Madsen's Musings

 I am a 49 year old woman with greying hair, bags under my eyes, and arthritis. I have been a teacher longer than some of my coworkers have been alive. I have finally reached the point where I am starting to do the math to figure out when I can realistically retire without it seeming like a pipe dream. So why the heck do I feel like a first year teacher?! I’m at the point in my career, after 24 years, where I should know what I’m doing. Nope. My teaching life at the moment seems to be a matter of triage because I am juggling so many things that are new and challenging and just trying to keep afloat one day to the next. But while I am exhausted, it is truly exhilarating.

 

 

“Can I take a silly photo of you, Ms. Madsen?” -Gwen L., grade 10

As long as you accentuate the bags under my eyes…

 

My thoughts and key words last time were spurred by my desire to use this inquiry project for practical purposes. The goal of the course is “[e]xploration of emerging technologies, strategies and resources that will enhance and extend school libraries into interactive, service-oriented, community building entities that support the development of personal learning networks.” By sheer luck, I have managed to land myself in just such a reality. However, I am a brand new cog in this inquiry machine, and I have a LOT of learning to do. Serendipitously, I have been assigned an independent inquiry project on “the pedagogical uses of digital technologies and media for learning” and “life in the knowledge age” ((McNee, 2022)– beautifully related to what I’m actually doing professionally. What a brilliant opportunity to “get inside it” and learn more about the components of PLP!

    No pressure, noob!

My instructions were to spend an hour or two researching a variety of resources that will hopefully be useful for my inquiry. Hahahahahaha… and hour or two… In my experience, nothing on the internet ever gets done in an hour or two– too many rabbit holes! Nonetheless, I have persevered and settled on some good stuff. 🎉

• Measuring learners’ perceptions of a team-taught learning environment: development and validation of the Learners’ Team Teaching Perceptions Questionnaire (Simons, M., Coetzee, S., Baeten, M. et al., 2020)

Among the MANY new things to me this fall is working on a true team (as opposed to the general staff that the principal labelled a team for propaganda purposes). This approach is appealing and exciting, but brand new territory, so I’m looking for insight. My initial perception is there’s lots of upside (support, sharing ideas, collective intelligence), but potential challenges (personalities, consistency for students, time management), so I’m curious what the research says. I selected this article because a lot of my questioning centres on the students and how they respond to being team taught. I also think this is at the heart of what good pedagogy is: community. And if there is strength in personal learning networks, it’s great to have one as part of your everyday teaching life. So I really want to understand this dynamic to maximize its potential.

• Project-based learning: a review of the literature (Kokotsaki, D. and Menzies, V. and Wiggins, A. 2016)

While I have been exposed to project-based learning, I can honestly say I have only “dabbled” in it. I am finding unit design challenging– there is a huge learning curve. But I think it can be awesome, so it is definitely worth understanding. What I like about this resource is it includes “Facilitating factors in the implementation of project-based learning” and “How teachers can support project-based learning in the classroom – what the evidence shows,” practical topics for me at this stage.

• Innovative Teaching and Learning: Lessons from High Tech High’s Founding Principal (Edutopia, 2012) and Project-based Learning at High Tech High (Association for Learning Environments, 2009)

PLP was largely inspired by High Tech High in San Diego, so I thought a useful resource would be to learn about the source: What is the pedagogical reasoning? How does technology improve student learning? What are the secrets to their success? Learning by example is always one of the strongest learning tools!

After hours down the rabbit hole, it dawned on me that I had forgotten about one of the best resources at my disposal: my own Teacher Librarian (and team leader) extraordinaire! Our team shares a platform (the app Craft), where we do our curriculum and unit designs, communicate, and share, and this includes some fabulous books and other professional resources that have been curated for our use. So I checked that out to see what might be useful for me here and found this treasure trove:

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I am familiar with the ASCD Quick Guides— I own several myself, having been introduced to them than none other than my TL friend. 😁 They are fabulous in that they are rich in content yet economical in length– perfect learning tools for busy teachers. The titles most relevant to me right now are:

1. “Getting Started with Project Based Learning”
2. “Giving Students Effective Feedback”
3. “Co-teaching Essentials”
4. “Media Literacy in Every Classroom”
5. “Communication Strategies for Successful Co-teaching”

Gotta ❤️ a librarian!

• Why Technology Will Never Replace the Classroom (Passanisi, J. and Peters, S., 2022)

I found this gem while checking out more ASCD guides… rabbit hole… 🤦‍♀️ But I love this because for all the advantages technology affords us as educators, it’s still all about the human connection. So while the iPad may be front and centre in our advertising, it is the interactions of students and teachers and engagement and socio-emotional, kinaesthetic, hands on good stuff that really matters!

Someone thinks I’ve been at the computer long enough…

McNee, D. (2022). Course Outline. LIBE 477: Special topics in teacher librarianship [Online course]. Canvas. https://canvas.ubc.ca/courses/103489/pages/course-outline?module_item_id=4814899