Hi! My name is Leanne and this is my first ever blog! I am thrilled to be stepping into the world, offering a platform to share the experiences, insights and reflections I have gained over decades of teaching.
As a veteran educator with 26 years in the classroom, I’ve witnessed the ever-evolving landscape of education – from curriculum changes to technological advancements, and everything in between. Through it all, one thing remains constant: my passion for teaching and guiding the next generation.
When you visit my blog, I hope you find something that piques your curiosity, challenges your thinking, or simply captivates your interest! Whatever it may be, I am glad you are here!
Hello everyone, and welcome to my EC&I learning journey. I am a middle years educator currently enrolled in the Teaching, Learning, and Leadership graduate studies program. While I have lots of experience teaching in online and blended learning environments, I look forward to identifying a more clear vision as to what this can look like in my classroom.
I look forward to learning with and from you all over the course of the next few months!
EC&I 832. The challenge to create a curriculum-supported digital citizenship and media literacies project engaged my attention when I decided to write an extension plan for the Community & Kinship unit of Native Studies 10. My interest to advance Indigenous education lead this project when I thought of the numerous ways that technology can support/assist learning. The current 2002 curriculum suggested print and web based resources are in need of an update. With the emergence of educational technology assisted learning and the world wide web, our students can apply these opportunities throughout the Native Studies course.
Major Project Summary blog post
The 2002 Saskatchewan Native Studies 10 curriculum teaches the knowledge of social and political organizations of First Nations, Metis and Inuit (FNMI) peoples of Canada. Providing students with lessons to access information on Aboriginal history, culture, and perspectives is a key goal of the curriculum. Presenting materials with traditional teachings, history and contemporary views of the culture and languages builds positive images FNMI peoples. Curriculum that supports resource-based teaching can develop and use technological literacies into their existing programs. Designing learning to source accurate, up-to-date information by incorporating technology may look different in each classroom. A common factor across curriculum landscapes is the need to create and support the development of resources from a FNMI perspective. Tech tools and the internet can be used by students to create artefacts from research. It’s also important to continue to access traditional tools, such as the oral tradition of storytelling. Respecting the traditions and protocols that bring the FNMI perspectives to life in curriculum and ensuring that information is accurate is the task of curriculum designers. To assist with research that supports a Native Studies curriculum, this curriculum extension plan outlines an approach to include FNMI the traditional ways of learning and ways of knowing, with technology assisted learning.
My summary or learning outlines the work I did this semester with my high school students. It was a learning experience that was enjoyed by all who participated in the lessons. Thank you for watching my video submission.
Achieving Student Success: Native Studies 10 Unit (incorporating digital and media literacy)
Writing a unit based on curriculum outcome with digital/media literacy indicators is the focus of my EC&I 832 final project. I am near completion of the outcomes I want to include in the Community & Kinship unit project and am writing the portion for incorporating digital/media resources….I anticipated this part to be easier than it is turning out mainly because my go-to resources are the human voice/perspectives and books. I am shifting my indicators to using tech tools for students to navigate through curriculum content.
Example: Outcome: FNMI philosophy of land; respect for the environment. Indicator: Interview an Elder and record the interview in two ways: voice/audio record and create a slide show using Power Point or Canva.
Digital Citizenship: Access – will my students have equal access to the tech devices required to complete the indicators? In order for all students to participate equally in this assignment, I will alter assignment to accommodate the digital divide: take my class to visit an Elder in the community and assign a recorder, photographer, or videographer to compile the interview material to be shared in the classroom.
Resources and media: Although this activity may seem like common sense (and it is), what makes a media literacy approach sensitive is the “oral tradition of the spoken word” when using Elders as a resource. Many times, students will not find these words on an internet search so they become creators of content using the authentic voice of the oral tradition, participants in cultural protocol, and active learners.
My academic mentor, Mrs. Linda M, Goulet, has co-written a book titled, “Teaching Each Other: Nehinuw Concepts & Indigenous Pedagogies” (2014), which starts with the acknowledgement to the Elders and their teachings as influential to her own teaching career. This is the cultural protocol that starts any cultural engagement activity; the ways of knowing and voices of the Elders.
At times, I long for an old school textbook! I was educated in the classroom where lessons were presented from the pages of, say an old Understanding Science book series (Sampson Low Pub, 1960) and a teacher that was well informed (prepped) to teach us about the Bunsen Burner, plate tectonics or the compound microscope. I don’t think any foundational science knowledge is wrong and certainly has its place in today’s classrooms. Let’s make everything old new again!
In the today’s digital age classrooms, we ask student’s to engage with technology that can snap up information from multiple websites, with the expectation to trust the source….after all, it’s from the internet!
Student’s are fortunate to have digital citizenship lessons that shed light on important skills, such as cyber etiquette, laws, security and rights and responsibilities (to name a few of Ribble’s 9 elements). But what about media literacies and the topic of fake news? In week 9 catalyst presentations we were asked to look at the challenges of medial literacy in a “fake news” world.
Kim’s article discussed the problem student’s face with disinformation and a media literacy approach of teaching them how to critique and eventually discern a source/content as credible. An important approach given the vulnerability of students possibly being fed misleading information, with potential emotional and social effects. Do content creators intentionally create damaging material? I think the answer is yes because any browser search will pull up misleading and “fake news”.
To test this, I did a search on the Buffy Sainte-Marie “pretendian” controversy and found content related to her ancestry, her personal life, Hawaii, books she wrote, Sesame Street…an extensive amount of information. Now, given the seriousness of the controversial “pretendian” (the real issue), a search may lead an inquiring mind to a website that may glamorize or garner empathy, which takes the focus off the real issue. A site that I visited was boobingit.com that discussed a Sesame Street segment and interview where Buffy Sainte-Maire was breastfeeding her baby boy on TV. This particular website had links (click bait) to personal products for breastfeeding mothers. So basically, the website used the media popularity of Buffy Saint-Marie to sell their products. https://boobingit.com/buffy-sainte-marie-opens-breastfeeding-baby-boy-sesame-street-1977
Is this “fake news”? It may be or it may be not….but it has the same psychological challenges of cognitive overload and decision fatigue. Students might not be able to make quality decisions when serious topics are overloaded with viewpoints/perspectives that mislead and incite emotional responses rather that critical analysis. As a teacher, my media literacy challenge is to teach students the skill of critical evaluation and analyzing content for authenticity. I would be interested in hearing about any strategies or lessons that teachers have tried with their students. Please share!
As we get nearer to the date of submitting our projects, I am a mix of excitement and anxiety. Excitement that I get to share my passion for teaching First Nations content and engaging this online community with some resources. Anxiety with presenting in a digitally-created way. I am learning with my students – I cannot ask them to be media literate creators if I am not stepping up to the task.
To the actual project: It is exciting to find new resources, as the Native Studies 10 suggested resources are outdated, but still relevant today. I was talking with a trusted colleague and I was advised to not sway from documents that are time-honoured, but to add to/enhance the resources. This view supports the First Nations philosophy of seeking wisdom from knowledge keepers (kehtwaywak) and learning.
Media literacy week: Reflecting on what it means to be a media literate student in today’s digital world/classrooms.
Potter’s (2010) take on media literacy places our role as a teacher in a position to find the balance between how we teach with technology and what skills students know or bring into the classroom. To build up skills for literacy we must assess what we are working with. My classes are diverse. On any given day I might have a student with beginning computer skill: navigate a browser, hunt and peck keyboarding or lack of troubleshooting confidence. Then flip to a media literate student who can surf, navigate and produce media artefacts with fluency and confidence.
Why such a gap? Potter’s (2010) article talked about a common ground to build effective literacy and intervention as a focus of curriculum design. The place where our students can be taught and assessed for those key literacy skills of accessing, analyzing, evaluating and communicating media messages. The gatekeepers of social media are in our classrooms. Their social worlds are tech based, where they can easily surf, navigate and produce artefacts and are active, engaged messengers and recipients. How can we channel that energy into learning? Integrating some digital citizenship and media literacy lessons gives the classroom a space to discuss how tech impact our/their world and identity. Building a common ground and classroom landscape of learning with technology in today’s digital world.
Hi! My name is Leanne and this is my first ever blog! I am thrilled to be stepping into the world, offering a platform to share the experiences, insights and reflections I have gained over decades of teaching.
