Monday, August 17, 2020

Reading Between The Lines as an ETFO SA participant

 Last week, August 11-13, 2020, I attended the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario's Summer Academy session run by Kenisha Bynoe and Angelique Thompson called Reading Between the Lines: Exploring Literacy Through a Culturally Relevant and Responsive Stance.

 It was an excellent three days of learning and unlearning and I wanted to reflect on my thoughts and feelings during the course. Big thanks to Kenisha for giving permission for me to share the images that I have that are from their presentation. 


How do you get people that do not know you or know each other to authentically reflect on their own biased assumptions and notions, and to do so virtually? Kenisha and Angelique had several activities and strategies that they employed to help their participants become more aware. One task from the first day was called the "Airplane Activity". We were given a list of six people that we might have to sit beside on a very long flight and had to rank our preferences for seat mates. The wonderful thing about this activity was that, even when we were cognizant of the purpose of the task, our presumptions snuck in. The follow-up to this activity, conducted in small breakout groups, was that Kenisha and Angelique gave an example of someone who fit that description that we may not have expected; this exposed our preconceived ideas that were based around just hearing an occupation or life situation. (I'm trying not to give specific examples because I don't want to reveal anything in case they use the task with other groups.)

Another activity conducted was when they asked us to draw (or use words to describe) four archetypes. I took photos of mine so that I could describe how I tried to fight against my assumptions but how bias still leaked in.

The first concept was "villain". Now, I knew what was possible with villains, because I had helped write the AML article about villains. I was going to avoid drawing a swarthy, dark-complexioned scoundrel. I was ready to deliberately choose things that were not going to draw on stereotypes, right? 

Well, wrong. My illustration was of a non-humanoid character, but still had shades of Ursala from Disney's The Little Mermaid. Ursala's characterization contains elements of sizeism (she is large and curvaceous), ageism (sultry older women are seen as deviant), and her resemblance to drag queens suggests an anti-queer lens. The other thing I noticed was some ableist notions - the hands aren't hands, but claws, and the feet aren't feet but tentacles. So much for making an obvious attempt to counter my biases.


Then we were asked to draw a hero. Once again, I felt like I was going to be able to circumvent, by sheer force of will, the various stereotypes associated with heroes. I drew my person in a way that you could not tell what gender they were meant to be. The top of the head could even be a hijab - take that, Islamophobia! I remembered that during this pandemic, front line workers (especially hospital employees) were hailed as heroes, so I added a cross to the outfit.

Wait a second ... why a cross? A cross denotes Christianity. I could have just used an H for hospital. I quickly looked up Red Cross and saw this explanation from Britannica's online encyclopedia:

The Red Cross is the name used in countries under nominally Christian sponsorship; Red Crescent (adopted on the insistence of the Ottoman Empire in 1906) is the name used in Muslim countries.


When asked to draw something to symbolize "innocent", I automatically drew a young person. Many others did too. I tried to disguise any obvious gender by excluding bows and hair and by enlarging the eyes. 

Examine those eyes - why are they so large? I looked up symbolism of big eyes and the Internet seemed to agree with my ideas around innocence and vulnerability, but also added an association with feminine beauty. 

What does that imply for cultures or ethnic groups for whom large eyes aren't common? Are they less innocent? 

The last image was "ruler". I tried again to be as general as possible, but the quotation I scribbled was from one of my favourite poems, Ozymandias. It suggests that the ruler, Ozymandias, was a male tyrant. A crown suggests wealth - are all rulers rich? 

Another task we undertook was on the second day of the course. Kenisha and Angelique asked us to "bring in" a book that we liked that we felt was culturally relevant and responsive. There were lots of great titles recommended. What they asked us to do later on was do a deeper consideration of the texts. How might the text be interpreted? What's missing? What biases might be identified in the text? How might these biases impact our next steps in reading? Kenisha and Angelique reinforced this message earlier by sharing four different titles of books that are commonly acclaimed for their diverse content. After the participants picked which books they would be inclined to select if they were forced to do a quick read-aloud without any preparation, Kenisha and Angelique described how each title had problematic elements. It's important to re-evaluate books in our collections (school library, class library, or personal collections) because we may change our opinions of them and how we use them as we become increasingly aware of societal attitudes and shifts and learn more about the creators and the explicit and implicit messages that exist.

In my opinion, one of the most challenging but necessary aspects to examine is the lived experience of the authors and illustrators. We talked about the #ownvoices movement briefly during the course. This was the area where, when I took a second look at the book I had offered during the discussion, my choice could be improved upon. I am not saying that authors cannot write from their imaginations and research, but the sad fact is that often Black, Indigenous, and authors of colour are often passed over in favor of white authors who are writing stories about BIPOC characters and experiences. This was just one of many realizations and reinforcements during the course.

 

The course wasn't all just about confronting our own biases and those in literature. We examined the International Literacy Association's Children's Rights to Read as well as the comprehensive reading framework (modeled, shared, guided and independent reading). 



 We reviewed the differences between activities, learning invitations, and provocations. I was grateful that I had already learned some of this information during my Kindergarten Additional Qualification course in the winter; it was an excellent chance to strengthen my existing knowledge.


At the end of the course, Angelique and Kenisha gave us some wonderful gifts: links to all the resources mentioned, a thorough lesson plan for the book The Day You Begin and a virtual playspace.


Sidenote: The problem with thinking critically is that you cannot "turn it off". Once conditioned to question picture books, even ones we love to read and use, questioning other media texts just happens. My mind is always considering constructive feedback, whether I'm in a course as an attendee or as a facilitator. I am not going to list things here because I think it will distract from the purpose of celebrating what a great learning opportunity it was; plus, that's what the course evaluation is for.

I also question my own conduct during classes. I worried that I was "taking up too much space". I was relieved to hear that I wasn't the only one with that concern - my dear colleague Lisa Wallace from PDSB shared the same sentiment about herself during one of the breakout sessions. To try and remedy the situation, I deliberately did not type or say anything during the third day of the course. It made me realize how I learn through bouncing thoughts off others (a very verbal-linguistic and interpersonal style). 

Big, big thanks to Kenisha and Angelique for creating a great course, to all my fellow participants, and to ETFO for offering these kinds of professional learning opportunities. 


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Monday, August 10, 2020

With a Plan and a Song (and Games)

 "With a smile and a song / Life is just a bright sunny day / Your cares fade away / And your heart is young". (Frank Churchill and Larry Morey)

These are the lyrics to a song famously trilled by Snow White (Adriana Caselotti) in the famous Disney animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Snow White was in peril; her stepmother the Queen was out to kill her and she was alone in the woods. 

Replace the wicked Queen with COVID-19 and insert our uncertainties about returning to school in September (and the press conferences by the provincial Minister of Education that contains no new information) as a metaphorical abandonment. You won't be able to see any smiles because our masks cover our faces, but this week, with no ETFO Summer Academy to distract me, it was a plan and a song (and, let's be honest, several hours of playing both Animal Crossing New Horizons and now Animal Crossing New Leaf) that have carried me through. 

 There is so much uncertainty and one way to try and obtain a sense of control is to create a plan, even if that plan has to adapt and change repeatedly.

I signed up to be part of a writing project with my board. Led by Francine Schwartz (@denlowllc), the goal for the group I belonged to was to create a series of lesson plans that addressed social studies curriculum expectations and used critical thinking prompts and structures as modeled by The Critical Thinking Consortium. For June and July, I was quite stymied. I really didn't know what grade to focus on or what qualifier to use. The hope is that in the fall, we will use the lessons we design and then provide feedback to the organizers. I'm a teacher-librarian. I don't even know if I'll be doing my library job in a modified way, or taking a cohort of 15 as a classroom teacher, or being the all-around prep provider for just a few classes. (Note: I'm willing to do any of these scenarios.) Francine and I chatted so that I could "get over the hump" and it helped tremendously. I printed out helpful slides from Francine's workshop in the fall to refer to frequently. I found my writing rhythm and prepared a series of lessons that can be taught by me as part of prep, by me as a class teacher, by another teacher on their own, and/or by me in conjunction with the classroom teacher. I can't share the unit plan, because my contract states that it belongs to the TDSB and I need to clarify any restrictions. I hope that the lessons will be useful to me and to my fellow teachers. If inspiration hits twice, maybe I'll write one for a different grade level!

So what about the song part?

Well, as I mentioned in a June blog post, my sister and I have been hosting virtual tea parties with my mother. I think my father is just as thirsty for attention and companionship, because he joins us. We've done this eight times so far. Casual conversation can be challenging because of a) mom's dementia and b) a lack of anything new to report. My sister and I have overcome this in two ways - through games and songs.

Four years ago for Christmas, my sister made a book featuring comics she made with Bitstrips based on real events that happened when we were children. One of these traditions my sister documented in comic-form was sitting on my parents bed and singing together while Dad played the guitar. 

At our request during one of the virtual tea parties, my brother brought out my father's guitar and played a song for us. Dad said that he couldn't remember how to play, but he played a song for us. He said his fingers were unaccustomed to playing and were sore afterwards but he still entertained us. Singing a song or two has now become part of the virtual tea party routine. My sister and I have started to video tape these tiny snippets of my parents singing.






Sometimes the words don't come as quickly to mind, but I'm amazed at how many stanzas *are* remembered by my parents. Dad never took guitar lessons; he just learned through experimentation and one of those songs he sang was a tune he had never tried before on the guitar. Mom always gets a big smile on her face when they sing together. 

There are many health benefits to singing - see https://www.barbershop.org/the-health-benefits-of-singing for a huge list of research studies. I hope that when students return to school in the fall, there will be some way that singing can occur safely. Right now at church, we are allowed to sing - which sadly suits my spouse to a T. 

I tacked on "games" because plans and songs technically aren't enough to keep me contented. I am still playing Animal Crossing New Horizons and added its predecessor to my repertoire. Video games are also my social outlet because I make a point of "visiting" B-Town (the island inhabited by the Brown family) once a week to check out their progress, chat with their villagers and have fun. 

I'm translating this into a session that I'll run at #ECOOcampON sometime between August 25-27.


The next few weeks will be slowly ramping up (the activities and the anxieties) with AML think thanks, ETFO courses (as a participant), TDSB Beginning Teachers Conferences, TDSB new TL sessions, ECOO Camp and ... oh yes, getting ready for school. I hope to get through it all with a plan and a song (and some games thrown in for good measure).







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Monday, August 3, 2020

ETFO SA 2020

Jennifer Brown and I had the honour of facilitating a summer academy session twice this summer - July 21-23 and July 28-30. Today's blog post will reflect on that experience and make some connections to "regular" teaching.


This reflection is going to be peppered with appreciations. First set goes out to the ETFO team. Ruth Dawson has supported us (us = Jenn and me) with previous Summer Academies and for 2020 the assistance was different but equally important. The team also includes Kalpana Makan, Lisa West, Dennis Governor, Kelli Parton, Kristin Vander Eyken, Kruti Macwan and involved Joshua Jones from WebiNerd. All ETFO Summer Academy facilitators were given training in how to use the Zoom online platform effectively. Ruth was also so receptive to the sometimes-bizarre ideas we have when it comes to running our school library sessions. Ruth gave the okay for the session to run twice; this wasn't the original plan but the response was so overwhelming and the waiting list was so long that when we proposed this option to Ruth, she approved.


Jenn and I spent a long time pondering and preparing for each of the six modules in our session. This was time well-spent (and we were compensated too). Each module was only 90 minutes long. There was a morning session, then a lunch break, then an afternoon session of equal length, for three days in total. 9 hours is not a long time but Jenn and I made every minute count. We referred back to our session description to ensure our topics matched and we planned for ways to engage the learners, build community, and teach through and about different media and technology tools/texts. (These embedded photos of me experimenting with my green screen are examples.) We developed synchronous and asynchronous ways for the participants to contact each other, so that it was a more democratic model of program delivery.


Our tech mentors, Cameron Steltman (week 1) and Ian McLain (week 2), were great. We didn't need a lot of assistance but they came in handy, especially for two particular portions: taking attendance, and monitoring the main room when both of us were preoccupied with breakout rooms. Cameron and Ian were also wonderful cheerleaders, encouraging us as we tried increasingly daring Zoom maneuvers like manually chosen breakout rooms (because Jenn and I are strong proponents of voice and choice).

Those pre-selected breakout rooms were important because on the third day, we had guest speakers join us. Big, BIG thanks go to

  • Stephen Hurley (VoicEd Radio)
  • Ardo Omer (FOLD Kids)
  • Toni Duval (FOLD Kids)
  • April deMelo
  • Wendy Burch Jones


I apologize for not getting a photo of Ardo and Toni - I never obtained their consent when I popped into their breakout room, and another important tenet I try to practice regularly is acquiring consent.

These guest speakers captivated our fellow learners and I can testify to the sentiment. Everyone spoke so eloquently and with such passion. A common refrain among the participants was "Why can't we get to see all three?" - this is a natural consequence of providing choice; sometimes you can't have your cake and still keep it (have your cake and still eat it? I can't recall the proper way that saying goes.)

I wish I could name all 61 people who took the course, but once again, I want to respect people's privacy and the need for informed consent. Just know that every single one of you contributed to the wonderful learning experience that occurred. I know people have asked for Jenn or I to "bottle up" or "package up" what what covered in these events, but it is so difficult to comply because it is a co-constructed opportunity and is just as much about the process as it is about any of the products we share or make during this time.

The participants used the #ETFOsa2020 hashtag a lot (and I take pleasure in noticing that the top tweet for this hashtag, as of August 2, was one related to our workshop). I love it when educators make their learning visible like this.



These conversations fed my soul - it was so rewarding to have in-depth, thoughtful exchanges with different people from various school boards.


And then there's the pleasure that is working with Jennifer Brown.

I had so much fun with Jenn, even when the work was serious and sobering. I've tweeted and written in the past about what a joy it is to be in her presence at these type of events. At the risk of repeating myself ... I feel so fortunate that I get to spend time with this person. She is passionate, caring, energetic, experienced, authentic, equitable, observant, hard-working, and knowledgeable. I even spend time with her for recreational reasons (on our Animal Crossing New Horizons virtual islands). Thanks for including me in your life Jenn! Love you oodles!

So, what links can I make with my regular education portfolio? This experience was well supported financially, with enough people power and adequate time for planning and delivery (not too little to feel frazzled, not too much to have screen fatigue). Too bad it doesn't seem like that can be replicated province-wide. Scaffolding online learning to make it meaningful was possible with all those other factors in place. Diversifying the space with small group gatherings was beneficial but also had its drawbacks. Bringing in other voices was essential (especially ones that weren't from the typical school library professional profile = white cis-het upper middle class female TLs). Having two facilitators involved at all stages was crucial to our success.

As we continually said during the course (which fell right during the huge Ontario Ministry of Education announcement at 1:00 pm on July 30 about returning to school in September), we aren't sure what we'll be instructed to do, and how our jobs might change, but remember that school libraries are important to student academic (and socio/emotional) success. Thank you ETFO for allowing this summer academy session to run. Fingers crossed that a version happens again (either virtually or in-person, with or without the Brown-Maliszewski team) next year.


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Monday, July 27, 2020

Strangers on the Internet

Beware of online strangers! Many "Internet safety" lectures warned audiences about the scary ne'er-do-wells lurking in cyberspace, eager to steal your money or dignity. Don't get me wrong. It's important to use caution so people don't fall for phishing schemes or sexting scandals. However, I want to talk about my recent experience chatting with a stranger on the Internet and what a lovely, positive experience it was.

Last Monday, I was contacted via direct message on Twitter by someone unfamiliar to me.


She wasn't a bot. She was real. She wanted to talk and I said yes.

We arranged to chat on Wednesday afternoon. It was a busy week, with the ETFO Summer Academy that Jennifer Brown and I facilitated (more on that next week) running Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and several errands and appointments involving my parents. I was tired and took a nap just before our conversation. Despite having voice fatigue, Marian and I talked for an hour and a half and it was delightful.

Marian is such a pleasure to talk to. She lives in New Mexico where she worked in school libraries for several years. She is not resting on her laurels now that she has retired. She is taking courses to help her decide and align her passions to her next adventure to which she'll devote her time and energy. Conducting these interviews is part of her process.

Marian asked me some very thought-provoking questions, such as

  • What am I most proud of accomplishing in my career so far?
  • What is one area of my practice I want to improve on, and how am I going about doing that?
  • How do I continue developing professionally? What blogs or journals do I read regularly?
In our conversation, Marian and I laughed and cried. We chuckled at my students' tough evaluation of my organizational skills (which I had to confess was an area where I'd love to improve). I wept when I described how special library-related events can be the shining light in dark times for a student (which is part of an incident I told in an interview with Michelle Arbuckle). Our conversation helped me articulate the things that are important to me, aspects of my identity/personality and helped me remember some significant moments of my career. It gave me the chance to "amplify others" by promoting things like Doug Peterson's "This Week in Ontario Edublogs", OSLA's The Teaching Librarian magazine, Stephen Hurley's VoicEd Radio, Treasure Mountain Canada, maintained by Carol Koechlin and Anita Brooks-Kirkland, and Noa Daniel's "Personal Playlist Podcast" show. 

Near the end of our chat, I asked Marian why she chose to reach out to me. She explained that she saw me on Twitter (we follow each other) and I looked like I might be an interesting person with which to converse. She peeked at my "digital footprint", saw I had been at AASL back in 2017 and decided to contact me. What a fluke! I have to say that coincidence plays a greater part in having cool opportunities thrown your way than you'd expect - for instance, I was hired to teach an AQ course because the provider wanted someone local to teach the course and someone saw my photo and home base on a subject association website - it had nothing to do with my credentials, awards, or reputation.

What would you do if a "stranger from the Internet" contacted you out of the blue? I was talking with my ETFO co-teaching partner Jenn about my experience with Marian when she shared a similar story. Jenn was participating in a Twitter chat and a fellow attendee contacted her via DM with a question. They talked on the phone and the interaction has turned into some professional conversations and personalized pedagogy projects.

So, I guess what I'm saying is, don't throw caution to the wind, but consider what is being asked (and by whom) and who knows? You may end up with something memorable.
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Monday, July 20, 2020

Learn to (& with) Schmooz

In June, I won a prize. It wasn't the lottery but something that was also rewarding, except I didn't quite realize it back then.

To be honest, I don't think I even understood what I won. What is a "Core Values workshop"?
Last Tuesday, July 14, I found out the answer with some of the members of the Association for Media Literacy.

I was introduced to Schmooz Media via Noa Daniel and The Mentoree. Noa has written a much more eloquent account of their experience honing and developing their group's mission statement. You can read Noa's reflection here.
I won't go into too much detail about the process of the workshop. Noa said that for her and her team ...
It was the core value workshop with Zoe Share that has grounded so much of our work so far this summer. A group of Mentors gathered with Zoe and Alan of Schmooz Media to help us discover our core values as a community. 
I was intrigued by the process, especially because all of it was conducted online. It was also deceptively simple but led to profound insights. We met twice (Tuesday and Friday to finish up) and I was grateful that this was possible because we were able to have two more of our board of directors join us.


Big thanks to Neil Andersen, Carol Arcus, Michelle Solomon, Chelsea Attwell, Sarah Bayne and Nina Silver for joining us. (Please note that Carol's camera was malfunctioning on Friday, so I photoshopped her image from Tuesday into our Friday group photo.)

You may wonder why it would be helpful for volunteer organizations to consult with a social marketing agency. The general public may be suspicious of marketing agencies, and I think this may be due to how we approach media in general. I've heard classroom teachers refer to strategies used to attract attention as "media tricks". The implied message with that sort of approach is that media is "bad" and that "the media" is trying to do something deceptive. The AML does not like to place value labels on media texts; rather, we examine them as "interesting". For instance, anti-maskers may describe the public service announcements shared by various governments and organizations as propaganda because they don't like the message. If we understand how to effectively convey messages to appeal to our audiences (targeted or not), then we can do what we want to do better. (By the way, please wear a mask!)

Tangent: thanks to Wesley Fryer (@wfryer), Mythili Thedchanamoorthy (@mythedch), Kim Davidson (KDavidson_TDSB), Angela McCabe (@fujismiley) and Julie Millan (@jsm2272) for trying to help me find the particular "persuasion campaign posters" that I've seen on bus shelters. Once I find the ones I remember, I'll add them here. In the meantime ...




Zoe Share, the founder of Schmooz, told us that social media is the tool but being social is the goal. The aim of this particular workshop is for an individual or group to determine using fair, democratic, methods what their guiding principles are. Too many times a mission statement is drafted without input from the people who are the heart of the organization. Knowing exactly what your team is all about, and being able to succinctly articulate this in a few sentences can help businesses and non-profit organizations grow and even help make decisions. After the Friday workshop, I had the chance to chat briefly with Zoe about her work with Schmooz, perceptions around marketing companies, and the use of social media by businesses and corporations, especially when it relates to socio-political events. Zoe decried some of the disingenuous responses to #BlackLivesMatter and emphasized that people must be true to their core values. She said, "Sometimes the right response is to be quiet, shut up, and do the work". It was delightful to see how passionate Zoe was about her work, and the joy she finds from helping people discover how to embody their values.



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Monday, July 13, 2020

Two Approaches to Building Online Communities

I don't want to imply an artificial binary or dichotomy by saying "there's a right way and a wrong way to do things" but there were two stark examples of ways that individuals attempted to build online communities. One has been very successful. The other has not. While protecting the identity of the people behind the less-than-fruitful attempt, I wanted to analyze both situations to identify the factors that led to the different results.

Let me first begin with a project that was so positive that it garnered attention and public recognition via an article in The Toronto Star on July 10. (Apologies if you cannot read the entire article because it is behind a paywall.) The article describes the creation of #QuarantineEd, a discussion group on Twitter led by TDSB teachers Matthew Morris (@callmemrmorris) and Jay Williams (@MstrJayWill).

Issues of race have taken centre stage in weekly online meetings amongst Ontario educators that Morris and fellow teacher Jay Williams started earlier this year. Aptly dubbed #QuarantineEd, the initiative was launched with the goal of serving as a safe and open space for educators to share experiences on adapting to new realities of remote teaching amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The article describes how attendance went from about 20 participants to over 100, with people from beyond the city and province's borders joining in. Several people are quoted for the article, describing the positive impact Matthew and Jay have had on them while facilitating these discussions. My favourite quote from the article comes from TDSB teacher Shauna Griffiths.

“I think they’re innovative and relatable, and adapt themselves to teaching in a manner that helps students a lot. The things they’re doing in their classrooms, what they talk about, it makes me want to do so much more. They push me to want to be better.” 
I know friends of mine that have participated in Matthew's Twitter chat. I haven't participated yet in #QuarantineEd and I wanted to ensure I wasn't just heaping on empty praise just because mainstream media decided to pay attention. My dear friend Lisa Noble had this to say to me when I asked for her opinion.

Matt's group is ... completely grassroots, there are about 60-100 participants on a Thursday night, mostly educators of colour (from all over North America) and while Matthew and Jay are the hosts, everyone is invited to share (even old white folx like me). It's also a space for listening and learning, and getting the hell out of the way of other voices, but it's warm, and friendly, and welcoming. And you could ask a question and people would genuinely do their best to answer without making you feel ridiculous. There are also some amazing people - authors, public health educators, teachers from everywhere - all just finding a space where there are some other people who want to do the work. ... It's a true community and it's so powerful.

Let me turn to the other example. A friend of mine tagged me in a post encouraging me to follow this new account. There were several question marks for me about this account and so I asked them. A friend of mine also had some concerns about the purpose of this new account we were being encouraged to follow.

Note: I originally had an embedded tweet included here with those questions but because it identified the account I am referring to, I removed it prior to hitting the "publish" button for this post.

 The unfortunate thing is that we were responded with a very curt reply that I felt disrespected us. That tweet disappeared from the timeline as other people began to ask their own questions and raise concerns. What followed were:

  • apologies that centered on others feelings towards the account instead of the creator(s)' actions,
  • changes to the profile description (after other users suggested this move),  
  • changes to the account name 
  • blocked access for some people who asked critical questions about the account and finally,
  • removal of the account
The intention was probably good but we need to remember the difference between intention and impact. This was meant to bring together a group of people but instead alienated and offended a larger group of people. "We judge ourselves by our intentions. We judge others by their impact." says Stephen M. R. Covey. We should judge ourselves by the impact as well as the intention.

So what's the differences? What lessons can I (and others) learn about what things should be considered when attempting to create an online community? Many of these ideas relate to media literacy.

1. Consider using a hashtag vs an account.

Understand the form you are working with because the media is part of the message. There are several benefits to using a hashtag - this article describes a few, although it's in a business context. A hashtag invites use by others and allows easy searching and curating by more than one person. Focusing attention on a single account puts the spotlight on the person or organization rather than on the discussion. If an account is necessary or desired, be careful when choosing the name and completing the profile, to ensure it does not give the wrong impression.

2. Be transparent but also flexible.

What is the purpose of the online community?  Who is the creator of this online group? Morris and Williams made it very clear what the original goal was for their weekly chats but they were not so rigid that they insisted on restricting the conversation when it evolved. Morris and Williams don't mention #QuarantineEd in their Twitter profiles, but I suspect it has more to do with their modesty and humility than disguising their involvement.

3. Aim for more open vs less open

Who is the intended audience? Consider the group you wish to attract but remember that if other people are interested, they can bring great new perspectives to discussions.  #QuarantineEd never limited its membership to just TDSB educators. (Even specific hashtags and groups, such as the #TDSBEd group initially started by Larissa Aradj and Arianna Lambert and continued by Larissa and Jason Trinh welcomed participants from other school boards.)

4. Own up if you mess up

The block feature is great if racist trolls invade your timeline. The block feature is not great if people are genuinely trying to have conversations that push thinking and are just meant to be silenced. It is better to admit when you are wrong - I've done so here on this blog, even though it can be humiliating. I've written an article for AML about apologies. We all make mistakes. Admitting if we have erred shows we are human and helps us learn lessons.

An excellent point was made by Joy Henderson that links to all four points I've suggested.


I want to thank a couple of my colleagues that pre-read parts of this blog to ensure that I was not unfairly attacking anyone with this post. I just hope that positive and negative experiences can help us all learn and do better.
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Monday, July 6, 2020

MakerEdTO 2020 Virtual Conversations

Last Tuesday, June 30, 2020 was the fifth anniversary of MakerEdTO. This grassroots organization of teachers from different boards in and around the GTA, usually produce an affordable hands-on conference experience at the York School.

These were the highlights from the 4th event in 2019.
These were the highlights from the 2018 event.
These were the highlights from the 2017 event.
These were the highlights from the 2016 event.

The team was creative in re-imagining what this event would look like in these circumstances, when we were prohibited from gathering in large groups for in-person conferences. We chose to have virtual conversations about making.

Usually I have many photos from the event, but since most of it occurred via Google Meet, the images I have to capture the event aren't as interesting as past pictures. We also had to respect the privacy of our participants. The photos I have here are mostly of our core team of facilitators / moderators (along with Andrew Forgrave, president of ECOO - you can't tell he's a guest because he's wearing a red shirt like the rest of us).



My sub-group focused on Making and the Environment, and I was fortunate to have Tina Zita co-hosting the breakout room with me. Our group was small but so willing to share their thoughts and ideas.

I want to personally thank those who were present for that conversation. Apologies if I did not include your Twitter handle if you possess one.

  • Ruth G @originalmissg
  • Jen A @onelearningseed
  • Selena H
  • Ashley M
  • Irene F @pennstertoronto
  • Diana W 
The conversations were all captured via documents so hopefully no one feels like they completely missed out on information because they could not attend two sessions at once. (That's a common lament at conferences in general.)

I was also delighted to see several York University Summer TL AQ alumni attend. This conference was part of my TL AQ course and participants reported that they enjoyed the experience. I am not teaching the York University TL AQ this summer (since my domain is blended teaching and those courses aren't running due to the pandemic), which makes me sad, but I'm glad that people are still taking advantage of the online PD events happening.

These are some of the Twitter highlights of the conversations from June 30. I hope that we will be able to gather together face-to-face in 2021. There are many benefits to virtual conferences (like expenses, travel, accessibility, etc.) but I miss the benefits of the other type. We enjoyed having this option available to us.





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