The Wealth of an Individual Depends on the Value It Can Create. – Grow Your Own Economy

Last week I gave my first speech at BVC’s Toastmasters Club. Everyone said I would do well because I was a teacher; however, this kind of statement only made me feel worse. Presenting a speech in front of my peers terrified me, so I read an article titled: Fear of Public Speaking. 

In her article, Hildy Gottlieb says:

Here’s what I realized. When I was afraid to do Public Speaking, the fear was all about ME. What if I choke, what if I mess up, what if I don’t remember. Me me me.

But when I was teaching, it wasn’t about me at all. It was about the students (i.e. the audience) and the content.

The students needed to learn the content, and someone had to teach it to them. I could be boring or funny-looking or have my dress rip across the back (that really happened once - don’t ask!) and still what would matter was that I shared this critical information with as many people as possible otherwise they would never learn it!

Once I stopped focusing on me, me ,me… I was never nervous again.

The Toastmasters Club at BVC was started by the Centre in Excellence in Immigrant and Intercultural  Advancement and meets every Thursday during lunch. The meetings are timed to the minute to respect people’s prior commitments. At the moment, the Toastmasters Club at BVC is at capacity, but it is part of district 42 which offers many more clubs in the Calgary area –including one club which is hosted at the public library just next door. The following link can provide more information on how to find a club near you: http://d42tm.org/. The Toastmaster Club prides itself on creating better leaders, better interviewees, better hosts, and of course better speakers. What do you have to lose? Become more valuable!

Aboriginal Program Students Take Field Trip to Blackfoot Crossing - Susan Lemmer

 On October 30^th the students and instructors in the Aboriginal Program embarked on a journey to Blackfoot Crossing, an international historical and archeological site of the Blackfoot people. This is the original site where the Treaty 7 signing took place between the Canadian government and the Blackfoot Confederacy in the year 1877.  Blackfoot Crossing is approximately 100 kilometres east of Calgary, near the town of Cluny.

  Upon arriving, we entered a beautiful 62,000 square foot eco-friendly museum.   Initially, our Siksika tour guide showed us a short 10 minute video outlining the history and culture of the Blackfoot people.  We, then, were given a tour of the four main teepees, structures which represent the four themes of the Blackfoot people, creation, survival, celebration and storytelling.   Each teepee included a talk from our tour guide explaining several aspects of the culture, along with large pictures depicting the way of life of the Blackfoot people.  In the survival teepee our guide explained how the Blackfoot people survived on berries, small animals, in addition, the many uses of sweet grass.  (Sweet grass is used today by our elders Dila and Doris in our weekly smudges.) In the Survival teepee our tour guide explained the history of the Sundance, which, is still practiced by the Blackfoot in present times.  We enthusiastically took part in the variety of ways the information was conveyed from artifacts to interactive displays. Student, Robin Alexis stated she particularly enjoyed the interactive language centre, where she could actually learn some Blackfoot words, along with seeing a copy of the actual Treaty 7 displayed. 

 After the tour, the students engaged in a traditional lunch of fry bread and bannock. Many of the students took advantage of the diverse geographical landscape and walked along the beautiful trails which show a variety of landmarks, which include Chief Crowfoot’s last to last tipi and burial site. An experience of the culture of the Blackfoot People is certainly one to be enjoyed by everybody.

Curriculum Development Prototyping Session
December 1-2, 2014
Telus Spark

This two day session was part of the broader consultations on what the new curriculum should be. As such it has drawn on the insights of parents, businesses, educators, students and other Albertans who wish to engage in rethinking not just curriculum but the purpose of education - specifically the K-12 system - in the province.

The Alberta Education website http://education.alberta.ca/department/ipr/curriculum.aspx provides a launch pad for all the materials and surveys related to curriculum redesign. Anyone can contribute their input into the process.

The intentions appear to be genuine however the conversations about curriculum were often sidetracked or left behind as the issues of what I see as "system mechanics" (staffing, teacher education and preparation, textbooks etc.) became points of focus. I admit to frustration because while these are all important considerations, you cannot take the step to "inspired curriculum" by uncovering all the reasons why you cannot change the system. For my part I encouraged imagining the change we want to see and then structuring the system to deliver on those outcomes. I don't see how you can deliver on a whole new set of outcomes if you leave the system - designed as it was for outcomes associated with the industrial revolution - the same. Einstein is credited with the well known addage that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and hoping for different outcomes.

The systemic part that was for me most concerning is the language of scope and sequence. The linear progression of one thing after another is the backbone of education since the mid-1800s. We live in a world where multiplicity replaces singularity, where 'knowing that' is less important than 'knowing how', and the relationship between an individual and the group (society, community, etc.) is very different. So thinking in scope and sequence will mean that whatever is generated will look very similar to what most want to have changed as far as curriculum and education in general are concerned.

A bright spot was a discussion of an idea that seemed to be neglected in the broader discussion - provocations. What was meant by this was a big question or a project or activity which was experiential and which emerged from the world as lived. It combined math, language, science, arts etc. in varying degrees and could be either short term or long term, running over many years. For example, gifted education programs often pick a project and then from that project find doorways into mathematical concepts, writing, creative expression and science. The ancient world - selecting something from anywhere in time and any location - could be a hub of engagement, for example.  Completing a tax form could open doorways into life skills, budgeting, basic math, data management etc.

I know that within the Literacy and Essential Skills area, such life-oriented projects are being thought about to support essential skills.

What I took away was a great appreciation for the work that faculty are engaged in within curriculum and assessment development in the CEFL. While I think we will adjust our course based on what eventually comes from Alberta Education, I believe that we are easily a year or more ahead of the work being presented at this prototyping symposium.