research

well folks...it's been a long time.

I've been running for a while now - last year was my third year at Ryerson in the ECE program, and it was deeply rewarding. I found a pretty big love of research, and got to put it to good use.
As I've posted before, I worked with Dr. Jason Nolan (part of our ECE Faculty) as a research assistant at the interdisciplinary research lab he directs, called the EDGE Lab. I did that for all of last year, and then got to run my own research project last summer when I got back from the Arctic, looking into Adaptive Design and the way people learn how to do it.

As the new year scooped it's way around, and I started back up into my classes, I got a nasty surprise. I had carefully set up my fourth year internship in an ACTUAL SCHOOL, to see what that was like - only to have it fall through when my police record check didn't arrive in time. I had to re-evaluate not only my semester, but my whole year, as not being able to do my internship this semester had some pretty major impacts on my academic timing. As you'll soon see, however, it all worked out for the busy busy best.

So - I re-evaluated and decided to do my internship in the spring semester, in a big block. It works better that way in a school setting anyway - since you're with the kids everyday and can build better relationships with that kind of time - but what that means is that I can't go back up to Inukjuak this year. Which will be hard, but Clea will go instead of me, and the continuity will continue in some form.

With no internship this fall, I was looking at having a leisurely academic time - until my profs heard about it, that is, and dangled in front of me some of the most un-pass-up-able carrots in the form of several fascinating research projects. Instead of working at an amazing school with amazing educators and kids, I'm the project manager of a pilot research project about outdoor play in child care centres, helping out as a facilitator and consultant on a project designing a game about privacy WITH CHILDREN AS CO-RESEARCHERS, on top of the ongoing research at the EDGE Lab about Adaptive Design and that sort of stuff. Yikes - but fun.

I got to go to Seattle to present on some of the stuff we've been thinking about and putting together at the EDGE Lab a couple of weeks ago, and got to meet my admitted hero Teacher Tom. My colleague and I spent a great afternoon with Tom, his parent co-teachers and the pre-K class - exploring boxes and scooter and super awesome floral beads that expand in water. It was a really wonderful time - oh, and the conference was pretty good too - although I did cause a bit of confusion for some folks, who were surprised that an undergrad was hanging out and presenting. I used to live in Seattle, many years ago, and got to see some very good friends that I hadn't seen for 10 years. That just made the trip amazing.

When I got back, I had to leap into a whirlwind of activity. I've decided to keep on keepin' on with this ol' academia thang, and am going to do graduate studies - but in keeping with all the re-evaluation that I've been doing this semester, I took a hard look at the plan I've been holding steady on, and threw it to the dogs. What I've realized is that I really like research, and I want to keep doing it. So - that's what I'll do. I'm gonna look into doing research about the things I'm really fascinated by these days - my favourite things that I've learned about during my courses in my undergrad and in doing research at the EDGE Lab. All our exploration about play and learning and learning environments, and autonomy and risk and child rights - they're all coalescing into some fun ideas that I want to keep chasing. Soooooooooo - that's what I'm going to do. I'm kinda thinking about looking into how children learn in informal spaces that they make for themselves - playgrounds and backyards and parks...oh my!

Anyway - more on that soon. I'm Mr. Poster Infrequently, so we'll see what soon actually means. Maybe I'll get back on here and tell some stories of what's going on in my crazy wonderful courses this semester!

Nerd out - :)

a few more photos from Inukjuak - masks!

Because the storage building was frozen shut when I went to get our plaster face forms to make masks, I needed to improvise. I picked up some cardboard at the Co-Op and some spare boxes that were around the school and built a whack of mask 'frames' for the kids to choose from and build on. These are the documented results. woot!

mask frames

making them

this is how they'll go.

The May long weekend fast approacheth, leaving us less and less time to get ready. Last night we hammered out the ending of the story. Today we'll begin rehearsals, and we'll work on the set over the weekend. More photos to come about the process but I'll leave you with this one.

nerd out!

some more photos from Inukjuak

Hi folks

I wanted to post some photos of the insanity happening up here the last while.

I'VE TAKEN THESE PHOTOS DOWN.

More to come on the masks we've been working on the past couple of days. The show is fast approaching, and even though things can be brutally depressing in the world today, I've somehow made it back to a place where I'm feeling that the imagination of young people is the only thing that'll get us out of the mess we're in. And that makes this project really valuable indeed...

nerd out.

well HELLO there, winter!

Let me just get this over with - this was what it looked like yesterday when I went on my walk.

Ummmmm. Brisk, yes. Springtime - not recognizably so.

I have been here for a week, and what a week it's been. Unbelievable full and busy, lots of organizing and getting my feet on the ground. The program is popular again this year - with a bunch of kids returning and bringing along some new kids too. On friday we had 29 kids - which is one less than we had all month last year. That feels pretty great.
We worked on paper plate masks, played some theatre games, got used to working together as a group and taught the new folks what kinds of things might happen and are expected. Here are some snapshots of those processes.

Ahhhh, paper plate masks. So versatile, so fun, such a good way to ease into puppets and masks. We worked on simple interactions as our mask characters, and laughed a lot.

And now - no post about the North would be complete without gratuitous snaps of tundra life. Here you go.

While it is really amazing to be up here, and I feel lucky that I'm familiar with some of the aspects of life in the North, being up here is pretty challenging. I'm staying with a teacher at the school, and am friendly with many of the teachers up here, and run the program in the school (this year I'm sharing the classroom with the Survival teacher, who takes kids out onto the tundra on excursions and teaches them both modern and traditional techniques of hunting, fishing and living on the tundra in all seasons. He is amazing and taught me about caribou matresses last week) I get to see a lot of how the school system works here in Inukjuak. Having been immersed up to my eyeballs in educational theory and the critique of educational systems in particular this year, I am really struggling with the way things are implemented in the school here. It's hugely complicated and involves historical, cultural, political and educational dynamics that I'm not equipped to plot out clearly in a itty-bitty blog post today, but suffice it to say the school system is limited and doesn't really even attempt to work with the kids it is supposedly serving. Teachers do the best that they can, but are working against a dizzying array of extrinsic and intrinsic obstacles - and when I think about it too much I wanna throw up. So maybe I'll stop.

There are some great aspects to the school here - the fact that from Kindergarten to Grade 3 classes are taught entirely in Inuktittut to help preserve and promote the language, and the way special programs like ours are supported and welcomed in. However, with the weight of history, oppression and exploitation leaning heavily on a system that's not that responsive to the needs of the kids and community, the school up here is kinds of a majorly depressing place. Thank god for the kids, is all I can say --- they do the best the can and are often smiling and happy to engage with our art and goofiness.

I feel pretty lucky to be up here, all in all. People are welcoming and there are a number of teachers here from last year, so we get to reconnect and reknew friendships. The tundra is as captivating and breathtaking as always, the air scouringly clean and chilly, the sky either opaque with glowing clouds that do funny things to perspective or startlingly luminous blue. The sun is HOT and somehow feels closer, amidst all these fields of snow and rock.

Tonight we're going to start making rod puppets - I think that these will be our main form this year - and I'll let you know how that progresses. If you want to, you can also follow our goings on on facebook at Nunavik Theatre Arts Program http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nunavik-Theatre-Arts-Programs/117799471576298

This is where I'll leave it today - struggling with my overactive brain. Hope you're all well and enjoying the sunshine wherever you are!!

Nerd out!

unbelievable

Spring is sproinging all around me, and last night I packed up my parka, big insulated rubber boots and other snow gear cuz I'm flying up the Arctic!!! Tomorrow!!
Today I take the train from Toronto to Montreal...it's all a bit surreal.
Here we go! I'll keep you all posted as to the goings on, like last year.
Nerd out - noah

oh my, life is certainly spinning by...

Here I am, studying for my final exams of my SIXTH semester into this adventure, and I can't really believe it. How did I get here - so fast?
This year has been ridiculously busy, and isn't going to stop being so for a little while. While the school year is winding down, with two exams this week, I head back up to Nunavik next weekend. Not much rest time for me! It's ultimately good, no great - and the tundra will be incredibly restful, and it'll be fantastic to actually work with kids again, which isn't something I've done much of this year...but it also would've been nice to have a leeeettle bit of a break.
I gotta quit whining tho - come on!! I get to go back here!!!

How can I complain?

So so so so so so much to think about - my courses this year covered a pretty wide continuum of subjects, from assessment for programming to various methods and applications of research to health promotion and community and development. I took a course with Jason, the prof I'm working for as a research assistant, and got some excellent thinking done as well as some quality playing with things like Scratch from MIT's Lifelong Kindergarten project and the open-ended environmental/anticonsumerism game of World of Goo.
All this to say - I've got a lot to think and write about while negotiating my elongated winter up North, and I can't wait to share it!
Nerd Out, more soon