The SHIFT Blog

  Whew - shaking the dust off that hibernation and guzzling all the coffee. Let's do this! A whole lot seems to have changed since we last spoke. What on Earth happened?  More than anything, this feels like a time for Shifters to reconnect; that time is NOW! As we reach the end of April 2020, in this unprecedented time, one of the things that has become very clear to many of us during this pandemic is the importance of relationships. Have you found yourself talking on the phone more than texting? FaceTime chats with friends? Zoom Birthday parties? Video watch parties with a beverage in hand? Have you realized that you actually do want to hang out with your neighbour, but now you can't? As we have limited the ability to socialize in person, we have begun to recognize what we took for granted. And likewise are starting to make time for more conversations with people we don't want to take for granted.  Being away from our classrooms and schools, we are feeling this disconne...

  Dr. Sunaina Sharma is the Program Leader for English, French and Canada and the World Studies at MM Robinson High School. Rebecca Newcombe is the Vice Principal at MM Robinson High School. Together, they wondered about how to make staff meetings at their school better. Read on for their reflections on a worthwhile journey. I see you at the staff meeting secretly marking. I hear you saying, “this all could have been said in an email.”  I feel your exhaustion from a day of supporting students and know that you have an evening of assessing their work and contacting parents. Sensing all of this inspired a new way of doing staff meetings last year at MM Robinson High School. What Research Says We knew we wanted to invite change and innovation in the way we were doing staff meetings, but before deciding on how to do that, we began with looking at the existing research. There is a lot of research out there, but the ideas below are what resonated most with us. What We Tried St...

  Two and a half years ago, we were given an opportunity to dream about how school could be different.  No box to dream inside, no forms to fill in, no checklist to run down, just make school different. We had small dreams during this time, that made us feel a tad subversive. We had medium sized dreams , where we were able to ask interesting questions and find interesting answers. We had dreamed big, and were pleasantly surprised when you decided to dream along with us. Today, looking back on two and a half years of hard work by all of you, we realize that this dream is not ending, it’s just changing.  The Shift and by default all you Shifters are in flux. Next September will come, you will have students in front of you, lessons to teach.  Schools will plan events, there will be high times and low times. But at the end of the day, innovation will happen, school will be different.  It will be different because of the journey you’ve been on with us. It will be ...

  Like most teachers at the end of the school year, we ask ourselves questions like, “Was I effective this semester?”  We usually ask our students to provide us with some form of feedback .  This year, it’s a little bit more challenging.  We are nearing the end of a year long experiment: release two innovation coaches to work with educators across the school board, work alongside educators, plan with them, imagine with them, teach with them. At the same time the innovation coaches would “pop up” and be home-based in redesigned innovative classrooms in Halton schools .   We wondered, as coaches, can we be actively be planted in school communities, to allow ease of access to those educators wanting to experiment with new and improved ways of doing school? We covered a lot of ground this year with this experiment in mind.  We launched a website, a new blog (which you are reading right now!), and a podcast to make our learning transparent.  We created a d...

  Aaron Neal is a mathematics and physics teacher at Burlington Central High School.  After attending some professional development around “Finding Your Why” he was left with some questions about the ingredients that go into great teaching. This is his first guest post for The Shift. Teaching is not a solved problem.  I love that about it. Every conversation with a student, parent, colleague or administrator is an opportunity to get closer to the solution.  I will never stop hunting for the right way to teach.  It is out there, I just need to keep hunting.  My first thought I ever had about teaching was that a good explanation was all I needed.  Now I know that sometimes the best explanation is no explanation at all. I have grown and changed, had more thoughts and ideas about education than I can remember; however, I am still on the hunt… Just because I have never even caught sight of my prey doesn’t mean that I don’t know the scent of it.   I...

  Halton District School Board has been SHIFTING in a big way for the last two and a half years. Both educators, administration and corporate staff have shown an appetite for innovation.  We are seeing doors opening up, educators sharing what they do, taking risks and trying new things. There is a SHIFT happening in Halton and there are Shifters everywhere working together, pushing the envelope and improving processes, products and understanding.  Innovating is challenging, it is often the path less travelled. Innovators need time to feed their soul, reconnect with others doing this important work and recharge their mental batteries. TL:DR Date: May 23rd, 2019 What: Full Day “Share Your Shift” Conference Play: Open Space, Swap Meet, Rotman I-Think, Empower Makers, McMaster Design Thinking, CIBC Service Design Team Location: Queen Elizabeth Park Community and Cultural Centre, Oakville, ON Details: 150 Spaces Limited Lunch & Coverage Provided If you’ve been engage...

  Bijan Nagji is an elementary teacher at Viola Desmond Public School. He has 19 years experience as an educator in the Halton District School Board. His favourite thing to hear in a school is ”sure let’s give it a try!”.  His least favourite thing to hear is “I can’t do this, it’s too hard” and “This is just a new education fad”. He is passionate about student voice, empowering students and building a strong classroom and school community.  This is his first contribution to the Shift Blog. The idea of Knowledge Building came across my radar in the middle of the 2017 school year. Ms. Hanmer , one of the Vice Principals at our school, dropped by my classroom to introduce me to a document.  Being open minded, I glanced at it and said “Sure, I’ll take a look”. I put it on my teacher's desk (I still had one then). Life got busy, you know how THAT goes!  And so, despite best intentions, it stayed there. As I reflect on this, I can still hear that voice inside my he...