Stephen was back and we were live on Wednesday morning with the show. Well, the first part was live between the two of us. Stephen had forgotten to press the button that would have broadcasted us out! A faithful listener sent me a message about half the way through the show notifying me of the problem. We stopped our conversation until it was fixed and the last half of the show was good. I’m told the podcast recording is good from beginning to end. I apologize for any inconvenience.
Lifting Each Other Up
- Brenda McNaughton
- https://heartandart.ca/lifting-each-other-up/
Of course, as Brenda notes, we want schools to be a safe place for students and they should feel comfortable looking for help.
But, how about teachers?
The post is an observation of teachers helping teachers and some of the times that Brenda was part of these moments.
I had to smile as I thought back. Probably the first real assistance I had to ask for was how to hand attendance sheets at the end of that first day. I figured I’d nailed everything else and I guess nobody felt necessary to teach me the ropes. So, I asked! It was intuitive to them but complete new territory for this rookie.
This past week, I had a chance to go out for chicken wings with blogger Doug McDowall and his brother. He asked me, an import to Essex County, how I knew about Hurricanes. Well, it was from people I worked with! It was one of the places that we went on Friday afternoons as a group after classes were over.
I’ll bet every teacher would see themselves in Brenda’s post and would have similar stories to share.
daring pt 2023
- Will Gourley
- https://heartandart.ca/daring-pt-2023/
I wasn’t in the classroom during the Covid/Zoom years and so could only live vicariously through the stories of others. There were so many. A lot of them were just horrific.
As Will counts down to the end of the time blogging on Heart and Art, he shares a wonderful story about being reinvigorated in the classroom. No more talking to a screen. It was like starting over.
He sees himself getting away from “pen and paper” and moving to other ways of organizing his class and doing assessments.
I like his description of check-ins and attention to social justice as he looks back at how daring he was in 2023. Now, on to being daring in 2024.
I’ll bet you’re going to be like me and look forward to reading about it.
OLA SC 2024
- Diana Maliszewski
- https://mondaymollymusings.blogspot.com/2024/01/ola-sc-2024.html
If you’ve never been to the OLA Superconference, you need to find a way to get there at least once. You just might run into a celebrity like the mayor of Toronto.
Or Diana!
She shares an agenda of the two days at the conference and it doesn’t look like she missed a second. Including presenting three sessions.
- AI’s Not A Bad Guy
- Unraveling the New Language Curriculum
- Loose Parts for Learning in the Library
They all sound interesting but I would have been immediately drawn to her session on AI to hear her thoughts. And, thoughts it would have been since she didn’t have technology to use for the first part of the session. A computer without an HDMI port?
And, imagine having 120 people in your session at 8:15 in the morning. I wouldn’t have been lonely, that’s for sure.
For each session, Diana gives us three points in case we just needed the big takeaways.
Nicely done, Diana.
As with anything she does, it was nicely documented with all kinds of photos including many of her shoes! How many pairs of shoes can one person wear over the course of a conference? (I would have worn one pair)
Read her post to find out!
Adventures in AI #10
- Cal Armstrong
- https://onenoteschool.com/adventures-in-ai-10/
I’m following Cal’s current project chatOAME with great interest. He’s using artificial intelligence to create content for use with the Ontario Mathematics Curriculum. And, he claims that the heavy lifting is done. That must be exciting for him.
I think that any of us who have dabbled know that you need good questions to get good answers and, often, that first question doesn’t cut it.
This post gets really interesting first with a description of the mathematical characters that are needed as you go digital. Hint: They’re not always visible on a standard keyboard.
There’s a second part that I found so interesting but I hadn’t thought of it. When you ask artificial intelligence a question, you’re going to get an answer from something that knows everything and will give you the very best answer.
But, school doesn’t work like that. You learn some things in Grade 9, then you learn more in Grade 10, 11, 12. So, in addition to the mathematical concept, you have to let the intelligence engine know just how much mathematics is known at the Grade level. So, somehow, the grade expectations have to be part of the conversation.
As I’ve said before, all subject organizations need to be paying attention. How long does it take to turn out a new textbook? Could Cal’s technique speed up the process and make it daily relevant. I think we know the answer to that.
Then, there was a sad point. Cal attended a conference and was told that “nobody reads blogs anymore”. Seriously? I most certainly do. He was encouraged to write something on LinkedIN. While his blog has been documenting his process, this link will take you to his view of the big picture.
We can’t teach humility in our schools, but really need to.
- Dave Cormier
- https://davecormier.com/edblog/2024/01/21/we-cant-teach-humility-in-our-schools-but-really-need-to/
First off, congratulations to Dave for the release of his book..
This post is the first time he talks about it and I’m sure it won’t be the last.
The purpose of humility?
We are not new in needing humility in the way we look at hard conversations. Philosophers have been suggesting for millennia that we need to be humble. Socrates, after being called the wisest man in Athens by the Oracle, responded that he knew nothing… thus confirming that he was the wisest man in Athens.
In a nutshell, Dave describes education for what it is. And, we’ve all lived in it. It’s a system where you just keep getting enough right answers to get out.
If only everything worked out that way. What happens when you’re faced with uncertainty? What happens when the other person has the one right answer in their mind and you don’t agree?
It’s not a new concept – Horst W. J. Rittel and Melvin M. Webber talked about “wicked problems” and this document from 1973 will indeed make you think.
I like how Dave talks about incorporating the concept into his PhD classes.
Please take some time to click through and enjoy these wonderful posts. All of the This Week in Ontario Edublogs are available here.
I’m happy to say that the updated list of blogs that we’ve featured on This Week in Ontario Edublogs has passed the first test and the blogs that are non-existant and corrected links are in place.
You can check out the complete and updated list here.
doug -- off the record 
Please share your thoughts here. I’d enjoy reading them.