Penny Hasell, a grade 4/5 teacher at Roosevelt Park Community School in Prince Rupert and graduate of the Masters in Education program linked with LUCID, talks with fellow graduate and colleague Raegan Sawka about her exprience in the LUCID Project. She tells us of her successes in her classroom and also some of the struggles as she forges her way into teaching in a culturally-inclusive, imaginative way. (Dec. 2007)
What changes have you noticed within and yourself and your teaching since you have been using the ideas behind LUCID?
During my experience with using the ideas of cultural inclusion and imaginative education in my teaching, I have discovered several differences with approaches I have used in the past. My knowledge of IE/CI has provided me with a lens to examine lessons and units differently. Now I look at a set of resources or materials commonly used at my grade level and question how engaging they really are. It isn’t enough to have great strategies and well-laid materials that cover the factual information with my students - sets of good worksheets, nicely illustrated black-line masters, and quality resources don’t necessarily translate into effective learning. I try to look for depth in my teaching now, aiming to develop conceptual understanding beyond the superficial memorization of definitions and facts.
I have developed several imaginative units that bring together multiple subject areas with rich inclusion of local Ts’msyen knowledge and connections to the community. A recent one was a science unit on ecology, looking at habitats, adaptations of plants and animals, and food webs. I began with a local Adaawx (Ts’msyen true telling/ historical story) of the Prince and the Salmon People to set up the transcendent theme of respect and the interconnectedness of people, animals, and their environment. I invited two Elders and a Role Model Storyteller (School District #52 has a Role Model Program providing a variety of aboriginal guest speakers to support the curriculum) in to talk about the seasonal rounds (food gathering of seaweed, oolichan, salmon, cockles and berries) and share traditional stories about respect and the relationships between animals, people, and their environment. The students explored the concepts and vocabulary through use of several of the cognitive tools such as heroic qualities (respect, survival), extremes and limits (geographic regions/ habitats), narrative (traditional stories), metaphor (representing habitats in terms of something familiar), literate eye (using concept webs), games and play (PE activities about food webs and ecology), and sense of reality (field trips around community). We went to a variety of habitats including a beach, bog, swamp, forest, and pond, and I had them discover differences for themselves. It was exciting to see how they made connections and broadened their conceptual understanding.
What changes have you noticed with your students since using the ideas behind LUCID?
CI/IE is fascinating for me. I find I am spending less time telling the kids about the topic, and more time allowing them to make meaning. I like the idea of teaching concepts within the context of community, the local environment, and within a narrative structure. I find that the students are far more engaged. They seem to be making deeper emotional connections to the ideas; learning has become more memorable and meaningful for them. I have fewer struggles in capturing the students’ interest
What has been the most difficult part and how have you compensated for dificulties?
There have been many challenges along the way. We weren’t exposed to this type of learning as students. The depth we are aiming for now is different. Most teachers excelled under traditional models of education which is why we made it to our positions today. It can be more time consuming because to make something imaginative you require a certain depth of understanding yourself. IE/CI isn’t a package or specific textbook. You don’t just pick it up and use it amongst all of your other strategies. It is an umbrella that holds your other teaching methods within it. It is a way of thinking about teaching and learning and can look different from classroom to classroom. As teachers, we interpret it in so many ways. In the beginning, it was hard to define and I was unsure if I was being ‘imaginative enough’ or ‘imaginative in the right way’. We found that students’ assessment of their own learning was valuable. Besides using a number of different assessment strategies and tools, we assessed students’ learning and understanding verbally, either meeting in small groups, or in pairs. Students became excited when they shared their understanding, feeding upon the knowledge and enthusiasm of other students. Learning and concept development varied between individual students, but everyone has grown far beyond their initial understanding. Students especially enjoyed the field trips, research (taking notes from animals books) and science focused games.
What would you recommend to other teachers who are interested in learning more about LUCID?
It is very exciting and stimulating to try this approach. Despite the challenges, I try to push myself to try new things because it makes sense. Teachers need to take the existing curriculum and make it interesting. Our students are human, social, emotional beings, and not robots. Educational practices need to reflect the rich stories and emotional significance behind the learning outcomes. I think a good place for teachers to begin would be to critically examine themselves and what they value in the classroom. Another useful idea is doing some team teaching or team planning where possible. I have found this quite valuable because it alleviates some of the time and research that goes into planning lessons. A partner teacher might have some resource ideas or just different subject knowledge that can be useful.
What is your metaphor for teaching?
My metaphor has changed over the years. My earlier metaphors were much more idealistic. Now I embrace the challenges of my work rather than wishing them away. I look at myself as a goose who wishes to lay the golden egg, a golden lesson or unit that will spark my students’ imaginations and learning. It takes a lot of work to create this magnificent egg - I need to remember to take care of myself through exercise, time for relaxation, friends and interests other than egg laying. When a goose does all of these things and balances her energy needs then she is capable of producing beautiful eggs. At times I feel like a goose that is missing a few feathers, but is striving to maintain the balance.
Interview by Raegan Sawka
