Post 6: Establishing Connection at School Based Team Meetings

Supporting teachers in problem solving and planning for challenging behaviours in the classroom can be a very difficult task as each teacher comes with a different background, experience level, teaching philosophy, and personality. School administrators and support teachers can have ideas, materials, and plans, but they would do well to consider the main players. Typically time is spent collecting data to understand the function of challenging behaviour and determining the antecedants or triggers to a behaviour. The classroom environment, curriculum delivery, and classroom management style may be attributed indirectly to the teacher, but these meetings can be very child-centered.

Because there are so many differences at the table, I wonder if acknowledging or establishing the commonalities will set the stage for innovative behaviour planning. In reading my colleague, Jessica Manson's blogpost on cultivating a space in her post-secodary classroom that would foster risk-taking and creativity, I was reminded of the importance of establishing connection (https://jmpme811.blogspot.com: Week 3, Entry 6). She shares something personal at the beginning of her class to build connection and community. I thought of Indigenous introductions and land acknowledgements, and, when done authentically, this can connect the speaker to the audience or listener. School-based team meetings typically begin with individuals introducing themselves by name and their role in the school or workplace; this may be skipped if parents are not in attendance and everyone at the table is familiar with the other. However a land acknowledgement, besides paying respect to unceded territories of Indigenous people, also can connect the speaker to place, which also in turn can establish a connection to the listener.

In their blog, Khelsilem (2015) writes about being more meaningful and authentic with acknowledgements: "If you’re acknowledging the territory you are on, and you agree it’s unceded or dispossessed territory, then perhaps include a centreing of yourself on what it means to be living on unceded or dispossessed territory and perhaps on how you are actively working for redress or restitution"(Khelsilem’s Tips for Acknowledging Territory 1.0)

Perhaps one way to start a meeting might be to introduce self and include intention as a team member. Sharing something personal and attempting to provide some kind of connection will likely put the parent and teacher at ease and create the enironment for creating and planning.

Comments

Post 5: Curriculm Changes in British Columbia

This week's assigned readings that spoke to how curriculum is influenced and how complex any type of reform in education can be inspired me to look in more depth at the British Columbia curriculum which was redesigned in 2015. The changes to the B.C. curriculum were implemented in 2015, however the changes coming were being presented to the public and educators in 2012. Enabling Innovation: Transforming Curriculum and Assessment i s an article published by the B.C. Ministry of Education that described the process that guided the reform. Input and recommendations from the Curriculum and Assessment Framework Advisory Group (comprised of non-specified partner groups and academic institutions), and which supported by Regional working teams (consisting of involved principals, superintendents, district staff, teachers, parents, school trustees, and students): increased flexibility in learning to allow for students to explore personal interests flexible instructional design that allows f...

Post 10: Walking with 2 Legs in Supporting School Teams

My focus on this blog has been to explore how one might intervene and support students with challenging behaviours in a mainstream classroom, using Indigenous principles and strategies. With reflection on readings and discussions, I shifted from a student focus to a focus on the classroom teacher. A school-based team meeting typically consists of the classroom teacher, student family members, administration, and learning support staff. It can evolve to include district support district personnel, such as school psychologists and behaviour interventionists, and community resources, like counsellors or social workers. The student is demonstrating an undesired or difficult behaviour; the teacher is directly influencing and being affected by the behaviour. Everyone else at the table is offering input, advice, or support; however, it the classroom teacher who ultimately performs the action of change or puts into place the innovation from the creativity shared as a group. Using Indigenous pr...

Post 7: First Peoples Principles of Learning and My Teaching Practice

In 2006 and 2007, the First Nations Education Steering Committee of British Columbia produced the First Peoples Principles of Learning document in order to support and guide curriculum development in the province. It is understood that individual nations have their own principles and ways of knowing, but the knowledge keepers, elders, and scholars attempted to encompass common understandings that could be applied to province-wide curriculum. Jo Chrona has worked extensively with Indigenous Education in B.C. and presents a series of modules on the First Peoples Principles of Learning (FPPL) and implementing Indigenous practices and incorporating Indigenous content into classroom learning. In the second module that focuses on the FPPL, Chrona speaks to "going beyond the poster on the wall", which refers authentically incorporating the FPPL in the classroom. She suggest reframing the question to "Considering my context (classroom, school, district, province), how do I use...

Connections and Relationships

Search This Blog