Imagination and Engagement

Quality and Equality in Learning

through Partnershipsfor Imaginative

Education

Imagination and Engagement

… in Shifting Thinking about SchoolingKieran Egan, Simon Fraser University

… in Building Culturally Inclusive SchoolsMark Fettes, Simon Fraser University

… in Helping All Learners Reach Their Goals Debbie Leighton-Stephens,

BC School District 52 (Prince Rupert)

Imagination and Engagement

… in Shifting Thinking about Schooling

Kieran Egan, Simon Fraser University

Development of children’s minds

Social homogenizing

Knowledge accumulation

Psychological development

Cognitive tool acquisition −> kinds of understanding

What are cognitive tools? 75,000 years ago to today.

Kinds of Understanding

IE is based on five distinctive kinds of understanding that enable people to make sense of the world in different ways

Somatic Understanding (pre-linguistic) Mythic Understanding (oral language) Romantic Understanding (written

language) Philosophic Understanding (theoretic

use of language) Ironic Understanding (reflexive use of

language)

Somatic Understanding

understand experience in a physical, pre-linguistic way

Somatic: the body’s toolkit

• Bodily senses

• Emotional responses & attachments

• Humor & expectations

• Musicality, rhythm, & pattern

• Gesture & communication

• Intentionality“little factories of understanding”Ted Hughes

With the development of language--further little factories of understanding

Bodily senses

Emotional responses & attachments

Humour & expectations

Musicality, pattern & rhythm

Gesture & communication

Intentionality

Forming images from words/ abstract binary opposites

Story

Joking & buoyancy

Rhyme & meter & number sense

Puzzles

Metaphor

Sense of mystery

How do the tools in the left column turn into, blend with, develop distinctly from those in the right column? How do the tools in the second column develop, or develop distinctly, from those in column one?

Mythic Understanding

understand experience through oral language no longer limited to making sense of the world through direct physical experience can now rely on language to discuss, represent, and understand even things not experienced in person

Mythic: Oral language’s tool kit

Story Abstract and affective binary opposites Affective images Jokes and humor Mystery and wonder

From cognitive tools to planning teaching

The story form framework

1. Identifying importance : What is most important about this topic?

Why should it matter to children?

What is affectively engaging about it?

2. Finding binaryopposites:

What powerful, affective binary opposites

catch the importance of the topic?

3. Organizing content into story form :

3.1. What content most dramatically embodies the binary opposites, in order toprovide access to the topic?

3.2. What content best articulates thetopic into a story form?

4. Conclusion : What is the best way of resoling the

dramatic conflict inherent in the binaryopposites?

What degree of mediation of thoseopposites is it appropriate to seek?

5. Evaluation:How can one know whether the topic has been understood, its

affective importance grasped, and the content learned?

Examples

Teaching place value in grade 2

Teaching “properties of the air” in grade 3

Romantic Understanding

understand experience through written language realization of independence and separateness from a world that appears increasingly complex relate readily to extremes of reality, associate with heroes, and seek to make sense of the world in human terms

Romantic cognitive tools: from oral to literate culture

Cinderella to Superman: Peter Rabbit to Hazel and Bigwig

‘win’ in ‘window’ : ‘at’ from ‘cat’ : stop and watch the stopwatch

White bears on Novaya Zemla; Blue shamrocks on Sirius 5.

Romantic: Literacy’s toolkit

Extremes and limits of reality Associating with the heroic Matters of detail Humanizing knowledge Romance, wonder, and awe

Examples

Teaching about eels in grade 8

Teaching “interior opposite angles are congruent” in grade 7

General principle

All knowledge is human knowledge; it grows out of human hopes, fears, and passions. Imaginative engagement with knowledge comes from learning in the context of the hopes, fears, and passions from which it has grown or in which it finds a living meaning.

THE LUCID PROJECT

Imagination and Engagement in Culturally Inclusive

Schools

Some insights from a Community-University Research Alliance

Mark Fettes, Simon Fraser University

Funded by the Community-University Research Alliances programof the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada

Diversity, quality and equality

Diversity is…

• a defining feature of teachers’ work that schools are ill-designed to accommodate, perpetuating unequal outcomes

• a fact of life in modern societies that requires intellectual and emotional engagement and dialogue based on knowledge and understanding

• a potential resource for teaching and learning that offers much of value for academic, social and personal development in schools

Inclusion through imagination

• A theory of learning that views all cultures as educative and all students as capable of creative and energetic thought

• A set of principles for connecting the facts, concepts, and skills of the mainstream curriculum with the roots of human meaning

• An approach to classroom teaching that works with learners from diverse backgrounds and with a diversity of abilities and needs

Teaching in layers

• Look for the transcendent qualities of any topic, such as wonder, courage, wisdom, ingenuity, rebellion, power, beauty

• Plan a narrative structure for the unit that will allow your students to experience these qualities for themselves, and incorporate cognitive tools (tools of imaginative engagement) that keep heart, head and hands working together

• Draw on the resources of your students and their communities to build an increasingly complex picture of the human meaning of the topic

Transcendent qualities

Narrative frame

Facts, concepts, skills

Strategies and activities

Tools a

nd

Reso

urce

s fo

r Imag

inativ

e

En

gag

em

en

t

Three examples

• The following teaching plans were developed by teachers in the LUCID project, in BC School Districts 33 (Chilliwack), 50 (Queen Charlotte/Haida Gwaii) and 52 (Prince Rupert).

• These plans have all been used in mainstream school classes following the BC curriculum.

• We have seen a consistent pattern of engagement in these classes, in which students who are typically disengaged, and may even be written off by other teachers, show themselves to be energetic and talented learners.

The Spirit of Haida Gwaii A Grade 8 English Unit

By Leslie Puley, School District 50

Finding purpose in Grade 8 English

Here we are at last, a long way from Haida Gwaii, not too sure where we’re going, still squabbling and vying for position in the boat, but somehow managing to appear to be heading in some direction. At least the paddles are together, and the man in the middle seems to have some vision of what is to come.…

— Bill Reid

• In this unit, the canoe becomes an image of the classroom and all the characters on the boat are all the students in the class.

• Students will be imagining that life on the boat is their time during high school when they’re learning and figuring out their options for the future. The big question is what will happen to the characters when the boat lands? Or, metaphorically what will happen to the students in their lives after school? How will they contribute to society?

• Bill Reid asks us if there is a purpose to the journey at all…

Activities

• Discuss metaphors for community in poetry and art

• Write about a character in Reid’s sculpture

• Listen to Reid’s essay and the teacher’s adaptation of it

• Read Haida stories about the canoe characters

• Practice comprehension, vocabulary, etc in variety of ways

• Watch the video “Spirit of Haida Gwaii”

• Compose a portfolio for one character (description, poem, resume, achievement award)

• Engage with a speaker from the community who talks about Haida storytelling traditions and their relevance to contemporary life

• Apply what you have learned to produce something relevant to your own life and future goals (using writing, art, music, etc).

Mosquito Woman

An oral language teaching cycle

by Tannis Calderin collaboration with School District

33

Oral language in place

The program was initially designed for a school where about a third of the students are Aboriginal, and traditional reading programs have had little success

Each cycle of activities is based on a traditional narrative of the Sto:lo, the River People

A transcendent quality central to the story provides the overarching theme of the cycle

Activities are carefully ordered to engage the students with increasing levels of challenge and reward

A multi-week cycle

A cycle lasts 3-4 weeks and progresses through four stages:

First Encounter (listening to the story told orally, exploring it through guided imagery)

Preparation/ Immersion (learning the story through rhyme/rhythm, building vocabulary through Mystery Words and other games)

Creating/Inventing/Reimagining (one-minute talks, short role plays, and other short projects)

Celebration/Integration (dramatic retellings, enactments, audio and video recordings)

Some engaging verse…

When darkness fa!s and mothers call

For all their children big and small,

Th’owxeya with her basket deep

Seeks out to snatch those not asleep.

Th’owxeya’s evil appetite

Is sated only with a bite

Of young, sweet children who neglect

To hurry home before sunset. …

Some mystery words…

The first part of the this word means bad or wrong.

This is what happens when something goes wrong when listening or talking

The last part of the word comes from the root word “common.” It means “shared by all” or “together.”

Miscommunication

A skipping rhyme…

Tho’wxeya, Tho’weya, big and mean,

Push her in the fire and hear her scream,

It wasn’t a joke,

There wasn’t any smoke,

How many skeeters came out to poke?

1, 2, 3, 4, 5.....

Achieving multiple goals

Students normally silent and passive become active and thoughtful participantsAboriginal culture and values infuse part of the regular curriculumFamilies are brought closer to the world of the school The focus on written, formal language is enriched by a new appreciation for the beauty and power of spoken languageMythic understanding is retrieved and developedPower relations in the classroom shift toward co-creation (become more “horizontal”)

A Time For … Ha’liAn Imaginative Year Plan based on the

Ts’msyen Calendar for the Grade 7 CurriculumBy Colleen Pudsey and Raegan Sawka, School District 52

We would like to recognize the Elders of the Ts’msyen Nation, Sm’alygax Language Teachers and the First Nations Education Services Department of School District #52 (Prince Rupert) for their hard work and dedication in developing the cross-curricular units and resources for our district. Their mentorship and these materials played an integral part in the development of our Imaginative Yearlong Framework.

A Year-Long Journey• Each student is part of a Crest group symbolized by an animal (wolf, raven, eagle, orca); students without a crest are adopted in a December feast

• The crest animals represent heroic qualities that are also to be found in each curriculum topic and in traditional “true tellings” (adaawx)

• The curriculum follows the rhythm of the seasons and of community life

• Culminating activities affirm students’ accomplishments throughout the year

Five Curriculum Phases

Clans and Crest Phase (September)Community, narrative, history, identity

Creation Phase (October-November)Astronomy, geology, exploration, physical fitness

Feast Phase (December)Art, nutrition, formal speaking, cooperation

Energy Phase (January-February)Physics, technology, natural resources, sports

Survival Phase (March-June)Ecology, biology, literature, outdoor skills

LUCID and educational change

Working with teachers• Workshops, M.Ed. Program, planning, teaching,

assessment

Working with districts and First Nations • Good collaboration but hard to change systems

Working with students and parents• Units are relatively easy, consistency is hard

Developing curriculum resources• Greater use of / demand for local resources

Imagination means struggle

Imagination and Engagement

in Helping All LearnersReach Their Goals

Debbie Leighton-StephensDistrict Principal of Aboriginal EducationSchool District 52 (Prince Rupert)

Sagaayt Hakalelsm (Work together)

Hagwil Yaan (Walk slowly)

Haawks

(Believe)

Sagaayt Hakalelsm

- build positive partnerships that are:

• genuine

• respectful

• and appreciate diversity

Hagwil Yaan

- take time to develop relationships

- listen & learn

- build trust

- change takes time

Haawks

-know your learners

-believe in your learners

-high standards

-empower - don’t save

Engaging & Imaginative Learning

Teaching from our Feast halls:

-everyone has a place

-everyone works together

-everyone has a purpose

- hearts and minds are involved in

learning

- learning is challenging & relevant

- learning is fun & interesting

Research Protocol

PRINCIPLES

1. Researchers will conduct research in partnership with Aboriginal people.

2. Researchers respect the culture, traditions and knowledge of First Nations people.

3. Researchers have an obligation to understand and observe the protocol concerning communications within the Aboriginal community.

Signing the protocol agreement