WHAT CAN YOUTH EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMS LEARN FROM EDUCATION HISTORY?

In my professional context, I am preparing for some new youth employment funding, that includes delivering workshops to youth to engage them in positive steps toward future employment.  I am excited about these changes because I know that they are important and necessary to help with transitions.

The youth in these programs no longer have the school safety net.  They are on their own.  Workplace bound and barely ready for the interview itself.

When working with youth, I find myself comparing employment to school- ALOT!  There are more differences than similarities.  In school if the student is absent, teaching adjusts.  If a student is late, there are consequences, but seldom do students find themselves expelled when they are tardy once time too many.  Employers will not tolerate it and the youth would be fired.  If the student is not living up to his potential in school, it is a shame but not a deal-breaker.

The workplace is far more judgemental.  No do-overs.  No notes from home.  No counselling department to get to the root of the problem.  It is a "make it or break it" scenario.

I suppose the one exception to this rule is co-op education.  I believe deeply in this experience as nothing can better teach real world expectations of employer the way a placement can.  The dynamic does change somewhat when the placement is unpaid because it buys quite a bit of employer tolerance.  My placements are paid and so the youth need to be good and ready for the challenge.

To that end, I have many questions, but will limit myself to just a few, as relevant to GDPI811:

What can youth employment programs learn from educational history?  And vice-versa?

How can work-bound youth learn from their workplace experiences in a deep and meaningful way?

How have the demands of employers (of their workers)  changed as a result of educational history in the past century?  

What challenges would more recent history indicate as critical for youth in order to thrive in the future world of work?

CAN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES IN EDUCATION BY ILLUSTRATED BY THE BIBLE?

This is a little on the personal side, but because it cemented a learning concept for me, I am sharing.....

My daughters have grown up in the Catholic school system and their teachers never cease to amaze me with how their faith-based studies can be entwined with other curriculum, like art and social studies.  And I mean all faiths not just that of the Catholic school system.  Maybe they are influencing me more than I imagined because during one of my readings for next week,  I started thinking about history from this perspective.

I was reading "Beyond 'content' and 'pedagogy':  in search of a way to talk about history education by Peter Seixas.  He said, "precisely because meaningful accounts of the past are contentious, and because no single account will be taken as the truth simply by virtue of its being offered by an authority, students themselves need the means to asses historical counts, to analyze historical sources and to construct consciously a framework of historical meaning for their lives" (Seixas 333-334).

Immediately upon reading this, my reflection was that this is why there are gospels from different apostles.  The multiple accounts of the same period in history allows for the perspectives needed for Christians to first of all have multiple accounts, thus validating the content, but also to be better assess the accounts and construct a framework that is meaningful to them.

When attending church, we have different priests who have different strengths.  Some are very social, some are great at getting projects going, others are expert historians.  Each have something wonderful to offer the students, but what I like about those who are true historians is that they can make seemingly unrelated concepts connect.  Just like in this article when it talks about students not understanding because they don't "get" what was happening in the lives of the characters of history.  When they have the stage set with things that they understand (moral dilemmas, betrayal of friends, having no money, feeling powerless) then they can better understand the content and why it "went down, the way it went down).

Ok... enough rambling thought.... now, to turn this into a question....

Could the religious of the multiple accounts of the apostles be used to help Christian children to be better able to apply critical thought to history education?

If so, what effect might this have on faith?

RESOURCES:

Seixas, P.  (1999).  Beyond 'content' and 'pedagogy':  in search of a way to talk about history education.  Curriculum Studies, 31, 317-337.

Various Contributors.  (unknown).  The Bible:  The New Testament.    Pages 1- infinity.

(I will know if you caught this cheeky reference by the way you comment on it :)

SCHOOL TO WORK TRANSITIONS.... HOW CAN WE MAKE THEM AS GOOD AS POSSIBLE?

8 years of my career were spent as a Career Educator at a community college.  During that time, I saw a great number of students transition from secondary to post secondary.  That transition can be very difficult for reasons related to maturation.  The student may be away from home for the first time, maybe not ready to self-regulate through the sea of adult choices.

There were so many services and supports that wrapped around those students and I was so proud to be a part of the journey in welcoming and helping them begin a new chapter.  But then, two or three years later....

The students had a new chapter that involved leaving the comfort-zone that they worked so hard to integrate into and going out into the world of possibilities.  I love that college graduates now have so many choices and options, but admit that it can all be very overwhelming and scary.  We do our best to connect them with employers, help them to reinvent themselves to fit into the demands of the labour market.  We infuse them with understand of generational differences, personality differences and typical expectations.  But, nothing can prepare them fully.  They need to learn by doing.

So, as I think about modern problem through a historical lens, I wonder:

Historically, what orientation have schools had to the transition process?  Were these formal, or informal?

What community or industry structures helped or hindered the transition?

How can we create more positive school to work transitions?

SHOULD EVERY STUDENT HAVE AN ONLINE PORTFOLIO?

In my professional context, I often work with youth who are making the transition from school to work.  I find portfolios are a powerful tool for building in competency awareness.  Portfolios are also wonderful, tangible products that can help others to see the value in a student for a job or work placement.  Even more importantly, the portfolio development process cultivates self confidence and preparedness for speaking positively about one's self.

I was reading an article in the Huffington Post about the many different online portfolios.  I took a course in my undergrad in Portfolio writing and I put it into an electronic format which, at the time, was a novel idea.  (No age comments, please!)

There are so many formats now, Huffington post mentioned:

Google Drive Portfolio
Linked In
Educlipper
Three Ring
Pathbrite
See Saw
Exibi
Go Ennounce

Has anyone used any of these before with success?  

Do you are with the article that argued that everyone student should have an online portfolio?

Now, the historical perspective... 

What have been the key student privacy issues that have shaped modern educational policy?  Why?

SOURCE:
Van Ark, T. (2016).  Every student should have an online portfolio.  Huffington Post.  

DEFINING LEARNING: WE'RE LEARNED SO MUCH SO FAR!

I'm adding my final mind-map just to be complete.
Why is defining teaching was more difficult than defining learning?

In my own learning, I  have  noticed that I often struggle the most when trying to define something I know very well.  It is like all the thoughts in my head are getting tangled up as my mind runs off in a million directions.  Yet when I have something that I have a lesser body of knowledge, I don't find my self so frozen.

Complexity is like one question door that leads to another, then another.

Does anyone have a theory on the reason why?

More importantly, any mental strategies that help with not getting bogged own in detail?

DEFINING TEACHING: TEACHER APPROVED IDEAS!

Ok.  This seriously gets harder and harder....
Again, using the same process, I set out to get the key ideas in a dashboard from which I could then zero in on the ideas missing from my definition.

I couldn't help but notice the many comments made by my fellow students about how difficult it was to articulate.  It seems the more entrenched one becomes in an activity, the harder it is to take a surface approach.  No surprise, but comforting to know that we all struggle to describe our life's work, our daily joys and struggles.... maybe even our obsession with the continuous improvement in the art an science of teaching.

Beyond the searching for the impossible- an all-encompassing definition, we settle for inspired ideas that contribute to better understanding and practical .  After all... that is what teaching is about- why shouldn't we allow ourselves that?

So, a new definition jumped off the page and onto the paper.

TEACHING IS....
A continuous improvement cycle of purpose-driven, holistic and culturally relevant collaboration or exchange, built on human relationship factors, to engage motivation, attention and goal setting in order to extract knowledge, skill or other value from a “hands on” and/or “minds on” experience or opportunity.

DEFINING CREATIVITY.... WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS!

Creativity.  We all know what it is.  We all have our own brand.   We know this.... and yet, why so hard to define?

Maybe because there are so many important factors to creativity.  How it's made, where it comes from, what it produces.   It was all very jumbled and confusing, but using the same process as I did for innovation (see last post), I was able to note themes I had neglected, ideas not fully explored until reading my fellow students' posts.  There are some brilliant minds in this GDPI811 and, of course, I am mining their golden ideas!!!!

The final verdict?

CREATIVITY IS....

Creativity:

A complex neurological change in brain activity that engages diffused imagination and leads to a highly personal experience, often propelled by intrinsic motivation, that is untethered to certainty, expectation, limitations and feelings of risk to result in a product, process or perspective that is unique and worthy of non-judgmental consideration.

INNOVATION DEFINITION- NEW AND IMPROVED THANKS TO CLASSMATES!

This was my process for learning from other students in my class.
I was surprised and amazing by the breadth and depth of ideas that came forward from the same base question- What is the definition of Innovation.

 After reading and considering each post, I jotted down idea that wasn't included (or fully explored) in my own definition.  This strategy stopped me from the going into the task of "word-smithing" to a deeper level discovery:  what are the important elements of innovation?  Then, after seeing all the ideas, I was able to pull out those ideas that I felt were the most important- the essential ingredients of innovation so that I could then weave the ideas into a definition.

My definition was still crazy-long, but at least at the end, I felt it was complete (see below).

My final product... a more thorough definition of innovation... thank you fellow students for getting game there!

Innovation:

Ideas, of either good or evil origin, that are conceived of need, reconsidered, adapted, further developed or intersected with other ideas so they can be applied as a solution to a pervasive problem, issue or concern.

LEARNING HOW TO LEARN: A SUGGESTED RESOURCE

This resource is one I wish to explore, shared by

Sherry Pielsticker Wedig of GDPI811.

Thanks, Sherry for your personal favs!!!!

Oakley, Barbara, Dr, and Terrence Sejnowski, Dr. "Learning How to Learn"  

Powerful mental tools to help you master tough subjects."

    https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn/home/info,

    Coursera, www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn/lecture/9miFQ/

    no-need-for-genius-envy. Accessed 22 Jan. 2017.

HEY... TEACH.... WHAT'S YOUR FAV RESOURCE?

Confession of a GDPI student...

I thought I would have significant difficulty getting into the PME or GDPI program because I don't have a teaching undergrad degree.  I mean, I teach, but it is not in the traditional sense of having a class and delivering curriculum.  I teach through career planning and job search classes and work placements.  In this way, I consider my closest example to align with the traditional co-op teacher.
But, I build the bridge while I am walking on it.  Note the theme of my entire life!

This brings me to an important poll question.

If I had the best of the best teachers as mentors, I would most want to ask them which books, articles, training or concepts most influenced them to be great.  I have a great deal of respect for my fellow students, who are clearly thoughtful and effective educators, so I put this shout out:

What is the one essential resource or tool that has been the greatest influence to you as an educator?

SIMPLE DEFINITIONS- MADE COMPLICATED BY THINKING!

This week's assignment was to research, then define four well used words:

• Learning
• Teaching
• Creativity
• Innovation

Easy-peasy, right?  Wrong!  

When you start drilling down to how steeped in meaning these words are, it is very difficult to then narrow down the thoughts into a short explanation.

It is also interesting to me how much the lens through which you look matters.  For example, learning can mean something very different in the animal kingdom, versus learning in humans.  Or the fact that innovation in looks very different in engineering than it does in accounting.  I also find it fascinating how liberally the idea sharing, or borrowing as some would call it, from one industry to another can inspire innovation and creative though.

As usual, one question door leads to another and leaves me wondering.....

To what extent is creativity an essential skill in the modern world?

What historical benchmarks have their been in terms of the teaching innovation timeline?

What does history tell, or predict, for the future of innovation in teaching?

GDPI 811-MODULE 5: MY INQUIRY

I was really wrestling over which inquiry I should explore in this course, when I came to a moment of clarity in one of my readings.  This thought lead me to a professional inquiry that is topical in my professional life.

THE QUESTION:

What innovations and adaptations to traditional delivery methods will be helpful for Career Educators to use in helping students to navigate career development, despite the presence of current economic and labour market uncertainty?

The reading was from:

• Mueller, J.S., Melwai, S., & Goncalo, J.A. (2012). The bias against creativity: Why people desire but reject creative ideas. Psychological Science, 23(1), 13–17. doi: 10.1177/0956797611421018

What I realized is that I see apathy in my students as they attempt to plan careers and engage in employment and yet they are full of potential.  They have novel ideas and often an abundance of creativity, but fail to put them into practical application beyond the classroom and into the real world.  And so, they live in the status quo.  But why?  It doesn't make sense.

In this reading it became clear.  There is too much uncertainty.  Even for those who value creativity, they won't apply it because their need to reduce uncertainty is blocking them from seeing, let alone from exploring, creative solutions.   I believe that the apathy, particularly in today's youth, stems from the overwhelming uncertainty that they face.

Consult the "Magic 8-Ball" and it gives the same response, repeatedly:

Will I get a job if I go to university....it is uncertain

Will the job I want allow me to have the lifestyle I wish.... it is uncertain

Will my career be obsolete in the next decade... it is uncertain

Are there interests that I have that could point in the right direction... it is uncertain

I plan to look into this, as well as the questions of my classmates, in order to have a greater sense of certainty that my efforts in helping others with career development will incorporate useful historical and philosophical perspectives.

MY BELOVED TED TALKS ARE LIES? WHHHHAAAAT?

• Frank, T. (2013, October 13). Ted talks are lying to you. Salon. Retrieved from http://www.salon.com

What is the article about?
This was a punchy, entertaining rant about how modern creativity isn't really creative at all.  Instead it is self-congratulatory crap that has been validated by experts, perhaps looking at from the perspective of a different industry, who has the managerial clout to declare it as "creative".

What I want to remember:

My take away points are best summed up in the direct quotations below of the final two paragraphs:

“Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention” (1996), in which Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi acknowledges that, far from being an act of individual inspiration, what we call creativity is simply an expression of professional consensus. Using Vincent van Gogh as an example, the author declares that the artist’s “creativity came into being when a sufficient number of art experts felt that his paintings had something important to contribute to the domain of art.” Innovation, that is, exists only when the correctly credentialed hivemind agrees that it does. And “without such a response,” the author continues, “van Gogh would have remained what he was, a disturbed man who painted strange canvases.” What determines “creativity,” in other words, is the very faction it’s supposedly rebelling against: established expertise.

"Consider, then, the narrative daisy chain that makes up the literature of creativity. It is the story of brilliant people, often in the arts or humanities, who are studied by other brilliant people, often in the sciences, finance, or marketing. The readership is made up of us — members of the professional-managerial class — each of whom harbors a powerful suspicion that he or she is pretty brilliant as well. What your correspondent realized, relaxing there in his tub one day, was that the real subject of this literature was the professional-managerial audience itself, whose members hear clear, sweet reason when they listen to NPR and think they’re in the presence of something profound when they watch some billionaire give a TED talk. And what this complacent literature purrs into their ears is that creativity is their property, their competitive advantage, their class virtue. Creativity is what they bring to the national economic effort, these books reassure them — and it’s also the benevolent doctrine under which they rightly rule the world" (Frank).

Ironically, this doesn't really offer solutions to the creativity deficit, except what to stop doing.

CREATIVITY AND UNCERTAINTY

• Mueller, J.S., Melwai, S., & Goncalo, J.A. (2012). The bias against creativity: Why people desire but reject creative ideas. Psychological Science, 23(1), 13–17. doi: 10.1177/0956797611421018

If I had to explain this article to a friend, I would say....

This article was about two experiments that explored novelty versus practicality

Experiment 1 

-included implicit and explicit test of attitudes that had bias against creativity, using response that were timed to measure certainty.  Pairings of words were used to identify bias toward practicality or creativity.

Experiment 2:  

-measured tolerance for uncertainty

Outcome:

-people hold ambivalence attitudes about creativity unless they was motivation to reduce uncertainty by creating a practical, single best option

-showed that uncertainty limited the ability to recognize creative ideas- referred to as a deep irony... the high need for certainty is when creativity is needed most 

Things I want to remember:

*Definition of creative ideas- ideas that are novel and useful

*Definition of uncertainty- an aversive state that people feel as strong motivation to diminish and avoid

*The reason that creativity was explicitly valued by often rejected is that people want to reduce or avoid uncertainty.  

*The greater the need for certainty, the more bias, whether it was a personal trait or circumstance of the person.  

*Uncertainty creates a blinding effect toward creativity.  In uncertainty, how can we see creativity?

*The deep irony... in times of uncertainty, is the time when creativity is most!!!!!!

CREATIVITY

• Hennessey, B.A., & Amabile, T.M. (2010). Creativity. Annual Review of Psychology, 61, 569 – 598. doi: 10.1146/annurev.psych.093008.100416

In my own words:

Two experiments were compared.  Creativity was measured on collages.  Technical skills were evaluated differently than creativity.   Participants were asked about reactions like motivation.  

First, had participants work in small groups, the others worked alone. 

Second, had participants who were being watched, which lead to thoughts that they were being evaluated.  

Outcome: Working in groups had no effect, surveillance had a negative effect and those expecting evaluation had negative effects.

Ideas I would like to remember:

This scientific study supports:

*Simple (algorithmic) tasks were better performed with others- increasing speed and accuracy.  

*Interest/enjoyment produced more creative outcome

*Complex tasks were performed better alone when they had the freedom to take risks and explore new cognitive pathways without directly related to solution mentality 

GDPI811: WEEK 2

GDPI811- Week 2:  Reading Week

This week my task seems simple enough:

Do 2 of the required readings and;

Post a question:

**Identify questions relating to your now professional context of personal interest or that you would like to probe in depth.

The readings are easy.  It is just about applying focus, time and effort.  

The question is not as easy and has me thinking about my thoughts and attitudes about learning.  It think that curiosity was not something I used to value because I felt that professors and teachers knew what was important for me to learn on my journey.  I think that is why I used to jump in the backseat and engage in the thought process of others, rather than my own.  

I am connecting the dots of learning that our natural curiosity stimulates the intrinsic motivation we need to innovate and so I am approaching this task differently than I might have, before I began GDPI.  Allowing my curiosity to take the wheel.  Hang on... this is going to be an interesting ride.

GDPI811- THE WORLD OF INNOVATION!

GDPI811

First week of the course was off to a flying start!
Introductions in the course makes me feel like I have a network of future friends all over the world.
I wonder if any have sofas in need of overnight guests... I am suddenly feeling the urge to travel!