Blank Journal 101 - Rai·son d'ê·tre

If I knew in 1974 what I now know about journaling and kids and learning to read, write, do math, sketch, connect, contemplate and a wide array of other things I would have been quite a different  teacher my first day with my own classroom.

That first classroom; what a mind-blowing experience. I think my love of old brick buildings came in part from that 1931 structure on the corner of 112 Ave and 79 street.

I had giant windows which I loved and a gym in the basement with a nine-foot ceiling which caused me to be creative in my physical education lessons. Nestled next to the growing footprint of the Edmonton Exhibition Association (it was not calling itself Northlands just yet) and Borden Park I would learn about the inner city much as a science fiction character learns about new worlds. My middle-class upbringing and four years of university did nothing to prepare me for the alternate reality I discovered but that is another story.

In a short amount of time, I felt that my university education courses had not given me tools to help my Grade 5 and 6 students learn how to escape the cycles of poverty that shaped their lives and daily presented obstacles to the acquiring of even the basic skills in reading, writing and math. The CI (Curriculum and Instruction) courses I took never touched on the realities of engagement, individualization, brain development and certainly not how to use a blank journal. 

I would give anything to be able to go back and start that first day with all those students and a set of journals.

As I write that I now, I realize that is not fair to my whole post secondary experience – I had Dr. Buck, Iain Gunn-Graham and Rachel Kindersley to thank for modelling how to engage me and share the passions they had which fuel many of my interests to this day. I just did not appreciate that aspect of their work. Engagement.

I had arrived at the University of Alberta a “good student” with outstanding departmental exam results. I had learned to write the five-sentence paragraph and the five-paragraph essay, using a point by point outline form. I could write on any topic, even something I knew little about. I loved math and sewing thanks to some wonderful high school teachers and I had just begun to think about the world from a social justice point of view.

I am unsure of the Education course material now, but I cannot find a course called Blank Journals 101 listed anywhere (the Google search did show me lots of ideas for buying journals and prompts). On this first day of school 2019-20, with an uncertain approach to curriculum on the Alberta horizon I am going to write and post as often as I can about what I know about blank journals and their power for learning. And I will offer connections to the world of people who support this educational tool and concept.

Now, enough of the rear-view mirror.

I am making a vow to write myself every single day. Join me. Get started with kids. Have a great year.

To infinity and beyond. Buzz Lightyear

The Case for Classroom or Meeting Place

In the last few months the changing circumstances of some of our Edmonton Inquiring Minds sites as well as the possibility of some new ones led to a discussion among site coordinators through email and at meetings around the topic of classrooms on site – from “what would be a dream situation” to “are they even necessary”. 

These days, much of the talk about classrooms is about how to bring the world into 21^st century learning spaces through the creative use of technology.  Brain research is showing us that concrete experiences in rich real world activities are actually the neuron synapse way to lay down the foundation of deep learning through connections. But a "box" out-of-the-box can facilitate it! 

So here is the case for a classroom out-of-the-box. 

I discovered early on in my ICE School experience that the space we called a classroom was used mostly as a staging area: a place to hang up coats, stow boots, lunches and backpacks, a spot to get away for a period of time from the distractions of real world work and noise (much of the space in an NHL hockey rink is in almost constant motion), touch some of the interesting artifacts of the game, check out my library of books on hockey, horse and history, eat lunch, access a bathroom, keep a water bottle (there are not many water fountains out in the working buildings of the real world) and leave a few things at the end of the day so they could welcome learners back to the “routine” of another day on the site. Much of the day unfolded somewhere else.

During the development of the ICE School program I realized that the experience of a site based program was to take an education “known” and turn it around (it is all the rage to call this process “flipping”). Spending 5 full days away from school moves students from the “Wow” of arrival to developing the ability to look longer and more deeply and facilitates seeing beyond the first impression. It takes a while to become calm and comfortable and a space to lay down the routine of coming and going plays a grounding role.

In the section titled “The Classroom or Meeting Place”, Campus Calgary/Chevron Open Minds’s generous sharing through Implementing the Open Minds Education Concept in Your Community – a guide states:

       It is necessary (my bold italics) to have a room or space that will serve as a base for the teacher and their students. They need a place for sharing journals, discussions and snacks/lunch, and where they are away from the other visitors and staff.

    

    Requirements

The following description is the ideal – this isn’t always possible.
·         a colourful, bright space. Classrooms that have a glass wall have been very successful as the public can see what is happening and the students feel more connected to the site
·        in some programs the students sit at tables in five or six groups. Many sites use trapezoid tables that can be rearranged easily into groups or other formations for other users of the space. If the chairs are medium height they can be used by all ages.
·         It’s useful to have a carpeted area so the teacher can have discussion time with the students sitting near her. A white board or easel also is helpful. An overhead projector and LCD projector may also be useful.
·         counter with sink, coffee maker, cupboards
·         coat racks and runner for shoes/boots
·         tables/counters for display of books/artifacts etc.
·         access to washroom facilities

The final words go to the godmother of week-long, site-based inquiry programming, Gillian Kydd. After reading the above she sent me this:

"Made me think back on all the “meeting spaces” I’ve experienced since the program began, from the damp smelly panda theatre at the Zoo which was the first one, to the dark storage closet at Glenbow, to the tiny conference room at the Calgary Arts Centre, to your colourful locker room type space at Northlands, to the small lobby at our local museum, to the old school house with pot bellied stove and minus 25 in Fort Mac, to the round windowed room at the top of the ski jump at COP, to the gorgeous glass wrapped sea to sky views in the OM classroom at The Rooms in St. John’s.
Many of the cramped ones have been replaced but you are right – they are simply meeting places – the real classroom is the world.
Love
Gillian"

The real classroom is the world. 
Amen.