Week 6

Learning as Making Distinctions

The Learning as Making Distinctions Group included Erika Grogan, Kyle Trivett, Jamelia Gay, Sharlene Lawrence-Bryce, Sheryll Smith, and Toufan Arieb. Theorists include Marton, van Manen, Husserl, and Sartre. This presentation called for looking at context. There were several Jamboard activities where we were asked to look at an image, like a well-dressed, male-bodied, person of colour talking with a person with their back to the camera sporting long hair and a jean jacket. We were asked to add stickies to indicate what we thought was happening in the photograph. A number of students found it a challenge to determine what we were supposed to do. As a result, my group had few stickies. With the help from the Making Distinctions Group who popped into our breakout room, we soon understood and were able to add plenty of stickies to the following photographs.

Reflection

I found it interesting that the people in the group added stickies that demonstrated their sense of humour. Their interpretations of the photographs were silly or honest while some were sensitive but they all made the point that how we look at life. How we observe, judge, or accept colours our reaction. Looking at an event as positive or negative frames our responses to it. Derek Cabrera of Cornell University (2022) explains that we create boundaries when we make distinctions. Those judgements allow us to quickly marginalize or other people. We should guard against this by being open-eyed and open minded with our students. During the debrief, we came to realize that it didn’t matter what was happening, the point was we all saw something different; we came upon our perspectives from different points of view. By the time we got to the third slide, it was much easier to look at the picture and realize that anything within reason would be an acceptable answer. This was an excellent exercise to reinforce the lesson that a teacher needs to know their students to understand what is happening.