Students at CanStruct

Spencer Drake, 2014

I had one of the most enjoyable Saturday mornings this weekend and I actually spent it with some of our students from Lambton College participating in Sarnia's CanStruct. What is CanStruct? It is a community project where teams compete in local shopping malls to build sculptures out of non perishable food items. At the end of the event, the food is then donated to the local food banks. The Inn of Good Shepherd in Sarnia is the recipient of ours. This is a big event in Sarnia and during the pep rally in the morning the Inn of the Good Shepherd informed the crowd that in Sarnia last year they raised more food then cities like Toronto and London England during their events. This is the first year for Lambton College to compete and I am sure that it will not be the last.

Lambton College has always been a leader in student centered learning. We totally understand the importance for students to participate in the learning and have experiences that are the same or very similar to the actual experiences they will have in the work force. We have been a leader in activities centered around student experience such as our learning studio's. The next step is to embrace the new digital world. We have implemented what we call Class Plus. Class Plus is what others are calling "Mobile learning" but ours is more than that. Students will have a mobile device with which they are going to be participating and interacting with the learning during class. The possibilities are endless. Due to our direction and commitment to have all programs utilizing a mobile device in the class room I decided that we would build an ipad. I had gathered all the material that I thought they would need and all the canned food items and made a very rough sketch of my idea and then turned it over to the students on Saturday morning.

Spencer Drake, 2014

Most people think that when they choose a discipline that they wish to study, they will only learn job related skills at college. As educators of the future, we have a responsibility that is much deeper and all encompassing. We have to be part of the transformation of these young adults into good citizens by igniting in them a sense of social justice by showing them how important it is to give back. We also need to help them develop other skills such as working on a cross functional team, being able to respect each others ideas, problem solving under pressure and the ability to accept constructive criticism and learn and grow from it.


The reason I so enjoyed the day was because this project linked all of those related skills and these students performed as a team and were able to successfully complete the project. It would have been very easy for me to simply give them directions and have them simply assemble it but that was not the point of the day. I simply gave them everything that I had created and then stood back. They bumped into a few problems which they solved. One solution they came up with actually made it worse. They had to different types of cans. Juice Cans in the back (Apple for an Apple ipad) and then vegetable cans in the front. The back was very unsteady so they decided that hey need to link the front and back together using duct tape. This actually made it worse and almost pulled it over. They actually jumped into action, stabilized it, took the entire thing down, decided on another solution and then built it again. ( I only advised and guided them, it was their idea) I think the finished product of the day was great and these students are positioned well be be successful in their future. By the way, the CanStruction project turned out alright as well.

Spencer Drake, 2014

Jeff

Learning to Learn

When will they learn?

Students have no idea what it takes to learn. I had a group of students in my office today complaining that they just had no idea what was going to be on the mid term exam. They were unsure if the professor even covered the material. I went to the filing cabinet and retrieved my copy of the text that they are using for the class and then opened the book and asked them what chapters have they covered. The three chapters that they had covered looked simple enough to me and I am not a subject mater expert in that area. Next I asked what is in the course outline. That is when they looked at me like I was crazy. What does the course outline have to do with what is going to be on the midterm?

I had to explain to them that the course outline is the contract between the college and the students. It explains what the learning outcomes are for the course. It is in here that we are then able to narrow down what in the three chapters they will be tested on. Of the four standing there in my office not one of them had viewed the course outline. I showed all four on the LMS (Learning Management System) where they could find a copy for all their courses and then printed one off. I flipped to the learning outcomes and then showed them that each cross referenced to something in the text. A good place to start.

Next I asked for their notes. I saw that each days notes related back to one or more learning outcomes from the course outline and then back to the chapters in the book. I asked for study sheets and they had none. They also had no journal entries and again looked at me like I was crazy. They never read over the notes that they took in class and then critically reflected on what the professor was talking about. Without criticaal reflection how do they even hope to learn?

They pay their money to come and sit in class and I guess they think it will just sink in.

They will never learn and the reason is that we never teach them early enough for it to be a habit.

Happy teaching,

Jeff

When Yes did not mean they understand.

We as educators have all had this. We are working with a student who has expressed that they are having a problem. We run through the question with them giving a more detailed explanation of what we had shown to the class. When we have finished talking while the student stood there silent we look up to the student and ask "Do you understand?" We get the answer that we hope for and expect, "Yes". Great I always think, I am so good at reaching out to these young people and making them understand. Then when I get their homework assignment or mark the test the following week it hits me, they did not understand at all. What went wrong?

I have always approached this in the past as the student must have forgotten what I showed them or is listening to another studnet or is just not applying themselves properly. All of these could be the reason but I am starting to think that there might be something else going on here. There might be another deeper issue at play. The issue may be that of a cultural difference.

Now when I say a cultural issue people jump to all the visible differences and that is not it. In fact, I would think that since there are many people in your city or neighborhood that look different then you do but are also the third or fourth generation in that particular area, you will find that culturally the two of you could be very similar.

This difference is a more rooted inner cultural difference. To me, when I ask a student do they understand I am expecting that when they say yes that it means that they are going to be able to perform that task without any further questions or guidance. When the student answers yes they might mean something totally different. To the student they might be confirming that what I have shown them is correct but they still have no idea on why or how. They could just be from a culture where it is expected that there be no conflict so if they said no this would be a disagreement. What ever the difference I have had to except that when I ask the question and they say yes it does not always mean what I would like to think it means.

So what to do. I have started to change my approach when working with a student who has asked a question. Instead of the "Papa Jeff" approach where I take the note book and pencil and in my hand draw out the solution while explaining it and giving them and reassuring smile, I now question the student. I challenge them to start to think it out. Of course by asking key questions I am leading them through to the solution. In some cases you quickly push them out of their comfort zone and you have to guard against this as you do not want to stop them from asking questions.The key is to then get them at the end to explain it again to you and then turn on Papa Jeff with the reassuring smile and you got it.

This approach has turned out better results, and more confident students. Unfortunately, the students now ask more questions but the best part is that they are asking because they want to learn.

Have a great night.
Jeff

Skills Canada- Trades and Technology in Ontario

I have recently just finished a blog for Skills Canada-Ontario. Instead of actually rewriting the entire blog here I just thought that I would post the link. This is a new Blog for Skills Canada - Ontario and they are going to be asking different members of the Academic Trades and Technology world to share their views. My idea, so I got to go first. Please enjoy my blog and maybe book mark it as well since there will be a wide varity of views on education in Technology and Trades expressed here.

http://ontskilledtrades.wordpress.com/


Jeff

Kids stop bullying

I  think that it is in a song somewhere about one gun getting added to one gun and then one gun is added on. Same thing with your voice. Once someone stands up and says hey that's not cool, another person soon follows until there is a huge body of people saying, hey that's not cool.

The story in the attached video is of a six year old boy who had a brain tumor that the doctors told his parents would make it impossible for him to meet any of his milestones. This little boy has and he walks, runs etc. Part of his disability is a severe speech impediment. Of course, if you did not hear him speak you would not know anything was wrong with this little boy, kind of. For what ever reason, he has decided he wants to wear a shirt, tie, jacket and hat. It makes him feel comfortable. This is were the bullying started. Fortunately he participates on a football team as a water coach and when they found out, they rallied around him.

For most children living through this there is no football team to back them up. What they need is us. We need to start telling children that they need to be brave and be the first voice saying it is not cool. We need to make sure that they know if they are the first voice, lots of voices will join in. An adult voice will not stop it and sometimes it actually makes it worse.The voice needs to come from a peer.  It is hard to be brave for a child as most adults are not.  When we see bullying happening it only takes one voice to stop it and I hope we all become the first voice.

Watch the video and please be that voice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gq7ZgXz_YLc


When school starts back in January I will be wearing a hat. I hope I am questioned so I can share my one voice.


Have a great Holiday

Jeff

Math Comes up Again.

Only a week ago we heard about the poor state of math in our education system and the numerous suggestions on how we can improve it. This subject came up as part of a meeting I was attending as a member of HAT (Heads of Apprenticeship Training) with OCOT (Ontario College of Trades) and the Curriculum Development Committee for Carpentry. The group had assembled to work through some issues that have came up due to the transfer of the curriculum from the Ministry of Training for Colleges and Universities to OCOT.

The change in the curriculum is well over due and very needed. The Curriculum committee has done a great job putting together the proposal. The conversation centered around the details of what needed to stay and what we would have to remove. One subject, that in my mind, should not be part of the curriculum, is Math. This time would be better spent applying math that the apprentices have been exposed to in their secondary education to the trade. Then it happened. The statement was made that people with a grade twelve College level math did not have the basic numeracy skills to be successful as a carpenter apprentice.

Of course the suggestion was made that they would need to change the entry level requirement into the trade. There are a number of options for a College level certificate or two year diploma related to the field. This option was actually considered as a possibility until it was determined that establishing this was totally outside the scope of anyone at the table. The Math has stayed.

What it has made me wonder is if these students are not able too be successful at apprenticeship then how could they possibly succeed in an advanced diploma. The answer to the question is of course they can not. Students who take the college level math in their secondary education have actually made it very difficult for them to achieve success in any of the  technology programs offered at anyone of the Colleges in Ontario. Also, if we looked at the data, we would find that this is why we are suffering a problem with retention and completion of apprenticeship.

I don't know the answer. I do think that the education system has to change and start holding students back who do not demonstrate basic numeracy skills. By doing this it will give back value to the completion of a grade twelve diploma.

Have a great week,

Jeff

Math - Something does not add up

This past week the international report on how 43 countries are preforming on math was released and of course the usual media activity soon followed. Canada, while doing much better then the other "western" nations, came in at 13. Not bad if you ignore that this is a six spot drop on the list over the past two reports. Of course this was pointed out by several news reports which also tried to point out the problem with Canada's school system. Most pointed at two main  possible causes. Poor teachers who are not prepared to teach math, and of course the curriculum needs to be adjusted back to a more traditional one. This for me just does not add up.

I visited a local high school as a representative of our College and was asked a question by some of their faculty that kind of made me understand the first point in these news casts. They said "What do we need to teach our technology students to better position them for your trades and technology related programs, and don't say math?" These teachers don't want to teach math because it is boring. They want to teach all the things that are part of the learning outcomes in our technology programs instead of preparing them for post secondary by giving them a proper foundation.

It is so easy to point out that this is a problem in our elementary and secondary school systems. They are the ones with the task of teaching these very fundamental subjects. One suggestion of the media is very true. We need to go back to traditional curriculum. This will help but only take us part way. We need also to remove all of the calculators from math class. Children need to be able to figure things out in their head. This will put us back on a path of strong mathematical skills in our youth giving them an opportunity to meet the skills shortage of tomorrow.

After this there is nothing else the school system can do. No magical fix that some of the other countries are doing that we do not know about. They need to just hand back the traditional curriculum's to teachers and take away all the cool subjects they want to teach.Also make a hard fast rule that indicates when and how calculators can be used in math class. Yet, even with some of our Canadian schools teaching a more traditional curriculum, they are not preforming at the level of other nations. This is where things do not add up and there has to be something else. I believe there is a very big piece missing, but it can not be supplied in a school.

The way our children play is ever changing and I think in here lies a key. I was shopping last week for my grandchildren for Christmas and picked up a Monopoly game. This will be great, I thought, they are at the age when they will need to be doing the math required in this game. The picture on the box was different and on closer examination I found that this game now has a computer to figure everything out for them. They don't do any math at play so it is little wonder that they can not figure things out, they have never have to. Games is a big part of the reason that these children do not know how to do  math. I know that I enjoyed the times I would play crib with my grandfather and the entire time I was learning math and strategy. Kids are competitive and by giving them a game in which they have to do simple math to win, they will quickly learn the simple math as well as fundamental problem solving. This allows the school to teach more complex math, thus preparing them for post secondary and to help fill the skills shortage.

Parents, the best thing you can do for your child is to play.

Have a great week,

Jeff