With permission) |
Educators have a broad knowledge base and understand the subject areas they teach.
Educators understand the curricular, conceptual and methodological foundations of education and of the subject areas they teach. Educators must be able to communicate effectively in English or French. Educators teach students to understand relevant curricula in a Canadian, Aboriginal, and global context. Educators convey the values, beliefs and knowledge of our democratic society. |
Click image to read ​Blog Post: "Building the Village" - Practicum Experiments with Experiential Learning, November-December 2017
Blog Post on "Building the Village" Unit Plan and Lessons (Erin)
Blog Post: "Building the Village" - Practicum Experiments with Experiential Learning, November-December 2017
The first piece of evidence that I have chosen for TRB Standard 6 is a blog post that I wrote in January 2018 reflecting on my teaching experiences in my Fall 2017 embedded practicum at Departure Bay Elementary Eco-School. The blog post describes two science and social studies lessons that I planned and taught, shows photos of the students’ learning, and provides a link to the “Building the Village” unit and lesson plans that I developed in conjunction with our pod of student teachers. This unit linked together Big Ideas from grade 3 & 4 science, social studies and English Language Arts, and made connections to Indigenous ways of knowing through learning about biodiversity and sustainability in the salmon run, as well as how local Coast Salish people organized their communities, built their homes and boats, and hunted, gathered and fished for food. Books by Indigenous authors that shared stories about local traditions and culture were also used to support this learning.
In creating this evidence file, I learned how much information and research was necessary to put together the overarching “Building the Village” unit plan and the two lessons that I designed. The salmon science lesson required researching the salmon life cycle and local volunteer work done in Nanaimo to improve Bowen Park’s Millstone River to make it easier for the salmon to swim upstream. It required designing the puzzle pieces for the KWL activity and pulling together the gym equipment needed for the salmon run simulation game. It required searching local libraries to find an appropriate children’s book about the first salmon ceremony. Similarly, the shelter lesson required online research to find historical photos showing how the Coast Salish people built their houses, and then comparing these photos to non-fiction books about First Nations houses to discover building techniques. It required finding an Indigenous author’s book with artwork that depicted west coast First Nations houses, and collecting sufficient natural materials for 20 students to build model houses with their learning partners. While some of this knowledge was background knowledge that I already had, there was also a lot of information that I did not know and needed to research or check. Teaching about local Coast Salish culture and history is new to me, and ensuring that I had enough accurate information to teach each of the lessons was a critical part of the planning and preparation that I did before teaching these lessons.
Doing this planning work and then writing a blog post about our “Building the Village” unit made me reflect on the amount of preparation that goes into teaching a successful lesson prior to entering the classroom. While planning this unit of eight lessons took some work, when one considers the work required to plan units and the accompanying lessons for a whole school year, it puts into perspective the amount of preparation and planning that a beginning elementary teacher will need to do when she starts teaching. In relation to TRB Standard 6, it will be important not only to draw upon my own knowledge base to understand the subject areas that I am teaching, but also to use the knowledge and experience of colleagues who have resources to share. I want to utilize my background in Canadian history to find ways to integrate historical thinking into my teaching, to encourage students to build connections between the subjects they are learning, and to engage students with inquiry-based projects. My English writing and communications skills will be foundational to teaching language arts, and I hope to use my musical background as a learning tool for my students. But there will also be subjects in which I will need to do much more preparation or sharing with colleagues because I come with less background knowledge. Staying organized well in advance will be crucial for ensuring that I am ready to teach each day.
Secondly, in planning these lessons, I reinforced my belief that we can learn so much from the First Nations people who have lived on this land for thousands of years. Integrating Indigenous ways of knowing into my lessons not only provides important information for our students to learn about where they live, but also teaches students about respecting diversity and different cultural perspectives. In this way, I felt it was important to teach the grade 3 and 4 students not only about the salmon run and the biology of the salmon life cycle, but also about environmental sustainability, and respecting the earth and its creatures as Indigenous peoples teach us. Moreover, we did not just talk about the salmon run; we also simulated the salmon run with a game and then went on a field trip to Bowen Park to look at the Millstone River and the high-water conditions under which the salmon were trying to make it upstream to spawn. I also wanted to teach the students about how Indigenous peoples built their homes using materials that came from the places where they lived, and the reasons why they used these materials. We did not just talk about First Nations houses and look at pictures of what they were like; we explored building model shelters ourselves using natural materials that took into account the need to keep out the wind and rain, to stay warm and to cook our food. Using place-based and experiential learning approaches to help students learn about the world around them, and how people who came before them lived in this land, teaches our students to continue wondering about their world and how they can help make it a better place. By using interactive techniques such as Know-Wonder-Learn (KWL) in small groups, a simulation game to show how different conditions affect salmon spawning, and hands-on building of model homes, students who experience this learning, rather than just hearing or reading about it, may also find that they retain this knowledge better. In his book, Play, Stuart Brown argues that play cements learning in the neural pathways in our brains:
Learning and memory also seem to be fixed more strongly and last longer when learned in play. … This may be because of the total involvement that play often requires. The state of play is one in which attention is focused exclusively on the pleasurable play activity and memory fixation has been shown to be closely related to heightened attention and emotional rewards. In addition, play involves multiple centers of perception and cognition across the whole brain.”[1]
I want to continue to incorporate experiential learning and playfulness in my lessons throughout my teaching career, not only because it keeps learning fun, but also because of this strong correlation to brain development and improved learning outcomes.
Having a broad knowledge base and understanding what I am teaching is important to me as a new teacher because I want to ensure not only that my students respect my own learning and experience, but also know that I am a supportive facilitator and coach for their own passions and interests. I want to ensure that the units and lessons that I create for my students are based on research and thorough preparation, as well as on up-to-date information in areas that change rapidly, such as science and technology. I also want to continue to learn from First Nations elders in my own community so that I can improve my own understanding of Indigenous ways of knowing about the land on which we live, and help build trust and respect between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities through the learning done in BC schools. Exposing students to the values, beliefs and cultural traditions of local First Nations, as well as to diverse global cultures in our communities, will help students become more open to differing perspectives and viewpoints so that they grow into critical thinkers and lifelong learners who are actively able to participate in our Canadian democratic institutions in the future.
Notes
[1] Brown, Stuart (2009). Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul . New York: Penguin Group Inc., p. 102.
Blog Post: "Building the Village" - Practicum Experiments with Experiential Learning, November-December 2017
The first piece of evidence that I have chosen for TRB Standard 6 is a blog post that I wrote in January 2018 reflecting on my teaching experiences in my Fall 2017 embedded practicum at Departure Bay Elementary Eco-School. The blog post describes two science and social studies lessons that I planned and taught, shows photos of the students’ learning, and provides a link to the “Building the Village” unit and lesson plans that I developed in conjunction with our pod of student teachers. This unit linked together Big Ideas from grade 3 & 4 science, social studies and English Language Arts, and made connections to Indigenous ways of knowing through learning about biodiversity and sustainability in the salmon run, as well as how local Coast Salish people organized their communities, built their homes and boats, and hunted, gathered and fished for food. Books by Indigenous authors that shared stories about local traditions and culture were also used to support this learning.
In creating this evidence file, I learned how much information and research was necessary to put together the overarching “Building the Village” unit plan and the two lessons that I designed. The salmon science lesson required researching the salmon life cycle and local volunteer work done in Nanaimo to improve Bowen Park’s Millstone River to make it easier for the salmon to swim upstream. It required designing the puzzle pieces for the KWL activity and pulling together the gym equipment needed for the salmon run simulation game. It required searching local libraries to find an appropriate children’s book about the first salmon ceremony. Similarly, the shelter lesson required online research to find historical photos showing how the Coast Salish people built their houses, and then comparing these photos to non-fiction books about First Nations houses to discover building techniques. It required finding an Indigenous author’s book with artwork that depicted west coast First Nations houses, and collecting sufficient natural materials for 20 students to build model houses with their learning partners. While some of this knowledge was background knowledge that I already had, there was also a lot of information that I did not know and needed to research or check. Teaching about local Coast Salish culture and history is new to me, and ensuring that I had enough accurate information to teach each of the lessons was a critical part of the planning and preparation that I did before teaching these lessons.
Doing this planning work and then writing a blog post about our “Building the Village” unit made me reflect on the amount of preparation that goes into teaching a successful lesson prior to entering the classroom. While planning this unit of eight lessons took some work, when one considers the work required to plan units and the accompanying lessons for a whole school year, it puts into perspective the amount of preparation and planning that a beginning elementary teacher will need to do when she starts teaching. In relation to TRB Standard 6, it will be important not only to draw upon my own knowledge base to understand the subject areas that I am teaching, but also to use the knowledge and experience of colleagues who have resources to share. I want to utilize my background in Canadian history to find ways to integrate historical thinking into my teaching, to encourage students to build connections between the subjects they are learning, and to engage students with inquiry-based projects. My English writing and communications skills will be foundational to teaching language arts, and I hope to use my musical background as a learning tool for my students. But there will also be subjects in which I will need to do much more preparation or sharing with colleagues because I come with less background knowledge. Staying organized well in advance will be crucial for ensuring that I am ready to teach each day.
Secondly, in planning these lessons, I reinforced my belief that we can learn so much from the First Nations people who have lived on this land for thousands of years. Integrating Indigenous ways of knowing into my lessons not only provides important information for our students to learn about where they live, but also teaches students about respecting diversity and different cultural perspectives. In this way, I felt it was important to teach the grade 3 and 4 students not only about the salmon run and the biology of the salmon life cycle, but also about environmental sustainability, and respecting the earth and its creatures as Indigenous peoples teach us. Moreover, we did not just talk about the salmon run; we also simulated the salmon run with a game and then went on a field trip to Bowen Park to look at the Millstone River and the high-water conditions under which the salmon were trying to make it upstream to spawn. I also wanted to teach the students about how Indigenous peoples built their homes using materials that came from the places where they lived, and the reasons why they used these materials. We did not just talk about First Nations houses and look at pictures of what they were like; we explored building model shelters ourselves using natural materials that took into account the need to keep out the wind and rain, to stay warm and to cook our food. Using place-based and experiential learning approaches to help students learn about the world around them, and how people who came before them lived in this land, teaches our students to continue wondering about their world and how they can help make it a better place. By using interactive techniques such as Know-Wonder-Learn (KWL) in small groups, a simulation game to show how different conditions affect salmon spawning, and hands-on building of model homes, students who experience this learning, rather than just hearing or reading about it, may also find that they retain this knowledge better. In his book, Play, Stuart Brown argues that play cements learning in the neural pathways in our brains:
Learning and memory also seem to be fixed more strongly and last longer when learned in play. … This may be because of the total involvement that play often requires. The state of play is one in which attention is focused exclusively on the pleasurable play activity and memory fixation has been shown to be closely related to heightened attention and emotional rewards. In addition, play involves multiple centers of perception and cognition across the whole brain.”[1]
I want to continue to incorporate experiential learning and playfulness in my lessons throughout my teaching career, not only because it keeps learning fun, but also because of this strong correlation to brain development and improved learning outcomes.
Having a broad knowledge base and understanding what I am teaching is important to me as a new teacher because I want to ensure not only that my students respect my own learning and experience, but also know that I am a supportive facilitator and coach for their own passions and interests. I want to ensure that the units and lessons that I create for my students are based on research and thorough preparation, as well as on up-to-date information in areas that change rapidly, such as science and technology. I also want to continue to learn from First Nations elders in my own community so that I can improve my own understanding of Indigenous ways of knowing about the land on which we live, and help build trust and respect between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities through the learning done in BC schools. Exposing students to the values, beliefs and cultural traditions of local First Nations, as well as to diverse global cultures in our communities, will help students become more open to differing perspectives and viewpoints so that they grow into critical thinkers and lifelong learners who are actively able to participate in our Canadian democratic institutions in the future.
Notes
[1] Brown, Stuart (2009). Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul . New York: Penguin Group Inc., p. 102.