Image Credit: http://www.otffeo.on.ca/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/11/otf_connects_logo_en.png This past week I attended my first OTF Connects webinar session. Just as a refresher, OTF Connects is the resource I bragged about in an earlier post as being my favourite professional development discovery of the year. These sessions are diverse in nature, offered consistently throughout the year, and are...wait for it....ENTIRELY FREE! For those of you who have never participated in a webinar before, it is a great way to learn! You get to listen to experienced educators talk about a subject they are passionate about, participate as you choose (or just listen to the instructor and other participants as I sometimes do), all while curled up in your PJs eating some chips. It is the least intimidating way to learn, in my opinion. If you are still on the fence about signing up for one of these webinars, I have included my notes from my first session to convince you! This session was titled "Developing Global Citizenship through Collaborative Inquiry Based Learning". The session was led by Jim Carleton and Mali Bickley. Educators from all over Ontario participated in this session. Have a read through my notes - I hope that you learn something new, and find some resources to use in your classroom! Here is the OTF Connects website if you choose to sign-up for a session: http://www.otffeo.on.ca/en/learning/otf-connects/sessions/
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Image Credit: http://www.metrokelan.com/oc-content/uploads/124/13064.jpg A big shout-out to all Permanent, LTO, and Occasional teachers on World Teachers' Day! You have the power to make a difference in the lives of many - do not take this power lightly. Take every opportunity as a learning/teaching opportunity. Enjoy the benefit of seeing the world through the eyes your students - they are the reason why you pursued this job in the first place. They are the reason that the long nights of lesson planning, the early morning supply calls, and the job insecurity are worth it! The students infuse a curiosity, happiness, and passion for life into teaching that is not present in any other job. "Teachers who love teaching, teach children to love learning"
- Robert John Meehan What people think September looks like for Occasional Teachers VS. what September actually looks like... Image Credit: http://irishpost.co.uk/number-of-irish-teachers-flocking-to-britain-doubles/ This picture is a representation of the struggle that every Occasional Teacher (OT) faces during the month of September. After a two month holiday, permanent teachers are keen to get back to their classrooms, and get to know their students. This means that no permanent teachers are booking days off for sick leave, professional development etc. In turn, no OTs are called in to work. September is a drought for OT's...but it doesn't have to be.
When I moved to Ottawa at the beginning of 2016 I left an Occasional Teaching position in Toronto where I had made valuable connections, and had experience as a Long Term Teacher. In this profession, switching boards is viewed as professional suicide: you have to re-interview with a new board, your seniority is lost, and there is no guarantee that you will be hired - even with prior experience. Needless to say, many teachers do whatever it takes to avoid this. Teachers choose a school board right out of Teacher's College and devote years to volunteering, making connections, and designing applications for this board. My partner's career means that I will work for many different school boards in my career. It is inevitable that we will travel for his job, and this means that I have to be more creative about how I approach my teaching career. I am learning to broaden my views about how I can work as an educator. Being an educator does not mean that I can only work as an occasional teacher with a school board. I can explore teaching through avenues such as early learning, tutoring, and professional development. This is something that all OTs should consider, especially in the drought month of September. If you have the September OT blues, here are a few suggestions to help you get back to work:
September does not have to be a drought month for OTs. There are many opportunities available that will add to your resume, and can help you to develop your skills as a teacher. If you are contemplating a move to a new area, don't let it scare you! There are many valuable experiences out there for teachers, you just have to be willing to veer a little off of the beaten path. “Teachers need to develop ways in which the students can demonstrate how they can design and carry out, in a reflective manner, new practices embedded in their own goals and values. They should be able to show that they can implement understandings acquired through overt instruction and critical framing in practices that help them simultaneously to apply and revise what they have learned.” Twenty-first century society has witnessed improved access to the Internet and the invention of various mobile and digital communication-based technology; these advancements have transformed communication and created “new textual landscapes” (Clary et al, 2013, p. 49). The written word is no longer enough in an age of multimedia where students are authoring in a variety of spaces, through a variety of modes (Clary et al, 2013). Furthermore, it must be recognized that “children combine multimodal symbolic systems, such as talking, drawing, singing, and role playing, long before their communicative interests can be served by the written linguistic forms of their culture” (Mills, 2011, p. 57).
With the dawn of technology, today’s students are processing information in different ways than their predecessors (Clary et al, 2013). This shift affords many benefits for literacy education. Technology can be utilized to include modes that have been disregarded by the traditional curriculum such as visual, verbal, auditory, gestural, spatial, and kinaesthetic modes; these modes have been discounted as aspects of literacy by formal, writing-based literacy education. Technology is creating a shift in educational pedagogy as it allows for higher order thinking, creativity, personalization, and learner autonomy to be united according to the various modes chosen by the author to employ (Clary et al, 2013). Lotherington and Jenson (2011) acknowledge that engaging with literacy within the collaborative and multimodal categories generated by digital technologies allows students to participate in dynamic and multidimensional literacy exchanges. Some of the possible communications students may become involved with during this process include: “ social interaction, haptic activation, physical coordination, visual design, modal complexity (e.g., multiple language engagement, musical accompaniment, and animation), dynamic, collaborative text construction, and alphabetic literacy” (Lotherington & Jenson, 2011, p. 227-228). Digital communication is inherently multimodal. This form of communication is continuously engaging “multipurpose, multifunctional technologies that involve layers of complexity and application” (Lotherington & Jenson, 2011, p. 241). Technology is an approach for fostering multimodal literacy that can, in turn, be recognized as a manner of creating transformative learning opportunities in twenty-first century classrooms. These tools provide context and opportunities for collaboration that move beyond the constraints of the classroom, extending towards larger society (Burnett, Dickinson, Myers, Merchant, 2006). By utilizing tools in the classroom that allow for students to explore a variety of modes in many ways, an educational experience is fostered that allows for development of the whole child. Learning through the various modes afforded by technology ensures learning is not only personally, but also socially meaningful for the child; this perpetuates the values of transformative learning. One issue that stands in the way of technology being utilized to foster multimodal, transformative learning is teacher training and attitudes. Many studies have found that teachers find it challenging to step outside of their own comfort zones and experiences to extend children’s funds of knowledge (Wolfe & Flewitt, 2010). However, if children are to realize their full potentials as members of a digital society, they need to be provided with opportunities to experience creating multimodal literacies (Wolfe & Flewitt, 2010). Teachers must be provided with opportunities to experience multimodal, transformative learning for themselves and also receive the guidance and curriculum training necessary to implement it. If teachers can move beyond their own experiences and recognize that education of the past is no longer education of the present, then the educational experiences of twenty-first century learners will be greatly improved. "Single authorship is now an option, not a model in writing...the physical classroom extends beyond its brick walls, connected digitally to resources and learning partners". Multimodality is understood throughout the literature as the processing of multiple modes occurring concurrently with one another (Clary, Kigotho, Barros-Torning, 2013). Some of the modes that can occur simultaneously within multimodal activities include text, image, sound, gesture, modes focused on spatial or tactile activities etc. Multimodality has been termed as a “domain of inquiry” within which modes can be joined to communicate meaning in a rich, dynamic manner (Lotherington & Jenson, 2011, p. 230). The combination of various sign systems within multimodal activities provides opportunity for expression outside print creation (Binder, 2014). Multimodal learning requires that there is choice for the expression of meaning; choice allows for expression of literacy understanding in multiple ways (Binder, 2014).
Larson (2006) argues against literacy as “an autonomous set of neutral skills devoid of context” (p. 324). Rather, literacy practices are both multiple and complex. Literacy is used to express everyday needs, participate in social or cultural practices, and to document ideas for audiences in ways determined by the resources available at the time/place and the communicative systems accessible (Wolfe & Flewitt, 2010). To become literate one must learn proficiency in the modes of literacy used historically and presently, as well as those that are expected to become important (Wolfe & Flewitt, 2010). To make meaning within modern society, one must have the ability to create and deconstruct multimodal literacies. Permeating society are written messages that cannot be detached from the other modes they are associated with such as images, sounds, and numbers (Sandvik, Smordal, Osterud, 2012). Larson (2006) warns that if schools continue to focus on literacy as separate skills, “ignoring the multiple literacies young children use in their everyday lives”, the institution will become irrelevant (p. 325). The theory of multimodality is linked to the rise of digital technology but is not synonymous with it (Clary et al, 2013). However, the rise of digital technologies allow various modes to be configured, circulated, and recycled in a variety of ways which expands the multimodal potentials (Lotherington & Jenson, 2011). Multimodality is being expanded by digital technologies, which results in changes to ideas surrounding curriculum and accepted pedagogy in education (Lotherington & Jenson, 2011). Educators who promote digital technology in the classroom have recognized that literacy must be conceptualized within the broader social perspective, which recognizes and thrives within multimodalities (Lotherington & Jenson, 2011). Multimodalities support agency for children throughout the literacy process. Within multimodal literacy the child is not limited to developing a single ability decided for them, rather than by them. When children are empowered they are more likely to “reveal how they think, view, and situate themselves in the world” (Binder, 2011, p. 340). Allowing the child to choose how they represent their thoughts appreciates these views and attaches value to them; multiple modalities provide children with the tools necessary to do this. Multimodality and Literacy in School Classrooms - An Overview of Arguments by Jewitt (2008): Andrea Tochelli (2013), Prezi --- https://prezi.com/e_hml7s3fiyn/multimodality-and-literacy-in-school-classrooms-jewitt-2008/ Clary, D., Kigotho, M., & Barros-Torning, M. (2013). Harnessing mobile technologies to enrich adolescents' multimodal literacy practices in middle years classrooms. Literacy Learning: The Middle Years, 21(3), 49-60. Larson, J. (2006). Multiple literacies, curriculum, and instruction in early childhood and elementary school. Theory into Practice, 45(4), 319-329. doi:10.1207/ s15430421tip4504_5 Lotherington, H., & Jenson, J. (2011). Teaching multimodal and digital literacy in L2 settings: New literacies, new basics, new pedagogies. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 31, 226-246. doi:10.1017/S0267190511000110 Sandvik, M., Smordal, O., & Osterud, S. (2012). Exploring IPads in practitioners' repertoires for language learning and literacy practices in kindergarten. Nordic Journal of Digital Literacy, 7, 204-220. Wolfe, S., & Flewitt, R. (2010). New technologies, new multimodal literacy practices and young children's metacognitive development. Cambridge Journal of Education, 40(4), 387-399. doi:10.1080/0305764X.2010.526589 Image Credit: http://visual.ly/classroom-design-affects-student-learning Consider the physical layout: Drawing on a point that Kellough & Kellough (2008) mention, in order to create a positive classroom atmosphere that supports various learning styles it is important to keep the classroom arrangement flexible (pg. 116). This way, whenever students need to, they can rearrange the classroom to most successfully support their learning. Movement and flexibility in the classroom is also important for students who process information better when they do not have to remain seated, in the same way, for every task.
Create a positive ambiance: It is so important to make each student feel as though they are welcome in a classroom and feel valued and appreciated by their teacher and peers. When you think of your own experiences with hostile environments, is this an environment where you have experienced success in learning? Of course not! Just as adults cannot learn in hostile environments, neither can our students! In my experience, when an environment is not focused on positivity students often do not feel comfortable to verbalize their thoughts, or explain to the teacher when something is affecting their ability to learn. It is important to “admonish behaviour, not persons” (Kellough & Kellough, pg. 117). Sometimes behaviour is a result of a student having difficulty learning. In this case, it is important that the teacher does not punish the student as a person; the student may feel attacked for not being able to concentrate. Rather, we should take preventative measures against negative behaviour by creating an environment that honours all learning styles and capacities. Get to know your students as people: When we know our students as the individuals that they are, we are better able to tailor our lessons towards their unique learning capacities and styles. This does not just come from observing students in the classroom and having conferences with them about their learning, but genuinely showing an interest, and making time to talk to them outside of the classroom about things other than school (Kellough & Kellough, pg. 119). When you show an interest in student’s lives outside of the classroom they will be more willing to open up to you about their learning within the classroom. Concentrating your attention on desirable student behaviours: To me, this has been easier to do in a primary/junior environment than in the intermediate classrooms that I have worked in. I find that as an occasional teacher in an intermediate environment I am more likely to focus on the negative behaviours as there are more of them; I am nervous that one instance could lead to me loosing control of the class as a whole. I tend to forget that intermediate students also respond better to positive reinforcement. It just has to be verbalized differently than in the primary/junior environment so it does not seem childish. Adolescents do not want to be addressed as they were in the primary/junior grades whether this be for positive or negative comments; they feel as though they are adults now and want to be treated this way. This is an important tip for anyone who is new to the intermediate environment! Source: Kellough, R.D., Kellough, N.G. (2008). Teaching Young Adolescents: Methods and Resources for Middle Grades Teaching. New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc. |
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