Anita+Hasiuk

Anita Hasiuk ISG Yanbu __**Response Journal #1 - Introduction**__ My name is Anita Hasiuk and I am part of the sub-cohort from Yanbu on the west side of Saudia Arabia. I teach Social Studies to Grades 9, 11, 12, Grade 12 English, and 3 elective courses in the high school here at Yanbu International School. One aspect of my educational background that probably has largely shaped my approach to teaching and learning is my Special Ed certification and the experiences that I gathered through teaching and collaborating in that culture of the education system. My expectations for this course are 2 fold. I want to add to my knowledge, awareness, and efficiency in curriculum mapping – specifically Rubicon Atlas – and use that knowledge to increase successful learning with our students at YIS and, of course, our district. Also, I am looking forward to working with colleagues to share ideas and experiences and best practices in the design of learning. Looking at the course outline, I believe that this is the direction this course is headed. Curriculum design and assessment has brought new dimensions to my reflections about my own teaching, and to the successes I feel are relevant for high school students today. These reflections were highlighted for me when a grad from YIS, now in medical school, wrote me an email thanking us (my husband Borden and I) for teaching essential questions. She had been using the same essential question design in her medical school assessments and her professors were impressed and gave her full marks. Her classmates asked her to help with a study group. This young girl had not only assessed her learning, she had internalized the process. My goal now is to heighten the curriculum design and assessment for my students. It would be like making the good better. __**Journal Response #2 - Knowledge Alive**__ David Perkins, in his article Knowledge Alive, explains knowledge as the things that comprise our curriculums. These are the facts and details we come to know and the specific skills we acquire and build on though the grades. He then brings in the question, what we do with this knowledge. He develops the concept Knowledge Arts to explain the union of knowledge learnt with communicating strategically, insightfully, and effectively; thinking critically and creatively; and to put school knowledge to work in the real world. I believe that for today’s students, and for today’s schools, knowledge alone is not enough to carry the students into their future. Other things need to be added to the knowledge to make it applicable. His conceptual word Knowledge Arts explains how knowledge needs to be created, communicated, organized, and acted on. To further highlight his point of view, he gives school systems less than mediocre grades for endeavours in these areas, yet gives us hope and direction that by stitching in or joining these notions of creativity, communication, organization, and authentication into our knowledge centred curriculums, students’ learning is better served to meet their future. Perkins’ ideas and suggestions of Knowledge Arts are moving education in the right direction. I agree that students do need to progress past the knowledge level of learning and become skilled at techniques of managing information. I think this is where he got his title. If knowledge was just lying around doing nothing and totally deoxygenated, it would be Knowledge Dead. Instead, the learning needs to be oxygenated, given life and meaning, thus Knowledge Alive appropriately makes its claim. Perkins ideas and suggestions can, and I think in many classrooms, are used more and more. The suggestions and ideas from the article can be achieved through essential questioning when designing curriculum. Questions that have many answers can bring learners to communicating ideas and meanings, create alternative ways to arrive at answers and conclusions, organize information in a new manner and develop genuine situations to apply their learning. Giving learners these opportunities in school will better enable them to prepare for future learning. __**Response Journal #2a - Preparing for Today and Tomorrow**__ In the article Preparing for Today and Tomorrow, Eisner favors aims that he states should be in the design of curriculum in order to prepare students better for the future and for today. These aims are: These aims are excellent amendments to any curriculum. There are however, some red flags. Classroom time spent on these aims make parents disgruntled. Once a student is in high school, the only meaningful pieces of information are the GPA and the SAT score. Whatever is needed to achieve those magic numbers is not questioned by parents. These directions by parents often lead the school officials to concur. Parents do pick the best schools and if the measure of “the best” is a number, then out goes the judgement, the critical thinking, meaningful literacy, collaboration, and service. They may not be lost in entirely, but SAT prep time offered by the professionals in a school verses a community service stint is lost on parents and officials who need those numbers. Whatever it takes, no matter how high the hoop, many of the //in charge people// opt for the numbers and fluff over what is needed to adjust our curriculums for the future of their children. The teaching assignment that I have right now heavily leans towards Eisner’s aims. Before I arrived in Yanbu, someone instigated a course, required for graduation, which provides the scope to develop some of the aims talked about in this article. Students decide on a professional career that they see as relevant to their strengths and where their future studies will lead them. Engineering is a big pull for the boys. Remembering, in Saudi Arabia, women are not allowed on the engineering sites, leaves the female population without this option – but they are welcomed in our hospitals. The doctors here in Yanbu are a bit more sympathetic to the gender issues that face girls. It has taken 2 years to twist and shape the program so students are collaborating with mentors and with each other. They prepare presentations, brochures, and actually wrote a booklet on their experiences. Judgement comes in the form of informed choices in defining a career and universities that provide for their path of learning. The overview of these experiences appears positive to parents and the Parent Council. The course is relevant and meaningful to the students. I believe that as educational facilitators, we need to create opportunities, take risks, and find solutions to barriers in peaceful collaborative ways. At best, modelling Eisner’s aims can open many doors for our learners, our parents, and our school officials.
 * 1) Judgement can be brought to students through discussing and writing about problems that have multiple answers. Students learn to substantiate their reasons for choices by listening to others and evaluating new and old information.
 * 2) Critical Thinking is developed by analyzing and critiquing information and then applying it to problems and situations today.
 * 3) Meaningful literacy is a term to mean reading and writing in the broadest sense. It includes all and any form of interpreting information. How learners choose to do this is through their own best channels of understanding. This provides them the opportunity to discover information about themselves and how they manoeuvre themselves in this age of information.
 * 4) Collaboration is the ability to communicate with others to achieve resolution. In our world of misunderstands and differences, it is the specific talents of each individual that present the mosaic that needs to be worked through and understood by working together.
 * 5) Service could the **//B part//** of collaboration. This objective puts a real life perspective on the learning. Schools can bring the service to others component to the curriculum to demonstrate responsibility and citizenship.

The benefits of Constructivism are many and I agree with the points in the readings. Students, at times though, fear the lack of points that they will receive if their interpretations don’t agree with mine or the primary resource. The more experience I gain in facilitating students’ learning, the better and deeper the understandings the students have and the more trust the students have in themselves about their learning. Reflections are a benefit to the philosophy of Constructivism. Students can think and rethink their own learning and what others have communicated to the group or class. Ideas that evolve from their reflections support more questions evolving from their ideas. Their ideas lead towards peer discussions. Past learning is brought to the table and can be accepted or rejected with a substantiated argument. Real world applications can be analyzed through more discussion and more reflecting. Deeper understanding can emerge and each student creates their own learning. Through this process, pre-packaged learning has become repackaged learning. Learning is repackaged by each student in their own understandings. There are some cautions with constructivism. School officials can say learning outcomes are lost in the direction students pull their learning and understanding through what //they// want to know and what is laid out in curriculums for them to know. Also the length of time can get readjusted to fit the learning not the outcomes. Facilitators need to keep everyone on task and on timelines to achieve closure to avoid this pitfall. The accountability of constructivist classrooms needs to be mentioned as a caution. Administrators and parents have a need to see marks. Marks indicate achievement. Setting up a specific grading grid for the processes of understanding can bridge this concern. Giving a voice to the minority and engaging the reluctant learner are cautions that can be facilitated by the teacher through informal conferencing and frequent communications with each student. I think that the more I can incorporate the constructivist philosophy into my classroom, the more I can problem solve the negativities of the process of developing understanding in the learning process of those I teach. The more that I carry out and achieve, the more confident that I feel when facilitating and coaching students understandings and learning. **__Response Journal #4__** Give an example from your own experience for each of Brandt’s conditions for //powerful learning.// 1.  What they learn is personally meaningful. As I read about this condition, I thought about a grade 9 ancient history class last year. I had given choices to do an extension project. They decided on a total class production on the Iliad in video format. I let them organize and problem solve their work with written goals of their own and daily short critiques on their progress. The final product was absolutely amazing. They had analysed the Iliad, done rewriting, sought out expertise in video techniques, and tied the project together with music. Their reflections centred on what they had learned and proclaimed it was the most fun they had ever had in school. In my curriculum notes, I wrote my own reflection connecting what had come about by //really// letting students make choices about their learning and how the students gained knowledge and skills that were personally meaningful. 2.  What they learn is challenging and they accept the challenge. I experienced this condition by listening to one of my students comment on his contribution to a booklet the class prepared on professional careers. The assignment was to critique and analyze one section of a recent work assignment. Six students who had opted for a medical placement were to prepare a booklet and a presentation for the doctors, hospital workers and their parents. One particular student had chosen to write and present about the emergency room at the Royal Commission Hospital in Yanbu. In a conference with this student about his writing I commented on how well he had written. He stated that he had difficulty writing in English class, but felt that he now understood that breaking down the experience into parts was a good strategy for him and having real doctors listen and read his work was quite a challenge and really forced him to finish. He also mentioned that his classmates had encouraged him and they had felt that his effort was excellent. 3.  What they learn is appropriate for their developmental level. I had to impart the knowledge of American Government to my grade 12 students. None are from the States, and few have been there. Although they like to talk about America, and have some working knowledge of the U.S., they don’t know how the government works. They do have some knowledge of their home country’s government, but not a lot of specific information from there either. I gave the students a chart with their home country’s name written on one side and the U.S. written on the other. They researched by googling their country and used the text as a primary source for the U.S. The approach of building on a bit of information from another country (India and Pakistan in this case) and constructing a framework of comparison, the students’ knowledge was assembled and created. Similarities and differences could be seen and discussed. Some points were researched further. The experience of the condition making learning developmental and building on limited knowledge was successful. 4.  They can learn in their own way, have choices, and feel in control. In this condition, I am thinking about myself when I signed up for a Photoshop course. I take lots of pictures, know a fair bit about digital cameras and their functions, and edit my own photos with the simple program that came with my last camera. Surely, the beginning Photoshop course would be right for me. Not so. The course was well organized, and had sequential steps in the process, but I couldn’t follow along. In discussion with my husband about my total failure, he suggested I buy the book. Instead I went on line and found written instructions of how to do the various things I wanted. In the end, I faded out of the course and have taught myself. I needed to see the complicated instructions in print. It must be one of the ways I learn best. Previous to this experience, I thought that I could learn through most channels. Hopefully none of my students have a similar story. 5.   They use what they already know as they construct new knowledge. One of the writing styles I have my students try is critical writing. They read an essay or an article and then I have them analyze it or write a critical review. I felt this was a weak spot in their writing and possible my presentation. In fact, the students had no experience base of critical writing. When I found a book with examples of how writers had responded to essays, short stories, and articles of authors that they knew, they were more able to write critically themselves. The example is: I had them read 3 published critical reviews written on Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery”. We had read Jackson’s “The Lottery” and so they could argue or agree with the reviews. I had them discuss and write a critical analysis on another essay we had previous read. Then, I gave them an assignment to find a new essay and write a critical review. This worked well in building on knowledge that they knew and were familiar with, and moving to the next level of critical writing. 6.   They have opportunities for social interaction The best example from my experience in //much learning occurs through social interaction// is a scenario from a grade 9 ancient history class. The topic was The First 4 Ancient Civilizations. I divided the large class into 4 groups and assigned to each group one of the civilizations. They were told they would become the expert in their assigned civilization. I helped outline the direction of expertise and gave them 3 dates information was due. They talked, they argued, they brought in artefacts, they even devised a test. This was a large class and predominately boys. I was a member of each group because they wanted me to hear their plans. One of the successes for me was that I covered weeks of curriculum in a short time. The age group also lends itself to talking and not sitting in chairs. The social interaction and the doing together of the project was fun. Students were successful. The down side of this condition is the room gets noisy at times and this could upset administrators and other teachers. 7.  They get helpful feedback. Not only is feedback is a condition of learning, but having a hand in shaping the rubric is also quite empowering. I call this reviewing the rubric. I ask for suggestions and comments about the rubric. I put it on a digital projector and type in any changes as we agree on the change. I then email it to the students. If the assignment is a project and presentation, the score from the rubric is reviewed as the next group is setting up. At the end of the class I collect the rubrics and photocopy them (I write comments on the bottom of the rubric). Before the end of the day, the students can pick them up to take home – and I put a copy in their portfolio. Writing assignments are not so easy, but I can usually do them overnight. I think part of quick feedback is students get a good feeling about their learning. They know it is important to others. They can read the comments and discuss improvements before all gets forgotten and filed way. 8.   They acquire and use strategies. Successful learning strategies for me usually involve a timeline and an organizer – like a chart. I need to see the whole thing and then and only then can I set out what I want to do and often what I need to learn. When I conference students on this condition, they are receptive and have developed strategies already. One student I have does his strategy for learning in his head. He can categorize his thinking and work from a plan that he develops mentally. We all have different strategies that work. I have also noted that students that haven’t developed a strategy for learning, students that haven’t learned to think about their thinking and their learning, are the students that end up at the table in the guidance councillors office with all their teachers and parents present. 9.  They experience a positive emotional climate. I strongly agree with this condition that emotional climate strengthens learning. A recent experience I noted in one of my classes is a student didn’t want to present with his group. The group was encouraging but there was nothing at the moment that was going to move that young lad to the front of the room with his peer group to present. The student is quite new in the school and I’m sure under huge amounts of pressure to “fit in”. I told the group to continue and I told the reluctant student – with a smile –maybe next time. Before the next set of class presentations, I talk to this student and asked if there was anything I could do. He said he was feeling better and would be able to present his part in the next presentation. 10.  The environment supports the intended learning. This condition is helpful in English when plays and stories are difficult and boring for students. Teaching Midsummer Night’s Dream was much more of a learning experience when each student chose a scene to direct. Finding the right character to play the part, costumes, and prompts helped everyone in the class understand what was happening in the play and the comedy tone of the play before we did written assignments.
 * __Response Journal #3 Constructivism as a Paradigm for Teaching and Learning__**
 * Benefits of Constructivism. **
 * Cautions for Educators in Relation to Constructivism **

Which of these conditions are viable in your present teaching assignment? All of the conditions discussed are attempted in my classes and can be developed further. Each year I strive to make improvements in many of these areas. Talking with other teachers and reading about creating better understandings and learning is one approach I have. __**Response Journal #5**__ Justify the claim that the best lesson and unit designs are backwards. To justify the claim that the best lesson and unit designs are backwards we need to look at the intent of backward design. Starting with the desired results, the teacher states the goals or outcomes provided by the district, and decides what understandings are needed to accomplish these outcomes. This involves what the students will know, understand, and be able to do in this unit. This includes the enduring understandings which will provide building blocks for new understandings in later learning. Questions are developed to accompany these understandings through inquiry developing more and possibly larger questions to discuss. With this as the starting point, we have validated the claim - the teacher knows the end point and clear concise direction with which to build the unit. These desired results (stage 1) are the foundation of the unit which, from its own growth, will need the specific support of Stage 2 and Stage 3 to achieve its outcomes. Determining acceptable evidence (stage 2) will be the check that the outcomes in stage 1 were reached. These are the assessments that account for the understanding and learning that was desired. Educators know what to assess from the desired results. They shape and create the assessment to gauge the student’s understandings. This justifies the end– or the desired results. Accountability of the district standards in the students’ learning becomes credible. Planning the learning experiences (stage 3) and instruction connect the desired results and the acceptable evidence. The learning experiences need to be flexible enough to take into account the needs of the student population and show acceptable evidence that the desired results were met. The validation of the whole picture becomes evident. The justification of backward design being the best route for planning units is evident when we look at what has been created. The building of the units starts with precisely where the unit is going to go. It incorporates how the outcomes (desired results) are going to be assessed, and then the learning activities tie how one gets from the desired results to the assessment of the desired results. It keeps the boundaries of the teaching focused on the outcomes, instead of veering off into endless activities which can then can change the direction of the outcomes, or add to or delete some of the intended outcomes. Recently I showed an administrator, new to the district, some of my Atlas Rubicon units. He said, “They’re neat and precise and I like it”. This is another justification that supports the claim that the best units are backward designed units. Response Journal #6 ** What behaviours do you associate with student understanding? ** There are a number of ways I gage student understandings in the classroom. The behaviours that I associate with understanding let me know when students are using past information to create new information. For example in English class, a student disagrees with a classmate that says every theme in literature includes an element of good and evil. There is a discussion about themes, a discussion about good and evil. They talk about stories that don’t have good and evil themes. They concur that fine tuning the original theme will satisfy the points they were both making. I associate these behaviours with understandings. Other times students ask for more information through questioning to define and interpret a situation. A student may ask if the piano tuner had been turned down by Belle and had married Violet as his second choice in his first marriage. Other students give evidence that this is not so and Belle has been waiting for the opportunity to marry the blind piano tuner for many years. The first student asks more questions about the first wife and then concludes that it’s “simply a case of sloppy seconds”. Students were able to ask questions to define the situation and give evidence from the story to respond. In the story The Kite Runner, students made personal connections to the relationship between Amir and Baba. The boys in class took this connection seriously and talked about their own family’s motto “academics are everything” or “nothing counts but school work” and how hard it is to live up their expectations. They understood the pressure Amir suffered in his quest to make Baba proud of him. Students were able to demonstrate specific behaviours connecting information and showing their understanding through this behaviour. These are some of the behaviours that highlight understandings for me. Anything that questions, interprets, connects, transfers, shows reading between the lines, reflects, creates new knowledge – is the behaviour that is associated with understanding. Students love to know and do things. They love things that they are familiar with and things that involve repeated “doing” activities. The example that comes to mind is my grade 9 history class. These students are digital natives and can find more information on ancient Greece than I ever care to know. They have learned to organize information in the first units this year, and now I want to have them show evidence. One student chose Greek Philosophers. I arranged with Amira to put her collected information on the digital screen. I asked questions about how they got information and what they did with it. Other students asked her questions as well. She decided to make a chart showing a picture of each philosopher and his name. She continued her organization to show evidence about how the philosophers learned their ideas, where they came from and how they spent their lives talking about it, writing about it, and teaching about it. She saw that she could also organize the philosophers into regions, subjects, and time periods. She had 4 sentences for each philosopher. It was easy to read and interpret. She understood that the philosophers brought information to Greece from different places at different times and used and applied that information to enlighten their society in many ways. The questions and comments for me were – Do we have to use a chart – will I get points if I have more information than Amira – This is way too hard – Can I write an essay instead– Are we having a test on this....... these students want more knowing and doing activities. Amira has an understanding of Ancient Greece and why it became great. She didn’t just find information; she modelled how to move from collecting information to using it to show evidence that helped the Greeks achieve their greatness. She has shown the distinction between doing and knowing – and understanding. My challenge is to take the 20 other students in the class to a similar level of understanding.
 * How do you distinguish between students “knowing” and “doing” versus understanding what they are studying? **