During the past few weeks, I have presented to many educators of various grade levels. One of my messages to all groups regardless of the topic was the importance of intentionality.

This is the perfect time of year to consider the reasons we do what we do. If we can’t articulate our reasons, perhaps we should reconsider the practice.

How might you make your practices more intentional and more effective for learning? Could you embed an oral language task to strengthen an already effective activity? How can you integrate writing as a form of thinking into your lessons in the content areas? How might you bring your science vocabulary into your language arts class? How will you ensure that morphology finds its way into your teaching of all subject areas?

The more intentional you are the better. And take the time to share your reasoning behind your routines and activities with your students. They are more likely to buy in and comply when they understand how it will help them learn!

I wanted to write an uplifting message for teachers today. But I’m going to be honest. I’m sad. I’m disheartened. I’m angry.

I listen to the words coming out of the mouths of our premier and education minister (intentionally lower case here) and I am embarrassed and appalled to be an Albertan. I dared to read through social media platforms the other day. Alberta is being painted with the same brush as our current leaders. And sadly, there are those who believe the rhetoric.

Alberta teachers are fighting for better conditions and adequate support for student learning. Class sizes have been ballooning again in recent years. The needs of students in these classrooms is increasingly complex. Teaching is hard. Teaching a large number of students with diverse needs and inadequate support is impossibly hard. Just like teachers around the world, our teachers give it their all–day in and day out. Supporting students with emotional, social, physical, and yes, academic needs. Working countless hours beyond the school day. Carrying the weight of their students’ needs–hunger, poverty, abuse, inequity–with them home to their own families, trying to find solutions, trying to be the strength and hope their students require.

In my current role, I speak to educators across the country. I am now embarrassed to say where I’m from. Alberta was once a leader in education. The lack of funding and the lack of regard for teachers by our government is abhorrent.

Last November, I sat in the Jubilee Auditorium with 2500 other Edmontonians listening to Margaret Atwood speak about freedom of expression. I said it then and I’ll say it again, she is one of the smartest Canadians I have ever had the pleasure of listening to. And now, thanks to our current government–and not because of the teachers of this province–we find ourselves facing book bans, including of course those of Margaret Atwood.

Our children deserve funding adequate to meet their needs. Our children deserve to be accepted as themselves in our classrooms. Our children deserve to read the books that will help them navigate this crazy world we live in. Our children deserve to have teachers and peers who have been vaccinated. And yes, our children deserve to have teachers who are paid fairly to do the work they do.

To Alberta teachers, stand strong. Know that what you do makes a difference every damn day.

To concerned Albertans, support teachers as best you can and contact your MLA. My MLA–and a few others are receiving this blog post.

To those outside of Alberta, know that the rhetoric you’re hearing is not the voice of Alberta teachers, and in fact, not the voice of the majority.

To students, I defer to Stephen King, “…run, don’t walk, to the nearest nonschool library or to the local bookstore and get whatever it was that they banned. Read whatever they’re trying to keep out of your eyes and your brain, because that’s exactly what you need to know.”

I have always loved the beginning of a school year: setting up the classroom, the opportunity for a fresh start, and most of all, the excitement of meeting a new class. (New school supplies are fun too!)

As I posted last year about this time, I encourage you to consider a weekly language arts schedule to help simplify your planning. Teaching is undoubtably challenging and increasingly complex. Simplify when you can and capitalize on routine. Determine what needs to happen every day and what will occur once a week: build these components into your timetable from the outset.

Consider these questions:

• How can you embed the strands of language–listening and speaking, reading and writing, viewing and representing–into each day?
• How might you give students daily, low-stakes opportunities to practice reading, writing, and speaking?
• What will you do to ensure students experience joy and success with each strand of language?

Simplifying your planning should not simplify your students’ experience with language. Rather, by creating a weekly schedule you can be more intentional about using your timetable to enhance language learning.

“The key is not to prioritize what is on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.” Stephen Covey

This week I was surrounded by passionate educators–educators giving up their last days of the summer break to better their practice at the Summer Literacy Symposium. The symposium was put on by the LCEEQ: the Leadership Committee for English Education in Quebec.

The week was one of learning, yes. But what stays with me is how the committee worked hard to build community. The learning was grounded in fun and connection. The emotion was that of joy and excitement. We laughed often! Because of the safe, inclusive environment, there were also moments of vulnerability and some of us may have shed a tear or two. (I will not reveal names…)

If we want student learning to occur at the highest level, it is essential that we provide an environment where students find joy and have fun as they learn. We also want them to feel safe enough to take risks and be vulnerable. How will you build community in your classroom? What books will you share that first week of school? What conversations and activities might surround the reading of these books?

A few of my go-to favourites to begin the school year:

• The Big Umbrella by Amy June Bates
• Be You! by Peter H. Reynolds
• A Letter From Your Teacher: On the First Day of School and Our Class is a Family both by Shannon Olsen
• The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson
• All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold
• School’s First Day of School by Adam Rex
• Elmer by David McKee
• Be Kind by Pat Zietlow Miller
• Stick and Stone by Beth Ferry
• You Matter by Christian Robinson
• Just Ask by Sonia Sotomayor

And remember… picture books are not only for our primary classrooms!

You may think this statement is hyperbole. I’ll let you decide…

During the last twelve years of her life, my grandma attended at least 16 Daniel O’Donnell concerts: a few in our hometown but most in various locations across Canada and the U.S.. In 2012, she even went on a Daniel O’Donnell cruise in the Caribbean where he performed many times and interacted with passengers. Grandma documented her Daniel O’Donnell encounters in a scrapbook with photos, ticket stubs, newspaper clippings, and notes. Among my favourites is this picture and her note from his June 5, 2005 concert in Vancouver: “I took a chance to go up to the stage to give him this teddy bear and when he saw me, he ran across the stage to meet me. Of course, he gave me a kiss.”

What do you think? Was she a groupie?

You may be wondering why I’m telling you this on a blog for educators. Fair question. What you may not know about this Irish singer is the connection he makes with his fans. After every show, he takes a photo and talks to all those who wait in line to meet him. According to Grandma’s notes, there were often hundreds of people in line. He greets every one.

The last concert she attended was in May of 2014 in Saskatoon. Two years later, I was sitting with her in palliative care, knowing she didn’t have long to live. She continued to talk about this kind Donegal man while we listened to his music. That day I decided to contact his management and ask if he would be willing to call or send her a message. I knew it was a long shot. And yet, within days, he called her. I will never forget her call to me afterwards. A few weeks later, Grandma died at the age of 94.

As much as Grandma loved Daniel O’Donnell’s music, I believe she went to concert after concert because of the connections he makes with his fans. He certainly made her feel special and significant. She was convinced that he recognized and remembered her from year to year, and you know, perhaps he did.

Soon, we as educators, will begin a new school year. Students will walk into our classrooms trepidatious and excited. The connections we make in the first few weeks will set the tone that carries us through the year. The interactions we have with each student, especially those little in-between moments, may be more meaningful than we might imagine. As you begin the year, take inspiration from Daniel O’Donnell and my dear grandma. Relationships matter.

Depending on where you teach, summer vacation may have already started. For the rest of you, it’s just around the corner! Really…

You likely have plans to unwind and perhaps some plans to travel and explore. Whatever the case, invest in yourself by carving out time to read. Escape with a novel or some poetry, or pick up that memoir or non-fiction book you’ve had sitting on your bedside table the last few months. And don’t forget to read the books from your classroom library so you can give recommendations to your students!

• If you haven’t yet read Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things by Adam Grant, put that on the top of your non-fiction list.
• If you’re looking for a bit of an escape, I just finished Watch Out for Her by Canadian author Samantha M. Bailey.
• I’m currently reading the award-winning memoir Jennie’s Boy: A Newfoundland Childhood by Wayne Johnston and For the Love of a Son by Scott Oake.
• Don’t forget about audiobooks! I’m listening to Girl, Forgotten by Karin Slaughter.
• I’m on a waiting list at the library for the very-well-reviewed My Friends by Fredrik Backman.
• If you haven’t read a graphic novel, why not pick up the latest by Jerry Craft or start with his first, New Kid?
• For a quick read, check out the Camp Average middle grade series by Craig Battle, another Canadian author.

Do tell… what’s on your to-read list this summer?

Are you looking for a creative way for students to reflect on the school year?

Decide on five or six questions that you want students (and yourself) to reflect on. Print each question on a different colour of paper. (Depending on how many students in your class, you may have 3 or 4 of each colour–enough for every student to begin with one page.)

1. Give each student (and yourself) one of the pages with a reflection question. Everyone reads the question on their page and writes a short reflection. (There is no need to sign names.)
2. Once everyone has responded to the first question, they crumple their page and throw it across the room.
3. Then everyone finds a ‘snowball’ of a different colour than their first. They read the question and the first person’s response, before adding their own.
4. Again, everyone crumples the page and throws it across the room.
5. Each person finds a ‘snowball’ of another colour and adds their reflection to the page. (Repeat the process until everyone has written a response on each of the colours.)
6. Once everyone has reflected on every question, take the time to discuss observations and surprises about their peers’ responses.

Note: Be sure to save the ‘snowballs’ so you can read them all yourself afterwards. Answers are often quite candid because the process is anonymous.

Possible reflection questions:

• What did you learn about yourself as a learner?
• What did you accomplish this year that you are most proud of?
• How did you surprise yourself this year?
• Which memory from our class do you think you will remember forever?
• What was the nicest thing someone in our class did for you this year?
• What advice would you give someone entering grade _____ next year?
• What was your favourite part of the day in our class? Why?
• Of the books you read this year, which was your favourite? Why?
• What did you do this year that you’ve never done before?
• What will you miss most about grade ____ ? Why?

…and chewed my gardening glove and the tea towel and the bathmat and the baseboards…

He frequently steals shoes and socks. Yes, Charlie has been busy!

How about a fun June writing challenge? Let Charlie (a.k.a Trouble) be the inspiration! Invite your students to write about a puppy who eats, chews, and steals! Let your students choose the form: story, article, wanted poster, or poem.

I’d love to see the finished creations. 🙂

Last week I promised more on revision and editing. These terms are often used interchangeably in our classrooms and yet there are important distinctions between the two processes.

When we teach our students to revise, we want them to make significant changes to their writing such as adjusting the order of their ideas, adding/deleting words or sentences. If we ask students to revise, many of them don’t know what we are asking them to do. I teach students to revise within my mini-lessons where I target a particular skill. In this way, I am able to model and scaffold the revision process by connecting it directly to the skill I am teaching: organization, sentence fluency, or word choice, for example. Over time, they learn the various ways in which they can revise their writing, and by focusing on one skill at a time, we make it manageable.

And what about editing? I’m sure you agree that we want our students to learn to write with proper conventions. Think of editing as the final touches: punctuation, capital letters, and conventional spelling. We can’t (and shouldn’t) expect our students to write with proper conventions as they put words to paper. As I wrote last week, this will only serve to stifle our writers, and will often deter them from writing at all.

I train students to read over and edit anything they are handing in–a narrative story, a persuasive piece, their social studies test. But I don’t ask them to edit every piece of writing they do. If they have written a reader response or a freewrite that no one else is going to read, I don’t ask them to spend time editing their piece. This encourages students to write more freely and creatively, take risks when writing, and even to write more.

Whatever grade level we teach, by separating the actual writing from the processes of revision and editing, each process–including the writing itself–becomes much more effective.

Many of our students are reluctant writers. Their reluctance is often a result of high expectations, a belief that their writing–ideas, organization, and for many, spelling–should be perfect as they put pen to paper. In her book Bird by Bird, writer Anne Lamott says, “Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor….” We have to find ways to shift our students’ mindset and lower the expectations they put on themselves. This may seem counterintuitive but it is essential if we are going to develop enthusiastic, willing writers.

I often show students E.B. White’s many drafts of Charlotte’s Web from Some Writer! The Story of E.B. White. I explain that looking at these drafts make me feel better as a writer. There is no need to write something perfectly the first time. We put our words on paper, knowing we can make changes later.

The mindset of perfectionism is stifling, fear-inducing. Sometimes, we as parents and teachers inadvertently contribute to the mindset of perfectionism, especially when there is a heavy focus on conventional spelling. Do we want young writers to spell things correctly? Of course! But, conventional spelling cannot be the expectation for everything they write, especially as they are learning.

They will learn conventional spelling as they learn the rules of phonics and morphology. But we can’t expect our young writers to generate new content and implement everything they’ve learned about the rules of language. Let them write. Let them experiment with language. Let them make mistakes.

Writing is a process. Remove the need for perfectionism and let the process unfold. The processes of revision and editing can follow. Sometimes. (More on this next week!)