The SHIFT Blog

Yesterday was a great day.  Matt and I spent much of our time simply watching the #LoveMyHaltonSchool tweets roll in.  We laughed, we liked, we retweeted, we saw things that were happening in other schools and we talked about how to bring that greatness to our building. And this is why we think sharing our best practices is so important.  We both work in a great school, with supportive colleagues and students.  But we can’t continue to improve as teachers if we only look within our building for inspiration.  We have to broaden our horizons by looking outwards.  Yesterday, everyone who participated by tweeting opened a window into their classroom or school. Watching the tweets were fun, but we couldn’t help but wonder about the reach of the hashtag.  Was a small group of teachers just tweeting at each other?  Were we making an impact online or were we all just yelling into the void? Well of course, there is an app for that.  We ...

I wish I could +1 an image I had the wonderful opportunity to attend the Ontario Association of Mathematics Educators conference in Kingston this past week.  I plan on blogging in detail about my time there, which was amazing!  At one point the #OAME and #OAME2017 hashtags were trending in Canada.  Lots of great sharing was happening, conversations were deep and rich, it was food for the mathematical soul. Of course, as with all things social media, there were some unhappy voices.  These weighed on me, mostly because I can’t understand why an individual would be called out for mentioning a point that resonated with them.  Our institutions of education grow by sharing, not by shaming. So this troubled me on the way home Friday night.  It stuck with me Saturday morning until I decided to cut my overgrown lawn.  Distractions are helpful, right?  I wasn’t prepared for my backyard, it was overrun with dandelions and other prickly weeds...

Me and my math classmate and helper Nikolina The other day, Jamie asked whether I wanted to become a student again for a math period.  All for it, I grabbed my laptop (as I was told I needed it), and ran for the portable.  You see, Jamie was doing a little recording of Stephanie Briggs’ Grade 10 math class for the upcoming OAME (Ontario Association for Mathematics Education) conference, where Briggs will be presenting on teaching using Desmos with Todd Malarczuk. I had heard of Desmos, the online graphing calculator, because well, Jamie won’t ever stop talking about it!  As an art teacher, I never really knew what he was always so excited when Desmos was mentioned. So here was my chance to see what all the fuss was about. I settled into a group, hoping that my new math classmates might help guide me through the period.  I have to say, it is a little intimidating diving back into high school math, not having done so SINCE high school *cough* a few years ago. ...

I really enjoy our April Professional Development day in Halton.  It a chance for our various program areas to get together in one central site to do some sharing.  This past Friday, the Business, Computers, Math and Science teachers from around Halton gathered at Craig Kielburger Secondary School to hear about some of the innovative things that are happening around the board. The day started with a session on Equity.  The student reflections about equity that we were provided were a sobering reminder that there is always more that we can do to create safe and inclusive communities in our schools.  After reading and reflecting on these quotes we watched a short video on equity by our Director, Stuart Miller.  It feels good to work in a board that values student voice and equity.  I was glad to start the day this way. This was followed by learning sessions that we got to choose.  I started my learning off by listening to Kristy Morris...

In March, staff learning at our school looks a little different.  Rather than having one full school staff meeting, various teachers offer up afternoon drop in sessions for learning.  Each week there are different options for teachers to choose from, with the expectation that every teacher attends one session.  We call it “March Madness”. One of the topics I sat in on was a presentation and discussion on the “Responsible use of Technology in Classrooms”.  With the use of technology fiercely debated in the news , this is a bit of a “hot button” issue.  Some believe that cell phones in class is simply a vehicle for “Note Passing 2.0”, making it easier to get distracted from the lesson.  They aren’t wrong about this either, you only need to look around any staff meeting, university class or even city street intersection , to realize this is sometimes the case, and not just for teenagers.   To give a bit of context, I am in a school that ful...