Program concept and goals

Program Goals

I'm going to use this blog to lay out some planning and designs for a new program in development at D.P. Todd -- The Language & Landscape Project.

This double-course offering combines learning outcomes from BC English 11 and Geography 12 in a blended learning course format. Key examples (e.g. literary and geographic case studies) will be drawn from the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, namely the stories of Middle Earth.  Other examples will be drawn from existing curricular resources, online content, and work selected and created by students.

My project goal as a teacher (ie. in regards to students) is to focus more on how students construct their learning in compelling tangential contexts rather than just meet outcomes on a prescribed trajectory.  I want to co-explore the ways we use language to imagine and interact with real and virtual landscapes.  In other words, as we journey through our life in a real world and also the world we make for ourselves in our minds, how do we structure the narrative?  How does this narrative help us understand these worlds and live more deeply within them?

My project goal as an educator (ie. in regards to the school and system) is to deconstruct an implementation of the BCED Plan and conduct some low-key creative experiments with blended, personalized, project-based learning in the field(s) of multiple literacies and environmental education. This course concept creates some gorgeous freedoms to try on new ways of teaching and learning, and I'm excited to see what happens next.

Program/Course concept: "Language and Landscape 11/12"

• full credit English 11 and Geography 12 program offered in a blended, flexible learning environment
• traditional classroom-based learning, personalized independent and online work, collaboration and shared learning through small group seminars and digital tools
• an emphasis on creativity and critical thinking as we draw from Tolkien's Middle Earth for key examples of language and landscape.
• committment requires daily attendance in a regularly scheduled block and flexible attendance/activities during or outside of a 2nd regularly scheduled block
• will utilize project-based learning and performance-based assessment practices
• use of social media and mobile technology to connect, collaborate, share, assess, and celebrate
• flex time includes small group work (e.g. 5 students) and seminar work  (e.g. 10 student plus teacher)