Within a school community, there are a number of unsung heroes. Those individuals who go about their day-to-day tasks, which on the surface seem somehow at arm’s length from student achievement/well-being. One of those groups of unsung heroes are our custodial team. Over the past couple of years, their commitment to heightened health and safety protocols has given staff, students, and our parent community a sense of security. Throughout the day, whenever needed they pleasantly and professionally answer the call on the walkie-talkie and make their way to the crisis of the moment. Whether it is a milk spill, a required toilet paper refill, a clean up after a student has been ill or the ever unpleasant clean up in a washroom.

Late last week, following one of those washroom calls, our evening charge custodian, Brian, escorted one of our students to the main office. He shared with one of our secretaries that the student was unable to return to class and needed to make a call home. It quickly became evident the reason for the call home was associated with an accident in the washroom. Once the student was safely on his way home with a parent, Brian shared the rest of the story.

As he entered the washroom for the clean-up, he found  this student trying desperately to clean the mess from his pants. Brian could tell that he was devastated and embarrassed. Within minutes, it was Brian to the rescue ~ knowing that the student could not return to class with his reputation intact and that he was going to be too embarrassed to share with the office staff what had happened. So, Brian went into the class, retrieved the student’s backpack, and accompanied him to the office ~ thus saving him, not one, but two embarrassing conversations.

Later that evening, as the office became quiet, we had a beautiful conversation about how Brian was this student’s guardian angel. The one person who was there, when this student most needed a kind, caring adult. Brian recalled when he was in my grade five class (yes, our evening charge custodian is a former student of mine, and I could not be more thrilled that our paths have crossed again) a student had an accident in class. We talked about the long-lasting impact of such embarrassment and how his actions today hopefully sheltered this student from the same long-term impact.

Here’s to those unsung heroes who make a difference in the lives of students, when they least think they may need a guardian angel.

Have you ever needed or been a guardian angel for a student?  Would love to hear about it.

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This morning I woke up ready and eager to tackle this post, as the impetus for it had me tossing and turning last night. I was struggling with how to choose the right words, how to maintain professionalism and composure in the face of hurtful mistruths about my staff and how to ensure that I was not going to compromise the essence of my blog. Throughout my 300+ posts, I have been determined to stay true to my initial intention for writing, which was to use this platform for personal reflection, to spark professional conversations and to highlight and celebrate all things related to leadership, learning and life.

So here goes….

A good friend once told me that if you want to keep everyone happy, sell ice cream cones. I have learned over the years that although there are moments of sheer joy, similar to the experience of seeing the ice cream truck come down the road, keeping everyone happy is impossible.  So instead, I have learned that when those tough decisions must be made (and some days there are a number of them) ensure that you have communicated clearly and with as much transparency as possible. That is a lesson that I continue to share with staff when they are faced with challenging parent situations. We know and appreciate that parents are doing their best to advocate for their children ~ sometimes with only their own child’s perspective on a situation. We also know that there are a variety of reasons why parents are reluctant to connect with educators and then, if necessary, an administrator. I never underestimate the long-term impact of childhood trauma associated with schools and educators and appreciate that at times, parents bring that trauma forth and hence are reluctant to reach out for help.

Our school community is one that embraces and appreciates the importance of an education. They work alongside of the educators to ensure that their child’s needs (academic, behavioural, social-emotional) are addressed. For some students, that work goes on for years before a strategy starts to have an impact. We know that we are not perfect. We know that at times issues occur on the school yard, beyond the sightline of a supervisor on the yard. But when they are brought to our attention, they are thoroughly investigated. We know, that at times, our solution is one that parents may not agree with. If a child continues to harm other children on the yard, sometimes the alternative is to walk with an adult, so that those problem-solving conversations can happen. Sometimes it is time in an alternate location, while others are on the yard, to reflect on their actions, followed by an alternative time outside with an adult to ensure fresh air and a body break. To those parents who have partnered with us, a sincere thank you. We know that, at times, you may see similar behaviour beyond the school day and are working on home-based solutions.

All this to say, that yesterday, a Facebook post was brought to my attention where a parent in our community took to social media and shared her perspective of a situation involving her child. My heart breaks that this child no longer wants to come to school and although it was not reflected in this parent’s post, the teacher has been reaching out for months to try and connect with this parent. We want to offer the support of our school social worker. We want to have conversations with this student about the fact that he feels that he is being discriminated because he is white. But my heart also breaks for the allegations that my staff “doesn’t give a sh$%^&*.”   The interesting point in this post is that at no time did that parent reach out to me so that I could offer support or suggestions. I would be the first to apologize if we had been working together and we were still at the point that their child did not feel comfortable coming to school. But to not even be given the chance to work it out, has only harmed the child.
My love/hate relationship with social media continues to ruminate in my mind. I know that there are more positives, more informative sharing and more celebrations occurring on social media connected to our school than these few nasty, ill-informed negative ones and I guess we just need to rise above it.

There is a piece of me that wants to chime in on that post, but I know that is not going to accomplish anything ~ it may only inflame the situation and for the sake of the student that is the last thing that I want to happen.

In the time it has taken to craft this post, I have received an email from a grandparent in our community. Here is an excerpt, “If this is the quality of teaching that XXX can expect as she moves class to class, you can certainly stand proud of your team.

My thanks to the team and to the school for providing a safe and excellent forum for learning”

Maybe today’s lesson on leadership, learning and life is to be patient, like waiting for the ice cream truck’s bell to ring to let us know that it’s on its’ way.  Just when you become mired in the negative, a positive is around the corner.

Would love to hear about your love/relationship with social media.

Come write with me…

It has been 3 years since we have come together for a face-to-face planning meeting for our summer Teacher Mentors Abroad conference. Although we’ve stayed connected via Zoom throughout the pandemic and continued to explore ways to support our Dominican mentors and expand our work, there is absolutely nothing in this world that could have compared to the long awaited hugs that we shared today, the laughter as we reconnected, the tears of joy and the personal narratives about our kids, grandkids, partners and careers paths. We reminisced about past trips ~ plungers, seized Tribes books, close quarters, roosters, treacherous roads and so much more. This group of remarkable women, most of whom I have known for 7 years continue to inspire and push me to do better, to learn more about mentorship, to appreciate the importance of identity, to be not only a more informed educator, but to be a better global citizen. I truly believe that I am a better person when surrounded with their wisdom, their unconditional acceptance, and a shared vision of the impact that professional learning can have within society.

As per most post-Covid initiatives, our work this summer is going to shift, owing to the fact that life in the DR has changed ~ their school year has been extended and there has been a change in the Government/Ministry. As an organization we are going to return to the heart of our work which is collaborating directly with our Dominican mentors. Over the past few years (pre-Covid) our work was focused on providing a week-long conference, which grew to 300+ DR educators. Our group of DR mentors played a supportive role in the conferences, but we had yet to reach our ultimate goal of having them take the lead.

This summer, all of that changes! We are taking a much smaller team and we will work with our DR mentors in both sites (Santiago and Santo Domingo) for 3 days. The focus will be primarily listening and learning about how they navigated Covid and where they feel the necessary work needs to be. Secondly, we will work together to support them as they develop a day long conference for peers in an outreach location. Our Santiago team will be traveling to La Vega. We know that in order for there to be expansion and true implementation, it is our DR mentors who need to ultimately take the lead with their peers. We are hopeful that facilitating a conference in another district will assist them in gaining the confidence to take the lead within their own district.

As we were working through this plan, I could not help but recall years ago, when our staff at WS Fox started on a similar journey. We were extremely fortunate to have Smartboards in each classroom. In order to create the conditions for our staff to gain confidence in the great work that they were doing, we offered to host a day of professional learning for teacher candidates. Many of our staff who may have been reluctant to share with their peers, were more than willing to share with teacher candidates. It was so amazing to see their confidence blossom. That summer, many of them then stepped up and presented at the Summer Learning Conference. Years later, a considerable number of those original staff members went on to Coordinator and then Leadership positions.

Over the past 2 years, as we have connected with our DR mentors through zoom, we have been intentional in having their voice and experiences reflected in our work ~ as we evolved our strategic plan and as we developed an updated handbook for our Canadian mentors. Today we watched one of the videos from a cherished DR mentor, Leonisia. It was so heartwarming as she shared that “we (TMA) give life and colour” to the strategies that we share. If I were to share what this organization means to me, I could not craft a better description. TMA gives me life and colour!

It would not be a Post a Day in the Month of May blog series without at least one article dedicated to the spring staffing season. Tonight, we had the pleasure of meeting 12 educators who are interested in joining our Sir Arthur Currie Crew.  Historically, we would welcome 12 educators on multiple nights, but with the recent “pause” on our registrations (after all a school can not exceed a 200% capacity) this staffing season we currently have only 2 positions to fill.

As per our usual “out of the box” approach candidates once again got the opportunity to select a photo and share its connection to teamwork and collaboration as their introductory question. We continue to be amazed and impressed with the divergent thinking that naturally flows from some candidates. The photo of the horses galloping along the beach continues to bring out some of the most unique responses. Tonight, it set the tone of the interview with some authentic laughter.

For our second question, we provided candidates with lead time to select and bring an artefact to share that either represents their passion for the Arts (for one of the positions) or their commitment to ensuring they are implementing the Learning for All document in their programming (for the other position). We were intrigued with a number of artefacts ~ from slide shows to awards to pictures to performances to a junggeum (Korean instrument).

One of the candidates, simply placed a bicycle seat on the table and then proceeded to connect each part of a bicycle to the essential components of a Learning For All environment.

The comfort of the seat from both a height and slope perspective as connected to creating a comfortable classroom environment
The gears as well-oiled curriculum expectations
The tires as allowing students to go at their own pace
Falling off a bike as a testament to perseverance
And finally the enjoyment of the ride.

What we love about this question is that it creates the conditions for the candidates to shine and through their personal explanations we avoid the deep dive into Edu jargon.

What are some of our most memorable interview experiences?

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Some of my favourite conversations with like-minded colleagues focus on assessment. It truly is at the heart of what good educators do. I love having those hallway conversations which provide deeper meaning or spark an idea. This morning, as one of our students, who happens to have ASD, was singing his morning song, his educator shared his thorough knowledge about science topics. She went on to share that the best way to assess that science strength is through oral assessments ~ those all-important conversations. As the conversation continued, she also shared that when she is assessing his comprehension of a text, she has him draw a picture, instead of having him write out his responses. What a gift it is for that student, to have an educator who truly understands the power of differentiating assessment strategies

On numerous occasions this year, we have shared this graphic as a visual reminder about not only the triangulation of assessment strategies, but that when personalizing those strategies, assessment could and by rights should look different for different students. We want to ensure that we are setting our students up for success.

A couple of weeks ago, as two educators were planning, I happened to pop by their room. A conversation about rubrics ensued and I shared that as a part of my current reality of supporting a junior class, I was about to experiment with a single point rubric, which included a Glow and Grow column.

As an aside, I am currently using Glow/Grow as the framework when providing feedback to candidates following interviews.

I recalled that years ago, when teacher moderation was the latest professional learning, we would spend ½ a day deliberating on the wording within a four column (very wordy) rubric. I can remember lengthy discussions about whether we should use “rarely, occasionally, almost always” or “complete understanding, substantial understanding, some understanding.”   It was our best thinking at the time, but I am not sure that it hit the mark when it came to providing students meaningful feedback.

When we label ourselves as reflective, life-long learners, it comes with a commitment to always question our practice and to be open to evolving it.

I love that the educators that I get the privilege of working with are constantly questioning their practice, bravely evolving their thinking, and exploring new ways of assessing students, with the intent of helping them move along their learning continuum.

How has your assessment practice evolved?

Come write with me….

Our Sir Arthur Currie Crew is a mosaic of talented, creative, and hard-working individuals. Each person brings something unique and special to the job that they do. Our educators are often highlighted for their outstanding practice and their bravery for making it public. Our custodial team deserves a medal for maintaining the safety and cleanliness of a building that just happens to have a Childcare Center, a Family Center and seventeen portables. One thousand students tend to create a mess or two each day. Our front office welcome team continues to amaze and impress me with how they greet families by their name, compassionately support students who are not feeling well and patiently manage the diverse needs of eighty adults.

Within our team of eighty, we have two individuals whose journey has been pretty remarkable. Both Cory and Carla started their association with us as involved and interested parent volunteers. Carla stepped up in our first year and tremendously helped with our very first graduation ceremony. It became very evident early on, that she was going to be a force to be reckoned with. She made it very clear that she was going to be involved in her children’s school and we were so appreciative of her help.

The following year, as our School Council expanded, both Carla and Cory played a lead role in helping with initiatives and publicly supporting the school with positivity and lending a hand whenever needed.

When we were able to expand the number of noon hour supervisors, they were a natural fit for the role. As trusted and well-known parents in the community, they had strong relationships with many of the students. We never had to second guess where they were placed and which classes they supported. I loved watching them interact with all our students, but more specifically with some of our students with special needs. They both have a natural, calm presence that makes all students feel safe and loved.

Fast forward to this year when staff shortages are the new reality. Once again, Carla and Cory to the rescue. In addition to their morning and afternoon Kiss/Ride duties ~ where they pleasantly greet families who drive their children to school (and provide road safety tips, every once in awhile) they now cover breaks for our Educational Assistants and on occasion have been placed in classes where ECE and EA assignments have been unfilled. I often watch in amazement as they seamlessly shift into a classroom and instinctively step in, as one of our incredible EAs steps out to have their much-needed break. Our students do not even bat an eye. They know that Carla and Cory are safe adults who know how to care for them. I love watching them interact with students of all ages on the yard, whether it is sharing a joke with our older students or playing tag with our Kindergarten friends. Carla takes her east door first aid duties very seriously as she doles out those “magical” ice packs and affixes those band-aids that do not want to stick very effectively.

On special lunch days (in between everything else that they do) they can be found distributing juice boxes and organizing the parent volunteers who arrive to hand out boxes upon boxes of pizza.

Carla’s creative juices never run dry. She is always looking for the next fundraising idea. Carla is also our strong moral compass who reminds us to share our bounty with others. Our next fundraiser will be supporting another school’s breakfast program. Cory’s connection to the kids is so strong that just prior to Ramadan he donned his apron and served up pancakes to all the grade 8 classes.

I could go on and on about their contributions to the school and I am truly thankful each day for their commitment to our students, our staff, and the broader community.

But what is most remarkable about these two individuals is that, because of their work at our school and the opportunities that they have taken when offered, both have applied and been accepted to the ECE program at Fanshawe for the fall. What started out as volunteering at their children’s school has evolved into following a passion and a career path that neither one of them ever anticipated.

Schools are magical places that inspire. Carla and Cory’s story is a wonderful reminder that both our children and our adults can be inspired to dream and to take on new challenges.

A few weeks ago, I was invited to join one of our grade 7 classes as they opened their doors and invited family members and caregivers to come and see their Passion Projects. The classroom was restructured into a circle and students were sitting patiently waiting for their guests. As I ventured from desk to desk, I was not only immensely impressed with their final products, but I was amazed with their depth of understanding of their topics. My competitive side snuck to the surface as I was challenged to a game that one of the students had coded. “It’s just link Pong, Mrs. Bruyns.”   Much to my chagrin, my Pong skills are a little rusty. But the student was very proud to teach me about how to increase or decease the speed to adjust the difficulty.

Next, one of the students took me on a musical journey of his favourite classical musicians from Bach to Beethoven. There were two students whose artistic ability was beyond impressive. Fashion design was a passion of two students ~ one of whom added to their presentation by dressing the part in a decorative tunic. Then there were the chefs, who detailed each step of their culinary creations. One student highlighted their masterpiece with a detailed, aesthetically pleasing online design. Another student brought delicious samples to share with the guests.

Although my task was to be a guest, I couldn’t help but put myself into the place of an educator. I thought about the effective, meaningful assessment data that was undoubtedly gathered during both the production time ~ students were provided with 6 hours ~ and the presentations. Students beamed as they shared their final products and, in some cases, the productive struggle that they went through to arrive at their final project. Those were my favourite conversations. “Tell me what went wrong and how you fixed it.”  As students detailed their journey, I could envision comments for each of the boxes detailed within the Learning Skills/Work Habits section of the Provincial report card.

We often talk about the importance of student voice and student choice. But at times, we stop short of giving students total control of their learning. We allow them to choose between options that we have selected. We provide them scripts to share that we have crafted.

Passion projects, when thoughtfully structured, provide students with authentic choice and voice. I can’t help but wonder how impactful passion projects would be at the beginning of the school year as educators begin to build community and learn more about their students.

As an educator, have you provided your students with the opportunity to complete Passion Projects? I would love to hear about your experience.

Come write with me…

Although I love and appreciate receiving flowers, my track record for keeping them alive is less than ideal.  So, two years ago, when my son gifted me a beautiful white orchid for Mother’s Day, I anticipated that once the four blooms fell, it would unceremoniously be tossed over the edge of the creek which runs alongside of our house.  But instead, life got busy, and it was forgotten.  As the naked stem started to wilt, the leathery leaves seemed stronger and more determined to thrive.  So, every once in while, when I remembered, I watered it.  Then low and behold months later a new stem emerged and upon that new stem there were 8 blossoms ~ larger and fuller than the first ones.   Once again, as the blossoms fell, I anticipated that the lifespan of this flower had finally reached its peak. The second stem was starting to wilt and die.   I moved the orchid from the full sun front room into a corner in my home office ~ for what I anticipated would be its final resting place before meeting its fate over the edge of the creek.  But, just like the little engine that could, this past week another stem emerged, and, on that stem, there are multiple buds ready to bloom. I will be first to share that these new stems are not as aesthetically pleasing as the original one, they are awkward and at times the simple vase looks like its about to tip over, but the blooms are fuller, more fragrant, and heartier than the originals.

It could be said that leadership in the time of a pandemic is comparable to the life cycle of this orchid. At each new pivot, each new change in direction our sense of what should be (the known pathway ~ the original stem) has dwindled away.  We have had to go back to our roots and remember what makes us strong. Regardless of what was happening, day in and day out, keeping students healthy and happy was always at the core of our decisions. Like the roots and leaves, our commitment to safety and happiness grew stronger. With those guiding principles, we were able to grow new pathways (new stems) and those pathways produced better results (more plentiful and hearty flowers).

For our Sir Arthur Currie community, ideas such as;
~ a First Aid station at the east doors which reduced the number of students in the office at break time,
~  increasing the time that specialty educators spend with classes,
~  more controlled entrance and exit routines and
~ limiting number of students in washrooms  are just a few procedures that will continue, regardless of system COVID messaging.

One of the websites that I landed on during the composition of this post was entitled 10 Things Nobody tells you about Orchids.  Here are a few tidbits of orchid information and the accompanying leadership learning.

1)  If you think it is time to water your orchid, wait one more day.  Over the past two years, protocols, screeners, messaging changed daily (sometimes hourly).  If we have learned anything over the past couple of years, it is patience.

2) To get an orchid to re-bloom, trick it into thinking it’s in the tropics. There were several days when we did our best to create the illusion that things were “normal”.  We learned how to incorporate masks and shields into Hallowe’en costumes and classroom activities continued to be engaging and fun-filled.

3) You probably don’t need to put your orchid in a bigger pot. We learned that bigger is not always better. There were small moments of celebration that were just as meaningful as any past huge galas.

4) Your orchid will not be any happier in a special Swiss-cheese pot. We never forgot that we had what it takes to thrive through the pandemic. We did not need any special bells and whistles.  We maintained strong, compassionate relationships with our school community and in turn their support meant the world to us.

5) It’s not OK to use ice cubes on orchids.  We refrained from anything shocking or disturbing. Steady, calm, and caring were the core traits that we relied on.

And as I embrace this third stem, in anticipation of the numerous flowers that are on the verge of blossoming I cannot help but wonder what is in store for our school community in these last 2 months. We are on the verge of returning to sense of normalcy ~ but with a greater heart of gratitude, as we have missed the excitement of spring in a school for the past two years.

What lessons have you learned in the last couple of years?
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As I flip the calendar to a new month, I am reminded of my past practice of crafting a post a day for the month of May and then suddenly my emotions range from excitement to responsibility to terror. Excitement, as I love the sense of accomplishment of setting a goal and reaching it; responsibility, as I have preached over the years about the power of professional reflection, the bravery of making one’s practice public and the importance of modeling the productive struggle of writing as a means of supporting our students as authors; and finally (and most predominantly) terror as I’m painfully aware that the cognitive muscles required to craft anything substantial are currently cowering in the corners of my incertitude mind.

So, here is to coaxing those muscles back into the game of personal and public reflection. I wonder if professional athletes go through the same range of emotions as they begin spring training. I have no doubt that what lies ahead in the upcoming days will be late nights staring at a blank screen ~  fearing the clock will strike midnight before the Publish button is selected,  shuffling multiple post-it notes as they clutter my desk with potential ideas, and spending time scouring through my multiple notebooks which I know are filled with asterisks beside the word “blog” in the margin as a reminder that at some point, I wanted to capture that moment and share it.

I also know, if history repeats itself, there will be a heightened sense of observation throughout my day, moments of reflection that I will undoubtedly untangle and dissect and rabbit holes of research to be discovered as I look for references, word choice and of course the “just right” visual. My social media feeds, television shows/movies and book consumption will shift to a more critical eye. My family is also certainly preparing themselves for the possibility that Sunday dinner conversations or childhood memories may trigger an idea and hence be woven into a post or two.

Time to flex those frontal and temporal lobes. Let the spring training begin. I wonder what the writer’s version of the Grapefruit/Cactus League might look like? Yes, I ventured down a rabbit-hole.

Do you have annual goals that you set for yourself? Would love to have you share.

Come write with me….

Part of my Sunday routine is to craft our weekly Currie Crew Connection.  We use SMORE as the platform as it is visually appealing and easy to embed videos, links, and photos.   We’ve intentionally moved away from a format that outlines upcoming calendar events as school life has a way of changing between the serenity of Sunday afternoon calendar dates to the reality of the ebbs and flows of a busy week.  Instead, we’ve used the weekly Connection as a means of reflection from the past week, upcoming items of importance and frequently something interesting or thought provoking that I’ve stumbled upon during my social media scrolls.

This weekend, after much reflection and conversation with our leadership team, I found myself crafting a paragraph that I knew may provoke some feelings of disappointment, frustration, and annoyance on the part of our staff.  I chose my words carefully and honestly ~ hoping that my intent was not to frustrate but to provoke some reflection and evolution of practice.

As we creep closer to December 1, I’ve been anticipating the reveal of the Elf on a Shelf in some of our classes.  This holiday tradition is about 13 years old and hence, my own children were well beyond their believe in Santa Claus when this idea came into being.  So, although I’ve watched friends post their nightly elaborate stagings of Elves in various positions, it was not something that I took part in as a parent.

Over the past couple of years, the Elves have started to appear in some of our Kindergarten and primary classes and I’ve have had conversations, doing my best to understand the educational value of having them perched in various positions ~ but always being uncomfortable knowing that the theory behind the Elf is that he/she is watching children and reporting back to Santa Claus ~ naughty/nice.

As a school, with a highly diverse population (many of our students do not celebrate Christmas) and a mantra that we are intentionally creating a safe, inclusive, and welcoming school community, we decided to ask staff to rethink the Elf on the Shelf activity.

Having an inanimate object watching for nice/naughty behaviour seems counter to creating a safe environment.

Santa’s Elf is not inclusive for families who do not celebrate Christmas.

Especially these days, we have no idea how families are navigating the holidays and the last thing we want to do is to add to their stress.

It’s never easy to disappoint or frustrate a staff that you know has the best interests of their students at the heart of their decisions.   It would have been easy to turn a blind eye to the situation and quietly shake my head and avoid the conversation. But over the years I’ve learned that the easy path is rarely the right path.

As we continue to learn about Culturally Responsive Pedagogy and evolve as educators, we need to critically question some of our in-school holiday practices.

Here’s hoping that I’m not on Santa’s naughty list for leaving the Elf shenanigans up to our families who chose to partake in this tradition in the comfort of their own home.

Would love your thoughts on this.

Come write with me….