Monday, August 24, 2020

#tdsbbt2020 Board PD? Why not?


On Tuesday, August 18, 2020, I was glued to my computer for most of the day. It was due to the Toronto District School Board's Beginning Teacher Conference.

Part of me was unsure that the event would still take place. After all, many educators don't know what they will be teaching (or even where). Why continue with professional learning when the sands are shifting so rapidly that we don't know if we are coming or going? I was glad that the event proceeded as planned.

The first element of #tdsbbt2020 that I was grateful for was the opening keynote. Cornelius Minor spoke to us from New York City and gave us words of hope and encouragement. He addressed our COVID reality and didn't ignore it. He told his audience that there is no one best way to address anti-racism work but that key components of any successful approach includes self-work, systemic awareness, active change making and powerful teaching.

One of his slides said "We are allowed to be angry, sad, unsure and scared. These things are human and appropriate. We don't have to get over it. We don't have to get used to this. We can change this reality." This statement was so liberating. We aren't denying our feelings but we are working on change for the better. He reminded us about all the positive changes that have occurred before and during the COVID crisis - things like demanding more diverse and inclusive books, using UDL (Universal Design for Learning) and CRRP (Culturally Responsive and Relevant Pedagogy) to improve our teaching practice, and examining our own biases and how schools mirror and perpetuate the same "isms" in society. He didn't let us off the hook, though. He says that we still have a long way to go and he has a theory as to why we haven't advanced as far as we possibly could.


I was torn between trying to just soak in his words and trying to capture his message so that I wouldn't forget it. I tweeted a few thoughts as he spoke using the #tdsbbt2020 hashtag to collate everyone's ideas. I wasn't the only one impressed with what Cornelius had to say.


I've savoured Mister Minor's ideas before - I read his book We Got This and reflected at length on his statements and suggestions. My big thrill was that he now follows me on Twitter! Yippee!

You may wonder why I was at a Beginning Teachers' conference in the first place - after all, this September will mark my 24th year as a permanent contract teacher. I was lucky enough to hear Cornelius because I was helping to provide workshops. 

The morning session I was involved with was called "It's All Political: Media Literacy and our Texts, Talk and Teaching". I co-presented with Sarah Baynes from the Association for Media Literacy. The two hours flew by and the participants were active, thoughtful and insightful. If you want proof, all I have to do is show you this screen shot I took of the Jamboard, where participants listed some of the resources, found on www.aml.ca, that they planned on using in the fall, in whatever teaching situation they were given.


I want to thank Victoria Lau for taking this photo below and sharing it via Twitter. We recorded the session and will share the file with the participants later this week, but it was nice to see what the experience actually looked like from a different angle. Thank you so much to Sarah for doing a fantastic job presenting and to all the people who chose to attend this session!
 
After a quick lunch break, we were back again with a different workshop scheduled. This one had a lot of "moving parts" - a shared slide deck, two moderators, and seven panelists! Just like the morning, I was delighted with how well it went.

The session was called "Teacher-Librarians: Together with You on the Anti-Bias Education Journey". We deliberately did not record this session, because this was a workshop filled with personal stories and experiences that could not be simply consumed outside this special frame and time. 



I am deliberately not using the phrase "I am proud of the team" - one, because pride is a sin and two, because I cannot take any credit or claim their successes as my own. I am, however, absolutely thrilled and wowed with how the session went. There were so many powerful testimonies shared and so much wisdom in the room. Andrea Sykes, the TDSB Program Coordinator for Library and Learning Resources, commented afterwards that she wished that more people, and not just new teachers, were able to experience that workshop. We will have to investigate to see if we can make that possible.

Huge thanks to Moyah Walker, Jennifer Derr, Karen Devonish Mazzotta, Salma Nakhuda, Diana Will Stork, Rabia Khokhar, Kim Davidson, and Ian Lawrence for giving so much of your time and yourselves to this endeavor. Some of these individuals presented for the very first time and did a great job. Everyone on the panel at some point expressed some level of "who, me?" uncertainty but the combination of people was excellent and everyone contributed to some great learning. Thank you also to the small but appreciative and understanding audience that attended this session. 

I cannot end a reflection on the TDSB Beginning Teachers Conference without a shout-out to Reshma Somani. Reshma is the outgoing TDSB Program Coordinator for English, Literacy and Teaching and Leading Learning (did I get that long title correct?). We have never met in person and have only started talking to each other this past June when this conference started to take shape, but I am so grateful that our paths have crossed. Reshma worked tirelessly on this project (even during the summer, when she was supposed to be "off the clock"). We appreciate the resources that everyone involved will receive and we appreciate the learning that happened. Thank you Reshma (and Jennifer Watt and everyone else who helped make the day a success, despite the uncertainties in this coming school year.)


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