This blog began in Room 52 at AMG Junior and Senior Public School in 2011.
This site has followed me to a few schools since then and now joined the roster of retired blogs in the social media universe. The journey and reflection will continue in different and exciting spaces.
Room 52 remains one of the most significant places of teaching and learning for me and grateful to the students and staff who supported me there. Thank you.
I usually make a habit of taking some parting shots of the classroom. Here are a few shots.
I have felt very welcome at Dovercourt Public School and look forward to learning more about my school community and continuing to grow as an educator. Have a wonderful summer.
This was the last homework assignment of the year. Come up with 6 words to describe your year. Initially, I wrote 7 and it was pointed out to me. The "it" in questions refers to Dovercourt PS.
Look at this great group! They all pulled together to set up and have a great social/party. So proud of them.
They made this fantastic card and put up a golden "P" to share their gratitude for the year. I really appreciated that.
The room is beginning to look a little more generic. I am preparing to move downstairs to Room 217, there is a lot of packing going on and the room is looking more and more like it did when I first moved in.
Thanks for your supporting your learner from Room 28.
I normally do not write too much about what is going on with me. My Brother's image made the blog, because of Danny's question from Health class. I attended my Daughter's Grade 8 Graduation and was so proud. Before you know it, you will be getting ready to leave Dovercourt. Yes, I know, it won't be for a couple of years, but time does have a way of going by rather quickly. I am pleased that I will be on that journey with you.
Once I speak with the group, I will see if they are cool with the using some of the video clips from the performances a couple of weeks ago to upload here. In the meantime, here are some fun shots. The great group shot was taken by Ms. Waxer.
I was very proud of all of you who pushed yourself to be creative and move out of your comfort zone!
Planet in Focus:
The most recent Planet in Focus Film Festival happened a couple of weeks ago. As of today, the list of films have not bee updated, but I sent an email to ask when this might happen. Here is a photo from the gala night.
Ms. Kramer, Mr. P and his son, Rhys
Canada 150: A cause for celebration and reflection
We will take a look at an article from What in the World and then watch a couple of videos looking at some different perspectives on our upcoming celebration.
As a point of reference, I am very proud of my nation, but there are parts of our history we need to be aware of and think about so we may treat one another differently.
Sharing some Harris Burdick stories:
It was a lot of fun sharing some of the narratives created by the students.
Each author had a different take on the images and brought a certain level of excitement to the piece of writing.
So much rain!!!
Does it feel as though it will never stop raining?
Close to 20 years ago, I used this 1990 film, I'm British But... to look at the ideas of Culture and how identity shifts in the face of Racism and immigration. We will only look at the first 10 minutes of this film to see how this connects to some of the Big Ideas relating to Culture and Identity (intentionally capitalized).
This exercise is very interesting as we begin to think about Canada's 150th Birthday. What does it mean to be a Canadian in this day and age? Where do our diverse voices fit it? Where do the voices of Canada's First People fit in?
There is a unique project I read about in a What in the World publication about "Lost Stories" of Canadians during this sesquicentennial year. This project cannot capture all of the stories of Canadians, but it is working to shine a light on some voices we will not hear: http://loststories.ca/
Significant to understanding Canada's History is recognizing that Canada was considered a colony by both the French and the English. For some of our discussion in class today, we will be looking at how England colonized a large portion of South Asia.
Many people of South Asian descent moved to the British Empire after this period of time and are British. Because South Asians are usually racialized because they are not White, they are sometimes not considered British. Sometimes, people have simple ideas of how people from a particular group are supposed to be. As you can see, British South Asia is very large and there is a lot of diversity within this space.
Sometimes, when people are racialized, they may be subjected to a type of Xenophobia. So, while a person may Canadian or British on his or her passport, they may be seen as different or an "other" because they are not from the dominant or powerful cultural group.
I know this sounds very theoretical, but our conversations in class will break these ideas down a lot more.
As we prepare to wrap up our teaching year, we will spend some time discussing the importance of voices and stories in this year of celebration of our nation
What a super, beautiful day for National Aboriginal Day and the first day of Summer.
I was searching for a list of films from the Planet in Focus film festival -- where our film was selected -- which examined the morning statement we hear every day.
The 5 founding nations on what we know, currently, as Toronto
Unfortunately, the 2017 film selections are not up, so I have found this to provide some visual context for understanding the significance of the statement:
But it is not only about things from the past; the past informs the present. Today, the CBC has launched a great project profiling community builders in Ontario.
By the way, I will be a teacher of History and Geography next year in my new role, at this wonderful school, as the Geography and History teacher.
public pledge:
I do not feel I have done the best job with honouring some of the commitments made in the Truth and Reconciliation document. So, I will model the idea of "YET" by making a commitment to exploring, in the 2017-2018 school year, to including more Indigenous perspectives and other marginalized perspectives to my school program.
Geometric Art:
The ability to demonstrate a translation, reflection, and rotation was the key part of the assignment.
There were a few misunderstandings among some students, so I walked through another example.
The personified Art is due tomorrow. Here is another example, along with some commentary from the subject of the Art:
This video, and the thinking behind it, has heavily influenced and informed my teaching philosophy since I first heard about it 2011. It all relates with the concept of yet, which we have talked about. We won't look at all of these, but you can view them whenever you would like.
Off the Rails:
This is the New York City subway map that Darius McCollum knows very well.
This is some homework from last week that we only got around to correcting today:
I should have added the step of converting the Mixed Fraction to the improper fraction: Multiply 8 x 2, then add three and place it on top of the 8.
We will take a look at the work we have done in fractions. This work will have to be reviewed in Grade 7, but it is the foundational work needed to move to the next part of working and understanding fractions.
Personified Art:
In case you were wondering about this assignment, I have reduced the list of elements of design to 3/6. While I do not have great works of Art to accompany these examples, I am hoping these examples may help. If not, ask me about it a little more:
for Texture
for Line
Frayer model & Health
There are still a few groups who need to complete this chart. We did this as we reviewed the film Handsome and Majestic. The Healthy Relationships aspect of the film is a key part of the Healthy Living section of the Health curriculum.
Pyramid of Hate: Japanese-Canadian Internment
For Social Studies, we recently read the article on the anniversary commemorating the Internment of Japanese-Canadian citizens during World War 2. This action, sanctioned by the Canadian government at the time, fits into this teaching tool for understanding how hatred and distrust can lead to terrible things happening.
- Of course, we should never forget the tragedy of the Residential School experience in Canda:
Probably not today, but we will shift our eyes to the idea of how Canada's upcoming 150 year Birthday may not resonate with many of our Indigenous Canadians.
I would like to believe that the idea that our brains are able to make new connections and learn new things relates to the idea of YET. It is a "green" thought where we have the idea that our intelligence can be developed with some persistent effort in the face of challenging situations. You may need to get some help from a friend, coach, or a teacher but it is possible.
According to Alea Thompson, "the Frayer Model is a visual organizer that helps students understand key ideas and words by linking the new ideas to their existing knowledge. The graphic organizer looks like this, with the word or concept that you are teaching at the center" http://superell.com/using-the-frayer-model-in-your-ell-classroom/
Here is an example, from the same website:
We are going to use this model today to look at something in Health class and will use the film Handsome and Majestic and a portion of Milan's story to frame our discussion https://vimeo.com/186480327.
I did not take a photo of the number of students who made the leap to the Level 3 + standing for the measurement re-test. I will take a photo of it tomorrow. I am still allowing Re-writes to be completed for those who failed or really struggled with it. Past blog posts highlight some of the approaches to solving the questions, but I thought I would post the answer sheet to the last page of the test.
