Creative Pedagogy in the Elementary Classroom During Virtual Learning

Teaching during a pandemic has been a challenge. There were so many unknowns and much confusion. Many teachers around the globe asked themselves, “How will I engage students?” “Will I be able to build a community of learners?” “Where do I even begin?” One approach is using creative pedagogy to engage students to explore, problem solve, and promote social interactions with fourth grade students. This chapter will provide insights on how to captivate elementary school students during virtual learning.

Narzędzia krytycznego myślenia na lekcji języka polskiego jako obcego w dobie edukacji zdalnej

Autorka artykułu koncentruje się w tekście na wykorzystaniu popularnych w ostatnim czasie w dydaktyce narzędziach krytycznego myślenia (oddzielając jednocześnie owe narzędzia od critical thinking) na lekcji języka polskiego jako obcego w dobie edukacji zdalnej, biorąc zarówno pod uwagę kursy online (online teaching), jak i nauczanie zdalne (remote teaching). Za istotne aspekty nauczania zdalnego uznane zostają: budowanie społeczności uczących się (building community of learners), obecność nauczyciela (teaching presence), budowanie rusztowania (scaffolding learning) z wykorzystaniem rutyn krytycznego myślenia. W tekście autorka omawia przykład lekcji języka polskiego jako obcego, podczas której zostały wykorzystane strategie krytycznego myślenia.

Speculating on the liberal arts: Exploring possible futures for humanities education

The article draws on concepts from speculative design to explore an alternative educational group existing outside the boundaries of an accredited university. Inspired by the imaginative approach of speculative design, I propose a small-scale reading and discussion group as a pathway to explore possible futures open to aspects of humanities education. The concept aims to reposition elements of the humanities from within the degree-granting Canadian university space to engage the wider public through a network meant to ideally foster an interconnected community of learners. This rhizomatic network would provide avenues for those without the means, access, or desire to pursue post-secondary education in the humanities to engage in questions that are relevant to their lived experience. I use an inquiry-based model of learning to explore probable, plausible, and preferable futures for liberal arts education as a way to challenge some current modes of thinking and provoke further discussion and research.

What the 'lost children' helped us find

The public emphasis on 'lost learning' and hapless child victims fails to acknowledge children's drive to learn and misconceives the role of the teacher. Through direct conversations and close observations Emily Rowe, class teacher, and Jeni Smith, school governor, worked together to learn from year 5 and 6 children about their experiences of learning during the pandemic and to reflect on what children learn at home with the adults there and alone, and on the role that teachers play in children's intellectual growth. They reflect on the centrality of listening and careful observation, on children's resilience, ambition and intellectual engagement, and the significance of a community of learners in a primary school. The paper ends with a compilation of all that the children listed they had learned at home, at school and on-line during the time of lockdown.

All in with Google Slides: Virtual engagement and formative assessment in introductory sign language linguistics

My goals as an instructor are to be transparent and approachable and to cultivate a community of learners. The transition to virtual instruction in Sign Language Structure and Usage presented significant challenges. I wondered how students could engage effectively with me, with each other, and with course content; how students could identify what they understood and on what they needed further instruction. To address these questions, I went all in with Google Slides to build engaging, searchable, self-paced slide presentations with built-in formative assessments. COVID-19 inspired this shift in slide creation, but I envision using these slides going forward because they are more equitable and more inclusive. If studentsare not able to come to class for any reason, they can review videos and complete selfassessments, just as they would in class. Anecdotal remarks suggest this approach appeals to a wider range of students and learning styles, but further study should explicitly examine student perceptions of this slide format. Other faculty in my college have recently expressed interest in adopting this style of presentation in their owncourses.

LET’S TALK! PROMOTING MEANINGFUL COMMUNICATION THROUGH AUTHENTIC TEACHER CHILD DIALOGUE

The heart of this study is an analysis of teacher–child dialogue in a classroom environment. An authentic dialogue enables children to express their real thoughts and ideas, to present insights, to ask questions, to make comments and to argue about different interpretations. In an effort to help our future teachers improve the quality of their verbal and nonverbal interactions with children as well as emotional and social support, we created a “community of learners”. Mentors and eight students - teachers (Israeli Jews and Arabs) participated in a reciprocal process of learning through experimentation while building new knowledge. Their interactions were examined how the teachers’ verbal and nonverbal responsiveness helped them to open or close conversational spaces for children while enabling them to listen to their voices. The research methodology was a discourse analysis i.e. analyzing the use of language while carrying out an act of communication in a given context. It presents a qualitative analysis of 20 transcripts of students - teacher's conversations with Israeli Jewish and Arab children from ages 4 – 6 years old. The analysis revealed that as teachers provided open conversational spaces with children, authentic dialogue emerged. Both voices were expressed and the child’s world was heard. The significance of thisstudy isto demonstrate the importance that authentic dialogue between teachers and young children has on the learning process as well as teacher’s acknowledgment on how children think and feel. This offers an opportunity for them to learn with and from the children.

Learning from each other: The role of libraries in the promotion of international understanding

ACRL’s vision is that of a future where academic and research librarians and libraries are essential to a thriving global community of learners and scholars.1 In today’s world, no community can exist alone. We live in an interdependent world. We need to understand each other, cooperate, and work towards mutual benefits.In such a context of interdependence, the current pandemic has shown that the COVID-19 virus knows no geographical or racial boundaries. The search for a vaccine to control the virus has also required a collaborative international effort. Businesses are involved in the import and export of products from many different countries. Education is a global business with students and scholars traversing national borders to seek and share knowledge. Similarly, libraries provide access to resources and services that may have originated or been developed in some countries, and users may be remotely accessing them from other countries. We live in a global community.