Inquire2Empower Consulting

Crows are a daily fact of life if you come from Vancouver, British Columbia. Ravens are relegated to Whistler Mountain or across the border at Baker Mountain. Rooks are chess pieces. It has taken travelling across the pond to Ireland, to learn that they are all in fact black birds from the crow family with similarities but stark differences.

The size of the ravens is the most apparent initial difference. They are massive birds and have a deep croaky call. In the morning, the bird wars are intense and loud. It amazes me that anyone can sleep through the battles.

I have lots of experience with crows. They are smart and known for their memory. If you have defined yourself as an enemy to a crow, beware. A crow will dive bomb your head and call its friends to do the same. I sprayed a hose at a crow to get him away from my school garden one day and was condemned to putting on disguises so I could go into the garden.

In early Irish literature. Morrigan was the Celtic goddess of battle. She was known for her shape shifting into a raven or a crow. It was believed that she could predict the death of warriors in battle. Perhaps this is why a group of crows is known as a “murder” and a group of ravens, an “unkindness” or “conspiracy.”

Rooks are a new discovery to me. The bare, greyish-white skin around the base of the bill was what mades it stand out as different. The rest of the plumage is black that shines purple in the sunlight. This bird is the size of a crow but the beak is longer, likely to access the worms and insects they love from fields. There is an old saying “a crow in a crowd is a rook, a rook on its own is a crow.” These birds congregate in huge groups and a flock is called a “building,” “clamour,” “parliament.”

The more I take notice of birds, the more I am delighted with new learning and desire to learn more.

The scene was set. Movement was where no movement had been for the last hour and a half. One owlet had ventured out of the nest but barely. The other two siblings snuggle close together. Little grey bundles of fluff. The mother is placed between the singlet and the twins. It took the arrival of another group of photographers to alert us to the large statuesque Great Horned Owl. The father owl is standing watch from two trees over. Likely two or maybe three times the size of the mother. He is very still. As the sun moves across the sky, he is in the shade and barely visible. In the sun with the pattern of the feathers stark. In the shade, he almost disappears. Silent and motionless as he soaks up the sun. He appears to be asleep. Until the squirrel.

The tiny squirrel makes his way up the tree.  In the middle of the triangle of father owl, us, and mother and her three owlets.  Venturing higher and higher to munch on even more tantalizing bunches of blossoms.  But protected by fewer leaves.  Higher and higher.  Oblivious to the father owl with lazar eyes trained on him.  Like a scene from a program detailing the realities of the food chain.  We hear from the new paparazzi arrivals that 5 pm was eating time yesterday.  It’s well past dinner time.  The owlets are restless and ready to eat. The kill feels imminent.  

The owlets wait.  The mother waits.  The birders and paparazzi below wait.  And the large, beautiful owl in his Big Horned way waits.  Until the full bellied little squirrel scurries down the tree and out of harm’s way.  And I feel a little lighter, not having witnessed the call of the wild.  No food chain in action today.  And it makes for a better day of birding in my opinion.

A WILD ABOUT Wednesday post – Birding is one way to #getOUTdoors and take the time to notice the beauty, habits, songs, and surprises of the birds that have too often become invisible parts of our lives.

“Our identity as Canadians is rooted in our relationship with the land and time we spend outside.”

Colin Harris – Take Me Outside (p .10)

There are many forms of outdoor quests.  Many envision heading off with Bilbo Baggins on arduous treks into the wilderness that involve heavy packs, camping equipment, and danger.   Yet, according to the Oxford Dictionary, a quest is a long search (like a lifetime) for something like happiness, knowledge, or truth.  Daypacks are sufficient.  Ingenuity encouraged.  Dig deeper online and you’ll discover there are four types of quests:

1. Discovery
2. Practice
3. Design
4. Reflection

Daily outdoor quests include any number of things, like discovery of new growth or nesting habits or water quality, practicing running, soccer or biking skills, designing new restoration projects or conservation plans, or simply reflecting on the beauty surrounding us and the things we are grateful for.  WILD ABOUT Outdoor learning is about all those quests – big, small, and in between.  Our desire for people of British Columbia to #getOUTdoors and #getINvolved is due to our lived experience and research about how time spent outdoors is good for the individual, the community and nature.  

Richard Louv uses the comparison of nature as an essential vitamin to combat what he calls, “nature-deficit disorder”.  This is not a medical diagnosis but a metaphor to illustrate the problems emerging from populations, particularly children, experiencing a societal disconnect from the natural world.  There is a significant body of research now focusing on the positive experience of time outdoors in nature to improve physical and mental health, as well as social bonding and creativity.  This research is readily supported by how much better we feel after going for a walk, birdwatching, a game of golf or tennis, or drinking in a sunset (yes, pun intended 😊).

As Dr. Hart Banack (UNBC) states, “while the park is the destination, it is the journey to the park, of picking up pebbles, looking at flowers, and finding sticks, that enlivens and binds the journey.”1   For photo enthusiasts, it may be a picture of the revered owl or waking bear.  Dr. Banack encourages the creation of collaborative groups to survey schools or parks to determine what is available on the site and in the neighbourhood that can facilitate outdoor learning.  It allows for the planning of scaffolded experiences to develop student centered collaborative learning communities with trust building activities and outdoor activities to develop physical skills, health, creativity, and content area knowledge and skills. 

Megan Zeni works with her partner teacher, Sarah Regan, to providing prep time for teachers in their outdoor classroom at Homma Elementary School in Richmond, British Columbia.  This structure ensures that all students in the school receive scaffolded learning time outdoors twice a week.  Richard Louv’s book, Vitamin N, provides an abundance of ways to engage outdoors with a focus on families.  The work of Dr. Hart Banack, Assistant Professor at the University of Northern British Columbia, and Gillian Judson’s book, The Walking Curriculum, provide many ways for teachers to regularly engage students outdoors.  Colin Harris shares that “(t) he seed for running across Canada was planted when I was a young teenager.  It grew slowly but steadily, weaving its way in and out of my consciousness for years.” (p.11).  Educators are poised to teach lessons and habits that have great potential for individuals and conservation and restoration efforts in the future.  

WILD ABOUT Outdoor Learning provides training and structures for community members in B.C. Communities to host activities to engage, educate, and build community.  Visit the website to get involved in WILD ABOUT Outdoor Learning Festivals planned in Vancouver (Tidal WAV on May 27, 2023), Prince George (June 2024) and Surrey (June 2024).  Learn about the organizations and informal groups that facilitate opportunities for people of all ages to engage with like-minded community members to #getOUTdoors and #getINvolved.  

References:  

Hartley Banack & Iris Berger (2018).  The emergence of early childhood education outdoor programs I British Columbia:  a meandering story. Tandfonline.com 

Colin Harris (2021).  Take Me Outside – Running Across the Canadian Landscape That Shapes Us.  Rocky Mountain Books.  Rmbooks.com

Gillian Judson (2018).  A Walking Curriculum: Evoking Wonder and Developing Sense of Place.

Richard Louv (2016).  The Essential Guide to a Nature-Rich Life.  Vitamin N.  500 Ways to Enrich the Health & Happiness of Your Family & Community.

A WILD ABOUT Wednesday Blog Post – How can we help you #getOUTdoors and #getINvolved.

https://www.wildabout.ca

It was SO exciting to have the first face-to-face British Columbia Literacy Council Leadership Meeting since pre-COVID times.  The best part about membership in the International Literacy Association and provincial council, the British Columbia Literacy Council, is the conversation.   Last Tuesday night at the Sylvia Hotel was not a disappointment.  

Rob Tierney arrived prepared to talk about his current role as the immediate past president of the International Literacy Association.   He has a broad range of participation in ILA and background experiences in education throughout the world, including Australia, the U.S., China, and recently Nigeria.  Although he began as a classroom teacher in Australia, many of the people in the room embrace him as “Canadian” due to his work at The University of British Columbia, including but not limited to Dean emeritus and professor emeritus of Language and Literacy Education.   His research in reading, reading-writing connections, assessment, and global perspective held promise.

The spark of magic for the night came from the diversity of the people in the room.   Traditionally the B.C. Literacy Council (BCLCILA) and the Lower Mainland Council of the International Reading Association (LOMCIRA) before it, framed Leadership Meetings as working committees of the executive committee with feedback from ILA executive members.  The focus was on developing strategic plans to move forward as a council.  However even prior to COVID, there has been a step away from volunteerism and participation in professional organizations.   Part of this came from the focus on newer teachers striving to create some work-life balance and part of it came from the stronghold lock of some of the developed organizations to step away from the refrain “But we’ve always done it this way” and embrace new ideas and new ways of doing things.  The opening up Post Covid is the perfect time to embrace new ways of approaching our work.  The people attending this Leadership Meeting included long time ILA members, recent members,  and people from different roles as educators in private and public institutions.  

Many of the people in the room shared the experience and passion for developing partnerships to address local literacy needs with educators in different countries along with Dr. Tierney.  Sabine Maiberger brought her experience of starting a school in China.  Lulu Wang brought her perspective of attending school China and her efforts to meet the expectations of Chinese parents while providing stimulating experiences through iGeneration Education programs.   My experiences teaching at The Fuyang Bureau of Education and Sandy Murray’s experiences bringing SongWorks to China and Japan made for some interesting conversation.   Dr. Tierney was able to share interesting experiences in Nigeria and the importance of adopting the stance of the learner in these interactions.  Susan Ruzic was able to incorporate the social justice work that she has been doing at The British Columbia Teachers’ Federation (B.C.T.F.).  The conversation teased out how much we have to learn from working collaboratively and learning from what other countries have to offer.   The work towards reconciliation in Canada has helped to move this conversation forward.  It has allowed us to step away from the notion that Western Culture is not responsible for helping people to adopt our educational paradigms but called us to create space for other cultures to show us what they need from us to be supported in their work.  The question pursued was how do we develop the INTERNATIONAL in the ILA.

This conversation had many common elements with the conversation of the Science of Reading. Some teachers in the room were looking for the ways to support children coming into the classroom with many needs and often few supports. Others were very concerned with what looks like a top-down trend in the United States to impose a very simplistic view of reading that discards much of what we have learned since the 80’s. Ruth Hodgins brought her experience with Reading Recovery and a thorough knowledge of the research and success stories that have come from implementation. Sandy Murray brought the perspective of a music educator and classroom teacher using song to joyfully develop literacy concepts. You would not find anyone in the room who discards the importance of phonics instruction. In fact, there was a lot of discussion about the many ways we have done this in the classroom. The Writing Process was celebrated as away that children are given the tools to communicate through through phonemic awareness and phonics instruction. The reciprocal relationship between reading and writing is seamless. There was deep discussion about reading-writing connections and how researchers such as David Booth and Lucy Calkins provided transformational support to educators.

Dr. Tierney thorough knowledge of existing research at his fingertips was helpful in focusing the conversation.  There was frustration in the room about the reading noise in the Twittersphere referencing decontextualized research that points a finger to easy answers.  The research on literacy instruction tells us is that it is anything but easy.  This is not something that Coastco can market in a workbook.  Reading, writing, listening and speaking are interwoven with amazing complexity.  The learner sitting in front of us at any time will require four cueing systems in order to unravel the mysteries of reading.  In order to provide what that learner needs, the teacher will need to unlock the complexities and subtleties pertinent to the learner.  It will require an educator that has access to the plethora of literacy research, professional development, and the autonomy to decide on how best to meet the learner’s needs.  Well informed educators are able to determine and build on background knowledge and ascertain the pathway to create a reader that experiences the power of making new discoveries and the joy of expanding their world through literacy.  

Dr. Tierney underlines what the International Literacy Association provides for us.  The access to literacy research helps educators to make decisions about how they will reach their learners.  Local and provincial councils are not simply volunteer activities but professional organizations that facilitate important conversations between literacy educators.  We hope you will join the conversation.  This link takes you to the International Literacy Association membership tab.  If you live in British Columbia, you automatically become a member of The British Columbia Literacy Council of the International Literacy Association (BCLCILA) when you join ILA.  

Thanks so much to the following people for attending the B.C. Literacy Council of The International Literacy Association Leadership Meeting and for providing your perspectives in the discussion:  

Dr. Rob Tierney – speaker

B.C. Literacy Council Members:

Dr. Karen Addie, Darlene Archer, Larkyn Froese, Linda Klassen, Sabine Maiberger, Donna McCormick, 

Tricia Stobbe, Executive Director, Christian Educators of B.C.

Sandy Murray,  SongWorks Educators Association

Susan Ruzic – BCTF Social Justice Committee 

Lulu Wang, founder and CEO of iGeneration Education Group

Ruth Hodgins- Consultant

We very much hope you will extend the invitation to your networks to join the conversation about literacy learning.  

We have a wealth of educational research to assist us in the thoughtful planning and implementation of reading, writing, listening, speaking activities and programs in schools, at enrichment centres, and at home. The prevalent message is that literacy development is a multi-faceted process that takes place over time. That being said, the “Reading Wars” battleground, south of the border, has re-opened the quest for easy answers by cherry picking the research on reading and writing.

I recently coordinated a literacy program for young children. In talking to parents, I found myself doing something that I haven’t done for years. I poured sand into an empty glass vase to demonstrate this is NOT how children learn. More than ever, educators need to pause and move forward based on what they know about working with children and what comprehensive research tells us. It is not a simple process. It is a complex process impacted by the developmental level of the child, the mindset, as well as exposure to books and reading. Background experiences with reading are also paramount. I refer to this one as the “joy factor” and do profess to have any definitive scientific data to cite on this one, however I strongly adhere to the notion that children and adults who don’t like reading have never learned to read for different purposes or just not “met” the right books. Never underestimate an effective librarian, teacher who is a lover of books, or employee at Vancouver Kidsbooks in helping with this process!

Anyone who has worked extensively with teaching reading has experienced a child who flawlessly decodes the text and gives you a completely blank look when you ask about the meaning. Or perhaps heard the groan when you mention reading together. Understanding that authors have messages to convey is part of the process of reading Helping a child to make reading an enjoyable interaction between the child and the author is another important part of the instructional process.

Now, as always, there are four cueing systems in language development that are essential for communication. All four of these systems are used simultaneously as we speak, listen, read and write.

1. Grapho-phonemic System –  the awareness of the sound system of the language represented by letters or combinations of letters.

• Phonemes – the 44 sounds in English
• We see this work when young children are writing their journal entries. They are connecting the sounds of the words they are saying with the letters they are writing on the page.

• Graphemes  – the sounds represented by one or more letters

• Phonological Awareness – understanding the sound structure of words including syllables, rimes and onsets
• Sn– a-ck (Onset / rime)

Phonemic Awareness – to be able to combine phonemes to decode words.

h-o-t = hot

p-o-t = pot 

c-o-t = cot 

You can make a trip to Costco on any given day and pick up a workbook that includes pages and pages of repetitive exercises claiming to assist your child in mastering these skills. The reality is that many workbook activities can be completed by replicating a pattern instead of reading.

Word play, word building with magnetic letter, rhyming games, skipping songs, nursery rhymes, action games and song experience games, repeated readings of predictable pattern text can be more engaging ways to focus attention on the relationship between letters and sounds.  

2. Syntactic System – The roles of the structure and grammar of sentences.  

Modelling correct grammar and changing word endings (suffixes) or beginnings (prefixes) to change the meaning of words falls into this category.  Editing written work during the Writer’s Workshop is an excellent way to focus attention on this task.  I learned grammar in Grade 10 when I started to tutor. I could apply correct grammar in my writing before that point in time but I had not memorized all of the grammatical structures. The process of labelling grammatical structures made both me and my tutee better at parsing sentences. Actually helping him finish his assignments with questions and prompts as required made him a better writers.

Lessons about synonyms, antonyms, homonym and vocabulary development would fall into this category.

3. The Semantic System – Meaning Makers

In high school, a cousin I adored came to live with my Mum and I.  She decreed that we needed to improve our vocabulary.  Since she was two years older, I complied.  Every week a new word went on the fridge door.  Our task was to use it correctly as many times as possible during the week.  It became a fun game that I took with me into the classroom when I started to teach.  

Three noteworthy things came out of that game. One I my principals that he had never talked to kindergarten students with such good vocabularies. During one standardized test, my Gr. 3 students crossed out words and replaced them with better word choices. When my own children were in high school, both of them were tested and labelled “gifted”. My son’s analysis was that it was no more than an exercise in demonstrating a good vocabulary. His comment: “Not like we had a choice if we wanted to know what was going on.” The vocabulary development came out of a desire to communicate rather than a memory exercise.

4. The Pragmatic System –   This involves use of appropriate communication in social situations.   

The formality of the language used will likely change if you are talking to a boss, a principal in a hierarchical system, or a friend or close family member. Awareness of this fact will make a difference in how you are perceived in conversations. This is an example of pragmatics.

Lessons developing conversational skills, nonverbal communication (raising hand), adhering to social norms (personal space, volumes of conversation), empathy, active listening, and using humour appropriately fall under this area.  

How do you find the right term to describe literacy instruction that recognizes the complexity of the task, the importance of all of the component parts, and the role of a trained teacher in facilitating the instructional process?  

Whole language and balanced literacy were never terms or practices intended to exclude the grapho-phonemic system as an important aspect of reading instruction but efforts to acknowledge the synchronicity of all four cuing systems.   A focus on a “Reading War” seems to be a diversions from well established practices based on research that have brought solid results in places like Canada, Finland, Ireland, and Estonia.   Now is the time to step away from the battle for black or white answers, and work collaboratively to find the best answer to meet the needs of the younger learner sitting in front of you. There will never be one guaranteed quick and easy answer but we have learned enough to find a strategy that works for that child. The process may look different. It may take different amounts of time. It may require intervention by teachers trained with specialized skills. Yet, the OECD documents that it is happening all over the world due to the expertise we have developed based on comprehensive educational research practices.