Have been reflecting a lot on the Ministry review of anti-Black racism at the #PDSB and the Investigator's report and my own place in these... (thread)
It's easy to point fingers and lay blame, and deservedly so. BUT it's important for many of us within this system to acknowledge our positionality in those findings and our complicity in the system as it exists...
Even though some of us can look at these findings and say "Well that's not me" or "I would never" that's just failing to recognize our own actions/inactions. Even though we may not see ourselves explicitly in the review, we're there...
Have we actively pursued breaking down the system? Have we questioned the processes and practices? Have we been bystanders through our actions or words? Have we pushed back? stood up? amplified voices? Have we demanded better prior to this? No? Then we are all a part of this...
As someone in a leadership role in this board I really need to recognize my own role in this system. If I am to truly commit to combatting anti-Black racism then I need to acknowledge that as a white, cis, male I have greatly benefitted from this system...
As friend pointed out in Robin DiAngelo's White Fragility "Most of us would not choose to be socialized into racism & white supremacy..." but "Now it's our responsibility to grapple with how this socialization manifests itself in our daily lives & how it shapes our responses"...
So if we are truly going to do the work we need to first acknowledge this, reflect on our actions and inaction over the years, and grapple with these facts. Only when we understand our responsibility in these findings can we begin the necessary work.
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A few thoughts (rant really) regarding the Brightspace decision & removal of Google Classroom from our online spaces. I've kept out of it because I just thought the decision would be reversed as sanity & logic prevailed. Apparently I was wrong...here's some thoughts [a thread]...
1st this debate has been ongoing for years now. I was in the tech resource teacher role way back when G Classroom was rolled out & did a lot of work in supporting Ts & Ss with both platforms. I honestly can't believe we're back here. But here we are & I'm shaking my head again..
Brightspace is a true LMS system that has a ton of functionality & options. It's meant for online learning and not necessarily blended like G Classroom. It also means that to use it there is so much to learn which is overwhelming & unnecessary for most...
So it’s been 1 week since we’ve initiated this #onted “plan”. People at every level in the system are working their asses off to make this year work. Yet there are a crazy amount of decisions that still had/have to be made...[1/8]
However at every level there is only so much you can see & thus so much you can prepare for. What we saw this week was that without people on the ground being involved in the plan until this week there are still lots of ‘little things’ that are overlooked & really add up...[2/8]
So just to give an idea, here are some of the various decisions that needed to be made this week, and may still be unclear from one department, in one high school in #onted... [3/8]
Eh school boards... read the room. Take a look around & see all the teachers recreating classroom experiences virtually, creating videos, holding chats with 25 grade 2s, providing unique learning. So next time let’s try starting with a presumption that we’re all busting our asses
Some further observations regarding synchronous “directive”...
It took weeks before boards agreed to video conferencing with students at the behest of teachers. We understood our classes and what they needed from the start. We didn’t wait for a MoE to grandstand...
We implemented these tools only when we felt it supported students and teachers who decided not to felt like this was the best call for their classes....
Having 2 elementary aged children at home has shown how important learning is at school. Not idea of brick & mortar but the social component...
My JK son has very little interest in learning at home. And let me tell u... he has some pretty good homeschool Ts (both of which are actual Ts). He is being asked to learn independently and is something he has no interest in...
Now put him with friends at school it's a whole diff story. He thrives with his peers because learning is a social process. It is also the model that has been set up here in ON for ELKP - inquiry, play, social, etc. He loves it and fuck does it suck he doesn't get that right now.
So with the launch of the province’s eLearning & realization there’s not enough, I think it might be beneficial to crowdsource/collaborate in preparing courses/content for our students... #onted
Wonder if every teacher would be willing to share lessons/activities/eLearning course plan to make up for the shortfall?...
So rather than just preparing content for my class of 28 it could be shared & used for any teacher in province teaching same course...
Might be ambitious but will try to share a new poster daily that can be used to educate the public about cuts to education & impact on students. Feel free to print, post, share, etc.
Here’s today’s... #onpoli#onted#OSSTF#ETFO
and here's today.... without the spelling mistake 🤦♂️