Monday June 3rd

At this point in our pedagogical education, we should be finding our way from looking at ourselves as students to viewing ourselves as part of the teaching profession and we should be looking at our learning not as merely something we need to do to get credit, but as something we are doing for our individual growth. 

At this point in the class there are a lot of questions that will hopefully start to be answered through our readings and discussions in class.

How to engage in reading, observing and interacting in way to cultivate capacities of judgment, thought and critical analysis?

How do we begin to internalize the questions and understanding of social, psychological and interpersonal realities so it starts to become second nature?

How shall we collectively engage the term critical ?

o   to actively seek out the "other" opinion, view, perspective and strive to understand it

o   to model the behaviour of critical practice

o   to look for the deeper understanding - deeper past the surface

o   delay judgment and not immediately dismiss - digest the information

o   be willing to change your opinion

In taking a critical look at things, we need to start looking at them through different lenses, the lenses of Race, Gender, Class, Sexuality and Ability.  We need to assess whether we are being analytical or critical.  We want to think of ourselves as objective but we do have strong views.

Being critical is part of being an active learner, and being an active learner means addressing your weaknesses. 

What is the role of Educational thought and how does it guide us in being professionals? 

What is being taught? - what is most important?

How can we be thoughtful about what needs to be expressed?

The Curriculum is predetermined, so how can we us it to meet the values of class?

What is important to students?

What is important to society?

What is being instilled in the students?

What are the values of the communities?

What do we ultimately value about education?  

In what way do we connect to the natural systems of our world?

I feel like as a whole we are getting more and more disconnected from recognizing and understanding the fragile balance that sustains all life on this planet.  As North Americans we rely on a lot of other people in other countries to feed and clothe us.  As a Home Ec. teacher I know that I can help to reconnect students with where our food is coming from and how we are connected not only to the environment in which our food is grown, but also to the people who are growing it.

I think that by understanding that there are both natural food production cycles and food cycles that have been forced/altered by human need is the first step in helping students understand that there are concrete choices that they can make on a daily basis that will have a positive ecological and social impact. 

A few weeks ago I came across this video called "Overview".  It is perfect timing for this class. The message stated in a powerfully awesome way is that we are all interconnected.  We are interconnected to each other and to every living system on this planet.  As Astronaut Edgar Mitchell and the lovely Joni Mitchell both state, We Are Stardust.

Well maybe it is just the time of year,
Or maybe it's the time of man.
I don't know who I am,
But you know life is for learning.

We are stardust.
We are golden.
And we've got to get ourselves back to the garden.

                                                                        - Joni Mitchell "Woodstock" 1969