Sonya's Teaching Blog

It's hard to turn on the news these days or go on social media without hearing about social justice issues: from the battle for SOGI 123 in schools, to hate-driven attacks on mosques, schools and night clubs, to demonstrations for indigenous rights. These arguments and events rarely lead anywhere. Change is slow to come and always seems to leave someone upset and feeling left out of the conversation. Many of us, myself included, have difficulties listening to opinions on social justice issues that differ from our own. You may be familiar with Karl Popper's "Paradox of Tolerance" Popper is quoted in Mohamed Farija's Deconstructing Karl Popper's Paradox of Intolerance as describing the Paradox of Tolerance thusly: "Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant...

Collaboration is a common theme in school these days. Connections between subjects allow students to form deeper understanding of the content and ultimately retain more of what they learn (Katz, 2012). However, as many teachers these days are already stretched for time, finding room in our schedules to plan collaborative projects with colleagues can feel like a big ask. High schools are particularly guilty in this area as subjects are often literally separated by room, materials, time, and teachers. One thing we can do is incorporate ADST (Applied Design, Skills and Technologies) into projects and lessons in other subjects, and your friendly local teacher-librarian can help with that. Collaboration can lead to some incredible lessons. Image care of WeAreTeachers . Your teacher-librarian can introduce you and your students to digital tools that can broaden the possibilities for teaching and engage students in a wide variety of ways. As Frank Serafini (2012) points out, "pri...

Reading Dalton and Grisham's Love That Book: Multimodal Response to Literature , the authors describe using "glogs" as a response tool for students showing their learning from a piece of literature. Glogs are multimedia posters created digitally - they can contain images, graphics and text like a regular poster, but also video, audio, links or even 3D, virtual reality, or other manipulable features. A screencap of a glog that appeals to the geologist in me. Access the interactive version from Glogster here . They are meant to be interactive and give multiple ways to respond to an inspiration such as a piece of literature. More and more, teachers are incorporating student choice into projects they use to show their learning. I have particularly been inspired by author and educator (and one of my professors during my B.Ed), Jennifer Katz (2012) and her work in this area, as well as educator and advocate for inclusive education, Shelley Moore. Jennifer Kat's...

I have been thinking a lot about what I believe would make a good library and what modern libraries are for, but it is now time to consider the creation of something practical- a tool to help the efficient and effective use of school libraries in the future. However, as a teacher with little experience in the classroom, let alone in a library, it's going to take some thinking to know what to produce. Looks like I, too, may need to visit a library. Image care of Whitehot s. Through my recent inquiries, I have definitely refined and cemented what I consider to be my personal teaching philosophy. Reading Will Richardson's Why School? , I really came to believe that technology is an integral part of inquiry learning in the 21st century, and that it really the "how to" skills that need to be taught in school, rather than the "what". And if we aren't teaching students piles of facts anymore, we have to think about what skills are important, and what ca...