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

Applications, Big Ideas and the Art of Connections

What I am writing about today is my take on how you can use the Inquiring Minds application process to get your brain moving in a way that will help your plan for next year whether or not you get a site school week or (God forbid or maybe Halleluiah) you are asked to change grades or decide to move schools.

Consider mulling over some of the questions you need to answer in your application proposal as an opportunity for personal reflection on how you like to teach and begin to play with an interesting theme, organizing idea or key concept. Start rolling one around in your brain. For inspiration check out Edna Sackson’s Feb 2010 blog on Big Ideas at What Ed Said. Edna herself teaches primary IB (PYP in Australia) and her blog inspires me every time I click on it. Google “big ideas key concepts” and read from some of the diverse results to inspire yourself. Look at Table 1 (pg 3) in Focus on Inquiry (Australia). Look at this poster of Research Summary from Oxford University Press.

Do you personally journal in any way, shape or form? Do you read your students’ writing regularly and respond? Do you have a passion? If so, try making a web about one/all of these experiences and consider using it as illustration.

If you used to journal or never have, get busy. Try writing for 10 min everyday for the next 2 weeks (perhaps while you have your class doing it as well) on your thoughts connecting your class, next year planning and anticipating making this application. Let it inform your teaching practice. The site based experience is as much about how it opens you as a teacher to making all kinds of connections as it is for the development of that ability in your students.