Vol. 12, Issue 2 - Multiple Literacies in Education by Hey, Teach! Magazine

Vol. 12, Issue 2 • WINTER 2021

HEY, TEACH! THE VICTORIA COLLEGE EDUCATION MAGAZINE

MULTIPLE LITERACIES IN EDUCATION FEATURING: MINDFUL LITERACY MAKES MINDFUL LEARNERs ILLUSTRATION BY JAEHYUN LIM

The topic of multiple literacies is one that is

incredibly important as we consider the everchanging landscape of education, especially throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Students today are not just learning from blackboards and textbooks, but also from websites, databases and even social media platforms.

LETTER EDITORS FROM THE

Therefore it is important that we teach our students how to interpret and interact with multiple literacies. This issue brings together sub-themes of virtual learning, diversity in teaching/classrooms, culturally relevant pedagogy, and learning styles to create a holistic image of multiple literacies in today’s classrooms. “Multiple Literacies” is a collection of high-impact and thought-provoking pieces. From the quality of virtual learning experiences such as Alisha Rao’s mention of screen fatigue, and Felicitas Damiano detailing the tales of online kindergarten. Along with Jessica Kok’s unravelling of learning styles and Yiannie Lin’s debate about global literacy that is marketed in international schools, our contributors elevated this issue with so many different perspectives, voices, and opinions. This issue challenges what we know and most importantly, learn, about literacy, taking our society and current climate into question by looking towards our developing online education systems. This issue possesses a unique feature article written by our Editor-in-Chief team on Mindful Literacy: a process involving the learning of new information while staying open, receptive, and accepting. This piece details not only what Mindful Literacy is, but also how to incorporate this in both in-person and online teaching to create mindful learners. Providing different, simple, methods of practice, this feature article will allow you to rethink how you teach and learn, and hopefully, inspire you to try it for yourself! We would like to extend an enormous thank-you to each person involved in the publication of this magazine. We understand that this year has been challenging for so many, yet you have taken the time to contribute to the success of our magazine. To our contributors, thank you for producing such high-impact pieces and capturing so well the realities of multiple literacies in classrooms today. To our editing team, thank you for ensuring that our magazine is based on strong writing. To our production team, thank you for making our magazine as visually appealing to look at as it is mentally appealing to read. And finally to our wonderful executive team, thank you for the countless hours and effort you put into leading this magazine to achieve its utmost potential. Happy reading and stay safe! Sincerely, Jessica Allan & Ali Raza Hasan Ali Editors-in-Chief Imani King Editor-in-Chief Mentee

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Jessica Allan

Ali Raza Hasan Ali

Imani King

MEET THE HEY, TEACH! MAGAZINE STAFF

Editors-in-Chief Jessica Allan Ali Raza Hasan Ali

Table of Contents

Editor-in-Chief Mentee Imani King

1–2

Letter from the Editors & Table of Contents

Senior Editors Jean Kim Maia Corsame Caitlyn Grant

3–4

Meet Your Contributors

5–6

They're Anxious Too — Loridy Fan The Screen Fatigue Phenomena — Alisha Rao Biology Behind the Screen — Saige Severin

Senior Productions Managers Bisman Kaur Jaehyun Lim

7–8 9–10 11–12

Associate Productions Managers Rachel Banh Derek Choi Kayla Paciocco

Remote Learning in Kindergarten: The Importance of a Multiple Literacy Approach — Emma Anderson

13–14

Unmuting Our Mics: Talking About Digital Literacy in Virtual Tutoring — Felicitas Damiano

First Year Representatives Julia Hu Jaemin Hwang Yiannie Lin

15–16

Debunking the Learning Style Myth — Jessica Kok

17–18

Study Salad — Madeline Szabo

19–20

Social Literacy: Using Classroom Conflicts for Skill Building — Tongyu Zhang

21–24

Feature Article: Mindful Literacy Makes Mindful Learners

25–26

Education Systems Control Over Curriculum — Evangeline Elim Yeung

27–28

Give Digital Lit a Chance! — Julia Pape

29–30

Do We Stop Caring About the Needs of Our Learners When They Aren't Cute Anymore? — Stephanie Zeit

31–32

"International Schools" Don't Promote Global Literacy: They Promote Whiteness — Yiannie Lin

33–34

The Importance of Culturally Relevant & Multimodal Texts — Omar Hussain

Junior Productions Team Mishal Saeed Julliana Santos Kristi Deki Toko Michioka Omar Hussain Carina Sinevici Sasha Arnett Joy Chan Mahathi Gandhamaneni

35–36

Playing Catch-Up: How Unequal Access to Remote Schooling has Compelled Global Innovation — Hannah Grzegorczyk

37–38

Multimodal Literacy Resource Share — Sasha Arnett

39–40

Code Red: It's Time for Educators to Challenge Menstrual Taboos — Shelly Shub

41–42

How Can Diverse Classrooms Impact Student Success? — Asdghig Ayntabli

Any questions regarding articles found in this issue can be addressed to the Editors-in-Chief

43–44

Education and Memes: How a Meme Can Encourage You to Ask the Right Questions — Lidiia Tulenkova

45–46

Interactive Pages

47–50

Executive Final Thoughts

Junior Editors Asdghig Ayntabli Caitlin Stange Iris Shao Omar Hussain Anisha Huq Rachel Banh Madeline Szabo Yiannie Lin Beverley Kwok Esther Cho Vincent Quach Adsaya Anpalagan Trevor Bell Mojan Mahid Ayesha Shakeel

heyteach@utoronto.ca

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MEET YOUR CONTRIBUTORS If you could have an unconventional pet, what would it be?

Do you prefer online learning or in person?

Omar Hussain: I've always wanted to have a small snake as a pet!

Emma Anderson: I prefer in-person learning. I enjoy making connections with students and I find it easier to make those connections in-person. Even if we have to wear masks, a thing that may seem annoying to many, being in person allows for more opportunities to connect with and understand one another.

Jessica Kok: I would have a pet monkey. They are such intelligent animals and I would train it to play catch! Yiannie Lin: I would want to have a squirrel! I've barely seen any in Hong Kong, where I grew up, but now that I'm in Toronto I see them everywhere and I love them (they're adorable!). Madeline Szabo: Not a pet but I would like to be best friends with a woodland fairy. Felicitas Damiano: If I were to have an unconventional pet, it would be a hedgehog and/or a pygmy goat! Alisha Rao: I already have birds (two budgerigars) which I don’t consider very conventional pets (but maybe that’s just me). Since I am a fan of avians, I think I would go for a green-cheek conure as my unconventional pet. I watched a video of an angry greencheek conure, and that pretty much sealed the deal for me. Tongyu Zhang: Sandfish. They require little care, and they can swim in sand.

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Julia Pape: In-person, for sure! There is something about learning in a community that makes being a student both easier and more rewarding. I can't wait for life on campus to resume. Tongyu Zhang: I prefer online learning. I can avoid the trouble of commuting. Loridy Fan: It really depends on my mood. If I want to learn, then I would prefer in-person learning because it is much easier to engage with the teacher; however, online learning is much more flexible if life becomes too stressful. At the moment, due to the stresses caused by the pandemic, I prefer the flexibility of online learning. Asdghig Ayntabli: As a commuter student, I prefer in-person classes. Waking up early and getting a coffee on the way to class was always very suiting and a great way to start my days.

As a teacher how would you incorporate different literacies in a classroom? Sasha Arnett: Literature exists in many forms, so it will be good to bring in the different forms into the classroom just to expose my students to their existence. Then, as the topics we learn deepen, there may naturally be a need to use specific forms of literacy to best learn the topic. Also, I will have to be aware of what my students may be more interested in using to learn. Felicitas Damiano: As a teacher, I would incorporate different literacies such as, visual, textual, digital, and technological, by analysing art, creating visual presentations, assigning online research activities, responding to written texts, and playing educational games in my classroom. Evangeline Elim Yeung: As a teacher, how would you incorporate different literacies in a classroom? = I would look at the learning styles and developmental defects that a child inherently had without judging or "observing" by pure sight then adjust a classroom environment and agenda based on the initial need rather than adhering to an ideal form of grouping that leads to grading then pinpoint when and where children should gather and learn together without slide-scaling by a grade.

Is cereal soup?

Lidiia Tulenkova: I will answer like an anthropologist: it depends on the context. But from my cultural understanding of cold sweet cereal containing milk - no, it is not a soup! Saige Severin: Cereal is certainly a soup, though the cereal must be put in the bowl before the milk for it to be classified as such. "Cereal" where the milk goes in first is an offence to the very concept of soup. Jessica Kok: I don’t think cereal is a soup because soups are primarily served hot. Unless you eat cereal hot (which should be a crime), I wouldn’t consider it a soup! Alisha Rao: I am one of those people that strongly believes in a good cereal-tomilk ratio, and also pouring cereal first; maybe this is digressing a little, but I want to avoid cereal becoming soup. My short answer is that cereal is not a soup. Omar Hussain: Definitely. Especially after a few minutes in the microwave. Julia Pape: I think cereal exists in that liminal space between soup and not-soup. But it definitely is more soup-leaning.

Which planet would you like to visit? Shelly Shub: I would like to visit Jupiter. I don't have no logical reason for my choice, I just find the planet to be pretty neat due to its rings. Hannah Grzegorczyk: I'd like to visit Europa, which is one of Jupiter`s moons! It’s surface is beautiful and it`s suspected to harbour alien life! Stephanie Zeit: Maybe Pluto. I know it's not a planet, but I've always felt bad for it. Yiannie Lin: I would love to visit Venus! I don't know a lot about astronomy, but it looks pretty cool from Google Images! I also like that it's named after the Roman goddess of love. Hey, Teach!

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THEY'RE THEY'RE ANXIOUS ANXIOUS TOO TOO

The

thought of online school terrifies me. After 14 years of struggling with the education system, I know my style of studying. I need engagement! The word “asynchronous” pretty much eradicates the possibility of engagement, in my opinion.

As we concluded the fall term, I reflected upon my academic experience. To my surprise, I earned the highest GPA of my post-secondary career! I hardly missed a single class, and I was on top of my work. How was I able to achieve that?

This story is starting to sound like a “How to be Successful when Taking Online Classes” article on Pinterest. Though I can’t deny that I will answer that question, this is not a typical Pinterest article. My answer to that question lies in the ability to understand the teacher’s perspective. Right before the start of school, a very close friend of mine started her own business where she offers remote tutoring. Her plan was to invite teachers from Canada to teach English to Chinese students using an online classroom program. Knowing that I have always been eager to teach, she told me about her plan. I immediately asked if I could join, and I became the first teacher of our small online academy. I have had numerous experiences in teaching children face to face, however, virtual education was new to me. I had no idea what to expect and how to keep the students engaged. I completely understand the psychological barrier on the students’ side: meeting a new teacher as if you are not physically meeting them. Younger children might even think that the teacher is simply a robot “inside” the computer. Keeping students engaged was the most challenging part of online teaching. Can you sense the irony? As I struggled my way through the first month of class, I discovered the importance of student feedback.

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Loridy Fan Second Year Philosophy Major Drama and Education & Society Minors

So, how

did this help me achieve my academic goals? From this experience, I was able to understand what the professors and TAs desire. Professors and TAs are just as stressed about operating online resources as students because experienced teachers base their teachings on feedback, which is challenging to receive online. In a Zoom class, even when gallery view is on, the professor can only see a few students. They have no sense of student engagement; therefore, they are constantly concerned. As a student, the best way to gain their trust is to provide them with the feedback they crave. Just a simple nod while your camera is on is remarkably satisfying. Asking them questions is both gratifying and validating. Most importantly, go to office hours! Building that one-on-one connection with your professor and TA is crucial. It not only shows that you care about your work, but it also indicates that you are an active learner who can pose compelling questions about class material. Online school is hard; however, the struggle is not unidirectional. The best way to battle hardship is to understand that whoever may seem “powerful” is just as anxious as you.

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S C R E E N F A T I G U E PHENOMENON 07

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Screen fatigue is a phrase that I never expected to use so commonly; noticing how integrated it has become into my university experience and vernacular. The experience itself is a by-product of dealing with the new environment of online learning, but I wish to explicate this in slightly more detail; what are the pitfalls of online learning and conversely, what are the positives? And how does screen fatigue factor into this experience?

Online learning is a subjective experience (which I expect to be the case for all students learning remotely at this time), but I found my professors were more accommodating overall compared to previous, in-person semesters. School, broadly speaking, can be and is an without needing a formal request. Notably, in one class, the professor stated that there would be no late penalties for evaluations, allowing the class to have the semester to hand in our assignments. This is an approach I wish was more broadly implemented; having a professor explicitly state that we had this freedom gave me time to understand the material, allowing me to engage with the subject matter with genuine interest. Learning can feel like a rat race, but with implementations like this, a semester can be more manageable when trying to balance the course load. This is something I want to see more of. The issues of remote learning, however, can outweigh the positive advents it may bring. This is not to say remote learning is inherently a negative experience, but an imbalance exists between doing work (i.e. staring at a screen) and resting (whatever form this may take). My personal experience with this imbalance was feeling left behind if I closed my eyes, even if it was for a couple of minutes. To put it plainly, I would ask myself why I felt overworked while sitting in a chair. Being at home while taking courses presents the struggle to depersonalize the home, and it can be suffocating. It has been disheartening to hear from fellow students, of teachers being inflexible despite the current circumstances. Instructors as well, are also adjusting to this new norm, so teaching virtually is complicated and displacing.

Screen fatigue is exhausting, in a word. There is a potential for screen fatigue to be mediated, especially if professors, for example, support students and recognize that most are committing to many courses at a time, not just one. But the case-by-case nature of remote learning makes it difficult to truly establish the positives and/or negatives of the experience. It is what I would call a stifling reality, especially with consideration to education. Instructors also have to deal with the limitations of online teaching, likely experiencing their own version of screen fatigue. Lamentably, screen fatigue is a reminder of how immobile we are, which can be difficult to digest; it is therefore important that this phenom is addressed appropriately for those learning remotely.

ALISHA RAO Fourth Year

Classical Civilizations Major Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations and East Asian Studies Minors

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Biology Beyond the Screen

There is little nature to be seen out the windows

of my tiny Toronto apartment. I have a view into the lives of the people across from me, and a view into the anger of the anti-maskers that march down my street all too often. Between watching hours of online lectures per day, the occasional bird or spider is the most interaction with nature I have in a week. At the beginning of last semester, I thought there was no worse place to take a class on ecology. How beautiful it is to be proven wrong. My first pre-recorded lecture for the second half of BIO120 – Adaptation and Biodiversity-- featured Professor Megan Frederickson. In her first video she was standing outside in the Toronto cold, maskedup and ready to teach. The new background was appreciated, and I would have been more than happy to watch these lectures even if standing outside was all she did. But she didn’t stop there. Each video featured a new location. Often, Prof. Frederickson recorded in the specimen rooms

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at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM). There, she brought out taxidermy animals of various species, using the ROM’s extensive collection to demonstrate how animal traits have shifted over time. She also filmed at the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology’s greenhouse growth facilities, doing her best to get us as close to a true lab experience as possible over video. I grew excited to watch her lectures even when the Zoom fatigue was getting me down. I wanted to see what new way she would find to connect to the course material, what new part of the inaccessible world she’d film for us to experience. She never disappointed. My favorite moment of all was when she included a clip from one of her past trips to a national park. The shaky camera showed her face, then slowly turned to reveal a black bear ambling across the path in front of her car. I was riveted. At the time, my father and I were locked up under quarantine for 14 days after crossing the Canadian border.

Saige Severin First Year

Unable to even go for a walk, lectures were a drag. But here was something far more exciting than a PowerPoint. I called my dad over and tapped the screen like a madwoman when another bear appeared, thinking, rather sadly, that this was the most exciting thing that had happened to me all week. Before taking BIO120, I had little interest in pursuing ecology beyond first year, and I hardly expected to be inspired by anything online. Professor Frederickson turned that around. She and the other instructor in the course, Professor John Stinchcombe, had such passion for their work and such interesting ways of presenting information that I found myself loving their class despite the virtual format. Now, I plan on pursuing ecology further. It is something exciting amid the quagmire of quarantine nothingness, and the exact kind of inspirational experience that I was afraid of losing when college went virtual. As soon as outings are safe again, you will find me enraptured by the halls of the ROM. Hey, Teach!

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REMOTE LEARNING IN KINDERGARTEN THE IMPORTANCE OF A MULTIPLE LITERACIES APPROACH

When we think of kindergarten, what often

comes to mind are tiny little humans learning how to read, write, and count to 10. What most people do not think of is how those little humans manage to learn those things. How does a child go from not being able to write their name to being able to write full sentences in a few years? More importantly, how are children learning to do all of this over a Zoom call? The answer is: a multiple literacies approach.

Emma Anderson

First Year Masters of Arts in Child Study and Education at OISE

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Multiple literacies can be described as using the five semiotic systems—audio, spatial, gestural, visual, and linguistic—to communicate, express, and represent a multitude of things (Cope & Kalantzis, 2009). There are two important advantages to using a multiple literacies approach in a kindergarten classroom. First, educators can use a variety of means to teach a lesson to their students. For example, a lesson about counting to five could be done through song and dance (audio and visual), or through an educator showcasing how to use your fingers to keep track of numbers as you count (gestural). Secondly, an educator can use different approaches to assess student understanding, comprehension, and ability. For instance, a student can demonstrate their knowledge of words that start with the letter “P” through verbal communication with a teacher (linguistic), or through depicting those words in a drawing (visual).

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A multiple literacies approach has been integral to the current status of virtual learning within kindergarten classrooms. Differentiating the ways in which students receive information over the Zoom platform has been advantageous to their learning. It keeps students engaged and interested in what is happening on the screen (which they could easily ignore if they wanted to). By utilizing a multiple literacies approach, students are kept on their toes, wondering how they are going to learn next. It could be a video about arctic animals popping up on the screen that incorporates singing and movement, or it could be a virtual manipulative that students can interact with.

another. Therefore, having an assessment that is one uniform task for all students in the class is not equitable. Giving students choice and freedom for how they would like to showcase their learning not only builds creativity but also provides educators with more authentic and reliable work to assess. Using a multiple literacies approach to teach kindergarten online allows students to continue to grow and build upon previous knowledge in a way that engages the students and is meaningful for them.

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References Moreover, because students are not in a physical Cope, B., & Kalantzis, M. (2009). Multiliteracies: classroom, as educators, we must remember that New literacies, new learning. Pedagogies: the materials and supports one child has available An International Journal, 4(3),164-195. at home could differ from one household to

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Unmuting Our Mics:

Talking About Digital Literacy in Virtual Tutoring Tutoring children from all over the world

through my computer screen has become part of my daily routine. Virtual learning has become pertinent due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so many students who are accustomed to their in-person classrooms have been restricted to learning digitally. My job ranges from supporting children with their virtual homework to providing my own online lessons. As a tutor, I’m often not the primary educator for the students. Usually, I help students with material assigned by their teacher, following the teacher’s online learning methods even though I don’t always agree with the approach. One of my first-grade students has several mandatory tasks to complete per week, ranging in ability and resources which some students may not have in their home. Understanding how to use a computer can also be an accessibility issue, especially for elementary students who are still learning about technology. It’s difficult for young students to engage and understand how learning works through a screen. Students may be over-stimulated on their computers from being in a virtual meeting for their classrooms, extra-curriculars, and hobbies. Their parents may not be available to help them during the day or have the knowledge to do so. Additionally, they may not be able to

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afford the expenses that come with learning at home, such as a stable internet connection and supplies or tools that are normally provided at schools. Using online platforms can be useful for many things, but it can also be unhelpful for others. While digital learning can be an accessible resource with interactive online activities and editable worksheets and may also lead to the improvement of typing skills, it can also negatively affect the development of motor skills in elementary students. Doing all their work on a screen lowers students’ physical activity, usually achieved during recess, as well as potentially decreases activities such as writing with a pencil, or constructive play with building blocks or puzzles. Some students may not have these resources that would have been available in a classroom to maintain motor skills. Although students are cultivating their digital literacy skills, these are sometimes used to try and deceive their teachers. Cheating by looking up answers, not paying attention in class, and faking an internet disconnection have been a few of the problems educators face in their online classrooms. In tutoring sessions, being in a one-on-one environment results in higher engagement due to the direct conversation and catered lesson plans; however, the students

don’t always want to engage in their virtual assignments. A third-grade student I tutor likes to play computer games during lessons. He would have his camera and microphone on to respond during the call while paying attention to a separate tab (which I can’t see). He would say he needed extra time to ‘think,’ only for me to find out that he was gaming instead of learning. Despite the challenges of digital literacy, virtual accessibility, and engagement for children and youth, I thoroughly enjoy being able to educate and make a difference for so many students from Canada to China!

Felicitas Damiano

Third Year Sociology Major Drama and Education & Society Minors

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THE LEARNING STYLES MYTH 15

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Visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. Which of these learning styles fit your preference?

As human beings, we are naturally interested in categorizing ourselves. From personality types to horoscopes, to being left-brained or rightbrained, and particularly our learning style— there are many ways in which humans categorize themselves inaccurately. In my Grade 10 Careers class, I took a self-quiz to find out which learning style I had and discovered I was a visual learner. This led to studying by making cue cards, highlighting notes, and drawing diagrams. Did this help improve my grades? I’m not quite sure. But I surely believed it did because a quiz said so. We are taught that adapting our studying to our learning style is better for our understanding. As an aspiring teacher, my philosophy consisted of adapting my teaching to reach all types of learners. It wasn’t until last semester when I took a statistics course that my eyes were opened to many myths, one of them being the ‘learning styles’ myth. I was stunned to find out about the lack of scientific evidence that supports this popular belief! Many studies fail to prove a correlation between studying by preferred learning styles and better performance on tests (Jarret, 2017). In other words, when matching the teaching method to a preferred learning style, it made no difference in a student’s performance compared to those who were taught in their non-preferred style. What researchers did notice, however, was that all learners performed better when taught by a particular style that corresponded with the material being taught (Jarret, 2017). For instance, it would be best to learn a new language by speaking, whereas learning visual art verbally may not be as helpful. Also, learning to drive a car would be most beneficial by doing it kinaesthetically, despite having a differing learning style. Rather than matching individuals to their learning style, it is more effective to match the concept being learned instead.

Although learning styles are a great misconception, this does not mean we should completely abandon the idea of tailoring our teaching. Teachers should certainly consider the best teaching methods for a particular subject. However, they should also consider various ways in getting concepts across. As students, we should not let one learning style dictate our studying methods. Subjects are multidisciplinary and often crossover, just as I learned to be skeptical about numbers through statistical literacy. This connects to multiple literacies in education because no matter the subject, we often apply skills learned in one subject to many others. We are all visual, audio, and kinesthetic learners; it just depends on the situation. References Jarrett, C. (2017, June 03). All You Need to Know About the 'Learning Styles' Myth, in Two Minutes. Retrieved January 28, 2021, from https://www.wired.com/2015/01/need- know-learning-styles-myth-two-minutes/

JESSICA KOK Second Year

Math Major Education & Society and Psychology Minors

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Why Combining Doodles and Words Makes for the Best Messy Notes Madeline Szabo First Year

In May of 2017, I was 15 and for the first time,

exam stress hit me. My friends were panicking, and I had been too busy watching Gilmore Girls all year to consider school. I remember turning to my best friend and asking why this was so important. She replied that university applications were soon, and just like that, I realized I needed to do well (I didn’t, but nevertheless I was 15 and scared). I woke up at 6:30AM the next morning, made a cohesive study plan, and downloaded Tumblr. Those of you who are both cooler and more sensible than me may ask, Why Tumblr? Because locked within Tumblr is the Studyblr community: a beautiful note inspiration paradise. For weeks — okay, days — before the exams, I slaved over the most aesthetically pleasing notes my poor fine motor control could muster. Colour codes punctuated a document titled “OSMOSIS” in pink cursive. I then bragged to my friends about my newfound academic success. I had never scored so poorly on exams. I deleted Tumblr, mainly because I was starting to feel so many feelings for a girl who made yellow themed mood boards but I kept trying to make aesthetically pleasing notes throughout high school and into September of this year. In September I fell asleep during an English lecture while taking hopeful-future-Studyblr notes.

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So at the beginning of January, I tried something new: messy notes. Notes where I’d doodle mushrooms and hearts next to the definition of Lyric Poetry. Notes where my handwriting is as indecipherable to others as the drawing on the lower left side. Notes that let me think. When I realized how much I enjoyed this and how it helped me stay awake, I tried to find what I expected to be my own messy-aesthetic version of Studyblr. But I couldn’t. It doesn’t exist, but I know I’m not alone. In 2009, psychologist Jackie Andrade asked people to remember details from a voicemail; those who doodled remembered more because it gave them a form of fidgeting to stay awake and attentive (Pillay, 2016). Messy notes, which I suggest we re-brand as ‘Study Salad’, is not the perfect minimalist note of high achieving academic bloggers. But they might help you achieve highly, or at least help to get through a single day of lectures. Srini Pillay, M. D. (2016). The "thinking" benefits of doodling. https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/ the-thinking-benefits-of-doodling-2016121510844.

Here I present to you the notes that actually make me happy!

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Social Literacy: Using Classroom Conflicts for Skill Building

One of the many key terms in education is

‘literacy.’ Literacy is traditionally considered the ability to read, write, listen and speak. However, there are many types of literacy in schools: numerical, digital, cultural, financial, and so on. We have attached the word ‘literacy’ to almost every subject. The one area that often does not get as much attention as others is what I will call ‘social literacy.’

Tongyu Zhang

Second Year Math Major Visual Art and Education & Society Minors

"We have attached the word ‘literacy’ to almost every subject."

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It may be surprising to many, but social-emotional learning skills are an essential part of the Ontario Curriculum (Ontario, 2019, p.292). For example, decision-making and problem-solving are just two of the mandated skills that we, as educators, are tasked to cultivate in all students. Therefore, conflict and resolution are major aspects of learning, as they provide students the opportunity to work on decision-making and problem-solving. Just like essays, tests, report cards, and homework, conflict and resolution also appear in classrooms on a very regular basis. I felt the need to understand conflict and socialemotional learning skills within the classroom, including its relevance to my role as a future educator. To that end, I wanted to see how a teacher would direct students to work together and solve a personally relevant issue, using their ability to collaborate and communicate. Luckily, I know someone who has had experience working on social literacy: Professor X, as he will be known here. He was a teacher in an intermediate classroom where gum chewing was a problem because gum was found on the floor, desks, and people’s clothes. Instead of presenting rules and punishments to the students, Professor

"I felt the need to understand conflict and social-emotional learning skills within the classroom, including its relevance to my role as a future educator."

X asked them to come up with a solution. He used a facilitated process to guide the entire class in a problem-solving discussion. The students talked through the many possibilities for actions and consequences. Everyone had equitable opportunities to contribute their ideas. The only role Professor X took was to ensure that a facilitated process was used throughout. After about 35 minutes, the students had created their guidelines and consequences for chewing gum. Afterward, there were only two incidents of gumchewing that year. Sound a bit too simple? According to Professor X, there are a few key elements that need to be in place to solve such problems. First, there needs to be a belief that students are fully capable of solving problems. Secondly, there needs to be a belief that students can and will come up with successful solutions if given the opportunity. And finally, there needs to be skillful facilitation to ensure that the process allows for the contribution of every student. Social-emotional learning skills can be just as important as the other literacies. However, in order for students to develop these skills, teachers need to provide opportunities to work on them. And what could be better than solving the realworld issues from their own classrooms?

"Every had eq one opport uitable unities contrib to ute the ir idea s."

"The one area that often does not get as much attention as others is what I will call ‘social literacy.’"

"And what could be better than solving the real-world issues from their own classrooms?"

References Ontario. (2019). The Ontario curriculum, grades 1-8: Health and physical education : H & PE. Toronto, Ont.: Ontario Ministry of Education. Hey, Teach!

Winter 2021

mindful literacy makes makes mindful learning Feature Article by the Editor-in-Chief Team Ali Raza Hasan Ali Jessica Allan Imani King

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WINTER 2021

As educators, we are aware that keeping students excited and engaged is what allows

students to be active learners, strengthening their interests in the world around them. This not only drives us to create exciting lessons but to find new ways to involve students in their learning. Student involvement, a necessity of learning, is one that requires the mindfulness of an educator as we are meant to facilitate a prime learning environment. Without this effort, our students may face mindlessness; a state where our physical bodies and minds face disconnect and operate separately (Didonna, 2009). This brings forth the importance of mindfulness practice within the classroom and within student learning. How do we create mindful learners? This question can be answered through the lens of mindful literacy. Mindfulness is defined as a two-component process, involving the self-regulation of attention to one’s internal/external experiences and the adoption of a non-judgemental orientation to one’s experiences (Bishop et al., 2004). When students are not engaged, nor taking interest in the lesson, they may be experiencing mindlessness and thus the teaching is less effective (Didonna, 2009). It is therefore incredibly important that educators invoke the mindful learner, a student who actively takes possession of their learning, implementing strategies for self-regulation and academic success (Rhoder, 2002). This means that the student should take initiative in what they are learning and how they want to learn it by use of strategy. Literacy is a skill that humans begin to develop from an incredibly young age and continues to develop in one’s everyday life and environment. Literacy encompasses all written material - printed or digital - and one’s ability to use them to grow their knowledge and participate in society successfully (Frontier College, 2020). Mindful literacy then combines the practice of mindfulness and the subject of literacy, leading to the maintenance of attention, awareness and remembering during the practice of literacy. It also involves the process of learning new information, while staying open, receptive and accepting. Predominantly, this can be practiced in reading. While paying attention to a text, readers should “use sustained attention and comprehension monitoring; these dynamic processes require readers to control their mental efforts, which can and should vary based on the test and the reading context (Mohr, Downs, & Mohr, 2020). An example of this would be for students to employ a strategy that allows them to fully understand the message of a text, such as re-reading sections to answer specific questions found within a text. Through staying mindful while reading, students are able to better understand the meaning and key details of a text (Mohr, Downs, & Mohr, 2020). With online/distance learning and a major shift from print to digital text, the delivery of literacy is constantly transforming. This makes the practicing of mindful literacy skills even more of a necessity. This practice ensures that no matter the medium, students are able to stay focused on their tasks and receive the maximum amount of information a source has to offer. It is best to continually practice these skills to strengthen them, further allowing students to be cognizant of the information that they are constantly surrounded by and are receiving.

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Winter 2021

No matter your age or education level, mindful literacy is a strength that we should all strive to practice and engage in. Here are two methods to practice your mindful literacy skills: Mindful Drawing i. Take a few deep breaths - continue this into your drawing. ii. For 5 minutes, focus on an image and draw it. During this time notice how many times your mind wanders. iii. Upon completion of your drawing, thinking about if and how your mind wandered; what did it wander to, for how long, why? How did you feel while drawing - happy, bored, relaxed? Why did you choose to draw what you did and in those particular colours? Mindful Reading - Short Story (including techniques from Lederer, 2018) For individual reading: i. Take a few deep breaths and prepare yourself to read (ready) ii. Pick and read a short story (read) - while reading keep the following things in mind: • Mindful looking • Mindful listening • Mindful breathing iii. When you are finished reading, think about what you have just read (reflect). Can you relate to the story or the characters? iv. Retell or rewrite the story in some way For classroom reading (teacher reading): i. Prepare students for attention and focus - deep breaths ii. Preview the book - what stands from the pictures? iii. Ask the students to keep their focus by looking for something while reading. This could include asking them to keep an eye out for a certain shape or character (mindful looking),or raising a hand when they hear a certain sound (mindful listening). iv. After reading, ask the students if there were any sections/events they would like to re-read. Then have the students reflect on what they have just read - what stood out? Can they relate to the story? v. Have the students try to retell/rewrite the story. Being aware of how we grasp information and focus is how we will continue to be successful learners and educators, especially while we are not in traditional classrooms. Mindful literacy not only emphasizes the steps that we can take to make lessons more meaningful and create student agency, but it also emphasizes the changes that are happening in our world and what we can learn from them.

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WINTER 2021

References Bishop, S. R., Lau, M., Shapiro, S., Carlson, L., Anderson, N. D., Carmody, J., Segal, Z., Abbey, S., Speca, M., Velting, D., & Devins, G. (2004). Mindfulness: A proposed operational definition. Clinical psychology: Science and practice, 11(3), 230-241. Didonna, F. (2009). Clinical handbook of mindfulness (pp. 447-462). New York, NY: Springer. Frontier College. (2020). About Us. Retrieved February 01, 2021, from https://www. frontiercollege.ca/About-Us Lederer, S. H. (2018). Mindful Attention Activities to Support Shared Book Reading. Young exceptional children, 21(4), 216-227. Mohr, K. A., Downs, J. D., & Mohr, E. S. (2020). Mindful Reading: Eye‐Tracking Evidence for Goal‐Directed Instruction. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 64(3), 301-310. Rhoder, C. (2002). Mindful reading: Strategy training that facilitates transfer. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 45(6), 498-512.

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Winter 2021

Education Systems Control Over

Curriculum Evangeline Elim Yeung Third Year English and CIIT Majors

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WINTER 2021

A battleship or cruise-ship? Born and raised in Asia, Surrounded by my Asian moms since birth… Their husbands who support wife’s passion for this million-dollar biz, Wanting to gratify the beauty of childhood, Through the grace of phoenix and education, I was drawing circles on a piece of crayon, it’s called circumference not doodles, I had gentle curiosity for sticks in the middle of quarter, Fractions was its name, Bible-school was not for Bible-study, Instead it was time to fact-check my ability on Chinese Characters, Making sure it was on-par with the kids my age, Desperation seep on the sweat of my palm as the water hits my legs on swim-team, Crowds only notice the championship, Lack of concentration was named ADHD, Dreaming was called counselling for special needs kids, Social life was out of the question, Hunger-games became my inspiration, Escaping the grip of the present was my deepest passion, In a world that I could forget reality, Is this preparing me for a battle on a cruise-ship?

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Winter 2021

Give Digital Lit a Chance! As an English student, I have read a lot of books.

Nine installments of Little House on the Prairie as a young book nerd, a middle school upgrade to John Green romances, and a high school career of dredging through whatever was on the syllabus. It’s not that my love of reading died as I grew up, but the books handed to me were becoming less and less relevant to my life. As a 15-year-old Torontonian girl in the year 2016, it was a little difficult to get behind the philosophical turmoil of Camus or Death of a Salesman’s exploration of dissatisfaction in life. On top of that, I thought my dreams of becoming a writer were never going to come to fruition because I couldn’t write like Browning or Milton or Wolfe. The intense and alienating readings were reducing my passion for books and my beliefs of self-efficacy as a writer and reader.

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WINTER 2021

"Future literature teachers should remember not to go so far back in time that they lose their students in the present day." While there is definite merit in reading those ageold classics from Shakespeare and Dickens, future literature teachers should remember not to go so far back in time that they lose their students in the present day. There ought to be balance. Students should absolutely be learning about thematic techniques, figurative language, and the all-too-popular iambic pentameter. However, they shouldn’t be so bogged down by it that they lose their passion for language or stop seeing how it is still relevant to their personal lives. This is especially true as student populations continue to become more diverse.

Here, digital literature comes in. In Professor Adam Hammond’s wonderful class, “The Digital Text,” I was introduced to Adriaan van der Weel’s Salient Features of Digital Textuality as presented in his book, Changing our textual minds: towards a digital order of knowledge. Through these I learned that digital texts have several unique properties which allow for the promotion of more diverse authors using their authentic voices. Digital texts can get published more easily, preventing diverse authors from being turned away for not neatly fitting the mould of an “author”. This also prevents their work from being edited to the point of losing authenticity. Reading these different voices can help students learn about experiences that are more relevant to their own lives and the lives of those around them. The prospect of digital self-publishing can also help students understand that becoming a published writer is not out of their reach. I believe language and literature teachers need to consider modernizing their reading lists. Students need to learn about the classics that will continue to influence contemporary works and also the historic pieces that helped influence society at large. Students also need to feel at home in literature. Writing is no longer reserved for wealthy white people. As teachers, we should promote students’ love of books and feelings of self-efficacy through inclusion of diverse and accessible writers like those seen in digital literature.

Julia Edda Pape

Second Year French Language & Literature and English Majors Education & Society Minor

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Winter 2021

Do We Stop Caring about the Needs of ouR Learners When they Aren’t Cute Anymore? Stephanie Zeit 29

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WINTER 2021

When

I heard my professor describe ‘Universal Designs for Learning’, I was overwhelmed. How am I supposed to establish a classroom that works for every kind of student? But that’s what we are taught to do as elementary teachers. We look at a community of twenty to thirty-five children and say, ‘every one of you is worth my time and effort’. That’s why we’re here. The more time I spend learning how to teach K-6 students, however, the more I am thinking about how we treat older learners. What I’m finding for myself and in conversation with my peers is a disconnect between how we are taught to teach children and how we are being taught. The needs of the individual often fall to time constraints, technical difficulties, and ‘professionalism’. I understand there are different needs at the kindergarten and master’s level. Regardless, we need to be comfortable at all ages. We are expected to stare into a screen for what adds up to eight hours a day minimum. I asked a professor presenting a workshop on online teaching what to do about this. She told me, ‘It’s just part of it’.

Does it have to be? Does this learning format reflect the consideration for individual learners that we are taught to practice? It could be different. For example, I have asked professors on feedback surveys to change readings to alternate forms (such as podcasts!) to avoid excess screen time. We are taught that students learn and express themselves in diverse formats, and yet written work and dense literature is the apparent standard for a master’s program.

Can anyone show me research saying all of these different kinds of learners exist from K-6 but after that you can abandon these equitable values? Can we justifiably say that being understanding and responsive educators doesn’t have an impact after age 11-12? When we ask our professors about how to teach little ones, they offer very different strategies than how they treat their adult students.

I wish it were different. I wish we could re-analyze ‘readings’ for their efficacy and meaningfulness to students, particularly those already on screens all day. I wish classes were shorter. Ask yourself: have I delivered the essential information? Would these people benefit more from going on a walk outside? I wish for diversity in assignments and a workload that reflects consideration for me as a human with human needs. Seven hours on a screen rather than eight might allow students to see a friend before coming home to lesson plan for their next day. I wish for more compassion. It is the whole person that shows up the next day to teach and learn. Any positive experience in our lives carries into the university and placement classrooms. I believe that we can treat adult learners with the care and human consideration we automatically give to a room full of cute fouryear-olds.

Shouldn’t our school make us feel good too?

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Winter 2021

E T O M O R P T ' N O D " S S L S O E O N H E C T I S H L A W N E T O I O T A M N O R R E P N T i L Y e E i "IN n H n T a : i Y Y C A R E T t Year s I r i L F L GLOBA “I’m from England!” My sister, 5 years old at the time, proudly announced. This declaration of hers, which happened to be caught on tape, became a long-running joke in my family. Incidentally, it was also tell-tale of the fact that despite being raised in Hong Kong, by attending international schools since Kindergarten – all promising to nurture “global citizenship” – my sister and I had grown up trapped inside a bubble of privileged ignorance, isolated from the local culture. In fact, in our so-called “international” schools, “whiteness” had become the norm.

In the eyes of my primary school self, being white made you cool. It automatically made you liked by teachers. It made you better. “The white kids are just popular,”, my sister said one day as she solemnly explained the twisted student politics of my primary school, where an uncomfortable racial hierarchical divide had emerged. My parents, who had sacrificed so much in order to send me to an expensive school where I could become “internationally” minded, had unknowingly sent me to a school which, intentionally or not, subscribed to eurocentrism.

During our annual Chinese New Year dress up day in Grade 2, I remember looking at my Western classmates, who wore carefully placed chopsticks in their buns, and desperately wishing I had done the same. At the time, no one commented on how inappropriate this matter was. It was only when my mother caught me trying to poke a pair of chopsticks in my bun that I realized the ridiculousness of it all. “Why would you put something you eat with in your hair?” She asked me, laughing. Even my experience of Chinese New Year had been glossed over with a white, exoticized lens, ridden with cultural appropriation. Hey, Teach!

WINTER 2021

Out of all the teachers I had in my 15 years of studying at international schools, I can only count a handful of teachers who were not white - including my Chinese teachers. This surprising trend meant that the teachers, who served as important role models in my life, only fed into a white superiority complex-- so deep-rooted within me that it wasn’t until I forced myself to examine my hidden racial biases, planted in my subconscious ever since I had first stepped into my first classroom, that I realized something was wrong. This white supremacy trickled its way into my curriculum, despite steps to “internationalize” the curriculum. While the program is, in part, international at the content level, it is undeniably Western at the epistemological level (van Oord, 2007). When the curriculum is still overwhelmingly written by Europeans, and when the majority of lesson plans are conducted by white teachers specializing in Western-based knowledge, how can “internationalism” truly take root? My parents and I were promised true global literacy, which encourages responsible global citizenship, a celebration of diversity, and critical thinking about the opportunities and barriers facing the world’s people. Did the “international” school education I had really foster this? Or was it just a Eurocentric school masquerading as an “international” school? Disclaimer: I can only speak for my experiences and acknowledge that the international school experience in other schools or countries may have been entirely different. References Lodewijk van Oord (2007) To westernize the nations? An analysis of the International Baccalaureate's philosophy of education, Cambridge Journal of Education, 37:3, 375-390, DOI: 10.1080/03057640701546680

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Winter 2021

The Importance of

Culturally Relevant & Multimodal Texts

Omar Z. Hussain

Fourth Year English Major Music History and Education & Society Minors

believe that modern educators’ understanding of what literacy is must include a renewed idea of the multiple modalities literacy can take form in, and as Seglem and Witte (2009) argue, refusing to expand the traditional idea of literacy beyond solely text-based “denies students the experience of the layered information in the real world” (p. 217). Recognizing literacy as being multimodal aids educators in teaching in a manner that is more applicable to today’s students as they engage in an increasingly interconnected and intertextual social culture (Flood & Lapp, 1997, p. 342-3). Adapting to and including audio-visual media within teaching practices and resources is paramount as educators develop critical literacy mindsets and awareness within students as they navigate the newest frontiers of media and technology, and positively influence students to adopt social justice lenses (Flood & Lapp, 1997, p. 343; Kim & Marx, 2019, p. 1-2). However, to build this critical literacy mindset in students, educators must go beyond traditional definitions of “texts” and utilize culturally relevant media

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WINTER 2021

in students’ learning such as music videos, film, and even video games (Flood & Lapp, 1997, p. 344). Examples of educationally rich, culturally relevant media in each of these categories which come to my mind are the “This Is America” music video by Childish Gambino, the 2019 movie “Little Women”, or Square Enix’s episodic video game “Life Is Strange.” As Barbara Comber (2001) illustrates: The everyday worlds of community, media, and literature contain many texts that take a critical stance that young children can appreciate. Reading contrasting versions of a story or a historical situation … can help children to understand that texts are never neutral: they are constructed by particular people with particular goals and motivations. (p. 2) By using culturally relevant media in the classroom the “version of the story or historical situation” that the students are engaging in is their own social landscape. Investigating viral and popular texts can then better engage students while also being

a more demonstrable resource to show students how they can—and should—learn to critically investigate the texts they are surrounded by (NIL, 2006, p. 46). If students are then made to engage in discussion and dialogue-based inquiry regarding these texts they can also strengthen their ability to challenge and interrogate their media saturated landscape while building a collective activist mindset (Comber, 2001, p. 3; NIL, 2006, p. 41-2; Lewison et al., 2002, p. 383). As Lewison et al. (2002) identify, a core component to critical literacy must be to “disrupt the commonplace” and provide students the opportunity to question what is considered normal (p. 383). Having students analyze the very media they regularly engage with legitimizes these cultural products as being literary and trains students to question the potential biases and perspectives they are being presented with even when outside of academic settings (Anstey & Bull, 2018, p. 182; Seglem & Witte, 2009, p. 217). I personally find it sad how rarely many of us were made to reflect on our own social landscape during our schooling, and instead were made to learn from texts and ideas filtered through white, settler-colonial perspectives. By engaging with multimodal, culturally relevant media students can learn to better navigate and appreciate their social landscape while not being denied “the experience of the layered information in the real world” as many of us were denied. (Seglem & Witte, 2009, p. 217). References

Comber, B. (2001). Critical Literacy: What Is It, and What Does It Look Like in Elementary Classrooms. National Council of Teachers of English. In J. Forgie, VIC356: Multiple Literacies in Education, (module 8). University of Toronto. Flood, J., & Lapp, D. (1997). Visual Literacy: Broadening Conceptualizations of Literacy: The Visual and Communicative Arts. The Reading Teacher, 51(4), 342-344. Retrieved December 2, 2020, from http:// www.jstor.org/stable/20201918 Kim, Y., & Marx, S. (2019). Technology for Equity and Social Justice in Education: Introduction to the Special Issue. International Journal of Multicultural Education 21(1). Retrieved December 2, 2020, from DOI: 10.18251/ijme. v21i1.1939 Lewison, M., Flint, A., & Van Sluys, K. (2002). Taking on Critical Literacy: The Journey of Newcomers and Novices. Language Arts, 79(5), 382-392. Retrieved December 2, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/41483258 NIL. (2006). Put Reading First: Kindergarten Through Grade 3: The Research Building Blocks For Teaching Children To Read. National Institute for Literacy, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, U.S. Dept. of Education. In J. Forgie, VIC356: Multiple Literacies in Education, (module 5). University of Toronto.

Seglem, R., & Witte, S. (2009). You Gotta See It to Anstey, M. & Bull, G. (2018). Chapter 5 - Exploring Believe It: Teaching Visual Literacy in the literature: Engaging with multimodal texts English Classroom. Journal of Adolescent and new literacies. Foundations of & Adult Literacy, 53(3), 216-226. Retrieved Multiliteracies: Reading, Writing and December 2, 2020, from http://www.jstor. Talking in the 21st Century. In J. Forgie, org/stable/25614550 VIC356: Multiple Literacies in Education, (module 11). University of Toronto.

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Winter 2021

PLAYING CATCH UP: HOW UNEQUAL ACCESS TO REMOTE SCHOOLING HAS COMPELLED GLOBAL INNOVATION

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ontario

Ministry of Education has committed to making virtual schooling accessible to all students. This commitment was partially made possible by Canada`s already connected society, where over 89% of households have home internet access (CRTC, 2019). Ensuring the widespread accessibility of remote learning is exponentially more difficult in countries where internet connectivity is not the norm. Global disparities in connectivity beg the question: how does remote schooling happen when children don`t have internet access?

HANNAH GRZEGORCZYK Master of Arts in Child Study and Education at OISE

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WINTER 2021

Global inequality in education is nothing new. Before the pandemic, the world was already facing a learning crisis, with 53% of children in middle- and poor-income countries suffering from learning poverty (Azevedo, 2020). COVID-19 and mass school closures have further exacerbated inequality, especially for the 71 countries where less than half of the population has internet access (UNICEF, 2020). With online learning being inaccessible, these countries are applying innovative solutions to ensure that students have access to education. When internet schooling is not possible, countries have supported children’s learning through three primary platforms: television, radio, and phone. Television is the most common of these three platforms, with 3 in 4 countries using some sort of tv programming to deliver education lessons

to children (UNICEF, 2020). Television education programs offer content for various ages, and many times, in different languages of instruction. In Macedonia, TV educational programs are offered in five languages to accommodate the countries` linguistic diversity (World Bank, 2020). Although television has potential to reach more children, television ownership is not universal, particularly in rural areas where families are half as likely to own a television than their urban counterparts. About 60% of countries are using radio to deliver education instruction, including both broadcast and pre-recorded interactive radio lessons (UNICEF, 2020). Radio instruction has been massively successful in Northern Nigeria, reaching over 600,000 students in the region (Fugate, 2020). Cellular and telephone communication have also been utilized for educational instruction. Many countries have distributed lesson plans via SMS or local messaging applications, including Sierra Leone, where lesson scripts suitable to local dialects have been distributed to guardians through WhatsApp (World Bank, 2020). Other countries, like El Salvador and Jamaica, have established call centers for students and parents to speak with education specialists or psychological support workers (World Bank, 2020). Although these modes of delivery have potential to reach some children who do not have internet access, learning through TV, radio or phone is still inaccessible for many students. Many countries are therefore distributing technological devices, textbooks and are setting up Wi-Fi in rural and low-income neighborhoods. Often times, resource distribution is executed with the goal of giving students access to the country`s online learning platforms. Such is the case in Somalia and Peru, where solar-powered tablets have been distributed to students living without electricity, allowing them access the state`s online learning system (World Bank, 2020).

connectivity and technological resources, lower income countries have struggled to reach all students. As a result, education inequality has increased. In providing students with remote learning opportunities, innovation has not been a choice, but a necessity.

References: Azevedo, J. P. (2020). COVID-19 has fuelled a global ‘learning poverty’ crisis. World Economic Forum. Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commision. Communications Monitoring Report 2019. Retreived from https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/publications/reports/ policymonitoring/2019/ Fugate, J. (2020). Radio lessons in Northern Nigeria support reading during COVID-19 pandemic. Creative. Pangetsu, M. E. (2021). International Day of Education 2021: Harnessing the promise of innovation in education. World Bank Blogs. UNICEF. (2020). Children in the poorest countries have lost nearly four months of schooling since start of pandemic – UNESCO, UNICEF and World Bank report finds [Press release]. Retrieved from https://www.UNICEF.org/pressreleases/children-poorest-countries-have-lost-nearly-fourmonths-schooling-start-pandemic UNICEF. (2020). Unequal access to remote schooling amid COVID-19 threatens to deepen global learning crisis [Press release]. Retrieved from https://www.UNICEF.org/pressreleases/unequal-access-remote-schooling-amid-covid19-threatens-deepen-global-learning#:~:text=NEW%20 YORK%2C%205%20June%202020,deepen%20the%20 global%20learning%20crisis. World Bank. (2020) How countries are using edtech (including online learning, radio, television, texting) to support access to remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. World Bank. How countries are using edtech (including online learning, radio, television, texting) to support access to remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic [Issue Brief]. Retrieved from https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/ edutech/brief/how-countries-are-using-edtech-to-supportremote-learning-during-the-covid-19-pandemic

Despite the innovation that has been brought by remote schooling, the pre-existing resource gap remains immense. With limited internet Hey, Teach!

Winter 2021

MULTIMODAL LITERACY L ITERACY RESOURCE SHARE

Sasha Arnett Third Year Psychology Specialist Education & Society Minor

Photo taken from American Born Chinese by Gene luen Yang

American Born Chinese (2006) is a graphic

novel written by author Gene Luen Yang. The book describes the struggles that a Chinese boy named Jin faces with his identity and his feelings of otherness growing up attending an all-white American public school. Some of the book’s themes include racism against Chinese/ East Asian people in America, stereotypes of Chinese people, and struggles with finding identity and fitting in when one is othered. Chin-Kee is one of the satirical characters in the book who embodies all of the stereotypes that Americans have of Chinese people. Throughout the scenes of Chin-Kee and Danny’s (Chin-Kee’s distant cousin from the US) interactions, laugh tracks are placed at the bottom of the panels to symbolise American pop-culture sit-coms. This draws critical attention to how Americans find their own racist attitudes towards Chinese people to be comical. Moreover, the book displays visually the emotional realities that victims of racism face due to being othered. American Born Chinese unpacks the emotional realities surrounding discrimination and identity crisis that many Asian people face growing up in Western communities. Furthermore, unlike the usual text-only books brought into the classroom, American Born Chinese is a graphic novel. The use of both visual images and written text creates an engaging and visually educational opportunity for students to learn about racism and identity as more than just abstract concepts.

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In a classroom, having students read Yang’s story would entail understanding the connections between images, texts, and spatial meaning within and between panels. This requires students to pay close attention to the information on the page to pick up on the implicit nuances embedded in the panels. As students put to words their understanding of the resource’s intent, they gain the language to speak about the relationships between multiple features present on the page, including images, words, themes, and emotions.

Importantly, the flexibility in interpreting the panels creates space for dialogue to broaden students’ awareness of multiple interpretations based on perspectival differences. In addition, the graphic nature of the storytelling invites students to relate their own life experiences into the examination of the resource in two major ways: 1) students can bring in their lived experiences similar to that shown in the panels to discuss the thoughts and emotions behind the situation and/or 2) elicit visualisations of future thoughts and actions to consider how they affect different people. In my own experience, growing up as one of the only ethnically-mixed people in an all-Chinese public school in rural China, I could relate to Yang’s story a lot in terms of the isolation and otherness that he described. In some ways, talking or writing about the instances of being left out of the group or the uneasy feeling of not fitting in due to racial dissimilarities may not penetrate the hearts of the audience the same way that seeing the visual depictions of actions and attitudes that cause such misery will.

Photo taken from American Born Chinese by Gene luen Yang

If I told people about my experiences of feeling alienated, these feelings might be perceived as a product of my own thoughts, independent of the consideration of situational forces that make these feelings my reality; however, when I can visually produce the conditions that make me feel othered, then the reader–unveiled to the multiplicity of people’s perspective and realities– can see clearly how certain actions and attitudes towards minorities may be impacting them. Ultimately, readers can develop an empathetic understanding of others’ perspectives. I believe using graphic novels as an alternative resource in literacy education can provide students with an opportunity to develop empathy through visual depictions. I also hope that making students aware of this resource modality would help them develop the skill to visualise information so that the ability to reflect on their own actions and the resulting consequences will always be accessible to them.

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Winter 2021

Code: red

it's time for educators to challenge

Menstrual Taboos

Art by Portugese artist Maia Schwartz

“MENSTRUATION IS THE ONLY BLOOD THAT IS NOT BORN FROM VIOLENCE AND YET IT’S THE ONE THAT DISGUSTS YOU THE MOST” - MAIA SCHWARTZ

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WINTER 2021

A form of digital literacy that represents current gender-based disparities is the image depicting a pair of women’s underwear with a visible menstruation blood stain, and tampon string hanging down from it. Under it, there is a text in Spanish that states “Menstruation is the only blood that is not born from violence and yet it’s the one that disgusts you the most''. This work portrays a message of gender identity and the stigmatization that comes with the gendered self—specifically, the learned shame of menstruation. This resource encompasses visual and textual literacy in order to convey the message of gender disparity: specifically, the stigmatization of periods.

The art works as a method of de-stigmatization by portraying the realistic nature of what menstruation is, not hiding it away. This is done by using the visual component of a red liquid to visualize period blood, resulting in the shock value of depicting realistic bodily fluids in art. Due to the controversial nature of menstruation, commercials advertising period products such as tampons and pads, avoid using red-colored liquids, which erases the graphic and uncomfortable reality of periods, creating an idealized narrative about menstruation. This image boldly goes against societal standards and moves towards gender equity through visuals depicting actual blood, and text to bring awareness that this issue stems from the objectification and sexualization of the femaleborn body. The text highlights the dichotomy associated with blood that is present in our society by comparing the normalcy of it in action films and TV shows, and the taboo of menstruation. This resource reflects the theme of equity through the acknowledgment of the gender disparity present within our society. The image brings forth topics about gender identity and the presence of discussion, or lack of it, in the classroom. Discussions on menstruation are rarely present in the classroom, and when they are, it is behind closed doors. This practice results in the stigmatization of normal bodily functions, impacting the way younger people that menstruate view their identities, bodies, and the nature of gender and sex assigned at birth. The reason discussion about menstruation is an act towards equity is because there is an inherent sense of socialized shame behind the idea of bleeding. This stems from a heterocentric male-dominated society, in which women are so sexualized that any act that is not used towards sex is considered disgusting, i.e., breastfeeding. Due to this fetishization from the male eye, natural female acts such as breastfeeding and bleeding are seen as impure and unhygienic. Therefore, those that menstruate are taught to feel ashamed about their bodies, starting from their youth. Gender and identity discrimination begins early and often starts in the classroom. Children learn from their teachers, peers and school policies: if there is a lack of literacy on such topics children will learn to believe that it lacks importance, further perpetuating misogyny and selfhatred.

Shelly Shub English Major Education & Society Minor Hey, Teach!

Winter 2021

How Can

Diverse classrooms Impact Student Success?

Asdghig Ayntabli Third Year Human Biology Major Education & Society Minor Your cultural identity starts developing from

a young age. The influence of your family and your surroundings starts shaping your choices from birth. It is always so interesting to see how our culture impacts our understanding of certain things. In this short article, I want to discuss the importance of being diverse in classrooms today and how it impacts students in the long run. Hey, Teach!

winter 2021

Recognizing the fact that all students come from different environments and cultures is very important. I recently read an article on how heterogeneity is a fundamental building block in learning for children. Heterogeneity is defined as “the state of being diverse” —in this context, it is being culturally diverse in classrooms. The article explained the importance of the acknowledgement of cultural diversity in designing a learning environment that is suitable for the needs of all students. The article concluded that heterogeneity is crucial in learning environments for two fundamental reasons: first, promoting better learning opportunities for all students, and second, to ensure that “no child is left behind”. The reason that I am discussing the importance of heterogeneity is because it promotes teaching different types of students from different communities, both dominant and non-dominant. Doing so targets the needs of all students, thus recognizing that not all students come from the same environment or culture and further acknowledges that within the same culture, we all come from different upbringings.

while addressing the concerns for each specific student is very hard, it is a crucial part of being an educator today. I grew up in Syria and immigrated to Canada at the beginning of high school. Aside from the cultural shock that I faced, I had a hard time transitioning to learning topics like science in English when I’d learned them in Arabic all my life. Unfortunately, it is hard to address such concerns because they are very specific. However, I find importance in educators taking the fact that their classroom represents a mosaic of cultures, into account. In doing so, teachers would encourage students to

It is very important to respect the background of all students and try to help them in a way that would personally benefit them while respecting and embracing their diversity. not feel like “outcasts” and try to address students’ concerns in order to foster long-term success. For example, in my case, I might have benefitted from one-on-one tutoring. Instead, I was told to delay the science course to the following year when I felt more confident in my English skills, but that only made me late in finishing all my science courses in time which ultimately led me to taking courses in the summer. I realize that while addressing the concerns for each specific student is very hard, it is a crucial part of being an educator today. It is very important to respect the background of all students and try to help them in a way that would personally benefit them while respecting and embracing their diversity.

Ann S. Rosebery, Mark Ogonowski, Mary DiSchino & Beth Warren (2010) “The Coat Traps All Your Body Heat”: Heterogeneity as Fundamental to Learning, Journal of the Learning Sciences, 19:3, 322-357, DOI: 10.1080/10508406.2010.491752

Hey, Teach!

winter 2021

Education and Memes: How a meme can encourage you to ask the right questions... Trigger Warning: This article briefly mentions police brutality concerning Black lives.

Although

Lidiia Tulenkova Second Year Sociocultural Anthropology Major Art History and Material Culture Minors

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Winter 2021

there are very few widely used textbooks that follow this strategy, an analysis of memes could be a great tool to stimulate the learning process. Compared to older textbooks that lack illustrations, modern textbooks show a significant improvement in student engagement. However, we cannot stop thinking about further engagement as our society and future generations demand better strategies and assistance in learning. One could be opposed to this change as everything is now online. On the other hand, we should think about students who do not have access to technology, or who have health issues that make it impossible to watch and read from a screen.

Today, it is clear that colourful illustrations are no longer enough to keep students’ attention. But what about illustrations that intrigue students, provoke questions, and motivate them to read? I suggest the implementation of memes in textbook design as they are are an accessible tool in youth education. First, the implementation of memes is something new for current students, ultimately catching their attention. Secondly, the culture of sending memes to your friends is common for many students, making memes in textbooks additional motivation to foster discussion with peers. Finally, sometimes memes require some additional background to understand the joke. If you do not know enough about a meme, it encourages you to find more information, or ask what it means. If it encourages asking questions, why isn’t it an ideal approach to stimulating the learning experience?

When Someone Says Race Is Biological. n.d. Make A Meme.

I like the meme here because it encourages us to think about the relationships between the child’s face and the message. The message “when someone says race is biological” makes us ask why this girl is so unhappy with this statement. This meme encourages you to think about racial stereotypes, promoting discussion about the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. Many people do not understand the meaning and question the size of the BLM protests. These questions lie in the stereotype that race is biological, however, this assumption has led to bullying, inequality, racism, and police violence towards Black people. In the

past, people in power have attempted to justify the slave trade from Africa to get free labour. Both science and religion have attempted to prove the existence of differences in human bodies based on skin colour, and such propaganda has become widely accepted. When we say that race is biological, we reproduce the propaganda that was used to legalize slavery.1 Returning to the meme, it is important to summarize factors that make memes a great tool. First, it motivates students to read further and solidify the meaning behind it. Because the meme is centred around emotion, while reading about the meaning, a student unintentionally repeats the emotion of the main character. This combination of visualization, emotion, and short messages provides a strong neural connection and support for easy memorization. Also, due to the nature of memes - a joke that is sent to friends their inclusion can potentially foster discussion beyond the classroom. Finally, memes are based on templates and are contextualized by specific phrases, making them widely recognizable. However, they also remind us of the importance of studying the context behind each pop-culture reference in the memes to avoid misinterpreting the message. Thus, I believe the implementation of memes is a good approach to making textbooks more accessible and interesting. Pem Davidson Buck, Inequality (United States of America: CAT Publishing, 2009). 1

References Buck, Pem Davidson. Inequality. United States of America: CAT Publishing, 2009.

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Winter 2021

WOULD YOU RATHER... GO BACK TO GRADE 1 OR GRADE 12? GRADE 1 (43%)

GRADE 12 (57%)

HANDWRITE OR TYPE NOTES? HANDWRITE (50%)

TYPE (50%)

HAVE A PROFESSOR who speaks TOO FAST OR TOo SLOW? TOO FAST (32%)

TOO SLOW (68%)

repeat your worst class or never take your best class? WORST CLASS (50%)

BEST CLASS (50%)

learn visually or auditorily? VISUALLY (87%)

AUDITORILY (13%)

Poll conducted through the Hey, Teach! Instagram account (@heyteachmagazine).

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WINTER 2021

MULTIPLE LITERAC

world map WHERE DID YOU attend HIGH SCHOOL?

SECRET MESSAGE Complete Barack Obama's quote by finding the bolded words in the magazine! "________ __ ___ most basic currency __ ___ _________ economy." 15-16

17-18

27-28

29-30

31-32

Answer: Literacy is the most basic currency of the knowledge economy.

13-14

CIES IN EDUCATION

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Winter 2021

Executive Final Thoughts JESSICA ALLAN Co-Editor in Chief

The need for multiple literacies to be recognized and incorporated into classrooms is more important than ever as learning transforms through the COVID-19 pandemic. Making literacy accessible to all learners needs to be at the forefront of all educator’s minds. There are many tremendous ways this can be implemented into our contemporary education, and many are highlighted throughout this incredible issue! On another note, as my last issue as Editor-in-Chief, I wanted to express my gratitude to this magazine and this team for the past 3 years. Thank you for the hardhitting and important issues in education that we’ve brought to light, and keep talking!

ALI RAZA HASAN ALI Co-Editor in Chief

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the development of literacy education tools has become more prevalent than ever. Remote-access resources and learning opportunities must be provided in order for students to be able to develop effectively. Thankfully, educators are working together to develop these resources and tools, and many of these attempts have been highlighted in this semester’s issue. As this issue will be my last as Editor-In-Chief, I could not be more proud of the amazing work completed by both the contributors and producers for this magazine. Thank you for all of your amazing contributions and your commitment to developing education for years to come!

IMANI KING Editor-in-Chief Mentee

Multiple literacies in education are so vast - there seems to be the best approach to each subject and to each type of learner. Multiple literacies not only make an educator more efficient with their students, but it also allows the students to have agency as well. With culturally relevant pedagogy, the different forms of representation for minority and underrepresented students and more, students are receiving what they deserve in their education. I am so grateful to the Hey, Teach! family team members and contributors alike - for creating such amazing issues during a tough time for all of us. I am also very grateful to Jessica and Ali, my Co-Editors in Chief, who are graduating this year. I wish you both all the best, and I hope to make you proud as Editor in Chief next year!

Hey, Teach!

WINTER 2021

Multiple Literacies in Education CAITLYN GRANT Senior Editor

In editing this issue, I realized that, as the name suggests, multiple literacies mean many different things to many different people. They help us create awareness about how different aspects of our lives, personalities, etc. all influence our journey through education. Knowing who we are and how that relates to our learning, being diverse in the content we consume, and engaging in critical thought will always positively influence our learning abilities, and growing consciousness about those around us only helps our worldview become more comprehensive and consistent.

MAIA CORSAME Senior Editor

This year has been mentally difficult and overall challenging for both students and instructors: adapting to the online classroom is a big change that all of us had to do on the fly. Yet, through many trials and errors, we continue to persevere. Along with adapting to these circumstances, learning in itself has broken the physical boundaries of the classroom setting. Turning to an online format, in some ways, has granted various learning styles and teaching methods creative autonomy. This opens up so many possibilities in how we learn, study, and teach. Although this pandemic has been exhausting, stressful, and difficult, it’s also brought more exposure to various learning methods outside of a desk and a chalkboard.

JEAN KIM Senior Editor

Understanding and incorporating multiple literacies is necessary to make education more accessible and applicable for diverse populations. It allows us to expand our concepts of learning and knowledge, providing a more holistic approach so that students can be recognized for their unique strengths and well-equipped for a variety of experiences.

JAEHYUN LIM Co-Senior Productions Manager

Having multiple forms of communication and learning is crucial as technology evolves. This issue highlights one of the important foundations of education as we see beyond sole text as a valid method for academics. This brings up the issue of accommodations not only for those with overt "disabilities" but also for those who learn differently.

Hey, Teach!

Winter 2021

Executive Final Thoughts BISMAN KAUR Co-Senior Productions Manager

In an ever-changing world, education must continue to adapt in order to incorporate newly realized forms of literacy. Through the study of multiple literacies — including visual, textual, and digital — students gain a robust foundation for interpreting the world around them. Our engagement in discussions on multiple literacies is of utmost importance as it refines current pedagogical methods for future generations.

RACHEL BANH Associate Productions Manager

Our COVID-19 issue spoke about how detached we are from our learning environments. Following that, I hope Multiple Literacies in Education will allow our writers and readers to more closely reflect on and interact with their learning environments. These are trying times for everyone and I hope our education will soon return to normalcy.

DEREK CHOI Associate Productions Manager

As society and life, in general, becomes more technologically-driven, education for students needs to reflect that. Being able to sort through media and various kinds of texts is essential to navigating the world successfully. Not only that, communicating using various types of media is important as well. It is necessary for educators themselves to navigate different kinds of media, as well as teach their students to do the same.

KAYLA PACIOCCO Associate Productions Manager

Our issue on Multiple Literacies in Education is important and necessary in the trying times of COVID-19 as we try to provide new and adaptable methods of learning for students. By expanding to non-traditional methods of literacy, students will be able to understand, reflect and interact more with their educational environment. This magazine hopes to provide insightful and innovative articles that teach the significance of this concept in education.

Hey, Teach!

WINTER 2021

Multiple Literacies in Education YIANNIE LIN First-Year Representative

With the rise of online learning, discussions surrounding multiple literacies in education have never been more relevant. Everyone has their own interpretation of how to best learn, and this issue really highlights the varied interpretations of learning and education and the importance of addressing these needs. I hope this issue is able to provide readers with a sense of how innovative, diverse, and creative education can be.

JULIA HU First-Year Representative

This year’s winter theme brought attention to the place of 21st-century literacies in education today. Multiple literacies pertain to not just pedagogical methods but also the way in which learners comprehend and transmit information through means besides reading and writing. Recently due to distanced learning, student’s digital literacy has played a valuable role in both the quality of education and delivery of it. As the world and technology continue to progress, my hope is that education will become increasingly more accommodating to the needs of students and that educators never cease to find new, improved ways to facilitate learning. By giving more voice to the importance of multiple literacies in education, we will achieve this vision.

JAEMIN HWANG First-Year Representative

Coming to the University of Toronto, I have come to realize that different forms of literacy, other than simply the ability to read and write, are essential in understanding the world and initiating change as global citizens. As we experience a gradual shift away from the traditional classroom, I hope this issue broadens the readers' understanding of multiple literacies and provides guidance for how educators can use multiple literacies to maximize students' potential in learning.

Hey, Teach!

Winter 2021

VICTORIA COLLEGE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

HEY, TEACH! IS DEDICATED TO DEVELOPING THE PHILOSOPHIES AND IDEAS OF ASPIRING TEACHERS. THE STAFF OF HEY, TEACH! MAGAZINE EXTEND THEIR DEEPEST GRATITUDE TO VICTORIA COLLEGE FACULTY ADVISOR PROFESSOR JULIA FORGIE, THE SUPPORTING STAFF OF THE OFFICE OF THE PRINCIPAL, AND VUSAC. THANK YOU!

EMAIL US AT HEYTEACH@UTORONTO.CA