Decreasing Digital Dependence

I don't consider myself to be a Luddite. I've embraced the thoughtful, critical use of technology for a long time. Online tools can be a time-saver and quite helpful in the right place at the right time. Lately, I've been a bit cranky about how much I rely on these devices, and I'm trying to reduce my reliance. Here are a few examples.

AI Mining My Drive and Email

I liked having the ability to "turn off" AI when I didn't want to use it. A few years ago, I could type "-AI" as part of my search terms, and the results would not include AI-generated summaries or answers. I tried this tip and it no longer works. Not only that, I really began to dislike how frequently both my Hotmail (Microsoft) and my Gmail (Google) push the use of their proprietary AI bots (Microsoft CoPilot and Google Gemini). This post I saw on Facebook (and yes, I know many Facebook posts are AI fabrications) convinced me that I needed to take more drastic measures.

I asked my daughter (a Gen Z aged adult) about this. She has turned off the "smart features and personalization" feature and had limited her inbox to under 100 emails. I want to be like my daughter!

When I first tried this, I was intimidated and scared by the result. I'm usually on top of reading all my emails in my personal Gmail account, but when I turned off this feature, all of a sudden it reported that I had 15 000 unread emails. It's all the items that used to be hidden or removed from my primary email to the promotions or socials folders. (The irony was that some of these emails were "sponsored"; I can't even blame myself for signing up for these messages!)

After some stern self talk, I made the commitment to turn it off. I spent a good chunk of time on the weekend using the is:unread search tactic and systematically deleting all of these unread spam messages. 

Even my school email needed some maintenance. I was tired of seeing my warnings saying I had little-to-no storage space left. I downloaded and removed all super-large video files, but a surprisingly simple solution was for me to use the search term older_than:4y and move items to the trash. There is a chance that I might lose an important email from the past, but the likelihood that I will need an email from 2022 is low.

Online Translation Apps

I am an ESL teacher as well as a teacher-librarian and guidance teacher-counselor. Many of the students I service this year have almost no English oral skills. Some of the students have watches that will do translations for them. I myself occasionally pull out my phone to use one of several online translation tools to help me communicate. It's convenient when we struggle to explain ourselves to each other. I use apps like Google Translate, Translate, and Translator.

This can be handy, but more often than not, when we speak and see the results in English, we are disappointed with the accuracy. 

"That's not what I meant."

"That's not what I said."

This is why we are hiring an in-person translator to help me with the orientation interviews I'll need to conduct as part of my ESL students' initial assessments. We don't have as much money in the budget as we did in the past, but for peace of mind, it's money worth spending.

The other problem with using translation apps is that it's easier to write in your home language. My ESL students would prefer to write in Mandarin. Some of them are fluent writers in Mandarin and can compose descriptive paragraphs in ways that are currently beyond their ability in English. It's my job to help them develop these reading and writing skills, but it can be difficult when the translating tool will do the hard parts for them. 

FSL students have similar problems. Inputting your English paragraph and receiving what appears to be a properly conjugated French equivalent. They aren't proficient enough to determine if the translation is accurate, and won't become proficient if they offload the task to a translator to write in French.

Next week (October 26-30, 2026)  is Media Literacy Week, as well as Canadian School Library Day (October 26, 2026). 

On Wednesday, October 28, 2026, I will be giving a presentation called "Navigating Online Content for Older Adults" online with the Ottawa Public Library. Hopefully my presentation will recapture some of the shining joy online environments can provide as well as illustrate some of the drawbacks. 

LRPs for LLCs

 Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate. At my house, we are foregoing the traditional gathering and dinner, but I am still grateful for so many things.

Apologies for all the acronyms in today's blog post. It would have become too lengthy of a title if I had included them in "standard" form. 

On Tuesday, October 6, 2026, I was released from school for the morning to do some important work with two departments: Library and Learning Resources, as well as the English as a Second Language department. The focus was on modifying the current TDSB Long Range Plan template to make it useable for teacher-librarians and ESL teachers.

What does a Long Range Plan (LRP) look like for a Library Learning Commons (LLC) or for a teacher-librarian (TL)?

This is an important consideration. In Ontario, teacher-librarians are teachers first, and if they are to be valued as fellow educators, it helps to show we do similar things to our classroom colleagues. To suggest otherwise might take us down undesirable paths (such as considering that we are non-essential in schools). However, the current long range plan template fails to capture or conceptualize how teacher-librarians plan their program for the year. It also lacks some of the key elements that are additional components to the job.

My long range plans have evolved over the years. I could have sworn I did some sort of presentation or display in the past showing how it morphed from a single lined sheet of paper listing months and themes to a more sophisticated plan that incorporated Ministry of Education curriculum documents as well as expectations from OSLA's Information Studies document and the TDSB ICT Standards. 

These are some screenshots of my last year's (2025-2026) Term 1 Long Range Plans:

I realize that even this set-up had to use several "appendices" in order to supplement the information provided here. I referred to my ESL Long Range Plans, which relied heavily on the STEP (Steps to English Proficiency) continuum to shape my programming in conjunction with Ministry of Education curriculum expectations. As for the collaborative teaching, I pointed to the unit plans I develop with classroom teachers; we co-plan, co-teach, and co-assess but I cannot determine in advance who I will work with on what subject. It depends.

For instance, so far this year I've been fortunate enough to work with:

- the Grade 5-6 teacher on a Health unit

- the Grade 2-3 teacher on a Language unit *

- the Grade 4 teacher on a Science unit

I'm about to begin, if everything works out well, units with:

- the other Grade 5-6 teacher (on either Language or Social Studies)

- the Kindergarten teacher (on an integrated literacy/numeracy unit that may involve cooking)

My ESL support time for Grade 6 Social Studies has morphed a bit into more team-teaching, partly because I had so much previous success with my Crossing the Burble Swamp drama/social studies activity. I really appreciate how much trust the Grade 5-6 teacher has in me, to allow me to interject.

My Junior/Intermediate PLC coverage (with both Grade 5-6 classes simultaneously) has transformed into a Ctrl-F-influenced digital media unit, with the teachers' approval. 

I also signed up to do Student Vote this year, which wasn't originally on my Bingo card this year but I felt was important to do. 

As Agnieszka, Kelly, Victoria and I considered how to modify the existing template, we also felt it was important to highlight the other parts of a teacher-librarian's job. In my annual report (see my Treasure Mountain Canada 8 contribution, "Decades of Data: Accountability and Impact with Annual Reports"), there are three components in the heading: Instruction, Management, and Leadership. The Management portion includes Collection Development. How might a SLLC indicate the thoughtful process that is part of selecting and deselecting learning materials? It isn't completed willy-nilly. There are purchasing priorities that are determined by school improvement plans, analysis of the current collection, and the learning needs of the particular school. Where are there gaps? What will these new additions accomplish? How do you demonstrate this in advance when specific titles are often discovered at the Resource Fairs, in consultation with board-approved vendors? 

We also felt that the teacher-librarian version of the LRP should mimic elements found in the SIP (school improvement plan). The SLLC (school library learning commons) works to further the goals of the school; this is one of the 5 standards of practice in Leading Learning: "advancing the learning community to achieve school goals". (The other Leading Learning Standards are collaboration, instruction, literacies, and learning environments.) 

No school library looks identical to any other school library. It is shaped by the teacher-librarian and the school community. In an era of "curriculum fidelity", this may be a tough pill to swallow. When teaching is a mix of science and art, it's hard to regulate conformity. This was proven by the Queen's University / People for Education research study called "Exemplary School Libraries in Ontario". A quote from their conclusion states:

There are exemplary school library programs in Ontario, but there is not a unitary conception of an exemplary school program, nor is there a single approach that creates an exemplary library program.

It's challenging to do this, to include everything from potential collaborations to collection development to library leadership initiatives, and incorporate Ministry of Education curriculum expectations and School Improvement Plan goals in a single template that teacher-librarians will actually use to communicate their plans in a way that isn't onerous or overwhelming. It will be interesting to see the development of this LRP template tool and to adequately communicate the nuances of an oft-misunderstood profession in a way that leads to positive change.

*PS I couldn't resist including a few photos of the wrap-up to the Grade 2-3 partnership. As I wrote before, I was feeling guilty about not "pulling my weight" in this collaboration. After all, I don't want to be an overpaid EA or merely a drop-in contributor. To get ready for Curriculum Night (which was Thursday, October 8, 2026 this year), the students did tape resist art based on their One Word. Then, we used the library's green screen to record a short message about their one word choice. I loved this project because I myself do a One Word focus every year and this is my tenth year choosing a word. 

Divided Attention vs Focused Conversations

This month, I have attended two virtual "lunch and learn" sessions offered by my school board. Or, rather, I should say that I attempted to attend two lunch PD (professional development) workshops. 

As the chairperson at my school, it is my job to cover the office during lunch if the principal is unavailable. It just so happened that on both of these days when these sessions were scheduled, I was required to keep an eye on the front desk. It was impossible to listen attentively to the directions on screen and properly monitor my surroundings. Sorry, Lumio! Sorry, My BluePrint!

I'm not even sure how our office administrator gets through her virtual professional learning while at her desk. She shuts the door, but that doesn't help. There are still kids who need ice or band-aids. There are still staff coming in with questions. There are still parents dropping off or picking up their children. I know about multitasking, but when learning new things, you need to minimize the distractions. 

That's why I was very fortunate this past week to be part of two uninterrupted, focused conversations.

The first was for the Library Exchange Podcast. 

Run by the delightful duo of Julie Saunders and Jan Wilson, recently (and soon-to-be) retired school librarians from Georgia, USA, this podcast can be heard almost anywhere podcasts are shared. You can see the list of their previous recordings on https://www.libraryexchangepodcast.com/ 

Jan and Julie certainly did their research on me. They knew about this blog, the CTV appearance, the awards and more. (I shouldn't expect any less from experienced school librarians!) The theme of our discussion was "Thinking In The Library". Once the podcast gets published, I'll post the link here.

On Saturday, October 3, I was part of a panel, run by the TPL Innovator in Residence, Ryan Kelln, called AI & Young People: The Future of Thinking.

Young people are the first generation growing up with AI everywhere. What does that mean for how they think, make things, and become themselves?

Join us for an honest conversation about AI and youth. Panelists will share what young people are actually doing with AI, what worries them, and what adults keep getting wrong. Audience questions welcome. This is not a lecture about the dangers of cheating or bad choices; it's the ageless conversation about agency, creativity, and thinking for yourself, but in the age where digital intelligences are developing too.

I was on a panel with some fantastic minds: Ronit Novak (founder and editorial director of The Grain thegrain.ai), Dashiel Carrera (Incoming Assitant Professor of Arts and Machine Creativity HKUST https://www.dashielcarrera.com/), and Omar Shahin (Masters student at TMU).  

The recording will be available later and I will try to link to it if possible.

Preparing for a panel can be a tricky thing. We took a lot of questions from the audience, a small but thoughtful dozen attendees, who had legitimate concerns and valuable insights. One of the listeners asked about resources parents can access to help them understand AI and support their young children with AI use. I mentioned three (Common Sense Media, Media Smarts, and AML) but forgot to mention one of my favourites, Ctrl-F from Civix. I was prepared to mention and quote some of the middle school students I work with at my school, but the opportunity never arose. I really wanted to make sure that young people's voices were represented on the panel. Since I didn't get a chance to share what was said back in March 2026, I'll share some of their thoughts here.

The original question, phrased so it wouldn't be too leading, was "What is something you are curious about when it comes to AI?"

• How will AI improve? At what point will I question if a video I'm watching is real or not? When will all the little bugs in AI disappear and the line between real and AI be impossible to tell? (Grade 8 student)
• How does AI get programmed and what is the hardest language when it comes to communicating with artificial intelligence? (Grade 8 student)
• How does it actually work? / How is it so quick? (multiple students)
• Who made AI? Why did people create AI? How did they create it? (multiple students)
• When you tell AI to predict what's gonna happen to you in the future, is it real? (Grade 8 student)
• What will it be like in 2099? / How fast will it develop in the future? (multiple students)
• Why does AI need so many resources to operate? (Grade 8 student)
• Will it ever be able to reach the level of a human brain? (Grade 8 student) / What would happen if AI gained its own thoughts? (Grade 7 student) / Can AI replace humans? (Grade 7 student)
• Does AI have any limits? (Grade 7 student)
• When people say AI will take over the world, do AI actually have their own thinking other than data? (Grade 7 student)
• Would any students' lives change, if there's no AI, would it be a good or a bad impact? (Grade 8 student)
• Is everyone gonna use AI for their daily life in the future? (Grade 6 student)
• Can AI make a new AI? (Grade 6 student)

And then there were some comments rather than questions:

• I'm curious about the full potential of AI and even maybe a bit unsettled (Grade 7 student)
• If [a] human does things slower but more accurate but we ask AI to do it, but it's more inaccurate than us doing it, I don't know if I should use ... (Grade 6 student)
• I don't like AI very much. 

How To Co-Plan When You Have No Time

When candidates in the Teacher Librarian Additional Qualification courses I teach learn about how teacher-librarians co-plan, co-teach, and co-assess with homeroom or classroom teachers, some of the main questions they have are "When?" and "How?" Today's blog post shines a spotlight on three of the fall partnering units I'm involved with and demonstrates a few strategies to pull it all together.

Side note: If you are interested in taking any of the courses that I'm facilitating, the Queen's U Part 2 TL AQ I'm leading starts today (Monday, September 28, 2026) and the York U TL Part 1, Part 2, and Specialist AQs start next Tuesday - you can still sign up if you are interested.

https://apps.edu.yorku.ca/pdis/course/teacher-librarian/teacher-librarian-part-1/yf26tl11/

https://apps.edu.yorku.ca/pdis/course/teacher-librarian/teacher-librarian-part-2/yf26tl21/

https://apps.edu.yorku.ca/pdis/course/teacher-librarian/teacher-librarian-part-3-specialist/yf26tl31/

1) Document the Scraps of Discussion

It's helpful to take notes about the plans you have, even if they are just half-baked thoughts from a conversation. I like having a collaboration planning template; it's better than random sticky notes, and it's handy to count at the end of the year to see how many collaboration endeavors I attempt during the school year. I borrowed this graphic organizer from someone in a past TL Part 2 AQ from York, because I loved the design and categories. These notes are from my plans with the Grade 4-5 (now Grade 4) teacher about our science plans. We are going to integrate it with language and the final task will be an I Spy book. (This year, I copied the plans on blue paper so they'd be distinctive in my day book.)

2) Asynchronous Plans are A-Okay

It's difficult to find the time to sit down during the instructional day to plot out what the collaboration will look like between a class teacher and teacher-librarian. I'd even go so far to say that insisting on this level or type of planning is detrimental. We have to be flexible with our methods for collaboration. For instance, I am working with a Grade 5-6 teacher, who is an experienced educator but new to our school and new to this grade. She's doing a fantastic job but she's got enough on her plate without having to worry about meeting me in person to figure out our health unit. She sent me a document with ideas over the weekend, and I threw in some comments and set up the topic launch in the library with three "mystery snacks". She created the small group jigsaw reading assignments, and I gathered the labelled chart paper for the discussion portions. It worked!

3) Expand your Notion of what Counts as Collaboration

There's a wonderful infographic published by the BCTLA on different ways to collaborate.

Sometimes I need to remind myself that it doesn't have to be 50-50 or "even-Steven" when it comes to planning. For instance, I felt guilty that I didn't feel like I was "carrying my own weight" in my collaboration with a Grade 2-3 teacher for our language work. She had chosen the book, the theme, and prepared all the handouts related to "Choosing A One-Word Focus". However, I was able to assist in other ways, from small group support, to helping with the display, to co-reading the book, to carrying on with the lesson when she had to leave the room.

4) Trust the Process and the People

There are days that the planning is less prepared than one might like, and we need to "wing it". There are times when one of the educators has an idea that they haven't elaborated on at length with their teaching partner, but if there's trust, you can do it. This happened with the Grade 4 Science partnering. Originally, I was going to create some electronic quiz for us to review habitats with the students. However, I know that my school board is getting more strict about which online tools we are permitted to use. I also wasn't sure how well the students had internalized their previous lessons on what constitutes a habitat and the various types.

I created a sorting activity where students would place certain plants and animals into their habitats. I did not use AI to help me make the activity, because the choices recommended as habitat representatives were sometimes unclear and/or inaccurate. (Question: When did it become harder to turn off the AI overview in a Google search? It used to be as simple as adding "-AI" to the query, but that no longer works!) My husband had flashbacks to the days when we were engaged and I was in teachers' college, because back then, he used to help me prepare some of the handouts or resources. He was kept busy cutting squares for me the night before the lesson.

Thankfully, my teaching partner was completely comfortable with the shift in plans, and the students did a decent job with the work.

It's a special gift to get to construct a lesson with another educator. You bounce ideas off each other. You get excited about the possibilities. You have a second opinion to steer you. Ideally, we'd have plenty of time to build these learning opportunities for students. This is the time of year for school and class reorganizations; our school is no different. We did not lose any teaching staff, but we had to make some shifts. If teacher-librarians can help other teachers with this turbulent time, as they readjust their class lists and long range plans, then it's another reason why teacher-librarians are important to keep around. 

Skulls and Ducks

 I have a remarkably large number of collaboration periods in my timetable this year, and I intend on using them to the fullest. I have three already booked for September - health with the Grade 5-6 teacher, language with the Grade 2-3 teacher, and science with the Grade 4-5 teacher. In today's blog post, I want to examine the Grade 4-5 partnership, as well as my Grade 3-4 STEM unit launch. The unifying thread between them is the use of personalized props to make the work hands-on and interactive.

Skulls (or More Accurately, Skeletons)

The Grade 4-5 class has a significantly larger percentage of Grade 4 students. There are only four Grade 5s in the class. Some may see this as a disadvantage; the Grade 5s have fewer grade partners to associate with for grade-specific topics. When I had a Grade 6-7 class in 2020-21, I only had five Grade 7s, and I used to worry that they'd be overlooked compared to the younger students in the cohort. The flip side is that this can become a tight-knit group and you can do special things for them that would be prohibitive with a larger team.

The introductory unit the classroom teacher has selected for science is the human body for Grade 5 and habitats for Grade 4s. In consultation with Ms. Paspalofski, the introduction of our partnering time ended up being an integrated language and science experience, as well as useful for student observations.

I wrapped our "surprises" in four large boxes and we placed them in the classroom before the students arrived. Who would notice? What would they say?

Victoria reported that there were a few questions and comments, but not a huge stir.

When I joined the classroom that Tuesday afternoon, we had a brief discussion on "educated guesses" (otherwise known as inferences). It turns out that many students already had theories about the contents of the boxes. The Grade 5s got to be the leaders and the "unboxers", while the Grade 4s gathered around in four equal groups (division - a math connection!) to record the big reveal. It was wonderful that those inferring conversations happened beforehand, so that any potential misunderstandings could be dispelled immediately. (For instance, students were adamant that there were no "real dead bodies" or "actual body parts" in the boxes, because they said they would smell.) (I should point out that, to align with trauma-informed teaching, I was very familiar with all the students and their backgrounds, so I was confident that no one was going to be triggered or upset by what was inside the box - plastic skeletons.)

The Grade 5s were absolutely delighted with their "presents". One student immediately added eyeballs to her skeleton. Another students accurately predicted that we would be adding other organs to the skeletons in the near future.

Even though these are dollar store skeletons, at $5 per body, it would have been a significant expense to purchase one for every child in Grade 5 in the school. Plus, if you recall, teacher-librarians don't qualify for the $750 school supply fee and we can only buy at Staples. I am excited to work with this small group to see what we come up with for our skeletons. (One student even started some linguistic contemplations, brainstorming what the skeleton names would be like if they used the first half of the word skeleton combined with the last half of their names!)

Ducks

Are you familiar with the concept of "rubber ducking"? I defined it on my blog in 2023. For my STEM programming this year, I was inspired by one of our York University TL AQ guest speakers, Larissa Aradj, who described some of her STEM and MakerSpace inquiries she does with her students. She 3D printed little ducks for each child and used them as part of their STEM provocations.

I don't own a 3D printer, but I loved the idea of having a duck of their own to use for different challenges, such as building a chair or constructing a house.

In our second class of the year, the Grade 3-4 students in Room 114 had to go on a "duck hunt". I hid 23 ducks in the library (one per child) and they had to find one that would become theirs for the school year. 

I still want their classroom teacher, Mrs. Commisso, to remain on good terms with me 😉 so the STEM rubber ducks will live in the STEM lab on the class-designated shelf, until they are required for service.

Thankfully, the ducks were just $1 each. I haven't decided if the students get to keep the ducks at the end of the school year - that's a June, rather than a September problem. 

My husband isn't surprised anymore by these personal purchases to boost my teaching program. He's just grateful that it doesn't get too out of hand. 

Charting Paths

 Ta da! The first week of school for the 2026-27 year is already complete. There are some new students and new staff members to become acquainted with, and new schedules to learn. It'll take time to get used to the new people and new routines.

This is my second year of being the main guidance teacher-counsellor (note, not a guidance counsellor; I don't hold any graduate degrees in psychology - I have my Guidance Part 1 AQ credit). Since my program is an intermediate division focus, I am in the middle of developing new methods to cover similar topics, so that students don't roll their eyes and say "We did this LAST YEAR." That way, I can rotate between my Year A and Year B plans, modifying as necessary.

Last year, I began guidance by looking at memes. This year, my introduction was a collaborative build that lent itself to metaphorical interpretations of my purpose in their classrooms. Small groups had to get a marble from one side of the desk into a cup pasted at the other end. They earned track by sharing some facts about their group members / classmates. When the period was nearly over, we discussed what each portion of the build represented (e.g. the cup might be high school, or their goals, or success / the marbles are the students).

The train tracks can represent many different things. They can be the teachers guiding students on their paths to success. They can be the long range plans and lesson plans for the year. (Speaking of which, I don't have my long range plans written yet for the year, because the board-provided versions aren't suitable for teacher-librarians or ESL teachers or other specialist educators. I look forward to helping shape the template to make it useful for these just-as-important-as-class-teacher educators.) The train tracks can be teacher and students actions. They can be examples of "curriculum fidelity" (to quote the latest education buzzword). There's no one set way to get to the end. Whatever the tracks represent, they are meant to be vehicles to help students achieve and thrive. 

The way we deliver library programming this year will involve some path renavigation. All of my library time will be collaboration, rather than prep delivery. This means that, for the first time for our primary division, homeroom teachers will be managing their own book exchange periods. I will support the classes as we transition, and it will probably mean that it will look different for every homeroom. I am trying to figure out if I should prepare some "passive programming" activities (i.e. tasks that are set up on the tables for students to explore before or after their book exchange) so that they continue to have library experiences like loose parts, library orientation, book locations, etc. Last year, I began the year by reading We Don't Eat Our Classmates. My "launch book" for this year was I Am Cherished by Onome Ako.

For those of you who mainly read this blog to see photos of my Fluevog shoe collection, I had a mix of old favourites and new editions in the lineup.

Day 1 (September 8, 2026) = Fellowship Sandra

Day 2 (September 9, 2026) = Thrillvog Tippi

Day 3 (September 10, 2026) = Ella Baker

Day 4 (September 11, 2026) = Baroque Cortana

Bonus: (September 12, 2026) = Queen Transcendent Elizabeth

I wore the new-to-me purple Elizabeths (my 38th pair of Fluevogs) to the Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish 75th Anniversary dinner. IHM is my childhood parish and I split my time between my home parish (St. Barnabas) and this church, when I used to take my mom weekly to Mass, before she moved into a long term care facility. It was nice to be able to reconnect with people and look back on some of the paths that have gotten me to where I am now. Congratulations on the installation of the new pastor and happy anniversary to "Immaculate".