Presents and P3s

 This is my last blog post of 2020! What would be worth reflecting on when ending this unprecedented (an adjective I'll be glad to be rid of) year?

Now that Christmas is over (or at least the gift-giving part; technically for Catholics and Christians, this is the end of Advent season and the beginning of the actual Christmas season, ending at Epiphany), I can finally share photos of what I gave my students and staff.

I was pretty pleased with the presents I gave, because they were personalized and partly home-made. For my students, I went through the hundreds of photos that I take during the school day and selected individual photos of each student to populate student-specific photo albums highlighting our 3-4 months together as a class. We couldn't take any group photos, so I created a collage of all their Face Your Manga avatars that they created for a Health assignment and used that as our "class photo". I was worried that the mini-photo albums wouldn't come in time, so I also made personalized book marks with metal owl charms attached. Thankfully the albums arrived early enough for me to build them and wrap them. I realized it made an impact when I received several emails from students and parents thanking me for the gift. Some of the students coordinated their unwrapping together with a digital conference call and they reported that they were surprised and delighted with the big reveal. 

I struggled with deciding on my staff gifts. Usually, I give a donation to a worthwhile charity in their honour, but since we are such as small group this year (just 10, excluding me and counting office, teaching and support staff), I decided to do something different. In addition to the cards and Christmas tree ornaments I gave all my in-building colleagues (including caretaking and lunchroom supervision staff), I sewed these little beds and pillows. Inside the beds were Bitmojis of the staff (thanks Farah for sharing the file!) along with two gift cards and a note urging them to rest, read and rehydrate.

It is better to give than receive, but both happened. My colleagues and students were extremely generous. It's been decades since I was a classroom teacher, so I didn't expect all the presents. My favourite parts were the words and items crafted by the students themselves. One student wrote and illustrated an 11-page comic for me called "The Best Christmas". (It's a holiday-themed LGBTQ romance!) Another student hand-made an Animal Crossing New Horizons gift card holder.

None of these gifts were necessary, because the students have given so much of themselves, especially when they presented their P3 (Personal Playlist Project). This past summer, I had the pleasure of creating my own P3 and sharing it on Noa Daniel's podcast. I decided to do this project with my own Grade 5-6 students and it was a HUGE success. I don't mean that everyone earned A+ on the assignment; it was so much more meaningful and impactful than that. I plan on getting together virtually with Noa to share the specifics of some of the meaningful moments, but let me briefly explain why the P3 was such a gift to me and to my students.

• Everyone participated. Two of my students spend half the day with another teacher and she agreed to incorporate the P3 into her program so that all 25 students could be involved. She had to provide a huge amount of support but it really built our class community. No one "forgot" to finish, even though for some, presenting in front of the whole class made them very nervous.
• Students cared about their P3s. Many times, during our individual two-minute-chats, the students would initiate the discussion by stating, "I want to talk about my P3". Choosing the right song was very important to them. They worked on it at home, with great attention to detail. One student who tends to be laissez-faire about assignments and due dates actually negotiated with another student to present earlier than his designated time, because he was so excited to share. Another student created a music video with personal photos accompanying the music. Many students talked with their family members to help them decide on their songs; I would have loved to have listened in on those conversations.
• Students cared about each other's P3s. In November, we used a random name-selector to determine which two students would present each school day in December. These due dates were serious business. If one of their classmates was away, other students would ask if it was his/her P3 day; they were very worried that someone might miss their opportunity. I also liked how attentive they were to each other. Some students credited other students with inspiring them to select a more appropriate song - they spent a lot of time revising their choices.
• Students shared so much of themselves. I was blown away by how vulnerable the students were, sharing their doubts, darkest moments and insecurities as well as their private memories of family and friends. These songs, some in Tamil, some in Mandarin, some in Korean, revealed so much about the students' interests, values and self-concept.

Noa, thanks for a wonderful project design. I almost hate having to assign a letter grade for this work, because this project was so much more than the marks they'll receive. It was a wonderful thing to do in December. I'm playing January by ear right now, as we will start with one week of virtual learning, followed by who-knows-what. Whatever it brings, at least I know that the Grade 5-6s of Room 206 had a rich and meaningful in-class experience in the last third of 2020. 

Hole In One

 Why would I ever antagonize the caretaking staff, especially considering how hard they are working lately with all the extra COVID-19 precautions?

I didn't mean to, but Project-Based Learning is messy!

If you recall, I was fortunate to receive a donation of golf putters to use in my physical education program. The students developed their own putting techniques based on the advice of kindergarten teacher and avid amateur golfer Mr. Tong. After we finished our golf unit in gym, Mr. Tong faced off against our best student putters in a tournament. Technically, Mr. Tong won, but he created a "trophy" and gave it to the top student in the tournament. Thank you so much, Mr. Tong, for a thrilling end to our golf unit in gym. The competition was intense but super-fun!

The thing is, golf influenced other areas of our curriculum. As the students practiced putting, they wanted to add more challenges, such as hills and ramps. We created "chipmunk-sized" golf courses on our desks with marbles, popsicle sticks and various loose parts as a fun break after a particularly grueling test.

This inspired us to design and create our own mini-putt golf courses that we could use ourselves.

We connected this with our math unit around area of shapes and with the Grade 5 science unit on forces acting on structures and mechanisms. We also added a bit of visual arts / media as well as some drama as I took on a "teacher-in-role" as a Home Depot employee. Students knew that if I wore the orange apron, Home Depot was "open" and they could request materials for building their golf courses. The only pre-requisite to acquisition was providing the dimensions and the area of the type of material they requested.

I was absolutely awed by the energy and effort that my students put towards these projects. Everyone was able to submit something, which is quite impressive when I look at my statistics for regular homework completion. Students begged to stay in at recess and after school to build their courses. 

Here are the finished products, with the names of the students digitally covered to protect privacy.

I'm sorry that we were unable to keep the golf courses out - as you can imagine, 22 mini-putt courses in the hallway created quite the unintentional obstacle course. We only had a single day to play them before we had to throw them away or take them home. I'm glad I was able to take photos of the courses themselves, the courses with the creators, and videos of most of the courses being used. It was a wonderful way to end our most-unusual 2020 school session. 

Finger in the Library Pie

 I had to look this up, because I knew what I wanted to say, but not how to say it.

When I haven't done something for a while, I get out of practice. This is true when I play video games. I haven't been on as regularly on Animal Crossing New Horizon as I used to be, because of my school workload, and I can tell: I nearly forgot how to wish on stars and collect star fragments. I had to look up in the manual how to load my bobbin in my sewing machine, because it's been so long. 

I haven't been in my teacher-librarian role officially since September 2020 and performing my regular duties related to the job since March 2020. I worry that I will forget how to do things. However, there are at least two things that are helping me keep my "finger in the pie" of Library Land.

Writing an AQ Course

I don't know if this is allowed to be public knowledge (so if it isn't, I'll keep the name of the institution secret). I was hired in the summer to write the Teacher-Librarian Part 1, Part 2 and Specialist course for an organization that is accredited to provide the course and qualifications. This was a great honour and privilege, and especially timely because I was on the team that revised the guidelines for these TL AQ courses with the Ontario College of Teachers. 

I am so grateful to my critical friends who encouraged me and offered suggestions. I am also thankful for the support I have received from my liaison, who has provided excellent guidance and has been accommodating with extensions.  It wasn't easy! Some of the project has been submitted already and some will be due shortly. I hope that the assignments and tasks I have designed will make taking the courses interesting, informative, and helpful. I examined the feedback written by AQ candidates who took the previous version of the course and used their advice to shape the course, hopefully for the better.

ETT Library Ad Hoc Committee

It began with this tweet:

Another student wonders why K-8 libraries are shut. Some Boards have TL's written into contracts. Why not province-wide? @oslacouncil @maritstiles @calphonso @krushowy @cafreeland @etfopresident @JennMacBrown @MzMollyTL @MrsGeekChic @EricRWalters @ForestofReading @eysreading https://t.co/sBIIuR2y1g

— Lisa Lewis (@MmeLisa_Lewis) December 9, 2020

Johanna Lawler, OSLA council member and school library advocate, wrote back and recommended that our ETFO local has a Library Ad Hoc Committee. This led me to create a tweet in response.

 

*clears throat* Hello, @ElemTeachersTO - many of us TDSB TLs would be interested in forming a Library Ad Hoc Committee. Please DM 1 of us from this thread to let us know our next steps (and thank you @Lawler for all your work in this area advocating!) https://t.co/M8vf7fn4jb

— Diana Maliszewski (@MzMollyTL) December 10, 2020

A few displaced Toronto teacher-librarians have contacted me privately to indicate their interest in being part of that committee. Since I haven't heard from ETT yet, I will take Johanna's advice and start the necessary steps to make it possible. It's not like I need more work to do. I'm still swamped with marking and I dread the upcoming switch deadline, which I'm sure will need to more upheaval and unrealistic expectations placed on educators. However, I think it's important work to do, and it's a way of staying involved in matters related to school libraries even when I can't be there.

Craft-ing Fan Letters

 This past week, my students and I finished reading our class read-aloud. The book was New Kid by Jerry Craft. The students ADORED the book and would beg for more time, or "just one more chapter". The book took me so long to read because I did something I never do - I wrote down student comments. I hadn't planned on recording their reactions, but they had such intelligent things to say that I couldn't help it. This slowed down our reading of the book tremendously, but the students really felt like their ideas and opinions mattered. When I suggested that we just read the book, without interruptions, many of them objected. There were times that I just couldn't keep up with all the raised hands eager to share their thoughts, so part-way through the novel, I suggested that students use sticky notes to capture their observations and connections. This led to even more participation, as students who were more introverted or quiet could still share their views without competing with their extroverted classmates. 

Once I finished reading the book, I tweeted my/our appreciation to Jerry Craft, and He. Wrote. Back!

I was thrilled. I printed out the tweet and showed the paper and electronic copy to them and they loved it! We were inspired to show our appreciation even more. The students wrote a MASSIVE fan letter to Jerry Craft, which I sent via his website.

I asked for the class' permission to replicate their letter here, on my blog, and they all gave their consent. I am going to XXXX out the names of specific students, to protect their privacy.

Dear Mr. Craft,

We are Grade 5-6 students from Agnes Macphail Public School in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. For the past  two months, we have been reading your debut book novel, New Kid, aloud in class. It took us so long to complete your because we had so many things to say about it and our teacher kept writing down our wise words. We were compelled to write to you to let you know how much we appreciate your graphic novel. 

The plot of New Kid is surprising and emotional. For example, RXXX likes the subplot about Alexandra’s hand, because it was so surprising that Jordan thought her hand was extremely injured. When Alexandra showed her hand to the crowd, her hand only had a little bruise. MXXXXXX likes that the plot has a lot of twists and turns like on page 218 when Jordan yelled at Mrs. Rawle for looking in his sketchbook. EXXX likes the part of the plot when Ashley was Drew’s Secret Santa, but Drew thought it was Andy because the gifts he got looked racist.

Your book, New Kid, is filled with funny moments. For example, near the end of the book when Jordan said to Drew, “Come closer” and then shoves Oscar into Drew’s face on page 234! It was funny because it’s like the “bonk” meme and that is funny. Another example is when Jordan got super-bored in art class, his brain practically shut down and he felt old on page 172-3; it was humorous because it’s funny seeing an old Jordan and the shutoff is very funny how it’s drawn. When Jordan met Alexandra in the rain, Jordan knew that girls kiss during awkward pauses in shows/movies and he didn’t want that so he stalled for a long time on page 184; it was hilarious because if it did happen, there would be an extreme reaction. When everyone won’t sign Andy’s yearbook, he said “Why won’t anyone sign my yearbook?” on page 236. This situation was pretty funny because people are being rude to him and Andy gets a taste of his own medicine.

The illustrations are amazing. We like Jordan’s drawings from his sketchbook because they don’t have much colour. Jordan’s sketches look very realistic like our sketchbooks and we like them. All of the illustrations in general are very original with a unique style. LXXXX likes the drawing of Alexandra’s zombie hand because it looked scary. The drawings look very 3D but at the same time they look 2D. In Chapter 5, we like how Jordan and the RAD team were shivering in soccer. The front cover was so fabulous. It looks realistic. The pictures fit with the metaphors very well. We like how the sport moments, such as Jordan’s goal, were drawn with magnificent details. The drawings make Jordan and the other characters look very approachable and we adore them because the drawings go with the characters and words and they feel extremely authentic.

We really like your characters, especially Jordan because Jordan is very good at expressing his feelings and he does his best to make others fit in, like Alexandra. Alexandra’s story makes lots of sense because she only keeps her puppets on to stop people from thinking she was ugly or weird. Alexandra is really brave too, because she saved her brother, since the hot water burned her instead. Another character we like is Andy because he is really funny but he is also really mean, like when he blamed Draw for pushing him. Some of us have met people like Andy in real life. 

We enjoyed how you included realistic problems in New Kid. When Jordan started attending Riverdale Academy Day School, he faced several issues because of his race. For a long period of time Mrs. Rawle constantly miscalled Jordan and Drew the names of other Black students. Also, this didn’t just happen to the students; Mr. Gardner was mistaken for the coach too. It was not just problems that made it authentic. It was also things that people experienced in everyday life, such as moms going crazy taking pictures and dads checking if you have your wallet, phone, and keys. In addition, Ashley is the “gossip girl” and Andy is the “school bully”. By the way, we admired your creative references and allusions. For example, each chapter has a reference like in Chapter 14, “Rad Men” referred to “Mad Men”.

The themes in New Kid are awesome and important. The message you have put in your book shows that not all people of similar colour are the same, and they should be treated equally. In the book, you show that discrimination is unfair and can be expressed in many ways that are subtle. For example, on page 202, Ms. Rawle accused Drew of doing something without proof. Another example is how Ms. Brickner recommended books about things like slavery to Maury and gave Alex a book that he was not interested in. Ms. Brickner says graphic novels are not real books but our teacher-librarian thinks differently.

Our class broke into small groups to compose this letter, and I (their teacher) think it is a testament to the power of your novel that a) they cared deeply about the quality of their writing, editing carefully and b) they wrote so extensively and prodigiously because they had so much to say. Our class discussions were so meaningful and engaging; students spoke eloquently and insightfully about microaggressions, assumptions, emotions, and personal connections. We look forward to reading your sequel, Class Act, in January 2021. Thank you again for producing a wonderful book.

Let me point out that my students as a whole aren't usually keen writers. The students (as it explains in the letter) broke into small groups to create their paragraphs and I did a "guided writing lesson" (Is that what's it's called? Or was it modelled writing?) where I put together all their paragraphs together and did some minor edits. This is the longest letter I have ever seen students of this age create. They wrote so much (and so well) not for grades, but because they wanted to write to Jerry Craft. This is the power of a good shared book. Reading can lead to writing and even more reading.

Reading aloud matters a lot. In the class across the hall, Ms. Wadia has already read THREE novels by her (and her students') favourite author - the wonderful and talented Canadian Susin Nielsen . Ms. Wadia reads to promote the love of reading in her students, which she notices tends to decline in the intermediate grades. Often, pre-teens and teens do not get the same opportunities to be read to, because people assume that they neither need it nor want it because they can read for themselves. On the contrary - they love it. She does not tie any assessments to the book. They read for pleasure. Farah and Susin know each other, having met at OLA Forest of Reading events, and Susin has also responded to her fans at our school, which delights them immensely.

Thank you, authors such as Jerry Craft and Susin Nielsen, for creating such compelling stories and characters that speak to our hearts.