And the light bulb goes off ! *

It's amazing how time flies when your having fun, and how sometimes in this joyousness that surrounds, time seems to stand still, freeze in the moments that we treasure so much. I can vividly remember losing my first tooth, catching bugs on field trips and spending countless hours playing dress-up, house, pet store, and a whole bunch of other imaginary games as a child. I too of course remember my story of schooling, working hard, admittedly 'sucking up' to the teacher in the best way possible, contributing to student council, sports teams and other extra-curricular activities. All of these memories connected with friendship, support from faculty and staff, parents and other professionals along the way. However in this story of schooling, I cant say that I vividly remember curriculum, I'm not entirely sure when I learned that 2+2= 4, or that the more zeros at the end of a cheque meant a bigger pay day. I can tell you though that I can vividly remember, as the textbook makes reference too "BIG IDEAS", the notions of global citizenship, environmental consciousnesses, support for mental health, treating others the way we want to be treated and so on. However as I reflect on these things I also come to realize that I was one of the 'lucky ones', I liked school, and was encouraged to like school. My parents supported me and encouraged me to do well, helped me practice for spelling (which I still cant do very well) but were excited about when I would come home with a new idea for an essay or a project on opossums. And now as I further reflect on how, if my life was spent like the furry creature I just mentioned, upside down, how my education could have been entirely different. And, no my home life was not perfect, there were bumps and hiccups along the way but in many ways immersing myself in school was a way to normalize and find another community and support system with visible and notable successes. But what about these kids who find school anything but what I have suggested above, that begrudgingly go to school everyday, and then trudge the same way home at night ? How as a future teacher can I shape and model the curriculum to compliment their interests while still meeting provincial curriculum standards? How can I find the balance of teaching health education, and preaching the importance of a healthy breakfast to those that come from both sides of the spectrum ? How can I suggest that Pop Tarts are not a great way to start the day when some students would be happy to have any food to curb the hunger they feel that morning?

I think the answer of how you bring the balance to the classroom can be found at the threshold to the classroom itself. As teachers we need to be aware that once we get to the door our slate is blank, although we enter with the curriculum we walk in with no expectations, but allow our students to shape their own learning. We let students, interact, react and encourage each other through the curriculum and allow them to develop their own notion of the big picture, while encouraging them to see every side. Not just our side. That we truly tap into (sorry for those of you reading this who may not fully know what this is, just check out the bottom of this page at the end its a new(ish) and very neat pedagogical practice) assessment as, for and of* learning. We begin to look at every side of the spectrum as an opportunity to encourage the practice of our future, doctors, lawyers, tradespeople, but most importantly we use the curriculum to encourage our future dream seekers and citizens of the world. We reject the notion of strict and prescribed documents that fail to last in the minds of our youth, but switch to teaching Enduring understandings and have students ready to apply there skills in the real world. We do as the textbook further suggests to ask a big picture question and help students apply this knowledge to real life experience. So that when students ask "am I ever actually going to use this in the real world", we as educators can say "YES!" and here is where. 

The notion of know, do and be (knowing the information, applying the information to real life circumstance and then ultimately having this shape who our students are) should not only guide our lesson plans but should also instruct our own pedagogy. Classroom structures, instruction and assessment have been stuck in the factory model way to long ! Let's start a revolution !!

So what's my idea? Where does my heart rest and whats my dream for education? How do I want to impact students. I think that lately a buzz word in the field of education has been 'mental health', there has been a big push for mental health,cyber-bulling (which by the way I am happy to hear that students are learning about how to be noble and appropriate citizens when using the web) and other things that plauge the student mind, but unfortunately I feel sometimes that these things, are just what I said they are, buzz words. I used to think that mental health stigma was just silly, I didn't think that there was any real stigma against it, and that people were far more accepting of it then was being let on. But when I began to think about my own story with mental health struggles, I realized that the person with the biggest stigma against my mental health was me. I was my greatest enemy, and my greatest support for continuing the behaviors that were negatively impacting my life. Even though to others it looked as though, all was well, or I was seemingly better at avenues that I took part in, in my heart and in my head I knew that this wasn't true. This isn't meant to be some sob story about struggles I have had in the past, but it is meant to start to not only bring up the important topic of mental health and what is happening in schools about it, but it is a place where my passion stems from. I believe that the big picture idea that we need to convey, is that our students are loved. I know that word 'love' presents a bit of a problem in the education system, that developing a child to be holistic, using their heads, hearts and hands can be problematic because it seems as though we, the teachers, are trying to instill values and faith in them that they may not share. But at some level I truly believe that this is a good thing. We need our students to know that is okay to be questioning to grow and to learn of others life situations and lifestyles. To know that we, the teacher do not have all the answers and that we, like them, have had struggles too. We need to stop throwing around statistics such as 1 and 4 people suffering from mental health, but we need to let students know that if they are this 1 in 4, that it is OKAY ! We need to realize and implement programming that encourages students to know not only that it is common, but that there lives are worth it, that they are loved and are integral parts of our world. But what does this look like, undeniably there are school programs that are implemented to help with this, but I think the problem lies in the hidden curriculum. What are we teaching students about mental health, body image, self-esteem, self worth through our curriculum. For me body image and self-esteem strikes a cord, and is the subsection of my passion for helping youth with mental health issues. I think that especially as a gym teacher I have an important role in implementing and enforcing HEALTHY BODY SIZE. So what does this look like? It looks like inviting everyone out for teams, it means setting challenges by choice, but not allowing people to set unrealistically high, or low expectations for themselves. It means pushing students to be the best they can be, not sugar coating what this is, but not berating them for not being good enough. As a teacher, and an athlete it is even in my physical appearance that I owe it to my students (particularity my female students) to show how to respect and respond to my body appropriately. This does not mean under or over eating, or exercising but it is about showing that creating healthy and realistic goals for sport and life will help to increase longevity of life, and inspire a love for it. I think that creating an environment where students feel push to succeed without the pressure to succeed in so much that they fail is the type of class that I will strive for. I want students to know that being, sad, down and seemingly out, is okay, but there are ways we can learn to love ourselves through things like depression, eating disorders and other illnesses. I would be remiss if I didn't saw that this is hard, that just positive thinking cannot always inspire or cancel out the negative thoughts that students have about themselves, but if we truly start to look at how we teach, how we assess and how we exemplify our feelings towards life to our students we can maybe truly help students to see the incredible life that is before them. That as hard as it is to believe there IS life after school, and that is not just post-secondary and then professional degrees. There is more than being the jock on the football team, in the pool or on the court, that there is more than student council and book clubs and there is more than breaking that school track record. I believe that once we as teachers begin to teach students how to harness these things, and see school, and achievements as parts of self and not their full definitions then we can truly help them to understand their worth, regardless of all the external stresses and pressures of our world. 

*As for and of learning is a new pedagogical practice which uses the notion of assessment not as a be all end all of student learning. Each (as, for and of) learning imply a different form of assessment. 

Assessment for Learning is intended to be used by students, peers and teachers, to grow from formative assignments and evaluations. 

Assessment as Learning is the notion of just peers and students evaluating their own, and each others work.  

Assessment of Learning is the structure and formal assessment done by the teacher as a summative task.