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How do these December spirit days sound to you?

• December 2nd:  Be Festive!
• December 9th:  Sweater Day
• December 16th:  Character Day
• December 23rd:  Be Cozy!

Our Student Council is a group of grade 6, 7, and 8 students led by my colleague Lisa Flanagan. Lisa and the students have created inclusive spirit days and activities. For this blog post, I interviewed Lisa and the executive committee, hoping that you will be as inspired by them as I am.

How was the Student Council Created?

Executive– At the first meeting, anyone in grades 6, 7, or 8 was welcome to sign up. We created a grade 7- 8 executive committee, which includes people with previous experience. There are a bunch of committees: decorating, announcements, fundraising, Tilley TV, yearbook, Audio/Visual, General Helpers, and Spirit. There are executive members on each committee.

James – We stress teamwork. The different committees collaborate on the activities we are doing with the school. Like when it was time for fall door decorating and the photo scavenger hunt, we all worked together. (everyone nods in agreement)

How did your spirit days come about? We used to call the spirit days by other names.

Coral: You mean like Crazy Hair Day? No, we don’t use “crazy” like that anymore. You have to use the right language. Like we don’t have March Madness spirit month, we have March Moments.

Franklin – Also, you can’t imitate someone’s hairstyle from their culture and call it crazy. That’s not ok.

Lisa – We want to shift the focus more on how to be rather than specifically what to wear. It gives more room for creativity and self-expression. The March Moments spirit month includes: Be a Fan, Be a Star, Retro Day, and Titans Day (school colours). On Be a Fan day, you can choose anything you’re a fan of; it doesn’t have to be sports. Also, when decorating, we focus on the seasons rather than the specific holidays.

What other opportunities have you enjoyed with the student council?

James – Right now, we have the fundraiser and donations for Bethesda House (a local agency that supports people dealing with abuse and gender-based violence). It’s been really successful with donations of food and gift cards. It’s great when we work together, and you see the payoff.

Destiny – I presented our plans to the parents on the school council. I was nervous, but they really liked our ideas and were happy I was there.

Rose – We also have grade 7 students who help on grad night. They are really important, and grad wouldn’t happen without them!

Leslie – We have fun! We are building independence and handling new responsibilities too.

Years ago, we used to have an elected student council. The nominees would have to give a speech to the class, and then the class would vote for two representatives. What do you think of that?

Franklin – Honestly, it would just be a popularity contest, and people would be left out. The way we do it gets more people involved.

————-

I’m so proud of our student council and their work with Lisa. They are terrific role models! They help on pizza day, run the music station at special events like the Terry Fox run, and are on the daily announcements. I’m looking forward to seeing how they develop as leaders at our school. If you have suggestions for our student council, please leave a comment.

*Students’ names have been changed.

 

If anyone out there can find Ms.Jordan from Brookmill PS in Agincourt, I want to thank her for reading aloud Island of the Blue Dolphins when I was in grade 5. I remember the intense emotions the story evoked. At one point, Ms. Jordan was overwhelmed and asked me to finish reading a heart-wrenching scene to the class. Here I am, decades later, cherishing that beautiful gift she gave us by reading aloud. You may have had a similar experience around that age with books like Charlotte’s Web, Holes, or Bridge to Terabithia. Nothing can compare to hearing a great story in person. It will entertain you, enrich your life, expand your vocabulary, ignite your imagination and give you food for thought.

I am also grateful for the many picture books I have shared with children over the years. They are one of the most powerful teaching tools. With books on every topic imaginable, you can use them to relate to every part of the curriculum. Educators know this, yet I’m left wondering if reading aloud to children is happening less often these days.

During the 2020-21 school year and much of 2021-22, educators had strict restrictions for physical distancing and masking. Reading aloud to students became very challenging. Instead, teachers turned to books online. With desks stretched across the classroom, it was easier to see illustrations on a large screen. Since wearing a mask made projecting our voices difficult, we saved our weary throats for a few minutes while the video played. I understand the need for playing read-aloud videos at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, but now students can gather together to listen to a picture book, view the illustrations, and discuss it.

Let’s get back to sharing more rich read-alouds with our classes.

Students will benefit from hearing you bring a book to life. Here are a few of the important reasons you should be the one reading to your class:

* You can model what it means to read with expression,

*The students will be much more likely to ask questions and share similar experiences while you are reading compared to interrupting a video, 

* You can stop and clarify word meanings, 

*You know your students and can explain the context when needed,

* You can relate your connections to the story,

*You will be strengthening the bonds in your classroom community.

Reading aloud opens a gateway to deep discussions with your class. There is a plethora of incredible books out there! Ask your colleagues and your teacher-librarian for suggestions of books available at your school or visit your local library.  Your students may end up thanking you decades later!

Here are a few of my favourites:

Picture Books

Thunderboy Junior by Sherman Alexie – Importance of your Name

I am Enough by Betsy Beyers – Self-Confidence, Identity

Stolen Words by Melanie Florence – Loss of Indigenous Language

The Bad Seed by Jori John – Self Awareness

Duck Days by Sarah Leach – Autism, Friendship

Tacky the Penguin by Helen Lester – Inclusivity, Humour

Not a Box by Antoinette Portis – Ingenuity

The Water Walker by Joanne Robertson – The story of Nokomis Josephine-ba Mandamin

Suki’s Kimono by Chieri Uegaki – Identity

Scaredy Squirrel by Melanie Watt – Anxiety

Junior Novels

The Secret Life of Owen Skye by Alan Cumyn – Humour, Family

The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo – Believing in yourself, Love, Loyalty, Courage

Wonder by R.J. Palacio – Friendship, Choosing Kindness, Inclusivity

Intermediate Novels 

Fatty Legs by Margaret Olemaun Pokiak-Fenton – Residential School, Courage

Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes – Racism, Compassion, Gun Violence 

Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix- Friendship, Courage

Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed – Bravery, Hope

 

Happy Reading!

I was looking forward to showing Ali* the science video that day. 

Ali had arrived at our school several years earlier, when he was in grade 2.  If he found sudden immersion in a new country and unfamiliar language at all unsettling, this confident 8 year-old didn’t show it. Despite having only beginner English skills, each new school day saw him marching down the hall with gusto, his infectious grin naturally drawing people to him. In those early days, it was typical to enter his classroom and find him engaged in animated, gesture-filled conversations with classmates and teachers – which, despite being entirely in Arabic, were somehow basically comprehensible to all. Weeks slipped into months, and finally to years. He conversed easily in English before we knew it. We no longer heard the exuberant flow of Arabic; gestures were now stilled. 

When Ali began grade 6, both he and his mother expressed interest in his studying Arabic.  Our department had a series of English-Arabic science videos  – explaining the science curriculum topics he was studying in class no less. I was excited to show him the video, in both languages. 

I remember sitting at the round table in the book room, and pressing ‘play’ on the iPad. Ali watched the video in Arabic in silence. As the short, simple clip came to an end, he looked up.

“What did you think?” I asked expectantly. 

Ali hesitated. Then he replied, “I didn’t understand it.”

I was confused. The topic was relatively simple, and Ali’s teacher had told me earlier that day how solidly he had understood the science unit. 

“You didn’t understand the science?” I asked. 

“No. I didn’t understand the Arabic.”

***

Losing first language is not often talked about in school. We are usually so preoccupied with helping students acquire English, that thoughts of their home language may fall to wayside. Yet the more I learn about this phenomenon, the more it seems to me like an insidious disease. Slowly advancing, symptoms hidden, its progress out of sight and unnoticeable — until it’s too late. 

Multiple researchers have noted that first language development is arrested upon entering an English-speaking school environment. And it can regress, with English quickly becoming the dominant language. Indeed, web searches for “first language loss” produce an endless chain of heartbreaking stories. Recently I came across an article by Jenny Liao in The New Yorker, which began with the sentence “When I speak Cantonese with my parents now, I rely on translation apps.” The This America Life story RSV-Pa begins with the descriptor, “Larry speaks English. His dad speaks Chinese … After 20 years, with the help of filmmaker Bianca Giaver, he and his dad have their first conversation.”

Their first conversation.

I cannot imagine what it would be like, to be unable to communicate freely (or at all) with the people I love most in the world. I cannot imagine what it would be like, to be unable to communicate with my own child.

Many years ago, I heard an ESL specialist state that the majority of students who begin school in Ontario speaking another language will eventually lose the ability to communicate in that language, to varying degrees, with English becoming their preferred and most fluent language. I remember wondering at the time how that could be true, especially if parents and family members continue to speak first language to the child. This was certainly the case with Ali’s family, who spoke only Arabic to him. But as I later learned, the type of language used in school can be vastly different from the type used at home. Rich and varied vocabulary and grammatical structures are required (and learned) when reading novels, writing literary essays, and explaining cell structure. The language at home can be comparatively simple: “Get your coat”, “Come for dinner”, “What did you do today?”  These every-day exchanges include fewer vocabulary items and simpler grammatical structures. Additionally, students are typically not learning to read and write in first language.  No wonder language acquisition and proficiency leans heavily in favour of English.

As teachers we are in the position of working with families and students to help maintain first languages. From recommending home language classes, to accessing the growing number of free dual language book websites, to encouraging discussion of news events and complex topics at home in first language, there are a number of multilingual supports at our disposal. One of my new favourites is storybookscanada.ca, which contains simple illustrated audio books, written and narrated in English and many languages.

We know that students who maintain and develop first language tend to learn English more quickly and do better academically than those who do not. But the preservation of identity and connection to family offer a particularly urgent motivation for creating a multilingual framework in our teaching practice. To all educators tirelessly working to include first languages in the classroom, 

Дякую 고맙습니다  شكرًا لك  merci  谢谢  gracias ਤੁਹਾਡਾ ਧੰਨਵਾਦ شکریہ mahadsanid Cảm ơn thank you.

 

*student names have been changed

“Pay Attention!”

I can’t begin to count the number of times I’ve said that to my students over the years. I’d bet many of you can say the same. We often think that our students come to school ready to learn and have all the necessary skills to be good learners. The reality is they don’t.
In today’s world, we are all inundated with stimuli. Although many of us as adults have the capacity to decipher what it is we want to pay attention to and how to redirect our attention when it drifts, we need to teach our students the skill of paying attention. We need to teach them how to learn.

So, how do we teach students to pay attention?

Paying Attention in Action:
As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I love a good read aloud book! I hope you check out one or both of the great books highlighted and/or try the activities described below:

Books:

Puppy Mind by Andrew Jordan Nance is a picture book that tells a story of a young boy learning how to pay attention by becoming friends with, and subsequently training his active, wandering mind. Nance correlates the training of our minds to the process of training a puppy – with gentle, consistent effort.
In Breathe Like a Bear, author Kira Wiley uses animals, story and imagination to offer readers ways to explore different mindfulness skills including paying attention. In the “Focus” section of her book different animals describe activities that could be used at school or at home to increase breath and present moment awareness, an easily accessible and widely utilized method of learning to pay attention.

Classroom Activities:

Using natural and created sounds teachers can strengthen students’ listening skills. Listen For One Minute is a low risk activity I use often and also doesn’t take a lot of preparation or planning. In this activity, students simply sit still for one minute and listen to the sounds they hear. They are encouraged to only note the sounds they hear such as “creaking door” or “coughing” and to avoid labeling the sounds as pleasant or unpleasant; and not to generate a story about the sound. Following the activity, we discuss the sounds we each heard. Listen For One Minute is very repeatable, as sounds around us constantly change. It is a gentle way of introducing and strengthening the skill of paying attention through mindful listening. You could try it too; Simply listen to the sounds around you for one minute wherever you are reading this.
Another simple activity to cultivate mindful awareness is called Change Five. Change Five requires one or two students to leave the classroom for two minutes and change five things about their appearance. Students love the challenge of being the trickster by taking off a sweater; trading shoes with another trickster; tucking in a t-shirt or taking off earrings. When the tricker(s) return to class the other students have an opportunity to hone their observation skills by trying to identify the changes made.

Paying attention is a skill that can be learned; And as such, it must be explicitly taught and practiced in order for it to be strengthened. These short, simple practices and books I’ve shared here today can be utilized throughout the school year and can help your students to

“Pay Attention!”

It’s no secret that teachers are incredibly busy. From planning, assessing, managing classes, and volunteering to support sports teams and other school initiatives, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. And yet, with so many new and exciting approaches to teaching nearly every subject, you may also feel like you are missing out on ways to be more responsive to your students or more efficient in your work.

I remember the excitement of my first 5 years of teaching and wanting to sign up for every professional learning initiative possible, from social justice to anti-bullying and eco-friendly schools. By the end of it all, I was working way later than I wanted to and exhausted from the job. My marking piled up, my to-do list grew exponentially, and Sundays became a ‘prep’ day.  What I was doing was not sustainable.

What I have learned to do since those overwhelming and hectic years is to make my professional learning much more efficient and targeted. I prioritize what I know is important: an area of teaching I don’t feel 100% comfortable in, a goal that my board or school has, or an additional qualification that I need to take my career a step further. It may be a single thing that I focus my learning on, and I scale up or scale back depending on what is happening in my life at the moment. There will be times where all you can focus on is getting through the week or month, and that new book on assessment or pedagogy will have to wait. Educator-selected professional learning is always best – you know what you need, and what aligns with your interests and schedule.

It’s also healthy to remind yourself to honour the time it takes to learn and grow. A new practice or pedagogical skill I learn this year, for example, will make it into my teaching in the following year. Professional learning is a long game, and it takes time to incorporate a new strategy or new way of thinking meaningfully into practice.

Here are a few strategies that I have found very useful for squeezing new professional learning, even in a busy school year.

Watch a Presentation at Your Local or Board

There is something special about attending a live presentation from a guest speaker or expert. Good guest speakers are well versed in the art of communicating complex ideas clearly, know how to get their listeners engaged, and may even bring new perspectives from outside your local context. They will focus on the most important ideas in their area of expertise, and tailor it to the audience. Speaker sessions condense a whole lot of insight into a short period of time, and can be inspiring or even transformative.

Live, in-person workshops can also be high-impact, as you are learning with peers and sharing ideas in addition to receiving new ones. I recall attending a workshop on assessment and Growing Success at my local years ago, and using the knowledge and insights I gained from that one event long after it ended. The opportunity to network is also important: you can make long-lasting professional connections with colleagues from other schools you would not have met otherwise.

When these sessions take place after school, they usually finish by dinner time, and if they are virtual you can tune in while you do other things. The best format for professional learning, however, is always during the school day: it is important to honour the work that you are doing and the valuable time you have after school to prepare, fulfill personal commitments, or simply unwind.

Take Advantage of Audio

Is there a new education-related book you would love to read but simply don’t have the time for? A new practice you want to hear more about? There are so many great podcasts being released by educators that you can tune into using apps you likely already have on your phone. Audiobooks are also a great way to ‘read’ a book while taking a walk or commuting. Check to see if your board subscribes to an app like Destiny Discover: you may already have a professional audio library at your fingertips.

Start a Book Club

Book clubs are an amazing way to ‘divide and conquer’ a larger text. Bring a group of colleagues together, choose a text that relates to an area everyone is interested in, and assign each reader or pair of readers a chapter to ‘present’ at meetings. This way, if reading a whole book is too daunting you can get a sense of which parts are worthwhile. Of course, you can read the whole book if you prefer but when you are only responsible for one chapter the task is much more realistic. Book clubs are a really fun way to connect with colleagues and brainstorm ideas to improve teaching and learning in your school.

Join a Professional Learning Network

While social media certainly has its downsides, one of the great things is that you can follow authors, educators and administrators that share lesson ideas that you may find useful for your own practice. There are dozens of Facebook groups, Twitter threads, Instagram and Tiktok pages where you can see educators being creative and even sharing pedagogical strategies. Not sure where to start? Try searching a hashtag like #etfoeducators or #ontarioteachers that may lead you to some great accounts.

Attend a Conference or Workshop

While it can take a bit of paperwork to organize going to a conference, attending one can be a wonderful break from your regular routine. Conferences usually have influential keynote speakers, interactive breakout rooms, and are an easy way to network with professionals outside of your board. ETFO hosts amazing conferences and workshops for members throughout the year, and you can find great options in the fields of Edtech and literacy such as Reading for the Love of it. Who knows, maybe you will be inspired to share your own practices as a presenter one year!

Conference funding can typically be accessed through your local and possibly even through your board. Check with the treasurer at your local to find out what is available to members.