Author: Richard Galloway

New Year’s Eve Blues

An iPhone snap of my favourite people. Taken in Skagway, AK, this summer. 
An iPhone snap of my favourite people. Taken in Skagway, AK, this summer. 

New Years Eve – how I used to dread this day. Expectations to have a wonderful, best night ever were always unfulfilled. These attempts at forced revelry normally resulted in the beginning of a new year with a hangover. Over the last year I have realized many things but one in particular is that I drink excessively when I am unhappy. I see this now because 2014 was a transformational year for me and I drank less last year than ever I have. The reason for this? It was a happy year for me. 
It is a bit of a cliche to say that life is a journey, but being a cliche doesn’t make it untrue. Getting the most out of any journey means keeping your eyes open. This year I saw a lot and have learnt a great deal about myself. It’s somewhat surprising to get to this point in my life and realize there is still stuff to discover. You’d think that by now, closer to 50 than 40, I would know who I am. 

For the longest time, until very recently apparently, I knew what I didn’t want and spent a lot of energy and effort running away from that. But starting with meeting my wife, continued and accelerated by the arrival of my son, my focus has slowly changed from what I didn’t want to what I do want. This last year has been like a fuzzy idea slowly coming into focus until the scene suddenly snaps sharp. 
At the centre of this focus is my desire to be a good role model for my son. From my observations, my reading and studying this past year it is clear that children model themselves on their parents. There is a genetic component, which I suspect plays a larger part in a young persons development than we give credit for, but a lot of their behaviour is modelled on the adults in their lives. This realization has forced me to be a better version of myself. So the days of the beer swilling, wine guzzling, video game playing, sloth are done. Now I am actively trying to better myself. I am trying to read, exercise (still working on that) and be a good husband and father each day. I feel like bettering yourself is a lot like giving up smoking. Damn hard. Sometimes I regress into former bad habits but I try not to don’t  myself up too much, I am human after all. Next year I will keep on trying to be a better version of myself because my son (and my wife 🙂 deserve that.  
2015 has the potential to be a great year. A year that consolidates what we as a family began in 2014. 

So Happy New Year to everyone. Here’s hoping that 2015 brings peace and happiness to you, your family and your friends. 

Educational News

One of the things I have really enjoyed over the last six months has been reading about current educational issues, and in this respect the www is a blessing. Of course the reasons for it being such a blessing also means it is a curse, namely that there is so much information out there.

During my practicum I was reminded how teaching is an all consuming affair. After all the planning is done, the extra curricular activities delivered and your family considered there is little time for anything else. So keeping up with the news, for me, fell by the wayside, even with the best intentions.

Let us pretend though that there is time to peruse the news. What is the best way for keeping on top of it when there is so much information out there? There are a lot of tools for helping to separate the wheat from the chaff when it comes to finding, organizing and reading news of any sort. These are the one’s I use. 

Sometimes there is so much to look at it's hard to focus. This is an image from Grey Mountain looking SE on a perfect winters day. ©Richard M. Galloway
Sometimes there is so much to look at it’s hard to focus. This is an image from Grey Mountain looking SE on a perfect winters day. ©Richard M. Galloway

How to keep on top of information overload

One of the things I have really enjoyed over the last six months has been reading about current educational issues, and in this respect the www is a blessing. Of course the reasons for it being such a blessing also means it is a curse, namely that there is so much information out there.

During my practicum I was reminded how teaching is an all consuming affair. After all the planning is done, the extra curricular activities delivered and your family considered there is little time for anything else. So keeping up with the news, for me, fell by the wayside, even with the best intentions.

Let us pretend though that there is time to peruse the news. What is the best way for keeping on top of it when there is so much information out there? There are a lot of tools for helping to separate the wheat from the chaff when it comes to finding, organizing and reading news of any sort. These are the one’s I use. 

Feedly is what I use to manage the blogs / websites I like to keep up with on a regular basis. It’s very straight forward to set up and easy to use. It’s also free, although there is a paid version which offers more functionality if you need it. 

Pocket is an app I have just started using in the last month. Now I am using it, I can’t think what I did before I discovered this app. Basically it’s a way of saving articles you come across to read later. You can add to it from your devices and computers. When I come across articles that I don’t have time to read, or would like to keep for reference, then I add them to my Pocket. It is super easy to use. Again, it is a free app with a paid upgrade. 

Flipboard is something I have been using for a while. I am sure I have only scratched the surface of what it’s capable of. However, I use it to share all the educational stories I think worth reading – which is to say the ones I have read and found either useful and or interesting. You can get to those stories here or in the sidebar. 

Paper.il is something a little different and is an app I have just started using. (Which is short for I am learning how to get the most from it.) This is a platform for sharing information from lots of different sources. These are generally the same ones I use for finding information for my Flipboard content but have not had time to curate. 

There you have it. I have spent a lot of time using different apps to manage my reading online and these, in my mind, are the best of them 

So if you don’t have time to find your own content then please feel free to sign up for my Daily Digest or return here to my blog to read what I have come across in my internet perambulations concerning all things educational. If you have any app you couldn’t live without then please feel free to share in the comments below. 

Thank you and Goodbye

Our unit for LA was bears - I didn't know that I would end up teaching bears. The good news was they were lovely bears. If you'd like to see some bear pics then please click here. (Password Protected, Ms. V has it.)
Our unit for LA was bears – I didn’t know that I would end up teaching bears. The good news was they were lovely bears. If you’d like to see some bear pics then please click here. (Password Protected, Ms. V has it.)

My Practicum is over. I’ve not been in a classroom for six days and as I sit here in Whitehorse editing pictures for my blog I am suddenly hit by the realization that I miss my students. 

I have worked on and off in schools for eight years, three of them as a substitute teacher while I was transitioning out of, and now back into education. So I have worked with many different groups of children and this particular class ranks up there as one of my favourites. They were a joy to work with. A credit to their teacher, and to their parents and guardians. Typically, I am not taken by sentimentality or hyperbolism but having worked with these students I am tempted. I am going to keep this short, but I do want to say thank you to everyone who was a part of this experience for me. My mentor, Sam V, for her patience, guidance, kindness, help and professionalism; her colleagues who made be feel welcome; the principle who allowed me in to his school; my facilitator who had advice and words of wisdom a plenty and last but not least my students. You taught me a great deal. 

So all that is left is to say farewell. I’d like to extend to everyone my best wishes for the future, and if you are ever in the Yukon feel free to look us up. 

Lobsters in the Classroom.

Today we had some visitors in the class. Bobby the owner of Fisherman’s Pride Seafood Shop very kindly brought in some lobsters for our G2 class to look at.  Did you know that one claw is the hammer and the other is used for cutting? The reason for the elastics on their claws is they can easily cut off your finger. Just ask Bobby. (Apparently it takes 300 stitches to re-attach a finger.) Another interesting fact is that the females lay about 1500 – 2000 eggs a month and do so on a full moon, they know this by the change in air pressure. We’ve been studying Meteghan and the Acadians and lobsters play and have played a large part in the life of their community. Here is a rather insightful short video about lobster fishing today in Meteghan. Did you know that is costs $420,000 just for the licence? Not a cheap job then lobster fishing and somewhat explains the cost of buying lobster.  

The lobsters felt a lot like wet rocks and were a little cold. They can survive for 72 hours out of the water but after that will die from asphyxiation. Fascinating looking creatures who have some amazing abilities like dropping their claws and growing new ones. They will also eat one another if they can. 
The lobsters felt a lot like wet rocks and were a little cold. They can survive for 72 hours out of the water but after that will die from asphyxiation. Fascinating looking creatures who have some amazing abilities like dropping their claws and growing new ones. They will also eat one another if they can. 

Meteghan

An Acadian Festival 

Schools are places of learning. For instance before I began at my current school, I did not know there was a place called Meteghan or anything about its rich Acadian culture. A culture that my ancestors did their best to suppress in the 1700’s. G2 has been looking at Meteghan and its Acadian roots over the last term, and as we come to the end of the unit the G2 teachers took it upon themselves to organize a festival of sorts. After all the Acadians are famous for theirs. So at the beginning of the week, with the help of some fabulous parent helpers we our festival. It involved face painting, music, some dancing, fishing, some lobster making and of course food. Mr Anderton’s G7 students cooked a Meteghan stew, which although wasn’t lobster based, was non the less delicious! If you click here you can see more photographs from our festival. (Password Protected.) 

Face painting was part of the festival. One of my favourites was this little guy who choose to have the Acadian flag painted on his face. Nice one!   
Face painting was part of the festival. One of my favourites was this little guy who choose to have the Acadian flag painted on his face. Nice one!   

Where is Education going?

In my last post I was commenting on the current focus of the curriculum we are delivering to our students. I am of the opinion that a curriculum should be balanced between all the subject areas and include time for humanities, art and PE. In Canada, as teachers and as students, we are certainly in a better position than our neighbours to the south, which is why I am always aghast when politicians hark on about how we should look to the US to improve.

I digress. I came across this TED video and thought I would share it. If you are interested in education, it’s direction and current educational philosophies then it’s worth a watch. While the focus is on the US education system there are several key points that are applicable across countries. Ken Robinson is eminently watchable and talks a lot of sense. I don’t agree with everything he has to say but I do think much of what he proposes is spot on. Watch it and see what you think.

Norval Morrisseau

Grizzly Bears by 2v 

Inspired by NORVAL MORRISSEAU

We've got a bit of a Bear themed unit going on and these collages were inspired by First Nations artist Norval Morrisseau. If you'd like to see them enlarged you can click here (password protected).
We’ve got a bit of a Bear themed unit going on and these collages were inspired by First Nations artist Norval Morrisseau. If you’d like to see them enlarged you can click here (password protected).

If you hadn’t noticed art is an important part of what I want to do as an educator within the classroom. I think it plays an important part in providing a rounded education for students. I have seen first hand the validation it gives students who ordinarily struggle with other subject areas. I have seen it this teaching practice.  We need a balance in the curriculum, and art and the humanities play an important part in that. Of course the only way that becomes a reality is if parents help elect people who see education as more than just churning out workers to drive the ever hungry economic beast. Anyway I digress. Our students made a valiant effort in first of all drawing their grizzly bears (and yes many look like anything but grizzlies, buffalo, dogs, cats amongst others) they then created organic shapes cut from construction paper to create their art. We are not using templates here so it is all their work and I am really proud of all their efforts. If you have the password you can see bigger versions of all the students work here.

For those of you who don’t know this artist, Norval Morrisseau,  he’s worth becoming acquainted with. I love his art, it is both simple and complex at the same time. The more I look at it the more I appreciate how special this man was. He lead a hard, hard, life and was only really recognized towards the end. But if you know nothing else about him know this. He created his distinctive art with no outside influences beyond those around him. He created his own genre of art. This short piece from the CBC aired in 2006 is a sound introduction. 

If you would like to see more of his art then here is a collection of some of his most well known work. 

What makes for great teaching?

As part of my teaching practice each week I have to reflect on my performance and what I have learned. So it was with interest that I came across this article in the Guardian this morning talking about what makes great teaching.  In short it’s a report published by the Sutton Trust and Durham university. 

My reflection included a comment along the lines of “once again I am reminded about how complex teaching is. It is an intricate interplay between teaching and learning.” Part of a teachers job is knowing how this relationship impacts each of their students and is one of the main reasons why we spend four years at university. 

As part of my teaching practice each week I have to reflect on my performance and what I have learned. So it was with interest that I came across this article in the Guardian this morning talking about what makes great teaching.  In short it’s a report published by the Sutton Trust and Durham university. 

My reflection included a comment along the lines of “once again I am reminded about how complex teaching is. It is an intricate interplay between teaching and learning.” Part of a teachers job is knowing how this relationship impacts each of their students and is one of the main reasons why we spend four years at university. 

The report identified six components of great teaching. The first two of which had the strongest impact. Those areas that had suggested the strongest impact on student out comes were 1. teachers content knowledge and 2. the quality of instruction. 

Content knowledge was not restricted to the subject but had a wider meaning within the context of learning. The authors put it this way, 

“The most effective teachers have deep knowledge of the subjects they teach, and when teachers’ knowledge falls below a certain level it is a significant impediment to students’ learning. As well as a strong understanding of the material being taught, teachers must also understand the ways students think about the content, be able to evaluate the thinking behind students’ own methods, and identify students’ common misconceptions.”  

When talking about the quality of instruction they pointed out that it,

“Includes elements such as effective questioning and use of assessment by teachers. Specific practices, like reviewing previous learning, providing model responses for students, giving adequate time for practice to embed skills securely and progressively introducing new learning (scaffolding) are also elements of high quality instruction.”

One of the interesting findings from this report is that it  suggests that a more traditional teaching style does in many cases, improve educational outcomes. It’s a controversial claim and part of a debate that is as old as public education itself. If you’d like to read the whole report you can get it here. 

First Week in School and a bit of Art

Unbelievably the first week is over. Admittedly it was a four day week but still, the week flashed by in the blink of an eye. I’m teaching in a elementary school here in Red Deer in a grade 2 class.

This week has been about finding my feet, getting to know my students and spending time thinking about where I want to go with my teaching over the next nine weeks. I find myself in a bit of a strange position. Having been a teacher before I feel at ease and comfortable in the classroom. This is in no small part due to my mentor teacher who has embraced my experience and is helping me take my teaching to the next level. 

This was first thing in the morning on the 2nd day of my teaching practice. I stepped outside and snapped a quick shot with my iPhone. 
This was first thing in the morning on the 2nd day of my teaching practice. I stepped outside and snapped a quick shot with my iPhone. 

First Lesson of my practice. 

Unbelievably the first week is over. Admittedly it was a four day week but still, the week flashed by in the blink of an eye. I’m teaching in a elementary school here in Red Deer in a grade 2 class.

This week has been about finding my feet, getting to know my students and spending time thinking about where I want to go with my teaching over the next nine weeks. I find myself in a bit of a strange position. Having been a teacher before I feel at ease and comfortable in the classroom. This is in no small part due to my mentor teacher who has embraced my experience and is helping me take my teaching to the next level. 

Teaching is not as straight forward as some people would have you believe. It is a complex mix of science and art. Last week I came across this article “Educating kids isn’t rocket science. It’s harder.” It makes several keen observations. In particular how much change has been thrown at the profession over the last two decades and in many cases with little to show for it. 

Contour Drawing

Contour drawing is a technique for improving observational drawing. It involves drawing an object without looking at the paper, drawing very slowly, and without taking the pen or pencil off the paper. It’s as difficult as it sounds and for these grade 2 students it was the first time they had ever attempted it.

We brought some pumpkins into the classroom for them to draw. Many of them found it very hard not to look at their paper which you can see in some of the images above. That said there were a few of the students who gave it a proper go. This is an activity that can be done very quickly and one that will improve their observational skills as well as their drawing skills. 

Everyone seemed to enjoy the activity and it was interesting for me watching them try to cope with the instructions.