British Columbia is behind most every other province and state in North America in getting remote learning going for students. I don't mean we're behind as in we're lagging; the COVID-19 travel restrictions and face-to-face instruction suspensions came down to us in BC while most of us were enjoying our 2-week spring break in March. This gave our instructional leaders time to plan while other stakeholders were all encouraged to continue enjoying their break. (Thank goodness we have leadership and government who care enough about their educators and students not to revoke their spring break, like New York).

Our break meant that others were already forging ahead with remote instruction before we even began. It meant that BC would have the opportunity to learn from other people who were already knee-deep?... chest-deep?... over their heads?... in the reality of what remote learning might look like for their respective communities. Educators across Twitter and other social media feeds were already sharing their work and thinking widely. From shouts of problematic inequities for families to development of best-practice philosophies during crisis teaching, it was all already out there. While we had our own fish to fry in each of our BC districts and school communities, those problems would hypothetically be smaller in scope: we didn't have to reinvent the wheel, because that work was already out there in the open. But...

No amount of powerful philosophy, guiding documents, or support from leadership could strip away the complex emotions within the work we did this week. 

In my district, we have been given a broad runway to get things going with remote learning. With a brilliant focus on "connection," educators of all walks - teachers, educational assistants, youth care workers - were all tasked with phoning the families of their students to check in with them. Our goal was, first and foremost, to find out if everyone was doing okay, but also to identify any inequities that might be experienced in the home: parents who are essential service workers and who require childcare, families who lost income who may need basic support with groceries or bills, families who had a lack of devices or access to the internet, etc. The following week (this upcoming week), is intended as a week to plan, collaborate, and to get a framework up and running for your families to access. Then, after Easter, remote instruction officially begins. 

I had seen so many other educators share about these experiences we were about to go through. While I didn't think I was immune from the emotion, I was certainly prepared for it because of what I read from others... right? By the way, I'm probably not going to say anything new here that hasn't already been sad. However, it's important that our community in BC processes this experience together, just as others have been able to in other parts of the world.

People wanted something for their kids to do, but they were largely feeling patient about the amount of time that teachers needed in order to prepare. They wanted to know how my family was doing and to make sure that we were all right, too. I felt so happy to get this support but so sad that we never really got to say goodbye. 

​After I was done my calls, I wrote a thread on Twitter that I thought had captured some of my feelings, but it didn't fully do the trick. I was emotionally exhausted from the balancing the joy of community support we were receiving with the grief of losing this special time with my class. 

In the end, I took all day Saturday to decompress, thinking of nothing professionally, and my "breakdown" for the day consisted of a 4 hour midday nap.  I'm okay now, but I know another emotional workweek lies ahead and no matter what I read, hear, or see, I'm not going to be able to stop that. 

Let's feel through this. Bring it on.

Each of the sketches, words, and quotes on this sketchnote have held some significance for me in the past two weeks. I fully and truthfully admit: my passionate fire for education is back. While I'm still aware of the deficiencies of our system, no one is stopping me from loving my job anyways.

I think it’s important to continue to have conversations about gratitude in education. In fact, these conversations have already been happening (check out the archive from #bcedchat’s discussion on Educational Gratitude). This has stuck out to me since things have gotten so busy again: if we don’t stop to be thankful and focus on the positive, we can very quickly lose ourselves in the negatives that we all know exist.

Please comment below with some of your moments of gratitude from your job, or better yet, a link to a blog post full of those moments!

I’ve always known that I’m NOT the best teacher for every kid in my class. However, I've always been someone who’s worked to be the best teacher that I can be for them. At different times in the year, I've learned that I'm falling short of being the best that I can be for some of my kids. So what can I do? ...It’s not like those kids are going to disappear from my class!

Like any effective teacher, I will change my approach for them. I will mold. Adapt. Flex. Find new and exciting projects or activities that will pique curiosity, motivate, and engage those students. We all know that these changes don’t come easily, or even quickly. They take hard work and determination.

But what happens for me when I try these new things… these new pedagogical tricks and strategies? When I give the integration of a new technology a go? When I experiment with passion-based projects and their associated organized chaos?

Well… here’s the long and short of it: It just might not work.

Actually, most of the time it doesn’t work. Sometimes this is because I am a self-proclaimed ‘program skimmer’; I don’t like to read the instruction manual before attempting to build the model. More often than not, it’s because the technology that I’m tinkering with doesn’t work the way I had envisioned it to (the NERVE!). But the bottom line is that I fail in my classroom in front of my kids... ALL THE TIME.

So why am I sharing this? Isn't a teacher's blog a place where shining and celebratory ideas are shared? Where pristine examples of lessons are glowing with positive commentary and reviews?

Umm, nope. Nope, nope, and nope. And if yours is like that, you’re not sharing the hardships. We all have them… And we need to share them.

Just like me, you’re probably not the best teacher for every kid. That’s okay. Remember: that which we share is that which will allow us to learn, grow, and expand. Let’s celebrate and embrace moving out of our comfort zone in teaching. 

Bill Selak and I have been chatting a lot on the topic of modeling innovation and educational risk-taking on Voxer. We both feel that it is important to innovate within your teaching practice, reflect, and have a space to share and feel supported in BOTH your eduwins and edufails. Join us on Twitter by using the hashtag #EdFailFwd as we try to help ourselves and others to deal with the everyday obstacles we encounter in our jobs and move forward. Let’s #EdFailFWD together! 

The inaugural EdCamp35 was held in Langley, BC at R.E. Mountain Secondary this past Saturday. I had a lot of fun preparing for this event with the rest of the EdCamp35 planning team, who dedicated countless hours to ensuring that the event would be a success. 

I have to admit that leading up to the event, I was extremely nervous for the day to come. This was the first edcamp that I'd really had a hand in planning (I did a tiny bit of work for EdCampWest Online last year) and of course, I wanted it to be a progressive and useful day for the attendees. The planning team worked very hard to emphasize the adoption of suggesting and voting for professional development that you wanted and/or needed, of open conversations rather than presentations, of voting with your feet, and of building empathy and networking with different educational stakeholders in order to find alternative perspectives on education.

There were plenty of registrants from our own district representing all areas in education - teachers, administration, support staff, student teachers, parents, students, school trustees, and district leadership. (When your District Leadership Team shows up AND sits in sessions to listen, you know your district is headed in a good direction!) We also had incredible representation from all over the Lower Mainland, the island, the Sunshine Coast, and we even had an international showing! 

So, the actual day? It rocked. The honest truth is that any edcamp is driven by the participants in it... of which, as I mentioned earlier, we had a lot of awesome ones. Here are my awesome eduwins, thanks to those folks:

Getting to hang out and throw together the details with an awesome planning team? Check.

Meeting the #bcedchat mod team face-to-face -- the first time all four of us were ever in the same room? Check.

That feeling when all of the technological workflows that you set up for the day actually work? Check. (Okay, so this was a personal win for me, though my PLN did get involved a little bit. Also, see our shared documents here.)

Having awesome conversations that expanded my thinking? Check.

Getting to meet so many members of my PLN that I had talked to extensively online? Check.

And now, 2 days later, there has been a particular influx of poetry on social media (yes, poetry - you know who you all are) in reflection on the EdCamp35 experience, so here is my little contribution:

I would like to end this post by thanking the planning team for EdCamp35. Events like these would never be made possible without the amazing support that we received in our district. A special thanks goes to Magdy Ghobrial, Ngaire Leaf, Nick Ubels, Chris Wejr, Shawn Davids, and Katherine Mulski for their devotion, attention to detail, sense of humour, and pure awesomeness that you brought to this experience. I can't wait to work with you all again next year.

Thank you to all that attended EdCamp35! I'm loving the incredibly reflective blog posts, emails, and feedback that our team has been getting from the attendees.  Keep 'em coming!

I know my blog is named "Tech Teacher on a Mission", but every once in awhile I like to post other classroom ideas that have not very much to do with technology.  Consider this as your forewarning that this post is one of the "non-techy" ones, but it is by and large one of the coolest things that happens in my classroom. This idea has been adopted from my practicum experience in a multi-aged (Grades 1, 2, & 3) classroom and is now used weekly with my Grade 3/4s.

The concept is simple: a class meeting. That's it. Seemingly, it's nothing groundbreaking. But, like anything, it's all about how you frame the learning that makes it so powerful.

As an aside, I purposefully set up a lot of unfair and unstructured environments in my classroom that allow students to design the rulings within the space. For example, the job chart is a hot mess of disorganization in September, there is no set regulations on turn-taking in our classroom comfortable reading space, and there is certainly no order as to who gets the high honour of turning off the lights when we leave the classroom. These are things that are very important in the eyes of my students as they can cause social duress... Small people, small fights.

So I use Class Meeting as a place for my students to govern their own school experience. The activity is designed to allow them to make rules within the classroom to help it run more effectively.  These can include regulations that may positively impact their safety, learning, or social experience. My students run the Class Meeting session completely from start to finish. I model this at the beginning of the school year by using a loose framework of Robert's Rules of Order. 

1) Set-Up & Orientation

I always begin Class Meeting by setting my students up in some type of circular format so that everyone can see the person who is speaking. We do this on an open mat area on the floor, but if space is limited, moving desks into a circle works just fine, too. It is most important that the Chairperson and Secretary sit in a space where they can make eye contact with each person attending the meeting.

The meeting runs once every week, and is used to create new rules, amend or abolish old ones (the kids use this language!), or to re-visit unsettled business from a previous meeting.

2) Selecting a Chairperson

When modelling this, I highly emphasize that the chairperson is a responsible student who has the ability to manage the meeting. There are many speaking and listening challenges integrated within this role, as well as social expectations surrounding leadership.

The Chairperson is the student whom the meeting centres around, as they will be the one who keeps the entirety of the meeting on track, setting the agenda, and moving through that agenda within half an hour of time.

The Chairperson lets the class know that business has officially begun. Several students raise their hands to suggest topics:

• "Daily 5"
• "Using technology"
• "Line ups"
• "Math Centres"

These are among several topics that are brought up in my classroom. Each student's name and topic is recorded by the secretary (typically me, but I have had students do this job in the past) before any are discussed formally. We usually can get through 5-6 topics in half an hour.

4) Carrying out the Agenda

The Chairperson calls upon the first order of business recorded and that student will present their rule to the class. The Chairperson then paraphrases their rule back to the student to clarify what the follow-up discussion will be. Once the presenting student consents with the rule description...

Student hands fly up to ask questions of the presenter and to vocalize their support or rebuttal for the rule itself, stating evidence that backs up their opinions. By pushing for the "why", students will begin to see alternate viewpoints and consider how the rule may impact others, ultimately helping them to develop empathy and to exercise social problem-solving skills. Typically, the Chairperson limits the question and support/rebuttal commentary to three students, but if it is a hot topic or more discussion is required, they will allow for additional dialogue.

Votes are carried out after each rule is proposed, summarized, questioned, and defended. Sometimes rules will change on the fly depending on the line of questioning. In these cases, the Chairperson is responsible for clarifying the rule being voted upon before the vote occurs. Students are taught the difference between 'Yes', 'No', or what it means to 'Abstain' one's vote in the first few meetings and are encouraged to use their own voice to vote for what they believe in, not just to follow their friends.

In the event of a tie, the chairperson (who does not vote in the original rule election) must vote to break the tie. Remember, rules can always be amended or abolished at later meetings if they're a point of contention. As a teacher, I will often re-propose these topics at later meetings to see how opinions have shifted on topics in the classroom.

The students repeat going through each rule proposal, summary, questioning, and defense until the entirety of the agenda is carried out.

5) Closing

My students close the Class Meeting with what I like to call the Self-Esteem Circle, but it can really be any variation of speaking and listening activity with a talking piece. With a mirror in hand, they state one thing they like about themselves, and pass the mirror along to their neighbour telling one thing they like about them. This continues around the circle until it has been passed to every set of hands in our classroom, making sure that each person is included in the activity. We've also done this as a Gratitude Circle. This small, but effective activity has built up a ton of friendly community in the room, and the kids are adamant that the adults are included, too!

I am also intending on creating a how-to video on Class Meeting this year so that other classes can see how self-regulated and powerful this activity is for us. Engaging students in critically thinking about the social governance of their learning space is a powerful way to put the importance of community into their hands.

This is a video project that I created for my Mobile Technologies class (ETEC 565M) in the UBC Master of Educational Technology program.

My personal journey with this social media has opened up and transformed my educational world. Because of Twitter, I have enjoyed several professional experiences over the past six months like connecting with colleagues at edcamps, traveling to California to attend conference and collaborate with other educators, and establishing online communities and conversations through hashtags like #bcedchat. I am passionate about the use of this tool, among many, to help educators connect and transform their own professional learning experience.

Check out my video below to find out more!

Thanks for reading, watching, commenting, and sharing! Happy tweeting! 

The first week of school in my district can be confusing, stressful, and nerve-wracking for some, perhaps even most.  Our classes are not set until the end of the first week as we wait for upper management to confirm and crunch the final numbers for student enrolment at each school.  Careful thought is put into class composition as we move forward to determining which students we will be working with this year. 

But while all of that is going on, we are still teaching.  We are not necessarily teaching our kids that we will receive, though we might have a few of them in our midst.  We don't know that until the classes are set on Friday.  This is something that challenges me year after year as I always strive to create purposeful learning opportunities.  I stress over planning aspects because I find it difficult to make my teaching meaningful when I can't continue the journey with the same students.  It's all about relationships.

But the group I have been working with are a wonderful bunch of Grade 4 students who have made me feel incredibly at home in my new job.  Not only have they been welcoming, kind, and receptive to my style, but we have had so much fun in the little time I've gotten to know them.  Needless to say, I'm going to be sad to see many of them move on to other classrooms.  Luckily, a few of them will be staying with me as I am teaching a Grade 3/4 split this year. 

Today we journeyed through the first stages of the MindUP program.  I am a huge advocate for promoting social responsibility and self-regulation within students.  I believe that everyone, no matter the personality or background, deserves an opportunity to develop the skills needed to become an independent and contributing citizen to their communities.  This can translate in many ways depending on the needs of the learner, but as always, I'm challenging them to meet a higher standard than the one in which they enter my classroom.  

MindUP is based upon deep-breathing exercises and metacognition.  It allows students to understand the parts of their brain at work in social processes and to become more aware, or "mindful," of the impact they have on themselves and others.  By using a common language in class that includes brain anatomy and neural processes, students begin to understand that they are truly in control of their reactive selves in social situations, both in the classroom and in real-world contexts.

My big edu-win today was that even though I may never teach some of these kids again, the lessons we experienced together were meaningful, filled with enriched discussion, and curiosity.   I even had a couple who approached me to say that they wanted to continue learning about "self-control by using their brain."  This day made me forget all about being stressed out about creating "one-off lessons" and to remember that every day, every moment, can impact the life of a student.

Thanks for reading!  I encourage you to comment below to tell your classroom's stories of building community, relationships, and mindful learners. 

Disclaimer: This post is long. Buckle your seatbelts.

In July, I made a last minute decision to take a trip.  I had no idea where I wanted to go, what I wanted to do, or whom I wanted to meet; I just wanted to get away from my house in Langley and explore someplace new.  After much deliberation, my finger landed on San Francisco - a city that boasts history, beauty, and an enriched culture, and a region that gives a curious tourist like me much to do.

I contacted a few Twitter friends on the matter and the trip turned into something much more than a simple getaway - it turned into an experience of a lifetime.  Life-changing even, or so I tell people who ask.  Immediately upon hearing that, the listener’s thought is spurred: “How exactly was it life-changing?” Well, here’s what made it life-changing for me:

People I knew only through the series of tubes that is the Internet – talented and dedicated educators whom I held the utmost respect for – offered the most jaw-dropping hospitality I’ve ever experienced...  Welcome to Hotel California! They opened their doors for me, toured me around, drove me and my infamous suitcase where we needed to go, and introduced me to a world that I hadn’t imagined possible before.  I got to talk edtech with leaders in the field day after day, meet with app developers, and explore the campuses of edtech giants such as Google and Apple.  I attended CUE Rock Star Teacher Camp where I had the pleasure of assisting Drew Minock with his mini keynote presentation on Augmented Reality and met even more amazing people who I will undoubtedly continue to work with in the future.

So how is that life-changing exactly? Because my online connections became real. They turned into people that I can now confidently call my friends, and ones I will continue to work with on future educational projects.

David Malone, Alice Keeler, and Diane Darrow are now more than superstars behind a Twitter handle. Sharing the experience of touring Google and Apple with them was priceless. These people are just honest-to-goodness kind people who all have their own inspiring impact on education, and happened to include me on their journey! 

David and his family opened their home to me and made me feel like one of their own.  The hospitality of this amazing family is unmatched. Seriously. Oh, and be sure to check out his iTunesU course. Reading assessment game-changer.

Alice is easily one of the most fiery and passionate educators I’ve ever met.  From “lively device debater” to life coach, I seriously started to take notes.  Then again, I didn’t really have to take notes because it’s ALL on her awesome blog.

Diane holds a special spot in my heart. She is funny, engaging, and she LOVES kids. She is knowledgeable and will not hesitate to offer her advice on classroom ideas – of which she has many that engage higher order skills.  And playing Android action figures with her on the ride back from Apple/Google wasn’t bad, either. 

The amazingly cool Karl Lindgren-Streicher brought the most real, down-to-earth educational voice to this trip that I could have asked for. Not only did he push my standards, he also made me think about education from the stance of a content-specific high school teacher rather than as an elementary generalist.  And he gave me a nickname that may live through the ages, much to my dismay. 

Lisa Highfill is seriously the nicest human being on the planet – I could sit and talk with her for hours about edtech tools and classroom models that turn us into giddy geeks.  Efficient workflow strategies for the win! 

Diane Main was a treat - she is hilarious. Our trip to Santa Cruz with the international MERIT attendees will not soon be forgotten… And neither will #spatula jokes.

Drew – or as I more endearingly referred to him, “Michigan” - and I explored the city for days together seeing the sights and meeting app developers. He NEVER stops working for those who are curious, but he is very professional and has so many awesome ideas for classroom applications with software. I am excited to continue working with Drew and his class in the upcoming school year on some global collaboration projects. And if you don’t know about his site, be sure to remedy that and click there NOW.

Sam Patterson and Wokka Patue swiftly became a normal sight in my days, providing endless laughs and bringing oodles of fun into the Rock Star conference. The live #patue chat was a blast, too! 

Carrie Gehringer, my #patue buddy, was insanely fun to hang out with on the fantail of the USS Hornet.  She brings a laid-back, cool-cat attitude that we all need in our lives. 

John Stevens and I met at the Palo Alto #brewcue and became fast friends, relating on everything from sharing the same birthday to our awe towards the impact of Twitter as a PLN. Oh, and he hosts/contributes to a gazillion educational websites (link to one of them) and is the most talented “shredder” I’ve ever met. (Check out the "Shreds" section of that link to find out for yourself.) This guy is going places.

Scott Inman was a riot, from finding cream cheese from breakfast in his pockets late in the evening to clunking down his “bag of tricks” on the fantail. He was also nice enough to give Drew and I a ride to the BART after Rock Star was over. Amazing guy.

Erin Lunde, the girl who just happened to sit next to Drew and I in our first session at CUE Rock Star, won MVP for staying on the boat after hours despite her commitments.  Give her a follow – she WILL get excited. 

Curt and the Hornet crew played amazing hosts on this floating museum.  What an amazing place to hold an ed-conference and they made it worth every penny with their knowledge, expertise, and of course, direction-giving. (IT WAS A  MAZE)

And finally, Jon Corippo, the master mind, or as he calls himself “the baby daddy, “ behind CUE Rock Star, was incredibly generous and flexible in the way he ran the conference, making it into the experience that fit the people that were there.  He made it possible for all of us “crazy teachers” to connect with ease through this conference model.  I’m SO excited to return again next year to the Bay Area Rock Star conference.

I could continue.... I could. But sincerely, there is no way for me to scratch the surface of the impact of this trip on my view of the world of education, and my view of my PLN, but I had to try.  (And I’m sure you’re all wondering when this thing is going to end, even though I gave you fair warning with my disclaimer.) 

I am so honoured (yes, the Canadian way) to have spent time with these eduawesome people, among many more who I met on my trip.  Life-changing? Yes...

Today I, alongside one of my colleagues, had the honour of making a presentation to our local Rotary Club for their generous donation to Gordon Greenwood.  Earlier this year, the Club provided us with the funds to purchase our first 10 iPads and get our technology program off the ground for our special needs students. 

Before tonight, I'd never been to a Rotary meeting, and to be honest, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect.  I hadn't anticipated the "community" aspect of our role in this project and presenting in front of so many esteemed community members.  Though we were likely the youngest people in the room, we were instantly welcomed as peers and equals.  The inviting smiles and warm conversation occurred not only through our complimentary meal, but throughout the rest of the evening. 

The most important part of the meeting, though, was our presentation about how technology has impacted our school.  Our students are engaged and excited about going to Learning Assistance.  Kids who have difficulties with reading, writing, and math are getting the adaptations they need in order to be successful at school.  Previously resistant teachers are jumping on board after seeing the positive results of iPad implementation in the Resource Room.  A small grant from a local community club was turned priceless in the hands of passionate educators, a team of educators I am proud to say I've been a part of.

Bringing this success story back to the community members that made this possible was also priceless.  A comment from Langley City's mayor sat with me at the end of the Club's meeting. I may be paraphrasing, but in a nutshell, he said that any community outreach is fundamentally ineffective without passionate implementation behind it.  I agree 100%.  It's not enough for schools or outside agencies to buy technology just for the sake of having it in the hands of students - passionate people who believe in authentic and creative learning is equally as important to have as the hardware itself.