Pedagogical Power of Pigs

Here on my blog, I write a lot about my school skinny pigs. I don't know of any other school that houses hairless guinea pigs as semi-permanent residents. Alvin and Simon, our current creatures, garner a lot of attention from students and visitors. I wanted to mention a couple of recent lessons that involved our pets  (and reassure readers that animal safety and security is taken into consideration).

Skinny Pig Slide

The Grade 5s have been building slides as part of their STEAM / STEM Lab use. When chatting with their homeroom teacher, the amazing Brenda Kim, we contemplated the idea of having the skinny pigs try out some of the slides. Brenda and her students narrowed it down to three contenders and last Tuesday, we all gathered in the school library learning commons to see how the skinny pigs would react to the builds.

I realized that the students' initial dreams would have to be modified. Our skinny pigs are neither adventurous nor brave, so it would be ill-advised if they were to be placed at the top of the slide and pushed or prodded down the ramp. (Alvin and Simon don't even know how to jump out of their cage bottom when I'm cleaning their cage and take off the top!) I didn't want the skinny pigs to have a heart attack and die in front of the children. Instead, we gently suggested we see if the skinny pigs could be coaxed up the slides with food.

Brenda was also very aware of keeping the animals free from harm. She had to reduce the number of slides we used from three to two, because one group's slide had too drastic of a drop and the bindings were too insecure. We also put a barrier of boxes around each slide so that the students wouldn't crowd too closely around the skinny pigs.

The students loved watching the skinny pigs explore the slides, and they were delighted when they saw the pigs attempt to climb up the slide to snag their vegetables.

Pet Club

I started a Pet Club this year, partly because of the huge interest in the skinny pigs and partly because I need help taking care of them! (In addition to them, our Specialist Teacher PLC focus is about using clubs and teams as a way of addressing student social-emotional needs.) There are several teams of students from Grades 3-5 that are responsible, for two week chunks, for checking in on the skinny pigs. They need to change their food and water, and let me know when it's time to change their bedding. The students have these badges they are supposed to keep and bring back at the end of their two-week duty time, although I've noticed they have been "forgetting" to return them.

Taking care of a pet activates a lot of "soft skills" as well as numeracy and literacy skills. The students have to:

• estimate how much to fill the food bowl and water bottle
• observe, using multiple senses (sight, smell), and determine the level of cleanliness of the cage
• communicate with their fellow pet club members about when it is time to meet after school to clean the cage
• measure how much bedding needs to be put in the cage bottom
• determine when it is a good time to check on the skinny pigs (time management)

Group 3 in particular have been extremely attentive and they have made efforts to communicate amongst themselves about their responsibilities. Here are some of them as they feed the pigs.

Here's a photo of Group 2 as they helped clean the cage. (Don't worry - I am the only one that handles the poo. The students wash their hands after petting the skinny pigs, and they only touch the clean bedding.)

We have future plans for the Pet Club to get visitors with dogs to come to the school, to talk to us about how to interact with dogs we see in the community. We'll see how busy it gets in the new year, with my new athletic club (more on that in a future blog post) and the Forest of Reading program demands. The students are doing very well with the animals and I am proud of their efforts. I also notice how the skinny pigs are the first place that the students I see for ESL head to when they enter the library. I also hear them saying "pigs" and using English words related to them.

Having said all this, I have come to the realization that it is highly unlikely that I will be getting a dog as part of my retirement. I've never owned a dog and at one point, I considered it as a good project to keep me busy and active when I would eventually stop teaching. I even got to the stage of researching breeds, since my son is allergic. However, the more I seriously debate it in my head, sadly the more I'm convinced that skinny pigs are the biggest kind of pet I'm meant to have. 

Reasons?

•  the cost (today I spent $150 at the pet store on skinny pig supplies; I'd be spending a lot more on a dog and sticker shock is real)
•  the training (my pigs are a bit skittish and that's because I don't handle them as frequently or train them as thoroughly to be used to being held; dogs would take a lot more training and I have no experience)
• the attention (I needed to start Pet Club because I'm so busy doing other things that sometimes I forget to check on the animals; I wouldn't want to neglect a dog, which would need much more focus)
• the individual responsibility (when the skinny pigs are in my house, it's my husband that takes care of them more than I do; he's not a "pet person" and it would be unfair to inflict extra chores on him)
• my tolerance levels for mess or destruction (I don't want my Fluevogs chewed up, and although I can handle skinny pig pee and poo, I'm not sure how I'd do with dog vomit or feces)

I'd love to be proven wrong on this point, but at this point, it looks like it'll just be the pigs for me, my school, and home. 

Nunsense

This past week was another action-filled adventure, filled with parent-teacher interviews, CSL webinars and other appointments. I'm going to focus today's reflection on some collaborative units I'm teaching, and a particular outfit I wore. (No, it doesn't have to do with Fluevogs; sorry Wendy and Kim!)

I really enjoy teaching with Lisa Daley. She encourages me to bring my "A-game" to every lesson. We are co-teaching a series of history lessons based on the time period from 1713-1800. There's a lot of background knowledge that students might need, especially if our eventual goal is to pursue inquiry projects based on student interest. Our most recent lesson introduced some of the settler groups from this time in pre-Canadian history, and I used "teacher in role" to give students the chance to allow students to ask questions "directly" to a coureur du bois and to a nun.

I was a bit worried that the activity would go "off the rails" because the students would get too riled up at this alternative way of obtaining information. However, I was pleasantly surprised. The students actually grasped the format of "teacher in role" and asked really powerful questions. I had to remove my head gear / habit - a gesture in drama that means that I was "stepping out of role" to respond as myself - to acknowledge that some of their questions were ones in which I did not know the answer. (One such question that blew me away was "What was the opinion of the Church and the nuns towards the American Revolution?")

When I mused about the experience afterwards, I realized that, in our public school system, students have very little exposure to religious figures. The students associate nuns with being solely residential school villains who beat and mistreated Indigenous children. The culpability of nuns in some of the atrocities committed while residential schools were in operation is not in question, but as a Catholic myself, it's a shame that this is often the only connection that students make with nuns. Religion has been the catalyst for both bad and good things in the world; sometimes we focus on the bad and forget the good. I've actually renewed my volunteer commitment to the church recently by becoming a lector (reader) at Mass. A little known fact about me is that when I was young, I once suggested to some friends (Anita Cicco, do you recall this?) that if I wasn't married by age 30, I'd consider becoming a nun. I think I make a much better wife and mother than I would probably be if I took different kinds of vows!

It was also quite revelatory for the students to demand hard questions and hear some in-character answers. I had to remind the Grade 7s, when they asked my nun persona, that the residential school system did not begin in Canada in earnest until the 1880s. It was also a foreign concept for students in our pluralist society to consider that some groups believe that they have the right answer and that others are wrong. Many nuns felt that they were in the business of saving souls and that their method was the best, guaranteed way to get to heaven. 

I had planned to re-use my nun outfit with the Grade 4 students. They are studying societies from the past. We are examining Medieval England and Ancient Rome, so I thought it'd be useful for them to have a conversation with a nun and a goddess. I had to postpone that lesson to complete some others, but I look forward to donning the robe again for some interesting dialogue.

Something that is more NONSENSE than nun-sense is this ear situation I'm facing. On Friday, November 1, something got lodged in my ear. It's negatively affected my hearing and giving me soreness and pain. I went to my doctor's clinic on November 10 and was told that I had to treat the ear infection that developed first before dealing with the blockage. I had a migraine on November 11 and an even bigger migraine on November 14 which knocked me out for the entire day - it's not normal for me to sleep from 9:30 am - 4:00 pm as part of my recovery. I returned to the clinic on November 17 to learn that this procedure is de-insured. Even if I wanted to pay the doctor to help me, they aren't allowed to remove the blockage. I have to locate an audiologist to pay for the removal. This is going to mean more time off work. I know it's (hopefully)  a temporary problem but I'm really frustrated. We can never take our health for granted. I've seen how quickly people can go from able to infirm. Saturday, November 16 was the funeral service for a wonderful woman who used to volunteer in my school library - Pat McNaughton. She had a stroke / brain aneurism in the spring and never fully recovered. A lung infection took her a few days after her 77th birthday. It was rather challenging to try and hear what others were saying and I apologize to anyone who had to face my odd contortions as I navigated my head so that people could speak into my "good ear". Let's hope my hearing impairment gets resolved so that things don't get worse. 

Don't Disappoint

 I am under strict orders not to be on the computer for long today. I am recovering from a migraine and have an ear infection. Usually, I write my blog posts on the weekend, but this weekend was just too hectic to get it done on time. My husband keeps telling me to take it easy, but it's hard. 

There's so much to do and I don't want to disappoint anyone.

I'm writing about disappointment today because of something that happened on Friday. To protect the identity of those involved, I won't go into detail. Some students poked pencils into some of my flexible furniture while I was supporting others. When I discovered this, I didn't yell, but I asked them to stay in at recess to see if they could figure out how to get the pencils out - a consequence to match the misdeed. What I did not expect was to see two of the four students crying uncontrollably after recess was over. They realized that the pencils weren't coming out, but worse for them was they realized that I was disappointed in them. I had to make it very clear that I still liked them, that I still cared about them, and that I forgave them. At lunch time, one of them sought me out with his class teacher. He spent the hour between recess and lunch writing and drawing me a picture of remorse and an apology. I didn't expect this at all. I cried. My tears startled the student. His class teacher had to explain that Mrs. Mali wasn't sad but was happy with his effort and words. He spent the rest of the day checking on me to ensure I was okay.

The desire to satisfy and please those whose opinion matters to us is a strong one. 

Today, we had our Remembrance Day ceremony at school. Usually, our talented music teacher Connie Chan coordinates the event. Connie is off recovering from an injury and so I took up the mantle, with significant contributions and planning by our Grade 7 teacher, Lisa Daley. We wanted to do our best, for Connie's sake and for all the staff and students. It went well, considering we did not have a lot of time to rehearse. Unfortunately, because Lisa and I were making all the arrangements, I didn't get the opportunity to take any photos. It's too bad, because the students sat quietly and the choir, band, and poets worked hard. Sorry!

With my blog posts, I always include photos (that I take myself - copyright belongs to me as the photographer). I'm sharing posts of the multilingual learners in my ESL class as they went on their "directions hunt" two weeks ago. This week, they are having a quiz (that my son helped me create) to check for understanding and consolidation of the ideas. Two weeks ago, they had to find the hidden turtle by reading clues that used some of the directional words (in / on / under / behind / beside / between) we've been practicing hearing and saying.

I worry about disappointing my ESL students. They are so keen to come with me for lessons that they pepper me with questions ("Is today ESL?") and they get very disappointed if I have to cancel class because we have a shortage of supply teachers. Today, we welcomed two new students to our school. Neither speak English. This makes 4-5 Newcomer Profiles I need to complete ASAP. I may need to rejig my ESL schedule to better accommodate the students who are fluent in their home languages but require some basic English phrases so they can communicate with their teachers. If I have to demit some students to make room, I have a feeling they'll be disappointed.

I also don't want to disappoint my staff. I have a series of collaborative lessons in store and I want to ensure that "teaching in twos" happens this year and is a rewarding experience for those involved. I'll try to keep my expectations realistic, but I do put a bit of pressure on myself.

It's another busy week. I'll do my best, and try not to disappoint.

Fun with Friends and my "new" Phone

 I really wanted to tie together the idea of positive personal relationships in today's blog post, since so many of last week's adventures involved connecting with others. One day, I'll need to try feeding in all of my past blog posts into an AI LLM and see what kind of "Diana post" it churns out. However, today is not that day.

My current iPhone (an iPhone 6, I think) is on its last legs. It reminds me of the children's movie, "The Brave Little Toaster" and the rant that the objects have against "planned obsolescence". It really does feel as if the technology is pre-programmed to fail after a couple of years, in order to force me to buy a new phone. When I call home at the end of the day, my husband can only hear me 50% of the time and it's equally spotty for me trying to hear him. My texts don't always go through; it's getting a bit frustrating.

One of my ESL students asked me about the kind of phone I own. He really likes "Samsung". His current classroom teacher is probably one of the best things that has happened to this kid. She genuinely likes him and I think he senses how she feels about him, because he tries harder, acts happier, and speaks more frequently this school year than any other previous year I've witnessed. He chats with his teacher regularly and technology is a frequent topic. He was having a hard time pronouncing the Ss in "Samsung", so talking about this phone has given him extra, authentic practice making those sounds. His classroom teacher already owns a Samsung phone, so the student decided to give me a Samsung phone.

This is a very valuable phone, not because of the material cost, but because of the time and effort cost, and what it represents. This student doesn't like to write much, but he spent time writing the numbers on the keypad display and adding all the features, which he proudly pointed out to me when he gifted it to me. I make a point of trying to call him on my "new phone" and he talks a lot about how his present to me made me so happy. I think he plans on making a second phone. He was already chatting with his teacher about giving him more paper of this particular size to craft another phone.

Positive personal relationships are so important to cultivate. We need friends in our lives. 

I got to see some of my dear library friends at the Ontario Teachers Federation Curriculum Forum on Saturday, such as Julie Milan, Melanie Mulcaster, and Kate Johnson-McGregor. Kate and Melanie helped me design some questions to use for my end-of-collaboration-unit "exit tickets" to improve my impact surveys.

Melanie and I are going to be presenting a workshop next Tuesday, November 12, for Canadian School Libraries, in conjunction with Ontario School Library Association, about creating action research for Treasure Mountain Canada 8. We've been planning it online, so it was such a bucket-filler to see her happy face in person. We all can use some friends, especially when they are supporting us with our goals, like Melanie is doing with this webinar and like Joanie Proske is doing with our shared TMC8 research paper.

I usually don't go to the Curriculum Forum, but I was stepping in for my colleagues from AML, Chelsea and Neil, who had prior commitments. I was happy to attend because the facilitator was the talented and knowledgeable Moses Velasco. I swear, I become smarter every time I have a conversation with Moses. (I even said this the last time I talked about Moses on my blog, back in April!) 

Then there are my friends that I work with at my school. I've learned, from bitter prior experience, that you cannot be friends with everyone you work with in a school, but you can always be friendly. There's a difference. Our staff members have been praised, from everyone from LTOs to single-day visitors, about how friendly and welcoming we are. We pulled together to take a #redfored photo on November 1 to show our support for our union negotiators. We hope that these photos make a difference.

Photos for a greater purpose, photos for fun - this past week was Diwali and Halloween and we snapped a few fun photos to use for the yearbook. 

(Here's generous Thess Isidro, distributing her own candy to every child in the school!)

(Here's serious police officers Diana Maliszewski and Brenda Him mugging for the camera!)

Finally, even though we have to respect professional boundaries, I must say I treasure the positive relationships I have with our superintendent and with the parents in our community. This past Tuesday (October 29), we had our area superintendent visit our school in the morning, and we had a Parent Council meeting in the afternoon. I am really grateful that these people take the time out of their busy schedules to come to the school to see what's going on and to offer their help and support in various ways. 

So, thank you friends and friendly folks, for bringing the joy into my life. Thank you to people like Kerri and Serena, who have volunteered to assist me with choir, and to Lisa, who is helping me to plan the Remembrance Day assembly in Connie's absence. Work is less onerous when you have helping hands to lighten the load, and familiar faces to focus on when the going gets tough!