This Week in Ontario Edublogs

2023-09-01

This Week in Ontario Edublogs

This past Wednesday, Stephen and I finished off our summer where we’d invited a number of Ontario bloggers to join us on the show. The last guest was Aviva Dunsiger who joined us from school and shared her environment with the world with this Twitter picture from her studio, er closet, at school away from those who were setting up classrooms.

Just as long as nobody needed the Christmas tree, we were good to go.

Accommodations For Adults: Reflecting On Google Maps And UDL

Aviva Dunsiger – @avivaloca
https://adunsiger.com/2023/08/26/accommodations-for-adults-reflecting-on-google-maps-and-udl/

It’s always a treat when the co-host has blogged recently so that we could dig into their posts with a few questions. It’s much more satisfying than a Like or quick comment on the blog post.

Poor Aviva took it from both barrels as both Stephen and I remarked that she was probably the last person to get a smartphone.

She does put it to good use traversing the streets of Hamilton using driving instructions and the joy of Bluetooth to listen to music and driving directions.

And, of course, there had to be a connection to education and Aviva eventually got to reflecting on the appropriateness of technology for students who need a bit of assistance.

I think we all agreed that it, of course, is appropriate. The consequences of not doing so would force the student even further behind.

Totally Worth It

Colleen Rose – @ColleenKR
https://northernartteacher.wordpress.com/

My big takeaway from Colleen’s post was that people in Northern Ontario don’t go to cottages. And, why would they?

They could just grab a kayak and head out onto the beautiful water and Colleen took us for a trip. I was more than just a bit jealous when she showed us a picture of her surroundings. That would have inspired me to sit back and just watch the ripples.

But, I’m not an artist.

Colleen was inspired by a picture that she took and then headed home to paint it. It was a big moment and called for a big canvas.

Here’s the work in progress.

You’ll have to click through to see her final result. It definitely got a WOW! from this guy.

Zen and the Art of Driver’s Ed

Matthew Morris – @callmemrmorris
https://www.matthewrmorris.com/zen-and-drivers-ed/

One advantage that I had as a youth was learning to drive a tractor as I worked on my Dad’s boss’ farm. Matthew didn’t have such luck.

But, that didn’t stop a little bit of learning to drive – when left along with his little brother, they went out for breakfast…in the family car.

Of course, there was an incident to make the post something you’ll want to dig in to.

Even though he ended up being the butt of family stories apparently, he learned that maybe we all, and that includes students, need to be given some flexibility in their learning. Now, I’m sure that Matthew isn’t encouraging all 12-year olds to grab the family car but there are alternatives.

I was surprised to read that he didn’t take Driver’s Education. I did because supposedly the insurance rates were cheaper and we only had one one-way street in our town and we all knew that the examiner would try to trick us to drive up.

At the time that I learned, there was only one set of street lights to navigate. Easy, peasy.

If I’d taken my dad’s car to breakfast, he’d know almost immediately. Such are the downfalls of living in a small town.

How we climbed Kilimanjaro

Paul McGuire – @mcguirp
https://paulmcguire1.com/2023/08/25/how-we-climbed-kilimanjaro/

I was waiting for this post from Paul. We had invited him to join us earlier in the summer but he had to beg off. Heather, who the intent was to join us as well, carried the ball and did a wonderful job.

Between the two of them, I know that it takes a special person with special dedication to pull this off.

The technology nerd in me enjoyed the high detailed map that Paul shares. Follow the click through to get it. I was surprised that they went down a different way from their ascent. I remembered every trip to the park with my kids as we retraced our paths to pick up everything that they dropped as we walked to the play sets.

There is an emotional tone running through the post as Paul details the sicknesses they dealt with, gave a shoutout to the support that made it happen and his use of humility a couple of times.

I’m still blown away by the effort, making the final climb starting at midnight, the frozen water, and then only spending 10 minutes at the top.

I’m guessing the challenges were just hard to fully describe in words.

I’m so glad that Heather and Paul shared at least part of the story with us.

Why AI Won’t Be Replacing Teachers Anytime Soon

Peter Beens – @pbeens
https://www.beens.ca/why-ai-wont-be-replacing-teachers-anytime-soon/

I hope that Peter doesn’t take offense to this but I do get excited when he has a new post up; it’s generally some nerdy thing that I’ll try out.

I didn’t pay much attention to the first line of the post – at least the first time through.

I read the blog post and though that Peter had got pretty philosophical about our profession. I agreed with his message.

Then, I hit the small print at the bottom to find out ~~who~~ what actually wrote the post.

Then, I went back and read the top of the post and followed the link.

I still can’t come fully to grips with the fact that I might have attributed all this to Peter’s unique thoughts had he not been honest enough to let us know the full story.