Kevin+Leeman

__**INTRODUCTION TO KEVIN LEEMAN**__

My name is Kevin Leeman. I hold a BEd from the University of Alberta with training in the area of Physical Education, Geography and History. Over the past few years (more than my fingers and toes) I have truly enjoyed my experience as PE, Athletic Director and grade 7-9 Science teacher. I have mostly taught in the High Schools setting but have additional qualifications that include grades4-6. On top of all that I have additional qualifications in the area of Guidance Counselling and Special Education Behaviour. I am the husband of a saint (Kimm), having to put up with my attempts at humour, and the father of two great kids ( Harrison – 12 and Katie-9). At present my family and I are here in Saudi Arabia teaching at a Saudi Aramco school. Here I teach grades K-9 PE, grade 6 geography. In addition my wife and I share the counselling responsibilities. I am also the boarding school co-ordinator. In that capacity I prepare students to go through the boarding school interview process and provide classes in SSAT prep testing. Working here in the Aramco school I have in a way come full circle in that I have come back to middle school where I began teaching. In addition I have willingly accepted the challenge of working with the elementary students. Prior to coming overseas my former school boards was toying with “backward design”. We used the phrase “beginning with the end in mind”. Regardless of the phrase the message is the same – where do you wish to end up at the end of a unit. Once that is determined work backwards to ensure that you get to where you want to be. When I began teaching in the last millennium I vaguely recall that we taught with expressed purpose of having the students write a test at the end of the unit. This test and the number associated with it became recognized as a measure of their knowledge on the topic. For good measure we would throw in a couple of projects, a speech and a quiz and voila we have arrived at understanding, or so we thought. Using Ubd, backward design or beginning with an end in mind now calls for the teacher to inspect the manner in which WE teach. As teachers we will be expected to study more closely the relationship that exists between related concepts. Rather than teaching concepts as separate and distinct we will have to link these concepts and thereby help students make the leap in understanding.

__**Response Journal # 2 - Preparing for Today and Tomorrow**__ It is Eisner’s view that the following AIMS are appropriate for schools seeking to prepare kids for today and tomorrow. The aims are, judgement, critical thinking, meaningful literacy, collaboration and service. I presently teach in a school system where at grade nine students begin to choose between US, Canadian or European boarding schools. As well, there is a local American High School for the students who choose to stay in the country. There is the third option of the child going home to his/her home town and attending a local high school. This latter option is rarely exercised. I see these three school systems as the model for //hoop-jumping// in education. I feel the “preparatory and hoop jumping” comes from within our education system. On the one hand we are asked to develop the AIMS mentioned by Eisner, but we are asked to “prepare” them for “life in the real world”. It is obvious that Eisner’s AIMS would be woven into the program of instruction but at what cost. How do we intruct the core curriculum while at the same time introducing Eisners AIMS? Our grade 9 students who leave our system to attend boarding schools are entering the “prep” school world where we have prep’d them by having them write SSAT’s. And once in high school we inflict SAT’s upon the students. Eisner’s AIMS have great worth but are difficult to evaluate. It is the evaluation of work and the mark placed on it that allows the prep/hoop jumping to continue. A student writes a math test and a mark is given for the test. The mark becomes and expression of the students knowledge. How do you put a value on judgement or critical thinking? In the area of physical education one component of my grading incorporates service. I provide an over view of how the child will be evaluated but I will always have to explain to parents why the child did not receive a higher score. Parents continue to create this hoop jumping as they insist in receiving concrete example to explain their child’s success.

There is value in teaching the students the AIMS mentioned by Eisner at the same time there are concerns with the method of instruction and the manner in which they will be evaluated. **__Response: “Educational Leadership: Knowledge Arts”__** Perkins, in his article //Knowledge Arts,// points out that the Knowledge Arts include communicating strategically, insightfully, and effectively; thinking critically and creatively; and putting school knowledge to work …. in the real world” As I read the article I sense that we as educators were in fact preparing students for that big //Jeopardy Game//. Perkins points out that educators feel that to teach means that we are to impart knowledge and the more the better. Perkins suggestions make me wonder is it the content or the “we must get to page 300 by years end” be the bump in the road to the implementation of his ideas. I agree with his notion that educators should strive to “establish a classroom of inquiry and excitement” When I was in high school I often thought (in fact so did many of my classmates) what is the relevance of psychology and/or calculus. If our class room settings were based on inquiry and excitement rather than rote what would the results have been. Finally, I am often amazed when I review the previous days work with my grade 6 geography class. As I ask questions of the work it is interesting to note the eyes that look any where but at me – the look of please don’t make me look like an idiot by asking me a question. When the student is able to express most of the idea and I let them find the part missed in the text their research skills become very good. They in essence are able to provide an answer with what they know in this case where to find the answer.

**//__Constructivism as a Paradigm for Teaching and Learning__//** Constructivism is a THEORY ….. about how people learn. It works on the premise that “people construct their own understandingand knowledge of how people learn, through experiencing things and reflecting on those experiences.” ** __The benefits of Constructivism__: ** Constructivism is student rather than teacher centered. Teachers guide the students through the learning process rather than teaching them to memorize the facts. The curriculum is taught beginning with the big concept or picture and branching out to include the parts. The curriculum encourages all types of questions as it is seen to encourage and keep the interest of the student. The level of discussion is of a high calibre. Teachers dialogue with the students with the expressed purpose of helping students construct their own knowledge. The hope is that the student will become the experts in their own learning. This style of learning calls for a lot of collaboration between the students. **__ What cautions should educators be aware of when applying Constructivism: __** The theory can be elitist in nature. Students from privileged backgrounds with understanding teaches appear to do well in this type of environment. Thee is a tendency for this theory to create “group think” within the participants. A select group of students tend to dominate and their ideas get top billing. There is concern with the rejecting of evaluation by testing that the teachers have made themselves unaccountable for the students progress. Journal Review **#4 //Conditions for Powerful Learning//** by Ron Brandt Brandt proposes there are nine conditions for Powerful learning to occur. He does not point out that all 9 must be present. I will provide examples from my personal experience to support some of his claims. //People learn what is personally meaningful to them.// Brandt notes that student motivation greatly influences how much is learned. In the past I have taught grade 9 health and the topic revolved around drug use and unhealthy lifestyles. I found that when I had the students research the topic of drugs as the result of a “//Dear Abby”// letter the motivation to respond in a serious yet sympathetic manner resulted in some very good articles. In addition the response had to be placed in the theoretical centrefold to a newspaper or magazine. //Learning is Developmental.// “Learning is most effective, especially for young children, when differential development…. is taken into account”. Physical Education class has to regularly deal with differential development. For example in a basketball class not all students come into class dribbling a ball. It is possible to have 5 children with 5 different skill set with respect to dribbling a ball. //Individuals Learn Differently.// It goes with out saying if learning is developmental then no two individual learn in the same way. In a class on soccer the act of throwing a ball into play from over your head can be rather humorous to watch. But it is interesting with small modification ie: me role modelling, peer modelling, restating with modelling, holding the hands of the thrower so that they get to feel their hands in contact with the ball or feel the forward movement of the ball are small samples of ways in which students learn differently. //Learning Occurs Through Social Interaction.// Our school offers Rock band as an after school elective. My son has taken to the electric guitar. He has shown a lot of promise and regularly is asked to assist with the novice guitarists. Through the social interaction that occurs between he and his peer it greatly enhances the learning. //People Need Feedback to Learn.// In the aforementioned Rock Band class he is working with beginners and the feedback is immediate indicating whether learning has occurred. // Successful Learning Involves use of strategies - which themselves are learned. // //A Positive Emotional Climate Strengthens Learning.// This one touches a personal cord for me. When we first came to our present school my son immediately was seen as an outsider and trying to be accepted was a 1.5 year struggle which may have reached its end this year. The environment he entered was not positive and in the eyes of my wife and I not emotionally safe. Children have to sense that they are in an emotionally safe environment before they are willing to risk learning. Learning will not occur. In recent video clip the Canadian comedian Rick Mercer, he presented a wonderful “rant” on the ills of “national bulling awareness week”. He concluded the video rant by saying that grade 9 is not a prison sentence but it feels like it. Once the kids get through grade 9 for the most part school and life after high school is mostly smooth sailing. //Learning is Influenced by the Total Environment.// In our present school the size of the student population is small enough that all students are involved in all events. Brandt notes that being in a play for example will greatly influence the memorization of important lines. I suggest that it influences the life skills that being involved in a offers. In the second part of this review I am expected to look at the viability of one of these conditions for my present teaching situation. The school setting which I am in is a good example of learning occurring through social interaction. The rock band example I provided earlier is a good example. The school size is very small and in this environment everybody gets involved. It is almost seen as socially taboo not to be involved in some way. It is interesting to note that this year our school size has grown by 45-50 children. Most of them are in the elementary side of the school but there are enough new students enrolled in the middle school to be encouraging with respect to participants for the various athletic and artistic endeavours. As our numbers have increased there has not been an increase in the various area. For example when the school numbers were small every student got involved – they may not have got involved willingly but they got involved. This year not all students went out for volleyball. It will be interesting to hear the tone within the students with respect to getting involved. For my children being involved in the school has been encouraging to see and experience.
 * Response Journal # 3 **

__Response Journal # 5: The best lesson and unit designs are "backwards"__ I began teaching 24 years ago and I recall that the mething of lesson development at that time was to look at the various units of study or the curriculum document and to develop a lesson that began at the beginning of the document or chapter and ended at the (of all places) the end of the chapter. At the time it appeared to make sense. Because we were told that all the information was necessary to complete the students understanding - what ever that might be. I recall sitting in many of my university courses on lesson development and wondering if there were a more common sense way of doing things. To me it did not make sense to go through a text from front to back. Over the year I have come to embrase the idea of "beginning with the end in mind". This term has been used by a number of school boards but makes a lot more sense. What do I want my students to get out this unit? How will I go about teaching the unit so the students get the most benefit. By knowing where I want the students to be at the end of 15-20 days I can work back word from that point and in so doing make a unit that follows the curriculum and most important is meaningfull for the students.

Response Journal #6 Knowing vs. Understanding Read pages 114 and 115 to aid in answering the following questions.

1. " What behaviours do you associate with student understaning?" The following is a small list of behaviours that are associated with understaning: interpretation, personal prespective, analyse information, drawing inference and application.

2. "How do you distinguish between students "knowing and doing" versus "understanding what they are studying"? The difference is similar to the levels on Blooms taxonomy with basic knowledge on the bottom and higher level thinking skills on top. A student may know how to make graphs in mathmatics class but not really understand how to interpret the information on graphs. Another example of understanding is one that asks the student to recognize patterns in statistical data that may not be obvious to others. Understanding calls for higher levels of understanding as opposed to the basic recall similar to recalling dates for a history class.