Vancouver International Writer's Festival at Granville Island

On Friday October 22nd, 2010, fellow education colleagues Julia Cross, and Shamez Virani and I attended the Vancouver International Writer's Festival at Granville Island in Vancouver.

We had talked a lot about which event to go to and looked at all of the events that were being offered. We discussed our schedules and decided to see "37 Darwin's Bastards" at 10:00am Friday morning.

Darwin's Bastards: Astounding Tales from Tomorrow, is a collection of short stories written entirely by Canadian authors. Zsuzsi Gartner hand selected each of the 23 stories and in the talk that we attended she joined in conversation with William Gibson, Yann Martel, Anosh Irani, and Adam Lewis Schroeder - all of which have a story in the anthology. These authors "are not normally known for writing about an exploration of future times" but contr

ibuted to the book nonetheless (Darwin's Bastards).

Each author read a selection from the short story they contributed and then talked about their motivations behind the piece, the genesis of their experimental writing and their struggles and successes when it came to "breaking the bounds of realism" (Darwin's Bastards).

Once each author had had a chance to talk about their story, audience members were allowed to pose questions and have the respective authors provide answers.

It was an interesting experience, especially as a teacher-in-training. As I listened to the short story excerpts I couldn't help but think about how I could use the stories in a classroom. Anosh Irani's shorty story, "Notes from the Womb" stood out for me among the other three stories simply because it combined a morbid topic with humour and satire. Using the story in a grade 12 classroom could be super beneficial and would evoke an interesting class discussion.

Overall the experience was enlightening and enriching. I did buy Darwin's Bastards as well as another book by Yann Martel entitled, What is Stephen Harper Reading? I really enjoyed the fact that I was thinking like a teacher and focusing on the elements of a short story and how to integrate this anthology into a classroom.

Until Next Time,

LC

Day 8 - Last Day

Well Ladies and Gentlemen,

The last day of observation is over. I'm almost saddened because I didn't get a chance to see a lot of the teachers that were recommended to me. I've had a fabulous experience and I definitely don't want it to end. I must admit this is partly because now I have to write an eight page paper due Monday, an Observation Journal due Thursday, write a quiz and get back to being a student.

My last day at Collingwood was amazing. I started the day by teaching a lesson on "the THESIS" to a grade ten English class - the lesson went brilliantly. On Monday's class the students were given their assignment. They had to write an essay on "Remembrance." Talk about BROAD! It's a completely open essay in that they can write any type of essay they want, on any topic they want so long as it relates to "Remembrance." While you may think that this is a great opportunity for the students to write whatever they want, without clear direction students were having terrible time getting started. For homework they were supposed to bring their introductory paragraph and one of their body paragraphs to class. I took this opportunity to address the thesis statement. As an entrance slip I had the students provide me with their thesis statement. After several thesis building activities I gave their theses back to them and had them evaluate their own work. The response of "wow, my thesis sucks" was very popular. I then gave them time to edit their thesis statements and then had them share them. As an exit slip they had to give me both their original thesis statement with the new one underneath it.

Before doing the exit slip though, I made sure to ask them what the lesson was and I had them give me feedback about what I needed to work on as a teacher. They were super great and super polite. Based on their feedback they not only understood the lesson, but understood how to fix their own work. I'm going to take this as a good thing.

The rest of my day went well. I simply observed the last few classes that I could and made sure to take a lot of notes. I went to English 12, Biology 12 as well as a Law 12.

Overall my experience at Collingwood has been a memorable one. I've included a picture of my schedule and classes I've observed, hopefully they are legible - if you want to see a larger more clear view, just click on the schedule.



Legend:
MS = Middle School
SS = Senior School
Anything in RED I was not at the school because of Thanksgiving, Pro-D days or otherwise.
Anything in Green is a School wide event (Ex. Break and Assembly)

See you back on the rock,
LC

Day 2 - A little more focus

Well, another day is over. I'm still getting used to waking up in the dark and being at school by 8:00am, but it's totally worth it!

As promised, I'll be focusing on two aspects of my day, instead of a full re-cap: Student Behavior and Student-Teacher Relationships. Today I went to different classes with different teachers. I went to a Creative Writing class - which comprised of grade 10, 11, and 12 students, SS 10AP, SS 11, Eng 12, and Economics 12. It was interesting to see the different relationships that each student had with the teacher and the accompanying student behavior. Does that even make sense? Basically, the student-teacher relationship dictated how the students behaved.

For example: the young man teaching Creative Writing was viewed as a "friend." The students treated him like a friend instead of an authority figure. I found there were both pros and cons to this teaching-style/approach. Pros: the students were very open and felt like they could talk about anything; they were interactive, talkative, and relaxed; they were comfortable and at ease. Cons: while there was respect between student and teacher, it was a lot more difficult for him to get their attention, be quiet, and listen/follow directions. He was constantly having to "shhh" the class and repeat instructions. There was a lot of class-management going on instead of actual teaching.

All of the other classes were taught by teachers who had far more experience than the young Creative Writing teacher. It was evident that they demanded respect and attention. The relationship between these teachers and students wasn't as "friendly" but more, for a lack of a better word - mature.

I had originally thought that I wanted to be a "friend" teacher; but after watching the Creative Writing class I think it's super important to maintain a "friendly" relationship while having enough authority and discipline to create a happy medium between friend and professional.

Until next time,
LC