Category: Uncategorized

The art gallery is somewhere I have been a lot. I have attended showings, been with my parents and participated in the BMO kid’s art days. I have also gone countless times for school field trips. As I become a teacher, an important thing to consider is the value external sources can bring to students.

There was an instant feeling of acceptance when we walked into the building. This is an important thing for students who maybe haven’t found places they feel fit and resonate with. Easily connected community members can be a difficult thing to consider, I often think about the information they may share with the students. Is there a political motive? How will the perception of these adults adjust students’ outlook on life around them?

Returning to my experience at the art gallery, I walked in and felt welcomed by this beautiful wall of words speaking to hope and illustrating various South Asian perspectives. We were lucky enough to have a tour guide who was excited and passionate to share what the exhibit entailed. There was lots of commentary on personal image and how different family structures work. The perfect space to relate to the more difficult aspects of life.

At the end of the tour, we were taken to the final portion of the exhibit which showed dystopian domes. There was discussion about how the domes were made and how as students we could make our own. Creating a space where students can be creative and express self-identity feels much simpler and attainable after this experience.

The art gallery feels like a special space where all of our cares float away, and that is the type of environment I want to emulate in my own classroom.

Kelsey MacDonald is a one-of-a-kind individual. She has this magnetic energy that draws you in and makes you want to never leave her orbit. I have been lucky enough to work with Kelsey in the past, and her presentation for the Education students has made me appreciate her even more. As we listened to the winding road Kelsey had to take to become a teacher, it made me pause and think about what my own path looked like.

I really enjoyed listening to Kelsey talk about how she completely misunderstood her first posting as a band teacher, and that she was able make the most of the experience. I would love to build my career around my experiences and find good in everything I do.

I was thinking more and more about how I could be like Kelsey. I could bring her into my classroom during practicum, call her to bounce ideas off, maybe even eventually work under her when I am fully certified. The big question is if that is the right path. During her presentation Kelsey talked about how she would love to work herself out of a job. That being considered, would it be more beneficial for me to build my classroom around Kelseys end goal and potentially create a ripple that will lead to other teachers following? Could this be my opportunity to change education in SD57, or am I misunderstanding my first posting as well?

I have personally grown up in the age of technology. I was a late 90s baby and never experienced not having a computer. We had dial-up as a kid, and the family cell phone wasn’t allowed to connect to the internet without paying an arm and a leg first. By the time I was allowed to have my own social media accounts, smartphones were on the rise. My formative years were spent online and that is a scary thought. As you learn about digital footprints, you learn that content sharing and account creation is not the only trace that will be left. Every page you look at, and video you view, are all traceable through IP addresses and other online markers.

I always think of the geeky master hackers found on crime dramas as the ones to find all the dirty laundry but with the rate of tech development and emphasis on learning about how the internet works, it could be a future student. Thinking about this, I have to ask how I can keep myself safe on the internet as well as how I can set my students up to be safe in the future.

Some of the tips I found talked about creating safe passwords, not posting about strong emotions at the moment but rather thinking about them for a while, and considering how the content will reflect your overall brand image.

Digital Citizenship focuses more on the active strategies used to keep you safe online and being aware of the impacts of your presence. I feel like these are all concepts that will become common knowledge over time and require discussion and implementation in the early school years only. I would be interested in seeing if students start tracking accounts and setting up google alerts prior to their professional lives. I would love to know the reach of my footprint.

Sources:

• https://www.edutopia.org/blog/digital-citizenship-need-to-know-vicki-davis
• https://www.aeseducation.com/blog/what-is-digital-citizenship
• https://www.rasmussen.edu/student-experience/college-life/what-is-digital-footprint/

We listened to Erica McLean discuss how being in the school district before, and after being elected as a trustee, changes perspectives and ability for change. Trustees are the public foothold in the education system and are able to share opinions and push issues they feel students are being faced with.

Book banning anyone?

I honestly had not thought about how an elected official could impact my job description. Things like the SD57 Advisory report feel like the hammer, but trustees add to the strength of the swing when they do things like share testimonials. Erica shared that she has been a very active part of the community and previously worked in the school district. There were many trials and tribulations that faced Erica, many being related to her role as a support worker and as a minority in the SD57 community. Erica talked about allowing these factors to guide her through her decision-making, and understanding of issues needing to be raised and tended to by political figures. The big surprise to me was that Erica spoke about disagreeing with the Special Advisors report, that there is not constant racism but rather ignorance and trauma that has yet to be addressed. I am excited to hear Erica’s voice as she grows into her role and flourishes in this new chapter.

Photo: https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/empathy-emotion-and-experience/202002/the-politics-empathy-and-race

What does it mean when everything you, your family and everyone in your community knows is literally washed away? Well, you are probably living in a similar situation to the Tsay Keh Dene Nation. As a class, we had the opportunity to attend a viewing of The Scattering of Man followed by a panel. The video was informative and heart-wrenching to watch. Personal testimonies about the impacts both emotional and medical made me want to immerse myself in any outlet that could help. I was astonished by the sheer turnout to the film, there were more community members than UNBC students and everyone was hanging on to each second of the film.

The expectation was that our class attend the film because it was an amazing experience. That being said, what was I going to get out of it? I knew that we were going to write a blog post, but that is a rather surface-level reason to attend such a personal function. I had to think about it a lot. I decided that the reason I would be attending was community. I would be there with my peers for education so we could learn together. I would be there as a student from UNBC to support our professor that has been personally impacted by the WAC Bennett Dam, and I was there to understand the ways this is contributing to generational trauma in the community.

My biggest surprise and takeaway was during the panel. There was a hydro employee who was put on the spot about why nothing was being done to support the Tsay Kay Dene. He was humble about not knowing why, and that he was there to learn and not take away from the film. He was followed by an elder talking about his perception of reconciliation. The thought that reconciliation has become just another pretty word people say. The elder was looking for action and I think that is a great focus for a group of future teachers. How can we bring action in the name of reconciliation into the classroom?

Photo Credits: https://trentofestival.it/en/2022-edition/program/movies/d%C9%99ne-yiinjetl-the-scattering-of-man/

When we look at the changing landscape of education, the first thing that jumps into my mind is technology. We see lots of opinions and differing stances on technology in the classroom. There is an important connection no matter the stance you take on technology in the classroom, and that is that we need to teach digital literacy.

I personally have been unsure of what exactly was encompassed in digital literacy. When doing some research on the topic, I found that the BC government has set out a framework for digital literacy. The framework is as follows:

1. Research and Information Literacy
2. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making
3. Creativity and Innovation
4. Digital Citizenship
5. Communication and Collaboration
6. Technology Operations and Concepts

Using the above framework I had to think about how that actually looks in the classroom. I would begin with what the previous and current relationship with technology looked like. Students often know how to get onto games, open a Word document, and search images. How do you use those skills and then, for lack of better words, retrain the students to see now the value of using technology with more of their day-to-day tasks? I would personally start by modelling the behaviour through using technology in my own schedule.

Learning how to use technology and then implementing it into tasks is the foundation for moving learning into a digital space. These are skills that also need to be provided to families so that they can support learners with the ability to complete work.

There is a lot of moving parts when considering digital literacy and how that lends itself to digital citizenship and students online footprint. By creating a strong foundation, students will be more prepared to have a healthy and strong online life.

Sources:

• https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/education-training/k-12/teach/resources-for-teachers/digital-literacy
• https://www.rasmussen.edu/student-experience/college-life/what-is-digital-literacy/
• https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/knowledge-hub/digital-literacies