(Week 10) My own teaching philosophy

In this post, I would like to share some of my own teaching philosophy and, where possible, make connections to what I have learned so far this semester.

At Algoma, I find myself in a very unique situation because our university was the former site of the Shinwauk Residential School which closed it's doors in 1971.  Because of this history, and our northern location, part of our university's mandate is to cultivate cross-cultural learning between aboriginal communities and other communities.

Over the past 4 year's, I have learned a lot about the experiences of the residential school survivors, and, every chance I get, I go out of my way to honour the history of our campus.  As part of AU's commitment to providing a respectful, inclusive and innovative education environment for Anishinaabe (First Nations, Metis and Inuit) students, the university has entered into a Covenant with the Shingwauk Education Trust.  As stated on our university website, "The Covenant is a document through which both parties pledge to work together for the furtherance of Anishinaabe education and research."

For the English for Academic Purposes Program (EAPP), I have worked hard to shape our curriculum so that it reflects the historic roots of our campus and is culturally relevant to indigenous culture and traditional values.  One of the central ideas or themes is the following aboriginal medicine wheel:

There are many depictions/variations of the medicine wheel but most have the same central concepts or themes.  The circular shape represents the continuous interaction of the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual realities and the inter-connectivity of all aspects of one being, including the connection with the natural world.  It typically has a clockwise direction or follows the direction of the sun. The directions can also represent the stages of life, season of the year, aspects of life (spiritual, emotional, intellectual, physical) animals (eagle, bear, wolf, buffalo), four directions (north, south, east, west) etc. Each of these have meaning separate from the other sections but when taken together, they are even more powerful.  Many of the aboriginal teachings and practices are based on the inter relatedness between these elements and keeping a balance in mother nature.

In the center of the wheel, are the important concepts of the "creator" and "me".  Individuals (i.e. students) have to understand themselves before they venture outwards on their journey to learn more about the interconnectedness and interrelatedness of all things represented by the medicine wheel. 

As I reflect on what I have learned in this course, I see a lot of connections to the medicine wheel. The emphasis put on student-centered learning, the different kinds of learning (ex. somatic), the tacit knowledge that one brings with them through life, the role of the surrounding environment etc. I feel that the Medicine wheel is a great model to guide the development of pedagogy at Algoma where all parts of life may be represented equally.  In this light, it is also extremely important for teachers to understand themselves before venturing out from the center and part of this realization can be achieved through the process of critical reflection. 

(Week 5) Reflective Practice in the Civil Society

(Week 5)

In Week 5, the second assigned reading was an article entitled, "Reflective Practice in the Civil Society: The contribution of critically systemic thinking" by Ulrich (2000).  Although this was one of the more difficult articles to get through, I really enjoyed its content.   

Ulrich's ideas revolving around corporatist society, including special interest groups, having more "legitimacy" than the individual citizen really struck a cord with me.  To explain why, I would like to apply his ideas to the field of education.

Everyday, as a teacher, I feel the separation that exists between the world of teacher and that of academic research.  Unfortunately, much of the educational research conducted by those in the academy is largely irrelevant to teachers' lives in schools.  On the other hand, many academics dismiss the knowledge produced through teacher research as trivial and inconsequential to their work. This kind of mistrust and under-appreciation creates a power struggle in education, which, as Ulrich mentions in his article, leaves very little room for teacher to act as an "individual" or to function as a "citizen".

In the article, Ulrich talks about the difference between "professionals" and "lay people".  At no time do I personally consider teachers to be considered part of the "lay people" category.  To enter, and stay in, the teaching profession, requires a high level of education, training and professional development.  As I reflect on this point, I can see more clearly why academics view teachers as a treat to sound professional practice rather than a basis and support for it.  As the article suggests, there really needs to a bridge between civil society (the teacher) and the concept of professionalism (the academic).

At the start of this post, I put the picture of the "eye" because of the following quote from the article: "Reflective practice risks being blind if it shuts its eye to the issue of responsible citizenship."  To legitimatize and include teachers reflections, I agree with Ulrich in that the notion of citizenship has to change to include a new set of "civil competencies".  His concept of boundary judgments, shown below, as a way to deal with the divides between the individual and the corporatist society makes room for this to happen.

By understanding the context of each group, educational research can include both teacher produced knowledge and knowledge produced by those in the academy. This will go a long way to close the divide which exists between the tow and greatly benefit the processes of teacher development, school reform, and teacher education.