This week was the last opportunity to invite an Ontario educator as a guest for This Week in Ontario Edublogs. After checking that he wasn’t supposed to be in school, Matthew Morris joined Stephen Hurley and me on voicEd Radio Canada for a discussion. It was a great end to a great summer of guest hosts as I noted yesterday in a blog post. Make sure you follow them all!
The Lox Dipset Verzuz, Brotherhood & Black Men’s Mental Health
As per normal, we started the show with a recent blog post from our guest host. Matthew had written a post sharing his thoughts about a Verzuz match that he had managed to catch as a result of a prompt from a friend.
Now, I’m appreciative of this post for a couple of things. At the end, Matthew reflects on the reality of aging and that’s probably the deepest message to take away.
For me, though, the concept of Verzuz was new. From my memory, I saw it as a combination of Battle of the Bands and Wrestlemania. In this case, a couple of acts faced off and I’ll admit that I was really engaged with what I saw. I’ve seen a lot of first class acts in my life but watching two of them face off professionally against each other was really engaging. I watched it on FITE.TV here.
Personally, there was a lot of learning for me here. The concept and then a history of other matches plus even more at the site. I’m so appreciative of everything I learned and thank Matthew for that. There’s also a strong message about mental and physical health that we all need to hear at times.
These young kids today.
Diana Maliszewski shares a post inspired by a previous post from Aviva Dunsiger about updating a wardrobe for the teacher. Her post is riddled with links to advice about what a teacher should look like. I can’t help but smile and remark that this would be great advice for teachers decades ago when you could just stand in one spot and lecture. Perhaps it’s good advice for those who will be teaching in a hybrid setting? <grin>
We’ve come a long way since then. I remember the advice from Teachers’ College and had sports jackets and ties – my kids even bought me a motorized tie rack one year for Christmas.
The realities of teaching just aren’t consistent with dressing up in your Sunday best day after day. Teachers are mobile, active, up and down, and fully engaged in what’s happening in the classroom. The trend is toward dressing accordingly.
Now, that doesn’t mean dressing in grubs but there’s the reality of what you need to wear to get the job done and remain comfortable and yet professional looking. And, of course, shoes. My dress attire should be shorted to one pair of brown shoes and one black. I fall far short of the 15 that Diana claims she has. (Where does she keep them all?)
The summer of Gratitude – some reflections
Laura Elliott had originally written this as an opt-ed for the Toronto Star and made it available for all of us on her blog. Thanks for that, Laura.
It’s a very personal story of being open with her feelings and dealing with it. I can’t help but be so impressed that she’s so honest and open with her personal life.
In the post, she addresses three concepts:
- Habituation
- Comparison
- Stressful life events
and fleshes each of them out as they apply to her personally. She could have ended the post there but threw in one final challenge.
If you are a teacher or administrator you might consider an initiative in your school that asks your community to commit to this practice and share
That’s a huge challenge but might just be the type of thing to get through what promises to be an autumn of challenges.
William G. Davis:Only two disagreements over a four-decade relationship
With the passing of William G. Davis, we’re hearing so many tributes to the man and what he brought to Ontario. In this post, Charles Pascal shares his thoughts. I found the notion of only two disagreements kind of amazing when we talk about politicians.
But then, these were politicians from years ago and things were different.
Actually, quite different. I’m not a political scholar by any means but I actually knew this. Heck, I was a student when this happened at the leadership of the Premier.
- system of colleges in Ontario
- expanded universities
- launched TVOntario and OISE
It’s hard not to think about it personally. Would I even have been able to attend university under the older model? Who would have been my babysitter without the Polkaroo? When I was at the Faculty of Education at the University of Toronto, many courses were offered down the street at OISE and it had a fabulous library. What was education like before that?
I suspect that most people would point to the extension of funding for Catholic Schools as one of Davis’ lasting legacies. I did crack a smile as Charles recounts a conversation that he had with the Premier over this.
Preparing for your first day of school
From the Seven Generations website, comes this piece with advice for their students. I’ve seen some other schools that haven’t updated their own websites since June. They could easily pull the advice from here because it’s such great wisdom.
- Start getting yourself into a routine
- Especially waking up – how long will it take to get to school? Where do you meet friends? Where do you park? How do you know where to go once you get there?
- Prepare the essentials
- You probably won’t need them all the first day but do in advance because it will be busy. But, you know that your teacher will hit the ground running on the second day, for sure
- Familiarize yourself with your schedule
- Especially if you have a lot of class changes – reality in 2021? There may be new rules just for navigating the school. I can remember my old high school where we had some staircases that were either UP or DOWN which made travelling between classes a challenge
- Know essential locations on campus
- Your locker, cafeteria, washrooms, library, where to catch your bus, …
- Your first day of class
- OK to be nervous – here’s a secret – your teacher will absolutely be nervous so don’t sweat it!
- Make the most of your experience
- This is such wise advice. One of my biggest regrets, particularly at university, was not taking advantage of everything that the school offers. It actually wasn’t until I attended a Faculty of Education that I truly studied and understood all that my schools had made available to me and I somehow failed to take advantage of them
This is such wise advice. Even if you’re going to a different location, it’s terrific information for all. All schools should have something like this on their website.
A Poem for the First Day of School
If you’re a teacher or a student or a parent and have a passion for education, you won’t be able to get through this poem from Jessica Outram without at least a bit of emotion. In my case, I’ve got something caught in my eye.
She uses this form of writing to send us all an incredibly powerful message about schools and education.
In a time and era where it’s so easy to be down and depressed with everything, this is such a powerful reminder of the importance of education.
“everyone here a twinkling star in the system of our community.”
How I Approach the First Days and Weeks of School
It’s not too late to read this post from Shawna Rothgeb-Bird and maybe adjust things for next week and maybe even beyond. The post is an honest and open description about what’s going through her mind and planning for things beginning next week.
- Before School Starts
- First Day of School
- Boîte de moi
- Student Info Forms
- Nametags and Labels
- Unstructured Outdoor Play Time
Of course, all these topics are personalized according to how Shawna thinks things will roll out. I’ve read her thinking for quite a while now and I would have no doubt that she could make all this work and, if it doesn’t, she adjusts on the fly.
For elementary school teachers (and maybe even secondary), it’s a nice read as she shares her thinking and it just might inspire you in your approach.
I hope that you can find the time to click through and read all these posts. Then, follow these amazing bloggers on Twitter.
- Matthew Morris – @callmemrmorris
- Diana Maliszewski – @MzMollyTL
- Laura Elliott – @lauraelliottPhD
- Charles Pascal – @CEPascal
- Seven Generations Education Institute – @7GenerationsEd
- Jessica Outram – @jessicaoutram
- Shawna Rothgeb-Bird – @rollforlearning
This week’s voicEd Radio show can be accessed here.
doug -- off the record 
Please share your thoughts here. I’d enjoy reading them.