Reactions to Retirement (& Can You Party Too Much?)

 I couldn't decide which topic to focus on for this, my last post of the 2025-206 school year. Instead of combining them creatively, I just decided to write both of them separately in the same entry.

Reactions to Retirement (and Redeployment)

We had a great deal of movement in our school staffing at the end of this school year. Two teachers are going to other schools, to pursue their dream positions. Two staff members may be placed in other schools because of how EA / SNA slots are determined, and two teachers are retiring.

Everyone reacts to these kind of massive changes differently. This was evident with our two retirees. One of them is intensely private, so much so that I've never mentioned her by name in any of my blog posts, despite having the pleasure of working with her for 22 years. She did not want any kind of celebration or school-wide recognition. She even requested certain parameters related to the way we shared the news or expressed our farewells. We respected her wishes and on the last day, thanks to the inspired thinking of Brenda Kim, we all wore Terry Fox t-shirts to subtly demonstrate our tribute to her and her yearly efforts organizing the Terry Fox Run at our school.

Our other retiree, Jenny Chiu, was very open about her retirement plans. She was quite comfortable with having some sort of celebration. She really liked the way we arranged the student-centered retirement celebration for her colleague, Steve Tong - he loved golf, so every class prepared a mini-putt challenge in their room for him to try, giving him the opportunity to visit with a small group for a set period of time. For Jenny, a small group from the Chiu Retirement Committee (thank you Farah and Maha) created an Amazing Race Challenge for Jenny. She had to follow clues to take her to different classes, where she'd receive the next clue and a sticker for her Amazing Race passport. These stickers were of a cartoon version of Jenny doing certain things after retirement.

For the adult portion of her celebration, there was a reception in the staff room with an Asian food theme. Some of us spent a long time preparing the dishes that were served (big shout out to Thess and Connie, and even I, who is definitely not a cook, spent hours in the early morning and afternoon steaming and frying gyoza and dumplings). Many others contributed desserts and treats.

The current school staff sang a parody song written for Jenny and then Thess, her ECE, shared a short speech. Then Jenny gave a speech (that was supposed to be 5 minutes but lasted more like 20!) 

We presented her with a memory book, filled with messages from students and both former and current staff members. We talked and ate and had a lovely time at the party.

Can You Party Too Much?

Speaking of party, this was one of many, many parties that occurred during the last week of school. On Monday, we had the Kindergarten Graduation ceremony. On Tuesday, we had the Student Council run Play Day, followed by the Staff Social. Wednesday was Jenny Chiu's retirement party. Thursday was the last day of school and both our Junior Division ESL Story Viewing and Popcorn Party as well as the Quiz Bowl celebration party, acknowledging the team's 2026 Silver Birch Fiction competition win. On Friday, just before the staff PD session, the social committee hosted a free breakfast. Individual classes and even school divisions had picnics and potlucks and parties at the playground.

Is it possible to party too much? The end of the year is the perfect time to celebrate, but my perimenopausal belly expanded at a rapid rate as a result of all the delicious food. As I was supervising during my yard duty, a couple of Grade 1 and 2 students were "complaining" that they missed following their regular schedule because they didn't know what to expect when. I hope it doesn't lessen the special feeling of sharing food and socializing together. 

Happy end-of-school to those who are still part of the cycle. Enjoy your summer rest, recreation, and/or recuperation!

Strength in Community: Quiz Bowl, Library Lunch, & Grad

 The second-last week of school for the 2025-26 season was, as is typical, a flurry of activities and events. When I asked my family of writers how I could tie these three separate topics together in this blog post, my daughter immediately noted how they all involved community. From a class or club community, to the school, to the larger neighbourhood, each example demonstrates how coming together for a common purpose to celebrate achievements are important to connecting with people.

Monday June 15, 2026 - Quiz Bowl

Last year, I wrote about how worried I was that Quiz Bowl might not survive. The participating teacher-librarians modified the original rules we had from 2009 and this school year, I altered the way I delivered my Forest of Reading programming (turning it into a club with limited membership vs the school-wide approach that needed more copies of books and more adult readers). 

Our host school was Milliken Public School. We had five participating schools attend: Agnes Macphail Public School, Chief Dan George Public School, Milliken Public School, Percy Williams Junior Public School, and Port Royal Public School.

Our guest author was Jessica Renwick, author of Ghosts of Gastown. She lives in Alberta, so she conducted her author visit virtually via Zoom. 

It was a very pleasant, enjoyable event. There were several factors that contribute to its success.

• the number of schools = having five schools makes the event a bit more intimate and manageable
• the organization of the teacher-librarians = there was no issues, like we had in the past, of scrambling madly to create questions last-minute to use in the competition
• the flexibility within the timetable = it wasn't a crisis if the author visit didn't happen immediately at 11:00 a.m. as scheduled, or if the students needed a bit more time outside before starting the afternoon competition or to buy their ice cream from the ice cream truck (thank you Nour!)
• the willingness of teacher-librarians to take on multiple roles = we all took turns watching each others' students at the ice cream truck, in the gym, or outside at the playground; if someone had to read the questions they made, the others stepped up to take on their jobs as buzzer monitor, scorekeeper, or crowd watcher
• the students = for the most part, the participants were calm but still enthusiastic

The winners this year were:

>>> Chief Dan George for the Yellow Cedar non-fiction category <<<

>>> Agnes Macphail for the Silver Birch fiction category <<<

I'm really happy for Chief Dan George P.S., because it is the first time they've won this award. I remember when my school finally won, and it was a big deal.

I will be the first to admit that I underestimated my own students. I did not expect that they would win. Our powerhouse competitor from last year's team, the one that compiled the greatest amount of points in 2025, didn't sign up in time to participate in the Forest of Reading program. However, the team proved me wrong - so I owe them an ice cream party this coming week!

Tuesday, June 16, 2026 - Library Helper Appreciation Luncheon

On Tuesday, June 16, 2026, we held our lunch for the student Library Helpers. Our co-presidents, Ayden and Maggie, requested a taco bar and milkshakes. My husband said I bought too much, but those students did justice to their meals, devouring 90 tacos like it was nothing!

The milkshakes were a bit messy but it was fun to attempt to make them.

Food really does bring people together. 

Thursday, June 18, 2026 - Grade 8 Graduation

Our Grade 8 graduation is an important event to our school. There was a bit of added stress with the graduate slideshow component of the ceremony. Big thanks to Farah Wadia, our amazing Grade 8 teacher, who came to the rescue and essentially created the whole video from scratch in a single day. 

We had several teachers return to attend the graduation ceremony, and several others stay both for the formal and after-party. One teacher said what a joy it was to be seated near one of the parents because the mother was just so ecstatic when every student was recognized, not just her own child. The speeches were lovely, especially the valedictorian speech. It is one of my jobs to assist the valedictorian with crafting the speech. I am grateful that this year's recipient took my advice to make it less generic and more specific. He was concerned that, by mentioning certain names, other people would feel left out. He came up with a satisfactory work-around and many people said that his address was one of the best they've heard in several years.  Congratulations AMPS class of 2026!

I am grateful to be part of an amazing educational community. On the very next day, Friday June 19, 2026, the AMPS Parent Council hosted a Staff Appreciation Lunch for us. The food was delicious (yummy chicken parmesan, roasted vegetables, eggplant parmesan, two types of pasta, salad and home made dessert) and the kind words shared by Masi, Chuck, and Val really touched our hearts. 

One more week!

Library as Party Venue, Library as STEM Task Focus

The school library is a hub of activity. Just this past week, it served two distinct functions that I wanted to elaborate on a bit more in depth.

Library As Party Venue - Volunteer Appreciation Event

On Thursday, June 11, 2026, we hosted our annual celebration to honour our parent and community volunteers. To continue the tradition, we hold the event in the library. There are several reasons why this location makes sense.

1) Our library would be a disaster without our volunteers. Mei and Christine tidy and shelve books faster than our student library helpers can (with their brief 10 minute shifts at recess).

2) The library is bigger than a classroom, but more welcoming an atmosphere than the gym. 

3) One of the main draws of our volunteer event is for people to find their names in the new books dedicated to their efforts that belong to the library.

I really should do new book displays like this more often. People flock to the new titles and I often see students hunkered down, thoroughly engrossed in reading the books. They take special pride in locating books with their names and the names of their loved ones inside. (The picture below is of my daughter, who helped me supervise during the TDSB Heritage Fair.)

I have to make a very special shout-out to our office administrator, Deliah Williams. I was frustrated and exhausted by my attempts to design and complete our 2026 volunteer bookplates. I couldn't find a proper template. I couldn't get the labels to line up correctly. Everything was going wrong. Deliah spent a huge chunk of a morning trouble-shooting and she created a gorgeous book plate. Plus, she entered in all the names of the recipients. Deliah, you are a TREASURE and a LIFESAVER! (I promise we will migrate to a spreadsheet next year to make life easier!)

Library as STEM Task Focus - Coding Robots on Library Maps

This has been a terrific STEM activity that has kept my primary division STEM students engaged and occupied throughout June. It was a lot of work to set up, but it's been worth it.

To wrap up our coding unit, I constructed ten very large maps of the school library. I worked on this just before Kindergarten Orientation and standardized my shapes and distances. The maps aren't to scale, but at least they are consistent with each other. If you recall from a blog post I made in May, the students have trouble documenting their code. I provided some sentence starters and large blank paper for them to record the goal for their Botley or coding mouse, and ample space for them to write it down.

The students have really embraced this task. I love watching them plan with their partners, use the path blocks that came with the coding mice to estimate distances, and revise their work without prompting. 

My only regret is that their work with this specific task won't be reflected on their report cards, but learning is learning, even when it isn't formalized in an official document. The students know the library and became even more adept at connecting the abstract map symbols with the real-life counterparts. 

There's still plenty of things to see, plan, and do before school ends. Stay tune for more reports!

The Evolution of My AI Thoughts

 When this blog goes live on Monday, June 8, it will be the date of the 2026 OLA Digital Odyssey conference. The theme of this year's conference is "Human in the System: Libraries Navigating AI Together". 

When I was preparing a couple of talks related to AI for OLA's Digital Odyssey conference and as a guest speaker for AML's Media AQ, I started to wonder how many of these workshops or presentations I've done on Generative AI. I looked at my professional wiki where I record this kind of information, and I made a list. This is current as of June 8, 2026 and just focuses on AI talks.

• 2023 - Fostering Primary Division Students Critical Exploration of Algorithms (Global Media Education Summit)
• 2023 - Exploring Algorithms with Primary Students: Magic, Mystery and More! (TDSB Unleashing Learning)
• 2024 - AI's Not a Bad Guy: Understanding Algorithms (OLA Super Conference)
• 2024 - Teaching Teachers and Tots the Ins and Outs of Algorithms and AI (IMLRS)
• 2025 - The Role of AI in Student Research (OLA Super Conference)
• 2025 - Look Before You Leap: Testing the GenAI Waters in Elementary Schools (OTF Curriculum Forum) (RFTLOI)
• 2025 - Support Without Substitution: How AI Tools Might Help K-8 Teacher Teaching Teaching Effectively and Ethically (OTF Curriculum Forum) (ECOO ExplorAItion)
• 2025 - Unpacking Machine Learning (AML)
• 2025 - Cultivating Critical Minds in a World Influenced by AI (UNESCO)
• 2025 - Questioning AI: Building Media Literacy and Critical Thinking Skills (ETFO ICT Conference for Women) (ECOO Dream Forward STEAM Ahead)
• 2026 - CSL Digital Media Toolkit: Smarter Together in the Age of AI
• 2026 - Developing AI Guides for a School Board and a Country (IMLRS)

I thought it might be interesting to see which presentations became dated quickly, or if there were any ideas I shared back then that have changed or altered. In the end, I decided to make a "listicle".

My Top 3 Favourite AI Talks

#3 = Teaching Teachers and Tots the Ins and Outs of Algorithms and AI

I thought this talk, even though it was shared several years ago, still has relevance. It focused on some of my earliest action research on teaching through and about AI with primary division students. It has a great collection of student quotes and visuals produced by student hands as well as AI. The GenAI image generation tools have improved since 2024. One of the loveliest compliments I've received came after this talk, when someone said "I wish I could be a student in your class". 

#2 = The Role of AI in Student Research

This was a presentation that took a lot of time to prepare but was a lot of fun to deliver. Part of the joy came from presenting with my friend, Kim Davidson, at OLA Super Conference. The audience was filled with friends. I really like how Kim and I looked at GenAI at every stage of the research process and had practical tasks and questions connected to many aspects of inquiry. It's much more clear now what our school board's "supported" AI tools are and which ones to use than when we first developed this talk, so if we ever shared it again, we'd have to update that information, but it was a good one that I will sometimes refer back to myself when planning.

#1 = Questioning AI: Building Media Literacy and Critical Thinking Skills

There are several reasons why I consider this to be one of the best presentations I've given to date on AI. First of all, I had a nice long time to present, so I was able to incorporate activities for the participants to undertake (and I differentiated, so that people didn't feel like they were being forced to use AI against their will). I like how media literacy concepts are fleshed out, equity issues are brought to the forefront instead of being asides, and it ends with practical strategies for critical thinking that can be applied not just to Generative AI but to all media texts. I'm glad that I was able to really hone in on the ETFO AI guideline papers; if educators are going to use AI, they need to do it thoughtfully, with purpose, and in a way that does not demean the profession. In this talk, I had the opportunity to delve into some of my favourite AI subtopics, such as the problematic personification of AI and the distinction between "through" and "about". I was terrified when I gave this talk at the ECOO conference, because some "heavy hitters" that I really respect were in the room - Tim King and Heidi Siwak. I wondered what on earth my workshop could offer them when they are such experts in the field. They seemed to be satisfied, so I consider that a win.

I called this blog "The Evolution of my AI Thoughts". How would I say that my thoughts on AI have changed? I find it ironic that I am sought after by media outlets to provide commentary and lessons on AI, when I think I actually don't use AI that much. I've started to use it more than in the past, but I'm big on citing my use. I'm going to look at my use of Google Gemini at the end of the school year, and try to "make amends to the earth" for the amount of energy and water my AI prompts and queries have done. (This action is inspired by Mariana Spena from DDSB, whom I heard speak at the ECOO conference. Maybe my future post will need to be a list of my favourite AI talks that I've attended as a listener, rather than as a speaker!) There are times when people use it and I question whether it's the right choice. (After all, there are two writers in my family and I strongly believe their work cannot and should not be replaced by AI bots.) AI still makes me feel a bit superior, and I get frustrated by how often AI is embedded in tools where I don't want to use it (such as Blogger, or Gmail). If this is how things have changed from 2023-2026, I wonder what AI will be like in the next three years. Only time will tell. 

Documenting the Documentary Film Making

 Last Monday, on May 25, 2026, my school had the incredible honour of having a TVO film crew come to record footage for an upcoming documentary on media literacy education. It was a lot of work to prepare for their arrival, because many classes were featured and everyone involved needed special permission forms signed. However, it was a very educational experience for the students. I hope that they learned several things about the visit. Here are a few things I hope the students appreciated.

Many People Make Movies

We had a team arrive at our school to collect footage. Everyone had a role to play.

This reminded me of the drawings I commissioned my daughter to create long ago to show the different jobs involved in the film industry. (I'll see if I can find it and include it here in the blog post. ETA - I couldn't find the file in time to share here but if I locate it, I'll add it eventually.)

Jen was the Production Manager. She kept the crew organized. She handled all the bookings and the paperwork. It was Jen that collected all the permission forms. She managed the logistics and schedules.

Kevin was the Producer and Director. He had the vision for what he hoped to see. He instructed the rest of the crew about possible shots and whom to film. Kevin watched the footage and asked questions of me and of the students.

John was the primary camera person. He filmed the video using a huge camera. He'd line up shots and recorded from several different angles using different lenses.

Chris was another camera person. He collected "B roll" footage as well as different angles to complement the ones John collected.

Sanjay was the sound technician. He carried around the long boom microphone and hung it over students when he needed to hear them better. He also wired me up with a body microphone so I could be heard.

Nathan was the assistant. A recent graduate of Seneca and York, Nathan offered help to John and Chris with batteries, wires, lenses and other equipment.

Everyone was important to the process and worked long and hard.

Lots of Time, Lots of Tech

The team from Primitive Entertainment Inc. (the ones filming on behalf of TVO) arrived at 8:10 a.m. and didn't leave until after 5:00 p.m. They had a trolley full of technology. The students were fascinated with the fuzzy cover on the microphone (there to stop rain and wind from interfering with the sound quality), the big lenses (which they had to avoid staring directly into because it ruins the shot), the tripod and term I forgot (half mat?) that held the cameras steady for longer periods of time, and Kevin's viewfinder that showed him what John was shooting. One of my students kept saying "pictures, pictures" when he saw the crew in the hallway.

When the students asked about when the movie would be ready, Kevin explained that it should be finished by next school year. This could be anywhere from September to June, but Kevin and his team had many schools to visit and, if they filmed as long as they did at my school, there would be a lot of footage to sort through and select for the final project.

Filming Doesn't Always Go According to Plan

We had a schedule of classes to see and moments to capture, but sometimes circumstances altered the plans. Sometimes a tangential comment would lead to interesting questions, or something unexpected a student would say would interest the director and have the crew focus elsewhere. We were a bit delayed moving from the library to go to see some of the primary classes and record some of their reading instruction. Big thanks to Sheri Hajiani and Maha Ngo for agreeing to have the crew film them teaching.

Sometimes something would interest the camera people as they filmed extra material to use in between shots, so they'd film in the hall or outside. It caused a bit of a stir, but people needed to understand that close-ups were only of students with forms and outside shots were distant enough to obscure faces, and were primarily just wide-view filler content. The crew was very respectful and were extremely accommodating to the wishes of others in the building. We ran out of time with Room 113 and our own sound malfunctioned on showing a video, so they returned back to the library to "finish up" for an extra ten minutes of filming, and the videographers really seemed to like filming some unscripted interactions between me and the students as they began to write a draft copy of an email to an author. 

I expected that we'd "casually manufacture" a conversation around replacing a library tree book display during the second-last period of the day, (a clear connection to media) but instead, the focus for the time Room 112 was in the library centered on the students serenely reading and borrowing their books, while the director asked them questions about the books they liked to read. The camera man said he captured some great shots of the students blissfully reading with the afternoon sun streaming behind them. Even though Media Key Concept #2 is "Media construct versions of reality", and filming students reading (and asking them questions on camera) wasn't "natural", it was more "authentic" than what we had planned about the library tree. 

During my ESL class first thing in the morning, one of my mischievous students decided to put his name tag (that was originally attached to the props he needed to make his comic on Book Creator) and stick it on my back. I didn't notice until the director asked if I realized I had something on me! 

If/when I share this blog post on www.aml.ca, maybe I'll list all the Media Literacy Key Concepts and how they connected to the day. Let me end by saying it was a great experience. I hope that the footage they collected was useful to the project and that it will advance the cause of media literacy in the province and country.

Bravo! Bravo! Making a Successful Spring Concert

 Thursday, May 21, 2026 was our school's Spring Concert. I peeked back on my previous blog posts (I don't want to sound too repetitive in my reflections!) and the last time I ruminated on the Spring Concert was in 2025 when I reported on getting a concert ready when the main coordinator has been absent, and in 2024 when I was responsible for the kindergarten performances. 

I don't teach dance or drama this year, but I was still involved with the show. My focus for these thoughts are all about the little things that turn a good performance into a great one.

Being Ready

It's no surprise that advanced preparation benefits a performance. The more familiar students are with what they must do on stage, the more comfortable they will be when the time comes for the final viewing. What's tricky is making sure that those rehearsals do not become boring or dull or counterproductive. I was supporting a primary division class who had become tired of their review. To spice it up a bit, I asked them to do their act as if everyone except me had laryngitis. I provided the oral component and they were very quick to point out when I was speaking too quickly or too slowly, or to ask me why I was saying the lines a certain way. The process actually made them more critical and more conscious of the process. The teacher with the class of students playing recorder had a unique way of preparing the kids; at any point during the day, he'd declare that it was time to pick up the recorders and play. It wasn't stop-drop-&roll, but stop-popup-& play! They were SO ready for the concert.

The Aural Experience

Layering sound can be impactful. I took over coordinating the contribution from a different primary division class and a week before the show, I had an "aha" moment. We had narrators and we had sound effects; would it be possible to add soft instrumental music to enhance the cultural aspect of the material? We tried it out and it really added to the quality of the performance. We used this tactic for another class' show and it really helped delineate the "reality" vs the "dream" portion of their play.

The same goes for the band. Connie set up the chairs in three compact rows instead of two rows like before. I'm not sure if the reason for this decision was to consolidate the sound, but it served to contain and unify the instrumentalists.

The Grade 4-5s turned what would have been a mediocre rendition of some common recorder songs into something interesting and appealing to the ear with accompaniment that provided different musical genres to make it multilayered and unique. (This was an offshoot of a collaboration between the library and the music class that had originally intended to use AI to help generate the background supplements, but we realized that there's no replacing actual musicians yet - big thanks to Connie Chan's husband for playing the instruments that formed the backup for the jazz, rock and roll, and reggae flavored music to go with the recorders.) 

Having other people sing along with the ukulele club made the performance excellent. I am so grateful that Deliah Williams and Connie Chan agreed to sing a duet to the ukulele number. Their beautiful harmonies really added variety and texture to what could have been a very repetitive song. I'm also glad that in the end, I chose to use a lummi stick for a dual purpose - to mark the downbeat and conduct the ukulele players as they strummed in a syncopated rhythm. 

Clothes Make the Man-y

Props and costumes are so important. Ms. Thiya spent weeks and weeks working with the Grade 1 and Grade 1-2 class to design their own costumes, using leaf collection bags. The students were absolutely adorable!

The Grade 3-4s created their own conical villager hats after I gave up in despair. (It actually became a math and art lesson for them in their home class.) 

I ordered some beards for our "poets" to wear and it really helped these students get into character. I loved watching them thoughtfully stroke their beards as they struck a pose and pretended to think deep thoughts. 

These students also helped build the boat that they used as part of the play. I've never seen students work so carefully to measure and cut cardboard. They were worried when the handles fell off but were happy when we came up with a solution (thanks to Mr. Malisani's recommendations). 

My daughter and I also constructed some dragon hats and the actors loved them so much, one asked if she'd get to keep it after the show.

 

Visual Interest

To piggyback on the idea of props and costumes, adding movement to any potentially static delivery livens things up tremendously. For the primary choir, our last chorus included some clapping and stepping. I worried that the Grade 1s, 2s, and 3s would not be able to clap, dance, and sing at the same time, but they were fine. The addition of actions, even as simple as switching seats on stage, invigorated the Grade 2-3 number.

Student Voice

Giving students agency means that they care about the show because they had a say in what goes on. Ms. Thiya's play with Room 115 and 116 was based on their ideas about what whimsical things could exist in a reply to the question "What did you do at school today?" The answers had a mix of capybaras, soccer players, K-pop dancers, insects, flamingos, and other popular animals and figures. 

Letting students decide which role they'd like in the play was helpful. It actually became part of a lesson, as students analyzed their skills as drama performers and determined which job suited them best.

I want to thank everyone who had a hand in creating yet another memorable concert. It was a lean but jam-packed 45 minutes and the reward was hearing a visitor say that they paid $25 to attend a different school concert but it wasn't as good as this one, which was free!