Blog

Arianna Lambert Assessment, Feedback, Report Cards

Going Gradeless in Elementary – Part 1

As a class this past month, we have been learning about arguments and how to effectively write an argumentative essay.  From debating the importance of a digital detox to the role of social media in our lives, we’ve enjoyed arguing our positions on a variety of topics; understanding the importance of having supporting details to back up our positions. 

For one of our essays, students reflected on the idea of going gradeless in Elementary. After reading a couple of articles and watching a few videos, students were finally ready to pick their positions and set about organizing their ideas for their essays. Using a persuasion map, students reflected on the information presented and their own thoughts, ideas and experiences, and considered their 3 best reasons for their position. Once finished, they set about writing their essays and I was incredibly surprised by their positions. Many students actually supported the idea of keeping grades but suggested changes that should be made to render the grading system more effective. 

In this post, I will be sharing some of the insights of the students who believe that we should continue with grades in Elementary. In part 2, you’ll have the opportunity to hear the arguments from the other position. Hold on to your hats, these students had some incredible reasons either for or against our current grading system. 

Yes to Grades!

“Good grades lead to scholarships and opportunities for post secondary education.” 

When I hear young students – I teach 10- and 11-year-olds – talking about scholarships and post-secondary education, it always blows my mind. I think that there was always an expectation for me to go to University but I don’t think that I started to worry about grades until I was in Grade 10. It was then that one of my teachers suggested that I do something other than Sciences as I “wasn’t good at them”. I think it was at that moment that I decided that I was going to be a Scientist and I started paying attention to my grades and considering what courses I needed to take in order to prove that teacher wrong. 

While I know that the idea of “success” is drilled into us at an early age, it’s remarkable that these students are already equating their worth or their future employment outcomes based on grades they are yet to attain. I say yet to attain because I really wonder what marks in Grade 5 mean to students who are in Grade 11 or 12.  Many of my students claim that I am a hard marker and this statement alone suggests that grades have a certain level of subjectivity from one teacher to the next. 

Within this particular essay, the student reminds us that the requirements for entry into post-secondary education or for scholarships are directly related to marks and as such, getting rid of marks would require us to change the acceptance criteria for both. Unless we are willing to change the entire system, getting rid of grades at the Elementary level seems counterproductive. 

“School is a replica of life for youth, as stress and competition are present everywhere in the world. Grades are used to measure a student the same way that income is to an employee.”

The argument of school as a microcosm of the world. Those who succeed in the game of school will succeed in the game of life. If only this were true. While I believe that much of what we experience in our years in the education system certainly has an impact on future outcomes and experiences, there are many people who were not necessarily “good” at the game of school, and who have become quite successful in their own right, in the game of life.

This idea of better grades equating to a better job and in turn more money is one that is held by many of my students. It’s a narrative that they have learned along the way and begs for further inspection. I consider many people who are highly educated and still struggle to find jobs for a variety of reasons. I think of newcomers, those with differing abilities, and those who are racialized and face systemic racism. While these play a role in students’ experiences within school communities, the reality for adults who are newcomers, have differing abilities, and/or are racialized, tends to have different layers of impact. 

Do grades now really determine future success? Is managing the stress of grades equal to managing the stress of a job in the future? My students tend to think so. 

“Accountability. If you know you are getting marked you will actually do the work.”

Many students argued that when they are getting marked on something, they actually work harder, which makes me wonder about the intrinsic value of learning. Isn’t that the whole point of school in the first place? To have a desire to learn, rather than a desire to get a gold star? Wait…we do give out gold stars in school too.

During our discussions, students mentioned that if an activity or task was seen as being a practice for an upcoming culminating activity or test, they may not put in as much effort because they know that it’s just practice. On the other hand, for the final task itself, they would be sure to hand in better work because they know that the expectation is higher because this is something that the teacher sees as valuable and worthy of a mark. This made me wonder about my own methods of assessment and evaluation and what I value and in turn have imparted on my students as valuable. How have I contributed to this idea of getting the work done because there is a mark attached to it? Is it more important than the learning along the way?

So there you have it. These are just some of the reasons why my students say that we should keep grades in Elementary. I must admit that even among those who think we should keep grades, there was significant mention of teachers being able to justify the grades through feedback. So even when a grade is attached, feedback is still something that students want. In part 2, I share the other side of this argument.

Melissa Turnbull Mental Health, Mindfulness, Occasional Teachers, Occasional Teaching, Remote Learning, wellness

“Healthy” Eating 101

The Ontario Health and Physical Education curriculum requires students in Grades 1-8 to learn about healthy and active living. The curriculum document stresses the importance of healthy eating and the relationship between healthy food choices and strength of the body and the brain’s preparedness to grow and learn. Sounds ideal right? 

Talking about the positive benefits of foods that are high in nutrients, vitamins or those classified as “healthy foods” must be done with extreme caution. Idealizing certain foods or food groups has the potential to demonize foods that don’t fit neatly into the “health” category. 

Seemingly innocent activities such as ‘colour in the healthy foods’ disregards the role and existence that “unhealthy” foods have in our world. Potato chips, french fries, chocolate, milkshakes – they are here (and they are awesome). Students need to hear that these foods are awesome, and they can be enjoyed and loved. Food is good for our bodies. Sharing food with people we love is good for our bodies – and essential for our mental health. 

How to avoid demonizing food or food groups:

  1. Refer to those above mentioned delicious foods as “sometimes” foods
  2. Talk about how food is not only a part of daily life, but culture, celebrations and traditions 
  3. Talk about the various ways in which people eat across different households and around the world 
  4. Talk about ingredients that are in food 
  5. Talk about how your body feels after eating food
  6. Talk with students about prices of food and why people may choose buying one food over another
  7. Talk with students about how to make food!
  8. And, when we are no longer teaching in a pandemic, make food! Share food together as a community. 

Disordered eating knows no boundaries. Eating disorders exist across all demographics of human beings. We don’t know every student’s relationship with food, nor do we know the relationship with food that our students see at home with their families. 

With love from a teacher who has personally struggled with her own relationship with food: Please, proceed with caution.

 

 

 

Ophea: Healthy Eating Resources https://teachingtools.ophea.net/activities/level-up/program-guide/healthy-eating

School Mental Health Ontario https://smho-smso.ca/

Canadian Mental Health Association https://ontario.cmha.ca/documents/understanding-and-finding-help-for-eating-disorders/

Will Gourley Advocacy for public education, General

Getting involved in your ETFO

Since this space is dedicated to encouraging new teachers it seems like a great time to share some of the important benefits that you can gain from getting involved early on in your careers in education. 

So here is a little list and some handy links for you to click on to get you started;

  1. Your voice matters and as such you should feel represented and included. Joining a committee and following your ETFO local news is a great way to connect and find opportunities to learn how things work as well as find ways to support and serve in your region. A quick glimpse through some of the provincial locals shows committees for social justice, political action, and new teachers. Make sure you also attend your annual general meetings too. Your votes matter too.  
  2. Find a mentor. This does not have to be someone in your building. Technology and social media have created excellent mentorship channels for new members. ETFO Provincial has a link and as mentioned above, local chapters have New Teacher Committees. New teachers might also want to check out The Mentoree website. 
  3. Don’t go it alone. Although many of us graduate from teacher’s college feeling we have to have it all together, the truth is that no one comes out fully prepared. Once you graduate, and enter the classroom as a teacher or occasional teacher, the real learning begins. ETFO offers the Survive and Thrive conference to new teachers within their first 5 years of their careers. Some school boards also offer summer sessions for teachers who are switching grades or taking on new roles. YRDSB has hosted its Great Beginning Conference for years and it allows attendees to meet others and gain valuable and practical resources from experienced fellow educators. 
  4. Remember you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. When you are new to teaching or even looking to update your own lessons, ETFO has curated an excellent set of resources for its members. Start with Teaching and Learning and click on a sub-topic and scroll down. ETFO members has many phenomenal resources for educators by educators. Check out:
    ETFO Action on Anti-Black Racism 
    Building a Just Society 2SLGBTQ+  
    Adressing Anti-Asian Racism resource booklet
    There are way more to share, but I will let you enjoy discovering them at your own pace. 
  5. Take ETFO AQ and other courses. They are incredibly relevant and well taught by fellow member educators. They are also affordably priced and designed to fit your schedule. 
  6. Get on social media and find other like minded folx in education. #onted is a great place to start.
  7. Subscribe to the Heart and Art of Teaching and Learning blog. 

Most importantly, don’t forget that we are a family of committed, creative, and caring professionals who share a common goal to maintain the best public education system in the world. If you would like to connect please drop a line in the comments section. Welcome to ETFO. 

Tammy Axt General, IEP

Alternative Curriculum Reporting

It is that time of year again when everyone gets to do their favourite part of teaching….. Report card writing!! Woohoo!!

When I began my job as a teacher of students with Developmental Disabilities three years ago, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what to write on my student’s reports. All of my students were working towards Alternative expectations on their IEPs and the reporting on the goals was much different than I was used to doing.  It was the first time that I developed Alternative Expectations (expectations that are developed to help students acquire skills that are not in the Ontario curriculum) and the first time I reported on them at the completion of first term. The ministry of Education explains that “for the vast majority of students, these (alternative) programs would be given in addition to modified or regular grade–level expectations from the Ontario curriculum.” In my students case, they have completely alternative IEPs.

In Ontario, there are five categories of Exceptionalities: Behaviour, Communication, Intellectual, Physical and Multiple. Some of these categories have more than one exceptionality under its umbrella, resulting in a total of twelve exceptionalities as outlined by the Ministry of Education. My students who have a Developmental Disability fall under the Intellectual umbrella along with Giftedness and Mild Intellectual Disabilities.

After consulting with parents, guardians, previous IEPs, Occupational Therapist reports, Speech and Language Reports, other staff and Psychoeducational Assessments,  I created goals that my students focused on for the first term of school. For some students, the goal changed many times throughout the term as we made it more challenging or complex because the child mastered the initial goal. For other students, the goal had to be altered completely to meet their changing needs. When preparing to write the report card, I gathered all the assessment that we as a team had gathered and used the evidence to write a comment that reflected the student’s progress.

After three years in my role, I am no expert by any means, but maybe the comments I have used may help give you some ideas of how to start.

Here are some comments for some areas of the Alternative Curriculum:

Communication:

_____ regularly initiates conversation with students online and in the classroom. ___ is working on listening closely to others responses and respond to questions that they have asked. ____ is beginning to be able to express her feelings in detail in the classroom.

_________continues to be able to communicate confidently with staff and students online and in person. ___ has improved in his ability to add his own thoughts and questions to conversations and no longer relies on a model to share his experiences and interests. _______ began Speech and Language online sessions in the Winter of 2020 with a focus on improving ______’s articulation. He has adjusted well to the format of the focused sessions and is very committed to improving.

_________ has improved a lot in her ability to express how she is feeling throughout the day at school. She is able to ask for breaks when she is tired or thirsty and confidently shares when she is having a difficult morning. Her ability to express her feelings has helped her to be more focused in class. ______ has gained more confidence throughout this school year and is now able to ask for assistance from multiple people in the classroom.

Behaviour:

_______ had a very successful term two. He was able to stay calm and focused by using his strategy board when he felt anxious with minimal prompting from staff. During online learning, he used some deep breaths when he felt overwhelmed and remained very calm and focused.

With minimal teacher support, ________ has made significant improvements in her/his self regulation when upset or frustrated.  The use of a calming space with student selected staff, allowed ______ time to use tools to help manage her emotions throughout the day. Using a first then choice board, _______ was beginning to comply with more requests throughout the day.

Fine Motor/Gross Motor:

________ printing has improved this term. It is more clear and easy to read. ___ spent much of the term writing for specific purposes such as letters to all of her friends at home. ____ is able to use scissors well to cut paper activities and is working on completing lacing activities accurately. Currently, he is able to lace straight lines consistently and is working on lacing curved shapes.

________ is completing 3 to 5 laps of the interior of the school every day on his bike. He rides the bike with fluid motion and lots of energy. _______ with consistent support and encouragement is beginning to go up and down the stairs of the school 3 times a week.

Functional Academics:

______ can count to 100 with 80% accuracy. She sometimes need assistance with the numbers 60, 70 80 and 90. She is able to demonstrate one-to-one correspondence up to 20. When __________takes her time, her accuracy increases and she is able to demonstrate one-to-on correspondence up to 20

____ has expanded his list of words that he can recognize in a variety of texts. The words include, but are not limited to: a, and, big, blue, can, funny, go, here, I, is, in, it, jump, little, look, me, my, play, red, run, said, see, the, to, up, we, yellow, you. ____ is also able to sound out unfamiliar short words with 86% accuracy. _____ loves to write and happily learns new words to write every week.

______  showed great commitment to learning some new sight words this term. She identified them 90% of the time using the Olwein method of instruction which worked very well for her. She also thoroughly enjoyed playing games with the words. She can identify the 5 sight words Cars 3, school, colour, her name and run in a variety of contexts. ______ was also able to trace and copy many personally relevant words for a variety of purposes such as writing letters to her friends who are learning at home.

______ can say the numbers in order from 1-12. She can recognize the numbers 1, 2 and 3 100% of the time and can identify 4 and 5 50% of the time. She is able to demonstrate 1- to-1 correspondence on the numbers 1, 2 and 3 with 50% accuracy.

Social Skills:

_________ requires consistent redirection and cues to treat others with respect and kindness. With these supports has begun to show improvement. She continues to respond well to reminders and will use phrases such as “thank you or you’re welcome” when prompted.

_______ awareness of personal space has improved consistently this year. ______ has used visual tools/cues to check how close she can sit beside someone during whole class gatherings

Will Gourley Challenging Topics, Constant Learning, Differentiated Instruction, Distance learning, Emergency Distance Learning, General, Mental Health, self reflection, social emotional learning, Teacher Wellness, Teaching online

Some days I don’t like teaching

The above title is not a lie, but it hasn’t always been like this. I have no intentions on adding on more unlikeable days either, even while there are forces beyond my control always at work. I am seeking to understand how and why it feels this way?

Prior to January 2020, it would have been easy to count the number of bad days I have had  over 11 years of teaching on one hand – that includes the Laurel Broten years as MOE. Okay, 2 hands #FireLecce. Sadly, a year and a third later, I am using the segments of my fingers too.* I am sure that this admission probably mirrors what many in our profession are feeling whether in class or in virtual school settings. For the sake of this post, I will stay in my lane and write for myself with the knowledge that this is common ground. 

Not that my students would ever notice, but there are numerous days when I find it hard to like what it takes to facilitate instruction of any sort. I am struggling to find any of the profound and prevalent joy that naturally occurs in the in-person classrooms in which I am privileged to teach. While emergency online education has occasional moments of brilliance, they seem more like faded flashes of light than beacons of lasting inspiration lighting the way forward. I perish the thought that this becomes acceptable in education beyond these “extreme and exceptional” circumstances. 

These moments pass through our cold screens as quickly as posts on a social media feed. Lately, it seems as if students have become conditioned to seeking out fleeting moments of happiness/joy while on-line – something akin to the addictive need for instant gratification. They need to know the answers now, and don’t want to wait for them. Are you noticing this happening in your lockdown learning spaces?

At a time when most answers are available to learners by simply opening another tab or pointing an app at a screen, it is hard for students to get excited about “the learning” when it comes without a healthy struggle or a need to problem solve. By being able to get what they need without any demand on their intellect other than Google skills, students are missing out on some deeply foundational learning right now. The issue comes when they are asked to apply some of this instant knowledge to something different that can’t be searched. 

At first, I wondered whether it was the type of questions I was asking. Were the answers googleable? Teachers can fall into that trap really easily, but it can also be avoided by asking students to evaluate and infer as part of their responses rather than to regurgitate the who, what, when, and where answers. I am a why and how guy when it comes to asking questions so most of the literal variables in questioning are out. I suggest reframing questions to help students respond to content in ways that ask for their opinions while using the lesson or text to reference and support their own ideas.

Then I wondered whether the pace of instruction was too rapid? Was I assigning too much? I teach a combined class and try to provide enough time built in for much shorter lessons with considerably more digital supports for students to reference when they are working independently. Providing time in-class, re-negotiating due dates, reminders, and check-ins are all part of the process.

Despite multiple hours of availability on and off line, students have still been struggling to complete work in a timely manner. With so much pressure to keep everyone engaged more content/lessons/assignments get shared over the course of a the instructional week, more check-ins for understanding happen, and the cycle of lockdown learnig online repeats itself. Adding more work was not the answer. Maybe variety is the answer?

So I mixed it up with TED talks, TED Ed lessons, discussions, visual Math, digital manipulatives, assessments with links to prompt and remind students, and some extra time be silly and do Just Dance. That moved the excitement and engagement needle in the right direction and then in the last little while, the cameras began staying off. 

Cue the dots

This is what teaching looks like during a pandemic yet this is the reality of virtual instruction right now. Despite the differentiation it is still hard to find joy or connection in these spaces. At least the sounds of voices and the occasional witty remark in the chat lighten things in the moment. I can only imagine how hard it must be on the students who have been thrust into this virtual maelstrom and expected to perform as if nothing has changed in their lives or the world around them. I am still working on making it better for all of us in the spaces we are forced to occupy right now. In the meantime I am want to make sure that our time is meaningful, fun, and mentally healthy in advance of a return to in-person instruction in the future. Maybe then I can stop counting the unlikeable days and resume counting the amazing ones again. 

Further reading
The Twitter Generation: https://tomprof.stanford.edu/posting/1182

https://medium.com/launch-school/the-dangers-of-instant-gratification-learning-d8c230eed203

Decorative: Minecraft scene
Shawna Rothgeb-Bird 21st Century Learning, Technology, Technology in school, Year End Reflection

A Reflection on a Year of Minecraft: Education Edition

It’s June tomorrow! How is it already June? This year has somehow been both the longest and the shortest year of my teaching career. It’s been a bit of a slog in many ways, so I’ve been thankful for little moments of joy that I have shared with the students in my class over the year.

One of our great joys this year has been Minecraft. I’ve talked about it before, but I wanted to give a little update on our village and the overall pros and cons of using Minecraft in the classroom.

 

A Village Update

We have been working on the village off and on, primarily as a “when you’ve finished your work, you can do this if you want” option, for most of the year. If you’re not familiar with the village, we used a “Starter Town” template from the Minecraft library. It has the infrastructure already set up and you populate it with buildings. We started with students creating their own houses in numbered spaces set aside for this purpose. As you can see, we had a wide variety of styles and building heights.

Many houses have rooftop hot tubs. They are obsessed with the idea of hot tubs.

I will say that in hindsight, this template doesn’t really allow for much sidewalk space between buildings. I appreciated the smaller spaces (the building area is about 10×10) because it forced students to confront design challenges and adapt their plans, but the sidewalks themselves made it feel oppressive and crowded to walk at ground level. I think it would’ve been better to use wider sidewalks.

From there, students started adding all kinds of buildings – a hotel, a pet store, the Merry Dairy (a great ice cream shop in Ottawa), a leaf daycare (it’s a long story, don’t ask)…

There didn’t seem to be an end to their creativity. Some students created a zoo.

Others created an elaborate underground network of tunnels that would lead between buildings. Then, different houses started to appear – rogue houses! Without building permits! 

The builds got even more egregiously out of line with our Super Strict Community Planning: an entire village appeared just outside of the town, complete with blacksmith.

It was really cool to watch them create new things in the world and think outside the box.

 

Reflection on a Year of Minecraft

So… after a year of using this game in class, what do I think? Overall, I’ve been happy with what students have been able to do in the game. They’ve come up with some really cool ways to demonstrate their learning. They show far more perseverance when working through problems in Minecraft than they do at any other time. It’s also been great for collaboration in a year when opportunities to work with other students have been pretty minimal.

This isn’t to say there have been NO issues. We’ve definitely encountered some problems with outdated tech in schools where certain devices can’t be used for the game. During online learning, it’s been really difficult to troubleshoot problems with students. Some students don’t have compatible devices at home, either. 

Then there’s the in-game problems we’ve had, of which I’ll name a few here:

  • Spawning hundreds of animals in town.
  • Using commands incorrectly.
  • Harassing other students with commands.
  • Flooding the town.
  • Burning things down with lava.

I mean, most of those can be solved by students becoming more familiar with Minecraft, but it’s been an adventure.

 

Pros

  • Develops students’ critical and creative thinking skills.
  • Strong cross-curricular opportunities.
  • Can be used for short-term or long-term projects.
  • Tons of premade worlds, lesson plans, and activities in the library.
  • Strong buy-in from students.
  • Can be used in multiple languages.
  • Fosters perseverance.
  • Allows students to take on leadership roles by sharing their knowledge with peers.
  • Collaboration between classes!
  • In-game tutorials for students who are new to Minecraft.

 

Cons

  • Have to have the right devices to make it work.
  • If doing a whole-class collaborative project, one device has to host the world for everyone (and should be reasonably powerful – even my gaming PC crashes when I have 15+ students in our very large village world).
  • Some students are easily distracted by the game itself and don’t always complete objectives.
  • Updates to the game can lead to network issues at school.
  • Students accidentally break other students’ work, especially when first learning.
  • Very rarely, gamebreaking bugs happen that mean a student may have to restart their work or can no longer access a shared world.

 

Advice for Starting Minecraft in the Classroom

  • Give students time to play. They will 100% be distracted and unfocused the first few times you use it and will not get much accomplished.
  • Use the in-game tutorials to show students how to interact and play in the world.
  • Be very clear about your objectives and goals.
  • Give students the opportunity to share what they’ve made with their peers.
  • Be patient. Everything in Minecraft takes longer. Help your students plan their projects so that they don’t become overwhelmed by the scale of what they want to do.
  • A little goes a long way. Take breaks from Minecraft, too, so that students don’t get burned out on it.
  • Allocate time for potential issues. Become familiar with the game yourself so that you can help with common problems. You don’t have to be an expert, but you should know some basic commands (how to teleport, for example).

 

I’m really pleased that my board will be continuing with Minecraft: Education Edition next year. I’m looking forward to working on some new plans for next year over the summer. If you try it out, I’d love to see what you do with it!

Tammy Axt Equity, General, Indigenous Perspectives

Residential Schools

The remains of 215 Indigenous children were found at Kamloops Indian Residential School this past week. Every child found was a brother, sister, daughter, son, grandchild, and important member of their family. Every child found loved and was loved by their family. Every child found was taken from their home and stripped of their culture and dignity. Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation is working with the coroner’s office to determine the causes and timings of their deaths, which is currently unknown. What is known, is that no one from the school, community or government documented these deaths. It is a grave reminder that many people knew the horrors of abuse and disease that was going on at residential schools across Canada and no one stopped it. Not a member of the community, the government, a chief medical officer, a teacher or mayor stepped in to stop this horrifying situation for 150, 000 innocent children and their families. It is imperative that we share these stories so every student in Ontario knows this history and can become an advocate for Indigenous rights in Canada.

A couple of years ago, I was sitting at an outdoor theatre with my aunt watching Charlottetown’s Confederation “Centre Young Company” perform a musical that told stories from all around Canada. At the conclusion of the performance, my aunt turned to me with a surprised look on her face and said, “I didn’t know that happened.” She was referring to the powerful song, written and performed by a very talented young man from Nunavut who spoke of the intergenerational trauma of residential schools. I was incredibly surprised that my aunt had not been aware of the cultural genocide that happened at residential schools but soon realized that through conversation that she was never taught it in school and had never heard about it in other areas of her life. As our conversation continued, I saw the transformation in thoughts about our Indigenous peoples as education and the arts can do.

As educators, it is imperative that we do not have more children graduate from our schools not knowing the harm that was caused by residential schools and the history of Colonialism which is still very much ingrained in our current educational and child welfare systems in Canada.

To support teaching about residential schools, there is a Bookstore in Toronto called GoodMinds. This bookstore is First Nations owned and operated. Below, I have highlighted different books that can introduce and continue to tell the horrific history of residential schools in Canada. It is important as educators that we are teaching our students that as settlers, we all have a responsibility to learn the history and advocate for our Indigenous peoples.

Primary:

When We Were Alone/Quand on était seuls by David A. Robertson and Julie Flett

This book is a very gentle introduction to the concept of residential schools that can be read to children as young as Kindergarten. The young girl asks her grandmother, Kokum,  about her brightly coloured dresses, long braided hair, Cree language, and about the times when she was a young girl. Kokum tells her about her experiences attending a residential school for a number of years as a child in a way that her granddaughter can understand.

Shi-Shi-etko/Shi-Shi-etko by Nicola I. Campbell

Shi-shi-etko is a picture book about an Interior Salish child with just four more days at home until she goes to residential school. She takes time to explore her environment and spends quality time with her family. The illustrations are beautiful and conveys the connection to one’s community. Although the book is the final days at home before departing, residential schools are only mentioned on the introductory page.

Junior:

I am Not a Number/Je ne suis pas un numéro by Jenny Kay Dupuis (Ojibwe) and Kathy Kacer

This is a dual language book in English or French and Nibisiing.  Nibisiing was the language that Irene was not allowed to speak at the residential school where she was forcibly sent by the “Indian agent”. The book I am Not a Number tells the story of Irene Couchie Dupuis and her horrible and frightening experiences of being in the residential school system. The book is written by her granddaughter Jenny Kay Dupuis.

The Orange Shirt Story/L’histoire du chandail orange by Phyllis Webstad (Northern Secwepemc (Shuswap) from the Stswecem’c Xgat’tem First Nation (Canoe Creek Indian Band)

The Orange Shirt Story by Phyllis Webstad explains the truth behind Orange Shirt Day held each September 30th. This book describes the sadness Phyllis experienced being away from her family and the cruelty she experienced in the residential school system in Canada.

Intermediate:

Residential School. With The Words and Images of Survivors by Larry Loyie(Cree)

This book honours the survivors, the former students, who attended residential schools. It offers a first-person perspective of the residential school system in Canada, as it shares the memories of more than 70 survivors from across Canada.

The trauma inflicted by residential schools is still very much a part of the lives of many of our Indigenous peoples across Canada. Below is a plea from Kelly Fraser, an outstanding Inuk musician, who spoke about the call to action for all Canadians before her tragic passing in 2019.

“Both my mothers are residential school survivors, both their father’s dogs were taken away and killed so they couldn’t go dog sledding to get their food to feed their family. TB/influenza caused our people to convert to Christianity and let go of their culture (drum dancing, tattooing, throat singing, shamanism…etc)  because the priests were the only ones with the medicine and I’m not here to say being a Christian is not right, I believe in the freedom of believing what you want to and I respect ALL religions. The Mounties were sent by the government to take away our kayaks and made my family walk thousands of kilometers to a new settlement where they were told there would be houses when there weren’t any. I believe we can rise above what has happened to us by telling each other to please find healing and help by elders, mental health workers, there’s the internet where we can learn to meditate, learn about our culture and reach out and help each other heal. Its time for us ALL people to also call onto the federal/provincial/territorial/municipal governments to give us food that is affordable, programs that will help us heal, proper housing, proper education that allows us to go straight to college after grade 12 and proper healthcare by writing to them and calling them up, this is up to ALL Canadians too!!”

Michelle Fenn 21st Century Learning, Before School Starts, Building Inclusion, Challenging Topics, Classroom Layouts, Classroom Management, Constant Learning, COVID19, Flexible Classroom, Inclusion, Inspiring Students, Inspiring Teachers, Learning About Your Students, Professional Learning and Growth, Resilience, Student Ownership, Student wellbeing, Students as Teachers, teacher efficacy, Teacher Wellness, transition, Wellbeing, wellness, Wellness, wellness

Educational Perfection

As we end another school year and look forward to summer vacation, I think back to my first years in education and what summer “vacation” looked like for me. July was spent taking additional qualification courses and most of August was spent prepping and planning. It wasn’t really much of a vacation.  So why did I do it? Two reasons. I am passionate about learning and I am a (now recovering) perfectionist-especially as an educator.

I must have thought there was some kind of a prize for having the tidiest, prettiest and well organized classroom. I wanted my classroom to look like something out of the Scholar’s Choice catalogue. The custodians would be annoyed at having me in the school and I would wait anxiously for them to be finished waxing our hallway so that I could get in and set up my classroom. I needed everything to match. If I had baskets for items in the classroom they had to all be the same colour. It isn’t always easy to find 24 of the same basket at the Dollar Store.  Before the students started in September I felt the need to have labels on all of their notebooks, duo tangs and I even labelled their pencils. I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to control the environment for my students. My classroom looked like a showroom on the first day of school and I would spend the next 194 days trying to maintain that standard. Our first printing practice lesson (because we still did that back then) was to practice writing “A place for everything and everything in it’s place.” When I think back now to all of the time and energy that I wasted not allowing learning to get messy I shake my head. It was exhausting.

After twenty plus years in education I’ve learned a few things about educational perfectionism and letting go of control in order to empower the learners in the classroom. When I was given a portable for a classroom that I wasn’t able to get into much before school started I panicked at first.  I didn’t have space or time to create a showroom. I decided to give the design over to the grade 4-5 students.  I still had labelled duo tangs and a place for each of them to put their things that was their space ready on the first day but the rest, we did together. It built community, it gave the students ownership and it gave me some of my summer back. If you’ve ever taught in a portable that has the coat racks inside, winter is a bit of a nightmare for an organizational freak but eventually I let it go. We still had a tidy classroom because their wasn’t enough space to be too messy but the organization of things didn’t stifle the learning. We learned how to paint in a portable without water using buckets and trips into the school. We brought lawn chairs to school at sat outside at reading time. I loved our little cabin in the woods.

As educators we have a lot of people that we are accountable to in our jobs. Students, families, administrators, our board and our communities are all stakeholders in what we do. The pressure to be perfect in our roles can be overwhelming and paralyzing. What educators do each day is literally driven by “overall and specific EXPECTATIONS”. It took time for me to realize that the expectations that I was putting on myself were much higher than those of anyone else. It took reflection to realize that perfectionism isn’t the badge of honour that I thought it once was and that it was making my life more difficult. I came to understand that it isn’t the room or the resources that make me a good educator.  It is about the connections and relationships with my students and their families that matter. It is about embracing the Ms. Frizzle moments and rolling with it.  If I’ve learned anything from COVID-19 it is that being flexible and letting go of what I cannot control are the keys to staying out of perfectionism. I plan on guarding my summer vacation as I would a medical specialist’s appointment but I’ll likely take a few professional resource books along to read in the waiting room.

 

Melissa Turnbull Occasional Teachers, Occasional Teaching, Remote Learning, self reflection

Exit Tickets

I often try to put myself in my students shoes and think about how I would have felt as a young student learning online during a pandemic. 

Personally, I learned remotely as an adult when completing my Master of Professional Education degree. But I cannot confidently compare my experience with the experience of these young learners. I chose to learn remotely, I had access to the tools I needed and am privileged to be able to seek out additional information and necessary resources for myself. 

I think back to being that kid who was a perfectionist.

I only ever asked questions quietly to my teachers, in constant fear of looking like I didn’t know what I was doing. I would not raise my hand unless I was confident I knew the answer.

I definitely talked (a lot) to my friends during class time despite being asked not to. But, I did not take risks in front of my entire class when I felt unsure, stuck or confused. 

I always offer help to students in such a way that attempts to empower them to ask for it. While this is ideal for those students who wish to voice their concerns, it leaves behind those who are hesitant to take risks or those who aren’t sure of what questions to ask to receive the help they need. I empathize with those students who are unlikely to raise their hand in the physical classroom and admit uncertainty.

Fast forward to 2020/2021 and online learning. Now, students are joined together on a Google Meet, sitting there at home where their family is likely listening, their classmates are listening, and their classmates’ families are listening. What a terrifying way to put the spotlight on yourself when it’s the thing you wish to avoid the most. 

I decided one day I would try an exit ticket online to give students a voice. I have used these in the classroom for many reasons, including checking for understanding, mental health check ins, or as a way for students to ask questions. I created a quick exit ticket on Google Forms (where an exit ticket template exists already by the way!) and sent it off to my students.

The response was amazing. The very first time I tried it while occasional teaching, I received responses from students who I had not yet heard from in the large group environment of virtual instruction. What kept me coming back to using these was the quality of responses, the honesty of responses, and the vulnerability of responses. 

Here are some exit ticket questions/conversation starters that I have found successful with students, even as an Occasional Teacher:

  1. What is one thing you want me to know about you?
  2. Tell me one thing that helps you learn.
  3. What helps you to focus/listen while learning?
  4. How can I support your learning?
  5. Tell me something you wish I knew. 
  6. What is your favourite class and why?
  7. How are you feeling today?
  8. What questions do you have for me?
  9. What questions do you have about today’s lesson?
  10. What is one important thing you learned today?
  11. What can I do to help you with this task?
Velvet Lacasse Advocacy for change, Anti-Racism, Challenging Topics, Constant Learning, Equity, Indigenous Perspectives, Mindfulness, Professional Learning and Growth, Remote Learning, Social Justice

Break open…and rise up!

Spring is a good time to reflect and pay attention to growth, change and transformation. After a long year of isolation and stillness, everyone is hopeful about the promise of movement and possibility. Planting seeds is a wonderful metaphor of the learning that we are doing together in our school communities.

Planting Seeds:
Jenny Davis is one of the parents at The Grove Community School who has supported the growth of the Rainbow Garden, by working in consultation with First Nations and Indigenous families and community members. In the fall, Jenny harvested seeds from some of the edible plants, including sunflowers, cornflowers, and marigolds. This Spring, families worked together to deliver a paper bag of soil, seeds and a pot to every student.

Jenny facilitated on-line planting with our classes, and shared what she is learning about important Indigenous protocols, such as the practice of gratitude and reciprocity. We were encouraged to sort and describe our seeds and learn their names before planting, to draw pictures on our popsicle sticks to welcome them, to “pay attention” and give them what they need to grow. During our Land Acknowledgment, I have been honouring our plant relatives, and inviting students to share what they notice about their seeds as they break open and rise up.

Me and White Supremacy:
This winter, as part of my ongoing commitment to the practice of anti-racism, I participated in a community Book Club with a small group of parents and staff. Together, we read “Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor” by Layla F. Saad. I highly recommend this resource to White educators. This is a powerful book that includes journal prompts at the end of every chapter to support deep reflection and action. Layla Saad first wrote the book as a 30 day Instagram challenge, with daily prompts to support readers who have White privilege to recognize and disrupt White supremacy in their lives. Our Book Club met on-line every month, and we discussed one week at a time.

Layla Saad offers a process for engaging in the work called “The Circle Way”, which was developed by Christina Baldwin and Ann Linnea. The Circle Way includes guidelines and a structure for readers to follow, including rotating facilitators and a shared intention and responsibility to stay focused on the work. It was very helpful, and can easily be used to facilitate critical and courageous conversations in other contexts. I recently facilitated a discussion about the final chapters, and I invited everyone to think about their own growth, change and transformation, and how we might invite others into this work.

Root into darkness:
This work is not supposed to be easy. Layla Saad explains that feelings of devastation, anger, and confusion are important parts of the work. She writes, “Without those feelings, nothing changes, because there is no reason to heal what does not feel broken.” (page 199) As White educators who are committed to racial justice, we must recognize how we are complicit in a system that is causing harm to Indigenous, Black and racialized people, and allow the pain “to break your heart open” and work towards creating change.

Maya Angelou wrote: “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” After discussing what holds us back from “doing better”, such as fear, loss of privilege, confusion, or insecurity, the Book Club members made commitments to take action and disrupt White supremacy in our different communities. Each member shared “I will….” statements, and we agreed to continue the Book Club next year, and support new families to join the discussion.

Me and My Commitments:
I want to share my own commitments to anti-racism and publish them in this blog, so I can be held accountable. I will also include concrete actions that I will take towards these goals.

*I will….continue with my own on-going learning and professional development.

(I recently started the ETFO MentorCoaching program, and I am learning about intersectional feminism, anti-oppression frameworks, and transforming power. I will continue to use the reflective journaling prompts in the book to challenge my own White silence and fragility.)

*I will….share my learning with others.

(As an ETFO workshop facilitator, I meet with members from all over the province and always position myself as a co-learner. I will always join committees at school and/or in my local, that are doing racial justice and equity work.)

*I will….use my privilege to disrupt White supremacy in my classroom and school community.

(I will meet with my principal to discuss Equity goals for next year, and share recommendations at our last Parent Council meeting, including an on-going process of discussion and reflection to determine how well we are meeting our collective goals.)

*I will….center and celebrate voices of Indigenous, Black and racialized voices in the classroom.

(I have more learning to do about anti-Asian racism, and integrating curriculum to support East/South Asian students. I will dig deeper into the new ETFO resources, and implement Culturally Relevant and Responsive Pedagogy. I will teach love and pride always.)

*I will…listen and learn when I am called out and called in. I will allow myself to make mistakes, especially as I break open and rise up!!

Thank you for reading this blog. Writing and learning in community continues to be a transformative practice for me. I am deeply grateful for all of the support and nourishment I have received to keep growing.