Analyzing my past through principles of learning

Do you remember an assignment that you loathe to do but then upon reflection you realize you did learn a lot? 

After writing this mammoth reflection, a critical analysis of my own teaching practice since the 90s, it dawned on me how valuable the process was; to see the impact of change, to detect further areas of growth, and to assess how time and place has altered my path. 

An Educational Journey Through Time and Place and the Principles of Learning

A map of my learning journey, if you follow the rainbow you can trace the path.

The road

A road less travelled is one that I have followed both in my personal and in my professional life. Metamorphosis is a challenge I embrace and as I reflect upon the road I have traveled as an educator I make connections to various learning theories that were signposts in my journey. My tale feels like an epic tale, and my role would be akin to Samwise Gamgee from the Lord of the Rings; at the start I lacked confidence, knowledge and skills but through a variety of challenging and ever changing scenery I have grown.  My epistemology goes through a metamorphosis with each new location since my frame continually changes, “We are framed by where we are from.” (Davis, Sumara and Luce-Kapler, 2000, p1). Each school has a different culture, a different student population and a different set of values and like Davis mentioned our frame is orientated towards the school’s location and situation.  

A constructivist path

     My expatriate journey began as Post Graduate Certificate in Education student in England during the late 1990s. The paving stones of our course were laid in constructivism and we were encouraged to apply the knowledge of the notable men to our lesson plans and practicums. Vygotsky's (1986, as cited by Philips, 1995) zone of proximal development and axis of learning were ingrained in our program. We were schooled in the importance of how learners construct knowledge best through authentic activity, within their zones of proximal  development and that skills required coaching before a learner reached independence or mastery. 

Reflecting upon Artefact 11 (Cooper, 2019), reminded me of my first real teaching job as a Year 1 (Kindergarten) teacher in inner city London in a school that was not very culturally diverse, 98% Indian. Our headmaster and deputy head were very strict and they actually read our lesson plan overviews and would regularly check lesson plans but this thorough investigative behaviour helped me to apply Bruner’s (1960, as cited by Cholewinski, 2009) ideas by revisiting concepts and building knowledge. In my classroom during ‘Numeracy Hour’ this would look like activity centers that would evolve in complexity and build mastery of knowledge and skills. Teaching Year 1 means there was a large focus on social constructivism and this was developed through play. For instance, if we were looking at community helpers, the classroom would be set up as a mini town: a grocery store, a doctor’s office, a school and a home so this laid the foundation for learners to interact authentically and work on not only communication skills but also build knowledge and skills. The students schooled me in sharing their prior knowledge of these places and roles and requested unfamiliar items to be included, they constructed their knowledge in a very Bruner-like (1996, as cited by Chowlinski, 2009) pedagogy. Being a large Indian population the students use of cultural tools was quite different from my own, but I soon grew to love these differences. Bell Hooks (1994) would explain this as opening up myself to being a learner in my own classroom. Through this understanding, as a classroom community we learned what was valued and this manifested into improved social function (Vygotsky 1986, as cited by Chowlinski, 2009), which is the goal of many Kindergarten teachers. 

At the very beginning of this course, through the Epistemology quiz in Artefact 2 I discovered that my own framework was harkened to Jane Addams (Cooper, 2019). I believe that the beginning of my journey in an inner city school that had a powerful community with strong values was similar to some of the work that Jane Addams did during her time (Jane Addams, 2019). A strong community can produce powerful action in its members. 

A critical language turn 

          Toronto, especially in the diverse neighbourhoods found in the inner city, can be viewed through a lens of metrolingualism. Albury in his 2017 article on “Mother Tongues and Languaging in Malaysia” uses the term to describe how linguists now avoid the study of  languages and look at studying language, more specifically about how we use context and different language structures to negotiate and navigate a multilingual setting. The dawn of Y2K found me teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) at George Webster Elementary school which is known for its high ESL  and low socioeconomic status population. 

Chua Shou, his name will forever remain in my heart and soul since I failed him. Our Artefact 19 (Cooper, 2019) on critical theory and my own presentation, Artefact 15 (Cooper, 2019)  gave me a moment of pause to consider language acquisition, reflect upon his progress as my student and my practice at the time through the lens of critical theory. During this time period, it was in vogue to focus on mother tongue, a very western Christian colonized concept (Albury, 2017) and when I taught Chua Shou I mistakenly focused on Mandarin. In my ignorance, I did not realize that China had so many differing dialects and that was not his mother tongue but the language he used only in school, whereas his home language was a little known dialect. If I had thought more critically of the concept of mother tongue, as suggested by Kincheloe and McLaren (2011) and considered the importance of context of his learning, the reasons why that the idea of ‘mother tongue’ was so predominant, then possibly I could’ve offered support through a different lens and method. As Albury (2017) explains, Asians have a different view of language and the Chinese beliefs are similar in fashion to the Malaysians, they use different languages in different contexts and social situations. In larger cities, two parents could come from two different dialects, which are still used in the household since grandparents often lived in the home and the precious one child, the little emperor, would  be exposed to 2 dialects plus learn Mandarin at school. When Chua Shuo came to me, he was not really an ESL student but an English as Additional Language student. However, the movement to analyze language as opposed to languages would not begin until nearly a decade later. 

At first, Chua Shuo was highly engaged and similar to Genie (1971 as cited by Intelecom Learning, 2006) in that he was obsessed with labeling. I labeled everything in the classroom with English and Chinese characters, not realizing that Chua Shuo had a very limited understanding of Chinese characters. He truly struggled with his enunciation, and he was a painfully shy child who did not like to make mistakes so I wondered, if like Genie had those sounds already been pruned away? He continued to progress backwards, at the time seeking support in the Toronto District School Board was a two year wait, and so we continued to focus on promoting his mother tongue. Possibly if I had reflected critically that maybe the idea of the importance of mother tongue was not the answer I could have moved to more contextual learning, but I was stuck in a quagmire of TDSB required documentation to be used with ESL students, documents that were created by the board following Mike Harris’ lead of the ‘Common Sense Revolution’. 

Like many ESL teachers, I felt there was paradox of the needs of the classroom teacher to develop a student’s vocabulary and language skills to match the unit of study but often, the students needs to function and communicate with their peers was often given a second place status. Poor Chua Shuo went from attempting simple sentences, to reverting to using only single words and finally at the end of the year he could only be coaxed to using body language to communicate. Nearly two years later, he was found to have dyslexia, processing issues and be on the spectrum for Aspergers. A lack of experience and too much faith in the politics of the day had failed me. 

180 degree turn to acquisition theory and behaviorism

           The itch to get back on the road was flaring up, so I took a leave from TDSB and with my boyfriend entered the metropolis of ancient Canton, or it’s more modern pseudonym Guangzhou, China to teach English to local high school students. It was a completely different form of teaching and I was absolutely stunned; not only by the morning exercises done in drill sergeant unison in a yard by a thousand plus kids, or  the Chairman Mao eyes exercises performed post lunch, but by the nearly partisan behaviourism that was their pedagogy. My frame nearly shattered and I struggled to adjust to this “embodiment of a Teaching Machine” (Skinner 1958 as cited by Sulzer-Azaroff, 2004). We were expected to teach the students oral English using the exact same 45 minute lesson, with absolutely no deviation, 6 times a day, 5 days a week.

Flexing the frame to allow some of my own epistemology to be breathed into this doctrine means I tried to bring some fun into the classroom. Artefact 13 (Cooper, 2019) reminded me of using ‘Chinese Whisper’, which was renamed ‘Canadian Whisper’ much to the students delight, since it was used as a technique for practicing phrases and vocabulary (Sulzer-Azaroff, 2004), often with hilarious results. Both my boyfriend, now husband, and I were camp counsellors and we found some tried and tested games helped the students to feel like they were practicing English in a social context and therefore was more relevant. At first, it was challenging since there is a large social stigma to be correct in Asian culture, and in particular for student to not embarrass themselves in front of a lowly geiwlo or foreigner. However, by being vulnerable (Hooks, 1994) and willing to practice Chinese with them in the role of teacher, they realized it was a safe environment. A fun, engaging and safe environment lead to frequent practice, positive reinforcement and good results (Sulzer-Azaroff, 2004). In addition, in order to learn through a storyline we had students perform role play dialogue, we allowed the students to make suggestions as to what topics they would enjoy (e.g. asking someone to go out, talk about a movie, ask about a hobby) and co-created short dialogues they could practice.

Acquisition theory was also alive and well, it could be seen in their practice of how they treated students; only giving them numbers instead of names, it was a very impersonal approach. We tried to change this practice and in our naiveté asked them to choose an English name; I still remember a delightful Christmas card inscribed, ‘Merry Christmas Mel from Penis’ so it seems teenage male body humour crosses many cultures. Local Chinese teachers definitely felt the students were empty vessels that needed to be filled with their impressive and superior knowledge. Although, there was very little focus on the application of knowledge since the Chinese believe in paying for volume of knowledge as assessed by large vocabulary lists or the ability to memorize conjugated verbs. They believe knowledge is power and this aligns with Sfard’s (1998) description about knowledge being property, highly valued property. 

After a few months, I was asked by my employers to create a bridging program, something that would bring together Western teaching methods into a Chinese classroom. They saw the success we were having; the positive impact on learning that is fun, enjoyable and how it does increase recall and application. They had read articles and knew that a marriage between East and West would be powerful. This was a nearly impossible task, since the biggest challenge was the amount of content that their curriculum contained and the intense standardized tests that required rote responses. Students would memorize entire essays to write, and their scoring went reverse in the sense that they started at 100 and were deducted as opposed to a Western idea where we add up to a total. My attempt focused on the spiraling of Bruner, the activity of Dewey and the collaboration of Vygotsky. It stimulated some of the most challenging epistemology discussions I had ever had, since I was rather accustomed to engaging with like minded individuals  in a classroom or workplace. To engage, evaluate and justify your beliefs to someone with an entirely different view was very powerful in clarifying what was important to me as a teacher.

 Coming to the light of inquiry and knowledge construction

 Soon after this epiphany of realizing what my own epistemology was, I realized I was not at all happy in the teaching machine or even working with Chinese teachers on an impossible journey. Discovering the existence of international schools changed my life and set me on a  path that I did not know was even in possible. I believed the godfathers of constructivism but was left with the question, “What represents an effective instructional design to support collaborative learning?” (Hong & Sullivan, 2009, p613).

Finding the International Baccalaureate Organization (2019) framework at the American International School of Guangzhou was bit like finding freedom again in teaching and that true teaching was valued (Hooks, 1994). Artefact 16 (Cooper, 2019) focused on knowledge creation and it aligns well with the IB’s vision, in fact all 3 levels of the IB have a focus on knowledge creation as a keystone (Hong & Sullivan, 2009). The IB encourages an engaged pedagogy that values student choice, responsibility and expression. In a Primary Years Program (2019) inquiry classroom one must be vulnerable, it’s encouraged to explain to students you do not know the answer but that you will guide them down the correct path to locate the correct answer. The PYP essential elements are concept, skills, knowledge, attitude and action (International Baccalaureate Organization, 2019) and this aligns with knowledge creation as outlined by Hong and Sullivan (2009) since it is concept or idea-centred, has a focus on the skills of organization and collaboration, it encourages a flexible classroom environment and it’s adaptive. The IB framework is a great frame of concepts.

 It is widely used by international schools since families seek the continuity without truly realizing the benefits, in this day and age it is no longer how much you know but to have the metacognition to understand how you learn and to have the ability to apply concepts to a wide range of situations. Arriving at this point in my learning journey was nearly a Buddhist moment of self-actualization (Hooks, 1994).

Turning to learning spaces for a community

         Time on the road of being an international IB classroom teacher was well spent, but that urge to metamorphosis was calling. All literacies are my  passion and I became a librarian at the International School of Phnom Penh in Cambodia, just in time to  be a part of our school initiative to create a new Media  Center. Our goal was similar to what Jamieson (2003) discussed in his article about designing learning spaces; we needed a place for learning that made resources accessible and increased the flexibility for the forms of learning that could happen within it. Artefacts 8 and 9 (Cooper, 2019) elevated my sense of pride since we managed to create a space that embodied Jamieson (2019) learning space ideals.

Our school was not purpose built; it was a village of two floor villas connected by walkways, and at one point I had a classroom in a kitchen as well as a master bedroom. At first, the library was two former small dark bedrooms with a wall knocked out, then students would travel single file down a tiny dim hall and they entered another bedroom/ computer lab with a tiny window. Jamieson would have said that the structure of the space did not invite learning, the lighting alone made parts seem more like a dungeon. The tables and chairs were too high for most of our students and it had limited flexibility. The rigidity of the house structure impacted teaching and learning.

As we redesigned the space, Jamieson (2003) would be pleased since we focused on: comfort level, aesthetic impact, ‘fit out the space’ and considered the layout to encourage student centered activities. Our students could access books on appropriate low level shelves and technology was mobile through laptops and netbooks. More windows were installed and the seating was adaptable with low tables and cushions for collaborative work, a carpet space for whole class lessons and a cuddly corner or two for reading independently. Signage was students friendly, including pictures to enable students locate favourite characters and authors in picture books. The space could allow for two whole classes plus some small groups, therefore our ability to conduct student driven inquiry and enable students to access a wide variety of resources was greatly increased. Our teachers were pleased, and since many of them followed Kath Murdoch’s inquiry cycle (2008) which was similar to Diehm and Lupton’s (2012) approaches to learning, they embraced integration more since we could work together and co-teach in the space. Students were able to find information by doing, looking through books, and trial and error to figure out if it was the correct resource or asking people, like the librarians. A space with shelving and baskets was made for materials to support research; pencils, coloured pencils, post-it notes etc. And teachers began inviting me to attend planning meetings and so we could effectively plan our collaboration. Library time became more meaningful; either working on approaches to learning or focusing more on literary elements. 

Detouring on to the ramp to connectivism

             Speeding through time and the implication and integration of technology in schools was rapidly changing, I went from using PC netbooks and a few mac laptops to a fully mac school at the American International School of Budapest. As a librarian this was very exciting and my epistemology broadened to include  George Siemens (2011)   connectivism  theory to my map. Networking, within school and beyond our borders was a big focus. My elementary principal and her tech director husband had a progressive vision for bringing the realms of library, literacy coaches and technology together as a single team literacy team in order to teach skills to build information literacy, digital literacy and of course old school literature.    According to Siemens (2011) this cross pollination would result in deeper learning for our students as well as ourselves as educators. Using Google applications to communicate and share with colleagues supported our skill development, provided authentic modeling for our students and supported our building of knowledge in our school learning communities. Networking in a smaller safe environment, prepared me to go wider, more global.

 Beyond our school, Google applications were being used by librarians to share information about author visits, issues with vendors and shipping plus book promotion. We utilized Google Sites, spreadsheets and Google Groups to further develop our own practice and to truly use networking to our advantage. Becoming a connectivist teacher supported my transition to my extremely challenging role in Singapore.

Commuting through the community of inquiry 

         Our school is a behemoth; 2,500 students strong with the primary library servicing over 1,500 of them. In the beginning I met with over 70 different classroom teachers, so this took collaboration to an entirely new level and the community of inquiry framework described by D. Randy Garrison, Terry Anderson & Walter Archer in 2000 seemed to best outline how to function as a professional learning community. 

The community of inquiry has foundation in practical inquiry models from Dewey as well as a social-constructivist theory model (Akyol & Garrison, 2011). It has three main components in a Venn diagram to help professionals build a positive functional community: social presence, cognitive presence and teacher presence. The goal, one that is very challenging when beginning a new collaborative role, is creating “personal but purposeful relationships” (Garrison et al, 2007 p. 160). When there are 10 teachers on one team, I found it best to try and establish a relationship with the lead teacher on a team, or if we did not gel then someone who had similar interests. In this case, I found that Twitter was helpful since the community of ‘tweeters’ is a smaller one and had a similar mindset,  it helped to build a sense of camaraderie.  The cognitive presence is a lens to view a group working collaboratively on a problem, connecting ideas and applying them. Our work on using a “Proof of Concept” when evaluating and piloting  new applications reflects this model. There’s a trigger or problem in which teachers communicate and begin to explore various options to solve it. Teachers will pilot a potential solution with different groups. And all of this is achieved through our network, in our case we utilized Google applications like forms for surveys, hangouts to discuss issues and spreadsheets to track data. Finally, the last lense is teacher presence which focuses on the design of a lesson(s), the goals that are set and the directions given. An application for librarians is we build curated sets of resources with the teachers and upload them on a platform, Libguides, which are accessed by students and teachers during their inquiry. Overall, the community of inquiry helps to reflect upon how a very large network of teachers can work effectively to build a professional learning community.

Next station stop is Osaka 

         Looking ahead is another transition, to Japan’s Osaka International School. It will be time for the frame to shift again and I wonder how my epistemology will evolve and adapt in a small school of less than 300, working with students from K-12 and living in a country that truly is nearly homogeneous in its culture. I am confident that my background in a diverse number of classical theories like constructivism, behaviorism and participation and acquisitions theories plus new frameworks like connectivism and community of inquiry will support my transition. I’m wondering what will be added to my principles of learning? 

References

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(2006). Thinking and Language [Video file]. Intelecom Learning. Retrieved February 23, 2019, from Kanopy.