Live is great but can be a challenge to make happen. This Week in Ontario Edublogs, a live show, didn’t run this week. Stephen had another commitment. It happens every now and again and previously, we’d been able to record the show and just play it back as a podcast. We couldn’t even figure out how to do that this week so took a hiatus. We’ll be back next Wednesday.
I’m going to lead off with this good news story from Richard Erdman.
Last week, I reflected on the latest post on his blog where he’s documenting his Cancer treatment story. It was a bad news/good news type of post. Bad in that his options were becoming limited; good in that he was hoping to get into a new treatment program at Princess Margaret Hospital.
So, the good news he reports is that he got accepted into the program and continues the sharing of what’s happening in his life. It’s an interesting reflection; hospitals are a challenge at times. But, as my former superintendent was fond of saying – “If you’re going to play by the rules, you have to play by all the rules.” That means more time visiting the hospital than ever for Richard.
He’s off to this new chapter in his journey and I know that you’ll join me in wishing him every bit of success with this new treatment.
[Movie Review] Zack Snyder’s Justice League: A Story of Heroes, Villains & Redemption.
I’ll admit. I grew up with the real and true Batman – Adam West! Who could forget the Batusi?
Actually, as a fan, I do like going back and watching Batman and Superman sequels from the 1940s. YouTube has them all!
I’ve also followed the genre? (is it really a genre?) up to today.
In this post, Anthony Perrotta introduces us to the latest in the long set of media, Zack Snyder’s Justice League. He comes across as a real fan in his writing. I haven’t watched the movie yet but I, too, have seen the talk about it on social media.
It will be viewed in the future at my house.
Join me at OAME 2021, May 17-21
Andrea McPhee is presenting a couple of sessions at the upcoming OAME Conference. Like many online conferences, it will be offered online. She’s doing one session live and one that’s prerecorded.
I can’t help but think back to a blog post that I wrote earlier this week about the need to change presentations to reflect these times. Over the past year, teachers have mastered the art of sit ‘n git and are ready to move on to better things.
It looks like Andrea will address this and her descriptor talks about all kinds of activities that she plans to talk about. Fidget spinners, tuning forks, … all of this could be presented in a play along format.
I wish her all the best and I hope that others are looking to present active learning events addressing so many people’s current realities, at a distance.
Some key priorities for education’s new normal
Charles Pascal’s newest post will have you thinking
Imagine it’s 2041 and a group of publicly educated 20-year-olds from across Ontario have been asked how they feel about the years they spent in school. The conversation is animated and positive. They say school made them feel like they belonged.
In the post, he addresses what he feels needs direct attention now and going forward. He starts with fighting racism and ends with the concept of a new plan for leadership and how that works.
In the middle are many other well thought out topics. When you look at them in their entirety, it reminds you that education is such a complicated enterprise. There is no one simple solution that we see in the media so often. You really do have to blame the media for their short summary clips and the politicians who play to it “We’ll spare no expense” – except in the most recent budget.
Many of Charles’ points can absolutely be addressed and they should be. They need to be addressed by highly aware teachers and leaders who refuse to accept that the current reality is good going forward.
In attention to his well presented topics, the comments including one from a former Education Minister, expands on his original premise. They add value to an already great post.
This post may well be the best educational reading that you can do for yourself if you are indeed concerned about where we’re headed. Do it.
What Are Your Magical Fairy Moments?
OK, so Aviva Dunsiger tagged me in this post which kind of made me want to read about it. She’s a kind person so I wasn’t worried that it was going to be bad but I do have a reputation to uphold! She tagged one of my blog posts. It turns out that the post was from 2016. Wow, she remembered? Either her or Google…
As Aviva always seems to do with my posts, I’m going to go off on a different tangent. Not that this isn’t a wonderful post full of pictures and thoughts but I can’t help but think that so many of us can be negative at times and it’s a piece of cake to do that these days.
Somehow, Aviva always manages to find the positive and in this case it’s a reminder of some of the great people that she’s had the chance to work alongside. In a time and era when it’s so easy to find problems, she looks for and promotes the great things.
Some of those great things were attributes that people just do because they’re genuinely good people. I want to meet them someday. But I’ve also had my share of genuinely good people in my career. I’m struck by Aviva’s use of the term “magical”. I’d be willing to bet that if someone approached these people or any educator for that matter and asked about their magic, they’d just get stared at.
I’ll bet that they don’t see what they’re doing (they’re just being themselves) as magic. It’s the effect that others see where the real magic lies. And that’s amazing in itself. I think of teachers who have worked their magic on me – I see the magic; they probably just thought they were doing their job.
Maybe everyone’s job is magic and it takes a post like Aviva’s to realize it.
From the ETFO Heart and Art Blog, Velvet Lacasse takes us on a flight.
Into Spring.
After a long winter, we’re ready to warm up and get on with the nice weather headed into summer. Velvet was looking for a way to incorporate that via dance in her classroom or whole school community. She came up with “flocking”.
Flocking is a type of movement improvisation, where the whole group mirrors each other’s movement. Students can be organized in a straight line or in the shape of a diamond. In flocking, there is one student who leads a movement, which is followed by the other students.
She could have stopped the post there and it would have been very inspirational. But she goes over the top when she ties it to Land Acknowledge and Indigenous application of gratitude.
She explains the Thanksgiving Address, Bear Song, and Medicine Wheel teachings and what it means to her. It’s an inspiration read for great thinking and took me to places I didn’t expect.
The 500 – #378 – (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? – Oasis
I’m so glad that I found John Hodgkinson’s ongoing series of blog posts talking about the greatest 500 albums of all time. The list and his discussion take me back to great music that I hadn’t run across for a while. This post is from Oasis.
Back I went to enjoy some great music.
I love this stuff.
Better, I enjoy exploring the original music videos on YouTube. Even better than that, I really appreciate reading John’s reflection on the songs and artists.
Even though we didn’t have the radio version discussing these blog posts, you can still click through and enjoy them.
Then, follow these folks on Twitter.
- Richard Erdmann – @rerdmann
- Anthony Perrotta – @aperrottatweets
- Andrea McPhee – @Ms_McPhee
- Charles Pascal – @CEPascal
- Aviva Dunsiger – @avivaloca
- Velvet Lacasse – @velvet_lacasse
- John Hodgkinson – @Mr_H_Teacher
doug --- off the record 