PME

Comparing the posts that I have written during this course, I should confess that my perception of teaching, learning, and innovation has changed. I was also primarily interested in reading and relating what I read to what I already knew about education. The course has improved my way of thinking, making it more personal. I did not merely think about the ideas in the readings; I started by asking myself what they mean in practice and what impact they have on my thinking about teaching. This can be seen in one of my posts about Historical Foundations of Teaching and Learning. As I was reading about schooling in Lower Canada as discussed by Curtis, I understood that education has not been the sole means of learning or empowerment. It was also employed to shape behaviour and strengthen political power in certain instances (Curtis, 1997). This has refuted my previous assumption that reform and innovation in education are always positive. It helped me understand that innovation is not neces...

  Innovation Definition Innovation is the purposeful adaptation of existing concepts, habits, or systems into context-specific behaviors that drive significant, sustained change. New ideas alone are not enough; a simple change in priorities, resources, and relations is necessary. It is an intentional re-organization of these factors that is responsive to the changing demands of educational and professional systems, which is true innovation. Reflection My first perspective on innovation was that of planned disruption: to be innovative, something new has to be introduced, not merely to cause a material change in general operations. Martin (1996) made me value this concept by showing that institutions are never excluded from determining what to retain and what to discard. Innovation is thus about the decision maker and the reason. I still feel that this is still true. The difference in my mindset throughout this course is that I began asking a question to which I had never had an answ...

    Post 1: When “Innovation” Becomes a Buzzword One thing that particularly caught my attention in the course readings is how often the term “innovation” is used in education. Teachers are always required to be creative and innovative in schools, conferences, and other professional development opportunities. But after reading Frank (2013), I began to question the extent to which this talk about innovation is about performance rather than change. Frank is harsh on the culture of TED-type ideas, which tends to romanticize creativity and over-polish it in an inspirational way. Yet, they rarely challenge the systems that make change difficult in the first place. The concept was further made interesting by reading research on creativity conducted by Amabile, Goldfarb, and Brackfield (1990). According to their study, creativity is typically reduced when one expects their work to be examined. In other words, the more people think a person is always analyzing their performance, the m...

  Introduction To further develop my use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), I enrolled in the MagicSchool in two courses, the Foundational AI Certification Course (Level 1) and the MagicSchool Intermediate AI Certification Course (Level 2). I began to learn the modules and then finished at 12: 00 PM the same day. The modules guide teaches  the basics of generative AI, the elements of effective prompts, and the responsibilities of integrating AI tools in the classroom. With AI is increasingly being integrated into the learning environment, teachers today teachers require more than just a simple introduction; they will need an ethical course that will produce beneficial results for students. Evidence reveals that as AI is rapidly being implemented in the education sector, teachers have not been able to experience meaningful professional development (Tan et al., 2025). This certification was unique in the sense that it not only emphasized the practical aspect but also put the ...

Part 1: Initial Reflection Professional learning was never approached in any clear structure or purpose before I took this course. The learning process occurred naturally in daily life through discussions with colleagues, articles seen on social media, books picked up out of curiosity, and coursework. All of these were useful in their own ways, yet in retrospect, they bore no relationship to each other whatsoever. No system, no direction, no real meaning of what was being studied or why. It was also learning rather than learning by design. Social media has proven to be one of the most reliable sources for keeping up with new trends in the education sector. It has become easy to find new ideas, current practices, and emerging practices in the subject through educational accounts and online community interaction. Colleagues are also significant; an actual discussion makes thoughts sound different from a screen. Courses like this one add dimension by providing research and opinions that I...

  Article 1: Integrating Aboriginal Teaching and Values into the Classroom – Pamela Rose Toulouse (2008) The article revolves around the importance of integrating the teachings and values of the Aboriginals in the classroom to improve the self-esteem and academic performances of the Aboriginals students. Toulouse says that identity, culture and belonging are directly connected to the success of students (Toulouse, 2008). She offers a cultural context of reshaping classroom practice using the Ojibwa Seven Living Principles (respect, love, bravery, wisdom, humility, honesty and truth). The main point is that significant incorporation of Aboriginal voices is not an inclusion tool, but a required change in pedagogy, the curriculum, and school culture. These concepts relate well to my concept of innovation in teaching and learning. Technology or new strategies often come with innovation, yet as Toulouse reminds us, innovation can also be about going back to relational, holistic and comm...