Embedding Google Earth files into a website

This thursday I had the privilege of attending the iEARN2010 conference. The organizer and co-lead of iEARN Canada is a colleague of mine Jim Carleton. He encouraged me to come and see what it was all about. I was of course, thoroughly impressed. The energy in the building was amazing. It reminded me of Educon, where educators and students were all together learning from each other. Those are pretty much the only two conferences i've attended to date with that energy.

Anyways, Peter Skillen (@peterskillen) and Brenda Sherry (@brendasherry) were running stations in the Minds On Media area. I've played on Google Earth before, but never really explored its full capabilities in education. I decided to lurk around Peters Google Earth lessons and pick up some tips. By the end I was presented with the challenge of finding a way to embed folders into a website, allowing an easy way to share with many.

It's taken me 3 days (not straight) to figure it out. I might be slower than most, but I get there eventually! :) Here we go.

1. In Google Earth create your folder of places or tour.

2. Export your folder as a .kmz file.

3. Upload your .kmz file onto your website. In my case I simply created a google site (free, took 3 minutes), added a "file cabinet" page and uploaded the file. Make sure you know the url link for your resource. In my case it was: https://sites.google.com/site/jaccalder/my/SCDSBSecondarySchools.kmz

4. Go to this page to set up the gadget and grab the code (you insert your url and fine tune settings)

5. Go to your webpage or blog and enter in the embed html code from the gadget.

This Google tutorial has great information and step by step directions.

See my previous post for an example. I simply created a Google Earth folder with the locations of all the Simcoe County District School Board schools and adult learning centres. I can see the potential for this if I had taken the time to include photos, videos, etc.

testing google earth

Using Facebook powers for good not evil...

Our Student's Council has had a Facebook group for a couple years. It is used mainly for and by the students to share information about events. The SC advisor became an administrator on the group so he could remove anything inappropriate. Only one comment has had to be removed and it was because it contained an inappropriate word (while commenting on how F&$*'N awesome an event was).

This year a teacher created a "PSS Class of 2014" to post photos from our Grade 8 fun days. As Student Success teacher I was made an administrator for the group. At first I was highly uncomfortable with this. I was a little paranoid and kept checking my profile as someone who wasn't "friended" to ensure nothing could be seen. It wasn't what I said that worried me, but what my adult friends say! What a turn around! :)

I used the group to promote transition activities and events. We got good turnout. Over 2/3 of our incoming Grade 9 group has joined. We have had nothing but supportive, positive comments on the page. Kids asking students from other elementary schools to "friend them". Or, asking for "Julie, who I met during the tug-of-war game" to friend them.

On the last day of school I got my first FB message from an incoming grade 9. I've had FB messages from a few Student Council students usually about getting help on a project they are doing, but this was the first from a student I didn't know personally yet. The student had questions about their timetable and how to understand part of it. Then came the message about our summer transition program. Then the one about volunteer hours. And lockers. All of a sudden when Grade 8 officially finished these students started thinking about high school as a reality and had questions they didn't ask in front of their 30 peers when I was in class with them. As an administrator on the Facebook page, I was accessible. My principal and I are incredibly impressed with this great use as a transition strategy for our incoming Grade 9's. We are being very careful and keeping a close eye on the page, but are very happy to date.

My one question is - is it better to use my personal FB profile and not "friend" any students (which I don't, I always explain that I can't until they are done school for a bit), or to create a teacher Facebook profile, put a few pictures of my dog and family members on there, update it periodically and friend parents and students. Is this the way to connect with students? Or, do I really want the responsibility of knowing what they put on their profiles? Because, it's not just for my own protection that I ask this question. Even if my Facebook profile was my "teacher" and appropriate personality, I could in theory access the profiles of any student who "friended" me. Seeing the pictures they post from parties would be the downside. On the plus side, I'd certainly know who to support as a Student Success teacher. For example, a few years back we had the unfortunately tragedy of a suicide within our school community. I joined the supporting Facebook group and began to notice who was really struggling. We ensured they were personally invited to counselling services.

Any input? As educators we have three options.
#1 - avoid Facebook
#2 - keep one, personal profile and avoid friending students and parents
#3 - keep two profiles, one personal and one professional

I'm torn between the benefits of connecting with students through this media and how beneficial it has been for me in my Student Success teacher role, and the hazards. With this group of incoming grade 9's we are making a concerted effort to focus on digital literacy and citizenship. I believe that by seeing me on Facebook, modelling appropriate behaviour and communication it helps teach this. In this theory, I should be able to friend them with my personal profile, if I really had nothing to hide. I'm not ready for this, not sure I ever would be. I personally need to maintain my level of professionalism at all times and youngsters at 13 years old often misinterpret adult humor. So, i'm back to my three options above. Your thoughts?

Relationships in the Classroom

A few years back I heard Dr. Russell Bishop speak in Simcoe County. Coming across this video of him has got me wired for sound again. :)

He has done research in New Zealand around Maori education. In New Zealand, educators face a similar situation as we do here. We are failing our First Nations population when it comes to our responsibility to educate all. There is a major achievement gap between First Nations and non-First Nations students. Dr. Bishop has come to the conclusion that a big part of success for Maori students is the relationships in the classrooms. I would assume (without any research of the sort - yet) that the same thing is true for our First Nations, Metis and Inuit students in Ontario. How wonderfully empowering is that for a teacher? All those times we've thrown our hands in the air saying "if only I could do something", expressing that feeling of hopelessness which often turns into frustration. Well, it looks as if there just might be...

The reason I am so fascinated with Dr. Bishops work is that he's actually found a way to work with educators to improve these relationships. That is amazing to me. I've helped colleagues and other educators work on specific skills (using technology, using math manipulatives, assessment techniques, rich tasks), but to work with teachers on something so personal is intimidating. My weak understanding of what he does (which may be wrong) is to create PLC within the schools and send in trained facilitators. What I wouldn't give to be able to attend the training for one of these facilitators! I am unaware of any place in Ontario that is working with teachers to improve the relationships with students in the classroom. Please, please correct me if I'm wrong, I'd love to know of places that are focusing on this.

I would like to extend my thought one step further - that this building of relationships between teacher and students would also improve the success of students at-risk (whether they are of an Aboriginal background or not). They do not relate to the school culture. The one where reading and writing well are what get recognized. The one where you learn while sitting in a desk. So, if we cannot change everything about the educational system quickly enough, maybe we could at least focus on these teacher-student relationships to help improve access to education for many struggling students.

Now, if only I knew HOW to develop the ability to build these relationships... :)

One method of differentiating PD - Twiducate to facilitate a back channel conversation

This year I was asked to walk a group of 60 educators and administrators through the steps to using our new "student success database". The goal of the day was to have school-based teams collaborate on how to best use this tool to improve student success, including some actual planning. Some participants had already attended sessions on the mechanics of the database, others had never heard of it before. It was an extremely varied group. We wanted to encourage the discussion that resulted in having some experts in each team at the table and so were hesitant to split the group up based on experience. We also wanted to respect the "experts" time and allow them to move their own learning forward. However, we needed the large room to be quiet enough for those who had never seen the program before to follow along.

To differentiate for the group I decided to provide an "official" back channel conversation for the group. This is something anyone reading this post likely does naturally during most sessions you attend.

The dilemma was that many participants were not over technologically savvy, nor did they use twitter. To ensure everyone felt comfortable and confident, I searched for the easiest way to set up a conversation. I stumbled upon twiducate.com. We decided that it worked because I could set up accounts for participants ahead of time and it was as simple as login and post comments.


After running into the common problem of blocking (anyone in the group who was on the guest network, not on the admin network was blocked), we got it going. I walked the group through using the database, while I heard the clicking of keyboards followed by giggles and snickers around the room.

The risks I took in having this conversation that I couldn't follow easily were far less than the benefits. Everyone in the room was engaged. For the first time (I've ever witnessed) a certain Vice-Principal (friend) put down her blackberry and wasn't texting jokes to someone at another table. :) They were making comments about how they would use the database in their school, what improvements they would like to see and concerns they had. Of course, there was the required post about when drinks would be served and picking on one good-natured VP. Ultimately, it got us where we wanted to go with smiles.

And the added bonus? "What was that website?", "Could you show me how to use that with a class?", "Would you come and show my teachers how to do that?", "That would be really cool in a XXXX class", "What a neat site!". :)

We demonstrated something new to some educators.

Twiducate served its purpose well in creating a place to chat for relative "newbies". I think it is a good alternative when your entire group doesn't use twitter, and they have laptops with them.

What the Research Says about Small Schools

I'm very interested in the effect of community on education. My intuition tells me that small schools allow for a community to be created that cannot be replicated in large schools. This led me to do some research into the effect of school size on achievement and the cost savings.

What the Research Says About Small Schools

How far we've come - building capacity

I'm feeling very reflective today. Sorry. 

I was working with our teacher librarian who also teaches an extended french history course. We spent some time together last week discussing how we can help students improve their research skills. We talked about helping students become better at judging the quality of websites. About 10 years ago, in another life, I worked on a variety of medical research projects mostly in the area of gastroenterology. A doctor picked up on my "geekiness" and had me do a few small projects relating to technology. One was working with Paediatricians to determine how ready they were for switching to online resources, databases and patient medical files. Another was judging the quality of websites providing patients with information about digestive disorders. Since then I have made some assumptions on when and where the skill of judging information on the web was taught. This history teacher/french teacher/librarian explained how amazed she is when she gets students in grade 11 and they work on their first research project and are asked to use criteria to judge information on the web before completing the project. They often make comments such as "I've never thought of that before". This gap is something that likely needs to be filled in somewhat earlier, perhaps even before high school? In the past we focused on literacy, numeracy and then content subjects. Digital literacy is not always taught explicitly.

We make a lot of assumptions as teachers, or at least I have. Like the time as a new science teacher I asked my students to "research" a topic and found that they did not really know what that meant or how to start. Or, the other time when I asked for an essay about a topic in biology - I again assumed that they had this skill. I'm not sure who I expected to have shown this to my grade 9 and 11s? Perhaps I expected them to magically "know it"? Naive on my part to say the least.

This teacher and I brainstormed some ways to ensure every student coming into our school learns how to judge information on the web. One solution included using a common template for grade 9s to evaluate websites. She based it on this website:  http://lib.nmsu.edu/instruction/eval.html.

Over the past week she has created some excellent slide shows/presentations of photos from historical sites using Creative Commons material and sourcing properly. Part of her lesson was to show the students previous presentations that she had made where material was NOT sourced properly and compared it to her new presentation. A class discussion formed around the fact that if a teacher has been plagiarizing, surely students have been too. Examples of things they've created that were not sourced properly were brainstormed.

Today we uploaded the presentation file to google docs and got it all set up for her class to collaboratively add their own pictures of historical sites and add to it. All the while they will be learning about Creative Commons, how to find material, how to source material and how to licence their own work. The enthusiasm from this teacher was contagious today and I got so excited about the progress we've seen this year. We are really reaching the "building capacity" part of integrating technology here at PSS. Teachers have spent this year integrating a wide variety of free technologies into their classroom across a wide variety of subject areas. It is now at the stage where staff members are saying "I'd like to try that", or, "oh, i'd like to do what so-and-so did this year with my class next year".

I'm excited, pumped and optimistic. These technologies aren't being used for the sake of using the technology. They are being used to reach the learning goals in creative, engaging and collaborative ways focused on problem solving and communication. I'm all in!

Kudos to the risk-taking staff at PSS who have taken risks trying the following:

   * using Edmodo to create a social aspect to class

   * blogging using Weebly - starting with the simple assignment of embedding a youtube video (gasp!) and writing a paragraph about why they like the video

   * using voice thread to display and reflect on work

   * using skype to communicate with other classes

   * using a Moodle to allow flexibility in timetabling for Peer Tutoring class

   * using wikis for short story unit and peer collaboration

   * incorporating Creative Commons into their creations

   * using Google Docs

   * creating animations and videos online

   * using Facebook to create belonging amongst incoming Grade 9s

   * using Twitter for tweeting our morning announcements

   * using CPS clickers/response systems and the awkward software for diagnostic and review

There are some big changes coming in our board within the next few years. Starting in the fall there is a plan to provide every teacher with a mini-laptop and projector in every room. We are one of the first schools and should be getting ours in the fall. We will be moving towards the ultimate goal of being paperless. This will start with online attendance (we piloted this year) and schedules and memos coming electronically instead of flooding our mailboxes. With projectors in every room we will have access to resources we had to plan and book ahead in the past.

The other even more exciting change coming to us will be the opening up of the wi-fi networks. Hopefully in the fall the networks will be opened up to all staff to use any device and by January students will be allowed on as well. This will bring a whole new host of challenges to the classroom including the need to differentiate, take-risks and be flexible like we've never been required to in the past. I think the staff here are well on their way to embracing the mind-set needed to support 21st century learners. It will be tough and I look forward to facing the challenges with these risk-taking colleagues.

Evernote to track students?

Before Easter break I attended a session with admin and teachers from my board run by Will Richardson. I've been using Evernote for a few months now to keep track of projects. It works really well for me. As Will was demonstrating Evernote to a very engaged room I got an email about a student I work with. The Internet was wonky at the hotel and even my tethering was poor due to limited reception. I could not access the database our school board uses to monitor and track student success. I threw my notes into Evernote without thinking about it. I've never done this before for student notes. I work with students-at-risk for in a variety of ways. I track report cards and see who we need to work with, I receive referrals from teachers, I work one-on-one with some students, I organize independent courses for some and credit salvage or recovery for others. Until last week, all those lists and notes were in separate places. Nothing connected them. 

Last week when finally getting around to doing the action required by me to support this student, I tried something. I linked in the students information from the database into Evernote. I brought in his credit recovery assignments and forms. I dragged over a presentation he made on Creative Commons. I took a quick picture of his counselors business card and put it in Evernote. Being the geek that I am, I emailed the only other Student Success Teacher I know who might "get this". Rodd Lucier's (aka thecleversheep) response was "I see it as a data rich scrapbook". Exactly!

So, to track my meetings, credit recovery, parent contacts, remedial support and student work with students at risk I am now using Evernote. I have created a notebook titled "Student Notes" and each student gets their own note. By tagging each note with key words I can sort and search them by grade, withdrawn, independent courses, credit recovery or IEP.

I wonder, has anyone else used Evernote or any other good tools for tracking students?

When Worlds Collide

I'm not much of a TV person and don't have cable, but I recall being told about a Seinfeld episode years ago where one of the characters describes how having his relationship world and friend world collide is dangerous. I think my two education worlds have collided, and I'm thinking it's not such a bad thing!
I'm a student success teacher. I spend a lot of my time working with "at-risk" students who don't always find our ways of teaching and the structure of school a good fit. I also spend a large chunk of my time working with teachers in professional learning groups implementing new technologies and teaching strategies. Up until TEDxOntarioEd I was only making very vague connections between these two parts of my job. I could see the correlation between good teaching/assessment strategies to less students showing up in my office for "student success" work, but never thought much beyond that. The final TEDxOntarioEd talk was by a student who reminded me of those I've seen many times in my office with various stories. Every student has a story. School doesn't work for all. Nothing works "for all". Student success embodies individuality. As I was listening to Tim speak, I realized that I was using my "student success" brain to listen, not my ICT integration brain.
I felt like I was at one of our student success meetings where we regularly bring students in to speak of their barriers to education and what made a difference. I realized at that moment the similarities between integrating technology into education and student success. Teachers who are immersed in either one often share the following qualities.
     1. Creativity
     2. Put some control into students hands
     3. Focus on the "big ideas" or expectations opposed to the specific
     4. Take risks, not afraid of making mistakes while learning and trying new things
     5. Differentiate learning and assessments to best fit students needs
     6. Foster skill development in students like problem-solving and self-advocacy
It took me a long time to get here, but there we go. Teachers succeeding in both these areas embrace change. They often have "outside of education" experience (in industry, business or other) and often made bad students themselves, therefore wanting more options for their students.
So.... how do we bottle it? 

Respecting my elders. From slide rules to apps.

Society is changing. FAST. Students are changing. FAST. Education is changing. SLOWLY. Many experienced teachers often get a bad reputation for their inertia. Teaching the same way they did 20 years ago. I was sitting at friday evening social hour with some colleagues yesterday when I overheard something that made me think. Two teachers (great friends) spoke of using a slide rule in math. This thought stunned me for a minute. How could someone say these teachers don't adapt to change? They've adapted from slide rules to calculators to graphic calculators to computers to web applications to portable devices with apps. Hmmmm....  they now do their attendance online, are my Facebook friends, do online reporting and help me create "make up" assignments for credit recovery when a student fails their course. So, yes, some things like teaching strategies, classroom set up and how we assess take a long time to change (especially when there is very little leadership to support, model or encourage this change), BUT look at some of the fundamental changes many, many teachers have adapted to. We should always begin by acknowledging that which has been done well. I often think so far outside of the box that I am annoying to many. My principal even jokes (I think its a joke) and hides under her desk when I have that look in my eye of a new idea. Rarely do I stop and reflect on all the positive changes that have been made. Sure, we stop and celebrate successes along the way, but I'd like to take this moment to give kudos to educators who have taught for 20 years and adapted to many, many changes in education. This doesn't mean i'll stop pushing the boundaries with new ideas, new technologies and new theories (and annoying the heck out of you), but I do sincerely recognize the major adaptability and changes you have seen and excelled at in education. Students greatly benefit from an experienced teachers knowledge, wisdom and well, experience. No technology or teaching theory or blog could replace that experience. I think this message often gets lost in the shuffle. 

Social services and schools as partners

How does your school support students who have unique living conditions? Our school has recently made some excellent partnerships with community agencies that I’d like to discuss.

I doubt the situation is unique to Penetanguishene, and would hazard a guess that it’s province wide. We continuously run into a similar situation with some of our 16 and 17 year-old students. They have nowhere to live. For various reasons their parents cannot care for them, or are non-existent and children’s aid cannot place them or even work with them at that age (they are short beds for their little guys as it is). 

Laurie (Child & Youth Worker) and I recently sat in on a community meeting designed to work towards ending homelessness. We explained our concern with the gap between children’s aid support and becoming an adult. Representatives from all around the community sat at the table (YMCA, Ontario Works, LEAP, Salvation Army, churches, etc.). All agreed the need was widespread. This resulted in the creation of a sub-committee with the first task of determining how widespread the issue is (how many homeless students, non-attending school age students and couch-surfers). While this will take time, I am extremely happy to be working towards some potential solutions. 

This morning Wendy, a Caseworker with Ontario Works programs for the County of Simcoe Social Services Division volunteered came into the school to explain the whole process to Laurie and I. Much to my surprise four other educators pointed out that they would like to have been invited. They all promised to not hold a grudge as long as I share what I’ve learned with them. ☺ The guidance counselors, special education teachers, vice principal and attendance counselors were all interested in how the system works. This on its own demonstrates a need for community agencies like Social Services and the schools to communicate more often. 

Here is a summary of what I’ve learned:

• There are two main social service programs
• Temporary care - for those living with other people (example: grandparents)
• Ontario Works – for those living independently with a mandate to develop employable skills
• The monthly money provided in all social service programs is for rent and food ONLY. No other costs are covered with the exception of medical and dental coverage.
• Temporary care provides approximately $200/month to cover food expenses and also includes medical and dental benefits. There are some one-time “community set up” funds that can be applied for (example: to cover the costs of a bed). In this case the caregiver also gets the child tax credit for the child.
• Ontario Works is more complicated. Youth (under 18) need to find a trustee who is an adult that the cheques are written to, who then disburse the funds and hopefully teach some budgeting skills.
• Students often show up for Ontario Works appointments with a trustee who will also be the landlord (ex. Friends, boyfriend, girlfriends parent). This is NOT a good idea because if something happens to a relationship in this case the student loses their trustee and place to live. Their entire support system comes crashing down.
• Caseworkers will call the parents to check up on the living situation and use a “reasonableness” scale to determine if the student qualifies. If the parents say that the student CAN live with them, they are asked questions about what would be required. If they state that the student cannot live with them they are then asked what they can contribute to the students living expenses. Sometimes parents give some money from the child tax (which they should not really be receiving if the kid is not living there, but that is between them and the CRA – the Caseworker will always point this out). Parents submit a financial form to determine how much they can pay (it is sometime zero).
• A trustee MAY be asked to speak with the parent to ask for money to support the student. Very rarely will the situation go right to court. Because the process takes years and these students are almost 18, it never actually makes it to court.
• Every month the trustee gets the cheque for the student along with an income reporting card (to be filled out and returned with attendance report from the school) and a drug benefit card.
• This money is in no way taxable income for the trustee – it is money for the student. The trustee position is voluntary.
• The max amount of assistance is around $585 ($221 for food and the rest is for rent). Room and board rates are a bit different at a max of $400/month for room and board with a $60 allowance for incidentals (deodorant, hygiene, etc.)
• If the student is pregnant or a mother, under 18 and without a high school diploma they are signed up for the LEAP program automatically. This program has a SIGNIFICANT amount more support, both financial and personal.
• To access Ontario Works the student needs to call a local phone number (in our area the head office is in Midhurst). From there they make an appointment at the appropriate office to go in person.
• From a landlords point of view, rent is taxable but room and board is not.
• Biggest barriers to getting assistance for youth is having an appropriate trustee and place to live. Student must also be a FULL TIME student, which provides some barriers.
• Income from a part-time job is deducted from benefits at 100% for the first 3 months on Ontario Works and at 50% from four months onwards.
• If you do the math Ontario Works “pays” $4.18 per hour (at $585 for 140 hours of full-time work). If minimum wage is just above $9.00 the job would bring in $1280 per month with full time hours. Even 20 hours a month would result in $630. Even if a student is only eligible for $2 of Ontario Works funding per month (because they earn money through part-time work) they still get the drug card and medical benefits.

After this very informative meeting my head spins at the knowledge of how difficult it is for some of these students. I also see many opportunities for teachers and schools to support these students. I see an opportunity to be a trustee for a student as a possibility. I think it needs to be looked at in a case-by-case situation, but is doable in some cases.

Schools can also play a role in making “full-time” education more accessible. We can offer many different versions of creative programming that allow the student to be “full-time’ and still meet all of their needs (and the schools).

I also see an opportunity to continue working with the local subcommittee working on creating solutions. These solutions might include media campaigns to alert the general population to the need for supportive homes, working with local church populations to identify some potential opportunities before the emergencies arise or even acquiring property and funding to run boarding house type situations.

I’d LOVE to know how other communities and schools are dealing with these situations and your thoughts on how social services and schools can work together.

It's scary where a bowl of soup can lead

It’s scary where a bowl of soup can lead. In the fall of 2008 a colleague and I decided we needed a bowl of fresh-made soup at a local establishment. What started as an innocent conversation about literacy and the OSSLT (grade 10 literacy test in Ontario that is required for graduation), turned into a flurry of excitement and a stack of notes on napkins. We were discussing the amount of untapped potential in students that just isn’t activated by the literacy test. The majority of our students that do not pass the test, only miss the mark by a few points. Unfortunately, these students often do not connect the literacy test to their lives and therefore do not put in a 100% effort. If only we could tap into that potential…

We decided that we would like to create a 1-day symposium for our grade 10 students that would help them see the connection between literacy, the OSSLT and their lives. The result was the first annual reaLITy symposium hosted at PSS. Our first task was to secure our keynote speaker. I called an acquaintance from my previous life in Moosonee, Joseph Boyden. He was generous enough to agree to spend the day with us. Even with the increased demand on his time after winning the Giller Prize, he volunteered his time with us for the day.

We included breakout sessions by local radio hosts, cartoonists, bookstore owners, activists, sports analysts, journalists, blogger/wiki’ers, authors, etc. Each session involved the presenter describing their careers/experiences and how literacy is connected. A literacy test activity was connected to each one. Students chose their workshops, had name-tags and were treated like adults. It was a great day.

This year our 2^nd annual reaLITy day is on Friday March 26^th and we have author Ojibwe Drew Hayden Taylor as our keynote. The community has once again stepped up and running a variety of workshops for us.

Our school does the other general OSSLT prep activities like a diagnostic OSSLT in the fall for grade 9 and 10 students, prep activities in grade 10 english classes, prep activities in all grade 10 classes during the week before the test and an after-school “TIPS” prep program.

I am NOT a literacy person – meaning my background is in biomedical science. Before student success I taught bio and science. Recently though, i’ve been co-ordinating a PLC that focuses on literacy activities and am slowly learning. I’d like to know what type of creative literacy activities are done in other schools? I will not turn this into a rant about my feelings towards the OSSLT test and how it is used, but recognizing the need for students to be literate, am interested in what other types of creative activities are going on out there!

Links:

Information about reaLITy

Press about reaLILTy:

PSS to host 2nd annual literacy symposum 

Students await arrival of top novelist 

Building Relationships in the Classroom

After reading NY Times “Building a Better Teacher” I wonder if becoming a teacher isn’t too easy? Teaching can sometimes be viewed as a “fall-back” career. What if teachers college was as difficult to get into and get through as medical school? Would that change anything? Would we get more buy in from teachers? Would more of them continuously try to make themselves better? Or, would it simply get the academics only into the profession and eliminate those who are efficient educators not because of their academic knowledge, but because of their ability to relate to students?

One of the biggest dilemmas in teaching right now is how to train teachers and how to set up effective, efficient professional development. Before that can happen we need to define what makes a good teacher. Is it student scores on standardized tests? Is it achievement or success in courses? Is it preparing them for the next step whether it be the workplace, university or college? Or, is it reaching and motivating students?  I think many educators would argue that it is a combination of all those. Yet, we are only really held responsible for two – the standardized test scores and course achievement.

More and more research is being done and it often comes down to the “magic of teaching”. The biggest indicator seems to be the relationships in the classroom. This has been stated by Dr. Russell Bishop in his astounding research with Maori education in New Zealand. Time and time again, I hear it eluded to. All the teaching strategies in the world will only work with limited effectiveness until the relationships in the classroom are working effectively. And yet, to date (to my knowledge), no one has identified how to monitor, record or document these relationships. They will be varied for sure, each teacher has a different way of relating to students. This is not an easy task.

It would need to start with a clear understanding of what makes an effective educator, finding those educators and studying how they build relationships in their classroom. 

There are many benefits to being a teacher. We get summers and holidays off. We can leave at 3:30 pm if we do some planning and marking at home later on. We also have a lot of control over our work environment (at least in our classrooms).

On the other hand, there is a lot of crap that goes along with teaching. A lack of resources and restrictions on when you can use the washroom are but a few. How many other professionals do not have access to a computer to plan or have to move their office every 75 minutes to a new room? Even so, I think that the quick bandaids thrown in to “fix” teachers just might have the worst impact compared to all. Instead of looking to the root of problems (relationships in the classroom) we jump in and push teachers to try this activity, this technology, etc. We inundate teachers with new things to try, time out of the classroom, more, more, more, more… without ever supporting them in the one thing that research is starting to tell us makes the biggest difference. Relationships. Basically, we’re setting them up for failure.

We need concrete details on how to build relationships in the classroom ALONG with the strategies and tools.Teachers aren’t idiots. Even ineffective teachers are passionate and work their butts off. It’s simply that no one has ever demonstrated how to build effective relationships in the classroom.  

If anyone knows of research in the area of relationships in the classroom and effective teachers, please point me in the right direction.

Even the playing field

In Canada we pride ourselves on universal education and health care. Both of which have faults but are fundamentally excellent programs. As a student success teacher I often work with students whose situations break my heart on a daily basis. Ontario has “universal” education. My question is that while all students have the same physical access to education, do they all have the same emotional and mental access to education? I think not. This disparity is often fed by poverty. While not always the case, some students can’t “access” education due to other traumas, events or abuse, the root is often poverty. Without their basic needs being met, they simply do not have the emotional and mental readiness to learn. By the time they reach high school they have had the benefits of every possible support (elementary schools are amazing, caring places), but feel that they always need extra help, may have a low confidence in their own learning ability and inevitably have some learning gaps. 

What message do we send our children when we let them remain without proper shelter, food and supports? We assume the cycle can be broken with education. This may be true, but students living in poverty don’t have the same access to this universal education and so the cycle often continues. Ontario’s per-pupil funding is nothing to be proud of on the world scale. 

Our school board is embarking on a very exciting new adventure. The networks will be opened up to all devices. With education funding as it is and declining enrollment, we simply cannot afford to keep up with every new technology in every school. The solution? Allow students to bring in their own laptops, netbooks and handhelds. Many already have these devices at home. We ask students to have graphing calculators for university prep math. Why not spend a bit more for a computer that will provide access to online graphing applications in addition to word processing, social media and research? Will “computer or handheld” simply be on the list of school supplies in the near future?
I am very, very proud to be part of this school board. Their new ICT Strategic Plan demonstrates leadership in murky waters, innovation and forward thinking. I get extremely excited at the possibilities that will open up to us over the next few years. My one concern? How will this affect our students living in poverty? We will of course still have computers in schools and therefore in the beginning this impact will be minimal. 

The transition to using this technology fully will take time. Especially when not all students have access to high speed Internet at home. In our school particularly, we have students living in the “beaches” where high speed Internet is not yet easily accessible. Again, the school board has taken great strides and partnered with ISPs to expand areas of high-speed access to include these areas.
We need ways to even the playing field. Whether the “field” is emotional and mental readiness to learn or access to technology, it needs to be accessible to ALL STUDENTS. The gap does not need to be widened any further.

Community schools are where it's at...

This ramble was published in the Midland Mirror.

At some point in time schools closed their doors to the community and made it very difficult for people to enter. Supervising field trips require criminal reference checks and your first-born. A change in times required some changes in policy to ensure student safety. With all that worked out now, schools are realizing how important the community is to education. Schools reflect their community in many ways. With this understanding we have re-opened our doors and actively seek community participation in education. Over the past few months PSS has been lucky to have many community members in our building providing education beyond the expertise of a teacher. Lisa Garratt with the Georgian Manor/County of Simcoe taught our health care class about wound care. Beth Hamer, Deborah Duncan and Christine Zurawski with the Penetanguishene Mental Health Centre are working to help us offer Suicide Awareness and other programs and Kelly Hubbard with the Infection Control Network helped us create infection control modules. These are just a few of the community members who have made PSS a better place. We’ve had holocaust survivors speak to our entire student body, community members speak to our environmental and outdoor education programs about conservation and site 41 and all this is in addition to the too-numerous-to-name local businesses that take on co-op students. The Town of Penetanguishene recently came in to speak at a staff meeting to teachers about all the possibilities for partnerships. This is a very exciting era bringing communities and schools together for the benefit of students. We at PSS would like to send out a big heartfelt THANK YOU to those community members who find the time from their busy days to come in and help us make education a priority. PSS would not be the great school it is without all of our support.