Motion. Action. Reaction.

An object in motion tends to stay in motion. 

An object at rest tends to stay at rest.

~Isaac Newton's First Law of Motion.

I picked out my one word for February while I was at the OLA Super Conference a few weeks ago but just haven't made time to blog about it. 

I haven't made time... not because I am inordinately busy but because time seems to be out of sorts these days. 

For my February one word I chose - MOTION. 

I initially thought it would be a great follow up to January's word - RENEW.

After working to renew different habits and create goals, motion felt like a great choice to keep my momentum moving forward. 

Now having been on the picket line for 3 days in the last 2 weeks (I missed Jan 31st as I was at OLASC) and a 4th day looming on Thursday the word motion seems to have taken on an entire new meaning. 

I am a creature of habit and routine. I like schedules. 

I like organizing. I like things in their place. 

The last 3 weeks have been anything but routine.

OLASC always comes at a great point in the school year because it is just about  halfway through.

It's a great opportunity to reflect on the first term and goals that have been achieved (or missed). It's a great time for new learning to be soaked up and there's still time to implement new programs or initiatives back at school.

This year, however, we returned from OLASC and jumped full force into strike days and job action. 

In Peel, we have been striking on Tuesdays and Thursdays which means that our week is very odd. 

Last week we had a PA Day on Friday and this coming Monday is Family Day.

I miss seeing my students in the library. I miss chatting about books. I miss diving into inquiries with classes.

It's all still happening of course but it feels very piecemeal and fractured.

For every action there is an equal opposite reaction.

~Isaac Newton's 3rd Law of Motion

Motion has come to mean something a little different in the past weeks.

Motion means walking for 3 hours with my colleagues on the picket line each day.

Motion means venturing down to the staff room for lunch as all the clubs hosted in the library space are on hold.

Motion means driving my daughters to a different day care every other day depending on if we are in school or on strike.

Motion means checking in on each other. Motion is finding time to do something good for the soul.

Motion is trying to slow your mind at night so you can sleep.

(This one is especially hard for me... after years on battling insomnia during times of stress I still haven't found a solution.)

Motion is talking, sharing, explaining, justifying.

Motion.

And the journey expands...

(Left aligned for Doug.)

Every moment is a fresh beginning. 

~T.S. Eliot

Almost three years ago now I began this journey as a teacher-librarian. It is in the late winter/early spring that schools begin to work on their staff allocations for the coming school year and it was in March of 2017 that my current administrator approached me about moving into the role of teacher-librarian at my school with the goal of transforming the space into a library learning commons. 

As I have received news that I was successful in my bid to become the Vice President/ President Elect of the OSLA Council for 2020-2021 years, I think this is a great time to reflect on my journey thus far...

(I do want to thank Trevor MacKenzie, Dawn Telfer and Doug Peterson for reading and editing my bio before the OSLA election. I appreciate it and I appreciate you so much.)

Becoming a teacher-librarian has rekindled my love of reading. I have read more books in the last few years than the years previous. This may also have something to do with the age of my girls and that they no longer need to me to direct them in all their play endeavours and can be trusted to manage themselves for longer lengths of time... but let's say that it was also due to my new role! 

I have read more Canadian literature in the past few years after discovering the Festival of Literary Diversity  and attempting to read the entire long list of the Canada Reads program in 2018 with a group of friends. I remember reading a lot of Canadian literature as part of my undergrad studying English literature and finding so much of it dreary and old. Always in the past. Always about colonizers. Always part truths. Now that I have started a journey to re-educate myself about the true history of Canada's colonization and dark past, I can see the disservice done to me and my fellow students in those long ago lecture halls. Inspired by the journeys and reading list of others I have sought out books and authors that will help me to understand the truth and begin to work for reconciliation. 

I have also expanded my reading tastes beyond books that show a mirror on to my own life and my own culture. I have learned to seek out books written by authors from all over the world. From a wide variety of cultures, backgrounds, family structures, and more. I have learned the importance of reading books that reflect #OwnVoices . (I blogged recently about my reading journey in 2019 in a blog post called- Looking Back, Reading Forward)

I have worked to bring these books into our library collection and to have students see themselves in our collection. I love that the students feel empowered to suggested books they want more of and new titles they think belong in our collection. 

It surprised me (and humbled me) that after 2+ years in the TL role and completing my Teacher-Librarian Specialist I had not yet read "Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors" by Rudine Sims Bishop. While I had encountered the idea of books providing "mirrors on our own lives and windows into the lives of others", I had not had a first hand experience with the article. I thank Diana Maliszewski for guiding me to the article after a recent panel we were both a part of for OnEdMentors.  The opening passage is pure magic-

“Books are sometimes windows, offering views of worlds that may be real or imagined, familiar or strange. These windows are also sliding glass doors, and readers have only to walk through in imagination to become part of whatever world has been created or recreated by the author. When lighting conditions are just right, however, a window can also be a mirror. Literature transforms human experience and reflects it back to us, and in that reflection we can see our own lives and experiences as part of a larger human experience. Reading, then, becomes a means of self-affirmation, and readers often seek their mirrors in books.” ~Rudine Sims Bishop

I have always been a hands-on, get messy, play around with stuff kind of teacher. As a special teacher I had the fortune to work with years ago recently told me "[m]any of the things you did 10 years ago (thing I have adopted to this day), I see teachers doing now. " The benefit is that now I have a name to put on the things I tried all those years ago that just felt right and that I knew were working with my students, even if I didn't always have a term for it. I now know that my jump and loop around style of teaching math is called spiralling. My hands-on, maker, questions first, student-led social studies and science teaching is inquiry-based learning. Allowing students to create as part of their learning is the maker movement. Becoming a TL and reading, reading, reading as allowed me to centre my understanding of these pedagogical methods and to feel empowered to share my beliefs of the value of teaching and learning this way. 

I posted recently on Twitter about my aunt who was a TL while I was growing up and that I wanted so much to be like her. Sadly, she passed away in September of my first year as a teacher. But every day I think of her and what she might have thought about this journey I'm on and where it is taking me. As I wrote in my bio for the OSLA Council election - I believe in being open about my own learning journey as a educator and a teacher-librarian. I see the role of the teacher-librarian as a curator, an advocate, a risk take and an ally. The ability to see the big picture of  curriculum and content integration in central to this role. Each day involves asking questions, making mistakes and learning together. 

I have discovered a love for podcasts in the past few years. There's something special about listening to a long discussion or story that really dives deep into a topic. I love the connection that is created by hearing the voices of people across the void as they discuss various topics. This past year I had the honour of joining in on some podcasts as well and it was great experience each and every time. I met Stephen Hurley from VoicEd Radio at OLASC in 2019 and from there the connections just blossomed.  

A long held goal of mine... I will be presenting a workshop at OLASC 2020 with two amazing educators, Tina Zita and Jane Dennis-Moore. I am beyond excited to share our learning journey related to identity, photography and diverse texts.

I just submitted my first-ever action research paper related to the open-making program I call the Genius Cart for Treasure Mountain Canada 2020. A year long culmination of questions, reflections, successes, failures, and exploring the messy, wonderfulness that is maker ed. 

I think becoming a teacher-librarian has helped me to become more of myself. 

I am excited (and nervous) to see where this new role takes me and what new learning will take place. 

I am humbled to be in this role and hope to do it justice. 

Looking Back, Reading Forward

Maybe this is why we read, 

and in moments of darkness we return to books: 

to find words for what we already know. 

~ Alberto Manguel

This past year I tracked my reading using GoodReads for the first time. It's not the first time I've ever tried to keep a list of the books I've read but it is the first time I used this app and that I was consistent for the whole year. 

I set a reading goal at the start of the year, not because I wanted to reach a certain number but because I was interested in knowing how many books I would read over the course of the year. I've noticed in the last two years as my daughters have gotten to an age where they can be trusted to play and entertain themselves that I have been able to read more again. In the early years when they were babies, I was either too exhausted to focus on reading or every time I tried to read they would want my attention. 

Now that they are older, I can read as much as I want ... but 

I also miss those little baby arms always reaching up to me. 

I started out the year blogging about my reading with the intention of keeping it up all year. Isn't the saying that "the path to Hell is paved with good intentions..."? Well, as the year got busier and other things took my attention I dropped that endeavor but I think I'd like to pick it back up this year. 

Maybe focusing on just 1-2 books each month? Maybe completing a FOLD Reading Challenge? Perhaps this is the year I read the Canada Reads long list as I did a few years ago?

I'd definitely like to find time for more PD books during the school year. 

A wonderful educator, Alanna King, that I met at previous OLASC's and who I follow on Twitter recently blogged about her reading journey and it really stuck with me.

Alanna shared this video on Jacques Derrida from Youtube (and I swear I haven't heard anyone mention Derrida since my days in undergrad...) and it was super interesting.

My husband and I often talk (or have a fierce discussion... however, you want to call it!) about the state of the world, people's reactions to things, and our own opinions. For two people who pledged to spend their lives together, it's rather amazing how little we often agree on.

One thing that usually comes from our chats is the belief that most people are too stuck in their own thoughts and beliefs. That they haven't attempted to learn enough about the "other" around them. That we need to go outside of ourselves, to ask questions and to learn more, and to understand that we know less than we think we do.

So what did I read last year?

Well, GoodReads just happens to create a visual display of the books logged over the course of the year.

I have also been reading articles related to reading. What reading is and could be.
The books that should be available to children and the books that need to be available to children.

I started with Diverse Literature in School Libraries: Reflected Realities by Matthew Courtney (School Librarian, Vol. 67, Issue 3, The School Library Association) and then moved on to Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors by Rudine Sims Bishop (Perspectives: Choosing and Using Books for the Classroom, Vol 6, no. 3, Summer 1990.)

I was sad, disappointed and a little ashamed that neither had crossed my path during any of my teacher-librarian courses or qualifications.

Then the amazing article by Rabia Khokhar came out in the ETFO Voice Magazine entitled- The Power of Stories: Learning from Complex Characters to Counter Islamophobia (Winter 2019). This led me to A Black Character Does Not a Good Book Make: Choosing Black-Focused Books to Support Culturally Relevant Teaching by Natasha Henry (ETFO Voice, Spring 2018). And finally, as I had already started writing this blog post the latest edition of The Teaching Librarian magazine arrived with the article Silent Message in the Stacks by Holly Dickson (January 2020, Vol. 27, Issue 2).

So after a year (and more) of intentionally diversifying my reading-

...reading books with #OwnVoices, from backgrounds and cultures different than my own, trying new genres and formats, reading more non-fiction and memoirs, reading Canadian books, etc-

Do I have less questions? 

No.

But I'm happy with that. I'm happy to have more questions.
More wonderings. More confusion.
Less certainty. More openness.
Less silo.

More books to read. Always more books.

And isn't that the magic of reading?

One Word x 12

My first post on this blog was about my One Word for 2018 and you can find it here.  I talked about how my word for 2017 was conquer and my word for 2018 would be nourish. I didn't blog about my word for 2019 but it was evolve. 

All good words.

All good intentions when I picked them to start off the year. 

I love the thought behind choosing a word to represent your goals and your plans rather than a New Year's Resolution. I like the idea of being more intentional throughout the entire year and being able to encompass a number and variety of goals. 

Writing a New Year's Resolution seems very small and narrow. Or too large and too vague. 

Choosing one word feels more open to actual change. More open to follow through. More open to adaptation and flexibility as the year shifts and changes.

Twelve months is a long time, however. So much can change in a single year. 

This year I want to be responsive to my year as it ebbs, flows, changes and spirals. 

I've decided to choose One Word for each month of the year in 2020. 

I am not going to choose the words ahead of time, meaning that I will not have all twelve months planned right now. I am going to choose January's word and focus on that for now. 

I have started a list of possible words that I might want to use throughout the year. I've been looking on Instagram and Twitter to see what other people are choosing. I found a great resource from BookCampPD where educators are sharing their One Word using an image and in some cases their reasoning for choosing their word.

My current list contains these words:

Renew

Elevate

Amplify

Patience

Embrace

Moment

Intentions

Gratitude

Present

It's not twelve words yet and that's okay. I may not use some of these words and that's okay. I may repeat some of these words depending on how my year evolves and that's okay. I may choose more than one word for a month and that's okay.

I'm hoping planning to blog about my OneWordx12 each month as I choose them. I'm hoping that this will not only help me to blog more regularly but that my word choice will continue to be intentional as I strive to explain and defend my word choices. 

I've created a list on my Google Keep with the following picture as a header. I will be tracking my ideas for future OneWordx12 there as I hear new words. Perhaps I will keep some notes about my thoughts prior to blogging. (My love for Google Keep could be an entire other blog post!)

My word for January is going to be...

I've chosen this for a number of reasons. First, the start of the year is always a time of renewal. It's a time when we set goals. It's a time when we look to the future. It's a time when we reflect and plan.

I have a number of habits I'd like to renew this year that I enjoyed in the past but due to life let them fall by the wayside.

For example, this is my first blog post since the beginning of October...

I'd like to focus more on eating healthy and exercising more consistently. Making this (and me) and priority. The girls are old enough now that I should be able to take time to do this during the day and they should be able to entertain themselves.

I love using my bullet journal as a creative outlet and as a way to plan and schedule my busy life. I've joined a Facebook group that is focusing on #100DaysofNotebooking (hosted by Michelle Haseltine @Mhaseltine on Twitter) and I'm hoping that this will inspire me to reflect more often, to write more often and to take time to express myself creatively- either through writing or doodling. 

Do you choose One Word? Do you make New Year's Resolutions? 

What are your goals for the new year and the new decade? 

Preserving the Cup

Self-care is how you take your power back.

~lalah delia

Self-care is something I have been thinking about a lot lately. 

The dictionary defines self-care as:

NOUN: the practice of taking action to preserve or improve one's own health

It's hard to believe that it’s only been a month since school started.
But it feels like we have been full steam ahead for months now.
Every year it feels as though the back to school season becomes more hectic. 

There's more to do with less time. There's more needs with less resources. 

There's more.

I am an optimist. My husband is a pessimist. 

I always see the glass as half full.

Getting lost is an adventure.

We can always find the fun in a crazy situation. 

I look for the solutions.

It's one of things that makes our partnership work.

It’s also one of the things that causes friction.

But I must admit that this year it's a little harder.

It’s harder to be the one who sees the good in everything.
I’m finding it harder to be the one who finds the solution to the problems, both big and small.
The one who uses humour and a smile to diffuse a conflict between our daughters.
The one who sees the light at the end of the tunnel.

And if I’m being completely honest with myself,

 it’s been harder for a lot longer than just the start of this school year. 

I see so many colleagues looking strained and drained early in the school year.
They are concerned about their students. Maybe it's one in particular. Maybe it's a group.
Maybe it's the relationship and community developing. But they are worried.
There’s a few conversations happening these days among colleagues that don’t include their worries
about their class and they ability to help all the students in their care.

And I'm worried about them. I'm worried about myself. I’m worried about my kids. 

Feeling stretched thin is never a good feeling. I know that at times I take on too much
but for the most part I've gotten much better at saying no to the things that I am not passionate about
and ready to give my whole self to but that doesn't stop people from asking.

The act of having to self-preserve so often can be a drain.

I want to be available to help my colleagues and friends at work. I want to be a sounding board,
a shoulder to lean on, and a friend when they need it. I want to  and need to be available to
support my two young daughters. They are starting the school year at a new school and are
navigating new friendships, a new before/after care. A new bus routine.
New expectations. New worries. 

Anxiety and worry has been a part of our family for many years now. It’s so heartbreaking to
watch a child struggle with so many worries on their small shoulders.
We are learning together about
guided meditation, yoga, calm breathing, sensory needs, and more.
But sometimes it still comes crashing down.

There’s still tears.

There’s still nightmares.

There’s always another worry. 

This year, with this climate, is going to be a crash course in self-care.
With so many worries and uncertainties surrounding education and so many educators
feeling pushed beyond their abilities, everyone is going to need to find a way to look for ways to
preserve their cup.
The saying “you can’t pour from an empty cup” is so true and so important to
remember. 

Self-care is not selfish. 

So many educators just want to do the very best for their students. 

To provide the best for their students. 

To be there for their students. 

They spread themselves thin.

I spread myself too thin. 

They think about their students on the drive to work and on the drive home from work.

They wake up in the night worried about their students.

They are stretched. Stretched too far.

I'm wondering how we can help each other on a more consistent basis. 

How do we promote self-care for the educators that we work with on a daily basis? 

How do we advocate for our own self-care?

How can we ensure that we are helping each other to
"take action to preserve one's own health"?

How do we make ourselves a priority when we are needed by so many others around us? 

We talk a lot about the mental health of our students with reason. With good reason.

But our educators can not pour from an empty cup.

And if people are feeling stretched in September what will November, January, March bring?

... what will the year bring?

We need to check in on each other.

We need to listen to each other.

We need to recognize the importance of self-care in this ever demanding job

Social Media- What is it good for?

Maybe it's not about the length of time you've known someone; 

maybe it's about the instant recognition on an unconscious level.

Our souls know each other.

~ S.E. Hall

Warning before we start... 

I think this post is going to be a rambling one. 

It'll probably back track and circle around all over the place.
It might not even make sense to anyone but me. 

But I know that I think best through writing 

so this is just me trying to put my thoughts to paper and to see if all the columns

add up to a cohesive thought for myself. 

I've also taken a bunch of screen shots of tweets that have prompted 

my thinking or given my pause and helped to clarify my own ideas.

So fasten your seat belts, it might be a bumpy ride.


With great power, comes great responsibility.
~Spiderman
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/With_great_power_comes_great_responsibility

It's been an interesting summer as an educator who uses social media to connect with others, to grow in my understanding of the world and those around me, and to share my own thoughts.
I will be the first person to say that I tweet A LOT.

I like it.

I like sharing my learning journey with others.
I like learning about how my journey intersects with others on a
similar path or a vastly different path.
I like having my learning journey disrupted, interrupted, sent spiraling on a tangent.

I like "meeting" new people. I like engaging in conversations. I like thinking and hearing about the thinking of others.

This summer there are many people questioning the use of Twitter (and I'm guessing other social media platforms" by #eduknowns or #educelebs.

What is their purpose?
What are they attempting to drive their audience to do?
What might they be selling?

Can an #eduknown be part of your #PLN?
What do they offer to your learning journey?

What if all they post are questions and no replies?
What if there is a lack of true engagement?
Do #educelebs have a responsibility to engage and provoke on topics?

Why do you follow an #eduknown?

A big thanks goes out to Chris Cluff @chrisjcluff for really pushing my thinking on this topic.
We have been having DM convos throughout the summer based on
tweets, articles, Twitter threads and more.

Each time we chat I come away with new thinking and new questions.
Lots of #thoughfuel .

So why might I follow an #eduknown?

This summer has really opened my eyes to which Twitter users might be using the platform to push their own agenda (e.g. selling a book or tickets to an event where they are a keynote speaker).

Do I wish or think they should engage in more pressing matters related to education?
Yes.

Can I control how they use social media?
No.

Can I control who I follow and how I use social media?
Yes.

These three posts really hit home for me and made me think.

Am I using my Twitter to "amplify those voices who may have been silenced"
as stated by Jenn Brown @JennMacBrown ?

Or am I creating an echo chamber where I hear more of what I already know and understand?

How many Indigenous Black or People of Colour am I following so I can better understand?
So I can confront my privilege? So I can learn and grow?

If an #educeleb that I follow is not engaging in these communities and conversations do I still want to follow them? Can I still learn from their posts and tweets?

What do I want from my Twitter feed?
What responsibilities do I have when using Twitter (and other social media) to engage in important topics? 

I want to follow people who will challenge my thinking and the thinking of others.

I want to follow people who are learning out loud and are sharing that learning with others.

I want to follow Indigenous, Black and People of Colour so I can learn and grow.

I want to follow people who are reading and watching and sharing the work of Indigenous, Black and People of Colour.



I want to come away from every encounter with new questions.

Moving forward, I will be more intentional about curating my Twitter feed on a regular basis.

I will question the #educelebs I follow and whether their voice needs or deserves to be amplified any further.

I will consistently ask whose voice needs to be amplified?

How might I use the reach of my Twitter use to advocate for the voices of others?

And most of all, as with every thing we do as educators we must ask "And how are the children?'.

This thread by John Phillips @ByJohnPhillips presents excellent #thoughtfuel on this topic.

The reading, learning, watching, discussing, learning that I engage in is there
to make me a better person and a better educator.

I want to bring my learning back into the school community in order
to support my students to the best of my ability.

It all really boils down to one thing:

Is it good for kids?

And that's really the most important thing of all. 

What the Librarian Read- Part 3

The One With All the Middle Grade Novels...


Back again to share my reading from the year so far. To be honest... I'm pretty shocked as to how much I was able to read in the past few months as I completed my Teacher-Librarian Specialist, packed up our house to move next week and dealt with all of the end of the school year craziness.

Perhaps, as always, reading was my escape from the realities of every day life.

I did choose to read a number of middle grade novels that were new to the library before putting them out on the shelves so that might have skewed my numbers a bit as middle grade novels are shorter than my usual book choices.

Books 22- 37 of 2019

22. The Moscow Club by Joseph Finder

23. Ghost by Jason Reynolds*

24. A Drop of Hope by Keith Calabrese*

25. Homes: A Refuge Story by Abu Bakr al Rabeeah

26. The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris

27. Gracefully Grayson by Amy Polonsky*

28. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by JK Rowling*

29. Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson*

30. Root Beer Candy and Other Miracles by Shari Green*

31. You Don't Know Everything, Jilly P! by Alex Gino*

32. The Clockmaker's Daughter by Kate Morton

33. The Unteachables by Gordon Korman*

34. Ungifted by Gordon Korman*

35. Supergifted by Gordon Korman*

36. The Woman in the White Kimono by Ana Johns

37. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card 


Something I have always found interesting in the ebb and flow of reading patterns. Obviously as I was doing my AQ course and reading/ viewing all sorts of different PD texts I wasn't drawn to add in any PD books to my personal reading. This entire list is narratives.

There's also a large portion of middle grade novels because as I said before they are shorter than my usual reading material but also, I think, chosen as a way to escape the grind of relentless PD reading that occurs during an AQ course. I suspect (well, I know since I can see my to be read pile) that this summer's list will contain a lot more PD focused books.

(I have marked all the middle grade novels with an *)

Must Reads....

If you are an educator, parent, have children in your life please get your hands on Gracefully Grayson,  Locomotion, A Drop of Hope, You Don't Know Everything, Jilly P, and The Unteachables.

These are the types of books that make me wish I was still in a classroom so I could share them with my students through the magic of read alouds. I will be creating a display with these as recommended reads in the library once we start back at school. Can't wait to hear what the kids think.

If I had to pick one book to pass on...

I can never pick just one book but I'll try for two.

I'd say that Homes: A Refugee Story is an important read for our time.
We need to see each other more.
We need to try to understand each other more.
We need to share in our humanness more.

For the second book, probably The Clockmaker's Daughter by Kate Morton. Her books never disappoint and always keep me on my toes wondering how the narrative will play out.

Biggest Surprises...

So The Moscow Club was passed on to me by my mother-in-law and I picked up The Woman in the White Kimono from a sale table at a bookstore. Both were riveting and very enjoyable. Highly recommend.


Here's the summer and lots of time to read!
Can't wait to get started.

Looking for my other posts:

What the Librarian Read: Part 1

What the Librarian Read: Part 2