Module 1: Professional Planning
Part 1: Professional Development in the form of Action Research
My Past Actions Inform My Future Practice
I have been teaching internationally for 14 years. In that time, I have had roles that include junior classroom teacher, French teacher, Learning support/SEN teacher, high school English teacher, and more recently a teacher for Bilingual and Multilingual Learners (BMLs).
There was one article and one video that particularly resonated with me. The first, Culturally Relevant Pedagogy: Ingredients for Critical Teacher Reflection, by Tyrone C. Howard, made me realize how important my experiences in culturally-rich environments have positively affected me as a teacher. He suggests that preservice teachers should be exposed to, and “critically analyze important issues such as race, ethnicity, and culture, and recognize how these important concepts shape the learning experience for many students (195). In my B.Ed. program at OISE, I had the opportunity to work in a lycée in Paris for my final in-service placement. While the students all came from a lower-income tax bracket, they were a mix of French nationals and North African immigrants. While I could see a lot of race issues arising in the classroom and on the playing field, I did not see them being addressed. Still in preservice, and as a foreigner, I didn’t feel comfortable speaking up at the time, but in hindsight, I wish I had.
In another teaching post, in a uni-cultural rural English high school, I recall avoiding discussing certain religious issues because I was trying to avoid conflict in the classroom, rather than intentionally incorporating the issues into my lessons in a manner that promoted understanding and empathy rather than avoidance. After leaving that school, I realized that I should have seized that time as opportunities to bring diversity to students who have learned biases based on fear and non-exposure. As I took my teaching overseas and my cultural understanding grew, I was more equipped to bring racial, ethical, and cultural issues into my teaching on a regular basis. Some of the things that I’d proud of initiating include making available prayer and lunch rooms for Muslim students during Ramadan in Guyana and creating a multilingual literacy week in Japan. Next year, I’m planning on creating an LGBTQ+ safe space as well as a Language (Culture?) Ambassador program.
The video, Learning styles & the importance of critical self-reflection, made me think about my most recent role as a teacher of BMLs. So many times, our teaching values are based on incorrect assumptions, or even learnings. For many years, I believed that learning styles, rather than learning preferences, existed. So, my “differentiation” took into account different styles. One example is helping a boy remembering if a French noun is masculine or feminine. I suggested using one colour (black or blue) for masculine words, and another (red or green) for feminine words. I did so under the belief that he was a visual learner, and the colour may help him remember more. Only now do I realize that I was helping him put meaning into a new concept (as we have gender-neutral nouns in English), by relating colours that he associates with gender to the words. (Please note, that this was many years ago – I would change my approach now with my new understanding of gender identity). So, in my role as a teacher of BMLs and EAL coordinator, I challenged a previous school’s philosophy of “All English ALL the time” by presenting the importance of how translanguaging benefits language learners. I try to bring all four domains of language in each lesson, which fits into the idea that “incorporating more than one mode of sensory experiences in one lesson makes it more meaningful” as stated in the video.
As leaders in our classroom and schools, how do you help your colleagues and students transfer the skills you’ve provided them to make meaning in other subject areas or in their daily lives? What successful activities have you employed to bring multiculturalism to uni-cultural societies?
Under financial (and travel) constraints in 2020, how can we expose preservice teaching candidates to meaningful cross-cultural experiences to provide “a wider range of dynamic and fluid teaching practices?” (Howard, 198).
References:
Howard, T.C. (2003). Culturally Relevant Pedagogy: Ingredients for Critical Teacher Reflection. Theory into Practice. 42(3). 195-202.
Tedx Talks. (2015, April 2). Learning styles & the importance of critical self-reflection: Tesia Marshik: TEDxUWLaCrosse [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=855Now8h5Rs
There was one article and one video that particularly resonated with me. The first, Culturally Relevant Pedagogy: Ingredients for Critical Teacher Reflection, by Tyrone C. Howard, made me realize how important my experiences in culturally-rich environments have positively affected me as a teacher. He suggests that preservice teachers should be exposed to, and “critically analyze important issues such as race, ethnicity, and culture, and recognize how these important concepts shape the learning experience for many students (195). In my B.Ed. program at OISE, I had the opportunity to work in a lycée in Paris for my final in-service placement. While the students all came from a lower-income tax bracket, they were a mix of French nationals and North African immigrants. While I could see a lot of race issues arising in the classroom and on the playing field, I did not see them being addressed. Still in preservice, and as a foreigner, I didn’t feel comfortable speaking up at the time, but in hindsight, I wish I had.
In another teaching post, in a uni-cultural rural English high school, I recall avoiding discussing certain religious issues because I was trying to avoid conflict in the classroom, rather than intentionally incorporating the issues into my lessons in a manner that promoted understanding and empathy rather than avoidance. After leaving that school, I realized that I should have seized that time as opportunities to bring diversity to students who have learned biases based on fear and non-exposure. As I took my teaching overseas and my cultural understanding grew, I was more equipped to bring racial, ethical, and cultural issues into my teaching on a regular basis. Some of the things that I’d proud of initiating include making available prayer and lunch rooms for Muslim students during Ramadan in Guyana and creating a multilingual literacy week in Japan. Next year, I’m planning on creating an LGBTQ+ safe space as well as a Language (Culture?) Ambassador program.
The video, Learning styles & the importance of critical self-reflection, made me think about my most recent role as a teacher of BMLs. So many times, our teaching values are based on incorrect assumptions, or even learnings. For many years, I believed that learning styles, rather than learning preferences, existed. So, my “differentiation” took into account different styles. One example is helping a boy remembering if a French noun is masculine or feminine. I suggested using one colour (black or blue) for masculine words, and another (red or green) for feminine words. I did so under the belief that he was a visual learner, and the colour may help him remember more. Only now do I realize that I was helping him put meaning into a new concept (as we have gender-neutral nouns in English), by relating colours that he associates with gender to the words. (Please note, that this was many years ago – I would change my approach now with my new understanding of gender identity). So, in my role as a teacher of BMLs and EAL coordinator, I challenged a previous school’s philosophy of “All English ALL the time” by presenting the importance of how translanguaging benefits language learners. I try to bring all four domains of language in each lesson, which fits into the idea that “incorporating more than one mode of sensory experiences in one lesson makes it more meaningful” as stated in the video.
As leaders in our classroom and schools, how do you help your colleagues and students transfer the skills you’ve provided them to make meaning in other subject areas or in their daily lives? What successful activities have you employed to bring multiculturalism to uni-cultural societies?
Under financial (and travel) constraints in 2020, how can we expose preservice teaching candidates to meaningful cross-cultural experiences to provide “a wider range of dynamic and fluid teaching practices?” (Howard, 198).
References:
Howard, T.C. (2003). Culturally Relevant Pedagogy: Ingredients for Critical Teacher Reflection. Theory into Practice. 42(3). 195-202.
Tedx Talks. (2015, April 2). Learning styles & the importance of critical self-reflection: Tesia Marshik: TEDxUWLaCrosse [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=855Now8h5Rs