Remembering Mandela

As we know, Nelson Mandela died just over a month ago at the end of 2013. During December we read and heard great platitudes about his life and the huge debt that South Africans and the world owe him for his work in bringing the end of the racist regime of apartheid to South Africa. We have been reminded that he left prison not with words of revenge on the government who imprisoned him for 27 years but with words concerning peace, democracy and freedom for all.

In 1995 South Africa hosted the Rugby World Cup. During apartheid, many countries had sanctions against South Africa that included not allowing sport teams to play there nor to host South African teams playing abroad. For South Africa to host the World Cup, this therefore was a significant event in the world of sport. Rugby had long been regarded as a sport that only white South Africans played and therefore the ‘Springboks’ team for most South Africans was seen as a symbol of the hated regime. However, Nelson Mandela as South Africa’s new president, was instrumental in uniting his country in support of the team and the Springboks, with one black player on the team, went on to win the World Cup in South Africa, with Mandela watching (wearing the green and yellow jersey) and with 43 million South Africans united behind them whatever the colour of their skin. 

Why is the life of Nelson Mandela and this sporting event from 1995 so important for us to remember in school? It reminds us of the extremities of discrimination that Mandela and millions lived through and that we must be vigilant against racism and discrimination in our school. Every school in BC is required to have a Code of Conduct which sets out expectations for student conduct in schools. These Codes must adhere to the BC Human Rights Code which sets out that all forms of discrimination (including publications, signs, emblems or statements)  are prohibited in BC and therefore in schools. There has been recent discussion at NSS about weighing up freedom of speech and expression against what constitutes discrimination and racism. By excluding one group of people from access to education (for example) because of their race, their gender, their sexual orientation, their political allegiances or their religious beliefs, this is discrimination. By allowing language or visual images that suggest that a person is less worthy of respect and regard because of the colour of their skin or their nationality is allowing racism into our school.  

 

As educators our role is to teach this to our young people and a good place to start would be to look at the life of Nelson Mandela, 1918-2013, and try to empathise with what it was like to live under the system of apartheid.

 

The Beauty of Mathematics

It was snowing on the way to school today. Large fluffy snowflakes floating to Earth reminded me of math. Yes, math.

Math is a different way of viewing the world. Predominately conceptual, it is grounded in nature and the world around us. But for many, experiences with textbooks, pencil and paper, perhaps calculators even, bring a sense of daunting.

But pause a moment. What if you were able to see the world in mathematics; to visualize the unfolding of an elegant equation as it floated to Earth? I wonder if we would gain an appreciation for thinking and experiencing our world...as numbers?

Humor me a little. Take a couple of minutes and watch this video.

"Mathematics, rightly viewed, possesses not only truth, but supreme beauty — a beauty cold and austere, without the gorgeous trappings of painting or music." —Bertrand Russell

What is education really about? Many times it is about skills we learn. But sometimes, it can also be about learning to view the world in a slightly different way.

As I write this, the sun is breaking through the snowy storm clouds outside. I wonder how the math of that works?

Mathematics and the Leaning Tower of PISA

I have had the good fortune of visiting Pisa, Italy twice in the 1990s and recall well the magnetic pull of the tower that leans. Disembarking from the train at the station you don't need a map to get to the tower as you just join the masses who all are feeling the tower's draw. You get sucked into their flow and follow. When you see the tower for the first time, you are struck by one thought alone, "The tower really leans." I am sure that this is a good reason why the tower has not yet fallen and that using mathematics, engineers are able to predict how long it will stand for, measuring the forces at work on the structure but to the human eye it is quite incredible to see the degree of the lean as a non-engineering brain can't quite fathom how it stands (or indeed, leans).

This week the results for the OECD's Program for International Student Assessment (or PISA) 2012 were published.  65 countries and economies participated in this assessment and in Canada around 21 000 students from about 900 schools took part. The primary focus was in mathematics with a smaller proportion of students assessed in reading and science.

Canada had an average score of 523 in reading and 525 in science — well above the OECD averages of 496 and 501, respectively. However, there has been a trend downwards on Math; in 2006 Canada placed 6th on the international scale but is now placed 13th. This has caused observers to be concerned and comment on Mathematics teaching in Canada. In particular Manitoba and Alberta were highlighted as provinces that previously were above the national average but now are below. As in BC, the teaching of Mathematics in Alberta and Manitoba over the last decade has encouraged students to explore strategies in Math for computation, relate Math problems to real world examples and to answer open-ended questions. Meanwhile, the countries performing well above average such as South Korea and Hong Kong, are countries that traditionally teach rote learning methods. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/canada-s-students-slipping-in-math-and-science-oecd-finds-1.2448748

The results of the PISA are timely for BC as a new curriculum also has been released in a draft form (see 'Drafting Change' post).  Debate and discussion on what Mathematics teaching and learning looks like over the next 10 years is imperative. I often compare Mathematics to learning a foreign language, not that Mathematics is a foreign entity but that language learning requires that patterns are learnt and held in the memory banks just as in Mathematics. Repetition reinforces the ability to access memory efficiently. Mathematics and foreign language learning have this in common. Both disciplines are therefore useful for your next visit to Pisa-  to be able to haggle with the stall holders when buying a replica tower and to spark your curiosity to find out how the tower leans. While learning mathematical procedures by rote have a place and are a necessary skill (and the pendulum seems to be swinging back that way) , curiosity should remain integral to the subject in schools and therefore I hope that there is a good balance between the two in the next decade in Math classrooms in BC.

Drafting Change

We are well into the Twenty First Century and for the last 13 years we have been talking about learning in the new century and what this looks like in schools. From the curriculum to the learning environment and from the role of the teacher and the role of the learner there has been plenty of research about how education needs to change.  Trilling and Fadel in 21st Century Learning Skills- Learning for Life in Our Times (2009, Wiley and Sons, San Francisco) believe that in our newly flat world of connected knowledge, work, global markets, tele-linked citizens and blended cultural traditions, the 21st century demands a fresh set of responses in education (p.15).  They go on to identify three end goals for education which are indeed, nothing new:

1. Contributing to work and society
2. Fulfilling personal talents
3. Fulfilling civic responsibilities

However, their focus is on our graduating students being ready for their future with a skill set that enables them to take part in a global network of economic, technological, political and ecological interconnections. Trilling and Fadel advise us that out students must be able to manage knowledge that is readily available digitally and to apply the critical thinking and information literacy skills needed to put this information to good use.

The Ministry of Education in BC has just released drafts for the new curriculum in Science, Math, Language Arts and Social Studies for Kindergarten to Grade 9. These drafts have been in the making for several years and have three core competencies that are believed to be at the heart of life long learning: thinking, communication and personal- social competencies. These competencies will come into play when students are 'doing' their learning; learning by doing includes activities where students use thinking, collaboration, and communication to solve problems, address issues, or make decisions  -all vital skills needed in the future workplace.

The draft curriculum has `learning standards` which include the core competencies at work in the subject area and the concepts and content specific to the subject (i.e. the knowledge section). At a glance, a teacher or parent will note that there are considerably less `concepts and content` listed  in the drafts than in the existing `prescribed learning outcomes` (PLOs) today. For example, in Grade 8 Science currently there are 24 PLOs compared to nine concepts in the new curriculum. The rationale for this is that students will have the opportunity for deeper learning and that teachers will be able to allow students to explore topics in greater detail to acquire a greater understanding, become critical thinkers and inquire on real-world matters.

The world has changed since I went to school in the 1980s and the skill set of a school leaver today needs to be different as the workplace is different. What hasn't changed though, is that schools will continue to be places of learning. It's just that the learning will look a little different.

To review the curriculum changes in their draft form connect to https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/

Stepping forward into the social media age.

Every dilemma, problem or roadblock offers the opportunity to find a solution. The school year at NSS started with our school's website http://www.sd10.bc.ca/nss/ being inaccessible to Ken Barisoff, our teacher who volunteers to update the site each month. While the IT manager for the district has been finding the solution to this problem,  myself (Natasha Miles, principal) and Nicol Suhr (vice principal) have been looking for our own solutions. After reading 'Why Social Media Matters- School Communication in the Digital Age' by Porterfield and Carnes and 'Social Media for School Leaders' by Dixon (both good old paperbacks) we agreed to challenge ourselves to step further into the world of social media and enter the domains of Facebook and Blogs.

Facebook is ideal for getting information out to our students and community on a daily basis: When is volleyball practice? Did parents get to see their child's report card? What soup is at lunchtime today? So many teenagers do not email at all, rather they text or use Facebook to interact with their peers. Facebook offers followers a route to respond to information; is volleyball for juniors or seniors? No I didn't get the report card, can it be mailed? Can I volunteer to serve soup next week? Facebook offers followers the additional opportunity to respond and offer their own insights: NSS Cougars rock -well done to the senior girls in Nelson! I'd loved to meet with teachers more rather than receive report cards! This week's soup was the best yet! Visit our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Nakusp-Secondary-School/344398359038222 or just search for Nakusp Secondary School.

Blogging is an opportunity for the school leadership team to share thoughts, research and reflections on events an on educational change and practice. It works if responses are encouraged and dialogue is sustained. Do join our blog:  theviewfromnss.blogspot.com

'Stepping forward' implies change and 'The View From NSS' sees the opportunity that social media offers to engage our stakeholders in the life of the school further. There will be some hiccups but as our students experience every day, our school is a place where we are on the learning curve together.