blog & forum

Did you come here from the teachers’ room?

If you have questions or comments you want to share with the creators of the Helping Myself Learn kit or with other users post them here. We look forward to hearing from you…

Jenny Horsman and Heather Lash

We started this discussion on and old and very clunky forum – and get a couple of great responses – I’m going post them below… hoping that we can pick up where we left off (bear with me I’ll get them all in soon1).

Linda from Middleton, Nova Scotia posted:

Yes, I came from the Teachers Room. This is the first time I’ve accessed this site. I’ve used AlphaRoute/ AlphaPlus many times and am so grateful for it. This Learning and Violence site appears to be a valuable resource for both instructors and learners, as I don’t think there is a lot that is truly ‘user friendly’ around this topic for the average Joe/Joan! I’ve been on the site since about 10:30 this AM but just registered. Students have finished until fall in our Adult Learning Program, so I’m taking advantage of the time to learn myself. Thank so much for this. I’m only part way through, but it looks like something I will use with some students next year. Great tips! Great topics! Great activities! It’s the real deal.
Linda

I replied to Linda:

How lovely to hear from you – huge welcome!

I’m so delighted you’ve spent so much time exploring – and i look forward to hearing more from you as you settle in and use this tool – and others on the site hopefully – with your students.

Creating this site so for and these new materials has been an enormous undertaking – and a real labour of love – you’ve warmed my heart to hear your reaction to it – thanks for taking the time to post.

We are just in the process of exploring a less clunky forum and a blog – so this spot may change soon – and we’ll be offering some online training in September – so keep an eye on the site – I’m hoping it will be particularly alive with new materials and discussion in the next few months as we finish up our current project.

Then our funding will run out and my time will be taken hunting for more money for the next resource – but I’ll just stay in the present and hope for new possibilities once we’re done .

warm wishes,
jenny

Then jsmith posted:

Hello there! I just registered as well… I am really looking forward to participating and meeting everyone in this forum. I do agree that there are indeed a lot of user-friendly topics. I’m excited about using this forum as a resource to help me and my students.

then I replied:

Welcome – good to see you here – i look forward to hearing more about what you find useful on this site – and how you use this kit with students. I’m wondering where you are based – and what sort of program you work in?

Right now we are running a 10 2hr session pilot course with the student kit in downtown Toronto – it just began on Tuesday in a community college and will start next week in a community-based program – perhaps the teachers will post something about their experience when they have a moment.

Right now i can tell you that students i spoke with at the college were very excited to take part and we quickly got a full group of 15 – in one group i talked to several students said it should be offered regularly – quickly seeing what a difference it might make to them to understand their own reactions and learn how they could support their own learning. The pilot includes a research component to see if the course makes a difference to the students’ sense of themselves as able to learn and to their thinking skills and group skills. I hope it will make a difference to all their learning – but am particularly aware that when we’ve been through violence our brains easily close down whenever we get anxious (there’s some great material on that in the Learning Processes section of the site) and then it’s almost impossible to think, and that the complexities around trusting self and others, and judging self and/or others critically can make it very hard to build strong groups with members who support each others learning. I can’t wait to hear how these courses go and the difference they make.

I’m hoping others may try using this kit as classroom curriculum – there’s an enormous amount there to work with. Do let us know how you think you might use it – and what draws you in the kit – I’m hoping we can generate some real discussion here over the next months. Members of the team that created this kit will moderate discussion over the next 5 months – the remaining months of our project.

Then we’ll be busy hunting down more funds to keep going with this work!

Jenny

Linda, from Middleton, Nova Scotia posted again:

I guess I see such a connection between learning, past and present, and self-esteem being so connected; therefore, self-esteem and violence are connected. In 18 years of facilitating in literacy upgrading programs, I’ve seen that the majority of students have low self-esteem. They often go hand-in-hand, just as those of us who have completed university degrees have confidence in what we are trained to do. Low self-esteem seems to give others permission to victimize. Generally, though, those who victimize also suffer from low self-esteem. Education empowers, thereby disempowering others. This is a rampant problem, and to have a practical tool, for both instructors and students, is just wonderful. I can’t wait to begin to do some planning with it for fall classes. Thank you!
Linda

We’re running two pilot courses with this kit in Toronto right now – one in the community-college, the other in a community-based program – i am so excited as we’re hearing some amazing stuff about the difference it is making for students. One course is all mixed, the other is all women – both are wonderfully diverse groups in terms of age and ethnicity. We’re hearing women talk about really seeing themselves in the students in the animations, realizing that they’ve spaced out all their lives and feeling stronger for knowing that, realizing how their skill in spacing out has got in the way of spelling, reading, and participating in groups. Students are beginning to name how much they judge themselves and others and sound curious about how they might begin to change that. There’s a lot of talk – and it’s very interesting – as students begin to make connections about themselves and their learning – i am awed by the responses – will tell you more as i hear more – but may be others who are more closely involved in the pilot will talk about what they are excited about soon….

pilot courses are just finished – and they have been amazing – students – more than i have ever experienced before are talking about the course being life-changing – and I’m noticing a lot of changed behavior in groups – it’s very exciting.