Storyworth excerpt 2: Central

Here is the second excerpt from my Storyworth accounts. 

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 Central was actually my third school my first year because I did three temporaries in a row. My interview there was weird. Back in those days, principals had a lot more discretion about hiring. Central was offering a grade 3 class with Music instruction for the grade 6 and 7 classes. When I arrived at my interview time, I totally bulldozed over the poor principal with my talking. I was still processing how my last job was ending and blurted everything about it instead of letting this nice principal, D, ask her usual questions.

    I also kind of talked her out of hiring me because a big part of the assignment was Music. I told her I was not a classically trained musician nor was I trained in any kind of method of musical instruction. I just liked to play the guitar. She told me that the position was teaching a grade 3 classroom and that I was going to be teaching guitar to the grade 6 and 7 classes as their teachers’ preparation time. Even though I fire-hosed D with information, she told me after our brief “interview” that she would be recommending me for the job.

    My assignment at Central started in January 1990 after Christmas break. During that break, I went away with some friends to Mexico and caught a bad cold. On the first day back at school, the Tuesday, I dragged my sluggish self into my school to meet my new class. They were angels! Maybe it was because I was new or young or because I looked like I was at death’s door, but they treated me really well.

    Because I was so sick, I ended up not coming to school for the rest of the week, and also because I was so new, I did not know to book a replacement teacher (TTOC in my district) for the rest of the time, so I ended up getting three different people: Rob, Sara, and Don (not their real names). I remember them because I talked to each of them on the phone to see how things went and to talk about the next day.

    An odd thing happened with all three phone conversations; all three of these people asked if I had any special qualifications, especially in music instruction. I told them that I did not, and all three of them admitted nicely that they had applied for my current job, they did have actual music instruction training or experience, and they were wondering what made me stand out enough to get hired. 

    “Enthusiasm?” I might have croaked weakly.

    Feeling guilty about my lack of qualifications, I looked for ways to get trained in musical education. As luck would have it, I noticed on a professional development flyer that the district was offering a free workshop for “people who had to teach music who had no training.” Perfect!

    Well, it was perfect until I showed up for the workshop and the instructors were Rob, Sara, and Don.

    Overall, I think I did a perfectly adequate job at Central. I loved my grade 3 class, and my grade 6 and 7 guitar students seemed to enjoy Music class. Though I did get to stay at Central the next year, D did hire a qualified and experienced Music teacher. 

 

Storyworth excerpt: 1. Preteaching

    In my last post, Origin Stories, I talked about being gifted Storyworth and how I was using it to document my time in schools. I decided to include some excerpts on this blog for the next couple of posts.

    This chapter was about just before I became a teacher.

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Origin Stories

 In December, I was generously gifted a subscription to Storyworth. It is a site where each month they send you a prompt question, such as, "What was your relationship with your parents like when you were a teenager?" or "When you hear certain songs, what memories automatically come to mind?"  You write a response each month and at the end of the year, you have the option to publish your collection of musings into a printed book.

It is an intriguing concept. Instead of using the prompt questions as my springboard or central focus for each chapter, I decided to do something different. I have taught at 10 schools, so I made each school a chapter, writing about how I ended up there, some key experiences there, and how I left. Like Taylor Swift's eras, each school is like an album. Writing about these schools forced me to remember, reflect, and process how each school shaped my career and my teaching. 

Here are some reflections about my reflections:

• There was a lot of luck and intersections of circumstances that led me to each school.  For most schools, I was in the right place (location, interest, or skillset) at the right time. 
• It was not until my 8th school and over 25 years in the district that I was hired by a principal that had NOT had drinks with my mom. My mom taught in the district and moved around too. You can decide if it was nepotism, coincidence, a small district or something else that I got hired by so many of my mom's former colleagues.
• I tended to move every 4 years. The shortest I was in a school was 10 days (due to a drop in enrolment) and the longest was 6 years (in two schools, with two additional years as a district LST).  Moving a lot is not for everyone, but it worked for me. I learned, stole, and adapted from each school and brought these ideas to my next schools.
• I tended to reinvent myself somewhat in each school. That was not on purpose. In each school, I had a different role: new guy, replacement guy, only guy, Pro D guy, old guy, etc.  That is why each school, each chapter, is like an origin story.
• The years within a school kind of blur together, but each school had a distinct personality. I have trouble remembering events, days, and lessons, but it is much easier to remember the people within each school. In writing about each school, I realized how LUCKY I was to meet so many excellent people. It is like wandering through a forest and finding pieces of gold along the way; somehow the gold stays with you no matter how many times you share it.

Even if you do not use Storyworth, I strongly encourage you to reflect and write about different phases of your life.  Who knows what nuggets of gold you will uncover?

Expectations

A few weeks ago, Canada's History Society invited me to speak about inclusive history at the Governor General's symposium (as part of the GG's history awards festivities this year in Winnipeg).  I was really surprised to be invited to speak because I am not a historian, I am not a history professor or researcher, and I am not specifically a history teacher.  

And then I found out I was going to be the only teacher on the panel.  Surprise turned to anxiety because not only would I be talking to the GG, historians, academics, museum curators, and authors, I was going to be speaking in front of this year's winners of the GG teacher awards. I realized that I could not speak on behalf of all teachers and especially the winners, but I could focus on the little things I do with my elementary classes. 

And then my wife (who was coming with me) showed me that our Governor General, Mary Simon, likes to have these kinds of talks in a circle. I confirmed this with Joanna Dawson, the amazing director of Canada's History, who was the person who invited me to speak at this symposium. No big table at the front? No slides? No Powerpoint? No visuals?  What?!  You just want me to talk? Nooooooo!  I don't like presenting at the best of times, but to do so without my crutches was unthinkable.  By this time though, I could not back out.  The plane tickets and hotel room were booked and paid for, and I had already committed to go. Winnipeg, ready or not (me), here we come.

The night before the symposium, there was a big gala for the history award winners and the amazing young winners of the school heritage fairs. Toward the end of the evening, I was introduced to another person who was going to be on the symposium panel. Despite giving off this aura of gravitas and greatness, she expressed how confused she was to be invited to speak. "Me too!" I said with great shared relief.  Then I made the mistake of asking her why she thought she was invited, and she said, "Well, I did start Black History Month in Canada." I was talking to Rosemary Sadlier who literally wrote the book on Black History in Canada. I think the only reason she was confused was because she had just been on a life-changing trip in Asia, then had been named to the NHL foundation, and was still living out of her suitcase.  We had a great chat and some laughs. For a powerhouse of a person, she was so warm and funny.  

The next day was the symposium.  The panel speakers arrived early at Convocation Hall at the University of Winnipeg.  Sure enough, the panel's chairs were in a circle with the chairs of the Governor General and the moderator (the charming Sophie Gaulin), at the top of the circle.  This year's award winners sat behind the GG and Sophie.  After Mary Simon arrived, the symposium began.  The panel was really engaging.  They talked from their perspectives about how Canada's history could be more inclusive and why learning history helps us lead a better life.   

For my part, I talked about how I try to use history to give my students a sense of identity and empathy.  For identity, we make personal timelines to see what are the important events we choose to remember, and how these events stack up to give us a sense of who was are and where we have come from.  For empathy, I talked about how I use the Scottish Story Wall technique to simulate different communities and replay histories in an immersive way.  Because I could not show pictures or slides, I brought samples of houses, belongings, and the people students had made during the Landscapes of Injustice (Japanese Canadian history of dispossession) lessons. Not having a table or a bulletin board, I had some of my fellow panel participants hold up my student samples as I showed how the avatars moved between different simulated sites. I explained that by having students make, do, think and feel, they get a broad beginning understanding to some fairly complex historical and human concepts.

The Governor General posted pictures on her X/Twitter site.  One of them was when I was presenting.  You can see us having our discussion in the round.  (It was actually a very personal, intimate way to have the discussion, even with an audience surrounding us.)

Me holding the green folder

I love this shot because if you zoom in, you can see the reactions of the audience:  

In this shot, there are the award-winning teachers, professors, historians, museum curators, CHS board members, and moderator Sophie (in the yellow shirt), and they are leaning in and smiling because they are touched by the work my young students can do.  There are similar reactions around the room (including my new friend Zachariah who went to school in my district who happened to be at the U of W researching internments).    

During our discussion, there were so many wonderful thoughts, initiatives and ideas in terms of "Fostering Understanding and Empathy through Inclusive History" (the title of the symposium).   I think Jonathan Lainey from the McCord Stewart Museum in Montreal summed it up best when he brought up the idea of "making space" for diverse voices, from across Canada, with different backgrounds and experiences.  

In this case, even 8 year-olds and their teacher.  


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Thank you to Her Excellency, Mary Simon, for hosting the symposium. 

Thank you to Canada's History Society, especially the wonderful Joanna Dawson (and her Dream Team of Brooke, Kylie, and Jean-Phillipe) for inviting me and making arrangements for me to be there.

Thanks to Carla Peck for recommending me.

It was nice to see my old friends, Jennifer, Nancy, and Connie, and meet my new friends, Rosemary, Melony, Sophie, Cathy, and Chantal.

Thank you to the incredibly friendly city of Winnipeg, especially the random lady who kindly offered for us to walk under her umbrella with her.  (You'd think Vancouverites would have an umbrella, but we just have our avocado-toast resistant yoga wear).  

And congratulations to the GG History award winners!  You are all doing amazing work that engages students and the Canadian people with history in new and exciting ways.  I was blown away with your work!

  

The end of lapdesks?

Goodbye to Lapdesks

As I started packing up my class for the summer, I got rid of my beloved lapdesks.  I know, that might surprise you if you have been following this blog or even if you have been in my classroom in the last couple of years.  I have spent so much time and energy coming up with the best design for the lapdesks, constructing the things, and then over the years fixing and maintaining them.  And my students used them every day.  Then why, you might ask, am I going to get rid of them? 

It is because my students for the last couple of years did not use them in ways that warrants keeping the lapdesks.  The original idea of the lapdesks (the physical symbol of  Taking your Learning With You Wherever You Go) was for students to use them as a writing surface on the risers where students would sit sometimes bleacher-style, or use them outside or use them as stand up easels.  Instead, my students used the lapdesks as place holders, plunking them down in the morning where they wanted to work that day (risers, tables, high chairs by the window counter, the rainbow table, etc.). 

That sounds fine, doesn't it?  It sounds like a good case for keeping the lapdesks.  But students also used them for storage, packing along anything they thought they needed: pencils, pencil boxes, books they were reading, exercise books, writing portfolios, etc. My lapdesks could not store all the things students thought they needed. Despite gravity-defying balancing and over-stuffing the little lapdesks, all sorts of students' belongings could be found scattered around the lapdesks, on the floor, etc.  The lapdesks had to go.

Resurrection of the Storage Bins

Besides, I had an alternative that would work better than the lapdesks for the way my students were using them.  Remember those boxes that were unopened after two school moves?  I had these two big tubs of dissembled personal storage bins.  Remember these?

I cobbled them together during COVID from yet again, left over Ikea shelf parts.  At the time, I needed them because students needed individual storage, and I could not use the plastic sliding bins because to store them, students would have to come together, and the bins took up too much space on the floor and on the work surfaces.  

Re-assembled and painted storage bin.

Now, like then, the bins can store notebooks on their edges, pencil boxes, writing tools, and loose items while taking up a small footprint.  No more balancing, no more flying markers every time someone bumped or picked up the lapdesk!  

The ironic thing about these storage bins was, even though they sat in two big space-hogging tubs in my classroom, I had to haul them back to my garage to re-assemble, fix and paint them.  Some of them were in rough shape after being used and then broken down to be stored and moved.  I added some parachute cord as a handle so they would be easier to tote.  I'll let you know how they go.

Epilogue

In case you are wondering how I disposed of the lapdesks, I gifted them to my students.  A few students didn't want them, not knowing how they would use them at home. Fair point. One student took 4.  His mom was okay with it. I will be curious to see what they did with them.