It’s the end of Week 7 of remote learning and I’m starting to feel the isolation even more isolating. We’re getting into our routines of remote learning, we have a pattern going, we’re in a flow. While I still connect with my colleagues regularly, it’s not close to the amount I was when we first started this journey together. We’ve been adapting to our new classroom environments and it just doesn’t seem like we need each other as much. Or maybe, most likely, it’s that we’ve become overwhelmed by the need to support our students that we have once again forgotten to take care of ourselves too. 

I don’t know about you, but as much connecting with colleagues is in efforts to plan and to work together in developing online lessons, my connecting is also about taking care of my mental health. I have a very supportive family and I can talk to them about everything, but, there are just somethings they don’t quite get. That’s why it’s so important to me to find somewhere I can not only share my thoughts and feelings, but be understood. Truly understood, by someone else who is sharing the experience alongside me.

I decided for my mental health that I needed to carve time out for myself. A time that was just for me, that would allow me to step away from the screens, from the stress of teaching remotely, and from the uncertainty. What was I going to do? I’m not a cup of wine in the bathtub kind of person. I could binge the latest Netflix series, but that wouldn’t get me away from the screen. I could go for a walk, but, I’ve most likely taken one earlier with my daughter. So, it was time with my houseplants.

While I believe all 27 of my plants and their babies (my propagations) are beautiful, I didn’t just consider them to be some green decoration that adorned by shelves. As the plants began to become take over my home, I became more attuned with each of their individual personalities and their individual needs. Much like we do as teachers with our students. Each one needs a little something different from me, I had to learn when to feed them, water them, prune them, and I had to learn when I had to leave them to their own devices. Especially Flame, my Croton (yes, I’ve named my plants). I’ve apologized to him many times for having him on the shelf in my classroom being knocked constantly, not realizing until how sensitive he is to constant movement. He prefers to be left alone). 

​With love and care the plants grow and show their beauty. With each unfurling leaf comes new life. But, the true beauty in plants is to appreciate their imperfections. Recognizing that a burnt leaf, from being a little to close to the window, tells a story that is equally important as the story the new bloom of the orchid can tell. 

Ultimately, it comes down to find something for you. What can you do to rejuvenate yourself?

What is it that can breathe new life into you?

Let me start by saying that most educators choose this career because of the relationships that we have the opportunity to build. (I don’t know of anyone that decided to be a teacher for the pay, but, that’s another topic altogether.) The question comes up every year and when it does I tell my students I became a teacher for two reasons:

• captive audience, that’s forced to listen to me and to laugh at my jokes
• school supplies

But, really, the main reason I became a teacher was the relationships. The relationships that I had with my teachers going to school greatly influenced me. Along with the relationships, I developed while coaching. It was while coaching that I had my “ah-ha” moment. Sharing in their triumphs, seeing them smile and breaking through the defence, breaking through a barrier. This is why I became a teacher. To help support others in their growth and to encourage them along the way.

Well, it’s not the same anymore. I don’t feel connected, I feel like the relationships I’ve built with my students this year is slipping away.

So, here I am, I’m going to break this down into three branches: connections, relationships, and community.

CONNECTIONS

Connections, to me, is the main root of education. We, teachers and students, are all linked together through our association with our classroom, with our school. No matter what our relationship looks like, we are connected, good or bad. 

​RELATIONSHIPS

Relationships are another main root of education. My success, any teacher’s success, in teaching is based on the strength of the relationships formed with our students. The relationship between teacher and student is fundamental in creating a welcoming classroom environment. We are after all in our classrooms together for an average of 5 hours a day. Not only, do teachers use these relationships to motivate students, but we also use them to experience fun. Fun, in both learning and teaching, for the students and the teacher. I don’t know about you, but, I can learn just as much from my students as they can learn from me. The “content” we learn might be different, but we’re learning from one another. It’s a mutually beneficial relationship.
So, how do we maintain these relationships through remote learning?

COMMUNITY

Community is where it all comes together. You cannot have connections and relationships without creating a sense of community. We’re all involved. Ideally, we’re all working together to create a positive environment in which we support one another and learn from one another. You might ask who we are. Well, “we” is you, your students, those in the classroom across the hall, down the hall, those in the office, those anywhere in the building. Each day we all interact with one another, each day we greet one another. There’s a flow to which we move together. It’s a dance.
​

​Additionally, I have added two other activities in an attempt to maintain our connections, relationships, and classroom community.

Now, even with all of this (and the video calls, emails, and instant messages), as much as students are “engaging” it’s not the same. There’s no way possible to replicate the sense of community in a remote learning environment. Especially one that was created to teach during a world-wide pandemic. As much as we want to try to carry on as normal by maintaining some form of routine, it’s just not something that can be done. And this is where I’m struggling. Try as I might, it’s just not the same. 

Hey! It seems that my last post was made 5 years ago. Well, with the current COVID-19 Pandemic, I’ve been spending far more time than usual reflecting and reading educational blogs. So, naturally, I’ve been inspired to once again take the plunge.

Since we last met there have been a number of changes in my life:

• demolished our home and started building a new one in its stead
  • during the build, we lived in a 400 sq ft basement suite (it was tight!)
• completed my Master of Educational Technology (MET) from UBC
• after finishing the build moved into the new house with my in-laws (with separate living quarters, of course)
• had a baby (she's a month shy of being 4 years old)
• went travelling with the baby (definitely do this! Well, maybe not at this time)
• changed schools and started teaching grade 8 middle school English and Social Studies (and a few other subjects)
• oh, and became more active in my local union

So, that brings us here today. I share these thoughts because they are not only what shapes me as a person, but as an educator. Despite our best efforts to keep our lives at home and do not bring them to work with us, they come anyways. They are our life experiences and we cannot ignore them. The experiences above, along with many others, have made me the person I am today.

When I started this blog six years ago, it was meant to be a place for me to share some of my educational growth. And a place for me to reflect on aspects of my teaching practices. Well, after completing my MET, I think I was burnt out. Completing an entire master’s program online, and building over a dozen webpages as a part of it, kind of turned me off my computer. Strange, I know, especially considering it revolved around the use of technology. Don’t worry, I still integrated technology into my teaching practices and I still reflected. Just not here.

Part of my stepping away from the blog also had to do with timing. Life was hectic, life was crazy. I was finishing my master’s at the same time as building a house with my in-laws. And, a few short months after finishing my master’s, I found out I was pregnant. So, life was now revolved around teaching, shopping for flooring, paint and the like, and eating and resting. I didn’t have the energy to think about coming here to share my practices or my reflections. Then there was a whole change in teaching assignment the year after my return from maternity leave. The move was unexpected and unwanted and did not sit well with me. That first year was all about survival. Managing a young toddler at home and a whole new curriculum I hadn’t taught before.  I could go on, but, I’m not here to share my whole life’s story. Well, not all of it anyway.

I needed time for me. I needed time to focus on myself and my family. 

Why now? Why today?

I’m still busy and life is still crazy, yet, if there’s one thing that I’ve realized over the years, especially being a union representative, sometimes there are teachers that just want to know they’re not the only ones struggling. That they can see themselves represented in someone else’s struggles and that brings comfort. So, that’s why I’m here today.

Seven weeks ago my life was turned upside down. I was at school on the Tuesday before Spring Break and started feeling sick. With this new thing called the Coronavirus around, I thought it would be best to stay home the following day. Which turned into the rest of the week, which has now turned into seven weeks. 

Not only have our lives been turned upside down as individuals, but as educators too. As educators, we’re being forced to confront the effects of the pandemic, COVID-19. With many of us no longer being allowed in our brick-and-mortar classrooms, we’re being forced to provide learning opportunities to students through remote online learning environments. This pandemic is challenging us to reflect on our teaching philosophies. To ask ourselves; What is it that we can share with other educators to help support them? What support do we ourselves need? How does the use of educational technology fit into all of this? But, perhaps most importantly, how can we put all of the above into supporting our students at home?

Knowing the struggles we’re experiencing as adults, and the difficulty we have in navigating through this new environment, just imaging what it’s like for the students. Now is the time to share. Share your thoughts, share your ideas; don’t just share which tools you are using, share the ways you are integrating them into remote learning to contribute to a positive environment for you and your students. Now is the time to work together, to collaborate together, to share your successes, your challenges. To come together, to support, and to encourage one and other. 

This “experience” that we are currently living has woken me up, has energized me, and has stirred something in me that has been missing a while. I have the opportunity now, more so than before, to use that little thing called my Master of EdTech. 

If there’s anything you need, whether it’s just to listen to your venting and to help support with the scary thought of teaching online. I’m here to lend a hand. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. One thing I’ve learned over the years, if I can’t help, I’ll plug away until I can or until I can find someone else who can. 

None of us are in this alone. Let’s do this together.

D'Alice

It's time to re-think of the ways in which we communication with students and parents outside of the classroom.

As part of a project for my ETEC565M course with UBC's MET programpr I wanted to focus on communicating with students and parents outside of the classroom.  As a society that predominantly lives with our mobile devices in hand, often the traditional methods of communication are less successful.  How many times have you opened up an email to forget about it shortly thereafter.  With the use of mobile devices many of us are looking for communication to be quick and to the point.  This is where Remind comes into play.

As a tool that I have been using with my classes for nearly two years, I cannot say I have found anything quite like it.  I wanted to take this opportunity to introduce you, and others in my PLN, to the benefits of Remind.  I have created a YouTube video to introduce educators to Remind.

It is my hope that you enjoy the video and find it useful.

D'Alice

Overwhelming.  Scary. There’s no way. What am I doing?  All thoughts that had passed through my mind in the beginning of an assignment for my ETEC565A course, as a part of the UBC MET Program.  Creating an introductory module using the learning management system (LMS) Moodle was both a frustrating and rewarding experience.

I then set out to design the course content I would provide in the introductory module (start off small right?); outlines, assessment guidelines, instructor introductions, along with a handful of others.  Once the content was created offline, it was time to upload it to the Moodle LMS.  Panic sunk in.   

Learning how to navigate through Moodle was quite frustrating at times.  The barrier in front of me did not want to be broken down.  I had attempted to learn how to use Moodle by watching a variety of YouTube videos, such as Getting Started with Moodle and Moodle Tutorial 1: Basic Layout, which helped me with the basics but did not answer all of my questions, nor did they eliminate all of my frustrations.  After a few dedicated hours in attempts to conquer Moodle, I came to a realization.  A realization that I have a personal learning network (PLN) that I could call on for help and guidance.  I replied to a tweet from @qflokstra that another member, @MsVictoriaOlson, of my PLN saw, she then led me to another member of my PLN, @Math_Johnson, for help and support.  From here I was able to ask for help and support and learn within a community of educators with a variety of experiences in Moodle.  Additionally, I had sent an email to my colleagues in the Adult Learning Center, that are moving to a predominantly online learning environment, inquiring if any of them were familiar with Moodle and were willing to help me in person.  I was set!  I had two tutoring sessions in person with a colleague and had countless conversations with @qflokstra and @Math_Johnson on twitter.

After countless questions to my PLN, hours of playing around I can now say that I am happy with the product I have created (sorry, I cannot share - it is currently being hosted by a secured UBC Moodle site.  In future I will try to remember to share).  While I was quite anxious and frustrated during the outset of this assignment, by the end of the activity I found Moodle to be not as frightening as I first thought.  With my PLN by my side, I am now looking forward to learning more about Moodle as a LMS.

References

Clarkson, Alexander.  (2012, May 19).  Moodle tutorial 1: Basic layout.  [Video file].  Retrieved from http://youtu.be/8yD3jIyrjNQ 

Lynda.com.  (2011, August 29).  Getting started with Moodle.  [Video file].  Retrieved from http://youtu.be/8JJaXJdgxh4 

Please bear with me. This post will be a little more academic than most blog posts. I am also writing this post as a way to share my positive thoughts on Twitter as a tool to connect educators and develop a PLN for my ETEC540: Text Technologies - The Changing the Spaces of Reading & Writing course.  Encouraging those that are unfamiliar with Twitter, or those that do not see the benefits of Twitter, to consider some of the positive impacts it can have.

If you are not interested in reading the long post, I encourage you to jump to the embedded Pinterest board below.

So here it goes… 

I believe that I have always been a connected educator, although not entirely connected through technology.  Over the years I have spent sometime on Twitter lurking in the background, sourcing out new ideas to use in my classroom.  However, since starting the Master of Educational Technology (MET) program at UBC (September 2013) I have begun to fully embrace the use of Twitter for my professional development by participating in conversations and authoring my own texts.  

As an educator that uses Twitter to connect and to engage in conversations for the purpose of learning through meaningful dialogue, I cannot speak more highly of the use of Twitter as a source for professional development.

What is Twitter?

While there are many people that use Twitter as an open source to receive celebrity gossip, viral Internet memes, current traffic information, and developing new stories, there is another side of Twitter as well.  “Twitter is an online social networking and micro-blogging service” that allows users to send and receive texts of 140-characters or less (“Twitter”, 2014 & Grosseck, G. et al. 2008).  Twitter enables real-time interactions between users to communicate, to ask questions, to receive advice, and to provide advice (Grosseck et al., 2008).

Twitter as a PLN

It is through this networking that educators can build their personal learning network (PLN).  Through the use of common educational hashtags, such as #ntchat (New Teacher Chat) or #edtech (Educational Technology), educators are able to find a wealth of information at their fingertips.  A lurker, someone who consumes the content, is able to find links to websites with lesson plans and ideas to bring to the classroom without having to attend a structured conference, and from the comfort of their home. 

As the confidence level of the educational tweeter grows, so does the amount of networking and learning.  Slowly over time, as you begin to recognize frequent tweeters which you determine you have commonalities with, you will follow them.  You will learn who to go to for ideas and help in educational tech, in Moodle, in math, in science, in the elementary class, in genius hour, in any thing you are interested in. 

To help keep you organized, you may wish to create Twitter lists. By creating a list, you are curating a group of Twitter users with similar interests.  You can create your own list, such as I have with UBCMET, or you can subscribe to lists created by other users.  A list will allow you to view a timeline of all tweets by only users within it.

Much the same as relationships develop when in person; relationships begin to develop online as well.  There are many educators that I follow that I would consider to be more than just acquaintances, I would consider to be friends.  They support you in your needs for education discussions and help; but you also begin to share your personal lives with them.  Making deeper connections and building stronger ties to a global community of educators.  These are the people you seek out to meet in person at conferences, to meet for coffees on the weekend.

Let me start by saying, this is not my typical post.  However, I needed a place to upload and share Image Citations for my project.  So, here it is. 

As a part of my ETEC540 course, Text Technologies: The Changing Spaces of Reading & Writing, I was required to create a video documentary.  We were to choose a piece of technology and to contextualize the technological development historically and culturally.  This assignment has been a definite learning experience.  

Up until the start of this assignment I did not know what a stereoscope was; or so I thought.  It turns out; I had seen some stereoscopic painting by Dali last spring.  I wound up being so fascinated with the stereoscope, and its connection to photography, that I have already been to a couple of antique stores looking at views to start collecting.

The overall process was fun, long, stressful, enlightening, just to name a few emotions.  I even went to a physical library, first in seven years, and borrowed some books.  (Side note; apparently Burnaby Public Libraries do not charge interest on overdue fines).  I struggled though a lack of creativity, struggled with software, and as I write this, I am struggling with uploading the video to my YouTube account.

To create the documentary I used the following software programs: QuickTime (Audio & Screen), iMovie, PowerPoint, and Word.  All programs I had used before.  Although I was familiar with all of these programs I took the time to learn something new with each of them. 

What did take me by surprise was how time consuming this project was.  It has taken far more time than I had anticipated.  I am happy to say that I have finished and that I have learned a lot.  Not only did I learn about the stereoscope; but also about the support from others.  For this I owe my family thanks.  Pamela a huge thanks for pushing me to the end.  

If you'd like to watch the documentary, The Invention of the Stereoscope, you are more than welcome to do so.

All of images were retrieved from Wikipedia Commons, Flickr Commons, and websites that provided a Creative Commons License.  

To view the Work Cited (also included at the end of the documentary) and Image Citations please open the following document.

I must be completely honest; I had signed up to attend EdCamp35 as soon as registration was open.  I love EdCamps, so why wouldn’t I.  As Saturday morning was approaching, I was debating whether I was willing to give up this day.  In desperate need of sleep, with it being the start of my Spring Break, going to bed on the eve of EdCamp35 I was unsure if I was going to rise in the wee hours (6:30am) of a Saturday morning to attend.  I did.  The alarm went off and I rolled out of bed to get ready.  The best decision I had made that day.

Despite needing copious amounts of caffeine to get me started, once at EdCamp35 I began to be awakened.  It is impossible not to feed off of the energy of everyone else around you.

What stood out to me…

Energy was in the air.  It was hard not to wake up with all the excitement in the air.

Passion was all around.  In all the discussions I heard everyone was speaking from their heart, from their concern, and from their desire to have the best for the education system.  Even when ideas were opposing all voices were heard and were respected.

Food trucks!  My growling stomach was thrilled to have a hot lunch from the food trucks.  I was salivating in line while waiting.

Conversations were great!  It was impossible not to have conversations.  The rooms had been torn apart and set up with circles for equal opportunity to be heard; there was no chance to be lectured.  The front of the room did not exist.

Awesomeness of the EdCamp35 Team.  All members did a great job at setting up and promoting the day.  For their first EdCamp they had an excellent turnout of all stakeholders.  There were a bunch of us teachers; but there were also a number of parents, students, administrators, and district personnel there too.  And, not to forget the large contingent of BC student teachers, #bcstuteach, represented there too.  They EdCamp35 Team was so awesome, that people came from the Sunshine Coast, Nanaimo, and as far away as San Francisco, California!   

Twitter peeps!!!  I must say, that by far one of the highlights was getting to meet all the people behind the @handles from twitter PLN (Personal Learning Network).   My PLN is great, it is growing, and they are a wonderful group of tweeps.  Being able to meet them in person, and have a face-to-face conversation strengthens those relationships making them much more meaningful.

These are just a few of the things that stood out to me.  There is one more thought….

No matter how tired you are, how much you want sleep, get dressed and get out that door and get yourself to EdCamp.  I’d never forgive myself if I hadn’t!

It started with a simple side chat during #bcedchat's conversations about EdCamps.  Here is my simple description of an EdCamp in a haiku.

Yesterday I spent my Saturday hanging out with a couple hundred others sharing in a passion.  A passion for education!  Waking up early for some professional development isn’t what most people think of doing on their weekend; I mean isn’t being in school five days a week enough?  To go in for a sixth, that’s crazy, right?   Well, this was EdCamp (EdCamp Delta) – something I’ve learned you don’t pass up. 

EdCamp is a conference that is an unconference.  Bright eyed, bushy tailed, with caffeine in hand over 200 participants congregated in a high school library at Delta Secondary School; board members, administrators, teachers, parents, AND students!  Going in there are no set topics for discussion, everything is decided on the day in person.  Participants are encouraged to suggest topics they wish to discuss and post them on a bulletin board.  From there all participants are encouraged to vote on which topics they want to make happen.  Voting yesterday was done with stickers; each participant was given 4 stickers to place on the topics we wanted.  (Last year we were given post-it notes).   Then the fun begins, a short welcome for the day, you turn around and voila the schedule of the day is posted; room numbers, times, topics and all.  With a buzz in the air we were off!

If there were two words I could use to describe EdCamp they would be connections and reconnections.  

Making connections with the people I have spent the last few months with tweeting with.  Getting to put a face to a name.  Having this face-to-face interaction allows for deeper connections and relationships to be built.  I am able to embrace these newfound relationships, to embrace the energy and the drive that they provide me, to embrace the encouragement I have to try new things and to persevere when they’re not successful the first time.  These connections help rejuvenate me and my desire to challenge myself!  Sure, I’m still feeling a little burnt out, who doesn’t; but I feel that I can push through, break through the barrier and come out on top.

Of course there was plenty of opportunity to reconnect as well.  Not only was I able to reconnect with those I had met at previous EdCamps, I was able to reconnect with a fellow teacher that I had not taught with in the past couple of years, Tracey D.  We were able to reminisce about the times we had working together, how things always seem greener on the other side (why is that?).  We had a great time catching up on the changes we’ve both made professionally, along with the moves we’ve made in our personal lives.

Furthermore, I was able to reconnect with what is important, my passion for teaching!.  I have been struggling recently with frustrations that directly impact my self-importance and my teaching position.  These frustrations of course have an impact on my teaching, as a result affect my students learning.  It's not their fault I'm experiencing frustration, so why should they be the ones to suffer.  Well, yesterday gave me the opportunity to reflect and to reconnect with my desire to teach.  I became a teacher, not for the money, not for the politics but for the students.  To teach the students, to share their lives, to share their successes, and to share their failures; these are the reasons I became a teacher.  For the chance to make a difference. 

At the end of the day, I was exhausted.  I had been so thoroughly engaged my mind needed a break.  I took last night to sit and to reflect, of course jotting some notes down along the way.  I don’t want to forget all the valuable ideas that were shared.  I need to focus.  There are so many possibilities for change, that I couldn’t possibly implement them all without overwhelming myself or my students.  

Where do I want to focus my focus?  After a lot of thought, I have decided that I want to place more of an emphasis on inquiry-based learning and in Genius Hour.  It’s my hope that students will become more engaged and less passive in their learning.

I can do this!  I can and I will challenge myself and my students in our learning together.  I know I can do this; I have the support of those that I have connected with and reconnected with.

PS. If you ever have a chance to attend an EdCamp – DO IT!  Don’t pass up the opportunity to connect and to reconnect with those who share a passion for education.

PPS. Sign up for EdCamp35, it’s being held on April 12th, 2014 in Langley, BC.  I’ll be there, will you?