Productive Professional Learning

 This past week, I attended two workshops. Often, school- or board-workshops can be dull or unfulfilling, but this was not the case for the two sessions this past week.

Wednesday, September 25, 2024 = TDSB TL Facilitator Orientation

What event would spur me to abandon my book fair in the middle of the big selling spree? That would be the TDSB TL Facilitator Meeting. It is so important to gather in person with other lead teacher librarians to understand the board priorities and plan the sessions we offer to other TLs in TDSB. Our acting Program Coordinator is Deb Haines. Deb did a great job of setting the tone - positive, while at the same time realistic ... purposeful and goal-driven, while at the same time personal with a dash of humor.

We also had a great review of CIVIX's Ctrl-F programs. The best part was hearing from all the other experienced TLs in the room and what they were up to in their spaces. A few of us stayed extra late to cross-reference the lists of new TLs with the new Family of School boundaries, so that we can reach out to the new TLs in our area to invite them to our upcoming meetings. 

Friday, September 27, 2024 = Robotics and STEM in our new STEM Lab

On Friday, we had a PA (Professional Activity) Day. The board gave us guidelines for what could be covered that day, but directed us to provide in-house learning. It was the perfect time to share with the educators in my school the brand new STEM Lab and all the things it has to offer.

This is not false modesty: I "co-facilitated" this workshop with the talented Matthew Malisani, but honestly, I maybe contributed about 5% of the planning for the morning. I added details to two of the 30 pages on the slide deck, I talked a bit during the presentation, and I set up the bulletin board displays in the STEM Lab. Matthew did all the rest. 

The first part of the morning was devoted to robotics. We introduced Dash Robots to the staff. The priority for this learning opportunity was for it to be hands-on. The staff learned the basics of operating the robots and then proceeded to try some challenges, such as knocking over a wall within a maze and using the robot to pop a balloon. Hopefully, we made it clear how differentiated instruction and Universal Design for Learning principles are easily interwoven into activities such as these. We also wanted to emphasize that the STEM Lab and robots are not just for teachers who have STEM in their timetables; it can be integrated into any and all subject areas. (I'm only posting photos without faces on my blog of this PD, since I didn't get permission from everyone to share.)

The second part of the morning focused on more low-tech tools. We are so lucky that Matthew is a former Design and Tech teacher. He led us through tasks that introduced tools like hand saws and c-clamps for construction. There were two challenges: first, build a 10 x 10 cm frame using jinx wood, and then, collaboratively build a bridge that humans can use so they don't interfere with turtle habitats but links two cities over a river. The accountable talk was delightful to hear, the varied products were amazing to see, and the level of collaboration was through the roof. People even stayed after the workshop was done so they could finish building their bridges.

People really responded well to the morning's agenda. They said that it was fun, engaging and helpful to know what was available. Some left the session bubbling with ideas about ways to integrate the STEM lab offerings in their upcoming units. Mission accomplished! Thanks to everyone in both the TL and AMPS workshops for their enthusiasm, planning and participation.

How's it going? STEM, ESL and Partnering Update

 I couldn't decide which topic to reflect on this week, so I thought I'd do a general reflection of the past three weeks with three focus points. (Can you believe this is the start of the fourth week of school already?)

STEM

I am teaching two classes of STEM, to both of the Grade 1-2 groups. I'm relatively pleased with how it's progressed so far. We've only had two classes, because of the way our 5-day schedule plays out. 

Our first class began with an anticipation guide, to see what they knew before we began about what STEM / STEAM was all about. I read the fantastic Ashley Spires book, "The Most Magnificent Thing", and then we built with Keva Planks. Our second class officially introduced the STEM acronym and we sorted elements of the Engineering Design Process on the blackboard. Afterwards, we returned to the Keva Planks and had a much more focused challenge: How might you make the tallest possible structure only using 12 Keva Planks?

I took many pictures, to use as observational data. Some of the students used more than 12 planks. Some worked together. Some worked independently. Some used the shelves to support their structures. Some created free-standing structures. I brought out a ruler to measure the builds, and I eventually had to bring out a meter stick, because many of their constructions were taller than 30 cm. I liked looking at how they used the ruler - some just looked at the ruler as a single, non-standard unit of measurement (e.g. "my tower is the same as this ruler"), whereas others looked at the numbers but not the units (e.g. "mine is 26"). 

I think that this coming week, we will look at the pictures I took and comment on the various builds, to tie in with the "improve" portion of the engineer design process. I was happy to see that this activity was doable for all students, regardless of language ability.

ESL

Being the Primary-Junior ESL teacher is new to me this year. I'm still taking my ESL Part 2 AQ to learn the ropes and I attended the TDSB "New to ESL" workshop. Because many of my students are at STEP 1 or 2, I withdraw small groups for direct instruction and support. I still haven't finished my reading and writing assessments yet. I had hoped that the tasks I had planned would be semi-independent, but that's not the case.

I've been really focused on encouraging their conversational English. We played a game I modified from the Tribes TLC energizer "3 Ball Pass" to work on pronouns and for the students to get to know each other. We also worked on a simple collaborative art piece that practiced our color vocabulary: painting huge rainbows that will go on display for Curriculum Night this week. The small groups brainstormed words or phrases that we will type and post with our rainbows in different languages; one example was ["Like a rainbow,] you are ____". 

I also explained an incentive program I'll be using in ESL. I do not want to discourage the use of their home languages, but I don't want them to rely purely on speaking their shared language with the other students in their ESL class. Therefore, I will be giving out tickets when I hear them speaking English or attempting to speak English during certain tasks. After two weeks, we will gather to have a lottery draw; I'll read out the numbers in English and if they have a match, they can win a prize from the prize box. For instance, while the paint was drying on our rainbows, I asked the students to help me look at photos / pictures of other students and then deliver them to the classes for the students to keep. We practiced asking each other "Who is this?" and the possible replies in English: "I don't know" or "That is XXX". We added the question "Whose class are they in?" and sorted the old photos into piles. We then decided on a way to address the teachers in the class with a rehearsed sentence ("Please give these pictures to the students who are in the photos.") Everyone made an attempt at speaking to the teacher. I have to praise my colleagues. They were so patient and encouraging. They thanked them for the delivery and often slowly asked the ESL students for their names. It was an authentic language task, made even sweeter with the potential for a tangible reward later on.

Partnering Units

You can tell I'm old - I still call collaborative planning, teaching, and assessing between the school library and the classroom(s) by the name used in the 1982 document, "Partners in Action". I am beyond excited that I get to have some collaborative teaching time in my schedule this year. If you recall, last year, I had to sacrifice all of my partner time to ensure that our MLLs received enough support from our ESL teacher, who was only allocated 0.5 in our staffing. This year, I have room in my schedule to co-teach and I am delighted. I've already launched a few collaborations.

Grade 6 Social Studies

Nelani Kokularajan is our Grade 6 teacher in the afternoon. She has already begun her social studies unit with a look at treaties. We did our planning over email and decided to use Gather in a way similar to what I did back in 2021 when I had my own class. Having two teachers for this lesson was definitely a benefit. Nelani captured the snippets of conversation we heard as the pre-teens seized land and conquered territory in a virtual world that they had just entered without instruction or direction. These are just some of the photos I took of what we saw going on. I can't wait until next week when we discuss and dissect what went on in that virtual space.

Grade 4-5 Social Studies

Our LTO in the Grade 4-5 welcomed the opportunity to collaborate, but asked if it was at all possible for her to get caught up on her diagnostic assessments. So I supplemented her current packages with some hands-on activities. I promised the Grade 4s that I would bring in the chain mail armor I own and work with them next time. This week, I pulled the Grade 5s aside and we played a game that I purchased while I was on my cruise to Alaska. This game was made by an Indigenous artist from the northwest. We had to balance salmon fry and salmon eggs on the back of the salmon. The students enjoyed the break from the pen and paper tasks. We only just began to discuss how we can determine culturally relevant themes from the game before I had to leave for another class, so I hope to continue that chat later on. 

Grade 5 Science

I am happy that I'll get to work with Brenda Kim again. We did this colossal collaborative lesson with our student teachers back in 2020 that was really impressive. This time, it's just the two of us, but it still looks like it will be rewarding. We used last week to sketch out our plans and this coming week, we'll tackle Expectation E2.5 from the Grade 5 Science curriculum and examine renewable and non-renewable resources of energy. I found this cool kit I bought ages ago that helps students build a solar panel system to collect, store, and use solar energy, so I plan on using it for my portion of the lesson. I wish we had more time to iron out the details, but there's only so much time in the day.

So, things seem to be going quite well considering it's so early in the school year. Of course, many of these plans will take a brief hiatus. The photo below will give a hint why the pause is needed.

Yes, the book fair is back! Wish me luck!

Food Unites Family

 I can't believe we've already had two weeks of school! This week, I attended a pair of events, one personal and one professional, that combined food and family perfectly.

Back to School Staff BBQ

On Friday, we had the most delightful lunch at school. Our wonderful caretaker, Jan-Michael, was the Grill King and coordinated, along with our principal, a Welcome Back BBQ for our staff. Michael personally marinated all the pork skewers himself for days. There was so much food - pork and chicken kebabs, veggie burgers for the vegetarians, green and potato salad, and watermelon and cake for dessert.

Can a school be a family? It sure felt like it at this event. All of our staff members were invited. We had our vision itinerant and social worker attend, as well as a teacher on maternity leave. We even had "extended family" come by - principals from neighbouring schools. They couldn't pass up a free lunch, especially one as delicious as the one served at our school!

I know my school board wants to recapture that "family feeling". This is why TDSB has, once again, renamed its internal organizational structure. No longer are there four learning centers and nearly two dozen learning networks. Now, we are in Ward/Family of Schools 21 in Learning Centre 2. You can see this post explaining the new configurations. Here's a map showing all the groups.

You can't just assemble people, call them a family, and expect the unit to operate like a family. You need to bond over shared experiences (or good food), care about each other, and have some kind of relationship. Easier said than done, but our BBQ really helped to connect us all in a comfortable, casual, social way. 

Visiting Cousins

My first cousin, Julian DeRyck, and his wife Ingrid, live in Arizona. They came up for a wedding this week and so his older sister (Helena) arranged a gathering at her son Mark's house. My husband and I attended and we enjoyed ourselves tremendously. Ingrid hadn't been in Canada for nearly twenty years. 

I remember Uncle Julian and Auntie Ingrid (there's an age gap between us, so often in West Indian culture, one uses the "Uncle" and "Auntie" labels more fluidly) so well. My mom used to like to muss up Julian's hair and Ingrid was such a beautiful bride. My sister and I had our ears pierced at Uncle Julian's house by a family friend, Joey, at the same time that their daughters had their ears pierced. I tried to find a photo of Julian and Ingrid's wedding, but the best I could do was a photo I took of their family at a different wedding from 1991.

I saw first cousins of mine that I also haven't seen for many, many years. Here's a photo I took on Saturday night of me and my first cousin Terrance. (He's 75 and I'm 52. First cousins in large families can have big gaps in ages - we almost look the same age; he looks great!)

It was funny how many family members said I was the striking image of my mother. When Terrance and his older brother Brian saw me, they greeted me with a wink and a "Hi, Gloria!"

Once again, the food was huge in quantity and scrumptious in quality. The location for the gathering was perfect. The weather cooperated so groups mixed and mingled outside and inside. There was no animosity in the air - only great stories and shared laughs. I appreciated hearing my relatives talk about their fond memories of my parents. Someone said my parents were very close to each other, "like batty and po". I know this expression but when I tried to find the exact meaning online, these were the closest definitions I found:

• be as close as batty and po (or batty and bench) be bosom companions (batty being the Caribbean English folk term for buttocks).

("Wind can't pass between them" - i.e. they are very close.)

We used to have large gatherings like this in the past, but they became fewer and fewer. There are many reasons why they aren't as frequent. Families get bigger, live further away from each other, find it hard to have a location to fit/suit everyone and/or the "glue members" (the ones who seem to tie everyone together) die, leaving no one to arrange these rendezvous. I am thankful that we were able to gather like this, instead of at a funeral. As we departed, the common refrain was "We should do this again sometime."

Actually, it was at both events that everyone kept saying, "We should do this again sometime." True, true.

Quiet Quorum

 Another first week of school has come and gone - my 28th as a full-time teacher. This year felt different for a few reasons. The most striking difference was how much quieter it felt. My teaching assignment this year is half library, half ESL support. Last year, I was almost all prep, so I saw entire classes from the get-go. Part of the role of the ESL teacher is to conduct individual assessments with students to determine what STEP (Steps to English Proficiency) level they are at to help shape programming decisions. In my school board, the assessments consist of an oral interview, then first language reading/writing sample, then a picture response, followed by either a early literacy task or reading/writing assessment, and after that an initial mathematics assessment, ending with an initial assessment summary and next steps. All of these must be done one-on-one. This translates to a lot of quiet moments, as many of the students I will be servicing appear to be at A1 or Step 1 for Listening and Speaking.

The library wasn't quite ready for recess visitors yet because I wasn't there in either July or August to help tidy it up. It became a bit of a dumping ground over the summer - how did I end up with 5 HEPA filters? - and so I scratched out some time when I wasn't evaluating students to try and clean things up. I made some changes to the layout to accommodate the ESL students. I wanted to make sure that these students have a space they can call their own, apart from the library space. My amazing caretaker renovated an old white board easel for me to use and it looks a lot more open. I didn't take any before or after photos because it's a work in progress.

I took the opportunity to wear some of my newly bought Fluevog shoes this week at school. I think I'm soon to be at my limit. I now have 19 pairs of Fluevogs and barely enough space to store them. I nearly forgot how to take shoe selfies. The library is a great place to pose for these pictures, since you have the book shelves as a colorful background.

Day 1, with Malalas

Day 2 with Pilots

Day 3 with Astas

Day 4 with Baroque Cortanas

I'm sure things will get noisier as the weeks go by. Wish me luck as I learn this new role!