Planning

“Planning is a process of thinking and preparing.”

(Creating the Dynamic Classroom, Schwartz & Polloshuke, 2005)

Being prepared shows commitment to and respect for students and the function of learning. Planning means thinking about and preparing for student success and exceptionalities; for diversions; for fun; and, preparing for the unexpected; it all begins with a well thought out and organized lesson plan…

Lesson Plan p.1-2

Lesson Plan (con't) with leveled worksheets

Arts-Based Learning: Seeing Diversity

Five reasons why Art should be taught and practiced in classrooms:

1. There is a positive relationship between arts education&practice and academic performance.

2. Arts education&practice develops brain circuits used for music, language, emotions. 

3. Arts education&practice cultivates an appreciation for perseverance and hard work.

4. Arts education&practice provides many avenues for success to students who might not otherwise be successful.

5. Arts  education&practice offers alternative forms of assessment to gauge student success—portfolios, exhibitions, performance

(Adapted from “10 Reasons to Integrate Arts in Education”, ICS Art Room)

Using a whole-school, year-long art project to discuss and discover diversity not only gives students the opportunity to share and debate ideas in an on-going arts-based learning community, but as a function of the project, students have the opportunity to reflect on themselves as individuals in relation to others in the school, to others in Canada and to others in the world. This art project can be tied into core subject curricula, such as social studies, history, geography and math (see Math and Social Justice post), and it means searching for new and interesting resources online, in libraries, and in discussions with my colleagues. The project gives students an avenue for expression, and opportunity to develop ideas, to cultivate perseverance, and adds to student portfolios, both as a record of progression for assessment and for the student personally.

Math and Social Justice

Prior to my two years in the concurrent MA/B.Ed. programme at ICS, I had never considered the concept of math and social justice. I had lived most of my life quite literally terrified of math, and had developed strategies to avoid the doing of math at almost any cost. And yet for my last past year and a half or so at school, and in my teaching practice, I’ve found myself organizing my projects, papers, and as many lessons as I could around the concept of math and social justice. I've used used math in my counseling programme as well. I often give students tangrams, pattern blocks, or Sudoku puzzles as ice-breakers when they are having a hard time beginning a conversation. These are great activities to engage in with students as bonding exercises as well so they might start discussing issues with me.
The two papers were written at the end of my two-year program me and are both the culmination of school work and the beginning of a life-long practice.

JUMP Math and Social Justice

Where do our clothes come from?

Numeracy Support Programme

I designed and implemented a Numeracy Support Withdrawal Programme at St. Andrew's School in Kashechewan. These samples are some of the amazing work that students from Grades 1-7 created during our focus on Number Sense and Numeracy. We used different manipulatives and materials to think about "number". The project succeeded in helping students think differently about numbers, how to construct, deconstruct, and use them. Students used numerals, words (English and Cree), blobs, hearts, and hand tracing to explore numbers from 1 - 100.