Leadership: Ethics in Public Education

    The fifth module of our Teacher Leadership Specialist course is on ethics in education. We looked at environmental stewardship and social justice as part of this topic. I would be hard-pressed to find an argument against public educators making sure to include environmental stewardship and ethics as part of their classroom culture. The subject(s) that you teach should not be a factor; not to mention that the environment and social justice are in the ethical standards of the Ontario College of Teachers.

Setting a positive example for social justice and environmental stewardship can come in some small but significant choices. They might include talking about recycling (and the importance of reducing and reusing ahead of recycling) and being an advocate for appropriate language use in the classroom. Students should feel accepted and included in our classrooms.

As leaders we should be cognizant of the same ideas in interactions with colleagues and students in other areas of the school. We can set a positive example for using anti- racist, ableist, sexist, homophobic and transphobic language. We can intervene when we hear this language and educate others about the effects of it. We can introduce ourselves to others and give our pronouns to help normalize this practice and make others feel more at-ease.

These are not big asks, but they can make a huge difference for individual people.

Embracing Vulnerability, Recognizing Privilege and Taking Action for Change

We cannot sit idly by, or simply post resources to social media that inevitably only serves to connect with like minded people, and think that we are doing our part. And by we, I mean the white population of the world.

Black and Indigenous people of colour's (BIPOC) lives matter. They matter, not just because they are just as human, but because they have been systemically disadvantaged and discriminated against for hundreds of years.

It is time for us to do the work. The BIPOC communities have been fighting for long enough. Change starts from within. As white citizens we need to recognize, learn about and work to change the systemic discriminations that are built into who we are and what our country has become. It is NOT enough to be a person who is "not racist". We must work to become informed people who actively engage in the discussion, make personal changes and actively speak up/act when witnessing discrimination.

By no means do I think myself an expert. I am still early in my journey to learning about anti-racism. I am just fortunate to have some amazing colleagues who were doing the work and helped me get started on this journey. Last year we engaged in a lot of learning that allowed me the space to start to look at my own thoughts and actions and start to recognize my own biases and start to see microaggressions for what they are. I started to come to a better understanding that as honest a life as I had wanted to live, I had not seen the racism within myself before. I grew up with friends of different ethnicities and was engaged to a visible minority - so how could I be racist?

And so my journey to embrace mu vulnerability, recognize my privilege and to take action to change had begun. If there is a moment from those early days that really sticks out, it was when student stories (from students at my own school) were being shared with and I found myself realizing that I was (unconsciously) responding to the reactions of students of colour differently in the classroom. I had to do a lot of reflection to identify which of my actions/words/thoughts I needed to become more aware of - the mental list had begun.
What I am sharing here today is no authoritative stance, nor does it necessarily reflect any perfect views or ideas. This is just me trying to use my privilege to stand with the BIPOC community. Hopefully you are starting to ask "So what can I do to fight systemic racism in Canada?" It may not be a simple answer, but it is doable!

1) Educate yourself! This does not mean that you should seek out BIPOCs on your life and ask questions. It is not their job to teach you. (But if someone of colour does choose to speak with you about racism, make the effort to really listen! If a BIPOC tells you that there is something that has caused harm, that is often a moment of vulnerability and trust in their relationship with you - if you are not able to respond with meaning in the moment, be honest that you need time to process and appreciate that they trusted you enough to share - make sure to continue that conversation within a reasonable time to honour your relationship). Start with learning some vocabulary and doing related research on Google OR pick up a book like "So You Want to Talk About Race" which is a good introduction to big ideas and vocabulary OR watch Dear White People on Netflix (and Google vocabulary when it comes up).

2) Do the work! In learning about things like white fragility, systemic racism and microaggressions, do the *personal* work to start to recognize the things you say and do that you may not have realized were racist before and with to change your attitudes, habits and behaviors. Get comfortable being uncomfortable. We are talking about dismantling a system that has been an advantage to you your whole life, try to take your discomfort out of the equation.

3) Be part of the solution! Use your privilege for good. Learn when to stand behind, beside or in front of the BIPOC community to support the work. Say something when you see/hear something. You will not get it right every time. In fact, you will mess up. It's inevitable. But keep learning and keep doing the work. Here is an image about allyship that a friend shared that I found helpful (it is intended for Trans Allies, as soon in the header, but the principles are universal).

Source can be found here.

Privilege can be complicated and comes in many forms. Most of us have some, but some have more than others. Let's choose to use our privilege for good.

Finished with the Status Quo

I am currently making my way through Starr Sackstein's Hacking Assessment: 10 Ways to Go Gradeless in a Traditional Grades School. I will likely do a blog when I am finished and will include my takeaways in more detail but one of her lines has inspired me to bring up some provocative conversation.

As are many of you, I am tired of the argument "We have always done it this way." It may be true that there are some thing in our lives that can stay the same year after year and still be the most efficient way to do things but life changes, and often things need to change with it. Most of the stages of my life have come with pretty significant changes and I have also watched the world evolve - computers, internet, cell phones - and would be significantly behind in current knowledge if I had ignored those changes.

Of course, I have also watched the world fail to evolve (lack of change in carbon footprint despite the research and negative effects we are experiencing; decades long wars (in so many cases started by some misunderstanding and a failure to learn from history) that are sometimes ignored by the rest of the world; etc.

I can no longer watch education become something that does not change.

On page 28 Sackstein had me out loud proclaiming "Yes! This is the articulation I have been looking for!" when she said:

In the industrial era, schools were intended to train good workers, so students went to schools that prepared them to enter the work force. This model of education valued obedience, conformity, and rote learning.

We are no longer in the industrial evolution.

Of course, I will not pretend to believe that we do not need workers who can conform and follow specific steps to complete a task, but the majority of work that we need to prepare students for requires people who can be creative, who can think for themselves, and who can solve problems. This is the world I want to prepare my students for - I want them to find success in whatever passion or skill they find for themselves through the use of transferable, valuable skills (not rote learning they can look up on YouTube).

Hopefully my journey can help to bring along more teachers, students, parents, admin, and community members who want to see a change.

Digital Citizenship: A #flipclass Flashblog

This week on our #flipclass chat we are discussing digital citizenship - what we teach (or don't) and what students need to learn.

I have always been a big supporter of the need to USE technology with students so that they have a change to learn about being positive digital citizen, to be safe, and to learn to cite and respect the work of others. I am sure I have blogged about some of these ideas in the past particularly when I was developing my ideas for doing formal Twitter chats with students as review. Essentially my point of view is this - if kids are usually ahead of their parents online, then if we do not teach them, who will?

Since I have stopped using those chats the need to explicitly teach the first two has dwindled. Since I am teaching science teaching the third one comes hand in hand with any research project we do. Creating research notes and reference lists are a much and is scaffolded throughout our department's program.

Our board uses a BYOD (bring your own device) model and my school often has a student run day somewhere around the topics of bullying/self-esteem, so aspects of digital citizenship often get touched on. I wish I had a photo of the poster most of us have up in our rooms to share with you. It uses the acronym THINK to help remind students to think before they post. Here is a link to a PDF of it instead. The description is also below:

True?
Hurtful?
Illegal?
Necessary?
Kind?

When instances for a teachable moment come up in class (or on our online classroom) I always cease them to discuss - sometimes with a particular student, and sometimes with the whole class. But maybe I should do more. I would love to have some kind of simulation I could run. Where students are participating in an online chat and they get spammed with inappropriate comments or something...then we could discuss what they could do, etc.

Food for thought, anyway.

Student Support

This semester I have been put into a new role - I am on the student support team. I still consider myself a new teacher (been at this less than 5 years...but my how time flies) which comes with learning in itself, but I would have to say that I have learned more in the past two months than in any other two months in my career (such as it is). Having a role that is not classroom teaching has shed a new perspective on educating teenagers, I have found it more emotional (you have more contact with students with sad stories) and, at the same time, has the potential to be more rewarding.

As a transitions monitor (I track at-risk Grade 9s - and a few 10s) I have the opportunity to have some time to try to engage students in an individual way and create success plans. Some of them have emotional needs (usually due to family circumstances) which leads me to work closely with our counselors and social worker to try to engage them in school and take an interest in controlling their future while others have academic struggles that are rooted in poor work habits. As an ILC (Independent Learning Centre) teacher I work to find ways to help students complete credits in recovery and support students through independent courses. Both of these roles have shown given me a chance to see more of the Learning to 18 initiative first hand.

The most interesting part has been outside of this entirely. My admin has been giving me opportunities to get involved in some broader projects.
- Lead teacher for OSSLT support for non-identified students & moderated marking
- Working on planning process for Boys Night In
- Being asked to consult in planning meetings for our Early Release Day (technology PD)
- Attending various PD sessions (i.e. DI for ELL and Bullying and the Bystander)

I would like to write in more detail about some of my experiences, so if you are reading this and have any questions (about the above or the topics listed below) please comment and let me know. Here are some potential future entries:
1. Monitoring strategies (possibly to become useful as a classroom teacher?)
2. OSSLT prep
3. Technology PD (providing workshops/support for colleagues)

I look forward to writing about the technology piece in the near future. I still think it is ironic that I am seen as a technology "expert" in my school - at least my more technology adept friends think it is funny.

BYOD, Equity, and The Shrinking Computer Labs

I last blogged about the idea of the flipped classroom and what I was already doing to work my way toward the increasingly student-centred classroom that I have envisioned. Since then many weeks have gone by where I have continually thought that I needed to take the time to sit down and reflect on these ideas more and try to put into words what I envision our future classrooms looking like.

My school board has had huge announcements this school year with the intention to make all schools wireless (we are now in those first stages, working out those beginning kinks) and their ideas behind BYOD (bring your own device). There are mixed feelings on every level, especially on the equity piece.

It is true that many of our (high school) students nowadays come to school armed with a smart phone or iPod touch which have wifi capabilities and can contain many useful apps. We are armed with the ability for students to, at the very least, do simple research at the touch of a button - no computer lab necessary. But we are not armed with students who are going to want to type an assignment on their phone. We are not armed with students who are going to have devices capable of using the full abilities of a complex website that we might use to post assignments or edit work. So there is a ways to go.

Here we are at the brink of all of the new "21st century learning" and I have had the opportunity to use an iPad for the first time (I am involved in an action research project whose funding was used to purchase two iPad minis). Now I have actually been able to find and use some apps that I could see being useful (and have reason to do a bit of research and seek out people who can recommend things). But I have also run into the same equity piece - even if I were to find an app that could function in similar ways to something like turnitin.com (where students can self and peer evaluate and I can comment and evaluate) I would then have to make sure one exists for blackberry and android devices as well: or expect that my students can do this. I see this as quite the barrier. As our computers come off of warranty and have an issue they are no longer being replaced or fixed, so our computer labs are shrinking. What will I do in a year when I teach grade 9 science again and cannot take them to a lab to peer evaluate - a part of the process I have come to find valuable (but only if I get them to do it in class - at least the first time or two).

I am sure there are solutions to my concerns, but I don't have them. Hopefully somewhere down the road someone does.

P.S. There are some great, easy to use, apps on the iPad for the idea of a flipped classroom. Record lessons and post! Check out explain everything ($2.99) for enhanced functions (i.e. add photos and videos) or educreations for a free more simple experience.

Future of Financial Intelligence

Over the last couple of years I have been thinking about two things
1. That I would love to help students start up a club or group of some kind
2. That I fear for the financial intelligence of many of the young people out there

I know some people who have gone through high school and University successfully and are only now really learning about some of the key financial tidbits they wish someone had told them sooner. I also know that the Ontario Curriculum allows our students to get through the required courses without ever learning about these things (OK, so there is a chapter on interest and mortgages in Grade 11...but most classes don't put this information into a context that makes it matter).

The above has led me to think that I should consider running "stuff you should know" type sessions for students who are looking to enter the "real world" (which may involve post secondary education, the work force, travel, etc). Here are some of the things I have thought about addressing:

- Keeping in touch with family
- Keeping in touch with friends
- Maintaining a work-life balance (job, school, social)
- Making friends in your "new" life
- Credit cards - what are they and should I get one
- Tips on saving (how and where)
- Perspective on the financial costs of education
- Student loans, Line of credit
- Bursaries, awards and scholarships
- Do I need a laptop? How to survive note-taking
- Services at post-secondary schools
- Etiquette at the theatre
- Basics cleaning for student housing
- Dealing with landlords
- Basic car knowledge
- Paying and organizing bills, etc
- Do people really change after high school? Life and other things

Now I definitely see some overlap here with things that the guidance department at my school already addresses, but I think there could be a benefit to a separate small group setting that would be set up for discussions and questions more than generic info. I am not sure how well attended this kind of thing would be though, and that is the reason that I would much prefer to set up a club that students already express interest in. If it comes from them it is more likely to draw the interest of other students and keep the word spreading without a huge advertising effort.

Those are my musings on the topic for now. I don't have a concrete idea on how to go about getting this started, but at least the thoughts are there, and now there is record of it. Who knows what next year will bring.

Tweet Chat 1

I followed through with the steps from my previous post and the SPH 3U0 class had a Tweet Chat on Motion two days before their unit test. We had picked a date and time as a class. The day before I showed them some basics on twitter (how to write a tweet, what a hastag was, searching, following, dealing with spam and other safety concerns) and we talked about the importance of using the hashtag and internet safety. I also posted an online resource on Netiquette onto our class website. I ended up with approximately half the class logging in and indicating that they were at least watching the chat.

Here are some of the things we did and that I noticed during the chat:

- Some people made themselves known but many were hesitant to participate in the chat
- I started them off with 4 or 5 starter questions. They used a couple of them and added a couple of their own (or modified ones I had used)
- A few of them were very comfortable with twitter already
- They were respecful when answering a question or correcting someone's thought/idea/answer
- They got confused if I did not acknowledge a correct answer

Here is some of the feedback I got from the students the following day (in an "I learned, I liked, I wish" format):

- some had trouble following the conversation and got confused
- some liked the conversation as a whole and found it helpful
- some would rather just do it in class
- some liked the clarification especially related to the idea of "negative acceleration"

Here is some of the things I have interpreted and want to use going forward:
- more instruction is needed on using the reply function on twitter and only trying to follow one or two questions/lines of conversation via the hashtag - especially the idea that it is OK to get into a side conversation and not read the rest!
- I recently downloaded TweetDeck and LOVE it: I can follow both of my accounts at the same time (my professional handle is @TchngPassion); you can customize the columns it shows, the order they are in, and how many you use; AND it updates live (which is more than I can say for browser and smartphone apps I've used so far)
- I am going to show my class TweetDeck and recommend it's use - I think it will help them follow the tweets better since they live updates instead of appearing in chunks
- future tweet chats will be for part of the communication section of the corresponding unit test - there will be multiple chats per unit (which should make them less dense/confusing) and they have to post at least one question or answer in a set number of the chats to get full marks for it

I think there is going to be some resistance to the continued use of tweet chats for the time being (even though there was a chunk of positive feedback given to me by some of them) but I am hoping that with time passing and the modifications that I am going to make that it will go in a positive direction.

I have my VP on board with the process. I update her on what is going on (i.e. sent her the archives of the chat so should could see the conversation, participation and how the class handled some inappropriate comments) and hopefully we will get this to a place where she will be comfortable allowing me to share the endeavor with my colleagues. It is such a positive use of social media and has been a way for me to model its use to teenagers who know so much more about it than their parents do. If we, as educators, don't start to do this we are going to end up with a generation of our population that never grows to use the internet in a positive light and the cycle will have started with the next generation.

It is up to us. And we have to act now.

--- An aside
There was a phenomenon the week before March break on Social Media with a video link to "Stop Kony 2012" that went viral (the narrator even stated in the video that it was a social experiment). These are the types of things that are teachable moments in our classrooms. I had some great discussions with my students about responsible use of the internet and the idea of not taking everything you read/here/see to be truth without doing your own research. We discussed at length the idea that you have to know what you are sharing/tweeting/etc before you do it and about the media reports that "only 31% of the funds raised were actually going to the cause" (so we also talked about statistics and how they can be manipulated especially if we don't know what to compare them to)!

Here are the links I used as part of the discussion if you are interested
- Twitter hashtag search
- Invisible Children's website
- George Stroumboulopoulos' Blog (which had been updated to March 8th at the time)
- and the music video for Black Eyed Peas "Where is the Love" (as a wrap up we discussed social justice and how there are many causes, we have to decide what is important to us and fight for it)

Happy teaching!

Remembering Thousands

I had every intention of creating a blog entry about my first week of teaching in year three. The incredible week it has been, starting off courses using Smarter Science teaching strategies and watching my Grade 9 Academic and 10 Applied classes be engaged in the first week of Science - my gosh it has been amazing, and I am scared at the idea of keeping it up and making them better Scientists...keeping them interested or helping them find an interest they thought they had lost of never had. But today is September 11, 2011 - and that scares me more.

This weekend I have watched the Dateline special surrounding September 11, 2001 (where FDNY survivors and the families that passengers of UA flight 93 called that terrible day) and the made-for-TV-movie Flight 93. I will eventually watched the feature film United 93 (I taped it) as well. I often think to myself that time is a strange concept. We have this concrete idea of seconds, hours, days, and years...but when I really think about it, time is this subjective and relative concept that has a different meaning in every context. For instance, how 10 years have managed to pass since 4 planes were hijacked in the United States on the East coast. I was in my first week of Grade 11 that day. I was 16, and still didn't truly grasp what had happened.

This summer I had the opportunity to go to New York City for the first time in my life. I spent one afternoon taking a walk down to the World Financial Center (WFC) and Ground Zero with a friend. We went into the Winter Garden in the WFC where you can see over the fence that surrounds Ground Zero and took pictures. You can see where the World Trade Centers used to stand, where the reflecting ponds will be in working order, as of today, to commemorate all of the lives that were lost that day (over 3 000, including 343 FDNY personnel). From many angles we saw the Freedom Towers that are being built nearby - the new additions to the already gorgeous Manhattan skyline - incredible architecture in that city.

I am willing to bet that watching these specials and movies this weekend would have found me emotional regardless, but I believe that having been there made the connection that much stronger. At 16 I had nothing to relate to. I was not alive during WWII, none of my living family served in that war overseas (only in Canada) - yes I have heard first hand stories of survivors from the concentration camps in Europe, and yes I took Canadian History in Grade 10 and we learned a lot about WWI and WWII - I had no true concept as to what war was. I have seen footage of the WTCs falling, almost straight down, more times than I can count now. I have heard the story of a group of Ladder 6 firefighters who saved the life of an elderly woman, and only lived to tell the tale because somehow the staircase they were in was spared. I have heard the story of UA 93 through the eyes of the air traffic controllers and families and seen what was left of that plane after it crashed in a field because the passengers on the flight decided they were going to die anyway, and didn't want others to suffer with them. There was almost nothing left of that plane. It was traveling so quickly that it effectively disintegrated (along with the people on board) on impact.

So I think what I fear most about going to school on Monday, is trying to talk to my students about 9/11/01 and realizing that they were 4, 5 or 6 years old when it happened. And discovering that we already have another generation of kids who don't really get it, and maybe never will. But if I've learned anything in the years of my life, history tends to repeat itself. They will know despair, hatred, and intolerance one day. I only hope, that they have the role models now to show them how to grow, learn and make a difference. I only hope, that more of them become the heroes of tomorrow than become the bystanders of today.

Proud to Support

I will do an actual update soon (and have been meaning to for awhile). But in the meantime, here is a Facebook status that is going around that I wanted to share - both as a person and as an educator of today's youth.

Let me get this straight...Charlie Sheen can make a "porn family", Kelsey Grammer can end a 15 year marriage over the phone, Larry King can be on divorce #9, Britney Spears had a 55 hour marriage, Jesse James and Tiger Woods, while married, were having sex with EVERYONE. Yet, the idea of same-sex marriage is going to destroy the institution of marriage? Really? Re-post if you are proud to support equal rights.

A Weary Mind, Body and Spirit

Wow am I ever drained - and very glad that it is Christmas Break (though I could also have dealt with staying a few more days so that we had more time after New Years Day, but oh well). It pretty much feels like I have not slept since Thanksgiving. Combine the busy life with the season change, and it all makes sense.

November was busy at school. You get into the second half of the semester realizing that your courses are nowhere near half-way through their curricula, you don't have the energy to lesson plan, and every committee, club or sport your are involved in is about to get busier. Every weekend, something prevented me from sleep - a hockey tournament, the Future Aces Leadership Conference and an OSSTF new teachers retreat being the most notable. I have definitely learned a lot.

The Future Aces: A Conference Empowering Students was a great experience. It was really nice to get to spend some time with students with amazing leadership potential from across Ontario for a weekend. We had fun getting to know each other and hearing from very inspiring speakers like Matt Evans on the adversities he has overcome through comedy, Amanda on her lemonade 4 heart campaign that she has been running since the age of 2, and Paul Rosen on losing his dream to play in the NHL and almost losing his life. Students learned about various causes like MAD: Making a Difference (where Maddie started raising funds to build a community in Africa as her WISH when she was fighting cancer), OSAID: Ontario Students Against Impaired Driving, and human trafficking in Ontario.

To say the least the weekend away with a small group of students from my school was both rewarding and tiring. I cannot wait to have the chance to go again and am really hoping that I can keep the 8 kids together to accomplish what we have now set out to do. They have decided to host a week-long coin drive at school with various events involved to raise money for Maddie's Wish Project. It is going to be a challenge considering I have never run anything like this before, and neither have any of these students - but that was the whole idea!

On another note, some small milestones have been met in some challenging areas of my teaching life. I am slowly learning to put my foot down sooner, rather than later (it's a tough one for us nice folk). Some of the students I was having trouble reaching are buying into the routines in the classroom and are completing work and causing less trouble. Of course there are those who are not buying into it and I am still having trouble with. Some day I will find ways to deal with students who are vain or overly talkative class clowns, but I doubt that this semester will be the day. I am going to come out of this semester with some new tricks up my sleeves and with the knowledge that I have a lot of support around me. I am going to walk into next semester with a new way of starting things and the conviction to follow through with them and create a better learning environment. And I will do all of this knowing that it will not be perfect, that sometimes I will fail, that it is going to take a lot of time and effort. Time and effort that will be taken away from the already huge challenge of having three new courses to teach. Time and effort that will be taken away from coaching teams and helping Future Aces.

Somehow, it will all work out.

If you know better, do better!

The title comes from someone who is in my Additional Basic Qualification (ABQ) course. It came up during our online chat tonight about a teachers role in the socialization of students. A stimulating chat we had, I must say, and it is unfortunate that we did not have time to debate some of the finer points. Since I haven't updated this blog in awhile I will give the basics of this course: Online version of a curriculum course that will enable me to be qualified to teach Senior Social Sciences.

It is such a simple line "If you know better, do better." But I had to take a moment to write about it because of just that - a simple motto in which to live by. Six words that encompass how I have tried to live my life as I have grown, matured, and developed a set of personal values. But as simple as it may sound, it is not always easy.

It is the every day things, like trying to be an active witness - being the one in your peers to stop someone when they use a particular term or phrase when no one else will. Like trying to throw every little piece of garbage into a garbage bin and recycling into a recycling bin. Like trying to be a good friend to everyone, even though it is virtually impossible to never say a bad thing about another person at some point. Like trying telling your mom or dad a little white lie, even though the truth probably wouldn't hurt. Like realizing just after the fact that you've made a mistake, and leaving it for someone else to deal with.

Anyway, this classmates life motto caught my attention long enough to bring it to your attention. I hope it makes you think a little bit about how you would like to lead your life better. About how you can make a difference for a better world.

Happy Summer!!

A future blog - the roller coaster of the job search!

Herbert H. Carnegie Future Aces Foundation

Throughout the past three weeks I have been doing work with the Herbert H Carnegie Future Aces Foundation in Markham, ON. Future Aces is affiliated with many schools throughout the Toronto District School Board and the surrounding area doing leadership and character work with a focus on at-risk youth. It was really neat to get some experience in an Educational role outside of the classroom. This charitable organization definitely does some amazing work. I first heard about them when I was in my last year of high school and got to hear Herb speak at my co-op placement.

My tasks included creating a student journal for the student trip to Chatham, ON; developing a couple of Intermediate Science Character lessons; working through evaluations from the November Leadership Conference (which is run annually for Grades 7-10); attending and supervising the trip to Chatham (36 high school students from 5 high schools in Toronto attended); and organizing the ACES Team (Leadership Team) for the Returning Faces Conference in May (a follow up to the Conference in November). During my placement I was also able to attend one of their high school presentations - it was the first presentation at a school that started a Future Aces club just this year.

The most eventful part of my placement was obviously the excursion to Chatham, ON. The trip lasted for two nights and I rode the bus both ways with the teacher supervisors and the students. We met up with the Future Aces staff there. It was a bit of a 'no man's land' for me to be there on the "organizers" side of things, but to not really have much of a role with them, and not have a direct responsibility for the students, as their teachers had. In any event, it was interesting and I got to see some pretty neat things.

We stopped at the RM Classic Car Exhibit.


Visited the North Buxton National Historic Site and Museum, located on what was the Elgin Settlement - a last stop on the Underground Railroad where many Black men, women, and families settled after escaping slavery.


Spent time at the W.I.S.H. Centre, part of the Chatham-Kent Black Historical Society, where we got to meet and speak with Ken Milburn - the first paid black firefighter in the Chatham department as well as the first black captain (it is believed that he may have also been the first in Canada of at least one, if not both).


Had a tour of the Milner House and Museum (we had also been to the house the night before while on our "Ghost Tour", it was neat to be back during the day time when the kids were less afraid!). The Milner house was built in the late 1800s and was restored as a 1905 home. Apparently the phrase "put a sock in it" comes from this time as the gramophone did not have a volume control - one would be told to "put a sock in it" to muffle the sound.


Our final stop on the Underground Railroad was Uncle Tom's Cabin, built on a part of the large portion of land that was once the Dawn Settlement. Rev. Henson played a big role at this settlement and was made famous when the main character in Uncle Tom's Cabin was developed based on his life. A small museum is housed here were we saw some of the torture devices that were used on black slaves.


We also visited some important First Nations sites. Stopping briefly at the Tecumseh monument (it was almost horizontal snow, so we did not stay long) and spent the better part of our third day on Walpole Island (aka Bkejwanong) learning from and speaking with some of the First Nations Youths, Elders, and the Youth Director. It was a really interesting day there and I think the students learned a lot (I know I did). I did not take any pictures on the Island, but definitely have many memories to take from the experience.

One of the important aspects of this trip for the students were the consciousness thinking sessions with Courtney Kazembe. We did a condensed version of his Awakenings session and it was interesting to what it unfold while he worked with high school students instead of his usual "middle aged" audience. I have much to say about this and will leave it for it's own entry.

Be the new you.

Calm and Assertive...Dealing with Language

Cesar Millan is a famous dog whisperer that deals with owners and their dogs. It is he who believes that leadership comes from being "Calm and Assertive". This idea has some interesting applications in the human world, especially in teaching. I wanted to link this idea to the entry I have been planning write for a few days now because I believe it has a place in the solution. I am sure there is a theme visible in what I write about and the issues I talk about (within and outside of class) so this will not likely come as a surprise - I have been noticing and trying to find new ways to deal with language that is not inclusive. So here I will discuss a few of the more common phrases used that I believe lead to exclusion and hopefully leave with a part of a solution to help myself, and others, to be active witnesses.
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Faggot: I would be curious to know how many people actually know what it means.
- A bundle of sticks and branches bound together
The term came to be an offensive term as referred to a male homosexual when a group of 'witches' used homosexual men as kindling for a fire.

It absolutely appalls me that someone could continue to use this word once educated as to its meaning. Yes, we have to consider that it is done simply to offend someone - but if all we can do is use words as incredibly terrible as this then all I can think of to say is that we are incredibly uncreative. But away from that tangent - those who are educated as to the origin of 'faggot' should feel obligated to pass on this information, should feel obligated to make it a part of who they are to prevent others from using it.
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Homosexual:
- Was once a diagnoses in the DSM for a medical condition or psychological disorder
At one point it would have been considered the 'proper' term to describe same-sex sexual orientation

The goal behind bringing this up is that we have to work on the context in which we use words - even words like 'homosexual' can have a negative connotation used in a wrong way. The same goes for words like 'gay', 'queer', 'lesbian', or 'trans'.
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Caucasian:
- Refers to an old anthropological reference to a skull structure consistent with those from Europe, North Africa, West Asia, and South Asia.
As one can venture, not all of these areas consist of what we know as "white" populations.

This is more of a personal pet peeve of the assumption that "Caucasian" is the politically correct way to refer to a white person. I am white. And yes, I happen to be Caucasian, but if you need to refer to my race or culture call me white or Canadian!
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Boyfriend/Girlfriend/Husband/Wife/etc:
I will admit it can be difficult, and at times awkward, to use the word partner or to choose other gender neutral terms when asking about or referring to someones significant other - but at times the assumption that a person is straight or the assumption that a person is not straight is unfounded and we find ourselves in an awkward situation anyway.

Why not get in the habit of using gender neutral terms. Just because the societal "norm" is to be straight doesn't mean that a person who is not should be forced to choose to either lie to you by omission or have to "come out" to you just because your language implies you are assuming that person is straight. That small effort by you allows you to show you are an accepting person and makes others feel more comfortable around you. And hey, setting a good example doesn't usually hurt anyone.
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I will sign off with a general comment - be aware of your own shortcomings when it comes to inclusive language. Take the time to realize when YOU are excluding someone simply through the use of a word or phrase and make the effort to find something else to say.

Take it one step further and find your most common generalizations (be they about race, gender, sexuality, parenthood, age, culture, etc). Take a second to think about a time when someone generalized you for being part of a group to realize that it is possible for people to fall outside of their groups 'norm' just like you did.

These are just a few of the "solutions" I was referring to. You will have to find your own - but the connection is that I have found it is much easier to be an active witness if you are calm (and assertive) about your views. Share your opinion, stand up for others, and stand up for yourself - but don't be afraid to listen to what the other person has to say as well!

Happy Lunar New Year!
And thank you for taking the time to read this entry and/or others.
Feel free to leave a comment just to let me know you stopped by =)

Do your part - be an active witness!

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I have found that my writing can get pretty structured around whatever idea I title my entries, so I thought I would leave this one a little up in the air and see what happens.

The first week of the winter semester of my B.Ed. is well underway. The snow is aplenty and the freezing rain super-annoying! It seems like the air at the Faculty is pretty upbeat considering the weather - most of us are enjoying that we are back in classes being given the chance to review what we have done in practicum and to continue to get interesting ideas from one another. I could have used with a couple of days of vacation from my break to do nothing before classes started, but have found that doing no work has done about the same thing. There are drawbacks of course; I have yet to get any real move on with my resume and covering letter writing and I have an appointment to have it reviewed in less than two weeks.

In the first three days of classes and special programming I have already heard a few things worth writing down and attended another social justice lecture. This one was about Environmental Education, and was pretty interesting as I had not really thought of Environmental Education as a social justice issue prior to yesterday. We got a taste of a couple of good resources too. There is a video that shows you what the world would be like if we kept proportions the way they are but decreased the world's population to 100. You can view the video here, it is pretty short so watch it if you have a few minutes!

One of the things that has been said since I returned to the Faculty that has really stuck with me is "Beware the 'teacher reaction' - make sure to know the facts and react accordingly". I think that is stuck with me and led to me writing it down because it is so easy to relate to. I have had many moments in my life that I can relate to this statement. It's that reaction that I have from time to time that has the look "are you seriously saying/doing/acting like that right now??????" Many social and ethical issues have become so ingrained in me over the years that it can be easy to forget that it is not necessarily the norm in society (yet) and that the individual is a result of his experiences. Which leads me to something someone said today - we must remember that we are not just teachers in the classroom, we are educators everywhere. And so, with this thought in mind and having seen myself overreact to situations in the past, I will strive to remember to step back, take in everything, and then deal with a situation. And I will strive to be an educator in my every day life and to continue to try to be an even better active witness.

Well I think that I have shared enough for tonight. I hope to continue to find things worth sharing with you!

Thanks for reading and Happy New Year!

Teaching for Social Justice

I have been back at the Faculty of Ed for just over two weeks now. This is our third and final week of the fall semester that will be spent in classes talking, reflecting, and analyzing things that we have already done and trying to soak in even more ideas and notions about teaching. I have really found things to be overwhelming - there are so many things to consider when you are teaching children and adolescents (most of which has nothing to do with the curriculum) and you cannot possibly address them all. So this is what leads you to start to think about what is important to you and what values you would like to instill in your students. I have found myself consistently having the social justice undertone in everything that I do - I always want people (my friends, family, and students) to be active witnesses to injustices in our everyday lives. And so, my path has led me to two things.

1. Attending a series of lectures on social justice that will take place, for the most part, when we return in January and will lead to a certificate in social justice.
2. Making a presentation in my Exceptional Adolescent and Children elective on cultural diversity in the classroom that led me to speak about all types of diversity and get fellow Teacher Candidates (TCs) to discuss how they will plan to create an inclusive classroom/environment in their careers.

In the spirit of spreading my knowledge and views the intent of this entry is to share with you some of the things I have shared with others and some of what I learned in the first of eleven social justice lectures (we also have additional generalized lectures for this topic in one of our course modules in January that all TCs are required to complete).

Here is the pamphlet I created for my presentation.





The rest of the information here is paraphrased from the lecture that I attended this morning. I learned some interesting statistics but please note that this is in point form and that I do not assume that all data presented is precisely or historically accurate.

- Faggot – a bundle of sticks usually used for kindling. “Witches” used a group of gay men as kindling.
- 30% of youth suicides are LGBTQ youth.
- At school, 86.2% of LGBT students reported being verbally harassed
- 44.1% reported being physically harassed
- 22% reported being physically assaulted
- 100% of students suffer as a result of homophobic name calling and bullying causing rigid gender roles to be formed
- Film: It’s Elementary: Talking about gay issues in school (Educators version), has also been remade since called “It’s Still Elementary”
- What you permit, you promote!
- 25% of new carriers of HIV are women
- 98% of predators are straight men
- You will always have the School Board Policy, the Education Act, and the Canadian Human Rights Policies to fall back on – ultimately your goal is safety for all students
- Resources: www.crimethinc.com; www.glsen.org; www.thinkb4youspeak.com; www.galebc.org (GALE = gay and lesbian education); www.stonewall.org.uk