The End?

Here it is at last, the final blog. I feel there should be a fanfare or a parade to signal the end of this era, but I suspect this is just the start.

I've spent a while reflecting on what I could discuss in my final blog. Do I discuss all that I've learned? Do I expound on twenty-first century learning? Whether it is know, be or do, vertical and horizontal curriculum scanning, the different forms of education we have seen throughout this semester, it is all absolutely integral to the way in which I now view teaching.

Coming into this year, I admit, I thought of myself as more a history major than a education major. Perhaps it's the result of my program and the way in which education is integrated directly into the curriculum we see in university, it remains invisible. However, this course set us out working with documents, set up our knowledge of twenty-first century learning and encouraged interaction with education on a higher level, incorporating both the global perspective on education as well as the Ontario curriculum. As a result, I have decided that this blog would be best representative of my learning if I were to illustrate what my personal know, be and do are, coming out of this course.

Know:

• First and foremost, know your students. Although I have gone on rants about how accessible the curriculum is to them, it is their education that you are facilitating, not your own.
• This is not to suggest that a teacher cannot learn in the classroom. Quite the opposite in fact, allow your students, their perspectives and experiences to educate you. We live in a world where classroom management is shifting and student perspectives are now considered vital. So use and incorporate them whenever you can. Just know when.
• Know the new story styles of learning. That does not mean to throw out all of the fundamentals of the old story but rather to augment and update as suits your needs. Use these stories as fluid ways to shape your own individual style, based on circumstance and requirement.
• Finally, know your curriculum. I'm ashamed to admit that going into this year I didn't. Now in many ways I do and am able to use government documents in a more succinct and effective fashion.

Do:

• Analyze. Students (at least in history) are constantly encouraged to analyze and explore. This needs to be done both in classroom and curriculum building to create the greatest amount of effectiveness possible.
• Synthesize. Combine bits and pieces of what is/isn't working and move forward from there. Teaching is fluid but more importantly, adjustable.
• Empathize. Explore how best to connect to your students as well as to encourage empathy within a larger context, locally, nationally and internationally, to both raise awareness and action.

Be:

• Be innovative. Although the curriculum stipulates certain opinions and ideologies, that does not mean you cannot create a framework of your own in which to teach them. From integrated curriculums to genius hour, inspire connections and originality in yourself and your class.
• Be creative and encourage your students to be as well. I'm sick of people telling me they aren't creative when every original idea we have as human beings is original and creative in each unique way.
• Be yourself. Hokey? Yes. Corny? Yes. But everyone is different (even more hokey!) and it's about time we started recognizing that both in our students and in ourselves. It really makes all the difference in who we are as people's d therefore as teachers.

These are my takeaways, they might not be everyone’s, but I believe there is something to be said for each of these elements, and how they can enrich the general experience of the twenty-first century learner, as well as that of the twenty-first century teacher.

Thanks for reading and 'till next time,

A. Gallacher