Electronic Journals PME 810

 

Journal #2: "Connections to My Professional CommunityI've 

 

Note: I've decided to focus on the Facebook groups that I belong to that pertain to enhancing Anishiinaabemowin with curriculum documents, resources, lessons, websites etc. The same goes for the Ontario Grade 4/5 Teacher group since that is the grade I am currently teaching. I truly hope that the resources I provide will help others out. 

In addition, I'm a strong advocate for helping people achieve and maintain good mental health. Hence, why I reached out to the non-profit Canadian Mental Health page I follow. 

 

March 1- 2018: 

 

I uploaded a Syllabic Chart to help people learn Anishiinaabemowin that is spoken in Pikangikum. This chart was created by a Native Language Teacher I work with and we use this daily. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

March 3- 2018:  The page/group I reached out is called one that I read daily and is such a vital resource I implore everyone who has Facebook to add or like their page. I've spoken to them before by thanking them for their posts. I sent the message tonight and received a response within minutes. I was so impressed! I was also impressed with the fact they are willing to share resources that I want to send to them are mental health strategies or awareness re Indigenous people. The group is called, " Youth Mental Health Canada" which is a non-profit organization. They already have 11k followers and I hope they get more!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

March 5- 2018: I wanted to share lessons, ideas and resources that pertain to Indigenous Education. I've bookmarked a few throughout my time working in Pikangikum and I felt it was high time that I shared it with the closed Facebook Group,  " Ontario Grade 4/5 Teachers" and the Public Facebook group, "Anishinaabemowin Resources" in which I saw my post being shared within minutes! What a great way to see curriculum moving! Felt pretty awesome. 

I've attached pdfs of the screenshots from the posts. 

 

Here was my original message posted on the Facebook groups: 

Boozhoo! Hello! I just wanted to share some resources that I've found as a Teacher working in Northwestern Ontario on a First Nations Reserve and am trying to integrate Ojibwe in everyday lessons with the major assistance of my co-teacher(who is fluent in the language). This has helped me a lot! I hope this helps you too!

 

The following is an online Ojibwe (various dialects) to English translator. As per the website: 

"Speakers & Regions Key

Individual speakers and speakers from different regions use different words when speaking. Each audio recording is marked with the initials of the Ojibwe speaker. Click on a speaker's initials to go to the speaker's bio page. If an Ojibwe word is particular to a certain region, it will be marked with a region code. Click on the region code to go to the Regions page." 

 

https://ojibwe.lib.umn.edu

The following websites have (lessons for classes, books that you can order or find online through libraries pertaining to Ojibwe, and contacts you can reach out to all over North America) 

 

http://www.anishinaabemodaa.com

http://www.nativetech.org/shinob/

 

In addition, this website is great for folks that want to incorporate Indigenous mathematical concept games. 

http://web.archive.org/…/database/RR.09.00/treptau1/mathcon…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

March 6- 2018:

 

I checked to see if the Facebook group "Youth Mental Health Canada" posted any of my resources and yes they did!!! I've included their page and contact information. The last image is the post using the links I provided to them (in my above journal post!). 

How amazing!  Feeling great that the resources I have used for myself, friends, family and students is now spread across Facebook for thousands to read and use. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

March 9- 2018: 

 

Anishinaabemowin Resources (my post on March 5th):

How many likes? 32 How many shares? 31

 

Anishinaabemowin Resources (my post on March 1st):

How many likes? 4 How many shares? 2 

 

Ontario Teachers Grade 4/5 (my post on March 5th):

How many likes? 14

How many shares? none yet

Comments? 1 (A Thank-you) 

 

 

Youth Mental Health Canada (my post they shared):

How many likes? 1

How many shares? 1

 

I think this is pretty good so far and I plan to continue sharing resources that I come across that will help with curriculum development, lesson planning, mental health in the classroom etc. If I find other peoples posts helpful then I should also share what I find helpful to others! I really enjoyed this part of the Journal where we created outputs because it gave me a confidence boost to know that people do care about what others have to save and they appreciate it!

 

 

 

Journal #1:"Journal on the Foundations and Practice of my Professional Context"

 

February 24- 2018: 

I've decided that the Google group "Green Industries Teachers of Ontario" is a group that I can send contests etc to my local Tech teacher but it does not necessarily help me the most in my specific area of education. The Google group " Yearbook Teachers" was interesting because I was able to tell Student Council at our school about it and I suggested that they try to join the group to start a yearbook for our school. I responded to a discussion question re: what interesting ideas for pages you could use for your own school (I suggested yearbook pages that reflect students progress and activities with the Culture team at our school). 

 

Another Facebook group I belong to is called Ojibwe Language Fix of The Day (closed Group). 

This group is amazing because it allows me to join Skype lessons on learning Ojibwe with people that do this for free. The more I learn Ojibwe the better I can integrate the local langauge within my own lessons and allows me to have a stronger worker relationship with my co-teacher who is responsible for teaching Ojibwe daily to our students. I did not have an issue joining the group and I was added basically within a day (I joined probably a month ago). 

 

Lastly, I found the following group to be of utmost importance to my professional practice on Facebook and it is called: Anishinaabemowin Resources and this is a public group which there is no problem being added to the group. This group provided me with a free resource (a man in the U.S. offered to make scrabble letter stickers in Anishinaabemowin) and all I had to do is peel and place the stickers on the English scrabble pieces. I received the stickers within 3 weeks and the students are having a fantastic time playing Scrabble in their native tongue. This also helps with early finishers during the Native Language class. 

 

I plan to use the following Facebook Groups the most and contribute to them in order for other educators or non-educators to become more acquainted with their culture and language: Ojibwe Language Fix of the Day & Anishinaabemowin Resources. I've also shared this group with fellow teachers within my school and they have found the resources to be very helpful!

 

I also enjoy the Ontario Grade 4/5 Group because it has helped me come up with long-range plans, upgrade my own lesson plans and I plan on uploading culture-based lesson plans for this group so they can integrate Indigenous culture within their lessons. 

 

 

February 10-2018:

I also wanted to mention that I belong to a Facebook group called "Ontario Grade 4/5 Teachers" where you have to provide your OCT number in order to be added to the group. This online professional networking community is used to share resources and ideas with other teachers across Ontario. I have belonged to this group since I believe June 2017 when I knew that I would be teaching grade 4 at Eenchokay Birchstick School. This group is fantastic when you are looking for ideas re lesson plans, classroom management, long-range plans etc. I have uploaded a document that I use to outline my week and what I plan to teach that week based on the previous week's attendance, and completion of assignments by students. I constantly have to change what I am going to teach based on school closure due to funerals, deaths or wide-spread illness such as the flu which prompts a school closure to limit the amount of people getting sick. 

 

February 5- 2018: 

A pleasant surprise awaited me in my inbox! I was approved into the google groups "Yearbook Teachers" and "Green Industries Teachers of Ontario"  on February 4th (I saw this in the morning!) 

Green Industry Teachers of Ontario: Has links to OCTE awards, contests for classrooms, posts about upcoming conferences, and just a ton of AWARD applications! It's a pretty cool group. There is a contest re best practices and it's a great way to share resources (lesson plans, assessment tools etc. ) This group is pretty awesome as well and I hope that I'll be able to share something of value to the rest of the group members. 

 

Yearbook Teachers: I'm thinking I like this group more because it tailors to my professional and personal likes (how to teach children photography, digital photography lessons, how to advertise for Yearbooks etc.) I could use these ideas for pretty much anything at my school. I could create a yearbook with the other grade 4 teachers. I also think I'll have some ideas to contribute to the group!

 

 

February 4-2018:

I have not received an update from the "Animator Teachers" google group and have sent a follow up email. In addition, I applied for the google teacher groups called, " Yearkbook Teachers" as well as "Green Industries Teachers of Ontario" in which I gave my OCT number, reason why I wanted to join, my professional context and my academic reasonings. I'm hoping to hear back soon! My membership for Yearbook Teachers and Green Industries Teachers of Ontario is pending. 

 

January 28-2018:

I sent an email to the owner of the "Animation Teachers" google group. I first introduced myself as a Teacher and then as Masters student at Queens University. I provided context to why I wanted to join the group (but more importantly I asked to be provided with more information regarding what the group is all about). I provided an idea of what I thought the group was about (working with stop motion, cameras, digital cameras etc). I shall wait and see what the response is and if I would benefit from the group and/or if I could provide some benefit to the group as well. 

 

January 22-2018:

Upon working alone and now working with a fellow classmate it really is nice to have someone to bounce ideas off of. Not only do I learn from my classmates during discussion posts but having to work with someone one-on-one provides an outlet for immediate feedback in real-time even though we are thousands of kilometres apart and in a different time zone. 

 

Working on Module 2 on the visual assignment we divided up tasks but we also provided support to one another. I was glad that Agnes told me that I was doing too much. I wasn't sure if I was providing too much detail and what not but her feedback made me feel better and allowed me to take a step back with my work. 

 

The below quote was something that I took out from our google slide but realized it was important to me and I thought I should write about it. The following quote, “Curriculum design is concerned with the nature and arrangement of four basic parts: objectives, content, learning experiences, and evaluation”(Ornstein, pg. 151) is something that I deal with every single day in my professional practice. I have to think: What is the most important thing that I want a student to take home from this lesson today? Will this be a fun and lasting experience that they can use in their real lives? 

 

Reference: Ornstein, A. C., & Hunkins, F. P. (2013). Curriculum: Foundations, principles, and issues (6thed.). Boston, MA: Pearson. pp. 149-173.