Normally, I write this blog post after a dog talk of 4 500 steps. This morning, after 5 000 steps from walking back and forth on the driveway, I sat down to work and decided to do it a bit later! Of course later, I may be taking another level of snow off the driveway so decisions, decisions, …
Come to think of it…
- David Garlick – @garlickd13
- https://www.dsgarlick.ca/blog
David was a principal with our former employers and had done part of the circuit being transferred from school to school. My former interactions that I specifically involved him at J.L. Forster and Western Secondary Schools. I was surprised a while back when he indicated that he had written a book, The Principal Chronicles.
At the time, he lamented that the printed copies would be a bit in the distance so I bought and devoured the digital version. It really resonated with me because I knew the name of so many of the players. David is a great storyteller and I suspect that his stories would resonate with many other educators – just change the name of the players.
There are great conversations in the stories; how did he remember them all? He had a folder on his computer called “Barebones Incidents” and leads off the book with the carefully crafted sub-title “A Semi-Autobiographical, Pseudo-Non-Fictional Memoir Kind of Thing“.
He did reach out to me to ask how to get people to know of his efforts and, of course, I suggested a blog. And he did. It’s in its infancy but I hope that it continues to grow. The first post is all about his writing process and might get you inspired to create that folder on your own computer if nothing for the memories. I could kick myself that I didn’t.
Word is that there might be more coming from his creative mind.
Reporting on reporting
- Lisa Corbett – @LisaCorbett0261
- https://alotalot.wordpress.com/2022/01/28/reporting-on-reporting/
When I started teaching, there was this guy on staff who was legendary. Legend said that, at report card time, he would call a student to his desk, look them up and down, and then write down a mark and comment. Did you have someone with that infamy in your school?
I thought about that when I read Lisa’s process of doing report cards with her running records, math notebook, water, and hot chocolate.
When I did my first set of progress reports, I figured I could do them one night after supper. We really didn’t talk much about doing them at Teachers’ College and I’m guessing it’s because it would have scared us away from the profession. That was in the good old days when report cards were “simple”. They still took seemingly forever. It’s the one thing that, as a teacher, you want to make darn sure you do right.
These days, report cards have become a second job for teachers and Lisa really describes everything that she does to do her best to communicate with parents. It’s nowhere near a single evening’s work; it’s weeks. Will there come a time when a reality check comes into play at Mowatt Block?
Lisa wrote this post but thousands are living it.
So many questions
- Amanda Potts – @Ahpotts
- https://persistenceandpedagogy.com/2022/01/18/so-many-questions/
This is a different type of post from Amanda. It’s student voice; teacher voice in the back of her head response format. I cried real tears of laughter at some of her interactions. I’ll give you some of the questions (with my editorial titles) but you’ll have to visit her blog to see her response.
What not to ask a Language teacher, already the most overburdened marker in school
Is it possible if you could proof read it before I submit? it would honestly mean a-lot.
How to build confidence in your teacher’s job of educating you
I have no clue what is going on.
How long have you been in this class? My calendar says it’s currently February
I’m just not sure where to start. Is there any requirements you’re looking for to get a good grade on it?
Maybe we could just write it off to learning online and things will be better when Amanda is back face to face with her class.
The one that alway got me going
Sirrrrrrr – does this count?
Bad News is Increasing, but More Slowly?
- Marie Snyder – @MarieSnyder27
- https://apuffofabsurdity.blogspot.com/2022/01/bad-news-is-increasing-but-more-slowly.html
I would have titled this “The Emperor Has No Clothes” because Marie does a wonderful job of identifying so much of what we’re doing wrong in the province. The absurdity is amplified with the video that she embeds.
Also embedded is a list of unsuccessful COVID strategies with alternatives and she sees the system missing all the marks. I totally understand that we’re building the bridge as we’re crossing it but it just seems so bizarre that all the actions we see are incorrect.
The CTV affiliate that we get is from her community and her community is nowhere near being out of the woods yet. In some places, things have lightened up to the point of allowing elective surgeries. But not everywhere.
There’s no way that you can feel anything but frustration as you read this post and Marie’s commentary. You will hit absolute rock bottom when she relates the dialog as a 3 year old gets placed on a ventilator.
There will be tears for a different reason.
Is a Fox a Good Pet?
- Cameron Steltman – @MrSteltman
- https://www.mrsteltman.com/our-inspirations-class-blog/is-a-fox-a-good-pet
I’m a fan of this writing activity that Cameron uses with his students. He writes a small blog post about something that they’re doing in class and they respond to his post via a comment.
It’s writing for a purpose; it’s writing for an audience, your comments are going to be read by classmates and hopefully parents – what’s not to like? You could even use pseudonyms if you wanted and were concerned about student privacy.
They’re reading the novel Pax and so the prompt is about whether or not a Fox would be a good pet.
Sorry, but I had to.
There are some interesting comments and insights that come from the students. Even a legal opinion!
What’s cool is that Mr. Steltman and class will be listening to our comments about the post from the voicEd Radio show in class. So, they know they have an audience.
The Other 11 Months
- Arianna Lambert – @MsALambert
- https://heartandart.ca/?p=11440
Writing on the ETFO Heart and Art Blog, Arianna shares her thoughts about Black History Month. She correctly notes that it’s important that we use the time to recognize and celebrate events but she does question why it’s just for the month.
Education is really like that. Everything is a unit that’s covered, assess, ticked off, and then we move on to the next. Previously, she had shared her thoughts about Cultural Months. I suppose the logic is that, when we celebrate these events, it becomes more of our regular lives and reality.
As Arianna notes, there are other things to consider and she addresses “Black Teachers Exist in Schools Too”, “Words”, and “Excellence”. It’s a sombre read that certainly made me stop and think and I can’t think of a better credit to a blog post. I hope that you end up feeling the same.
I appreciate posts like this that challenge the norm and certainly what I’ve come to expect as the norm and focus on what’s important.
Still “the day after” #SOL2022
- Melanie White – @WhiteRoomRadio
- https://reflectingonrecreation.wordpress.com/2022/02/01/still-the-day-after-sol2022/
I supposed the EduBabble term would be “Teachable Moment” to describe the discussion that Melanie White had with her students after the incident that happened in their city, Ottawa, this past weekend. The words don’t do the process justice and so I’ll just leave it there in quotes.
The event had to hit home with her entire class. This group of strangers invaded their city for their cause and left them with questions. Melanie’s class was a safe place to ask and discuss and you’ve got to love her for that.
“I’m confused miss. I mean, they are fighting against one law and breaking others. They peed on the monuments and did all that stuff on the tomb of the unknown soldier… but what does that have to do with vaccine mandates?”
How would you answer that question? How do you indeed answer that question?
Read the post and see the responses to see how it played out.
Please take the time to click through and enjoy all these posts and then follow these bloggers on Twitter.
- David Garlick – @garlickd13
- Lisa Corbett – @LisaCorbett0261
- Amanda Potts – @Ahpotts
- Marie Snyder – @MarieSnyder27
- Cameron Steltman – @MrSteltman
- Arianna Lambert – @MsALambert
- Melanie White – @WhiteRoomRadio
The voicEd Radio show is available here.
doug -- off the record 
Please share your thoughts here. I’d enjoy reading them.