Imagination and Engagement Quality and Equality in Learning through Partnerships for Imaginative...
Transcript of Imagination and Engagement Quality and Equality in Learning through Partnerships for Imaginative...
Imagination and Engagement
Quality and Equality in Learning
through Partnershipsfor Imaginative
Education
Imagination and Engagement
… in Shifting Thinking about SchoolingKieran Egan, Simon Fraser University
… in Building Culturally Inclusive SchoolsMark Fettes, Simon Fraser University
… in Helping All Learners Reach Their Goals Debbie Leighton-Stephens,
BC School District 52 (Prince Rupert)
Imagination and Engagement
… in Shifting Thinking about Schooling
Kieran Egan, Simon Fraser University
Development of children’s minds
Social homogenizing
Knowledge accumulation
Psychological development
Cognitive tool acquisition −> kinds of understanding
What are cognitive tools? 75,000 years ago to today.
Kinds of Understanding
IE is based on five distinctive kinds of understanding that enable people to make sense of the world in different ways
Somatic Understanding (pre-linguistic) Mythic Understanding (oral language) Romantic Understanding (written
language) Philosophic Understanding (theoretic
use of language) Ironic Understanding (reflexive use of
language)
Somatic Understanding
understand experience in a physical, pre-linguistic way
Somatic: the body’s toolkit
• Bodily senses
• Emotional responses & attachments
• Humor & expectations
• Musicality, rhythm, & pattern
• Gesture & communication
• Intentionality“little factories of understanding”Ted Hughes
With the development of language--further little factories of understanding
Bodily senses
Emotional responses & attachments
Humour & expectations
Musicality, pattern & rhythm
Gesture & communication
Intentionality
Forming images from words/ abstract binary opposites
Story
Joking & buoyancy
Rhyme & meter & number sense
Puzzles
Metaphor
Sense of mystery
How do the tools in the left column turn into, blend with, develop distinctly from those in the right column? How do the tools in the second column develop, or develop distinctly, from those in column one?
Mythic Understanding
understand experience through oral language no longer limited to making sense of the world through direct physical experience can now rely on language to discuss, represent, and understand even things not experienced in person
Mythic: Oral language’s tool kit
Story Abstract and affective binary opposites Affective images Jokes and humor Mystery and wonder
From cognitive tools to planning teaching
The story form framework
1. Identifying importance : What is most important about this topic?
Why should it matter to children?
What is affectively engaging about it?
2. Finding binaryopposites:
What powerful, affective binary opposites
catch the importance of the topic?
3. Organizing content into story form :
3.1. What content most dramatically embodies the binary opposites, in order toprovide access to the topic?
3.2. What content best articulates thetopic into a story form?
4. Conclusion : What is the best way of resoling the
dramatic conflict inherent in the binaryopposites?
What degree of mediation of thoseopposites is it appropriate to seek?
5. Evaluation:How can one know whether the topic has been understood, its
affective importance grasped, and the content learned?
Examples
Teaching place value in grade 2
Teaching “properties of the air” in grade 3
Romantic Understanding
understand experience through written language realization of independence and separateness from a world that appears increasingly complex relate readily to extremes of reality, associate with heroes, and seek to make sense of the world in human terms
Romantic cognitive tools: from oral to literate culture
Cinderella to Superman: Peter Rabbit to Hazel and Bigwig
‘win’ in ‘window’ : ‘at’ from ‘cat’ : stop and watch the stopwatch
White bears on Novaya Zemla; Blue shamrocks on Sirius 5.
Romantic: Literacy’s toolkit
Extremes and limits of reality Associating with the heroic Matters of detail Humanizing knowledge Romance, wonder, and awe
Examples
Teaching about eels in grade 8
Teaching “interior opposite angles are congruent” in grade 7
General principle
All knowledge is human knowledge; it grows out of human hopes, fears, and passions. Imaginative engagement with knowledge comes from learning in the context of the hopes, fears, and passions from which it has grown or in which it finds a living meaning.
THE LUCID PROJECT
Imagination and Engagement in Culturally Inclusive
Schools
Some insights from a Community-University Research Alliance
Mark Fettes, Simon Fraser University
Funded by the Community-University Research Alliances programof the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada
Diversity, quality and equality
Diversity is…
• a defining feature of teachers’ work that schools are ill-designed to accommodate, perpetuating unequal outcomes
• a fact of life in modern societies that requires intellectual and emotional engagement and dialogue based on knowledge and understanding
• a potential resource for teaching and learning that offers much of value for academic, social and personal development in schools
Inclusion through imagination
• A theory of learning that views all cultures as educative and all students as capable of creative and energetic thought
• A set of principles for connecting the facts, concepts, and skills of the mainstream curriculum with the roots of human meaning
• An approach to classroom teaching that works with learners from diverse backgrounds and with a diversity of abilities and needs
Teaching in layers
• Look for the transcendent qualities of any topic, such as wonder, courage, wisdom, ingenuity, rebellion, power, beauty
• Plan a narrative structure for the unit that will allow your students to experience these qualities for themselves, and incorporate cognitive tools (tools of imaginative engagement) that keep heart, head and hands working together
• Draw on the resources of your students and their communities to build an increasingly complex picture of the human meaning of the topic
Transcendent qualities
Narrative frame
Facts, concepts, skills
Strategies and activities
Tools a
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Three examples
• The following teaching plans were developed by teachers in the LUCID project, in BC School Districts 33 (Chilliwack), 50 (Queen Charlotte/Haida Gwaii) and 52 (Prince Rupert).
• These plans have all been used in mainstream school classes following the BC curriculum.
• We have seen a consistent pattern of engagement in these classes, in which students who are typically disengaged, and may even be written off by other teachers, show themselves to be energetic and talented learners.
The Spirit of Haida Gwaii A Grade 8 English Unit
By Leslie Puley, School District 50
Finding purpose in Grade 8 English
Here we are at last, a long way from Haida Gwaii, not too sure where we’re going, still squabbling and vying for position in the boat, but somehow managing to appear to be heading in some direction. At least the paddles are together, and the man in the middle seems to have some vision of what is to come.…
— Bill Reid
• In this unit, the canoe becomes an image of the classroom and all the characters on the boat are all the students in the class.
• Students will be imagining that life on the boat is their time during high school when they’re learning and figuring out their options for the future. The big question is what will happen to the characters when the boat lands? Or, metaphorically what will happen to the students in their lives after school? How will they contribute to society?
• Bill Reid asks us if there is a purpose to the journey at all…
Activities
• Discuss metaphors for community in poetry and art
• Write about a character in Reid’s sculpture
• Listen to Reid’s essay and the teacher’s adaptation of it
• Read Haida stories about the canoe characters
• Practice comprehension, vocabulary, etc in variety of ways
• Watch the video “Spirit of Haida Gwaii”
• Compose a portfolio for one character (description, poem, resume, achievement award)
• Engage with a speaker from the community who talks about Haida storytelling traditions and their relevance to contemporary life
• Apply what you have learned to produce something relevant to your own life and future goals (using writing, art, music, etc).
Mosquito Woman
An oral language teaching cycle
by Tannis Calderin collaboration with School District
33
Oral language in place
The program was initially designed for a school where about a third of the students are Aboriginal, and traditional reading programs have had little success
Each cycle of activities is based on a traditional narrative of the Sto:lo, the River People
A transcendent quality central to the story provides the overarching theme of the cycle
Activities are carefully ordered to engage the students with increasing levels of challenge and reward
A multi-week cycle
A cycle lasts 3-4 weeks and progresses through four stages:
First Encounter (listening to the story told orally, exploring it through guided imagery)
Preparation/ Immersion (learning the story through rhyme/rhythm, building vocabulary through Mystery Words and other games)
Creating/Inventing/Reimagining (one-minute talks, short role plays, and other short projects)
Celebration/Integration (dramatic retellings, enactments, audio and video recordings)
Some engaging verse…
When darkness fa!s and mothers call
For all their children big and small,
Th’owxeya with her basket deep
Seeks out to snatch those not asleep.
Th’owxeya’s evil appetite
Is sated only with a bite
Of young, sweet children who neglect
To hurry home before sunset. …
Some mystery words…
The first part of the this word means bad or wrong.
This is what happens when something goes wrong when listening or talking
The last part of the word comes from the root word “common.” It means “shared by all” or “together.”
Miscommunication
A skipping rhyme…
Tho’wxeya, Tho’weya, big and mean,
Push her in the fire and hear her scream,
It wasn’t a joke,
There wasn’t any smoke,
How many skeeters came out to poke?
1, 2, 3, 4, 5.....
Achieving multiple goals
Students normally silent and passive become active and thoughtful participantsAboriginal culture and values infuse part of the regular curriculumFamilies are brought closer to the world of the school The focus on written, formal language is enriched by a new appreciation for the beauty and power of spoken languageMythic understanding is retrieved and developedPower relations in the classroom shift toward co-creation (become more “horizontal”)
A Time For … Ha’liAn Imaginative Year Plan based on the
Ts’msyen Calendar for the Grade 7 CurriculumBy Colleen Pudsey and Raegan Sawka, School District 52
We would like to recognize the Elders of the Ts’msyen Nation, Sm’alygax Language Teachers and the First Nations Education Services Department of School District #52 (Prince Rupert) for their hard work and dedication in developing the cross-curricular units and resources for our district. Their mentorship and these materials played an integral part in the development of our Imaginative Yearlong Framework.
A Year-Long Journey• Each student is part of a Crest group symbolized by an animal (wolf, raven, eagle, orca); students without a crest are adopted in a December feast
• The crest animals represent heroic qualities that are also to be found in each curriculum topic and in traditional “true tellings” (adaawx)
• The curriculum follows the rhythm of the seasons and of community life
• Culminating activities affirm students’ accomplishments throughout the year
Five Curriculum Phases
Clans and Crest Phase (September)Community, narrative, history, identity
Creation Phase (October-November)Astronomy, geology, exploration, physical fitness
Feast Phase (December)Art, nutrition, formal speaking, cooperation
Energy Phase (January-February)Physics, technology, natural resources, sports
Survival Phase (March-June)Ecology, biology, literature, outdoor skills
LUCID and educational change
Working with teachers• Workshops, M.Ed. Program, planning, teaching,
assessment
Working with districts and First Nations • Good collaboration but hard to change systems
Working with students and parents• Units are relatively easy, consistency is hard
Developing curriculum resources• Greater use of / demand for local resources
Imagination means struggle
Imagination and Engagement
in Helping All LearnersReach Their Goals
Debbie Leighton-StephensDistrict Principal of Aboriginal EducationSchool District 52 (Prince Rupert)
Sagaayt Hakalelsm (Work together)
Hagwil Yaan (Walk slowly)
Haawks
(Believe)
Sagaayt Hakalelsm
- build positive partnerships that are:
• genuine
• respectful
• and appreciate diversity
Hagwil Yaan
- take time to develop relationships
- listen & learn
- build trust
- change takes time
Haawks
-know your learners
-believe in your learners
-high standards
-empower - don’t save
Engaging & Imaginative Learning
Teaching from our Feast halls:
-everyone has a place
-everyone works together
-everyone has a purpose
- hearts and minds are involved in
learning
- learning is challenging & relevant
- learning is fun & interesting
Research Protocol
PRINCIPLES
1. Researchers will conduct research in partnership with Aboriginal people.
2. Researchers respect the culture, traditions and knowledge of First Nations people.
3. Researchers have an obligation to understand and observe the protocol concerning communications within the Aboriginal community.
Signing the protocol agreement