Hands-On Assignment Five: Reflection   
Applying the Learning  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Cristina Leo 
ETEC 565G  
University of British Columbia  
 
 
April 6, 2018  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Part A 
 
Within the last seven months I have embarked on a completely different teaching path than I
have been used to for the past 10 years. Last April the opportunity to teach Grade One at my
current school opened up and I decided I wanted to step outside of my comfort zone and teach
in the primary years. This transition has been one of the most difficult things I have done in a
long time, but a move that has been very rewarding. Each day brings forth a new learning
insight into the day-to-day realities of teaching the basics of reading and writing as well as the
needs of younger students. Most noticeably is the shift from students in intermediate who were
able to understand conceptually to students in primary who are in the developmental stage
which rewards concrete, hands-on experiences.

Working in an IB World School also requires that I teach conceptually through an Inquiry based
model. With BC’s newly redesigned curriculum, the core competencies have aligned well with
the expectations of the IB program. Having worked at an IB school for the past 8 years, I am
required to plan and teach 6 Units of Inquiry that focus on different transdisciplinary themes.
In particular, the social studies curriculum for Grade One focuses primarily on teaching the big
ideas of community and cultures. According to the BC Social Studies Curriculum for Grade one,
the content includes teaching about “diverse cultures, backgrounds, and perspectives within the
local and other communities”, such as exploring “different languages, customs, art, music,
traditions, holidays, food, clothing and dress.” (BC Curriculum, 2018)

Throughout ETEC 565G, the tenets of culture has been the guiding foundation of Module 1.
Here we explored different models and metaphors to help frame our understanding of what
‘culture’ means through our own self-identity. The issue that resonated with me was how do you
design lessons for students in Grade One to understand what culture means, when it is such a
complex concept.

For myself, I needed to understand how my own ethnocentric viewpoints may have persuaded
me into teaching culture from a specific lens. However, when considering how best to explore
diversity and culture to six year olds, I found that Selfridge & Sokolik’s “Iceberg model of culture”
most useful. I displayed this model as an anchor chart in my classroom and students were
fascinated by the qualifiers we had included. Together we discussed some of the visible cultural
behaviours, practices and artifacts such as flags, food, music, and holidays (to name a few).
However, it was interesting when we discussed the ‘invisible’ cultural concepts that form below
the water. The students in my class were able to connect to this model because they were able
to understand and make connections to what Selfridge & Sokolik note that, “the constant
metamorphosis of icebergs melting and splitting and re-accumulation of ice and snow as acts as
a reminder of the continuous processes of change that occur in all cultures.” As we explored
new countries, some students were able to identify that a country doesn’t mean everyone
shares the same culture.

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As we began the unit exploring the visible aspects of culture it was fascinating to go deeper and
explore below the iceberg in an area that I will explore further when I teach this unit again next 
year. From the readings, I hope to focus more on what it means to understand where my 
students are coming from, exploring their self-identity as a way of approaching culture. As 
Plum stated, “Culture is the water in which we swim and just like fish we don’t know what 
water is, we take it for granted.” (Plum, 2007) This was especially poignant when considering 
how young Grade One students are and that they are only beginning to make connections to 
both self and real-world events.  
 
Overall, I have realized that when I consider the teaching and learning of a big idea such as 
culture, that it is best to refer to Stephen Petrina’s article, W
​ hat is Culture?​ in that “the 
challenge is to avoid: 1. a totalizing of the west, the east, or south, etc, recognizing the 
diasporic, hybrid, heteroglossia nature of culture at this point in time. 2. a privileging of one 
form of culture or circulation of meaning over another.3. an asymmetry of plural cultures and 
singular nature (alternative is the turn towards natures-cultures).” (2009) Therefore, I feel that 
there is great responsibility in framing the understanding of cultural discussions early on in a 
students career such as in Grade One to avoid ethnocentric and stereotypical ways of 
understanding.  
 
 
Part B1  
When reflecting upon the forums and discussion points I realized that one of the most valuable 
discussion points from this course was actually in both of the online Seminar Discussions. 
Currently completing my sixth course in the MET program, this was the first instance where 
classmates were required to meet at a specific time and discuss key elements of the course 
module with the instructor present.  
 
During the first seminar group, I enjoyed listening to Samantha, Kate and Faeyza discuss issues 
that were of interest to them personally. I particularly enjoyed the structure given by our 
professor, Yael in that each person would be given an opportunity to summarize, discuss, and 
raise questions for our group in an orderly fashion. Equally refreshing was that each person 
was given time to respond to each person’s point of view. In particular, through these organic 
and natural discussions it was easy to see how our individual topics connected to the big ideas 
of the course.  
 
During the second seminar group meeting, I found it interesting to hear from my group 
members in that not everyone was from an educational background. It was interesting to hear 
from Charisse and Mariam as they discussed their views on intercultural communication within 
a corporate workplace. Kevin and Stephen provided insight into their experiences working with 
students in urban and remote communities. Overall, I especially found this forum to be most 

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valuable because it allowed me to listen to my classmates in real-time, rather than in a 
asynchronous format that often drives the MET program.  
 
For my logbook reflection, I chose to include my sketchnotes on the video, “”The Virtual 
Revolution.” For myself, I enjoy taking sketchnotes as a way of processing my thinking because 
as I have learned throughout the MET program, learning is not linear! My pathway to learning 
is messy and often my ideas can be found swirling around for days after reading coursework 
and discussion forum posts. My way to make sense of it all is to sketch what I connect to most. 
Interestingly enough, this Module was of particular interest to me because I found that 
discussion regarding the neuroscience and technology meaningful. As stated in the 
documentary The Virtual Revolution, “the human brain loves distractions.” In ETEC 540 we 
explored the effects of hyperlinks and the how this affects the internalization of information. 
From this documentary I made connections to ETEC 540 and Nicholas Carr’s book, T ​ he 
Shallows: What the Internet is doing to our brains​. My messy notetaking may be a reflection of 
what my time online has done to my ability to linearly organize information, but at the same 
time has provided me a connection to a platform to share my digital sketchnotes through 
Social Media.  
 
In my Hands-On Assignment 4 posting, I appreciated the feedback and continued discussion 
from both Janna and Shannon. I discussed how social media can be used as a way to further 
discussion, feedback, and connection with peers and experts through the use of Twitter.  
Janna stated, “​As someone who is often “stressed out” by the discussion boards and hesitant 
to post my thoughts I am not sure if I would be more likely to post or respond using social 
media....If we gauge learning by responses, replies and posts - what type(s) of learners are we 
discounting? How do, or should we ”measure” learning?”This made wonder if our emphasis on 
measurement detracts from the true learning that is occuring in both face-to-face and online 
classrooms. This will be something I will continue to explore next year, as I am part of a 
school-based team responsible for implementing digital portfolios and making amendments 
to our school’s assessment policies and practices. The information presented during this 
course also aligns to this future endeavor in the importance of evaluating the educational 
culture that can exist in an online environment where students post both work and comments 
of student learning engagements.  
 
Part B2 
 
In reflection, the most valuable forms of communication for me was the online seminar 
meetings. These seminars allowed for postings in the discussion forum to come alive and 
allowed for more fluid and natural discussion around key themes. I enjoyed listening and 
responding to the different articles researched by each member and the personal 
memories/stories shared to enhance each part of the readings.  
 
As mentioned in my second online seminar, I have found the discussion forms sometimes 
intimidating and overwhelming. As a learner who spends to much time allowing ideas to 

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percolate and grow, I struggle to jump into conversations before it is too late. This is an area 
that I will continue to reflect upon and make changes to, especially as I near the end of the 
MET program. Throughout this course, I found myself researching and writing about the role 
Social Media can play both from an academic standpoint but also from the perspective of my 
students. I found that I kept revisiting this means of communication through a positive lens, 
because Social Media can provide access to a larger, far-reaching, and global community of 
members. Also with hashtags, information can be organized in a way that can be accessed 
long after the close of a course or conversation.  
 
As an introvert, I found my participation was not as present as previous courses I had taken for 
fear I would say the wrong thing, especially since we are discussing issues around culture, 
technology, and communication. However, I realize that this was probably the safest space to 
bounce ideas around without judgement but in the aim of clarity. Overall, I really enjoyed 
reading the Hands-on Assignments from each classmate because it provided insight into the 
diversity in subject area that each person explored even though we were assigned the same 
initial Module readings. In reflection, ETEC 565G reinforced the importance of collaboration, 
critical thinking, communication, and creativity in a virtual learning environment.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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 References 

BC's New Curriculum. (n.d.). Retrieved from 

https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/curriculum/social-studies/1 

Bishop, S. (2018). Anxiety, panic and self-optimization: Inequalities and the YouTube algorithm. 

Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 24​(1), 

69-84. 10.1177/1354856517736978 

What is Culture?​ Resource document presented in ETEC 511. 

Plum, E. (2007). Cultural Intelligence - A concept for bridging and benefiting from cultural 

differences. 

Selfridge & Sokolik, 1975; French & Bell,1979, The Iceberg Model.  

The Virtual Revolution – Homo Interneticus BBC Documentary [​ Video file]. (2012, October 4). 

Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYpPt9d97​1I