Hopes & Dreams & Road Blocks OH MY… CCK08
I have been saving writing this post until this time
in the course and until I had my first meeting with Alberta Ed, on the
new CTS Curriculum for Middle Years and Junior High Focus Group.
First off lets clarify my situation, this has been the first time I
have been invited into these hallow halls, and see some of the inner
workings of the Pillars of Education. Also the first time I have been
back to Edmonton in nearly eight years, but I digress… I do not plan
on mentioning anything that is inappropriate to mention, nor that could
later cause issue to the process of curriculum development, but I plan
on discussing the general sweeping themes and ideas I encountered…
I entered this two day focus group session with no background knowledge
(other than the many years I have taught CTS at the various levels),
and I had no expectations, except to see masterful work and to be
razzled and dazzled. The direction that the curriculum is taking seems
to embrace many of the concepts that are necessary for the next phase
of education to proceed. The concept of OPEN would be an
understatement…
This approach allows one (the teacher and the student) to embrace as
many or as few concepts as they require, allowing the opportunity to
hold the students hand where necessary and step back and facilitate the
knowledge. This approach was scary to many in the room, while a few
early adopters saw the potential freedom to explore and innovate, many
were concerned about the future of CTS in Alberta (Even the curriculum
will not be called CTS soon). This is a chance to explore innovation,
if successful this model may be adopted by other disciplines and the
slow eventual change may finally begin in my province, but many
roadblocks need to be negotiated…
I will mention one such roadblock that I thought did not exist, because
I could not understand why it is this way. However one of my mentor’s
mentioned how Alberta Ed is very compartmentalized between departments
(this was many years ago, I thought this may have changed, I was
wrong). The developers of this new curriculum explained the process of
how a course is created and delivered:
- Write the curriculum
- Then Assessment branch makes assessments
- Then resource branch makes resources
- and then so on, and so on…
When I am building my courses
I build the pieces together, see how they fit, and modify as needed. I
assumed this would be happening, these developers have pushed for the
departments to work together through the process… I guess innovation
to some is common place to others…
Another major roadblock that was discovered was that the future
educators being trained to replace our retirees and the skill set they
are entering the workforce with are insufficient. Many in the room,
feel that our Post-Secondary institutions are not providing what is
needed (Funny thing, in the meeting room next door that was what they
were discussing, I knew 2 of the mucky mucks in that room, gave me some
insight)…
All this leads to my final thought, change is not simple. To make
fundamental lasting change requires multiple institutions to act
together with a single goal and ignore petty politics and the
inevitable history that comes with time (Can you see this really
happening). I think
a major crisis will
have to occur to generate the necessary societal will to make these
changes, similar to how WW2 provided the will for England and France to
develop and maintain excellent health care systems. One person cannot change what
needs to be done on a large scale, however one person can change all
this within their own classroom. Education, at this time cannot
mandate how I am to instruct within my own classroom, it can only
provide the goals and objectives that I am legally obligated to
instruct. It is my choice to utilize what methods I see fit…
therefore for the few on the edge of new, we need to show others what
can be done, start the change, and maybe one day the mucky mucks will
notice and follow the excellent example…
Hey, somebody needs to break trail…
Posted by email from ubiquitous’s posterous
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Try being a parent of kids with learning disabilities. First you have to get permission to have your child tested. Then you have to locate someone who can do the right testing. After that you have to find someone who can develop an appropriate program. Then you take the recommendations to the school which either provides small classes or mainstreams depending on the philosophy of the time. Maybe the teacher of the smaller classes has a real interest in learning disabilities or maybe it was the only road she could find into the school system. If the class is mainstreamed, maybe some accommodation happens or maybe the teacher will be resentful and let him sleep through class.
Hey Tom
I’ve got tears in my eyes after reading your latest post. I don’t think this ever happened before - getting so touched by a text concerning learning..
The last chapter written by you is the kind of connective learning I’ve only experienced created by cck08 - and why I more and more believe cck08 ever was established.
There always occur explanations for being late.. but despite managing with the overload of everything regarding cck08 - I’ve worked in a market research project recently having taken most of my power.. I’ve got four days off now and let’s see how I’ll manage with the unpruning of all notes re. cck08..
What you wrote is exactly the kind of cheering up I needed. There’s still hope. And lot’s of it. I wish you and your family a nice weekend.
Hi Tom,
You write it will be necessary to “ignore petty politics and the
inevitable history that comes with time”.
As a strong believer in subversive change, it is often better to do the first, but rewrite the second. It is usually possible to find precedents and historical justification for change that others would see as innovative. This makes the conservative lot more comfortable, especially if you seem sincere in wanting to reclaim something that is the hallmark of the organization, something you can show as having declined. “Quality” is a good word, because instititutions tend to have a commitment to it, can admit it has declined, and people who might oppose change and innovation will have trouble opposing a re-commitment to quality (using your plan, of course).
It’s an option, anyway.