Thursday June 20

 Questions posed in class:

- As we contemplate public education as an evolving democratic institution, what are the critical perspectives that ought to guide educational thought and values?

This is a curious question.... from what I have seen in my very limited time in the classroom so far, I wonder if the question should be "how do we include critical perspectives" in general.  The written curriculums that I have worked with have very little critical perspectives written into them at all.  Hence I have not seen a great deal of evidence of critical perspectives as the lessons are delivered, or in how the schools engage in them.

What critical perspectives ought to guide educational thought and values?   This course has come at the exact right time in my learning for this degree.  It has really helped to tie a lot of the previous learning and ideas discussed in various classes together.  One thing that has been a common thread is that the Education system as it stands now in this province does not serve all of its students.  I believe that there needs to be a shift in the way that we look at education as a whole.  If I can put a name to what I believe what ought to guide our educational values it would be a Critical Holistic Perspective.  As people; students, teachers, community, we are not all individual self sustaining islands.  We are all joined to each other and to the ecological systems that sustain us.   Education as it stands now is very compartment and departmentalized.  With a Critical Holistic approach we hopefully can begin to see how we are all connected and how every piece of that larger puzzle is necessary for that big picture to be complete.  The smaller parts of that larger Critical Holistic Perspective would include critical eco-pedagogy, critical economic pedagogy, critical anti-oppressive pedagogy; based on race, gender, sexuality, ability and class.  I am sure there are other critical pedagogical approaches that I am not familiar yet with that could be included in this as well. 

- What role does this type of foundational question play in our learning and growth as educators?

Overall this gives me something to work towards in my continued learning.  That being said, learning is a continuous process, it is not stopping today at the end of this class.... the very last one I need for this degree.   Learning will take place as I carry on in my daily practices.  Learning will take place as I continue to make alliances with co-workers and other community members.  Learning will continue as I continue to become more actively involved with my community.  Learning will come in my classrooms as my students are sure to open my eyes to many new ways of thinking about the world. 

I just need to remember to be open to new ideas, question my prior beliefs and be willing to change. 

Thanks Vince

I wanted to be a Home Ec teacher because food sustainability has become a passion of mine.  I now see that it is more than just a reclaiming of knowledge that our grandparents had, it is a multi layered issue that spans government policy, class and poverty issues, eco system and environment issues, and economic growth issues.  This class has opened my eyes on how to look at one issue critically through multiple lenses, and how all of the issues are infact not independent of each other. 

(P.S.  I will be posting more pictures of the garden as the summer and fall progress... not every day though.  Feel free to come back to the blog and see what produce we manage to pull out of this little piece of land)