Let's talk about chronic workplace burnout. We know that money for more staff is always hard to get, even if it means better staff wellness. What if there were other, non-monetary things you could do to help prevent burnout in your staff (other than sending out wellness emails)? How is your organization handling concerns about sexism, racism, ableism, homophobia, and other forms of identity-based discrimination that impact your employees? Do your managers shrug it off or pretend that it doesn't exist? Do they have any training in restorative practices?

Here's a small part of my love letter to Educational Assistants and Child and Youth Workers... nothing I can ever write or say will be enough to thank you for the work that you do for our kids. Please take note, @Sflecce.
#OntEd
@wrdsbeaa EAs and CYWs have been the safe, caring adult that students needed, time and time again. From helping an overwhelmed little newcomer whose mother had flown back to their country of origin for work, helping her breathe and knead thinking putty instead of self-harming...

Great learning with the #WRDSBMLL Elementary Teachers today, on supporting multilingual language learners in Kindergarten and assessing writing. We made connections between the components of Scarborough's Reading Rope and the Top Ten Tools Writing Systems/Strands. #WRDSBMLL

I have heard a few educators say that learning about morphology should be reserved for students in the upper grades, and that the concept of breaking words down into parts is too high-level for young children. I heartily disagree. Learning about the parts of words can start informally in authentic contexts, and can lead to a lifetime of word inquiry. It is never too early to engage curious little minds with the basics of morphology.

“I’d recognize that smile anywhere!” -a secretary I haven’t seen in 7 years.

I was wearing a mask. But she still recognized my smile. Because ppl can actually still understand that someone in a mask is smiling by looking at their eyes and body language and hearing their voice. My daughter knows when her masked teachers are smiling at her (thank you to her teacher for wearing a mask after returning to school after being off with COVID). Kids are generally pretty awesome at adapting to masks. I think we need to give children and adults more credit.

Discussion point from our MLL literacy networking: is focusing on exposing children to lower-case letters first better than focusing on upper-case letters first, since the majority of letters kids will be exposed to in print will be lower-case? #WRDSBMLL We may wish to take a step back from a focus on letter names as students first encounter letters and make sure we teach the SOUNDS the letters make. Alphabet-sound linking charts with visuals to support the letter-sound connection can be useful for MLLs and ALL kids. #WRDSBMLL

I’m here to tell you that it is not impossible to avoid household spread, even in an older house with sub-par ventilation and only one bathroom.

I repeat: Household spread of COVID-19 is NOT inevitable.

Don’t give up. Use all the tools available to you. Every layer helps. Layer 1: Breathe Elastomeric respirator and N95s in the house.

Layer 2: open windows, even when it’s freezing.

Layer 3: Corsi-Rosenthal box in sick guy’s room, HEPA filters in bathroom, bedrooms, and living room. All running at max.

Layer 4: Bathroom exhaust fan on 24/7.

I am absolutely heartbroken. I have been a #StaySafeAmbassador since the summer. I’ve helped so many others to access free rapid antigen tests, including parents of my kid’s classmates, family and friends, folks in my community, and local business owners. 1/14 I’m a huge advocate for asymptomatic rapid antigen testing to keep our community safer, and our schools and economy OPEN, and today I felt like I was punched in the gut. 2/14

I emailed my trustees tonight about mandatory vaccinations. Apparently mine was the first one they'd received in FAVOUR. Please consider emailing your trustees to express your thoughts on mandatory vaccinations for staff and students. (see emails and sample wording in thread): joanne_weston@wrdsb.ca, scott_piatkowski@wrdsb.ca, jayne_herring@wrdsb.ca, Kathleen_Woodcock@wrdsb.ca, karen_meissner@wrdsb.ca, Carol_Millar@wrdsb.ca, mike_ramsay@wrdsb.ca, kathi_smith@wrdsb.ca, laurie_tremble@wrdsb.ca, Cindy_Watson@wrdsb.ca, crystal_whetham@wrdsb.ca

The Minister of Education used to repeat over and over that “schools are safe”, and “schools are not sources of transmission”. Now this government says we should normalize COVID-19 in our schools, that we are to expect our children to get sick and to be okay with it. #OntEd The narrative on #SafeSeptember2021 has changed in a big way, and it’s simply not acceptable to me as a parent to be throwing our children under age 12 under the school bus. Our kids deserve a fighting chance to go to school safely, without the expectation of illness.

Dr. Sharon Bal speaks to the importance of stability in schools, and has questions about testing and case and outbreak management. Many processes are still unclear. We need consistent and clear communication, predictability, structure. @SharonBalMD facebook.com/catherinefifeK… Viewer Ian speaks about the importance of student mental health. Arisa Alexanian shares her concerns as a parent of a child with a cognitive disability. Fostering relationships in a remote learning environment is difficult to do. Students can fall through the cracks.

Eye exams used to be covered for all in ON. Then eye exams were limited to those with specific medical conditions and children. Optometrists pay for extremely expensive equipment out of pocket, and have to pay fo space, staff, etc but the province has been shortchanging them.

https://twitter.com/aarts_michelle/status/1425194220730650628

So my daughter will not be able to get an eye exam (she was due in September), along with all of my students, including newcomers to Canada. As someone with a “specific medical condition” I was lucky to squeak my exam in this week. I don’t blame my optometrist.

Dr. Moore called out Waterloo region in his presser today, noting that we still cannot keep our cases down thanks to the Delta variant’s increased transmissibility and severity. Yes, deaths in children are rare. But as we see a spike in pediatric cases (which we will as we enter this fourth wave with Delta at the helm), we will inevitably see more children permanently disabled by long COVID, multisystem inflammatory syndrome, and other complications.

Please don’t just write letters asking for schools to be open for the sake of student mental health. Please also write letters asking for more child and youth workers, social workers, educational assistants, guidance counsellors, & funding for community mental health services. While I know first hand that schools are the only space where some of our most vulnerable students can access food, caring adults, therapy, and mental health supports, I also know that schools shouldn’t carry this burden alone, and that there are not enough supports to go around.

Tonight when I packed 6yo's lunch for school, I hesitated as I put in the toasted Nori that she so dearly loves. I caught myself thinking that it was pretty much the most “Asian” thing in the world… eating seaweed. 1/8 I thought about how this might centre her out as belonging to a group that is being actively targeted during this pandemic. And I hate that my mind went there. I hate that I hesitated, even for a moment, to give my child a healthy treat because it may look “too Asian”. 2/8

Every teacher I speak to who ends up breaking down in tears thinks that they are the “only one” feeling exhausted and overwhelmed, unable to do everything they think they should be doing. If you feel like you are drowning right now in #OntEd... please know that YOU ARE NOT ALONE. Education workers put on a happy face and push through the fear, the pain, the anxiety, and the overwhelm. We suck it up and smile for the kids. We do such a good job of masking that it can be easy to mistake for genuine well-being... but many education workers are NOT okay.

Educators wear many hats. We feed and clothe “our kids”. We listen to suicidal and self-harming kids talk about their trauma when they can’t access mental health supports. We act as “school parents” to those whose parents are unable to be present for them. Educators make sure that kids have the words to say to stand up for themselves or others when they are being bullied. We hold space for parents as they cry and rage because their legal aid has been cancelled. We help children as they disclose incidents of abuse or neglect.

My head hurts from the spinning this government is doing with its “planning” for public school reopenings. As a parent, I need my child to be in school all day, every day so that I can go to work as a teacher. 1/ As a high-risk individual with preexisting medical conditions, I am frankly not convinced that my employer will be able to keep me or my students safe. 7 cents per child is simply NOT enough to safely reopen schools at full capacity. It is not enough to buy a bottle of soap. 2/

Here is the Sick Kids document on returning to school. See my coles notes in thread below: sickkids.ca/PDFs/About-Sic… 1. Screening to prevent symptomatic individuals from entering the school-done by PARENTS at home, not school staff
2. Hand hygiene a must, scheduled washing of hands 5x per day minimum sanitizer in every class
3. Non-medical and medical face masks NOT required for children

Come visit a real public school, @Sflecce. Come tell newcomer refugee students why their ESL support was cut. Come tell children with learning disabilities why their special education reading classes were cancelled. Come tell kids why the courses they need to graduate were cut.1/ Come tell children with #Autism that their safety and academic success at school is not as high a priority as tax cuts. Come tell children in crisis that they will have to wait even longer for assessments and services, and that it’s okay if some of them die while they wait. 2/