Distance? “Ain’t No Thing But A Chicken Wing!”

Our language is constantly evolving with words and phrases being added all the time. Some are added officially and some not so officially. One of the newer additions that I love is the phrase “Ain’t no thing but a chicken wing”. In case you are unfamiliar with the phrase and what it means, here is how www.urbandictionary.com defines it:

Used to describe an event, object or person which is of little importance. Stems from the fact that chickens (at least those bred as food) have wings but can’t fly, rendering the wings unimportant. Can be used in place of a reassuring “don’t worry about it” statement but often used as a sarcastic retort suggesting that which is being described is really not as important as the person saying it believes.

 
So how exactly do I use this phrase you may ask? What kind of situation would provoke this kind of response? Well the situation that makes me want to use it most often is when critics challenge the fact that people can effectively learn or teach online. Amazingly, there are still people out there that genuinely doubt that real connections can be made when there is no actual face-to-face contact involved. When people find out I teach online, they often skeptically ask, “But what about the distance? Isn’t it a huge obstacle?”. To this I respond (or at the very least, I strongly think it), “Ain’t no thing but a chicken wing”! In short, it is of little importance.

As a recent example of how distance is a non-issue, I have been working with a group of learners since January. I couldn’t be more distant from them. They are from three Matawa First Nations communities in Northern Ontario: A-Webequie (pop.685), B-Nibinamik (pop.404) and C-Neskantaga (pop.373). I am in D-Peterborough (pop.75,000). As you can see from the map, we have not had any face-to-face interaction!

 

However, I know that the community of Webequie looks like this:

I also know that one of the portables where the learners come to get online and meet me every night looks like this:

One student's favourite spot to sit and learn.

How do I know this? I know this because learners sent me these pictures. I didn’t ask for them. They wanted to share these with me. It was important to them, and I’m really glad they did. A connection has been made. It doesn’t matter that we don’t have face-to-face interaction and that we only get to interact online because there are many miles separating us. As long as everyone involved is there for the same reason and is committed to it, I challenge you NOT to make a connection. So, remember….distance? With the wonderful world of online learning, it “ain’t no thing but a chicken wing”!

The Journey with Matawa First Nations

In January of this year, Good Learning Anywhere and Matawa First Nations Education Council launched a pilot program with participating communities in remote Northwest Ontario.  The goal of the program is to help community members attain their GED and to pursue careers in the various trades.  GLA is the first step among many that these learners will be taking on their journey.

While I have been part of this project from the start, I feel the story that our instructors can tell is much more relevant and a real testament to what Good Learning Anywhere tries to achieve and stands for.  The blood, sweat and tears that the three instructors put into this project is reflected in the incredibly moving feedback and progress that the participants have made.

I asked Julie Mallon and Stephanie Park to take a moment to reflect on the challenges and triumphs that they faced: as with all pilots, this project has had it’s ups and downs, but the ups outweigh the downs by a tonne.

Tragic Circumstances – Very early on in this project, one community was faced with two tragedies that could have had crippling effects on the learners.  In early February, Jordan Wabasse, 16, went missing.  The tragedy was relived again when Jordan’s body was discovered early this month.  Shortly after Jordan’s disappearance, the community experienced another tragedy when it lost one of their youngest members, an infant.  Despite the tragedy, the learners came to class, determined to continue on their learning path. The tragedies hit the small, close-knit community hard.  To honour the lives lost and the community itself, learners and instructors reflected that week, sharing stories and showing support for the grieving families.

Freezing Cold – Learners from one community stood outside their learning centre for an hour, on a cold March night, waiting to be let into their class.  Stephanie points out that these learners never give up on nights when the  internet connection acts up and they continually are booted out of class over and over again.  Now that’s dedication.

The Laughter – one of the most striking things about our classes is the laughter.  An elearn blogger wrote recently that the biggest key in distance education is laughter: once you have them laughing, you’ve got ‘em hooked.  For example, Stephanie relates this incident, and I dare you not to chuckle: “I called them “folks” one night and they thought that meant they were old, I suggested I’d use ‘peeps’ from now on, they suggested ‘homeys’.”

Exploring the Unknown – one of the greatest moments we see in our classes, is the moment when learners realize that our classes are a safe place to explore.  When learners are “rocking it out on the drama nights by taking on some fantastic, emotionally charged roles”, you know that heart and soul is being given to each and every class.

Sharing – The remarkable thing about this group of learners is their openness and willingness to share a bit of their world with their instructor.  Stephanie has never physically met any of these learners, but she knows what their community and classroom looks like, and has even been sent some personal photos.  Yet, the connection goes much deeper than sharing pictures; learners have shared short stories, letters and very personal stories with our instructors.  To be a part of their story is an honour indeed.

Chat, Email and Everything Else – One of the most challenging things about teaching online is effectively communicating with the learners–at least that is what critics of distance education might say. However, at GLA, we strive to overcome this potential obstacle: the software that we teach with allows everyone to communicate in so many different ways that there is always at least one method a learner feels comfortable with. Stephanie notes that with her group, they aren’t big microphone users, so it’s a pretty quiet class. However, text chat is always hopping as learners are constantly sending messages to her and other learners. The other place that gets a lot of action is the whiteboard, which provides a blank space for the learners to type on, draw on, highlight on, etc. There is continuous participation between instructor and learner and interaction between learners as well.

The interaction doesn’t stop once class is done either! Stephanie was astonished at how wonderful these learners are with using email. She comments, “I’ve been getting a ton of assignments both emailed and faxed to me–more than any other group I have taught.” They also email her to let her know if they are unable to make class, and even once emailed when they were at the centre and having trouble logging in to let her know they were there. It was only because they took the time and cared to do that, that we were able to troubleshoot  the problem with them and essentially save the remainder of class.

Learning Outside The Project Box – As a project, with set courses, schedules and expectations, project participants are given their class schedule and that is generally what they stick to.  The project learners don’t have much contact with the mainstream GLA learner, as their classes have been set up for a specific purpose.  In February though, to honour Family Day, GLA held a writing contest, where all  learners were invited to explore what family means to them.  Two learners from Matawa joined that contest and submitted beautiful writings on their families.  Our NHL Hockey Pool is no different.  Not only are 6 learners participating, one learner even consulted online stats to make his picks! Now that is learning outside of the project box!

As the learners are getting ready to take another step in their journey, I want to thank the instructors, Stephanie and Julie.  Bridging distances, breaking down barriers and developing skills is what we are here to do: you have done that and so much more.  You have been a part of a journey that has only just begun, but I know that these learners are now equipped and ready for the next challenge.

Chi miigwech, friends.

Learner of the Month – Lennie’s Story

It is important to the staff at the Good Learning Anywhere project that we make sure that we recognize and celebrate our learners that help make this project such a success. One such learner is Lennie Spence from Webequie First Nation. Back in January I was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to start working on a new project with the Matawa First Nations to prepare learners whose goal is to get their GED. These learners meet 4 nights a week for 2 hours each night, so it is quite the dedicated group. This is where I had the pleasure of meeting Lennie.

Usually, when we choose a Learner of the Month, one of the staff writes up an article describing all of the learner’s amazing qualities and their journey with education. It would be very easy for me to write about what a terrific learner Lennie is, how dedicated he is, how enthusiastic he is, how supportive he is of the other learners in the class, and so on. However, in one of our first classes together, Lennie shared with me that one of his goals is to be a writer, so I presented him with the challenge of writing his own Learner of the Month article. Needless to say, Lennie rose to the occasion and wrote a moving and inspiring piece that beautifully expresses his decision to pursue his education. Congratulations, Lennie!

Lennie and his daughter, Liarah

My Learner of the Month Article

by Lennie Spence 

I am deeply honoured and thrilled to be named the ‘Learner of the Month’. And before I get started with my story I’d like to thank the ‘Sioux Hudson Literacy’ for giving me this opportunity to be here and try to obtain my GED and also a special thanks goes out to my fellow students for being here as well for they too are trying to obtain their GED.

When I made my decision to apply for the GED program I had two reasons in mind. First, I now have a beautiful baby girl to support full-time and secondly, I had a brother that took his own life a few years ago that made me open my eyes that through education I can change my life around.

Over the years I was involved in all kinds of odd and seasonal jobs such as firefighting, line cutting, tree planting, sewage plant helper and numerous part-time jobs. When my daughter was born, I wondered, how am I going to support her with these kinds of jobs? I took two things into consideration; the high cost of living in the north and the scarcity of these part-time jobs.

Having a part-time job sometimes would take its toll on me. Bills would start to pile up and in most cases I barely had enough money left over to buy groceries for myself. At times it was really frustrating, although I had the opportunity to complete my education at an earlier age. I was one of the many who made that unwise decision to drop out of high school and this was my greatest regret in the years that followed.

My late brother went through the same thing too, but he took a different path to get back on track. He was leading a life of self-destruction, he was drinking a lot on the reserve and getting into all kinds of trouble and as I recall, some people said that he will never make out of this reserve and that he’ll probably end up in jail for good. But I, on the hand, had always believed that my brother was a very intelligent person and even his peers used to tell me how bright he was.

I think it was around 1996 that he finally decided to go back to school because he knew that it was hopeless to live on the reserve due to the lack of opportunities. He first sifted through mail correspondence courses and then went down the local Educational center to see if there was anything that appealed to him. Then entered another brother who just happened to be the Chief of the community at the time suggested that he just leave the community to attend college in Thunder Bay, Ontario.

After a few years of attending college in Thunder Bay he graduated with a diploma in business management and then shortly afterwards he continued onto Lakehead University where he graduated with a degree in Political Science. And right after Lakehead, he enrolled in a law school in Toronto, Ontario where he got accepted but never got around securing funding for it.

Sadly, after going through some personal problems and the pressures of city life he took his own life in June of 2004. One thing I learned from what he went through is that no matter what we go through we can all still be successful in obtaining our goals through hard work and a good education.

My goal is to continue in my quest for a good education for a full-time job.

Thank you very much.

Lennie Spence