Response to Sharon's DE The Circle of courage-at risk or challenging students Northern Lights School Division in Northern Sask This school division is piloting programs, being on the cutting edge of technology, integrating the varied cultural aspects of the communities into the classroom. Sharon focused on classrooms with an internet connection. A big concern would be getting more access to the internet, which she does address in her narrative. The languages they would be using in the division include Cree, Dene, Metis, French and English. There would need to be translation done into all of those languages. I felt that this would be a powerful opportunity to connect with other people speaking the same language. Others speaking the same language might be far away, but you can stay in contact with them through chats, blogs, fourms, Skype, etc..
Sharon spoke of targeting professional development of the teachers with a wide range of ages and tech experience. This is a big challenge in any school division. The students that are targeted in the Circle of Courage are those with limited access to behavioral support consultants.
In the Motivation to learn section, you mention reasons why teachers would want to learn this including internal motivation, costs, less likely engage in a power struggle, understanding of their students and marginilization. I understand your point about student participation in the DE class being more involvement as we in this class realaize. On one hand it sounds easier (i.e. convenience), but the actual requirements are large. This would be an added challenge for a student already struggling to fit into the education system. While an on-line class addresses the remoteness, student by-in and feeling connected to the class would be as great a challenge. I'm not sure this is addressed as much as it needs to be in your narrative. For example, added supports, forums in addressing not only students fitting into the education system by the skills needed in taking an on-line course.
I suppose the supports would also need to be the same for the teachers as you mentioned in the narrative as many teachers might not have delivered an on-line class before. Your plan for continuous monitoring of the resource looks great.
I appreciate your mention of the digital divide. Perhaps with more users there will come more infrastructure to support it. Making the schools available to the community for access is a great idea.
I had a chance to look at the wiki. The information is outstanding. I would suggest trying to incorporate more interactive and visual aspects on the home page, as that is the first thing the student will see. For example, I think the "Belonging" and "What's It All About" sections are very easy to following, looks good, concise, and still gets across all of your information. It seems like a little thing, but if the reader opens up a page and it is a bunch of text they might not get their engagement.
Thank you for your critique Ryan. Great comment about the home page. In my perfect world, this module was not chopped up into different sections. I originally saw it all flowing together. Because of my limited experience with working with a wiki, my final product ended up being chopped into pieces. I appreciated that I should have some a little more catchy on the home page as this makes the first impression. Thanks again for looking it over for me Ryan! Sharon
As I reread your comments, I realize maybe I wasn't clear in identifying who this module is intended for. I designed it for teachers. I am not sure if you understand this as you commented "...This would be an added challenge for a student already struggling to fit into the education system". These teachers are teaching kids who don't fit in. I assumed the teachers have the capacity to learn as others do. Also, the supports offered is for teachers, not for the students. "...added supports, forums in addressing not only students fitting into the education system by the skills needed in taking an on-line course" are important aspects of DE but I saw this module as being appropriate for the teachers learning about the Circle of Courage and applying their new knowledge to the kids they teach.I am sure that there are many aspects of using technology in the north that I have not addressed but only because I am not sure what they are. Thanks again for your critique Ryan. Sharon
Hi Sharon. I enjoyed reading and viewing your module. I like that you've chosen an Aboriginal concept of the Circle of Courage. Throughout the course, some of our discussins have focused on Aboriginal and Metis students in Distance Education but we haven't discussed Aboriginal and Metis content in DE. I'm glad that you have added this to showcase an important aspect of Saskatchewan curriculum. I teach in a school that has less than 3% Aborignal and Metis population. I feel that something like the Circle of Courage would be something that I could teach my non-Aboriginal students in order to promote cultural understanding and anti-oppressive education.
Planning a module for students who are teachers presents a unique set of challenges. In your narrative, you explored the various motivations a teacher may have for pursuing this module through DE and some of the challenges/obstacles. I think you are right in saying that time, money,and a potential lack of support could be obstacles. What about the lack of engagement with the topic? Do you see that as a potential obstacle? For example: I can see a high school math teacher feeling that the Circle of Courage is not relevant to their content area or teaching practice? How would you address this? As I commented on Gail's module, I know that teachers can sometimes make the most difficult students some I commend you on taking on a task such as this.
In terms of your wiki, I thought is was well organized. You definitely had a variety of topics and used things such as visuals, text features, and videos to enhance the appeal. I enjoyed that you added things like maps and a personal biography section. As your learners are also teachers, I think would appreciate knowing more about your teaching background and credentials. I can see Ryan's point about a more appealing homepage and how too much text may overwhelm studnts. At the same time, as this was your first attempt at a wiki, I think it was extremely well done. The assignments are appropriate for teachers and I like how you've included ample opportunities for self-reflection and discussion. These seem to be especially important given the nature of the topic.
All in all, I enjoyed reading about this topic and I think this is a great professioanl development opportunity for teachers. Great work.
Response to Sharon's DE
ReplyDeleteThe Circle of courage-at risk or challenging students
Northern Lights School Division in Northern Sask
This school division is piloting programs, being on the cutting edge of technology, integrating the varied cultural aspects of the communities into the classroom. Sharon focused on classrooms with an internet connection. A big concern would be getting more access to the internet, which she does address in her narrative.
The languages they would be using in the division include Cree, Dene, Metis, French and English.
There would need to be translation done into all of those languages.
I felt that this would be a powerful opportunity to connect with other people speaking the same language. Others speaking the same language might be far away, but you can stay in contact with them through chats, blogs, fourms, Skype, etc..
Sharon spoke of targeting professional development of the teachers with a wide range of ages and tech experience. This is a big challenge in any school division.
The students that are targeted in the Circle of Courage are those with limited access to behavioral support consultants.
In the Motivation to learn section, you mention reasons why teachers would want to learn this including internal motivation, costs, less likely engage in a power struggle, understanding of their students and marginilization. I understand your point about student participation in the DE class being more involvement as we in this class realaize. On one hand it sounds easier (i.e. convenience), but the actual requirements are large. This would be an added challenge for a student already struggling to fit into the education system. While an on-line class addresses the remoteness, student by-in and feeling connected to the class would be as great a challenge. I'm not sure this is addressed as much as it needs to be in your narrative. For example, added supports, forums in addressing not only students fitting into the education system by the skills needed in taking an on-line course.
I suppose the supports would also need to be the same for the teachers as you mentioned in the narrative as many teachers might not have delivered an on-line class before. Your plan for continuous monitoring of the resource looks great.
I appreciate your mention of the digital divide. Perhaps with more users there will come more infrastructure to support it. Making the schools available to the community for access is a great idea.
I had a chance to look at the wiki. The information is outstanding. I would suggest trying to incorporate more interactive and visual aspects on the home page, as that is the first thing the student will see. For example, I think the "Belonging" and "What's It All About" sections are very easy to following, looks good, concise, and still gets across all of your information. It seems like a little thing, but if the reader opens up a page and it is a bunch of text they might not get their engagement.
Great work Sharon!
Ryan Hicks
Thank you for your critique Ryan. Great comment about the home page. In my perfect world, this module was not chopped up into different sections. I originally saw it all flowing together. Because of my limited experience with working with a wiki, my final product ended up being chopped into pieces. I appreciated that I should have some a little more catchy on the home page as this makes the first impression. Thanks again for looking it over for me Ryan!
DeleteSharon
As I reread your comments, I realize maybe I wasn't clear in identifying who this module is intended for. I designed it for teachers. I am not sure if you understand this as you commented "...This would be an added challenge for a student already struggling to fit into the education system". These teachers are teaching kids who don't fit in. I assumed the teachers have the capacity to learn as others do. Also, the supports offered is for teachers, not for the students. "...added supports, forums in addressing not only students fitting into the education system by the skills needed in taking an on-line course" are important aspects of DE but I saw this module as being appropriate for the teachers learning about the Circle of Courage and applying their new knowledge to the kids they teach.I am sure that there are many aspects of using technology in the north that I have not addressed but only because I am not sure what they are. Thanks again for your critique Ryan.
DeleteSharon
Hi Sharon. I enjoyed reading and viewing your module. I like that you've chosen an Aboriginal concept of the Circle of Courage. Throughout the course, some of our discussins have focused on Aboriginal and Metis students in Distance Education but we haven't discussed Aboriginal and Metis content in DE. I'm glad that you have added this to showcase an important aspect of Saskatchewan curriculum. I teach in a school that has less than 3% Aborignal and Metis population. I feel that something like the Circle of Courage would be something that I could teach my non-Aboriginal students in order to promote cultural understanding and anti-oppressive education.
ReplyDeletePlanning a module for students who are teachers presents a unique set of challenges. In your narrative, you explored the various motivations a teacher may have for pursuing this module through DE and some of the challenges/obstacles. I think you are right in saying that time, money,and a potential lack of support could be obstacles. What about the lack of engagement with the topic? Do you see that as a potential obstacle? For example: I can see a high school math teacher feeling that the Circle of Courage is not relevant to their content area or teaching practice? How would you address this? As I commented on Gail's module, I know that teachers can sometimes make the most difficult students some I commend you on taking on a task such as this.
In terms of your wiki, I thought is was well organized. You definitely had a variety of topics and used things such as visuals, text features, and videos to enhance the appeal. I enjoyed that you added things like maps and a personal biography section. As your learners are also teachers, I think would appreciate knowing more about your teaching background and credentials. I can see Ryan's point about a more appealing homepage and how too much text may overwhelm studnts. At the same time, as this was your first attempt at a wiki, I think it was extremely well done. The assignments are appropriate for teachers and I like how you've included ample opportunities for self-reflection and discussion. These seem to be especially important given the nature of the topic.
All in all, I enjoyed reading about this topic and I think this is a great professioanl development opportunity for teachers. Great work.