Home Learners Tuesday Pods

Rather than limit ourselves to the classic European mythology, we’d like to spend the first two terms delving into these and other (perhaps lesser known) mythologies from diverse cultures around the world. Christianne will compile a selection of unique works to support our explorations each week. 

Broadening our exploration from text alone, we’ll incorporate close study of images. Story is captured in many different art mediums; from pottery to totems, to architectural sculptures to tapestries. In an effort to represent our learning,, we will try our hand at everything from clay relief sculpture and print-making, to mosaic and fabric painting, to soap stone carving and ink painting.

Because there is such a vast array of unexplored mythology, we want to spend two study pods steeping ourselves in the story and working on our artistic representations of these important tales. 

The importance and richness of cultures unknown to us can never be overstated, and adding new knowledge to our collective repertoire is a sure fire way to enhance discourse and augment artistic endeavours.

We will continue our study of world mythology and represent our learnings in art. It should be noted that while Investigation #1 and #2 build on each other, they can be done together or individually.

These days you can’t look at a screen or open a newspaper without reading something controversial. It’s part of modern culture -- the attention grabbing headlines asking us to stretch ourselves as we entertain perspectives different from our own.

To start off the new (calendar) year, Christianne will guide learners through how best to respectfully engage in discourse around controversial subjects. What are the ways in which we can prepare ourselves to seek bridge building rather than slowly retreating from difficult subjects or forcing our opinions on others. 

We’ll start with underscoring the importance of being curious, then engage critical thinking strategies that avoid confirmation bias and acknowledge opposing points of view. This will undoubtedly present a learning curve for most. For younger members of the group, this pod will be about asking good questions and feeling confident in expressing their own views and opinions.   

We’ll represent our learnings by creating individual fabric squares that embody aspects of ourselves and then sewing them together in a quilt unifying diverse perspectives within a common edging.

Finally, as a memory of the ideas we explore, we’ll create life castings of both hands open, palms facing up, ready to receive another perspective in non-judgemental discussion.

Now more than ever, the importance of connection with our land is at the centre of most dinner table discussions. At the start of the agricultural movement around 12,000 years ago, methods shifted from hunter-gatherer to permanent settlements and farming for the masses. We have seen the benefits and the challenges of monocropping. We have also witnessed a sweeping return to varied crops and sustainable practices. 

We’ll start this investigation by watching excerpts from a pivotal documentary, The Biggest Little Farm, and using these as the basis for discussion around what the future of agriculture might look like. Christianne will also introduce select pieces of literature to help inform and drive group discussion from the Lyceum’s unique back catalogue of information books. There is such depth to the farming practices that have come before us, it’s impossible not to get excited about what they could be in the decades that follow. 

Being sure to include time outdoors, students will visit our local community garden and consider what can be grown locally during winter months.  We’ll take this theory and make it practical by choosing local ingredients to collaboratively make a meal for parents and children at the end of the term.

During this term we will conduct a new kind of book study, one that roots the theory in our present day environment. 

One of the four elements of matter, fire has always been key in the cycle of regeneration, but with our planet heating up rapidly, it has taken on more of a destructive role. What can we do to slow its advance? Using Drawdown.org and calling upon Arushi Raina and Ann Eriksson (too local authors advocating for ways to slow climate change), we will concentrate on finding ways to engage students in concrete acts that reinforce a sense of personal efficacy. Through exposure to snippets from John Vaillant’s latest novel, Fire Weather: A True Story of Survival and Community in Our New Century of Fire, students will explore our delicate relationship with this planet we call home.

Toward the end of the term we will make a trip to see the studio home where the City of Burnaby’s awe inspiring Eco-sculptures are created. Delicately crafted metal frames are packed with soil before plants are selected based on their colour and texture. Doing more than just pleasing the eye, these creations also serve as reminders of the challenges faced by the creatures we sometimes see around our city.  As part of our visit we will work with master gardeners to help craft a new sculpture. How cool would it be to drive by one of these masterpieces and be able to say I planted the eye or I helped plant the dorsal fin? 

This topic is back by (very) popular demand! 

To start us off, Christianne will guide the group through an introduction to endangered species and how they are like a barometer chronicling the effects of global warming, pollution and urbanization. 

We’ll move away from the much spotlighted tigers and rhinos, and focus on local species like the murrelet, caribou, spotted owl and sockeye salmon. Each student will be encouraged to choose an animal they feel passionately about. They will then be guided through research to discover the impact on our ecosystems if they disappear. 

Individually, they will work on short yet informative posters to present before moving on to create a group video that advocates for the species they have come to know so well. This multimedia experience will allow students to interact with art in its various forms, harnessing the magical ability it has to enhance and amplify information. 

We will take inspiration from the Wilderness Committee and their 2022 manifesto to guide us in how we collate and present such critical information. If it suits the group we will plan a field trip to Saturna Island where we will hear how the declining numbers of salmon are affecting local Orca populations.