Some Funnies (or so I thought...)

Something to chew on...

Thanks to my colleague, Leslie Burchat (whose blog you all have to check out!), I learned about a new website today called World Mapper (www.worldmapper.org). It's an online collection of maps that can be reshaped and distorted depending on which factors or variables are being researched.

For example...


This map reflects global youth literacy. According to the website:

Most of the young people living in most territories can read and write. Only five territories have lower than 50% youth literacy rates. Four of these five are in Northern Africa. Japan recorded the highest rate of youth literacy for a single territory.The highest number of literate youth live in Eastern Asia, where the youth literacy rate is 98.9%. Of the 12 regions, 8 have youth literacy rates of over 95%.

This map shows global adult literacy. World Mapper reports:

The percentage of literate adults is lower than that of literate youth in every region of the world. The biggest differences are 17% in Northern Africa, 13% in Central Africa, and 11% in Southeastern Africa. The smallest difference between youth and adult literacy rates is 1% in Japan.The largest populations of literate adults live in China, India and the United States. India has a literacy rate of 61%, the other two territories have rates of 91%.

These maps just scratch the surface. There are so many other variables that you have students investigate and the map will stretch and distort accordingly. The obvious benefactors are students in taking geography - especially World Issues. This is quite a nifty tool to get some really interesting critical literacy discussions happening. These maps are great visuals that can be used to talk about the influence of power relations, gender, race, class and identity in relation to any number of the factors that can be mapped on this website. I love this!

Critical Literacy and Religion: An Androgynous Jesus?

How's this for an interesting lesson in critical literacy for religion teachers! I have never seen Christ rendered in any art form quite like this. The following excerpt comes from a website that deals with Christ iconography:

This image "Jesus of the People" by Janet McKenzie portrays Jesus as relatively androgynous and as black. Edwina Sandys' Christa portrays Jesus as a woman hanging on the cross, and was extremely controversial. Reinterpretations like these make the symbol of Jesus Christ accesible to people who do not wish to accept the traditional white European male image. Many feminists have chosen to reinterpret Christ, not visually but theoretically, and this is often labeled feminist christology.<(http://www2.kenyon.edu/Depts/Religion/Projects/Reln91/Gender/qchristology.htm)

This exercise is a great opportunity to look at conventional portrayals of Jesus and discuss why they were chosen or deemed acceptable? By whom? For what purpose? Are there any underlying issues of power that are implicated in certain portrayals of Christ? Why are most renderings of Christ reflect a man of northern European descent as opposed to Middle Eastern ancestry?

I would LOVE to hear what students have to say on this. I think this sort of activity is guaranteed to promote high levels of engagement because:
1.) it's inquiry based learning
2.)it involves a great deal of inductive reasoning (your boys will thank you)
3.)it's highly controversial - what teenager doesn't like to challenge the status
quo?
4.)students are doing all the meaning-making, while participating in highly academic
processes(research, synthesis, evaluation, etc.)

In the past, I have challenged my students to create their own artistic renderings of Jesus and the diversity is astounding. Their creations often reflect their own personal relationship with Jesus. I have often taught this sort of lesson in the context of discussing how the four gospels provide very distinct representations of who Jesus is (supported by an article called "The Four Faces of Jesus"). I have done this lesson with grade 10 students taking the Christ in Culture course. A sure winner!

Differentiated Instruction is a Social Justice Issue - Not Simply a Cliche...

As a Catholic Educator, I have a hard time understanding how D.I. could be viewed as anything but a social justice issue. For that matter, despite being a Catholic educator, I truly believe that any educator who sees him or herself as the caring adult in the classroom would regard differentiation as not only the "right" thing to to do, but the ONLY thing to do.

Differentiation also supports the teaching of 21st century skills:

*Students need to learn by doing – more authentic; encourages life-long learning (Dewey)

*Learning through problem-solving and critical thinking (i.e. we don’t want to teach our students science; we want them to become scientists)

*Problem-solving and curiosity expand understanding

*Collaborative technologies prepare them for work outside the classroom

*Students are increasingly expected to express their work in multimedia formats; teachers need to incorporate these formats in the day-to-day routine of the classroom

The world is a different place. Our teaching methodologies and strategies need to reflect our acceptance that we are preparing students for jobs that don't even exist yet. Our students are engaging in reading and writing in ways that we never have. Instead of being afraid and holding on to age-old practices, I think it's time to involve our students in the planning of their own learning. It might inspire them to care more. This goes back to a previous posting about making learning relevant. When students can see how they fit into what they are learning, then they will learn it. They will WANT to be in school. They would want to be there because they are participating in learning activities that honour where they are and what they like. They will want to be there because they get to demonstrate what they know in a way that best suits their learning preferences. They will have a new-found respect for their teachers as people who genuinely understand who they are and what they are capable. If students learned in an environment where they were constantly set up to succeed, I don't know that there would be as much talk around the need to get graduation rates up in the province. It would be a non-issue.

Some Must-Reads for Teachers!

I love these books! They really should be on every teacher's bookshelf...

Joan Wink - - - Critical Pedagogy: Notes From the Real World



Christopher Spence - - - The Joys of Teaching Boys



Colin Lanshear and Michele Knobel - - - A New Literacies Sampler



bell hooks - - - Teaching to Transgress



Patrick Finn - - - Literacy With an Attitude



I'm not done with this list quite yet. One of things that I am most grateful for as I wrote my Master's dissertation and in my role as Program Resource Teacher, is that I have come across some truly amazing resources that I probably never would have known about as a classroom teacher. This is not a good thing. That's why I wanted to start this list, and I'm looking forward to hearing about what people think!

A Great Analogy

I think of our journey to transforming how we talk about teaching and learning literacy in the YCDSB in terms of the Medicine Wheel. The next couple of years will involve a lot of building and awareness, and no doubt there will be struggle. I think the greatest struggle will be in convincing teachers that they're already doing a lot of the good work that the Literacy Prism is promoting. Like with any initiative - whether it's new or a re-packaging and formalizing existing structures - there is bound to be initial resistance because people are afraid of what they don't know or are not comfortable with. I just thought I'd post this because when I came across this diagram, it so precisely represented what I was thinking about our progress to this point.

Acknowledging the Sins of the Past... Looking to a Future Rooted in Forgiveness and Trust

As a Catholic educator, I have to say that my faith has been given a bit of a boost and I must admit that the boost is coming from an unlikely source - the Pope! Chief Phil Fontaine is leading a delegation of residential school survivors to the Vatican for an audience with Pope Benedict in the hopes of securing an official apology for the role of the Roman Catholic Church in the countless abuses that took place at the hands of its priests and nuns at the residential schools. Fontaine said "This will be a historic moment for aboriginals, survivors of residential schools, and for Canadian society." He's absolutely right. Whether the pontiff issues an encyclical on the matter or not is not so important as the dialogue.





There has to begin a process of reconciliation and a general owning-up and I think this is a good way to start. When I read stats like over 150 000 children suffered abuse - physical, sexual and otherwise - from the 1950's to the 1970's, it makes me ill to think that these was institutionalized. That's why I am so proud to be a member of our Board's Aboriginal Education Steering Committee. We are making institutional changes that will facilitate this very-much needed process of forgiveness, so that we can begin to re-build trust with the families of Aboriginal ancestry. Hopefully, they will feel like they (the families) can openly and with a great sense of pride, claim their voice that has been traditionally silenced and self-identify.

I'm also so proud that the Literacy Prism is going to honour the holistic approach that is very much rooted in Aboriginal cultures. I'm thrilled that this is the direction that we're going in FINALLY! Change takes time. Trust me - in my few short years of teaching this is one lesson I've learned well. I think that through our professional development opportunities and through the infusion of a culturally proficient language, we'll see a shift in the current paradigm, which I can only describe as complacent - satisfied with the status quo since the people who are in charge are the ones who are benefitting, who have always benefitted at the expense of others. There is a lot of work to be done, from the curriculum - which we can work within - to the materials that we use in the classroom. I am confident that our teachers will respond to the call to transform their practice.

More Rigor... More Relevance... It's Possible!

On April 6 and 7, while at the Pathways to Partnerships Conference at the Fern Resort in Orillia, I attended two keynote addresses given by Willard Daggett, president and co-founder of the International Centre for Leadership and Education. When I heard he was American, my instinctive anti-American flags went up. (It happens when you spend so much time studying Canadian history, law and politics...) The reason why I even write this is that I figured that I would have to contextualize what was being said along the way. Surprisingly, a lot of what he said made sense. For me, the most compelling part of the presentation came in the form of the Rigor and Relevance Model (above). What I love about this is that it is learning that is anchored in real-world situations. It's contextualized learning. For me, it works. This is how I've always taught. The challenge is getting "buy in" from those who aren't doing this. In order for this model to work, there needs to be a culture that supports change and Education as a profession doesn't quite make the grade where change is concerned. Change takes place in society 4 to 5 times faster than it does in Education. Generally speaking, change - from the time of pre-implementation to implementation - takes about 5-10 years, but in Education it's 35-50. Does this bother anyone else?

In the grand scheme of things, I was just relieved to know that the work being done to develop and craft the Literacy Prism was in line with a lot of mainstream thinking. Every so often, I wonder if this framework will be seen as something new, even though it's not. I wonder if teachers will be leary to accept it because it looks a little different, even though we have been promoting these beliefs for quite some time. The Prism promotes rigor and relevance across the curriculum. I hope it will be received this way...

The "Rainbow Woman"

Ningwakwe (also known to many Canadians as Priscilla George) is a seasoned Aboriginal educator and has a strong commitment to the community. She has six years' experience coordinating Aboriginal literacy programs at the provincial level and 14 years' experience teaching. Ningwakwe's many accomplishments include, but are not limited to, receiving an International Women's Day Award, earning a Life Skills Coach certificate, authoring and co-authoring many papers on Aboriginal Literacy, and starting her own business. She was a teacher of Special Education and ESL within the Toronto District School Board as well as a Policy Advisor for the Native Education Policy Unit of the Ontario Ministry of Education and Training (MET).
Ningwakwe has recently been made President of the National Indigenous Literacy Association for which she is in demand across Canada as a speaker and consultant on Aboriginal literacy issues. (http://www.curriculum.org/csc/management.shtml)

To date, I have read a number of her discussion papers as well as the work that she published on the Rainbow Approach. I recommend all of her work. It is accessible and makes so much sense in a number of contexts. At the YCDSB, her model has been transformed and adapted to meet the needs of our students, but I think we have maintained the integrity of Ningwakwe's intentions - that is a holistic model that tends to mind, body, spirit and soul. This a brief overview of the Rainbow:

RED: “Red represents the language of origin of First Nations individuals and/or communities.”

ORANGE: “Orange symbolizes the skills required for oral literacy (speaking, listening…).”

YELLOW: "Yellow refers to the creative means by which Aboriginal Peoples had to learn to communicate with others who spoke another language or through other than the written word, by using symbols (pictographs, artwork, music) and/or sign language.”

GREEN: "Green refers to the literacy in the languages of the European newcomers to this land a little over five hundred years ago, English and/or French, and which have also been given the status of official languages.”

BLUE: "Blue refers to the skills required to communicate using technology.”

INDIGO: "Indigo refers to the skills required for spiritual or cultural literacy – the ability to interpret dreams, visions or natural events, which are seen to be messages from the Spirit World – the sighting of an animal, the shape of a cloud, seeing a certain person at a particular point in time, etc.”

VIOLET: "Violet refers to the holistic base to Aboriginal literacy, the way in which integrate all of the above – facilitating spiritual, emotional, mental and physical learning outcomes – striving for balance.”


This model was originally designed to work for adult literacy education programs but it's so beautifully universal that anyone's needs would be best served while learning under this model, don't you think?

A New Vision!

I am so excited about this initiative that I can hardly contain myself! It's been quite a while since I've felt this way when I come to work in the morning - and frankly, I haven't been teaching that long.

The Literacy Prism came about almost by accident. I was asked to sit in on our Board's Aboriginal Education Steering Committee. In trying to brainstorm what I could bring to the table in my role as Literacy Program Resource Teacher, I did what my students would have done and I "Googled". I typed in 'Aboriginal Literacy' and I clicked on a link to an article about the Rainbow/Holistic Approach to Aboriginal Literacy by Ningwakwe/E.Priscilla George. It's been a while since I've read anything that compelled me to action. Almost immediately, the vision for how this model could work for the students of our Board became quite clear.

I decided to start blogging about this process as a means of documenting its progress as well as facilitate professional discussion around the matter. We will be rolling this initiative out on May 6, 2009 to vice principals and one representative from literacy committees from each of our secondary schools. Publications are being printed and power points are being created for up-coming presentations. It's really a great time to be in this role.