Mentoring and Leading in Tumultuous Times

The unofficial theme of this past week was leadership. In addition to my regular teaching schedule, I conducted three demonstration lessons for my mentee, began the spring sessions of the York University Teacher Librarian Additional Qualification courses, and hosted a fellow teacher who job-shadowed me for the day. Two of my friends went through the process of becoming eligible to serve as a vice-principal and heard the results last Friday. 

It made me seriously consider all the factors associated with being a leader in times of uncertainty. 

(Note: this photo was taken by my primary ESL students for us to use in our shared writing story book. I don't have a ton of images to go with this blog post, so this "supposedly deep-in-thought" visual will have to suffice!)

What does it mean to be an education leader in 2026?

There's a difference between being a leader in an official capacity, as a principal, vice-principal, or chairperson (POR), and less formally identified leadership. I consider teacher-librarians to automatically be de facto leaders, by nature of their position and responsibility in the school. (The sad fact is that often, TLs feel more like on-call supply teachers than curriculum, teaching, or resource experts.) Our official education leaders have so many responsibilities foisted upon them, many of them managerial in nature, that makes it difficult for them to serve in other capacities. There are meetings to attend, statistics to gather, and reports to generate. It takes concentrated effort to prioritize the people in the building, be it staff, students, or families. I don't want to be overly critical of our teacher-training programs or the courses that shape future administrators; it's too simple to place the blame on these institutions or courses for "not adequately preparing" people for the realities of the job. To be an excellent leader, you must understand policies and procedures but it's also about "People Power", to name-drop one of the Learning Blocks from the York U TL AQ. Knowing how to defuse a conflict or help a teacher improve their professional practice involves delicate, diplomatic conversations that are often learned through experience. I want to thank both the official and unofficial leaders that surround me with making the time to have conversations about how to accomplish those human resource goals in compassionate and thoughtful ways. 

Why do we struggle with balancing the quantity and quality of teachers?

This past week, there was a press conference that announced the decision to change the length of the teacher preparation training time from two years to one year. You can read or watch about the announcement on The Globe and Mail, CTV, and CBC. (It's worthwhile to note that many press conferences filmed in schools are situated in the school library, despite the fact that many school boards are cutting their school library staffing numbers. The irony is not lost on me.) 

It was switched in 2015 from a one-year program to a two-year program to address the teacher surplus issue. Now in 2026, we are facing a teacher shortage. 

There is a constant shift back and forth between having too many teachers and not enough. Back in 1996 when I graduated from the concurrent Faculty of Education program at York (which was a three-year commitment), it felt impossible to obtain a full-time position. I was a supply teacher for several boards before getting an LTO and then my permanent position. 

Is a year enough time? Most would-be educators state with certainty that they learn the most during their practicum placements. I was a host teacher in 2020 and in 2021 and I learned a lot from having to articulate how and why I teach the way I do. It's unusual for a teacher-librarian to be a host teacher because most faculties want their teacher-candidates to be placed with classroom teachers. Host teacher placements are decided on a volunteer basis - if a school agrees to have student-teachers in the building, then it is completely up to present teachers to offer their class as a practicum training ground. Let me also address the "elephant in the room": there are some host teachers and/or some student teachers who aren't exemplary educators and it can be difficult to dissuade them from continuing along this path. Disqualifying a student-teacher (or even an "inferior permanent contract teacher") takes a great deal of effort and sometimes the battle isn't worth the result, but it does mean that sometimes there are teachers who don't have the disposition, attitude, or foundational skills to do as well as one might hope to learn the ropes or do the job.

Getting new teachers in is just half the battle. We need to be able to keep them and grow them as well. It takes time to develop into a competent educator. I look at some of the lessons I taught in the beginning years of my career and cringe a bit, although I also examine some of the things I did during that time and wonder how I was able to produce something so great when I was still so green. I know I sound like a senior citizen when I say this, but back in the old days, we used to have entire departments devoted to helping new teachers. Jim Strachan provided such wonderful resources. Now, we have to squeeze in time during after-school or lunch sessions. Heck, in 2016, TDSB hosted a Beginning Teacher Conference, during the day, with release time and everything. 

In addition to the large number of teachers about to retire, there are a lot of principals and vice-principals getting ready to leave the profession and we don't have replacements ready. We want to make sure that we aren't just placing a warm body in the role so we need to make sure the best candidates are selected. However, the process for moving from a teaching to an administrative role in schools is a grueling one and many potentially great aspiring administrators become discouraged. Vice-principals and principals shape the culture of a school in significant ways, and their impact on the teaching staff cannot be underestimated. 

How might we support our current and aspiring leaders in education? 

I'm a big fan of mentorship, and not just because I took my Mentoring AQ course. Spending time, in person with others to learn from them is such a powerful thing. I was connected with Salma Nakhuda for my Mentor AQ course and I continue to learn from her. She pushes my thinking and because are friends, she will tell me things that might be hard to hear but are important for my learning. (For instance, read a bit about what she says about representation in school librarianship in this article called Belonging in the Profession from Canadian School Libraries Journal).

I so enjoyed having Brenda come to job-shadow me on Friday. She saw the good, the bad and the ugly during the course of a single day. I didn't ask her which things fit into what category; in my opinion, the good stuff was the social studies lesson and seeing adult volunteers and student helpers in action, and the bad stuff was having to decide who was going to cover unfulfilled supply coverage (which partly meant making myself an OT). I was delighted to discover that Brenda is actually enrolled in one of the Spring 2026 York U TL AQ courses I'm teaching! This means that we can continue to talk and learn from each other, even after this visit (which was arranged through an ESL itinerant, before Brenda signed up for the course). 

It's all about relationships. Potential VPs need actual VPs to help them understand the nuances of the job and navigating the process for being chosen. New TLs need veteran TLs to turn to if they have questions. Doing this without burning out the people can be tricky. I know that the TL board facilitators have tinkered with different ways of offering support. This year, there's a list of potential mentors and new TLs can reach out to the mentor of their choice. This is nice because it puts the onus on the person who wants help to meet their needs.

I've written about this before, in my Treasure Mountain Canada research paper called Climbing Mountains: Methods for Mentoring Teacher-Librarians. In this report, I shared three wishes:

1) Encourage TLs to receive mentorship training (like in the Mentor AQ).

2) Get school board departments to find ways, via teacher-librarians, to support new teachers.

3) Diversify the types of mentoring opportunities available.

Unfortunately, ten years after writing this paper, none of these recommendations are close to reality, and there's even less available now for potential leaders or new teachers. I will continue to do what I can to help.

Spring Partner Units

 This school year, thanks to borrowing a bit from my guidance allocation, I have some slots open for collaborative teaching. The winter months weren't great for these "partnering" units, because of the demands of course selection, conferences, and other responsibilities. However, the scheduled cooperative teaching times seem like they will be quite fruitful. Here's a quick overview.

Grade 5-6 Language Arts - Biographies with Brenda Kim

All teachers have subject areas where they excel. For Brenda, it's mathematics. For me, I love language arts, media and social studies. I'm grateful that Brenda lets me into her class to support her with this latest unit on biographies. Ironically, I'm using an early years technique in this junior division classroom. We launched the unit by exploring my old Story Bag. The students pulled out objects and then had to infer how they all connected to a single person.

Based on the objects on the chair, can you determine the identity of the famous Canadian? It was Sir Fredrick Banting, who helped discover insulin as a way to treat diabetes. The groups brainstormed ideas and shared them, before we then read an excerpt from the Yellow Cedar nominated book Fred and Marjorie. 

After this group "Minds On" task, we then gathered into guided reading groups to read a bit about the person our school is named after, Agnes Macphail. This is where Generative AI was useful, because it made for me paragraphs at different reading levels. I still had to edit the final results, because Gemini decided to invent a term that doesn't exist (bronze ceiling vs glass ceiling), and the "easy" reading level wasn't easy enough for our multilingual learners. 

I'm relatively pleased with how this "unit launch" went, because I feel as if Brenda can carry on without me in the class. The students can continue to read in their guided reading groups, annotate their reading, and then generate a list of objects that they could use to represent Agnes Macphail. The students can do a few more guided reading passages like this before beginning to write their own biographies.

Kindergarten Social Studies - Indigenous Culture with Ms. Chiu

Ms. Chiu launched this unit in advance by sharing the book Métis Like Me with her students. I jumped in with a lesson where we co-created a physical definition of culture with the students. (Big thanks to Ethan and Nashmia for their contributions!)

Culture is "the sharing of a way of life of a group of people". (This definition was one I found that was the simplest, from this source, but is similar to this one from Time for Kids, or Britannica Kids.)

• For "sharing", our hands go back and forth, like giving and receiving
• For "way of life", our arms circle up like a rainbow
• For "group", our hands join together
• For "people", we wiggle our fingers

For little kids, it's always good to start with what they know and concrete ideas. We talked a bit about how we can be part of more than one culture. We talked about their teacher and ECE's cultures. Eventually, we will get them to look at their own culture and compare it to Métis culture.

As you can imagine, we couldn't talk about this for too long. Little bodies get restless! However, I was able to take a small group to play with a game that I originally did with a Grade 5 class. It actually does a nice job of visualizing aspects of Haida / West Coast Indigenous culture in a digestible way.

In this game, (Native Northwest Stacking Blocks Balancing Game) the object is to balance the salmon fry and eggs on the back of the adult salmon without falling over. The art is by Paul Windsor. Paul Windsor hails from British Columbia and is Heiltsuk/Haisla.

This game demonstrates what's important in Heilsuk / Haisla culture - nature, salmon, the relationship between the generations, and balance. Ms. Chiu, Mrs. Isidro, and I will continue to figure out the best way to use three adults in this learning environment.

Mentoring with my Mentee

In February, I was asked to be a mentor to one of our new teachers. We attended a Family of Schools Mentoring Evening. (During that event, even I learned about a new learning activity technique that I tried out with my Grade 6 social studies students, called "Quiz Quiz Trade". It was quite useful!)

(I didn't get permission to post his photo on my blog, so I blurred his face.)

Professional learning shouldn't be a "one and done". I realized that I needed to do more to support the professional growth of our beginning teachers. Thankfully, my mentee was willing to allow me to "insert myself". First, I observed some of his lessons. This coming week, I'll model some lessons, based on what he indicated he'd like to see demonstrated. The week afterwards, we will co-teach. 

Grade 1 Math - Coding and Robotics with Mrs. Hajiani

I haven't started to plan this lesson yet with Sheri, but I feel as if I've got a good foundation already because my Term 2 focus for STEM this year has been coding. Thanks to guidance from the primary teachers with EQAO students in their portfolios, I've been working on coding so that they can tackle that portion of the EQAO test with confidence and familiarity. I'm struck by how spiral many curricula are - parts about repeating loops in coding for Grade 3 are simpler versions of the expectations in Grade 7. 

I am keeping my fingers crossed that these learning opportunities go well. Happy Easter to those who celebrate. I'll use this time to prepare for these upcoming lessons (as well as the Spring 2026 session of York University's TL AQs - thanks Francis Ngo and Anna Jupp for arranging for time to improve the course content). 

Code, Curate, Collaborate and the ECOO Conference

 Usually when I write about conferences, that's the only part of my blog post. However, since there's been so many things going on that I haven't been able to write about, I thought I'd make it a combo affair. (Plus, I'm trying not to be too predictable. As I took photos on Saturday of the ECOO conference planning team, they said that they knew they'd be able to find it on my blog on Monday because they were sure I'd be writing about this conference!)

ECOO Dream Forward STEAM Ahead 

2026 Conference

Saturday, March 28, 2026

9:00 a.m. - Keynote Panel: Human Centered Teaching and Learning in the Age of AI with Amon Sahota, Heidi Siwak, Tim King and Cal Armstrong

Summary (from program description):  AI, like earlier waves of edtech, gives us a chance to rethink pedagogy and extend what great teachers already do well. Yet the last decade of digital adoption has often chased efficiency and scale instead of learning, contributing to stagnant or declining outcomes and growing distrust of classroom technology.

As AI becomes ubiquitous, Ontario educators face a critical choice: will we use it to automate teaching and deskill the profession, or to amplify human relationships, feedback, and hands-on learning—especially when resources are scarce?

3 Key Points:

1) When talking to different stakeholders, you hear different reactions. Parents and students (in general) are worried about the future and the lack of jobs. Teachers and technology folks (in general) are excited. We need to take control of the tech.

2) Everything that is assigned in most courses can be done by AI. It's cruel to ask teachers to just "design something that's more engaging" or "make your assignment AI proof". It's about examining the process, rather than the end result - even in math.

3) There is a need to reestablish trust among teachers and students, as shared by I-Think participants. 

So What? Now What? 

I wish I took notes! I had a chocolate muffin, an apple juice, the conference schedule and my phone in my hands, so I didn't write down all the great things that were said. I felt myself nodding often or leaning over to my seatmate, Neil Andersen (who was also my carpool driver) to comment on what was said. I think it was recorded, and this would be a talk I'd re-listen to if given the chance.

Media Artifacts:

10:15 a.m. - Exploring Indigenous Perspectives in the Arts with Sarah Merritt, Bridget Rowe, and Aaron MacDonald

Summary: (taken from program description) In collaboration with HCDSBs Indigenous Advisor, Sherry Saevil, this session aims to provide students with opportunities to create, present, and analyze art across diverse disciplines, including integrated productions that explore and reflect First Nations, Métis, and Inuit perspectives and cultures. Disciplines include dance, drama, installation and performance art, media arts, music, storytelling, functional art, and visual arts. Aligned with the Ontario Catholic Graduate Expectations, this session provides students an opportunity to honour and respect the dignity of all people. Students will develop a deeper understanding of Indigenous cultures, enhancing their empathy and commitment to reconciliation. The session will also address Call 62 of the Truth and Reconciliation Council, which calls for the integration of age-appropriate curriculum on residential schools, Treaties, and Aboriginal peoples' historical and contemporary contributions to Canada as a mandatory education requirement.

This session is designed for educators teaching grades 9-12. The session focuses on Indigenous Education, integrating it with the arts to provide a holistic learning experience that respects and celebrates Indigenous knowledge and traditions. By the end of this session, participants will not only have enhanced their artistic skills but also have developed a profound respect for Indigenous cultures and communities.

3 Key Points:

1) Math, science, engineering - all of these things exist as part of Indigenous knowledge. We just have to recognize it.

2) Teepees are marvelous ways to learn about triangles, beams, air flow, and so many topics. HCDSB had "Teepee Joe" come from Manitoba to do work with some of their schools and it was valuable.

3) Building community is an important part of Indigenous education, as are stories of all types.

So What? Now What?

I really appreciated how Aaron smudged us first thing before the opening keynote. As someone who appreciates incense, the scent really calmed and readied me. The group answered my question on cultural appreciation vs appropriation, but I'd have to look into it more if I wanted to raise a teepee with students - they had elders guiding the process.

Media Artifacts:

11:15 a.m. - Questioning AI: Building Media Literacy and Critical Thinking Skills with Diana Maliszewski

Summary (taken from program description): How does Gen AI work? It’s important to teach through and about media texts we use in school, including Large Language Models (LLMs) such as Gemini and Chat GPT and other AI tools. However, many AI tools are proprietary secrets. So, what’s an educator to do? This hands-on workshop will provide participants with media literacy and gender equity perspectives. You’ll explore how algorithms are trained, why AI personifications can be problematic, and ways to infuse critical thinking for all media texts, not just those labelled as “AI”.

3 Key Points:

1) Teaching through media is when we use media texts to get content across and teaching about media is when we focus on the forum of the message and teach how the form works to convey messages. Educators need to do both, although they do more of the former.

2) How we visualize and conceptualize Generative AI matters, because if we anthropomorphize a program, we trust it more, treat it differently, and attribute human traits to it. When Gen AI tools use a human voice, it is often female and there are specific reasons for that choice.

3) There are several critical thinking strategies we can use when examining all media texts, such as asking questions, avoiding immediate judgement labels, interrogating all biases, and finding a healthy level of skepticism.

So What? Now What?

I gave this workshop at the ETFO ICT Conference for Women. I kept in both the media literacy and feminist perspectives and they still landed well. I was a bit nervous because both Heidi Siwak and Tim King were in the audience and I really respect their opinions and views - would my presentation be too basic for them? It seems like they were able to extract something from it. I was fascinated to compare the results of the various activities from the fall and now. For instance, when my friend Lynn asked for a visual representation of AI, Canva gave her four options and two were non-humanoid. This was a significant change from the results generated in November 2025. Jim decided to really push the boundaries of the Machine Learning for Kids algorithm trainer, by challenging it to distinguish between 1950s and 2020s hockey equipment. Heidi had it examine dog parts. Brittany took a low-tech approach to drawing AI. Tim asked for AI visualization from the marketing perspective from the recent past. What I love about giving this workshop are the conversations. Even at the beginning, when we did a "4 Corners" task, I admired how people placed themselves more on a grid than in a corner. (I also took the time to get a shoe photo - I love my new Fluevog Cadences!)

Media Artifacts:

1:15 p.m. - Cardboard as a Conduit for STEM with Diana Maliszewski

Summary (taken from program description): Cardboard is an incredibly versatile tool. In this hands-on workshop, educators will use a ChompSaw to help build various structures to hit many different cross-curricular expectations.

3 Key Points:

1) The Chomp Saw is both safe and easy to use.

2) If you use AI to help you design lesson plans, double-check with a real person who is an expert. (For instance, I had Marsha Ireland preview my examples, and the one that was generated for Grade 9 was more suitable to Grade 7.)

3) There are so many possibilities. 

So What? Now What?

I presented this session before at the TDSB Eureka Conference. Again, I am constantly amazed by the creativity and ingenuity of people. We had people from kindergarten (ECEs) to high school educators in the room and everyone made something. Leticia made a pencil holder that turned into a vase and then the rest of us made flowers for it. Michelle and Stephanie made photo frames and name letters. Matthew made a Batarang (Batman boomerang). Kim showed us her masks that her Grade 5-6s did (that would have been even more intricate with the Chomp Saw). Many of the teen volunteers dropped in at some point and they made things like hearts, stars, fish, and swords. This was a very fluid and flexible workshop, meant for people to drop in and out as they needed. We had great side conversations about why some boards have little to no participation in any outside PD. Natalie popped in and made some great floral arrangements. It wasn't a typical session, but hopefully a session that people  

Media Artifacts:

2:30 p.m. - Closing and Prizes

Big thanks to the ECOO conference organizers, and to the King family (Alanna, Tim, Max) who gave me their prize because it didn't fit - a very cool CODE sweatshirt!

Coding Lessons and Improving our Output

For STEM classes this term, I've been focusing on coding (not CODE as in the Council of Dance and Drama Educators, but the kind of code found in the math curriculum). We began with some unplugged coding and have moved on now to using simple robots such as the Coding Mouse and Botley.

For some reason, my students are struggling a bit with documenting their code. They want to draw it like a map, but their directions do not make it clear about where you begin reading and what path to take. Today (Monday March 30, 2026), I took the notes they wrote from the previous week and tried to replicate their results in front of them. We co-constructed the single-point rubric and students very quickly realized that their instructions weren't easy to follow or duplicate. (If you are interested, the three points in our single-point rubric were 1. We used the coding language for the device [aka just arrows]. 2. We make it clear how to read the code [e.g. write it like English from left to right so we know where to start]. 3. When coded, the robot goes in an L shape and returns [using the Coding Mouse tiles].) Only three of the seven groups from my class I saw today made it to the standard, but at least all the students could articulate about why the groups were ranked where they were and why. I hope the other classes will be able to improve after this exercise.

Curating our Book Collection at the GTA Resource Fair

On Wednesday, March 25, 2026, eight of our library helpers, along with my daughter and I, attended the Spring 2026 edition of the GTA Resource Fair. My library helper presidents (both of whom are Grade 8 students) remarked that this would be their last library shopping trip. One of the presidents expressed a wish to be barcoded like the books we purchased, and so Library Technical Services indulged us with an improvised "book knighting" ceremony. Jessica, thank you so much for making a memory with our students.

It was also rather delightful to get to see my daughter's books on sale! I insisted that she pose with some of her titles. Proud mama moment!

Collaborating as a TL Community at Network Meetings

On the very same day as the GTA Resource Fair (seriously, what were we thinking?), Kim Davidson and I facilitated a TDSB North East Scarborough TL Network meeting. Salma Nakhuda and Percy Williams Jr. P.S. were the gracious host TL and host site. I love gathering with these people in person! I love visiting other people's libraries because you can get inspired by their displays, set-up, and organization. At the meeting, we had a really useful session on book repair. We planned our upcoming Quiz Bowl and discussed how to advocate for the TL position in staffing committees. 

I'm sorry I didn't get consent to post the group selfie we took. It really is a community. Some people that attended aren't even TLs anymore! They came because it's invigorating to connect with like-minded educators (plus, "once a librarian, always a librarian"). 

Hopefully this shows why being a teacher-librarian is such an important and fulfilling position. My best wishes go out to the school library professionals in Halifax, who are facing uncertainty and cuts. Canadian School Libraries stands with you! (See the website tomorrow for messages of suppport.)

Thanks for the Time

2026 has been thundering along at a frantic pace. March Break has been a welcome break and I've appreciated the time to devote to several important things.

Time to Rest

Even though I still woke up early each weekday to take my son to the GO Train station so he could get to work, I savored the opportunities to nap. I had morning naps. I had afternoon naps. It was glorious. I didn't want to sleep away the entire week, but I think I needed to recharge my batteries. My friend Jennifer Brown has talked about The Nap Ministry and how one of the "clubs" she offers in her school focuses on rest, because "rest is resistance". 

Time to Think and Plan for the Rest of the Year

I can understand why some say that the four-day work week leads to increased productivity. I got a lot of work done this week.

• Our editorial team for Canadian School Libraries Journal put the final touches on the Winter 2026 edition of the periodical (Volume 10 Issue 1). Read all the wonderful articles (and less-traditional submissions, like infographics and slide decks) here

• I got caught up on my Queen's University TL Part 2 AQ feedback as well as my York University TL Part 1, 2 and Specialist AQ discussion forum readings
• Francis Ngo and I worked on updating the content of York's TL AQs to reflect the latest documents as well as incorporating AI thoughtfully and critically into the assignments
• The IC4ML (International Council for Media Literacy) met and I am one of their newest board members. It was such a thrill to associate with some of the finest minds in media literacy education in this arena 
• Other articles that have been in queue have finally gotten my attention. I published one with my husband for AML called How AI Acknowledges Its Errors and I'm excited to see the completion of a collaboration with Tessa Lofthouse and Carol Arcus
• The ECOO Dream Forward STEAM Ahead conference is on March 28 and I will be presenting twice, so I valued the time to finalize my presentations.

• My Social Studies unit needed some tweaking so that the students would find it engaging, like they did with the activity involving the mini-globes

Time to Reconnect with Friends and Family

It wasn't all work, work, work. I saw my friends Wendy and Kim and we tried on shoes at our favourite Fluevog store, followed by a tasty lunch in the Distillery District. Big thanks to Chy and Maeve for being so patient with us. The staff here are so talented and knowledgeable that they suggested shoes to try on that weren't on our radar but became instant favourites. (I believe I called Chy a "shoe savant" at one point.)

I also visited my mother a few times, saw friends from my Faculty of Education university days to catch up, gathered with work friends for tea, and had a long and wonderful conversation with some family members. It really filled my bucket. (You know who you are!!)

With my immediate family, we enjoyed watching Season 2 of the live action Netflix adaptation of One Piece. I wrote about my appreciation for Season 1 of One Piece on the AML website. I loved Season 2. The casting director must be gifted, because their choices for all the roles are perfect. 

What's coming up? The Spring GTA Resource Fair, a TDSB TL Network meeting, ending the winter AQs, and the ECOO conference are all on the agenda - and that's just this coming week!