Happy 40th Anniversary AML!

On Sunday April 28, 2019, the Association for Media Literacy celebrated its 40th anniversary with a social at Hart House. Technically, 2018 was the 40th anniversary, but as someone who threw my mother a 75th birthday party when she turned 76, this still works. Sometimes it takes a whole year to get it ready!

What's a party without a cake? Happy anniversary AML!

I am relatively new to the organization, only having joined the board as one of the executive directors last year. I felt very privileged to be surrounded by some of the top "media minds"; many of these individuals I had only heard of via their reputation, their accomplishments admired by my own "media mentors".

View of the Hart House Music room

There were just a few speeches. Neil Andersen, current AML president, made the introductory remarks. Carolyn Wilson, one of the former AML presidents, spoke about the history and importance of the organization. Chelsea Attwell, Michelle Solomon, and I were asked to speak about the future of AML, and Carol Arcus, current vice-president of AML, concluded the event with a call to action.

Neil Andersen addresses the attendees

Michelle, Diana, and Chelsea speak as one

Chelsea, Michelle and I created a "spoken word poem/speech". This is what we said:

All: We are the face of AML today. We are

M: Michelle

C: Chelsea

D: Diana

All: And we have been part of the AML executive

M: since 2011

C: since 2011

D: since 2018

All: We are busy educators

M: teaching library at Northern Secondary

C: teaching kindergarteners at HJ Alexander CS

D: teaching library and media at Agnes Macphail Public School

All: With busy lives as people and parents

M: to two pre-teens

C: to one pre-schooler

D: to two older teens

All: But we make the time for AML because

MC: this work is important

CD: and it still matters

DM: every day

MC: in our schools and in our lives

M: It matters because the key concepts of media literacy are the foundations of critical thinking both for me and my students. Media literacy is, to quote Neil, “the most essential skill” in the 21st century. It affords us the possibility of being active participants in our heavily mediated culture, rather than passive observers. Our media literate students have more agency.

C: It matters because Media Literacy has reframed the way I think about teaching and learning. It brings excitement and challenges to my teaching. Media Literacy has also helped me on the road to teacher leadership. I will always be grateful for what I learned but mostly the guidance and mentoring that current and past members of the AML have provided.

D: It matters because media is all around us and awareness and critical thinking are key. The opportunity to talk with media-savvy educators at AML salons, or to consider thought-provoking concepts from the weekly podcasts on VoicEd Radio, or to discover great lesson idea prompts from the AML website are needed now more than ever. My students are examining stereotypes associated with hair and thinking about those Grammerly ads as part of their YouTube Club chats because they have a teacher who cares about, and knows about, media literacy. In classrooms bursting with demands to cover curriculum, media literacy covers life in ways that attract and engage students where they are at.

All: What is the future of AML?

M: It’s you.

C: It’s you.

D: It’s you.

All: It’s all of us.

M: In this room

C: In this city

D: In this province

All: Working together, in whatever ways we can

M: For resources

C: For support

D: For advocacy

All: Alongside AML, to make media learning a priority

Because if we won’t

M: Then

C: Who

D: Will?

Carol with a photo of Barry Duncan (RIP)

We tried to keep it short but to the point. I felt like a baby compared to all the media experts in the room, but as Carolyn said in her speech, AML is good about inviting people to the "table". Yes, there were people like John Pungente, SJ who is considered an international "Grandparent of Media Literacy" but there were also wonderful people like Michelle Girardin and Michilin NiThreasaigh, who are currently taking the Media AQ course. I was delighted to meet and speak with everyone I had the chance to interact with.

What I took away today: #medialiteracy matters more than ever! I was inspired today to meet so many past and current members of @A_M_L_ TY for the mentoring, teaching & learning @msolomonteacher @mediasee @arc3 @MzMollyTL #k12media pic.twitter.com/ID5GDphZsq

— Chelsea (@ccatwell) April 29, 2019

Thank you to everyone for all their work putting together this celebration, especially Nina Silver and Carol Arcus. Thank you to Chelsea Attwell for live-tweeting the event. Thank you to all the people that attended the anniversary. Special thanks to all of those who may have been inspired by Carol's words, to help AML out with your contacts and expertise. AML needs you.

Shopping Students

On Tuesday, April 16, 2019 the annual spring GTA Resource Fair was held at the Better Living Building on the CNE grounds. Organized by Saunders Book Company (a Canadian vendor and distributor), it's an opportunity for school library professionals in TDSB and some of the surrounding boards to browse through and purchase the newest titles available from a wide variety of different Canadian book sellers, such as Tinlids, Beguiling, Another Story, A Different Booklist, etc.

I've written about the GTA Resource Fair before - way back in 2011 - and talked about my practice of bringing students along to help me select books for the school library. For the 2018-2019 school year, we weren't able to attend the fall fair because I was at the ECOO BIT18 conference. That meant I had more money than usual for our school library shopping. Another difference for the spring fair was that I had the pleasure of bringing many more students and a classroom teacher.

This year, as part of our SIP (School Improvement Plan) goals, money was allocated so that the junior and intermediate classes could improve their classroom libraries so that it would be more diverse and representative of the many lived realities of students in Ontario. The junior/intermediate teaching team decided to further empower their students by choosing a few from each class to select and purchase these books on their behalf. Our Grade 6 teacher and division chairperson, Lisa Daley, accompanied the students. Since we had 22 students instead of my usual 6, we took the GO Train there and back.

Our students took their mission very seriously, and demonstrated some admirable character traits while they were at it.

Financially Responsible

Each grade team had $500 to spend on resources and the students were extremely careful not to go over their allotment. They kept track of their spending and checked in with me and Ms. Daley quite regularly. No wild spending sprees here!

(This is a photo of several of our students browsing and calculating with Ms. Daley advising.)

Fair-Minded

I wondered aloud at one point why students were purchasing so few books at a time. They explained to me that they wanted to distribute their funds equally to as many different vendors as possible. In other words, they wanted to spread their business so that many companies would get a benefit. How generous and considerate of them!

(This is a photo of students purchasing books for the Grade 8 class from Glad Day Bookstore.)

Collaborative

We did an "overview" of the GTA Resource Fair and pointed out who the employees / owners were from several companies. The students would ask these knowledgeable people for recommendations. Andrew Woodrow-Butcher from Beguiling and Maria Martella from Tinlids were particularly helpful. The students did not just blindly accept their suggestions, but considered them seriously.

(This is a photo of Maria from Tinlids suggesting a few books.)

Joyful

Okay, I know that joy isn't a character trait like cooperation, respect and honesty are - but the students really enjoyed shopping. They were proud of the book choices they made. They used their prior knowledge of the kinds of books they already had in their class collections to inform their buying. We even texted one of the junior teachers who didn't go on the trip just to ensure that we weren't buying a title they already had.

The body language in this photo says it all: look at the wonder of all these brand new books!

Ms. Daley talked about the pressure and intense responsibility she felt in making these decisions on behalf of other teachers - we really wanted to choose books that the students and teachers would appreciate. I think the team did a phenomenal job of making selections. The students tried hard to pick books that didn't just interest them, but were beneficial to others. The "proof in the pudding" was that they couldn't wait to start reading their choices.

Strong

Another unexpected positive trait - the GTA Resource Fair is a "take-away" fair, which meant that we had to transport all the books we picked. Usually this isn't a problem - we just pack it tightly in my car and drive back to school. This time, it involved a lot of carrying as we hauled our treasure back in boxes and bags all the way from the lake to the northernmost reaches of our school board. This was probably the least favourite aspect of our trip, but the students took it in stride. I think Ms. Daley and I are in better shape than some of our students, but at least they didn't miss any physical education during our trip; it was unintentionally incorporated!

(This is a photo of a large group of our students carrying boxes and bags out of the building.)

The vendors were delighted to see our students and the TDSB Library Services team were fantastic in terms of their positive attitudes and the speed at which they processed our library books. Big thanks to Andrea Sykes, Program Coordinator for TDSB Library Learning Resources Department, the TDSB Library Services team, our principal, Bill Parish, for allowing us to go and providing the money to make it possible, all the vendors at the GTA Resource Fair, Ms. Daley and our wonderful students. I can't imagine shopping for books any other way.

Highs and Lows of Working with Young Learners

This week was a busy one. There were a lot of after-school obligations (i.e. our area teacher-librarian meeting on Tuesday, speaking at the TDSB Media AQ course on Wednesday, the last 2019 Marriage Prep class on Thursday, and several other meetings that were postponed or just couldn't be squeezed into my schedule). My reflections for this week, however, will focus on the students and how interacting with them can be extremely unpredictable and can fluctuate between being quite rewarding and utterly frustrating.

A High Moment = Incredible Student Comics at Comic Club (Monday)

Many of my student clubs are winding down, because "April-May-June" is a hectic month. One that won't end until April vanishes is Comics Club. For this two-month chunk, the club is for Grades 1-3. I wasn't sure how successful it would be for our primary division students, but the members who have not quit have really enjoyed it. The original plan was to focus on a month for reading and a month for writing, but a few students respectfully pushed against that agenda and asked if they could spend more time writing / creating their comics. Whom am I to disagree? I didn't do any explicit teaching in this club and it took some of the Grade 1s a while to understand how to communicate effectively with their pictures in the panels. However, it's been great to see these epic comic books evolve. The photos are of a) two Grade 2s making their comics side by side, b) a photo of one page of a Grade 1 student's comic, and c) the beginning of a Grade 3 student's comic on Pixton.

A High Moment = Kindergarten Students Can Sew! (Thursday)

A few weeks ago, I wrote about how the kindergarten students and I were exploring STEAM-themed extensions to the Blue Spruce nominated picture books we've been reading. Last week, some of Mrs. Commisso's Grade 2 students advocated for themselves and ask that we spend some more time just reading the Blue Spruce books for pleasure - a request I happily obliged! For one of the nominated 2019 Blue Spruce books, I Love My Purse, Melanie Mulcaster's recommendation was to have students make their own purses or bags. I decided to put a slightly different spin on the task. Students chose what fabric they wanted to use. Together, individual students and I sewed the material - using a sewing machine! - into a pouch and then they had to figure out how to add handles. 

Thank goodness I had other adults to keep an eye on the other students as they built with Keva Planks and rods and connectors. That gave me the opportunity to work one-on-one with the kindergarten students on the sewing machine. They pushed the pedal and I steered the fabric, and it worked! I also loved how creative students got with deciding how to make straps. We only got through a few, but each one was a bit different. 

A Low Moment = Flailing Fists (Wednesday)

I won't go into detail on this low point, but I had to pry a student off another and remove him from the library as he pummeled one of his classmates. A supply teacher watched the rest of the class as I sat with the young boxer-in-training, unable to say anything to him in his agitated state, just patting his back while he seethed and eventually settled down. 

A Low Moment = 40 Minutes of Rage (Friday)

Our classes at the school where I work aren't known for having a lot of "behaviour issues", but that doesn't mean that they are challenge-free. Friday afternoon gave me back-to-back moments where I was emotionally fatigued. The first was a student who could not calm down. He was irate since lunch and was overflowing with fury when he came in with his class. I couldn't approach him. I offered him any of the calming tools we have available and he hotly refused. He stamped around the library. He growled. He scowled. His fellow students were extremely accommodating; they gave up their "block" seats to him because they thought it'd make him happy. It didn't. He pushed over chairs. He didn't want another place or spot to calm down. All the strategies he'd been taught or offered were either forgotten or useless. He yelled "I don't know what to do!" but didn't want to come near me to get help (where I was explaining to 5 other students who may have been equally as confused but weren't having temper tantrums). When he finally came over and I quietly explained that all he had to do was copy some words from the chart paper, he insisted that he didn't know how to copy. It must be exhausting for him to stay angry and agitated for so long. He left the class almost as mad as he was when he walked in.

A Low Moment = Hijacking the Class (Friday)

The very next period, I had a class that has a student that needs a lot of attention and strategies to help her cope with tasks that we consider reasonable and doable at this age. She really did not want to listen to the story and she tried her hardest to make sure no one else got to hear the story either. Each attention-getting trick she used escalated things more and more. It went from the rude comments ("You're boring." / "This is boring" / "Blah blah blah") to using her agenda as a drum to screaming and slamming the door. I ignored the comments. I used my "I" statements to state how annoyed I was becoming. I took away the agenda. In the end, I had to buzz the office for backup and evacuate the class to another area of the library. I had to give up reading the book and settle for an extended book exchange. I was so frazzled that I was quivering by the end. I felt terrible. Our SNA and principal reassured me that sometimes calling the office is exactly what I have to do, but I hate feeling that the one student is totally manipulating what happens in the class and the tone. 

A High Moment = Helping a Teacher-Librarian Out (Friday)

There are many ways to exit a dis-regulated state. One of the ways that I deal with stressful situations is to write about them (like on this blog) and to talk about them with others. I talked about it with the very next class that I had - the kindergarteners. In response, they were absolutely fantastic! They made a point of listening extra-attentively. This class also took care of the book exchange process for me, and they did it very well!

I'm not the only one who faces highs and lows during a teaching week. In fact, at our teacher-librarian meeting, we talked about stress busters. The wonderful Tracey Donaldson even gave out prizes of essential oil scented jars so that teacher-librarians can de-stress too! My Friday afternoon made me think about my good friends Moyah Walker and Jennifer Derr, and how this same week, they sacrificed their own time to help students in need, even when the students are the ones who place themselves in difficult situations.

I don't have any wise words to end this post. I wish I understood why so many of our students seem to have such difficulties regulating their behaviour and emotions. What I do know is that, even though teaching is a tough job, I couldn't imagine doing anything else. To end on an upbeat note, I'll conclude with copies of some letters I received from some of the students as part of their letter-writing unit, and some of my replies.

"Sign of the Times": Protests and Post(er)s

This past week, my union featured prominently in my activities. On Thursday, April 4, I attended my first ETT (Elementary Teachers of Toronto) steward meeting. On Saturday, April 6, I attended the Rally for Education at Queen's Park.

April 4, 2019 - ETT Steward Meeting

What can you do? Plenty!

At my school, the steward job was unfilled. Our ward's executive officer spoke to us at lunch and told us that it was important to have union representation at the school level. I like the solution that our school staff devised - three of us volunteered to share the role for this year and next year. After that, another three people have signed on to be the shared reps, and we even have the year after that penciled in with three people. That way, no one feels "trapped" in the role, and no one is alone with the responsibilities.

As part of the new school union team, I went to the steward meeting and I have to tell you that I felt extremely supported. My supply coverage was handled promptly, we were well-fed, and we were given resources to facilitate the meetings and conversations that need to happen at our schools. I did not feel that my time was "wasted" at all during the day - it felt informative and productive. Sam Hammond, president of the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario (ETFO) came and addressed the group in the afternoon, providing some helpful context as well as some words of encouragement to fire us up! The bonus was that I was able to see many colleagues and teacher friends at the meeting!

Me with one of my York U Fac of Ed friends, Vicki!

Teacher-librarian stewards rock!

A special call-out goes to Yolanda B'Dacy, the vice-president of ETT. She is so poised and professional, and despite being such a huge, influential figure in our union, she made a point to say how pleased she was to meet me (me! a newbie steward!) in person because she's one of my Twitter followers. Her attention is a huge honour and privilege. Our union executive does not act like they are above us; they are with us, alongside us.

One of the activities we had in the morning was to make posters for the rally. A few things helped me with this task that I should probably mention, maybe to help inform future steward meetings and sign making blitzes. One was my media literacy background. When making media, creators must consider the intended audience. Who do we hope reads this sign? That's why, when someone at our table suggested we use the phrase "Am I next?", I questioned if that would be the most effective slogan. Teachers are already seen as self-centered; the focus of our signs, if we want to appeal to the general public as well as those with a stake in education, should be about the students. Here are some of the examples of the signs that were created during our ETT meeting. The first two photos are of signs that I helped to make.

The second helpful resource for me was Sylvia Duckworth and her sketch-noting tutorials. I bought her book and have been practicing the use of another font to vary the look of my posters, and it's working. Thanks Sylvia!

The third helpful resource for me was the words of Peter Skillen. Peter has made some wonderful posts on Facebook analyzing the current situation in education in Ontario. I'm paraphrasing some of what he's said, but he wants to encourage educators to take the "high road" in this fight, and not stoop to insults or name-calling. Peter drew attention, for instance to people who are highlighting the Minister of Education's prior job experience with a goat co-operative. I believe that this is a tricky balance to maintain, because visual and verbal humour, especially on hand-made signs, are very catchy and have news media appeal - but we must be wary of looking elitist or mean-spirited. Peter is no fan of the recent decisions impacting Ontario education, but he has posted links and facts countering the current government's narrative that Ontario students are failing in math. His exact words were:

Let's find a way to object and differ while retaining our dignity.

The Toronto union stewards were not the only ones planning and taking action. On the very day we met, students across the province walked out of class. My high-school-aged son was at a retreat that day, but despite hearing that a walkout was not "school-sanctioned", the retreat organizers made the schedule flexible so that students could attend the protest. My son checked it out, but I haven't heard much about it from him.

April 6, 2019 - Rally for Education

My view of the protest

In 2012, I attended the protest against Premier McGuinty's Bill 115 at Queen's Park. I also went down to Queen's Park in 1998 to protest Premier Harris' policies. (I have the photos from both events to prove it.) In 2019, I traveled again to the lawn of the Ontario Legislative Assembly to make my concerns known about the disturbing recent decisions made impacting education in Ontario.

Couldn't get a good shot of my t-shirt, so here it is post-rally

Rallies and protests can be odd things. Should we be joyous or incensed? Happy or mad? Who is it for? Who sees it and what exactly do they see? Does it make a difference?

The mood does swing between a sense of hope and optimism that things can change for the better and fury that the current provincial government seems to prioritize cost-saving over adequate funding. Once again, I was delighted to see friends from all over the province in attendance, like fellow dHL team member and TL, Amanda Williams-Yeagers and a face I haven't seen in ages - my friend Lori McCannell, who now works for OECTA (Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association). Big, big thanks go to my friend and fellow TDSB teacher-librarian Jackie Dixon who picked me up from home (and I made her wait 30 minutes longer for me than she should have - shame on me!) and commuted with me and her two young children to attend the rally. It was energizing to see so many people who care about education in one place - so I guess that the rally is just as much for us and solidarity as it is for news media awareness and for politicians to pay attention.

As some of the signs said, size matters. This is true for class sizes and protest rally sizes. Even if none of the MPPs or Ministers were present that day, they could not ignore the large crowd of people that arrived from all over the province to make their displeasure known. This is just the first step that many of us must continue to take to try and ensure that our students aren't in crowded classrooms, with fewer teachers and ridiculous restrictions and requirements. Wish us all luck!

Why I Love But (Temporarily) Left Twitter

I love Twitter. It it my favourite social media site. My PLN (Professional Learning Network) has grown tremendously because of the connections I have made with other Twitter users. It is a method I use to keep in touch with friends and colleagues that aren't nearby. It is a source of different opinions that often don't get a lot of airplay elsewhere. It is a way for me to share great things happening in my school, and discover other great ideas and events happening in other locations.

But I've been absent from Twitter since March 6.
It's not Twitter's doing. It's me. It's my choice and a darned hard one.

Most people who know me realize that I'm Catholic. (I've made the joke many times that I'm a "practicing Catholic because I need to get better at it".) One of the things I do as a Catholic Christian is observe the penitential season of Lent. (I've written about Lent before on my blog.) The goal of Lent is to examine the things in your life that distract you and might pull you away from your own spiritual development and relationship with God. I reflected on what might be my personal distractions and I had to admit that Twitter looms large. If I have a few minutes to spare and don't want to start something significant, I'll pop on Twitter and peek at my feed. If I take a picture at school of a cool thing a student built, my first impulse is to share it on Twitter. If I see that I have notifications, I'll open up Twitter and take a look at who has mentioned me, or retweeted something I wrote. So, for Lent in 2019, I decided to step away from Twitter. I thought I'd try and replace the inclination to connect with others digitally with the opportunity to connect to God through prayer.

Tried to find an email vs knee-mail image that was labelled for reuse but couldn't find.
This image says that it comes from https://mygracefulllife.org/about/ but I can't confirm it's the original.
Apologies for potentially breaking copyright!

I don't consider myself a Twitter addict, but I sure had withdrawal pains! I don't think I've ever prayed as much as I did the first few days of my "Twitter fast"! I really had some FOMO (fear of missing out) reactions. I let my Twitter friends (some would say followers, but many are my friends) know that I would be away from Twitter until April 21. Some reacted with congratulations, some with confusion and some with disappointment - because Twitter is the primary communication tool that some of my friends and I use to keep in touch, and I was cutting that off. (I'd post some reaction tweets, but that would mean going on Twitter, and I'm trying hard to maintain my distance! I miss you Ruth!)

I consulted with my husband and my dear friend, Lisa Noble, about the best course of action. One little-known fact is that Sundays technically do not count as being part of the 40 days of Lent, so it is possible to release the restrictions on Sundays. (Sundays are days of celebration because it's the day of the Resurrection, so it's never a day of abstinence.) My own teen children, who chose to give up snacking for Lent, chose to give themselves a pass and allow some treats on Sunday. Lisa and my husband, however, recommended that I go "cold turkey". I also made sure that I didn't just use another social media platform as a replacement. I still use Instagram and Facebook, but very infrequently, and I made sure not to turn Facebook posts into substitute tweets.

Photo of the outside of my CrossFit "box" - CrossFit Canuck

"Hurting myself" by denying myself some Twitter time isn't meant to be masochistic. In fact, it was during a particularly difficult Cross Fit class a few weeks ago that solidified the connection between sacrifice and salvation. In this Sweat 60 session, we had to do jumping pull-ups, alternating with overhead dumb-bell thrusts, and then after that, we had to do a certain number of meters or calories on the ski ergonomic machine. Arm work is not my strong suit. I was despairing after the first set of exercises and the thought of using the ski erg was painful.

"Why am I doing this to myself?", I wondered.
One of my inner voices reminded me that this was good for me.
"But it doesn't feel good!", I mentally howled.
But giving up wasn't a real option. So as I pulled those darn handles over and over, I prayed. Praying got me through that exercise somehow.

People don't always turn to God when things are going well. "Gratitude" prayers aren't as fervent or as frequent, so it seems, as "desperation" or "request" prayers. By putting myself through some really uncomfortable times, I could connect with Jesus, who went through a lot worse than ten minutes on an exercise machine. My "suffering" is nothing compared to the torture and death of Jesus, but to paraphrase what I wrote in my second-to-last tweet before I took my hiatus, "suffering can be an offering". 

Will I return to Twitter? Yes, I will, but I think I will be more mindful in my use of it. Maybe I'll couple it with a quick check-in prayer to the Holy Spirit, something like the common waking prayer I was taught as a child:

Good morning dear Jesus

This day is for you

I ask you to bless

All I think, say or do

Thanks to my friends who have been so flexible with contacting me in different ways (looking at you, wonderful teachers Ashley Clarke and Beth Lyons) and I look forward to seeing you all again in the Twittersphere after Easter!