Welcome to a special Friday. If you’re a teacher, you know why. If you’re not, ask a teacher. It’s a time to share some of the awesome reading that I did this week from Ontario Edubloggers.
Thoughts about white supremacy
Those that are regular readers on this blog will already have read this post. David Garlick had written a collection of Twitter messages and I took the time to read them all. The process showed the shortcoming that Twitter does have with its limit on the length of messages. I offered to put them all together in a blog post and David agreed.
It’s a collection of his personal thoughts and are most definitely worth the read and ponder by all.
Please do so, if you haven’t already.
Rolland Chidiac really expresses his thoughts here…
“Since March 2020, I have been in a hyper state of reflective practice.”
It has been a painful year with major events that impacted all of us. Rolland used this blog post as an opportunity to be open and honest with us all about his personal feelings.
His anchor, in terms of leadership, is the Catholic Leadership Framework which has provided the support and direction needed.
It’s pretty easy to beat yourself up at this time and nobody would you fault for it. But, the fact that it’s the last school Friday in June today and you’re here, you may wish to get strength from his closing paragraph.
As I approach the end of this very interesting and unprecedented school year, I am walking away from it feeling successful
Lisa Corbett is always good for a smile when she’s writing like this – I call it a bait and switch post.
She starts out talking about squirrels and ends up in personal time management. Along the way, we witness her story of disconnectedness that I think that we all have been feeling at times these days.
But, back to the squirrel – I’d never noticed but this morning’s walk took Jaimie and me past a couple plus a couple of rabbits. Given Lisa’s description in her blog post about squirrels, I took the time to observe the same type of reaction.
I wonder what they saw in us?
Reading Challenge: Centering Muslim Characters
This is an important resource that all educators should click through and take a look at. Rabia Khokhar had let us know on Facebook that she’d been interviewed on CTV about a collection of books that she had curated for readers where the central character is a Muslim character.
I elected to highlight this resource on a post on this blog earlier this week. You can check my thoughts about her content there.
As you know, you can elect to follow your message as others favourite it or share it with other. Her resource struck a note with educators and it’s been shared all over the globe. The message is that this is a resource that educators want and maybe have been waiting for.
Rabia provides it for them. I hope that educators continue to share this wonderful resource and that it finds its way into so many classrooms this summer and onwards.
Final Reflections from a Remote Teacher
When I read the title from Kelly McLaughlin writing on the ETFO Heart and Art Blog, I sincerely hoped that this would be the last time that she would be forced to use the term “remote teacher”. For some bizarre reason, we won’t find out officially until July.
In the post, she includes an open discussion of things that she’s personally learned
- Saying hello to each student in the morning
- Morning music until the announcements start
- Discussing current events rather than hoping they didn’t hear the news
- …
and thoughts from her students
- Not getting distracted
- Improved on tech. skills
- Being nice
- …
I’ve included some snippets here but make sure you click through and read the entire post to get them all.
What will we bring back to in-person learning?
Terry Whitmell appears positive that schools will be back to in-person learning for the fall. I think we all hope that she’s right.
I can’t imagine what it must be like to be a principal in these circumstances. In normal times, any room or class is just a stroll away. Now, they’re a click away and we know that they’re different and that people are doing their best to make it as good as they can for students.
For the fall, Terry predicts the following
- Learning Management System
- Student-to-Student Digital Collaboration Tools
- Increased Differentiation
- Transparency and Structure
- Greater Professional Networking
and fleshes them out in detail. It’s a good read and Terry promises a followup when she meets with staff.
Thank You Caregivers, Students, And Families!
And, what a way to end this last Friday of the year post with a reference to this one from Aviva Dunsiger.
It’s been a challenge for everyone and Aviva takes time to acknowledge them all.
Caregivers
- Thank you for logging in even when there are a million different things going on, and you’re trying to balance your own work with school.
- Thank you for your upbeat attitude, daily smiles, and friendly hellos, even when all three might be hard to do.
- …
Students
- Thank you for coming as much as you do, even though other things might be taking your attention at this time of the year.
- Thank you for filling our day with laughter, stories, and new learning.
- …
Families
- Thank you for reminding us that online learning is about more than just the kids in the class.
- Thank you for increasing our conversations and having us reconsider what learning looks like with all that you contribute.
- …
What a way to end this blog post. Make sure you click through and read all of Aviva’s thoughts.
Please take the time to enjoy all these posts by clicking through and reading. Then, follow these folks on Twitter.
- David Garlick – @garlickd13
- Rolland Chidiac – @rchids
- Lisa Corbett – @LisaCorbett0261
- Rabia Khokhar – @Rabia_Khokhar1
- Kelly McLaughlin
- Terry Whitmell – @TerryWhitmell
- Aviva Dunsiger – @avivaloca
The Wednesday This Week in Ontario Edublogs show.
doug -- off the record 
Please share your thoughts here. I’d enjoy reading them.