We gratefully acknowledge, respect, recognize and appreciate that we live, learn and work and teach on the traditional territories of the Kwanlin Dun First Nations and the Ta'an Kwächän Council.
Kwä̀nä̀schis
Course Outline
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Year vs. semester vs. term breakdown for the 2018/2019 academic year at PCSS.
Financial Planning Project
Now that students have had a chance to explore education and career options on Career Cruising, they will take the next step to seeing how this directly relates to practical elements of their life in the future.
It's hard to get much more practical than the realities of how we use the funds to which we have access. The need to manage our personal finances effectively goes far beyond being able to live our lives at the level of comfort and convenience to which we have become accustomed. There is a need to align our budget to both our day-to-day needs and responsibilities and with our goals and preferences in a way that allows to live a healthy life, balanced between meeting our obligations and also making time for taking care of ourselves.
It's hard to get much more practical than the realities of how we use the funds to which we have access. The need to manage our personal finances effectively goes far beyond being able to live our lives at the level of comfort and convenience to which we have become accustomed. There is a need to align our budget to both our day-to-day needs and responsibilities and with our goals and preferences in a way that allows to live a healthy life, balanced between meeting our obligations and also making time for taking care of ourselves.
How to Avoid the Health Risks That Come With Financial Stress
Although your rising credit card debt, missed mortgage payment, or unpaid medical bills may not seem like they're directly linked to your physical health, financial problems can affect more than just your credit score.
The Big Idea
Balancing career life is a constant process of planning, adapting, reflecting and deciding, taking into account personal, local and global factors like the economy, personal choices, health and interests/skills.
From the curriculum: Career-life choices and decisions are part of an ongoing cycle of planning, deciding, adapting and reflecting; this process is influenced by local, global and personal factors.
From the curriculum: Career-life choices and decisions are part of an ongoing cycle of planning, deciding, adapting and reflecting; this process is influenced by local, global and personal factors.
Resources and Links for the Budget Project:
Please note that the inclusion in this section of a site, particularly one that offers sales or services, does NOT constitute an endorsement or a recommendation.
These sources are offered as places to find reference material that is actually available to Canadian consumers in Canadian funds. Tools have been trialed. None of the tools listed requires membership or offering identifying personal information to be saved on external servers. Students are cautioned against signing up for any services on these sites, particularly credit card / loan services, and against making contact with people on rental listings.
These are for INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY.
One of the elements of this project is that students need to learn how products - including lodging, transportation and health care - are marketed to people, and that companies use specific design elements, from word choice to colour choice, image choice and vague promises - to persuade potential customers to spend their money on a particular product or service. Students must learn to look at the details of an offer to determine whether or not it appears to be trustworthy. Remember that something that seems to be too good to be true probably IS too good to be true.
The onus is always on the consumer to do their leg work - buyer beware.
These sources are offered as places to find reference material that is actually available to Canadian consumers in Canadian funds. Tools have been trialed. None of the tools listed requires membership or offering identifying personal information to be saved on external servers. Students are cautioned against signing up for any services on these sites, particularly credit card / loan services, and against making contact with people on rental listings.
These are for INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY.
One of the elements of this project is that students need to learn how products - including lodging, transportation and health care - are marketed to people, and that companies use specific design elements, from word choice to colour choice, image choice and vague promises - to persuade potential customers to spend their money on a particular product or service. Students must learn to look at the details of an offer to determine whether or not it appears to be trustworthy. Remember that something that seems to be too good to be true probably IS too good to be true.
The onus is always on the consumer to do their leg work - buyer beware.
Financial Literacy
The key resource for this assignment is My Money Coach, a Canadian financial literacy site. It has terrific, Canada-specific resources and tools. Well worth bookmarking long after this course is over and done. Blog entries on a wide range of subject related to financial literacy are of particular use to students and adults alike.
Some of the budgeting tools on My Money Coach are available as Excel for Mac OR Windows files, OR as Open Office files. Open Office is a free, online work suite. In order to use the files, however, you must download their software. IF students want to be able to work on these files at home and at school but have Windows / PC hardware at home (whereas the schools are all Mac based) it may be easier for them to access the Open Office files.
Students are under NO OBLIGATION to download or use Open Office. They can choose to do the spreadsheet at home and go with their chosen file format, or solely at school and use the Mac format. They can also choose to print out the pages and do the files manually but they will then need to replicate the calculations accurately. Students are also free to find another similarly formatted budget sheet/tool, as long as it will provide a viewable end result with all of their budgeting information.
Students are under NO OBLIGATION to download or use Open Office. They can choose to do the spreadsheet at home and go with their chosen file format, or solely at school and use the Mac format. They can also choose to print out the pages and do the files manually but they will then need to replicate the calculations accurately. Students are also free to find another similarly formatted budget sheet/tool, as long as it will provide a viewable end result with all of their budgeting information.
Taxes and Government Deductions Tools/Resources
Benefits
Types of Costs / Budgeting when moving out on your own
Renting and Real Estate
Planning Shopping (incl. grocery/meal plans) and Regular Expenses
Once again, please note that this reason that these links are here is for students to have access to current, accurate information they can use in setting reasonable budgets for expenses. These links are for reference purposes ONLY.
Students are recommended against signing up for services or memberships. Students are NOT encouraged to do actual shopping.
Students can price out items at other stores /locations if they would be appropriate to the project (i.e. match the student's chosen city of residence).
Students are recommended against signing up for services or memberships. Students are NOT encouraged to do actual shopping.
Students can price out items at other stores /locations if they would be appropriate to the project (i.e. match the student's chosen city of residence).
Keep in mind that in order to budget accurately, you must take Sales Taxes into consideration.
The centre button in the final row of the section below, where you can find out what the sales taxes are in any
province / territory in Canada.
The centre button in the final row of the section below, where you can find out what the sales taxes are in any
province / territory in Canada.
Education Costs and Student Assistance / Financing
Once again, please note that links in this section are NOT intended to imply an endorsement of any particular brand, product or service. They are for reference purposes only. Financial Institutions are listed in alphabetical order, with no implied ranking.
Students should NOT try to start the loan process. These are legal processes. Even starting an application can be tracked on credit scoring software. Students are advised against sharing any identifying personal information on the banking/financial institution sites.
Students should NOT try to start the loan process. These are legal processes. Even starting an application can be tracked on credit scoring software. Students are advised against sharing any identifying personal information on the banking/financial institution sites.
Extending...
Students could create a collection of the resources they used to create their budgets, including meal budgets, lists, even a travel plan.
Suggestion: create a free Weebly site with all of the links and documents, and password protect it, then send me the link.
Suggestion: create a free Weebly site with all of the links and documents, and password protect it, then send me the link.
Calendar
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Course Work & Learning Materials - Week by Week
Please note that any materials that can be posted online (based on copyright) will be posted/linked on this page.
This will include learning materials accessed digitally in the classroom, deadlines, assignments and supplementary / support materials.
If a student misses time, they are expected to access their work on this site. If there is limited access from home or the location in which a student will be spending time, students will need to use access when they are back at school in Lunch Labs, after school or on breaks, or access resources available through services like the Whitehorse Public Library, Skookum Jim Friendship Centre's After School Tutoring Program, the Kwanlin Dün Kenädän Ku House of Learning, and/or other available community resources.
This will include learning materials accessed digitally in the classroom, deadlines, assignments and supplementary / support materials.
If a student misses time, they are expected to access their work on this site. If there is limited access from home or the location in which a student will be spending time, students will need to use access when they are back at school in Lunch Labs, after school or on breaks, or access resources available through services like the Whitehorse Public Library, Skookum Jim Friendship Centre's After School Tutoring Program, the Kwanlin Dün Kenädän Ku House of Learning, and/or other available community resources.
Entries in the Week by Week section of the page are sorted so that the most recent information is always at the top of this section. For older information, you will need to scroll down to the appropriate date. For general information that relates to all courses and sections, please see the landing/home page of this teacher site.
Week 7 - Monday Oct 1st - Friday Oct 5th, 2018
The document immediately below is a sample Self-Reflection and Inventory Project. I created this in iBooks Author and exported it as a PDF so that it was sharable on a variety of platforms. There are some deliberate mistakes (i.e. there are interactive features that don't work on a PDF) but with those mistakes, this represents the quality I would expect from students who are aiming to earn "Exceeding Expectations". Features that bring it to that level include:
PLEASE NOTE: This is not intended to imply that a student who wants to achieve at the "Exceeding Expectations" level must use this format. Instead, it is a sample of the level of detail, analysis and synthesis I would expect for that result. This is a major project, reflecting the learning from the first quarter of the course, and should reflect a substantial amount of effort to incorporate a significant body of information.
- The work is detailed.
- The information is supported by visuals.
- There is a consistent theme and layout.
- There is background information on what self-reflection entails and what purpose it can/does serve.
- It includes all general elements (it is missing a day by day goal setting but focuses on experiential, learning and contribution goals).
- I have analyzed my results and compared them to each other and to my current personal and professional life.
PLEASE NOTE: This is not intended to imply that a student who wants to achieve at the "Exceeding Expectations" level must use this format. Instead, it is a sample of the level of detail, analysis and synthesis I would expect for that result. This is a major project, reflecting the learning from the first quarter of the course, and should reflect a substantial amount of effort to incorporate a significant body of information.
The sample project below is an example of a project that would land in the "Meeting Expectations" level of achievement. I created this project using a PowerPoint template from Presenter Media, one designed to act as a dynamic résumé. In order to make it visible on the site here, I have exported it as a PDF.
Features that would earn this work a "Meeting Expectations" include:
Features that would earn this work a "Meeting Expectations" include:
- The information is complete but not detailed.
- The information is supported by visuals.
- There is a consistent theme and layout.
- It includes all general elements.
- There are connections made between my results and compared them to each other and to my current personal and professional life.
Week 6 - Monday Sept 24th - Wednesday Sept 26th, 2018
This week we have continued discussing elements of the Self-Reflection Project, most specifically issues around procrastination and goal-setting. Goal setting sheets (please see WiseMind button under week 3) will be part of the information students will compile into their Self-Inventory and Self-Reflection Project.
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We discussed key understandings from these videos, including:
- Procrastination may seem to be a feasible strategy in the closed system of education, at least for a while, but when it becomes a pattern that permeates aspects of life not controlled by specific deadlines, it can have farther reaching impacts on emotional and mental health.,
- Goal setting is not, in fact rubbish (it's a click bait title) but as per earlier learning about focusing on meaningful life experiences we wish to have, life-long learning we wish to engage in and the ways in which we hope to contribute to our social communities are the kind of end goals that help us to make healthy and effective choices about how we manage our priorities and our time.
Career Cruising
This week we also began doing preliminary work on Career Cruising, where students will do the lion's share of their work for the remainder of the semester. While I will endeavour to ensure that we have a block or two in the lab each week, I cannot guarantee that, and students are strongly encouraged to stay on top of the Career Cruising activities by using Lunch Labs, library computer access and home or community access to the internet to complete the tasks.
The instructor can see the student's progress in Career Cruising, and parents can be provided with access to see their student's work. Students and parents need to keep login information confidential and somewhere safe they will remember and an access.
Once students have their login information they can either access the button or the embedded link below.
The instructor can see the student's progress in Career Cruising, and parents can be provided with access to see their student's work. Students and parents need to keep login information confidential and somewhere safe they will remember and an access.
Once students have their login information they can either access the button or the embedded link below.
Please note:
- Career Cruising is a Canadian service that is COPA and ATIPP compliant.
- Student accounts are provided by Yukon Education.
- Each student is assigned a personal login id and password. Students should keep these completely private.
- Parents may access their child's Profile/Portfolio, "My Plan" using a private access code that allows them access ONLY to their own child's information. Students have received these codes and should bring them home to parents/guardians.
Career Cruising - English - Home
Note: If you do not have an email address associated with your Career Cruising account, please contact your teacher/site administrator.
Below you will find a series of brief tutorials I have created for my students to help them to navigate Career Cruising for CLE 10.
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Tutorial 1 - Logging in to Career Cruising Tutorial 3 - Welcome to your Dashboard / Landing page
Tutorial 5 - My Plan - My Assignments & Activities
Tutorial 7 - My Plan - My Assessments, My Skills
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Tutorial 2 - Accepting Terms & Conditions, Managing Email Request
Tutorial 4 - Updating your Profile
Tutorial 6 - My Plan - My Assessments - My Matchmaker
Tutorial 8 - My Plan - My Assessments, Learning Style & Others
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Week 5 - Monday Sept 17th - Friday Sept 21st, 2018
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, students are slated to be in computer Lab 125 to continue working on their self-inventory surveys and to begin the work of compiling their results into something they can share.
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To the right is a brief example of ONE way students could choose to publish and present their collated information from their reflection inventories, their priorities and values worksheets, and their goal setting worksheets. iBooks Author is software available on all school computers. IF a student wanted to go this route, they could either share the digital file with me, or they could print out a copy as a PDF. Recall that printing it as PDF would make interactive features null.
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Other Choices for Publication / Presentation include but are not limited to:
- Slideshow (PowerPoint, Keynote, Google Slides, Prezi, SlideShare, Beautiful AI)
- Create your own free website (i.e. Weebly, Wix)
- A word processing document (i.e. Word, Pages)
- A multipage brochure (i.e. Pages, Word)
- A Bloom Ball (click here for a link to printable templates)
- Lapbook (look it up),
Week 4 - Monday Sept 10th - Friday Sept 14th, 2018
Monday This week we opened with discussion around how the new assessment and evaluation procedures will impact grade 10 students.
Note: Although, as we did in grade 8 and 9, we will be using criteria based assessment (descriptions of specific expectations related to course material (content students need to know) and curricular objectives (skills students need to be able to demonstrate), the levels Not Yet Meeting Expectations, Approaching Expectations, Meeting Expectations and Exceeding Expectations will be converted into standard set point percentage grades for final reporting purposes.
Because we had not yet received the final draft of information on those equivalencies by week 3 and we were beginning an assignment, the class had an opportunity to discuss what they felt were appropriate break downs for the work in our class. For reporting purposes I will need to follow the directives of Yukon Education. For the purposes of students engaging in a critical thinking and communication process, as required for their Core Competencies, this was a valuable opportunity for students to understand how educators use and develop assessment tools like rubrics with which we evaluate student work.
The remainder of the week we worked on going through the Priority Setting worksheets (see below) and the 20 minute life check up exercise and worksheets (also see below). These will be incorporated into the students' Self Inventory Project.
Note: Although, as we did in grade 8 and 9, we will be using criteria based assessment (descriptions of specific expectations related to course material (content students need to know) and curricular objectives (skills students need to be able to demonstrate), the levels Not Yet Meeting Expectations, Approaching Expectations, Meeting Expectations and Exceeding Expectations will be converted into standard set point percentage grades for final reporting purposes.
Because we had not yet received the final draft of information on those equivalencies by week 3 and we were beginning an assignment, the class had an opportunity to discuss what they felt were appropriate break downs for the work in our class. For reporting purposes I will need to follow the directives of Yukon Education. For the purposes of students engaging in a critical thinking and communication process, as required for their Core Competencies, this was a valuable opportunity for students to understand how educators use and develop assessment tools like rubrics with which we evaluate student work.
The remainder of the week we worked on going through the Priority Setting worksheets (see below) and the 20 minute life check up exercise and worksheets (also see below). These will be incorporated into the students' Self Inventory Project.
Week 3 - Tuesday Sept 4th - Friday Sept 7th, 2018
Thursday we are working in the computer lab (room 125).
If students have not already done so, they will need to sign on to their school email / account using the new Rapid Identity Portal (click the words to link to the page).
If students have not already done so, they will need to sign on to their school email / account using the new Rapid Identity Portal (click the words to link to the page).
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EXAMPLE:
Student Name: Angus Haloran Student ID: 12345678 DOB: February 25th, 2003 Therefore: Username: 12345678@yesnet.yk.ca Temporary Password: Sa200325h! |
Students will immediately be prompted to create a new password. It is STRONGLY recommended that passwords be phrase-based. While numbers and symbols are not required, they can help with identity protection and security. Most important is that students choose a password that they will remember.
Examples of phrase based passwords (do not use these!)
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Self-Assessment Tools
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Below, please find tutorial videos for accessing Penn's Authentic Happiness research project and the Big Five Indicator survey at Berkley's Personality Lab. The links to the respective sites are underneath the videos.
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Wednesday we continued learning about personality, priority and strengths assessment tools. We also looked at some of the ways we can assess sources (i.e. comparing the Vox video to "response" videos).
We learned about a far more consistent and scientific tool that offers similar insights what the MyersBriggs claims to offer but backed by consistently replicated research. It is called the Big Five Personality Domains.
We learned about a far more consistent and scientific tool that offers similar insights what the MyersBriggs claims to offer but backed by consistently replicated research. It is called the Big Five Personality Domains.
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Tuesday we learned more about different self-reflection or assessment tools that use "tests", "quizzes" or, more appropriately, survey questions to help people to identify their personal skills, priorities, values and strengths. We discussed the fact that some widely used "tests", for instance the ubiquitous Myers-Briggs Personality Indicator, are deeply flawed tools based more on philosophy and a fairly common human desire to categorize ourselves, but not consistently backed up by reputable research that replicates consistent results.
Unlike "IQ" tests, which have been proven to measure only a limited number of skills (and not actual intellectual ability), and unlike the Myers-Briggs, there are some self-assessment tools that are based in research. However, even scientifically validated (or perhaps especially scientifically validated studies) allow for the fact that human beings are complex organisms and that our personalities, skills/strengths, priorities and values are dynamic, constantly subject to change based on our circumstances and life experience.
Nonetheless, there is potential benefit in correlating results from several types of tests in order to see whether or not there are patterns and to use the results as a tool for engaging in self-reflection as a starting point for making choices from any given starting point. The key is to keep in mind that this process of self-assessment must be ongoing - we need to take time to reflect on our priorities, skills/strengths, areas for improvement, our values, ethics and morals and our goals on a regular basis in order to adapt our plans and goals to our needs and circumstances as we move through our life.
Students will be doing several self-assessment surveys later this week and will then create a self-profile they can use as a touchstone as they consider the choices and planning we will be examining this semester.
Students were provided with print outs of the articles below. The first describes the difference between Howard Gardiner's multiple intelligences and the "learning styles" that have been extrapolated (and often misused or misapplied) from his research. The second describes the PERMA model, the summary of Martin Seligman's research at the University of Pennsylvania school of Positive Psychology.
Unlike "IQ" tests, which have been proven to measure only a limited number of skills (and not actual intellectual ability), and unlike the Myers-Briggs, there are some self-assessment tools that are based in research. However, even scientifically validated (or perhaps especially scientifically validated studies) allow for the fact that human beings are complex organisms and that our personalities, skills/strengths, priorities and values are dynamic, constantly subject to change based on our circumstances and life experience.
Nonetheless, there is potential benefit in correlating results from several types of tests in order to see whether or not there are patterns and to use the results as a tool for engaging in self-reflection as a starting point for making choices from any given starting point. The key is to keep in mind that this process of self-assessment must be ongoing - we need to take time to reflect on our priorities, skills/strengths, areas for improvement, our values, ethics and morals and our goals on a regular basis in order to adapt our plans and goals to our needs and circumstances as we move through our life.
Students will be doing several self-assessment surveys later this week and will then create a self-profile they can use as a touchstone as they consider the choices and planning we will be examining this semester.
Students were provided with print outs of the articles below. The first describes the difference between Howard Gardiner's multiple intelligences and the "learning styles" that have been extrapolated (and often misused or misapplied) from his research. The second describes the PERMA model, the summary of Martin Seligman's research at the University of Pennsylvania school of Positive Psychology.
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Week 2 - Monday Aug 27th - Friday Aug 31st, 2018
Friday we finalized our notes on the 6 categories of Virtues and discussed the strengths that fall into those categories, particularly the importance of persistence/grit, curiosity and love of learning in ongoing life success.
Thursday we attended the mini assembly that begins every year and semester. When we returned to class, the students were free to ask questions to clarify anything that had come up in the assembly. We had a particularly pointed discussion about how our behaviour impacts others, how our choices can influence our opportunities and talked about the balance we all need to find between our individual, inherent value, the effort we need to put in to earning the success we hope to achieve and the ways in which we are both individuals and members of communities.
Key issues discussed in the mini assemblies-
Thursday we attended the mini assembly that begins every year and semester. When we returned to class, the students were free to ask questions to clarify anything that had come up in the assembly. We had a particularly pointed discussion about how our behaviour impacts others, how our choices can influence our opportunities and talked about the balance we all need to find between our individual, inherent value, the effort we need to put in to earning the success we hope to achieve and the ways in which we are both individuals and members of communities.
Key issues discussed in the mini assemblies-
- The importance of attendance and punctuality
- Asking for help when you need it and not waiting until things get too difficult to manage
- Elements of the Code of Conduct related to drugs/alcohol/controlled substances on school property and the dangers of fentanyl
- Student legacies - asking the kids to begin to think about how they would like to be remembered after they graduate and what choices they think they could begin making towards those goals even now (i.e. joining sports, teams and clubs, trying new things)
Wednesday we spoke about the importance of taking time to engage in self-reflection and self-assessment activities in order to have accurate, complete and insightful information to include in our decision making and in documentation designed to help find success in the world of work. This will be the focus of our work for the next couple of weeks. In particular we will be considering different self-assessment tools, their accuracy and efficacy, and will then correlate information from several sources to begin gathering a self-inventory of strengths and priorities which can be used in setting goals and researching future pathways.
Today we watched a video about University of Pennsylvania psychologist and author, Martin Seligman's book, Authentic Happiness. We discussed how certain elements of this video might be approached differently, and took notes on the differences between 'hedonistic' and 'authentic' happiness, between jobs, occupations and 'callings', and the six core virtue categories that encompass the strengths Seligman has studied and tracked.
Today we watched a video about University of Pennsylvania psychologist and author, Martin Seligman's book, Authentic Happiness. We discussed how certain elements of this video might be approached differently, and took notes on the differences between 'hedonistic' and 'authentic' happiness, between jobs, occupations and 'callings', and the six core virtue categories that encompass the strengths Seligman has studied and tracked.
Hedonistic Happiness |
Authentic Happiness |
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Jobs |
Occupation |
Calling |
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While Quality of Life Indicators can give an idea of how many privileges and/or conveniences someone has access to, they do not necessarily equate to a sense of living a life that is of good quality. Someone living in a safe and wealthy country, in general good health, in a safe environment, with an average family, a good education and healthy social life may well feel as though their life is meaningless or empty. If these indicators are not accompanied, for any given individual, with a sense of meaning/purpose, significant belonging, positive self-perception/storytelling and moments of transcendence/flow, the experience of these wonderful elements of life may be diminished or negated. It does not mean that a person is ungrateful for the benefits of good quality of life indicators but that more substantive and deeply personal connections to their world may be lacking or damaged.
Quality of Life Indicators |
Where you live (country, territory/province/state, city) Weather / Environment Close personal relationships (marriage/partnerships, family) Social life Negative emotions and experiences Health Religion / Faith / Spirituality Education |
The strengths studied by Seligman fall into categories, referred to as the 6 Core Virtues. There is consideral overlap between many elements of these virtues and the strengths and the 7 Grandfather Teachings we examined in class as the foundation for classroom expectations. It should be noted that these virtues and strengths are not a comprehensive list of all strengths and virtues a person may have or demonstrate.
Wisdom |
Courage |
Love |
Justice |
Temperance |
Transcendance |
Perspective |
Honesty |
Loving/Care |
Leadership |
Caution |
Enthusiasm |
Social Intelligence |
Perseverance (Grit) |
Kindness |
Fairness |
Modesty |
Humour |
Street Smarts |
Bravery |
Generosity |
Loyalty |
Self-regulation |
Faith |
Open Mindedness |
Gratitude |
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Love of Learning |
Forgiveness |
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Curiosity |
Appreciation |
Note: despite the commentary in the video, for some people a largely 9-5 schedule (or shift work or piecework or or or) may be enjoyable or rewarding to any given individual. Further, some people find their purpose and meaningful connections and activity outside of their money-earning endeavours. This is highly individual.
The real key is to find work that does not drain you, particularly not to the point that you have no energy to devote to self-care, relationships (belonging), enjoying moments of transcendence, and engaging in activities that are your "zone" because you are too busy doing only things that leave you spent and empty. Sometimes, it can take decades of effort to make a living out of our purpose and it may never happen. THAT'S FINE! It is important, however, even vitally necessary to our health and success that we balance the activities that help us to meet our physical needs for shelter, food, health care, etc, with the activities that meet our social and personal emotional and intellectual needs, whatever they may be.
The real key is to find work that does not drain you, particularly not to the point that you have no energy to devote to self-care, relationships (belonging), enjoying moments of transcendence, and engaging in activities that are your "zone" because you are too busy doing only things that leave you spent and empty. Sometimes, it can take decades of effort to make a living out of our purpose and it may never happen. THAT'S FINE! It is important, however, even vitally necessary to our health and success that we balance the activities that help us to meet our physical needs for shelter, food, health care, etc, with the activities that meet our social and personal emotional and intellectual needs, whatever they may be.
Key takeaway - "happiness" or "enjoyment" is only fulfilling as part of a larger picture that includes applying our strengths and skills in the context of being true to our values, priorities and moral character.
Tuesday we did a seating plan in order to support students in making wise and effective choices in classroom behaviour. All students now have assigned seating. For students who are in both CLE 10 and later in SPLN 10/LTST 10, the seating is not necessarily the same. We talked about the ways in which I hope that this will help students to regulate their focus and energy. I appreciated the cooperation the students offered with the process even when it meant not sitting with their friends.
We finished watching the TED talk we began on Friday (see below), and practiced choosing what details to put in our Cornell Notes.
By now, students know that the researchers at the Penn Centre for Positive Psychology (specifically Emily Esfahani Smith) have identified four pillars to a meaningful life:
1. Belonging
We finished watching the TED talk we began on Friday (see below), and practiced choosing what details to put in our Cornell Notes.
By now, students know that the researchers at the Penn Centre for Positive Psychology (specifically Emily Esfahani Smith) have identified four pillars to a meaningful life:
1. Belonging
- Being valued by others for your authentic self.
- Based on human connection rather than on feeble commonalities like hating the same people - inclusive vs. exclusive.
- The "why" that motivates us
- May or may not be something we find through our work life
- While it may be enjoyable, the meaning is derived not from what we get out of it but from what are contributing to our communities.
- Experiences (physical, emotional, spiritual, intellectual) that take us out of our everyday routine
- Being "in the zone", doing something so inherently rewarding or fulfilling that we may not notice that time is passing, sometimes called "Flow".
- Our primary story is our own - our experiences, our interpretations, our priorities, and how we see ourselves.
In our discussions about the importance of storytelling to humanity, we got into a very diverse discussion about how we can prove things, disprove them or accept them as being simultaneously not yet either proven or disproven. This, of course, brought us to Schrödinger's Cat. I promised students that for those who were interested, I would include some information about this infamous but imaginary feline here on the class page.
Monday we watched more of Dr. Emily Esfahani Smith's TED talk on the difference between being "happy" and having a meaningful life. Students are expected to practice using the Cornell Note Taking Method / Format as seen below. More information can be found on the home/landing page of this site under the heading Basics for Everyone - Study Skills (tab) then the sub-heading
Week 1 - Wednesday Aug 22nd - Friday Aug 24th, 2018
Friday we started working on both content and skills. The new curriculum has three main categories of learning:
In terms of competencies, we began working on using a note taking system - in this case, specifically the Cornell Note Taking System, as a means of recording information in preparation for assessment and evaluation tasks.
We also began looking at some of the concepts we will be addressing in relations to career planning and life balance, specifically the difference between "happiness" and "meaning", as per the work of renowned psychologist Martin Seligman, researcher, author of "Flourish" and founder/director of the Penn Centre for Positive Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania where he established the PERMA model based on extensive research. .
- Understandings - the Big Ideas, the take-aways that students can and will hopefully apply in a variety of contexts now and in the future.
- Knowledge - factual information about the content of a subject area.
- Competencies - skills and behaviours the students will be able to apply during and after the course - some may be specific to a subject area, and others are more widely applicable in academic, work and social contexts.
In terms of competencies, we began working on using a note taking system - in this case, specifically the Cornell Note Taking System, as a means of recording information in preparation for assessment and evaluation tasks.
We also began looking at some of the concepts we will be addressing in relations to career planning and life balance, specifically the difference between "happiness" and "meaning", as per the work of renowned psychologist Martin Seligman, researcher, author of "Flourish" and founder/director of the Penn Centre for Positive Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania where he established the PERMA model based on extensive research. .
Taking structured notes using the Cornell Note Taking System
The Cornell Note-taking System was developed at Cornell University, developed in the 1940s by Cornell education professor Walter Pauk. There are many variations of the Cornell system available on line and in studying manuals. The key components of the system are:
- Breaking down the process of distilling information from a source into manageable sets -
- top-down, during-process recording of information,
- a "cue column" for key terms, important groups/individuals/contributors, dates main ideas,
- and a summary section to get the information into it's more condensed but clear form.
- A physical layout that is consistent and easy to navigate.
- A set process of repeated actions:
- putting information in the student's own words while reading, viewing or listening;
- reviewing information to determine which terms, names, dates or concepts need to go in the cue column;
- reviewing and synthesizing information into a concise summary;
- and reviewing cue columns and summaries to prompt recall.
Here's a visual template of what a page set up for Cornell Notes-taking system would look like.
- This can be on a sheet of ruled, hole-punched paper.
- This can be on a notepad or in a notebook.
- This can be on a blank sheet of letter sized, legal sized or even tabloid sized paper.
- This can be single of double sided.
- Students are free to, even encouraged to, include icons, sketches, images, mind-maps, diagrams, colour-coding, and use note-taking abbreviations (please see below) to integrate visual learning with text based learning.
Wednesday and Thursday we began reviewing expectations for behaviour in our classroom community. For more information, please see the "Classroom Expectations & Code of Conduct" tab on the main page of this teacher site. We discussed the 7 Grandfather Teachings framework used in this class to help us make effective, healthy and learning-supportive choices, and to self-assess our choices after the fact. We discussed the Annishnabe traditions behind these teachings, the fact that they are common to Yukon First Nations teachings and what these traditional values look like in a modern classroom.
Referring to these will be our touchstone for the semester.
We also began discussing some of the ways in which the classroom mimics the real world in the sense of earning credits being similar to earning money, and some basics about how the resources of a community (whether it's a school or a country) put the value in the currency of that community.
Referring to these will be our touchstone for the semester.
We also began discussing some of the ways in which the classroom mimics the real world in the sense of earning credits being similar to earning money, and some basics about how the resources of a community (whether it's a school or a country) put the value in the currency of that community.
