"I came from Montreal in '88", said my cab driver on the way from Thunder Bay Airport to the hotel, "and I never left". I could see why.
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I was first introduced to the "single story" concept when I was shown Ngozi Adichie's Ted Talk at a diversity course I was taking a few years ago. What affected me most poignantly was how this articulate, well-educated black woman who had grown up on the continent of Africa had -- as a child -- developed a schema of fairy tales being about white girls who ate apples, a fruit she had never seen in her native Nigeria.
Inspired by some of the "My Canada" art recently produced by my Grade 6 students, I decided to go check out some more art and culture over the March Break. In particular, I was interested in seeing some Aboriginal Art.
As an extension to our "Canada: Fair and Just?" Inquiry, my colleague and I invited students to create an Artwork to represent the intersectionality of their identity as Canadians and... ??
 Currently, my students are engaged in a number of small group projects online.
In an effort to foster their meta-cognitive abilities and increase their online/collaborative literacy (and -- I won't lie -- to gather some concrete data for learning skills comments on report cards!!!), my instructional coach and I developed the following self assessment checklist for students to use when considering their online work in small groups. In preparation for my upcoming "Making Math Happen for the OT" sessions in Thunder Bay and elsewhere across the province, may I offer the following suggestions to get your math juices flowing...  These online resources are in addition to my old Standbys, "Get it Together" and Marian's Small's "Making Math Meaningful to Canadian Students" and "Good Questions" books, as well as the EQAO student sample booklets in Math.
My only complaint is that few if any of these resources incorporate equity and social justice, so I invite you to consider taking advantage of current events like this and finding the math with your students, as you use math as a vehicle for social justice! So, a few months ago, a colleague and I met with our instructional coach to map out a framework for a full class Inquiry. Using the Social Studies curriculum as our base, we decided to inquire into whether or not Canada was/is a Fair and Just Society. Here is what has transpired in my own classroom...
This is the first year I've really begun to use technology as a 21-century learning tool with students.
It's not that I was an "old school" teacher so much; I've always been interested in reading the research and doing well as an educator. But if I'm honest, before this year, I was still perfecting my use of effective 20-century teaching and learning tools! For those who regularly read my blog, I apologize for my absence. Between too much after school PD (my own fault -- I'm a PD junkie, and sometimes I just sign up for too much "stuff"!!), some web hosting issues, Edmodo overload, a dog recovering from knee surgery, and just the general mayhem of "small person complaints" and "so much yelling" of 11-year-old twins at home and day-to-day classroom life (OMG, I was ROTFL when I read her/his latest blog post -- if you're not a teacher or haven't been in a while, this post will give you a very authentic flavour, truly!!!), I've been AWOL for too long. Sorry.  There are so many things I want to share swirling around in my brain, but I need a several nights' sleep and good bike ride to work to clear my head and help me sift and sort. As soon as I can get it together, I promise to blog more.... Please, stay tuned for "Inquiry - Canada: Fair and Just, Part Two" and also a description of how you know when you've succeeded in handing the keys to technology over to the students, as well as a link to some math resources I'm curating for an upcoming teacher workshop. But first, sleeeep....  |
About Vera...
After writing for several teacher and multiple birth publications, including ETFO's Voice Magazine, Multiple Moments, and the Bulletwin, Vera turned her written attention to prolific blogging for some years, including BiB, "Learn to Fly with Vera!" and SMARTbansho . In 2014, Homeschooling 4 was her travel blog in Argentina. She now spends more time on her Instagram (@schalgzeug_usw) than her blog (pictures are worth a thousand words?!) and moderates several Facebook groups in Canada and Mexico.
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The views expressed on this blog are the views of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the perspectives of her family members or the position of her employer on the the issues she blogs about. These posts are intended to share resources, document family life, and encourage critical thought on a variety of subjects. They are not intended to cause harm to any individual or member of any group. By reading this blog and viewing this site, you agree to not hold Vera liable for any harm done by views expressed in this blog. 
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