How Unschooling and Ungrading Has Helped Me In Law school
Pages: 1-14
Abstract:
I graduated high school and moved across the world from Toronto to London when I was eighteen to begin a three-year LLB program. I am now in my second year and have spent time reflecting on the way I grew up. I was unschooled for kindergarten and did not attend school until I was in grade one. Unschooling is a learner centre democratic approach where the learner is empowered and entrusted to make their own decisions. When I was unschooled, I was able to do what I wanted and how I wanted every day. One day I woke up and wanted to write a story and the next I wanted to learn how to do a cartwheel. The only person I had critiquing my work was myself, and that was enough to motivate me to keep learning. When I started public school, it was a foreign concept to me that I would be told what to do, how to do it, and that I was going to be assessed on how well I did it. Eventually it became difficult to be proud of myself or satisfied with my work until I got the validation from a high grade and assignments became stressful rather than enjoyable. Furthermore, I felt like it created a competitive environment between classmates and created a toxic space for young children to grow up in. Ultimately, my independence and self-confidence were adversely affected. The goal of this autobiographical narrative research paper is to share my school experience from primary school to law school, and to share how I continue to learn things without grading, which is something that has stuck with me given my unschooling experience.
Karina Ricci
Sharing Pains in Community-of-Inquiry-Pedagogy in the Arab-Israeli Context
Pages: 15-38
Abstract:
This article seeks to contribute to the discussion of Jewish-Arab dialogue in the Middle East in general and the Israeli-Palestinian context in particular by exploring the adoption of philosophical communities of inquiry pedagogy based on a pedagogy of searching. Briefly reviewing the teaching of history as an example of the problematic pedagogy espoused in the Israeli education system (excluding the West Bank and [occupied] territories) that serves both Jewish and Arab students, it then sets out a model of joint dialogical-search pedagogy designed to construct a “community of equal participants” in a non-egalitarian world in order to strengthen pupils’ civic-democratic foundations. Finally, it discusses the way in which Philosophy with Children with young Jews and Arabs/Palestinians can encourage dialogue that bases mutual understanding on their shared pain rather than a resolution of the national conflict.
Arie Kizel
Teacher Self-Concept and Perceptions of Andragogy among Alternative Learning System (ALS) Teachers in the Philippines
Pages: 39-52
Abstract:
Teacher self-concept and perceptions of andragogy were identified with the propositioning thought that teachers of Alternative Learning System (ALS) are stable and positive individuals who best value and deliver the tenets of andragogy and ALS in general. In this study, ALS teachers in Northern Mindanao, Philippines manifested that they have high teacher self-concept and high andragogy perceptions. It is established that there is significant correlation between the two constructs. Further, it was gathered that there are no significant differences in teacher self-concept and andragogy perceptions among the ALS teachers according to their demographics, except on age.
Ray Butch D. Mahinay, PhD
Alternative Music Culture in Toronto: Challenging Conventional Music Appreciation and Understanding
Pages: 53-66
Abstract:
Since modern art tends to be enigmatic and elusive at best, the public feels discouraged to seek out new artistic paradigms. Many new and alternative music genres, therefore, have failed to challenge conventional music paradigms, ultimately failing to infiltrate public school music curricula. In Toronto’s music scene, however, there have been several musical genres which have advanced the limits of conventional musical boundaries, particularly New Music and Acoustic Ecology, respectively represented by compositions such as “Made in China,” by Toca Loca, and “Streetcar Harmonics,” by Andra McCarthy. New Music is concerned with providing new listening tools to appreciate altered musical boundaries, whereas Acoustic Ecology focuses upon appreciating sounds in relationship to life and society. Ultimately both genres separately advocate cultures which strive to present an alternative way of listening to sound (be it music or soundscape), as well as challenging conventional musical paradigms, reinventing the notion of contemporary music, and questioning the boundaries of what ‘music’ really is, which has huge implications for music education.
Adamo G. Vitale
Unschooled: A Book Review
Pages: 67-75
Abstract:
This paper is a self-study between an Assistant Professor and a Teacher Candidate as they curated an arts-based installation as part of an Alternative Settings Placement at Trent University School of Education in Peterborough, Ontario. The installation focused on the legacy of residential schools, with Teacher Candidates creating artifacts that represented their learning and commitment to truth and reconciliation. The results of this project include analysis of the authors’ interactions throughout the project under the themes of pedagogy, problem solving, and personal growth. This project is significant to education, exploring alternative teaching placements, faculty and teacher candidate mentorship, and using arts-based creation methods for awareness and activism.
Louie Giray and Jelomil Edem